"I made these for you!"
Xan was starting to get used to Xzar. Not because the other was somehow growing on him or becoming less disturbing; no, Xan wagered the reason was that he was becoming desensitized to the madman. Which, he supposed, was how the rest of the party managed to tolerate the fact they were traveling with a death-loving harlequin with a cracked mind and a tendency to shriek much like a woman at the topic of his lungs when startled or anxious.
"Is the madman bothering you?" Branwen asked Xan.
"Well yes," the elf sighed, "but not so badly as I would want him to be discouraged or harmed. What have you made, Xzar?"
The necromancer smiled, and then extended to him a few scrolls and sheets of paper. Xan blinked and took them, unrolling the first scroll "What is it?" He blinked in surprise. Sleep? A sleep spell!
"Well, you haven't your spellbook," Xzar answered. "At first I thought you could use the wands; but then I remembered you said you are an enchanter? And all we have is a wand of Magic Missiles and another of Lightning; both invocations. It might take longer, but I think you can scribe the spells in your own manner and then use them to prepare? Yes? A spell pamphlet should suffice for now!"
Edwin was amused by the irony that Xzar was sharing portions of a spellbook Edwin was about to manipulate an overly friendly and ridiculous thief into stealing. Alas, his job would have been made easier if only he required a sleep spell, some mage armor, or-
"Luck," Xan pronounced the name of the last spell. "Where did you get Luck? This is not a common spell."
"Get... luck...?" Xzar asked, as if surprised. He scratched his cheek thoughtfully. "I have absolutely no idea. Wait, perhaps I do. Somewhere just off the Lion's Way, when I met the lady in red before the old man. And maybe later in the inn? I did wake up with Death on me. I don't think any earlier. I remember- Oh!" Xzar looked at Aegis, surprised. He giggled abruptly, as if remember something. "So that's what happened. Four cups of mead and a Luck yields luck in finding Death. Uppercase lowercase uppercase, of course."
"You are incredibly mad, aren't you?"
The necromancer looked back at Xan. "Yes. Most assuredly. But, as to the scroll! I supposed if anyone should help distribute luck, it should be the person who otherwise foresees our doom. Poetic, hmm? Actually, would you mind casting some on Eegee later? She seems to have developed a bad habit of walking into ghouls..." Then he clapped happily and hopped over to bother Aegis.
Xan watched the necromancer go. He looked at the scroll, up to the cleric at his side, and then back to the scroll. "I will admit to a certain amount of internal conflict over exactly how I feel about this," Xan admitted at last to Branwen. "Disgust? Endearment? Thanks? Confusion? Most certainly confusion..." The woman laughed.
"The man is most likely a Zhent," Jaheira said, coming up beside them. "Be careful, friend. He can be vicious. His specialty is necromancy and he has shown himself to have a grotesque interest in anatomy and all form of unsavory spell component and item of study. I would not trust him near your person if I were you."
"Well," Xan sighed, "it must be nice to have your convictions. But we can't all live in black and white worlds." Jaheira glanced at him worriedly, sensing the elf's great and omnipresent melancholy.
"I did not mean offense," she said politely.
"You caused none. For what it's worth, I meant none either." The druid nodded and moved off to continue preparing.
"Have you gotten past the 'confusion' phase then?" Branwen asked curiously, biting off a chunk of jerky and offering him the remainder.
Xan glanced at the offered meat and shook his head. "I don't eat meat. If... if I can help it," he added. "But thank you. As to your question? Yes, I have gotten past confusion. I am at dread. Incredible dread; though I accept that as par for the course on this endeavor."
"Dread?" the Norheim woman laughed. "Why dread?"
"Because I believe the only thing for me to do is to be friendly back, regardless of the high potential for the disaster. I do like my organs in all their requisite locations... And I imagine after a few more conversations like that, my sanity might begin eluding me. Alas; what kindness invokes..."
"Well," Branwen said, chewing up and swallowing another bite of jerky, "nothing will get past me to harm you that can be stopped by a hammer. So maybe you should just concentrate on preserving your mental soundness?"
Xan glanced up at her. He allowed himself a meek smile. Branwen's attention had him slightly unsettled. To be honest, even though she was far more pleasant to speak with, her presence made him more nervous than Xzar's did. "I hope that offer of aid was just the spirit of friendship speaking," he said, "And not... well, that is to say..."
"No," Branwen told him firmly. "You are no warrior, and I am not interested. You are too short, you weigh about as much as my left leg, I cannot imagine you can lift a weapon much heavier than a feather, and you are completely lacking in anything even remotely resembling strength or stamina. To be frank, I am not entirely clear on what you are going to add to the upcoming battle. But, wizards always surprise me. I think you must have a stronger spirit than you realize; and I shall be happy to provide you the opportunity to aid in the next battle. "
"Well..." Xan felt considerably relieved. "I think I should say I am glad to have your vote of confidence, even if I myself expect to contribute nothing of value."
Garrick sighed miserably; but at least he hadn't lost the opportunity entirely. He'd just have to try harder.
Aegis was up with the other early risers come morning. She yawned heavily, sitting up slowly and glancing down at where Xzar was nestled up against her. An affectionate smile worked across her face, and she reached down to stroke through his hair. He shifted slightly in his sleep, bundling up closer to her warmth. Madman, you've bewitched me, she thought, amused. There is no way anyone else could look at that face and think how innocent you look while you're sleeping. Her smile faded slightly. One day I'm going to walk smack into a lot of things about you I've been otherwise happy to overlook.
"Are you lovers?" came a low but somewhat curious voice. Aegis lifted her head in surprise, blinking into the dim lighting before she recognized Xan was awake. He was sitting atop his cloak with his legs hugged against himself, watching her quietly.
"Something like that," Aegis offered slowly, counting on her fingertips. Five. She had only made love with the necromancer a sum of five times, but he had been sharing a sleeping palette with her since Beregost. Under that light, the two of them had been lovers for the majority of Aegis's life outside Candlekeep. "It's a little complicated."
"How did it begin?"
"With an accident," Aegis laughed, "involving alcohol. But don't tell Jaheira and Khalid that."
"Then... you had the misfortune of waking up on top of a self-proclaimed necromancer who is covered in ghastly facial tattoos and... decided to go forward with courting him?" Xan's voice conveyed his bafflement. "Forgive me my puzzlement; it sounds doomed from the start. What interested could either of you have had in eachother?"
"You know," Aegis tilted her head to the side and then lifted her eyes to the elf's, "it's odd, but, for all that everyone's so opinionated about it, I don't think anyone but Immy's ever asked me why we sleep together. No one else has thought to ask me what I like about Xzar; or to ask Xzar why the devil he voluntarily sleeps with me. The latter is probably greater mystery. He was very much against anything touching him when we met..." Could that have anything to do with...?
Xan's voice brought her back to the present. "I confess it resembles a lioness playing mother to a demented hyena. I am not certain which side is more likely to experience imminent disaster, but from this angle the prognosis is hardly pleasant."
"You think I like Xzar because I like taking care of someone and because he's childish?" she thought about the accusation. "Cohabitation with any wizard means looking out for them. Wizards are workaholics, absent-minded, and bad at personal maintenance. I could write a book on the topic; I'd call it Caring for Your Wizard: A Guide for Roommates, Family Members, and Love Interests."
Xan lifted a brow. "I am not certain your experiences with a person of questionable sanity should be generalized to such a broad categorization of highly varied individuals."
"Xan. I was raised by a wizard. In Candlekeep. Surrounded by wizards. Do you have any idea how many misplaced books I tracked down; how many times I brought father a three-in-the-morning snack because he was burning the candles at both ends; how many of my tutors forgot to bathe, comb, or change their clothes for weeks on end because they were tracking down some mystery or another?"
The elf considered this. "That... does remind me of someone," he admitted a little bashfully.
Aegis smirked, running her hand over the necromancer's shoulder, and looking down tenderly at him. "Xzar's a disaster on that front; but that doesn't make him my pet." And you haven't seen him when he's serpentine, dripping poison and feeding me dark tidbits of his history. And... and my history.
"You consider him your equal," the elf realized, surprised, "in spite of his madness?"
"My equal? Xzar's about fifteen years older than me. You're honestly mistaking who takes care of who." Xan frowned, tilting his head to the side and waiting for an elaboration. "Xzar's had my back almost since I met him. He's been there to pull me out of more ambushes than I could count. Now of course he's incredibly eccentric and plagued by fits; but underneath that is a terrifying intellect. It just isn't obvious unless he's calm." And the more he's around me, the more it appears like he might be getting calmer...
"And you... find something attractive about that?" the elf hazarded out in bewilderment, a little disturbed that anyone could find 'terrifying' a complement. "Enough to endear you to him when he's addled?"
Aegis looked down at the slender necromancer. "I don't mind that at all. Actually, it's a relief to have someone else around to be playful with. People like Imoen... they keep up morale. Bantering with my madman is a therapeutic pleasure."
The enchanter considered this.
"I guess there is one other reason I'm with him. Erm, not that I have much basis for comparison... But Xzar is also a very dexterous lover."
Xan winced and looked away.
Aegis noticed the elf's distress and looked up at him. A frown spread over her mouth. She wasn't the world's best wordsmith, but she wagered opening up a conversation by asking the elf what had happened to him wouldn't have been a good move. "Were you always this bleak?"
"Oh? So I should be bright and merry and chipper all because I've been sprung from that dismal vault?" Xan sneered.
"Don't put words in my mouth, bright eyes, I'm not blaming you for not being happy. Or normal. Or whatever. I'm the one sleeping with a crazy person."
Xan shifted. "This place could sink even the grimmest spirits lower. But in truth this 'adventure' has merely reaffirmed my existing understanding of the world: That it is vast, and to it we and our needs are unimportant."
Aegis was quiet for a moment. "Not you," she answered at last. "You lived. The world bent over backwards to make sure you lived."
Xan cringed. "I would rather it not have," the elf said in a very quiet voice.
"That's not true," Aegis said with the casual tone not of dismissal but of knowing.
"You believe you can speak towards my most personal thoughts?" Xan was ruffled and distressed. "And what do you know of fair folk?"
A pause. "I know I can always feel it when people want to die," Aegis answered in a very strange, slightly strangled voice. "Maybe you just haven't any idea how to go forward. You'll figure it out. You're an elf. You have time."
Xan glanced back at her.
"Well," Branwen said with a very big yawn and an even bigger stretch. She heaved herself up to a sitting position nearby, having just overheard the tail end of their conversation. "I think your first order of business upon reaching the surface should be incredibly clear: You need to gain thirty pounds."
Xan lifted a brow. "I look that displeasing to you, do I?" There was a note- just a note!- of humor in the elf's voice.
"How much are you supposed to weigh? I don't know elves, but you look like something which washed up in the driftwood and flotsam and then baked in the sun under a coat of seaweed for a few days. Fifteen pounds then! Not an ounce less!"
Her blunt, colorful phrasing was somehow rejuvenating. It was a sharp contrast to everyone tip-toeing around him.
Xzar stirred slightly and then smiled to himself, groggily reaching out to put an arm around Aegis's waist. "Good morning, Little Death," he muttered quietly into her thigh. She thought it was well enough no one else heard him; she reasoned Jaheira wouldn't be fond of the pet name. She didn't see Xan glance her way.
"Not 'Eegee'?" she teased. It really was a terrible diminution, taking 'Aegy' one step farther by twisting the smooth 'j' sound into a gargled 'g.'
"No," the necromancer sighed thoughtfully, enjoying a few droplets of sanity that morning. "But give it a minute; You'll be 'Eegee' soon enough for everyone, I think."
The enchanter tilted his head to the side.
...
Aegis would probably never know what voodoo Imoen had used to put Edwin into a compliant mood, but the wizard had a drastically altered temperament by morning. That was not to say he was polite to anyone, or that he did not mutter insults under his breath; but the bite of hostility was gone from his actions.
"I have a proposal. Should you accept, I will bind myself to following your (admittedly questionable) authority while this miserable party lasts," Edwin told her. "I reserve the right to terminate this agreement as I please and for whatever reason; In exchange, I agree to give you forty-eight hours notice in advance of this termination and before taking action counter to you or yours. Does that satisfy you?"
Jaheira, Khalid, and Branwen all gaped. They shared bewildered looks with one another. Aegis blinked, surprised. "You'll keep your word?" the ranger asked.
Edwin scowled, bristling slightly. "One does not have to believe in karma to understand the necessity for structure and order for the success of any organized endeavor. I shall keep my word to the letter."
Aegis knew it was best not to shoot Imoen a baffled look while talking to Edwin. She held his gaze for a long moment and then nodded. "I believe you."
He seemed to settle down at that. "Very good then. Might I suggest we have a cleric to kill?" He smirked and turned away, heading up to wait impatiently by the entrance and muttering to himself: "As if they had any chance in this upcoming fight without my skills. It seems the chimp really can make an intelligent decision once in a blue moon."
"I'm ready!" Xzar exclaimed happily, leaping up from where he had been resting. "Carry me into battle trusty steed!" He flung himself at Aegis, who very distinctly 'oofed' and then laughed.
"Not on your life, wizard," she told him, and then when he wouldn't get off of her she tickled him until he was shrieking hysterically with laughter. The rest of the party was not impressed; but Aegis herself was quite amused.
...
"That's quite the death trap in there," Jaheira muttered, healing up burns Khalid had sustain across his arm in the last fight. The half-elfin man was doing his best to hold in his feelings about the injury, but Aegis watched his feet squirm and his eyelids crease as if he were holding back quite the whimpers of discomfort. She couldn't help but feel (not for the first time) that Khalid was adorable.
"We can defeat them," Branwen insisted passionately, grinning at the hoards of kobolds. "Let us rush forth and show them our might and steel!" Xan gave her an uncomfortable look.
"Do you have any idea how utterly doomed to catastrophic and irreversibly failure that plan is?"
"We could use the bard as a distraction," Xzar proposed.
"Why does he hate me so?" Garrick sighed, loading his crossbow. "What did I ever do to him?"
"You stole my dirt. Or don't you remember?"
The bard sighed again, looking over at Branwen longingly.
"Maybe we can try something a little more strategic than that," Jaheira muttered, "given that we must conserve strength for the cleric himself." Aegis hesitated, glancing at Minsc.
"We can try our usual plan," the ranger woman suggested, "using shield bearers to try and protected the mages while we get them in close."
A few feet away, Edwin stood stroking his beard, contemplating the layout of the caverns ahead of them. He was quiet for a bit, gathering his analysis and running through a number of options. He glanced to the side when he felt Imoen's tug on his elbow; she was too quiet to perceive otherwise. "You got an idea?" the girl asked asked, coming up to peer out over the rocks.
"It's a matter of dividing up the work," the Red Wizard explained. "We can rely on the sleep and fear spells to limit what we need to handle at one time, but the problem lies in how far back their best archers are positioned. Once we step into that room, we have no cover from them. And they've shown they're clever enough to snipe unarmored targets. (Though let us not give them too much credit; they're still yipping mongrels.)"
"The layout's a problem too," Imoen agreed. "The water means you need good range on whatever you use, they've got a clear line of sight for their arrows, and the way they're splayed out means neither of yours and Dynaheir's favorite invocations for this kind of work- the Fireball or the Lightning Bolt- is going to be able to hit a large number of targets."
"Unless we cluster them together. Do you remember when the kobolds downed the Wychlaran on the first day of these wretched mines? How your dear meatshield of a sister managed to pull attention off of us?"
"Your Protection From Arrows!" Imoen caught on. "If you cast it on Aegis and send her charging in, we know from experience the kobolds will focus down a lone target! That should group them up and distract them just fine, only they won't be able to actually hurt her!"
"Ah, finally. Someone who can occasionally follow an idea through to its sanest extrapolation."
"Been here the whole time, silly head. You just never noticed me before. So, we can throw all our protective magics on her," Imoen continued.
"And I can direct our kill shots in mincing up the kobolds on the inner island. Those other fools we call wizards can apply their sleep and horror spells to the area immediately around Aegis. That should keep her moving forward and looking like the most high-profile target. Meanwhile the rest of the party can busy themselves with cleanup on the afflicted kobolds."
"Got it. Let me be the ones to explain it to the others so they don't get all troubled up to their halos about the fact that you thought of it. I'll still credit you at the end, though. Best they know who saved their asses from running in with might and steel! Um, Edwin, it will work, right?"
"What?"
"Well... The spells. Sending my sister out there... ya know... into what otherwise would be certain death..."
Edwin just grinned.
.
...
"Montaron, I do not approve of this plan! Not at all! Please stab the Red Wizard for me, will you?"
"Oi, now he asks me... Shut up ye fool wizard; it's too late for summat of that ilk."
Xzar stood up straight, looking like he might wet himself he was so antsy. He wiggled in place for a moment and then suddenly came forward and grabbed at Aegis's armor, turning the surprised ranger about. "Do not do it!" he protested, cutting off her confused questions. "Sod the nasty Thayvian! If the spells fail, you will die. No, no, no. Tell the nasty hamster man to do it."
"Excuse me?" Dynaheir muttered indignantly. She and Xzar had (thankfully) few overlapping conversations in the past. "Minsc does not fight with a shield! And what life is worth any other?"
Edwin muttered "Mine: it's worth all of yours and then some." Imoen gave him a shove.
Xzar hissed. "Then come up with a better plan!" he demanded. He had heard the plan, he had understood it, and he did not like it. The goal was to cast abjurations on Aegis and then field her as a big moving target to draw kobold fire. In other words, she was doing the job he'd rather have given to the bard. In an emergency she'd be leagues away from the party, with no escape mechanism, getting pin-cushioned by a hundred yipping bowmen.
"Wizard, come on," Aegis grasped his shoulders. "This is a good plan and you know it. What's up?" He writhed in her hold, staring into her face uncertainly for a moment. Then he pushed closer to her, wrapping his arms around her shoulder and back.
"If you die I can't do anything," he muttered unhappily into her hair, his fingers clenching against the fabric of her armor and his voice lowering in pitch and volume. "Not even bring you back as a zombie. Do you understand? Do not ignore me; I am not raving!"
"Xzar, I've done stupider things than this," Aegis reminded him, her brows furrowing together at his chosen words. He almost sounded like he had in one of his sinister moods, like when he'd confronted her in her room at Nashkel inn.
Then all of a sudden his voice sank into a rich, low whisper. "Tell me. Do you remember what I warned you of, Little Death?"
Xzar's voice held level and consistent and Aegis's eyes widened in astonishment at his timing. He's lucid? Now? To what degree?
His forearms tightened around her back and his fingers pushed into her hair. "If this goes wrong, there will be nothing left but dust." He took in a slow breath at her temple and continued: "Please reconsider."
This usually didn't happen while clothing was involved. Uncertain what to do with a sane necromancer in the middle of an expectant party, Aegis was momentarily torn. Then she realized Xzar had to be her highest priority; she was his lover and he'd only have so many moments of focus. She eased both arms around the tall man's slender frame, pulling him tightly into herself. When he twitched slightly at Jaheira's irritated hiss, she gave him a squeeze. "Ignore them. I'm listening. What's eating you?"
"I do not want you out there where I cannot... cannot help you..." the necromancer confessed bitterly. "Last night I watched an unhappened future; one eschewed by nothing more than a whim of Tymora's; a future in which you died while paralyzed and bitten." It was difficult whether he meant he'd seen such a thing through divination, dream, or imagination. Either way his fingers grasped and caressed as if to hold on even tighter. "I did not enjoy the sight."
"I'm going to be fine," Aegis told him, though she would have confessed bewilderment at his intense concern. Her typical assessment of Xzar was of course that he was morbid. The notion that he could hit clarity as a result of worrying over her safety was new. And bizarrely flattering. "You know the kind of fighter I am; I'm going to wreck havoc out there!"
"You don't know that. Do not do this." He lifted pale green eyes from where his face was buried in her hair, looking out into the caverns. "I smell another ghoul out there, Little Death. It will find you. And I won't be there."
"Xzar... I... Have faith in me."
The reaction Aegis received from him was not the one she expected. She felt every muscle in his necromancer's tense up painfully stiff, as if she'd just electrocuted him. His heart rate doubled in pace and he shuddered violently. Aegis squeezed him to herself, startled by his alarm.
"Hey- what-?" she asked worriedly before he cut her off:
"Dii... Dii lokal... zu'u lahspaan hi nol Vokulhah Dinok," he whispered heavily, and she felt the familiar tingle of protective energy settle around her. Protection from Evil. He'd yielded.
The necromancer backed up a step and looked down at her with a very focused, serious, intense expression on his features. Green eyes searched her countenance for a moment and she stared fascinated back at him, waiting to see what he would do. He was certainly surprising her left and right at the moment.
"Do not die, Byatshkan Moratuk," he told her in a level and solemn voice, loud enough for anyone to overhear. His tone did not waver, neither to lift into manic hysteria nor to drip into languid goading. It was a solid low tenor, and attracted more attention than he could have with the loudest temper tantrum. Then he took her head carefully in both palms and kissed her, and the embrace was fierce and needing.
When Xzar stepped backwards she shook her head bewildered at her unfathomable lover and then turned to look at the rest of the party.
"Well," said Edwin, because Jaheira was too busy glaring daggers at the Zhent, "that was interesting. Now can we get back to, (oh I don't know) maybe, the giant battle ahead of us? Anyone? (Am I alone in this or are we missing a fight here?)"
"I'm ready," Aegis agreed. "Cast your spells, I'm going to hit those stupid dogs like a whirlwind."
Jaheira muttered something in elfish under her breath and then moved to take up a position around Aegis. Branwen and Dynaheir (the latter glancing uncertainly at Xzar) did likewise. Xan and Edwin took up the final spots.
"We best hope their cleric does not step out to assist," Jaheira muttered. "One single dispel and we will have an incredibly dead ranger to thank Edwin for."
"One cleric against four wizards?" Edwin smirked. "I like our odds. Elf, you know the cleric best, don't you? And aren't you mostly useless without a spellbook or invocation magic anyway? Good! That can be your job: Counterspelling your dear old half-orc friend for us."
Xan sighed, but did not rise to the bait.
Xzar watched quietly as they began to cast, and then lifted a hand to his temple as thoughts and frustrations and spirals and curling threads bubbled up in his mind. As Draconic, Drudic, and Waelan filled the air, Montaron slipped up beside the necromancer and jabbed him to get his attention. The halfling gave him a pointed look. Xzar sneered.
"Careful, wizard," the thief muttered.
"I should say the same to you, tiny dumpling," Xzar hissed, falling away from clarity. "Mark this sooth; in seven minus two ends, you will not-stab yourself in the breast."
"That a threat?" the halfling smirked.
"I see the gilded violets too, you know, such pretty flowers in the dust and blood; I can trail them that far!"
"Didn't think so."
Jaheira applied Barkskin; Branwen, Bless; Edwin, Protection from Arrows; Dynaheir, Haste; and Xan, Luck. As their spells completed in concert, Aegis felt positively glowy with magical energy. The ranger glanced at her fingertips and then gave a broad grin and gave her axe a little twirl, hoisting her shield up from the ground.
"Heh. This is gonna be fun. Now?"
Jaheira nodded. The Ranger sucked in an exultant breath, excitement reverberating through her. She started forward, dashed out of the cavern, and loosed a battle cry to get the kobolds to focus her. AS she charged headlong into yipping enemies body, the first wave of arrows flew past her as harmlessly as a summer breeze. She blocked with her shield as she hit them, and tiny red-skinned bodies went bouncing off in all directions. It was glorious. She brought down the first hack of her axe with glee.
"Get ready!" Jaheira hissed as a chorus of yips and bowstrings rippled ahead of them.
Minsc gave the signal and then he and Khalid pushed out into the cave with the wizards slinging out charms and flames from behind them. To the side of them, Aegis was sending beautiful, hot sprays of blood flying in arcs. Imoen rolled to the side, keeping low and aiming swiftly for the kobold commandos. Edwin and Dynaheir sent their first invocations slamming through the densest groupings of their enemy on the central island, while Xan and Xzar attempted more utilitarian crowd control on the kobolds facing Aegis.
Xzar's eyes were not sharp enough to catch the glorious expression of zealous fervor on Aegis's face, but he felt it. Khalid's vision was better, and faltered momentarily, shaken as he recalled Xzar's strange words to him the evening before. Ask her if she feels anger, satisfaction, or mania.