Chapter Forty-Eight – The Knower of Names

Jaiyan stumbled over a half-hidden rock and swore. Snow swamped her boots, and she shuddered. She grabbed Valen's elbow, levered herself up again. "Why the hells couldn't the nice butterfly woman just teleport us a little closer?"

The tiefling shrugged. "Maybe to test our resolve?"

"Well, at this rate, if there is any refusal to co-operate, the Knower of Names is going to meet my resolve right on the end of my sword." She brushed loose snow from her cape and sighed. "Sorry. Getting tired of this."

"I know." Valen steadied her in the snow, took a moment to glance ahead.

To where the plain slid up, towards high ice cliffs, lit fiercely under the pale sun. No snow fell today, but the air was bitter, each breath slicing into laboured lungs. Jaiyan followed his gaze, saw the tightening of the skin around his eyes. "Valen? What is it?"

He took another few steps, his tail twitching wildly. "There's…beloved, there's fighting up there."

She swallowed. The Sleeping Man's ring hung against her chest, a heavy, cold reminder. She could hear nothing, despite the stillness in the air, but she knew his hearing was far sharper than hers. "And that's right where we need to go."

Valen drew in a shuddering breath. "I need you to do something."

"If it involves running away, forget it."

He shook his head. "I'm serious. I want you to stay down here."

"What?" She stared at him. "No. You don't know how many are up there, or what they're doing, or anything. So, no, I won't be waiting down here."

Beside her, Deekin tugged at her cape. "Boss, Deekin thinks Goat-man have sensible idea…"

Valen growled. She could see his whole frame quivering with the tension of staying, of not bolting up the rise, and into whatever carnage lay beyond. "Stay down here, Jaiyan. I mean it."

She opened her mouth to argue, and saw his eyes flicker. "Oh, hells. Valen?"

A tremor unreeled through him. He grasped her shoulders, hard enough to hurt, and shoved her away from him. "Stay here."

He turned away, unslung his flail in the same motion, and vaulted up towards the crest of the rise. Long strides taking him through soft snow, while his tail lashed behind him, and the set of his face promised only violence.

Jaiyan staggered back up to her feet, and disgustedly shook more snow out of her sleeves. "Irritating tiefling."

She saw him vanish over the hill, and wondered what he had found. Does he really think I'm going to stand here and let him disappear into the wide white yonder like that?

Deekin grasped her wrist. "Boss, Deekin thinks it be really good idea to stay here."

"Deekin…"

"Boss, remember last time?"

Of course she did. The terrible, wrenching fear of stirring to the sounds of Valen locked in a nightmare, only to have him wake and attack her, again, still troubled her. Especially at night, she thought, when you can't tell if he what he's dreaming, and what he's going to wake up as.

"It's not his fault, though," she mumbled.

"Deekin knows that. But Deekin also knows that Goat-man be much, much bigger than Boss."

She shook her head, frustrated. "I know that. Alright, look. We won't go see properly, we'll just…how about getting close enough to hear?"

"Boss," Deekin said, disapproving.

"I can't stand here," she snapped. "I can't stand here not knowing anything."

Deekin nodded. "Alright, Boss. But not all the way up the hill, yes?"

"Agreed." She padded up the gentle slope until she heard the noise of battle, metal slicing against metal, and heavy shapes thudding against the ground. Running footsteps, pounding against the deep snow, and screams, and the horribly familiar sound of Valen shouting as he killed.

Jaiyan crouched down in the snow and shivered. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea."

Deekin huddled up next to her, and wrapped his hand around hers. "Goat-man be good fighter."

Something big roared, and the whirr and thump of unleashed spells sent tremors through the ground beneath them. More screaming, and the crashing sound of large creatures smashing into each other.

All the lovely sounds of carnage, Jaiyan thought grimly. "Oh, gods. Deekin…talk to me."

"Boss?"

"Talk to me. About something. Anything."

"Oh…" The little kobold stared down at his tiny hand, locked with hers. "Deekin really glad Boss took him along. Even to Cania."

She laughed uncertainly. "Really?"

"Really. And Deekin think Deekin's next book be even better."

A fireball roared past near the crest, and the explosion painted bright light across the snow. "Oh? And why might that be?"

"Well, in this one, the noble heroes become noble planewalkers. And defeat a dracolich. And survive a siege." He grinned. "And brave heroine gets to find true love."

"She what?" Jaiyan smirked. "You're so sentimental, you know that?"

Deekin shrugged. "Well?"

She blushed.

"See, Boss? Deekin always right."

Something sharp sheared through metal, and the screams became louder. "Deekin?"

"Yes, Boss?"

"Think he's alright?"

"Goat-man be fine, Boss."

She stared at the snow, and listened to the shrieks and the shouts and the noise of metal tearing through flesh. How many of them are there up there?

Snowflakes drifted through the air in front of her face. She held out a hand, caught one, watched as it hovered for an instant before melting on her glove. Even if he's alright, what kind of state will he be in? We're too deep, too far from anywhere.

"Deekin, we need to get out of here."

"Yes, Boss."

"Before we starve, freeze, go mad, or Valen just kills us."

Deekin shot her a worried look. "Boss? Is Boss alright?"

She smiled. "Sorry. Just maudlin."

But what truly was more frightening than not knowing whether the man she loved would know her or not?

Would try and hurt her or not?

"Boss?"

"Yes, Deeks?"

"It be very quiet."

She shivered again. More snowflakes fell, twirling past her face. "He'll need a few moments to collect himself."

There you go again, she thought viciously. Assuming he's alright.

He'd better be alright.

"I'll kill him if he's not," she muttered aloud.

She waited as long as the twisting knot of tension in her stomach let her. Finally unable to bear the silence and the softly-falling snow, she pushed upright. A few floundering steps took her to the top of the rise, with Deekin slogging along beside her. The little kobold still gripped her hand, and she was secretly glad.

She stared down the other side, and swallowed.

The snow was crimson. Dead devils lay with torn faces fixed on the sky above. Snowflakes drifted down onto ugly, gaping wounds. There were demons here, as well, balors among them, their wings broken and their necks snapped. The smell of spilled blood and torn flesh was thick on the air, and Jaiyan almost gagged.

She looked past two toppled vrocks and saw Valen.

He was on his knees, his flail was dropped in the snow beside him, and blood streaked one side of his face. Another deep cut welled on his thigh, and a slice on his scalp had leaked into his hair, plastering it. He was breathing hard and ragged, his fingers twisting and locking against themselves.

Jaiyan paused, and hated herself for drawing her sword first. "Valen?"

His head turned, and he stared bewildered at her, through eyes that were a clear and piercing blue. Tears glittered on his cheeks. "Jaiyan? Oh, gods, beloved. I couldn't find you…I thought…"

She reached him before he made it to his feet, and flung herself against his chest. "You thought what?"

He was trembling all over. "I thought maybe I'd hurt you. I couldn't find you…"

"You told me to stay back there," she said archly. "You decided to be the sensible one."

"Oh." He shook his head dazedly. He cupped her chin, explored her face with shaking fingers. "I thought…never mind. You're not hurt?"

"No," she said. "Are you?"

He shifted and winced. "Scrapes and bruises."

She clicked her tongue at him. "You're bleeding all over the snow." She pressed a healing potion into his hands. "Are you alright?"

He drained the bottle. "I remember coming up the hill, and I remember fighting them. I remember killing…a lot of them. I don't…I didn't remember you, or where I'd left you, or whether I'd…" His voice cracked. "My love, I thought I'd…"

"Sshh. I know." She kissed his cheek, then his mouth. "I know. You didn't. I'm alright. We're alright."

He held her for a long, wondering moment. "There's…a lot of blood. Can we…can we move on?"

"Of course." She slipped out of his arms, helped him to his feet. They found his flail, the twins heads splotched with gore. She led him past the red slush of the snow, and noticed how his whole body went taut as they stepped around the fallen bulk of a dead devil. She tightened her hands around his, and chivvied him on quicker. "Valen? Valen, look at me."

His gaze skittered up from the snow, fixed on her face. "I can see you."

"Good. Keep going."

She walked him away from the battlefield and the heavy stench of opened flesh, and up towards the gleaming ice cliffs. Here, the snow was white and pristine, untouched beneath the curve of the grey sky above. Thick flakes spun from the clouds, and the air was brittle and cold, and clean.

Valen tipped his head back and drew in a long, shuddering breath. "My love?"

"I'm here."

"Thank you," he murmured.

Keeping one hand on his wrist, she fumbled with the Sleeping Man's ring. Purple light flared up from the snow, and she winced. No astral gates this time, rising from the whiteness; no bizarre signs fluttering above the ground.

Only a pale violet corona, hovering about a lump of ice that she was sure had not been in front of the cliffs an instant before.

She tugged the ring off, and the ice shape remained. "That wasn't there before…right?"

"Right, Boss."

Closer inspection showed the ice to be a cocoon, shrouding over the shape of a pale-skinned woman within. Jaiyan reached out, touched the smooth ice. "Is this normal for Cania, or are we just lucky to have seen this twice?"

Valen chuckled. "You think this is the Knower of Names?"

"Unless she's some other poor lady trapped in the ice leagues from anywhere." Jaiyan stared at the woman's closed eyes. "Alright. Let's thaw her out."

But the heat from the velox vines did nothing except warm Jaiyan's hands and melt the ice rimed in her hair. The woman stayed trapped, her serene face unmoving and her hands clasped beneath the mantle of ice. Deekin invoking and holding fire spells inches from her had the same effect; none whatsoever. Light spells only made the ice shell blaze, and the cracking weight of a cold spell only rebounded loudly.

Jaiyan scowled. "Now what do we do?" She glared at the woman. "You know, I feel like just hammering at it until it breaks."

Valen crooked a red eyebrow. "That might work."

"And it might bludgeon her to death, thereby rendering us lost and about to die, again, in the Hells."

Another round of fire spells yielded the same result. Desperate enough to burn the last of the vines and the berries, Jaiyan watched as the flames petered out, and the ice remained tauntingly smooth. She tried upending a flask of velox potion on top of the ice shell, to absolutely no avail either.

"Alright." She shook herself. If I do this with my sword, I might kill her. I do this with my hands, I'll probably break my fingers. Oh, choices.

She lifted her sword, spun it around, and brought the hilt down against the ice, at a point she hoped was far enough from the woman's face. The pommel juddered away, and her hand stung. She swore, raised the sword, and tried again. This time, the hilt slammed down at a sharper angle, and faint cracks traveled through the ice. Another tentative blow, and the cracks spread wider and further.

She sheathed the sword, set to with her hands instead. Digging her fingers under the broken edges of the ice, while Valen helped her. The ice shards sliced through her gloves, into the skin beneath. Bit by agonizing bit, the two of them tore away the ice shell. She wrenched away the last piece, realized her hands were bleeding, and tried to ignore it.

The woman stood amid the shattered ice. Blood twined between the shards at her feet. Her mouth opened silently, and she began to breathe.

No colour flooded her cheeks; instead, she looked all the more waxen, even as her eyelids fluttered. Her eyes opened, deep and dark and terribly sad. "Is it…over?"

Her voice was hushed, a whisper fraught with pain. Jaiyan lowered her sword, and answered gently, "Is what over?"

The woman shuddered. "You are…you are not with him. No?"

"No," Jaiyan said. "I am here because I think you are the Knower of Names. Am I right?"

The woman nodded slowly. Her hands lifted, brushed back loose pale hair. "You have come to ask me questions."

"Yes."

Another quick, trembling breath. "It has been so long, since anyone asked me these things."

"There are names I need to know. True Names."

"Ah. Of course." The woman smiled wanly. "Because I know these things, I must tell you, and you will ask, until I say."

Jaiyan frowned. "Look," she said, a little sharper. "I understand being bludgeoned out of sleep is not going to be much fun for anyone. But I need a name, and I need it right now, and I'm perfectly happy to turn the negotiation over to my sword, if you want."

The woman's smile widened. "So impassioned, traveler. And what name must you have?"

"The name of the Reaper," she grated. "The Reaper who waits near Cania. The Reaper who was once commanded by Mephistopheles."

The woman shuddered. "Mephistopheles?"

"You know him?"

"I…knew him, once." The woman's dark eyes lifted, wide and sorrowful. "He and I, we…"

And suddenly Jaiyan knew that she had seen this woman before, in visions beside the Sleeping Man, while Sensei Dharvana watched. "I think I know what you mean."

The woman reached out, clasped her hand. "Let me show you."

A man and a woman, twined together on soft sheets. He was handsome and dark-haired, and whispered tender words as he made love to her. She arched up beneath him, smiling as he murmured her name.

But afterwards, there was treachery, and love thrown away, and feelings cast aside. A terrible price demanded for the trust she had given up to him.

"What did he need?" Jaiyan asked carefully. "Why did he...?"

"Seduce me?" The woman shrugged. "I know names. True Names of all those who breathe and live, on all the planes. He needed to know which of his generals were loyal, and those who were not. I was foolish, and thought that he loved me, and so I told him whatever he asked. And so he left me, and made known his power over his minions and this place."

"And you?"

"Me? He left me here, imprisoned in the ice." Her smile turned bitter. "He felt I knew too much. If I know all True Names, then of course I know his. Why might you need to know the Reaper's True Name?"

Here we go, Jaiyan thought tersely. "Because Mephistopheles walks the surface world. He was summoned into the Underdark by a Matron Mother who thought herself powerful enough to contain him."

"Ah. But she was not, and now he is free. But why are you here?"

Jaiyan explained, told the Knower of Names how she had found the Relic among the shadows, and how she had never lost it. How it had been a piece of Mephistopheles' flesh, and how he had used it to fuse himself to the surface world, and send her to Cania in his place.

"Then you seek to leave Cania, and return." The woman stepped forward, across the broken shards of ice. She reached out, and her cold fingers touched Jaiyan's cheek. "Do you wish to know your True Name?"

"Oh. I, ah…not really," Jaiyan muttered. Does it matter? Well, no. But then, why are you worried?

"You are Kagita'ar the Heartseeker." The woman smiled. "The Light of Cania."

"I'm…who?" Jaiyan scowled. "That's a ridiculous name."

"Is it? It is you, bone and blood and soul, written in the dust of stars."

Jaiyan shifted uncomfortably. Something cold jumped down the length of her spine, and her skin felt prickly and itchy. "Very nice, then."

"What else do you wish to know?" The woman's smile was floating in front of her, and the wind seemed to pluck at her. "The Name of your True Love, perhaps?"

"What? No," Jaiyan protested. "I don't want…" What are you afraid of?

"He is Oeskathine the Demon-wrestler," the woman told her softly.

"Never heard of him," Jaiyan snapped. She was very aware of the tiefling beside her, his eyes on her. "Who is he, then?"

"You know him as Valen Shadowbreath," the woman laughed. "Who else might you like to know?"

"That will do," Jaiyan said firmly. Her face was scarlet, and she noticed Valen grinning. "And you can stop laughing at me, tiefling."

"Me?" He spread his arms wide. "Beloved, your face was…a picture."

"Of what? No, don't answer." She looked back to the woman. "How about Mephistopheles?"

"Ah." The woman shook her head. "No. I will not. Light of Cania or not, I will not speak that name."

Jaiyan stared at her disbelievingly. "He treated you terribly! He made you think…he made you think he loved you! That he would give anything for your love in return. Why can't you tell me? If I have his name, I can send him back here, or anywhere, or…"

"No," the woman said. "I cannot. He…I know what he is. But I cannot let you have that power over him."

"But you will give me the Reaper's name."

"Yes."

"So you'll let me find him and fight him, and possibly win, but you won't tell me his True Name."

"No."

Jaiyan rubbed her hand across her forehead. "Do you know what he's doing up there right now? I imagine he's burning and killing and generally destroying everything he lays eye on. That's what devils do, right? And you won't tell me his Name?"

"No," the Knower repeated. "I will not. I cannot."

"He'll kill me," Jaiyan said, and heard her voice waver. "Gods above, you know he will. He's a damn arch-devil. And I have to fight him. What do you think will happen?"

"I'm sorry," the woman said. "But…I cannot. In my place, could you? Could you give your tiefling's True Name to his enemy?"

She felt Valen's arm wind around her waist, and leaned back against the solid wall of his chest. "No," she said, unsteadily. "But then again, he never talked me into bed for the sole reason of finding out what I knew so he could kill his opponents."

The Knower flinched. "I cannot," she said again. "I'm sorry."

Yes, I just bet you are. "Very well," Jaiyan said wearily. "I don't suppose threatening you would help?"

"No," the Knower murmured.

"Not after being trapped in ice for so long. I get it. I still think you're being beyond stupid." She sighed. She wondered if she should try the good old intimidation tactic; after all, she would be backed up by a tall, infernal-blooded tiefling. But there was something so hopelessly sad in the Knower's eyes, some awful acceptance of her betrayal that made Jaiyan's heart twist. Looking at her, Jaiyan wondered if it would even be possibleto kill the woman - and if she could not be killed, then no amount of pain a mere mortal traveller could give her would equal what Mephistopheles had done to her. "Alright. Tell me the Reaper's Name, then."

The woman leaned forward, whispered something into Jaiyan's ear. "I'm sorry," the Knower added. "About Mephistopheles. Perhaps you can understand…"

"In a way. If it wasn't me about to go and confront him. If I was reading it in a book, or hearing it in a ballad." Jaiyan smirked tiredly. "So, in a way."

The Knower of Names looked at her through dark, wide eyes. "Forgive me. And forgive him, if you can."

"Yes, to the first. Absolutely, no way, not in a thousand years to the second." Jaiyan tore her gaze away from the woman's face. Stop looking at me like that, she thought desperately. Stop looking through me like that.

"Had you not touched the Relic…" the woman said.

"Then a lot of other things wouldn't have happened." I might not even have gone back to Waterdeep. I might not have gone down to Lith My'athar. I wouldn't have been cursed by Halaster. I wouldn't have met Valen. "I think it's past time for discussions in hindsight, don't you?"

Something flickered in the woman's mirror-still eyes, some hint at terrible, tearing sorrow born of betrayal. "Indeed. Do you wish to return now?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Back to the city, and then back to the Reaper." The Knower smiled thinly. "Unless you prefer to walk?"

"What? No, no, no. Not at all." She studied the Knower, looked at her clasped white hands and knotted pale hair. "And what will you do after we've gone?"

"I am sure your battle with Mephistopheles will resound through the planes," the woman remarked. "So…we shall see which of you emerges the victor."

"Like there's any likelihood it'll be us." Jaiyan shrugged. "What if we do, though? What will you do?" There will be nothing chaining you here, no old promises of love thrown aside, or hope that it might be rekindled.

"I don't know," the woman said, and bare, wrenching honesty smoked through her words. "I do not know."

She raised her hands, and magic sparked between her tapered fingers. She bothered with neither a warning nor a farewell. With barely a whisper, the spell rose and engulfed them, and Jaiyan snapped her eyes closed as the ground tilted and dropped away into rushing darkness. A horrible, jarring instant of transition, and she stumbled as her feet hit soft snow and slid.

She cracked her eyes open in time to see white ramparts stretching on all sides. The clanking, hammering sound of the ice quarry in full swing reached her ears. She straightened up as Valen and Deekin dropped out of the air beside her. She turned, ignored the throbbing ache in her cut hands, and launched herself into the tiefling's arms.

He staggered back, laughing as she landed against his chest and locked her legs around his hips. "What's this for?"

"We're back," she said excitedly. "We're back and it stupidly feels like we're almost home. I know we're not, but you're not allowed to be at all dismal."

"Anything my lady commands." He ducked his head, kissed her.

She used his horns to pull herself higher on him, giggling as his tail wrapped around her waist.

"Boss? Could Boss get down off the tiefling now? Only…ghosts are staring…"

Vaguely embarrassed, she dropped back down onto the snow. "Oh…sorry."

Deekin shrugged. "Deekin not mind. Deekin used to Boss."

"What does that mean?" Jaiyan shook her head. "Alright. Do we have everything?"

"Yep," the kobold answered. "Well, gots little bit of food."

"Healing potions?"

"Yep. Plenty."

"Good." And we're going to need them. No. Don't think about that. Not yet. She squared her shoulders. Some part of her wanted to nothing but amble in the direction of the tavern, sit Valen down, and tell him that her feelings had not changed, not in the slightest, despite Cania, and that he was very much stuck with her.

There will be time for that later, she thought. If we survive…

"My love?" Valen's fingers brushed down her cheek, turned her head. "Are you alright?"

"Yes." She summoned a bright smile. "Let's go say hello to the Reaper."