Disclaimers: Same thing that everyone else says applies here. Language, Violence, Naughty Bits, blah blah blah.


Chapter 52

Please let the Reavers attack. Please let the King attack. Something. Anything so I can stop looking through these damn books.

"Kathrynn."

"I'm searching Sand. Really I am. Put the whip away please," I muttered, not opening my eyes and not raising my forehead which was resting on the open book before me.

"I'm sure you are, however I have some bad news."

"What?" I groaned, my voice muffled by the pages.

"Kana's scouts found the shadow reaver camp. Looks as though you are needed there."

That brought my head up. "Really?" I said hopefully. "You're not just messing with me?"

"No my dear, I am not. I know how disappointed you are to be pulled away from your research, but Kana says that these Reavers may be the ones that hold the shard."

I got up with unseemly haste. "Yes, yes, horribly disappointed, but duty calls you know."

Sand rolled his eyes and made a little shooing gesture. "Off with you."

My feet were carrying me out of the library before Sand had a chance to change his mind. I found Kana in the main room in discussion with her scout and some of the others. "Sand said you found something?"

She nodded. "Barrik here has located a Reaver camp close to the keep itself. Their movements have been unusual compared to the other camps we have seen. There appears to be one main leader at this camp, not just a group of minions. You need to go and check it out as this may be the camp holding the shard you wanted."

I nodded. "Fine by me. Any more research and I was going to go mad. We'll leave immediately. Someone go get Zhjaeve. If this is the Reaver we're looking for, she'll need to come. Khelgar, Cas, you'll come with me won't you?"

Khelgar grinned and fingered his weapon eagerly. Casavir inclined his head in a short bow. "Always my lady."

"Wonderful." I turned to Qara. "You always complain that we leave you behind. Want to go and roast a dead guy?"

She snapped her fingers and flame jumped to their tips. I shook my head. "I take it that that overly dramatic response was a yes?"

"No," she drawled sarcastically. "I'd rather stay here with the elf and listen to him lecture me."

"Well, if you'd really rather, we could arrange that."

"Funny."

I looked around. "All we need now is Bishop and we can take off."

Kana cleared her throat. "Bishop was spotted leaving the Keep a few nights ago and he hasn't returned yet."

A few nights ago? He must have left after my little drunken episode. Looks like too much sharing put him to flight.

"Besides," Kana continued, a tad reproachfully as she indicated the scout by her side. "Barrik is the one who found the camp and the only one who can lead you to it. If you are taking any scout with you, it needs to be him."

I eyed the slender leather clad man with a frown. I much preferred traveling and fighting with people I knew I could trust at my back. Other than a few glimpses around the keep, I had never seen this man before, never evaluated his abilities. "Fine," I said grudgingly. "Lead us to the camp, and then try not to get killed. Got it?"

He nodded. "Of course, Captain." His voice was surprisingly low for someone of his size. That and the way he was looking at me with barely disguised amusement had me giving him a hard look. "I shall endeavor to be as useful to you as your normal tracker."

I heard the multiple meanings in his tone and rolled my eyes. Had everyone heard about me and Bishop? "Alright funny man," I muttered, trying not to blush. "Lead the way."

*****

The camp was before us and it had only three inhabitants.

"Is that reaver… bigger… than the others?" Qara whispered.

I stared down at the camp. "Much."

'Much' seemed to be an understatement. Although the head and shape of the skeletal creature in the camp resembled a human, had he ever been a man, he would have been over seven feet tall. Or maybe it was just the two blade golems flanking him that made him seem so huge. That was also a possibility, I had thought hopefully though I sincerely doubted it.

"What's the plan?" Khelgar asked.

"Qara, can you start us off with a nice big fireball?" When she nodded I looked at Zhjaeve. "You need to stay out of sight and read that name, got it?"

She nodded as well. "Know that it may take longer than you expect for the name to be uttered."

"It's a name, not an epic poem."

"It is a name, but not one as you know it. Be warned that it will take some time."

I shrugged. "You know best," I said, making sure to stress the word just as she did. There was a soft chuckle from Barrik. "And you," I reminded him. "Try not to get killed. I really don't want to listen to lecture I would get from Kana."

He grinned at me, blue eyes sparkling with excitement.

I pulled out my weapons and nodded. "Let's go."

"Aren't you gonna talk to them first?" Khelgar asked.

"Nope. I know what they will say. Blah Blah, you're doomed. Yadda Yadda, give up. Grumble grumble, our lord and master will take over the world. I'd rather use the element of surprise and just take the shard off their corpses."

Khelgar thought about it then pulled out his own weapon with a blood thirsty smile. "Works for me."

I waited for Zhjaeve to hide and pull out the scroll. "Qara, let it rip."

The flame haired sorceress moved into position and began chanting under her breath. A ball of fire bloomed in her hand and she wound her arm back. She tossed it with an agility that would make any stick-ball player envious. Flame soared through the air and landed on the three figures. An explosion rocked the camp and we took that as our clue to rush into the fray.

The time that the element of surprise bought us was surprisingly short. The Reaver began casting spells before we had even reached him. The blade golems, while looking slightly singed, didn't even metaphorically blink at the sudden rain of fire.

Weapons flashed and blood flew, though considering my little group was the only one that contained any of that red fluid, perhaps that wasn't such a good thing. Casavir landed a blow to the reaver and the skeletal figure staggered, nearly dead. The shadow reaver made a horrid noise and straightened, the wounds we had already inflicted on him magically closing.

"What the fuck?"

"The true name," Barrik gasped as he dodged a blow next to me. "We have to use the true name."

"Zhjaeve," I shouted. "Read FASTER!"

Khelgar hacked madly at one of the blade golems and I rushed to join him. "Everyone on the golems!"

We concentrated our efforts and one of the sharp edged constructs fell in a clatter of metal and a scraping of honed blades. All of us turned to the remaining golem and the reaver took that time to search for our hidden Githzerai. He headed toward the tree that hid her and I broke off from the fight to go after him. It turned out my help wasn't even needed because at that moment icicles the size and shape of dragon's teeth fell from the clear sky. The chill they brought with them was a wind that would put the frigid gusts of Icewind Dale to shame. An ice spike imbedded itself not two inches from my foot and I found myself running back to the blade golem to get clear of the dangerous missiles.

In the center of the ice storm a column of fire fifteen feet tall struck the reaver dead on. Zhjaeve was done reading and was ready to join in the fight. The last golem fell and we descended on the reaver like a pack of maddened wolves. The blue flames encircling the reavers head dimmed as we fought until finally, at last, they winked out entirely. The body crumbled to an ungracious heap at our feet as whatever force that was animating it was snuffed out.

Weapons still poised, we looked down at the pile of bones. The air was still now except for the sounds of our ragged breathing. "Think its dead?" Khelgar asked. "Again?"

I held out my hand for Khelgar's axe and he handed it to me. Swinging it over my head I brought it down with a sickening crunch on the thing's neck, severing the white grinning skull. "Yep. It's dead."

There was low voiced chanting behind me, Zhjaeve patching up someone's torn flesh. I rummaged through the robes of the reaver searching for the last shard. The sliver in my chest seemed to almost vibrate in excitement, a rather discomforting feeling when coming from the inside of a ribcage. My hand hovered over a pouch and the vibrations rose to a near frenzied pitch.

"Gottcha," I whispered, my fingers pulling open the draw string and pulling out a little sliver of silver. For a moment the vibrations actually seemed to interfere with my heart beat before the muscle righted itself and continued its steady rhythm.

I held it aloft. "Looks like it had what we came for."

Casavir reached for it and turned it over and over in his hands. "I can almost hear it humming," he said, looking at it curiously. "There is a tremor in this one that there wasn't in the others."

"If you think it feels strong to you, you should feel what the one in my chest is doing." I rubbed at my scar. "It's making the whole area all itchy." Looting what was left of the bodies, I straightened and stretched. "Let's go back. I want to separate these two shards. The sensation is going to drive me insane if it keeps up."

We gathered up what we could take and prepared for the short journey back to the keep. "Everyone," I said cheerfully as we started to walk back. "We did well. Even you Barrik," I added after a brief pause. "Good job on not dying."

"Careful with your magnanimous praise Captain, you might make me blush," he said dryly.

I made a face and though bleeding and sore, we returned home in high spirits.