Chapter 3: Meeting Bodhi
"Good," Bodhi said quietly as she dragged Jaheira and the other woman through the storm drain, "he likes long hair."
Jaheira struggled against the Bodhi's viselike grip but succeeded only in pulling out some of her own hair. She stumbled and grunted in pain when her head was jerked up, but she found her feet again and fell more than walked along the round stone tunnel. Jaheira tried to trip her on more than one occasion, but Bodhi avoided her feet easily, not even seeming to notice the attempts.
Jaheira saw that the other prisoner was a pretty young woman, maybe not even twenty years old. Her face was stained with dust and tears, and her eyes were sunken and exhausted. She was hanging just at the edge of consciousness, as if sleepwalking. Like Jaheira, the other captive's hands were tied behind her with rough, scraping rope.
"Who are you?" Jaheira asked Bodhi for the third time since she'd regained consciousness in the stranger's less than tender care.
"Silence," Bodhi said.
"Why are you doing this?" Jaheira asked, ignoring the woman's command.
Bodhi laughed and said, "I can rip your tongue out of your mouth and feed it to my rats, if you'd like."
"Just—" Jaheira started to protest, but stopped when Bodhi's powerful hand came away from her hair, and she stumbled to the slimy, damp stone. The woman slapped her hard across the face with the back of her hand, and Jaheira fell back. Someone hoisted her to her feet to face the glowering woman. Jaheira turned her head to try to see who was holding her, but he shifted his grip, pushing her forward. She heard a ringing click in her right ear like bone snapping against bone.
"No!" Bodhi said sharply, and Jaheira realized she was speaking to the man holding her.
"But this one is so warm," the man said, his voice low and sibilant, cool against Jaheira's neck, "so sweet."
Jaheira gasped and looked at Bodhi, who caught her eyes and smiled in a way that made Jaheira blush. "She is at that," the woman said, "but I need her for more than blood . . . for now."
"Will I have her then?" the man asked eagerly.
"No," Bodhi said, letting her eyes trail up and down Jaheira's body, "I'll want her for myself, I think." The word vampire appeared in Jaheira's head like an explosion, and she gagged at the feeling of the thing's cold breath on her.
"You know that my friend is …"
"A vampire slayer, yes," Bodhi answered. "I look forward to meeting her."
"Where are you taking us?" Jaheira heard herself ask.
Bodhi smiled, seemed almost charmed by Jaheira's defiance. "Your friends are very special," she said. "I suppose you know that."
Jaheira looked at the woman, still hanging by the hair in the slim vampire's iron grasp, and said, "I don't know this woman."
"I wasn't talking about her," the vampire said.
"Buffy," Jaheira said in understanding. "She, Willow and Aquarra got away didn't they? They got away from you."
"Will they come for you?" the vampire asked her, though Jaheira could tell by the look in her eyes that she already knew the answer.
"They will," Jaheira said simply.
"And if not for you," the vampire said, glancing down at the young woman now passed out on the damp stone at her feet, "they'll come for this one."
"Who is she?" Jaheira asked, then breathed in sharply when the man grabbed her tighter, hurting her, arching her back against him.
The vampire woman hit her again with the back of her hand, and the sound of the blow rang through Jaheira's head with a snap that warned of a broken jaw. As she lost consciousness again, she heard the vampire say, "I will drain you slowly, bitch."
The man behind her sighed, and the vampire woman said to him, "You know what to do. I have other places to be."
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It was called the Copper Coronet, and it looked as bad, and smelled as bad, as anyplace Buffy, Willow or Aquarra had been in Faerun.
"Oy," a drunk old man sitting near the door exclaimed when Aqiarra, Buffy and Willow strode into the tavern with Minsc and Yoshimo in tow, "whatta we got 'ere?"
"Hey, now," the bartender barked noticing the way Buffy and Aquarra were dressed or lack thereof, "what kind of place you think this is?"
"We were waylaid," Aquarra said, looking the barkeep directly in the eyes. "They stole everything."
"You ever learn how to use those muscles?" the old man asked incredulously, then coughed out a series of guttural grunts that might have been a laugh.
Buffy shook her head knowing the drunk man was meaning Minsc. She nudged Minsc when he started talking to his pet again. Minsc looked up, but was curious, not embarrassed. "Alas," Yoshimo broke in, speaking first to the old drunk, then to the dark, swarthy barkeep, "our enemies had muscles too, and the aid of more than one wu-jen."
"My sister and I need clothes," Aquarra said, clearing her throat uncomfortably. "We need clothes, maybe something to eat, and some water," she paused and tried to remember who Khalid had said to go to in Amn, and we need to speak with Captain Belars Orhotek as soon as one of your boys can fetch him here."
The barkeep looked at Buffy, Willow and Aquarra blankly for a long time. "Did you—" Willow started to say but was stopped by the barkeep's loud whoop of laughter.
"Indeed," Yoshimo started to say, "it is amusing, but—"
"Easy there, stranger," the barkeep said, glancing back and forth between each member of the group. "Word travels faster in Athkatla than you do, and the five of you are hard to miss. Her name's Daws, right?"
Buffy growled, "Dawn."
"Dawn, then," the barkeep said. "Anyway, I know where she is and who's holding her, but information costs in Athkatla."
Buffy stepped menacingly toward the barkeep. The barkeep's eyes went wide, and he took a step back, suddenly not confident that the bar would keep him safe from the woman. He was not sure but he could swear that her petite frame held more power than any man could. "I need to make a living," the man said, "and your lady friend has made some very, very powerful enemies. If they know I sold them out, they'll be... unhappy with me, if you know what I mean. I might need to pick up stakes, right? Make a fresh start in a new town."
"How could you possibly—?" Aquarra started.
"I suggested this place for a reason, my friends," Yoshimo interrupted. "This man is Gaelan Bayle, and there is little that might go on in—or under—this city that escapes his notice. He demands a stiff price, because his information is always correct."
Willow glowered at Yoshimo and said, "We're no fools, Yoshimo. What's going on here?"
"Yoshy-boy brought you here because he knows I know what's going on around here, Buffy Summers and Aquarra Adrian, daughters of Bhaal, Saviors of Baldur's Gate, sisters of the missing Dawn who was taken by Shadow Thieves who were none too happy about your late half-brother's bandying their not-so-good name about the Gate ... oh," he said, "does that sound like I might know what I'm—"
Buffy was over the bar and standing in front of the barkeep in less than the time it took to blink. Buffy's
hand was coming up toward the startled man's face, and before Gaelan could duck, Buffy pulled the punch short.
"You can tell us who you are now and what you want from us," Buffy snarled, "or Aquarra, Willow or I'll do something we've been trying not to do so much of lately."
Gaelan just nodded. "Listen," he said, "I'm just a guy who keeps his ears open and knows people who know people who know people. I can tell you where she is, not because I'm a swell guy but because you're going to pay me ten trade bars—fifty thousand gold pieces—for the information."
Aquarra had to laugh. "Look at Buffy and I, our clothes," she said, "and ask yourself if you think we have that kind of treasure at our disposal, you gutter wretch."
"Hey," Gaelan said, smiling nervously, "you all seem capable enough. Your little miss is alive and will be for long enough that an enterprising people like yourselves could scrape up the coin."
"But fifty thousand . . ."Aquarra said. "We could buy a ship for that."
"Just what I had in mind myself, truth be told," Gaelan admitted.
"It does seem a bit much, Master Bayle," Yoshimo offered.
"Who asked you?" Gaelan grunted, then turned back to Aquarra, Willow and Buffy. and said, "Take it or leave it, lassies."
"Holy snakes and eggs!" a woman's voice exclaimed. Buffy instantly knew what the woman was surprised in seeing. Buffy and Aquarra almost or at least half naked. "What are you ladies . . . ?" the woman asked. She'd come in from behind a curtain that led into a dark storeroom in the back of the bar. What kind of place do you think this is?"
"They say they were robbed, Bodhi," the bartender said.
"Were you now?" she asked. Buffy could tell without turning around to face this Bodhi that the woman was a vampire.
"Yes, vampire," Buffy answered as Willow's eyes went wide. She held back from reaching for a chair to break a leg off of. As this was the first vampire she had encountered in Faerun she was not sure how much they were like the ones back home. "We need clothes, food and water."
"And word sent to Captain Orhotek," Aquarra added. "Please."
"I'll give you some of my clothes," the vampire said. "You can work for some food, but I doubt Captain Orhotek himself will be coming to your rescue. Maybe you just need to sleep it off tonight?"
"We need to speak with someone," Aquarra insisted, "there are Shadow Thieves about."
The bartender Gaelan chuckled at this and said, "No foolin'?"
"That'll do, Gaelan," Bodhi said. "Go get him some of my clothes."
"Like this one, eh, girl?" Gaelan grumbled as he passed through the grease-stained curtain into the room behind the bar.
"I must go," Yoshimo said suddenly. "I will find you if you need me, my friend. Best of luck."
"Boo says to ask if I can work for some food too," Minsc said.
"What have you got there?" the woman asked and stepped forward toward Minsc.
"This is Boo," Minsc told her. "He helps me."
"Does he now," she cooed, humoring him. "Is he a mouse?"
"Boo is a hamster," Minsc said.
"Where did you find him?" Bodhi asked.
"Oh, Boo found me. Didn't you, Boo?" Minsc answered. "He comes from space. His kind are actually quite large, but he is smaller than most."
"Space?" the woman asked, obviously never having heard the word before.
"The place of the crystal spheres," Minsc explained conversationally, "up in the air beyond the heavens."
Bodhi laughed lightly and said, "Well, Boo, so you're a miniature giant space .. . ?"
"Hamster," Minsc provided.
"A miniature giant space hamster," she said, "and a cute one at that."
"Boo likes you," Minsc said dully. "Can we work here for food and stuff?"
"Well, now ..." she whispered.
"Excuse me," Gaelan said. They hadn't heard him come back behind the bar. He tossed Aquarra, Willow and Buffy some clothes which they caught.
"We could use a busboy," Bodhi said as she glanced at Buffy.
"Aquarra, Willow and I can't stay here," Buffy told her. "We left someone behind. We need to—"
"I wasn't talking to you," Bodhi said.
Buffy looked at Bodhi, who nodded to Minsc.
"Oh, come now, Bodhi," Gaelan objected, but she cut him short with a disapproving glare. "Fine, then, he can start by throwing out the captain."
"The captain?" Willow asked.
Gaelan tipped his head to the old drunk and said, "Captain Bavarian."
"One of the more notorious pirates of the Sword Coast," Bodhi said with a laugh in her voice.
Two men stepped through the door and paused at the scene in front of them. Buffy, Willow and Aquarra now wore Bodhi's clothes. Minsc was cradling Boo in one hand and reaching for the now loudly snoring pirate with the other.
"Evening, good sirs," Gaelan said to the newcomers, "step right in."
The men moved to the bar, and Buffy turned to watch Minsc trying to pull the deadweight old man out of his chair with one hand.
"You'd make a better bouncer," Bodhi said to Buffy.
"So you know who I am," Buffy said.
"Kind of hard to miss a Slayer when there hasn't been one in who knows how long," Bodhi said.