The Witch of the Glade

The clatter of the bones. The damp darkness with only thin rays of the pale sun penetrating it. Something was stirring by the altar.

- "It is master! Master come again!" The croaky voice belonged to a rotten corpse, the remnants of a festive cleric robe still covering it. Sarevok again shivered involuntarily. The other undead clattered nearer, enthusiastic.

Then the former priest of Bhaal changed his tone, his rotten face twisting in rage.

- "No, it is but a vessel of his power! Kill it!"

Peri charged, her reddish-brown hair like the mane of a noble warhorse, her eyes wide with anger.

- "I am more than a vessel of anything, you disgusting fanatics!" she snarled.

You certainly are, sister, thought Sarevok and threw his blade in the mix. These undead horrors, still waiting for their dead master, were akin the psychopaths who had tried to murder him and Peri in the very beginning of their life. Sarevok hacked, rage and joy mixed in his heart. At moments he was again at the other Bhaal temple, running for his life from an overwhelming enemy that didn't think him worth anything. Now he had a chance to get back at them.

- "S... sarevok? SAREVOK!" Peri jerked his arm with all her might.

- "Huh?"

- "Um... they are down already. Have been some time... you are hacking a heap of bones." Peri's expression was enquiring and also compassionate.

- "O... oh." Sarevok was embarrassed, as the rest of the group just stared at him incredulously.

- "The bad memory again?" Peri asked quietly.

Sarevok nodded.

- "Let's talk about it later. There is someone over there," Peri gestured towards a female figure standing and chuckling to herself.

- "Keldorn?" Peri nodded toward the man, who concentrated in a prayer for a moment and then shook his head.

- "I don't sense an evil intent from her."

The group cautiously approached the woman. She was dirty, almost moldy in appearance, her hair a wild unkempt mess. She looked less than mentally stable, grinning with yellow teeth, her beady eyes malevolent. She had a quarterstaff in her hand.

- " Hee hee! You have come! Come, you have! The powerful one who is the spawn of the dead master! Hee hee! Nyalee knew you would come, she did!"

- "It cackles. Witches cackle in fairytales," said Imoen.

Minsc nodded in agreement, looking worried.

- "And Nyalee would be you," Peri addressed the woman. She had already gotten used to people who referred to themselves in third person.

- "The Witch of the Glade, I is called, and for good reason, it is! But questions...you have so many questions, know I!" Nyalee went on gleefully.

- "It is a witch! I knew!" Imoen whispered.

- "Do I now," Peri said. "Let me guess: you know who I am and you have been waiting for me. You can help me, but first you want me to do something for you."

- "Oh, Nyalee can help you! It is the boy...that traitorous fool of a half-giant boy of mine. You come because of Yaga-Shura! My boy has been a pain for you and I both, and you wish his blood, yes?"

- "Um... I trust we are not talking about any biological relationship here."

- "Nay, the boy did not spring from Nyalee's loins. Nyalee did see him for the spawn-child he was while but a babe and stole him from the crib! Raise him here in this temple as her own did she!"

Sarevok was nodding. The prophecy held true... nurtured destruction not of her own loins.

- "So why do you want to kill your own son then, woman?" he asked.

- "Because a betrayer is the boy! Did Nyalee not raise the boy? Did Nyalee not teach the boy the old tricks, yes? And the boy did leave Nyalee here to rot! Steals her heart, even!" The witch was very upset now.

- "Eugh... I don't think I want to know," Imoen muttered.

- "Then tell us how to kill Yaga-Shura," Peri said.

- "That Nyalee will do. Hee hee! The traitorous boy will not even see it coming, oh no! Nyalee will haves her revenge! Listen closely, then, spawn-child... Once a great cleric of Bhaal was Nyalee! But then great Bhaal is dead, and Nyalee is forced to turn to the older arts to survive. Nyalee steals the spawn-child Yaga-Shura to raise in this temple, did she. A new Lord of Murder did Nyalee hope to create! Foolish old Nyalee..." her voice trailed off for a while.

- "I much preferred Winski," Sarevok muttered, then remembered the last time he had seen his mentor and felt a flash of guilt, much stronger than the last time. He shoved the thought out of his mind.

-" Teaches the boy the old tricks did she, teaches the boy to remove his heart did she. The boy has removed his heart, and he will keep it afired and bathed in magical flames. While his heart burns, no harm may come to Yaga-Shura. No death may come until his heart is quenched!" Nyalee went on. "Only Nyalee knows the words and the arts to extinguish the boy's heart, she does. But Nyalee needs her own heart to use the arts...and the boy stole her heart years ago. Keeps it, he does. Finds Nyalee's heart and Yaga-Shura's heart both, spawn-child...brings them both to her. Nyalee will quench his heart forever, then! Hee hee! So surprised, so shocked will he be!"

- "I assume he keeps the hearts in the Fire mountains, where his home is." Peri looked determined now.

- "Nyalee knows not. Nyalee thinks it may be so, she does."

- "Very well, Nyalee. You will have your revenge, while I will slay the giant. Nice doing business with you." Peri teleported the group back to the pocket plane.

- "Peri! That insane woman was... is STILL a servant of that foul god! How can you trust her!" Keldorn was shocked.

- "Oh for gods' sakes. Don't you already realize trust is a luxury I don't have anymore! The prophecy is unfolding and I have the most powerful Bhaalspawn of the Realms after my ass! And this fire giant does sound rather harmful. If you need extra convincing, feel free to take a stroll in Saradush!" Peri snapped.

Keldorn bit his tongue, looking taken aback.

- "Peri is right," Sarevok said. "The prophecies talk about... a secret pact. I don't know between whom, but I would assume some of those Bhaalspawn. If the hag betrays us, we must just deal with it then. If Gromnir is to be trusted, this is our only hope of defeating the giant. Now we can escape Saradush - but he will be after us as soon as he realizes Peri was not among the dead."

Keldorn nodded.

- "Peri, sister. May I have a private word with you? About a thing I have been given much thought to as of late?" Sarevok asked.

- "Certainly." Peri was pleased with the prospect of spending a moment together with Sarevok. All the others got on her nerves right now for some reason.