Galvarey said, "Kill the traitor. Hold the other one."
A woman wearing half-plate and a male halfling moved towards Jaheira, drawing their weapons.
Lidia pivoted in front of them, holding her sword in a guard. "Don't even think about it."
"We outnumber you. Our mages are preparing their spells. It's over," the woman said, drawing her scimitar.
Out of the corner of her eye, Lidia saw that Galvarey remained still, standing and waiting. "Galvarey doesn't have the courage to face us, so he's content to throw your lives away," Lidia said.
"You're mad. When he becomes High Herald, it'll all be worth it."
Jaheira chanted behind her, "Praeses, alia, fero!" She held up her holy symbol, a gold talisman. When she finished chanting, the outline of an oak leaf glowed upon it.
Lidia leapt backwards. Large, ropy, green vines sprouted up beneath their opponents' feet, then bound them to the ground. They slashed at the vines with their swords, but as soon as they cut one, a replacement sprang up and held them fast.
The other two mages, still on the edge of the circle on the floor, were both enclosed by faint, shimmering globes. One of them was caught by the vines, but soon got his bearings. He began moving his hands in a complicated motion.
With a flick of her wrist, Lidia removed the pommel from her sword and threw it towards the mage's head. It solidly connected, and he let out a loud curse, stumbling to the ground. As soon as his hand touched, it was caught in a vine.
Jaheira moved in on the woman in plate and the halfling, standing at the edge of the field of vines. With one blow from her spear, she finished the woman off. Neither she nor Lidia could reach the halfling without getting entangled in the vines themselves. In any case, he was trapped. He could wait.
The mage at Galvarey's side finished chanting and pointed his finger in Jaheira's direction.
"Look out!" Lidia shouted, running towards him.
A streak of orange light flashed across the room, catching Lidia on the right shoulder.
The fireball had only bloomed to a fraction of its full size when it hit her. It still packed a wallop, nearly knocking Lidia off her feet. It punched through her armor, singed her shoulder and the right side of her neck, and finally burned itself out. Jaheira ran to her side, raising her spear. Galvarey moved forward, then abruptly stopped, only a pace out of Jaheira's striking distance.
Lidia recovered, pulling herself up again. Her shoulder throbbed as though a rock had hit it, and the heat was still working its way through her skin.
The mage next to Galvarey went still. His fellow and the halfling on the opposite side of the room was still struggling to free himself from the vines, but the spell would soon fade. In a few moments, they'd be outnumbered again.
Galvarey said, reaching for his sword, "Jaheira, I'm surprised. You would kill Harpers rather than admit - "
Jaheira buried the tip of the spear into his throat. He slowly sank to his knees, grasping at the shaft.
She twisted the spear, then forcefully withdrew it. "You are no Harper."
For a few moments, clawed at the hole in his neck, the blood running down the front of his armor. His body stiffened, then collapsed to the floor. He died quickly.
Lidia approached the mage, doing her best not to jostle her right side.
His face turned from shock to contempt. "What kind of mad creature are you?"
She raised her sword. "A left-handed one."
He grabbed a staff from behind the statue of Selûne. "Have at you!"
The staff swung downwards with the find of force that could easily cave in a skull. Lidia turned out of its path. She stepped closer on his exposed side. He raised his staff, but was unable to bring the staff around in time. She landed a cut on the back of his thigh.
He stumbled to the ground, crying out in pain and letting go of his staff.
Lidia held forward her sword, which was now marked with blood and streaked by his robe. She'd missed his knee, but the cut was deep. "Don't move," she ordered him.
The mage scowled, reached into his cloak, and withdrew a piece of parchment wrapped around something solid. He started making a complex series of motions with his other hand, and the edges of the parchment began to glow white. "Manus -"
One sword-slash to his neck and he was done.
Meanwhile, the magical vines on the other side of the room faded. The other mage and the halfling finally got to their feet. The mage saw Galvarey and two of his companions bleeding out on the floor, and cried out. His companion drew two short daggers and started to advance on Lidia and Jaheira.
"They chose their fate," Lidia said. "You still can choose yours. Get out."
The mage obeyed, running out of the room.
The halfling angrily called out, "Nadinal, you coward!" But he quickly followed suit.
The door slammed. Lidia and Jaheira then turned their attention to the bodies.
Lidia picked up the parchment near the mage, then unrolled it. Inside was a small statuette, hastily carved to look like a young woman. Her knowledge of magic was limited, but she guessed that this was the scroll of Imprisonment and that the mage had been preparing to use it. Few other spells required a statuette like this one.
She then went over to Galvarey and studied him for a moment. "This isn't usually what Harpers wear, is it? Look at this," she said, checking over Galvarey's armor. "I'd bet it's magical. Not to mention he either did the Cowled Wizards a massive favor or paid a massive bribe to allow for spellcasting here."
Jaheira kept a distance from the corpses, as though they were painful to look upon.
Lidia lifted Galvarey's large feathered collar, now stained with his blood. On his upper right arm, the armor had been embossed, and then an attempt had been made to hammer the symbol flat. She recognized it, even so.
"The armor's from the Order of the Radiant Heart," Lidia said.
Jaheira knelt next to him and took a look for herself. "What would a knight be doing among Harpers?"
"I don't think he died as one." She sat back on her heels.
"Well, it does us no good to speculate. That mage will bring help soon enough. See if they have anything we might use, and then let us leave."
In the end, they had the Imprisonment spell, a few coins, healing potions and other small trinkets in their packs, and little else - Lidia had a profound distaste for parting the dead with their possessions, and Jaheira wanted to be away as soon as possible. She picked up the stray pommel on the way towards the door. As they were about to leave, Jaheira paused.
"I'll be best off not leaving openly," she said.
Lidia looked away. It happened in only a second or two, but she got dizzy every time she watched. "It's not really hiding if it makes an odd sight."
Jaheira growled.
As a druid, Jaheira could take the forms of a brown bear, a black bear, and a gray wolf, and it was in this last shape that she trotted alongside Lidia. Lidia let her lead the way, following wherever Jaheira's head turned.
Lidia said, "Well, if anyone asks, I'll just tell them you've lived among people for years, wouldn't hurt a fly. You wouldn't make a liar out of me, would you?"
Jaheira turned away.
Lidia realized that her friend was in no mood for levity. "Those people in there - were any of them friends?"
She made no sound or gesture. They went the rest of the way to the Coronet in silence.
Jaheira shifted back to her natural form just outside Coronet's back door, but only felt free to speak once they went inside towards their rooms. She took the key and started unlocking their room, giving her staff to Lidia to hold. "Hopefully we have some time before - "
"Jaheira!" Bernard mopped sweat from his brow as he went down the hallway. "You shouldn't be showin' your face around where it ain't safe. Not that you ain't safe in my sight but…"
She turned to him. "But what?"
"But I'm on good terms with Harpers and I don't want that to change." He wrung his towel in his hands. "Word's got around about what happened. Jaheira. It ain't true, is it?"
"Not the way they tell it," Jaheira said. "You know me. Can you trust what I do?"
"Yes, ma'am. Good enough for me." He bowed.
"Thank you," Jaheira said.
He left, and they closed the door behind them. Jaheira slumped into a nearby chair, then looked up towards Lidia. "I'm a dunce. You are still wounded."
"I'll be fine," Lidia said. "What happens now?"
"It may bode ill for us. The network already knows, and Galvarey was as close to a regional leader as the Harpers have here. The events will be told from his favor, I am sure. I see no way forward yet."
Lidia tried to speak again, but Jaheira raised her hand, saying. "Further talk is useless. I know we were in the right. There's nothing else for us to do but see what comes of it."