Throne of Cards

by Laufey

This is the final part of my Bhaalspawn Trilogy. It is a work in progress, so though the parts I'm currently writing are fairly close to the end I plan to spread out posting a little in order not to create too much of a wait in the end. I hope you will enjoy it, comments are welcome as always!

10. Chapter 10

Throne of Cards 10 – Mother And Orphan

Family comes in all shapes and sizes, some of them unexpected. The strongest ties, for good or ill, don't have to be ties of blood.

Excerpt from 'Ruminations Of A Master Bard'

The old man wore a cloak of shadows, and shadows crawled like snakes along his slightly stooped form and formed viscous puddles at his feet. His face was pale, the masklike face of a corpse, with deep, dark pits where the eyes should have been.

"Child," He spoke, and his voice echoed and warbled in a way that made not just the ears, but the soul hurt. "Oh, my child, look at you."

"Gorion…" Zaerini squeaked, the word almost sticking in her dry throat. Her chest was constricting, her breathing quick and labored. She was unable to take her eyes off this twisted mockery of her foster father, despite how much it hurt.

"Look at you," The specter said, shaking its head in dismay. "Look at what you have become. A murderer…worse, a monster. The power of Bhaal rages within you, unchecked, untempered."

"No! That's not true!" The unfairness of the accusation was a searing whip, a redhot brand against an open wound. And yet…was there a not a glimmer of truth in the cruel words? "I've got it under control, I'm not letting it rule me! I've been trying to make you proud!"

"And you've failed," Gorion said, shaking his head once again. "My child…look at all the lives you have taken, the misery left in your wake. Look at the company you keep. Misfits and rogues, villains of the darkest hue…they have helped speed the corruption along."

"No!"

"I should have left you behind," that cold, uncaring voice said. "Far better that you had died as an infant, the way fate intended. The Realms would have been a safer, more orderly place, and I…I would still be alive, would I not?"

Zaerini couldn't even answer that. She felt her knees buckling, and only Minsc and Edwin hurriedly grabbing her arms kept her from dropping to the ground.

"Hey!" Imoen piped up, angrily shaking a finger at the ghostly apparition. "That's not fair! You leave Rini alone!"

"And you, Imoen," The shadowy form of Gorion tutted. "So young, so easily led. So weak. It is no great surprise that you have fallen along with your sister. You were, after all, always a mere afterthought. Why else do you suppose I did not bring you out of Candlekeep along with Zaerini? Your life, and your death, were always merely…incidental."

Imoen gasped, as if she'd been slapped.

"You talk entirely too much for a dead man," Sarevok growled. "I killed you once, as I recall. It should be no great chore to repeat the process, and it will be my pleasure."

The specter laughed. "The spare and the rejected both speak!" It chuckled. "Are you happy to tag along after your younger sibling now? Are you not afraid you will be left behind…once again? You still remember it, do you not?"

Sarevok's eyes narrowed.

"You cried, alone in the dust, little boy. For me! For me to save you. Well, this time I will not ignore you, you may count on that."

"Stop it!" Rini choked out. "Leave us alone! Go away!"

"Depart, spirit!" Edwin hissed. "Or you will shortly find yourself repeatedly reanimated, discorporated and incinerated."

"Of course," It mocked. "The Great Wizard would not listen to me, would he? Well, perhaps you will listen to somebody else."

More shadows gathered along the ground, floating closer and closer, coming together. They rose higher, taking shape and hideous form.

"Ah, there you are, boy," Dekaras said, his voice the same lifeless and cold monotone as Gorion's was, but instantly recognizable. The shadows wrapped themselves around him like chains, a shroud of deepest night, but none as terrible as the ones where his eyes should have been. "I regret to say that your tardiness is not improved. You are too late."

"No…" Edwin whispered; his own face nearly as pale as that of the undead assassin. "No, it cannot be true…the amulet…"

"…shows the faintest glimmer, a mere spark, does it not? Which is all that remains of me, thanks to you. It may interest you to know that my end was excruciatingly painful, and very slow. But no, why would I think it would interest you?" The assassin leaned closer, his words dripping like soft poison into the trembling wizard's ear. "If it did, I'm sure you would have arrived in time to prevent it."

"No! I tried my best, I swear it!"

"Well then, your best clearly wasn't good enough, now was it? How very…disappointing." The shadows flared up higher as the undead glided noiselessly across the ground. Pale fingers, tipped with sharp claws reached out for the paralyzed wizard, lightly scraping along his cheek. "And after everything I've done for you too. You've failed me, and you will never repay that debt." The claws pressed a little deeper, drawing blood. "I do not rest in peace, Edwin." The undead chuckled darkly, a sound which had very little sanity or true mirth to it. "No, no peace under the green hills or grassy mounds for me."

Under the hill…. Rini thought. My last Reading…is that what it meant? No. No, surely not. I was so sure it was important. She could feel cold tears on her face, and she felt too stricken to even try to step aside as the two ghostly figures swelled and grew taller, the cold smiles on their gaunt faces eating into her very soul and sapping her of strength and will. Why fight anymore? Didn't she deserve this? More shadows were appearing along the ground, smaller and shapeless, yet bowing to the will of the two greater ones, silently surrounding the party. Imoen was trembling, and Sarevok, though he had a feral snarl on his face, was paler than she could remember seeing him before.

"That will do," Viconia firmly said, raising her hand. She was holding something small aloft, a black disc with a purple border. "The Lady of Shadows speaks through me, her chosen priestess. Darkness and night are her domains, and their secrets are hers to keep or share. You will submit to her will, wraiths."

The two undead hissed, their faces blurring, becoming less distinct. As the resemblance faded, the inertia of despair also lessened. Rini shuddered, feeling as if she was just awakening from a horrible nightmare, still unsure what was real or not. Meanwhile, Minsc firmly grasped Edwin by the shoulder, pulling him out of the way of the wraiths. The wizard struggled weakly against the berserker's grasp but was still too shocked to do more than that.

"Stand fast, friends!" Minsc said. "These are evil shades, lies sent to hurt and to trick. Boo says, who sent them?"

"Yes…" Viconia murmured, her eyes glowing in the darkness as she fearlessly walked closer to the swirling shadows. "That is a good question. Vampiric wraiths delight in suffering and exist to cause torment. They are intelligent undead, and the most powerful ones can pluck from your mind the very instruments with which to cause pain. But these two…they were prepared. Who prepared you, shades? Who sent you here, and why? I command you, tell me the truth."

"To probe, and to goad," The Gorion wraith said, his mouth impossibly long now, reaching all the way to his ears, and his voice filled with malice. "To get close, to kill if possible, to unbalance if not. To distract."

"That is a 'why'. And who did this? Melissan?"

"We do not know this 'Melissan'," The Dekaras wraith said. His head was distorted, far too tall and seemingly melting. A single shadowy eye glared back at the priestess. "We were sent by the Lady of the Grove."

"Who?"

"We were her loyal servants in life, as we are in death," The wraith spoke. "We will never betray her."

Viconia smiled, a nasty little smile which did not reach her eyes. "Oh yes, you will. Who is she? Tell me now."

"Her name is holy; we do not know it."

"We cannot tell you."

"Tell me."

The wraiths shrieked, an impossibly high, buzzing noise. "She is…she is the Guardian of the Ring of Grey Flames."

"She is the Keeper of the Running Rocks."

"She is the Mother of the Sisters."

"She is…is…she is the Oluanna. No man may stand against her."

"Too bad," Viconia told them. "I am no man. Is that all you can tell me?" The wraiths shrieked again in wordless agony, held fast by the binding power of her holy symbol. "Then be gone."

The two wraiths were torn asunder, flecks and tendrils of shadow scattering and dispersing, flung far away from the shocked people watching. Once they were gone, the forest was still dark, the shadows were still long, but they felt natural now, and in the distance Zaerini could hear the small rustles and creaks of animals moving about.

"Did you kill them?" She asked, her voice sounding shrill to her own ears. She was clutching Edwin's arm tightly, and he was absently patting her hand, but he still looked dazed, his face haunted.

"No," Viconia said, putting her holy symbol away. "They were too powerful for that, I'm afraid." She smirked. "I did send them back to their mistress though, and by a very scenic route I might add. I don't think they will enjoy it very much."

"They weren't real, were they?" Imoen pleaded.

"They certainly weren't the people they were pretending to be."

Sarevok slowly exhaled. "It seems there is yet another foe arrayed against us. I look forward to meeting them in person."

"Me too," Rini agreed, hot anger now pushing the previous icy despair aside. Edwin was still looking as if somebody had slapped him and then killed and eaten his favorite puppy. Somebody would pay for that.

"This cannot be," Minsc said, scratching at his bald head with uncharacteristic worry. "Boo, why would they say such a thing? It makes no sense."

"What is it, Minsc?" Zaerini asked him, craning her neck backwards to look up into the tall man's face. "What do you mean?"

"The Oluanna. How can it be?"

"Er, search me? Do you mean you know what that word means?"

"Yes. Little Rini, that word means 'Chosen One'. That is a word in the holy mother tongue of Rasheman."

"Thank you, Minsc," Rini slowly said, her mind racing to put the pieces of the puzzle together. "You've been very helpful. But you're wrong. It does make perfect sense." Much as I might wish that it didn't.

The shadows of the forest were unusually restless today. The woman sitting on the cracked stone floor of the ruined temple raised her head, peering out into the darkness. Were intruders coming? But why would anybody come here? The temple was broken, the people were lost, and her boy…her boy…

She shuddered, forcing the thoughts away. Not thinking too much was better. Thinking of what had gone before drove icy splinters through her mind. Far better to simply act. Eat, sleep, eliminate. Even so, if intruders had come, she'd better be ready to take steps. She raised her hand to push the matted clumps of hair away from her face, marveling at how emaciated it had become, how long and sharp her yellow nails. As for the hair itself, the less said of it the better.

It used to shine, she thought with something resembling sorrow. It used to shine in the light.

Joints creaking and protesting, she struggled to her feet and slowly walked towards the entrance of the temple. There was a bit of ceiling left here still, useful for shelter on rainy days, and she could often find food beneath the mossy stones. Not the kind of food she would once have preferred, perhaps, but enough to keep her going. Until the boy can be found. Yessss. And there, above the crumbling door, the grinning skull, the Tears surrounding it. Her god, lost as well.

"I tell you, there's somebody there!" A voice, clear as a bell within the strangling shadows of the deep undergrowth. "I know I saw something."

Other voices, less important, answering the first one. The woman in the temple narrowed her eyes, straining to see better. It had been so long, too long. Even so, she didn't think she was mistaken.

"Guests?" She croaked, her voice rasping and creaky from long neglect. "Guests for poor old Nyalee?" Her name – for it was her name, wasn't it? It tasted so odd in her mouth.

The group of people stepped out of the shadows now. Six of them there were, but one more important than the others. She burned, like a flame so bright she burned. How was it possible the others with her did not see it? It made Nyalee want to fall to her knees and weep, if she had still had it in her to do so. Close. She is so close. One other, a lesser Spawn…but this greater one is near to ascension. How many deaths has she consumed to come so far?

"I don't know," The hypnotic voice, the voice with the Master's power in it, spoke. "I was told there was somebody in this forest who might know something I need to know."

"Nyalee has known many things," She said. "And forgotten many more! Child of Murder, what do you wish to know of poor Nyalee?"

"For one thing, that you might stop speaking in the third person and start making sense!" This was one of the others, a young man in a red magerobe. He sounded more than a little frustrated, and didn't look all that well, from what Nyalee could remember of other people. "Why is it always gibbering lunatics we need to interview, I wonder? (How difficult can it be to keep one's conversation clear and lucid?)"

"Shush, Eddie," The Bright One gently admonished. The burning gaze turned to Nyalee again. "I was told that somebody in these parts knows of Yaga-Shura."

"Oh, Nyalee knows!" She said, a bubbling cackle close to bursting forth. "But why should Nyalee tell, hm? What do you want with Yaga-Shura, Child of Bhaal?"

"…I'm not even bothering to ask anymore how come people can tell so easily what I am," The redhead muttered. "Fine, Nyalee. I need to know how Yaga-Shura can be killed."

"Oh, Yaga-Shura cannot be killed, no, no, no," Nyalee said, shaking her head vigorously, even as the strangers gave her looks which ranged from disappointment to disgust. "Not without his heart."

"His heart?" The dark one said, her eyes glinting. "What of his heart, old one?"

"Hidden it was," Nyalee said with a quick smile. "Cunning Nyalee…I protected my boy, my Yaga-Shura."

"Your boy?" Said the younger Spawn, blinking. "But he…you…"

"Took him, Nyalee did," Nyalee said. "Protected him, raised him for my own. Made him strong, made myself strong, for him, to give him what was needed. The magic was hidden and secret, but Nyalee delved deep in the dark, and Nyalee learnt how to do it. With the heart taken out, safe, hidden, nobody can kill Yaga-Shura. Not unless it is destroyed."

"If you wanted to protect him, why are you telling us this?" The Bright One asked.

Nyalee shuddered, her nails digging deep into her palms until slick blood trickled forth. "He tricked me!" She wailed, the pain still as fresh as it had been. "Yaga-Shura took Nyalee's heart, took it away with him!"

"Ok…this is getting confusing. Why did he do that?"

"I assume to make certain he held power over her," The wizard said. "As long as she knew how to work and reverse the spell, not to mention knew its secret, she would be a threat to him. He might have disposed of her outright, but I would postulate that he preferred to keep her alive and in his power, just in case he should need her again."

The Bright One grimaced. "That's pretty twisted."

"Fire Giants aren't known for their delicate sensibilities, my Hellkitten."

Nyalee clawed at her own shoulders this time, curling in on herself, on the empty void where her heart had rested. "Yessss…" She said. "The clever boy, the betraying boy. My Yaga-Shura. He has hidden his heart along with Nyalee's, in his stronghold to the east, in the Marching Mountains. Find the hearts, Child of Bhaal! Bring Nyalee her own heart back, and she will destroy the other one, to punish the wicked Yaga-Shura. Nyalee will help you if you help her, yes."

"Fair enough, I suppose," The Bright One said. "It'll have to wait a while, but I'll keep it in mind." She turned to leave, speaking to the others as she did so. "Ok guys, I know how to work the whole teleportation thing this time around without error. I think. At least we learnt stuff we needed to know, so that's a start."

She walked away, but the other Spawn, the lesser one, quickly darted back to Nyalee, pressing something into the surprised woman's hand. "Uh, here," She said. "I was stuck in a cell once, and I'd lost a part of me too. I know how it feels when you just don't care about anything anymore. This might help make you feel a little better at least. I've got a spare. Ok, see ya later!" With that she hurried off after her companions, leaving Nyalee staring in bafflement at the simple but sturdy comb resting in her bloody palm.

"So. Rasheman." Zaerini sighed and rubbed her temple with her fingers, trying to make the headache go away. "Well, it's another clue, I guess." She looked out into the darkness surrounding the campfire. The pocketplane had seemed the best place to hold this discussion, safe and secluded. Even so, the occasional little soft giggles and whispers she could hear out there in the forest, beyond the glimmering lights, were a bit of a distraction. Surely there can't be anything actually hostile out there. After all I made this place, didn't I?

"Not a very helpful one," Sarevok pointed out. The large warrior was standing with his back to the fire so that all she could see was his imposing silhouette and the gleam of his eyes. "Rasheman is a large country, you know. We cannot rush off without a plan."

"I know that," Rini said, trying to sound more patient than she felt. She dared a quick glance at Edwin. The wizard was sitting next to her, but it felt as if he were miles away, and though he seemed to be staring into the fire, she suspected he might be seeing something else entirely. "I wasn't suggesting it. We don't even know Rasheman is the right place to go to, all we know is those wraiths were sent by somebody from Rasheman. That's all."

"Nope," Imoen said. She was sitting astride a log by the fire, thoughtfully chewing on a fingernail, but now she looked up with a sharp glint in her eyes. "That's not all. We've been going about this the wrong way."

"What do you mean, Immy?"

"We don't know where Vadrak is now, but we know where he was supposed to be going, don't we? And we know where he left from, and I bet Edwin knows more or less the route he was planning to take." She beat her fist against her open palm. "And we know he wouldn't go down without a fight. A big fight. No matter where…where it happened, it'd have made a mess I bet would be hard to cover up all the way, even for somebody powerful. There'd be talk. So maybe we can't travel to where he's right now, but we can hop and skip all over the place until we find the place he disappeared from, and once we find that we can find out more."

Edwin sat up a little straighter, looking intently at the pink haired girl. "I…" He started. "Why didn't I think of that?!"

Imoen grinned. "No offense, Eddie, but you've been a wreck and not really thinking straight, not that I blame you."

"I didn't think of it either," Rini admitted with a rueful smile.

"You've got the whole Bhaalspawn thing hanging over you, sis. More than I do, for sure, so I've had more time to think. Anyway, I'm the resident rogue, right? We're good at finding things out. So how about it? Where do you guys want to start?"

"So, this is Thay," Zaerini said, looking about with wide eyes, trying to take as much in as quickly as possible. She'd wanted to see Edwin's home for quite some time now, and even if this wasn't under the best of circumstances, she was determined to make the most of it. It was warm, that was the first thing she became aware of after leaving the dark and slightly chilly air of the pocketplane. Warm, yes, but not unpleasantly so. There was a faint breeze in the air, just cool enough.

"Bit of a dump, isn't it?" Imoen said, cocking her head to one side to inspect the grimy wall of the alleyway they'd materialized in. Rini had decided that a small scouting party was for the best, and so it was only herself, her lover and her best friend who were present. Minsc had protested about being separated from his Witch, even if only temporarily, but she didn't even want to think about how things would likely end if she brought him into a Thayvian city. Sarevok and Viconia weren't exactly inconspicuous either, and for this little outing she wanted to draw as little attention as possible. And let's hope the Red Wizards haven't caught on about what happened with Degardan yet or we might just meet up with more assassins than we'd like.

"Your ignorance is entirely what might be expected," Edwin said. He drew himself up to his full length and folded his hands into the sleeves of his robe. "Even Pyarados, grand jewel of Thay, is bound to have a few dark corners, the tiny imperfections to set off her radiance."

"The graffiti's much the same as in all other slums I've seen," Imoen said with an impish grin. She pointed at the wall behind her, where there were indeed a number of fairly graphic drawings. Rini couldn't read Thayvian very well yet, Edwin had been trying to teach her some basic vocabulary, but their busy schedule hadn't let them get further than 'Please can you show me the way to the nearest alchemist' and 'The zombies are coming.' Oh, and a few more private phrases, which she really, really hoped she wouldn't accidentally blurt out while trying to order food in a restaurant. Even so, she gathered enough of the scribbled words underneath the drawings to get the general idea. One of them did in fact involve zombies, even if the context seemed to be all wrong.

"Well, our vandals are more eloquent by far than the common street scrawlers of the decadent West!" Edwin sniffed. "Why, just look at…" He made a sweeping gesture with his elegantly manicured hand, and then saw what he was pointing at. "Er…yes. Eloquent. A picture counts for a thousand words, yes? Let's not waste any more precious time." He walked off in a hurry, the two women following him.

"So…are you sure you're not lost?" Rini said an hour later. The alleyway had led them into another alleyway, which led to a narrow street, and then a tunnel into a winding road which she felt sure had now looped back to the beginning. Judging from what little sun filtered down between the tall, dusty brown stone buildings it was morning, and these streets were quiet. She definitely didn't want to be wandering around here after dark though, Bhaalspawn or not. Sometimes she'd see a shadow behind a narrow window, or a movement out of the corner of her eye, and there was an unpleasant itching sensation between her shoulderblades.

"A wizard is never lost," Edwin stated with a firm nod. "He is merely temporarily misplaced." He smiled at her. "Besides, you forget that this is Thay. The Red Wizards rule supreme and none would dare cross me for fear of angering the order."

"Yes, but…what if a Red Wizard happens to get quietly stabbed without any eyewitnesses? Then what?"

Edwin paused, his mouth slightly open and his finger raised in the air. "Let's walk a little faster," He said, his voice slightly high-pitched. "I'm fairly certain that…aha!"

They'd come out into a smallish square, with an empty and cracked fountain in the middle and a few closed shops one of which seemed entirely devoted to selling mummies of various species. Rini winced slightly as she saw the neat stack of dry little cat mummies.

What does it matter? Softpaws asked. The black cat was walking at her side with her tail high and eyes bright as she surveyed this new place. They are dead. They don't care.

I guess not, but…oh now what's he up to?

Edwin had walked up to a house which looked in every respect identical to the houses on either side of it. Tall, brown, dusty, windows mostly boarded up. He knocked on the unprepossessing and narrow front door until a small hatch was opened near the top. Rini couldn't see the person behind it, but the hatch was high enough that she thought even a tall human would have trouble seeing through it.

"Yeah?" A deep voice rumbled.

"I believe you know me," Edwin said in a quiet, measured voice. "I have been here before. In company."

"Different time, different company, kid. Your earlier company's not here. That means you don't get in."

Edwin gave a small, frustrated sigh, but there was no sign of the fireballs Rini was half expecting. "That's as may be," He said. "But I have other company to call upon. I believe 'Orphan' means something to you."

A brief pause. "Wait here, kid. Don't touch anything." The hatch slid shut.

"I really wouldn't," Edwin warned Imoen who was edging closer to the door, peering intently at it. "Not if you prefer to keep your internal organs inside your body rather than in a bucket."

"Hey, I'm pretty good with traps now, you know!"

"I wasn't referring to the traps," Edwin darkly said. "We're being watched."

"I don't see anybody. Oh. Right. Ok then. Who's this orphan we're meeting? Didn't know you were into charity. What do you do, give them lollipops and take them to the park?"

"No, I…"

"No, but he should!" a piping voice said from the door. "I haven't had a lollipop in ages. Hiya Eddie-kins!" A small blur tackled the wizard's midriff and Edwin staggered backwards with a small 'oof', trying in vain to dislodge the Halfling woman clinging to his waist. After the split-second it took her to decide that her lover wasn't in fact under attack, Rini watched with great interest. The Halfling had shiny brown hair, tied into two thick and bouncing pigtails, with red and purple ribbons threaded into them. She had round, red cheeks, and bright eyes, and judging from the way her legs were firmly clamped around the back of Edwin's thighs she was far stronger than she looked.

"Please…let go…can't breathe…" Edwin wheezed, but he made no move of aggression, settling for hugging the Halfling awkwardly.

"Not until you give your Auntie Poppy a big, sloppy kiss, Eddie-kins! Mwah! Ok, that's better. Who are your friends? It's so great to see you've brought friends, you've always been too much of a loner, just like Dekkie, that's what I always tell him, but he says…where is he anyway?" She frowned at Edwin's dismayed face, and the suddenly flinty look in her eyes made Rini reassess her once again. She half suspected this seemingly bouncy and cheerful little woman might be able to beat Jon Irenicus in a staring contest, and though there was no weapon in sight the bard very carefully avoided making any sudden movements.

"Right," The Halfling said, pursing her lips. "Let's go somewhere we can talk. And then I want you to tell your Auntie Poppy everything."