Chapter 4
Travels
"Mindshields for Kel seem necessary," Winter commented. The two of you stared down from a slope at two minotaurs, their eyes blank, like a painted doll's. Mind controlled beasts, you realized, and shivered slightly. You could not help but pity the two huge animals. Bestial as they looked, with a massive bull's head and cruelly curving horns slicked with some dried black substance that shone dully in the light provided by Irr'liancrea, still no creature deserved to be so controlled.
"Yes," Irr'liancrea responded, and you felt a small twinge in the back of your mind, like intangible walls surrounding your thoughts. And not too soon as well, because a sudden barrage of what felt like mental 'arrows' seemed to skid off the walls.
You frowned and shuffled closer to Winter. She gave you a reassuring smile, then turned back to the minotaurs. "I would speak with your masters."
The minotaurs stared, unmoving.
Winter sighed, a little callously. "Perhaps I shall have to cut them down after all." She began to draw her sword, but then the minotaurs stepped aside, revealing a disgusting-looking creature, an illithid…it gave the impression of staring at the two of you. You blinked – you had been sure the creature had not been there a short time ago…
Winter and the creature simply stared at each other, and then she spoke out of the corner of her mouth. "It is puzzled as to why it cannot touch our minds."
"Yes'm." You feel profoundly relieved for the shields.
"I wonder if a toll would suffice…" Winter raised an eyebrow at the creature, which hesitated, then backed away. The minotaurs lumbered forward, and you let out an involuntary hiss.
"Ah, I see it wants to play." Winter murmured calmly, drawing her sword quickly, holding it in front of her, then started running forward, long strides eating up the ground. The first minotaur held up its halberd and swung it down with impossible speed, the huge blade parallel to the ground, but Winter leaped forward, perfect timing, somehow managing to use the blade as a stepping stone.
She leaped high into the air, Irr'liancrea raised over her head for an instant before smashing down into the creature's brain. It died without a sound, and she somehow managed to free her blade, spinning for the next.
It was lumbering towards you, halberd swinging, but you were faster and you dodged quickly, easily, drawing your dagger even though you knew it is probably useless against so large a creature. You knew where to strike, at least – you ran behind the creature before it could react and plunged the wicked blade into the back of the knee joint, pulling it away, then running again.
The creature collapsed into a kneel, but the halberd was in an impossibly fast swipe…then Winter was there, and her sword clashed into the steel of the pole, somehow managing to stop the blow. Roughly she shoved you aside, then whirled with deadly grace and thrust…
The second minotaur collapsed in a spray of dark blood that colored Winter's chain mail and face.
She turned – the illithid was making some sort of magic – but unthinking, you took out one of your stones for juggling and hurled it into the creature. There is a wet crack, and it fell, unmoving.
"Good throw," Winter commented, wiping her blade on the corpse of the minotaur, then retrieving a cloth from her satchel and cleaned herself up the best she could before sheathing her sword.
You looked down at yourself – you had escaped the more bloody parts of the fight, and your reflexes...and Winter, had saved your life. In relief you waited for the adrenaline to fade away...you had survived illithids! One illithid, to be sure, but that did not make it seem any less...sweet.
"Will 'em illithids attack us naow?" you asked, dreading the answer.
"We have shown our strength," Winter shrugged. "I hope they will not. Come, we must be on our way."
The next creatures that attacked were some sort of bats, screeching and swooping in to scratch at your eyes and face, automatically you fling your arms up to protect yourself. From Winter's exclamations you knew she was probably suffering from the same disaster. Then she snarled something, and the bats abruptly dropped away, landing noiselessly on the ground, quite dead.
You looked up in awe, but Winter's face was pale and her hands shook slightly. "I hate using that spell," she murmured, eyes haunted. She closed them and hugged herself once, then drew her sword in a blinding slash that bit open some attacker that had dropped from above us.
The attacking drow elf collapsed into a bloody heap, and Winter stared before shuddering again. "Be on your guard, Kel. It appears these illithids have allies in strange places."
"Yes'm."
"Mwah. This gets boring..." Winter peered at the pair of minotaurs lumbering into a charge in front of you. "I hate unnecessary bloodletting...opposed to necessary bloodletting, of course, and Zaknafein would...damnit, move slower you stupid rothe heads...call me nine kinds of fool, but I really hate killing so impersonally...damn you!"
Winter swore quietly to herself as she inspected the gash in her chain mail. "Wonderful. I hope Petriarch does not require his armor back in excellent condition."
Your eyes were wide – Winter was the finest fighter you had ever seen...so fast...
"No'm," you murmured.
"Well come on then," she sighed, then shuddered again, still taken by the aftereffects of the death-spell. "How many this illithid city's 'allies' is I still have yet to find. Hopefully they would give up sooner or later...I did think that illithids were smarter than normal drow..."
"Yes'm."
"Should have asked Mikaras about this."
"Yes'm."
"Though that fellow knows so much about some far-off drow city that I feel slightly suspicious about him...how convenient that he has reports so close to hand on my target, yes?"
"Yes'm. Dwarves, they don't wanta walk 'round much inna drow city, mum."
"Well, we have a little mystery there..." The two of you rounded a corner, your gift leading you on.
"Yes'm."
"And do not call me mum."
"Yes'm."
**
The illithids finally got the hint and stopped sending attacks; hence the rest of the journey through the intersecting tunnels which would also lead to their city was relatively peaceful. There were no monsters near an illithid city.
"This is amazing. If not for our earlier encounters I would have found this route infinitely more restful." Winter seemed to be in high spirits.
"Yes'm," you replied. There was something wrong, wrong about the very place in which you walked, but you could not put your finger on it. Your gift was informing you loudly that the closest danger was waiting, waiting in your path.
"What's wrong, Kel?"
"A lot wrong, mum," you replied without thinking, and she quirked an eyebrow curiously at you.
"A lot wrong? I wonder." Was her reply, though she continued to stride down the tunnel confidently. "Maybe you are being pessimistic. The only thing that can bother us now is a trap, and illithids don't set traps."
"Yes'm." you replied cautiously. Winter sounded so sure, but all your senses, metaphorically, where sending alarm bells to your head.
This continued for some distance, with you feeling apprehensive and Winter feeling confident, though as you walked and saw and heard nothing you felt less and less sure of your fears, until you began to question your gift.
Then a portion of the floor sank down when Winter stepped on it, and she blinked. A whistling of air – Winter's shout – you leaped automatically backwards...and a sickening crunch of metal on bone and floor...
Nearly afraid to look but not resisting the impulse, you glanced up, and felt a burst of both relief and horror, eyes wide. Winter was in a half-kneel a few body-lengths from you, breathing hard.
A huge metal plate, several body-lengths across and wide, had been slammed into the floor. You looked up – the ceiling seemed to be torn, but when you concentrated you realized that it was...paper. Part of the ceiling was paper, painted cunningly to look like rock, with a device behind it that gleamed with the shine of metal in the dull light, which meant that Winter's triggering the trap had dropped the plate that tore through the paper, and dropped down....
The side facing down had large, thin spikes sticking out of it every so often, most of which had driven a few finger-lengths into the rock ground. One of these spikes had driven through Winter's left leg, as easily as one would pierce melting butter with a knife...
"Winter!" you realized it was the sword that spoke, and its voice held a certain degree of horror.
"It appears that I have to listen...to advice...more often," Red trickled down from the edge of Winter's mouth, she had bitten through her lip. "Damn it, I don't dare use Irr'liancrea's power here to raise this thing, it may alert Crenshinibon...I suppose I'd have to do it myself. Kel, can you hold my hand?"
You nodded dumbly and stepped forward, thrusting out your hand, and she grasped it gratefully. Each time the pain seemed to throb in her, she squeezed your hand, hissing quietly to herself. Then she took several deep breaths and closed her eyes, and spoke in a clear, steady voice, in that other tongue which meant she was attempting a spell.
The strange words flowed from her mouth, ceaselessly, monotonous, and eventually they made your heart hurt with the ponderous rhythm, over and over again...
"Alkaen kes'kel daman riel, q'kkrdanka masnio ommico..."
You prayed to whatever god that may be listening that no illithids would choose to show up at this moment, but continued to look warily down the tunnels, either ends, straining to catch any movement.
"Illne, illne ma'ke la'e'g riel, riel wa'ter'ne mas'del'vian..."
Your eyes kept returning to the pool of blood that seemed to be spreading from the site of the wound, inexorable, Winter's lifeblood that seeped onto the unmoving rock.
"Q'alnesser dqakern maka'ma'ke vienn...viene...trie..." Winter took a deep, sobbing breath and continued. "Raeka, l'ien, mah'hsien..."
You happened to be staring at the spike that had driven through her leg, and you realized that its shape seemed to be becoming less and less solid, wavering in the air. Then Winter abruptly pulled to the side, and her leg passed through the spike as though it was not there. She stopped her chanting and breathed heavily for several long moments, the spike returning to solidity nearly immediately.
"Thank you, Kel," she murmured, and pulled out her leg, inspecting the gaping wound. "Oh dear." She began to speak again, this time in the spell of healing, casting the spell several times.
"Cure major wounds would drain too much of my energy," she explained before you asked the obvious question. "Though admittedly 'cure light wounds' wouldn't mend most of my leg, but I will have to bear with it until we can find shelter."
"Then hurry," the sword spoke up again.
She nodded wearily and stood up and gingerly put her weight on her injured leg, winced, then shifted her weight back. "Damn. Kel, if I ever seem to confident to you from now on, just whisper 'Illithid tunnels' to me and I will be heartily obliged."
**
There were several more traps on the way, which either you or Winter managed to find and disarm without much incident, though you would carry a scar on your upper right arm till the end of your days.
Finally the two of you reached a flat, polished plaque mounted on the wall, with oddly intricate writing on it which was not of drow make. Winter peered at it for a moment, then smiled in satisfaction. "We're on the end of illithid territory."
"Naow's wolves," you remind her, looking at the last picture on the plaque – a stylized one of a wolf running.
"Wolves are fine...I hope." Winter thought for a moment. "You may be right. Well then, I'd have to put out a request..."
She bowed her head and sat down carefully on the ground, wincing, then appeared to freeze, going into some sort of trance. You walked slowly around her, staring, wondering what she was trying to do.
Eventually you sat down beside her, fingering the dagger scabbard at your side, and wondering if wolves and illithids got together. What could they say to each other? Illithids should understand wolves pretty well if they wanted to – mindspeech crossed all language barriers because its meaning would be more apparent than any words...but would the wolves take umbrage at such treatment? Or were they enslaved like the other creatures? Then why were there still wolf territory bordering the illithids, or did the illithids come to some sort of agreement with the wolves?
In which case, were the wolves intelligent or under some sort of protection?
Your thoughts veered further and further away, and you realized wryly why the Underdark seemed to produce so many philosophers...the total silence and the endless feel to the atmosphere seemed conducive for thought.
A "Hmph," from Winter's direction alerted you to her 'waking up', and she smiled at you. A tired smile, but a triumphant one as well. "The wolves will not be hostile," she said shortly, attempted to stand up, failed, snarled to herself, and used Irr'liancrea as support.
"Mebbe we should rest, mum," you suggested.
Winter swayed slightly but did not fall. "Nonsense. We'd be safer in the wolf territory than here."
You could think of many arguments but you mutely found yourself following her into the rest of the tunnels, then eventually taking up the lead, through intersections and caverns and over a few streams, the water slowly cutting their own channels in the rock.
Winter stopped abruptly at the fourth stream. "Wait," she said, and so the two of you did. The stream poured down as a half-hearted waterfall in the small cavern, from a spot high up in the wall, to meander away down another tunnel. More tunnels in the cavern, with only two seeming natural, the rest...probably thoqqua make and hence safe. The two natural ones were, for Winter, painfully low, and she was taking the opportunity in the cavern to stretch her back.
Or so you thought. A growl behind the two of you, and you whirled. Wolves trotted nonchalantly out of one of the thoqqua tunnels, their shoulder nearly taller than you, and they did not show their teeth as they carefully fanned out. There were at least ten of them you could see here – there were more heat-signals down the tunnel where they had come from.
The wolves had gray-black fur in Winter's mage-light, and very dark amber eyes. They did not immediately slaver and jump at you as you had thought they would, but some sat down on their haunches. The combined effect of so many penetrating stares made you squirm uncomfortably.
Winter stepped forward in their direction, and after a pause a large wolf with only one and a half ears did so as well.
You wondered if Winter was going to speak in wolf...if she did you would not be surprised.
But she did not, and after a short while as she and the wolf stared at each other, the wolf flicked its ears, and padded forward in front of Winter and yourself, keeping a careful distance. The other wolves spread themselves out unevenly around the two of you – escort, perhaps? And in this way the two of you progressed down the tunnels.
Winter had to stop now and then to cast the light wounds ritual on herself, and the wolves merely waited patiently while you hoped that whatever had happened to prevent them from attacking would hold.
Claws clicked insistently on rock as the wolves wandered around impatiently before finally settling down to wait. Then Winter stood up again, nodding to the leader, and the group stood up as one. Wolves seemed to be linked by some sort of mental bond...when the group did something it was together as a group...
Most frightening, come to think of it.
You lost count of time. Sometimes the wolves would stop, and two or three would stay behind while the rest melted away into the darkness. When they returned, bloody-jawed and satisfied, then the two or three would disappear. You could never tell them apart, but it seemed to you that there were 'substitutions' somewhere – some of the wolves seemed different as time dragged on.
You seemed to have been walking in a group of wolves forever – Irinelaeran a memory of long ago, and the only thing keeping you from going mad was Winter's unconcerned stride beside you. You thought of the new drow city and its probable comforts, and imagined yourself there already, thinking back of the wolf tunnels and smiling. You found that image hard to keep and lost it eventually.
The wolves stopped again, at some sort of landmark, and waited. You shivered slightly – they appeared to be waiting for something, and you were about to ask Winter when the something appeared – more wolves. The leader cautiously made a snuffling sound, and the lead wolf of the other pack flicked its ears. Winter led you to the next pack, your new escort, while the old ones drifted away.
Eating? Any fungus or such that the two of you could find, no meat as yet. The wolves would watch mildly as Winter cooked, and they always declined to eat. Winter probably had some internal clock on which she plotted stopping, meals and such, or perhaps it was some sort of training she had undergone before she had come to the Underdark.
There were several more such escort exchanges, and Winter explained at one that the two of you were crossing nigouar territories, hence the changes.
Once you managed to grasp a question which had been nagging at you for a while. "How did you git the wolves t' leave us alone?"
Winter peered down at you, but the wolves, thankfully, ignored you. "How? I asked...a spirit, yes, you could call it a spirit. It...is the first wolf, you could say. I threatened it – if it didn't get these to give us free passage, I would simply destroy any wolf I come across. Much simpler this way, don't you think?"
You were speechless. First wolf? Spirit? What spirit could have such power?
"Questions, questions," Winter murmured. "Simply accept it is so. I may have to explain it to you another day, maybe, but for now we walk. That does sound like a stupid thing to say, come to think of it."
"Do wolves talk? T' each other?" You looked at the escort.
"To each other? Yes and no. Certainly not the way we are talking to each other...it is hard to explain. You probably would not understand it, the same way a wolf would not understand how we can convey emotions, feeling and such just in words and little body language."
"Ah."
"Do you miss Irinelaeran, Kel?"
"Yes'm."
"Truly...sorry, come to think of it. My only thought in Irinelaeran was completing my mission, but now...if you do wish to return I will portal you back. I will just have to change my plans a little."
You stared. Winter seemed...was sincere. And she did need you, as a guide to Menzoberranzan...Crenshinibon's location was bright and clear to you, and you only, here. And none of the others would want to undertake this task.
You did miss Irinelaeran.
Perhaps in a million universes you agreed and returned and continued your life there. In a million universes Winter may or may not have made it to Menzoberranzan. Perhaps in a few of them...without your help she could have died, or given up, or worse.
"I'm stayin', mum," you said then. You did not have choice in the matter in Irinelaeran, but now you did, and you chose Winter.
"Thanks...thank you very much, Kel." And she was silent.