Chapter 17
Unexpected
"Disappeared?" Winter frowned. Several of the kitchen helpers stared at her, but Taor waved them back to their businesses. She smiled a harried smile at him and made a wild gesture at the doorway to the restaurant proper – he nodded firmly and barked an order. Two helpers pulled a heavy curtain over the doorway.
"Xas! We have reason to believe Baenre took him..."
"Baenre?"
"He was last seen by bodyguards heading into the compound..."
"Rai'gy! Stop! Now, calm down, though that may be asking too much of you. I am going somewhere safer to open a...window. Then you tell me."
"Xas...xas."
Winter hurried up the staircase, then fairly flew into the room, bolting the door behind you then closing the windows before sitting down on the bed and speaking precisely in the tongue she used to cast most of her spells. She ended off by pointing at the large mirror over the bare dressing table provided in the guestroom.
Her reflection blurred, then darkened to look into a room – one of Jarlaxle's offices, Rai'gy's rather haggard features, the captains, and Kimmuriel, all looking under pressure.
"Winter?" Rai'gy asked uncertainly, not connecting the female drow in blue and white robes with the outlandish looking elf which she was now.
Winter looked down at herself automatically, then smiled briefly. "Sorry, another disguise. Now, what exactly appears to be wrong?"
"Bel'la Lloth *. Some time ago..."
"How long?" Winter cut in, all business.
"About the second shade of red to the last of yellow," Berg'inyon replied immediately.
"Six hours," Winter muttered to herself. "Well? What did he do?"
"Jarlaxle on Matron Triel Baenre's invitation visited House Baenre...he is asked there often enough on business so we did not suspect very much. However he did warn us – since the sightings had started on House Baenre he had not been called there, so he was...wary." Rand'eran said. "I cannot recall his exact words..."
"I can," Kimmuriel said, frowning. "'Baenre must have some hidden agenda...if I do not return when Narbondel turns to the second shade of green...then it would be a code lael *.'"
Winter knew what that meant. "When the head of Bregan D'aerthe...falls into enemy hands. Morikan. And why call me? Bregan D'aerthe should be quite capable of prying him out of it."
"Not so simple," Kimmuriel said hastily. "There is some sort of...shield on House Baenre. I cannot feel the thoughts of anyone inside, nor can any magic of mine...or those of Bregan D'aerthe penetrate. Crenshinibon appears to have shut down, or something similar – it is on Jarlaxle's desk now, like any bit of useless rock. I think it is waiting for something."
"Waiting for what we would have to find out later, I would think," Winter sighed, then said bluntly, "So, is Jarlaxle dead?"
The drow in the mirror looked uncomfortable. Finally Rand'eran spoke up. "We...know not."
"Huh." Winter sighed. "Oh very well. I will come over. But if Jarlaxle is dead, as far as I am concerned – that is the end of the matter as it is."
Kimmuriel and the captains looked as though they would protest, but Rai'gy nodded wearily. "How long?"
"What color now?"
"Sixth of orange."
"Seventh of orange, at the most." Winter said, and waved a hand – the mirror blurred to show her disguised reflection. Winter took a deep, long breath, then exploded into action, grabbing the Name blade and buckling it on to her belt, began to cast a spell, stopped, swore in common, then flung open the door and took the stairs down four at a time.
She stalked quickly out to the restaurant to the table, and the twins abruptly became serious once they took a look at her expression.
"What?" Veldrin asked immediately.
Winter opened her mouth, glanced at Entreri, then spoke in rapid-fire drow. "Jarlaxle has probably fallen into Baenre's hands – may be dead, may be alive. I have to get him out if he is still alive – promised Rai'gy. Now, are you two coming or do you want to stay here?"
Entreri raised an eyebrow, probably understanding the word 'Jarlaxle', but not the rest. "You know Bregan D'aerthe?" he asked cautiously.
Winter ignored him. "If you are coming, then hurry. We have to leave now." Then she swept back towards the kitchen. You had to trot to keep up with her, but you turned back once to look for the twins.
Veldrin and Ssussun dove on Entreri, kissing him on either cheek, murmured hasty farewells, waved wildly, then dived after Winter. On the table, the glass kitten froze, now an inanimate, dead object. You made a wolfish chuckle at the rather stunned-looking human before loping after them. He would be rather confused for a while...but you could not be bothered to think about him now.
Only a human.
Winter tossed a small bag of coins at Taor, who caught it, waved at her, and then jerked his head in the general direction of Entreri. She shrugged, said, "Just do not damage him too much," and virtually leaped upstairs.
"Damage?" Veldrin looked suspicious, pausing at the foot of the steps.
"Selective mindwipe. Do not worry, ladies," Taor wiped his hands on his apron, then opened a cabinet and took out several implements quite obviously not for cooking. They did not inspire confidence, however.
The twins looked at each other, shrugged in concert, placing whatever was bothering Winter on a higher scale of importance over what would happen to Entreri, and then went up after her, you following as well as you could.
Wolves did not handle steps very easily.
Winter was already well into the stages of the portal spell as the twins finished their quick packing. A section of the wall blurred away to show Jarlaxle's office, and she stepped into it. You followed – the rather disconcerting feeling of disorientation pulled at you, but you were used to it now – and the twins leaped out after you.
Winter turned around quickly and tied off the spell, causing the portal to dissipate, then blinked rapidly to try and adjust her eyes back to the infrared range. You did the same.
Rai'gy raised his eyebrows at the twins as Winter rubbed her face with her hands. When she put them down, she wore her true face, to you, an improvement over wearing a copy of the twin's.
"Oh," she said distractedly when she noticed his inquiring glance. "Rai'gy...these two are Veldrin," she waved at Veldrin, who bowed slightly, "And Ssussun," Ssussun mimicked her sister's gesture. "They're demon-angels and friends. Don't ask. Now, what did you plan to do?"
Rai'gy and the others looked a little taken aback, but Rand'eran, predictably, recovered first. "We have to see if he is still alive..."
"Yes...where is Crenshinibon?"
Berg'inyon pointed wordlessly at the empty desk. The shard lay on it, with only the faintest of light emanating from it. Winter stalked over and drew Irr'liancrea then brought the sword down in a blur of blue. Irr'liancrea screeched audibly to a halt several inches from the shard, as if encountering some sort of shield.
"What in Lloth's name are you doing?" Rai'gy started forward.
Winter sheathed Irr'liancrea, then turned around. "Crenshinibon is not 'dead' or inactive – just waiting, as you aptly put it. But for what, it would not tell me. So, we need to find if Jarlaxle is alive...Kel, can you sense him?"
You silently invoked your gift, reaching out – feeling some sort of resistance, such that you could not pinpoint his exact location, but more like a locus where he could be in. But he was alive.
"Kel tells me he is alive," Winter said irritably. "Iblith. Now I have to keep my promise."
"Winter!" Rai'gy chided, but they all looked relieved. The twins, wisely, stayed in the proverbial background, just listening, keeping unusually quiet instead of creating their special kind of havoc.
"Any idea what Reima specifically wants?" Winter asked, fingers absently playing with a strand of her hair.
"Nav! We do not even know what this Reima is," Tilarjen said, looking remarkably as though he had been a captain of Bregan D'aerthe all his life instead of only for a few months. He was as concerned as the others.
"Veldrin and Ssussun can explain that better than I can," Winter waved the twins forward. "Now...Rai'gy, Kimmuriel? We will both try again to counter this barrier. If it does not work – Veldrin and Ssussun will have to try with us. If that still does not work..."
"Yes?" Kimmuriel asked.
"Then I will think of something," Winter said succinctly. "Come."
They did not need your help, so you stayed with the twins while Winter herded the psionist out of the door, Rai'gy following.
Veldrin clapped her hands briefly. "Right. Now, Reima is what is popularly termed an angel, but a better term is a minion of Order."
"Order?" Tantras'nen repeated.
Ssussun sighed. "This could be longer than I thought."
"We have time," Veldrin pointed out. "Very well. The multiverse as you know it has two broad bands of type."
"Three," Ssussun corrected.
"Oh yes. The bands are Order, vulgarly known as Good, Chaos, also known as Evil, and Neutrality. Usually a universe by itself is balanced with evil and good, some worlds more evil, some good, some neutral...like this one. Which means it is balanced. Crenshinibon is an 'evil' shard, Irr'liancrea a 'good' one...am I losing you?" Veldrin frowned prettily at the captains.
"What? No, go on," Berg'inyon urged.
"A long time ago when this world was first made," Ssussun continued, "On another...dimension they were all part of one shard, which was of high enchantment. It was filled with too much magic – so it cracked rather neatly into bits. The two largest bits are what you call Crenshinibon and Irr'liancrea – the other smaller ones are 'normal', non-sentient artifacts of some power but quite insignificant to us now. Storytelling is fun, is it not?"
"Hush," Veldrin snickered. "Anyway, the shards in the beginning were more powerful than they were today, and they did not need...wielders. In their wars against each other they destroyed whole species, mountains, boiled seas, all that. Until finally their destructive power began to affect other...dimensions, and though Chaos did not truly mind this, Order did, so they sent one of their higher powered...officers, known also as angels, down to take care of it."
"I cannot recall his name now, but what he did do was effective – he made limitations on the shards, then finally threw them across time and space – both ended up here. We believe he had bad aiming, because he could not possibly have really wanted them to end up on another place which had life...but perhaps in those days there was no sign of sentient life, and hence he thought it was safe," Ssussun shrugged. "Who cares, as mother says, what the minions of Order do."
"For a long time both shards were buried far away from any possible wielders, except for the occasional time when a traveler would stumble on one, but those sort of times were either quickly curtailed by divine intervention or...something else, usually action helped by the opposing shard. But in any case, both shards wanted power, and both needed wielders. Both countered each other, so neither truly did great damage." Veldrin paused for breath.
Ssussun picked up after her, "Irr'liancrea ended up with Winter, Crenshinibon...now, with Jarlaxle, after causing a lot of havoc since Irr'liancrea was not here to counter it. This has recaptured the attention of Order...and they are sending a different 'angel' down to do something about it. His name is Reima, and he has a worse attitude than the first one."
"What will he do?" Rand'eran asked bluntly.
"Who knows what the minions of Order do?" Veldrin quipped. "He may try to destroy the shard. Or he may not. Or he may throw it."
"What is he doing with Baenre?"
"We have no idea," Ssussun said shortly.
"What does this...Winter have to do with it? Reima's sightings began as she came to Menzoberranzan..."
"Speculations, speculations. Maybe the reappearance of the second shard in the hands of a race popularly known for their evil...alignment forced their hand, maybe our appearance here did." Veldrin opened her arms wide in a gesture of indifference.
"You?" Tilarjen repeated. The captains looked them up and down, probably wondering what two elves of strange coloration had done to attract the attention of powers higher than the gods on this world.
"Us," Ssussun agreed. "As Winter said...we are demon-angels, the offspring of a balor and an angel. Yes, we know it sounds deliciously scandalous, but Order thinks it is an...abomination. Amusing. Perhaps Reima is here for us. Perhaps for both. Perhaps he does not even know of our presence here at all. Is not speculation exciting?"
"No," Berg'inyon muttered.
"Oh, come on," Ssussun glided closer, her eyes speculative again. Berg'inyon took a step back, unconsciously, and you let out a wolfy sigh.
Here we go again.
Winter chose that moment to show up at the doorway. "If the two of you have finished?" she drawled.
The twins pouted. "Can this wait?" Ssussun said plaintively, nearly in reach of Berg'inyon.
"No. Come here." Winter swept off without turning back to see if they would follow. The twins grimaced.
"Don't go away," Veldrin leveled a sultry smile at the captains, then darted after Winter, Ssussun following her twin, though in her case, instead of a smile, she winked mischievously.
You wondered, absently, if you should follow or stay, and sat down on your haunches uncertainly. The captains watched you warily, then as you gave no hostile intentions began to talk amongst themselves.
"...vel'uss phuul nindyn draa *..."
"...abbilen d'Winter *..."
"...ssinssrigg, Rand'eran?"
"...dosstan izil al, Berg'inyon..."
You gave up. The twins had done their 'work' – the captains were not even talking about Jarlaxle now, or anything truly worth listening to. You followed their scent out of the door, leaving the captains behind you.
They had gone down the corridor, through the uneasily murmuring soldiers, all of whom probably already knew that Jarlaxle was missing – Bregan D'aerthe believed in sharing information - and eventually into a room you identified after some squinting at the nameplate as Kimmuriel's. The ornate door was slightly ajar, so you nudged it wider and padded in.
Around a round table sat Kimmuriel, then clockwise Rai'gy, then Winter, then the twins, all wearing near-identical expressions of concentration.
There was no crackling light or flamboyant display of magic, but you had the impression that they were all trying their best to break whatever barrier there was. On the table before her lay Irr'liancrea, hilt pointing towards her, pulsing gently. You trotted over and sat down beside her.
In a while you took a nap, leaning against her stone chair, and dreamt vaguely of Calimport and food.
When you woke up, they were still in the same positions, so you padded over to the door where soldiers were gawking and nudged it closed, firmly, then returned to your position and took another nap, dreaming of spices and Winter fighting, and the twin's laughter.
You rolled awake eventually and sighed – still no change. You were wondering how much time had passed, and began to consider the consequences of licking them awake. Magic always seemed to take so awfully long, physical methods appearing in comparison to be safer and more efficient.
After what seemed like eternity, with all five of them sitting there like puppets with their strings cut, Winter straightened, then the twins, who stretched aching backs, then Rai'gy and Kimmuriel.
"There's no hope, is there?" Kimmuriel said in a dead voice, tousling his hair absently. "Not even when we combined power..."
"Not of plucking him out of there, no," Winter squared her shoulders. "They must push him out themselves...those in Baenre."
"It'd take too long to infiltrate the House..." Rai'gy began.
"She meant members of Baenre." Veldrin explained.
"I believe Lloth is aiding them," Rai'gy murmured, slumped in his chair. "She did not answer me."
"Or maybe she is just watching," Winter suggested.
Rai'gy did not answer – he just closed his eyes and breathed heavily.
"What if Crenshinibon..."
"Nav," Winter said quickly. "I will not work with it even if it agreed to."
"Why?" Kimmuriel stared at her.
"Because Irr'liancrea would not, and if it does not want to work with Crenshinibon, then neither will I." Winter said firmly.
"But if it did work with us..." Rai'gy began.
"Rai'gy..." Winter warned.
"If it worked with us," he continued in a rush, "Would we succeed?"
Winter stared at him, then at Irr'liancrea, then back at him. "Yes...yes it may. There should be enough power. But why speak of the impossible? Find another option, Rai'gy."
"Just a suggestion," he mumbled.
"And not a good one," she said sharply, then softened. "All right, my apologies. But it simply will not happen."
"I wonder if Mother will help," Ssussun said suddenly.
"Morikan, yes, I could ask." Winter straightened.
"Mother?" Kimmuriel said blankly, rolling the word, ilhar, in his mouth as if it were foreign.
"A balor of considerable power," Winter explained. She put her hand on Irr'liancrea. "There is no use for disguise now, is there?" she said gently.
Irr'liancrea pulsed into life, and spoke, something you had not heard it do for years. "I wouldst think so," it 'said', wryly. Kimmuriel made a startled noise, but Rai'gy merely opened his eyes again, wearily. "Mayhap this is a trap for thee."
"I can pick it first then," Winter shrugged. "Open a window to Rael, would you? And knock first. I do not want to see what sort of depraved activity he is engaged in."
"Uk?" Kimmuriel repeated the word 'he', apparently not connecting it with ilhar, but the twins – and Winter – ignored him.
"Thou art aware this is against mine better judgement?"
"Yes. Hurry."
A 'mirror' twirled into being more quickly than Winter could have created one, clearing to show a black marble backdrop and a human man, decently dressed in dark robes of interminable color and with hair of deep red. Cat-like eyes stared out at Winter.
"What?" Raelmaztigar snapped. "Winter, I'd have you know I am engaged in something of a delicate nature now, and I do not appreciate..."
"Mother, we may need your help," Ssussun said before Winter could reply.
Rael appeared to soften a little, but he continued firmly, "I know exactly what is happening now over at your side, and no, you do not need my help. It is Order's right to deal with shards. If I were to go over now it would breach several treaties...not to mention create all sorts of bother about balors wandering around the Prime Material Plane and members of the Council interfering with mortal affairs."
"Keep in mind, Winter – whether this Jarlaxle dies or not, whether this Crenshinibon gets a new owner or not – this is insignificant to me as a rat's death would be to you. Now have the courtesy to go away."
"New owner?" Winter, sharp-eared, grasped that fact first.
Rael opened his mouth, then shut it again quickly. "I have said too much already." He turned to regard the twins. "Veldrin and Ssussun, it is still not too late to return home. I will not be free to come after you."
"We're staying with Winter," Veldrin said firmly.
Rael raised an eyebrow.
"Once we go home, you may never let us come back anyway," Ssussun agreed, pragmatically.
"Quite," Rael muttered, then said irritably. "Winter!"
"Okay, okay," Winter made a gesture, and the window disappeared. She muttered to herself, "Well, that was not too much of a help."
"Who was that?" Kimmuriel managed finally.
"A balor." Winter replied.
"A balor?" Rai'gy repeated, in disbelief.
"Rai'gy, if I wanted someone to repeat everything I said I would have purchased one of those colorful birds known as parrots while I was in Calimport. Be quiet. Now, about this Crenshinibon getting a new owner...that can only happen if Jarlaxle willingly gives ownership to another. So he would be kept alive...though he may wish he were dead, if I judge Baenre correctly," Winter said curtly. Rai'gy groaned.
"So now what?" Ssussun said, just as bluntly.
Winter closed her eyes, then opened them slowly. "Is there a totally secure place?"
"Jarlaxle's office in the Clawrift," Kimmuriel said promptly, then just as promptly asked, "Why?"
"I think I may have to try the same trick I pulled many decades ago." Winter smiled, and it was not a very nice smile – it was full of old pain, and new, grim determination and knowledge that there was no other choice, no other way she could see to turn.
The twins and Kimmuriel looked uncomprehending, as you felt so.
Only Rai'gy appeared to know what she meant. He half-started from his chair in shock and denial. "Nav, Winter! You cannot..."
Winter rose from her seat, the same brittle smile wreathing her features. "Oh yes, I can. It is time for Reima...and his allies...to learn why I am called 'Winter'..."
Then she misquoted what you recognized as one of the main (more popular) holy texts of Lloth, though her words did not seem less grim because of it.
"Let the season of soft snow and harsh cold consume Menzoberranzan."
--
Language:
Bel'la Lloth: Thank Lloth
Lael: Eight
vel'uss phuul nindyn draa: who are those two
abbilen d'Winter: friends of Winter