Chapter 7
Wish us luck
The ambush, John critically noted, would technically have been well carried out. It was certainly planned - the hobgoblin archers rose neatly out of their hiding places in the bushes, bows at the ready, and from both sides he could hear soft sounds that hinted at the presence of other enemies. They were surrounded, and it seemed that the burly humanoids that towered over a human's normal height had them cornered neatly. The things had, however, never heard about Entreri, who immediately started for them in an arrow-quick, ground eating run. Startled, the archers loosed their shots at him, and were even more astonished when the assassin abruptly dropped into a huge black wolf that, without changing its speed, closed on them, leaped, and tore out one of their throats. The arrows clattered harmlessly onto the grass like some odd toy.
The other hobgoblins froze in shock for a moment, then the largest one of them snarled something, and they started again. At least, those at their flanks did. The archers were rather preoccupied.
The panther had taken advantage of the mild confusion to slip away. To the right, sudden shouts and curses announced its presence, but those on the left charged out of cover, four of them, shouting battle cries and wielding swords. One lurched back with a gurgle, Yoshimo's arrow sticking out of its throat. Y'vair cast a spell, and fire leaped from her fingers in a fan of orange, engulfing the closest one, who immediately understood one reason why wearing metal armor wasn't a good idea in a fight with a mage. With a yelp, it dropped its sword and rolled, trying to beat out the flames, but Y'vair grimly kept the searing heat on it, its fur blackening, the stench of burnt flesh filling the air, until it stopped, twitching weakly.
John used his slingshot at one, but the stone glanced off the helmet. The hobgoblin glared at him through its little eyes, and started menacingly in his direction, but Yoshimo lunged and thrust with his katana. The hobgoblin parried with an oath, and the swords met in a clash of steel. Stupidly, the creature attempted to rely on its superior strength and forced the swords back towards Yoshimo, but the thief prudently slipped to the side and feinted at its ribs. It parried instinctively, or tried to, but the katana had already flicked away, enough of it piercing through the monster's eye into its brain.
Yoshimo danced back and nearly got his head cleaved into two by the last hobgoblin, if Y'vair hadn't kicked it in the back of the knee. As it fell to the ground in a clatter of metal, one of John's seldom-used daggers whistled between its eyes. He grimaced as he went forward to yank out his weapon - one of the reasons why he didn't particularly like using daggers. At least slingshots could be found anywhere, or at the very least, were cheap in markets.
There was a sound to their right and they turned sharply to see Entreri emerging nonchalantly with the panther by his side, carefully wiping his short sword. The assassin regarded his blood-spattered leather armor with irritation, then proceeded to wipe with as well, muttering to himself about the stink of hobgoblin blood.
"Eight and five.twelve hobgoblins is too large for a mere bandit party," Yoshimo counted the dead as Y'vair pilfered the bodies.
"This may explain it," Entreri held out a coin bag. The coins were gold ones - quite a few of them. "Not bandits but mercenaries."
"All right, sparrow," Y'vair returned, grinning mischievously. "Just who did you offend when we weren't looking?"
"It's not my fault, luv," John said mildly, then he affected a theatrical waver. "I think."
"I'm so glad for you, sparrow," Y'vair murmured. Not before long, the snide comments and petty insults were traded back and forth again in cheerful earnest.
"Are they always like this?" Entreri asked Yoshimo, no trace of amusement on his face.
"You have no idea," Yoshimo replied, with mock resignation. "They both think they're very clever, of course."
"Yoshimo!" Y'vair objected.
"I don't know how you can stand him," Yoshimo confided out loud to the panther.
"Go on and say it," John folded his arms and fixed it with a stare. It cocked its head at him, green eyes widening as if in childish bewilderment at John's belligerence, then it diplomatically ignored all of them and began to wash itself.
"Was your magic failing, John Constantine?" Yoshimo asked curiously. "We are at least a mile from the city.at least, I cannot see it any longer."
"That's because it's working," Y'vair said dryly, "We've only been walking for ten minutes, twenty at the most away from the city. With the flat land around Athkatla, we should still be able to see it, or most of the sea. I'm quite interested to know why we stopped so suddenly though. Hobgoblins are hardly the most charming of creatures to have in one's social circles, sparrow."
"Maybe we were supposed to meet them, luv." John shrugged, lighting a cigarette.
"The fight was quite invigorating, I'm sure, but why were we supposed to meet them?" Yoshimo asked.
"How am I supposed to know?" John pointed at the largest corpse. "Ask them."
"They're dead, sparrow."
"Really? I hadn't noticed that. My, my, what a surprise."
"One day your tongue's going to get you into.ah, what am I saying, it already has."
**
They did manage to get back to the fortress without any further mishap, to Entreri's disappointment. John had a private suspicion that the assassin was accompanying them in part because of their marked penchant for getting into all sorts of trouble of the type that required lots of fighting to get out of. Perhaps out of some conscious or unconscious desire to slake his icy fury at K'yanae's kidnappers - though the terrible fire in his eyes did not wane, but instead seemed to burn a little stronger with each kill. Entreri could become a problem if they didn't find K'yanae soon.
Nalia greeted them in the stockade, but the captain was missing - still in the fortress. They had closed all doors leading to the third level, and had withdrawn to the first. Apparently the umber hulks couldn't understand the concept of a door and thought it was part of the wall.
"They haven't tried to bash down the stone yet?" Y'vair said incredulously.
"Nope." Nalia said cheerfully. "I think the big troll Daleson mentioned is in charge, and it may believe that accidental smashing of stone would bring the entire thing down on their heads."
"That's a lot of speculation," John noted.
Nalia waved it off. "They're all forest monsters. They can't be expected to know things about human structures."
John was going to say something appropriately snide about Nalia's narrow view about the part of the world that didn't include the nobility, but Y'vair reached out insouciantly and pinched him in through the sleeve of the back of his arm. "Quiet," she murmured.
"That hurt," John said accusingly, as Nalia flitted off.
Y'vair sniffed, but ignored the remark. "The soldiers are loyal to her now. An insult might be quite inappropriate."
"She didn't even ask about.our friend," Yoshimo said, glancing at Entreri. The assassin looked up from where he had been gravely petting the panther.
"She probably didn't even notice him, with her nose in the air." John muttered.
"I do have a name," Entreri said dryly. His eyes did not even look at the other soldiers that were shooting them curious looks. "'Jasek' is easy enough that it shouldn't stick in your throat, thief."
"I happen to be unable to remember Faerun names," Yoshimo bantered, understanding what Entreri was doing. "It's probably because they're all so ugly."
"Ugly?" Y'vair demanded indignantly.
"I can't believe why you people would give yourself names which have no meaning. What is the point of having a name then?"
"What does 'Yoshimo' mean, then?" John asked before Y'vair could get carried away with her acting of lighthearted normality. It was rather practical - he had an inkling that Entreri was of some notoriety, and there might be trouble if it were casually revealed. The amber eyes could have been a problem, but the soldiers tended to stare at Y'vair instead. Horns, cat ears and a tufted tail seemed to draw attention like bait to a starving trout.
"I can't tell you. Giving away the secret of the meaning of a name is." Yoshimo's face twisted a little as he groped for words. "Part of a.custom? Ceremony? There are no words to describe it properly," he ended lamely.
They were saved from the embarrassing moment by Nalia, who called for them to follow her into the fortress with the cloudkill scrolls. Of the guards, four were following, including the quiet Captain. Hendak's men were tired and quite a few suffered injuries - as like the mercenaries and the other guards - they had run into a spot of trouble in some of the rooms on the second floor. So only four guards, Hendak, Nalia, Y'vair, Yoshimo, John, the panther and Entreri were to face the umber hulks - and whatever was beyond them.
**
Cloth soaked with some sort of strongly fragrant potion had been passed around for them to wrap around their noses and mouths - only Entreri declined it politely, saying he was allergic to it. Being a werewolf, it was quite possible that it would give him a headache - as it was he tried to stand as far away from the group as possible while yet being able to aid in attacking if need be.
The second level was abnormally quiet, and they reached one of the closed doors to a staircase without mishap, passing some nervous soldiers on guard at intervals.
"There's no need for all of us to cram up there," Nalia said in a barely audible whisper. "And it'd be difficult for us to exit properly, so all eight of you back off down the passage when we reach the top door of the staircase."
"If you see orange clouds floating your way, run," Y'vair continued, "For those who haven't seen this spell before, the fumes are highly poisonous, and it's quite possible for you to die if you inhale them. They'd also irritate your skin and eyes - just about any exposed part of your body. Hopefully the umber hulks don't like it," she grinned.
"Looks like they're in for a wonderful morning," John agreed. Y'vair grinned at him.
"Actually there's no need for all the whispering," Y'vair told Nalia, still in a murmur, "The umber hulks already know we're coming. Tremorsense, remember?"
"But they don't know what we're going to do," Nalia pointed out. "Come on. Wish us luck."
"Wait," John paused, his voice, like the rest, muffled by the cloth. "Cat, go with them."
"It can't cast any spells, sparrow." Y'vair pointed out.
"It can tell you where the umber hulks are by smelling them, luv," John said. "It'd growl if they're behind a door."
"And we'd better remove these as well," Nalia took off the scented cloth she was wearing. "I wouldn't want to mispronounce anything. We'd have to hold them on after the spell and run. The scent should be strong enough to drown up the worst of the cloudkill if it catches up with us."
"I will go up with you," Hendak said. "It may be better if the two of you began casting before the door was opened. When you reach the climax I will kick it in, you throw it into the room, we run."
"You don't know when the climax is," Nalia said doubtfully. "And we have to be able to see the room the umber hulks are in to be able to cast a location point on the spell."
"Won't the umber hulks have become a problem by then?" John pointed out.
"Not really. This potion we inhaled gives you a clear mind for about half an hour," Y'vair said, "It's rather popular among the noble-born when they have to make momentous decisions and don't want anyone interfering with confusion spells, feeblemind and all those amusing spells."
"Why doesn't anyone tell this to us beforehand?" Yoshimo grinned.
"Then why don't we just attack the umber hulks?" one of the men asked, "If we need not fear from their gaze."
"Young man," Y'vair said severely, "An umber hulk can smash through this wall here with ease. Imagine what it can do to your armor. Now, we're a bit short on time to stay here and chat."
"If they're not behind the door at the top of the stair, they're probably in the room beyond it, and there's a grille in that door. It should suffice," Nalia was saying as she led Y'vair and the cat up the stairs. "If not.Hendak may have to help."
There was a tense moment, but the panther did not growl, so they could be heard unlocking the door with a soft click.
"Okay, we move now," John pointed down the corridor.
"Should we not stay and at least make sure they are safe?" Hendak asked, wavering.
"They've begun casting," Entreri said, even though John couldn't hear anything going on upstairs. "Do you really want to block up their escape route?"
With that, the group nervously slunk down the corridor to wait.
"What's happening now, Jasek?" Yoshimo asked Entreri.
"He can hear it?" one of the guards looked surprised. The guards around that door had also been moved.
"Due to a magical item I have," Entreri said smoothly. The men were already ambiguous about the party due to the presence of Y'vair - that balance might be shifted if they learned there was a werewolf in their midst as well. "It helps when your occupation is relieving rich men of the burdens of coin. Knowing where your pursuers are going if you've made a mistake is invaluable."
There was a quiet chuckle from the men, though they shot Entreri and Yoshimo mildly apprehensive looks.
"The spells have been released." Entreri commented thoughtfully. "They're running."
Moments later the clattering of footsteps could be heard on stairs, and a door slamming. Y'vair, Nalia and the cat burst into view from the lower door, and they slammed it shut as well before running towards them.
"They were in the second room," Nalia reported, "So the spell shouldn't reach this point, but we must be careful."
"How long will it last?" Yoshimo asked.
"We'd give it half an hour to clear, then we go back up," Nalia said.
**
They carefully advanced up the staircase after the half an hour, and John glanced at Entreri.
"None behind this door, and the smoke has cleared." His hands casually tightened around the jeweled dagger and his short sword.
Nalia opened the door, and Entreri darted in, eyes flickering rapidly around the room, followed by the rest. This room looked like an armory, and there was a door with a grille in it directly facing them.
"That's the one," Nalia pointed.
"Arrows will just bounce off them unless you can hit them in the eye," Y'vair warned. "Knives as well."
Entreri glanced quickly through the grille. "Smoke's clear. Three curled on the ground, one staggering in a circle, two at the far end standing but motionless."
"That can mean anything," Y'vair sighed. They're intelligent enough to play dead until we get close enough. "Remember, don't look in their eyes if you can help it. The potion may not be strong enough."
Entreri twisted the doorknob, then kicked it open, and the fight started.
It turned out that those curled on the ground were dying, and doing a good job of it - but the guards paused in the charge to stick swords into the large compound eyes, one of the only ways to make sure the thing was dead.
Umber hulks were hideously massive, and looked like escapees from some genetic engineering experiment gone wrong. Their low, rounded heads resembled that of a fly's, with two enormous compound eyes and two smaller, glittering ones above them. Feelers waved at the attackers frantically as they lurched forward and the almost laughably petite inner mandibles clacked together in rhythm with the rows of teeth. The much larger, gracefully curving set of mandibles flanking the small set was nothing to laugh about, though - they were obviously deadly, the grasping edge lined with sharp protrusions.
The exoskeletons were a mottled green, and the long, drooping arms were plated on the heavily from the arm joint to the curving claws, such that they resembled huge clubs with claws on the end. Somehow it managed to balance on its relatively fragile-looking, but also armored back legs.
Two of them chattered to each other in their own tongue as they rushed to intercept the people, while the last one, still staggering around, ignored them. The smoke seemed to have made it delirious. The attacking two, other than the inflamed state of their compound eyes and a rather unsteady gait, looked as though they had somewhat recovered from the spell - a open door to the right that led to a snaking corridor showed that they had perhaps escaped the worst of it by going through there, and coming back when the smoke had dissipated.
The first umber hulk lived up to the notoriety of its species. It swung one of its arms at a guard, and the man made a mistake by trying to block with his shield. The crushing blow smashed into the shield and John could hear the sickening sound of bone splintering. Stunned, the man staggered, and the umber hulk deftly stabbed the razor-sharp tips of the two curving mandibles deep into the guard's neck and ripped them free. With an angry groan, the Captain and the other two guards attacked it, warily this time, but it bashed one of them away with a nearly contemptuous swing, and the mandibles bit right through the armor of another. Yoshimo's arrow sang into its eye, and the thief loosed another into the second.
Maddened, it shrieked harshly and charged at the thief, ignoring the Captain, who swung his broadsword and lopped off its leg as it passed. It toppled with a crash, flailing its arms, and Hendak, muscles rippling with effort, managed to chop off the thing's head. The arms twitched convulsively even as the thing died.
Entreri had engaged the last one with the panther; the two of them always staying out of the thing's deadly reach. Nalia and Yoshimo stopped attempting to shoot arrows at it, afraid that they would hit either the panther or the assassin, and Y'vair leaped forward to help. A glancing blow snapped her sword, and she discarded it quickly, leaping back with an oath, but the next blow connected and nearly knocked her across the room.
John got into range and threw a dagger, missing as the thing twisted to try and pulverize the panther, and missed again when it turned on Entreri. It stiffened, the compound eyes seeming to change colors for a moment, but the assassin avoided its eyes, rolling away from the follow-up swipe. Then the panther leaped on its back with a snarl, somehow managing to stay on as it bucked and twisted. Around this point Entreri held his short sword in a double-handed grip, darted in, and stabbed through the underside of its head.
The deranged umber hulk was giving Hendak and the soldiers some problems - it had decided to attack, and took no note of injuries - berserk, even with an arrow sheathed in its eye. The Captain was down, a large dent in his armor and probably suffering from a few broken ribs, but in the end Yoshimo managed to stick his katana deep into the thing's other eye, killing it.
"Y'vair?" John helped her sit up. She gingerly fingered the side where she had been hit.
"I broke something," she said calmly. "Like the captain and that guard. The other two can't be saved, I'm afraid."
They took a tally of their injuries and were in the process of handing out potions when the ironbound door to the left, leading to the audience hall, Nalia had explained, smashed open.
Two trolls charged out of it, with Entreri and the panther wordlessly engaged one, Yoshimo and Hendak trying to handle the other.
"Bloody hell," John swore, fumbling with his sling. One hit and broke a troll's nose, distracting it for a moment, for Yoshimo to slice open its belly and Hendak to shove it towards the other troll. Driven berserk by the pain the troll bit the other one, and there were a few confused moments before both lay unmoving on the ground. Nalia released a spell that sent a small bolt of flame arching from her fingertips, enough to burn both corpses.
Inside the darkened chamber, something roared its fury.
"We can lure it to the door," Yoshimo suggested, frowning. "Whatever it is."
The few healing potions they had left allowed Y'vair, the captain and the guard to recover enough such that they could at least stand up. Y'vair was pale, but she refused to leave, like the captain, but the last guard was still seeing two of everything and was advised to just go into the armory and sit down where it was safer.
"Tlagar smells you!" the thing roared suddenly. "Come and fight! You kill Tlagar's children! Now Tlagar fight and kill you!"
"Does this happen often here?" John asked dryly.
"There are torches in there on the brackets in the wall.I think I'd try to light some." A few more bolts were loosed, and the lighted torches provided some light.
The audience hall was lined with somber statues, no doubt of past ancestors. John had never really understood why people felt urges to cast sculptures of those long dead and decorate places with them. There was one more large statue at the end, towering over a stone throne, and a figure was slumped in it, with the subdued stillness of the dead.
The one making all the noise was an extremely large troll. It towered over the already impressive normal ones, and John idly wondered how it had managed to enter the hall in the first place. Not by walking normally, that was for sure. Two more, 'normal' trolls flanked it, though the word was quite inappropriate in describing eight-foot-tall monsters.
John sighed. The day was just about getting worse.
**
He woke up in a lumpy bed with a bad headache and a taste in his mouth, which meant that someone had forced potion down it. Squinting to get used to the light, he noticed Y'vair sitting down on a chair in the room busily splinting her arm.
"Ah, you're awake, sparrow." Y'vair said unnecessarily. "You've slept long enough."
"I need a drink," John leaned back onto his pillow. A weight on his toes notified him to the location of the panther.
"Water, then."
"I don't need a bath, luv."
"Or milk," Y'vair carried on, as if she hadn't heard. "I think alcohol might interfere with the potion, and besides, I hate a drunkard's stench."
John sighed, then remembered something. "What happened? I remember using my sling on one of them, then nothing else."
"Your magic decided not to work, sparrow." Y'vair said dryly, "There had been one more troll in the corner that had been hiding. I didn't think they were smart enough to ambush, but it appears that I was wrong. It hit you on the head, and Yoshimo managed to stop it before it decided to continue killing you."
"Ah. Where are the others?"
"Entr.that is, Jasek, is nursing a broken arm - the large troll Tlagar he attacked somehow managed to grab him. Lucky move, technically, up to the point when Jasek sliced it open from neck to navel with his free hand."
"That must have surprised it."
"Considering the look on its face when Jasek was finished with him, I'd say it was, sparrow. The other trolls just seemed to fall into pieces after that. Unstable things. Yoshimo got cut above the eye, but he's recovering - your panther was enraged when you fell. The troll that attacked you probably regretted it."
John chuckled. The panther purred loudly, the rumblings not unpleasant against his feet.
"Nalia says that when you're ready to travel, we'd go see this family friend of hers," Y'vair concluded. "Incidentally, she's emotionally unsteady now. The dead man on the throne was her father."
John shrugged uncaringly. "Hopefully the bint wouldn't fall apart before she keeps her word." He had a headache, and was inexplicably harboring a bizarre notion that a fight had just gone on inside his mind. He reflexively shook his head - perhaps a cigarette would cure it.
**
John did, however, take care not to say anything regarding families or fathers on the trip back. For some reason synchronicity decided to work again, and they were deposited a mile outside Athkatla.
"Why don't you just use your magic to walk you to Baldur's Gate?" Nalia asked John. Her voice was somewhat subdued, ever since they had left the fortress, and she kept glancing at Hendak.
"Because it's unreliable, and Baldur's Gate is a long way," John replied.
"And it might think we should meet every single bandit on the way," Y'vair quipped, with a wink at John.
The mage lived in an ordinary-looking house near Waukeen's Promenade. Paint peeled halfheartedly at portions of the wall, and the windows had heavy curtains over them. Nalia knocked on the unpainted door in a sharp staccato that seemed like some sort of code.
Cautiously, the door opened, and a thin man of over average height, bald except for a sparse gray beard, quickly gestured them inside and shut the door after them.
"Nalia my dear, how wonderful to see you!" the old mage smiled. "How is your father?"
John winced.
Nalia's eyes, predictably, filled with two great tears, and the rest of them felt rather uncomfortable as she told him what had happened, sobbing all the way. The old mage held her and uttered soothing noises until she stopped, and they spoke quietly for a moment. Then he turned back to them, opened his mouth, then stared at hooded Y'vair. Slowly he looked at the rest of the party, and even stared at the panther, which for some reason had decided to show itself.
"Nalia, these are dangerous people," he said quietly. "You are those who emerged in Waukeen's Promenade, whose friend got netted by the Cowled Wizards?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Someone is trying to prevent all wizards with reaching power from helping you, I'd think. Those of my colleagues who openly set up business have disappeared without a trace, and those who even inquired, out of curiosity, about the group of you also disappeared. The rest have gone underground. I must admit I'm curious. Who are you trying to reach?"
The group glanced at each other, and then John shrugged. "Baldur's Gate. We'd tell you exactly who if you say you'd help us. Your friend Nalia gave her word." She didn't exactly promise that he would help them, only that she'd bring them to him, but Nalia didn't seem to catch this - she was talking to Hendak in a corner, murmuring.
"Trigger spells have been put up in this area," the mage said, "I haven't dared to use magic for a while. I have no idea how extensive the spells are - and my scrying tools are largely too noticeable to move comfortably. You will need to fetch me something for me to help you. It would also be your payment to me."
"And what is this?" Yoshimo asked suspiciously.
"It would help me cast spells without notifying other mages by hitting trigger spells or otherwise," the mage explained, "It's a pendant necklace called the Dark Sighing."
John meditated on the rather idiotic names that most magical items seemed to have.
"I've heard of it," Y'vair said. "It was lost quite a while ago."
"How long ago?" Yoshimo looked even more suspicious.
"A few centuries, I think."
"Its location has been revealed to me," the mage reached to his bookcase and took out a tightly scrolled piece of parchment. "That is the map of the Windspear hills, and the dragon's cave is marked."
"What!" Yoshimo exploded. "The dragon's cave? It's a red dragon!"
"Quietly!" the mage shushed them. "There may be spies."
"You're mad," Y'vair said; though her voice was controlled at the normal register. "We're not going to fight a red dragon, especially one who knows spells."
"You know of Firkaag, then."
"We've met," John said curtly.
"Ah, then he must have asked you for help in ridding his land of some trouble in the form of a group of paladins and treasure hunters," the mage said. "Did you wonder why the red dragon would be unable to defeat such groups? When its power is such that it could probably burn down Trademeet if it wanted to?"
"We were wondering," Y'vair admitted.
"The paladins are of no consequence to it," the mage told them, "But it would be best if you were to leave them alone when you go there - they are of the Order of the Radiant Heart, which has influence in Athkatla. The treasure hunters, however.did he say how many there were?"
"Seven," John said.
"They are more than seven, and all good mercenaries - there should be about forty or so. They were all that my friend - the leader - could gather with the promise of a dragon's gold. He will help you - the dragon has taken something dear to him."
"Forty or so people still isn't enough to take care of a red dragon, I'd think," Y'vair said dryly, "Only another dragon has a running chance of doing that. One intake of breath, one funnel of red dragon fire, and there you go."
"With my friend, that may be different," the mage said, becoming a little sententious. "A dragon's fire is essentially magical, especially in the case of a red, as is the dragon itself. Without magic it cannot produce the fuel to ignite the fire at its mouth, nor can it heave its bulk into the air just by the power of its wings."
"So?"
"My friend, you see, is immune to magic."
--
Little Notes and References:
Guenhwyvar: Guen is, in this story and in Rebel Heart, obviously different. ;) This is in reply to comments - Guen has been changed, story-wise, such that instead of being a spirit panther from some plane somewhere who gets called down through a figurine to help Drizzt, it's now a dream. A 'citizen', you could say, of the Dreaming created by Neil Gaiman. Go read Rebel Heart. It's a little complicated - insofar that Guen can walk on the Prime Material plane without getting tired by it, injured by magic or noticed by people who it doesn't really want to be able to see it (though this part isn't a very accurate explanation of what happens). The figurine doesn't exist anymore - Daniel, the new Dream King, took it. Guen can travel with John to the Dreaming whenever it wants.
Artemis Entreri: In this slightly AU place, Entreri is out of character already - he's now a werewolf, and after a convoluted series of stories, rather likes K'yanae. The other word starting with 'l' is still undecided. His character has already changed past Salvatore's view of him. I can't stick to normal conceptions for some reason. John's out of character as well, at some points - his speech being the most obvious.
Wish us luck
The ambush, John critically noted, would technically have been well carried out. It was certainly planned - the hobgoblin archers rose neatly out of their hiding places in the bushes, bows at the ready, and from both sides he could hear soft sounds that hinted at the presence of other enemies. They were surrounded, and it seemed that the burly humanoids that towered over a human's normal height had them cornered neatly. The things had, however, never heard about Entreri, who immediately started for them in an arrow-quick, ground eating run. Startled, the archers loosed their shots at him, and were even more astonished when the assassin abruptly dropped into a huge black wolf that, without changing its speed, closed on them, leaped, and tore out one of their throats. The arrows clattered harmlessly onto the grass like some odd toy.
The other hobgoblins froze in shock for a moment, then the largest one of them snarled something, and they started again. At least, those at their flanks did. The archers were rather preoccupied.
The panther had taken advantage of the mild confusion to slip away. To the right, sudden shouts and curses announced its presence, but those on the left charged out of cover, four of them, shouting battle cries and wielding swords. One lurched back with a gurgle, Yoshimo's arrow sticking out of its throat. Y'vair cast a spell, and fire leaped from her fingers in a fan of orange, engulfing the closest one, who immediately understood one reason why wearing metal armor wasn't a good idea in a fight with a mage. With a yelp, it dropped its sword and rolled, trying to beat out the flames, but Y'vair grimly kept the searing heat on it, its fur blackening, the stench of burnt flesh filling the air, until it stopped, twitching weakly.
John used his slingshot at one, but the stone glanced off the helmet. The hobgoblin glared at him through its little eyes, and started menacingly in his direction, but Yoshimo lunged and thrust with his katana. The hobgoblin parried with an oath, and the swords met in a clash of steel. Stupidly, the creature attempted to rely on its superior strength and forced the swords back towards Yoshimo, but the thief prudently slipped to the side and feinted at its ribs. It parried instinctively, or tried to, but the katana had already flicked away, enough of it piercing through the monster's eye into its brain.
Yoshimo danced back and nearly got his head cleaved into two by the last hobgoblin, if Y'vair hadn't kicked it in the back of the knee. As it fell to the ground in a clatter of metal, one of John's seldom-used daggers whistled between its eyes. He grimaced as he went forward to yank out his weapon - one of the reasons why he didn't particularly like using daggers. At least slingshots could be found anywhere, or at the very least, were cheap in markets.
There was a sound to their right and they turned sharply to see Entreri emerging nonchalantly with the panther by his side, carefully wiping his short sword. The assassin regarded his blood-spattered leather armor with irritation, then proceeded to wipe with as well, muttering to himself about the stink of hobgoblin blood.
"Eight and five.twelve hobgoblins is too large for a mere bandit party," Yoshimo counted the dead as Y'vair pilfered the bodies.
"This may explain it," Entreri held out a coin bag. The coins were gold ones - quite a few of them. "Not bandits but mercenaries."
"All right, sparrow," Y'vair returned, grinning mischievously. "Just who did you offend when we weren't looking?"
"It's not my fault, luv," John said mildly, then he affected a theatrical waver. "I think."
"I'm so glad for you, sparrow," Y'vair murmured. Not before long, the snide comments and petty insults were traded back and forth again in cheerful earnest.
"Are they always like this?" Entreri asked Yoshimo, no trace of amusement on his face.
"You have no idea," Yoshimo replied, with mock resignation. "They both think they're very clever, of course."
"Yoshimo!" Y'vair objected.
"I don't know how you can stand him," Yoshimo confided out loud to the panther.
"Go on and say it," John folded his arms and fixed it with a stare. It cocked its head at him, green eyes widening as if in childish bewilderment at John's belligerence, then it diplomatically ignored all of them and began to wash itself.
"Was your magic failing, John Constantine?" Yoshimo asked curiously. "We are at least a mile from the city.at least, I cannot see it any longer."
"That's because it's working," Y'vair said dryly, "We've only been walking for ten minutes, twenty at the most away from the city. With the flat land around Athkatla, we should still be able to see it, or most of the sea. I'm quite interested to know why we stopped so suddenly though. Hobgoblins are hardly the most charming of creatures to have in one's social circles, sparrow."
"Maybe we were supposed to meet them, luv." John shrugged, lighting a cigarette.
"The fight was quite invigorating, I'm sure, but why were we supposed to meet them?" Yoshimo asked.
"How am I supposed to know?" John pointed at the largest corpse. "Ask them."
"They're dead, sparrow."
"Really? I hadn't noticed that. My, my, what a surprise."
"One day your tongue's going to get you into.ah, what am I saying, it already has."
**
They did manage to get back to the fortress without any further mishap, to Entreri's disappointment. John had a private suspicion that the assassin was accompanying them in part because of their marked penchant for getting into all sorts of trouble of the type that required lots of fighting to get out of. Perhaps out of some conscious or unconscious desire to slake his icy fury at K'yanae's kidnappers - though the terrible fire in his eyes did not wane, but instead seemed to burn a little stronger with each kill. Entreri could become a problem if they didn't find K'yanae soon.
Nalia greeted them in the stockade, but the captain was missing - still in the fortress. They had closed all doors leading to the third level, and had withdrawn to the first. Apparently the umber hulks couldn't understand the concept of a door and thought it was part of the wall.
"They haven't tried to bash down the stone yet?" Y'vair said incredulously.
"Nope." Nalia said cheerfully. "I think the big troll Daleson mentioned is in charge, and it may believe that accidental smashing of stone would bring the entire thing down on their heads."
"That's a lot of speculation," John noted.
Nalia waved it off. "They're all forest monsters. They can't be expected to know things about human structures."
John was going to say something appropriately snide about Nalia's narrow view about the part of the world that didn't include the nobility, but Y'vair reached out insouciantly and pinched him in through the sleeve of the back of his arm. "Quiet," she murmured.
"That hurt," John said accusingly, as Nalia flitted off.
Y'vair sniffed, but ignored the remark. "The soldiers are loyal to her now. An insult might be quite inappropriate."
"She didn't even ask about.our friend," Yoshimo said, glancing at Entreri. The assassin looked up from where he had been gravely petting the panther.
"She probably didn't even notice him, with her nose in the air." John muttered.
"I do have a name," Entreri said dryly. His eyes did not even look at the other soldiers that were shooting them curious looks. "'Jasek' is easy enough that it shouldn't stick in your throat, thief."
"I happen to be unable to remember Faerun names," Yoshimo bantered, understanding what Entreri was doing. "It's probably because they're all so ugly."
"Ugly?" Y'vair demanded indignantly.
"I can't believe why you people would give yourself names which have no meaning. What is the point of having a name then?"
"What does 'Yoshimo' mean, then?" John asked before Y'vair could get carried away with her acting of lighthearted normality. It was rather practical - he had an inkling that Entreri was of some notoriety, and there might be trouble if it were casually revealed. The amber eyes could have been a problem, but the soldiers tended to stare at Y'vair instead. Horns, cat ears and a tufted tail seemed to draw attention like bait to a starving trout.
"I can't tell you. Giving away the secret of the meaning of a name is." Yoshimo's face twisted a little as he groped for words. "Part of a.custom? Ceremony? There are no words to describe it properly," he ended lamely.
They were saved from the embarrassing moment by Nalia, who called for them to follow her into the fortress with the cloudkill scrolls. Of the guards, four were following, including the quiet Captain. Hendak's men were tired and quite a few suffered injuries - as like the mercenaries and the other guards - they had run into a spot of trouble in some of the rooms on the second floor. So only four guards, Hendak, Nalia, Y'vair, Yoshimo, John, the panther and Entreri were to face the umber hulks - and whatever was beyond them.
**
Cloth soaked with some sort of strongly fragrant potion had been passed around for them to wrap around their noses and mouths - only Entreri declined it politely, saying he was allergic to it. Being a werewolf, it was quite possible that it would give him a headache - as it was he tried to stand as far away from the group as possible while yet being able to aid in attacking if need be.
The second level was abnormally quiet, and they reached one of the closed doors to a staircase without mishap, passing some nervous soldiers on guard at intervals.
"There's no need for all of us to cram up there," Nalia said in a barely audible whisper. "And it'd be difficult for us to exit properly, so all eight of you back off down the passage when we reach the top door of the staircase."
"If you see orange clouds floating your way, run," Y'vair continued, "For those who haven't seen this spell before, the fumes are highly poisonous, and it's quite possible for you to die if you inhale them. They'd also irritate your skin and eyes - just about any exposed part of your body. Hopefully the umber hulks don't like it," she grinned.
"Looks like they're in for a wonderful morning," John agreed. Y'vair grinned at him.
"Actually there's no need for all the whispering," Y'vair told Nalia, still in a murmur, "The umber hulks already know we're coming. Tremorsense, remember?"
"But they don't know what we're going to do," Nalia pointed out. "Come on. Wish us luck."
"Wait," John paused, his voice, like the rest, muffled by the cloth. "Cat, go with them."
"It can't cast any spells, sparrow." Y'vair pointed out.
"It can tell you where the umber hulks are by smelling them, luv," John said. "It'd growl if they're behind a door."
"And we'd better remove these as well," Nalia took off the scented cloth she was wearing. "I wouldn't want to mispronounce anything. We'd have to hold them on after the spell and run. The scent should be strong enough to drown up the worst of the cloudkill if it catches up with us."
"I will go up with you," Hendak said. "It may be better if the two of you began casting before the door was opened. When you reach the climax I will kick it in, you throw it into the room, we run."
"You don't know when the climax is," Nalia said doubtfully. "And we have to be able to see the room the umber hulks are in to be able to cast a location point on the spell."
"Won't the umber hulks have become a problem by then?" John pointed out.
"Not really. This potion we inhaled gives you a clear mind for about half an hour," Y'vair said, "It's rather popular among the noble-born when they have to make momentous decisions and don't want anyone interfering with confusion spells, feeblemind and all those amusing spells."
"Why doesn't anyone tell this to us beforehand?" Yoshimo grinned.
"Then why don't we just attack the umber hulks?" one of the men asked, "If we need not fear from their gaze."
"Young man," Y'vair said severely, "An umber hulk can smash through this wall here with ease. Imagine what it can do to your armor. Now, we're a bit short on time to stay here and chat."
"If they're not behind the door at the top of the stair, they're probably in the room beyond it, and there's a grille in that door. It should suffice," Nalia was saying as she led Y'vair and the cat up the stairs. "If not.Hendak may have to help."
There was a tense moment, but the panther did not growl, so they could be heard unlocking the door with a soft click.
"Okay, we move now," John pointed down the corridor.
"Should we not stay and at least make sure they are safe?" Hendak asked, wavering.
"They've begun casting," Entreri said, even though John couldn't hear anything going on upstairs. "Do you really want to block up their escape route?"
With that, the group nervously slunk down the corridor to wait.
"What's happening now, Jasek?" Yoshimo asked Entreri.
"He can hear it?" one of the guards looked surprised. The guards around that door had also been moved.
"Due to a magical item I have," Entreri said smoothly. The men were already ambiguous about the party due to the presence of Y'vair - that balance might be shifted if they learned there was a werewolf in their midst as well. "It helps when your occupation is relieving rich men of the burdens of coin. Knowing where your pursuers are going if you've made a mistake is invaluable."
There was a quiet chuckle from the men, though they shot Entreri and Yoshimo mildly apprehensive looks.
"The spells have been released." Entreri commented thoughtfully. "They're running."
Moments later the clattering of footsteps could be heard on stairs, and a door slamming. Y'vair, Nalia and the cat burst into view from the lower door, and they slammed it shut as well before running towards them.
"They were in the second room," Nalia reported, "So the spell shouldn't reach this point, but we must be careful."
"How long will it last?" Yoshimo asked.
"We'd give it half an hour to clear, then we go back up," Nalia said.
**
They carefully advanced up the staircase after the half an hour, and John glanced at Entreri.
"None behind this door, and the smoke has cleared." His hands casually tightened around the jeweled dagger and his short sword.
Nalia opened the door, and Entreri darted in, eyes flickering rapidly around the room, followed by the rest. This room looked like an armory, and there was a door with a grille in it directly facing them.
"That's the one," Nalia pointed.
"Arrows will just bounce off them unless you can hit them in the eye," Y'vair warned. "Knives as well."
Entreri glanced quickly through the grille. "Smoke's clear. Three curled on the ground, one staggering in a circle, two at the far end standing but motionless."
"That can mean anything," Y'vair sighed. They're intelligent enough to play dead until we get close enough. "Remember, don't look in their eyes if you can help it. The potion may not be strong enough."
Entreri twisted the doorknob, then kicked it open, and the fight started.
It turned out that those curled on the ground were dying, and doing a good job of it - but the guards paused in the charge to stick swords into the large compound eyes, one of the only ways to make sure the thing was dead.
Umber hulks were hideously massive, and looked like escapees from some genetic engineering experiment gone wrong. Their low, rounded heads resembled that of a fly's, with two enormous compound eyes and two smaller, glittering ones above them. Feelers waved at the attackers frantically as they lurched forward and the almost laughably petite inner mandibles clacked together in rhythm with the rows of teeth. The much larger, gracefully curving set of mandibles flanking the small set was nothing to laugh about, though - they were obviously deadly, the grasping edge lined with sharp protrusions.
The exoskeletons were a mottled green, and the long, drooping arms were plated on the heavily from the arm joint to the curving claws, such that they resembled huge clubs with claws on the end. Somehow it managed to balance on its relatively fragile-looking, but also armored back legs.
Two of them chattered to each other in their own tongue as they rushed to intercept the people, while the last one, still staggering around, ignored them. The smoke seemed to have made it delirious. The attacking two, other than the inflamed state of their compound eyes and a rather unsteady gait, looked as though they had somewhat recovered from the spell - a open door to the right that led to a snaking corridor showed that they had perhaps escaped the worst of it by going through there, and coming back when the smoke had dissipated.
The first umber hulk lived up to the notoriety of its species. It swung one of its arms at a guard, and the man made a mistake by trying to block with his shield. The crushing blow smashed into the shield and John could hear the sickening sound of bone splintering. Stunned, the man staggered, and the umber hulk deftly stabbed the razor-sharp tips of the two curving mandibles deep into the guard's neck and ripped them free. With an angry groan, the Captain and the other two guards attacked it, warily this time, but it bashed one of them away with a nearly contemptuous swing, and the mandibles bit right through the armor of another. Yoshimo's arrow sang into its eye, and the thief loosed another into the second.
Maddened, it shrieked harshly and charged at the thief, ignoring the Captain, who swung his broadsword and lopped off its leg as it passed. It toppled with a crash, flailing its arms, and Hendak, muscles rippling with effort, managed to chop off the thing's head. The arms twitched convulsively even as the thing died.
Entreri had engaged the last one with the panther; the two of them always staying out of the thing's deadly reach. Nalia and Yoshimo stopped attempting to shoot arrows at it, afraid that they would hit either the panther or the assassin, and Y'vair leaped forward to help. A glancing blow snapped her sword, and she discarded it quickly, leaping back with an oath, but the next blow connected and nearly knocked her across the room.
John got into range and threw a dagger, missing as the thing twisted to try and pulverize the panther, and missed again when it turned on Entreri. It stiffened, the compound eyes seeming to change colors for a moment, but the assassin avoided its eyes, rolling away from the follow-up swipe. Then the panther leaped on its back with a snarl, somehow managing to stay on as it bucked and twisted. Around this point Entreri held his short sword in a double-handed grip, darted in, and stabbed through the underside of its head.
The deranged umber hulk was giving Hendak and the soldiers some problems - it had decided to attack, and took no note of injuries - berserk, even with an arrow sheathed in its eye. The Captain was down, a large dent in his armor and probably suffering from a few broken ribs, but in the end Yoshimo managed to stick his katana deep into the thing's other eye, killing it.
"Y'vair?" John helped her sit up. She gingerly fingered the side where she had been hit.
"I broke something," she said calmly. "Like the captain and that guard. The other two can't be saved, I'm afraid."
They took a tally of their injuries and were in the process of handing out potions when the ironbound door to the left, leading to the audience hall, Nalia had explained, smashed open.
Two trolls charged out of it, with Entreri and the panther wordlessly engaged one, Yoshimo and Hendak trying to handle the other.
"Bloody hell," John swore, fumbling with his sling. One hit and broke a troll's nose, distracting it for a moment, for Yoshimo to slice open its belly and Hendak to shove it towards the other troll. Driven berserk by the pain the troll bit the other one, and there were a few confused moments before both lay unmoving on the ground. Nalia released a spell that sent a small bolt of flame arching from her fingertips, enough to burn both corpses.
Inside the darkened chamber, something roared its fury.
"We can lure it to the door," Yoshimo suggested, frowning. "Whatever it is."
The few healing potions they had left allowed Y'vair, the captain and the guard to recover enough such that they could at least stand up. Y'vair was pale, but she refused to leave, like the captain, but the last guard was still seeing two of everything and was advised to just go into the armory and sit down where it was safer.
"Tlagar smells you!" the thing roared suddenly. "Come and fight! You kill Tlagar's children! Now Tlagar fight and kill you!"
"Does this happen often here?" John asked dryly.
"There are torches in there on the brackets in the wall.I think I'd try to light some." A few more bolts were loosed, and the lighted torches provided some light.
The audience hall was lined with somber statues, no doubt of past ancestors. John had never really understood why people felt urges to cast sculptures of those long dead and decorate places with them. There was one more large statue at the end, towering over a stone throne, and a figure was slumped in it, with the subdued stillness of the dead.
The one making all the noise was an extremely large troll. It towered over the already impressive normal ones, and John idly wondered how it had managed to enter the hall in the first place. Not by walking normally, that was for sure. Two more, 'normal' trolls flanked it, though the word was quite inappropriate in describing eight-foot-tall monsters.
John sighed. The day was just about getting worse.
**
He woke up in a lumpy bed with a bad headache and a taste in his mouth, which meant that someone had forced potion down it. Squinting to get used to the light, he noticed Y'vair sitting down on a chair in the room busily splinting her arm.
"Ah, you're awake, sparrow." Y'vair said unnecessarily. "You've slept long enough."
"I need a drink," John leaned back onto his pillow. A weight on his toes notified him to the location of the panther.
"Water, then."
"I don't need a bath, luv."
"Or milk," Y'vair carried on, as if she hadn't heard. "I think alcohol might interfere with the potion, and besides, I hate a drunkard's stench."
John sighed, then remembered something. "What happened? I remember using my sling on one of them, then nothing else."
"Your magic decided not to work, sparrow." Y'vair said dryly, "There had been one more troll in the corner that had been hiding. I didn't think they were smart enough to ambush, but it appears that I was wrong. It hit you on the head, and Yoshimo managed to stop it before it decided to continue killing you."
"Ah. Where are the others?"
"Entr.that is, Jasek, is nursing a broken arm - the large troll Tlagar he attacked somehow managed to grab him. Lucky move, technically, up to the point when Jasek sliced it open from neck to navel with his free hand."
"That must have surprised it."
"Considering the look on its face when Jasek was finished with him, I'd say it was, sparrow. The other trolls just seemed to fall into pieces after that. Unstable things. Yoshimo got cut above the eye, but he's recovering - your panther was enraged when you fell. The troll that attacked you probably regretted it."
John chuckled. The panther purred loudly, the rumblings not unpleasant against his feet.
"Nalia says that when you're ready to travel, we'd go see this family friend of hers," Y'vair concluded. "Incidentally, she's emotionally unsteady now. The dead man on the throne was her father."
John shrugged uncaringly. "Hopefully the bint wouldn't fall apart before she keeps her word." He had a headache, and was inexplicably harboring a bizarre notion that a fight had just gone on inside his mind. He reflexively shook his head - perhaps a cigarette would cure it.
**
John did, however, take care not to say anything regarding families or fathers on the trip back. For some reason synchronicity decided to work again, and they were deposited a mile outside Athkatla.
"Why don't you just use your magic to walk you to Baldur's Gate?" Nalia asked John. Her voice was somewhat subdued, ever since they had left the fortress, and she kept glancing at Hendak.
"Because it's unreliable, and Baldur's Gate is a long way," John replied.
"And it might think we should meet every single bandit on the way," Y'vair quipped, with a wink at John.
The mage lived in an ordinary-looking house near Waukeen's Promenade. Paint peeled halfheartedly at portions of the wall, and the windows had heavy curtains over them. Nalia knocked on the unpainted door in a sharp staccato that seemed like some sort of code.
Cautiously, the door opened, and a thin man of over average height, bald except for a sparse gray beard, quickly gestured them inside and shut the door after them.
"Nalia my dear, how wonderful to see you!" the old mage smiled. "How is your father?"
John winced.
Nalia's eyes, predictably, filled with two great tears, and the rest of them felt rather uncomfortable as she told him what had happened, sobbing all the way. The old mage held her and uttered soothing noises until she stopped, and they spoke quietly for a moment. Then he turned back to them, opened his mouth, then stared at hooded Y'vair. Slowly he looked at the rest of the party, and even stared at the panther, which for some reason had decided to show itself.
"Nalia, these are dangerous people," he said quietly. "You are those who emerged in Waukeen's Promenade, whose friend got netted by the Cowled Wizards?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Someone is trying to prevent all wizards with reaching power from helping you, I'd think. Those of my colleagues who openly set up business have disappeared without a trace, and those who even inquired, out of curiosity, about the group of you also disappeared. The rest have gone underground. I must admit I'm curious. Who are you trying to reach?"
The group glanced at each other, and then John shrugged. "Baldur's Gate. We'd tell you exactly who if you say you'd help us. Your friend Nalia gave her word." She didn't exactly promise that he would help them, only that she'd bring them to him, but Nalia didn't seem to catch this - she was talking to Hendak in a corner, murmuring.
"Trigger spells have been put up in this area," the mage said, "I haven't dared to use magic for a while. I have no idea how extensive the spells are - and my scrying tools are largely too noticeable to move comfortably. You will need to fetch me something for me to help you. It would also be your payment to me."
"And what is this?" Yoshimo asked suspiciously.
"It would help me cast spells without notifying other mages by hitting trigger spells or otherwise," the mage explained, "It's a pendant necklace called the Dark Sighing."
John meditated on the rather idiotic names that most magical items seemed to have.
"I've heard of it," Y'vair said. "It was lost quite a while ago."
"How long ago?" Yoshimo looked even more suspicious.
"A few centuries, I think."
"Its location has been revealed to me," the mage reached to his bookcase and took out a tightly scrolled piece of parchment. "That is the map of the Windspear hills, and the dragon's cave is marked."
"What!" Yoshimo exploded. "The dragon's cave? It's a red dragon!"
"Quietly!" the mage shushed them. "There may be spies."
"You're mad," Y'vair said; though her voice was controlled at the normal register. "We're not going to fight a red dragon, especially one who knows spells."
"You know of Firkaag, then."
"We've met," John said curtly.
"Ah, then he must have asked you for help in ridding his land of some trouble in the form of a group of paladins and treasure hunters," the mage said. "Did you wonder why the red dragon would be unable to defeat such groups? When its power is such that it could probably burn down Trademeet if it wanted to?"
"We were wondering," Y'vair admitted.
"The paladins are of no consequence to it," the mage told them, "But it would be best if you were to leave them alone when you go there - they are of the Order of the Radiant Heart, which has influence in Athkatla. The treasure hunters, however.did he say how many there were?"
"Seven," John said.
"They are more than seven, and all good mercenaries - there should be about forty or so. They were all that my friend - the leader - could gather with the promise of a dragon's gold. He will help you - the dragon has taken something dear to him."
"Forty or so people still isn't enough to take care of a red dragon, I'd think," Y'vair said dryly, "Only another dragon has a running chance of doing that. One intake of breath, one funnel of red dragon fire, and there you go."
"With my friend, that may be different," the mage said, becoming a little sententious. "A dragon's fire is essentially magical, especially in the case of a red, as is the dragon itself. Without magic it cannot produce the fuel to ignite the fire at its mouth, nor can it heave its bulk into the air just by the power of its wings."
"So?"
"My friend, you see, is immune to magic."
--
Little Notes and References:
Guenhwyvar: Guen is, in this story and in Rebel Heart, obviously different. ;) This is in reply to comments - Guen has been changed, story-wise, such that instead of being a spirit panther from some plane somewhere who gets called down through a figurine to help Drizzt, it's now a dream. A 'citizen', you could say, of the Dreaming created by Neil Gaiman. Go read Rebel Heart. It's a little complicated - insofar that Guen can walk on the Prime Material plane without getting tired by it, injured by magic or noticed by people who it doesn't really want to be able to see it (though this part isn't a very accurate explanation of what happens). The figurine doesn't exist anymore - Daniel, the new Dream King, took it. Guen can travel with John to the Dreaming whenever it wants.
Artemis Entreri: In this slightly AU place, Entreri is out of character already - he's now a werewolf, and after a convoluted series of stories, rather likes K'yanae. The other word starting with 'l' is still undecided. His character has already changed past Salvatore's view of him. I can't stick to normal conceptions for some reason. John's out of character as well, at some points - his speech being the most obvious.
