***

Chapter 14:

Broken

***

After Brynn dressed in a spare set of clothes borrowed from Jaheira she led the Blades out of the maze. She walked stiffly and said nothing until they were all in the prison proper again. Their fearless leader was not so fearless anymore, and what's more the thing she was afraid of was within her. To say the least it wasn't exactly the sort of thing that inspired confidence, and coupled with her earlier irrational behavior is was damn near disturbing as well.

Not long after the Blades were back inside the prison itself Saemon Havarian appeared, flashing a conspiratorial grin. "Glad to see you're alive, my girl!" he exclaimed, approaching Brynn with a wide armed gesture that was probably meant to look both friendly and non-threatening at the same time.

Saemon barely got within arm's reach before Brynn punched him hard in the face and threw him sprawling into the stone wall. She walked passed him, never even glancing in his direction and said, "The feeling is not mutual."

Saemon leaned against the wall, cupping one hand over his bleeding and probably broken nose, his eyes fixed on the grim faces of the Blades of Honor as they walked past him single file, and like their leader, never even batted an eye at him.

***

The only thought that crossed Brynn's mind from the moment she left the maze was find Irenicus. Of course the darker corners of her being prompted visions of just what she would do when she found him, and to her intense disgust she found that those thoughts made a cruel smile come to her lips. She had never enjoyed pain before, not her own, and not anyone else either, but the thought of Irenicus dying a slow, terrible death made her happy.

"My raven?" Haer'Dalis ventured cautiously, coming up beside her.

Brynn turned her head and regarded him with cold eyes. "What?"

Haer'Dalis paused for a moment, then said, "The state of every plane it to move toward chaos, but sometimes even I must admit that an overabundance of chaos is too much. I cannot say what you are thinking and feeling now, but I have, in my travels, met those who are fueled only by their rage and their power. Those beings were always more vicious than the worst of demons, more cruel and heartless."

"What's your point?" Brynn snapped.

"Simply that I have enjoyed my travels with you, enjoyed your company and the exciting adventures I have had with you. I dare say that I have come to know you, and though fate and chaos are my muses I would forsake them ere I would wish for you to fall to the darkness that threatens to take you even now." He looked at her, his ever-smiling blue-gray eyes as solemn as they had ever been.

Brynn softened a little. She couldn't always quite tell whether or not Haer'Dalis was being literal or exaggerating, but this time she was certain he meant what he was saying. "Thank you," she said. "I won't give into the darkness if I can help it. I've already lost so much today, I don't want to lose what's left of my soul." She picked up her pace a little, and Haer'Dalis dropped back again, letting her take the lead alone.

It wasn't long before Brynn came to the door that led into the room that held Irenicus' machines. Never in her life would she forget the way the those cold iron doors looked, no matter how hard she tried. Had she the strength left to fear she would have feared facing Irenicus again so soon after he had stolen away not only her soul but her beloved Yoshimo as well, but she had only the strength of spirit left yet to hate, and her hate overcame all doubts about her course. She waited only long enough for her companions to gather at the door behind her before she worked the door handle and kicked the door wide open. A moment later both of her blades were unsheathed and she strode into the room.

She saw Irenicus not far away, just down the metal stairs and across the stone floor, standing like some sort of demented god on the steps that led up to the main control panel of his insidious device. The look of surprise in the eyes of the evil mage was enough to make Brynn smile tightly. Irenicus had underestimated her, and it gave her a deep satisfaction to prove to him that he was not so infallible as he had thought, and nor was she as vulnerable.

"You!" Irenicus exclaimed. "You possess a mere fraction of your soul and yet you still pursue me!"

"That's why I pursue you," Brynn said coldly. She sensed her friends arrange themselves behind her and draw their weapons. "Didn't Bodhi come and tell you?" she taunted. "Didn't she even bother to tell you what transpired below this stone floor?"

Irenicus, if he had been a more emotional man, probably would have paled. Instead his eyes colorless eye took on a thoughtful look and his bloodless lips pressed together in pale line. Brynn knew by that look that Bodhi had told him, and that at the time he had given the issue no more thought than he might a fly buzzing in his ear. The mage trusted too much in his own power and the power he had stolen from Brynn to believe himself easily defeated.

Brynn was going to set him straight. "You messed up, Irenicus," she said, advancing ever so slowly toward the mage. She kept her eyes locked on his, showing him the fire, the hate, and the rage that burned deep within the empty place where her soul belonged. "You took something from me and thought it would steal away all my power, leave me defenseless, but you were wrong. All you did was take away my inhibitions, let loose the killer that waited inside of me, and by all that I am, was and ever will be, I will kill you!" She charged, and at the same time Irenicus invoked his spells of protection, readied long before hand to be cast as soon as a battle began. His skin became stone, and magic shields sprang up around him, washed over him, and imbued him with power that would be proof against her katanas, that is, had her katanas been magical weapons.

Often enough other mages had fallen to her hand, thinking themselves safe because they were protected against the sort of magic weapons adventurers of Brynn's standing would have carried, but there was no magic behind the power of Brynn's swords was that of her own life force, her ki. Her blades shone brightly in battle not because of enchantment, but because they were an extension of her will, and her own power flowed along and throughout their metal blades the same as it did in her body.

Her first blades struck Irenicus' arm, but only served to strip away one of the many layers of his stony protection and alert Irenicus to the fact that her blades could do him harm. He back up into the control panel at the top of the steps and wove his hands in the air and moments later, before Brynn could cross the space between them, and five small spheres of glowing red energy leapt from his fingertips to strike and burn Brynn's skin. She used the pain as a focus and let the rage in her build until it nearly -nearly- consumed her. Instead of letting the terrible transformation that had occurred in the lower levels overtake her though, she reigned in the hate and rage and put it to work and added power to her attacks.

Backed between the control panel and Brynn's relentless blades, Irenicus used the advantage given him by his stone skin and soaked up Brynn's attacks and wove his hands and spoke another spell. As the last layer of Irenicus' stone fell away under the sharp edges of Brynn's, and just as the rest of the Blades began to surround him for the kill, the casting was finished and from the stone rose nine figures, each one of them identical to one of the Blades. Around her Brynn heard her friends curse and turn away from Irenicus to hold back the wave of doppelgangers, but she stood and faced Irenicus, preferring to let her friends take care of the summoned enemies while she slew the mage herself.

At the same time Brynn's right-hand blade sliced into the flesh of Irenicus' right arm another round of pre-prepared spells enveloped Irenicus, undoing all of Brynn's efforts up to that point. Now Brynn cursed, and the rage began to boil out of her control, but she found the willpower to push it back again and harness it for another round of attacks. Another volley of magic missiles struck Brynn, and while she was staggered by the attack Irenicus continued his magical offensive and let loose a fireball. The globe of magical fire struck just behind where all the rest of the Blades fought against their magical doubles, and it exploded sending waves of flame across the stone floor. The heat blistered the skin on Brynn's back set fire to her tunic. She screamed in pain and flailed frantically as she tried to put out the flames. She lost her footing and fell backward down the stairs, thudding hard against the ground. Around her she saw her friends swatting the fire that had caught on their clothes out. She also saw that the blast of the fireball had taken its toll on the duplicates that Irenicus had created. The mage had just messed up again.

While Irenicus readied another spell Brynn scrambled to her feet again, ignoring the pain in her burned back, and used her blades to slice through the ranks of the Irenicus' clones. Without armor, and having taken the full force of the fireball Irenicus had cast in their ranks, the copy warriors could not stand up to Brynn's rage or the sharp edges of her katanas. At the same time Brynn struck one of the clones down Jaheira smashed the face of another in with Blackblood, and not more than a few moments later a third crumpled to the floor, its skull caved in by Anomen's mace. A fourth was split in two by as Minsc used Lilarcor to cleave it from crown to groin. A fifth slipped to the stone, its guts spilling out of the wound left by Haer'Dalis' twin short swords, Chaos and Entropy, and a sixth's short existence was ended as Mazzy drove her long sword deep into its chest. The seventh and eighth fell shortly thereafter, their corpses smoking from the deadly spells that Aerie and Nalia had unleashed. And the ninth... well it probably never even notice that Imoen was there before she had stuck her dagger into the back of its neck.

Still, there was no time to rejoice in their limited victory over their clones, Irenicus was still alive, and as the Blades turned toward him he finished his spell. Lightening arced from his fingertips and all those who could dodged out of the way. Brynn hoped her companions would be all right as she dropped to her stomach on the stone floor and the bolt of lightening passed over her head, the charge it left making the hair on her head stand on end for a moment afterward. The bolt bounded off the walls of the room, striking Irenicus' foul equipment and sending up showers of sparks and flames.

Brynn was up before the lightening had dissipated, more or less confident that she could avoid its deadly strike. The others were no slower in getting to their feet, though a little warier. Irenicus was casting another spell again long before the bold of lightening began to fizzle away, but burned, bloodied, and weakened, the Blades were far from beaten and to prove it two arrows, courtesy of Nalia and Imoen, shot through the air, crumbling more of Irenicus' defenses and more importantly distracting him enough to interrupt his spell casting. The mage stood warily, his eyes shifting for Brynn's stony face to his weakening defenses, but he made no move to attack, as if he was planning his next move.

That was fine in Brynn's eyes. Rage was all well and good, but strategy was better. A quick motion of Brynn's hand signaled to her companions that they should regroup. She waved Minsc and Jaheira forward so that they flanked her and nodded her approval as Aerie and Anomen cast simple spells of healing on their more wounded comrades. Haer'Dalis began humming quietly under his breath, and Brynn felt her skin prickle as the bard's magic set to work. At the same time Irenicus began to cast his own spell.

Brynn advanced, sensing that the time was right and any more delay would be costly. "What can you do?" she asked pointedly, each step sending a wave of stinging pain up her back as her tattered tunic shifted against her burned skin. If she could taunt Irenicus into a reply maybe she could interrupt his spell casting and buy enough time any of the Blades' own mages to pull down his defenses again. "You are one and we are nine. Your summoned duplicates were no match for us." She laughed, trying to sound nonchalant and cold. The latter was not hard, inside she felt like her heart had been turned to something so cold it burned... or something to hot that it seemed to frozen to the touch, but she was far from nonchalant; the rage still roared within her. "Even with the power you stole from me you are at a disadvantage!"

Brynn's ploy failed. Irenicus was not touched by her jibes, and seconds after the last word left her lips Irenicus had finished his spell and just beyond the edges of his magical barriers a disembodied skull surrounded by a fog of roiling, noxious vapors came into being and sped straight toward Brynn. Brynn dodged, but the spell caught her and filled her with a terrible, stinging pain. She felt the strength draining from her limbs, but determined to win, if for no other reason than to appease her rage, she fought back against the tide of weakness that threatened to destroy her. The foul smoke cleared away and Brynn stood on trembling knees, holding up one hand to keep her companions back. Irenicus' defenses were still in place and it would do no good to throw themselves heedlessly at the magical force fields that protected him.

Irenicus gave her a chilly smile. Round two had begun.

***

By Aerie's estimation things weren't going all that well. Irenicus' last spell had staggered Brynn, and at this stage none of them could afford to be weakened anymore than they already were. The petite avariel elf tried to shake her worries from her mind, and instead of being nervous and flighty -as Jaheira had told her she tended to be- she put her heart and soul into a prayer to her God, using the power of her faith to bring up a series of magical protections around herself and her friends. She then shifted the focus of her magic to the arcane instead of the divine, and began to cast the spell breach, hoping it would lift enough of Irenicus' spells to leave him vulnerable, if only for a little while, to the Blades' attacks.

***

Jaheira saw the magic shields around Irenicus crumble just as the evil mage finished casting another spell. A ring of fire spread outward from around Irenicus, bursting across the already ruined room. She jumped back, relying on the elven half of her heritage to help her avoid the worst of the flames and hoping her armor could take the rest. Sylvanus bless the dwarf Cromwell for forging armor for her out of the scales of the shadow dragon the Blades had fought in the abandoned temple to Amaunator!

She felt her feet get a little warm, but otherwise Jaheira escaped the blast of fire unscathed and she was quick to assess the condition of the rest of her companions. The mages to the back were all fine, too far away from Irenicus, the epicenter of the ring of fire, to be hurt by it. Minsc was nearly immune to fire spells, what with his red dragon scale armor on. Anomen was not so lucky, having no dragon scales to protect his pompous hide, but he seemed more or less all right. Mazzy, was close enough to the edge of the blast radius that she had been able to clear it just in the nick of time.

Brynn on the other hand...

Jaheira winced, seeing a new set of blistering burns running up the front of her charge's legs. She noted the ginger way that Brynn held her two katanas, as if her palms had been singed. They probably had been, Brynn had been near the center of that wave of fire. Brynn still tightened her grip on her katanas though, frowning as she did so. Jaheira clenched her fingers around Blackblood a little more tightly too, expecting Brynn to signal a charge or Irenicus to let off another magical attack. The two mortal enemies, the evil mage and the noble Kensai, stared each other down, each waiting for the right moment to make their move.

***

"Whoohoo! That was toasty! I haven't been that warm since... well, ever," Lilarcor said.

Minsc's eyes flickered down to the sentient sword for a moment. "Red dragon?" he asked pointedly.

"Ah yeah, well I suppose I was hot then too," Lilarcor grumbled. "But in my scabbard! You put me away for that one and used some wimpy long sword! Good thing I'm not the jealous type or..."

"Shut up," Minsc said. "We have a battle going on and the butt of evil needs a good kicking." He returned his attention to the killer of Dynaheir, the mage Irenicus, with a growl. Oh Irenicus would rue the day he crossed paths with Minsc and Boo!

"Oooh! Hey, sweet-cheeks is looking a little toasty too!" Lilarcor exclaimed.

"How many times must I tell you, sword?" Minsc muttered under his breath, "Don't call little Brynn 'sweet-cheeks!'" He looked out of the corner of his eye and saw Brynn -little Brynn, she was such an adorable little girl! And powerful too!- standing unsteadily, and she truly did look, as Lilarcor had said, 'toasty'. That made Minsc mad. Really mad. How dare the killer of Dynaheir hurt little Brynn anymore than he already had? It was an act of true villainy, and one the ranger could not simply stand by and ignore. Enough was enough.

Minsc charged, forward, readying Lilarcor to slice the mage from crown to groin if need be.

Lilarcor seemed to jiggle with excitement in Minsc's hands, and the sword shouted, "This is for my grandmother, who said I'd never amount to anything more than a butter-knife!" It was a good battle cry.

***

It hurt, the way her legs burned, her back burned, her hands, her chest, her whole body burned, and Brynn focused that pain and used it. She would use anything she had to defeat Irenicus. She heard Minsc begin his charge, heard Lilarcor shout his battle cry, and she too charged forward, both of her blades held ready. Each movement stretched and pulled her seared skin, but she focused that pain too. She got to the mage ahead of her tall comrade, and just in time to take the brunt of Irenicus' next spell. Her footfalls triggered a rune, quickly inscribed on the stairs as Irenicus saw her approach, and sent both Brynn and Minsc, and Jaheira as well for the druid had joined as well, sailing backward through the air.

Brynn landed hard, slamming into the broken floor. Sharp edged rubble dug into her back and before her eyes a flash of color exploded. She lay there on the ground, near screaming with pain but too stunned to utter a sound. She felt cool hands on her breastbone and then a tingling erupted throughout her whole body, soothing her burning skin and easing the ache in her bones and muscles. Her eyes flew open and she saw Anomen leaning over her.

Brynn sat up, and then got to her feet, far more steady now than she had been since the battle had begun. "Thank you," she muttered, feeling grateful for his help but unable to express that in her voice. She picked her katanas up of the ground where they lay and gauged the battle. Minsc was up, looking no the worse for wear because of his heavy armor, and Jaheira too was standing again, though she was limping a little. That was quickly solved as the druid set her own healing magic to work and mend her own wounds. Brynn signaled to Mazzy to come with her, and the halfling warrior nodded her head, trotting up to Brynn's side.

A globe of magical energy shot out from behind Brynn, courtesy of Aerie and in its wake followed two volleys of magic missiles from Imoen and Nalia. The first attack took down Irenicus' shields -again- and the second two burned into the Irenicus' skin, ten different magical spheres striking all in the same spot on his chest. Irenicus howled in pain and yet another pre-prepared set of defenses went up around him and at the same time evoked a fiery cloud that settled in the midst of the Blades' disorganized formation.

Coughing and choking Brynn sheathed her katanas, grabbed Mazzy and ran out of the cloud of fire. Her newly healed skin burned again, and she could smell her hair catch on fire. As soon she was free of the cloud of fire Brynn dropped to the ground and put out the flames on her clothes and swatted out the flames in her hair. She noticed that Haer'Dalis had stopped his battle song and was instead coughing and putting out a fire that had sprung up on Aerie's robes. Imoen was busy performing a similar service for Nalia. Beside Brynn Mazzy hefted her long sword, the Sword of Avoreen, -which she wielded two-handed- and looked up into Brynn's eyes. He expression seemed to ask 'what now?'

"We need to get coordinated," Brynn said calmly, answering the unasked question in Mazzy's eyes.

"You are hurt," Mazzy pointed out.

"No more than anyone else," Brynn growled. "I've no time to be complaining anyway. Irenicus has to be getting low on spells, now's our chance to get him."

"We are running low on magic too, Brynn," Mazzy pointed out. "Every time we bring his shields down they come up again."

"One of these times they won't come up again," Brynn argued. She saw Minsc and Jaheira ready themselves for another charge and drew her blades again. "Wait until one of the mages has taken his shields down again and then come in from the left," she whispered to Mazzy. "I only hope Minsc and Jaheira and I can keep him busy and keep our skins until then. Once his shields are down we four can get in and gut him before he can bring another set up. You understand the idea?"

Mazzy nodded. "I understand, but..."

"Just follow the plan," Brynn snapped in hushed tones. "I need you with me." She strode forward, leaving Mazzy behind and joined her other two companions in their seemingly useless attacks on Irenicus. If she could just buy enough time for Imoen, Nalia, Aerie or Haer'Dalis to pull down Irenicus' shields one last time she knew that she could slay the mage. She hoped she could at least. The rage had quieted a little, but not much, and she figured that it was because of how much she had been weakened. It took energy to sustain her rage and harness it, but she was quickly running out of energy. Despite her pain and her the weakness that threatened her Brynn drew on her strength again, tapping into her ki to fuel her next attacks. Damn the mage! She slashed out with her right hand katana, chipping away one layer of his protective stone skin. Damn Irenicus all the way to the Abyss! Now with her left hand katana she removed another layer. Damn him to the deepest of the Nine Hells! Both blades came in now, taking down yet another of Irenicus' defenses, and at the same time Irenicus cast another of his damned spells, reaching out with his hands and grabbing the incoming blade. Electricity arced from Irenicus' hands down the katana's steel blade and into Brynn's hands and body. She stumbled backward, her muscles twitching involuntarily as she tried to steady herself again. Damn him he would not win! Growling she came at the mage again.

***

Imoen saw Brynn, her dearest friend -her sister- stumble back, electricity jumping across her skin and then dissipating to leave Brynn shaking but somehow still on her feet. Imoen saw this, but she didn't let it interrupt her spell-casting. Imoen hated Irenicus, she hated him with a passion born of all the torment he had put her through. She hated him for what he had done to her friends, and she hated him even more for what he had done to her. He had violated her in body all those months ago in his demented laboratory, and now he had violated her in spirit too, stealing her soul from her and giving it to Bodhi, the undead abomination he called his 'sister'.

Imoen, like Brynn, was empty and cold, having lost a vital piece of herself, and like Brynn she found a focus for her rage, though her rage was not so strong, so violent as her sister's, because Imoen was not so violent a person. She focused her anger into her spells, used it to hone her concentration, and as she saw Brynn stumble forward to attack Irenicus again she gathered up magical energy and sent it at the hated mage. The spell, breach, by name, ripped apart the weaves of Irenicus' defenses and brought them down.

This time the shields did not come back up.

***

Brynn saw Irenicus' defenses fall and sent a silent thanks to whoever had brought them down, and then another silent thanks to the Gods that they had not come up again. "Now!" she shouted. She forced herself to cover the ground quickly, stepping around or over the rubble and the bodies of the Blades' slain doubles. Irenicus sent off another spell just as Brynn's feet touched the steps, and from his hands another arc of lightening crackled to life and leapt at Brynn. It struck her in the shoulder -she had seen it coming and dodged to the side- throwing her backward and sending jolts of agony through her body, before the lightening leapt from her to Minsc, who was following close behind, and then to Jaheira and Mazzy and even Anomen, though he had not joined the charge in favor of casting one of his offensive spells. Anomen's cursing told Brynn that he had lost his spell.

Brynn fought against her rebelling muscles, demanding control, and as soon as she had it she advanced once more with deliberate slowness. "How long can you keep this up, Irenicus?" she demanded as she picked her way across the broken, corpse-littered floor. "Eventually every mage, no matter how powerful, runs out of spells, but I," she grinned cruelly and raised her katanas high, "I will never run out of hate!"

Irenicus returned her hateful grin with derisive and angry words. "I haven't the time for this!" he snapped. "My servants can finish you for me now. Farewell, Brynn Trueblade," he sneered, "we shan't meet again."

Even before she saw him begin to cast the spell Brynn knew he was going to flee. Desperate she ran the last few yards only to have her blades cut the air where Irenicus had stood as the mage himself disappeared though a magic portal.

***

Irenicus found Yoshimo just where he had left him, pacing tensely back and forth in on of the storage rooms, the door barred from the outside as an added precaution. Yoshimo's hand went to the hilt of his katana the moment he caught sight of the hated mage, but Irenicus only returned the threat with a cold smile.

"I have one more job for you," Irenicus said. "It seems that it was wise of me not to kill you after all."

Yoshimo drew his blade. "No more jobs, mage," he spat. "No more! I will not be your slave anymore!"

"As you would have it," Irenicus said. "Let my other slaves slay your beloved. I care not, she will die either way. And so will you, slowly and painfully for violating the geas." With that Irenicus left the room, and strode away, leaving the door open behind him .

Not long after Irenicus was gone a terrible pain flared up in Yoshimo, tearing, mind-bending pain, but it passed, leaving him weak in the knees. That was his curse. That was the geas. The pain was gone for now, but so long as he delayed in obeying Irenicus' commands it would return again and again, growing ever more intense and ever more frequent, leaving him weaker and weaker, until finally it killed him. The only way he could live would be to kill Brynn, and that was not an option. So the only way to end the pain was to die.

Yoshimo stared at the open door with a heavy heart for a few long moments before he strode out with a purposeful gait to say good-bye to his love.

***

Brynn stood, watching warily for the arrival of Irenicus' 'servants', as Jaheira tended to her burns. Not far away Anomen and Aerie worked their healing magic -though the were running low- on the rest of the party, preparing them for whatever was next.

In Minsc's hands Lilarcor was complaining, "If you'd just moved faster we would have got him, you moron. Move your feet next time, you dolt, move your feet!"

Minsc retorted, sounding irritated, "I did! But poof! the mage was gone and I could not give him the butt-kicking he deserved. Blame him for being a coward, not me!"

"Minsc," Brynn snapped, "stop arguing with the damn sword and keep your eyes open!"

"You said it, sweet-cheeks," Lilarcor agreed.

"Shut up!" Brynn snarled.

Wisely, Lilarcor said nothing else. Brynn was in no mood to put up with the smart-mouth sword.

How could she have let Irenicus get away? After all that had happened how could she have let him escape like that? She felt the tingle of healing magic for the second time in a short while and her burned skin knit together and became healthy and whole again, but she could have cared less whether or not she was healthy again and out of pain when she had just seen her tormentor escape. She worked the scenario over in her mind as she scanned the room, waiting to see what sort of goons Irenicus was going to throw at her. If only she had been a little faster. If only she had charged him right off instead of taunting him one more time. If only she hadn't been hurt so badly. If only, if only, if only!

From the corner of her eye she caught a flash of movement at the far end of the room, perhaps the opening of the door, but she saw no one enter. "On your guard," she told Jaheira as she tightening her grip on her katanas.

Jaheira reached to her side and drew Blackblood, her blue eyes darting around the room. Taking their cue from their leader the other Blades drew their weapons too, and waited in tense silence, focusing all their senses on looking for their attackers.

Irenicus' servants struck first, gliding out of their hiding places in the shadows of the room. One of the men -Brynn didn't know how many their were; she could count five, but suspected that there were more- tried to drive a dagger into her back, but she shifted to the side quickly enough and brought her katanas up, slashing one blade across the would-be assassin's chest and driving the other into the belly of a second man that seemed to appear out of thin air to her right. Both men let out gurgling cries and slid the floor to lie in pools of their own blood. Brynn moved on, her gaze flitting around the room. Behind Aerie a man left his concealing shadows and raised a dagger, intent on driving the blade into the slender elf's heart.

"Watch out!" Nalia called to Aerie, warning Aerie just in time for her to step out of the way. Minsc, seeing his witch in danger, dispatched the assassin before he could slide back into the shadows again.

Imoen raised her bow, and loosed an arrow into an assassin that had somehow managed to disarm Anomen. Brynn saw he fifth man duck into the shadows near Imoen, and sprinted across the room, calling to her sister, "Watch your back, Imoen!"

Whirling around Imoen managed to catch the man's short sword with her bow and force him back. Brynn reached them not a moment later and attacked. The man managed to deflect her right hand blade as it came in, but the left hand blade got through and sliced deep into his chest. The man stumbled and slid off of Brynn's blade to the floor, and Brynn turned around, leaving the dying man behind.

It was quiet again, and though she looked, though she listened, Brynn could not sense anyone else in the room. Slowly she lowered her katanas and the rest of the Blades followed suit.

Too soon!

Brynn heard Haer'Dalis call out a warning and she started to turn, but it was too late. Close behind her an assassin drew his arm back and drove his dagger toward her spine. She started to bring her blades up, but she could not move fast enough, nor turn enough, and though the idea flashed briefly through her mind she knew she could not drop down and save herself, the dagger would only find its mark between her eyes as she turned to face her attacker. Not more than a second before the dagger would have struck the assassin stopped suddenly, a queer expression coming over his scarred and ugly visage. A stream of blood flowed down the man's neck, issuing from a gaping wound the cause of which was apparent. A full six inches of steel blade protruded from the middle of the assassin's throat. Weakly the dying man reached up and felt the blade before his hands fell away and the blade was withdrawn. The corpse tumbled to the floor and Brynn stood with wide eyes as she beheld her rescuer.

Yoshimo gave her an uneven smile and sheathed his katana and for the first time since being taken to the lower levels Brynn felt something other than rage and emptiness. She felt her lower lip tremble as she put her own katanas in their scabbards and crossed the few steps to Yoshimo, who caught her in a tight embrace, holding her tight against his chest. A clean feeling of relief filled every corner of Brynn's being. Everything would be all right now, she reassured herself.

"Are you all right?" Brynn asked, loosening her arms so that she could look up into his eyes.

Yoshimo nodded. "I am well enough," he said quietly.

Something was wrong, Brynn could sense it. Something in Yoshimo's eyes told her that he was far from 'well enough'. "Well," she breathed, leaning her head back against his chest and willing her sudden fears away, "well, so long as you're all right." She forced a laugh. "Just like you promised we'll both be leaving this place together."

From across the room Anomen shouted, "Are you daft? It's all just another one of the mage's tricks." Brynn looked over her shoulder, and Anomen paused under the assault her glare. He jabbed a finger at Yoshimo, and continued, "That man betrayed us all, and you are fooling yourself if you think that we can all simply walk out of this place and pretend that he did not!"

Brynn started to protest but Yoshimo cut her off. "Anomen is correct," he said.

Brynn looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean? We're all leaving here together, I'm not leaving anyone behind no matter what!"

"You may not have a choice," Yoshimo replied. He swallowed hard and looked at Brynn with a resigned expression. "Irenicus sent me to kill you."

"Then why...?" Brynn began, her mind and heart in turmoil.

"The geas," Yoshimo said. He reached out and touched her cheek with one hand. "I could never raise my blade against you, aijin, but the geas still binds me, and there are consequences for refusing the commands I was given."

"What... what do you mean?" Brynn asked. A chill of dread ran up her spine.

"I am going to die," Yoshimo said simply

Brynn looked at him, searching his dark, almond shaped eyes for some sign of hope, but she found none. He was resigned, and there nothing in his voice or expression that suggested a reason to believe that things would turn out all right in the end. Brynn's hands trembled and she leaned against his shoulder, suddenly sobbing.

"No! There has to be a way!" she protested, wracking her numbed brain for anything that could help. "The Priestess of Umberlee up in Baldur's Gate still owes me a favor, she could..."

Yoshimo pressed his lips against her forehead and held her tightly. "There is no time," he said. "I will be dead within a tenday. If there was a chance that we could make it to the Gate in that time... aijin, I would be the first to take it, but it is too far, and there is not enough time."

"Then what... what am I supposed to do?" Brynn cried. "I can't just let you die! I won't!"

"This has to end here," Yoshimo said, as calm and collected as if he were reading off a list, or the title of a book instead of telling her that he was going to die. How could he be so calm? How could he just accept what was going on? The simple answer, and Brynn knew it even as she fought it, was because he had no choice. "You don't understand the geas, it is more powerful than I am. I have fought it for this long, but it is agony, as if my veins have been filled with molten stone. I will not die like that," he said, for the first time speaking louder than an intimate whisper, "not sweat-drenched and to weak to even cry out, to weak to even see you at my side."

"So you're just going to kill yourself?" Brynn demanded, hoping to appeal to his sense of honor and make him see some sense. There had to be a way, she told herself over and over again. There had to be away! And yet a little voice in her head quietly and calmly put the facts out and told her that there wasn't a way. She fought it. "You told me a long time ago that you wouldn't die without honor, but there's no honor in taking your own life, not like this, not just to escape pain."

"I know," he said softly, "but if you will grant me one last request I will die as I have tried to live."

Brynn knew what he meant, and the mere thought of the thought of it made her stomach clench up into knots of fear and misery. He was asking her to do it. He knew he was going to die painfully, horribly, and if he ended his own life it would strip him of his honor, so he was asking her to kill him. A final request that she would rather die than have to grant, but not one she could easily deny him either.

"No," she said, speaking just as softly as he had. And then louder, her voice cracking through the hard knot in her throat, "No! You can't ask... I could n... never..." she heaved a great sob, unable to say anything more.

A horrible numbness crept into her body, and a deep, primal tremor coursed through her, as if the floor was crumbling away beneath her feet. She could, and she had to. Perhaps if her soul had still been intact she would have been able to fight for longer, to argue with him until either she won or she ran out of arguments, but she was tired. There were no other choices, even if she were to continue to fight that awful truth out loud she could recognize it now; she had recognized it before. Perhaps if her soul had been intact the part of her that screamed out against what she had to do would have somehow won her over. Now, however, she could see the folly of that, and she ignored the denials that were shouted within her.

Brynn Trueblade knew what she had to do, she accepted it even, but that did not lessen the grief she felt, nor did it ease the ache that grief left in her heart.

She clung to Yoshimo for a moment longer before she tilted her chin up and kissed him longingly. She could taste her own tears on his lips, and her sorrow and pain welled up until it felt like her heart would be sundered by the weight of it.

Finally she pulled away, brushing her lips across his cheek one more time. She took the time to memorize his features, to ingrain him in her mind one last time, and then she laced her fingers in his and backed out to arms length. Numbly she reached down with her right hand and closed her fingers around the hilt of her katana, the one she had found in Candlekeep as a child. The room was entirely silent save for the sound of the steel blade sliding against the lacquered wood of its scabbard. With a final rasp the blade came free and she brought the point up level with Yoshimo's heart. She squeezed his hand and looked to him one last time, her vision blurred with tears, to see if he was still resolved. Yoshimo smiled a bitter-sweet, loving smile, and let go of her hand.

Quickly, before her courage and the numbness fled, Brynn took the katana in a white-knuckled, two-handed grip, and thrust the blade forward. She felt the blade slice through skin and flesh and it seemed almost as if it were her own flesh. She opened her eyes, not even aware that she had closed them, and withdrew the blade. A gout of blood followed and Yoshimo stumbled and fell. The katana dropped from Brynn's fingers and she caught Yoshimo as he fell, cradling him against her chest all the way to the cold, broken tiles. With a trembling hand Yoshimo reached up and touched Brynn's cheek, wiping the tears from her eyes with the last of his strength.

"I love you," Brynn murmured. "I will always love you."

Yoshimo smiled, a trickle of blood running out of the corner of his mouth, and then he closed his eyes, his hand falling away from Brynn's cheek, and then he was still.

***

To Be Continued

***

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The lights are already up on stage, and Blue is sitting, box of kleenex in hand, on the edge of the stage. She blows her nose loudly and quickly wipes her eyes.

"Well, I'm glad you're here, because any more time alone to think and I'd've been bawling my eyes out," she says. It looks like she's already been bawling her eyes out. "It's so hard to write sad parts... makes me all teary and stuff." She wipes her eyes again and puts on her business face. "Enough of that! For those of you who wanted Yoshimo to get out of Spellhold alive... I'm sorry guys, I really am, but part of why I was orignally so enthusiastic about the idea of this story so much was the tragic romance. I really struggled to write this part because I wanted to keep things as realistic as possible, but still accomplish what I needed to plot-wise, if things didn't mesh well I welcome your suggestions to making things better. On a less mushy note, I hope the battle with Irenicus came out well I tried to make is as good as I could. I'm beginning to see why you're only allowed a party of six (protaganist included) with more you'd just whomp all over the baddies, but the way I figure it looking at it from the character's point of view, the more allies the better. Finding the happy medium between the two is sort of hard and Irenicus may have come out either too weak or too strong. Once again, any advice -especially specific things- would be of great help in case of revision."

Blue rubs her hands together thoughtfully and looks as if she is trying to remember something she wanted to say. "Hmm..." she murmurs. "Oh yeah, I wanted to thank Death Knight's Crowbar for the kind review I was left. It's nice to know people care about my AP tests other than me." Blue smiles, a little embarrassed. "Do I really have screaming fans? Things like that will go to my head if I'm not careful! Please tell me if I glossed over the battle too much, these things can be fixed if I know they need to be fixed. To all you other wonderful reviewer-types out there I send a much overdue 'thank you.'" With that Blue stands up, tucks her box of kleenex under her arm and waves good-bye, and the stage lights go out.