Part 3
Pocket Plane, approximately 5 am, one of those days
Rima jerked her head upward and to the left in an effort to throw the bangs out of her eyes.
"Go easy on your neck, dear sister, or Cespenar will have to fetch your head back from the Material Plane," Sarevok chuckled. Rima lifted an eyebrow and threw a handful of scrolls at him. And a paperweight. Skull- shaped paperweight of course, since it was stolen alongside with the documents from Amellisan's chambers. Sarevok caught the paperweight and brought it back to still sizzling Rima. The couple had ransacked a long- abandoned Bhaal's temple a fortnight past and had been working on sorting and studying the priestess' files ever since, which drove the vivacious assassin to the brink of insanity.
"I told you two days ago, that you will find nothing else of importance, but you had to be stubborn! Now, stop acting like a child. The world is ripe, and we are the pickers," Sarevok chided. Rima pushed herself from the table, got up to her feet and swept three-quarters of its content away. The papers flapped in the air for a moment, then drifted down and finally covered the floor in a random pattern. Rima's temper settled almost as fast as the papers and she touched her lover's shoulder apologetically.
"Oi, oi! Does Mistress wants Cespenar to clean?" cooed what at the first glance appeared to be a roughly carved statue of a squatting demon, and on the second glance was an imp. The assassin nodded to Cespenar and it started to gather the papers at once.
"All that is on the floor can go into the garbage, Ces," Rima ordered, dancing on the balls of her feet to stretch. Sarevok frowned in disapproval, but she only laughed in return.
"These three are the only ones useful to us, you were right," Rima addressed Sarevok and tapped her fingers on the stack of papers, which she kept on the table.
"Here, Sarevok, those three are the files Amellisan kept well hidden, but oft updated. Two of them - Sendai and Abazigal belong to her pack of hell- hounds. And the third one - Balthazar - is neither with the Five, nor did he ever come to Saradush."
"And those are yours and mine, is it not?" Sarevok asked coldly, pointing at the thick bundle, lying separately, tied with a length of thin cord. Rima looked at Cespenar carrying the large stack to the crack by the room's wall. The imp dropped his burden down and the flames leaped up from the crack, feasting on the paper and parchments.
Rima grinned at him, showing white teeth: "No, dear, not yours and mine. Only yours."
"That's very clever of you, sister," Sarevok said amusedly "but, do you really think it gives you some sort of an advantage? My little pretty thief, there is nothing new Amellisan can tell me about you." He picked a lock of her hair and started rolling it around his index finger. "You should not have learned anything that you do not know about me already either. We have one soul and there are no secrets we can keep from each other. I am Gorion's ward, smiling and lying politely. You know how a beggar kid can survive in Sembia. So tell me, what was there in Amellisan's papers about me that you deemed them worth keeping?"
"Nothing, but your name, written so many times..." Rima replied, catching his palm and pressing it against her cheek. "And a sketch of you at the age of ten. I am a sentimental woman." She uplifted her face towards him and smiled.
Sarevok kissed her on the forehead, freed his hands and mounted the chair she just vacated. The fighter picked the bottle from the table and poured wine into a tall goblet. The white engravings appeared on the glass surface as the dark liquid filled the vessel. Some dead king or another.
"Just a thing a sister would do. I beg you not to show it to my fiancée," Sarevok volunteered after a pause.
"She has already seen it," Rima laughed. "And your wife as well. And your lover."
Sarevok took a sip from the goblet and looked at her above the rim. His eyes were but an emotionless shine, like a noon sun. "Of course," he said, "but must you have all those titles? I much prefer "sister". It states quite plainly all that you are to me."
Rima put her hands around his, and inclined the goblet toward her. She drank of his wine and said softly: "Sister is good." Then, she added as an afterthought: "One more thing. Did Bhaal sire more than one child on any woman other than Alianna?"
He shook his head negatively: "Probably not. Or it does not matter, since we are the only ones to survive. Now, to indulge my brotherly pride, tell me how did you find it out?"
Rima nodded agreeably. "We removed your helmet and armor in Baldur's Gate to make sure that you were dead, Sarevok. Big men like you are not easy to kill. You have changed much since then..." Rima glanced at the short dark stubble covering Sarevok's head, his gaunt features and yellow orbs, "but I remembered you well. It was much like looking into a mirror after putting the Girdle of Gender Change on. At first I thought that it was Bhaal's face. However, I saw dozens of Bhaalspawn since. Not two of them were alike, each taking after her mother. Ours are Alianna's features, brother. I would be a fool to doubt that."
"And you are anything but a fool," Sarevok smiled and let the glass slip from his fingers. The imp caught it in the air and drunk the last drops of wine from it. Sarevok intertwined his fingers with Rima's and murmured: "One blood." "One soul, "Rima added solemnly. "One power!" Sarevok finished, raising his voice to almost a battle cry and Rima echoed: "One power. Now, my dear, let us put our minds to attaining it."
"Which one of the three should we start with?" Sarevok asked letting her go with only a slightest sigh of disappointment.
"The one who was never caught in her net," Rima suggested quickly, as if she prepared her answer long ago.
"Then it's most likely that he will not be caught in ours," the fighter objected. Rima smiled and pulled a piece of thin paper out of the pile: "Amellisan had done her homework, brother. But she most graciously left it to us to close the trap."
"Rice paper?" Sarevok muttered, surprised. He glanced through the content of the page and a triumphant smile twisted his lips. "You never waste your time, sister, I give you that."
Pocket Plane, approximately 5 am, one of those days
Rima jerked her head upward and to the left in an effort to throw the bangs out of her eyes.
"Go easy on your neck, dear sister, or Cespenar will have to fetch your head back from the Material Plane," Sarevok chuckled. Rima lifted an eyebrow and threw a handful of scrolls at him. And a paperweight. Skull- shaped paperweight of course, since it was stolen alongside with the documents from Amellisan's chambers. Sarevok caught the paperweight and brought it back to still sizzling Rima. The couple had ransacked a long- abandoned Bhaal's temple a fortnight past and had been working on sorting and studying the priestess' files ever since, which drove the vivacious assassin to the brink of insanity.
"I told you two days ago, that you will find nothing else of importance, but you had to be stubborn! Now, stop acting like a child. The world is ripe, and we are the pickers," Sarevok chided. Rima pushed herself from the table, got up to her feet and swept three-quarters of its content away. The papers flapped in the air for a moment, then drifted down and finally covered the floor in a random pattern. Rima's temper settled almost as fast as the papers and she touched her lover's shoulder apologetically.
"Oi, oi! Does Mistress wants Cespenar to clean?" cooed what at the first glance appeared to be a roughly carved statue of a squatting demon, and on the second glance was an imp. The assassin nodded to Cespenar and it started to gather the papers at once.
"All that is on the floor can go into the garbage, Ces," Rima ordered, dancing on the balls of her feet to stretch. Sarevok frowned in disapproval, but she only laughed in return.
"These three are the only ones useful to us, you were right," Rima addressed Sarevok and tapped her fingers on the stack of papers, which she kept on the table.
"Here, Sarevok, those three are the files Amellisan kept well hidden, but oft updated. Two of them - Sendai and Abazigal belong to her pack of hell- hounds. And the third one - Balthazar - is neither with the Five, nor did he ever come to Saradush."
"And those are yours and mine, is it not?" Sarevok asked coldly, pointing at the thick bundle, lying separately, tied with a length of thin cord. Rima looked at Cespenar carrying the large stack to the crack by the room's wall. The imp dropped his burden down and the flames leaped up from the crack, feasting on the paper and parchments.
Rima grinned at him, showing white teeth: "No, dear, not yours and mine. Only yours."
"That's very clever of you, sister," Sarevok said amusedly "but, do you really think it gives you some sort of an advantage? My little pretty thief, there is nothing new Amellisan can tell me about you." He picked a lock of her hair and started rolling it around his index finger. "You should not have learned anything that you do not know about me already either. We have one soul and there are no secrets we can keep from each other. I am Gorion's ward, smiling and lying politely. You know how a beggar kid can survive in Sembia. So tell me, what was there in Amellisan's papers about me that you deemed them worth keeping?"
"Nothing, but your name, written so many times..." Rima replied, catching his palm and pressing it against her cheek. "And a sketch of you at the age of ten. I am a sentimental woman." She uplifted her face towards him and smiled.
Sarevok kissed her on the forehead, freed his hands and mounted the chair she just vacated. The fighter picked the bottle from the table and poured wine into a tall goblet. The white engravings appeared on the glass surface as the dark liquid filled the vessel. Some dead king or another.
"Just a thing a sister would do. I beg you not to show it to my fiancée," Sarevok volunteered after a pause.
"She has already seen it," Rima laughed. "And your wife as well. And your lover."
Sarevok took a sip from the goblet and looked at her above the rim. His eyes were but an emotionless shine, like a noon sun. "Of course," he said, "but must you have all those titles? I much prefer "sister". It states quite plainly all that you are to me."
Rima put her hands around his, and inclined the goblet toward her. She drank of his wine and said softly: "Sister is good." Then, she added as an afterthought: "One more thing. Did Bhaal sire more than one child on any woman other than Alianna?"
He shook his head negatively: "Probably not. Or it does not matter, since we are the only ones to survive. Now, to indulge my brotherly pride, tell me how did you find it out?"
Rima nodded agreeably. "We removed your helmet and armor in Baldur's Gate to make sure that you were dead, Sarevok. Big men like you are not easy to kill. You have changed much since then..." Rima glanced at the short dark stubble covering Sarevok's head, his gaunt features and yellow orbs, "but I remembered you well. It was much like looking into a mirror after putting the Girdle of Gender Change on. At first I thought that it was Bhaal's face. However, I saw dozens of Bhaalspawn since. Not two of them were alike, each taking after her mother. Ours are Alianna's features, brother. I would be a fool to doubt that."
"And you are anything but a fool," Sarevok smiled and let the glass slip from his fingers. The imp caught it in the air and drunk the last drops of wine from it. Sarevok intertwined his fingers with Rima's and murmured: "One blood." "One soul, "Rima added solemnly. "One power!" Sarevok finished, raising his voice to almost a battle cry and Rima echoed: "One power. Now, my dear, let us put our minds to attaining it."
"Which one of the three should we start with?" Sarevok asked letting her go with only a slightest sigh of disappointment.
"The one who was never caught in her net," Rima suggested quickly, as if she prepared her answer long ago.
"Then it's most likely that he will not be caught in ours," the fighter objected. Rima smiled and pulled a piece of thin paper out of the pile: "Amellisan had done her homework, brother. But she most graciously left it to us to close the trap."
"Rice paper?" Sarevok muttered, surprised. He glanced through the content of the page and a triumphant smile twisted his lips. "You never waste your time, sister, I give you that."