Chapter 76: The Darkness Within

Jaheira felt her stomach wrench as Harrian dropped to the floor limply when Bodhi released him. The druid lunged forwards, scimitar flashing in a blow that would have split a normal being from shoulder to groin. As it was, the super-fast reflexes of the undead vampire meant she escaped with little more than a scrape.

Behind her, Keldorn was lunging into the hordes of vampires with the skill that could make civilian life very difficult for him – the one that made him exceedingly proficient at killing people. Anomen, meanwhile, was holding his holy symbol up high in one hand, clutching a small prayer book in the other and chanting as rapidly as he could manage. Vampires fled just as much as they were chopped by Keldorn's blade.

Delryn moved rapidly through the crowds, still chanting, heading for the four bound party members. Though he couldn't free his hands for long, he managed a brief enough pause to toss Imoen a dagger, and the little mage quickly cut the ropes that bound them. In that split second of respite from turning undead, their eyes met, saying as much that a simple look could.

As Imoen untied Haer'Dalis and Minsc, Anomen finally finished his chanting, casting his prayer book and holy symbol aside before taking up mace and shield and joining the fray viciously, battling his way towards where Harrian lay motionlessly. Beside him, Jaheira and Bodhi still fought on, both relying on speed and strength to battle… and whilst the druid was holding her own, she hardly held the upper hand.

Anomen knelt quickly beside the fallen party leader, raising a hand to the two pin-prick sized marks in his neck which were still spilling a little blood. Ripping the gauntlet off his hands, he was already chanting a healing spell, and a little blue light surrounded the wound, sealing it easily. Hopefully, this should also deal with the mild blood loss he would be suffering from.

Harrian's eyes flickered open slowly. He weakly turned his head to focus on the cleric, and frowned slightly. "What are you doing here?" he asked feebly, and Anomen thought he could detect a trace of disdain in the thief's voice.

Delryn grimaced as he prepared a second healing spell to get Corias able to stand, and hopefully help fight. "Good to see you too, Harrian," the cleric mumbled under his breath, dragging the Bhaalspawn to his feet. "Rescue party," he added, as an explanation, absent-mindedly braining a vampire with his mace.

Harrian nodded, his mind still rather fuzzy from the blood loss. He looked around absently. Keldorn seemed to have made short work of the vampires, especially as Minsc had grabbed a blade and joined in the fray, reinforced by the spells of Imoen and Haer'Dalis. But Jaheira…

The druid ducked a speedy claw as it swiped harmlessly above her head, and swore under her breath as she raised her shield to block the second attack of Bodhi's. Before any of the other party members could intervene to give her an easier job of fighting the vampire – though Jaheira was still coping, she was constantly on an increasingly weak defensive – Bodhi gave a final upper cut, catching the druid on the chin and sending her flying back into the wall.

Jaheira hit the wall hard, then slumped to the floor. She seemed uninjured, and managed to clamber to her knees without much difficulty, but it was clear she was in pain. Harrian took a step forwards just as Bodhi turned to face him.

The vampire let out a small, sadistic laugh, folding her arms across her chest, the druid clearly no longer a threat. "So, Child of Bhaal, you have managed to find yourself supported by those you thought had left your side." Although she was outnumbered, she seemed barely concerned. "The fight ends here, however…"

The room they were in was a simple square, with three passages from the walls leading to different parts of the crypt. The party, fortunately, seemed to have its back to the single solid wall, and thus the throng of vampires suddenly hurtling through the other three passageways weren't as detrimental as they could have been. It still didn't look good.

Harrian lunged forward with a snarl, grabbing a knife from a fallen vampire and hurtling towards Bodhi. Cut off the snake's head and the body will die… Though he was unsure of his chances against a powerful member of the undead, he believed he could hold his own long enough to maybe bring the vampire down with him.

He was running in a blind rage as he leapt towards Bodhi, the same sort of red fury that had consumed him when fighting Ertof Dand's bandits, when killing Ployer, when attacking Duchinov… only, somehow, it was a far darker and more malevolent rage than he had ever felt, a kind of blackness within him that was suddenly becoming unleashed…

Then he lost control. His limbs seemed to move of their own accord, and he could only watch as he moved, a part of him appreciating the vast destruction he knew he could wreak, another part horrified as he slowly realised what was happening.

Imoen, who had been releasing a fireball into the midst of the throng of vampires, looked sharply over at Bodhi and Harrian as she heard a blood-curdling roar that sent shivers down her back… only Harrian wasn't there any more.

Well, he was, but clearly not quite Harrian – even as she watched, his body was shifting, changing, limbs elongating and skin reddening, growing in size and transforming into a shape she had never seen before and didn't recognise… at first.

Bodhi recoiled at the giant, ravaging creature, ducking a massive arm it swung at her but almost getting skewered by one of the spikes on its hide. Panic and fear were plain on her face as she leapt backwards. "What is this? A creature of pure death and darkest shadow! Child of Bhaal, what have you become?" she gasped, shock evident.

She glanced at her vampires, who still seemed on the verge of overrunning the Bhaalspawn party. "Away! Irenicus must know of this! We will observe from a distance!" she barked, and, before the party could react, the undead dissipated through the corridors, some changing shape, others simply running as fast as they could.

The group didn't have time to offer thanks for this small miracle, for the massive monster that had once been Harrian was still standing before them, whirling around unsteadily and loping towards them, massive claws outstretched. They readied weapons.

"Hold!" Jaheira snapped, her usually authoritative voice quavering uncertainly. "This is Harrian! Stay your blades!" Although they all complied with her instructions, everyone noticed that she didn't release her grip on the hilt of Belm.

But even as the massive creature reached them, it came to a sudden halt, and seemed to sway uncertainly. As they watched, it fell to the floor, slowly shifting back into the original form of Harrian, now lying prostrate on the floor, seemingly unconscious, breathing unsteadily.

Tentatively, Jaheira and Anomen approached him, neither releasing their weapons. As one, they knelt and turned him over to his back, and the relief on their faces as all they could see was their friend, with no traces of darkness lingering on his physical form, was insurmountable. "He is unharmed," Anomen said at last, resting a hand on his forehead. "Clearly… fatigued… from his ordeal…"

The thief's eyes flickered open to see concerned and fearful faces looking over him. Harrian frowned, sitting up briskly, trying to ignore the deep ache the movement caused. "What?" he demanded irritably.

Imoen opened her mouth, then closed it again, evidently unsure of what to say. "Harrian, you… you… changed!" she gasped at last, shaking her head in disbelief. "I mean, that was… this is…"

"It was the Slayer, Harrian," Anomen told him grimly. "In my studies of the various pantheons, it came up under the books of Bhaal. This was supposedly the physical form Bhaal took during the Time of Troubles… that was Bhaal…"

"No, it was me," Corias replied shortly, his expression closed and unreadable, as if he had slammed a door in their faces. "Evidently something to do with not having my soul any more. I guess that, when Irenicus took it, he didn't take the Bhaal essence within me."

Anomen, Keldorn and Jaheira all shared the same expressions of shock. "He took your soul?" Delryn repeated incredulously, horror plain on his face. "That's… that's what he wanted? Your soul?"

"Yes, I just said that," Harrian answered abruptly, standing up. He seemed surprised not to be felled by a throbbing head as he straightened up. "He took my soul, Yoshimo's a traitor, and I'm not sure why you're here."

The other three exchanged looks as Imoen stepped in. "We… we don't know what he wants with them," the mage said, visibly upset. "Just… whatever it is, we have to get them back." She paused, looking at them for a moment. "Why are you here, anyway?"

With much interruption, the three related their story, Anomen brushing over his abandonment of the Order, and, to be fair, Imoen retold what had happened to them during their capture – leaving out her own secret.

Jaheira nodded thoughtfully as the story came together falteringly, trying not to throw a concerned glance at Harrian, who was busy making a makeshift sheath for the knife he'd picked up with his belt. The thief was plainly so deeply shocked by what had happened that he was covering it up with a flippant exterior… and he had never done that before, not to that great a degree. The druid grimaced as fear settled in her stomach, but managed to control her expression enough that the others didn't notice. "So what do we do now?" she asked at last.

Imoen thought for a moment. "When I was… in… the control room, doing an experiment – I don't know what," the mage lied quickly, "I noticed Irenicus writing in a journal. He simply set it to one side once he was done. If that's still here, it could be a pointer in the right direction." She forced a smile to her face. "Heh. How come the bad guys always keep journals for us to find…?"