Greetings and Salutations! I need to vent a little before you read this chapter and inform you as to the contents there in. The reason it took me so long to produce is because this entire thing consists of the escape from Irenicus's dungeon. When I played the game for the first time some of it was interesting, but now it has become just plain boring with little room to maneuver. However, I must still write it in because it reveals some pivotal realizations about the nemesis of this tale, and I really wanted to just get it all out of the way in one fell swoop instead of having to agonize over it for four chapters. The flight from the dungeons will consist of two parts of which this in the first. It has been exhausting to write. I promise you that I have made a sincere attempt to spice it up as much as possible in my own way. I must also warn you that I have abridged it as I saw fit. I have eliminated pointless crap like that random Genie that pops up after you escape, all those annoying goblins and flappy things etc. I also do not know all the dialogue by heart thus some of the original dialogue may be inaccurate. Enough talk, more read! So bare with me! And enjoy. (I hope)
Chapter 5. Flight from the Dungeons
A regular booming issued from somewhere distant in the dungeons; the walls were pulsing with some secret battle. Each tremor in the ground plucked at the womens' already frayed nerves and they found themselves clinging to each other as they walked. They were still in the cavernous chamber of the birdcages. It seemed to go on forever. The floors' structure consisted of an intricate web of perforated steel, and they found that if they peered closely they could see the floor below. A red glow issued from those holes and a heat as if the floor sheltered a smoldering demon ready to rise and devour them all. Despite the dim light from the hovering lamps it was not enough. Imoen walked slightly ahead of Thorn checking for traps. The dark eyed woman followed shivering and straining in the twilight, at the point of despair in the search for her friends. They were surrounded by those hideous swinging confines the squeals of their chains slicing the air like hellish screams. The decomposing remains of what must once have been people lay at the bottom of many, which of them belonged to their friends?
Suddenly, the two siblings heard a sound that filled them with both hope and overpowering dread. The muffled pitch of voices. They stopped dead in their tracks. Imoen slowly gestured for Thorn to step beside her.
"Who are they do you think?" She whispered. "They certainly sound human, but so did that Mage. Should we cast invisibility? I have it memorized..."
"No. No spell casting. Whoever they are they'd be sure to sense magic. Can we get closer?" Thorn's heart was in her mouth.
"Not without the risk of being seen. What if it's one of His minions?"
"What if it isn't?" Thorn countered, hope slowly overcoming her fear. "One of them sounds like a woman what if it's Jahiera?"
"Oh ok, fine. But if we get caught, I blame you."
"Agreed."
Ever so cautiously they crept forward, hardly daring to breath. After a second they could make out two more such cages only these were welded to the ground. An especially bright lamp hung over each. Eventually a reclining woman was discernable in one and a man pacing the other restlessly. The sisters were overjoyed to hear the following dialogue.
"Patience, Minsc you great oaf! You harm no one but yourself with such childish outbursts. Thorn will come, she must."
The man in turn halted his fidgeting, and began to tremble with rage. "If Minsc and Boo ever get their butt kicking paws around that evil Mage he will know our wrath!"
"Thorn! Imoen!" Jahiera stood and reached through the bars as the two appeared on the scene running towards them.
Thorn grasped her strong brown hands and kissed them exultantly. The druid's weathered face grinned gently.
"I knew you would come. There was never a doubt in my mind. I knew. You would not forsake me."
"What happened?" Imoen queried.
The brown woman immediately became hard. "Explanations must wait, we have much to do. Have you seen Khalide?"
Thorn ground her teeth as the vivid image of the faceless body with the broken neck invaded her brain she remained silent.
"That could not have been Khalide." She persuaded herself. Khalide would never die it had to have been one of the lackey's who attacked them. Misc probably killed him, and his companions were carrying him away and all other traces of the struggle. That was what happened, Khalide was very much alive.
"Was he not with you?" Imoen persisted.
"I never saw him after that fight. I'm worried, Thorn have you seen him?"
She had to answer, even though something in the pit of her stomach rebelled. "No. No I have not. We'll find him you'll see. First, we must get you out of this prison. Do you know where the key to your cell is kept?"
"I saw a golem leave with it through that door in the corner, but be careful getting it. By the Valor I do not trust one inch of this place."
"And what about Minsc?"
Jahiera snorted. "There isn't even a door to his, only look and see."
They obeyed, and to their great disappointment his cage was indeed doorless. The brawny warrior was currently absorbed in attempting to twist the bars with his hands. Thorn was glad to see him. Minsc had a face like a lion. The features were fierce, sharp, and animal. One could only see how gentle he could be when they looked into his eyes, which were brown, and soft like folds of velvet. He was one of the gentlest human beings Thorn knew, but she had also seen him in the heat of anger, and it was usually a dangerous thing. He was in such a state then. His was visage sweltering, channels of sweat ran down the surface of his skin and stained his bloodied shirt.
"Minsc will be free!" He grunted. "These bars can not hold my wrath! Oh!" He looked at his rescuers as if for the first time. "It is the little mages. Boo was sure you would save him!"
"Minsc, isn't there a door to your cage?"
A mischievous grin illuminated his rosy countenance. "Nope, no door for Minsc and Boo! I am proud that they feared me too much to stick me in a cell with a lock and key. But now Thorn and little Imoen are here! They will rescue us Boo!"
They were in quite a quandary.
"And how do you propose we do that?"
"You are a hero!" He replied confidently. "Hero's can do anything. Right Boo?"
"A hero still requires a lock and key!"
"Then you don't intend to rescue us at all." His brow drooped with profound dissapointment. "You mean to leave Minsc and Boo here... why you, you, you shall feel the wrath of Minsc and Boo! YYYAAAAAAHHH!!!!"
The big warrior's face was black with the rush of blood, veins standing out of the top of his bald head, and across his mighty arms, which in turn rippled and bulged with the strain as he gave the bars one final twist. The latter gave an agonizing crack and then detached all together. Thorn and Imoen ducked for cover.
"Ha! Minsc is free! I broke the bars with my berserker strength!" Then he turned upon them. Thorn was too slow and he seized her shoulders whipping her around. "Now I will get you! You, you..." Thorn cringed. "Oooooooo! You are a smart one! You said what you did just to get me mad. You know you are almost as smart as Boo sometimes." With that his sinister features became pink and jovial. He embraced Thorn hard, who was still recovering from her fright. She thought her ribs would snap.
"Nice...to...see...you...too...Minsc! Minsc... let go you're...crushing me!"
"Oh! I'm sorry!" He chuckled relinquishing his grasp to her great relief. "Sometimes I forget my own strength!" He reached for Imoen, who anticipating the same treatment dove behind Thorn.
"Minsc you adorable idiot!" Jahiera chided. "Leave the poor women in one piece!"
"Yes, yes Boo says enough with reunions! Time to do some righteous butt kicking!"
"Ah Minsc I see you still have that...uh...rodent."
He held the caramel ball of quivering fluff aloft proudly.
"Where ever Minsc is Boo is sure not to be far away."
"But how ever did you keep him from being taken during our capture?" Thorn inquired with genuine perplexity.
The warrior smiled. "Minsc is a big man. There are many places on him in which Boo could hide."
There was a queasy pause in which everyone's imagination ran wild.
"I don't want to think about it." said Imoen.
"Yes, a fine idea. Come on big guy..."
"Remember Thorn..." Jahiera cut in.
"Mmm." She replied rubbing her aching sides.
"Be careful, I'm sure not everyone is off fighting that battle."
With that word of caution the three companions made off in the direction Jahiera had indicated, Minsc cooing and stroking his little hamster affectionately all the way.
The room was dark when they reached it.
"Should we just go in?" Imoen whispered.
"Minsc and Boo will skewer anything inside!"
"No wait." Thorn clapped her hands, and a hovering lamp spouted a dingy yellow flame, the rays staining their faces like old urine.
"Not a bad trick." Imoen smiled approvingly. "Where did you learn it?"
Thorn flinched as in her mind's eye she saw the mage perform that same action to activate the lights in the room of the twisted chair.
"I don't know."
The room was plain and appeared rather neglected. A shimmering layer of silver dust carpeted every surface, and spider webs without spiders filled the voids. They immediately began sniffing around for the key. Thorn looked under a table to find a pile of rusty weaponry. She selected a plain staff, fingering a sizable dent in the metal.
"Well it's not much, but it's a start."
"Hey I got it!" cried Imoen holding aloft a glinting gold key from where she had been digging in a chest.
A shadow like an ambulatory mountain appeared over her shoulder. Thorn's blood grew chill, and Imoen seeing the terrible look in her companions' eyes spun around and screamed. A flesh golem regarded them indifferently. Imoen extended the key as if for protection. Minsc seized a bastard sword in his beating palm.
"Prisoners back to your cells it is the master's will."
Realizing then that the beast was not programmed to perform acts of hostility Thorn stepped in front of Imoen.
"And who is your master?" It was the question that lingered on her tongue, metallic like a blood stain.
"Back to your cells, do not anger the master." Was its monotonous reply. It didn't even seem to see them.
"Forget it. We will get nothing out of this mindless beast."
Thorn tried to conceal her disappointment as they made for Jahiera's cell.
Imoen was still trembling when they had released the druid.
"Child you are so pale." The druid's voice was full of maternal concern. "Whatever is the matter?"
"Let's just say that not everyone is off fighting the battle."
The latter comment sent a kind of deep freeze through the party a prickling along the back of their necks. They walked in silence.
At length, the even stone of the passage opened up into a rough-hewn grotto. The rock was pink and glistening with moisture, like the fleshy interior of a yawning mouth. Here and there pockets of jutting crystals of pastel hues sparkled as petrified tear drops, all this in great contrast to the cold, black adamantine that they had been surrounded by since their arrival. It seemed natural as though the relentless ebb and flow of water had carved it out of the stone since the beginning of time. They could here it now, droplets falling and plinking upon the rosy floor like silver bells, and flowing along the sensual curves in the walls. The pristine beauty of the place temporarily lifted the burden of the last few days from their heads, and they breathed freely, and looked without fear. Thorn felt Jahiera's hand brush her shoulder.
"Even in a place so devoid of life nature will find a home."
But Thorn was not listening. She felt drawn to a small pool of glimmering water that had collected in a groove of pink crystals. Standing over it she drew breath at the loveliness of the sight. The gems turned blue beneath the water, burning with a living radiance, and reflecting splotches of azure luminosity across her moon white face. A voice like a mental breeze issued from the depths.
"Taste of the water, and it will taste of you."
The liquid maintained its luminosity in her hand, filling her mouth and chest with the penetrative tang of cold. To her astonishment the image of a beating metropolis materialized on the surface. It had high towers that manifested to be still growing before her eyes. Then the half bat, half baby from her dream flew into view, and she covered her throat with her hands, suddenly feeling weak barely able to stand the water rising up to meet her. Next was a man who looked vaguely familiar, he was handsome with beautiful golden skin and eyes that burned with passion. He was kissing a still more beautiful woman, her sweaty flaxen tresses clinging to his bare chest. Behind them the sky was torrid with an imminent monsoon. This sensual image was replaced by a person she had never seen before. He was not nearly as handsome as the first man, his skin professed the color and quality of charcoal, and his hair was white and hung in knots about his face, but he looked at her with deep set, sad eyes, he looked into her. Thorn could feel her soul opening before him, so willing. She found herself irresistibly reaching for him someone to fill the empty space in her breast that pained her now and then. He turned away, and she knew then that he had died.
It was Imoen's voice that finally brought her back to reality.
"Are you ok?"
Thorn hugged her chest feeling dirty, violated as though someone had seen her naked.
"Yes, let's get out of here."
They wandered on aimlessly. Pressing together like a band of frightened rats in a maze. Minsc and Imoen walked in front she scanning the corridor ahead for traps, and he with sword out and ready to strike. Gradually the air grew hotter; Thorn concluded that they must be delving deeper into the earth. Then they were sweltering; even Boo sitting in the crook of Minsc's perspiring neck was damp and clammy, fur gray with animal sweat. Soon an even more disturbing discovery presented itself. The ruckus of battle was growing in volume and intensity until Thorn could feel the tremors of each explosion beneath her fingertips as they grazed the wall and through the bottoms of her boots, rattling along her spine. Boom, boom, boom. The tension was palpable.
"If I don't get out of here alive, I want to be cremated do you understand?" Jahiera was ardently trying to impress this desire upon anyone who would listen. "I won't be stuffed underground like some kind of sewer rat one more time. Do you hear? Just light a match and..."
"Look!" Imoen shouted darting through a doorway that hadn't come to anyone else' s attention.
"Wait for Minsc and Boo!"
"Imoen stop!" Thorn cried trying to repress the sense of dread spawning in her belly.
They all reached her simultaneously where she had frozen. The druid grabbed her arm yanking her back.
"Foolish girl you will get us all killed!"
Boom.
A sound like the shattering of the sky above their heads split the air. The entire cavern rattled like a baby's toy. Thorn's muscles refused their duty and she was thrown against the wall clawing at its bare surface for support in the swirling maelstrom of motion. Imoen screeched and clung to Jahiera. Minsc wen't down with a mighty bellow like a pile of rocks, the lights dimmed, flickered, dimmed, flickered, and went out altogether.
Thorn stood, the cool stonewall grating against her spine and shoulder blades. Nobody spoke the silence was defending. All that she could perceive was an inky blankness of unfathomable depth it was the only sensation left to her besides the chill of the wall, which she continued to cling to struck with the terrifying idea that if she let go she would spin out into space. This was the same darkness experienced by moles burrowing in their tunnels, roots delving through soil, and people buried alive. The darkness of the underground, of the subterranean, a place unto itself where reality is washed clean and recreated. She could almost see the distorted visage of the mage approaching her through the void like an ashen flame. Her breathing became short and rapid she could feel the seething cauldron of panic rising up to her chin about to engulf her sanity in one potent rush. But then there was the water. She had been unable to hear it until that point, when there was absolute quiet. Faint gurgling noises and the rushing of air as if the whole room were gasping for breath. The lights came on. Everyone ground their searing pupils with the heel of their hands, their vision a fantastic explosion of wraith lights and crackling fragments. Finally Jahiera spoke.
"Can we really be that close?" Her voice was a gentle breath. "Is that turmoil actually right above our heads? By the horns of Sylvanias I had no idea."
"Nor I" Thorn answered incredulously, but said no more, the cause of the throaty murmur was revealed. They were surrounded by tanks, bubbling vats of water that omitted a luminance akin to that of the crystal cavern. All these tanks were connected by black tubes to a kind of battery like a wretched octopus. The uncanny machine's billowing sides inhaled and exhaled steadily. The entire room purported to be the anatomy of some great beast, and this pulsating contraption was its heart. Fascinated and horrified Thorn laid her cheek against its surface listening to its roaring breath in her ears; it even possessed the warmth of the living.
"I don't like it here." She heard Imoen's voice through the din. "I can feel something looking at us, listening, let's go!"
"My God."
They all turned to look at Minsc. He was standing rigidly in front of one of the tanks his huge frame began to quiver. When they got closer they could smell it first. Fear, stagnant flowing from the glass cubicle like a white-hot light. Suspended inside was a man. Or it had been at one point in time, but it was tiny and shriveled. The skin sagging from its frame, limbs stunted and twisted, its great bulbous eyes devoid of pupils, yellow, white bulging bundles of nerves etched red in the slimy surface. There it floated in its fluid environment like a monstrous fetus festering in a fetid womb. Thorn felt the bile rise in her throat, her limbs were paralyzed, cold as with death. The four companions stared the light of the creature's eyes glinting in the depths of their weary faces.
"Minsc and Boo have never seen anything like this." The blanched warrior whispered. Suddenly the object of their attention opened the crumpled hole in its face to release a silent howl, they all sank beneath it.
"Master!" Thorn knew it was speaking to her. "Master why have you forsaken me? Have I not served you faithfully? Did you not promise to restore me after the accident? Master please do not leave me to rot! I can not stand it anymore!"
Thorn shuddered. "I am not your..."
"MASTER PLEASE! MERCY!"
"Master!" A voice beckoned from somewhere behind them, and they whirled around to see another pickled man in his tank. "Master the ants they burn! They are all over my skin, it burns, it burns!"
"Master!" Another cried. "I have not seen the sun for twenty years! Gods do not leave me to die in the dark!"
"Master help me!"
"Master save me!
"Master why have you forsaken me?!"
"I have not seen the sun in twenty years!"
"The ants! It burns!"
"Master please let me die!"
"IT BURNS!"
Thorn crushed her palms against her ears, their heinous voices like the wails of so many tortured cats, screaming and screaming in an unending universe of agony! She fled. Blindly, eyes clamped tight shut, hands pressing the sides of her ringing head until she thought her skull would implode. She would have flown forever, ran from those wreckages of life, from their accusations, and their pleas, had not two strong arms enfolded her in a binding embrace. The girl thrashed, and screamed in her incarceration, her brain livid and electric with terror. They had caught her; the shriveled men had caught her! She could feel their broken infant limbs pawing her body. No it was the mage! The mage! His eyes were rolling back in his head. She had to break free.
"Wake up child, wake up! You are safe now. It is Jahiera your Jahiera!" A hand closed over her eyes and the treacherous delusions vanished, replaced by Jahiera's savage beauty cutting through her fever dream. Thorn dissolved in her arms, exhausted.
"Oh, Jahiera. How could he do this? It's as if human beings were so much dirt to him. He has no humanity of his own!"
"I know, I know, but stop this sobbing now, and be strong. We must withstand this now stop! You've got to pull yourself together; weakness has no place here. Stand up!"
Thorn wearily obeyed, having no other choice, and together they continued to forge a path through the labyrinth of nightmares.
I hope you liked that. The other reason I took so long to post this was not because I am bored or stuck or would like to stop writing it. I am just so busy with school, and when I'm not at school I'm at karate, and when I'm not at karate I'm at school or doing tons of homework. Plus I get no sleep all week and thus wander around in a kind of blank stupor. Not only that it's a new school which is stressful, and I'm gonna stop unloading personal problems onto the internet now. I thank you sincerely for your wonderful reviews.
Valerius Catullus- I'm pleased you find it interesting. I did not know that I didn't accept anonymous reviews, thank you very much for that useful piece of intelligence. I have changed that now. Hope you continue to read!
Lady of Dragons- Glad you like my story. Let's see my thoughts on Anomen hmmmm... well I do not hate him, however I do find his romantic conversations rather cliché and annoying. It's so sexist how the male PC gets three romance choices and the female only gets one. Don't they realize that we like variety too? Guess not. Anyway how can I tell you this without giving everything away? As I said in the story summary this is a tale of unrequited love (wink, wink, nudge, nudge.) so I guess you could say I put Anomen through a great deal of emotional pain if not always physical. Just keep in mind that the story I'm trying to write here deals with all kinds of love, and dependency. So Thorn may try to love Anomen, but it doesn't work out because the guy that's really for her won't show up until much later, I alluded to him in this chapter actually. And now that I've just told you stuff that was supposed to be a surprise I'm gonna stop now, and wait expectantly for your reviews.
Offshoreecho- Hello again, and thank you very much! I agree there are many FF writers who don't know exactly how to get their point across, but I will try to avoid that the best that I can. We do need more people to write BG Fanfics, it's so lonely out here! It's like there's me and you, and one or two other people updating once in a blue moon, but that's it. Hopefully the creation of "Dark Alliance" will remedy that, but I doubt it.
celestine1- Thank you kindly. Hmmm, easy read, I don't like that if by that you mean light and fluffy, but I have a feeling you meant it as a complement, and if it was light and fluffy that's my fault anyway. Irenicus is a very complex character and a difficult one; so I'm happy that you think I'm doing a good job portraying him, believe me. Keep reviewing, tell me what you think por favor!
VaguelyFamiliar-Thank you, thank you, thank you etc. You write beautiful reviews, if I may be so bold. Sublimated is a word I have never heard before, which means I'm going to steal it from you and use it in this story at some point, thanx! I am making a sincere effort to keep Irenicus true to character, but yet at the same time make him my own. Your description of what you read was just the effect I wanted. I admit I'm no editor, and my spelling, punctuation, and grammar are far from perfect. I try to correct as much as I can myself, but I can't catch everything. You do not need to take the trouble to go through and edit it yourself; I should think that would be extremely tedious. Then again if you'd love to do it who am I to deny you something you love? If you could point out the glaring errors to me that would be most helpful, thank you. By the way, interesting pen name.
Thank you all for your patience. For the Irenicus lovers out there he will be featured in the next chapter and frequently throughout this story. I will try to update as soon as possible, and if I were even considering halting this story I would warn you before hand so just give me time.