Chapter 9 - Over the Limit
"I can speak thieves' cant, you know."
"Yes, Aurora, Xanos knows. I also knew the first thirty times you told me." Xanos sat with his face in his hands, listening to Rumgut snore outside the cage. The drinking contest had not lasted nearly long enough for Xanos to locate or steal any keys. Halfway through the fourth flask of rum, Aurora had crumpled to the floor in a senseless, giggling heap. Rumgut had fallen asleep soon after, but had the presence of mind to lock Xanos and the drunken thief in the cage alongside the dwarf.
"You think you know everything, don't you," Aurora slurred, punching him weakly in the shoulder. "Well, here's something I bet you didn't know: I can speak thieves' cant."
Xanos growled, shoving her away as he got to his feet and paced the length of the cage.
"Ah, Moradin," the dwarven girl despaired. "I prayed fer Ye to send adventurers to me rescue, an' tha's what Ye did. Did it have to be ones wi' only half a brain in their heads, though, I ask Ye?"
"Hush, now, it'll be okay," Aurora said, patting the dwarf on the head. "I know thieves' cant, you see."
"By the hammer, ye mooncalf, wha's that got to do wi' gettin' us out o' this mess?" The dwarf's chest heaved beneath her dirty blouse. "If I hear but one more word about blasted thieves or their blasted cant, I'm wringin' this 'un's neck wi' me bear hands! Ye hear me, half-orc?"
"Xanos would have to be deaf not to," he mumbled. "Now be quiet. Xanos is trying to think."
The dwarf placed her chubby fists on her hips. "Aye, ye do that, green one. Try hard enough, and mayhap yer skull'll grow hot enough to melt these twice-blighted bars."
Xanos turned his back on her. If he had his way, the Hand of Mystra would have teleported himself and Aurora to safety long ago. But no, Rumgut had fallen asleep with one gnarled hand cupped over Xanos' pack. Even though Rumgut was as dumb as a sack of rocks, Xanos could not in good conscience leave the Hand of Belpheron in a hill giant's keeping.
"Squeak, squeak," Aurora said. "Squeak, squeak, squeak."
"Yer friend needs her hinges oiled," the dwarven lass muttered.
Aurora was on her hands and knees, her chin to the ground, peering intently at something amidst a number of rocks that had fallen in some long ago cave-in. Xanos caught a glimpse of brown fur and a pink, worm-like tail before the rat squeaked and disappeared behind a small boulder. Aurora craned her neck and regarded Xanos with a bleary-eyed look of astonishment.
"The rat," she said. "It left."
"Good riddance. The last thing Xanos needs is for you to come down with the foaming sickness."
"You're full of it," she said with a lopsided grin. "Good thing I'm here to come up with a plan."
Putting both hands against the wall for balance, Aurora managed to stand. She undid the knot at her throat and let her cloak pool at her feet, then scrabbled clumsily at the buckles that held her cuirass in place. "Xanos," she said, "help me out of all this, will you?"
Xanos gingerly backed away from her. "Eh . . . Xanos does not see how getting naked constitutes a plan."
Aurora's brow furrowed deeply in thought. Then she shrugged."Neither do I," she said. "Now help me take off my armor."
Xanos gaped at her wordlessly until the dwarf elbowed him aside."Back away, oaf, ye look like someone's slipped a snail down the back o' yer longjohns." In moments, she had helped Aurora strip off her boots and armor. "Plan or no, at least the lass'll fit more easily into the pot this way," she said.
"Squeak squeak," Aurora said, tucking the hem of her undershirt into her trousers. Then, with astounding flexibility, she wriggled between the boulder and the cave wall.
Now that he really looked, Xanos could see the dim passage dug into the wall. It was hardly wide enough for Aurora's shoulders, let alone Xanos' wide frame. He waited impatiently as she inched along on her stomach, certain that the tunnel would merely dead end or become too small for her to go any further.
Soon enough, though, even the tips of her socks had disappeared into the tunnel, and a short time later she stumbled back in through the mouth of the cave. Xanos held his breath as she pawed through the rubbish piled about the cave, exhaling in relief only when she had located the key to the cage.
Xanos extricated his pack from the grip of the sleeping giant as the dwarf gathered up Aurora's discarded armor, and then the three of them made haste to leave Rumgut's cave.
"Oh, ye darlin' daft child," the dwarf said when they reached the sunlight. "Ye were me rescuer after all!"
Aurora, sitting in the snow now that there was no wall to provide support, shivered and grinned. "That was pretty good, wasn't it? But you know what's better? I know thieves' cant."
"You certainly do, dear," the dwarf said indulgently, then bobbed a curtsy. "Me name's Becka Hurst, daughter of Nathan. We have a large farm an hour or so east along the path. Come by as soon as you're able, pa'll likely have something to give you for rescuing me from that lummox." Becka nodded to Xanos. "Sorry to leave you alone with your friend, here, but I really must be returnin' to me pa."
She set off into the snow without another backward glance.
Behind Xanos, Aurora was attempting to stand. She made it as far as a low crouch before gravity got the better of her and spilled her into the snow. Again she tried, and this time she did manage to actually get to her feet before her teetering steps brought her a hair too close to the cliff's edge and Xanos had to catch hold of her arm.
"So, you cannot walk," Xanos said, pulling the giggling rogue away from the embankment. "Perfect." Sighing, he lowered himself to one knee. When that prompted no reaction, he grabbed her hands and placed them on his shoulders. Eventually, Aurora got the point and climbed onto his back.
"Here," he said, handing Aurora her cloak. "You don't want to lose any fingers or toes. Well, any more of them, at least."
She wrapped the cloak around herself and managed to hang on as he picked up both of their knapsacks and shoved her armor inside. Feeling like a pack animal, Xanos looped his arms beneath her knees and began the long walk to the Hurst farmstead.
While carrying Aurora this way eliminated the problem of her inability to walk, it created certain other irritations: namely, her drunken, giggly chatter was now taking place approximately three inches from his ear.
"I'm getting a piggyback ride." She raised one arm from his shoulder to poke his forehead with her index finger. "Guess that makes you the piggy."
"The less you speak, the less likely Xanos is to toss you off the nearest cliff," he grumbled.
The threat was enough to keep Aurora silent for about five seconds. Then she settled her pointy chin into his shoulder and started talking again.
"Where'd those bracers come from? You hardly ever take them off."
"They were my father's," Xanos answered shortly.
"He gave them to you?"
"No. He died on the pikestaffs of the town guard shortly after siring me on my mother."
"Oh. How'd you end up with them, then?"
"My mother meant to sell them someday. I stole them before she had the chance." Xanos turned his wrist, bringing into view the spot where he had carved his name into the metal. For some reason he could not explain, the sight of the neat Common script amongst the crude orcish runes had always made him feel proud.
"It doesn't bother you to keep them, knowing what your father did?" Aurora's words were still slurred, but the cold air seemed to help her think more clearly than before.
"No, it doesn't." He sighed in irritation. "I suppose you're going to tell me how very wrong that is."
"It is strange." He couldn't see her shrug, but he could feel it."If my father had kept anything belonging to my mother, though, I might've done the same thing."
Aurora's admonition held the careless air of someone talking in their sleep. Xanos wondered if she would remember anything she said come morning.
"Xanos has shared one of his secrets with you," he said carefully. "It is only fair that you return the favor. For instance, you mentioned some sort of prophecy."
Her fingers bunched the fabric of his shirt. "Promise not to tell anyone?"
Xanos nodded briskly. "I swear on my mother's grave."
The girl must have been very drunk indeed, because she took his meaningless pledge at face value.
"Well, okay then," she said. Even though there was nothing but snow and rocks stretching out as far as the eye could see in every direction, she cupped her fingers around her mouth and whispered close to his ear. "My father's great-aunt was a seeress. He took me to see her when I was eight. She grabbed my hands and held onto them for a long time, and all of the sudden she started moaning and shrieking. Then she got really quiet, and she smiled and looked right at me even though she was blind." She shuddered.
"What did she say?" he urged.
Her whisper was so quiet, Xanos could hardly make out the words. "She said that if I cared about someone, they'd die."
"That's not a prophecy," he objected. "People die. That's a fact of existence."
"No." Aurora shook her head so fiercely that Xanos nearly lost his grip and dropped her. "They'll die, and it will be all my fault. She could see the blood on my hands. She said she saw a city in flames, and rows and rows of corpses, all pointing at me."
It may have been nothing more than Aurora's breath tickling his skin, but for some reason the hair on Xanos' neck stood on end. Her breathing had grown rapid as she recounted the tale. Clearly, the memory upset her.
"A vivid image, certainly," Xanos said with forced offhandedness. "It sounds like something out of one of Mischa's lurid adventure novels. Xanos would not be surprised if this so-called seeress had memorized a scene in its entirety."
"You . . . don't think it was true?"
Xanos tried to imagine the shy, nondescript girl cackling amidst roaring flames and bloody bodies and nearly burst out laughing.
"Why, is it on your to-do list? One: rescue kitten from tree. Two: help old lady cross road. Three: rain fiery death upon the masses."
Aurora chuckled halfheartedly. "I guess it does sound stupid." She turned her head and rested her cheek on his shoulder, and after a time her slow, even breathing let him know she had fallen asleep.
Xanos trudged onward through the snow, keeping the setting sun at his back. Aurora was light for her size, but carrying her weight together with that of their packs was no small feat. By the time the Hurst farm came into view, his shoulders ached and his arms had nearly gone numb.
A gruff and scarred old dwarf met him at the gate. Xanos vaguely remembered seeing him at Drogan's house some months ago.
"Me little girl has come back," he said, "and she tells me that I have ye to thank for it." He grimaced and squinted one eye, an expression that Xanos eventually realized was meant to be a welcoming grin.
"She speaks the truth. If not for the timely intervention of Xanos, you would have been stuck with some hideous grandchildren."
"Normally I'd object to such a jest about me own daughter, but under the circumstances I suppose a bit o' gallows humor'll do no harm." He pulled at his beared thoughtfully. "Now wait just a moment – big half-orc, churlish attitude, tendency to speak of himself by name . . . I remember ye, Xanos! And that poor sotted lass on yer back must be Aurora." He laughed and shook his head. "To think me little girl's rescuers would be students of Drogan's. Go on, set her down inside while I search for somethin' suitable to give ye as a reward."
Xanos was only too glad to do so, depositing Aurora in the first chair he encountered within the farmhouse. Her eyelashes fluttered and she muttered something, but did not wake up. He closed his eyes and stretched his arms, trying to undo the kinks in his muscles.
When his eyes opened, there was a burly farmhand with dirty brown hair glaring at him from across the room.
"What are you doing in here?" he demanded. "I suppose Nathan is looking for another farmhand. Don't go thinking you can just waltz in here and replace me!" Threat delivered, the youth seemed about to go back to his business. Then, his face lit in recognition. "Hey, wait, you look familiar. Aren't you that jerk that started the fight at the Bubbling Cauldron last week?"
"Xanos remembers you," he replied darkly. "You sought to provoke me with weak jabs at my heritage, yes? You would now be wearing your own lower intestine as a hat if your idiot friends had not intervened."
"Well, my friends aren't here now." The farmhand took a step toward him, raising his fists. "Let's see if you can back up your words, greenskin."
"Ha! Honestly, is Xanos supposed to be insulted by that? My own mother did worse. Go milk a cow, fool." He was itching to put the man in his place, but his muscles were too sore and the farmhand too musclebound to make fighting an appealing option. Xanos turned away contemptuously, hoping this bluff would be enough to make the man back down.
"That's it! You're going d– woah!"
Xanos glimpsed a blur of motion out of the corner of his eye as Aurora slammed into the man's chest and bore him to the floor. She slugged the farmhand in the chin, snapping his head to one side. She reared back to punch him again, but he caught hold of her fist with one hand and hit her hard in the mouth with the other.
Simultaneously aghast and amused, Xanos watched the two roll across the floor in a flurry of kicks and punches. Even too drunk to walk, Aurora was a surprisingly competent brawler and managed to hold her own for a good while. Her opponent was far larger than herself, though, and at last the farmhand gained the advantage. Grabbing Aurora by the shoulders, he began banging her head against the wooden floor.
Xanos had just decided to intervene when the door flew open to reveal a very pregnant and very angry dwarf.
"What do ye think ye're doin'?" she thundered. "How dare ye fight with a guest in me own home!"
Stricken, the farmhand released Aurora.
"I swear, Toli, I was just going about my chores when this crazy wench– "
Aurora brought her knee up, hard, and the farmhand rolled off of her with a thin cry. She laughed triumphantly, then groaned, holding her head.
"This blockhead thought to brag to his friends about besting one of Drogan's pupils," Xanos explained. "Xanos was obviously too much for him, so he went for weaker prey."
Toli shook her head in disgust. "I never cared fer the way ye skulked about here anyhow. As soon as ye can walk, boy, pack yer things and be gone from here."
The farmhand managed to gain his feet, though Xanos guessed it would be some time before he could walk upright.
"Oh, I'll get you for this," he snarled, shaking his fist at Aurora. "You just wait. And you, too, half-breed! One day when you least expect it, I'll–"
"Enough, Finn!" Toli shooed him away with her apron. "Speak no more and be on yer way, lest I call Nathan in to finish ye off!"
The farmhand slunk away, glaring daggers all the while.
"I don't feel so great," Aurora moaned from the floor. Her face was getting puffy from the bruises, and her mouth was bleeding. It was nothing she wouldn't recover from, but Xanos still felt a little sorry for her. After all, she had pummeled that obnoxious lout on his behalf.
He nudged her gently with the tip of his boot. "What am I supposed to do with you, scarecrow girl?"
Toli crossed her arms over her ponderous stomach. "Why don't ye both spend the night? Ye deserve a hot meal after what ye've done fer this family. And in the meantime, I can take care o' yer friend, here. The gods know I've nursed Nathan back to health after many a drunken scrap."
"Don't talk about food," Aurora mumbled. "I think my breakfast is going to make an encore appearance."
"Take her out to the barn," Toli commanded. "She can be sick all she likes out there without soilin' me nice clean floor."
Grumbling, Xanos knelt to pick up Aurora again.
Aurora awoke feeling like a herd of caribou had tap-danced on her skull. Of the hours that had passed since she had issued her challenge to Rumgut, she recalled nothing but a few brief flashes of memory.
She had gotten in some sort of fight– her split lip and bruises testified that she had not been in top form in that escapade– and she had somehow found a way out of Rumgut's lair. She remembered with a flush of embarrassment that she had spent at least part of the time being carried by Xanos.
Most troubling, she had the feeling she had told her fellow student something she shouldn't have. But whatever it was, Xanos made no mention of it as they bade farewell to the Hursts and set off in the direction Belpheron's Hand pointed them. Aurora did her best to put it out of her mind.
Nathan Hurst's reward was an amulet that cast a protective aura about is wearer. Toli had also thrown in a jar of her signature barbeque sauce, which was in no way magical but did smell delicious. Xanos had immediately claimed the amulet, and since Aurora was horrendously hung-over and in no condition to argue, she had taken the barbeque sauce without complaint.
They climbed further into the mountains, where the frigid winds blew and tiny snowflakes clung to Aurora's eyelashes. One hour passed into the next, with little to break up the monotony other than when one or the other of them blundered into a crevasse and had to be pulled free.
When Aurora first saw the kobold floundering toward them through the snow, she thought her mind was playing tricks on her. Then the creature called out to them in a hoarse, warbling voice.
"Wait wait wait," the kobold cried. "Deekin must talk to you!"
"Ah, another treacherous lizard," Xanos said lightly. "Shall we kill it now?"
Aurora put her hand on his wrist to halt any dagger-drawing or spellcasting. "Don't be so hasty."
"Deekin chases after you for ages!" Panting and wheezing, the kobold stumbled nearer. "You gots such long legs, Deekin thinks he never catches up!"
He didn't appear to have any weapons, and he was baring his little sharp teeth at them in a sort of frightened smile. Aurora knelt to regard him at eye level, wary but quite certain the lone kobold posed no threat.
"Why did you follow us?"
"Deekin not follow you," the kobold protested. "Well, okay, maybe he follow you a little, but he only watch to see that you be great hero! Deekin need your help!"
Xanos laughed derisively. "Perhaps we should help you the way you 'helped' master Drogan, yes?"
The kobold shook his head desperately.
"Deekin not hurt anybody! Deekin only go with other kobolds to village because Master tells him to!"
"Hush, Xanos," Aurora said. "You're scaring him. Now– Deekin, was it?" The kobold nodded in eager affirmation. "Now, Deekin, unless you happen to have one of the artifacts with you, Xanos and I are a little too busy to help you right now."
"Deekin does have artifact!" Aurora and Xanos gave him a shocked look, and Deekin swallowed nervously. "Well, not with him. But Deekin takes tower statue and hides it somewhere only he knows. You wants it, you helps Deekin."
"What? How dare you try to blackmail us!" Xanos reached for Deekin's neck.
"No! No hurts Deekin! You squash Deekin, you never find out where he hides tower statue!" He looked like his heart could stop at any moment.
Aurora batted the half-orc's hands away. "Why don't you go make a snow angel or something, Xanos?"
"You are far too indulgent, Aurora." Xanos bared his teeth at the kobold. "Xanos cannot understand why you feel you owe anything more to this vermin than a perforated kidney ."
"Great hero helps because that be what heroes do." Deekin drew himself up to his full height, which was only about half of as tall as Xanos, and stuck out his tongue. "Deekin not need mean half-orc's help anyway."
"You never explained how you want me to help you," Aurora said before Xanos could respond.
"Oh. Well, that be easy." The kobold made an emphatic gesture with his tiny, clawed hands. "Deekin just want to be free."
"Free?" Aurora repeated blankly. "What, are you hiding a pair of shackles beneath all those scales?"
"Deekin is servant to the Master. Deekin sings songs, tells tales that keeps Master happy. That why Master send Deekin on raid: so Deekin write story for Master later. Deekin carries little tower statue when we leaves human village. When gnolls attack, he get excited and he . . . he drops the little statue." Aurora tried to interrupt, but Deekin rushed on breathlessly. "Statue is all broken now because of Deekin. He cannot bring it back to Master, because Master be angry at him! But if Deekin stay away, Master be even angrier!"
"You broke the artifact?" Aurora felt the beginnings of a headache that had nothing to do with yesterday's binge.
"Deekin drops it on rock when gnolls scare him. Was accident! It go crack and there be shiny thing inside. Very pretty. Deekin shows you after you helps him."
"Wonderful," she said, massaging her temples. "And you want me to go talk to this master of yours?"
"If you wants to talk to Master or kills him, Deekin all for it. So long as he not comes after Deekin, that be fine."
"However powerful he is by kobold standards, Xanos cannot imagine that this so-called 'master' could pose much a threat."
Deekin twittered. "Old Master not be kobold. Master is great dragon Tymofarrar, ruler of kobolds!"
Aurora laughed in disbelief. "Hold on just one second," she said. "Let's take stock of the situation, shall we? A dragon has breath could burn me to a crisp before I could so much as open my mouth, not to mention teeth and claws as big as my arm. I have a shortsword and a half-orc with an attitude problem. How am I supposed to convince a dragon to do anything?"
"Deekin gots complete confidence in you. Deekin knows that you is great hero, you is!"
"You wish us to wander into a dragon's lair on the strength of your words alone?" Xanos snorted. "Xanos trusts you about as far as he could throw you, reptile."
Deekin looked up at him uncertainly. "Erm, that be pretty far, Deekin thinks."
"Maybe," Xanos conceded. "Let's find out."
Deekin cringed. "You gots to trust Deekin! Master is one who planned attack on village. You wants rest of artifacts, you have to meets with him anyway."
Aurora turned to Xanos and shrugged helplessly.
"I cannot believe it," he muttered. "We've been outmaneuvered by a kobold."
"Deekin sorry he uses great hero this way, but Deekin has to be free." Deekin grinned sheepishly. "Tymofarrar lives beneath big kobold cave up north in mountains. You goes and finds old Master and do what you going to do. Deekin goes to human village off to east and hides there, okay?"
"Okay," Aurora answered simply. She watched as Deekin slowly went back the way he had come, still attempting to come to terms with the deal she had made.
"I still say it's some sort of trap," Xanos said.
"The directions he gave and the way the hand is pointing are the same." Aurora thought of the toothy grin and the scratchy, desperate voice, and admitted to herself that something about the little kobold had simply made her heart go soft. "I think he was telling the truth," she said.
"Hmph." Xanos gave her a cold glare. "One day you will learn the value of discretion, Aurora. If you're lucky, it will happen before your spinal cord is severed by the sword of someone you thought you could trust."
"Who put bees in your breeches? Relax, Xanos." She did her best to smile and halfway succeeded. "We've been trained well. We'll be fine."
"Of course we will," Xanos muttered dourly. "After all, you know thieves' cant."
Aurora raised a eyebrow. "What does that have to do with anything?"
Shaking his head, Xanos turned away and resumed hiking through the snow.