Scrambling unsurely across the soft earth, Discord and her friends gave chase to the stranger they believed to be Redblade. He tore across the land as though the dogs of hell itself were on his heels, and even light-footed Imoen found herself out of breath from the chase.
Discord, huffing for air, paused to glance back at her companions. All but Jan had managed to keep up, the short-legged gnome was out of sight. The others, weary though they looked, had kept up fine. There was no time to search for Jan. Discord sighed and picked up speed again. Whoever it was could not keep up like this forever, could he?
They rounded a corner. Thier target seemed to be losing some of his drive, but he was still ahead of the motley companions. The figure was getting farther and farther ahead.
Suddenly, the dirt in front of the fleeing man seemed to explode, sending clumps of earth, rocks and debris spraying in all directions. The man was blinded by a faceful of dirt, and the explosion propelled a rock into his stomach with such force that he doubled over, winded.
"The flasher-masher-bruiser mate," Jan's voice said smugly from the opposite side of the man. "Patented by Jan Jansen, recently modified to increase explosive effects."
"Nicely done, Jan," Discord gasped, struggling to regulate her breathing. She leaned her hand against the wall of a nearby building, as did many of her fellows. Imoen rushed forward, using her boundless reserves of energy, and grabbed the man's hand. With Haer'Dalis and Jan's help, she managed to tie the struggling man up. Haer'Dalis kept hold of the man's ropes.
"Release me, ye dogs! Ah've killed better men than you for less than this!" The man's seafaring accent was thick and plain. Discord grinned smugly to herself. No Immensvale citizen would have such an accent if he hadn't spent some time on the waves. This was certainly their smuggler.
The stranger seemed as out of breath as the rest of them. As impressive as his speed had been before, he was still only a man. His feet were quickened by fear, but his breath couldn't quite keep up.
Haer'Dalis forced the bound man to his feet, and he met Discord's eye with feigned calmness. "Good she-elf... wha' was my crime? Yeh've caught me and bound me. Why?"
"I don't know. Why did you run?" Discord asked, delicately raising her scarred eyebrow, her lips pressed tightly together. Her tone was polite and cold, and she toyed cruelly at the man with her words like a cat with its claws. Her white-hot anger was well contained, for now, but her voice was like a scalpel - cold steel, cruel, and delicate.
The man seemed momentarily at a loss, but quickly recovered and regained his innocent countenance. "Ah thought ye might be one o' them thrice damned bounty hunters out for me head."
"Indeed," Discord remarked dryly, circling the towering sailor slowly, savoring each cocky footstep. "And how do you know I am not?"
This time, Redblade recovered quickly. "Bounty hunters don't waste time a-chattin' with the prize. They kill and are done with it."
"What have you done to warrant a bounty, good sir?" Discord asked bluntly. Before the sailor could find words for a retort, she charged on with her interrogation. "Perhaps you have been into some petty thievery of late? Pickpocketing on the Docks of Athkatla? Mugging a few slumming nobles? Smuggling?" She hissed that last word with extra potency, and glanced into his veiled eyes for signs of recognition. "Or perhaps it is not the law that you fear, but the outlaws? A certain Renal Bloodscalp, perhaps? I hear he can be quite the tricky business man, and a blunt, cruel enemy." She smiled nastily, showing her teeth.
Redblade straightened up, a grimace hanging from his lips. "Aye, yeh know who I am, alright, and I know you. No more games, god-mongrel."
"Fair enough. I can respect that," Discord said coldly.
"Yeh did better than I woulda' guessed of you, to come and find me here," Redblade said slimily, his words full of suppressed bitterness at his capture.
"You didn't think I would just let an attempted poisoning go, did you?" Discord allowed a note of gloating to show in her voice, and she haughtily examined her chapped hands as she spoke.
"Nah. 'Course not. I thought you would flounder about a bit, look for me and find no leads, before giving up. Yeh didn't seem smart enough to get to Immensvale, let alone catch me," Redblade snarled slyly "However temporarily," he added under his breath.
Discord laughed cruelly at that. He false mirth displayed her burning, ill concealed anger. "You will leave my presence when I sicken of the sight of you, and no sooner. Be thankful that I don't rid the Realms of your foul existence right now!"
"But that would make yeh a murderer," Redblade sneered smoothly "Just like yer father..."
"Still your tongue if you want to keep it, smuggler," Discord whispered, softly, and dangerously delicately, drawing her white dagger as she spoke. "Do you want to lose it so soon in the interrogation?"
"Then yeh'd learn nothin' at all from me, and yeh know it. Stow your bluffs, I'm not in the mood." Redblade was looking more and more confident.
Discord glanced around the city. Although the sky was beginning to deepen into the black-blue of night, they couldn't stay within the city now. She was not about to let Redblade out of her sight, and she couldn't risk the intervention of the villagers.
"Let's get out of Immensvale," she said, ignoring the groans of her companions. She sneered nastily at Redblade. "We'll want no witnesses."
"Er... Discord, lass, you won't be needing my help any longer?" Jan asked timidly, seeming to suddenly remember his former leader's moods. "Only I've got a field full of turnips to be plowing in the morning, and it's getting late."
"Yes, yes, Jan. Go on. It was good seeing you," Discord said hollowly, her eyes staring at Dareth unflinchingly.
"Good luck with the harverst, Jan," Imoen said fondly. With a brief cheery wave, Jan headed off into the darkening evening.
Discord took hold of the villain's shoulder and shoved him, hard, in the direction they were going. Only his hands were tied, and the bindings were being tightly held by Minsc, so he grudgingly walked with the group, obviously realizing that resistance would get him nowhere. He glanced up Minsc, the towering juggernaught seeming to be made of nothing but knots of muscle, and thought better of trying to escape. Minsc, however, was the least of his problems.
o-o-o-o-o
They walked for the better part of an hour, Discord keeping her stony silence with a clenched jaw, the others nervously glancing from one to the other. The terrain was rocky, and without being able to use his hands to balance himself, Redblade stumbled and fell several times. Discord laughed nastily when this happened. Finally, they reached a clearing, sheltered on three sides by forest. As the sun had all but faded from the blue-black sky, Haer'Dalis and Anomen quickly set to
"Untie him," Discord commanded in a voice of cold steel. Her face was cool and calculating, but it showed a burning hatred hidden somewhere behind her hard eyes. Her rage was so plain that Imoen was quick to obey her without even bristling at the arrogant order.
"Heh. Yer taking a gamble there, me lass," Dareth grinned, as his bonds were loosed. He casually examined his fingernails. "Don't think I'm a fool 'cause I work the streets. I'll be out from under your nose by the time this night is over."
"I rather doubt that," Discord said quietly. She knelt down in front of the shifty man, and drew her axe. "You drugged me over by Windspear hills. Don't deny it." She sat down upon the ground, her feet folded neatly beneath her. "You crossed me, little man, and I don't let things like that slide very often. I think you know of my heritage?" He nodded. "Well you know what... unpredictable behavior my father's blood lends me. I try and keep to the law but sometimes I lose control. You wouldnt like that." She put her face very close to the theif's, and her lip curled. His face faltered slightly in its cocky show of disinterest.
"This is Frostreaver." Discord held up the blue-tinted blade and ran her thumb along its edge. "She is my favorite axe, and she has drank the blood of many of those who, like yourself, unfavorably crossed my path." She took a brisk breath, and smiled nastily. "Now, would you like to tell me who you work for and what he wants with me?"
"Yeh think I'm so timid yeh can intimidate a confession from me? Yer certainly an uppity one," Dareth's voice betrayed his nervous thoughts, although he managed to keep his face blank.
"I didn't think it would be that easy," sighed Discord. "We're in for a long and unpleasant night."
Her companions anxiously glanced at one another. This was a vindictive and cruel side to Discord which they rarely saw. She had a malicious glint in her eye which they silently knew came from her father. They didn't know what she was planning and if they should stop her, but they nervously watched the interrogation with increasing fear.
Discord was sitting back, looking at her axe again. "I have been carefully considering what to do with you, Redblade. I gave Frostreaver a lot of consideration. She is strong and brutal and can shatter bone and shred flesh without a second thought. The blade is enchanted to freeze the blood of the body it sinks into. With a strong arm behind her, this axe can easily kill a strong man in a single stroke. For my part, I must say, I love the sound she makes when she chops into enemy's flesh." On chops, Discord raised her axe lighting-quick and brought it down with all her strength with both hands. It sank into the ground in the space between Dareth's thumb and forefinger, where his hand was lying palm flat on the grass. An inch to one side or the other and Dareth would have lost a finger.The blade sank in until the earth covered it halfway. Dareth yelped and pulled his hand back, holding it against his body. Discord laughed.
"Why so jittery, Dareth? I missed." She grinned, showing her perfect white teeth. "Yes, I did think about Frostreaver, but decided against it. It would be over too soon. I might not get a whole answer to my query. A broad blade is good in battle, but in situations like this..." She leaned forward, and Dareth flinched involuntarily. She looked at him levelly, her face very close to his, and took his dagger from the sheath on his belt. "... I prefer a fine blade." She held up the dagger. It was thin and white, its tip razor sharp and evilly pointed. "This is a good dagger. A fine blade can get into so many places a broad one cannot. It can sever and slice without causing such massive bleeding or devastating damage. This is important in this business. Now, and do believe me when I say this is your last chance to answer safely, who do you work for?" All pretense of calm was gone from Discord's face, and her pure rage was laid bare for all to see. She bared her teeth and smiled.
"I... " Dareth faltered, and his eyes were held by the gleaming dagger in Discord's hand. "I cannot tell."
Discord's hand shot out like a snake, grabbing Dareth's wrist and slamming his palm down into the dust. She twirled the dagger briefly in her fingers and then drove the blade into his hand from the back, pinning him to the ground. He screamed in surprise and fear, his gasping breaths shaking his whole body.
"You bitch..."
"Discord, that's far enough!" Anomen was saying.
Discord didn't hear any of them. The blood was pounding in her ears, and her thoughts were becoming fuzzy and slow.
Kill him. Just raise the blade and slit his throat. It would be so easy.
"Esscieron! The... the man I work for, his name be Esscieron. Withdraw yer dagger!"
Imagine the feeling of his hot blood flowing down your hands. Kill the wretch.
"Where can I find him? What does he want with me?" Discord shouted, giving the knife a viciously cruel twist.
"He lives in the wilderness, somewhere north of the Temple ruins of Anumator. Thats all I know, I swear!"
"I will taste your beating heart if you lie to me!" Discord heard herself scream in a voice that was not her own. Her eyes were fixed on the man's quivering throat. Her jaw was clenched so hard she could taste her own blood.
Kill him.
"Release him! That's enough!" Haer'Dalis cried, while Anomen knelt down beside her and gently took hold of her wrist.
"Remove the blade now, Discord. That's all we're going to learn from him. This bloodlust can lead to no good." His voice was soft and soothing, and his dark brown eyes stared pleadingly into her equally deep ones. She blinked. Her whole body seemed to sag, and she yanked the blade from her captive and let it fall from her crimson fingers. Her eyes were unreadable and cold. She rose to her feet, ignoring Redblade's sobs of pain.
"Deal with him. I am going to take a walk," she said in a dull monotone, turning on her heel.
Aerie was suddenly beside them, casting a healing spell which sealed up Dareth's hand, leaving behind the hard ridge of a scar. His sobs turned to curses and screams of rage which he hurled in Discord's direction.
"You crazed godspawn bitch. You Bhaal-blooded harpy! You'll pay for this!"
Discord's head whipped around at the entrance to the forest. "You don't know how lucky you were tonight, Redblade. Goodnight." The tent flap fell closed behind her.
The silence was peppered only with the snaps and pops of the crackling fire.
