Disclaimer: Eight chapters later I still don't own the rights to NWN.
Author's Note: It's been a while since I've written one of these. Well, I'm posting this finally. I meant to do it a few weeks ago, but I kept working on the chapter and now it's rather long. I'm actually STILL working on the chapter, but I decided not to let ya'll wait and post this part early. To sum it all up: chapter eight will be split into two chapters. Yeah.
Sorry, I've been horribly busy as of late. I always hate the writers who wait FOREVER to post and now I've become one of them! gasps Shame on me!
Okay, a few questions to answer and forgive me for not mentioning my wonderful reviewers by name, I don't actually have the review window open right now.
Concerning Necromancers and not dying, it's my own little thing. Artistic license will be used liberally throughout this whole story. I'm using necromancers I read about a forever ago. They could go to the last gate (death) and if they so chose, they could find a way to not enter that gate and thus die. Basically. Yeah.
Yes, she's falling for him rather quickly…well there's a reason for that. All shall be explained…hopefully. Okay, anything else I need to say? Hmm…I think that's it. Thank you all for your reviews! I really don't thank my reviewers as much as I should. Perhaps in a future chapter I shall thank you all by your names…er…nicknames anyway. Enjoy the chapter.
Raven "Siren's Muse"
Chapter Eight: Investigation
And the Tiny-horned Menace
I awoke feeling warm and drowsy enough to go back to sleep. But that's what ended up waking me. I shifted to find myself curled up against Amendel's side with his arm around my waist. I frowned. Sure I was married to him. It was okay, right? Somehow it didn't seem okay. I gently pried myself from his grasp and he shifted a bit in his sleep. He must have been up most of the night trying to prolong Pavel's life. I did remember hearing him mutter something about necromancers and spells to stop illness. In whatever case, it seemed unusual for the cautious Elven necromancer to be such a heavy sleeper. I smiled down at him with some sort of look that could have been considered loving—or annoyed. I dressed quickly into plain leather pants and a cream tunic, pulled my dirty hair back and went downstairs in search of a bath. The washroom was neat and orderly with a small screen a nice large tub, and a water heating contraption. I heated some water rather quickly, filled the tub, stripped off my clothes, and sank in. The water was nice to me sore muscles and stress from yesterday and I lingered there for a time before starting to wash up. Presently the door creaked open. I was thankful for the screen when I heard Amendel's voice from the doorway. "Kestral?"
"I'm here. I felt so dirty from yesterday. We'll have to wash the sheets before we move to the lower rooms. They're probably full of dirt and whatever else was on us when we went to bed.
"Aye. I'd forgotten in all the happenings of last night. I'll start moving things."
"I'll help you in a few minutes."
The door shut and I finished washing, dried off, dressed in a different pair of clothes that I had thankfully taken down with me, although I didn't remember doing so, and dried my hair before combing it out and letting the wet strands pool around my shoulders. It had grown longer. My hair always grew longer when I was stressed. Some strange magic thing. I located a pair of scissors and carefully cut it back to its original slightly-past-the-chin length. I finally emerged from the washroom and found Amendel cleaning Killeen and Gaelan's room out. His face looked pained and I felt a distinct sadness emanating from his mind. "You can go wash now, I'll finish up here."
He nodded and turned to leave, but not before I saw the bit of blood staining his shirt sleeve. "Stop!" I ordered, grabbing his other arm and prodding the wounded one lightly. "What happened?"
Amendel glanced at it and shrugged. "It's nothing."
I rolled up the sleeve and noticed a distinct twinge of pain coming from his mind. His face, however, remained impassive. The wound looked like a large scrap against something metal. "I need to clean this."
"No, I'll do it."
He didn't yank his arm forcefully from my grasp, but it did startle me. He stalked out and left me staring after him for quite some time.
I hated waiting for anything. I always have and I always will. So while Amendel was bathing, I left to do a little poking around. I did leave a note on the bed that I'd finished moving saying that I'd be back in an hour. The streets were as depressing as before. People trying to make a living with the stench of death around. I sighed, turned around, and saw something strange out of the corner of my eye. As I finished turning, it had disappeared. But I wasn't that easily deterred. I hurried over and glanced around a side alley to see the back of child retreating quickly. I took me only two seconds to solve the mystery of her hasty departure. Something nearby exploded. I was propelled down the alley, into the child—who ducked behind some boxes—and finally finishing by slamming into the wall…hard. Pain filled my senses and I vaguely heard myself cry out as a child's cry quickly echoed.
"Lady? Lady are you alright?" someone was calling to me from my tiny haven.
I gained consciousness and was immediately filled with a intense, shooting pain in my back. I groaned. It even hurt to do that! "What was that?" I managed through gritted teeth with my eyes still closed.
"It came from the prison." was the answer.
I tried to shift myself but my back wouldn't cooperate. "Someone's coming!" the girl hissed and I heard sounds as she scurried to hide.
I cursed myself for going out alone and letting this happen. If it was a diseased person, it would be my own damn fault if I died or worse. I slowly opened my eyes and saw a blackish/purple blur and felt the familiar ki before my eyes slid shut again. Damn…it was worse. Amendel would give me hell for this one. "Kestral!" I heard his worried voice coming from somewhere, but I wasn't going to attempt opening my eyes again. "Kestral!" he was closer, his hands gently prodding me for injuries.
Talk about guilt trip. I felt like crying. Not from pain, but for causing Amendel such worry. I could feel his worry in the air around me. Sharper than the pain in my back and heavier than my motionless limbs. "Kestral! Please answer me."
"She's not dead." said the child who had apparently come out of hiding. "She's probably unconscious."
"What happened?" he snapped.
Even, I, as unmoving as I was, wanted jump up from the tone in which he said his words. Careful! She's only a kid! And she did save my life. Had I not followed her, I'd probably be dead.
"The prison. There was an attack on it. Some explosion from over there. She went flying into the wall. Something's wrong with her back."
Amendel's hands moved to my back as he carefully tried to pull me away. I cried out in pain and nearly did pass out again. "Are you trying to kill me?" I asked in a pained whisper.
"Kestral!" he whispered thankfully.
His voice carried more than relief. "I don't think I broke my back, but something is wrong with it."
He pulled his hand from my back and we both saw blood. "You're going to have to lay on your stomach." he told me.
"Only if I can filter my pain through our link." I responded, gritting my teeth.
"Fine. Sure."
He moved me onto my back and pain tore through my being. I passed it along to him and watched him nearly topple upon receiving it. "Kes—tral—so sorry." he managed.
"You have rocks stuck in your skin." the child observed.
"As if I couldn't feel them." I mumbled.
"Hush, Kestral."
"Please Amendel, just knock me out or something." I managed through gritted teeth.
"I—" Amendel looked loathe to cause me pain, but there would be pain either way. "I've got a sleep spell scroll, I can just modify and make it deeper."
"That's dangerous." the girl said. "She could go into a really deep sleep and die or something."
"She's right." Amendel admitted.
"I don't care right now."
The look in Amendel's eyes was hard to place, but finally he consented. He swept back my hair gently and took a scroll out of his coat. He read it aloud, his hands shifting above his head as he drew out the needed spell runes. He added an extra rune at the end. The only reason I knew this was because the last two runes are used in bard music to make people fall into a nice, natural sleep. I felt sleep close in on me and I knew no more.
I remember being warm and surprisingly pain-free. I remember shifting to snuggle deeper into the warmth and I remember a voice telling me to wake up. And that's exactly what I did. "You're pushing me into the fire." muttered a familiar voice. "You're as close to me as you can get and as warm as I and the fire can make you."
I cracked open an eye to find Amendel's bright green eyes smiling down at me. It took me two seconds to realize where I was, but longer to figure out what had happened. We were back at what I considered "my house" in front of the fire, wrapped in the biggest blankets Amendel could find. I was pressed into Amendel's stomach, my arms squeezing his neck as if my life depended on it. I was wearing a thin white shift and Amendel was still wearing his clothes that I had last seen him in. Everything that had happened came flooding in on me. "The explosion, the girl—"
"Shhh." Amendel cautioned and gestured with his head towards our room. "She's asleep. The child looked as if she'd never seen a bed in her entire life. I had to let her sleep in it."
I nodded, feeling sorry for the poor girl. "As for the explosion, it came from the prison. There was a break—" he felt my body tense and shook his head a negative. "You may feel better, but your back still is in danger of becoming infected or worse…diseased. We're not going to look into it until I'm confidant that you're better. Now go back to sleep."
"I can't…"
"Why not?"
I sighed. "I need to look into the prison break now!"
"The guards are keeping everyone contained. We still have a few days before our assistance is needed. Please sleep."
"You don't understand!" I cried, frustrated.
"No, I don't. Can you explain whatever is bugging you instead of filling your mind with confusing emotions. It's a bit annoying."
"If I don't do this, I'll have failed Gariel."
"Who?"
"My brother…the monk. He's the last family I have left. Whether or not I'm mad at him for leaving I refuse to fail him like I failed mom and dad."
"You failed no one. But you might end up failing someone if you don't let yourself rest and heal."
He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer until my head was resting on his chest again. I could hear his steady heartbeat and my mind started to fall back into the haze of sleep. I felt him rest his chin on top of my head and mutter something, but I couldn't make out what he said. I fell into a restful sleep.
I awoke in a bed the next morning. I cracked my eyes open to find myself alone and still wrapped heavily in blankets. "Brother! She's awake!"
"Thank you, Morgale." I heard Amendel respond from elsewhere.
The little girl who I had inadvertently saved my life last night was standing in the doorway, her jade Elven eyes sparkling with youthful vigor. She was a tiny thing, a pure-blood elf with two little silver hoops glittering on each pointed ear. But she also had two silver horns sticking out of her long, golden hair. I wondered about that for a moment, before the girl interrupted my thoughts by cheerfully announcing, "Brother made breakfast! Gooood cook!"
"An accomplishment I don't want you to spread around town." Amendel good-naturedly ordered the child as he appeared next to her with a tray laden with food. "It would ruin my manliness, you know."
I had to grin as the little girl's pure laugh filled the room. "Morgale, go fill the tub with hot water so I can clean Kestral's wounds."
The girl nodded and dashed out of the room. "She's half dragon?" I asked him as he set the tray on the table beside my bed.
"Aye. I think so. She hasn't told me of course, but I can sense it. The only things I really know about her are her name and the fact that she can't find her family. Now eat everything. You haven't had a good meal since the attack."
In the end, I only nibbled on my food while Amendel pestered me about my eating habits. When I was finished he disposed of the garbage and returned, saying that he had to clean and dress my wounds. Carefully, he helped me untangle myself from the blankets. My back began to burn when I stood and I ached all over, but tried not to show it on my face. It would just make Amendel fuss more and I didn't need that. He helped me to the washroom where Morgale sat next to the almost full tub, talking to her stuffed dragon. "It's all ready!" she chirped when she saw them. "I'll go clean the kitchen now!"
"She certainly likes to help."
Amendel smiled only slightly. "I think she feels as if she's imposing on us. I tried to tell her that it's no trouble, but she refused to listen. Okay, now you're going to have to take off your nightgown and wrap this towel around yourself. I need to see your back."
I could feel the tips of my ears burning. "Turn around." I ordered, gathering what was left of my dignity and pride.
He did so without argument, but my ears refused to return to their normal color as I stripped off my nightgown and wrapped a towel under my arms. "Okay, I'm finished." I managed to say.
I had left the opening of the towel in the back and he pulled it apart gently. Cold air hit my bare skin and I shivered slightly. I don't know whether or not he really noticed, because he never commented. I was quite glad about that really. He dipped a old towel in the water and pulled a blue bottle from the shelf behind him that I hadn't noticed earlier. He poured some liquid from the bottle on the towel and placed a firm, but gentle hand on my bare shoulder. "This might sting." He warned, his voice sounding rather odd.
He was right. It stung horribly and I bit my lip until I tasted coopery blood. "I'm sorry." He muttered.
He cleaned my back as quickly as he could and closed the towel quickly. I tightened the tuck that kept my towel together and stood to face him. "Thank you."
" Kestral…" he groaned, sounding annoyed.
"What?"
"Your lip is bleeding."
"It hurt."
"I know, I'm sorry." He muttered, handing me a small cotton cloth and making me hold it to my lip.
He sighed and looked as if he wanted to say something, but he stayed silent. I, on the other hand, felt my stupid towel slipping. He was holding my hand to my lip so I had one hand free but I still couldn't fix my towel with one hand. The towel didn't care, it just kept slipping. "Umm…Amendel…"
The elf in question was staring off into space, not listening at all. Oh gods. I cursed. This is just not going to be my day, is it? The towel barely covered my breasts now. I tried sucking in my stomach and pushing them out so they'd keep the towel up, but sadly, I was never overly endowed. It did nothing. Gravity took over and I barely had time to keep the towel in front of me as it fell. I violently pushed Amendel away and tried to preserve my dignity by re-wrapping the towel as quickly as I could. However, my face was as red as my hair by now and my ears were on fire. "Out!" I sputtered, pointing to the door for emphasis. "Out!"
Amendel frowned, but complied. I felt bad for treating him like that after he'd helped me so much, but, hell, I was embarrassed! I really didn't care at this point. To further prove my point, I threw off the towel and sank into the slightly warm bathwater and decided to soak my pride for a bit before facing the world again.
An hour or so later, I was dressed in a loose tunic and breeches. I was sore beyond belief, but it wasn't quite as bad as it had been. I wandered into the living area and found neither Amendel or Morgale so I curled up on a rather warm chair and stared off into the distance for a bit. When I got bored of that, I wandered into my room to get my harp and found Amendel sprawled out on the bed, looking haggard in a hardly restful sleep. He was tossing about a bit, muttering things as his eyes whirled about under his lids. I frowned and sat carefully on the bed next to him, positioning my harp against my shoulder. I bit my already sore lip as I tried to recall the notes to a song my father used to play when Gariel and I couldn't sleep. It was in Elvish, so the lilting language added the right touch to the magical notes that poured from my faithful instrument. Soon, Amendel's muttering and thrashing ceased and he began to sleep more peacefully. I set my harp down and pulled a blanket over him. He was almost angelic in repose. An angel of death, but I tried to forget that part. I reached out to brush a lock of hair from his eyes, but a hand grasped my wrist and two brilliant green eyes sprang open. Immediately, he let go of my wrist, apologizing profusely. "It was an innate reaction. I'm sorry, Kestral. Did I hurt you?"
"No." I soothed, although my wrist stung a little. "I'm sorry I scared you. You were having a nightmare—"
"I was?" he interrupted, looking worried.
"Yes. But after I sang a bit, you calmed down. I was trying to make you more comfortable."
Amendel sighed and ran a hand through his hair, only succeeding in messing it up a bit more. "It's alright, I need to wake up anyway."
My lips tilted downwards even more as I took in his exhausted features. "Go back to sleep. You need it. We'll look into the prison break tomorrow."
I felt the urge to reach out and touch him, his cheek, his hair, anything to sooth him. As infuriating as he could be, he had been quite nice to me. He saved my life, the least I could let him do was help him rest. In the end, I did reach out and touch his cheek gently, but only for a moment because my brain felt fuzzy the longer I stared at him. "Sleep." I whispered. "Please."
His eyes shut for a moment before springing back open. "Pavel! I need to go check on him."
"I'll do it."
At this, he sat up ramrod straight and grabbed both my shoulders. "No!" he commanded as an odd purple haze began to form around his body. "Promise me you'll never go up to see him. Promise me!"
His sudden changed knocked all the words from my head, I could only gape at him for a moment. "Promise me!" he ordered once more.
The words echoed in my mind and I felt myself nod. "I promise." I muttered.
The haze faded as his grip on my shoulders became more gentle. "Good." He replied with a slight smile.
He pulled
me forward and placed a hasty kiss on my forehead. "How does your
back feel?"
Any sense that had been returning to me after his
command had been lost when he kissed me. I simply nodded, not hearing
him at all. "Are you sure?" he asked again.
"Wha--?"
"Your back. I asked if it was sore."
"A little."
"Well I apply more of that healing substance to it tonight."
I nodded and after a moment, asked, "Where's Morgale?"
"I gave her the children's room. She's probably sleeping."
"You ought to be too." I reminded him.
He frowned, but lay back down. Seconds later he was asleep.
I walked to the living area feeling slightly lonely when a sudden wave of fear and pain assaulted me. I felt my sense leave me as I sank to the floor, unconscious.
