Light Wrapped in Darkness 4
Magicman: Hee hee! Now that I know a good website for translating the drow language, I can throw I can make Vicky a bit more 'vocal'. Thanks for telling me where it was. Oh, and yeah Aerie and Jaheira were a little ooc. I figured that by that point Jaheira would be getting sick of babysitting two grown women who have the intent of drinking themselves into a stupor. As for Aerie, she was getting really ticked off by Viconia. I thought that Vicky could bring out the worst in her. It'll probably make for some interesting plot twists in the future. *snickers* Anyway, on with the show!
Taurus left Gaelan Bayle's house with a barely concealed anger, this time made up of both human and drow tempers. His companions followed him, slightly slower.
"Um Taurus?" Minsc spoke up. "Boo was wondering where we are going to earn 20,000 gold coins?"
"That is indeed the question Minsc" was the response. "Tell Boo that we'll figure something out. But right now I need a drink."
Yoshimo came up to him from behind. "We could always go talk to Renal Bloodscalp. He might have a job for us and he's known to be decently honest in his dealings with people." He hesitated. "In addition, I had a slight run in with him last time I was in Athkatla. If we were to go and smooth it over-"
Taurus interrupted him, a sense of finality in his tone. "Maybe later Yoshimo. We still need to find the girls first."
This said, they approached the Copper Coronet. Opening the door, they stepped inside.
Jaheira caught sight of them immediately and the relief was evident in her eyes. "Thank Silvanus that you've finally arrived!" She came close to hugging Taurus in her happiness to see him again. He was immediately startled out of his bad mood.
"What? Did something happen?"
Now that she was off the hook, Jaheira smiled slightly. "You'll have to see it to believe it." She grabbed his arm and dragged him over to a table by the wall. Once there, she let go of Taurus and pointed. "You see?"
Taurus saw. Aerie and Viconia were both lying face down on the table. The head of the former rested upon her folded arms while the latter had her mouth open and was snoring softly. Empty mugs stood by them, and had the appearance of being full not too long ago. Taurus just stared incredulously.
"Er, what exactly happened?"
Jaheira threw her hands up. "How should I know? One minute I'm thinking about this whole mess we're in and the next has them asking me to get another pitcher!"
"Why didn't you say no?"
"You have no idea how dangerous drunken spellcasters can be." Jaheira shuddered. "I thought that it would be better to take the chance. It turns out that they're the kind of drunks that fall asleep instead of getting violent."
Taurus grinned. "Why Jaheira!" he exclaimed, "Who knew that you were such a risk taker?"
The druid scowled and kicked Taurus in the leg. "Well what did that weirdo want?"
Taurus sat down, partly to get comfortable and partly be cause of the pain in his leg. "He says he can hook us up with people who can take us to Imoen, but it will cost us twenty thousand."
Jaheira didn't even blink an eye. "That shouldn't be too hard."
Taurus stared. "Uh Jaheira? We didn't even make twenty thousand on that whole incident in Baldurs Gate!"
"You've never been to a big city, EXCEPT for Baldurs Gate." Jaheira's voice was dry. "Amn is a merchant city. Finding work should be quite easy. In fact" she added, looking over his shoulder, "Here it comes now."
A redheaded young woman approached Taurus hesitantly. Her hesitance allowed him to study her a bit. She had a certain regal bearing that said she was relatively high on the social ladder of life. Her mage robes were also of fine quality and she unconsciously displayed a fine signet ring on her left hand. She seemed comfortable in the seedy tavern but was obviously out of place.
"Excuse me" she asked Taurus "But are you for hire? As a mercenary I mean. You look like the sort who could handle himself in a fight."
Taurus looked over at Jaheira. Her raised eyebrow seemed to say 'I told you so'. He sighed. "Well I'm not really a mercenary, but me and my group might be able to help you. What's the trouble?"
The girl's face showed volumes of relief and Taurus wondered if she was always this easy to read. "Oh thank Heavens! I've been trying to get help from this rabble for days but they're just not willing to risk their lives for someone who has helped their kind so much!"
Jaheira frowned. "'Rabble'? 'Their kind'? You make it sound as if you are better than them."
The girl hesitated. "Well I can't help it if I'm better off than they are. Mother always said that we should help those less fortunate than ourselves."
Taurus interrupted before Jaheira could fillet the girl alive with withering volleys of logic. "First of all, what's your name? It's always nice to know who you're doing business for."
The girl brightened. "Well my name is Nalia de'Arnise and it's my home that I need your help with."
"What's wrong?"
"We've been invaded!" Nalia said shortly.
"Okay" Taurus said slowly. "By what?"
"There's no time for that! If we waste too much time then I won't have a home to save!"
Frowning inwardly, Taurus resolved to talk to her about who these invaders were. In the meantime, "Alright then. You've got yourself some help."
"Oh thank you!" She gushed. "You don't know how much this means to me! Uh, do you want me to come with you? I've had some training as a mage and I've been slumming it for a while. I can pick the odd lock if I need to."
Taurus thought a moment. They could always use another mage and Nalia knew her way around this keep they'd have to save. "Sure, why not? Though you should know that our ultimate goal is to save an old friend of mine."
Nalia cocked her head in curiosity. "An old friend? Sure, I'd love to help! But we've got to save my keep first."
"Fair enough. Why don't you sit down for the moment? It might take a while for the rest of our merry little band to regroup."
Agreeing, Nalia sat down and sipped at a glass of ale. Jaheira frowned at her, muttering to herself while Taurus introduced himself.
As it turned out, the unconscious women woke up before Minsc and Yoshimo returned from their exploration of the bar. Or at least Viconia did. Swearing softly at her aching head, she tried to sit up and winced in pain. She decided that it was better to lie on the table. She settled back down and glared furiously at an amused Jaheira. "And what is so funny tu'rilthiir?"
"I tried to warn you" was the reply.
"Hmph!" This expression of contempt brought another wince to the drow. She rolled her head over and tried to fall into unconsciousness again.
"Rise and shine Vicky!" Taurus greeted her brightly. "How're you feeling?"
"Vith dos!"
Taurus looked over at Jaheira. "What did she say?"
"Well it certainly wasn't 'Have a nice day'!"
"Bah! I will not lie helpless like this! All I need is to regain my feet and I will be fine!" Viconia lurched to her feet but her legs couldn't take the strain. Her head swam and her strength gave out and she nearly collapsed. Only Taurus' speed caught her before she collapsed to the tavern's filthy floor. For a moment she struggled against his arms holding her to him before she gave up. She lay against his chest with an ill grace while he set her back up on her chair. She looked at him, her face a mixture of anger and gratefulness. "If you were any other male, abbil, I would have killed you for being so impertinent. As it is it seems that I can only thank you. But do not expect another opportunity. I will not show such weakness again."
"You're welcome." Taurus returned to his seat bemusedly. "Just try not to get too drunk again, okay? I won't always be around to take care of you." The response was some mumbled cursing.
Nalia watched the pair with curiosity.
"I don't mean to pry, but are you two lovers?" she asked.
"VITH dos!"
Taurus burst out laughing. "I think Viconia said it all for us. You have to admit that it was a personal question."
Nalia blushed. "I'm sorry."
"Ah don't be. We're not lovers, just really good friends. Isn't that right Vicky?"
Viconia glared at him through her thick white hair. "Don't call me that."
At this time Yoshimo and Minsc reappeared from their survey of the tavern.
"Taurus" Yoshmo began, some urgency in his voice, "I've got some information that you may want to hear." He seemed to notice Nalia for the first time. "Who's she?"
Taurus smiled at the look of annoyance on Nalia's face. "She's our new employer. As soon as we've gathered ourselves, so to speak, we're going to save her keep from invaders."
"I see." Yoshimo turned and bowed deeply to Nalia. "I apologise for my earlier rudeness Nalia. I did not expect you and that made me somewhat suspicious."
"Oh". She calmed down and smiled politely. "Well that's alright then."
Minsc greeted her with one of his bone crushing hugs. When he put her down, rather breathless, Yoshimo explained what the two had uncovered.
"It seems that the Copper Coronet is holding slaves."
"Slaves?" gasped Nalia, regaining her breath. "That's despicable! We've got to do something for those poor people!"
Minsc looked at her appreciatively. "What a good little girl you are, helping people! Here, come and see Boo!" He brought forth the hamster for Nalia to view.
"Slavery is a vile institution," Jaheira said with finality. "We must do something for them!"
Taurus nodded slowly. "I agree. But what do we do with Aerie?"
No one came up with any suggestions and Viconia looked smug. Finally Taurus shrugged.
"Alright then, you guys go and check out this slave thing. I'll stay here and keep the thieves off of Aerie."
"Why bother?" Viconia exploded. "I've said it before Taurus. She is-"
"She is under my protection as of this moment Viconia."
Viconia bit her lip in restrained anger. Then she lurched to her feet and flounced off toward the back rooms. Yoshimo smiled at Taurus before following. Minsc, still talking to Nalia, followed. Jaheira brought up the rear but not without lifting an eyebrow at her friend.
Taurus settled himself down to wait for the others to return from their slave hunting. He took the opportunity to go over his arsenal of magic spells and to make sure that each was ready and waiting for use. Mostly they were of the protect sort with an assortment of energy type attack spells designed to damage or hinder the opponent. He wasn't the best magicuser in the world, but he knew how to use what he had. He was glad that he found his elven chainmail at the Adventurers' Mart. It would be so much easier casting magic if he didn't have to change out of heavy plate mail in the middle of a fight.
Of course he didn't expect to use much magic until they got a license.
He sat there at the table, snarling off the occasional thief from mugging Aerie. He ran into that guy Salvanas and gently discouraged him from hitting on the elf girl.
"You see" he explained, "It would be a really bad idea to go after her. Sure she's hot, but that kind of works to her advantage. Take the last guy she took to her bed." Taurus shook his head sadly. "They found the poor fellow tied to the bedposts naked with his throat slashed and everything of value he possessed was stolen. Oh yes, his heart had been cut out. They found a piece of it on the pillow. It had teeth marks on it, but I suppose that those could have come from mice. Such a shame really. He was so young."
Salavanas decided not to try and talk his way into Aerie's bed. In fact, there was an instant decrease in thieves trying to pick the pocket of the 'heart-eating murderer'.
About an hour after Jaheira and the others had left to check out the slaves, Aerie's eyelids fluttered open. She whimpered at the intense agony that gripped her head and she winced at the light that struck her like a spear. 'This is is' she thought. 'I'm going to die in a seedy run down tavern.'
A hand gently rubbed her back. "This is your first time with a hangover isn't it?" a soothing voice asked her. "Don't worry. It'll get better after a few minutes."
Aerie took comfort at the voice and just lay there, waiting for the pain to subside. The hand continued to rub her back and it seemed that it relieved her of some of her sickness in the process. Eventually she slowly lifted her head up and looked around. She ignored the wave of nausea that this brought and managed to bring Taurus into focus. The half-drow smiled at her sympathetically and pulled his hand away. "Are you feeling better?"
Aerie looked down at herself slowly, so as to avoid pain. "I seem to be living" she said dryly. Taurus chuckled and she winced as her hangover amplified the sound tenfold. He saw this and stopped immediately, his hand returning to rubbing her back. She sighed and lay back down on the table, letting his hand soothe her pain.
After a while she felt better and could sit up with relatively little pain. She smiled gratefully at Taurus. "Thank you."
"All in a days work!"
Aerie giggled and looked around. "Where'd the others go?"
Taurus shrugged. "Search me. They went off to check up on some slave rumours. They'll be back eventually."
"Why didn't you go?"
"Well I couldn't very well leave a cute girl like you alone among these sickos." Taurus waved at the general population of the bar.
Aerie's cheeks turned slightly pink. "Thank you."
They passed a moment in silence, Taurus trying to be companionable, and Aerie too shy to talk. Finally, unable to take the silence anymore, she blurted out, "Do you know of my people, the Avariel?"
Taurus thought for a moment while Aerie mentally beat the living crap out of herself. 'What are you doing?! He doesn't want hear about you!'
"Not much I'm afraid, other than that they had wings. I always heard that they were all extinct."
Aerie stopped fighting with her mind and sighed, remembering. "We nearly are. Most of us were slaughtered by the dragons...or murdered by the drow. But there are still communities living deep in the mountains. My home was the city of Faenya-Dail in the Brandabar Mountains. I wish you could have seen it. It was all open space. Anywhere you stood you could spread your wings! The Avariel warriors defended us with their weapons of enchanted glass. My own class specialised in art and literature. The memories are dim but they still bring a tear to my eye."
Aerie's soft blue eyes moistened with tears held back. Taurus patted her on the back consolingly. "I'll tell you what Aerie. We'll make some new memories for you."
"Really?"
"Sure! Why all we've got to do is go out into the wide and wonderful world. Something will turn up. It always does, whether or not we want it to."
Aerie smiled gratefully. "Thanks for cheering me up Taurus. I'm glad I met you."
Taurus flashed a smile of his own at her. "Well then that makes two of us."
Just at that moment a passing tavern patron bumped into Aerie's chair. "Oh" she said, surprised, "Are you alright?"
The man took one look at her and instantly started shaking. "Oh please don't hurt me miss!" he squeaked in despair. "I didn't mean to! It was an accident!"
Aerie looked at him oddly. "Okay" she said, recovering her composure swiftly. "Now go away."
"Yes miss! Thank you so much!" The man ran off, grateful to have survived.
Aerie stared after him weirdly. "What could have gotten into him?"
Taurus shrugged, struggling to keep the smile off his face. "Oh he probably mistook you for someone, probably a cruel merciless killer who eats people's hearts."
The elf looked revolted. "Ew!"
They sat there for the next few minutes, talking amiably about anything. Now that the ice had been broken and Aerie was no longer blushing continuously, they managed to examine each other's spell books for anything new. Taurus had just given over a Chromatic Orb scroll to Aerie when a door to the back rooms flew open. The broken body of one of the bouncers flew out, followed by a bellowing Minsc.
"What the-?"
Taurus' question was soon answered as the rest of the group rushed into the common room to clash with another group of bouncers. Another man dressed in think leather armour and wielding two short swords stepped through the chaos with the will of a demon and a thirst for vengeance in his eye. Curious, Taurus grabbed Aerie's hand and pulled her along, anxious to see what was happening but not to leave her behind.
The two elves made it to the bar (Salvanas got out of the way at the sight of Aerie) and were treated to the sight of the armoured man march up to the bartender and challenge him to a duel.
"What?!" shrieked the bartender in fury. "Hendak?! You ignorant barbaric slave! You're behind all of this chaos, aren't you?! I'll take it out of your hide!"
"Enough fiend!" the armoured man, presumable Hendak, spit out. "You no longer own me! And I'll ensure that you no longer claim ownership over any other as well! I have survived your hellish fighting pit for years; you are no match for me!"
"We shall see!" The bartender drew a dagger and leaped at the ex- slave, knocking them both to the ground. At close range, he slashed Handak's ribs viciously before he was knocked to the side. The fight was brief, furious, and bloody but it ended when a double blow from Handak's two swords brought the bartender down. Hendak looked down on the corpse of his foe.
"There" he said. "It is finally over Lehtinin. All the years of cruel and evil acts that you have committed for nothing more than coins in your pocket! Burn in the Abyss fiend!" Hendak then turned to Jaheira, who presided over the group in Taurus' absence. "I owe you my thanks my friend." He said gravely.
Jaheira nodded. "It was nothing. Slaver scum should be killed when found." She looked over and saw Taurus and Aerie watching, slightly confused over the events. "Ah yes! There you are Omnipresent Authority figure! I was afraid that we'd lost you."
Taurus scowled. "Why didn't you come and get us? You know how much I hate slavers! And that's Omnipresent Authority figure Sir to you."
Viconia smirked. "We thought that you'd be too busy defending our little butterfly to help us, oh Omnipresent Authority figure Sir!"
Taurus glared at Viconia but humour lurked at the corners of his mouth. He soon smiled and shook his head. "Oh fine. Go ahead and tease me out of a grumpy mood!"
"Of course. One of us has to keep you from becoming too serious." Viconia laughed too.
Jaheira shook her head at the absurdity of young people. Hendak cleared his throat.
"I hate to ask you another favour but there is another band of slavers based in a landlocked ship not too far from here. Many children are held there."
Taurus brightened considerably. "More slavers? All right! Let's take 'em down!"
Minsc was jubilant in his response. "We will save the children Taurus!"
Aerie nodded in agreement. "I was once something of a slave myself. I hate slavers! We just have to stop them!"
Hendak smiled happily. "I will always be grateful for your assistance my friends. There is a hidden tunnel in the tavern that leads to the slavers' base. It will likely be safer than approaching openly. God speed to you my friends!"
Nalia was introducing herself to Aerie when Yoshimo found the tunnel easily. Apparently Lehtinin hadn't counted on a thief of Yoshimo's skill being on the enemy's side. As they tramped down the stairs into the tunnel, Aerie's eyes strayed over to Taurus. 'He's so cute' she sighed to herself. Her eyes widened at what she just thought. 'I didn't just think that! We're just friends! Friends, you hear me?!' Her mind didn't answer back as they descended into darkness.
Magicman: Ah yes. It begins. Aerie is feeling the first stirs of emotion toward Taurus. But what is going on in Viconia's mind, eh? Well I'm not sure that even she knows for sure. But I'll try and sort it all out before next chapter, okay?
Magicman: Hee hee! Now that I know a good website for translating the drow language, I can throw I can make Vicky a bit more 'vocal'. Thanks for telling me where it was. Oh, and yeah Aerie and Jaheira were a little ooc. I figured that by that point Jaheira would be getting sick of babysitting two grown women who have the intent of drinking themselves into a stupor. As for Aerie, she was getting really ticked off by Viconia. I thought that Vicky could bring out the worst in her. It'll probably make for some interesting plot twists in the future. *snickers* Anyway, on with the show!
Taurus left Gaelan Bayle's house with a barely concealed anger, this time made up of both human and drow tempers. His companions followed him, slightly slower.
"Um Taurus?" Minsc spoke up. "Boo was wondering where we are going to earn 20,000 gold coins?"
"That is indeed the question Minsc" was the response. "Tell Boo that we'll figure something out. But right now I need a drink."
Yoshimo came up to him from behind. "We could always go talk to Renal Bloodscalp. He might have a job for us and he's known to be decently honest in his dealings with people." He hesitated. "In addition, I had a slight run in with him last time I was in Athkatla. If we were to go and smooth it over-"
Taurus interrupted him, a sense of finality in his tone. "Maybe later Yoshimo. We still need to find the girls first."
This said, they approached the Copper Coronet. Opening the door, they stepped inside.
Jaheira caught sight of them immediately and the relief was evident in her eyes. "Thank Silvanus that you've finally arrived!" She came close to hugging Taurus in her happiness to see him again. He was immediately startled out of his bad mood.
"What? Did something happen?"
Now that she was off the hook, Jaheira smiled slightly. "You'll have to see it to believe it." She grabbed his arm and dragged him over to a table by the wall. Once there, she let go of Taurus and pointed. "You see?"
Taurus saw. Aerie and Viconia were both lying face down on the table. The head of the former rested upon her folded arms while the latter had her mouth open and was snoring softly. Empty mugs stood by them, and had the appearance of being full not too long ago. Taurus just stared incredulously.
"Er, what exactly happened?"
Jaheira threw her hands up. "How should I know? One minute I'm thinking about this whole mess we're in and the next has them asking me to get another pitcher!"
"Why didn't you say no?"
"You have no idea how dangerous drunken spellcasters can be." Jaheira shuddered. "I thought that it would be better to take the chance. It turns out that they're the kind of drunks that fall asleep instead of getting violent."
Taurus grinned. "Why Jaheira!" he exclaimed, "Who knew that you were such a risk taker?"
The druid scowled and kicked Taurus in the leg. "Well what did that weirdo want?"
Taurus sat down, partly to get comfortable and partly be cause of the pain in his leg. "He says he can hook us up with people who can take us to Imoen, but it will cost us twenty thousand."
Jaheira didn't even blink an eye. "That shouldn't be too hard."
Taurus stared. "Uh Jaheira? We didn't even make twenty thousand on that whole incident in Baldurs Gate!"
"You've never been to a big city, EXCEPT for Baldurs Gate." Jaheira's voice was dry. "Amn is a merchant city. Finding work should be quite easy. In fact" she added, looking over his shoulder, "Here it comes now."
A redheaded young woman approached Taurus hesitantly. Her hesitance allowed him to study her a bit. She had a certain regal bearing that said she was relatively high on the social ladder of life. Her mage robes were also of fine quality and she unconsciously displayed a fine signet ring on her left hand. She seemed comfortable in the seedy tavern but was obviously out of place.
"Excuse me" she asked Taurus "But are you for hire? As a mercenary I mean. You look like the sort who could handle himself in a fight."
Taurus looked over at Jaheira. Her raised eyebrow seemed to say 'I told you so'. He sighed. "Well I'm not really a mercenary, but me and my group might be able to help you. What's the trouble?"
The girl's face showed volumes of relief and Taurus wondered if she was always this easy to read. "Oh thank Heavens! I've been trying to get help from this rabble for days but they're just not willing to risk their lives for someone who has helped their kind so much!"
Jaheira frowned. "'Rabble'? 'Their kind'? You make it sound as if you are better than them."
The girl hesitated. "Well I can't help it if I'm better off than they are. Mother always said that we should help those less fortunate than ourselves."
Taurus interrupted before Jaheira could fillet the girl alive with withering volleys of logic. "First of all, what's your name? It's always nice to know who you're doing business for."
The girl brightened. "Well my name is Nalia de'Arnise and it's my home that I need your help with."
"What's wrong?"
"We've been invaded!" Nalia said shortly.
"Okay" Taurus said slowly. "By what?"
"There's no time for that! If we waste too much time then I won't have a home to save!"
Frowning inwardly, Taurus resolved to talk to her about who these invaders were. In the meantime, "Alright then. You've got yourself some help."
"Oh thank you!" She gushed. "You don't know how much this means to me! Uh, do you want me to come with you? I've had some training as a mage and I've been slumming it for a while. I can pick the odd lock if I need to."
Taurus thought a moment. They could always use another mage and Nalia knew her way around this keep they'd have to save. "Sure, why not? Though you should know that our ultimate goal is to save an old friend of mine."
Nalia cocked her head in curiosity. "An old friend? Sure, I'd love to help! But we've got to save my keep first."
"Fair enough. Why don't you sit down for the moment? It might take a while for the rest of our merry little band to regroup."
Agreeing, Nalia sat down and sipped at a glass of ale. Jaheira frowned at her, muttering to herself while Taurus introduced himself.
As it turned out, the unconscious women woke up before Minsc and Yoshimo returned from their exploration of the bar. Or at least Viconia did. Swearing softly at her aching head, she tried to sit up and winced in pain. She decided that it was better to lie on the table. She settled back down and glared furiously at an amused Jaheira. "And what is so funny tu'rilthiir?"
"I tried to warn you" was the reply.
"Hmph!" This expression of contempt brought another wince to the drow. She rolled her head over and tried to fall into unconsciousness again.
"Rise and shine Vicky!" Taurus greeted her brightly. "How're you feeling?"
"Vith dos!"
Taurus looked over at Jaheira. "What did she say?"
"Well it certainly wasn't 'Have a nice day'!"
"Bah! I will not lie helpless like this! All I need is to regain my feet and I will be fine!" Viconia lurched to her feet but her legs couldn't take the strain. Her head swam and her strength gave out and she nearly collapsed. Only Taurus' speed caught her before she collapsed to the tavern's filthy floor. For a moment she struggled against his arms holding her to him before she gave up. She lay against his chest with an ill grace while he set her back up on her chair. She looked at him, her face a mixture of anger and gratefulness. "If you were any other male, abbil, I would have killed you for being so impertinent. As it is it seems that I can only thank you. But do not expect another opportunity. I will not show such weakness again."
"You're welcome." Taurus returned to his seat bemusedly. "Just try not to get too drunk again, okay? I won't always be around to take care of you." The response was some mumbled cursing.
Nalia watched the pair with curiosity.
"I don't mean to pry, but are you two lovers?" she asked.
"VITH dos!"
Taurus burst out laughing. "I think Viconia said it all for us. You have to admit that it was a personal question."
Nalia blushed. "I'm sorry."
"Ah don't be. We're not lovers, just really good friends. Isn't that right Vicky?"
Viconia glared at him through her thick white hair. "Don't call me that."
At this time Yoshimo and Minsc reappeared from their survey of the tavern.
"Taurus" Yoshmo began, some urgency in his voice, "I've got some information that you may want to hear." He seemed to notice Nalia for the first time. "Who's she?"
Taurus smiled at the look of annoyance on Nalia's face. "She's our new employer. As soon as we've gathered ourselves, so to speak, we're going to save her keep from invaders."
"I see." Yoshimo turned and bowed deeply to Nalia. "I apologise for my earlier rudeness Nalia. I did not expect you and that made me somewhat suspicious."
"Oh". She calmed down and smiled politely. "Well that's alright then."
Minsc greeted her with one of his bone crushing hugs. When he put her down, rather breathless, Yoshimo explained what the two had uncovered.
"It seems that the Copper Coronet is holding slaves."
"Slaves?" gasped Nalia, regaining her breath. "That's despicable! We've got to do something for those poor people!"
Minsc looked at her appreciatively. "What a good little girl you are, helping people! Here, come and see Boo!" He brought forth the hamster for Nalia to view.
"Slavery is a vile institution," Jaheira said with finality. "We must do something for them!"
Taurus nodded slowly. "I agree. But what do we do with Aerie?"
No one came up with any suggestions and Viconia looked smug. Finally Taurus shrugged.
"Alright then, you guys go and check out this slave thing. I'll stay here and keep the thieves off of Aerie."
"Why bother?" Viconia exploded. "I've said it before Taurus. She is-"
"She is under my protection as of this moment Viconia."
Viconia bit her lip in restrained anger. Then she lurched to her feet and flounced off toward the back rooms. Yoshimo smiled at Taurus before following. Minsc, still talking to Nalia, followed. Jaheira brought up the rear but not without lifting an eyebrow at her friend.
Taurus settled himself down to wait for the others to return from their slave hunting. He took the opportunity to go over his arsenal of magic spells and to make sure that each was ready and waiting for use. Mostly they were of the protect sort with an assortment of energy type attack spells designed to damage or hinder the opponent. He wasn't the best magicuser in the world, but he knew how to use what he had. He was glad that he found his elven chainmail at the Adventurers' Mart. It would be so much easier casting magic if he didn't have to change out of heavy plate mail in the middle of a fight.
Of course he didn't expect to use much magic until they got a license.
He sat there at the table, snarling off the occasional thief from mugging Aerie. He ran into that guy Salvanas and gently discouraged him from hitting on the elf girl.
"You see" he explained, "It would be a really bad idea to go after her. Sure she's hot, but that kind of works to her advantage. Take the last guy she took to her bed." Taurus shook his head sadly. "They found the poor fellow tied to the bedposts naked with his throat slashed and everything of value he possessed was stolen. Oh yes, his heart had been cut out. They found a piece of it on the pillow. It had teeth marks on it, but I suppose that those could have come from mice. Such a shame really. He was so young."
Salavanas decided not to try and talk his way into Aerie's bed. In fact, there was an instant decrease in thieves trying to pick the pocket of the 'heart-eating murderer'.
About an hour after Jaheira and the others had left to check out the slaves, Aerie's eyelids fluttered open. She whimpered at the intense agony that gripped her head and she winced at the light that struck her like a spear. 'This is is' she thought. 'I'm going to die in a seedy run down tavern.'
A hand gently rubbed her back. "This is your first time with a hangover isn't it?" a soothing voice asked her. "Don't worry. It'll get better after a few minutes."
Aerie took comfort at the voice and just lay there, waiting for the pain to subside. The hand continued to rub her back and it seemed that it relieved her of some of her sickness in the process. Eventually she slowly lifted her head up and looked around. She ignored the wave of nausea that this brought and managed to bring Taurus into focus. The half-drow smiled at her sympathetically and pulled his hand away. "Are you feeling better?"
Aerie looked down at herself slowly, so as to avoid pain. "I seem to be living" she said dryly. Taurus chuckled and she winced as her hangover amplified the sound tenfold. He saw this and stopped immediately, his hand returning to rubbing her back. She sighed and lay back down on the table, letting his hand soothe her pain.
After a while she felt better and could sit up with relatively little pain. She smiled gratefully at Taurus. "Thank you."
"All in a days work!"
Aerie giggled and looked around. "Where'd the others go?"
Taurus shrugged. "Search me. They went off to check up on some slave rumours. They'll be back eventually."
"Why didn't you go?"
"Well I couldn't very well leave a cute girl like you alone among these sickos." Taurus waved at the general population of the bar.
Aerie's cheeks turned slightly pink. "Thank you."
They passed a moment in silence, Taurus trying to be companionable, and Aerie too shy to talk. Finally, unable to take the silence anymore, she blurted out, "Do you know of my people, the Avariel?"
Taurus thought for a moment while Aerie mentally beat the living crap out of herself. 'What are you doing?! He doesn't want hear about you!'
"Not much I'm afraid, other than that they had wings. I always heard that they were all extinct."
Aerie stopped fighting with her mind and sighed, remembering. "We nearly are. Most of us were slaughtered by the dragons...or murdered by the drow. But there are still communities living deep in the mountains. My home was the city of Faenya-Dail in the Brandabar Mountains. I wish you could have seen it. It was all open space. Anywhere you stood you could spread your wings! The Avariel warriors defended us with their weapons of enchanted glass. My own class specialised in art and literature. The memories are dim but they still bring a tear to my eye."
Aerie's soft blue eyes moistened with tears held back. Taurus patted her on the back consolingly. "I'll tell you what Aerie. We'll make some new memories for you."
"Really?"
"Sure! Why all we've got to do is go out into the wide and wonderful world. Something will turn up. It always does, whether or not we want it to."
Aerie smiled gratefully. "Thanks for cheering me up Taurus. I'm glad I met you."
Taurus flashed a smile of his own at her. "Well then that makes two of us."
Just at that moment a passing tavern patron bumped into Aerie's chair. "Oh" she said, surprised, "Are you alright?"
The man took one look at her and instantly started shaking. "Oh please don't hurt me miss!" he squeaked in despair. "I didn't mean to! It was an accident!"
Aerie looked at him oddly. "Okay" she said, recovering her composure swiftly. "Now go away."
"Yes miss! Thank you so much!" The man ran off, grateful to have survived.
Aerie stared after him weirdly. "What could have gotten into him?"
Taurus shrugged, struggling to keep the smile off his face. "Oh he probably mistook you for someone, probably a cruel merciless killer who eats people's hearts."
The elf looked revolted. "Ew!"
They sat there for the next few minutes, talking amiably about anything. Now that the ice had been broken and Aerie was no longer blushing continuously, they managed to examine each other's spell books for anything new. Taurus had just given over a Chromatic Orb scroll to Aerie when a door to the back rooms flew open. The broken body of one of the bouncers flew out, followed by a bellowing Minsc.
"What the-?"
Taurus' question was soon answered as the rest of the group rushed into the common room to clash with another group of bouncers. Another man dressed in think leather armour and wielding two short swords stepped through the chaos with the will of a demon and a thirst for vengeance in his eye. Curious, Taurus grabbed Aerie's hand and pulled her along, anxious to see what was happening but not to leave her behind.
The two elves made it to the bar (Salvanas got out of the way at the sight of Aerie) and were treated to the sight of the armoured man march up to the bartender and challenge him to a duel.
"What?!" shrieked the bartender in fury. "Hendak?! You ignorant barbaric slave! You're behind all of this chaos, aren't you?! I'll take it out of your hide!"
"Enough fiend!" the armoured man, presumable Hendak, spit out. "You no longer own me! And I'll ensure that you no longer claim ownership over any other as well! I have survived your hellish fighting pit for years; you are no match for me!"
"We shall see!" The bartender drew a dagger and leaped at the ex- slave, knocking them both to the ground. At close range, he slashed Handak's ribs viciously before he was knocked to the side. The fight was brief, furious, and bloody but it ended when a double blow from Handak's two swords brought the bartender down. Hendak looked down on the corpse of his foe.
"There" he said. "It is finally over Lehtinin. All the years of cruel and evil acts that you have committed for nothing more than coins in your pocket! Burn in the Abyss fiend!" Hendak then turned to Jaheira, who presided over the group in Taurus' absence. "I owe you my thanks my friend." He said gravely.
Jaheira nodded. "It was nothing. Slaver scum should be killed when found." She looked over and saw Taurus and Aerie watching, slightly confused over the events. "Ah yes! There you are Omnipresent Authority figure! I was afraid that we'd lost you."
Taurus scowled. "Why didn't you come and get us? You know how much I hate slavers! And that's Omnipresent Authority figure Sir to you."
Viconia smirked. "We thought that you'd be too busy defending our little butterfly to help us, oh Omnipresent Authority figure Sir!"
Taurus glared at Viconia but humour lurked at the corners of his mouth. He soon smiled and shook his head. "Oh fine. Go ahead and tease me out of a grumpy mood!"
"Of course. One of us has to keep you from becoming too serious." Viconia laughed too.
Jaheira shook her head at the absurdity of young people. Hendak cleared his throat.
"I hate to ask you another favour but there is another band of slavers based in a landlocked ship not too far from here. Many children are held there."
Taurus brightened considerably. "More slavers? All right! Let's take 'em down!"
Minsc was jubilant in his response. "We will save the children Taurus!"
Aerie nodded in agreement. "I was once something of a slave myself. I hate slavers! We just have to stop them!"
Hendak smiled happily. "I will always be grateful for your assistance my friends. There is a hidden tunnel in the tavern that leads to the slavers' base. It will likely be safer than approaching openly. God speed to you my friends!"
Nalia was introducing herself to Aerie when Yoshimo found the tunnel easily. Apparently Lehtinin hadn't counted on a thief of Yoshimo's skill being on the enemy's side. As they tramped down the stairs into the tunnel, Aerie's eyes strayed over to Taurus. 'He's so cute' she sighed to herself. Her eyes widened at what she just thought. 'I didn't just think that! We're just friends! Friends, you hear me?!' Her mind didn't answer back as they descended into darkness.
Magicman: Ah yes. It begins. Aerie is feeling the first stirs of emotion toward Taurus. But what is going on in Viconia's mind, eh? Well I'm not sure that even she knows for sure. But I'll try and sort it all out before next chapter, okay?