For the Love of....
Chapter Two
The first thing he noticed as he woke was that his head was aching. As he opened his eyes, the next thing he noticed was that he was sitting in a prison cell.
Jarlaxle felt like moaning, but didn't, keeping what little pride he had left in his abilities to himself. He shook his head instead, wincing as it shot pain through his skull. Thankfully, the room didn't start spinning and he didn't feel nauseous, so he ruled out having a concussion.
That didn't stop him from feeling like rothe dung, however.
He looked about his prison for a bit, noticing that it was only him in there. The room was small, but not uncomfortably so. Strange for a cell, but at least he was thankful for a bed to sleep in, and a window so he could at least get a look outside every now and then.
His belongings were gone, his jewellry stripped from him, even his clothing had been changed into a plain tunic and breeches of a light brownish colour that made him wince. They could have at least put him in clothes of a better colour than these ugly things...
The worst thing about the wholesituation was that it left him hopeless, helpless. He was without his normal magical items, his only true defence left him since leaving Bregan D'aerthe in the capable hands of Kimmuriel. He didn't like the feeling at all!
A click of a lock was heard, making Jarlaxle jump slightly. Either the room had sound proof walls, or he had once again been too preoccupied to hear the coming footsteps. He was hoping for the former. To be taken by surprise twice in what he hoped was one day, was not a good thing at all.
A young woman entered, carrying a tray with a roll of bread and some dried fruits. Usually, he would much rather something not so plain to eat, but he was hungry. Incentive enough for him not to eat the small amount of food on the tray.
After all, what people in the world, or in this case under it, were better aquainted with poisons and food, or drink, then the drow?
"It's not poisoned. If my Lord wanted you dead, you would not be locked up in a cell." The woman, obviously a maid to this Lord fellow stated, placing the tray on the ground before the bed, before going back out the rooand locking the door behind her with an almighty click of finality.
He didn't hear her footsteps as she walked away. He sighed in some form of relief. So, the walls were soundproof, even to his elven hearing.
He looked to the food, picking up the roll, before sniffing it. He knew that it wouldn't help if it had been poisoned, but his stomach didn't care. Sighing and now cursing himself for skipping meals for the day, he slowly ate the small meal and hoped it hadn't been tampered with.
Thankfully, nothing did. The girl hadn't been lying. The food was not poisoned.
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He must have fallen asleep, even after he had thought the act improbable with the mood he had been in the night before. His eyes opened and his hand immediately lifted to the wall where his dagger usually stayed.
"Come now. You don't want to kill me, do you?" Tazmikella stated, before handing him the life stealing dagger.
He snatched the deadly weapon back, not missing the buzz of energy that usually took place when he had opened a wound, no matter how small or slight. He knew that he would never use that power of his trademark weapon on the dragon in front of him.
"What do you want?!" He asked, as he slammed the weapon a little too forcefully back into its spot on the wall above his head.
Tazmikella stared down at him, her eyes showing anger towards him, before going back to their normal look. "Come with me!"
Artemis sighed and shook his head. He knew he had no choice in the matter and so it was a very irritated assassin turned bounty hunter who left his apartment with the dragon.
They headed towards the tower that was the home of Ilnezhara. He growled deeply, which made the creature masquerading as a human beside him chuckle. Tazmikella used a key she had to open the door. He was not surprised when thhe constucts of the two men and two women didn't attack.
The 'older' of the two sisters took him directly to the secret door where Ilnezhara's horde was kept and ushered him inside. Once again he paused to look about the gold and jewels that were piled into high mountains of glowing golden beauty. If he was as greedy as his partner, he would have loved this place.
Even the large copper dragon that was sitting over to one side probably wouldn't be a deterrent to the drow. Even as Ilnezhara looked in his direction, blue eyes staring straight through him, he knew that he was extremely glad that he was not so...hung up on material possesions as Jarlaxle was.
"Where is he?" Ilnezhara asked, her voice not so different as when she was in her polymorphed state and looked human.
"I have no idea where he is. Like I said yesterday, he stormed off to parts unknown and never came back last night. We...got into a rather stupid argument."
"You scared him away?!" Roared the now angry dragon. Entreri snorted.
"No. He was angry. I was angry. Not a good combination." He stated, going over to a piece of floor not covrered in gold and sat down. It brought him dangerously close to the sharp teeth of the dragon's head, but at that moment he did not care. If he could fight a red and live, a copper dragon would be no problem...
It was then that something interesting caught his eye. He quickly jumped to his feet and went to the dragons side. His eyes widened at the two eggs he saw therebefore running his hand down his face. Just brilliant! No wonder Ilnezhara wanted to find Jarlaxle.
"Do not touch my eggs!" Growled Ilnezhara, and, turning slightly to one side, he noticed that the head of the beast was turned in his direction.
He snorted, before shrugging. Not the best of moves, as that gaping mouth opened and began to take a deep breath. Once again, a cloud of slow gas was breathed his way, but this time he hadn't dodged out of the way quick enough to dodge the most of it.
He decided that it was best just to stay still rather than try to run away in slow motion, which would make him feel more foolish than he already did. He didn't know how long the spell would lastbut sat back down, slowly of couurse, right beside the two copper coloured eggs.
He stared at them now, seeing as how they were the first dragon eggs he had ever really had the time to look at. Inside grew two abomonitions...or at least two half-dragons. He wondered if they would grow up feeling hated, or loved, as it was quite clear that Ilnezhara was going to keep them.
That Jarlaxle was the father seemed quite fitting in Entreri's mind. It was bound to happen at some time, though, like with all Elven people, conception was rare. A thing to be treasured for most Elf types, apart from the drow...who wanted nothing more than to fill their houses with females and Priestesses of Lloth as possible, and turning all males into a veritable fighting machine, either with weapon or magic.
Entreri wondered how Jarlaxle would like the thought of becoming a father, and better yet, to two children that also happened to be born of a dragon?
Oh, things were going to become quite interesting. Therre was no doubt about that.
The slow spell soon wore off and, with a quirky smile that he was not used to feeling on his own face, he turned back towards the maw of Ilnezhar and said what was on his mind.
"Alright. I will help you find the missing drow."
A/N - Woohoo! There are people out there who actually like this story. You people rule!
A fan - Well, it is always good to have a fan or two, lol. Here is more, as requested!
Ariel D - I love your new story by the way. I can't wait until you get to the, uh, hair raising part, hehe. Yes, I am a fan of your Road to Redemption series, but my computer freezes every time I try to review anything, at LE or here, so I am telling you here instead that I love your stories.
Uh...are you writing another three stories after The Face of a God, or is this new one, one of them?
Oh and thanks for the review. I am glad that you liked this story. One of the very few drama/humour stories in existence. You knew I would eventually get to it, lol.
Ininil - ...Well, apparently, not onlyI had thought of Jarlaxle with a dragon...I just had never thought of it in this context until I read Wickless in the Nether. I am glad that this story captured you. That is what ti was supposed to do. At least some people actually liked it, yourself included. Thanks for sayign so by the way. Here is the next chapter, I hope you enjoyed it.