General disclaimer: I own nothing, even Maiyn generally decides her own path.

-----------------------

Loss

-----------------------

"Oh, a fine sight ye are, whoever ye are!" The dwarf had rushed out of his cell when they'd opened the door, and was looking around at them curiously. He was barely half the height of Jaheira, and seemed to be completely dwarfed by Minsc. His face was lined either from age or worry, Maiyn couldn't tell, and his long brown hair and braided beard were both dirty. "Sick to death of bandits I am! I have been cooped up here the longest time."

"You are Yeslick? We were told you might be here by a miner named Baerus," explained Maiyn.

"Yeslick I am," he replied, "and at your service for freeing me. These were my mines that the blasted Iron Throne stole from me... Well; they were my clan's home 125 years ago." The dwarf sighed heavily, and his eyes slumped to the floor.

"Can you tell us what happened?" asked Maiyn gently.

"O' course," he said, taking a deep breath and collecting his thoughts. "I was workin' in Sembia, that's where I met Rieltar. Gave me a good trade smithin' for the Throne, he did, and I began ta trust him. I told him about here, my old home - the stupidest thing I've ever done! My clan had the richest mine on the Coast, but almost all were killed when we breached the riverbank. I lost most o' my kin that day. Those who survived couldn't bear ta go back down; we left her as a giant watery tomb.

"I tell this to my 'friend' Rieltar, and before I know it he has me chained up! Tortures the location out o' me, and they manage to drain the water out and seal up the breach. Now this graveyard feeds his needs as the coast is bled dry."

"Rieltar?" Maiyn had not heard this name before. Who is he, and what part does he play in all this, she wondered.

"Rieltar Anchev," said the dwarf simply, noting her continuing look of bewilderment. "He is the leader o' the merchant house, the Iron Throne."

Maiyn looked to Khalid and Jaheira, and they nodded slightly. The Harpers had heard of his name at least. This was an advancement on the completely unknown enemy they'd been facing until now.

"If ye have a spare mace or hammer, I'd gladly swing it fer yer cause," added Yeslick hopefully.

Maiyn smiled at him. "We'd welcome you joining us," she said. "We passed a weaponry on our way here. Imoen, Coran - go back quietly to it and see what there is for our new friend. Obtain some armour as well, if you can."

The two nodded to her knowing what she meant - check the corpses of the guards we killed for armour that may fit our dwarven companion.

"We also had to find a man named 'Rill' here," continued Maiyn, speaking to Yeslick. Before she could continue, a man moved forward from one of the other cells shyly.

"I... I'm Rill," he said quietly. "Baerus told you of me?"

The ranger nodded. "He said you would be able to help us ensure everyone was out of the mines before we made to re-flood it."

Yeslick's eyes widened. "Ye're seekin' ta open the breach again?"

Maiyn nodded to him. "Obviously, if that is alright with you," she added hastily.

The dwarf nodded furiously. "It'll mean lessening the graves of my forefathers with the taint o' this scum," he said gruffly, "but it's a price worth payin' ta end their set-up."

"What do you need me to do?" Rill looked nervous, but he seemed prepared to do whatever he could to help out in this. Maiyn was heartened by his obvious attempts to keep calm.

"Baerus said you would be able to persuade most of the men to follow you out, and to locate them," explained Maiyn quickly. The miner nodded to her. "Good - we need you to stay here for now, because there are enemies close by that we need to deal with first. When that is done, some of my companions will escort you and the others out of the mine while the rest of us head down to seek out Davaeorn."

"By having some of us travel with you," interjected Jaheira, noting the man's frightened look, "you need not worry about encountering guards. We can, and will, swiftly deal with them."

Rill looked relieved and nodded. "I know where all the mining areas are - it shouldn't take too much persuasion or time to find everyone and get them out."

"Excellent," said Maiyn. "I want everyone out by the time we've dealt with Davaeorn - from there we will be heading straight to the seal. Whoever accompanies Rill, wait at the junction we passed through when you're done - we shall meet you there and know it is safe for us to proceed with the flooding."

Jaheira nodded to her. "For now though, we take on the meeting together?"

"We do," said Maiyn, smiling to Imoen and Coran as they returned, and briefly filling them in on what they'd decided. Yeslick quickly donned the armour he was given, some sturdy looking chainmail, and a scratched helmet which was otherwise in good condition. Imoen handed him a warhammer, and he nodded grimly.

"I'm all set."

-----------------------

Imoen picked the lock on the door, and looked out cautiously to the room. There was noone there, but as expected an archway led through to the room where the meeting was taking place. The companions filtered out quietly, taking care to stay out of sight from the guards next door. Jaheira had taken Dynaheir, Khalid and Kivan around to the other entrance, hoping to surprise the enemy with a rear attack.

Branwen gently murmured a prayer to raise the dead. The skeletal bones clicking seemed to be deafening to Maiyn in the otherwise silence, but it appeared that no guards heard it. When she was done, the priestess nodded - that was the signal for them to advance.

Maiyn went through first, followed by Minsc. The inhabitants immediately ceased their talking, regarding the strangers with surprise and annoyance.

"What is this?" the mage demanded to know, eyeing them suspiciously. "Who are you, and why are you here?"

"Who are you?" asked Maiyn, not expecting a reply.

"I am Hareishan," the mage replied slowly. "You would know that if you were indeed authorised to even be here..." With a yell he commanded the guards to attack, and several raced towards the rangers, even more holding back to fire their bows.

Minsc immediately went berserk as he ploughed into the fray, closely followed by Coran, who had been waiting just outside for the signal. Maiyn ducked to the side, using her own missile weapon to try and take out the opposing archers. Branwen came rushing through the archway, flanked by her undead followers, and quickly joined with Minsc, Yeslick not far behind. Xan stood at the door, murmuring gently alongside Imoen, their spells flying into the battlefield but seeming to do little damage. Imoen sighed heavily at the depletion of her one spell, whipping out her bow to try and take out the archers.

They suddenly became unsettled, scattering to the sides of the room and signalling the appearance of Jaheira and Khalid, fighting fiercely to bring down their opponents. Behind them, Kivan was using his aim to fell the spooked bowmen with well placed shots, and Dynaheir's hands were already swirling with a purple hue, missiles flying towards Hareishan, but only managing to hit one of the many illusions he'd thrown up as his defence.

None of the party's fighters could get near him, surrounded as he was by guards who were armoured heavily and skilled warriors. An arrow flew through the air, hitting Maiyn in the arm, and she winced, pulling it out quickly. A burning sensation rippled through her limb, and she realised it had been poisoned. A quick murmur lit her hands with the cyan healing light she summoned, and she felt herself purged of the venom before it took hold. She wasn't the only one to have been hit though - Coran was wincing periodically, having removed an arrow from his leg, and Imoen had also been struck.

There was no time for healing however - the fight was fast and furious in the centre, and the mage finished a conjuration, a lightning bolt rippling through the air, and bouncing between the walls. It hit Minsc as it passed, but only seemed to cause his rage to grow, before felling one of the enemy guards as it seared through him. Maiyn watched it as it rebounded from the far wall, narrowly avoiding Kivan and headed straight for their enchanter.

"Xan!" she cried, but she was too late. The bolt hit him fully on the chest, and the mage fell to the ground, lying there unmoving. Maiyn ran over to him, ducking past the guards who tried to follow her, and leaving Branwen and her army to deal with them. She reached the enchanter, and immediately tried to channel her healing powers into him, holding little hope that there would be any effect.

A small smile crept across Xan's lips, but his eyes were still closed. "I thought I asked you not to use those skills," he mumbled quietly, causing Maiyn to laugh with relief. She ungracefully dragged him out of the room, propping him against the wall behind the archway out of harms way. "I need to get back," she apologised, noting his faint nod as a sign of acknowledgement.

She slung her bow over her shoulder, and readied her sword as she plunged back into the fight. Minsc was still hacking madly, embracing his berserked state and had managed to make his way through to the mage. Coran, Yeslick and Branwen continued to battle the remaining guards, and Maiyn noted with disappointment that Jaheira and Khalid were also caught up with new sentries - they had obviously been alerted by the noise coming from the meeting room, and they had walked straight into the Harpers. Kivan had switched to his spear to help them out, but there was no sign of Dynaheir. Maiyn felt a sudden lurch in her stomach as she considered the guards approaching the witch from behind... She had mirrors, she told herself crossly, trying to focus more on her own fight. She was not completely defenceless.

A massive roar signalled that Minsc had broken through the illusions of the mage, but several guards managed to get between him and his target. The massive Rashemeni warrior bellowed at them, knocking them to the side easily, then reached over to punch the mage, knocking him out with a firm blow to the side of the head.

"More are coming!"

Maiyn heard Jaheira's cry, and dodged her way through the fighting to stand by the half-elves. Sure enough, even more guards were running down the corridor in a seemingly never ending supply. A quick glance back showed that the others were still caught up fighting the several that had managed to survive this long. To Maiyn's distress, Branwen was becoming more and more isolated from her own companions; her skeletons had been destroyed, and the priestess was rapidly being surrounded.

"Coran!" Maiyn yelled, gaining the elf's attention for a split second. She pointed quickly over to the cleric and he nodded, ducking the swing of his enemy's sword, trying to make his way over to her aid.

Another cry from behind her signalled the injury of Yeslick, the dwarf falling heavily as he moved in front of Imoen, preventing a blow that would likely have killed the young thief. She gasped in horror as the dwarf began bleeding heavily, saved from the attacker only by Minsc's unrelenting fury as he ploughed into the side of the guard. Maiyn saw her friend bending down to the dwarf, then nod and return to her shooting. He must be okay.

The fighting continued for a few more minutes, with neither side seeming to gain much of an advantage. Kivan had noticed the mage coming round, and finished him off with a few well placed arrows. Khalid and Jaheira eventually managed to lessen the numbers of the newest wave of attackers, but then Maiyn heard Branwen's prayer for strength. The priestess was enveloped in a faint glow, and she shouted her battle cry, 'For Tempus!'

The priestess launched herself into the midst of her growing number of attackers, swinging her hammer viciously as she went, and managing to bring down most of them as the blessing of her god flew through her. She was heavily outnumbered however, and a sharp blow to her side was followed up by several other hits, bringing the cleric down quickly.

"No!" yelled Minsc, taking his righteous fury over to where she'd fallen, and aiding Coran to fell the wounded she'd left behind. Maiyn darted over to the human, leaving the warriors to finish off the remaining guards still fighting the Harpers, and desperately called her name, but the cleric's wounds were large and many. The ranger pressed her trembling hands to the injuries, letting the glow spread her healing powers.

"Branwen..." she whispered over and over again, oblivious to the activities of her companions. The fighting had ended, the group victorious, but there was no joy or celebration. Jaheira was tending the injured - first healing Yeslick as much as she could, then curing Coran and Imoen's poison before going to see to Xan. Kivan had found Dynaheir, who had retreated into a small side room on Khalid's command when the first reinforcements had arrived. From there she'd used her sling, trying to help in the battle, and now she was soothing Minsc, calming him down from his berserker rage.

Kivan followed Khalid as he approached Maiyn. The fighter seemed to hesitate slightly as he saw the young girl kneeling by the cleric's dead body, repeating her name in a hoarse whisper. It was not her first encounter with death - she had witnessed Gorion's demise after all - but this time it was different. She had watched Branwen bravely throw herself into the combat, channelling the vengeance of her God in an act which ultimately sacrificed her life. And now she was with her still warm corpse - there was no period of absence, as there had been when she fled from Gorion's killer. She was experiencing death for the first time in many ways.

The half-elf knelt by her side, gently taking her hands away from the priestess. She put up no resistance, but her trembling was noticeable.

"Come," he said softly. "There is n-nothing you can do for her now."

Maiyn shook her head, staring at the lifeless form. "There are temples... they can... they..."

"We would not b-be able to reach one in t-time," he explained gently, "and n-none of us are powerful enough to know s-such spells."

"We can't just leave her here." Maiyn's voice was small. Like a lost child, thought Khalid. So young, witnessing so much.

"We still have m-much to do here," Khalid replied softly. "We c-can't take her with us when we have m-more battles to face."

To his surprise, Maiyn nodded and stood up. "We can come back for her." It was a statement, not a question. "We won't just leave her here."

Khalid rose, and nodded to the ranger. "We w-will ensure she receives a proper b-burial," he said.

Maiyn's eyes turned to him. She could see the others watching their exchange, their eyes showing concern over her reactions, but she didn't care. "No," she said. "She's been loyal to us, we can't just leave her. Our group stays together. It has to stay together..." Her voice began to break, and she backed away from Khalid slowly.

"Maiyn..." The Harper's voice was kind and patient. "Branwen is d-dead. We will all m-miss her, and we are all s-saddened by it, but we have more p-pressing matters to attend to right now."

"She's not dead..."

"She is, child." Jaheira spoke quietly, but the ranger seemed to not hear her.

"She can't be dead... Gorion... he died. Noone else can die. We can bring her back to us. We can..."

"Maiyn..." Khalid moved towards her slowly, but she pushed him away roughly, and darted past him. She forced her way past the others, through to the other room. Her head was spinning; it had all happened so quickly, and everyone else was so calm! She reached out to hold onto the table, trying to steady herself. Khalid is right. We have more to do - we will avenge her death by killing Davaeorn, and then we will take her away from here, take her... Take her where? Maiyn didn't even know where there was a Temple of Tempus. It doesn't matter, she told herself firmly, we can take her somewhere more appropriate, and we can grieve then.

She turned around to see that Coran had followed her, his eyes betraying his worry. She smiled slightly to him, but he didn't return it.

"I am okay," she said, answering his unasked question. He nodded, and held out his arms. She accepted his offer, and buried herself into his embrace for a few moments, regaining her clarity of thought and her strength before returning back to the others.

Khalid and Jaheira had moved Branwen's body, clearing up some of her wounds, and making sure she was pulled away from the bodies of the guards that surrounded her. Maiyn nodded her thanks for their actions, and looked around at the others. They were now heavily depleted in healing and spellpower, and they looked tired and ragged.

"We need to rest," she said. She didn't want to, but she knew there was no other option. "Can you preserve her...?" Corpse. She couldn't bring herself to use the word, but Jaheira nodded, and knelt by the cleric, praying to Silvanus for the blessing. "I will go and inform Rill that we require time. We need to be wary of further attacks."