Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 9

The lynchpin

Jaheira frowned as she sheafed through the papers in the large chest. Typical of a Cyricist, this Mulahey was paranoid enough to keep all correspondences coming his way and a seemingly meticulous inventory of the ore poison used to contaminate the mines. From her quick scanning, he was clearly receiving orders from a superior named Tazok, who supplied both kobold shock troops and ore poison to run this operation. She rolled up as much of the papers and pouches as she could and deposited them in her pack. There could be more nuggets of information extracted from the trove collected, but that can be done later.

For now, they needed to get out of the mines and quickly.

"What did you find?" Kivan appeared at her elbow like a shadow.

She turned and gripped his shoulder. "Later. We must move."

Her healing spells were completely exhausted, her store of healing potions and herbs were also running low. The herbs especially were needed to get the elven prisoner back on his feet. He was in terrible shape after weeks of imprisonment and torture, she suspected that force of will alone is keeping the elf upright now. That, and the moonblade he now held in his posession as he seemed to draw energy from the weapon when he was reunited with it. He and Elene were resting on makeshift seats in Mulahey's living quarters to catch their second wind.

During their brisk introductions, Xan claimed he was a Greycloak from Evereska, captured infiltrating Mulahey's lair. She wondered why the Greycloaks were interested in the iron crisis in the first place. The problem was unlikely to plague their well-defended walls. Even so, she was quietly grateful for his presence as the fight could have gone badly without his intervention. Closing her pack, she grabbed a leather-bound book from the chest and strode over to join the rest. From the seals and elven writing engraved on the cover, she guessed that it was a wizard's spellbook.

"Hey, Jaheira. These guys sure are keeping a lot of baubles around," Imoen called out as she drew close, stuffing Mulahey's holy symbol of Cyric into one of her many pockets. "The kobolds mine them or something?"

"Mined them from the miners, more like," the druid replied shortly, then directed her attention to the Greycloak. She handed him the book. "Are you fit to walk? We must leave now. More will come."

The elf looked up from the moonblade laid across his lap as he accepted the book, recognition flickering in his expression. In the dim lighting, he looked like death warmed over, with his swollen, bruised face and curtain of dishevelled dark hair. His eyes however, shone with hidden steel. This man was not one to be trifled with, Jaheira realised. Slowly, deliberately, he stood, clipping the ornate blade to his belt as he did.

"If I fail to keep up, leave me," he responded, his voice still hoarse from disuse.

Elene clambered to her feet. "We're not going to leave you."

Xan glanced at her but said nothing. He was already storing his spellbook in the folds of his tattered robes. "There is another path out through to the hills. If we are lucky, they have not sealed it off."

Jaheira nodded. "Likely a better option than going back the way we came. Lead on."

And off they went, Xan in the lead with Khalid at his elbow to support him as they walked. Jaheira and Elene made up the middle with Imoen and finally Kivan guarding the rear. Sure enough, a volley of arrows greeted them when they emerged from the stone dome. Kivan swiftly stepped forth and launched a flask Imoen found into the dark tunnels, ducking when the flask exploded in a ball of fire, drowning out the shocked screams of their assailants. Amid the chaos, the rest of the party ran across a narrow ledge leading away from the tunnels they came from. Once they cleared the line of fire, Elene cast a Web spell from one of Xan's spell scrolls to coat the narrow path behind them in sticky webbing.

The new path was rife with its own threats, however. For one thing, it was almost pitch black, making it especially challenging for Imoen, who relied entirely on Jaheira to guide her forward. Twice, Khalid at the front almost stepped on sentient jellies inhabiting the subterranean tunnels. His armour took most of the acid burns from the creatures but his and Elene's enchanted swords cut through them like butter, making quick work of the encounters.

As an hour went by, Xan's strength began to flag, forcing Khalid to half-carry, half-drag him along the way. The half-elf stoically ignored the other man's request to be left behind. Once she became accustomed to the slopes of the tunnels, Elene forged ahead of the group to scout out the path in an awkward limping run. Urgency required it - behind them, the elves of the group could begin to hear distant pitter patter of clawed feet. Jaheira gritted her teeth as Imoen stumbled on a rock. They cannot afford a pitched running battle with an injured person in the group. At the same time, a stationary battle would mean the kobolds were free to pick them off one at a time from behind at their leisure.

"Light ahead!" Elene's hiss broke the grim silence.

"Oh, thank Lathander," Imoen sighed as they picked up speed to catch up with her friend.

When Khalid, Xan, Jaheira and Imoen reached her, Elene stood at the end of the tunnel, a magelight hovering above her head. She pointed to a small opening at the top of the tunnel which had the slightest ray of light shining through the cracks. The problem was that the opening was far too small for any of them to fit through.

"What do we do now?" she whispered, ashen faced.

Xan sighed. "Oh, what is the point?"

Jaheira shot a dirty look at the elf before studying the wall of rocks. "This tunnel has been collapsed recently." She manoeuvred her way to the front to touch the rocks, reaching out and sensing the earth around them. Behind her, she could hear Kivan curse as he finally caught up with them.

"They are almost upon us. We must prepare to fight," he urged.

"No need for that," the druid replied, surprising even herself at how calm she sounded. "Step back. This is our way out."

Ignoring her numbing fatigue, she reached deep within, praying to Silvanus for the strength to mould the earth before her into a traversable path. Slowly, the rocks began to roll off each other and into the tunnel, widening the opening at the top. She concentrated until she felt her efforts reach all the way through to what felt like the opening of a cavern on the other side, before releasing the spell with a huff of breath.

Elene grinned when the rocks settled, then shimmied through the new exit before anyone could say a word. More rocks fell in through the opening as she crawled her way through, until after a tense minute or so, she called out an all clear from the other side. Imoen went next, with Xan hanging on to her ankle to help pull him through the crawlspace. Again, he protested at the manhandling, saying that he can stay back and fight, but the rest of the party was having none of it.

Jaheira glanced at Kivan. "Go ahead. We will see you on the other side."

He hesitated for a moment before slinging his bow across his body and climbing through the opening.

She then turned to face her husband. "I will go last, once you are through."

Khalid grabbed her shoulders. "No. If any should go last, it will be me."

"My love," she touched his face, smiling slightly. "I could never collapse the tunnel knowing you are in it. Now get in there and make sure the children are safe. Silvanus willing, we can celebrate once we are out of this hole."

Khalid planted a quick but fierce kiss on her lips before moving to the exit. She waited for a good handful of seconds before taking after him. There needed to be enough of a gap between them if she needed to close the tunnel to bury ardent pursuers. She could accept that fate for herself, perhaps, but not for him. He deserved better than to die alone underground with these vermin.

The crawlspace was tighter than she expected, making her wonder idly how Khalid managed it in his armour. Combined with the hot and musty air, she was sweating heavily within seconds. Behind her, she began to hear faint yipping sounds. This galvanised her to crawl faster, her shoulders shaking from the renewed effort. She went through the remaining distance with her heart in her throat, imagining phantom swords ready to cut at her ankles at any moment, a mould earth spell ready to be cast to bury all of them under a ton of earth and rock. The light at the end of the tunnel grew brighter as she moved, though, and soon enough she was pulled through the other side by strong hands and brought into the light of early morning sun.

Catching her breath, she batted Kivan's hands away and quickly turned to bury the tunnel with earth, causing the ground around them to shake with minute tremors. No one said a word as they waited for the ground to settle.

Panting heavily, Jaheira surveyed her group. Khalid standing off to one side graced her with a relieved smile before drawing a mouthful from his waterskin. Kivan already had his bow in hand and was surveying the surrounding area with his keen eyes. Imoen was crouched over her pack, rummaging for something within, likely food or water. Elene and Xan sat next to each other, the former pressing on her bleeding thigh, relief written on her features. Xan, on the other hand, was leaning back on a rock, staring wonderingly at the sky.

They all looked filthy, battered and exhausted. But they were alive.

The druid reached for her husband's waterskin, a dry chuckle escaping from her. "Job well done, eh?"

Khalid's brown eyes twinkled even as he smiled. "You could say that."

"Does this mean we solved the iron crisis?" asked Imoen, grinning. "Are we heroes yet?"

"We need to prove we're heroes first, Im," Elene piped up, looking straight at Jaheira. "That is what those papers and the ore poison are for, I'm assuming?"

Jaheira nodded, secretly pleased with her ward's perceptiveness. "We must return to Nashkel to close this matter. But first, let us find a safe place to rest."

"This area is too open," agreed Kivan. "We should keep moving."

As the ranger moved off, Jaheira noticed his left arm was bloody from the bicep down, a deep tear in his sleeve indicating that an arrow had cut through him during their escape. Even so, he held his bow steadily with his left hand. Elene winced as she took to her feet, a pained expression remaining on her face as she limped after Kivan. Her wound will need to be properly looked at the moment they had reprieve, for certain.

Khalid was covered in a variety of nicks and cuts from kobold blades which made it through his defenses. Not life threatening, but it clearly slowed him down in the tunnels. He moved stiffly even now, as he patted Imoen's shoulder to get her moving. The human girl's back was still dark from her blood spilled during the tunnel skirmish, but she was otherwise whole. Remembering that harrowing battle, Jaheira frowned. There was something strange about Imoen's wound when she tried to heal it, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it yet. She would need to have a word with Elene when they were back in Nashkel.

Xan remained where he was. Despite having his robes reduced to almost rags and being covered in bruises, dirt and grime, he looked like the most content person on Faerun. She approached him, offering a hand to help him up. His piercing blue eyes shifted their gaze from the sky to her outstretched hand, his expression becoming more closed as he did so. Wordlessly, he accepted her aid, coming painfully to his feet. She observed the angry ligature marks on his wrists during their brief contact. It would take him weeks, if not months, to physically recover from his ordeal. Mentally, however, he may never recover from it.

Like Khalid.

"I thank you for my freedom. For too long I languished in the dark, thinking I would never see the sky again." Jaheira glanced at Xan in surprise when he spoke. He canted his head in gratitude. She did not expect him to speak, so reticent was he throughout their brief acquaintance.

"You are welcome to travel with us to Nashkel," she replied. "I assume you would like to speak with the mayor as well."

"You assume right." He nodded, walking slowly with her. "Jaheira, was it?"

"Yes."

"I fear I will not be of much use to you for this leg of the journey, barring simple cantrips. I need…time." He glanced at one of his stiff, bony hands. "To recover my strength."

"It is no trouble," she assured him. "We only ask for you to support us when we meet Berrun."

"Done." His reply was decisive. "I had my doubts at first, but your group is competent."

"Why thank you for the vote of confidence," she drawled.

He glanced at her in surprise. "I meant no offense. If our goals continue to align, we may continue to work together. From my observation of Mulahey, he is definitely not the mastermind of this plot. Something much bigger is afoot here." He gestured vaguely at her. "You will understand better when you've read the letters in his keeping."

"Why are you investigating this plot in particular?"

They walked in silence as he seemed to consider his next words. "My superiors instructed me to look into the iron shortage, to see if there was a greater threat to the region as a whole. By sheer chance, I found a stooge who ferried material for Mulahey, deep in his cups in Berdusk. After some…persuasion, I extracted the location of this lair." He frowned momentarily, as if recalling an unpleasant memory. "I would say my capture was inevitable, but 'twas carelessness that sealed it in the end."

Jaheira hummed. "And here we are."

"And here we are." Xan half-smiled – a grim, tired quirk of his lips.

Despite her better judgment, Jaheira was beginning to take a shine to him. His manner was direct, efficient but she sensed a level of sophistication in him which could prove useful to the group. She certainly admired the gumption of a man willing to infiltrate the depths of a mine alone for a mission. However, they would need to be wary of his allegiances and what he would be reporting to his Greycloak superiors. Something to be discussed with Khalid later.

"What of you? Why are you looking into this?" he asked after a lull.

"Berrun is an old friend," she answered, the alibi rolling effortlessly off her tongue. "He sought help and we offered." She threw a glance over her shoulder at the cavern they emerged from, the collapsed hole a receding image in the background. "If I'd known the extent of the problem, I may have charged him up front for it, friend or no."

Xan nodded. His expression was carefully blank. Part of the reason she always had challenges with elves, Jaheira thought. They were so difficult to read.

The remaining trek continued in silence, except for the occasional burst of chatter from Imoen punctuated by Khalid's stammered replies. Jaheira wondered what her new companion made of the girl's antics. If she could hear bits of the conversation, surely Xan could hear the whole thing. She would need to think of an explanation for why these two inexperienced girls were traveling with them in the first place. That question would inevitably crop up the longer they spent with the Greycloak.

Kivan eventually found a sheltered clearing with rocky outcropping which Khalid deemed defensible. Even though it was in the middle of the day, no one argued the decision to set up camp to rest. As they were, the group was in no shape to face unexpected bandits or monsters in the wild.

"Elene," Jaheira called her ward over. "Let me see."

The girl shuffled over, looking about ready to pitch forward into a bedroll at any time. She sat with the druid at the edge of the clearing, angling herself closer for easier inspection. "It's stopped bleeding now, I think." She grimaced. "Just feels a bit disgusting."

Carefully, Jaheira unwound the blood-soaked makeshift bandages around the girl's thigh. The deep wound was partially healed in the caverns but their madcap escape aggravated the limb enough for the wound to reopen. She was out of healing spells but there were still salves and healing potions on hand. A potion was handed to Elene while she cleaned the wound and applied a foul-smelling salve on the area. There was some risk of infection until healing spells can be cast, but Jaheira suspected that she would need to prioritise healing for Xan. His convalescence would need to be fast-tracked so he can make the journey to Nashkel without slowing them down.

"It's cut through muscle, so recovery will be painful," she explained as she capped a bottle of salve. "You can put weight on the leg but if you start feeling a particularly sharp pain as you walk, let me know immediately."

Elene nodded, nose wrinkling at the smell. "What's in that thing?"

"What's good for you seldom smells like roses, child," was Jaheira's dry response.

"Maybe I can help come up with a salve that smells like roses," Elene smiled at her guardian as her thigh was re-bandaged. "That would be nice."

"Alchemy?" Jaheira frowned at her. "Perhaps you should focus on improving your fighting skills first. You'd need to survive the battle for any salve to be of use."

"But I was held by a spell. Not much I could do about it," protested the girl.

"Still, you must admit there are areas to improve on. For one, if you are injured, there is no need for you to go lunging into unproven tunnels like a proverbial test rodent," she gave her ward a pointed look.

"I…" It seemed as though Elene was about to apologise, but then her expression became obstinate. "I couldn't very well let Imoen go first. What if it was dark and dangerous on the other side?" She dug her heel in. "Anyway, I could do it, and I did. Everything turned out fine."

Jaheira sighed, not willing to argue the point anymore. She was that tired. "Next time ask before leaping. We may not be able to help you if we are not prepared." With that, she tied off the last bit of bandage, "Alright, I'm done."

"Thank you," Elene replied quietly, pulling away to join Imoen resting under a shady outcropping.

Wiping her hands, Jaheira fought the urge to sigh again. How did Khalid make handling these girls look so simple? They needed to understand the risks they undertook in every minute decision that they make - some consequences can be irreversible. Yet they were less receptive to her advice than they were to Khalid's or even Kivan's, despite her best intentions. Resolving to deal with this conundrum in the a calmer environment, she gathered her things to tend to Xan.

If he'd been exhausted earlier, he was completely out of energy now. The elf sat slumped against the rock wall, sipping from what appeared to be Kivan's waterskin. To her surprise, he looked quite clean now. She suspected some cantrip or other had been used toward that end. He nodded at her as she settled on her knees facing him.

"Come to waste more resource on this lost cause?" he asked, his tone dry.

She shot him an unamused look, not deigning to respond. "Roll up your sleeves."

In daylight, the damage inflicted upon the elf became all the more evident. His torture consisted mostly of beatings and precise cuts with kobold blades. Some of his older wounds showed signs of crude healing, possibly to allow him to recover enough before the next round of beatings. His hands were stiff from bondage, making it challenging for him to wield any weapon or cast proper spells. The worst damage, however, came from starvation and dehydration, which were beyond her current ability to remedy.

He sat stoically as she applied healing salve on his face, hands and wrists. Another healing potion reduced the swelling from most of his bruises, but she suspected that he would need a round of spells for him to recover further use of his hands. She planned to keep their last healing potion in reserve.

"Rest up," she told him once she was done, getting to her feet. "You should visit the Temple of Helm when we are in Nashkel. The priests there can do more thorough work than I."

"Thank you. I will take that under advisement." Somehow, he managed to sound dignified even half covered in green salve.

Jaheira finally retired to a corner claimed by Khalid. He had already shed his breastplate and was fastidiously dressing some of his wounds. A healer he was not, but he patched up the necessary in the most efficient manner possible. You could take a man out of the militia, but you could never take the militia out of a man, she mused.

"Alright, dear?" he asked.

"Better than I thought we would be," she replied, passing him the remainder of her healing salve.

"Thanks to you, of course." His look turned serious. "We would have been done for if you hadn't opened up that tunnel."

She closed her eyes and reached deep within again, feeling the familiar warmth of her patron. "Silvanus willed it, not I."

Khalid opted not to press the matter. "We should move on as soon as you're rested."

"Who has first watch?" she asked as she laid out her bedroll next to his.

"Kivan." He tilted his head toward their approaching elven companion.

Kivan's left arm was already wrapped tightly with cloth, Jaheira noted with approval. He crouched in front of them with the coiled grace of a panther. His face was grim. "No sign of threats yet but we cannot discount wandering creatures. When can we move?"

Does this man not tire? Jaheira seriously wondered. Judging from Khalid's expression, he must be thinking the same.

"Three hours after Highsun, perhaps," she answered. "I should have my spells in order by then."

Kivan glanced at Xan. "Can he continue?"

"Yes, I believe so."

Satisfied, he flicked his eyes back to her. There was a predatory glint in them. "Those letters you took. Were they from someone named Tazok?"

She stared at him, too fatigued to conceal her initial surprise. "You know who that is?"

The ranger put his hand out, palm up. "I wish to see them."

His tone brooked no argument.