„Plans
and Lessons"
„I have some contacts in Athkatla I can ask about this Valygar" Yoshimo livened up at the prospect of upcoming bounty hunting the moment they left the Council Building. "The best course would be to check the Corthala manor, which supposed to be somewhere in the city" he seemed to unwind more and more. "…or try to find out if he owns any properties outside the city gates. There's also a possibility that…"
"Yoshimo." Daria interrupted. They stopped near a stone fountain standing in the shade of the trees bringing them some respite from the blazing midday sun. "I appreciate your help, but it won't be necessary."
"You are going to use this magic of yours, yes?" the bounty hunter didn't appear to be offended, much more curious. "But you will need something personal belonging to a person you want to track, is that right?" he said with conviction of a person who heard every possible gossip about the matter.
"No, though it usually helps. I will manage without it." She smiled at Yoshimo's enthusiasm. "A noble with deaths of two Cowled Wizards on his conscience is distinctive enough."
"Sorry, but… I know I didn't help enough with the officials, but…" Nalia couldn't articulate herself for a moment.
"We'll go to your keep before we begin searching for Valygar. Don't worry Nalia." Daria didn't actually have to read her mind, not that she was able to do it. Messing with other's thoughts wasn't her charge. She threw a glance Xan's way.
"Are you sure this is wise? The trail must already be cold, after ten days. We shouldn't delay any more." Old habits die hard. Jaheira made a habit of questioning her every decision since the day they met.
"I can locate him". The diviner forced her voice sound more assured than she actually felt. That she also learned from Jaheira.
Nalia smiled coyly. "Do you often help people in need? Because…"
"Daria… A word, if you may?" Xan was as always there to find yet another difficulty, it seemed. She pushed back the dark thoughts and simply said: "Yes?"
"As you might have surmised by now I haven't come to Athkatla without a reason…" He began.
She hasn't. She was so used to his presence that she accepted him in the group without giving it another thought. At least the hood covered her awkwardness. But then an alarming thought occurred to her.
"Your new mission does not relate to Bhaalspawn, does it?"
"Not as such, no. I was sent here to investigate activities of a vampire coven in the city and stop it with all means necessary" he explained. Now she felt both relived and ashamed of asking a thing like that. "I will assist you in finding Imoen, but should I find any trace of the undead I…"
"…you will have my help, mellonamin" she finished. "I have a feeling we will come across them sooner than later."
"Knowing your feelings eventually turn out right I doubt it's a good thing" he sighed as usual. "It's more than likely that we'll end up dead in some forsaken underground crypt. But come. We have preparations to make, if we are to depart today."
Making preparations consisted of buying the cheapest tent they could find, a bunch of blankets and as many provisions as they could afford. And it wasn't much. Nalia lost any hint of shyness the moment Daria agreed to help her and now urged them forward claiming they can reach the de'Arnise Keep before the sunset, but she still avoided any questions about who actually attacked the stronghold, and how a small group of adventurers was supposed to be of any help. Their equipment wasn't even worth mentioning. Anomen was the only one standing out from the ragged group in his shining chainmail, supposedly brand new, and a polished shield adorned with Delryn family crest.
The team left the city through the main gates two hours after noon heading eastward. Jaheira busied herself without delay lecturing 'young Nalia' about how adventuring was a serious matter, ranting about how much she had to learn. Daria sincerely pitied the girl, keeping in mind that she was at the same position before. She got her share of druid's 'good advice' during their travels along the Swordcoast. Much of this knowledge helped her staying alive later on, though it seemed like a lifetime ago. Everything before Irenicus seemed like a different life, a more carefree and painless one.
"My lady, I would like to ask you a question if you don't mind." Anomen's voice yanked her back to the present.
"Of course. What is it?" she asked politely, though silently she added 'It better not be about the hood. Or the gloves. Or the bleeding arm.' She realized he hasn't even seen her face yet.
"This magic of yours – it's not an ordinary spell, is it? Many among the worshippers of Helm can cast divinations, but I have never seen anyone doing so without any invocations."
"It is kind of a long story and I don't want to bore you." And I repeated it more times than I can count and I'm not up for another time, she wanted to add, but bit her tongue.
"We have a long road before us, my lady, and I'd be happy to listen" he smiled and she was slightly shocked how handsome he could look without an arrogant smirk on his face. It seemed to be plastered to his face so far.
"Well…" 'Never start a sentence with 'well'' Gorion's voice sounded inside her head. "I was born with it, though it become stronger only recently. When I was younger I had a thing for guessing. I hardly ever lost at cards and not even Imoen could hide from me if I wanted to find her. Sometimes it was more evident and I was finishing sentences after people and generally sounded creepy, but most of the time I didn't even sense that I'm seeing something out of ordinary. But after Gorion's death – he was my foster-father, you see – I began to travel and became a leader of a party. Jaheira was stunned when I started making nonsense decisions, like leaving the roads and heading to the wilderness, except that somehow everything was working out. We were finding all sorts of treasures in least expected places. I remember when I told Imoen to climb a tree and she found a diamond hidden between the branches! You should have seen their faces!" Months ago she would laugh recalling the episode, but now she only sighed at the memory of her sister.
"It was Xan who got the idea that I may have an innate talent to divining magic. He taught me runes and spells, incantations of the foresight charms and showed me how to center my abilities. He educated me on many other areas too." Daria's gaze subconsciously wandered off to rest on the silhouette of the enchanter, marching in front of the group. She once again found herself yearning for the past – studying the elven language, learning magic, her first shared reverie. "The thing itself is barely spectacular – I see no more than quick glimpses, mostly random, sometimes future, past every now and then. I can observe hidden things and sense strong emotions from the recent past. They say my eyes flicker in silver when I use my precognition, but I really can't tell." Anomen grinned. He was dying of curiosity of how she looked, but could hardly think of the way of asking her to show her face without sounding like a complete fool.
"Thanks to Xan I know now how to use it willfully and that's how I'm planning to locate the mage-killer. At times I have some creepy dreams and it gives me horrible headaches on the long run, plus there are some other drawbacks… but it's nothing you should worry about."
Anomen tried to say something, but Daria paid him no more attention seeing Minsc drawing near. Boo was located on tall berserker's shoulder sniffing around and looking slightly agitated.
"Boo senses there are trolls on the road ahead!" the hamster's whiskers moved in approval. Nalia shifted unnervingly.
Daria hurriedly adjusted herself to the role of the leader and set battle tactics. Minsc, Jaheira and Anomen moved to the front line, spellcasters with the bounty hunter, who readied his bow, following closely behind. The elven girl muttered a muffled warning to Jaheira, to keep an eye out for the priest of Helm, preparing for their first fight together. Nalia fell under her 'jurisdiction'.
The battle-ready team cautiously advanced in direction of the foul smell becoming stronger with each step. Surrounded by the trees they only had few seconds to react as two bulky monsters leapt from their covers among the leaves, slashing their talon-like claws. Minsc parried the first blow of the bigger creature, which towered even over tall berserker, Sword of Chaos cutting through greenish skin on its forearm. The second troll was stopped in its tracks by Yoshimo's arrows and Daria's Magic Missile, before Jaheira engaged into combat.
'So far so good' thought the elven diviner extending her fingers to point the smaller troll. She was afraid her crippled hands wouldn't cope with complex and detailed gestures required to cast spells. It seemed her worst fears were unfounded. Magic Missile was a very easy spell however.
The lesser of the trolls fell on the ground after particularly well-aimed blow, handed by Jaheira, its shin fractured. The wounds instantly began to regenerate, but Xan already began the Acid Arrow cantrip to end creature's life. Both healers moved to help Minsc, still battling the large beast. Unfortunately the priest of Helm, ever watchful, tripped on a tree root falling straight under its claws. Not fast enough in his heavy armor he could only watch the heavy limb falling towards his head. Jaheira blocked it literally last second, the strength of the blow breaking her wooden quarterstaff in half. The troll lost his balance giving Minsc enough time to run it through with his sword. Daria knew it's her turn now and began the same acidic spell Xan already used. It was a bit more difficult though and as she struggled to flex her fingers in final gesture merely a poof of bottle green smoke materialized. Nalia finished the troll of with blaze coming from her hands, barely gathering enough courage to come close enough to the regenerating monster.
Daria felt her friend's eyes boring through her back as she turned around. Jaheira saw her hands already and Minsc wouldn't notice that her spell went wrong, but she couldn't think of any way to explain Nalia why she failed such a simple incantation, or, even worse, giving explanations to Xan.
"How far it is to the Keep, Nalia?" she asked before anyone could say something. It was getting dark already and she didn't relish the thought of walking in darkness though a troll infested forest, even if darkness wasn't a problem for her infravision.
"I think we will be there in two hours if we hurry" young woman wasn't sure, but she was too ashamed to admit that. It was the first time she traveled to her keep on foot and she had problems assessing the distance.
Daria shook her head. "We'll set camp here. We need to be rested when we reach our destination." He gestured Minsc to set the tent and began preparing place for a fire far enough from the stinky troll corpses.
It was long after dusk when everybody except the first watch finally settled down to sleep. Jaheira had no problems in finding herself a new weapon among the fallen branches of a nearby dead tree, before heading back to the camp. Daria sat by the fire looking at the dancing flames, lost in thought. She already listened to Anomen's excuses about his floppy behavior in a fight and Nalia's tale concerning helping the poor and needy, and she was tired. She was gazing into flames feeling both warm and comfortable, but a small voice in the back of her head was shouting at her to get away from the scorching element as far as possible. She recalled that she jumped away screaming the first time Minsc lit a torch in Irenicus' prison. Her hand unconsciously wandered to the rough skin on her cheek.
The remains of the rabbit Minsc caught for a dinner littered around the campfire. It was Kivan's role to hunt their meals before. Daria offered a silent prayer to Labelas Enoreth hoping her friend was reunited with his beloved Deheriana in the afterlife. She fought the tears forming in her eyes when she summoned up the memory of their parting – only few days after defeating Sarevok he left for Shilmista, but he was not only leaving Baldur's Gate behind. He was leaving his life. And she was standing in the city gates not knowing what to say, watching her friend before he disappeared behind the horizon. 'I guess the only thing I can do is cry over the past. Since when did I become that sentimental?' the girl thought and added another prayer. 'I wish I could see Kivan one more time, if only to thank him.'
Someone sat next to her. She knew it was Xan and not because of her divinations. It was the first watch - spellcasters' time to prepare their spells. Nalia was already soundly snoring in her blanket and that left one 'suspect'.
"Take off your gloves" he said morosely as always, but with some determination, not even waiting for her to turn her face to him. Direct approach. She could deal with that.
"No." She took off her hood. His eyes darted quickly to the burn mark, after Jaheira's healing no more than an itchy reddish scar, and met her stare. He sighed.
"Daria, don't be childish. I know that something is wrong and you know well I know. I have been taught in Academy in Evereska – I'm no healer, but I know ways to treat muscles of palms to enable you casting. Hands are your primary tool as a mage. You have to take care of them, if not for your own comfort than for the sake of the group, doomed as it is."
"Jaheira had a look at them by now. She said there's nothing she can do, so there's almost certainly nothing you can either. You will have to live with your curiosity." It was uncalled for, but she badly wanted to end this conversation.
"I don't do this out of curiosity. I care. I want to help." She had nothing to answer that. She could say that she doesn't need this care or help, but not straight in his eyes. Not when he was looking at her like that.
"I don't…" she swallowed. She felt herself losing confidence. It always ended like that. She simply couldn't say 'no' to him. She slowly removed the gloves. She didn't mean it as a dramatic effect – she couldn't remove them fast.
To say her hands were unsightly was like calling Irenicus not exactly a nice guy. He appeared to find pleasure in breaking her fingers, healing them back together and breaking them again and again. Only that he didn't heal them properly, not that he cared. Despite Jaheira's treatment they were still swollen and bruised, and she had problems with moving them. They looked bad.
She caught a look of horror on his face, but he quickly removed it. At least she hoped it was horror, not disgust. He took her right hand in his palms. They were shaking as he slowly began to rub down her hurt muscles without saying another word.