„The Alliance"
She was a giant, towering over every mortal man and woman, looking down at the biggest dragons, watching small towns like Athkatla from the heights of the clouds getting tangled in her hair. Mountains were being crushed under her heels and seas were overflowing as she was crossing them like puddles, barely wetting her feet. Was wandering the realms without fear, no danger great enough to frighten her, no monster powerful enough not to be crushed under her foot, no magic strong enough to cause her to falter. Life was strength… how strong was she with murder coursing through her veins?
She looked down from her heights at the ground below her and back at the path she just created. Thousands of crushed lives littered at her each footstep.
Daria woke up with a scream.
***
'It will be a long day…' she knew, finally giving up her attempts to fall asleep again. Short moments of drifting off were clouded with the same vision appearing over and over in a tiring monotony. Rather than being bored with the same nightmare she preferred to get some fresh air.
The way through the inn was clear, she could check it without sneaking or even opening the door. Faint light gathering by the horizon was a sign of forthcoming dawn, but she knew that she had a full hour before Jaheira or any other of her friends would wake. Her scanty dress was hardly a proper attire for the morning chill, and the new mage's robes she ordered wouldn't be ready before the noon, so she decided that Jaheira wouldn't hold it against her if she borrowed her spare tunic and leggings. The clothes still bore marks of fights with trolls, but they were much warmer.
Trademeet was asleep in its homes and streets. The number of town's beggars rose significantly through the short reign of the Dao djinis, but at this hour even they were sleeping in quiet alleyways that were their new homes.
Daria managed to find a quiet corner for herself behind a shop where she found Xan's stolen robes, in a small square with a magnificent oak in the middle. She sat by the tree and picked some small pebbles arranging them to set a pattern on the ground. Before she realized she was looking at a copy of one of the runes in her pack. Symbol of destiny.
She was a giant with her head in the clouds in her dream, crushing all other destinies on her way. She changed everything she touched, bringing death and destruction with her tainted legacy. Bringing death to all near… loved and hated, friendly or even indifferent. Everywhere she went she brought chaos, and even though she was forcing herself to believe that she was leaving things better then how they were when she met them she couldn't deny that Alaundo's prophecies were coming true. She cheated death for a long time, feeding it with others' lives…
Gorion, Tamoko, Khalid, Dynaheir… and many, many more. They didn't have to die, but they did, only because she lived.
She looked at the symbol again, but now it was different. Did she subconsciously change the pattern? Or maybe she was only used too much of seeing death following around and it was all she could see now? The new symbol was life. She added some more pebbles to make it look better.
All at once she felt people around her, hidden in back alleys by the shop. Through her talents she knew that Shadow Thieves have seen her leaving the inn and decided to come to visit. The shopkeeper held up to his task, even though the appointed time didn't match. Daria stood up and dusted her robes nonchalantly. Her heart began to beat faster, but somehow all she was concerned about was that if she was wrong Imoen would remain in the Cowled Wizard's prison forever.
A half-elven woman was sneaking behind her. Daria focused to see every step she made and few more she didn't make yet, but tried to seem oblivious to the Thieves presence. She needed to keep her best cards covered and though she could allow herself to boast a little among her friends, trying to dominate, or worse – humiliate, a member of the biggest underground organization of Amn could only lead her to a shallow grave. How could she save Imoen then?
"Hero of our humble town, contacting the Shadow Thieves – what would the people say?" Daria didn't flinch when the woman standing behind her back addressed her. The half-elven thief had her weapons sheathed and from all the diviner knew only came to talk, at least now. She was a guild mistress in Trademeet, her name was Itona, she had two dogs – Alroy and Puppet and was said to know every fence in Amn. Colorful visions from the thief's life came as soon as Daria choked the fear. She didn't even try to turn to see Itona's face. She knew that the Shadow Thief wouldn't let her do that just yet.
"I need to learn the localization of Cowled Wizard's prison, where my sister is kept for unauthorized use of magic. For that I need help from organization more powerful than the Cowled. You can give me contacts to your guild masters in Athkatla."
"And what a diviner would need my help in obtaining the localizations of the right people? Surely, none good enough to pick the Shadow Thieves' interest." Itona had her own sources of information concerning Daria's profession. The diviner could reveal some of her cards.
"No, Itona, but one who knows, that without proper recommendation she wouldn't be allowed to see the front door of the guild." Daria turned to face the guildmistress.
The woman was a professional. She didn't as much as blink hearing her name being spoken out loud first time in the conversation. Only her almond-shaped eyes narrowed slightly, when she evaluated the elf before her more carefully. At least she didn't have much experience with diviners and now that Daria saw her face without any of her protests she could only pretend that all was going according to a plan. Her subordinates were watching not only Daria.
"And why would I give you what you need?" Not a bit of anger was to be heard in Itona's voice.
"Why indeed? You have all you want already, now that the djinis are gone and trade routes are no longer attacked by wild animals. A steady income is flowing straight into your pocket."
Itona laughed unpleasantly trying to hide her hand moving toward her sheathed dagger. The seemingly blind eyes of the diviner were unnerving her. The milky whiteness with rare glint of silver seemed to be looking through her, centered on some point behind her back, ghostly glow of unmoving pupils.
"That's the problem with you, diviners. Always getting tangled in chronology. Bargaining should go before completing the task. Trademeet is safe and prospering, but I owe you nothing. And before you ask, no, I'm not going to do it out of sheer goodness of my heart."
"I'll bring you Waukeen's mantle." It was Daria's winning card, the latest task ordered to Itona by the guild masters of Athkatla. If this wouldn't work then she might as well end up with a dagger in her back.
Another moment passed as Itona threw her a silent look. The dagger has been forgotten.
"We have a deal."
***
The rest was a blur. Jaheira threw her weird looks when she came back to her room in the druidess' clothes, but Daria couldn't think about anything accept going back to her bed. The amount of visions showing many details from her talker's life was useful in leading the conversation, but disastrous for her head at such an early hour. At least the headache hadn't started before the last of the thieves serving as Itona's bodyguards disappeared in a back alley of Trademeet.
Somehow she managed to drag herself along to the inn, ignore all Jaheira's questions about where has she been sleeping, if not in their room, and crawl into her bed. A scarce instruction to get a gold ornament called Waukeen's mantle from one of the Trademeet's crypts and a short warning about animated skeletons was all Jaheira was able to drag out of her ward. Daria knew she would get a lecture later on, but it didn't matter yet. Lecture or not, Jaheira knew her good enough to do what had to be done without unnecessary questions.
'If only Xan was here…' Daria couldn't stop but think when the bustle downstairs finally quieted confirming that her party was already on its way to the haunted crypt. Cold hands on her forehead weren't taking the pain away like Anomen's spells, but she could put up with a little headache, just to be near Xan again. They were becoming more and more distant to each other, more strangers than friends. She missed these half-smiles of his he gave her each time she sent him a fugitive smile or winked. She felt like if he couldn't or didn't want to look at her any longer, that he saw her as someone he knew nothing about.
But he had his own future now and she shouldn't worry about him. If only it didn't feel so lonely…
***
She dug herself out of bed only after noon, hearing familiar voices downstairs. All she wanted was to remain in the bed, away from the noises and the light, and sleep until the pain goes away, but Itona wasn't going to wait. At least the illusions would make the diviner look just as good as she didn't feel. She covered Jaheira's tunic and leggings with her dark cloak and left the scanty dress stashed at the bottom of her pack. Buying it was a bad idea from the very beginning, but at least Jaheira had spare clothes Daria could borrow for the time being. She went downstairs to join her party.
"Migraine" she explained before anybody had a chance to ask. "You have the mantle?"
"We found it, along with some useful facts, you forgot to mention." Jaheira rose from her seat at the sight of her ward. "Two families of Trademeet fight for the right to be known as the founders of the town. Surprisingly owning this mantle would be a perfect proof of superiority."
"Really? I didn't know." Daria muttered sitting in front of Jaheira by her table. She hid face in her palms to avoid the light.
"What do you mean, you didn't know? Then why did you tell us to get it?!" Jaheira's voice rose in annoyance. "You know that giving this mantle to one of the families will start a civil war in Trademeet!"
"Or we can bribe the local Shadow Thieves to give us contacts to their guild masters in Athkatla with it. It's the best informed organization of Amn and they must know where the Cowled have their prisons." Daria didn't even looked at the druidess from behind her palms, but almost unnoticeably hunched her shoulders preparing for a shout.
"The Shadow Thieves?! Child, it's not a time for jokes! It's a criminal organization! They don't go and help people in need."
"You're right. We should go and ask Harpers for help, or maybe the Council of Six. Or perhaps Elminster himself will be kind enough to lend a hand?" Daria moaned and glimpsed at the furious druid through her hands. "Jaheira, please calm down. I wouldn't even consider it if I knew of any other alternative."
"Of course there is another alternative!" Daria winced at another Jaheira's shout.
"But we can't find it" she continued calmly. "Until we do, we will try to make a deal with the Shadow Thieves."
"You're giving up, just like that?" Jaheira dared her.
"I'm not giving up. We will find Imoen, one way or another. If you have other suggestions please voice them, but other I will not hear more about it." Daria unwoven her hands and looked flatly at Jaheira with a completely composed and strangely cold expression. "Does anybody have any other suggestions?" She asked again without moving her stare from the half-elf before her. Jaheira for the first time had nothing to say and just watched her ward completely astonished. She would never expect her behavior to be so chillingly mature.
"Then we're going to meet guildmistress Itona." Daria continued after a second of silence. "She will give us contacts we need, in exchange for the Waukeen's mantle you acquired. If you have any questions now is the right time to ask them." Only now the diviner looked at the rest of her party, watching her stunned. Only Minsc gave her a broad distracted grin.
"Let us go" the diviner sighed gathering from the chair. One by one her companions followed.
***
"…is Gaelan Bayle. He lives in slums district, east from the Copper Coronet. Not much more than a fence, he is, but has contacts to most of the guild masters of the Sword Coast. He will help you, if you can stand him. Show him this dagger and say that Itona sent you."
Daria nodded accepting the dagger. She didn't look tired or pale and tried not to fidget despite that all she wanted was to be done with the deal as fast as possible. She watched guildmistress' silhouette concealed by the magic of ring of invisibility disappearing behind the corner, before hiding the dagger in her shoe and turning to her companions.
"We have the link to athkatlan Shadow Thieves now. I think we should consider before taking next step." She considered hiding her eyes before a palm again, but as far as she knew she could still be watched by the thieves and appearing weak was the last thing she wanted. Divining for anyone hidden in the shadows was not an option until she'd get rid of the headache.
"Minsc and Boo will go everywhere with Daria! She even isn't little anymore! So says Boo." Minsc shouted solemnly. Some plaster fell of a nearby wall, but that might have just as well been a coincidence.
"She's not. I will follow your lead." No plague of locust or a celestial event happened, but Jaheira really said that.
"I'm doomed anyway. I might as well die in your company". Xan looked everywhere, but on her face.
"I would like to join your company as well." Mazzy looked at the diviner with kindness.
"You may join us Mazzy" Daria answered a bit uncertain. She rubbed her hurting temples. "But I think you should stay in Trademeet for now. I think your sister will need you."
"You sense it, don't you?" The halfling woman was now worried. Daria hated making people worried with uncertainties, but she learned to prefer not to stay silent. "Very well, I will stay. I trust your intuition and I know how much you have to pay for it. I wish you luck in finding your sister."
"I would like to stay as well. I don't think it is safe for me to return to Athkatla just yet." Valygar made a desperate attempt of leaving this doomed company, bunch of fools or righteous team of butt-kickers, depending on who was describing them.
"You'll be safe. They forgot about you the moment Tolgieras died" Daria ignored Valygar's concerns. He looked as if he was about to say something more, but resigned, deprived of any reasonable excuses to leave the band.
He'd be really shocked should the way back turn out to be either short or easy.