A/N: I'm sorry this took a while longer than usual. I'm currently doing NaNoWriMo and my next update will probably be late too. But after the month is done I expect to be back to a rough once a week schedule.
Before they reached Nashkel, they found the carnival. Silandra vaguely remembered hearing about it while in town, but at the time there had been other things on her mind. Once a year, merchants and entertainers from all over spent a few weeks or so in the area. It was said that you could find exotic goods that would usually be difficult to obtain, and the entertainment was supposed to be good too.
Truth be told, she was a little disappointed once she actually saw the carnival. There were many colorful tents and a few food stalls that looked interesting, but very few people. Not quite the lively event she was expecting. It could probably be put down to the troubles in the mine and the dangers of traveling lately. Still, Silandra would be glad to spend a little time doing something that did not involve fighting or traveling.
Since it was already early afternoon, they were planning on staying in Nashkel for the night anyway, so it was not too difficult to get Jaheira to let them spend some time at the carnival.
"Khalid and I will return to Nashkel directly," Jaheira said. "The mayor should be given the news about the mine as soon as possible and we are awaiting a message from a contact of ours. You should return to the inn before dark. Stay out of trouble. And don't spend too much money. I expect a generous sum from the mayor but we have expenses and we don't know when we will be paid again."
"Of course," Silandra said. It was very tempting to add 'mother' on the end. Although she had never known hers, she had read enough to know that Jaheira was definitely acting the role. And Silandra was not sure she liked it.
"We'll see if we can get some gold for some of the gems and stuff we've collected," Imoen said. "I don't think that shopkeeper in Nashkel could afford it all but maybe someone here can."
"Just make sure you get a fair price," Jaheira said. "Many of these merchants will be experts at haggling."
"Don't worry; so am I," Garrick said proudly.
Silandra suddenly had the thought that maybe she could find something interesting to buy here. They may not have a lot of money but now that they had cleared the mine, surely she could afford something small for herself. Like a mirror. She did not follow Imoen and Garrick. Selling goods wasn't something everyone needed to be there for, and she kind of thought they might prefer to be alone for a while.
Dynaheir and Xan were caught up in a conversation about some complicated magic principles that was too advanced for Silandra to follow and Minsc was contentedly speaking with Boo, pointing out things that he thought the hamster may find interesting. That left Silandra and Ajantis to walk side by side at the front of their group.
"Is there anything in particular you want to look at?" Ajantis asked.
"Well, I don't think I should spend too much, but I would really like a mirror," Silandra said. "And maybe some new clothes."
"You don't want to get some food first?"
Silandra realized Ajantis himself was probably hungry. After all, their dry rations were not particularly appetizing and barely did their job in staving off hunger. Ajantis probably weighed twice what she did yet ate the same share. He was probably dying for a proper meal and might not want to wait until they reached Nashkel that evening.
"Of course," she said quickly. "Why don't you choose something?"
He brightened considerably at that, and only looked around for a few moments before leading her to a stall where a man was serving some kind of hot sandwich. It was not the usual fare in the inns in the area; the bread looked dark but different from the coarse loaves peasants made, and the meat was in some kind of brown sauce that smelled delicious in a foreign kind of way. She had not thought she was particularly hungry, but suddenly she felt she could eat all this and more.
"Would this be suitable?" Ajantis asked.
"Of course," Silandra said, feeling her mouth water in a most unladylike fashion.
She did not protest when he insisted on buying her meal as well as his own. It was really all just party treasure, after all. Or was it? Ajantis was from a noble family. Surely he had taken a decent sum of gold with him upon leaving home. But it did not seem appropriate to ask.
Minsc was behind them, eagerly ordering three sandwiches for himself. Neither Dynaheir nor Xan seemed particularly interested in the food. Xan glanced at it briefly, but that was it. Maybe elves had different tastes, and maybe Minsc was going to share with Dynaheir.
"This is good!" Silandra said, pleasantly surprised. The food had looked and smelled appetizing enough but the unusual spices had still made her a little wary.
"I knew it would be hard to go wrong with meat and bread," Ajantis said. "It's nice to have something a little different too. I make a point of going for foreign food if I see it."
"I guess I'm just so used to eating the same kinds of things," Silandra said. "After all, it's not like I've really had much of a chance for something different since leaving Candlekeep."
"There are all kinds of interesting things out there," said Ajantis. "Most regions have their own cheese, their own bread, and of course their own drinks. What about chocolate, have you had that?"
"Only a little," Silandra said. "We did not get it very often. Winthrop, the innkeeper, he always said it was too expensive."
"I guess it depends where you are," said Ajantis. "My family used to have it pretty regularly because my mother liked it. But then… I suppose we could afford it anyway."
He said the last part quietly, as if he wished he hadn't. Silandra wondered if he was embarrassed for some reason to come from a wealthy family. Then she thought of Imoen, and of what she had overheard some of the girls in the bar saying. Many of them would talk about marrying a rich man who would make all their problems go away. Silandra was definitely not in the market for a husband right now, but she supposed she knew by now that Ajantis liked her, and maybe he was worried she would now only want him for his gold.
Truth be told, money had never mattered too much to her. She liked the things it could buy, but she never saw the point in having more than could be used on living expenses and a few nice dresses. She had read that most fae creatures did not care for gold either, so she supposed she had inherited a bit of that. And even if she did want to be rich, she could not imagine marrying someone solely for that purpose.
She didn't think she could just tell him that she wasn't interested in his money, however. Then she wondered if she was really admitting to herself that he was interested in him. She was so caught up in her thoughts that she couldn't think of anything intelligent to say, but they were still finishing their food anyway so perhaps it didn't matter.
Thankfully, she noticed a merchant selling a few interesting knick knacks including mirrors, and practically dragged Ajantis over to have a look. She spent more time than she probably should have just looking at herself in the mirrors, on the pretense of examining the different frames. She was relieved to see that, despite her hair being a little messy (which she fixed immediately), she looked fine. She did think she had lost weight though, probably due to all the walking she had been doing. She thought she might be too skinny now and decided she had better try to eat more. The prices were not too exorbitant, and she was able to talk down the merchant from his original number without charming him. She happily walked away with a rather plain mirror trimmed in fake gold, but the decoration was not what mattered.
The group wandered around for a while longer, and were especially interested in the magical wares of a jewelry vendor, but his prices were far too high. It was too bad; there was a necklace that shot fireballs which Silandra thought would be particularly useful. It didn't hurt that it was beautiful too.
"Ooo, potions!" Minsc said loudly, causing Silandra and her companions (and a few commoners) to look at him.
He was pointing at a lavishly decorated tent in shades of pink and purple, which Silandra probably would have noticed herself had she not still been thinking about the fireball necklace and the other interesting magical items that she could not afford. Out the front was a sign advertising potions for sale. They were probably expensive, but having a few potions on hand could mean the different between living and dying.
Minsc led the way inside the tent, with Silandra and Ajantis following and Xan and Dynaheir bringing up the rear.
Silandra was sure the tent was bigger on the inside, but she had read about such charms so that did not surprise her so much. What did was the confrontation she and her friends had evidently just interrupted.
A gray-haired mage in a deep green and gold robe whirled to face the intruders, his face red from anger.
"Stay back!" he cried. "If any of you come closer I'll kill her. All I have to do is say the last word of my spell and she'll die."
Backed against the opposite side of the tent was a woman, likely also a mage by the look of her. She did not appear to be in any state to cast spells just now though. She looked terrified and she made eye contact with Silandra as if pleading for help.
Privately, Silandra thought the man was bluffing. Spells did not usually work once they had been interrupted; the flow was lost and you could not just add on the last few syllables and expect it to work. Then again, maybe this man was so powerful he could achieve such a thing. Somehow, though, she doubted it. She just didn't feel enough magic emanating from him.
"What's this all about?" she asked, hoping she could calm him down. She was wary about trying to charm a potentially powerful mage, but she'd try if she thought it necessary.
"She's a witch," the man said. "She'll use her magic to poison the children of this town. She'll butcher the livestock and seduce the young men. She must be killed!"
Silandra raised an eyebrow, hardly able to believe his hypocrisy. She herself was probably a witch according to him, though maybe she didn't really look the part, not having fancy magical robes. Silandra felt her anger rising. Here she and her companions were, trying to have a nice relaxing afternoon, and then a psycho like this guy had to ruin it. Before she could say anything else, however, Dynaheir came up beside her, evidently as furious as she was.
"What art thou talking about?" she asked, her voice rising. "Why the prejudice against a magic user? Thou said it thyself. Thou art a mage. After all, art thou not about to kill her with thy 'magic word'? Thou hast a plentiful lack of wit."
"Are you mocking me?!" the man yelled, his face nearly turning purple with rage. "No one mocks the great Zordral. You will pay for your insolence!"
Well, at least he did not seem in a hurry to finish the spell which would supposedly kill the other mage. Instead, he was intent on destroying Silandra and her friends. In a flash, he was coated in a stone skin and his image was mirrored several times; a contingency or spell trigger. She had studied those a little but they were far too advanced for her.
Ajantis and Minsc were already attacking the man even as he began casting another spell, one which Silandra did not recognize. Xan was quick with a dispel, but it did not take all the protections away, and Dynaheir apparently had not memorized any dispels herself. Ajantis and Minsc could not seem to harm the man, as most of their blows did not land and the ones that did only chipped away at the stone skin. Thankfully, the other mage in the room pulled herself together enough to cast a powerful dispel of her own. But it was too late. The man finished his spell and suddenly, Minsc, Ajantis and Dynaheir ran from the tent, terrified. Silandra felt the fear spell hit her but it only made her a little uneasy, and Xan and the 'witch' appeared unaffected. She wasn't sure whether it was luck or part of her innate resistance to certain mind-altering spells. Whatever it was, she was thankful. With his protections gone, the man was now vulnerable, and surely she, Xan and the other mage would be able to take him down.
Xan cast Glitterdust and she cast a magic missile. The mage had just begun another spell, but now he grabbed at his eyes, trying to rid them of the shimmering dust. Silandra was feeling sure of their victory with her own spell, but even though her missiles hit him squarely in the chest they did not seem to hurt him very much. His robes were evidently enchanted and were only slightly singed where the missiles had hit. Xan sighed and drew his Moonblade.
"The bloody way it is, then," he said flatly.
Silandra stepped back so as not to be in the way, and the woman let lose the acid arrow she had been casting before moving herself. Like the magic missiles, the magical arrow did not do much to harm the man either. He did look slightly distressed when he saw Xan advancing on him with a fiery blue sword, however.
Zordral picked up a staff that had been leaning against the wall, but his vision was still impaired from the Glitterdust and he was only able to attempt a few clumsy strikes before Xan chopped through it like it was nothing. The evil mage began another spell even as he tried to dodge the elf's blows but it was in vain. His magical robes evidently did little to protect against Moonblades and he was soon dead. Interestingly, and perhaps morbidly, Silandra noticed that the blade cauterized the wounds as it cut. She supposed fire would do that, but she hadn't expected it. For now though, there were more important things to think about.
"I'll look for the others and remove the fear spell if necessary," Xan said. "I trust you can look after things here."
"Of course," Silandra said, feeling pleased. Jaheira would probably never have trusted her alone here.
She turned to face the woman, who was looking immensely relieved now that Zordral was no longer a threat.
"Thank you," she said. "Zordral was an old enemy of mine and I do believe you saved my life. My name is Bentha. Is there any way I can repay you?"
Silandra wanted to say that a good deed done was enough for her, but she remembered her group. She felt responsible for them in a way, and this had been a dangerous encounter. Without Xan, maybe they all would have died. She certainly did not think she could have taken Zordral on herself, even with Bentha's help, not when he was so resistant to magic.
"We were actually planning on buying some healing potions," she said.
"Oh, adventurers are you?" Bentha asked. She seemed to be recovering from her near-death experience well enough, already rummaging through the cupboards behind the counter. "I should have expected as much from the look of you, but I was rather distracted, as you may have guessed. Here, take these."
Silandra was a little awed when Bentha handed her not one but three healing potions, easily identifiable by the blue bottle and label. Such things were not cheap, and she wondered whether she should protest.
"Please, I would not feel right charging you anything," said Bentha, as if sensing her thoughts. "My life is worth more, truly."
"Thank you," Silandra said. "We really appreciate it. I had better go now and check on the others."
Bentha bid her farewell, thanking her again, and Silandra left the tent, packing the potions away carefully. She found her friends easily enough. There were more people around now that the sun was beginning to set, but Minsc tended to stand out in any crowd.
She headed over to her friends, glad to see that they had all recovered from the fear spell. Minsc looked on the verge of tears, though Ajantis was more frustrated than anything.
"Silandra, are you alright?" he asked as she approached.
"I'm fine," Silandra said. "Bentha gave us three healing potions for saving her."
"That was very generous of her," said Ajantis. "But we did not all save her. I am so very sorry that I failed you."
"I am sorry too," Minsc said, hiccupping while Dynaheir stoked his back soothingly. "Boo won't even show his face, yet I have nowhere to hide."
"It's alright," Silandra said. "You were caught by a spell; there's nothing to be ashamed of. And besides, it turned out fine."
"I do believe it is time we headed back to Nashkel," Xan said, looking at the darkening sky. "I for one have had my fill of this carnival, and Khalid and Jaheira are waiting."
"We should find Imoen and Garrick first," Silandra said. After what she and her friends had just experienced, she was worried about the others. "Hopefully they didn't get into any trouble."
Imoen was over the moon. She had Garrick all to herself and he was holding her hand. There were all kinds of interesting things to eat here and most were cheap. She had eaten a candy apple, popcorn and some kind of delicious fried meat on a stick. Now they were walking it off, selling a few of the items they had picked up on their travels and buying a few things themselves. Garrick needed new strings for his lute, and Imoen got a much nicer and more spacious belt to hold her collection of thieving tools, which she also added to. She may have considered looking for some better armor—specifically, more comfortable armor—but she was now wearing an enchanted leather tunic from one of the last group of assassins and she thought it would serve her well. There was something a little icky about wearing something she had taken from a dead person, but the armor was in good condition and would offer much better protection than her previous leathers. What's more, it looked nice too. The studs were a bright silver and the leather itself gleamed.
It was going to be dark soon and she knew they would have to find the others and head back to town before long, but she wanted to enjoy this for as long as she could. After all, there was no telling when there would be another opportunity like this.
Many of the vendors were hawking their wares loudly in front of their stalls, but Imoen's attention was drawn by a halfling who was standing a few paces away from an eerily lifelike stone statue.
"Come one, come all!" he cried. "Take a look at the stone warrior maiden! Who is she, how long has she been trapped? And what might she give as a reward to her captors? For the mere price of 500 gold, I'll give you this scroll and you can find out!"
Imoen frowned. If the statue really was a trapped person then it wasn't right for this man to be selling the means to free her instead of just using it. Garrick seemed oblivious, being more focused on the stalls selling magic items, but she nudged him to get his attention.
"Listen to him!" she said. "We have to get that scroll and free her—if it's even real."
Of course, that was the other possibility. The whole thing could just be a scam.
"I don't think Jaheira would approve of us spending 500 gold on a scroll," Garrick said.
Imoen rolled her eyes. Garrick did not quite have the rebellious streak she did. "We're not going to buy it. I've got a plan."
There were a few stalls serving alcohol, though Imoen was willing to wait for that until they got to Nashkel. But many of the people wandering around the carnival were, at the very least, a little tipsy, so she and Garrick would not stand out too much.
They walked arm-in-arm, swaying a little, trying not to pay too much direct attention to the halfling. Not until they stumbled right into him, that is. Imoen purposely fell on top of him.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" she cried, widening her eyes in pretend shock. She made sure to slur her words a little as she continued. "I guess I might've had a little too much."
She was quick to slip the scroll away from the halfling and into Garrick's waiting hands, but she knew that a scam artist like this might notice sooner rather than later so she lingered a few moments more to distract him. She gave him her best attempt at a flirtatious smile.
Thankfully, he was bashful rather than angry.
"Oh, it's no problem at all miss," he responded.
Imoen thought he was actually blushing. Well, she may not be as pretty as Silandra, but she was much better at flirting. She heard Garrick reading the scroll, and smiled down at the halfling as he worked out what was happening. He began to sputter in protest, but she was bigger than him and it wasn't too difficult to keep him down. As she had expected, he was not much of a fighter.
Imoen finally stood when Garrick finished speaking and looked at the statue, hoping the scroll was for real.
Before their very eyes, the stone statue morphed into a live woman. She was tall, blonde, and very confused. She blinked a few moments and looked around.
"Where is that dog?" she cried. She cast a quick spell which caused a magical blue hammer to appear in her hand and continued to scan her surroundings.
The halfling gave a girlish scream of terror before running off. Well, that made things easier. Imoen had not had a good plan for dealing with him after freeing the woman.
"Um, hi," said Imoen. "I'm Imoen and this is Garrick. We just freed you. Who're you lookin' for?"
The woman relaxed just a little. She finally seemed to notice the people standing before her.
"I was… I was frozen in stone, wasn't I?" she asked slowly. "It was strange, almost like a dream. Tranzig is long gone then?"
"That name sounds familiar," Garrick said.
"That's the guy we're looking for in Beregost," Imoen said. "He's the one who did this to you?"
"I had only just met him and did not realize what kind of work he wanted me to do until after I had agreed," the women shook her head, obviously annoyed with herself. "He turned me to stone rather than fight me, the cowardly dog."
"You can come with us!" Imoen said. "I'm sure it'll be fine. We can always use the help and we're after Tranzig for our own reasons."
"It would be good to travel with likeminded people," the woman said. "It has been too long. I hope you can understand my hesitance to sign another contract though."
"Of course!" Imoen said quickly. "No contracts with us."
"Then I would be pleased to join you," the woman said. "I'm sorry; I failed to introduce myself. I am Branwen, a warrior priest from the Norheim Isles. I would be glad to see this Tranzig brought to justice."
Imoen had a feeling Branwen's idea of 'justice' meant 'death', but hopefully she could be convinced to at least wait until Sil had interrogated him. She was feeling pretty good about finding a new addition to the group, especially a priest. Jaheira's abilities had obviously been stretched thin in the mine and Branwen would make the group much safer.
Imoen spotted Silandra and the others from a distance. She could tell just by looking at them that something had happened, but at least they all appeared to be uninjured. She and Garrick led Branwen over to them, excited to introduce her.