Sarevok's blade clattered to the ground. Just as he had done before, he slumped to the ground, staring at his hands in horror as they turned to dust.
"No - NO!" he bellowed. The fragments of Sarevok's body lingered in the air for a moment.
Lidia sat up, gathering her wits. "Don't try it."
"This wasn't supposed to happen!" Sarevok's voice had turned into a shrill whine. "This is my world!"
Sarevok stumbled to his knees, then collapsed, his body dissolving into dust as it had in Baldur's Gate.
The sky overhead shrank, pressing down and closing in on them. Its blue faded as gold and white stripes spread over it. The field around them melted, shrinking down impossibly fast and compressing around them. In a moment the surroundings resolved itself into a conical tent sixty feet across, the floor laid down with blood-spattered sawdust.
Where Sarevok had stood, a gnome lay on the ground, nearly lifeless. Behind his prominent nose, his dark eyes were barely open. Lidia crawled over to him.
The gnome turned his head towards the sound and shot her a glare that might have killed, if there were any power behind it. As though he were utterly disgusted, he turned towards the ceiling and sighed in profound disappointment.
"This isn't what was promised to me," he said, interrupted with coughs. "You... you've killed me…"
"You did this to yourself," she said. "You still - "
"Bah!" He coughed again. "I was promised a world I could rule. In Amn, a mage is a criminal and a gnome is a spectacle. In this tent...in my world...Kalah was the master…"
His last breath died in his throat, and his face froze in an expression of despair.
Lidia bowed her head and closed the gnome's eyes with her hand. She heard a familiar voice call her name, and turned towards the source.
Everywhere around her was a jumble of people. Some were helping each other to their feet. Others soberly looked upon the dead, checking them for any signs of life and identifying them. Others were rushing outside. As the opening to the tent flapped open and shut, the sounds of a gathering crowd outside seeped in.
The elf-maid had returned, but she was much more expressive than the vision in the tent, and wore a simpler dress. She leaned over and hugged an older gnome in a smart purple suit.
"Uncle Quayle, you're okay!" She brushed her long golden hair aside.
"Ha, I knew Kalah would trip over himself eventually." The gnome patted the elf on the shoulder,
The elf let go and went over to where Lidia was kneeling over Kalah's body. "You're the one who helped me through the maze, aren't you? Thank you so much for everything," she said.
"Aerie?"
"Oh, r-right," The elf nervously laughed. "Yes, it's me, though I don't remember much after my head started hurting. I think-I think it was starting to affect my mind. I'm so glad you saved us."
"I actually didn't. Something happened to him - he might have overstrained himself, trying to keep up the illusions." Lidia cradled Kalah's small head, which was rapidly growing cold.
Aerie's face grew somber. "I know he killed all those people, but I...I just can't hate him, though, despite all that he's done."
"It sounds like you knew him well."
Quayle folded his arms as he approached them. "I'm just pleased he despised me enough to play with me rather than dispose of me like some of the others!"
Lidia furrowed her brow but said nothing, looking over to Aerie. Their eyes briefly met, and the elf's fine-featured face was still troubled.
"What about your other employees?" Lidia said to Quayle.
"Some of them...well. They weren't as lucky." He pointed to one side of the tent. Some of the dead guards lay in a ring around a pair of acrobats and an animal trainer with her tiger.
Near this group, Minsc was still crouched down. "Shh!" he said to his closed hands. "I think they can still hear us."
Yoshimo waved a hand and called to Lidia: "Hello there! You have legs and hands too, now, right?"
Quayle had insisted on offering a reward to the Company, only growing more insistent the more Lidia demurred, until she'd felt it would be rude to refuse. The Company had accompanied them to where the money was kept, in a covered wagon parked near the back of the tent. A young girl was sitting inside, despondent. But when she saw Quayle, she bolted from the spot, as though she feared some trouble to come.
Quayle climbed inside, pressed down upon a wooden slat, and lifted a long steel box from inside the wagon-floor. He sat down with the box in the entrance of the wagon, high up enough to be eye-to-eye with the rest of the Company.
"Hmph. This is lighter than it was this morning," he said. He raised his hand over a spot. A rune glowed, and the box sprung open.
Inside was nothing except for a few coins.
All were silent for a moment.
"We've been robbed, then," Quayle said. He said to Lidia, "I guess you win, for I've nothing to give you."
Aerie climbed up and sat down in the entrance to the wagon next to Quayle, suddenly distraught. "We could-we could get the authorities, couldn't we?" she asked. "Maybe get them to find the thief?"
"You know as well as I that we'd need to pay them first."
"What's going to happen to the circus?" Aerie said, wide-eyed and tripping over her own words. "We can still keep the troupe together, can't we?"
One look from Quayle was enough to answer that question.
"What are we going to do?"
"The only thing we can. The circus is done for, so we sell everything and give some to the troupe, so that they can make a fresh start. I'll inquire with Raelis, too. She might want some expertise, magical or otherwise, no?" He gave her a wink. "Someone as smart as me will have little trouble landing on my feet."
Aerie seemed to be puzzling something out, and nervously said, "What about me?"
Quayle reached up and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I've taught you everything I can, Aerie. It's time for you to learn the rest on your own."
"But without the circus -"
"I'll be staying at the Five Flagons, whenever you'd like to visit."
"Where am I supposed to go?"
"Ah…" Quayle looked past her, towards Lidia. "You're still adventuring, aren't you?"
Lidia replied, "Yes, I'm leading Gorion's Company, or what's left of it." She turned to Aerie. "We could use a mage, as a matter of fact."
"I...I mean, I know a little of divine and arcane magic, b-but…" Aerie sprung to her feet.
"We're going east, and we're planning on clearing out some ogres and trolls on behalf of a local lord," Lidia said. "There could be some danger. Are you sure you're up for it?"
Aerie lifted her small chin. "After what you did for us, it's the least I owe you."
Lidia thought for a moment. This particular mage seemed mentally stable enough, as well as their best bet for getting magical aid on short notice. Still, she wondered how long the elf's resolution would hold. Possibly she'd be bolstered by the fact that she had nowhere else to go.
She finally said, "If that's how you feel, then I'd be pleased to have you join us."
They shook hands on it.
"Meet us by the Meirtyn Gate at dawn on the day after next," Lidia said. "Bring yourself and anything you need to travel light for a tenday."
"Well, this group is yours to reform as you see fit," Jaheira said. The Company was out of Aerie and Quayle's earshot now, winding their way through the crowds and around the tent. "I certainly hope she can pull her weight."
"The more the merrier!" Yoshimo said. "I've yet to find an adventuring companion whose company I didn't enjoy. When we're on the road, I'll tell you of my travels with a vampire."
"Eh, what's this? Why would such a nice man like you be friends with a vampire? Vampires steal life from the good living to keep their evil alive. We enjoy permanently implanting our boots in the faces of evil, whatever it may be, but for vampires we grind extra-hard!" Minsc loudly announced.
"I'll have you know that Maven of the Eventide was a delight," Yoshimo said. "She never feasted on any sentients that I know of."
"Quayle didn't last long with the group when we met him," Lidia said, "but Aerie seems different. Too bad she had to leave home like this. Who do you think took the gold?"
Jaheira said nothing, but she seemed to be forming a theory. Lidia knew better than to press the issue; her friend always preferred to share information on her own terms. Probably a holdover from being a Harper, come to think of it.
As they moved forward, Lidia suddenly felt someone watching her. She'd tried to lead the group off to the side, towards the main road, but they'd caught the notice of one of the Cowled Wizards, who were standing at the ready as the guards were scattering the gawkers.
She immediately recognized the wizard as the same one who had met her on that first day in Athkatla. The cowl kept her from being certain, but the height, build, and flash of olive skin about her throat were the same.
The wizard's eyes were hidden underneath her dark cowl. Lidia still did her best to meet them, and gave her a respectful nod.
The wizard gave no acknowledgment. Before long, she faded into the crowd, and the early evening rush of people from the Promenade swept the Company away.