Chapter 11…Nolaloth's Revelations

I'm a Knight-Captain of my own keep; I have resources. With horses and mules, grooms and a squad of Greycloaks, the journey to Nolaloth's valley was accomplished more swiftly, and with somewhat more comfort than I had expected. We even had a wagon to carry our gear part of the way before we had to cut off into the wild.

When we left the keep, only Bishop and Sand had any skill riding horses. By the time we returned, we were all reasonably proficient, even Khelgar (to his own surprise). Zhjaeve, although rather clumsy in most outdoors pursuits, had fallen in love with her horse, and when she wasn't riding, she was cooing to it and feeding it treats. In return, the horse tried to follow her around the camp and would nuzzle her shoulder and snort to make her veil flap. It was cute—bizarre but cute.

Bishop had ridden ahead to alert the keep of our return so the gates wouldn't be shut before we arrived. By the time the rest of us clattered into the courtyard, he was nowhere to be seen. He probably wanted a head start on getting drunk. That was a plan with a lot of appeal but unfortunately I had other duties.

We had set a brutal pace to reach the keep before nightfall and I knew that Zhjaeve and Sand were exhausted. The sun showed just a finger's width above the horizon and the courtyard was deep in shadow. The torches had already been lit. I wasn't sure when I had begun thinking of Crossroad Keep as home, but I certainly felt it now. My saddle-sore rear end, as well as the rest of me, was glad to be home. Firelight flickered on Kana's sleek dark hair as she waited for us in the courtyard.

I slid off my horse and one of Wolf's minions ran forward to take the reins. Unlike Zhjaeve, I was not in love with my horse and my nether regions absolutely hated my saddle. My beetle Bodo emerged from under my tunic, where he had lurked all day, and ran up onto my shoulder, waving his antennae. He was glad to be home too.

"It is good to see you back safely, Knight-Captain," Kana said and she sounded so happy and relieved that I wondered how she and Casavir had gotten along while I was gone. "Was your trip successful?"

"I hope so," I told her. Zhjaeve gave me a look. She didn't like it when I expressed anything close to a doubt, especially after all the arguments, excuse me, discussions we had already had about her interpretation of the dragon's words. "Let's all freshen up and get some dinner," I told my companions. "Afterwards, I'll need you, Zhjaeve, to meet me in the war room and we'll share what we learned with whoever needs to know. Sand, would you make sure Aldanon is informed?" That was code for tell Harcourt to ensure the sage shows up on time. Aldanon seemed to live in his own little plane and sometimes had difficulty grasping the urgency of the rest of us. That we were in the midst of a war occasionally slipped his notice.

"Your whim is my command, Knight-Captain," Sand said with weary sarcasm.

"Glad to hear it," I said. "Kana, would you and Casavir give me a report on the keep's status before dinner?"

"Certainly, Knight-Captain," she said, looking prepared to do so at that very moment but I was already heading for the nearest privy to deal with a matter of some urgency. Gods, I hated traveling. We hadn't stopped all day except to give the horses a breather.

I emerged some moments later (considerably relieved) to find Ammon standing in the corridor, arms crossed over his chest. I was tired and hungry and my clothes stank. I needed to find out what had been happening in my absence. My best boots were holed with acid burns and my temper was looking for any excuse to show itself. Ammon and I had not exactly parted on good terms and Nolaloth's little revelations had not improved the situation. I gave him a warning scowl.

Bodo's claws pricked my shoulder and then he hit the ground with a little thud and scuttled off into the shadows. Smart beetle.

"Did Nolaloth tell you how to forge the shards?" Ammon asked. No 'hi, how are you, how was your trip?' and no 'glad to see you survived all the stinking dragons'. Kana, Nasher's hand-picked officer, had greeted me with a lot more warmth. My scowl deepened.

"There will be a briefing after dinner," I said brusquely. He moved to block me from passing. I felt my eyes start to narrow. "You know, Jerro," I said. "I doubt there is a woman in the Realms who appreciates being accosted outside the privy. I would think a man of your vast experience would be aware of that fact."

"Did you learn how to forge the shards?" he growled. I guess he didn't like my answer the first time he asked.

"There will be a briefing after dinner," I growled back. As I pushed past him, he grabbed me by the front of my tunic and pulled me to face him. I appreciate being handled like an unruly toddler about as well as the next gal but I showed remarkable restraint. Instead of blasting him to oblivion, I just gave him a look and said, "I don't have time for this. Go wait with the others."

"This is important, Jess. Stop being childish and tell me now."

Childish? Me? How dare he? His grip tightened around his fistful of my tunic. His avid and intent eyes bored down into me and my irritation erupted.

"Nolaloth was so deep into madness that I could hardly get anything out of him." I glared up at Ammon. "I was lucky to get away with my life and no thanks to you. I think your little betrayal was the straw that broke the dragon's back, or rather, his mind. What in the hells were you thinking when you told him you were from Illefarn and had come to restore him back to life?"

"I needed information that only he could give me."

"So that made it acceptable to tell those outrageous and pointless lies? He hated the King of Shadows, Ammon. You didn't need to give him false hope and then snatch it away. He would have helped you if you had been honest with him."

"You are wrong. He would not. Are you naive enough to believe there was ever any spark of altruism in the wyrm? The only reason he fought the King of Shadows was for the treasure he was promised. He was desperate to be restored to life, Jess. He wanted to be lied to; he practically forced it upon me."

I just shook my head.

"There are things you do not do."

"Indeed. I do not share your gift for self-deception. I suppose when the Sword Coast is a lifeless husk, you can console yourself that at least you had never stooped to lying to a mercenary and vengeful spirit."

"That's your answer to everything, isn't it? Doesn't that same old justification get a little thin after awhile? You know, maybe, just maybe you don't have to trick or slaughter every single being that crosses your path. Sometimes there are other options."

His eyes slid away from mine. Perhaps he, too, was thinking about Shandra. Or maybe he was thinking about some of the other people he'd killed because they got in his way. I was irritated at myself for getting drawn into this futile argument. What was done was done and couldn't be undone.

"I…have never shirked responsibility for my actions. I will be paying for what I have done for millennia after my death. There is a special place in the hells for those like me."

I bit off the sarcastic remarks that leapt to mind (with difficulty) and just shook my head.

"I've got people waiting on me. I'll see you after dinner in the war room."

He did not let go of me; in fact, he gave me a little shake.

"You may go when you answer my question."

I had started out being irked by Ammon and his presumption. I had wondered how he would feel to be served with a dish of his own evasions and mysteries. Now I was really angry.

"You want an answer? Well here it is: maybe. I hope you're taking notes. Now get your hands off me and let me pass."

He still didn't let me go. His eyes burned into me.

"No doubt you think you are being amusing, but 'maybe' is no answer," he said through gritted teeth.

"It's the one you're going to get." He wasn't expecting the shove I gave him and it knocked him back a step. The look he gave me in return was so frightening that I spat out the words of a spell. My left hand glowed faintly green and I held it out before me.

"Back off," I said. I stared him down with more confidence than I actually felt. Tarmas had taught me the Ghoul's Touch a lifetime ago in West Harbor. It was supposed to paralyze your opponent. I had never actually used it successfully in real combat but I kept thinking I might one day.

But we weren't really fighting—were we?

"Jess," he said in a milder voice, as if he was wondering the same thing. There would have been more but at that moment, Casavir came around the corner and he also said my name. His surprise quickly changed to suspicion and concern. Casavir's hand went to his hip but luckily he wasn't wearing his weapon belt.

"What is wrong?" he asked. I sighed and let the spell fizzle away. My fingers had turned icy. I shook out my hand and wiped it on my pants leg.

"Nothing," I said. As I followed Casavir to the war room where Kana waited, I imagined I could still feel Ammon's eyes burning into my back.

There had been no new demands (or gifts) from Lord Nasher while I was gone. A few zombies had wandered along the south road and had been killed by a Greycloak patrol. Elanee had gone out to investigate tales that a large group of lizard folk had been spotted west of the keep. She had not returned yet but Kana didn't expect her back for another few days. And then there were the bandits. I learned the cause of the slight coolness between Casavir and Kana. Over Kana's objections, Casavir had dispatched a squad of Greycloaks to capture the bandits attacking one of the villages that neighbored the keep. Several of our soldiers had been injured during the raid, one seriously.

"The halfling village was attacked because our Greycloak patrols drove the bandits away from the coast road," Casavir said, sounding as if he had already made this argument many times before. "They asked us for aid and it was our duty to provide it."

"Our duty is to protect the keep and the Knight-Captain's lands," Kana said doggedly. "We cannot strip the keep of defenses for any stranger who asks. For all we knew, those halflings were imposters, luring our Greycloaks away from the keep at a time when our numbers were already lower than usual."

"They spoke the truth," Casavir said quietly.

Really, they both had good points but arguing them now was pointless. Casavir had been in charge and the decision—and responsibility for that decision—had been his. I'm not sure what I would have done in his place. I suppose it would have depended on the impression the halflings made on me, and honestly, even if I had been there, I would have relied upon Casavir's judgment. I said so as tactfully as I could, not that tact is my particular strong suit, but it seemed to satisfy them well enough.

Seeing the two dark heads bent together in discussion, I wondered (not for the first time) why Casavir showed no signs of attraction to Kana. You would have thought she was just his type. Of course, he hadn't seemed too interested in Katriona either despite the fact that his former second-in-command was clearly infatuated with him. Maybe he wasn't attracted to warrior women.

Or maybe he wasn't attracted to women who showed any interest in him 'that way'. I sighed. Casavir's love life was at least as screwed up as mine was.

I wouldn't have had time for the hot bath I so desperately needed before dinner even if I hadn't been delayed by Ammon, but that didn't stop my surge of resentment as I made do by washing off the worst of the travel dirt with the cold bowl of water in my room.

Unless we are trying to impress visitors, meals are casual at Crossroad Keep. Bowls of food had already been set out and were being passed around family style when I slid into my seat at the head of the table. Khelgar was already stuffing his face, still in his travel-stained clothes.

"Are you in a hurry?" I asked him. "Got a date?" He grinned and mimed hoisting a tankard. Bishop hadn't shown up so I figured he was drinking his dinner. Or possibly he was in the back room of the Den, dealing with an abstinence of another sort. Not my problem, thank the gods.

I also ate quickly, my thoughts running fruitlessly in many different directions. Sand entertained the table with highly colored tales of our journey and particularly of our battles against the dragons in Nolaloth's Valley. Khelgar jumped in to amplify or contradict as he felt was needed. Aldanon and Casavir interjected questions when they could fit in a word. Ammon had nothing to say until he learned that the crystal heart had been destroyed.

"Am I to understand that you severed Nolaloth's connection to this plane?" he asked, giving me a look that might have made me quail if I hadn't already been so irritated by him.

"Know that we have laid his spirit to rest as he requested," Zhjaeve said.

"He had knowledge possessed by no other," Ammon said, turning his angry eyes on her. She gave him a very bland look. I wondered if she knew how annoying he found her. I thought she probably did.

"We will discuss this later," I said before he could let loose with a tirade. He glanced at me and then turned his attention to his plate, giving his slice of meat a vicious stab with his knife.

Khelgar asked to be excused from the meeting after dinner and I waved him away. Bishop didn't show up, not that we needed him either. I would have invited Sir Nevalle but apparently he was off somewhere on Nasher's business, or perhaps his own. Presumably he had a life away from court although I couldn't recall him ever speaking of anything personal.

Zhjaeve sat by my side at the big table in the war room and Ammon sat at the far end of the table opposite me. Aldanon, Casavir, Kana, Grobnar, Sand, Neeshka and Qara all took their seats and waited for me to start.

The meeting was blessedly short for the dragon had told us little that seemed of much use.

"Know that the Blade of Gith must be made whole at the place where it was broken," Zhjaeve said.

"We must return to West Harbor," I translated. Casavir gave me a grave look. I thought I had spoken emotionlessly but he had gone with me to West Harbor to bring Retta Starling news of her son Lorne's death. I didn't know how many of my friends had escaped the village before it was claimed by the King of Shadows. We were already too late to save my home. I did not want to see what had become of it and now I was required to do so.

"How?" Neeshka asked. "I thought we couldn't travel through the Mere anymore." It was unfortunate that Elanee hadn't returned, for she might know more about the spread of the shadow.

"We will travel through the Song Portal," Zhjaeve said. Aldanon stirred and said something to Sand.

"We get to go back to Arvahn?" Grobnar asked. "Oh, good, there was something I wished to examine in the Gem Mines. And I hoped to get some sketches of the statues…"

"We won't be sight-seeing, Grobnar," Neeshka said, rolling her eyes. "So okay, we go to this swamp village of yours. Do you know where the sword was broken? Do you have to be in the exact spot or what? Is there a marker?"

Did she think we swamp farmers had erected an obelisk? 'Here Be the Spot Where the King of Shadows Busted That Warlock's Fancy Sword.'

"We must stand in the exact location," Zhjaeve said.

"The place is marked by power," Ammon said impatiently. "We will find it easily."

"And then what?" Neeshka asked.

"The blade will be restored by an act of will," Zhjaeve said.

"An act of will?" Qara asked. "And what does that mean, exactly?"

"Know that the will of the Kalach-Cha will bring new life to the Sword of Gith."

"Yes, you said that," Qara said. "But what does Jess have to do? Is this a spell of some sort? Does she recite the True Name of the sword? What?"

I kind of hated that Qara, although in a snottier tone than I probably would have used, raised the exact same questions I had asked Zhjaeve over and over. Qara, despite her instinctive grasp of magic, looked as baffled as I felt. This did not reassure me in the least.

"The Kalach-Cha will hold the shards of the sword and by her will, it shall be made whole," Zhjaeve said. Although she showed no impatience it was clear that she was somewhat puzzled by our lack of understanding when the matter was so simple. I glanced at Ammon, but instead of the wrath I expected, his look was thoughtful.

I held out my hand to stop any more questions.

"We will rest a couple of days and then plan our journey to West Harbor," I said. Maybe by then my will would figure something out and would let the rest of me know what I had to do.