Chapter 3

We reached the Umar Hills the next day. There we spoke to Minister Lloyd, the mayor of the town of Imnesvale. He asked us to look into the recent grisly murders and the disappearance of their ranger. After surveying the town and the surrounding area, we made several discoveries.

First, we met a man who had holed himself up in a cabin up on the Northern cliffs. His name was Valygar, and he told us he was on the run from the Cowled Wizards. They were hunting him to use his body to enter the planar sphere of Lavok, Valygar's ancestor. This sphere had appeared in the slums of Athkatla some weeks ago and since I had no love for the Cowled Wizards myself, I welcomed Valygar to the team. He asked that we eventually take him to the sphere so he can kill Lavok himself. Apparently, the necromancer had been extending his own life by stealing the bodies of his descendants, and since Valygar was the last of his bloodline, I could see why he might be worried.

Second, we questioned an ogre mage by the name of Madulf who had led his band in desertion and now wanted to live in peace. At first, I was suspicious, and could you blame me? He was an ogre! But as we got to talking, I saw weariness in his eyes and a true desire to end his life of fighting. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and surmised that he was not the culprit I was looking for. He even asked me if Minister Lloyd would accept his services as protectors of the hills in exchange for peace and some trade. The minister himself was a little apprehensive about meeting the ogre, but once he did, he could see that these "monsters", as we would so often call them, were peaceful creatures who did not want to kill.

Finally, we checked out Merella's, the missing ranger's, cabin. As I opened the door, I could smell something I would rather have not. Leading to the door from the back of the cabin was a trail of blood. Blood and footprints. Dog footprints. Something had come here and chewed somebody up and dragged them out of the cabin, probably dead or at least unconscious from blood loss. Was it Merella? There was no way to tell. When we entered her quarters, the bed was covered in blood stains and I found a scroll which had a letter written by one Mazzy Fentan. The letter was to Merella and explained that Mazzy and her band had discovered the source of the murders and a crude map drawn on it pointed the way.

That was where we were headed next. I knew it would be a few hours before we reached this place. The sun was beginning to set. It was strange. I thought it was a little too early. No one else seemed to take any notice. Not even Jaheira, who was even more in tune with the state of nature than I was, said anything. I was really getting worried about her. I knew this was her way of coping with Khalid's death but it wasn't doing her any favors. I was about to approach her to talk but someone else beat me to it.

Aerie looked uncertain as to what to say but I'm sure she saw Jaheira in a sulky mood and wanted to cheer her up. I listened in and hoped that Jaheira wouldn't act too harshly toward her. "This... This light makes your hair look really pretty, Jaheira," Aerie said. I winced. Something like that has always been the last thing Jaheira wants to hear.

"Don't be a fool. It does nothing of the sort," she snapped back.

"But-"

"Put your silly romantic notions aside, Aerie. This isn't some childish fantasy, or some grand adventure. Anyone of us could die out here at any moment," Jaheira scolded.

"But we can go to the priests and... and they raise us from the dead, good as new, can't we?" Aerie asked innocently. Another mistake. That really got Jaheira going.

"Sometimes they don't come back! Sometimes some people, no matter how much you love them and no matter what you try to do get... they get taken away. You're young, Aerie. You'll figure it out soon enough." Jaheira picked up her pace to get away from Aerie. She stood still, stunned at how awry her plan had gone.

I walked up to Aerie and put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry she said all that to you," I said.

"I was only trying-"

"I know," I interrupted, "but Jaheira will always be Jaheira. Always stubborn, always feels she must suffer alone. She's not actually angry, just sad. She'll come around one of these days."

"But why does she have to lash out like that?" Aerie asked.

"Her pride and impatience both get the better of her. She was like that to me a lot when we first met."

"Why?"

"Because I was young and inexperienced. The way I acted, she probably would have killed me herself if she hadn't promised Gorion to keep me alive,"

"Jeffix!" Aerie gasped. "You shouldn't say things like that!"

"You didn't know me a year ago when I first set out. I was still a kid, headstrong and overconfident, not to mention annoying. Okay, so maybe there's not much of a difference between twenty and twenty-one, but a lot has happened to me since then. The fact is, Jaheira and Khalid are responsible for helping me become the man I am. Jaheira would yell at me all the time because she wanted me to grow up...fast."

"She wants me to...grow up?" Aerie asked.

"You shouldn't worry about what Jaheira thinks of you, Aerie. I think you fit in very well with all of us. You're a fantastic spellcaster and a very good friend."

"Thank you, Jeffix. I feel better now. I won't worry anymore."

"Good," I said with a smile. "Now I have a present for you."

"A...present?"

"Have a look." I pulled a fur shawl out of my pack and placed it over her shoulders. "It's the pelt from the Winter Wolf I shot a few days ago. I was going to make you a cloak but there wasn't enough actual skin to make something that big so I had to settle for making this. I hope you like it."

"I love it," she said. "It's so warm. Thank you, Jeffix!"

"Jeffix! Aerie!" came a booming voice that could only belong to Minsc. "Boo wonders why you are falling behind and not leading us to righteous victory!"

"Coming!" Aerie cheerily shouted. She ran up to catch up with Minsc. It was nice to see Aerie enjoying herself.

"Aerie, can you not see the sun setting over the tops of the hills?" Minsc asked.

"Minsc, you are almost a giant! I think only you can see the sun now," she replied.

"Then climb aboard Minsc's shoulders and gaze at its wonder!" Aerie accepted and jumped on Minsc's back and sat on his shoulders. Boo peeked out of the little pouch he sat in and scurried up Minsc until he was at the top of his head. He squeaked at Aerie.

"Hello, Boo!" Aerie said. "Did you come to watch the sunset with me?" Boo squeaked again. "You are very sweet, Boo." She held Boo in her hands while Minsc carried them both. I couldn't help but smile. I thought it was rather adorable.

Looking around, I caught Jaheira's eyes. She was glaring at me rather harshly. "Oh, don't give me that look," I said.

"And which 'look' is that?" she pressed.

"The 'you idiot, why do you let this kind of thing happen' look. I would have thought you had gotten tired of giving it to me."

"Indeed. It never seems to do you any good."

"You know Aerie was just trying to cheer you up, right?"

"Well I don't want to be 'cheered up!'"

"You always were a terrible liar."

"Shut up."

"Don't be so hard on her, okay? Yes, she's inexperienced, but if you keep putting dampers on all her hopes, you'll just grow to hate each other."

"I'm content with that."

"Well I'm not."

"I won't apologize to her."

"I'm not trying to make you. I know nothing on the face of Faerûn could make you do that."

"So what do you want?"

"I want you to be more supportive. You eventually warmed up to me. I'm asking you to do the same for her."

"I'll try."

"We're all friends, Jaheira. We have to help each other both on and off the battlefield, otherwise we're just like soldiers, fighting because somebody told us to."

"Now you're going to throw wisdom from your foster father at me? I hate it when I know you're right."

"At least you admit I am right," I said. "By the way, I didn't learn that from Gorion."

"I suppose it was one of Minsc's few moments of wisdom, then?"

"Nope."

"Elminster?"

"Nope."

"Who then?"

"It was Khalid."

Jaheira glared at me for a second. It looked like she didn't believe me, but it was true. Khalid had said those words to me long ago. I stayed silent to show her that I meant it. Her face finally softened as she realized I was telling the truth. She smiled. It was the most minute of smiles, but it was still the first smile I'd seen on her face in days, and I can't quite recall, but I thought I saw what looked like a single tear escape her eye and roll down her face.

Night had finally fallen. It was a strange night. It did not feel natural. There was no moon and there were no stars. Needless to say, this worried me greatly. The forest we had entered was dark and foreboding, but we had no choice. This is where the map led us. Soon we came across a cave that the two other rangers in the party and I agreed looked very much like the den of a wolf pack. We decided to stake it out to see if these were ordinary wolves or not. Valygar volunteered for the first watch. "I'll keep my eyes peeled for anything sinister," he said.

"And if they spy anything," I added, "make sure the rest of us know before it does."

"Got it," he said before climbing a tree to gain a better vantage point.

Since we were staked out and didn't want anything to see us, we couldn't light a fire. Instead, we just had to bundle our blankets around us to keep as warm as possible. Fortunately, it was still barely autumn so the cold wasn't much to worry about. I wrapped a blanket around me and sat up against a tree. I closed my eyes and began to drift off to sleep.

I dreamt of Candlekeep that night. How long it had been since I had walked within those walls. I saw Imoen before me but she was not herself. She struggled to remember our home and the people who had shaped our lives: Gorion, Khalid, Elminster, Sarevok, even herself. When she could no longer remember herself, her body turned to stone before my very eyes. Irenicus appeared out of the fog and spoke.

"She resists. She clings to her old life as though it actually matters. She will learn."

I faced him and asked "What is the place? What is this all about?"

"It is a portrait of what has happened and what may happen. Do you cling to the past or can you see through the pain?"

What was he talking about?

"You feel the potential within, don't you? Will you cringe from what you know you want? What you can take as your own?"

I know now. He was talking about embracing my heritage, the essence of Bhaal. How did he find out about me, and more importantly, why does he care about it?

"You know what you want. It is you, after all, who has brought us to the dream. Nothing is real...yet."

And with that, I awoke.

"Jeffix?"

"Huh?" I was still groggy despite my sudden awakening from my dialogue with Irenicus. "Aerie? What's the matter?"

Aerie sat on her knees in front of me. "I couldn't sleep, and I saw you jerk yourself awake. I got a bit worried," she said.

"Well thank you, but I'm fine," I said. "Just a bad dream. Why couldn't you sleep?"

"I guess I'm thinking too much to sleep," she said.

"Thinking about what?"

"I...everyone here seems too unhappy and severe...I am so unused to living this way," she said. "In the circus, we always were cheerful. Or, at least, Uncle Quayle was determined to be. He used to say that a frown would never get anything useful done. I think everyone could use some cheering up... what about you, Jeffix?"

"Heh... you're probably right. If only things were so easy," I said.

"Yes, I suppose your... recent life would leave little to laugh about. One day... one day this will all be over for you, Jeffix. And then maybe we can *all* laugh."

"I will definitely look forward to that day," I said. "It'll be better when I get Imoen back. She's always been good at making people laugh."

"I guess if you're trying to raise a ridiculous amount of money to rescue her, she must mean a lot to you," she said.

"She's been with me since the very beginning. She's always been the one to keep me from going insane. I don't know what I would have done without her."

"You really love her?"

"Of course I do. I never really told her, but I always fancied the idea of having her for a little sister. She was always there for me when we were young and I won't turn my back on her now."

"You sound like you'd make a great big brother," Aerie smiled.

"We used to get into a whole lot of trouble together," I grinned.

"Tell me everything!" she said.

"Well one day, when I was eight, we skipped our lessons and climbed..." I was about to continue but Valygar jumped down from his tree and caught my attention.

"Jeffix! Come quickly!" he whispered. Aerie and I got up and followed Valygar to where we could see the cave. Standing in front of it was a large wolflike creature that stood on two legs.

"What is that thing?" Aerie whispered.

"I have a hunch," I said, "but one way or another, I think it's exactly what we're looking for."

"So now what?" Valygar asked.

"We get everyone else up and go kill us a werewolf."