08
Time passed and things got worst. A luskan wizard named Black Garius kidnapped Aldanon for information, after which we naturally for a rescue mission. Aldanon was taken to Crossroad Keep in a ruined castle. We managed to kill the wizard and his disciples in time, and Aldanon was safe.
Lord Nasher awarded our success by giving me the charge of the keep. I was to rebuild it and make it stronger to face the menace – we all knew the King of Shadows was coming back from whatever plane he was and not only Neverwinter was in danger.
Another person joined our little party then. Her name was Zhjaeve, a githzerai cleric with greenish skin like those of the githyanki. She had left her astral world to help us stop the dark lord. Zhjaeve also said I had to complete some ritual of purification in order to succeed. I couldn't wait…
I imagined being important or something at some point – she had left her home to assist me after all… don't get me wrong though – that didn't please me at all since it assured the difficulty of my situation. I craved for mind and body rest.
We all moved at the keep in order to rebuild it properly, with lord Nasher's small contribution. We had to find a lot of resources alone though: smiths, merchants, priests, ores etc. It wasn't that difficult to do so after all the runarounds we had done by then.
At the keep, I had a lieutenant named Kana and a man in charge of the repairs, master Veedle. Kana was the one helping me with decisions concerning the place, papers and advices; it was boring, but at least I learned some handy things about politics. People thought I had a lot of paper work to do, but it sure wasn't like that – Kana mostly dealt with that, asking me only when she was unsure.
With her and master Veedle's help, Crossroad Keep became a livable place and farmers begun settling in. I had put a low tax and people were happy – why not? We were discovering so many riches while traveling!
We soon had an inn with Sal, Duncan's old employee, as keeper. He was excited to have his own place and worked well on it. He quickly begun receiving more visitors.
Not long after we moved there, I decided to visit the ruins of which Zhjaeve had spoken and find the statues of purification for the rituals. All felt as if written by some maniac author – and trust me, I was scared of him.
Everyone except Qara came this time, but none of us could imagine what was about to happen. At the end, half of my soul was ripped. Of five rituals I did only four of the rituals, after dealing with spirits, goblins, orc tribes, season temples and an ancient song portal…
The song portal was supposed to lead us to the last statue of purification, but instead it transported us to a ruined village. As we stepped out of it, I merely heard Zhjaeve say it wasn't the right place before I realized where we were. It was West Harbor.
My heartbeat was pounding hard and very slowly, reaching my ears in seconds. It was the only sound I could hear while looking at what was left of the village – my village. There were corpses, burned houses, blackness… People I had known were lying in their own blood, helpless.
Something shook me gravely inside, increasing my heartbeat at once. I fled in a hurry towards Daeghun's house, scarring my companions by my sudden reaction.
To my horror, I arrived panting in front of an entirely burnt and destroyed house. I put my hand on my chest as if to keep my heart inside. "I'm going to collapse."
My companions found me cursing in angry tears while I tried to find a way in the house without burning myself. "Water!" I hissed. Being used to less bossy orders, no one but Zhjaeve understood quickly enough to react. Water and ice fell on the burning flames as the githzerai chanted in her mysterious language. I slid a "thank you" and rushed inside, scared to death to find him.
"Empty…" I whispered after inspection. I stopped in the middle of what used to be the kitchen and tried to think. "Village attack, lack of defense… should have been here… should have… Daeghun not here… wh… never could… back…" My hand was squeezing the necklace so fiercely, that soon its edges cut through my flesh.
We found the last statue in the nearby ruins with more nasty surprises. There were shadow priests and other minions of the dark king, but also a new enemy that called itself "shadow reaver". Fancy names they got. "Blasted evil creatures!" Someone else had already performed the last ritual, so we left with an uncompleted mission and heavy hearts.
We had to camp twice on our way back. I was totally retreated in my own bubble, refusing to speak more than necessary and ignoring anyone who tried to make me.
Since everyone always surrounded me, I decided my bath wouldn't wait for Crossroad keep. On our second stop, I informed everyone and left to wash in the nearby lake, finally alone with myself.
I'm not sure how long I stood in the water, but my skin was pretty wrinkled when I got out. I dressed unconsciously and sat still on my blanket – I guess I was really mind-absent, for I never heard Elanee's approach.
After drying my hair with her magical fire, Elanee took out some bread and cheese she had brought and split it in half. We ate in silence while tears were still falling down my face - the same silent way Daeghun had many nights ago.
"Phael, you would have felt it if he was dead." She tried to comfort me.
I didn't know what to say. It was hard to cope with all that was happening, but even harder to deal with my emotions and incoherent thoughts. Especially since they were all jammed in me. I wandered why she spoke only about him though; the whole village was gone and I wasn't weeping only for him.
"The village…"
"It's ok Phael, I know." She sounded calm as usual, looking far in the distance as only elves could. I didn't understand her – what was she saying? I got scared.
"What are you talking about?"
"About Daeghun. I know… how you feel about him. You don't need to hide that from me – I understand."
I hid my face between my knees and inhaled for a moment. How did she know that? "I think there are things you are not telling me." I said without sounding or being mad.
At first I thought she would keep whatever it was to herself, but Elanee opened up without holding back. She talked for quite a while, relating to things I had never imagined – I even wondered why I had never questioned her more about her past.
Like me, Elanee was adopted at a very young age and raised by older people – druids in her case. Being part of their circle, Elanee had some tests to pass, of which she failed only one.
"Was I somehow part of your test?" I asked bewildered. She nodded. Without knowing the reason, Elanee was supposed to watch me and learn more about the civilized life. During her watch though, she became obsessed with my life and didn't return soon enough to her people. I understood my way of living was probably totally new to her.
"I watched you for so long, that I felt like knowing you completely. I somehow felt what you felt and knew what you dreamed of…" She explained.
"How long?" I asked.
"Oh, not that long… twenty years or so." She shrugged.
"Twenty years?" My mouth fell open. "I was still at the school then!"
"Yeah I know… you were funny." She chuckled. "There is much… violence and strength in you, but you are not a bad person Phael. You are just very emotive and you listen to your heart – that's what I like mostly about you."
"Thanks Ela. But… about Daeghun…"
"I know you love him." She beamed and then raised her eyebrows many times. "You loved him even before you saw him bath."
My face was probably reddish, but it didn't prevent the chuckling. "Seems I wasn't the only pervert in the field? But wait… how come before?"
"Well, you were always spying on him, especially while he practiced in the field – that's why you begun practicing the short bow as well. I could see the marvel in your eyes when you looked at him – he intrigued you and inspired you in the same time. But he was so cold, you couldn't have thought about love. It's just at that moment that your brain and heart made a connection. Stop pushing those feelings away Phael – you're the only important thing left in his life."
"Stupid tears!" I thought as they leaked once again. There was nothing else to say about my situation – only time and events could change it for better or worst.
I later fell asleep against Elanee's shoulder and the tree behind us. I was calmer and glad she had shared the story with me, though I had to admit it was weird to be followed for so long. We both suspected her circle knew about my fate somehow, but we weren't sure.
When we arrived at the keep, Aldanon told us immediately he had found the location of Ammon Jerro's haven. "Thank the gods!" I thought. We all needed rest, but I decided to leave the next day – needed to keep things moving. I left early with Shandra, Grobnar, Casavir and Jhzaeve.
My thoughts weren't at rest and I was stressed during the entire trip. I was sure Daeghun was alive because of what Elanee had said – if he wasn't, I would have known. But this wasn't the only emotional disorder I had to deal with, and especially not the last one…
Shandra had to spill some of her blood to open the Jerro haven. At first I wasn't at ease with it, but she wanted to enter the place as much as I did. The moment her blood drops touched the sacred altar in front of the door though, she disappeared. The door opened, but we were all panicking since Shandra was nowhere. I rushed in first without thinking. "She's somewhere here… she's all right…"
Demons were everywhere inside, bound by the warlock to whom the place belonged. We had to run and ask them to open portals in order to find Shandra – she couldn't be safe alone with so much minions around.
We managed to enter the main place at some moment, only to stumble on the warlock himself, Ammon Jerro. He was furious of course, for he hadn't a clue whom we were. He didn't even let us say a word before he attacked. The room was filled with magic blasts, chanting and metal against metal clatter.
I remember hearing Shandra's voice, saying we couldn't defeat him that way. She had to free his demons first by sacrificing more blood. I was screaming for her to stop, but she didn't.
Shandra acted quickly – the demons left along with most of Ammon Jerro's powers. But again we didn't have enough time to talk him out before he disappeared.
"I'm sorry grandfather" We heard Shandra's words as we entered the room. She fell lifeless from the warlock's grip.
"You IDIOT!" I screamed as my body charged by itself, fist ready with rage. That he looked traumatized and out of energy didn't stop me, as it would have usually – it was my turn to refuse to speak.
I'm pretty sure he wasn't fighting back much though I didn't care to notice. Casavir was the one who finally gripped me so I would stop. But I freed myself and punched him as well. I wasn't controlling myself at all, till Zhjaeve's voice called my name. It worked like magic, for I fell on the ground, and fainted.
When I woke up, I was at Sal's inn in my keep. Ammon Jerro had teleported us with what was left of his devilish powers – he was back to a more conventional warlock.
After remembering the events, I excused my self to Casavir for his swollen nose. Knowing my lately boiling attitude, Zhjaeve explained quickly why Ammon was with us. It seemed Ammon was the one who had done the last ritual of purification – in another way, we needed him to stop the king of shadow.
"You?" My eyes creased. "You are the one who fought against that fanatic in my village? All of this is because you failed? Great… now I have more than one reason to send you to hell…" If Ammon had the "killing stare" spell, he would have surely used it on me at that moment.
I breathed deeply to calm a little, for my rage wasn't helpful in that kind of situation. I tried to put myself in his position in order to understand him, though I didn't want to. "Must be difficult… to be on the same quest for so long…" I spoke mostly to myself, but Ammon was listening. "To kill your own without knowing… must be quite heavy… and why would I succeed where he failed?" I shook my head and looked at everyone around. "Take the time you want to relax. I'm off."
I was about to leave the inn and retire in my room for a shower, time alone and especially, to light a candle for Mystra, when Sir Neval appeared at the inn's entrance. He asked me to follow him to the Neverwinter's castle immediately.
I felt the urge to slap him, but the poor man wasn't responsible for what was happening and was just following orders. I followed him alone.
When we arrived, Neval explained lord Nasher wanted to name me Knight Captain for all the services I had done for Neverwinter. "And that couldn't wait?" I thought.
The ground under us shook and we heard people yelling. The castle was under attack, and of course, lord Nasher in danger. "Not again!"
As usual, I was sent on a rescue mission – under the castle this time – to reach the throne room and help the lord. After meeting some talking statues and fighting with spirits, I arrived at destination. I found lord Nasher fighting against the same shadow minions I had seen so many times. It wasn't difficult to help him finish them off.
My dubbing was done quickly, around shadow dust, blood and dirt. I gave my loyalty to Neverwinter mostly because I had fallen to defend West Harbor, and needed to fill patch my internal wound somehow. I did care for Neverwinter though – the city was gorgeous and people were… well, people, as everywhere.
I returned to my keep dirtier than ever, tired, hungry and especially brain dead. I cursed at everything whenever I thought about Shandra, Amy or Daeghun. "Why the hell does it have to be like this?" Someone had to pay. Someone, as in "King of Shadow"!
