(Author's note: This chapter is meant to reinforce Bishop and Casavir's relationship as something other than romantic rivals, more like an older brother meeting a new lover or something similar. So, if it seems light, my apologies, but since there's no competition, it's supposed to be! Enjoy! Thanks to Sticksie and Cro-Magnon for all their help!)
"Why are we here, exactly?" Bishop whined as they watched Cari polish her katanas with oil, chatting animatedly with Shandra.
"We're keeping an eye on things, Bishop," Casavir groaned, doubting his decision to bring the ranger along. The two men were crouched on the other side of a small hill, weapons at hand, keeping an eye on Cari's camp. "Cari attracts more trouble than any women I've ever met."
"Nothing seems to be wrong," Bishop muttered, "Well, other than she's here and not in my bed."
Casavir sighed in frustration.
"Gods, Bishop, I've served with men that hadn't touched a woman in a couple years, and you're complaining about a couple hours? Are you that insatiable?"
"They never bedded Cari."
Casavir glared at him. "What does that have to do with anything?"
Bishop chuckled suggestively. "Well, they don't know what she can do with her-"
"Stop, stop! Gods, you are talking about a friend of mine!" Casavir said in distaste, "So please, don't finish that sentence."
"Why not?" Bishop teased, "Are you jealous?"
"By Tyr no, just afraid of seeing my dinner again," Casavir shot back, "Besides, she's far too young for me. I won't deny she's an interesting woman, but it would be like bedding my sister."
"You have a sister?"
Casavir shook his head in disbelief.
"No, it's just an expression," he said, exasperated, "But Cari is the closest thing I've ever had to a sister."
"So what?"
Casavir groaned. "It means I'm not ever going to see her as a lover and she won't see me as one either. That also means you can stop getting on your guard while I'm around, all right? Because it gets very tiresome, very quickly," he paused, "And she wouldn't want to mess things up anyway."
"Mess things up? What do you mean?"
"With you."
"Why would she care about messing things up with me?"
Casavir groaned again, gently massaging his temples with his fingertips.
"I gather you didn't talk to her much before the githyanki attack?"
"We had a few talks, but it's not like we sat in front of a fire and related our pasts to the other," Bishop shrugged, confused.
"I figured, but every time I saw you two talking you were always so physically close to each other. Cari was very interested in you."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"It just showed you were attracted to each other. At least, that's what I saw."
"How could you tell?" Bishop asked, bemused.
"It could have been the way Cari straddled the bench to face you… or it could have been the way you fingered that buckle on her bracer, the one she wears on her left arm, the arm she rests on the table when she drinks – don't look at me like that, I often keep a close eye on her - and did you know that you play with your stubble when you talk to her?"
"What? Exactly how long have you been watching me, paladin?"
"Not you, her, and she just happened to be talking to you at the time," Casavir grinned triumphantly, "And you do run your finger along your stubble when you're talking to her. Khelgar noticed it too."
"The dwarf was watching me too? Hells, that's disturbing."
"No! We were watching her to make sure she was all right, not you. She seems to be fine, other than she's been accused of mass murder by Luskan. And that she's got a part of a sword embedded in her chest. And that she's becoming a squire, despite what she wants-"
"I get it, pally, I get it, all right?"
"Good, because you need to understand something else," Casavir said sternly, "I won't have you hurting her either, understood? She has friends here, friends who would do anything for her, as she would for us."
"Yeah," Bishop mumbled, watching as Shandra disappeared into the shadows, "Although if Shandra keeps following Cari around I may have to have a word with her too."
"Gods, you're frustrating," Casavir moaned to the heavens. "I'm sure Cari will be happy to spend some time with you when she gets back, but by Tyr, you're like a he-wolf in mating season."
"You would be too, if you saw what her-"
"Not another word, Bishop," Casavir exclaimed in revulsion, "Please, lest my dinner revisit me."
"Suit yourself," Bishop shrugged, "You know who annoys me though?"
"Let me guess… hmm, everyone?"
"Oh, ha-ha, paladin, very funny. No, I was actually thinking of Nevalle."
"Ah yes, Sir Nevalle, the glorious Captain of the Neverwinter Nine," Casavir said bitterly, shaking his head as he watched Cari pull a brush out of her bag and gently stroke it through her hair. "Doesn't she know she needs to keep her hair back at all times?"
"She does know to keep it back," Bishop snapped, "What were you saying about Nevalle?"
"I think that he's-"
"Wait, what's that?" Bishop interrupted, narrowing his eyes.
"What?" Casavir asked, squinting in an attempt to see in the darkness.
"That," Bishop snapped, pointing.
Casavir gasped as a tall, powerfully built man stepped out of the shadows, flanked by two hulking half-orcs. They wore strange armor and carried unusual weapons, the blades no doubt dripping with poison.
"We have to help her," Bishop snarled, grabbing his bow and rising from their hiding spot, "They're Luskans, they'll tear her apart."
"Get down!" Casavir growled, yanking Bishop back down. "I don't want to rush in unless we have to. Otherwise, Cari may end up fatally distracted."
"Good point," Bishop grumbled as he watched Cari rise to her feet, her curtain of hair gleaming in the moonlight. "But you can't expect me to just sit here!"
"I do and you must. If it appears as if she's outmatched, we'll rush in. Agreed?"
"Yeah," Bishop muttered, his heart beating against his chest as Cari arched an eyebrow at the intruders, a murderous smile on her face.
"I'm glad you're here. I was getting bored," she sneered.
The leader smiled cruelly. "Excellent, let the entertainment begin!"
Bishop lunged again, bow in hand, grunting as Casavir pinned him down once more. He watched closely as Cari spun gracefully, her hair flying about her as she drove her swords into the chest of one of the half-orcs, her teeth set in a grimace as she twisted the steel, destroying his heart. He shook Casavir loose, drawing an arrow from his quiver as he stood up, grinning cruelly as it found its mark in the skull of the other half-orc, who fell to the ground.
Cari gasped and Casavir swore loudly, snarling as the final assassin caught her off-guard; Cari had to dive to the ground to avoid his blade. Bishop moved quickly; he drew another arrow and sank it deep into the chest of the remaining Luskan, his movements swift and deliberate. He plunged a second arrow into the assassin's neck as Cari leapt back to her feet, slitting the man's throat as he fell. She spun around, her eyes blazing with fury.
"What are you doing here?" she cried, indignantly, as Bishop ran towards her, Casavir close on his heels, "How long have you been here? Why are you-?"
She gasped as Bishop pulled her into an embrace, capturing her lips and kissing her passionately, Casavir groaning in distaste behind them.
"Don't do that again," Cari managed, ardent kisses making every other word a gasp, "I can handle things on my own."
"Sure you can," Bishop murmured, breathless in return, "Even though we just saved your life."
"We have no time for this," Casavir snapped, grabbing Bishop by the shoulders, "I hear Edmund's horse."
"Shove off, pally," Bishop snarled, kissing along Cari's jaw.
"Say that again and I'll smite you without a second thought," Casavir growled, jerking Bishop away, "You can do this back in the Flagon. Now, let's go!"
"Thank you!" Cari yelled as the men ran away into the darkness, her heart pounding pleasantly against her chest.
Well, I enjoyed that little diversion.
"So, do you dislike men in general, or was it just these particular louts?" Edmund said minutes later, intrigued, prodding one of the corpses with his toe.
"They thought me a farm girl," Cari smirked, "And asked to spend the night."
"I'm sure," he drawled, "I will not ask where the arrows came from. But I will warn you that you need to be more careful, all right? A lot of people want you dead, and I wouldn't want to see that happen. Now, are you ready to go and rub it in that Luskan wench's face?"
"For a moment it sounded like you cared," Cari smiled as Edmund pulled her onto the horse behind him.
"Well, it wouldn't do for my first squire to die, now would it?" he said awkwardly as they rode back to Neverwinter, "I mean, what would I say at your funeral?"
"That I can magically produce arrows from my-"
"How about not?" Edmund laughed. "Anyway, just, be careful, all right?"
"All right, all right, I will. Though people do tend to try to kill me when I'm just sitting around innocently, you know."
"I meant to ask you," Edmund inquired an hour later, helping her back to the ground as Neverwinter Castle loomed above them, "How did you fight them off?"
"That would involve explaining the arrows then, wouldn't it?" Cari grinned.
"I suppose it would. Though, I must say that young ranger friend of yours is a much better shot than I ever was. Shall we, squire?" Edmund asked, offering her his arm.
Cari stared at him, shocked.
"Of course, my most noble and chivalrous knight," she chuckled, looping her arm through his, "But how did you know?"
"Don't forget... I certainly didn't spend my vigil alone," Edmund winked, "And I remember how he looked at you when you first came to me."
"How did he look at me? And why am I picturing a ravenous wolf looking at a doe?"
Edmund laughed loudly, drawing offended stares from the palace guards.
"Well, interesting descriptions aside, he couldn't take his eyes off you, squire. Come, let us relish our small victory today."
Small victory, huh? Cari thought as they swept into Nasher's chambers. She smiled to herself, thinking of the way Bishop touched her earlier, his kiss hungry, as if he couldn't get enough of her.
Small victory indeed.