The Adventures of the Blade and the Ballad
Episode Three: Rope, Whip, Iron Chain
By Berzerker_prime
Summary: Set between Elfshadow and The Bargain. Arilyn and Danilo accept their first mission as full-fledged Harpers; to investigate a series of disappearances tied to a slavers' ring out of the mysterious Skullport. But when they find at its core a group of the Eldreth Veluuthra, they find themselves becoming the hunted.
Notes for Episode Three: This episode was originally quite a bit more violent than what turned out here. But after the massive amount of crap I've already put Dan through in the previous episodes, I decided it was time to be a little less mean. The fact that I count this as "less mean" probably says something about me that I don't care to think about. What can I say? This was the plot bunny that started gnawing away and wouldn't leave me alone.
I'm also engaging in a little bit of self-indulgence with this chapter. Some of the characters were NPCs in a Forgotten Realms D&D campaign that my gaming group ran for several years. As Songs and Swords is set a few years before that campaign, I decided to explore a little bit about the backgrounds of some of those NPCs. I hope it won't be too intrusive. Special thanks to my GM, Bob-san, for making up the characters in the first place.
This episode is mainly character and relationship development for our two favorite heroes. I also wanted to have them going on a mission for Khelben and the Harpers, so I figured what better one than their first?
Enjoy! Sweet water to you!
The sun was high in the sky and a breeze was gently blowing across the grasses near the road. Almost as if in answer to the breeze – though some might say in defiance of it – a lute sounded a chorus of notes.
Danilo Thann sat leaning against the trunk of a large tree near the side of the road which ran north of Waterdeep, absently plucking the strings of his instrument, his mind wandering. Almost constantly, now, his eyes were on the portion of the road that led further north, waiting to see a lone figure traveling toward the City of Splendors.
Arilyn had only been gone for a month, seeing to some business in Silverymoon. But Danilo had found that after only a week he had grown weary of her absence. He wasn't entirely certain what it was about the half elf that so fascinated him. Perhaps it was her remarkable sword; Arilyn was the only half-elf ever to successfully claim a Moonblade, after all. Or perhaps it was the way she had so easily seen through his foppish persona when so many others had dismissed it entirely. Or maybe it was her gorgeous black hair and her exotic blue eyes.
Probably.
A tune had presented itself, working its way through Dan's fingers and out through the strings of the lute. He listened to it for a moment and suddenly a poem he had written some time prior came to mind. He combined the two and tried it out as a song.
Now here is a tale that's good for a laugh,
A tale of a sorcerer and his long staff.
He bought it as wood and then when he grew old,
He set about soundly to plate it with gold.
The tune worked well with the poem, a ribald, bawdy thing written in common meter with just a little more than a bit of innuendo. Dan liked the sound of it and found himself singing more of the song, progressively louder and with more bravado.
He set it with stones that shone like the moon,
In hopes that its power would rise very soon.
He masterfully polished its round, bulbous top,
And oh so carefully would n'er let it drop.
The sorcerer carried it where ever he went,
Its power seemed endless, its magic n'er- eerrkk!
Hands were suddenly on his throat, reaching around the tree from somewhere behind. They weren't squeezing, at least not yet. Clearly, it was a threat rather than an attack. Dan's back went ramrod straight and stiff and he held as still as possible.
"Must you?" came an accompanying voice, dripping with exasperation and, Dan thought he heard, a hint of amusement.
"Skulking again?" he asked breathing a sigh of relief as the hands disappeared and Arilyn came out of her hiding place.
"You really should be more attentive when you're out here alone," she scolded, "I could have been a highwayman."
"Well," said Danilo as he rose to his feet and began to gather up his lute and his cloak, "at least you would be one with good taste. And considerable more skill than your average highwayman, I might add."
"Flattery will earn you no extra points," Arilyn said with a laugh.
"Ah! So you admit that I'm incredibly charming!"
"Don't push it. What are you doing out here, waiting for me, anyway? I thought we were going to meet at the Dripping Dagger."
"I'd like to be able to say that it's because I simply couldn't wait another moment to set my eyes upon your beauty," said Dan, "but that is only partially true. Uncle Khelben sent me to fetch you. He wants to see us right away, as soon as you get back to Waterdeep. No delays."
"That urgent, huh?" she mused. "Whatever it is, it can't be good."
"That was what I thought."
Arilyn sighed and her shoulders dropped. "I knew I should have spent another day in Silverymoon."
Tharleon Street was busy during that time of day. As Danilo and Arilyn walked down it, westward, they passed many a merchant or consumer hurrying their way to or from the expansive Market that lied between Trader's Way and Bazaar Street. Beyond, the imposing Blackstaff Tower loomed on the horizon above all the buildings. Danilo led the way through the cacophony of well-to-do Castle Ward dwellers and turned north-west on to Swords Street as Blackstaff Tower came into full view. It distinguished itself from the surrounding buildings by looking at least ten times as imposing. Made of dark stone and sporting no visible entrances or exits, it was surrounded by a wall nearly a story and a half tall.
Danilo, as one of Khelben's students, had been granted the secret of entry into Blackstaff Tower. There was a certain spot on the wall that was specially warded to admit entry to a select few individuals. Dan made his way directly toward it, never breaking pace nor slowing.
The reward for his confidence was a sharp impact against hard stone. He muttered a swear under his breath, rubbing his nose and hearing a short snicker from Arilyn.
"I swear he moves the blasted thing," he said to her, sourly, as he gently pressed against the stone wall, feeling for the entrance.
Rolling her eyes skyward, Arilyn leaned against the wall to watch as Dan pushed against it, working his way back toward her. She couldn't suppress a smirk as she watched.
Dan gave a pause and looked up at her. "What?" he asked around an exasperated sigh.
"I didn't say anything," she replied, throwing her hands up in a gesture of innocence.
Danilo moved to lean against the wall, placing his hand just next to Arilyn's head. "Well, I'd like to see you find-"
Just as his hand met the surface of the wall and he applied pressure to it, Danilo found himself falling inward and tumbling to the ground just inside the wall.
"Oh look! I found it!" he heard Arilyn's sarcastic voice from the other side.
Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Danilo picked himself up off the ground and thrust a hand back through the magical entrance. "C'mon!" he said sourly, pulling on one of Arilyn's shoulders. She passed through the opening as if there was no wall and gave Dan a grin.
Together, they walked through the comparatively quiet courtyard of Blackstaff Tower and entered the tower itself through a set of large, wooden, double doors. Standing there in the foyer, waiting for them, was the Blackstaff himself, Khelben Arunson.
"I was just coming to let you in," he said.
And thus was the wounding of Danilo's pride complete.
"Really, uncle, is an invisible door truly necessary?" Danilo asked, scrubbing his face with a hand.
"Yes," said Khelben, "come along, both of you. We have business to attend to." He turned and made his way toward one of the parlors off the main foyer.
"At least you can get through the ward," Arilyn whispered to Danilo as they followed.
"He's my uncle!" Danilo shot back.
"And you're a full-fledged Harper," Arilyn said around a sigh, "me, I'm just a crony they're not sure they can entirely trust."
They crossed through a threshold into the parlor. It was lit by a number of sconces on the walls and candelabra on tables. Instead of flame, however, they each held a small, permanent light spell, giving the room a bit of an ethereal feel. Several plush chairs were scattered about, richly carved tables set between them. There were no windows in the room, making the presence of curtains unnecessary, but the tapestries served to cover the cold stone of the walls well. Danilo had been left alone in the room, many a time, to wait with nothing but these tapestries to stare at and study. There were times he could swear that the images woven into them moved.
"Have patience, my dear," Danilo replied, his tone softening at the sound of Arilyn's frustration, "I understand that Bran Skorlsun's name carries quite a bit of weight at Twilight Hall. I'm certain he'll come through any day, now."
"That day being today," Khelben broke in on the conversation as he picked up a scroll from a nearby table. He handed it to Arilyn. She unfurled it as Khelben continued. "As of today, you are Arilyn Moonblade, Harper Scout. Though I do not advise you simply go around introducing yourself as such."
"Naturally," Arilyn said absently as she looked over the scroll. It was the official proclamation that named her a Harper. All of the Harpers of Twilight Hall had affixed their signature to it, her father included. Khelben's sigil also featured quite prominently.
"I'm told that Bran already gave you his Harper pin, so there is no need to give you a new one," Khelben continued, beginning to pace about the room.
Danilo lighted in the nearest seat and tossed off a grin to Arilyn, then watched the old wizard.
"I want you to know that we have the utmost trust in you," Khelben went on, "however, I feel it necessary to emphasize the need for care. While the existence of the Harpers is well known across Faerûn, its membership remains a guarded secret, for the most part. It allows us to act in situations and places where we might not otherwise be able to do so."
"Of course," Arilyn answered.
Danilo's attention was now fully on Khelben. This was a tone of voice he knew well; the lecturing old teacher giving instructions to an errant student. He had used it many a time when speaking to Danilo, but he had never heard Khelben address Arilyn using it.
Khelben wasn't speaking to Arilyn.
Danilo sat up and rested his elbows on his knees. Folding his hands, he rested his chin on his knuckles and set his uncle with that look that said he was unhappy with what the archmage was doing. He thought that he saw Khelben cast a hard look back in his direction.
"Naturally, one must take care not to rush in to a situation, even if your actions would bring about good in the end," Khelben lectured on, "the Harpers exist to bring order to the chaos that roams the land, not simply to do good. Order, ultimately, will bring about the most good."
"As you would expect," Arilyn said, carefully, starting to get the impression that something else was going on with this speech.
Arilyn's discomfort with the situation was the final straw for Dan. He rose to his feet. "I hate to break your rhythm, uncle," he said, "but Arilyn has journeyed quite far today. I'm sure she's quite tired. If this is all..."
"It isn't," Khelben said, sticking Dan with an irate glare, "since you are both, now, officially on the rolls as Harpers, it's about time you had your first mission."
"Right now?" Danilo asked, almost incredulously.
"I don't believe the possibility of a slaver's ring operating within Waterdeep is anything to put off to later, Danilo. Wouldn't you agree?"
"Isn't slavery illegal in Waterdeep?" Arilyn asked.
"Yes," Danilo said, sobering slightly, his irritation cooling, "any slave owner who brings their slave inside the city sets that slave free. Slave trade is strictly disallowed. And it's a repugnant practice, besides."
"Then, I assume you will have no objections to the assignment," said Khelben.
Danilo sputtered for a choice word to give his uncle; one that would manage to get his point across without getting him turned into stone or a frog or a badger. Khelben was pulling Danilo's strings and he didn't appreciate it one bit.
Arilyn, however, put a hand on his arm, silencing him. She spoke before Danilo could say anything. "Of course," she said, "where do we start?"
Khelben nodded at her approvingly, pointedly ignoring Danilo's roll of the eyes. "Dock Ward," he said, "this came to our attention when an assistant to the owner of the Ship's Prow went missing. In searching for the lad, he spread the word and came to learn that several others in the area have gone missing as well; mostly vagabonds and young street children."
"Why is a slaver's ring suspected?" Danilo asked, giving in to the inevitable and his temper cooling further at the mention of the missing children, besides.
"Someone informed the owner of the Ship's Prow that they saw a cloaked figure lowering a large bundle, one large enough to be a small person, into a local well. The well leads directly down to one of the lower parts of the Waterdeep sewers."
"Undermountain," Danilo realized.
"Skullport," Arilyn said, her jaw set.
"Precisely," Khelben stated, "the most active center of slave-trade in the region, above or below the surface of Faerûn. And a hotbed of activity for the Zhentarim as well."
"Uncle, you're not sending us into the heart of Zhentarim territory on our first mission!" Danilo exclaimed.
"No," Khelben answered, holding up a hand as if to calm a wild animal, "in fact, if your investigations lead to Skullport, you two are not to pursue them yourselves. Report your findings to me and I will see that it is taken care of. This mission is largely for you to confirm what we have already heard and gather more information. If it leads to the Zhentarim, your involvement will end. If not, you are free to follow your leads and do what you can to put an end to it in whatever way seems best to you."
"That's a great deal of latitude," said Dan, crossing his arms over his chest and eyeing Khelben carefully, "you're not worried we'll let our passions guide us and do something impulsive, chaotic, and reckless?"
"Danilo, even you couldn't be so reckless as to create an impenetrable mess out of this situation that the Harpers are unable to clean up," the archmage replied, then went on before Dan could shoot a retort back, "start in the Dock Ward with the owner of the Ship's Prow. He can give you detailed information." With that, he headed toward the doorway and the foyer, off to another task. "And... be careful out there," he added, rather quietly, as he passed through and disappeared around the doorframe.
Danilo and Arilyn were left alone in the parlor and neither of them said anything nor moved for several moments. Dan stared at the space that his uncle had just vacated, several emotions conflicting within him; anger at being manipulated, sympathy for the missing victims, respect for the fact that the archmage saw fit to do something about it, and even that underlying undeniable feeling of...
Arilyn put a sympathetic hand on Dan's shoulder and cocked her head toward the door. Danilo nodded in agreement and they both departed.
They spent the remainder of the afternoon at Danilo's rowhouse, going over plans and ideas and enjoying a warm meal. Though they talked for hours, their conversation largely moved in circles as they tried to come to an agreement on how to handle the situation. One or both of them always seemed to have a reason why they were unable to tackle an element of their plans the way they surmised. At the end of the afternoon, as the sun began to set and the hour they were to begin neared, they found that their only clear path was to go and speak with the owner of the Ship's Prow.
So it was that the two of them found themselves in Dock Ward after daylight hours, moving through the Waterdhavian streets and dodging dock workers and sea-farers of varying quality as they went.
The Ship's Prow Inn occupied a prominent spot where Fish Street and Ship Street met. The place was aptly named, having once been the front hull of a large, wooden, sailing ship. Rising four stories from the ground, the inn looked for all the world as if it was sailing the solid stone-paved streets of the city. Time had washed the boards of the Ship's Prow to an almost shining silver, making it even more of a beacon on the dark streets.
Dan's nose wrinkled involuntarily as he caught a particularly pungent whiff of the Dock Ward air. Old fish, sewage, and other even less pleasant odors mingled in the stagnant air. He cast his gaze about, wondering where this latest dose of stink had come from, and came to the conclusion that it could have been any one of the numerous denizens wandering past. His money was on the staggeringly-drunk fellow retching near a rubbish pile. Luckily, he didn't have to put up with the smell for too long, since he and Arilyn passed through the door into the Ship's Prow.
Almost immediately as they entered, they came to a long counter and were met by a large, one-eyed, and silver-bearded old man. A black leather eye patch was over his left eye, hiding the majority of a rather unsightly and jagged scar.
"You Jhambrote Harkhardest?" Arilyn asked, taking the lead as they approached the hold man.
"That's me," the old man answered, "owner an' propri'ter of the Ship's Prow. How can I be helpin' you this evenin' miss? Master?" He cast a genial glance in turn to each of them.
Danilo glanced across the foyer into the common room and noted a number of folk mingling there. He decided that it was best to try and keep attention away from their line of questions.
"I wondered if I might play for your common room," Danilo said, bringing his lute to bear.
Jhambrote fixed his one eye on Dan and looked him up and down. "Yer a Thann, ain't ya?"
"Why, yes," Dan answered.
The inn-keeper looked at him again, hard, as if studying him, for another long moment. Careful to keep a vapid look on his own face, Danilo sized up Jhambrote as well. The inn-keeper had a small hand axe on his belt and for an instant, Dan thought he saw an eye wink open and shut. It nearly made him jump.
"Well," Jhambrote finally said with a laugh, "lookin' ta sing a song that they wouldn't approve of up in Castle Ward, 'eh?"
"Something like that," Dan answered in kind.
"Ah, g'won," said Jhambrote, "have at it. Oughtta be good."
"Thank you, my good man!" Danilo said, moving off into the common room. "You won't regret it!"
"I will," Arilyn muttered, leaning an elbow on the counter behind which Jhambrote was standing.
"Everyone's a critic," Dan tossed back at her with a wink, then turned his attention to the people gathered in the common room. He strummed a chord on his lute as he strolled across the room, adding at the end of it a flourish of notes until he was certain he had the attention of everyone there. Even the cat that was sitting on the window sill turned its attention to him. "Good masters! A few moments of your time and I shall tell you a tale! This is the Song of the Sorcerer's Staff. And believe me, when I say that it isn't as long as you might think."
There were a few short chuckles and several of the patrons gave a whoop of delight. Danilo cast one quick glance at Arilyn and noticed that she was in deep, serious conversation with Jhambrote, now, taking advantage of Danilo's distraction. For a moment, he marveled at how easily she had picked up on his plan.
Danilo began with a long, stylized version of the tune, giving a decent introduction to which his audience began to clap their hands and stomp their feet. He picked up the pace just a bit, adding more energy to it, before beginning.
Now here is a tale that's good for a laugh,
A tale of a sorcerer and his long staff.
He bought it as wood and then when he grew old,
He set about soundly to plate it with gold.
He set it with stones that shone like the moon,
In hopes that its power would rise very soon.
He masterfully polished its round, bulbous top,
And oh so carefully would n'er let it drop.
The sorcerer carried it where ever he went,
Its power seemed endless, its magic n'er spent.
The top it would glisten like water on glass,
When e're the old sorcerer did see a fine lass.
The crowd, which was mostly comprised of old, sea-weary sailors and rough young men, was really getting into the song, now. Whoops of delight and lewd comments rose up from them at random intervals. Clearly, most of them had not seen a woman in quite some time and had only the one thing on their minds. It was just what Dan was hoping for. They were hanging on his every word, now, waiting to hear the juicy parts of the tale. He added in a verse of instrumental playing in order to build up tension and keep their attention upon him.
Till one day an object came to his town
That rivaled the beauty of the staff's golden crown.
A statue of a fine winged maiden so fair,
So light and so lifelike she danced through the air.
The sorcerer knew that all who lived there,
Now spoke of the maiden instead of his 'ware.
And, truth be told, he thought her fair, too,
More fair than his staff and that just wouldn't do.
Old sorcerer thought to make her less known
For her beauty and honor, this maiden of stone.
One night he searched and he found the right place
To thrust in his staff, tumble her to her face.
Several cat-calls came from the crowd, now. Obviously, that was the part they had been waiting for. He added in some more color, ad-libbing a bridge between the verses.
Now the maiden was heavy despite her light air,
But the sorcerer pushed and he pushed without care.
Till finally his rage gathered all in one kick
And he shattered to pieces his fine golden stick.
A raucous laugh erupted from the crowd and several of them pounded their tankards on their tables in front of them. But they could all still sense that the punch line was still forth-coming. With another flourish of notes, Danilo changed keys a step up.
The maiden still stood with a grin in her eyes,
While old sorcerer wept for his great staff's demise.
He mournfully gathered the pieces in hand,
Tried to put them together, but n'er did they stand.
At last he buried them away in his land,
And looked not upon them, held not in his hand.
He never returned to the small sleepy town,
For never could he stand to be seen so struck down.
But the maiden still stands on her feet to this day,
And her twinkling eyes still dance and still say
"old man, you are foolish for any can see
your staff is much older and weaker than me!"
As the crowd cheered and crowed their delight, Danilo added another verse-worth of flourish as an end-cap. When he finally finished, the crowd pounded their tankards and stomped their feet. Someone handed Danilo a mug of cool water that smelled faintly of mint and he took a pull from it gratefully.
He cast another glance over at Arilyn. She was still in conversation with Jhambrote, but she had paused to send a frustrated glare his way. It looked to Danilo as if she needed more time, so he pushed his own thoughts aside, struck another chord on his lute, and began another performance.
It was nearly an hour later when Danilo was finally able to end his time in the common room of the Ship's Prow graciously. It had only taken Arilyn half that time to gather the information they needed from Jhambrote and she had spent the rest of the time giving Danilo disapproving looks from the back of the room. Now, as they made their way toward a Harper safe house in the ward, Arilyn took the lead, refused to meet Danilo's gaze, and hardly said three words.
"Oh, come now!" Danilo exclaimed when he could stand it no longer. "I wasn't that bad, was I?"
"No, you're better than that," she said.
Danilo skipped ahead, trying to bring himself into step at Arilyn's side. She picked up her pace a bit and he was forced to do the same to keep up. "What does that mean?" When she didn't reply, he pressed. "Arilyn!"
She stopped short and whirled on him. "I've heard you play," she said, "for real, I mean. You write some fantastic music, pieces that can really move people. But any two-bit, taproom crooner can write songs like the ones you perform."
"Those pieces aren't ready yet and-"
"Oh, that's a likely story," Arilyn cut in sarcastically, whirling away from him and heading toward a non-descript door with a wooden sign hanging over it. The sign proclaimed the place to be the Amethyst Wand Magic Shop and was emblazoned with a stylized rune. The word "refuge" pushed its way into Danilo's mind and he realized it was a Harper rune. This was the place they were heading toward. Arilyn produced a key and opened the door and they both slipped inside.
"It happens to be the truth," Danilo said, defensively as he closed and locked the door behind them. He heard Arilyn easily moving around in the darkness, her low-light vision leading her to a lantern. She struck a sparker and it sprang to life, illuminating the room.
"How would I ever be able to tell?" Arilyn shot back at him.
"That isn't fair, Arilyn. You're my partner. One could, perhaps, assume that I'm not lying to you, as a professional courtesy if not out of respect for... oh, what was that, again? That thing? Oh yes! I remember! Our friendship!"
Arilyn crossed her arms over her chest and fixed him with a glare. "Is that what you call leering at my hips constantly?"
In frustration, Danilo slammed his lute into a nearby, careworn stuffed chair. The strings hummed, discordantly, with the soft impact and Danilo turned away from it, massaging the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. Turning away from her, he closed his eyes and stood in silence, trying to cool that confounding anger that was rising again.
"Danilo," Arilyn said in a much softer tone, after a long set of silent moments, "I didn't mean-"
"Let's just concentrate on what we need to do," said Danilo, running a hand through his hair. Without meeting her gaze, he went over to the table where the lamp was and grabbed the sparker. He moved from place to place, lighting a series of beeswax candles. "What did you learn from Jhambrote?"
"Aside from the fact that his inn has far too many cats," she replied, "not much that we didn't already know. His assistant is a fifteen-year-old boy named Jacith. Lives with his mother and father in a flat on Presper Street. Jhambrote said he hadn't had as good a worker as him for years; a good, honest kid. The cats even like him. So, when Jacith went missing Jhambrote started asking around, helping the parents try to find him. When word got out that he was looking into the disappearance, other people started coming to him, looking for information about others who are missing. Eight people in all, and every one of them was last seen somewhere between Presper Street and Fish Street."
Danilo set aside the sparker and leaned on the edge of one of the tables. "Sounds like the slavers have a certain area they like to work in," he said thoughtfully.
Arilyn nodded. "Yeah. One where there are a lot of vagabonds and drunkards and people who won't care if some of them go missing. Though, apparently, someone does care because Jhambrote heard of a number of scuffles happening in a place called Twoflask Alley right before some of the disappearances."
"Twoflask Alley, you say?"
"That's right."
Danilo sighed. "I am, officially, not drunk enough for this, then," he said.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Arilyn asked, some of the edge coming back to her voice.
"My dear, there is a reason it is called that," Dan answered, "because you have to have gone through two flasks to have the courage to walk down it at night."
"Lovely," Arilyn groused, "and since we don't have much to go on, we'll need to stake it out."
"So it would appear," said Danilo, taking one of the candles in hand, holding it by the brass, scrolled holder it was sitting in, "and while you're hiding in the shadows, I'll need to hide in plain sight." He went over to another door, opposite the one they had come in and opened it.
"How do you intend to do that?" Arilyn asked, just before he went through it into the small room beyond. "You don't exactly look like a street rat."
"By doing what I apparently do best," Danilo answered, surprised at the edge in his voice. "By lying and scheming and pretending to be something that I'm not."
"Danilo, I was going to say-"
He couldn't bring himself to listen to the rest of Arilyn's sentence. He closed the door behind himself and set the candle down on a small chest of drawers nearby. Silently, he leaned against the door and slouched back, putting a hand to his forehead, his other arm wrapping around his stomach. He sighed heavily but shakily. Briefly, as a puzzling but silent sob escaped his throat, he pondered collapsing to the floor altogether and giving into the frustration that was plaguing him. His mind was running in frantic circles, screaming at him that things weren't supposed to be this way; not with Arilyn. For one moment, it conjured up the wish that she had never seen through his façade, had never found out who he really was; that things would be so much easier that way. But immediately after that came the overwhelming protest that, no, that would be even worse.
Things had been much the same way between them just before Arilyn had left on her errand to the north. Danilo had hoped that the time away from each other would give them both a chance to cool off and get used to the idea of their friendship without the other one ever-present. But now that Arilyn was back in his orbit, it was as if nothing had changed. The verbal sparring matches were even worse than they were before, in fact. No one had ever made him so simultaneously angry and happy than Arilyn did.
Rather than spiral into an evening-long analysis of this strange contradiction, Danilo shook himself out of his thoughts. He crossed the room to a large chest and lifted the lid. Inside was a stack of worn, woolen clothes. If he was going to fit in at Twoflask Alley, he would have to look the part.
If there was a darker, more unpleasant part of Waterdeep, Danilo guessed it had to be in the sewers. Twoflask Alley was a cramped, claustrophobic little section of road that wound around back upon itself. It was damp and cold and stunk of rubbish heaps and worse. There were a few people scattered about, crumpled up in tiny little spaces that offered shelter from the night; a hole within a pile of crates, a cramped space between two buildings.
Danilo had chosen a space near the spot where the alley looped back and crossed itself to take up residence and do his best to imitate a small, huddled mass of rags. He kept the hood of the scratchy and threadbare wool cloak pulled just low enough to keep what little light there was off his face but so that he could still see out. Every once in a while, he would pretend to take a drink from the non-descript bottle he held in hand. Sometimes he actually did take a drink, sending a warm sensation down into his belly and warding off the damp chill of his surroundings.
He knew that Arilyn was somewhere close, in the shadows, keeping watch on him and on the alley at large. That knowledge was the only thing that gave him enough determination to stay where he was. Hours had passed already with no sign of activity from their alleged slavers. They were only a few hours to sunrise. Danilo wondered what they would do if nothing happened.
Just as he was thinking this, a young boy wandered into the alley. He was too well dressed to be a regular vagabond. Danilo guessed he was some sort of a runaway. Certainly, someone would miss him if he disappeared. Perhaps someone already was. The boy wandered down into the alley and found a place that he evidently thought was suitable to spend the night and settled in.
Danilo took a stiff dram from his bottle.
A number of others drifted in from Fish Street and from the next alley over. Suddenly, alarm bells went off in Danilo's head as he realized that there was a cloaked figure on each of the four branches of the alley. If this was it, there was no where for anyone within the crossroads to go, including both the boy and Danilo himself. Silently, he called to mind his spells. Two of the four figures were moving toward the boy and the other two slowly closed in on Danilo.
"Hey! Let go of me!" came a cry from down the alley. Danilo was in motion instantly, springing up to his feet and quickly moving through the somatic component of a spell. He directed it toward one of the shadowy figures that was now lunging toward him and it went off with a flash and a loud pop.
Danilo's assailant fell backward with an exclamation, covering his eyes. There was a flash of silver and Dan was suddenly dodging a blade. He danced past it and backed off, casting another spell as he did. A strong gust of wind knocked his second assailant back into the wall. Quickly, he cast a glance down toward the other end of the alley, where the boy was, and found Arilyn working her handiwork on the other two, her Moonblade glowing blue and dancing in the darkness.
The two figures who were upon him now recovered from their surprise. They regrouped and faced off with Danilo.
"This isn't your lucky night, I'm afraid," Danilo said to them, conjuring up a small fireball and holding it in hand for a moment before launching it at them. As they tried to dodge it, Dan called up another spell and cast it on the ground near them. Their steps faltered and they both slid back into the roaring flames. Danilo hopped to the side as they slid past him into the crossroads.
Meanwhile, Arilyn had plied her trade well and separated the other two cloaked figures from the boy, placing herself between them. Her adversaries, too, found themselves in the center of the crossroads and were dragging their compatriots to their feet.
"Rinin!" one of the cloaked figures shouted to the other three. All of them then began to edge toward the crosswise section of the street. Danilo caught Arilyn's eye and noted a certain amount of confusion there, but he didn't have time to ponder it as the slavers began to retreat down the crosswise loop of Twoflask Alley.
They went slowly at first, retreating backward step by step with Danilo and Arilyn following to match distance. Then, the slavers came to another alley, one that branched off of Twoflask to the north. The slavers broke into a run and disappeared around the corner.
"Itano fortigima!" Danilo shouted, snapping off a magic missile spell. It snaked around the corner and a moment later they heard a yelp. Arilyn was in motion at the same time, leading the charge after the slavers, Danilo only steps behind her.
They chased the slavers down the alley as it curved around. It wasn't long before they took another branch off to the left and before they knew it, they found themselves running after the slavers down Presper Street. They didn't run long, however, as they came to a small opening in the row of run-down townhouses. The first of the slavers, apparently the leader, motioned the other three into it, then began moving through a series of movements that Dan immediately recognized as the somatic components for a spell.
"Look out!" he shouted, shoving Arilyn aside just as a rolling ball of fire appeared and began to speed toward them. Feeling the intense heat of the magical fire as it passed, he shielded his eyes from it. A moment later, he felt Arilyn's hand on his, pulling it toward her and wrapping it around the hilt of the Moonblade. Instantly, the heat faded and he pushed away from Arilyn.
"Sorry," he said with a grin as the flames licked at them harmlessly, "reflex. Fire hot."
"They're getting away!" Arilyn exclaimed, rolling out from Danilo's protective stance and exiting the fire, pulling him with him by the hand that was holding the Moonblade.
As soon as they had exited the fire and Danilo once again had both hands free, he executed another spell. The fire flared for a moment, then moved toward the tiny passage the slavers had disappeared down. As he and Arilyn followed behind it, he caught sight of the slaver leader's astonished face, seeing his own flaming sphere come rolling after him.
"Counterspell!" Danilo said in a mocking, sing-song tone of voice as the panicked slaver hurried onward through the cramped space. Arilyn led the charge after the fire.
Just ahead of the fire, the slaver jutted to the side where the tiny alley opened up to a open area. Danilo sent the flaming sphere around the corner after him. Arilyn followed after it and Danilo was last into the space. As he rounded the corner, the fire erupted into steam with a hiss and disappeared into the obscuring mist that resulted.
There was a clang of metal on metal a moment later and the sound of splashing water, shallow and quick as if steps in a series of puddles.
As the steam cleared, Danilo found himself and Arilyn face to face with a large, barred opening into a tunnel that descended at a gentle slope into the darkness. Arilyn threw herself at it, grabbing the bars and pulling. It rattled, but didn't open. They could both still hear splashing footfalls fading into the distance and a putrid stench accompanied the sound.
"Sewers," Danilo said, "I was afraid it was going to come to this."
"Can you open it?" she asked him.
"Of course," he replied, lightly, moving through a cantrip absently, "prestidigitation is good for more than parlor tricks, after all." As he finished, there was a click from the lock and the gate swung open. Arilyn went inside and Danilo followed, as fast as he was able.
As he went, Dan fumbled with the opening of the magical bag of holding on his belt. First, he pulled out a piece of chalk, which he ran along the wall as they went, making a short mark. Second, he pulled out a small, magically glowing bracelet which he slipped on to his wrist. Its light illuminated the area around them. Dan kept making marks on the wall with the chalk as they continued deeper into the sewers.
Soon, they came to a four-way intersection. Each of the passages looked the same; dark, wet, cramped, and unpleasant.
"Which way?" Danilo asked.
"Quiet!" Arilyn hissed. "Listen."
There was silence for several moments. Danilo tried to peer down each of the passages in turn but saw nothing but black from each one.
Suddenly, the Moonblade flared to life in Arilyn's hand, glowing its warning blue. There was a chorus of twangs and a series of whistles as arrows began to fly through the air toward them. Arilyn pushed Danilo to the ground, then rolled into a crouch. Two of their assailants appeared out of the darkness, swinging swords at her. Pushing himself off the wet and stinking floor of the sewer, Danilo called to mind another spell, casting it as quickly and subtly as he dared. Then, he pitched his voice low and spoke.
"Halt, in the name of the Lords of Waterdeep and the Watch!" his voice echoed from somewhere behind the two sword-wielding slavers. Momentarily, they both turned, and Arilyn capitalized on the gaffe, smashing her hilt across both their heads. They both staggered back, reeling from the blow. The other two slavers came forward, entering the fray. Danilo lunged at the ankles of one of them, causing them both to tumble to the ground and the slaver's weapon to go clattering off, out of reach. Arilyn quickly became locked in combat with the other.
Danilo and the slaver wrestled back and forth, trying to pin the other. For a moment, Dan feared that he would be at a disadvantage, since he almost never fought that way. But as he and the slaver went back and forth, vying for purchase, it became clear that they were evenly matched. Dan's hand found a grip on the hood of the slaver's cloak and he pulled it back.
He was momentarily stunned by the sight. Staring back at him was the irate face of a moon elf, black hair tousled by the fight, grey eyes glaring in anger.
"N'Tel'Quess biir!" the elf exclaimed.
Before Danilo could recover from his surprise, the elf landed a kick to his stomach, finally pushing Dan away. The elf sprang to his feet and just as Danilo was moving forward to lunge at him again, he finished a spell of his own, setting it off inches away from Danilo's face.
All Danilo saw, then, was a bright flash and a dance of colored lights. The ground beneath him tipped and swayed and spots swirled before his eyes. He staggered backward and his back found the wall. He bounced off it, his legs giving way, and he tumbled to the floor, face-first. He heard voices and a myriad of sounds he couldn't identify through the sudden fog that had surrounded his senses. The next thing he could be certain of was Arilyn's voice, a solid surface at his back, and a hand shaking his shoulder.
"Danilo, are you all right?" she asked. He imagined a concerned look on her face, but try as he might he couldn't get his eyes to focus. "What was that?" she pressed.
"Color Spray," Danilo answered, dazedly, "I can't see a thing! Go after them! I'll be along."
"That's going to be pretty hard."
"What? Why?"
"After the leader did that to you, he and his cronies passed through a portal," Arilyn answered, "I don't know where it was, but I did get a glimpse of the other side. It's a forest, somewhere."
"That isn't Skullport," Danilo said, acutely aware that he was stating the obvious.
"Yeah. It closed before I could get to it. And besides, you were..."
Danilo waved it off. "I'll be fine," he said, "it will pass in a few moments. Did you see whether or not the elf cast the portal spell just now, or was it just a power word that activated it?"
"What do I know?" she said. "And what does it matter, anyway? We can't follow them, now that it's closed."
"If the portal was already there and was simply activated just now, we might be able to activate it ourselves and pass through it," said Danilo, "if it was just a temporary portal, then we have no way of following. Try to remember. Was it a lengthy incantation, or was it just a single arcane word?"
"I think it was just a single word," said Arilyn with uncertainty, "but I was pretty busy fighting off the other three. I can't be sure."
Shakily, Danilo began to climb to his feet, leaning on the wall. His vision was returning, but it was still fuzzy and the floor still wobbled under him. Arilyn was next to him a moment later, grabbing an elbow in support. "That's good," Danilo said, "that means it was probably a semi-permanent portal that he activated with a power word. It could be the reason the slavers have been operating in this area."
"That's a fair bet," Arilyn agreed, "can you open the portal?"
"Assuming it is one that can be re-opened," said Danilo, "not until tomorrow. The spell it would take isn't in my repertoire for the day. Not to mention the fact that I've used most of my spells for the day already."
"But you could open it?"
"I think so."
"What do you need?"
"The spell and some time. We'll have to come back tomorrow."
"One thing bothers me more than all of this, though," Arilyn remarked as they began their trip back through the sewers, "those were Elves."
"Yes, I saw," Danilo replied, "which makes Zhentarim involvement unlikely."
"It also makes a slaver's ring unlikely," she pointed out.
"But rules neither out, completely, I suppose. This may be more complicated than anyone thought."
"Maybe," Arilyn mumbled, thoughtfully. There was a long pause. "By the way. Chalk marks. Not a bad idea."
"Oh, believe me, this was the last place I wanted to get lost!"
A young boy wandered alone down a darkened hallway, his bare feet padding along the cold stone, his fearful eyes searching for something familiar. Whispers echoed from afar and he desperately wished to find them for they were the only sign that anyone was near.
The hallway twisted and turned as he followed it, never seeming to end and defying all reason. It split often, jutting off in strange directions. The boy aimlessly and randomly followed them, hoping that some luck would grant him an exit to this interminable labyrinth.
At last, he came to a door. The whispers sounded as if they were behind it, so the boy grasped the handle and pulled. The door did not move, but he could hear some of the words being spoken beyond.
"How was this possible?"
"Can he be healed?"
"He is just a boy! He cannot possibly have the skill to tap such power!"
"Precisely why he is in this condition."
The boy couldn't make sense of the whispers. The words themselves had meaning, but they seemed to defy logic when strung together. Still, they were voices and familiar ones at that. He wanted more than ever to find their source, to find a friendly face in the midst of this nightmare. With determination, he pulled again on the handle of the door and it rattled.
"Wait!" came another whisper. "Something is happening."
"Is he waking up?"
"Perhaps."
The boy pulled again, bracing his feet against the cold stone wall. He pulled with every bit of will he had. The handle of the door had grown hot, burning. He ignored it; nothing was as important as getting to the voices.
The door finally gave way, falling inward, sending the boy tumbling back into the wall behind him. The door was surprisingly light as he pushed it off from himself. But the sight which greeted him was worse than any nightmare his young mind had ever conjured in the dead of night. A horrid, monstrous face floated on the other side of the door, dark and fiery. A beard and hair of creeping blood wafted around it and eyes like icy pits stared at him. Two hands extended out from the ghastly sight, gnarled and clawed, reaching for him.
He couldn't help it. He screamed. He screamed even though there was a word issuing forth from the monstrous face; a word he thought he should answer, somehow.
"Danilo?"
Dan awoke with a start and shot up in bed, throwing back the covers with a gasp. Cold sweat covered his forehead and his hands shook uncontrollably. He looked about, gathering his bearings. His chamber was just as he had left it when he had gone to sleep hours before except that the light of late morning now streamed through his open window. In the distance, Danilo could just hear the tolling of the bells of the City of the Dead ringing their hourly chime.
"Well," he said to himself as he took a deep breath and calmed, "haven't had that dream in some time."
Feeling a chill on his skin, he decided that he had had quite enough sleep for the time being and rose to put on his tunic. Then, he washed his face in the basin which rested on a table near the door. He dried his face with a cloth and looked up to check his reflection in the looking glass.
His eye caught movement in the reflection, somewhere behind him. It looked like some sort of a shadowy demon. Danilo spun around, startled, to find nothing there.
He shook his head with a calming sigh. "Steady on, Danilo," he said, "just old dreams. Nothing to worry about."
However, his gaze now rested upon his desk. Sitting there, as if completely innocent, was a rolled up scroll. It held the spell he would be needing to open the portal without the proper power word. It was a rather high-level spell, at least as high, he figured, as the spell he had used to move the Elfgate months earlier. Just like then, there was a good chance the spell was beyond Danilo's abilities. But he had little choice but to make the attempt.
Cautiously, almost as if he was facing the wrath of the goddess of magic herself, Danilo approached the scroll and unfurled it. The arcane characters shimmered on the page, power woven into their carefully written shapes. Danilo hesitated for a moment, then focused and began the process of committing them to memory.
The words instantly began to rebel against their reading, swirling about and twisting as if running from Danilo's very gaze. Pressure built in his head, threatening to explode outward. Danilo's hands clenched into fists against it, as if holding on to a tiny, thin thread that kept everything tied together.
Soon, the words calmed and stopped dancing across the page and the pressure in Danilo's head subsided, fading to a dull ache behind his eyes. Before long, he had committed the spell to memory. He was aware, then, that the far-off bells were now chiming mid-day.
Just as he was rolling up the spell scroll in order to tuck it away in his desk, there was a knock at his door.
"Danilo, are you going to sleep all day?" It was Arilyn, clearly ready to get under way.
Dan crossed the room to the door, pausing by the looking glass to run a hand through his hair and make himself presentable. When he opened the door, Arilyn was on the other side, geared up for the mission.
"It's about time," she said, "what have you been doing in here? Half the day is gone."
"Sorry," he said with a shrug, "I was studying the spell. It took a while." From a hook by the door, he snatched up his belt and bag of holding and buckled them on. His cloak came afterward.
"You look tired already," Arilyn said.
"Just a little cross-eyed from reading, my dear," he said, mustering up the most winning smile that he could. "Nothing to worry about."
Eyeing him strangely, Arilyn lighted on the edge of Danilo's bed. "You would tell me if there was something wrong, right?"
Danilo gave a laugh, then turned to the shelves above his desk. "My dear, there is absolutely nothing wrong," he said, picking various bottles and pouches off the shelf and dropping them into his bag.
"If it's the spell, we could find someone to-"
"Arilyn, it's fine," Danilo replied, turning back to her and leaning against his desk. "I've got it. It's all right up here." He tapped his temple with a finger. "Now, shall we get this show on the road?"
She looked at him for several moments, studying him in uncomfortable silence. "Show is right," she muttered under her breath as she rose to her feet. "All right," she said, "let's go, then."
Dock Ward was far less foreboding by daylight. Merchants and traders covered the streets hawking their wares and looking for odd jobs and the shadows weren't as long. Danilo and Arilyn made their way through the throng toward Presper Street, then turned into the back alley where the entrance to the sewers was. It was still unlocked from the previous night, so they passed within without drawing much attention. From there, they followed Danilo's chalk marks back to the place where the slavers had escaped through their portal.
"Where was the portal?" Danilo asked.
"That wall," Arilyn replied, pointing, "I used your chalk to mark the spot."
Danilo's eyes now rested on the place she indicated. The mark jumped out at him, in contrast to the dark and dull stone of the sewer wall. He pressed back a growing knot in his stomach and resolved to forge ahead.
"I doubt I'll be able to keep the portal open for long," he told Arilyn, "be ready to go as soon as I say."
Wordlessly, she nodded her understanding.
Turning back to the spot where the portal was, Danilo took one last, steadying breath before calling the spell to mind. Instantly, the arcane energy of the spell boiled in his mind, seeming to scald his consciousness. He resolved to withstand it, though, and compartmentalized it. It was elsewhere, not within him, as he began the careful and deliberate incantation. With each new word and with each movement of his hands the energy surged, threatening to spill over out of the grasp of his will. The energy swirled about him, threatening to bury him and suck his life away. Finally, as it reached a soul- shattering crescendo, Danilo placed his hand against the wall where the portal was. An outline of blue fire raced around the edge of the portal, then spread inward, revealing a forested scene as it cleared.
The arcane energies felt like knives in Danilo's head and it was all he could do to hold on to it while shouting to Arilyn to go through. He was only vaguely aware that she had heeded the cry, that she darted through quickly. Once she was on the other side, Danilo let himself fall forward, tumbling through as well. He rolled out, flat on his back, on the grassy ground, staring up at trees high above and the dappled sunlight that shone through them. Behind him, he heard a sucking noise as the portal slammed closed.
Dan gasped as the Weave poured back out of him, leaving a vacuum. His heart pounded as if attempting to fill it. And from somewhere, Dan received the strange notion that the spell should not have worked.
Arilyn was above him, now, crouching beside him and putting a hand on his shoulder. "You all right?"
"Yes," he said, catching his breath as he slowly sat up, "just... utterly exhausted."
Arilyn pulled the Moonblade partway out of its scabbard and checked the blade before putting it away again. "It looks like there isn't any danger here, right now," she said, "stay here and rest up for a moment while I try and find their trail."
Danilo nodded his agreement and sighed as his breath finally stopped eluding him.
It was several minutes later that Arilyn returned. Danilo got to his feet as she approached. "So, any idea where we are?" he asked.
"Ardeep Forest, I think," she replied. "I climbed a tree and got a pretty good look around. I could just make out Waterdeep straight west of here."
"And the slavers?"
"They moved north-east from here," she said, "and it wasn't the first time."
"Ah, so they have been using the portal for a while."
"Looks that way. They probably have a camp not far from here."
"Well, we might as well continue," Danilo said, "lead onward, my dear." He gestured in roughly a north-easterly direction and waited to follow Arilyn's lead.
It was about two hours later that Danilo began to feel completely superfluous. He trailed along after Arilyn as she poked and prodded her way through the woods, taking note of even the slightest bend in the branches or the smallest disturbance in the layer of fallen leaves that covered the ground. Dan was increasingly convinced that she was faking it. Of course, he also knew better than to question her about it.
Their path took them north for a while along a semi-defined path; or, at least it seemed to Danilo as if it could have been a path a long time ago. It faded away and reappeared at entirely random intervals, now joining to a water run-off, now thickening into a patch of brambles, now opening into a deer run. As they went along, Arilyn quietly pointed out some of the signs she was following in an attempt to give Dan some insight. But the longer they traveled, the less she did so and soon she had ceased altogether and had fallen completely silent. She seemed increasingly on edge and Danilo could hardly blame her. His head was growing heavier and soon there was a very distracting ringing in his ears and an ache behind his eyes.
As Arilyn was reading still another sign, Danilo paused to lean up against a nearby tree and massage the bridge of his nose with a heavy sigh. Once again, Arilyn pulled the Moonblade from its sheathe and looked to it. There was no sign of danger in its blade and she seemed dissatisfied by it.
"I feel like we're being watched," she said, "but the Moonblade is showing no danger." In frustration, she turned back to look at him and came up short when she saw him. "You all right?"
"A headache," Danilo admitted, waving it off, "probably just tired, that's all."
"Need to rest?"
With some effort, Danilo pushed himself away from the tree. "We don't have time for that. Due respect to the Moonblade, but we are capable of being watched without the threat of immediate danger. We shouldn't discount your instincts."
"You're probably right," she said in a tone that suggested resignation to the idea, "if you're certain you're all right."
In answer to her query, he motioned her ahead, so they went onward. Danilo needed something to take his mind off the horrible ringing in his ears, so he floated a question that had been on his mind for some time.
"When we find the slavers' camp, what do you propose we do?"
"I suppose I hadn't given it much thought," she admitted, "I figured we would do some reconnaissance and then come up with a plan. Between your spells and my sword, I'm sure we have a decent chance at capturing them or at least freeing any captives they might have."
"My spells," said Danilo, thoughtfully, "about that. The spell that opened the portal was rather high level."
"I know," she replied, "that was why you were nervous about casting it."
"I was not nervous about casting it."
"Yes, you were."
"At any rate," Danilo said, perhaps a bit more forcefully than he had intended, "usually I would have been unable to cast the spell. But sometimes, higher level spells can be cast if the wizard is willing to sacrifice his ability to cast several lower-level spells."
Arilyn stopped short, her shoulders dropping in frustration. "Don't tell me," she said, turning back to him.
"I have an acid arrow, a spell of darkness, and a handful of magic missiles at my disposal and that's all."
Arilyn threw up her hands and momentarily turned away from him, as if searching for a choice word or two. "You didn't think to mention this before we went through the portal?" she finally snapped.
"I had hoped not to have to use the technique, to be honest," he replied, defiantly putting his hands on his hips, "but it is no simple thing to overcome the will of another wizard, such as bypassing their power word."
"All right, all right," said Arilyn, "we'll just have to work with whatever we have at our disposal. We'll check the place out before we decide on anything. If we need to retreat to somewhere safe and rest up, we will. And if we need to return to Waterdeep for help, then that is a risk we will have to take. But next time, you tell me about things like this!"
"You have my solemn vow on that, my dear," Danilo said, raising his hand in a sarcastic show of an oath as he flashed her a grin.
Rolling her eyes and shaking her head, Arilyn turned away from him and began moving north once again. Danilo followed her, noting that his headache was dissipating at last.
Arilyn's attention turned once again to following the signs through the forest, her focus now entirely on the task. Danilo couldn't quite tell if it was to keep from yelling at him or to make certain she didn't miss anything.
They had gone barely twenty feet when a glimmer caught Danilo's eye, coming from Arilyn's left hip, a rich, arcane blue.
"Arilyn! The Moonblade!" he whispered as loudly as he dared.
Her hand flew to it immediately and she was just in the process of unsheathing it when a rustling sounded in the trees above them. Several figures in black dropped down around the two of them and very quickly Danilo found himself face to face with the elven wizard from the sewers. In short order, Danilo was dodging the wizard's grasp as it crackled with energy like lightning. He backpedaled several feet, giving himself room and time to draw his rapier before the wizard could attack again. Quickly, he cast a glance in Arilyn's direction. She was already hard at work, fending off no less than three longsword-wielding elven fighters; two gold and a moon, Dan noted.
"Valaith!" one of them called. "Soora sy A'Tel'Quess!"
That last word Danilo knew. "A'Tel'Quess" translated roughly to "almost-person" in the Elven language. The elves had noticed that Arilyn was a half-elf and, judging from the way they said it, that fact seemed to make them none too happy.
The elven wizard's head swiveled around momentarily to look to Arilyn before he rather wisely put his attention back on Danilo.
"Teuvel nes haelan?" he called out to his compatriots, sounding at once both shocked and disgusted.
"Deth!" one of the other elves answered.
"Biir ainilessa!" the wizard growled out, leveling a particularly menacing gaze at Danilo.
"Yes, yes, I know," said Danilo, dodging several attacks from a longsword that the wizard had produced. "I'm such a terrible person."
The two of them exchanged a series of thrusts and jabs. Danilo found himself leading the majority of the fight, sidestepping the elf's attacks and driving him in a number of directions with his footwork. Dan was no virtuoso with a sword, but he was clearly more well-trained than his opponent. It wasn't long before the elf realized this as well and retreated away from Danilo several steps.
"Eithun!" the elf cried.
In answer to his call, a chorus of arrows whizzed through the air, sending everyone in the area ducking for cover. Arilyn regrouped with Danilo as they took cover behind a stand of trees.
"They're firing from that glade over there," Arilyn told him, pointing roughly north, "the high ground. I think some of them might be in the trees as well."
"Awfully organized, aren't they?"
"I saw a sigil on one of their tunics. I think they might be Eldreth Veluuthra."
The mention of Faerûn's most famous elven bigots did little to bolster Danilo's morale. Hearing the thunk of an arrow hitting the tree at his back, he looked to Arilyn in horror.
"Well, they can't exactly be thrilled with us, then," he said, "I heard one of them say 'teuvel.' That's 'moonblade,' isn't it?"
An arrow flew past Arilyn dangerously close to her head. She flinched away from it, but seemed otherwise unfazed. "Yes," she said, "which means they've noticed. And they know I'm a half-elf."
Another whole flight of arrows came at them, several hitting the trees with a series of loud thwacks and twangs, several more whistling past them and flying off into the forest.
"They've got us pinned down," said Danilo, "we need to do something."
"You need your spells for the attack on their camp!" Arilyn protested.
"We won't make it to their camp if I don't do something!"
Grinding her teeth, Arilyn nodded to him and readied the Moonblade for action. Danilo called to mind his spells and quickly glanced around the safe zone of his hiding place. He just caught sight of one of the archers, then ducked back into his cover, chanting the spell for magic missile. At the very last moment, he stepped out and pointed to his target, sending the spell firing, unerringly, in the archer's direction.
And then something that should have been impossible happened. The magic missile stopped dead in mid-air and disappeared before reaching Dan's target. He ducked back around his tree to safety just before another volley of arrows was loosed.
"It failed!" he exclaimed, as if the world had just visited the worst insult imaginable upon him. "Magic missile never fails! It always hits!"
"Did you cast it wrong?" Arilyn asked.
"I wouldn't still be standing if I had! I don't under... oh, by the Nine Hells! They're firing from a zone of no magic! The Ardeep is lousy with them! We traveled through one earlier! That's why I had a headache and the Moonblade didn't warn us of danger even though your instincts were going wild!"
"Oh, that's just fantastic!" Arilyn groused. "I'll need some cover."
"One spell of darkness, coming right up," Danilo said, beginning the somatic component of the spell. As he finished it, a black fog materialized out of the air and rose up around them, blotting out the sunlight and making the entire area as dark as an unlit cave. The arrows stopped flying and Danilo heard several confused voices coming from the direction of the archers. There was a movement of air next to him and he just caught the faint scent of the recently-oiled leather of Arilyn's bracers. She was in motion and soon there was a commotion from the archers. It grew and faded several times and Danilo surmised that Arilyn was skirting in and out of the darkness to get the drop on some of them.
Danilo knew that he had to move from his hiding place and soon. If the wizard decided to try and do something about him, he would be unprepared for what would come and would probably lose the concentration on the darkness spell. It took little effort to keep it going, but it was effort none the less. He pulled his bracelet of light from his bag and put it on. It illuminated just enough area that he could see well enough to move. He crept in the direction he had heard Arilyn move, slowly approaching the zone of no magic and the edge of the darkness.
A twig snapped off to his right, somewhere outside his small patch of magical light. Complete silence followed it and Danilo froze, listening. He thought he heard soft muttering, arcane words. Quickly, he readied another spell, hopefully one that would do some damage, acid arrow.
The elf wizard finished his spell first, shouting out the last words of his incantation. The air around Danilo exploded with a roar and he found himself sailing off to one side just as he finished his own incantation. His ears ringing, his head spinning, he landed hard in the middle of a clearing and watched helplessly as the spell he had just finished fizzled out. The darkness spell, too, faded, and Danilo realized that he had landed in the zone of no magic. His head aching terribly, he sprang to his feet as he found several elven swordsmen advancing on him. He brought his rapier to bear and began moving toward one end of the line of three. He blocked a high slash from the first, catching the blade in his quillions and sending a thrust straight back at the swordsman. The other two began to circle around behind, so Danilo began to backpedal to keep from being surrounded. He blocked a low attack by tossing it aside with his off-hand as he sent a thrust in at the attacker. With a backward jerk of his body, the elf avoided the blow. The other two continued to close in from the sides, leaving Danilo with no where to go but deeper into the zone of no magic.
His head was swimming and nearly screaming with pain, sapping his energy and ruining his concentration. A moment later, and he had something else to dwell on. As he fended off his three attackers, he caught sight of the blue-glowing Moonblade off in the now-brightened forest outside the zone of no magic. Arilyn was busy fighting two swordsmen and the wizard. The Moon Elf let loose a scorching ray in her direction and she only barely managed to avoid it.
Just then, something hard flashed across the back of Danilo's skull, sending him to his knees and his rapier clattering off out of his reach. Another blow landed in his solar plexus, sending his breath flying out of his lungs with abandon and driving him to the ground. Hands were on him a moment later, holding his arms and hauling him cruelly to his knees. As another hand viciously brought his head up, he found himself now looking at four fighters.
Danilo just barely caught sight of Arilyn slipping into the underbrush and away as a black-gloved fist came sailing toward him and introduced him to blackness.
At least he would have a break from the headache.
Danilo did, indeed, have a break from his headache. However, he paid for it later. The throbbing in the back of his skull brought him up from the encasing blackness of unconsciousness, reluctantly. He was certain there was blood where the blow that had been his undoing had landed.
There were voices speaking all around him in words he could not understand. But, from the lilting tones he guessed that it was Elvish.
Gods under Ao, his head hurt! Almost involuntarily, he moved his hands to rub the offending spot. And that was when he realized his couldn't. Something cold and hard was pulling on his wrists, holding him fast to the rough surface against which he had been propped. He tested the fastening and heard a metallic rattle.
Chains. Perfect. A rope he could wear through, but chains? There was no way he was getting out of them. Not on a bet.
Danilo finally ventured to open his eyes. The shadows in the surrounding glade were long and the light orange, suggesting that it was sometime near sunset. But that wasn't what held his attention. He found himself face to face with the cold, blue face of the Moon Elf wizard.
"Awake at last," the elf said.
"So it would seem," Dan replied.
With a tilt of his head and a sarcastic smile, the elf hummed a response in the affirmative. Then, it vanished and one of his hands shot out, grabbing Danilo by the throat and forcing his head back into the tree to which he was bound. Danilo saw stars for a moment and allowed himself the luxury of a small grunt of pain.
"Why are you following us?"
"You just seemed so frightfully interesting," Danilo choked out, "after all, it isn't every day you see Elven slavers daring to pluck people from the very streets of Waterdeep."
The two of them locked eyes for a moment, their wills sparring almost as surely as if they had both drawn swords and begun to duel. Finally, the elf let go of Danilo's throat and got up from the crouch in which he had been situated in front of his captive. He wandered over to a small table nearby and plucked a wine skin from it.
"You've trifled with more than you know, human," he said, taking a pull from it.
"You mean, the Eldreth Veluuthra?" Danilo said, somewhat smugly, getting a bit of satisfaction from the elf's pause. "I'll admit, I was surprised to learn that you were resorting to common slavery. I had thought you simply killed non-elves outright rather than muck about with carting us around to far-off places."
"Even the Eldreth Veluuthra have to earn a living," said the elf, "defending the People from the advance of the N'Tel'Quess is a thankless quest."
"Also a trifle overkill, really."
"Hardly," said the elf, fixing Danilo with a hard and wickedly venomous glare. "My name is Valaith Kel'Furador. I am the last of the family Kel'Furador. Thanks to an unprovoked attack upon my childhood home by a band of Orcs and Goblins, my entire family was wiped out, including my younger brother."
"And for that, you blame all non-Elves? Really, I should think it would be time to reexamine your thoughts. Orcs and Goblins are hardly representative of everyone else."
"My home was betrayed to the Orcs by a human," said Valaith, "so you see, it was that night that I learned that no N'Tel'Quess should be trusted, or indeed, allowed to rule Faerûn." He took another pull from the wineskin before wandering back toward Danilo. "You seem to have some surprising skill with magic, for a human. You know my name. I would know yours."
"Well, you would have a bit of a wait to learn it. Perhaps one day, I'll send a message to you in the Abyss."
Valaith pulled back a hand and struck Danilo across the face, whipping his head to the side.
"For one of the Eldreth Veluuthra to ask the name of an N'Tel'Quess is a compliment. That you would thus throw it back at me only goes to prove my point. Fine, remain anonymous. It matters not to me. I am much more interested in your partner, the A'Tel'Quess mongrel."
"Ohh, that word again," Danilo said with a grimace, "you know, you might want to ask the last person who called her that how it worked out for him."
"What is her name? Who was her Elven parent? And, most importantly, how is it that she defiles a Moonblade by carrying it and wielding it?"
"In reverse order," said Danilo, "she rightfully claimed it, you wouldn't believe me if I told you, and..." Here he added a darkly sarcastic chuckle, his grey eyes flashing steel. "You must be joking, if you think I would tell you that."
There was a long pause as Valaith stared at him, hard, venom dripping in his gaze. "You believe yourself to be terribly clever, don't you," he said, beginning to circle Danilo and the tree to which he was shackled.
"Well, that is, quite simply, because I am terribly clever."
While he was circling around behind Danilo, Valaith suddenly dipped toward the ground and took hold of the chain that held Danilo's hands fast. He gave it a vicious tug upward, sending a sharp pain shooting through Dan's shoulders. Involuntarily, Danilo pitched forward and gave a yelp.
"Not clever enough to avoid capture," Valaith bit out, angrily, "understand, human, that the A'Tel'Quess is the only reason you are still alive. We want her more than we want you. One way or another, we will find her. The only question is how much you will suffer on her behalf before then."
"You will learn nothing of her from me," Danilo shot back, his teeth clenched tightly against the pain in his shoulders.
"Likely, you will change your mind," Valaith said, "humans aren't exactly known for their loyalty, much less to anyone with elven blood." He added in an extra tug on the shackles before letting them go and allowing Dan's arms to drop back to a more natural position. "Tell me where to find her."
Danilo leaned his head back against the tree and took a few calming breaths. Then, he locked his steely gaze with Valaith's. "To the lowest of the Hells with you."
When it came to the passage of time, the only thing that Danilo was certain of was that enough time had passed for the sun to finish setting. The rest was a barrage of verbal sparring, threats, and an array of punches thrown across his face. Dan was sure he looked simply awful by that point. It was going to be a challenge coming up with a reason for all the various hurts when he and Arilyn returned to Waterdeep. He doubted he had it in him to open the portal again and return by covert means, so they were likely in for a trip on foot through the main gate. Oh, how tongues were going to wag!
In some form, Danilo was aware of what Valaith was saying. He was also aware that he was throwing back some foppishly witty response to the elf; one that would earn him a firm smack across the face.
Oh! Nope. Not this time. Apparently, the time had come for a gut shot. Well, at least there was variety.
Somehow, Danilo managed to compartmentalize what was happening. He allowed his fool persona to take control of his body while his true self watched from the safety of his own mind. He kept just enough of his true self in the exchange with Valaith to keep from saying anything that would hurt Arilyn. He was surprised to find that his persona eagerly welcomed the small intrusion, drawing upon it to rally against the onslaught.
It seemed like such a simple thing to say "no" over and over again. That it required determination was something that had never occurred to Danilo. He had, of course, heard tales of men enduring torture before; torture much worse than this. But he had never comprehended it before. Likely, it meant that he was unprepared for it and would break eventually. The only thing that was up in the air was how long it was going to take.
Just how much was his loyalty to Arilyn worth to him, he wondered. He rolled that thought around in his mind for several minutes before coming to a surprising conclusion.
He would die for it. Why was that, he ruminated.
Just as he finished that thought, he realized that something had made his fool persona begin to outright panic. His own small bit of steel was beginning to fail. Whatever Valaith was threatening now was going to require sterner stuff than the Fop of Waterdeep could supply. So, even though it meant bearing the abuse himself, Danilo returned to his senses.
"Sorry, Valaith," he said, "my ears were still ringing from that last punch. Could you say that again?"
"Stalling won't get you anywhere," the elf replied.
"Still, a bit of common courtesy, you know."
Valaith strode toward Danilo, slowly, until he was just within range of Danilo's sight in the dark, silhouetted against the dim firelight of the Eldreth Veluuthra's camp. The corner of his mouth turned up, just slightly, in a menacing smile, as he held up three objects in front of Dan's face; two large iron nails and a hammer.
"You're awfully calm for a wizard who has just been told he will never cast a spell again," said the elf.
Okay, so the fool persona had a reason to panic. Who knew?
Two of Valaith's warriors came forward out of the shadows, each taking hold of one of Danilo's wrists and holding them firmly against the tree. Danilo thrashed against their grasp to no avail. In short order, even as Dan struggled, Valaith had forced the tip of one of the nails against the skin of his palm.
"Last chance," said the elf, "tell me where to find the A'Tel'Quess who defiles a Moonblade and I'll forgo this. She can't be worth all this to you."
But a thought forced its way into Danilo's mind; she was.
And suddenly, anything that Valaith was planning for him became unimportant. There was no need for Danilo to struggle. There was no decision to be made. He stopped straining against the stronger hands that were holding him and leaned his head back against the tree, calmly and silently. He simply closed his eyes and waited, heedless of what Valaith was about to do. It didn't matter.
"Have it your way, then," snarled Valaith. Danilo imagined that he was pulling back the hammer in preparation for a strike. He set his jaw in preparation.
But the strike never came. Instead, there was a sudden commotion behind Danilo and the two brutes holding his wrists disappeared with a surprised yelp into a rustle of leaves. Dan's eyes snapped open just in time to see a confused and upset Valaith stumble into view in front of him, calling for the rest of his team to join him. Six came from places that Dan couldn't see, appearing out of the shadows and encircling Valaith at his command. All of them jumped and turned at several noises.
Daggers appeared in the throats of two of them simultaneously and they each went down with a watery rattle. Several moments later, something made two more trip, falling flat on their faces before being dragged to some hellish doom in the darkness of the woods. Valaith and his two remaining thugs exchanged some words in Elvish that Danilo couldn't understand, then began to edge in a direction that Valaith indicated, back toward the main part of their camp. Danilo couldn't be sure, but he thought he heard some spell on the wizard's lips. Before he could complete it, ghostly phantoms slashed forth from the brush, striking down the two remaining thugs. An instant later, and there was a flash of eldtritch light and Valaith was gone.
He had fled into a portal, leaving his entire band to die at the hands of whatever was in the wood.
Suddenly, Danilo was alone in the darkness, helplessly shackled to a tree with a silent killer skulking about just outside of his sight in the shadows. The brush rustled and twigs snapped in several directions over the course of several moments, causing Dan to jump with each noise. His blood pulsed in his ears and terror gripped his chest.
And then, a figure appeared out of the darkness, a shadow against the dim firelight. Glowing blue eyes looked his direction and narrowed, then looked down at one of the bodies at its feet. The sword in its grasp was thrust downward into the gut of the nearest corpse. Then, it slowly made its way toward Dan, and the features of the face of his partner resolved themselves to his vision, her eyes hard as a chill wind and angry as a raging fire. She reached out a hand a put two fingers under his chin, gently lifting his face as if to inspect the damage Valaith had done. Her touch was like ice and it stole away Danilo's breath, leaving him gasping and unable to speak.
"Enough," said a voice to one side, "leave him to me. Return. They've paid for it."
Danilo couldn't help but whip his head around to follow the voice, his eyes wide with fear. There, too, he saw Arilyn. Only this Arilyn was not the swirling maelstrom of flame and frost that now crouched before him. The latter stood and the two of them gazed at each other for a long moment. Then, the one that was so cold she burned slowly strode toward the other, fading as she did. The one that was left closed her eyes and took a calming breath as she sheathed her Moonblade. Then, she turned to look at him with a gaze more familiar, more like herself.
"By the Goddess! Are you all right?" she asked him as she rushed forward, taking the place where her Elfshadow had been moments before, concern evident in her voice.
"Arilyn," he answered, his voice shaking. Try as he might, he couldn't catch his breath.
"You look ready to pass out," she said, putting a calming hand on his shoulder. When that only worked partially to her satisfaction, she moved it up to the side of Dan's face. Danilo found himself leaning into it, ever so slightly, letting the panic and fear ebb away as he did. Then, he realized what he was doing and shook it off.
"That was cutting it just a little closely, wasn't it?" he said, his breath still coming more deeply than he would have cared to admit.
"Sorry," Arilyn said, earnestly, "I had to take care of the ones guarding the captives, first. Let's get you out of these shackles. Where's the key?"
Danilo finally caught his breath and let it out in a tortured sigh. "The wizard had it," he said, letting his head fall back against the tree.
"Oh," said Arilyn, an apologetic look crossing her features, "it's a good thing for you I'm good with locks, then."
As Arilyn began to work at the shackles on his wrists, the last of Danilo's fear finally drifted away. Finally, he allowed himself to feel his hurts, knowing that Arilyn would do her best to see to them for the moment.
As promised, Arilyn made short work of the shackles. She then forced some water and some hard tack into him until she decided that his color was better. Only then did she allow him to stand and led him, slowly, to the place in the woods where she had left the abductees she had freed earlier.
There were six former captives in all. Most of them were adolescent boys, including Jacith, the young assistant of Jhambrote Harkhardest at the Ship's Prow Inn. Two more were young girls, sisters it looked like, clinging to each other. The last was the oldest of the group, a young woman who had taken charge of them. She did her best to look after them, even raising a spear and demanding to know who was approaching when Arilyn and Danilo came near.
Her name, it turned out was Ruuth. What she had been doing when she was abducted remained her own closely guarded secret. But reading between the lines, Danilo got the distinct impression that she had been searching for the Harpers in an effort to join them. Evidently, she had put herself into some danger in seeking the semi-secret organization. Dan could respect that, so he dropped a few hints that Silverymoon would be the place to go.
With the exception of Jacith, the rest of the former captives were orphaned street kids. They each expressed interest in going to Silverymoon as well, so Ruuth volunteered to see to it they got there safely, leaving a bad of three to return to Waterdeep.
But first, they needed supplies. As a group, they returned to the slavers' camp to salvage what was useful. In the process, Danilo found his rapier and his green bag of holding, still in tact and its contents untouched. When they found a small healer's kit, Arilyn marched Danilo to the nearest log and set about seeing to some of his bruises and scrapes.
"Danilo, you know I can take care of myself," Arilyn said, out of the blue, when the others were out of earshot, "I don't need to be protected."
"No worries, my dear," Danilo responded lightly, "I know that quite well." He winced slightly as she dabbed a wet cloth on the clotted mess that was the back of his head.
"You could have just told them how to find me. I could have taken care of them. Not that I don't appreciate the act of chivalry, but didn't you take it a little far?"
"Perhaps," said Dan.
"Why?" Arilyn asked.
Dan gave a bit of a shrug. "It seemed like the right thing to do at the time," he said, perhaps more softly and ponderously than he had intended. "Tactically sound and all that," he amended quickly, "after all, you were my best hope of rescue. And what sort of partner would I be if I gave you up?"
Arilyn breathed out a short chuckle. "You don't have anything to prove to me," she said.
"Oh, all right," he said, jokingly "next time, I'll let them come after you."
"I didn't say that," she responded in kind.
Danilo turned, slightly, casting a glance over his shoulder at her. "Good heavens, woman! Will you make up your mind!"
"Hold still!" she scolded, turning his head back to where it had been. Dan winced again as she continued to dab at the head wound.
Somewhere, from the depths of Danilo's mind, understanding came to him. Arilyn's care was the thanks she could not find words to express.
He accepted it gladly.
End Episode Three
Wow! So, that got written a whole lot faster than I thought it would! Strangely enough, it also ended up being the longest one thus far! Guess I really got on a roll with it! Thanks to everyone who reviewed and offered up words of encouragement. I'll do my best to have the same happen with episode four, but it is a far less developed plot bunny. Hopefully the wondrous power of outlining will help with it.
The Elvish language for the Forgotten Realms is somewhat lax in its grammar. Even the authors have said as much. Some have said that it is just a "slightly modified just enough to avoid copyright infringement" version of Sindarin from Lord of the Rings. As someone who has actively studied Sindarin, I can assure you that it isn't. The best that Realms Elvish does is have a dictionary. Others, more patient souls than I, have compiled the list of known Realms Elvish words and phrases at (triple-w-dot-angelfire-dot-com/rpg2/dagnirion/Elven-dot-html) It is a fantastic resource for anyone who wants to write a Realms story with Elves. The grammar itself is pretty much jibberish. Hopefully, context will give you the meanings of the phrases.
My descriptions of Danilo's magic are based upon the rules for 3.5 Dungeons & Dragons, right down to the spell descriptions and the rules for counterspelling. I did, however, play it a little fast and loose with the metamagic rules, essentialy home-brewing a feat for Dan that the story needed. Players, there is no feat, of which I am aware, that allows you to cast a spell that you would otherwise be unable to cast. The closest one is the one that allows you to maximize the spell to the highest level you can cast. Danilo, however, is special and can go a step further.
Of course, the waters are further muddied by the fact that EC wrote about our heroes using the rules for 2nd edition, not 3rd. Oy vey.
As always, I look forward to hearing what people think and would love to get a few reviews in my inbox. You're not obligated or anything, but it gives me warm fuzzies.
Here's a preview for episode four.
Episode Four: Crushing Blow
Set between Elfshadow and The Bargain. When Arilyn is believed killed in a cave in near Silverymoon, Danilo mourns and vows to return the Moonblade to her Elven family. But he soon discovers that the Moonblade is still active and that Arilyn is still alive... and that he left her behind!
Sweet water and light laughter to you, until next we meet!
Berz.