6/10/09

A/N: The thing about Hitori being a stripper, I couldn't resist. I had a D&D character that was a follower of Sune and he ended up stripping in one game (He had to surrender his armor). It was too good not to use.

Disclaimer: I do not own Drizzt and Co. they belong to R.. I do not want to steal them. Kitana, Hitori, Kitana's grandmother and Father Macon are mine. Macon was just a random name. Said with a long 'a'.

Warning: Spoilers for the Icewind Dale Trilogy -I mean that for all three books but mainly Streams of Silver and The Halfling's Gem

Chapter Five: Riddles And Tales

Blood running down a silvered blade...
Silent footsteps and unending screams.
Fear courses through the shadows and I walk on
the streets of death.

Plain buildings hide monsters in
a persons' guise.
Sand rises in thick clouds,
it is too hot and it stings my face.

I hear the crying of children
and women pleading not to have them taken away.
Everything in this place is a facade,
wounds hidden under colorful gowns.

A clawed hand reaches for the silver knife.
It is hers. Mine?
I know not for as she plunges it into the heart of a fool,
I can see no face.

Entreri had waited an hour before getting up. He had wanted to be sure that Kitana was asleep before he looked through her desk. He had not actually gone through it yet, she had left a notebook on top that he had chosen to look through first. In a way he was glad that he had, it contained some of the poems the half drow had mentioned. On the other hand, it only served to confuse him more, which in turn began to irritate him. The poems inside were not the most informative. Her words were vague, cryptic and could mean anything. The one he had just read however, managed to shine a little more light on the girl.

He did not fully understand what she meant by 'a silvered blade'. To him it sounded like a favored dagger of assassins. His own dagger was steel but held a silver sheen to it that made it exceptionally good for using as a mirror or sending signals of reflected light. Fear coursing through shadows also sounded like a reference to assassins. Streets of death could have meant anything, people died on streets everywhere. Entreri chose to disregard that line.

Plain buildings and monsters pretending to be people threw him off momentarily. Perhaps she really meant that the people inside these buildings were monsters? It reminded him of Calimport and the guild houses. But Kitana had never been to Calimport, had she? She spoke of deserts in this poem, the southern port city sounded like a logical place for her to be talking about. Or even one of the other cities like Memnon. Her next line could have also referred to one of the two. He had no way of knowing.

Entreri, no matter how intelligent everyone proclaimed him to be, could not figure out any of the last verse. Clawed hand? Kitana had long nails but they were not claws. Was she now talking about someone else? She started the poem off in her own persona. He remembered what she had said about her dream. The last one had been the same as the one two days ago and she had been killing someone. But she had never said whether it was really her or someone else. Maybe this poem went along with the last dream she had, he did not recall ever seeing her write it down. Maybe she had the same dream at a different time.

He continued to read through her notebook but he could no more decipher her other entries anymore than the last. Entreri looked over at Kitana's clock, it was going on five in the morning. He was briefly amazed that he had been looking through her work for so long. The assassin wondered how many notebooks she had, he was still looking through the first few and had not even made it off the top of her desk yet. A soft whimpering noise caused him to look up from the one he was currently reading, Entreri looked over to Kitana who let out another little whine. Not wanting her to wake up again Entreri put her notebook back where he found it and slid onto the couch behind her. To his relief she did not wake and had stopped her mewling when she felt his nearness. It was strange to the assassin that someone could find his presence comforting, wasn't she even the slightest bit afraid of him? But he knew that answer. She wasn't the least bit afraid, if she was, she was doing an extraordinary job of hiding it.

Kitana rolled over to face his chest; Entreri was tempted to pull away lest someone see them like this. He decided against it though, she would only be asleep for another hour, he could set any discomfort aside. For some reason Kitana smiled into him. 'Did she hear that last thought?' the assassin asked himself. But how could she have? Maybe she was just having a more pleasant dream.

"Can I ask you something?" Kitana asked Entreri. The assassin looked up at her and nodded. "Can I call you Artemis? Everyone else is on a first name basis, but they just call you by your last name."

"I don't care," Entreri replied.

It was about noon now and they were in the kitchen. The companions had only been here a week and already they were tired of the monotony. How did Kitana live like this? Not that she had a choice. And now neither did they.

"You're from Calimport right?" She asked a few minutes later. Again Entreri nodded. "What's it like?"

"Like any other place around here except five times larger and hotter. Why?"

Kitana shrugged. "I don't know, I guess I just want hear about some place else. Where else have you been?"

"A lot of places. What did you have in mind?" Entreri replied with a raised eyebrow. What did she want from him? He watched her thinking with slight amusement, she was making a big deal out of this. "You want me to tell you about some of my adventures," he reasoned after letting her think for a few minutes. She nodded eagerly in response. Entreri thought back to when she mentioned not leaving the house in three months, on top of the same daily ritual it was no wonder she was so bored. So was he actually. 'What the hell,' he thought. 'I can tell her a story or two.' "How about I tell you about the time I kidnapped one of Drizzt's friends?"

Kitana gave him a strange look. "You and Drizzt weren't friends before?" she asked confused.

"No we weren't; I was sent from Calimport by a guildmaster called Pasha Pook to retrieve Drizzt's halfling friend Regis who had stolen a magical ruby pendant from him. I found the halfling in Icewind Dale two years after I had started on his trail. Obviously, I had not been expecting him to have been protected by a drow. He learned of my presence in the town of Bryn Shander and ran. His friend Catti-brie came into his house to collect his things after he left with Drizzt and two of his other friends. I kidnapped her to use as a bargaining piece and followed them on their way to Mithral Hall. One of his traveling companions was a dwarf king and he wanted to find the place so he and his clan could reclaim it." Entreri smiled a little as she leaned forward even more intent on listening to him.

"I stopped in Luskan to meet someone I thought would know where they were going. She used to sell maps and information before she crossed me. I killed her in her room and left. I was in Luskan for a few days before the new people I was working with figured out that Drizzt and his companions had left. My new associates were a minor mage from the Hosttower and one of the city guards. Their master sent a golem along with us to hunt Drizzt down because they thought he had something they wanted. That turned out to not be the case. We caught up with them in a place called Keeper's Dale, that is where the hidden door was. They had already gotten through at that point and it was sealed the mage had her master's golem break the door down. I had killed the soldier. We found them in a lower chamber, that is where I battled Drizzt for the first time. We triggered a trap in our battle however, and we fell through into one of the lower mines. Drizzt and I made our way down through the tunnel, I forced him but he complied easily enough; he is not a fool, though I chose to think differently then. We discovered that the place was being run by duergar serving a shadow dragon they called Shimmergloom. We killed several of the duergar and made a run for it, climbing out of a chasm. I pushed Drizzt down about seventy feet and climbed out the other side with the halfling then I ran off." Entreri stopped there. He looked away from Kitana to see Jarlaxle standing in the doorway grinning like a fool at him and the girl.

"Why Artemis!" the mercenary exclaimed happily. "I had never known you to be so talkative! My friend, this is a delightful improvement."

Entreri scowled at him coldly. "No, you losing that hideous hat and sewing your mouth shut would be an improvement."

Jarlaxle let out a dramatic sigh. "Oh but Artemis, I do so enjoy your voice like that! Were you even aware that you were excited telling her your tale? Perhaps you should tell her more." The mercenary threw Entreri his most charming smile but its intended effect was completely lost on the assassin whose mood had now soured like milk left out in the sun for too long.

"Perhaps you should tell her some of your tales if you are so desperate for conversation," Entreri replied dryly. Aggravated, he got up and left the room.

Kitana held in a disappointed whine as he walked away. Jarlaxle had pissed him off just as the story was getting really good. Why did he have to go and do that? The mercenary seemed to notice her chestfallen reaction and asked her what was wrong. "You made him leave. I liked that story. I don't get to hear good stuff like that every day, you know. And now he probably wont tell me the rest," she huffed.

"I see," Jarlaxle answered acknowledging his mistake. "Forgive me, I was not joking when I said he is not normally so talkative. Had I known you were so intent on hearing his tale, I would not have interrupted. Maybe if you asked him to continue he would tell you more. I will not interrupt you again if he does." Kitana nodded looking a little defeated. She figured that Jarlaxle was probably right, he knew Artemis better than she did. Even so, with the little she did know about him she knew that he didn't normally spend time talking to people. She had learned early on that was Jarlaxle's job. Artemis merely followed him around for some unknown reason.

Entreri meantime, sat in the courtyard cursing to himself. Why did Jarlaxle always have to show up at the worst times? Why? As much as he would have liked to deny it, he had been enjoying trading tales with Kitana. She was actually intelligent unlike many of the women he had met in his life, and actually listened to him with genuine interest. It was nice to talk to someone that didn't flinch when he talked about having killed someone or loudly expressed their disgust. Did that stupid drow have to ruin everything? Kitana had probably lost interest by now, she most likely thought that Jarlaxle would intervene again and cause him to walk off. He couldn't really blame her if she did. He was used to the drow's irritating behavior. A raindrop hit his face and then another followed, then several more. It quickly became a downpour and Entreri to longer wished to remain outside. He came back in through the door he had left through earlier and back to the kitchen. Kitana was still there, but for some reason she was cleaning up.

"Don't come through yet," she said looking up at him. "I just cleaned that spot on the floor." She handed him a towel and asked him to take his boots off. He did so carefully and left them in the small hallway he had just passed through. Then he dried off grateful for the towel. He had not been out in the rain long but it had succeeded in getting him fairly soaked. He asked if it was possible for him to remove his shirt, the thing wasn't the most comfortable to wear when wet.

"It's fine. Just don't let her see you topless. She wouldn't leave you alone if she did."

Entreri agreed and snuck back upstairs to get another shirt. Kitana followed him close behind cleaning up the small amounts of water he was trailing. There was a bit of awkwardness between them that neither of them wanted to mention. Both were wondering if Kitana would ask Entreri to tell her more and if Entreri would if she asked. Entreri felt the odd need to talk to her for some reason. He said the first thing he noticed.

"Your grandmother is not here," he stated turning to Kitana.

The young woman shook her head. "No. She went out tonight. She won't be back until past midnight. I figured I'd take care of things early. The others are gone too."

This information caught the assassin off guard. "Where did they go?"

She shrugged. "Jarlaxle went with my grandmother because she asked him to. I don't know where Drizzt and Kimmuriel vanished off to. They said that they should be back around the same time as Jarlaxle."

"Do you want me to light the fireplace in your room?" Entreri asked. She nodded and said that would be nice.

They sat down in front of the fire together after it was lit. It filled the room with a comforting glow and warmth. Kitana wasn't usually allowed to have her fireplace lit. Her grandmother wanted to try to make her as miserable as possible, though in this case it failed. Kitana had acclimated to the cold quickly. Now it hardly ever phased her. It was nice to have the fire tonight though. The rain was not going to let up any time soon and Kitana took out some of the small treats she had been hiding in her room since she had made lunch. Soon the room was filled with the smell of breakfast sausage and hashbrowns and later there would be some chocolate over fruit and crackers. Kitana made a joke about having breakfast for dinner, saying that it was bad luck and sacrilegious. The two laughed at her mockery of the priest.

"So will you tell me more of the story from earlier?" she finally asked. "What happened after you ran away with the halfling?"

"You're still interested in that?" Artemis returned, a little amazed that she had brought it up.

"Well, yeah. It was a good story. I want to know what happened next."

Entreri nodded. "All right. After I ran with the halfling I went to Waterdeep then boarded a ship to take us to Baulder's Gate. I was there for a night making arrangements to get on another ship that would take us to Calimport. We sailed south on the Sea of Swords, it was a journey that took almost a week. The ship we were on was one of the fastest and there was a good south wind. Unfortunately, we were almost delayed. The halfling attempted to scare the crew by burning himself with candle wax and saying it was a disease. The captain agreed to take us to port but I could not let word of a disease slow me down. I killed everyone but the captain before I set the ship aflame. I found another ship to get to Calimport and I delivered the halfling to Pasha Pook shortly after arriving. Drizzt and his friends arrived a few days later and I was waiting for them, I wanted to fight Drizzt again. I set a series of traps to get him and his friends separated then I followed him through the sewers. We battled but he bested me again, if his friends had not shown up we could have continued our fight. I ran out of the sewers he followed me but I started yelling 'Drow' and he was surrounded. I made my escape while he was busy with the people of the city."

Kitana was lying on her stomach with her head propped up with her elbows. "Is that it?" she asked.

"That's it."

"You said that you and Drizzt weren't friends before. How did he come to travel with you then?"

The assassin ran his fingers through his hair. "I am still not entirely sure about that. We found him not too far from Mithral Hall one night a couple months ago, he was crying in the woods for some reason and asked if he could leave with us. He has been with us ever since."

Kitana's head tilted to the side. "Why did he want to leave so bad?" she asked.

Entreri gave her a noncommittal shrug in response. "He wont talk about it."

"Do you have more stories?"

"I do, but I don't feel like telling anymore. It's your turn."

Kitana sat up. "I don't have any stories to tell. I mean, unless you want to hear about the different colors of the grease I clean off of my pans." He made a disgusted face and she laughed. "Didn't think so. I guess I could show you some of my poems if you want. Or my drawings."

Entreri nodded. "If you don't mind showing them to me." She took a few of her notebooks out of her desk drawer and told him that he shouldn't bother asking her about the things she had written inside.

"I have no idea about these things myself so I couldn't begin to tell you," Kitana explained. "Sometimes I black out and when I wake up I have a bunch of drawings or I've written down strange things. I can't understand most of them but I do know that some of them have to do with my dreams." She looked up thoughtfully. "Actually, I think they all do I just don't realize it completely. Some of the things I've drawn do match with my dreams." She handed him her notebooks without another word. He looked through them silently and was mesmerized by what he was reading. Many of these poems were like the ones he had already read. Others were of her current situation. Her artwork was no less breath taking. He saw that she was indeed drawing and speaking of Calimport in her poems. He had lived there most of his life and could easily recognize many things. The question still remained though, when had Kitana ever been to Calimport?

"These are very good," he told her. "Have you ever been to Calimport?"

"No. I don't think so," she answered slowly. "Why, is that the place I drew?"

He laid out a few of her drawings. "These are. And this one here looks like Waterdeep. I cannot tell what these other ones are of."

Kitana shrugged her shoulders. "You would know. Can I sleep with you again? You were a good pillow." To emphasize her point she stood up stretching and giving a profound yawn. She looked down and smiled at him waiting for his answer. Entreri let out a small chuckle and agreed for some reason he could not quite understand. They laid down in front of the fire together, once again she pulled his arm around herself and made a pillow out of his other arm. Entreri found that he was not tired even as he watched Kitana fall asleep on him. To his further surprise he found himself staring at her for longer and longer periods of time. He felt the strange urge to bury his face in her hair. His grip on her waist tightened briefly before he realized what he was doing, and that his pants were getting a little tight. Entreri pulled away from her. It wouldn't do him any good if she woke up with him so... so... 'Why am I so aroused?' he asked himself. "This is wrong, she's only seventeen.' Kitana sighed in her sleep then rolled over throwing her leg over him in the process. He couldn't get her off so easily. Entreri signed in defeat and put his face in her hair like he had wanted to do before.

"Now what am I going to do?" he whispered to himself. It was unlikely that Kitana would wake up any time soon, it was only ten at night, the others would be back in about two or so hours. "What have you done to me?" he sighed.

Kitana woke at five the next morning. Artemis was still sleeping behind her. She pressed a little closer to him to get warmer.

And noticed that he was poking her ass.

At first she wanted to wake him up and slap him. She felt a little violated and betrayed because she had believed that he wasn't like any of the other men that came to her house. But she didn't. She reasoned that it wasn't really his fault. She knew that most guys had this problem in the morning- according to Hitori, and that it was inevitable with her having been pressed up against him all night. 'All night!' her mind screamed. She sat up and looked around her room. The others were nowhere to be found. Were they even back yet? There was too much to risk lying on the floor.

Kitana sat up and shook Artemis awake. "You have to get up now it's five and I don't know if the others are back. Someone might see us." Entreri's eyes sprung wide open, he sat up and then realized his position.

"Was I-" he started to ask.

"You were just poking me," she told him. "It's no big deal but we have to get up now," she repeated.

She got up and took a shower as usual and as usual she was out and dressed in ten minutes. He decided to get in after her. Entreri needed time to think. What had he been doing? He knew he should have found a way to stay away from her right after he had started staring at her. After he finished he found her sitting on her floor in front of the fire. She had some coffee going for the two of them. "I don't think the others are here," she stated. "If they were we would have seen them by now." He nodded and sat down next to her.

"I'm sorry about that," He said slowly. She knew instantly what he was talking about. She told him not to worry about it, she knew it was 'a guy thing' and wasn't surprised considering how they had been sleeping.

"Can we still sleep together though?" she asked hesitantly. "I mean, if it doesn't bother you."

"Does it bother you?" he returned.

"No. I can live with it. I know you won't try anything." He was amazed that she sounded so certain. But she was right, wasn't she? He wouldn't do anything to her. She was only seventeen, way too young for him.

"It doesn't bother me. If it doesn't bother you then I see no reason why we cannot. I'm not about to do anything to you, we just have to be careful around the others." He looked straight at her while he said this leaving no room for debate. Not that he was about to receive any, Kitana was delighted with his decision and even more so at the thought of not having any more of those dreams. It was weird that he was somehow able to keep them away, but she didn't think too much on it. She was just happy that she had a solution for the time being.