This is an AU. I'm not a stickler for accuracy in the details of the Neverwinter universe such as gods etc. but I do try my best. This story does have explicit sexual content, 18+. If you are offended by sexual themes don't start reading! There is artwork for this story at my deviantart account under aeltari.
The man was still sitting in the same spot when Kyrie awoke the next morning. He had slumped over, his head resting on the wolf, but he hadn't moved from the boulder.
Kyrie's clothing had dampened again with the morning dew, but with no sign of clouds in the sky she knew they would dry in no time. Her underclothes were dry and since he was blind she didn't mind wearing them until the others dried.
Karnwyr raised his head and looked at her, then eased himself out from under his companion. Giving a long stretch and a big yawn and shake, the wolf ambled over to Kyrie and licked her face. Kyrie picked up the elemental wand and restarted the fire.
"Can you find some food for us?" she asked. Karnwyr tilted his head then lifted his muzzle and gave her a soft woof, before bounding off.
Kyrie warmed up some water in the battered cup, and tore a strip off her blanket. Dipping it into the water, she crawled over to the still sleeping man, and proceeded to clean the blood off his face and neck. He stirred, then the sightless amber eyes flashed open. Kyrie moved out of the way of his lashing, striking arms and foul words.
"Are you finished now?" she asked. "I'm going to clean your face up. Then when Karnwyr comes back with breakfast I'm going to cook it. Then we are going to eat. Remember, you have to sleep eventually, and if you give me too much trouble I'm going to tie you up when you do to get it done!"
The expression on his face went from rage to sullenness. "Why?" he asked harshly.
"Why clean you up? Because," said Kyrie lightly. "You have beautiful eyes and I wish to see them better."
He snorted but didn't say a word, nor did he try to hit her when she came near him to clean his face.
They ate whatever prey Karnwyr brought to the camp. Kyrie shaved the man's face and cleaned him up, bit by bit.
"I know you don't give a 'damn' about me," she asked. "but I give one about you and I want to know your name. I will make something up to call you if you don't tell me so it's your choice."
"Bishop" he growled, and said nothing more for several hours.
Kyrie noticed that he favored one of his legs, and she approached him about it one afternoon.
"I might be able to help you with that leg you know."
"You touch me enough as it is. Leave me the hells alone." His voice was tinged with pain and she knew that he didn't want her to touch him for fear of suffering more. As horrid as he was, Kyrie didn't want him to hurt from an injury that could possibly be helped. As helpless as he already was, having permanent damage to a limb was a sure fire way to end up dead sooner or later. She had to find a way to examine that leg.
Kyrie waited until the early morning hours. She crept over to the sleeping Bishop and lay her hands on his injured leg. She didn't see any obvious wounds and assumed the injury was to the muscle or bone as he stirred when she palpated it. The worst of his pain seemed to come from his upper thigh and hip.
Karnwyr opened an eye briefly but closed it again and resumed dozing when she patted his head. As she ran her hands along Bishop's leg she felt a flush spread from her head, down her chest to her arms and hands. There, a soft blue glow appeared and spread across his leg. Intrigued, she palpated the area again and he didn't make a sound. She pressed harder, hard enough to cause him pain if there was any. There was no reaction.
Something poked at the back of her mind, something familiar about the warmth and the blue glow but she couldn't bring up any details. That pervasive feeling of a memory just below the surface, teasing her with its certainty but remaining just out of her grasp.
Whatever had happened seemed to have healed his leg, or at least removed the pain but there would be no way to tell if it were truly fixed or simply dulled until he tried to move it. She crawled back to her side of the fire and went back to sleep.
When morning came she cooked the rabbit Karnwyr brought, and set out everyone's portions. She gave the wolf her bit; food didn't seem too appealing to her at the moment and the wolf looked hungry. She called to Bishop.
"Come on over here and get your breakfast!"
"Bring it here!" he snarled.
"If you want it, it's right here. Come and eat it." She wanted to see him move the leg. He refused to give in and sat there.
Bishop, in his stubbornness, didn't eat for an entire day.
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"Where is it?" he demanded, standing. He didn't seem to be favoring that leg anymore, but didn't seem to notice that it had miraculously gotten better. He probably assumed it had just gone away on its own, which most injuries are apt to do. She didn't think his leg would have done that anytime soon, but mentioning the entire situation would have caused a big drama so she kept quiet.
Kyrie called his name. He turned his head with the sightless eyes in her direction.
"Its here. There is nothing to trip you up just walk about 6 steps the way you are facing."
He took one careful step, then another. His foot landed on a small stick and he reflexively put his arms out, dropping his bow. He lowered himself to all fours and felt around for it, but was kneeling on the string and couldn't pick it up. Kyrie told him about it, and encouraged him to walk without it, saying she would give it back to him after.
He rose awkwardly to his feet, and step by tentative step he found his way to her, squinting and blinking his eyes as though doing so would give him some form of vision. Kyrie felt her heart twitch in sympathy for him but she knew that wouldn't help him at all. When he reached her she handed him his food with a kind word. He stuffed it in his mouth and swallowed it when suddenly without a warning, he lashed out with his arms and shoved Kyrie hard. She lost her balance and fell on the wolf, who gave a loud startled bark.
"Why did you do that?!" she shouted at Bishop. "You are so horrid! Don't you care about Karnwyr? I could have hurt him! Then how would you eat? That wolf keeps you alive you ungrateful monster!"
She got to her feet and dusted herself off, rubbing her abdomen where the pain had started up again.
His moment of rage sated, Bishop's arms hung limply at his sides and his head drooped.
"Why are you even here? I don't want you. I don't need you."
"Maybe so, but I need your wolf to keep me alive too. I don't want to be here with you either, but I don't know where 'here' even is. I think I'm sick, and I just want to… to go home."
"So go back! I don't want to hear about it!" he shouted.
"I don't know where I am to go back! I don't even know how I got here! You aren't the only one suffering, Bishop! And I'm not leaving you here to die!"
"You sound just like someone I used to know. Always trying to save the gods forsaken world, even though it didn't want to be saved! I tried to tell her to give it all up, run away with me…but no…she had to do it." He gave the earth a savage kick, sending a clump of earth and a few pebbles flying.
"Oh I see. A woman. Bishop, why would any woman want to run away with you anyway? You are abrasive and violent. Maybe if you had shown her some kindness she would have gone with you!"
"Shut up you stupid harpy!" He lashed at the empty air in her direction but wouldn't move his feet.
"That's your answer for everything isn't it! Shut everyone up when you don't like what they have to say. It's terribly unfortunate too. As handsome as you are, maybe if she had been a wizard with a silence spell you would have been worth keeping around!"
He turned his head in her direction, his expression cold, his voice low.
"I betrayed her."
"There's a surprise. Why?"
"She chose him. Self-righteous, overstuffed, boring, prig of a paladin!"
"So you got revenge. How?"
Bishop clenched and unclenched his fists. "I broke the gate and let the undead in. She was dead anyhow. No way could they have won that battle. I would have taken her with me! I would have protected her til my dying day. But I wasn't good enough for her, my love wasn't good enough."
"Your love? I don't think you have a clue what love is, Bishop. I know…shut up harpy. Doesn't change anything, though."
"I don't give a damn! She's dead now anyway. He's dead too. Did the world a huge favor by leaving it." Bishop gave a harsh barking laugh.
Kyrie moved away, to the far side of the camp with the log and wrapped herself in her blanket. She watched Bishop grope his way back to his rock and turn around, his eyes staring at her but not seeing a thing, and sink down. His leg, for all intents and purposes was definitely no longer injured. His bow still lay in the dirt where he had dropped it. She had no intention of retrieving it and risk being struck again.
Kyrie lay down with her head resting against the log. She was always tired, and still felt slightly ill. Eating rabbit every day must be wearing on her, but she had no idea how to use a bow to hunt anything else, and was doubtful that the ever helpful Bishop would show her how. Karnwyr gave a low whine and crawled over to her, resting his head on her hip.
"Traitor!" called Bishop, but he didn't call the wolf back.
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"We need to find a town," said Sand. He pulled at his shirt and breeches. "I look ridiculous like this, I need a robe. I still think there are twigs in my hair too, Torio dear."
Torio stopped what she was doing and looked at him with a grin. "I think you look wonderful with or without robe. Really, I sort of prefer you without anything but that's just me…" She walked over and put her arms around him, her head on his shoulder.
"Amin mela lle, Althraion"
He gave a joyful exclamation. "Elvish! Torio, I had no idea you knew any elvish!" He squeezed her lovingly.
"I know a lot of the insults that's for sure, but as an ambassador I had to learn as many languages as possible. However, the more flowery elvish I picked up on my own, in case one day…" she raised her head and looked into his eyes.
His blue eyes filled with tenderness.
"You thought about me, even after I stopped coming around?"
"Sand, I looked for you at one point. I was told that you left the Hosttower with a price on your head. Information from the Arcane Brotherhood is scant at best. What happened there?"
Sand smoothed her hair back from her face and kissed her forehead. "The price for knowledge began to grow far too steep for me. The things they made me do … I just couldn't stomach it after awhile. I left, and a bounty was placed on me. I was taken in by Neverwinter under the condition that I spy for Nasher and Nevalle. I set up a shop in the docks and tried to live my life free of Luskan drama."
"Did you ever think of me?" Torio's grey eyes were expectant.
"I did indeed, but not always in flattering terms, a'melamin. You did reject me, after all. That sort of thing stays with a person for a very long time." He stroked her face, smiling. He saw the shades of regret move across her eyes, and kissed her gently, his tongue grazing her lips.
"That is over now, Torio. We have found each other and have a life to plan. I need to get started on that army of little wizards with which to take over the world."
Torio laughed, then her face grew serious. "You actually wish to have children with me?"
"Why, of course I do, silly girl!"
Torio pulled him closer to her, their lips brushing together. Her hand caught a twig that indeed was tangled up in his hair and pulled it free. He was pressed against her, she could feel his excitement growing. It would be so easy to take him into her, again and again…but her thoughts turned to Kyrie.
"Sand, I want to stay here with you forever, but I can't knowing Kyrie is out there somewhere, and Casavir is being tortured to death in a Luskan prison. We need to ride hard to the next town and get our bearings."
He sighed and kissed her once more. "You are correct. Do you still have access to any Luskan spies? Maybe they just need a little motivation to start singing."
He did an ungainly climb up onto his horse's back, and looked on with envy as Torio vaulted gracefully onto hers.
"Oh, and Torio?" he called, remembering her elvish words from earlier.
She turned in the saddle.
"I love you, too."
With a yip of joy, she moved the horse into a canter, Sand's horse following suit.
He held on with both hands again. "Oh, hells hells hells!"