XI: Necessary Evil
During their whole way back to Neverwinter Shandra kept grim silence, squeezing the reins and staring straight forward. The rain that started on the approach to the city did nothing to improve her mood.
When, drenched, chilled and tired, they at last entered the Docks District it was late night already. Stabling horses under the awning, still in silence they went into the Flagon, filled with pleasing warmth and smell of something roasted.
"Well, isn't this much better?" Adele smiled at Shandra, hoping to cheer her up at least somehow. Shandra looked around gloomily, but didn't answer.
"Finally!" Khelgar exclaimed at their arrival. After studying them with a scrutinizing stare, he gave a vexed grunt: "What, did I miss a whackin' battle again?"
Shandra shot him an angry glance, but again did not respond.
"You alright?" Elanee asked.
"Yeah," Adele nodded. "Sort of."
"Tired, huh?" Duncan said sympathetically, coming up to them, but stopped, noticing Shandra. "Well, I see you've brought someone new?"
He sounds like I'm gathering an insect-collection. Gods, sometimes I feel like that too.
"Oh yes," Qara groan, passing Duncan by and falling on the couch not far from Neeshka. "Brought. Almost dragged by the hair."
The tiefling raised her brows in surprise at her remark, looking at Shandra with newfound interest. Adele gestured between her uncle and the woman: "Duncan – Shandra, Shandra – Duncan."
The half-elf smiled: "Please, lass, come in, come in. Make yourself at home. You'll be safe here." he turned on his heels towards the gnome, who was dangling his legs in an armchair. "Grobnar, don't you just sit there! Play a tune or something, make the lady feel welcome!"
"Why, of course!" Grobnar beamed gladly. "I was just thinking-"
"Look, we don't need another lecture on what passes through your head and out of your mouth! Just playalready!"
"Well," Shandra muttered absently, Duncan's attempts to cheer her up obviously failing as miserably as Adele's, "the innkeeper certainly runs hot and cold."
"He's my Uncle," Adele answered, waving to Sal to get her something to drink. "You can trust him. What would you drink?"
Shandra gave a deep sigh: "Alright, listen. I agreed to let you bring me here - now I want some answers. What happened at my farm? Who were those creatures?"
"Githyanki."
"Uh-huh… And why those gathi… gethy… why they attacked me?!"
"They didn't want to kill you, they needed information."
"From me? What could I possibly know that could be important? I lived on that farm all my life! Did they want to learn how to milk cows?!"
"Oh, Hells," Neeshka gave her head a shake. "Now, that image will give me nightmares…"
Adele looked at her, then burst out laughing; a bit hysterically – but the picture of the gith milking cows was more than she could handle sanely at the moment. Obviously, she was not the only one, as others laughed too, even Casavir chuckled quietly, closing his eyes and rubbing the lids.
"Sorry…" the woman muttered, looking at Shandra. "Just imagined those creatures… nevermind," she choked another laughter down into her fist.
Shandra folded her arms sternly: "Well, I'm really glad I'm amusing everybody around here."
"Sorry," Adele said again. "Guess it's from the nerves…"
"Nerves?! Like it was your house burnt down!"
"Shandra, I am tired and angry too, alright?" Adele drawled coolly, giving way to her weariness and frustration. "We've spent the whole day dealing with gith – not only on your farm, but two times before that. I am sorry for what happened with your home, but I am also sorry for Casavir who took a stand against the four of those creatures to give us time to bring down those who followed you into the house. I am also sorry for Qara, who has bath-longing in her eyes for several hours already," the sorceress silently lifted her hand with her thumb up in agreement. "If you want to know, my home was almost burnt down by gith too. My whole frigging homeplace was almost burnt to the ground by gith. My best friend was killed by gith. So we can spend the night complaining about the things we can't change and accusing everybody around – or we can calm down and try to figure heads or tails out of the present situation somehow. My choice is the second. Yours?"
Shandra opened her mouth to protest or answer – but obviously couldn't come up with any words. Adele ripped down the fillet holding her hair, allowing all the shock of black-and-white locks fall heavily on her shoulders, tousled them nervously and sat down on the nearest chair, accepting the glass of wine passed by Neeshka from Sal. The tiefling herself looked aggravated, her red eyes narrowed at the blonde woman as she sat beside Adele in a kind of silent support. Bottoming the glass, Adele smiled briefly at Elanee, feeling her soft palm touching her back encouragingly and comfortingly, then looked back at Shandra:
"Sure you don't want to drink anything?"
"Shandra," Casavir chimed in, his deep voice as calm and confident as always. "We realize this is difficult. But I swear to you, we want to help you, not make more trouble."
She glanced at him, then shifted her eyes back to Adele and shrugged a bit uncomfortably: "Well… Alright, I'm sorry… Guess, the whole thing's hard to take all at once."
Neeshka snorted and muttered under her breath: "A little paladin charm sure calmed her quick."
"But still..." Shandra licked her lips. "I still don't understand what those beasts wanted from me."
"Well, the case is…" Adele waved to Sal again for a second helping of wine and bent forward in her chair, placing her elbows on her knees. "It so happened that you are a relative of Ammon Jerro."
"Ammon Jerro?" Shandra repeated in clear surprise. "Well, yes, he was my grandfather… or my great-grandfather... or was it my great-great-grandfather? I mean, I don't even remember him. Heard he was an eccentric but humble wizard... Mother said he used to play with me when I was a babe," a suddenly soft and absent smile passed over her lips. "He would cradle me, sing to me, and I would… pull out his beard hairs."
"Eh," Khelgar grumbled. "Ya just keep yer distance from me, lass."
Shandra shook her head, bringing her disheveled hair to complete disarray: "Anyway, he died a long time ago. What does he have to do with all this?"
"He had some kind of a secret laboratory, a Haven or something like that."
"Haven?" she shrugged. "Don't know. My mother told me about the Haven when I was a child, but I… never truly believed. She always threatened to lock me in there if I wasn't a good girl. Said it was like… don't know… a hundred twisting corridors jumbled together into an inescapable labyrinth, filled with the deadliest traps and evil beasts conjured from the Abyss… or something like that."
"Well, this Haven exists. And we… like the gith… need to get in there. And you are the only living relative of Ammon Jerro."
"But I have no idea where it is. Besides, mother said something about a... path you have to walk to get to it, and getting into the Haven itself requires a pint of Jerro blood…" she stopped abruptly, her eyes widening in panic. "Now hold a moment! Is that why you rescued me?! So you could bleed me?! No way, heard that! You brought me into the city full of guards, and if I scream…!"
"Shaaaaaaaaaandraaaaaaaaaa," Adele pleaded, feeling that she was close to banging her own head into the wall. "We said nothing like that…"
"…and not all of us is fond of your presence, believe me," Neeshka added dryly.
Shandra shook her head again: "Anyway, if you all think you can drag me to some dark dungeon that used to give me nightmares - think again!"
"…You've said yourself, that Jerro was "eccentric but humble"," Adele said as calmly as she could. "Why would his Haven be such a scary place?"
Shandra fell silent, blinking confusedly, then pursed her lips: "Hmm... you know, I never thought of it that way. You may be right… Damn, why didn't I think about that when I was a child?"
"So, you don't even have a slightest idea where it can be?"
"…Alright, look," she rubbed her face wearily. "I'm so tired, I can barely think - let alone stand. Let's talk about all this tomorrow, okay? Maybe I'll come up with something."
Neeshka cast a questioning glance at Adele: "Is she staying here?"
"Perhaps we should retire. We all could use the rest," Casavir suggested, looking at the others, then nodded to Shandra. "I believe Duncan has rooms upstairs."
"Of course I do," the half-elf answered. "As many as needed."
"Oh..." Shandra smiled briefly. "Uh, thanks for the hospitality... uh, Casavir, right? I appreciate it, really."
"No need for gratitude," he replied with a slightest shake of his head. "After all you have been through, it is the least we can offer."
"That I can offer, he means," Duncan corrected. "My inn, you know - always eager to help a lass in distress we are, here at the Sunken Flagon. So don't you worry," he pointed at the door to the rooms. "Straight through the corridor, up the stairs, second room to the left – and you'll get your rest, no problems."
Shandra nodded and, smiling shortly again, headed towards the door. For a moment Adele considered following her, trying to have a talk just between them, but thought better of it. Shandra clearly needed to be alone for a while. At least Adele in her state would have wanted exactly that. So instead the woman came up to the counter, taking the glass filled by Sal, and smirked, looking at Duncan, who couldn't tear his gaze away from the door where Shandra disappeared.
"Uncle, Uncle," she drawled teasingly, arching her brow. "You keep yourself in hands, please."
"Oh, go to Hells," he waved her off, unable to hold back the grin. "Sal, I'll drink one too."
…Worn out by tiredness, wine and hot water, Adele actually fell dead asleep right in the bath, her legs thrown over the edge of the tub, her head resting on the wooden bolster. She slept so deeply she didn't even have any dreams…
…and when there suddenly came a shout from the corridor, she didn't come to her senses at once either.
"Alarm!!! Alarm!!!"
The woman opened her eyes, staring into the dark ceiling, and for a moment she got the impression that she was back in West Harbor, attacked by gith after the Fair, and everything that happened after was just a dream.
"Everyone, to arms!" the voice shouted again, and Adele suddenly recognized it as Duncan's voice. "The Flagon is under attack!"
She practically rolled out of the tub, wincing a bit from the ache in her shoulder, still sensitive even after Sand's remedy, grabbed her clothes piled on the floor, pulled on the breeches, the tunic and rushed into the corridor barefoot, unsheathing her rapier on the way.
Above her head, on the second floor, the doors were slamming, she heard tramping, yells. From the main room came Khelgar's happy war-cry, indicating that the dwarf had found himself a battle. The door not far from Adele opened a little, a frightened face of some of the patrons peeped out, but immediately hid back, the door closed, and the woman heard the click of the lock.
What's going on? Bandits?
She dashed to the main room, when down the stairs leading to the second floor ran four githyanki. Adele stopped, almost deciding that she's hallucinating, but the creatures instantly fell on her, proving their absolute reality. The woman jumped back, deflecting two lunges at once, and went down, dodging the third. Without straightening her legs, she moved to the side, managing to slash one of the gith, and stood up swiftly, sinking the blade into the stomach of another. He fell dead, yet his comrades barely acknowledged the fact, pressing Adele hard.
No, three at once is too much of a challenge, she thought, slowly stepping back and parrying the strikes to keep the attackers at arm's length at least.
Something whizzed near her ear, and the gith's scull was pierced by an arrow, then the second one, the third; the forth one already reached another gith and plunged into his neck before he could evade it. Not wasting time, Adele finished off the last one, turning around, and was stunned.
Bishop, without looking at her, sent one last arrow into the head of the brought down gith – just to make sure he'd never rise.
"Thanks…" the woman muttered mechanically.
The ranger paid no attention to her, swiftly passing by, on his way yanking his arrows free from the bodies, shoved them back into the quiver behind his shoulder and turned to the common room. Adele grimaced: "Oh, not at all, you're welcome, always ready to help…"
Shaking her head, she shifted the rapier to her right hand to lighten the work for the left shoulder and also headed towards the room. On the threshold she had to back away to avoid a fireball, flying past her and crashing into the opposite wall, scattering to millions of sparkles. Instinctively trampling the closest ones with her wet foot, Adele stepped into the room, instantly thrusting the rapier into the back of the first turned up githyanki.
Inside of the room was chaos. Neeshka was jumping from one turned over table to another, dodging the attacks and throwing her daggers. Casavir and Khelgar, making a good fighting team, cut off the creatures they could reach. Qara, disheveled and half-dressed, in pure ecstasy was casting one spell after another. Grobnar was running hither and thither along the counter, not so much busy with getting rid of the attacker as enjoying the whole scene before his eyes – though it didn't prevent him from firing his crossbow at occasion and kicking off those gith who came too close. Elanee, pale but concentrated, also hurled spells at the creatures. Bishop, gliding effortlessly between the enemies, had already flung his longbow on his back and was wielding a longsword and a hunting knife he usually kept stuck in the quiver's belt across his chest.
With three strikes killing the gith that ran up to her, Adele swayed to the side, as the familiar wolf tore along by her side, leaping at another creature, knocking him off his feet on the floor and tearing his throat. All the turmoil left no chance to reckon the numbers of the attackers, and Adele decided not even try to, moving along the wall and finishing off those who dashed to her. She couldn't complain on the lack of enemies, as the gith, catching sight of her, at once darted to chop off her head – and she just prevented them from doing it. Mechanical interchange of attacks and dodges and parries absorbed her so much that she didn't even realize at once when all the creatures in the room were dead.
"Eh," Khelgar dried the blood on his cheek and grinned. "Good mornin' everybody."
"We should make sure that no one of them remained on the second floor," Casavir stated.
The dwarf nodded in agreement, and the three of them together with Neeshka left to the corridor. Adele caught her breath, looking on the frightening jumble around, a scrap-heap of broken furniture, snippets of curtains and corpses of the damned gith. The wolf sitting not far from her was licking the dark gith's blood off his muzzle with apparent displeasure and sometimes sniffed the air around – but without any tension, which was good.
"You alright?" Elanee asked, approaching Adele.
"Yeah… Ah, no," she corrected, only now, after the wave adrenalin flooded back from her blood and brain, feeling a tang of light pain in her hip. Lowering her gaze to a slit on her breeches-leg above her knee, the woman winced. "Nothing serious, just a scratch."
"Anyway, it was fun," Qara noted, turning over the bodies with her staff.
"It was so… thrilling!" Grobnar agreed, looking at the others with shining eyes. His messed-up hair, protruding in all directions as usual, glistered with blood – but, judging by the color, it was not his blood. "I am not even sure I can find proper words to frame it!"
"…which is just fine, if you ask me," the sorceress snorted.
Bishop kept silence, wandering slowly among the corpses, and sometimes stooped down to pick up something. A couple of times he took the gith's long narrow blades, weighed them in his hand appraisingly, then shook his head and dropped them back on the floor, not paying any attention to the others and their conversation – as if he felt himself alone in the room. Unlike Adele and others, the ranger didn't look like he had been raised from his bed unexpectedly in the dead of night – he was in full gear, his leathers thoroughly adjusted and fastened…
Bet he sleeps in full equipment, - Adele though somewhat smugly. - And washes too…
"All done here?" Duncan asked, stepping into the room on stiff legs. His cheek was cut, customary apron stained with dark blood. The half-elf was carrying a sword which Adele had seen previously among the trophies on the walls. "Just jumped out of nowhere, bastards… Good no one got hurt at least."
"Yeah…" Adele sank into the nearest armchair. The excitement of battle was fading away, and the woman felt her knees become a bit feeble. "I'm for a drink."
"Even I am," Elanee added in a sham-grim tone, and Adele chuckled.
At that moment Neeshka flied into the room, her eyes huge, her tail swishing furiously, almost lashing against the tiefling's legs.
"Shandra's gone!" she exclaimed.
"What?!" Adele sat erect in her chair rapidly.
"She's not in her room. There's her sword, some blood on the floor, turned over chair, opened window, but no Shandra!"
"They took her," Casavir added with somber certainty, following the tiefling into the room. "Those that had attacked us were probably just a diversion."
"Damn," Adele shut her eyes, drooping her face into her palms.
"The lass's been taken?" Duncan breathed out unbelievingly. "But… how…?" not able to come up with words, he planted a full-hearted kick on the nearest gith's corpse. "How in the Hells did they even get into the city?!"
Bishop, standing over another dead body at the far wall, sniffed scornfully: "Does that matter? You'd best hurry if you want to get her back."
Oh, bravo, what a sound idea, - Adele thought angrily, looking up at others for a second to see the reflection of her own slightly panic anxiety on their faces, then laced her hand into her hair in a habitual gesture, shifting her stare down at the corpses. - Alright, focus, girl. We've destroyed their lair in Neverwinter – means they came from elsewhere.
Doing her best to brace and nerve herself, she started to recollect frantically everything Daeghun had ever told her about tracking…
"You just look at that," she heard again the same mocking voice of the ranger, and the others unwittingly stared at him, watching as Bishop unhurriedly, almost lazily bent down to pull something out of the dead gith's sole and clicked his tongue: "This one had a sprig of Duskwood trapped in his boot. That means they came from deep within Luskan territory," his every word was trickling with an aloof scoff, as if he was made to explain rudiment things to a bunch of idiots. "And that's where they'd be returning to."
Adele shook her head miserably, having a sinking sensation of inevitable appear in the pit of her stomach…
We need help… His help… Dear gods, what have I done to all of you…?
"Luskan?" Duncan repeated, apparently coming to the same conclusion his niece did, and turned to the ranger. "That's your territory, Bishop."
"Yes," he answered, still standing with his back to them, not even trying to pretend that he was bothered with what was going on. "But it's not my problem. I'm not going into Luskan territory for some farmgirl," his voice changed a little, became colder, as he added: "And certainly not with any kin of yours, Duncan."
Adele almost twitched, as if being slapped, and pursed her lips grimly.
I'm right here, you son of a bitch.
She started to draw herself up from the chair, but was surpassed by Casavir.
"The life of an innocent woman is at stake," he snapped, glaring into the ranger's back. "If you can help…"
Bishop turned round, looking at him with surprise and contempt at the same time: "Looks like I overslept the moment this tavern became Tyr's Temple," he quirked up an eyebrow. "Or you think I care for what happens to that wench? Not my problem, paladin. If she couldn't defend herself then let her rot."
"Dammit," Adele spat out. "We'll pay you, ranger!"
He never looked at her, staring again at her uncle: "What, is your whole family deaf, Duncan? Like I said: Not. My. Problem"
Duncan tossed his head up a bit: "You'll help them, Bishop," the notes of steel confidence suddenly rang in his voice. "Whether you like it or not."
"Will I, really? And what makes you th-?"
The unexpected silence was almost palpable. Duncan didn't move, still staring point-blank at the ranger, unblinkingly and wordlessly. Bishop's amber eyes suddenly narrowed to slits glittering with freezing fury, sharp lines of his cheek-bones becoming visible under his skin as he clenched his jaws, letting out a hiss: "So, that's it, is it? Calling it due, Duncan?" he tilted his head slowly to his shoulder. "Are you sure?"
"If that's what it takes to move you to do the right thing, then so be it," Duncan cut off firmly, folding his arms.
Adele was crossing her glance from her uncle to the ranger and back, trying to figure out what was going on. The former was still standing upright, as if not even noticing the incinerating glare of the latter, while Bishop's fingertips were insensibly stroking the hilt of the sword. Duncan's stare was cold, unmoved, and for the first time Adele actually saw that the half-elf was Daeghun's brother. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed the wolf shifting slightly on his spot, keeping his eyes glued to his master, his ears perking up, like he was getting some feeling others could not grasp…
…Not good, not good, not good, not good…
Bishop's glare was drilling through Duncan for one more heartbeat, and then the ranger snapped his fingers, making others give a start from unexpectedness: "Fine! It will be worth it to get rid of you – and for such a small price too." He spat on the floor and bared his teeth in a malevolent sneer. "You are a fool, Duncan."
The half-elf nodded: "So be it."
"Alright," the ranger stepped away from the wall, kicking aside the chair that got in his way, and eyed their band with another disdainful and a bit irritated gaze, like a pile of rubbish he was made to drag to cesspit. "Ten minutes for packing. Someone gets late – I don't give a damn. Follow my lead and don't try to be clever. If the Luskans catch us – they'll use us for target practice," his wolfish grin became even wider and harder as his eyes slid down Adele, and he added insinuatingly: "And the women won't be even that lucky."
Adele narrowed her eyes on him in warning, but he paid no attention to that, again running his glance over her companions and raised his brows in mock perplexity: "And whom are we waiting for? Ten minutes are ticking away!"
"Listen…" Adele stepped on him, but he just grabbed her shoulder:
"No, you listen, princess. You want your pretty little friend back – get your behind moving. Now," he shoved her unceremoniously towards the door to the corridor. "The trail gets colder with every second."
With pain, but she managed to keep inside all the words that wanted to spill out of her mouth, swung around on her heels and went out of the room, leaving Duncan and Bishop glare at each other in glacial silence.
"Hells, Hells, Hells," Neeshka muttered, running at Adele's heels, and giggled nervously. "Got ourselves into a mess, huh?"
"Am I the only one with feeling that he'll deliberately drag us through all the forest dirt?" Qara added gloomily.
"Why?" Grobnar asked in sincere wonder, which made Adele smile.
She shook her head: "Alright. We've dealt with the gith many times before," she looked down at Khelgar for support, and the dwarf nodded assent, grinning contentedly into his beard, "we've pulled Shandra out of their reach once. Now we'll just do it again," she gritted her teeth. "And no unshaven selfish scamp will hamper us in it."
