The Knight-Captain busied herself with camp chores while Neeshka slipped into Crossroad Keep to find Khralver Irlingstar, Sydney Natale's emissary. The trip from Highcliff to their camp, set up on the near side of the keep's first bridge, was uneventful. They'd decided to delay Tiernah's official return until Rolan and Lillith were safely home in Highcliff.
The rogue had sent a Cloaktower messenger to Neverwinter with the news of their new Ironfist and lizardfolk allies. Neeshka was confident that Lord Nasher would be pleased.
She heard their voices long before they appeared in the clearing. "... I don't understand why she's..." the emissary was out of sorts and out of breath as he struggled to keep up.
The protest was cut off by a familiar voice; "The commander of Crossroad Keep wants it this way," Neeshka's reply was firm. "When she speaks, I listen-We all listen."
Right, the cynical Tie thought. Pull on his other leg, goat-girl, so they'll both be the same length. She rolled her eyes as they hove into sight.
Emissary Irlingstar sketched an awkward bow. "Oh most noble Lord of Crossroad Keep, Hero of Neverwinter. Your adventures are already becoming legendary," he began, looking like a child trying to avoid a whipping.
Seeing the rogue's smirk, Tiernah replied, "Thank you, now... could you skip ahead to the part where you tell me what you want?" Her gaze shifted to the real Hero of Neverwinter, standing behind Khralver.
"Yes... I'll get right to the point. Mistress Natale wishes to meet with you to share information she has regarding a weakness of the Shadow Reavers.
Tie crossed her arms and asked, "And what does she want in exchange for this information?"
"Mistress Natale has told me very little, but I believe that your... abilities and those of certain of your companions are required to exploit this weakness. She wishes to meet with them as well," he answered with a look like he had somewhere else to go.
Seeing the rogue reach up and pinch her nostrils between thumb and forefinger, Tie asked, "Which companions does Sydney want to meet with?" thinking, boy, do I smell a rat too.
Natale's messenger was ready for this question; "The talented girl from the Academy... Quara, and the Gith... Zerai, Zave?"
"You're close enough," Tie's smile was real. She could imagine the pressure that Hosttower witch was placing on this poor man. "We'll meet with her. Make yourself comfortable, we'll be ready to go shortly," She said pulling her rogue friend aside for a briefing.
They'd been on the road for a little over two leagues when Zhjaeve called a halt. As she stood on the wagon track, looking into the distance, Qara stepped up beside her. She glanced at the sorceress and spoke; "Do you see it," she asked pointing with a glance at what looked like heat-shimmer. "It is still searching. Do you feel ready? We have prepared as much as we are able."
The Knight-Captain, sensing the fight to come drew the emissary to the rear, safely out of danger. Not knowing the situation, she listened carefully to the Gith's conversation.
"Every time I hit the damned thing, it hurt me," Qara's pensive reply was puzzling. "And now you're telling me if I kill it, I kill myself too," she said, her voice trembling. "Elanee dispelled it, but it's back. What if... your idea doesn't work?"
"Killing it is one solution available to us, but you must also die in the process. That would be a senseless waste," Zhjaeve answered. She took the girl's chin in hand and continued; "If you fail, I will dispel it... once again. You will then have to face it again, and again, until you master the will to put it down for good. I have faith in you-you can do this."
Qara put on a brave face, took a deep breath, pulled a tiny scroll from her belt pouch, and unrolled it. Facing the distant threat, she kneeled and began reciting A Prayer for Kossuth's Forgiveness.
"What's going on?" Tie asked, she'd never felt so in the dark.
"Forgive me, Kalach-Cha... Tee-nah," she said; She was still having trouble with names. "What we face is a form of geas first used by the Illithids. On this plane, it is called an animus elemental. Are you familiar with it?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
"That's a being constructed of one's own life force, right?" she answered, having heard something about it when she was a child.
"That is correct," the Gith replied. "Someone has cast this abomination on that child, no doubt out of spite. They are seldom beneficial and the ones least able to deal with this evil make it most powerful-Their weakness and inability to cope feed it. The more one fights, the stronger it becomes."
"Any idea who could summon that thing?" Tie asked. "They'd be powerful magicians, I suppose."
"That, I do not know. It has an arcane component that involves contact with the subject." the Gith mused. "It is surely someone she knows. We first encountered it in Neverwinter, where the druidess, El-anee," she smiled self-consciously, "dispelled it. That, sadly, just sends it away, and it always comes back. The sorceress must use her will and faith in her deity to dispel the evil that animates the construct. Its destruction may harm her, we need to be ready to assist in that event."
Qara was half the distance between her companions and her nemesis. She carried a stave that Khelgar crafted and, in a rare moment of dwarven humor, named Qarastaff. The sorceress hated it... then, but now, she carried it with pride, after enchanting it to fit her nature. Flames burned at both ends, but did not consume it. The distance between the two closed rapidly as she marched forward. The avatar of her self-inflicted pain stayed in place on the wagon track; It waited.
"Errm, excuse me." It was Khralver, who'd crept up behind the two. His eyes widened as he exclaimed, "What in the hells... oh, I beg pardon. What is that, thing?"
Zhjaeve eyed him coldly. "Perhaps you could tell us, emissary. I believe that your mistress is involved in this." Her colorless eyes gauged his reaction. "Please return to your safe post in the rear. Our situation here gives your life some value." she said, dismissing him.
"She's almost there," Tie unslung her bow and had it tensioned with a few practiced movements. "She'll need back-up." The Gith's gentle hand on her shoulder made her pause, her arrow not quite set.
"As difficult as it is to watch," Zhjaeve never took her eyes from Qara's march, "this gifted young one must face her challenge alone. Our efforts to help will only harm. I will prevent her death, but that will delay her ascension."
The sorceress faced herself. The image was like that seen in a poorly plated looking glass-Somehow distorted-Not quite there. It was indeed her image, the only difference was the elemental's orbs. They were stoked by the hells' very fires. Taking a deep breath, she started the ritual.
"What in the hells is she..." the Knight-Captain pulled her bow back fully, only to relax it-That same gentle touch was again restraining her.
A short distance away, Qara kneeled and lay her flaming staff at the feet of her elemental mirror-image. Bowing her head, she waited. Bits and pieces of her voice chanting a ritual drifted back to the two watching anxiously.
The animus elemental began to stretch, its face a study in agony. It quickly lost its human form, it now resembled the diseased cloud of spent magic that it was. It winked out with a clap of thunder, leaving a retching Qara on her hands and knees.
The Gith studied Tie's face and said, "It is done... please, stay here and be prepared, there may be... some side affects. We will return shortly." She went up the path with a purposeful stride.
When the two returned, Qara looked tired, but relieved. The Ritual of Forgiving that she performed released the pent-up anger and fear that she struggled with daily, breaking the bond between her and the evil construct. She had yet to emerge from under the dark cloud of hate that summoned the elemental to dog her footsteps-She had no idea who did it or why.
"You had me worried," the moon elf said, relieved. "I though you were letting it... finish you. That you were giving up. How do you feel?"
"I'm fine... could be better," she said with a tentative smile.
Tie noticed the flames normally on her staff were not there. Maybe the elemental had done her more harm than they could see.
Before the Knight-Captain could ask her about the staff, the sorceress smiled at Zhjaeve and said, "I've learned a new spell-Watch this." With a flourish, she held her staff even with the ground, her hands together around the center. She slowly slid her hands apart. When they were shoulder's width apart, she closed her eyes and snapped her hands back together, causing an orange ball of flame to appear at each end. "Now-Watch this," she said in a gleeful voice. As she slowly spread her hands apart, the flames went out.
"That's good control, and it's fast enough to be useful in combat, as well," Tie marveled.
Qara couldn't resist showing off- She spun the staff around twice, stopping it behind her left shoulder, then twice again, stopping it behind the right. When she stopped its final spin in front, it was aflame at each end. Snuffing out the ends, she bowed theatrically and said, "That's all."
"Her power is most impressive," the Gith was proud of her progress. "It is sure to grow stronger with time."
Tiernah smiled in spite of her misgivings. "Ambassador Natale awaits." Her smile broadened at Qara's grimace. "We can camp here if you need rest," she said, sure the sorceress would be impatient to move on.
"We can rest if you're tired," she shot right back. "Me? I'm ready. Let's go."
The sun was just three short-hands above the horizon when Sydney Natale's emissary called a halt. "This should be the place," he concluded, looking carefully at several prominent landmarks. "Mistress Natale will be joining us shortly."
The trail they'd followed on the last leg of the journey ended in what looked like a box-canyon. The clearing was walled in by steep hills on three of its sides. This trail was the only way out. Qara was restless, she didn't like it here, an inner sense of arcane presence had its wind up. "Something isn't right here..." she mumbled.
"Khralver, leave us," Sydney Natale's whiskey-roughened voice dripped with her displeasure. We will speak more later concerning the... timeliness of your arrival." She dismissed him with a wave.
"Y-yes Mistress," he wasted no time in leaving.
Ambassador Natale, of the City of Luskan, didn't care much for appearances, it showed in the drab colorless robes she wore. "Thank you for agreeing to meet with me... captain... and you've brought the Gith, I see," she said. Her eyes widened as she looked over the moon elf's shoulder. "Ahh... Qara, your father is a mage of the Academy, is he not?"
The sorceress bristled at her tone. "Yes, he is. But we're not that much alike." Her eyes locked with Sydney's, daring her to look away first.
Declining her challenge, the ambassador shifted her gaze back to the Knight-Captain. "I am sorry I had to send Khralver to fetch you. I would have come to Crossroad Keep myself, but too many eyes follow my movements."
Tiernah glanced at the Gith, who was standing beside her. Zhjaeve appeared to be listening attentively, her face was a mask. Qara was standing close behind, Tie could not see her. Hoping the sorceress was in control of her apparent anger, she asked, "Why did you come to me instead of My Lord Nasher?
She sighed , as if tolerating a dull-witted child. "A visit to Nasher's court would have drawn too much attention. I came to you because you and your companions seem to be at the forefront of the war with the King of Shadows. As such, there is no need for intermediaries and unfortunately, that is what Nasher has become. I prefer to speak to those who act, not delegate.
The moon elf had crossed her arms while listening to this. "How can you, and indirectly, Luskan, help Neverwinter in the war with the King of Shadows?" she asked. The ambassador's motivation wasn't clear.
The ambassador would not meet her eyes. "You know of true names?" she asked. After seeing Tie nod, she continued, "I have brought a scroll containing the true names of each of the Shadow Reavers. The Hosttower of the Arcane keeps a record of the true names of all its members, to use against them if they ever violate their contracts." She held up a hand to silence any questions and continued, "When used against Black Garius, the true names did not appear to work, he slew those sent against him."
In the pause, Tie asked, "If they're useless, why give them to us?"
"Ahh, very good question," her smile didn't quite touch her eyes. " The Hosttower assumed they were useless, but I suspected otherwise. So I performed a divination on the scroll, and the names revealed a link." Her frown was now real. "Unfortunately, I don't have the lore to decipher the results." Unrolling the parchment, she walked up to where Zhjaeve was standing, scratching the Gith's arm with a careless gesture. "You, examine this. What do you see? Well?"
The Gith, ignoring such a glaring lack of diplomacy, replied, "I can read these... and I believe they can be of use to us. Knowing the name of a being gives one great power over it... and these names could weaken the reavers enough to allow us to kill them."
Sydney walked back to the end of the path where her group of low-life muscle had appeared. "Then you are of use to me," she said, pointing to the Knight-Captain, "You, however, are not. I have no need of you, and have no care whether you live or die. You brought these two to me, that's all I wanted of you."
Qara stepped up beside her two companions, her patience had run out. "I say, let's just burn this Hosttower witch and take the names from her smoking corpse," she snarled.
"Oh, dear girl," Sydney was addressing a cranky child. "If the circumstances were different, you would be my most treasured of gems. But the Magister of the Academy in Neverwinter has offered me so much more in exchange for your head. You are a very bad girl indeed; You've offended a powerful man. No doubt you've met his gift I summoned especially for you."
Qara brandished her staff, the flames of anger had yet to appear at its ends. "You want my head, witch? You come on and get it." she challenged.
"Such bravado, my dear. I regret that I'll miss the chance to break you, then rebuild you into the formidable entity you could be-Under my thumb, of course. Now, I won't bother with you myself, It's not worth soiling my hands with your blood. I'll let my servant deal with you... permanently."
"Oh, I see now, coward," Qara taunted, spoiling for a fight. "That's why you prefer to speak to someone of action?" Flames now danced the entire length of her staff.
"Enough, the animus elemental wasn't much of a challenge, was it?" the ambassador's voice had taken on a hard edge. Touching the fingernail she'd scratched Zhjaeve with into the welling blood on her own forearm, Sydney Natale summoned a variant of Qara's evil mirror image. "This planar elemental will enslave all of you," she hissed. With that, she gated out to let them face this new horror.
The Githzerai cleric turned to Tiernah. Slipping a green crystal on a fine silver chain from her neck, she laid it in the moon elf's open palm, and said, "Time is short-Listen carefully. The unkempt one has foolishly released a power she knows little about. If I fail to put it down, the bottle that I enclose it with will confine it as long as the weave exists. My vow, spoken to you at Crossroad Keep, still stands. Know that I will be with you, if only in spirit, until we reach the end of our chosen path. If you have need of my council, or my knowing, simply hold that stone and call my name. Though my physical self passes on, my essence will always return home to what you call Limbo." She had nothing more to say.
"You'll defeat it. I know you will." Qara's voice was resolute-Her face was not. "You'll... be here."
"Zerthimon's will be done," she said, placing a hand on the sorceress' cheek. "Know that you have done well, my child. Remember-Focus... purpose... will." Smiling at them both, she turned to face the threat to her continued existence on this, the material plane.
The Gith cleric and the planar elemental were encased in a shimmering dome of energy, summoned by Zhjaeve's final incantation. Occasional flashes of light illuminated it from within. After several dull thuds, the globe faded from view.
As if on cue, Luskan's hygenically challenged ambassador gated back in. "I... had not thought it possible. You have defeated it, destroyed it utterly." she said. After taking a look around, she asked, "The Gith... where is she?" Zhjaeve's absence appeared to upset her more than the defeat of her summon.
Taking advantage of Sydney's ignorance, Qara replied calmly, "You killed her, you Luskanite Hostttower wannabe wizard bitch. Now your true names are useless."
Tiernah was impressed, the sorceress' taunt appeared to be working.
"I will get something from this," Natale's fury was barely under control. "Your head... take them. If firehair's head is damaged, you'll answer to me," she said, leaving them to their work.
Five thugs advanced up the trail, their blades flashing. Tie raised her bow, ready to let the first missile fly. A hand on her shoulder was followed by a request; "Don't waste an arrow. May I?" Qara asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Certainly, be my guest," the moon elf answered with mock formality. Sure that this would be some show, she stepped back and lowered her weapon.
The sorceress stepped up, and without hesitation, paddled off five small fireballs from her staff that incinerated the Luskans where they stood-They never had a chance.
"I'll have to do this myself," Sydney had returned, her rage was fueling her magic now. "You're miserable life is over," she screeched, raising her arms to cast a spell. She grunted as two of the moon elf's arrows entered her chest in quick succession, collapsing her lungs, rupturing her heart. Before she could fall, her presence faded.
"Hells' fires," Qara cursed. "She escaped-damn, damn, and damn."
"Know that she did not," said a voice they both knew well. "The spell will fade with her passing."
"Welcome back, Lady of the Planes," Tie said, with a relieved smile.
"Zhjaeve..." Qara's child-like exclamation lifted the Gith's heart.
A/N Thanks to my beta-reader Wyl for slowing my headlong rushing pace. Next chapter-Qara does M... I promise!