Chapter 43 A Good Man is Hard to Find
Usual disclaimers: The characters are owned by Bioware, Obsidian, and a whole boatload of others and not me, with the exception of a bear and paladin-lovin' ranger and an occasional NPC. Some dialog is paraphrased from MotB, and a few liberties were taken with spells. Then again, who knows what new spells were in the Tome of Iltkazar, so there. As always, reviews or comments appreciated, as well as pm discussions.
She dreamed that she was standing on a flat, gray plane leading to a gray city. She peered all around into the vast emptiness searching for her beloved, but he wasn't to be found. She ran like fiends were chasing her to the city and asked people on the street if they had seen her beloved, but they laughed at her. She asked the Watch, but they ignored her or shoved her aside. She woke up with a start, her heart pounding, and murmured, "Oh Cas, where are you?"
The rest of the night passed uneventfully, and after they awoke Safiya washed her face in the stream before putting on her disguise. Dee asked after she cleaned her teeth, "Your hair...how often do you have to cast that cantrip to get rid of it?"
Safiya ran her hand over her scalp and smiled. "Oh, we add make it permanent as soon as we can cast the spell. It's considered a rite of passage among Red Wizards."
Dee broke down their camp while she waited for Safiya, leaving as little trace of their passing as possible. She smirked at Safiya's plain, baggy beige small clothes as she caught sight of her putting on her disguise. Those would not be considered 'dainty' anywhere—more like something like Granny Pierson used to hang on her clothesline back home. She helped Safiya adjust the scarf around her head so it covered her baldness when she finished dressing, throwing one end over her shoulder. "I think besides new boots, the first thing we have to get in Mulsantir is a decent cloak for you. Your teeth are chattering." She took off her cloak and put it around Safiya's shoulders and fastened it. "Take this. I'm warm enough with my gambeson and brigandine."
Safiya frowned dismissively, yet she didn't refuse the offered cloak, and she found herself flushing as Dee leaned close and fastened it. "How gallant. You really are a knight. I don't know if there's much point in buying one if I go right back to Thay, but I hadn't thought about how I'll get back. I suppose I assumed mother would have made arrangements with her friend."
Dee couldn't help but notice she looked lost for a moment before she recovered herself. "Your best bet would be to travel with a caravan then unless you have other means."
"I...suppose I'll have to join a caravan if my mother didn't make some kind of arrangements." Safiya felt a momentary annoyance at that, but this was obviously an emergency which had just come up, so her mother could be forgiven. Besides, she was a grown woman and perfectly capable of finding her own way back to Thay, not to mention a formidable wizard, and perhaps this was her mother's way of showing her that. She wasn't confident that Dee was ready to strike out on her own either, so she was reluctant to leave her. She seemed on the verge of tears at times, and still had no memory of how she got here and only vague recollections of the battle they had fought beforehand.
Dee for her part was torn between doing the right thing, which would be making sure Safiya got back home safely, and her pressing need to find her own way home. Thay was to the south, while from what she remembered, The Sword Coast was to the west, practically on the other side of the world. Thinking about how far away home was and her dream of the night before made her so blue she wanted to cry. But she had to hold herself together. At the same time she was furious at being stolen away from her love and the death she had accepted.
"Come on, suck it up," she muttered, wishing Cas was here wrap her in his strong arms and calm her like he did when her emotions threatened to overwhelm her, as they had lately. She had to keep a clear head if she ever hoped to get back. She took a deep, calming breath and decided to compromise. "I'll make sure you find a safe caravan to travel with before I leave." She squinted at the sun, which had risen above the horizon. "We best get movin' if we're going to make the city before dark."
After Kaji picked a few more pears for them to eat later, they set off to Mulsantir, slogging along the muddy road. But the day grew warm so the road dried out in no time, though their feet were caked with mud, and the hem of Safiya's dress became thick with muck. At Dee's suggestion she pulled her skirt up and let it hang out over her sash. Dee explained that was how farm women who wore skirts arranged their them when they worked in the fields. This led to her describing farm life to a fascinated Safiya. Dee found it amusing that she had never even seen a farm except in the distance while accompanying her mother to a convocation of the heads of the various academies. But then Dee had met too many people in Neverwinter who had no real idea where the food on their plate came from to be very surprised.
They passed the morning this way, with Dee telling her about her life for the past two years. Despite her feelings of distrust for this Red Wizard ( it wasn't lost on Dee that she could be considered her prisoner, for now anyway), she was beginning to feel something akin to their being old friends reunited after a long absence.
Safiya in turn told her about Thay as they walked, about the council of mages called the eight zulkirs that ran the country. Dee knew from Grobnar that their head was the archlich Szass Tam, and that the Thayans constantly schemed against their neighbors, including the Rashemi. He had told her the Harpers suspected that they were now spreading their influence and gaining power through covert trafficking of slaves, drugs, and the blackest magics through their embassies. It was little wonder Safiya had to wear a disguise while in Rashemen.
Dee kept her knowledge to herself, though she did ask Safiya a few carefully worded questions to try to discover where her new companion stood. However, Safiya seemed to care for little outside of her classes and her research on homunculi. She didn't have a 'someone' waiting for her back in Thay, though she did admit to taking a lover from among her fellow instructors on occasion and seemed to have found acceptance with her encroaching spinsterhood. She also didn't have any particular ambition to take her mother's place as the headmistress. No, give her a library for research and her laboratory, and that was all she required to ensure her happiness. Dee was struck by how much she reminded her of Sand in this respect.
There were few travelers on the road, and the few they did meet were not overly friendly. One old woman traveling in what looked to Dee like a small cottage built on the bed of a horse-drawn wagon stuck her head out the window and made gestures at them as if warding off evil before withdrawing like an misshapen turtle into its shell and slamming her shutters closed. Safiya wasn't bothered. She told Dee the Rashemi were distrustful of foreigners and superstitious by nature. It was clear to Dee that Safiya held them in contempt and considered them little more than savages. As far as not encountering any merchants, Safiya pointed out they wouldn't reach the Golden Way until they were nearly at their destination, so it wasn't a surprise that they hadn't encountered any merchants either.
But the land was wild and beautiful; the very air seemed more alive, and it made Dee realize how civilized the wild places of the Sword Coast were in comparison. Dee longed to explore, and she longed for Casavir to be with her to enjoy it with her. She banished that thought and forced herself to identify the trees, which were already showing the change of colors, to get her mind off him. Some of them she had never seen before, though a few were oddly familiar, but she couldn't remember where she could have seen them. She collected a few leaves and put them into Safiya's rucksack. She discovered birds she had never seen before and practiced the long whistling call of one of them until she got it right, and delighted Kaji when she taught it to him. She also remarked to Safiya that it was strange that they came across as many spirit animals as living animals; she expected that in the barrow, but not out here. Safiya explained they were called telethors, and their spirits stayed behind as guardians of the land after their deaths.
Cillian smelled the smoke of the city long before they could see the city itself, and after they crested a hill they spotted a high sand-colored stone wall in the distance. It was so big Dee could have made it out even without her spectacles. It was early afternoon, and the wind was picking up as heavy clouds gathered, threatening more rain that evening. About that time the golem had a sudden seizure and crashed to the ground. Dee grinned as she knelt beside it to untie the shields on its back. "Guess that means I'm the pack mule now, unless you can fit all this stuff in your bag. But that means we're stopping by the merchants to sell it off for sure before we go find your mother's friend."
Her tone told Safiya that there would be no argument. She was tired, and Safiya was pale with exhaustion even though Dee had slowed her pace after she saw that Safiya was struggling to keep up with her. The makeshift sandal had given out a few miles back, as had her sock, so she had removed the other boot and had gone barefoot.
But she had another reason to delay their meeting. "Besides, I've been thinking we should see what we can find out about this Lienna woman before we casually stroll into her theater and turn ourselves over to her. You said yourself you don't know anything about her."
Safiya wanted to argue that she trusted her mother not to send her into a dangerous situation. But she had to admit her mother had sent her to that barrow with very little preparation. "You're right, Dee. I don't know a thing about Lienna. In fact, it's strange now that I think about it that I've never even heard of her before yesterday. How good of a friend could she be if my mother never once mentioned her to me?"
They came upon a half-elven merchant while they were still a good half a mile away from the city gates whose wagon had gotten stuck in a ditch when the horses had careened off the road. The merchant watched with his arms crossed, a look of utter disgust on his face, as his crew hustled to dig out the mud from around the tires before the drizzle became a downpour. Dee hailed him heartily. "Well met! Do you need some help?"
He gave them a once-over, and regarded them with a jaundiced look that suggested that even a casual conversation with the likes of them required more energy than he cared to expend. "Well again, on this dismal Rashemi day. No, the lads have it under control."
It occurred to Dee that this might be a good time to unload their pickings. "Are you a merchant? I have some things to sell, and I'm also lookin' to buy, if you're interested."
His pained expression suggested that she might as well have just asked him to shed his blood for her. He drawled, "Sorry." But she didn't think he sounded very sorry at all. "I sell and buy as little as possible, just as much as is required to pay for our travel expenses." Apparently he had no need of coin at the moment, though Dee suspected from the way he looked a them he was on the verge of charging for continuing the conversation.
Dee pressed on, as a merchant who wasn't interested in customers was a novelty to her. "Are you sure you don't need help with your horses then? I'm pretty good with animals."
He sighed profoundly and pointed at Kaji. "You can help us by removing whatever that thing is and that bear so the lads can calm them down. It was a monstrous bear that ran them off the road in the first place, and I don't imagine they'll calm down until your bear is gone."
She and Safiya looked at each other. Safiya whispered, "A monstrous bear? You don't think..." She addressed the merchant. "What was this bear like?"
The merchant looked them over with renewed interest. It usually only took him a heartbeat to size up a customer to determine whether he or she was worth an effort. This peasant woman and barefoot sell-sword weren't, in his opinion. At the most they might have some ill-gotten loot to barter. They were also obviously foreigners, as was he, and as indeed were many whom he passed on the road. But he recalled the monster bear had said he was looking for an outlander. He wouldn't be surprised if these two had looted the wrong offering hoard, and he wasn't about to provoke the bear's wrath by buying whatever they had stolen.
"Yes, it was an enormous, colorful bear leading an army of spirits. It almost hurt to look on him he was so garish. More colors on him than a Calishamshite dancer's veils. Said after he sniffed our wagon he was looking for an outlander. I wouldn't want to be him...or her when that bear comes back." He turned back to watch his workers' progress, hoping they would take the hint and leave.
Dee swallowed hard and whispered to Safiya as they walked away, "Yeah, I do think it's the same bear, but I don't have a clue what I did to offend him other than defeat him, and it's so unlike a bear to carry a grudge. We better make haste into the city until we can figure somethin' out. There must be some way I can make peace with him." She looked at Cillian for confirmation, but he only chuffed and suggested fish—a whole boatload of fish.
They entered through the gate used by merchants traveling along the Golden Way, which Dee discovered to her disappointment wasn't nearly as impressive as its name had implied, being little more than a dirt road. The guards didn't bat an eye at Cillian as many berserkers had animal companions, though one guard watched Kaji closely and muttered to his cohort that Safiya had a Thayan color to her. Dee asked for directions to The Veil Theater to distract them from looking too closely at Safiya and learned they had to pass through the bazaar to reach it. One of them pointed out its banners hanging from the turreted roof which could be seen from there.
Dee grinned at Safiya. "That's convenient."
Dee was used to seeing occasional merchants in exotic garb in Neverwinter and even a few pass through the Keep, but she had never seen anything like this. There were merchants wearing clothing styles she had only seen in paintings or in drawings in books. Some looked like barbarians dressed in rough hides and furs, but others wore the finest embroidered silken robes. It appeared that everything one could want could be found here. There were stalls with rugs, some with cooking pots and dishes, others with shields, bows, and swords in shapes the likes of which she had rarely seen, and others selling cloth ranging in quality from coarse hemp to fine Shou silks in every color imaginable. She noticed one booth, the wares of which consisted of bolts of cotton in a variety of colors, and as she looked at the price she realized she could buy an entire bolt of cotton for what two shirts cost back in Neverwinter.
She grumbled to Cillian about leaving her Bag of Holding locked in her desk back at the Keep.
The heady scent of exotic spices and food cooking down one row made their mouths water and stomachs rumble since they had eaten nothing but pears all day, but they had to sell a few things first. Safiya asked a carpet merchant who might be in the market for weapons and Imaskari artifacts and was directed two doors down to the stall of Azim Qo'toth.
He was a tall, dark, slender man with a thick black beard wearing a heavily embroidered coat over a red knee-length loose-fitting tunic and voluminous pants that were gathered close at his ankles. He answered their inquiry with a gap-toothed, welcoming smile as he bowed low and gestured them inside his tent. "Of course! Come in, effendis. Let me see what you have to sell, and then perhaps we will see if I have something you would like to purchase, yes? Or let us barter, better yet! Come, Come! Mavish, we have customers!" Dee made a few well-known Harper hand signs while they talked, but Azim only gave her a puzzled look when she casually asked if he knew anything about the Wendersnaven.
He directed them to take a seat on a cushion-strewn bench with a low table in front of it. His wife Mavish, a tall, plump woman wearing a long loose black robe and an embroidered purple scarf, appeared from behind a curtain with a tray of inky coffee served in tiny cups. She was followed by a curly-haired girl carrying another tray filled with tarts. Mavish explained these were popular dishes in their homeland and invited them to break their fast with them. The tarts, which smelled as delicious as they tasted, were filled with chopped lamb and goat seasoned with garlic and mint or spinach and nuts. Azim looked over everything they had to sell while they ate, while Mavish hovered to make sure they did eat as she brought them water, admonishing them that they were too skinny. Cillian made himself comfortable on a rug behind their bench, and the little girl was sent off to buy him a few fish; she bravely brought them to him and watched at a safe distance in fascination as he devoured them.
Mavish gasped in alarm when Dee told them she had lost her rucksack and almost all of her equipment, so she needed to replace it all. Mavish then had her stand, took her firmly by the shoulders then the hips to estimate her measurements then did the same with Safiya and went off to her friend Mother Feodorra's stall, promising to return with a few changes of clothes for them both.
Safiya protested that she didn't need anything except a cloak and a few changes of small clothes but couldn't help adding before Mavish was out of the stall, "Dee's rather fond of ruffles and lace."
Dee chuckled and nudged her gently then snatched a spinach tart that Safiya was about to pick up and whispered, "I've rarely encountered such hospitality back home except in the shops catering to the wealthy of Blacklake, and I know we don't look wealthy."
Azim's eldest son was sent off to purchase a pair of boots for Dee from another nearby merchant, taking her remaining boot to size them. She was aware that there would be a mark-up on everything that was bought for them, but it would save them time. She still wished she had Neeshka with her to bargain with him, but Azim seemed honest enough, so she trusted her instincts.
He sealed the deal after studying Safiya for a moment while he stroked his beard then asking, "I do not mean to be presumptuous, but you have the look of a magi. I am correct, yes? I only ask because we have a modest collection of scrolls and potions, as well as supplies for creating your own scrolls, if you are interested." As Safiya perked up immediately, he grinned toothily and stuck his head behind a curtain and shouted, "Ziba, you have a customer!" A young woman with brilliant black eyes dressed like her mother immediately stepped out and led Safiya by the hand to another curtained alcove.
Safiya squealed loudly once she stepped inside which put Dee on alert, but immediately exclaimed, "Oh my! What fine parchment! And you have red dragon's blood ink!"
Dee chuckled lightly and whispered to Cillian, "Sounds like she'll be busy for a while."
In the end Dee had new boots, and Mavish reappeared with Mother Feodorra who presented Dee with a cloak for Safiya, a pair of soft leather breeches, three cotton shirts with blackwork embroidery down the sleeves and on the neck, several pairs of warm wool socks, and some small clothes that Dee told them she knew Cas would love. But that made her think of her husband, and it was all she could do to stop herself from bursting into tears to the dismay of Mavish, who thought she had offended her. Dee felt she had to explain, but she didn't know what to explain that wouldn't make her sound like a madwoman other than that somehow she woke up on the other side of the world with no memory of why or how or where her husband was, ending by apologizing for sounding like a raving lunatic.
Four young faces peered out from behind curtains to see what was the matter as their parents sat on either side of Dee and Mother Feodorra stood behind her trying to comfort her and listened to her story. Mavish took her hand as an idea occurred to her. "I know it is a long journey to your home, lady, but can you write? Perhaps you could send a letter to your husband. Korbuin the carpet monger is leaving the day after tomorrow in a caravan heading towards Baldur's Gate and from there north. For a fee I am sure he would carry your letter with him. But I suppose there's no guarantee he could get it to your homeland before you arrive there yourself."
Dee dabbed at her eyes. "That's a really good idea. Thank you, I'll write something tonight. But mayhap I could send it faster through one of the temples. Do you know if there is a temple of Tyr here?"
Mother Feodorra replied, "No, the only temples in Mulsantir are the shrine of the three goddesses, Meilikki, Mystra, and Chauntea, and the temple of the god of the dead, Kelemvor. There are whispers that there's a shrine of Malar somewhere, but if there is, it's well hidden. And those witches at the triple goddesses' shrine are not very friendly to outsiders unless they worship one of the three."
Azim and his wife nodded in agreement, and she added, "But I see you wear the symbol of the unicorn goddess, so you will be welcome at her shrine."
Azim suggested a list of equipment they should pick up later for their journeys back home, which he promised to have ready within a day or two. Mavish presented Dee with a leather-bound journal, telling her it might help if she recorded her travel and anything she remembered of how she came to be here. She also got her some hemp paper and sealing wax for writing letters. Dee asked if Safiya could travel with them if they were heading south, but they told her they had only arrived in Mulsantir a tenday ago and planned to stay through the winter until the roads dried out before heading back towards Calimshan.
Mavish smiled and put her hand on her rounded belly by way of explanation, which had been disguised by her loose garb and plump figure. "This is not a good time for me to be jostled about in a wagon all day, so we remain here. But I will find your friend safe traveling companions, don't you worry."
Safiya stepped back from behind the curtain after she finished perusing the magical supplies. She sat back down beside Dee and said excitedly, "Look at these! 'Modest selection' my eye! And I can take these scrolls and copy them into this blank spell book so I'll have them available until I get home! Do we have enough to pay for all of it?" She blushed as it occurred to her how much she had selected to purchase.
Dee turned to Azim, who nodded and looked pleased that he wasn't having to part with much in the way of gold pieces or gems. "We barter for this, and I will give you the rest when you return tomorrow after I have made a few sales, yes?"
No one responded to Dee's less than subtle hints about finding 'those who harp,' and none of them could tell them much about Lienna other than she was known as 'the lady in white,' and it was said she rarely left her theater. But Mother Feodorra added she was a renowned mask maker, and the whisperers in the market said that her masks were enchanted and could come to life. Dee thanked her as she collected her payment and left to return to her own stall, and she and Safiya accepted warm hugs from Azim and Mavish and from each of their six children before they left for the theater.
But once they had left the warm atmosphere of Azim's stall, Dee felt jittery and blamed it on drinking the thick, sugary coffee. Yet she knew she had reasons to dread this meeting. On the way to Mulsantir she had to force herself not to dwell on it; now that it was here, Dee was feeling sick again at the thought of confronting this woman, for she knew there couldn't be a good reason she had been brought to this land. It wasn't as if they thought she deserved a Rashemi holiday. No, she had been brought here because someone wanted something of her, or wanted her to do something no one who wasn't desperate wouldn't do.
If they had simply wanted the Sword of Gith, there would have been no reason to leave her in that barrow, unless...One possibility that presented itself was that the barrow was a convenient place to dump her body after they cut out the shard, with no one being the wiser. There was no evidence that the surgery had been performed there, so that meant she was taken there afterwards. But then why take her so far away, and why send Safiya to help her? And more disturbing, what had been bound in that circle of rune stones? "Why" was the question that demanded an answer, though "Who the fuck do you think you are to steal me away without a by-your-leave," was the more pressing question. She steeled herself and reminded herself she had no proof yet that Lienna was any more guilty than Safiya was. Cillian, sensing her agitation, nuzzled her as they walked to the theater, and she bent down and ruffled his fur.
She wondered as they approached the entrance what kind of play was to be performed this evening and had to stop herself from thinking of the plays she had attended with her companions in Neverwinter. The doors were closed when they approached. She turned to Safiya. "Oh no, I think we must be too late and they've started."
Safiya frowned. "That's strange. The guard said the performance wouldn't start until after sundown." Safiya was beginning to have an uneasy feeling after she observed a line of patrons waiting outside for the doors to open, some grumbling about going to The Sloop instead. "There must be some problem that has delayed the performance. Let's see if we can persuade the doorkeeper to let us come in and talk to Lienna before they begin."
Suddenly the evening quiet was broken by a woman's blood-curdling scream. They ran up the steps but found the door locked, and out of habit Dee reached for her lock picks since Neeshka wasn't with her. But Kaji swooped in front of her and had it open in the time it took for Dee to draw her swords. Safiya cast a few protective spells on both of them before Dee threw the door open.
The house lights had been lit in anticipation of the performance. The screaming woman turned out to be a man with long golden wavy hair wearing heavy face paint who shrieked again as he ran past them. He was followed by three other actors and then a stout female dwarf in an elegant gown which she had hitched up to her hips so she didn't trip over her skirts, all running away from a pack of gnolls and a Red Wizard.
The Red Wizard gaped at Safiya in disbelief. "Nefris's daughter, here? How is it possible?" Then he shouted at the gnolls, "Destroy her! Araman will have us strangled with our own intestines if we allow her to escape!"
Safiya immediately began casting a spell, as did the Red Wizard. But hers was faster and deadlier. She hissed, "Consider yourself expelled!" Dee and Cillian attacked the nearest gnolls to give Safiya cover. Dee thought as she landed a blow on a gnoll's thigh that severed the artery that it was too bad Safiya hadn't trained Kaji to use a bow to give her cover.
Dee killed the last gnoll and looked around for more. The dwarven woman came out of her hiding place in the box office and approached Dee and Safiya once she realized the fighting was over. "I'm Magda, the manager of the theater. Lienna said you would be coming. Quickly, take this!" She handed Dee a black stone that seemed to absorb all light around it. "Red Wizards—four or five of them—appeared out of nowhere with a pack of gnolls, and Lienna passed me her shadow stone and ran backstage. There is a portal to the shadow plane in her room, and that's where she would have gone to escape them. This stone will allow you to see the portal! Hurry!" She followed the other actors and sprinted to the door faster than Dee had seen any dwarf but Khelgar move.
Dee shoved the stone inside her brigandine since both she and Safiya needed their hands free and it was that or put it in her mouth. Safiya cast Mordenkainen's Sword while Dee summoned a dire badger. When they had finished they ran across the theater and behind the scenery and into a storeroom, where four more gnolls bigger and deadlier than any Dee had ever encountered on the Sword Coast were rooting through boxes and closets. "At least it's not gods-cursed undead," Dee muttered as she, the summoned badger, and Cillian attacked the gnolls while Safiya took care of the young Red Wizard directing them.
The gnolls were a harder fight than Dee would have believed possible. She made a mental note to ask Safiya later what the hells Thayans did to beef them up as they walked through the storerooms looking for Lienna's private chamber. They were definitely stronger and possessed more than an animal intelligence.
Safiya had lit the room with the deadly energies of her spells during the battle, so Dee whispered, "How are you on spells? That's two Red Wizards, but the dwarven woman said there was at least four."
Safiya answered confidently, "Don't worry, I'm saving my best for the last, and I still have my staff and a few other tricks up my sleeve. I know those two; they're graduate students from my academy, or they were. One of the reasons my mother sent me to you was because she was dealing with a minor insurrection at the academy. It's common enough in Thay, though I'm happy to say it doesn't happen as often at our school as at the others. Look there, that must be the place." A door at the end of the hallway had been split down the middle. Safiya stood back as Dee cautiously peered inside then nodded to let her know it was safe, and Safiya and Kaji followed her into a bedroom, a woman's bedroom judging from the flowery white curtains and bedding.
Dee glanced around. A pile of white clothes lay on the carpet, which might be evidence they had come this way or simply indicate that Lienna was sloppy, but the condition of the rest of the room belied that. Against the far wall was a workbench where she created her famous masks. Several finished masks hung on a rack over it, and two partially finished masks lay on top of it along with containers and baskets of feathers, paste gem stones, and paints. There was also a crafting table similar to Sand's on the opposite wall. She reached into her brigandine and withdrew the shadow stone and held it out before her as Safiya examined one of the masks that radiated an enchantment. A glistening black oval about the size of a full-length mirror materialized in the corner. "Come and look at this!" Safiya gave her a puzzled look then gasped as she saw it too.
Dee guided Cillian through with her, and Safiya took Kaji by the hand and followed Dee through. Either Dee was becoming accustomed to using portals, or it was easier to pass through to the shadow plane, because she didn't feel sick to her stomach and disoriented this time. The room they entered was a mirror image of the dimensions of the one they just left except it was almost completely drained of color. The only color that broke up the gray monotony came from the portal they had just used and a brazier simmering with magical fire.
What had been a bedroom in Mulsantir on this side of the portal was evidently Lienna's secret library and magical workshop. Safiya grabbed a few scrolls that she spotted tucked away on shelves between books as they passed through. Safiya froze in place suddenly as she reached for another scroll and put her hands over her ears. She gasped, "No!"
Dee rushed to her side. "What is it? Was it those voices again?"
Safiya shook her head. "Yes! No! It's nothing. It's over now. I thought...I heard a scream and felt like I was on fire for a minute. I swear I'm not going mad."
Dee put her hand on her shoulder. " It must mean something. If you want to talk later..."
"I don't, but thanks. Let's go on." Safiya waited for Dee to take the lead again then followed.
There were two doors leading from the storeroom, but only one was open. Dee whispered, "That's the one. I don't see them taking the time to shut the door behind themselves." Dee peered through the doorway at the shadow opposite of the storerooms behind the stage, but there were no gnolls or Red Wizards she could see. She indicated a door across the room. "Over there should be where the stage is." She noticed that sound also seemed eerily muffled on this plane as she took the lead and quickly crossed. They passed a rough work table splattered darkly. Something about the splatters caught Dee's attention and compelled her to give it a second look, but she didn't have time to examine it now. They stopped on either side of the door to the stage to prepare themselves and catch their breaths and summon some more help before Dee and Cillian counted to three then rushed the shadow theater.
But it was too late to save Lienna. A male Red Wizard stood over smoking remains stirring them with his boot. A gnoll growled to get his attention, and a younger Red Wizard shouted in alarm, "Khai, it's Safiya, here!"
Safiya gasped as he looked at her, "Khai Khmun! You?...I...Ithought I smelled incompetence. So you have joined this rebellion! Who is holding your leash, you mongrel!"
Khai Khmun smiled smugly at Safiya. "Araman—he rewards loyalty. That's something you and your mother should have learned. But I didn't kill this woman; she immolated herself to evade capture."
Dee uttered a vile curse at him. "Killing Lienna was a big mistake. I needed to talk to her."
Dee was obviously not a mage, so he hadn't considered her worthy of his attention until now. He startled as he took note of her and said, "Safiya, what are you doing here with this thing. Araman warned us about her." He gestured at Dee and his face revealed a mixture of fear and disgust.
Dee recognized the look he exchanged with Safiya; it was that of former lovers, but she could tell also that he and Safiya hadn't parted well. And she didn't take kindly the way he addressed her. "Is this a rival of yours, Safiya? I'm Dierdre Farlong and not a thing."
Safiya sneered and spat venomously, "He's not skilled enough to be any kind of rival to me. Khai's merely a junior instructor without the talent to recommend himself, so this worthless pile of sputum has taken the easy way to advancement, and when he couldn't suck up to my mother through me, found another way."
He flushed angrily and slipped a hand into his belt pouch as he replied calmly to buy himself time, though not disguising the fear and disgust he felt when he looked at Dee. "My quarrel is with Safiya, not you. You can go. But I don't think Safiya will put up as much fight as her mother did."
Safiya shrieked, "My mother!" His movement toward his component pouch hadn't gone unnoticed, but she was ready too. "You best be joking about my mother, Khai, or I promise you'll beg for death after I finish with you!"
He snorted. "Yes, Nefris used every spell available to her right down to her cantrips, but in the end no one from her precious academy came to her aid."
Dee had been keeping an eye on the other Red Wizard and caught him beginning a silent spell. She drew a dagger she had found in the barrow from her belt and threw it at him, catching him full in the throat, and Cillian charged him to finish him off. Safiya had been saving a Mordenkainen's Disjunction spell and cast it at the Red Wizards. Dee took care of the Erinyes that had been summoned, keeping them away from Safiya. But Safiya didn't need a meat shield now. Khai Khumn's taunt about her mother removed any hesitancy she might have felt. She hit him with everything she had, not really caring if she brought this shadow theater down on their heads.
When it was over Safiya knelt beside Khai Khmun's corpse as Dee looted the other Red Wizard's. She said angrily as she closed his eyes, "And to think you once claimed to care for me. But you were only interested in finding favor through the headmistress's daughter." She looked at him for a heartbeat longer then copied Dee and looted his corpse.
Dee walked over and put her arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. " I'm sorry about your mother. My former lover betrayed us to our enemies too, so I know what you're feeling. I'm still here to talk later. I understand if you want to return home now too."
Safiya smiled sadly as she accepted Dee's embrace. "Thanks. I'm not even sure what I'd be returning home to now though. My mother's last request was for me to help you, so if you don't mind, I'll stay with you, though I don't know what we'll do now that Lienna's dead. Perhaps we could start by searching her rooms to see if we can learn what she was supposed to tell you."
"That's a good idea. We should talk to Magda too and see if Lienna told her anything else. Then mayhap when this is over I can go back to Thay with you." Dee glanced at the corpse at her feet. "If you're ready, I need to take a look at that table in the storeroom we passed first."
Dee circled the table for a few minutes trying to work up the nerve before she gingerly reached out and touched it. She moaned then screamed and stared wide-eyed, rooted to the floor. Cillian growled and looked around for an attacker while Safiya called to her in alarm, wanting to pull her away but afraid that whatever on the table was affecting Dee would affect her as well if she touched her. She was about to dispel any enchantments on the table when Dee finally broke free and dropped to her knees, gasping for breath, her forehead beaded with sweat.
Safiya knelt beside her. "What happened? Did you have another vision?"
Dee stood shakily. "This was the place where...some shadowy things brought me here, stripped off my armor, and bound me to this table." She shuddered and told Safiya about the memory of how they bound her hands and feet so tightly to the table the restraints drew blood. The pain was fresh as if it had just happened. "Then I saw two women who might have been twins they looked so much alike. One was dressed in white. She must have been Lienna. The other was wearing red robes like yours...she had a surgeon's blade in her hand, and she ripped my shirt opened and sliced into my chest." She forcefully broke away from Safiya and leaned over beside the table and vomited until she thought she would vomit up her stomach as well. When it was over she sat on the floor against the wall rocking with her face in her hands. Cillian sat beside her and nuzzled her as she let the tears out.
Safiya sat on the other side of her and took her hand, overcome with a feeling of horror at what had happened to Dee, and a worse feeling of dread at what the vision told her. "A woman with red robes?" Now she knew why her mother had sent her here, but she still didn't want to believe her capable of something like this. But it was the only explanation.
Dee nodded. "I felt every bit of it. I could feel their hands in my chest. Their arms were bloody up to their elbows. Finally the woman in red held up the shard that had been in my chest. She had a look of triumph on her face, and she turned to me and whispered something. Then the shadowy creatures picked me up and carried me off. That's all I remember."
Safiya looked sick. "Do you remember what she said?"
Dee whispered, "She smiled at me and said, 'For love.'"
Safiya looked confused. "For love? That's it? What does that mean?"
Dee shrugged as she got to her feet again. "Damned if I know. Come on, let's go find that dwarven woman then find somewhere to stay. I don't feel well."
They reentered Lienna's bedroom and went to the theater, but no one answered their call, though Dee pointed out that the bodies had been carried out. She said, "I bet they're waiting outside for the local watch until they see it's safe."
Safiya nodded in agreement. "We can only hope they didn't keep running. If they're not outside, I suggest we take Lienna's room and wait for them to return."
Safiya opened the door, but the actors weren't waiting for them. Instead, three women wearing masks appeared in a blinding flash of light. "Witches!" she hissed. "Stay close to me and let me do the talking."