Chapter 8: The Flagon Under Attack

Nimbrethil had finally gotten access to Blacklake and Aldanon, and from him had learned that the shards were part of a broken githyanki silver sword. Unfortunately, Aldanon's knowledge had been limited and he had told her to go to the Archives and check the records of Ammon Jerro's family for the location of the wizard's Haven. Aldanon had said that the Haven was where she'd find her answers. So they had gone to the Archives only to find it under attack by the githyanki, damn creatures were turning up everywhere. After killing them she had found out that the farmgirl from Highcliff, whom they had met not long ago, was the only person who might have the information she sought. The githyanki knew this to, so it had become a race to see who got to her first.

The first meeting with Shandra had ended with her barn being burnt down, and this second one ended with her house being burnt down. The woman was now on her way back to the Flagon with them , and she was getting on Nimbrethil's nerves. All the woman had done on the trip back to the city was complain and blame everyone for all her problems. If it weren't for Casavir and his paladin charm calming Shandra down, then she might have just decided to knock the woman unconscious. With relief she saw the doors to the inn and ushered everyone inside.

"Well, who is this young lady you've brought to my inn here?" Duncan greeted them as he came over.

"Duncan this is Shandra. Shandra, my Uncle Duncan, you can trust him," Nimbrethil introduced them.

"Welcome lass, this is my inn you'll be safe here," Duncan said enthusiastically, a smile on his face and a gleam in his eye. Turning away he called to the gnome, "Grobnar play a tune, make the lady feel welcome."

"Of course I was just thinking...," the lttile bard was interrupted.

"We don't need a lecture on what passes through your head and out your mouth, just play!" Duncan yelled at him, causing Shandra to arch her eyebrows.

"Well your uncle seems to run hot and cold," Shandra looked back at the elf before her. "Alright I agreed to let you bring me here and now I want to know what's going on. What were those creatures and what did they want with me?"

"I don't have all the answers and was hoping you might have some," Nimbrethil replied. "If you could just calm down a little I'll try to explain." Before she could say anything else the woman started yelling all over again, repeating the same tired arguments she had spouted the whole trip back. Closing her eyes she tried to be understanding and not get angry but it was too much. "Antolle ulua sulrim," she said in irritation. (Much wind pours from your mouth).

"Nim that was rude!" Duncan gasped at her while Elanee looked at her in surprise.

The rest of them had no idea what she said, but at least it stopped Shandra's tirade in mid rant. Then Casavir spoke up and with a few honeyed words had Shandra melting like ice in mid summer. Curling her lip in disgust at the woman, Nimbrethil walked over to the bar to get an ale from Sal. When she turned back, she had managed to make her face impassive. "Look, you're the only living relative of Ammon Jerro and we need information stored in his Haven. That's why we sought you out and that's also why the gith are after you, and trust me you don't want to end up as their prisoner." Her voice became colder as she continued. "While you have been through some rough times, the simple fact is that I am not responsible for your problems. With the way you behaved on the trip back here, I would have been more than happy to leave you behind if it weren't for the fact that I believe your life to be in danger. Those gith attacked my home, killed one of my best friends, and forced me to have to come here to this city. So now if you're done whining about how unfair your life is, let's get back to the matter at hand. What do you know about Ammon Jerro and his haven?"

Shandra felt a little shiver run down her spine at the coldness in the elf's voice, but also saw the pain in the green eyes as she talked about her home, and suddenly felt a little ashamed of her behavior. These people had helped her get away from those creatures and not once had she ever thanked any of them. So she began to tell them what she knew about her grandfather, which wasn't much considering all she had to go on was stories her mother had told her. When she had told them everything she knew, they had all decided to go to bed for it had been a long day. Duncan came over to show her to a room upstairs that she could use, and she found him to be very friendly and had to wonder how he was related to the cold elf that was his niece.

Nimbrethil watched the woman go and decided that she had had enough of human company for one day. Heading for her room, she thought seriously about returning to West Harbor now and telling Daeghun what she had found out. She had a feeling that he knew more about the shards than he had let on, and while she had decided not to push the issue before she left, things were getting out of hand. Entering her room she leaned her bow and quiver against the wall next to her bed, and slung her sword belt on one of the posts before removing her boots and stretching out. Yes, that sounded good. Go back to West Harbor and leave this city and that foolish human woman behind. She longed to return to the peace and quiet of the woods and the mere. With thoughts of the good times she had had with her father running through her head, she fell asleep.

******

A few hours later, Nimbrethil jerked awake at the sound of a strange noise coming from the common room. Listening carefully she heard the chanting of spells and the clash of swords, then heard her uncle shouting about the inn being under attack. Leaping up she grabbed her bow and arrows and quietly opened her door. Seeing nothing she moved silently down the hall and just as she rounded the corner, saw her uncle fending off a couple of gith. Notching two arrows to her bow she quickly fired and killed one gith while injuring the other. Reloading quickly, she fired and put the second gith out of its misery. Ignoring her uncle's thanks, she hurried to the door to the common room to see a whole bunch of gith fighting with her friends. Taking careful aim, she began firing rapidly at a group surrounding Khelgar, and as soon as enough had died, she left Khelgar to finish the rest off and turned her attention to another group that was surrounding Grobnar and Qara. Soon all the gith were dead and everyone stopped to look around at the carnage in the common room. As she entered the room, her uncle rushed past her and ran up the stairs, but it wasn't long before he came running back down.

"That lass Shandra has been taken!" Duncan yelled at them. "How in the hells did those githyanki get into the city?"

"Does that matter? You'd best hurry if you want to get her back," a cool voice said from a corner of the room. Nimbrethil saw the ranger Bishop leaning down over one of the bodies, it had been his voice she had heard. "Look, this one has a sprig of Duskwood in his boot. That means they come from deep within Luskan territory and that's where they'll be returning to."

"Luskan? That's you're territory Bishop," Duncan spoke up.

"Yeah but it's not my problem. I'm not going into Luskan for some farmgirl and certainly not with any kin of yours." The ranger got to his feet and stalked towards her uncle, his movements as fluid as those of a panther, his eyes filled with cold disdain.

"We don't need his help Uncle Duncan," Nimbrehtil spoke up but her uncle ignored her and continued to glare at the man.

"You'll help them whether you like it or not!" her uncle snapped.

The ranger's eyes narrowed and his voice was a low growl when he spoke. "And what makes you think..." he paused as he saw Duncan's chin lift and back stiffen. "Calling it due are you Duncan? Are you sure?"

"Yes, if that's what it takes for you to do the right thing!" Duncan snapped in retaliation, but Bishop didn't respond right away, so Nimbrethil decided to speak up again.

"Well, I for one don't need his help because I seriously doubt that any human is a match for me when it comes to tracking and hunting my prey." Nimbrethil heard the gasps from the others at her words and saw how Bishop's eyes filled with anger at the insult. However, she was surprised when a smirk came to his lips.

"Is that so?" Bishop stalked towards the elf and stopped right in front of her forcing her to look way up to meet his eyes. "What do you know about Luskan? From what I understand you're just a little country elf who's never been out of West Harbor before." His voice was mocking and his eyes raked her up and down disdainfully.

"I know enough about Luskan to know that I need to get in and out quickly and quietly. That said, I can follow a trail no matter how faint it might be or how far it might go. If you think you can do better, then prove it. Otherwise don't waste my time," she finished in the same mocking tone as him.

Bishop had to practically bite his tongue to keep from laughing out loud. Gods she was feisty and arrogant, and could give as good as she got, which intrigued him enough to make him take up her challenge. "Alright then, pack your bags and grab your weapons, we're heading for the Luskan border," he said as he brushed by the elf and headed for the door to the inn. "Follow my lead and don't try anything clever and maybe you'll get back in one piece."

Nimbrethil watched him, trying not to smirk as she realized from his words that he was trying to take control of the situation. Before anyone could blink she had notched an arrow and fired it at Bishop. It thunked into the inn door, passing so close to his ear that the feathers brushed it. She watched as he turned to her a look of surprise on his face. "I give the orders around here, and we go when I say so," she told him trying to keep the amusement out of her voice.

Covering his surprise and trying not to show how impressed he was with the shot, he smirked at her. "You sound alot like your uncle, calling shots, giving orders," he growled at the elf. "That kind of behavior will get you killed."

"Lasta lalaithamin," she responded. (Listen to my laughter) To her surprise he responded to her in elvish.

"Iire lye auta? (When do we leave?)" Bishop asked and saw her eyes widen a little in surprise. Chuckling a little he folded his arms and leaned back against the door, waiting for her answer.

"Soon as Khelgar, Casavir, and I gather our things," Nimbrethil replied, her estimation of the man going up a little. "I need to replenish my supply of arrows before we leave the city. How are you set?"

"I could use some more and I think we'll need them from what I've seen of these gith so far," Bishop stated and saw her nod and then leave to get her things. At least she was keeping the group small, but why did she have to invite the paladin along? Well hopefully the man wouldn't cause a problem and it was always nice to have someone to use as arrow bait. When they came back with their things, they left the inn and headed for the weaponsmith where she bought him a generous supply of magical arrows before getting some for herself. Then, side by side, they headed out of Neverwinter, following the trail of the githyanki.