Chapter 11: Githyanki Base

Nimbrethil stood looking down on the valley from the small ledge halfway up the mountain where the tracks of the gith led into a dark cave. There hadn't been too many of them to fight on the way up and she had easily taken quite a few of them out with a couple of well placed arrows. It was a good thing too, for the paladin and the dwarf would probably be in even worse shape if they had had to fight hard as well as climb in their armor. She glanced over her shoulder to see Khelgar sitting on a rock catching his breath, while Casavir leaned against the mountain next to the cave entrance. She saw Bishop was casually checking his bow, looking cool and unruffled as always, just like her. Of course, leather armor weighed half as much as plate and because she had spent most of her life walking around the woods, she was in great shape, so the climb hadn't been that strenuous. She knew that in a head-to-head battle plate was better if you got hit, but you just couldn't move as quickly in it and for her, being able to move freely was key. She wasn't strong enough to trade blows with people and had to make sure she didn't get hit.

She had scouted out the cave a ways to see what she could expect and had been surprised to discover a large group waiting for them in a wide cavern not too far in. The area was dark and she had seen a couple of places from which she could shoot that afforded some concealment. When she had crawled through the orc caves she had been forced at a couple of points to use her swords and had definately come off the worse for wear in those encounters. She definately didn't want a repeat of that experience. As soon as she saw that the other two were ready, she motioned them to follow her and they slowly made their way to the spot where the gith were waiting. She stopped in surprise as one of them stepped forward and addressed her.

"I have been waiting for you Kalach-cha," the gith growled at her. "Zeeaire has sent me to end you."

"Not if I kill you first," Nimbrethil snarled back and the creature suddenly howled at the others to slay her and charged. She quickly ducked behind a couple of rocks and took aim at the leader, sinking an arrow into his shoulder, throwing him off stride and allowing Casavir to get in a couple of good hits. Leaving the paladin to handle the leader, she started aiming at the others towards the back of the group. Because she was able to see in the dark as easily as day, she had no problem hitting her targets and soon the enemy bodies were piling up. When an arrow whistled past her ear from further back she peered into the darkness and saw there were a couple of archers in the shadows. Focusing her concentration on them, she took aim and soon two were down, but she failed to see that one of the gith had managed to get past her tanks and come up silently beside her. When she heard the gurgling death cry to her left she whirled to see him falling with an arrow protruding from his throat, and looking up saw Bishop smirking at her and knew that she now owed him one. Nodding sardonically at him, she turned back to find that the others had finished of the remainder and she moved from her shadowy corner to join them in the center of the cavern.

As she stood assessing the condition of her companions she felt Bishop pause just behind her and bend down to murmur in her ear, "You owe me one little elf." His breath on her sensitive ear caused a little shiver to run down her spine and she felt her breath catch in her throat. She saw Casavir tense at how close the ranger was to her and hoped that he would just keep his mouth shut. She quickly moved off to head deeper into the caves, hoping to prevent a fight between the two men. This was one of the things about humans that she still had a hard time grasping. They could instantly dislike someone on first encounters without any basis for it such as racial tension or family history. Many times it was because of something stupid such as not liking the way the person talked or what they chose to wear. Such was the case between these two and she just didn't want to be bothered by it. As dark and dangerous as the Mere had become recently, it was beginning to look much more appealing than being out here amongst the others. She looked over her shoulder to find both men watching her intently, Casavir with concern and Bishop with an almost feral look in his golden eyes. The ranger knew elvish, so he must be familiar enough with elves to know exactly how sensitive their ears were and she had to wonder if his actions had been deliberate. Seeing the slight smirk on his lips she figured it had been deliberate and, turning away, she felt her face flush a little at the implications. Best not to think about it right now for there was still a long way to go before their task was complete.

******

The four of them just stood staring as the body of the demon they had defeated vanished from sight and then looked around to see that they had reached the end of the road. With the death of the demon a door to an inner chamber had opened and they could just see a group of gith waiting for them. Nimbrethil also could see the figure of Shandra, locked inside a cage but otherwise seeming to be unharmed, and felt a rush of relief flood through her. After having to fight not only gith but demons and devils to reach here, she was glad that it had not all been in vain. Judging by what she could see, there would be no way for her to use her bow effectively inside the chamber and reluctantly she began to unstring it.

"Why are you unstringing your bow lass?" Khelgar asked her curiously.

"There isn't enough room in there to use it so I am going to have to rely on my swords," Nimbrethil said calmly and saw the worried looks she got from him and Casavir. "I know that I'm not as good with the blades but I have no choice. Don't worry, I'll be fine," she told them and saw they didn't believe her.

"I will protect you my lady," Casavir stated firmly and then glared at the ranger who had snorted at his words.

"Come on, let's get this over with," Nimbrethil sighed and unsheathing her blades stepped forward cautiously. She glanced around the room as she entered, sizing up the enemy quickly. As she approached she saw a female, much older looking than the others, standing inside some kind of portal surrounded by an energy barrier. Understanding came to her mind as she recalled the conversation with Mephasm and the little sphere he had given her: it would destroy the barrier. She kept her face blank as she looked at the gith inside the barrier, knowing she finally was face to face with Zeeaire.

"How long did you think you could escape us Kalach-cha? You have stolen our shards, defiled them with your touch, and now you will die for these crimes along with this frail thing of Jerro blood," Zeeaire hissed at her.

"You attacked my home, killed my friend, and kidnapped Shandra against her will. What crimes have I commited compared to those?" Nimbrethil asked as calmly as she could.

"You truly don't know the extent of your crimes? Then I shall recount them for you," Zeeaire replied. She proceeded to list them including the fact of having stolen the sword in the first place and the death of all the githyanki that had come hunting her.

"Seems to be an awful lot of trouble for just one simple sword," Nimbrethil said suggestively and saw anger cross Zeeaire's face.

"You put too much importance on your crime, you have done nothing that others have not attempted in the past," the gith leader said furiously.

"Oh really? You said you'd recount my crimes and now you are attempting to lie to me?" Nimbrethil taunted back.

"You know nothing, you speak lies like the Illithid did," Zeeaire hissed.

"Do I? Seems to me you are protesting too much," Nimbrethil sneered. She saw some of the others in the room shift uncomfortably and knew she had hit a nerve with them. She watched as a couple turned to confront their leader and then afterwards walk out of the room.

"Good, she lost face with them and now there are fewer to fight if things turn nasty, which I think they will," Bishop said softly, admiration in his voice.

"Enough of this!" Zeeaire said impatiently. "I have recounted your crimes and you will not stall your punishment any longer. However, for your companions I offer them the mercy of a quick death if you surrender the shards freely."

"Funny, I was about to make you the same offer," Nimbrethil sneered at the leader and then suddenly felt herself being lifted off the floor as a tearing sound came from her pack. She saw the three shards she had floating towards Zeeaire, passing through the barrier and landing on the ground beside her.

"Odd, I have all the ones you carry and yet you still seem to possess one," Zeeaire's voice held curiosity and she reached out her hand again.

Nimbrethil suddenly felt a sharp pain in her chest that seemed to burn like liquid fire. The agony of it was so intense that she couldn't hold back a scream as she felt tears of pain roll down her cheeks. She dimly heard Zeeaire's voice and barely comprehended what she was saying.

"You have a piece of the sword inside you. I shall remove it from you by force," Zeeaire hissed.

Nimbrethil fell to the floor in pain, trying to catch her breath and barely maintaining her grip on her swords. She heard the sounds of fighting and knew that the others were engaged in battle and tried desperately to collect herself, all the while seeing Zeeaire watching her from behind the barrier.

Bishop stood next to the elf blocking the giths' attacks and yelled at her to get on her feet. "Damn you elf, get on your feet and fight," he snarled and then jabbed his toe hard into her side to try to get her to move.

Struggling up, Nim tightened her grip on her swords and placing her back to the ranger's, engaged the gith behind him. As soon as she felled him she reached into the pouch at her side and pulling out the stone, touched the barrier surrounding Zeeaire. As the two met a great flux of magic washed outwards, sending her staggering back several feet as Zeeaire howled with rage and launched an attack. Struggling to block the gith leader's attacks, she found herself dodging around the chamber, trying to stay alive while looking for an opening. She soon realized that the gith's attacks were getting weaker and found herself able to go on the offensive, despite the pain still running through her body from whatever it was that Zeeaire had done. Soon her blades were connecting with flesh and not long afterwards Zeeaire fell to her knees as her weapon fell from her hand.

"You think you have won Kalach-cha but a greater enemy now comes for you and it will destroy you," Zeeaire wheezed out.

Tired of listening to the bitch's words, Nimbrethil thrust her sword viciously through the gith's throat with a snarl. She watched in satisfaction as Zeeaire's body eventually crumbled to dust, resisting the urge to spit on it. She looked up to see Casavir watching her with a mixture of shock and dismay. Then she looked at Bishop and saw the pleased gleam in his eyes, and simply nodded at him. She looked around as she heard a lock break and saw Khelgar had opened Shandra's cage and the woman stepped out in relief and smiled at her.

"You have to let me save you sometime or I'll never be able to pay you back," Shandra smiled at them.

"Oh there'll be plenty of time to pay us all back on the way to Neverwinter," Bishop drawled, never one to keep his mouth shut for long.

"You all put me in danger, I'm not paying you a single coin," Shandra snapped.

"Well then, you'll be paying me another way. My bedroll's a little cold at night and I'm thinking you can fix that," the ranger purred back.

"I won't have you speaking to her or anyone else that way Bishop," Casavir stepped forward aggressively.

"Really, how about if I left you here in Luskan territory with your righteousness to keep you company then," Bishop faced the paladin angrily.

Rolling her eyes, Nimbrethil snapped at them. "Knock it off before I hit both of you, we need to get going." She turned away to gather up the shards Zeeaire had dropped and saw that she now had four of them. "Oh and Bishop, you might want to work on your technique. You have all the finesse of a bull in a china shop," she snipped at him.

"Jealousy's thick in this little band I see. Don't think I've forgotten your pretty face fair leader," Bishop's voice was smooth as honey as he raked her with his golden eyes.

Nimbrethil felt her breath catch in her throat again at the heat she saw in his eyes, and little butterflies danced in her stomach. She knew her expression showed nothing and for that she was grateful. It wouldn't due for the ranger to see that he had any kind of effect on her. Without saying another word to anyone, she picked up her stuff and marched out of the chamber.