Chapter 13
Glancing down at the dwarf next to her and holding her hand, Imoen then looked ahead where Xzar was now walking next to Montaron. The girl tilted her head at the realization that she had not seen them walk side-by-side until now.
Imoen glanced over her shoulder. Both Khalid and Jaheira appeared to be lost in thought, though Jaheira shot an occasional glance at the four people in front of her.
There was no sound from any of them aside from their boots (and Xzar's shoes) upon the stone path and the occasional clank of Khalid's armour.
The pink girl drew a deep breath and sighed audibly. None of them had spoken in the hour since they left the Friendly Arm, and the silence was beginning to weigh on her.
She pursed her lips, then worked her hand free from Dorean's, briefly patted him on the head, and fell back to walk beside Jaheira.
"Where are you from?" she asked casually.
Being short for a human, Jaheira's frown seemed more imposing now for Imoen than it was when they were earlier seated in the Friendly Arm common room. I can only imagine what it must be like for Dorean.
Maintaining eye-contact regardless, Imoen cocked her head, displaying the aura of inquisitive innocence that has worked numerous times on scholars, monks, priests, watchers and visitors to Candlekeep.
After a moment, Jaheira breathed deeply, her chest rising and falling.
"Assuming that you are referring to my country of origin, I am from the nation of Tethyr."
Imoen's jade-green eyes widened. "Oooh, I've read a lot about Tethyr. Urm," she paused nervously. "Is the war there still going on?"
Jaheira stopped frowning, her expression turning pensive. "I would not know," she said flatly.
"Oh," said Imoen. She scratched her arm. "I'm sorry."
"Your apology is not needed." With that, Jaheira looked back to the road, her eyes narrowing at the back of Dorean's head; the dwarf was facing ahead and not looking back at them, but it was clear that he was listening. Khalid looked at Imoen and gave her a slightly sheepish smile. She returned it with one of her own before looking back up to Jaheira.
"So where did ya grow up? In the forest? I'm hoping it's the forest," Imoen added when Jaheira frowned at her again. "I always wanted to meet someone from there. I read that it's the largest forest in Faerun and it's full of monsters and that the elves there are the only ones who can live safely in it and that they even live peacefully with some'a the monsters and they live in this big city high up inna trees and it's all built around the biggest, most humungous tree called the Tree of Life." Imoen finally took a breath. "I wanna go there and see it one day."
Imoen blinked, then looked around. Jaheira stared at her. So did everyone else.
Montaron shared a look with Dorean, then silently turned back to the road. The others slowly followed suit.
"...yes," said Jaheira after a moment's thought. "I am from the Wealdath. But I was not raised there."
"Where did you grow up, then?"
Jaheira paused. Khalid met Imoen's eye and shook his head.
"If ya don't wanna talk about it, it's okay," she quickly added.
"I do not," said Jaheira. "Thank you."
Silence attempted to descend upon them again, but Imoen gave a slight frown of determination and inwardly fought it off. She glanced at Jaheira's quarterstaff.
"Are you a druid?" she asked hopefully. "I saw your staff," she added at the half-elf woman's furrowed brow. "I read that druids don't wear or even carry metal."
"Not all of us shun it," Jaheira replied. "Though there are indeed many who disapprove of its use."
Imoen's eyes widened alarmingly. "So you are a druid?" she exclaimed, lifting her head to gaze upon Jaheira with sparkling jade eyes.
Dorean smiled. As Imoen began peppering Jaheira with questions about druids, he slowed his pace to gradually fall back next to Khalid.
"They seem to be getting along," he said quietly.
Khalid blinked, then looked away from Imoen and Jaheira to Dorean.
"Y-yes. They seem to be."
Dorean paused. "Where are you from, Khalid?" he asked softly. "If you don't mind me asking."
"Oh, I d-do not mind. Not at all." Khalid paused. "I am from C-Calimshan."
"Hmm. Calimport?"
"Y-y-yes. C-Calimport."
He's getting more nervous. "I have never been there. I heard that it is beautiful," said Dorean, deliberately adding a wistful tone to his voice. "Largest city in all of Faerun. 'The City of Glory,' people call it," He smiled. "Calimport and Suldanessallar. You and Jaheira come from interesting places."
Khalid gave a nervous laugh. Dorean glanced at him, his eyes moving over the man's armour, shield, helmet and sword.
"Are you a soldier, Khalid?" he asked, keeping his voice low and soft.
"Whuh? Oh, yes, I-I mean, no. I mean...I was one, but not anymore. I am a H-Harper now."
Dorean paused, looking at Khalid's face, then averted his gaze. "My father told me he was a Harper," he said slowly, dropping his voice even lower so that only Khalid could hear him. "But he never spoke of either of you until the day we left."
There was a long silence between them, slightly punctured by the two women conversing nearby.
"I want to apologize again," said Dorean, looking up at Khalid. "For what I said last night. It was wrong of me."
Khalid hesitated, then smiled gently and patted Dorean lightly on the shoulder. "It is alright. P-please do not trouble yourself with it."
Dorean paused deliberately and then slowly nodded. "Thank you...for your kindness. For taking me and Imoen with you. It means a lot. To both of us."
Khalid blushed. "It's no p-problem. We are h-happy to help." He looked away nervously for a moment before meeting Dorean's gaze again. "Gorion was a good friend," he said quietly, lowering his voice to a whisper. "And we would never l-leave you or Imoen to f-fend for yourselves. It's not what h-he would have wanted."
Dorean paused, looking up at the Calishite's face.
If he is not being sincere, then he is a very good actor.
His brow then furrowed slightly at another thought. Ourselves? Without moving his head, the dwarf glanced at the two figures ahead of them.
Xzar and Montaron were now very close to each other. Straining his ears, Dorean barely heard them speaking, their voices too low and hushed for them to be heard by anyone other than each other.
Montaron's head began to turn in his direction, and the dwarf quickly moved his eyes back to Khalid.
The half-elf was now also glancing at the halfling and wizard. Montaron's head turned, fixing one black eye on Khalid's face, before returning to face the road.
"If you d-don't mind me asking, D-D-Dorean...are you n-nervous, to be around them?" Khalid asked quietly.
The next few seconds slowed to a crawl as Dorean considered his answer.
Tell him what he wants to hear.
"I...I must admit, they can be...unsettling." He raised his voice slightly. "But they have done us no harm. In fact, they have been nothing but helpful since we met them." He paused, glancing at Jaheira who was now answering Imoen's fifteenth question on druids. "But all the same, I am glad that you and Jaheira are with us now."
Khalid nodded understandingly.
"No, we do not have what you call naked dancing rituals," said Jaheira's increasingly loud and exasperated voice from beside them. "Nor do we court with animals!"
Dorean gave Khalid a bemused smile and received a half-embarrassed, half-amused one in return.
At least they're better conversationalists than Montaron.
..
A few hours later, Montaron silently walked off the path toward a nearby grove of trees, looked them up and down, went over to Imoen, removed six ham-and-egg sandwiches from the food-bag, then returned to the grove and sat down in the shade.
Dorean and Imoen looked at each other, then at Xzar. The wizard gave a dramatic sigh, inflating and deflating his thin chest, and shook his head in the direction of his partner before going over and sitting cross-legged a few paces to Montaron's left.
"Guess it's time for lunch," said Imoen. She reached into the open food-bag and held out two apples to Dorean. Taking only one, the dwarf shrugged at Khalid and Jaheira before going with Imoen over to the grove and sitting down next to her a half-dozen paces away from Montaron.
The half-elves joined them a minute later, sitting on a log and placing Dorean and Imoen between themselves and the halfling. Neither of them ate, instead taking draughts from their water-skins.
"Xzar?" said Imoen.
The wizard straightened his back and jerked his head up, seemingly startled.
"Did you eat all the cornbread that I gave you?"
Everyone (except Montaron) looked at him. Xzar shifted uncomfortably in his cross-legged position and lowered his head.
After a moment, Imoen smiled reassuringly at him and looked to Montaron.
"Hey, Monty, could you give Xzar a sandwich?"
No response came, although the halfling's chewing became louder.
Imoen huffed. "Fine. Be a greedy-guts then." She stood up and went over to Xzar, sitting between him and Montaron with her back to the latter.
Xzar was presented with a large butter-and-strawberry-jam toasted sandwich that Imoen had hidden in the bottom of the food-bag. He went still for a long moment, looking at it and then at Imoen, before slowly accepting it with both hands. Holding the double-square of bread close to his face, he stared at it for several seconds before very slowly taking a bite.
Everyone (including Montaron) watched him. Xzar finished chewing, swallowed, and was still for a few seconds. He then bit and chewed again with more enthusiasm, closing his eyes in an expression of childish joy.
Beaming, Imoen returned to her own meal, back straightened and chin lifted in a manner that could almost be described as haughty.
Khalid looked at Dorean, who met his gaze and gave him a shrug and brief tilt of his head. The dwarf then went over and sat down on the log next to Khalid.
From the corner of his eye, he noticed Jaheira staring intently at Imoen and the two individuals on either side of her.
"Imoen," she said abruptly, her voice calm yet commanding.
"Yes, Jaheira?"
The half-elf woman slowly placed her hands on her lap, her gaze focused on Imoen's face. The pink girl blinked, then stopped eating and straightened her back, giving Jaheira her full attention.
"What do you know of the organization known as the Zhentarim?"
To Dorean the very air in the grove had become still. He glanced over at Imoen's lunch-time companions.
Both men had stopped eating their sandwiches and were now returning Jaheira's intent stare.
Imoen looked between them, her head moving from left to right, then to Jaheira, her expression innocent and quizzical.
"Weelll..." she said, placing her half-eaten sandwich on her lap and absent-mindedly wiping her hands on her tunic. "I know that it was first founded a little over a hundred years ago by Manshoon, and it's main base is Zhentil Keep in Moonsea." She paused. "And that it's one of the largest and most powerful mercenary groups in the world. And that they also deal in information." She paused. "That's it, really."
Jaheira's cyan eyes focused on Imoen, glancing only briefly at the halfling and wizard sitting next to her.
"Am I correct, Imoen, in assuming that this knowledge was acquired solely from reading material?"
Imoen paused. "Most of it, yeah. Though I also know a bit from my lessons."
"Lessons with who?"
"With my tutors. Karan and Parda." Imoen paused."Gorion too," she added, lowering her voice and glancing at Dorean.
Jaheira narrowed her eyes, then nodded very slowly, her head moving up and down very slightly. "In that case, I will tell you what I know of the Black Network." She paused briefly, confirming that she had the girl's full attention, ignoring Dorean glancing at her from across Khalid.
"You are correct in that the Zhentarim is one of the largest and most powerful mercenary organizations in Faerun. It is also one of the most ambitious and wicked."
Jaheira's cheek twitched, and her hands curled into fists on her lap.
"Extortion. Blackmail. Racketeering. Kidnapping. Robbery. Narcotics. Assassination. Slavery."
"And embezzlement," said Xzar, smiling behind his sandwich. Jaheira threw a venomous glare at him before looking back to Imoen.
"Aside from the activities and methods of an organized crime syndicate, the Zhentarim is also responsible for numerous political upheavals and instigations of war."
Dorean's eyes flicked to Khalid's face, and he did not fail to notice the tightening of the man's jaw. Across from them, Xzar tilted his head very slightly, also glancing at the Calishite.
"The number of lives that it has taken and ruined since its creation now is beyond counting. And that number continues to climb every day." Jaheira paused briefly, lifting her chin and fixing Imoen with a cold, calm expression, her eyelids half-closed. "It is said that there is nothing a Zhent would not do for the sake of profit or power."
Imoen paused, then, moving only her eyes, glanced at Dorean. She quietly interlaced her fingers.
Next to her, Montaron resumed eating, taking a small bite and chewing very slowly.
His gaze focused not on Jaheira or Khalid, but on Dorean, his face relaxed and empty. The dwarf returned it, surprised at his own calm.
The silence was broken by low chuckling. All eyes (except Montaron's) turned to Xzar. The wizard had set his sandwich down on his lap; his lips were now slightly covered in jam, and his body rocked slightly back and forth as his quiet snickering grew louder.
"What, exactly, do you find amusing about what I said?" asked Jaheira, her expression hard and her tone glacial.
"Nothin', nothin'," replied Xzar. He continued to titter, lowering his head and placing three fingers to his lips. "Jus' thought it were a wee bit funny comin' from a Harper."
Khalid's jaw tightened even further, his mouth becoming a thin grimace. He leaned forward on the log, rising very slightly in his seat. His left hand gripped the handle of his sword.
"By the way, madam," added Xzar, lifting an inquiring finger in the air. "Are yous gettin' to a point wit' all this?"
Imoen blinked and tilted her head; for a very brief moment, Jaheira's face appeared to display amusement.
"That move you used to kill the would-be bounty collector, Tarnesh? We have seen it before." Jaheira paused, looking from Xzar to Montaron with narrowed eyes.
Is she smiling? thought Imoen, tilting her head further.
"You are of the Zhentarim's Special Operations Group, am I correct?"
Silence fell on the grove again, even thicker than before.
Xzar's smile slowly fell, green eyes shining brightly at Jaheira as he lowered his head. Montaron maintained his cool, bored gaze on Dorean, cocking his head and casually taking another bite from his sandwich. Between them, Imoen looked down at Montaron and then up at Xzar, her expression still innocently inquisitive.
Jaheira leaned back in her seat, this time wearing an obvious smile that did not reach her eyes. "I will take it that I am. Do you know, Imoen, that SOG operatives are notoriously untrustworthy, even to each other? They have been known to betray their clients and partners for the slightest of reasons."
Dorean blinked, and the following few seconds slowed down to minutes for him as he continued to meet Montaron's gaze. He then spoke without breaking eye contact with the halfling.
"Please pardon my impertinence, Jaheira, but I have to concur with Xzar. What is the point that you are trying to make here?"
Jaheira's smile faded instantly, though she did not shift her gaze to Dorean. The dwarf barely resisted the urge to narrow his eyes; for one brief second, it seemed to him that Montaron was half-smiling.
"I find it rather confounding, Dorean, that you suspect us of being involved in your foster father's death, yet not of the people who were in the very same area at the time of its occurrence."
All eyes turned to the dwarf. Finally breaking his gaze from Montaron's, Dorean looked at each and every face, stopping on Imoen's.
"I have considered it," he said quietly, not looking away from her.
"Have you?" said Jaheira coldly, her voice tinged with sarcasm.
"I do not think that they are interested in collecting it. At least for now."
"Do you?" replied Jaheira, her tone turning derisive. "The bounty offers double if you are brought in alive. They did not want to risk anything in the Friendly Arm Inn. It would be easier and safer to bring you with them to Beregost, where they could then hand you over to the Flaming Fist garrison and collect the reward."
Montaron raised an eyebrow and cocked his head casually to the side as though to say, Fair point.
"Hmmm," said Xzar loudly, lifting his gaze skywards and rubbing his chin. "That IS a good idea!" He looked down at Imoen. "What do you think? Shall we hand over your little brother like the madam Harper suggests?"
Imoen blinked six times in two seconds.
"If that was their plan, Jaheira, then why would they have allowed me and Imoen to meet you at the Friendly Arm?" said Dorean, keeping his voice calm and collected. "It would be easier if we were alone with them."
Jaheira looked at Dorean, opened her mouth, and then closed it. Dorean met her gaze, keeping his expression neutral. Khalid looked from one to the another, biting his bottom lip.
After a moment, Jaheira looked from Dorean to Imoen.
"Imoen."
"Yes, Jaheira?"
"Do you still wish to continue travelling with them?"
Imoen stared unblinking at her, then looked down at Montaron and up at Xzar. Both men watched her, awaiting her answer.
"I'm willing to give 'em a chance."
Ten long, heavy seconds went by.
"So be it," said Jaheira. "But know this, Zhents." Her eyes narrowed to slits, their gaze focusing on Montaron. "We will be watching you."
Five seconds passed. Then, from his cross-legged position, Xzar shot upwards and to his feet in two seconds, his arms raised to cast a spell.
Jaheira and Khalid were both instantly to their feet as well, the former tightly gripping her quarterstaff and baring her teeth while the latter swiftly moved in front of her, drawing his sword and raising his shield.
Dorean dived to the side and rolled quickly to his feet, eyes widening in Imoen's direction.
Can I get to her in t-
Xzar burst into laughter, pointing his finger at all three of them.
"HA! Hahahahahahaha! Ya should'a seen ya faces!" His laughter took on a manic note, and he doubled over clutching his stomach, tears of mirth running down his face. A flock of birds flew up and away into the sky.
"Someone shut 'im up 'fore every bandit inna country 'ears 'im," Montaron growled. Imoen looked at him, then stood up and took hold of Xzar's elbow.
"Xzar? Xzar."
The wizard blinked and looked down at her.
"You dropped your sandwich."
The wizard's jovial demeanor immediately deflated, and his eyes followed Imoen's pointing finger down to the delicacy now lying in the grass.
"...oh. Sorry."
Imoen hesitated, then gave the crestfallen man's arm a reassuring pat. "That's okay. I have another one."
Xzar brightened instantly and took the sandwich, tearing nosily into the bread. Beside them, Montaron rolled his eyes at Dorean and resumed his own meal.
Khalid and Jaheira slowly lowered themselves back onto the log and put away their weapons, watching the wizard eating his meal with delightful enthusiasm.
"He is a madman," whispered Jaheira, leaning close to Khalid. "I thought he was merely unstable."
Khalid silently nodded, placing his hand on her knee and gently patting it.
Both of them seemed to have forgotten Dorean's presence. The dwarf quietly sat down beside them, looking at Imoen. She met his gaze, and the roommates exchanged shrugs.
Finishing his last sandwich, Montaron removed a cloth from his shirt, wiped his hands, then stood and picked up his pack.
"I'll be up ahead," he said, glancing at Dorean.
He turned and walked back towards the road. Without looking behind him, he raised his hand, the thumb, index and middle finger extended in a mocking wave.
"Thanks fer the warning."
Dorean glanced sideways at the two Harpers; Jaheira was glaring daggers at Montaron's back while Khalid was looking at Xzar happily sitting next to Imoen.
The dwarf paused, his gaze lingering on the Calishite; the expression of undisguised loathing and contempt was odd to look at on the face of such a seemingly gentle-natured man.
Dorean lowered his gaze to his lap, closing his eyes.
I'm going to have to keep them from killing each other. At least long enough for them to be useful.