BioWare owns all but my character's, her dog's, and the master of The Crows' names. : )
So our group is now in Denerim, the Gnawed Noble Tavern looking for anything that might lead them to their fun and troublesome friend. I hope you enjoy this chapter. I apologize for the delay in it, cryptography is a complex topic that I had to read up on, and I simplified it a lot, so for any of you crypto buffs, please don't look too harshly. : )
Oh and a special shoutout to Shanda27, I had to use your review in part in the story because it made me laugh. ; )
As always, thank you for your support, and your reviews. They mean so much to me. I hope you continue to enjoy. : )
Blessings!
Kai slouched down on the bar stool in the Gnawed Noble Tavern trying to act like a drunk old woman. Wynne's ideas had worked, except for the pebble in her shoe – that had driven her buggy inside of a minute. She did however chew on the small onions she carried with her so her breath was fragrant and tended to keep people at a distance. This ploy was so they wouldn't notice that the holes where teeth should be were actually not holes, but black wax over perfectly good teeth. Leliana's love of makeup didn't just extend to enhancing one's beauty, but also came in handy in drawing on wrinkles and moles. By the time they got done with her, she looked gap-toothed, ugly and old. With the makeup, a ratty old dress and holey shoes, not even her own mother would have recognized her.
Kai and Oghren sat "drinking" on their bar stools next to each other. Kai was fake hitting on Oghren and was trying to fake drink, occasionally dribbling most of a mouthful down her front, adding to the wonderful aroma that already surrounded her, while really only drinking a sip. Oghren, whose tolerance was higher, actually managed to drink, and was still sober. Or rather, sober enough.
They were being careful, as they didn't know who from the Crows might be watching the Gnawed Noble Tavern or the room in question to see who might show up. The Crows were not known for being all soft and fuzzy. They had a penchant for torture, even to test new recruits.
Everyone talked under torture, everyone, though it was very unreliable as a source of information. Especially when practiced on someone like Zev who'd had it practiced on him from an early age and had been trained to fight knew to tell lies until the pain becomes unbearable and spilling the truth. By then, a person's capturers wouldn't know which was which. Add to that, someone trained to fight torture would make getting information a long and time consuming process. Still, Kai didn't know what they might have gotten from him or what questions, if any, this Master Vimaro might have been asking or even on what topics. For all Kai knew, Vimaro had just killed Zev outright for daring to leave the Crows, the thought made her heart hurt.
Master Vimaro was the nasty piece of work who had sent Zevran and his fellow Crows, Taliesen and Rinna, on the job before Zev's job for Loghain in Ferelden. His Rinna was the only woman he ever loved, in complete disregard of his training as an assassin. It was the job that led to his Rinna's dying at Taliesin's hands for a betrayal she had not committed. Zev watched while Taliesen slit her throat and mocked her, he said, mocked her while she pleaded her innocence and told him of her love for him. He believed the lies about her, he thought she had betrayed not only the Crows, but him, as life had so often betrayed him. When Zev and Taliesen completed the mission, they found that Rinna had indeed been telling the truth. Zev had gone to Master Vimaro and confronted him, told him that Rinna was not a traitor after all. According to what Zev told her, Master Vimaro knew Rinna was not a traitor and didn't care. He told Zev he didn't matter, just a tool to be used, they, he all of them were irrelevant. It was then that Zevran signed on for the suicidal mission of killing the last Grey Wardens in Ferelden for Loghain. Zev confessed to her he had not expected to survive. It was his way of punishing himself for Rinna.
That Zev could love after all the torture and beatings and the training to make him a cold-blooded killer had only cemented Kai's belief that she'd at least done one thing right when she had spared Zevran and brought him into her group. For Zev to be so strong after all he had been through in his childhood in the whorehouse and after being sold into slavery to the Crows, a man with that kind of heart surely made the world a better place, despite his ability to kill. Maker, if she had caused nothing but death and destruction with her decisions, this had to be one of the few good things she had brought to the world.
She remembered his telling her Rinna's story and his part in it, after killing Taliesen in a Denerim back alley. The same back alley where Zev's true test of loyalty had taken place. Taliesen offered Zevran his place back with the Crows. Kai remembered her cheeky answer at the time, "That would, of course, mean I would have to be dead." She didn't know what Zev's answer was going to be then, truth be told. She'd gotten to know him, found out what he liked, given him presents, little tokens, as she'd done for all in their party. And simply because she enjoyed seeing their faces when she did, it was one of her joys in a horrible situation. He'd accepted and enjoyed her gifts just like the others seemed to, made plenty of sexual innuendos, and even tried seduction. He'd even acted disappointed when she refused his offer of sex to just be his friend.
Kai always wondered if the seduction was only part of a plan to later kill her and get back in with the Crows. He'd been hard to read, always kept something back, something hidden from her. He was a killer who was jovial, lighthearted and said he took life as it presented itself, asking for nothing more. She thought he might accept life's presenting him with a way back to his beloved Antiva and the only career that he could see himself pursuing right there in that ally by siding with Taliesen.
She remembered well her surprise at his response to Taliesen, "I am afraid that is not going to happen." She was swamped with the relief that had washed over her at those words, her faith in that one crucial decision to spare him justified. It was one of the foundations that had kept her from jumping off the nearest cliff when she seemed to have brought nothing but ruin to everything she touched while trying to fix it, that and her love of Alistair. These two men kept her sane when the world was going into madness and she had wanted to go with it.
And then the real surprise. After Taliesin's defeat, he told her his story and showed her the earring, Rinna's earring. He asked her if his duty was done now, if she would release him, the Crows would think him dead. She'd given him permission to go, but she'd asked him to stay to help her, to stay as a friend. Kai didn't tell him how much she loved him as a friend. She didn't want to pressure him into staying out of obligation, to her, or to stopping the Blight. He'd never had much choice in life, and she was determined not to take away his freedom to choose when she'd given him his freedom in this matter. She'd watched his face then, keeping hers neutral, hiding her sadness and fear that he would walk away. But he agreed to stay, making a flippant remark as always.
She'd never told him how his story broke her heart, how she'd cried for him and his Rinna in camp during watch alone, cried because he never had. He buried his pain just as she buried her pain for her parents and her brother, buried her tears for Duncan and Cailan and Alistair's hurt over their deaths at Ostagar and Loghain's betrayal, all of these things hidden because she was the leader, and she'd so much to do. But for Zev, she allowed herself to mourn, for a friend, mourning was allowed. For herself, it would have been wallowing in self-pity, or so she told herself; it was just easier to mourn someone else's losses than to mourn her own.
So here she was, back in Denerim, sitting on a hard and uncomfortable bar stool, reeking of body odor, onions, and beer, slouching so much her back hurt and pretending to seduce Oghren so they would have an excuse to rent the back left room. She was hoping and praying to the Maker that Zev was still alive, praying that this time the Crows didn't succeed in breaking him just as they had not been able to do before. She felt fear clawing in her gut that Zev would assume no one knew about the letter, and therefore he had not left any clues, that he might be thinking no one would know where to go or how to start looking for him.
Luckily, Cyril, the barkeep and owner of the Gnawed Noble, and a friend and ally since the Blight, was rendering them aid. He had made discreet orders to keep that left room free until Kai and Oghren felt it safe enough to make their move. Cyril had also made sure to help Kai look as though she had been drinking copious amounts of beer. Cyril was used to playing a part in Kai's schemes, even helping them escape Loghain's men through a secret passage in the tavern. Cyril knew the role he was playing and he picked up on his cue sliding down to their end of the bar wiping down the wood with a rag as Kai pitched her voice high.
"Come on, deary, give us a whirl. You are such a muscular strapping fella' and I love that beard. I bet it can tickle in just the right places," Kai cackled at Oghren. "We could take our beer to a more private place, and you can show me how your height can give a human girl a good time standing up!" She slapped him on the back hard enough to make his beer tankard slosh.
"Well lady, you do have a nice rump roast. Let's go put some sauce on it." Oghren chucked her under the chin with a knuckle of his finger, making her teeth clank together and causing her to roll her eyes. He slapped coins on the bar for the beers and leaned over to Cyril barkeep, "Listen, I got a date, and I'm feelin' kinda anxious, if you know what I mean. I need a room. Back room would be best, I have a feelin' she's a screamer." Oghren winked at the barkeep and smiled while he put more coins on the wood next to the others, including a couple extra as a tip.
Cyril cocked an incredulous eyebrow while putting a key on the bar. "Last on the left is as far as you can get." And when Oghren started to hop off the stool, Cyril playing his part grabbed Oghren's arm. "Are you sure, mate, you really want to...well...um...romantic time with her? The Pearl has...well...less pungent and younger companions."
Oghren squinted at Kai. "She reminds me of my mother, heh, heh, heh, HAH, HAH!" Cyril's eyebrows shot up, and he grinned. Cyril's assistant barkeep, sweeper, and odd jobs person, a young thin young man with the unfortunate nickname of "Stump", just blanched and shook his head. Kai hooked her arm in over Oghren's shoulders while he put his around her waist and pinched her arse. It took everything Kai had to laugh and playfully swat at his hand instead of pouring her mug over his head. They made their way down the hall slowly, weaving like two drunks until they got to the last room on the left. Oghren took out the key, fumbling with it a few times as if he was having trouble finding the keyhole. Kai giggled and cackled and made lewd remarks for effect.
"I hope you don't have trouble finding other openings, deary!" Kai was starting to worry that Oghren really was that drunk. They had been at it all day, scoping the place out, keeping an eye out for any overly curious people. Finally, Maker be praised, Oghren got the key in the lock and opened the door. They went inside and locked it behind them.
The room Kai remembered well. She had done a theft job for Slim Coudry here. It had one little sitting room and then the large bedroom in the back. The sitting room was furnished with a desk, bookcase and couches. The bedroom held an armoire, several chests and a bathtub. "Well, Warden, where do we start lookin'?" Oghren's voice was stone cold sober. Kai just shook her head in amazement.
"Why don't you start in here. I'll check the bedroom." Kai left Oghren to his search and entered the bedroom. She started by looking in the armoire and the chests, even though she knew the Crows would have left nothing behind in any obvious places. But, she wanted to leave no stone unturned.
Kai heard Oghren come in. "Warden, I found this book." He handed it to her. Kai recognized it immediately. It was the little leather bound copy of The Black Fox she had given Zev as a present at Winter Solstice. He had told her of how he had taught himself to read and write as a child in the whorehouse. How he would steal books off the men who came there and put them back before they left. How, because of that, he had trained his mind to remember every word he read as if he were looking at the page. This was one of his favorite stories; when she had given it to him, his face had lit up. She had inscribed the fly leaf page:
Zev,
My best friend and cohort, may the adventures of the 'Silver Griffon' be written of as well one day. I am grateful every morning when I wake and every night before I go to sleep that you decided to stay.
Thank you, you are a blessing.
Kai
"Where was it Oghren?" Kai's hand shook as she held it.
"It was slipped into the bookshelf, like all the other books. I only found it because there was sodding nothing else as a clue in there, so I started looking at the bookshelf. All the books were standing upright and but this one was lying on top of the others and slightly out. Not so much you would notice. But I thought it looked familiar. This is the book you gave him at Solstice, right?" Kai nodded. "The gold leaf and blue cover I remembered."
Kai handed the book back to Oghren to hold. Her eyes searched the room. There had to be something else here. Zev left the book on purpose. He knew they would come looking after all. Kai decided to search the bed. The cover was clean, it was made up. She felt under the mattress, nothing. Sod it, she huffed to herself. She then started to run her hand between the headboard and the mattress. It was while doing so that she saw a raw spot on the wood of the bed post as if someone had been shackled there and what looked like a drops of dried blood. Her heart started to pound in her ears and her stomach felt queasy. Oh Zev! When she pulled her hand away to get off the bed she noticed it was dusted with flakes of dried blood where she had been holding on to the bedpost. But that wouldn't make any sense. Blood wouldn't be high on the post like that. It should be where the shackle was. Kai got back on the mattress and looked more closely at the bedpost.
"Oghren, grab a quill, ink and parchment from the desk and bring it in here! And hurry!" Kai looked at the post and was able to make out letters and numbers written in blood. They were a little hard to read at first, but Kai figured them out. Oghren readied the quill and parchment. "TBF. 10,12,3. 23,5,6. 37,2,8. Did you get that?"
Oghren dutifully repeated the code back to her. "But what in the nug humping universe does it mean, Warden?"
Kai grabbed the book from next to Oghren. "It is a simple cypher Zev told me about once. TBF is The Black Fox. The numbers correspond to pages, paragraphs, and words in those paragraphs."
Kai scrabbled to find the pages, the paragraphs, and the words. "Oghren write this down, blood.'" Kai flipped more pages, "sorcerer" and again she turned the pages, the paper smooth under her fingertip as she used it to scan the last page, "hideout." The Crows had apparently taken over that abandoned warehouse the blood mages used to live in, before she and her compatriots had killed them all. Zev, we are on our way, my friend, please hold on, Kai prayed. "I think our 'date' is over Oghren, time to get back to the others and call the Scath. We have a friend to rescue."