Lana's eyes flew open and she bolted upright with a gasp, feeling disoriented and confused. She blinked and took some deep, calming breaths, then turned her head as she heard someone inhale sharply, and something clattered as it fell to the floor.
She turned her head and realized she was sitting upright in her bed, in her room back at the keep. Sand was kneeling on the floor in the middle of the room. The furniture and carpet had been pushed to the side. There were some pots in front of him and a brush was lying on the light grey tiles, seemingly fallen from his fingers.
Their eyes met, his wide with surprise, but then he jumped up and hastened over to the bed, gripping her by the shoulders, staring at her in wonder.
"You are back! Are you all right?"
Lana frowned. "Why wouldn't I be?"
Sand's eyes narrowed. "The morning after you came back. What did I chastise the dwarf for?"
Lana rolled her eyes? "The dwarf? Really? He has a name, Sand. And honestly, chastise? Isn't that a bit over the top, even for you?"
Sand just kept staring at her. "Answer the question, please."
"What? Oh, fine." Lana scrunched her nose, trying to remember. "Oh right, you made a big fuss because he was sitting on a book. Sand, what is this all about? And what…" her gaze went past him, to the floor of her room and the intricate lines and swirls that had been applied to it in various colors, the curve of the design indicating that it had been intended to form a circle. "...and what on Faerun is the meaning of this?"
Sand let out a small, shaking breath and slumped. "It is you. It really is you. Praise the gods."
"Well, who else would I be? Have you been sniffing too much of those foul liquids you brew?"
Sand shook his head. "You don't understand."
"Damn right I don't", Lana growled, now seriously losing patience with the dramatics. "And I am still waiting for you to explain. Right now would be good."
Sand grinned with obvious relief. "Yes, that is truly you. No question about it."
Lana's eyes narrowed dangerously, and he held up his hands defensively. "No need to get angry, dear girl. It's just… you were… gone."
Lana frowned. "What do you mean… gone? I never left!"
Sand shrugged. "I do not understand it myself", he said, making a face as if he tasted something rotten. Lana suppressed a snicker. Admitting that must truly hurt. "Your body was here. But you… were not."
Lana's frowned. "You are not making any sense."
"I know!", he said, still with that disgusted face. "Your body kept breathing, but there was nothing inside anymore. It was as if your soul… your spirit, if you will… was gone. It was nothing but an empty shell. So excuse me for worrying something else might be inhabiting it. It does happen, you know!" He glanced at the intricate designs on the floor. "I was trying to set up a spell to summon you back into your body, but it was more of a desperate measure. Not sure it would have worked. What did happen, dear girl?"
Lana still tried to digest what Sand had just told her. Body empty? Spirit gone? What…? She tried to remember, but everything was so foggy…
Foggy…?
Fog crawling over wet, sodden earth. A light in the distance. Burnt out ruins.
Bishop!
With a gasp, she jumped from the bed, making Sand flinch back in surprise. Uncaring, she grabbed his shoulders and shook him wildly.
"Bishop!", she nearly screamed in his face. "We need to find Bishop!"
...
Bishop fought his way through the woods, stumbling, catching himself against a tree, and then shoving off only to fall into the next one. His body was hurting so bad he was panting, trying to control the pain, forcing his legs to continue best he could.
He had abandoned covering his tracks a while ago. He just did not have the will or energy anymore. Could not bring himself to care. Plus, he was shaking so badly he simply did not have enough control over his body anymore.
Something tickled under his nose, and with a trembling hand, he wiped at the feeling, his hand coming away bloody.
He was bleeding from his nose. He would not last much longer.
So be it. Nothing he could do to change it anyway. And with the memory of his dagger buried deep inside Jaluth's throat while her blood ran and her flesh desperately and futilely tried to close the wound, he'd die an at least very satisfied man.
Happy… well, that was something that had been beyond him all his life. He'd gladly settle for satisfied, it was more than he had ever hoped for.
He'd been walking for more than a day, the pain constantly getting worse. The only thing that kept nagging at his mind during the last agonizing hours as he stubbornly kept going, because he was Bishop, and he would not simply lie down and die, even if the prospect was at least a little appealing, were Jaluth's words.
Your love for each other.
It was such utter nonsense. There never had been any love lost between him and the Knight Captain. Oh, he had been attracted to her, she was strong, she was pretty, and she was feisty. Probably a hurricane under the sheets.
But love…? Bah.
And she… hated him. With good reason.
But then… why had the ritual been working?
It all made no sense to him.
Well, it did not matter in the end. Soon, all of this would be…
Bishop gasped as suddenly, it felt like a kind of firework sparked in his brain. Images flooded his mind in a wild and chaotic torrent. His legs finally gave out under him and he fell to his knees, as disjunctive scenes played out in front of his eyes.
Standing in front of a collapsed tunnel in the middle of nowhere, confused, remembering nothing.
Wandering aimlessly for months, trying to find some clue about himself.
Meeting the Knight Captain in an inn while outside, rain poured thickly.
Back in Jaluth's cage, the Knight Captain trying to comfort him while he had some kind of breakdown.
Escaping together. Red hair like flames in the shine of the campfire.
The Knight Captain holding him while he had another meltdown after finding out about his not so glorious past. His confession.
Their fight. Their conciliation.
Making love to her.
Planning to get his memories back. Reviving Garius.
His fist connecting with her face.
He winced, but then his mind snapped back to the memory that shocked him the most.
His confession.
Bloody hells.
Your love for each other.
Panting with shock and pain, he tried to process what was happening, tried to reconcile what obviously were memories of the time he lost to the Geas with his reality.
I can't believe I broke down like a frigging pansy. Hells, what a milksop.
Knew she would be thunder between the sheets.
I did not do it for you. I did it for a friend I lost.
Those words had not made any sense whatsoever when she said it, after freeing him from Jaluth back then.
Now they did.
Bishop raised his head, eyes narrowed to slits, as he stumbled to his feet, ignoring the way his heart cramped painfully in his chest.
He watched the position of the sun between the tree crowns for a moment, then changed direction and stumbled on.
He would not die in these woods. Not if he could help it.
For once in his life, he felt like he might have something to live for.
He walked as long as he could. For a while the Binding even seemed to ease up a bit as he had to circle back in direction to his new goal.
Crossroad Keep.
But all too soon the effect was back in force as the distance to Jaluth's mension increased again. Bishop kept going. When he could not walk anymore, he crawled. Painfully slow, but he still kept going. Blood was dripping from his nose down to the dead leaves on the ground.
He kept going.
His vision was getting blurry, a ringing sound in his ears. He knew he should be dead, but he stubbornly refused to lie down and let Jaluth win.
One thought kept sloshing around in his aching, fuzzy mind.
Crossroad Keep. He had to get to Crossroad Keep.
But after what seemed like hours of crawling, the moment came when his body just would not obey him anymore. The ground hit his face as his arms simply gave out under him. Panting, feeling like he was suffocating, pain screaming along every nerve of his body, Bishop tried to get up, but to no avail.
He knew he'd gotten close.
He could not believe he'd fail, so shortly before he made it.
Story of his life.
Gasping and coughing as he inhaled a mouthful of earth and leaves, his vision turning black on the edges and red spots dancing in front of his eyes, Bishop knew that this was it.
He was dying.
And this time, it did not feel like he would be free at last.
This time, he felt cheated.
His rage found release in one last furious howl, and that seemed to eat up the last bit of strength he had left. As the world faded to black, Bishop thought he heard an answering howl in the distance. Then nothing.
...
Angry and panicked, Lana paced the room.
"There must be something you can do, damn it", she hissed at Sand, who was sitting on the bed, pale and obviously exhausted. "Something! Anything!"
"You think I have not tried?", Sand snapped, furious. "He's blocked! I cannot get through!" He threw up his hands, frustrated. "Not even a sending goes through! But if you think you can do better, you are welcome to try!"
Lana whirled around to yell at him, but when she saw his pinched expression, she swallowed the words.
"Sorry", she growled, realizing she sounded thoroughly unapologetic. "It*s just… I know we are running out of time. Something is not right! I can feel it! We need to find him. Fast!"
"Well, magic is not going to work!", Sand growled back. "And I can't think of anything! Plus, you still won't tell me what happened!"
"No time!", Lana bit out, striding to the door. "Just trust me."
"Where are you going?", Sand asked, as he followed her through the Keep. Not answering - mainly because she had no answer - Lana hasted through the corridors, out of the main entrance, to the gate.
"Talk to me", Sand yelled. "What are you going to do? Just storm out the gates and run through the woods randomly?"
"Yes!" Lana turned and screamed back. "I'm going to do exactly that! If you have a better idea, then tell me! Because so far you have been no bloody help at all!"
Sand stood rigidly, his mouth snapping shut, and the hurt look on his face was like a slap.
Bloody hells, I've done it again.
She drove her hands through her tangled locks. "Gods, Sand, I am sorry. That was hardly fair. It's just… I know we are losing him. I feel it. And I am helpless. It drives me mad!"
Sand's face softened. "I know. Apology accepted." Suddenly his eyes narrowed as he stared past her. "What is that?"
Lana turned sharply and noticed a small spot in the distance, quickly coming closer. Her heart pounding, she ran out of the gates, ignored the surprised mutter of the guards, and realized the spot was something running. Something four legged and greyish brown.
A wolf.
Karnwyr!
"Sand!", she yelled, running forward, meeting the panting wolf and falling to her knees, gripping his fur sharply, her hands shaking.
"Where is he?", she asked urgently. "You know, do you? Lead us to him! Go, go!"
Karnwyr yipped and turned, racing back to the woods, stopping and yipping again, obviously impatient, because Lana and Sand could not keep up with his speed.
Lana ran as she never had before. She felt it in her bones. Time was running out fast. Gasping, her sides aching, she nevertheless forced herself to move as fast as she could, crashing through the undergrowth, not even noticing the scrapes and cuts she got as a result.
Finally, she heard Karnwyr howl, and then there he was. Bishop.
On the ground. Not moving.
Full of dread, Lana fell to her knees next to him.
Dead? Was he dead?
She noticed the faintest movement of his chest and felt relief crash through her like never before.
Alive! Breathing.
For now.
Barely.
To her horror, she realized blood was trickling not only from his nose, but also out of the corners of his eyes. Out of his ears. Seeping from the quicks of his fingernails.
She heard Sand stumble through the brush behind her, as much as an outdoorsman as she was. His panting breath was a staccato as he gasped out: "Is he alive?"
Panic still squeezing her heart, Lana could only nod.
Sand sank to the ground next to her, muttering something inaudible under his breath, then took Bishop's hand to look at his nails. He also lifted his eyelids to check the eyes, as well as the insides of his mouth.
Lana wanted to scream with impatience, but she knew she had to get a grip on herself, mustn't distract Sand now.
"No sickness I have ever heard of", he mumbled to himself. "No poison I recognize. No smell of anything chemical. Magic? Hold on…"
He mumbled something Lana recognized as a Detect Magic spell, then stared at Bishop intently for a couple of seconds. Lana held her breath.
"Strong enchantment aura", he mumbled to himself. "Altered somehow. Sinister. Familiar. Jaluth? Damn." Then his eyes widened with astonishment. "What the hells…?" His gaze seemed to follow something invisible through the woods, then he shook himself and gazed at Lana.
"I think she found him again. She put another Geas on him. But…" he fell silent, once more gazing in the direction he had seconds before.
"What?" Lana snapped, fighting the urge to strangle him.
"I… don't know! I never saw anything like it! It is as if the aura is… stretching behind him! Like a tightrope. And it's stretched perilously thin. I think if it snaps…"
Lana swallowed. "Help him!", she pleaded, grabbing Sand's hand. "There must be something you can do!"
Sand nodded and ripped his hand away. He mumbled and gestured and a moment later, he was gone, the air rushing into the place he had been with a soft sound.
Lana's gaze wandered back to Bishop's deathly pale face. She stroked his hair, her heart bursting with her fear for him.
"Hold on! Hold on, hear me? We'll help. Just… don't die on me! Don't you dare die on me, or else I'll kick your ass, hear me? Just… a bit more. Please…"
Another soft noise announced Sand's return - with a bag under his arm and a scroll in hand. Without any explanation, he started reading the scroll, and a moment later, Bishop's taught body seemed to relax. The trickle of blood stopped.
Karwyr whined softly and licked his face.
Lana fought back tears as she smiled at Sand.
"Thank you", she whispered.
He grinned back. "No need to thank me, dear girl. The thing with a Geas is, a quite simple Remove Curse spell will stop it. And now…" He took the bag from under his arm, "let's try some more mundane healing aids, hm?"