Author's Note: I deeply regret Haer'Dalis didn't find Enserric, the intelligent sword. The snarkfest would have been fantastic but I just don't see Haer'Dalis giving up one of his beloved blades. I'd like to think Sharwyn found Enserric. They'd make a cute couple.
5...Fey Encounter
Solaufein saw fey more frequently as they penetrated deeper into the southern caves, not just grigs but larger fey as well. The fey kept a wary distance and did not attack. They stopped for a meal, bread and sausage from their packs. Deekin squatted near a patch of luminous moss and took out the map and his pen and ink. He busily scratched away, marking the map with notes. Haer'Dalis sat beside Solaufein and leaned over his shoulder so he could speak in his ear.
"I think we are being followed."
"We are," Solaufein replied.
"Mind you, I haven't actually seen anything."
"Nor have I," Solaufein said. "But I hear their wings. The grigs pursue like giant blood flies."
"Think they'll attack?"
Solaufein shrugged.
As they traveled further south, the cave floor dipped in a marked grade. They came upon signs of a great battle between orcs and harpies. Bodies lay on the floor and the blood was fresh and wet. Cave rats scattered as the three approached.
"Deekin wonders who won."
"No one," Solaufein said.
"Why do you say that?" Haer'Dalis asked.
"They still fight." He pointed ahead, where the floor dropped off steeply. Haer'Dalis didn't hear anything but Deekin cocked his head. "Let's take a closer look," Solaufein added.
Deekin followed and his feet skittered on loose rock. "Agh," he said. "The air is thick and greasy."
"A dead magic zone," Haer'Dalis said. He shook his head as if to clear water from his ears.
"Good," Solaufein said.
"Good, he says, with his allies crippled."
"You rely overmuch on that spellcasting of yours, abbil."
"You rely overmuch on that sword arm of yours, my raven. They both fail us in the end."
"Save your philosophy for another time, Doomguard."
In a deep, rough hole a lone fey was surrounded by a half dozen orcs. As they watched, she-the creature was most definitely a she-took several running stops, dropped her horned head and slammed it into the chin of one of her attackers. He went down but another orc jumped on her back. She fell.
"What is that creature?" Solaufein whispered.
"A satyr," Haer'Dalis said. "Or, to be more accurate, a faun."
Solaufein motioned for them to move on. One fey slaughtered by orcs had nothing to do with them. His order was ignored. Swords drawn, Haer'Dalis ran forward and kicked the orc off the faun before he could finish her off.
With a mental grimace, Solaufein jumped off the shallow ledge and attacked the nearest orc. A small group of orcs was no particular danger but in even a trivial encounter, one's luck could turn bad. One day your chivalry will kill us both, abbil. To his right, he heard the ratchet of Deekin's crossbow. He felt a rush of wind past his ear and saw the blur of small wings.
The orcs didn't last long. The faun gasped for breath, head down, and peered at them through her disheveled brown hair. Three grigs fluttered protectively behind her, bows drawn.
"Is this a rescue or a second attack?" the faun asked in a low pleasant voice.
"We mean you no harm," Haer'Dalis said.
"My thanks then." She shook back her hair and it poured down her shoulders in a curly wave. Her horns curved backwards and were the same glossy black as her hooves. She wore a string of large seeds around her neck, a woven belt with several small pouches, and that was all. Solaufein couldn't help but stare at the way her breasts swayed as her chest heaved.
She noticed the direction of his gaze and gave him a slow smile. Solaufein was drow; he was neither shy nor chaste but still he felt flustered by the knowing look in her eyes.
"These orcs caught me by surprise," she continued.
"What happened?" one of the grigs asked. Solaufein recognized his voice-Sharpbriar. "Not like you to get caught out by brainless orcs, Frond."
She shrugged. "Not so brainless as we thought," she said. "They led me straight here where they knew my magic would do me no good. They had no wish to talk, only to kill."
"Bone-headed wench," Sharpbriar said. "I leave you for a day and look what happens."
Frond passed a hand over one of her horns and laughed. "Bone-headed is right. Might have gone hard on me if you haven't shown up. So introduce me to your friends, Sharpbriar. Did Halaster bring them here?"
"They say they came on their own," the grig said. "Looking for drow, they say."
"I'm sure they can speak for themselves," she said. Haer'Dalis stepped forward, eyes glittering in the light from the luminous moss and made introductions. "You will tell me what you seek?" she asked. "But first let me ask. Have you news of Halaster?"
"Indeed we do not," Haer'Dalis said. "Has something happened to him?"
"It must have." She pouted. Her lips seemed made for pouts and smiles, Solaufein thought. "Let us get away from this ugly place of no magic," she said. "Come to my grotto. We can share a meal, if you like, and exchange news."
The grotto wasn't far but the corridors twisted and turned. A surfacer would have found the way baffling, Solaufein thought. He could get confused himself if he wasn't careful.
Haer'Dalis stared open-mouthed at the brightly lit cavern of the faun. "'Tis like a sunlit glade in a beautiful forest," he said. The faun looked pleased. Solaufein and Deekin both squinted against the glare that came from the miniature sun affixed high above in the cavern roof.
"I told Halaster I would fade and die without sunlight," Frond told him. "So he made this for me. And a fortunate thing for us it is. We grow our own food and are not dependent on the food boxes. They haven't been filled in two ten-days or more."
"Pretty lady die without sun?" Deekin asked.
"I don't suppose I would, really, but it would be horrible. Who wants to live in the dark?"
"Deekin be liking the dark."
She shook her head. "It goes against my nature to live in a dark dank cave but here I am. It goes against my nature to be any man's prisoner but here I am. Sometimes we must bend to the wind that blows us. But what of you, dark elf?" she asked. "I see your eyes protest my dim little sun. Do you, too, prefer the dark?"
"I was born in the dark. I know it well."
She swayed towards him. "I see a 'but' in your eyes."
"But I hope to make a life on the surface," Solaufein said. "If that goes against my nature then I wish to change."
She nodded. "One cannot fight what one is but perhaps your true nature is yet unknown to you. Once your people were not so different from mine, or so the stories go." She gave another of her slow smiles. "I did not know the drow were so comely-perhaps we are kin! But come, let us sit." She clapped her hands. "Bring out the wine and the food!" The air erupted with wings and laughter. "I would not have you think poorly of my hospitality after you spilt blood for me."
"We spilt their blood and not ours," Haer'Dalis said.
"All the better," she said.
A tiny waterfall, little more than a trickle, filled a deep pool. Ferns, mosses and other plants grew in a lush riot of greenery and gave off a fresh and spicy scent. Frond filled clay mugs with wine from a small wooden keg.
"You will tell me why you are here," she said, once they'd settled on the ground near the pool. "If you are not prisoners of Halaster, have you come to raid his riches?"
"We are not treasure seekers," Solaufein said. "Drow attack the city of Waterdeep, directly above us. We wish to find out how they are entering the city and stop them, if we can." The wine was dark with a rich fruity fragrance. There was no scent of poison. He took a cautious sip.
"Ah, not treasure seekers but heroes." She gave another of her slow smiles. "I adore heroes. Drow have not dared enter Undermountain in the past," Frond said. "The mad mage has a special hatred for your kind. I do not know why but no doubt he has his reasons." She turned her mug in her hands, thoughtful. "Or he thinks he does. Halaster is a strange and vengeful man."
"So you don't think he is controlling or collaborating in these attacks?" Solaufein asked.
Frond shook her head. "His mind is twisted and I do not claim to know it. But surely you have seen that Undermountain tears itself apart. Halaster would not allow this."
"He's dead at last," piped Sharpbriar. "And good riddance, too. I say we wing it out of here, Frond, all of us. Go back to the surface. Feel the real sun. And rain. And wind."
"Hush," Frond said. "If he's alive, he won't let us escape. If he's dead, we would know it. Halaster's mind holds Undermountain together. If he were dead, surely we would feel it. Undermountain would collapse upon itself. He must be alive." She sighed. "He lives but he is not in control of himself. Perhaps his own madness has finally struck him down." She frowned and took a long drink from her mug. "I am not sure what we should do. We dare not anger him."
"How can we find Halaster?" Haer'Dalis asked.
She shrugged. "If he doesn't wish to be found, he won't be." She tapped a finger against her mug. "Were I to seek him, I would descend to the deeper levels and enter his workrooms there."
"Can you guide us?" Solaufein asked.
"Perhaps." She laughed and leaned forward. Solaufein found the view most distracting. "There will be a price, of course." She smiled and reached towards him to brush a loose strand of hair from his face. "You will not find my price too steep, I trust."
His eyes slid to Haer'Dalis. When the tiefling gave no warning but only an amused glance, he returned her smile. "I am willing to bargain, certainly," he said. "What would please you?"
"This armor you wear, 'tis so unfriendly. It would please me to see your ebon skin freed from its confines. It would please me to see your silver hair freed from this braid. It would please me to-know you without constraint." She put her hand on his knee. "Are my words plain enough or should I spell out my desires more clearly?"
"Nggh-"
Frond laughed. "Your expression!" she said. "I see we understand each other. We have an agreement, yes?"
"Come, Deekin," Haer'Dalis said as he rose to his feet. "Let us take a walk around this marvelous cavern and leave these two to their discussion."
"Yes, the kobold might find sport with the smallfolk," Frond said. She jerked her head at Sharpbriar, who muttered something and shot into the air. "But you need not leave just yet, beautiful one. I'm thinking there is much you might add to our 'discussion'."
Haer'Dalis cocked an eyebrow at Solaufein, who responded with a slight hand signal. Why not?
"Like you, Frond, I bend to the wind that blows me," the tiefling said with a smirk.
They'd trudged for hours through the deep tunnels of Undermountain. "I understand the temptation but please do not kill our guide," Haer'Dalis whispered in Solafein's ear. "Not yet, anyway."
"I make no promises," Solaufein replied. The grig swooped down over both their heads.
"Curse that crazy lusty wench, may the cave ticks feast on her tasty flesh. What did I do to get stuck as a tallfolk nanny?" Sharpbriar grumbled. "I've got better things to do. Important things. Fun things."
"Frond wants us to find Halaster," Haer'Dalis said. "How is that unimportant?"
"Buzz, buzz. How you love to talk."
Haer'Dalis and Solaufein exchanged a look. "I'm surprised no one has swatted you," Solaufein said.
"Why don't you try, Blacky?"
"Why don't you obey your mistress and lead us to Halaster's workrooms? Preferably in silence."
Sharpbriar flew so close by Solaufein's face that the drow blinked. He waggled his tiny buttocks then zoomed up out of reach. "Hope you can keep up, sour face."
They ran into two groups of orcs, another troll, and a nest of carrion crawlers. When they stopped for a break, Haer'Dalis sat beside the grim and silent drow as he attempted to clean the crawler slime from his armor.
"The little kobold is holding up well," Haer'Dalis said with a nod towards Deekin.
"He's tougher than he looks. I find that's often true of the vermin races."
"Vermin? You are harsh."
Solaufein shrugged. "I mean no offense."
Haer'Dalis had lived amongst drow long enough to know tolerance was not an attribute of their society. Still, he'd hoped for more. "Speaking of vermin. Do you believe the grig deliberately leads us into danger?"
"Yes."
"Hmm. Do you think it would help if I spoke to him?" Haer'Dalis asked. Sharpbriar perched on a rock above Deekin's head and said something that made the kobold laugh. Deekin opened his map. The grig flew onto his shoulder and the low murmur of their voices continued.
"Do you?" Solaufein asked.
"I think it will make things worse." Haer'Dalis sighed.
"So do I," Solaufein said. "Perhaps you should tell him you're eager to sate your demonic bloodlust and ask him to lead us to more prey."
Haer'Dalis laughed. "Perhaps I shall." He rose and joined the two smallfolk. "Tell me, good grig, how much further must we go?"
"What do you think? We go till we get there."
"It seems to me that the path we take is unduly circuitous."
"Everything here is circuitous, scarface. Halaster is as twisted as a corkscrew. Can you fly? No? I'm taking you a way your clumsy feet can follow."
"Your kindness is only matched by your courtesy," Haer'Dalis said with a short ironic bow. Deekin gave them both an apprehensive look.
Sharpbriar trilled a laugh. "You are so right."
"I've had enough of this," Solaufein said, once the huge spiders were dead and he'd scraped the last of the webbing from his cloak. "You there. Grig."
"You bellowed, Blacky?" Sharpbriar lit upon a rock ledge overhead and made a showy production out of combing his hair with his fingers.
"If you cannot lead us around these ambushes, I expect you to warn us of them first," he said. He hated killing spiders. Hated it. It was the senseless destruction of creatures beautiful and useful.
"Chicken, are you? Bwawk, bwawk, bwawk."
"You waste our time. I have more important tasks than catering to your sense of mischief."
"Yeah? Well, I have more important tasks than to listen to your bluster."
"I warn you-"
"Oh, blow it out your dirt chute," Sharpbriar said. "You'll never find the way down without my help."
"I wonder if we will find it with your 'help'."
"Hah, hah, that's the risk you take, ain't it?" Sharpbriar pushed off his perch and soared over Solaufein's head. With an explosive spring, the drow leapt and snatched the grig out of the air. Sharpbriar's breath huffed out in a dismayed squeak.
"Continue to annoy me, little pest, and I'll tear off your wings and let you crawl back to your mistress," he snarled. He gave the grig a squeeze that made him gasp then flung him away. Sharpbriar tumbled two turns in the air before he caught himself. He flew straight up to the ceiling. Haer'Dalis was just as glad he couldn't see the fey's expression. "Scout ahead, grig," Solaufein said. "Keep your eye out for drow."
With no sound other than the whir of his wings, the grig left.
"Drow in a bad temper," Deekin said. Solaufein whirled towards him. Deekin held out his hands and took a step back. "Just saying. Hope he comes back. Deekin's map not that great."
"Do you know which way we should go?" Haer'Dalis asked.
"Forward," Deekin said.
Haer'Dalis gave Solaufein a worried frown. "Are you certain we should continue, my raven? It was my understanding that Durnan did not wish us to get too far from the other groups. No doubt Durnan knows the way to Halaster's workrooms and can update our maps."
"I do not like to return without word of our enemy," Solaufein said. "I think we should press on to the mage's stronghold."
"If we can find it," Haer'Dalis muttered.
With Solaufein scouting ahead, the trio managed to avoid several encounters with orcs and ogres. Sharpbriar did not return for hours.
"I leave you fools on your own and look what you do. You go the wrong stinking way," the grig said. Solaufein scowled. "But don't panic. I found you a nice little pack of drow. From what I overheard, they're as surly as my pal Blacky."
"You've found drow?" Haer'Dalis said. "You've done well, good grig."
"Your praise means so much to me," the grig simpered. "I'm all aflutter."
"What are their numbers?" Solaufein asked. "How are they armed?"
"I saw six. Two elves and four of those gray-faced dwarves. The elves had swords. The dwarves had crossbows and clubs maybe."
"Only six?"
Sharpbriar shrugged. "That's all I saw. You're still outnumbered."
"A small patrol," Solaufein said. "Scouts, not a war party. Were they male or female?"
"Can you tell? Don't they all have beards?"
"Not the duergar, fool, the drow. The duergar are slaves and unimportant."
"Looking for a date, are you? Sorry, sweet thing, both elves were males. Too bad for you. Or maybe you don't care. You hear stories about elves."
Solaufein ignored his leer. "Did they wear cloaks?"
"What, now you need a fashion report?"
Haer'Dalis thought Solaufein's eyes glowed with more intensity than they had shown all day. He watched him set his pack on the ground, pull out a roll of cloth and shake it out.
"You kept that drow's cloak?" Haer'Dalis asked. "The one you killed on the roof?"
Solaufein nodded. He exchanged cloaks and then, with a rueful look, took off the silver necklace that marked him as a follower of Eilistraee. He pressed the medallion to his lips and then tucked it away in an inner pocket next to his luck charm. "Perhaps I can convince these scouts to give me their report. Perhaps they will tell me where the bulk of the army waits."
"You're going to impersonate a patrol leader?" Haer'Dalis asked.
"I'm going to try."
abbil-friend
