Author's Note: I really learned to hate illithids in Baldur's Gate 2. (I swear EE has made it harder. Since when could illithids brain-drain skeleton warriors? Maybe dead brains are still yummy. Like raisins.) Man, I've reloaded that sewer fight so many times over the years. Not to mention the illithid colony in the Underdark… And do you know how illithids reproduce? Eeuuuhh! In a somewhat related note, did you see the trailer for Baldur's Gate 3? Oh, my word…
18...Dirty Dealing
Solaufein dreamed. As in reverie, he walked in the past but with a dream-like lack of control.
He was in Ust Natha. The squad he led returned from a mission against the duergar, one that had gone well enough. They had taken thirty slaves and had only lost one drow. And that young male was no real loss. A brawler, a troublemaker and a braggart, he seemed destined to fall from a comrade's silent dagger...and probably had. Solaufein certainly hadn't asked any awkward questions. The furtive looks and not-quite-hidden drow sign told him all he needed to know.
Unfortunately this male was a noble from House Despana and one of Phaere's younger brothers.
Not for one moment did Solaufein believe Phaere held the slightest regret for the loss of her brother. He wouldn't have been given to the Male Fighters Society in the first place if his House had any use for him. But it made a fine excuse to punish Solaufein in front of his squad. The actual punishment had been savage enough; Phaere was skilled with the whip. But it was the humiliation that rankled.
He felt again the rage that burned through him, that had blinded him as her blows on his bare back drove him to his knees. Then he looked up into her cold, dead eyes. He realized then that, deep inside, he still held some small hope she felt something, no matter how twisted.
At that precise moment, all hope drained out of him.
He dared not fend off her blows or even protest. He knew he must accept whatever she chose to do to him.
She needed very little excuse to kill him.
"Lick my boots, filthy male."
The voice was not Phaere's. He looked up into the face of the Valsharess.
He growled. He stumbled to his feet. "I will not kneel to you, female."
"When you are mine," she said, "I shall teach you better manners." She gave him a long, knowing smile. "I look forward to the lessons."
He reached for his blade.
"Hush." An arm pressed his shoulder back to the ground. Nathyrra bent over, eyes concerned. Solaufein gasped and clamped his mouth closed. Caught dreaming. Like a human. Damn it.
"I'm fine," he signed curtly, not quite trusting his voice. She squatted beside him and waited a moment until she was sure he was awake. He was afraid he would see contempt on her face but her eyes were calm as she scanned the cavern. While looking off in the distance, her hands moved.
"My memories make reverie very painful," she signed.
She had been one of the Valsharess' prized assassins. She had spoken very little of her past but Solaufein had an imagination. Unfortunately. She continued to look away so she did not see his answering sign. "Eilistraee protect you."
"One of the scouts returned," she whispered. "He saw a party of drow leading large creatures of some kind. Will you come look?"
He followed Nathyrra up a steep climb to the top of a ridge. She led him up the easier way when she could have levitated more quickly and left him to scramble up alone. He wondered how long he would have to be in the Underdark before his own powers returned. They lay on their bellies and looked across the drop-off.
"Those are bone golems," Solaufein signed. "Very powerful. Resistant to damage, especially blades." He thought of the last time he'd fought bone golems. "Fire works well enough." Most of the patrol used blades. Haelra had her flail and he carried an enchanted mace in his pack for those unfortunate times when only a blunt weapon would do. It wouldn't be enough.
In addition to the three golems in the war party, there were six drow and twice as many duergar, several of them clerics. The duergar worshipped their own gods and not Lolth. They would have their spells available. "Can we take them?" he asked, knowing the answer and hoping she wouldn't disagree.
"No," she said. "The numbers are not in our favor. I know several of these drow by sight and they know me. I will not be able to worm my way into their group."
"It takes powerful magic to create a bone golem."
"I've heard rumors that a cult of necromancers has settled nearby," she said. "They must be creating these golems for the Valsharess."
"I'll send a couple of scouts to backtrack them. We'll find this cult."
"The golems ought to leave a clear trail, easy to follow." Nathyrra said. She frowned as they returned to the camp. "Why send so many for a simple pickup?"
Solaufein shrugged. "It would be nice to think that the Valsharess fears our scouting parties."
"It would be nice to think that, yes."
Later, Nathyrra said, "I'm not sure what to do about the illithids." The party, minus the two scouts searching for the necromancers, had continued on towards Zorvak'Mur but what they would do there, Solaufein had no idea. "I know the Valsharess was uneasy in her alliance with them. They are cowardly and treacherous and think themselves our superiors. I just don't know what we can do about it."
"We're not strong enough to attack their outpost," Solaufein said.
"It wouldn't help much if we did. The Valsharess has allied with the Elder Concorde, not just the Elder Brain of Zorvak'Mur."
"A strange alliance," he said. "What has she offered them?"
"Slaves," Nathyrra said. "Gold."
"They need more?" The illithid colonies were known to be wealthy, and that wealth was based on their thriving slave trade. Although some in the Male Fighters Society liked to brag of the many slaves they'd captured in raids, the majority of Ust Natha's slaves had been purchased from the illithids. "We won't be able to outbid her."
"Not with slaves or gold, certainly," Nathyrra said.
"We could try to convince them she won't keep her promises."
"How?" she asked skeptically.
"Fine, I'm not sure what to do about them either," Solaufein admitted.
"It seems a shame not to try something," she said. "But I have a brain full of secrets I would as soon not hand over to the illithids."
A scout ran lightly up. "There's a party of duergar ahead," he said. "Slavers, I think."
Solaufein gave a grim smile. "Let's find out."
They had indeed been slavers and now they were dead slavers. "Too bad they'd already sold their captives," Haelra said. Solaufein looked at her in surprise.
"What would we do with slaves?" he asked.
"We could have freed them."
"Freed them?" What mercy could there be in turning slaves loose to die? Although death might be better than what awaited them in Zorvak'Mur. "I suppose we could have taken them to Lith My'athar," he said slowly. He had handled new slaves during his life in Ust Natha. The prospect of having his patrol hampered by dark-blinded, traumatized surfacers filled him with horror. Their noise alone would attract every predator in the area. Including other slavers, of course.
His eyes flickered to Nathyrra. Her expression was so carefully blank that he suspected she felt exactly the same. Am I a bad, selfish person to put my patrol and my goal above these unfortunate slaves' lives? Forgive me, Eilistraee. He picked up one of the slaver's helmets. "Do these actually work?" he asked.
"To shield your thoughts?" Nathyrra asked. He nodded. "The duergar certainly seem to think so."
"What do you think?"
She picked up the helmet and studied it. After a moment, she closed her eyes and her lips moved silently.
"There is an enchantment," she said. "Yes, I think this may be effective."
He took the helmet from her hands. "I will find out."
No one was happy, but only the females seemed inclined to argue. "This helmet will protect me," Solaufein said. "I do not want to risk any of you on this mission. I will scout Zorvak'Mur and attempt to negotiate with the Elder Brain. We won't know if there is anything we can offer them if we don't ask. If there is nothing I can do, I will leave quickly."
"We cannot lose you," Haelra said. For some reason, she glared at Nathyrra. "I will go if Nathyrra is too afraid." Nathyrra glared back.
"No," he said. "You both have knowledge of the Seer we cannot risk giving to the Elder Brain." He expected Haelra to argue but surprisingly, she did not. She continued to glare at Nathyrra however. Two females in one patrol always caused trouble but they would have to settle it between themselves.
He was glad that Nathyrra followed him a short way out of the camp. She still looked pissed. He didn't blame her. Nathyrra-a coward? What a ridiculous accusation. Had Haelra forgotten how she saved them from the bebilith? Or her valor against the beholders?
"The Seer will be angry with me if you strangle her cleric while on my patrol," he said softly.
She gave him a sideways look and then her expression lightened. "Well, we can't have that, can we?" she said.
Solaufein felt so weary. Zorvak'Mur was a rich and glittering outpost that teemed with mindless, hopeless slaves. Once they had been people from all races, with dreams and schemes of their own. Now they were merely walking, working things.
He felt so filthy. The Elder Brain had sifted through his thoughts like a jeweler running clever fingers through a box of uncut gems, looking for glitter and discarding the dross.
And it was a very strange feeling, to achieve a victory when he'd been certain that only failure was possible. Whether this new alliance with the illithids would hold, he did not know. The illithids had been quick enough to betray the Valsharess, after all. Perhaps it was all a game to them.
The camp was not far from where he'd left it. He hadn't, in fact, been gone much time at all. He hailed the scout on sentry, who seemed immensely relieved to see him. As did the others in the party. Haelra gave him a big smile. Nathyrra gave him a small one.
"What happened?" Haelra asked.
"The Elder Brain was willing to speak with me," he told them all. "I think it must have been anxious to break its alliance with the Valsharess. The Elder Brain made me take my helmet off, to assure itself I was truly from the Seer."
"That was very risky!" Haelra said.
"And foolish," Nathyrra said.
"Yes. I was quite uneasy, I assure you. But perhaps Eilistraee shielded me, for the Elder Brain did not attack my mind."
"Perhaps it couldn't find your mind," Nathyrra muttered. "You certainly appear to have misplaced it." He shot her an amused glance.
"The Elder Brain agreed to convince the Concorde to join the Seer but it asked for an artifact of power." He looked at Nathyrra. "I hope you are not angry, but I gave it the orb of anti-magic."
"Did you?" she asked quietly.
"I'm sorry," he said. "The Elder Brain wanted protection against the Valsharess' magic. It saw in my mind how useful the orb was against the beholders. I thought it was a fair enough trade."
For a moment, her face was very still. And then she slid back against the rock wall behind her like her legs had gone weak. And she pressed her hand to her mouth.
"Nathyrra?"
She was laughing.
"Perhaps I should have told you..." she said. "But now I'm so glad I didn't..."
"Told me what?" he asked.
"The orb...we used it up killing the Eye Tyrant. It might have had one charge left." She wasn't just laughing, she was giggling. Giggling!
Solaufein opened his eyes wide and then he grinned.
"I'm certainly glad I didn't know that."
"Another thing you need to know," she said. "While you were in Zorvak'Mur, we saw signs that the Valsharess' scouts had entered the colony. Did you see them?"
"No..."
"I bet they saw you. It's just that I was wondering..." She giggled again. She tried to speak but her own laughter interrupted her. She pressed a hand to her side. Finally she snorted through her delicate nose and made a visible effort to control herself. "I was wondering how the Valsharess will react when her spies report back."
"What do you mean?" Solaufein asked.
"She had a most difficult time arranging an audience with an Elder Brain. You know how haughty the illithids are. She had to threaten some of their pods to get Zorvak'Mur to even talk to her. When she hears you were immediately admitted, she will have to assume that the Elder Concorde has turned against her."
"And that would be true. What will she do?" Solaufein asked, puzzled at her glee when they had just lost any hope of surprise.
"Don't you see? She won't wait for them to turn on her. She will wipe them out now, in a sneak attack before they can join us."
Solaufein let out a huff of breath. "You think she will declare war on the illithids? Attack their colonies? All at once? Now? While she's at war with us?"
Nathyrra nodded. "She will not tolerate this insult. She knows we're penned up here. Where are we going to go? Why should she rush to finish us off? She can attack us at her leisure. They're the bigger threat."
"Taking on the illithids will not be easy," he said.
"No. It will take a lot of resources. Resources she cannot use against us." Nathyrra's eyes glinted. "Almost, I am tempted to send the illithids a warning so they can put up a better fight. Almost."
"Why? What do we care if all the illithids are slaughtered?" he asked.
"Well, there you go. Let them all die. I don't care. Nobody cares."
