It was nightfall before they stopped, hastily setting up their bedrolls around the fire instead of breaking out the tents. It had taken hours to find a spot, way back down near the bridge, in fact, before being able to cross over to the other side.
A hasty meal was thrown together, Belle opting for a fruit diet now they had stolen some from the kitchens at the Rest. A couple of apples & oranges did her, even though her stomach cried out for protein. She just could not stomach the spicy dried salami on offer any more.
Heading back to her bedroll to call it a night (Astarion hadn't come near her after her asking him what she had; so, definitely not any cuddles tonight, probably not ever, now, sadly), when the wind shifted, sucking along the ground in a manner she'd never witnessed before. She tracked where it was flowing to, following it back toward …. Wyll.
The rivulets of air currents combined near him, the look on his face saying it all as he recognised it & so did she. Quick, could she roll a boulder in on the gathering whirlpool of darkness? Throw their scraps down it? Take a dump in it?
They all stood back as the darkness formed into solidity, turning into a black, tarlike substance. Smelled like tar, too. It resolved quickly into a black, marblesque statue that suddenly flashed red flame, eating the tar in an instant so that Mizoura, posing & stretching her wings, was revealed in all her blue skinned, showing off her tits glory. Impressive entrance, small rack, she noted.
"Oh gods, not you!" Karlach groaned, looking disgusted at the sight of the devil.
"That's no way to greet an old friend, Karlach. Zariel sends her regards. She said to let you know that when your little holiday is over, you have a lot of work to catch up on." She tsked at the tiefling, shaking a finger at her.
"I'm not going back. Ever!" the tiefling growled, clenching her fists & looking furious.
"Don't say things you don't mean, sweetie. But I'm not here for you." She turned to regard Wyll.
"There you are you unruly pup. Looks like I've been too lenient with you." She grabbed the air, yanking it, & Wyll tripped as he was pulled forward on an invisible leash.
These devils pretended a civilized air, but they feasted on others pain, suffering & misery. She could feel the barely suppressed glee Mizoura took in taking Wyll to task. It seemed to her that the suffering that energized them was not the same suffering as what Withers & Mystra had talked to her about.
The suffering the devils inflicted was purely to cause prolonged pain, without said pain leading to anywhere but more pain. No growth, no enlightenment, just suffering that begat suffering. And here she thought there was little difference between the gods & the devils here. Showed her.
"Do you really have to? I mean, the horns look good on him, so if your intention is to humiliate him, trust me, it backfires." Fuckn shitn fuckin hell, why couldn't her mouth just get sewn shut during these encounters?
Mizoura paused, looking slowly around at Belle. Wyll made a terrified sound, unable to give voice to anything. Apparently, he had had his mouth sewn shut.
"Ohhh, the little Earthling. Give me a second, dear, I want to have a chat with you."
Her hackles rose at being called dear again, even if it were from a female source. God how she loathed that endearment!
Mizoura turned back to Wyll, ignoring Belle for the moment, & delivered unto him the sexy set of horns. She winced as he got covered in tarry goo beforehand. It didn't look pleasant. Warm, but not pleasant.
Mizoura suddenly released Wyll who went flying backwards, side eyed Belle, lifted her fingers, snapped them & apparated them elsewhere.
She looked around wildly at what looked like a little Parisian tea house; white iron wrought seats & tables with little white vases filled with pastel flowers carefully placed around them. She was seated opposite to the blue skinned devil who was sipping calmly from a little, beautifully decorated porcelain cup.
Belle went to get up but was stuck once more to the seat of the chair.
"Not again" she muttered, trying to wobble from side to side, unsuccessfully unsticking her butt from the seat.
"Try the tea dear, it's imported from Chultan." Mizoura continued to delicately sip her own beverage.
"No thanks," she spat, remembering Astarions' warning on not consuming anything a devil offered.
Mizoura shrugged.
"Your loss."
"Why am I here?"
"Because I'm curious. You're all the talk of Avernus, dear."
"Don't call me dear." She said between clenched teeth.
Mizoura slammed down her little porcelain cup, smashing it.
"I'll call you whatever the hells I want. You are not in charge here!" Her visage of teasing sophistication dropped instantly. Belle glared at her. Mizoura glared back. After a minute, the devil broke eye contact. Being proficient in non-verbal communication with others she didn't care much for, Belle recognised that as some sort of win. Interesting.
"Zariel wishes to extend an invitation to you to visit her at her Flying Fortress. I believe she has a proposition for you." Mizoura leaned over the table delicately, finally getting to the point. "If I were you, I'd accept. It's not often the Lord of the First makes these kinds of offers to mortals."
Why in the hell was a fucking Arch Devil wanting to say hi, now? It made no sense to her, none whatsoever. Where was Gus's invitations?
"I'm sorry; I'm currently busy on another adventure right now. If you could leave me your contact details, I'll get back to you as soon as possible. Until then, please send me back."
Mizoura winced, waving her hand & disappearing the smashed cup & spilled tea. Belle wished she had jedi devil powers, too. It'd make getting the remote for the t.v. so much easier at home.
"I will pass on your message. Be warned, her patience in these matters is … short."
"Duly noted."
Mizoura looked away, snapped her fingers & sent Belle back to camp, dumping her on her arse again. She was beginning to think they were doing that deliberately.
The camp was in an uproar, half of them trying to get to the bottom of Wyll's newfound sexy looks, & the other half looking like they'd been stumbling around in the dark calling her name.
"Belle" Gus cried, falling to his knees beside her, running his hands over her to make sure she was not just there physically, but uninjured.
"Fucking bitch could have put a cushion down first" she winced, her arse sore from the impact.
"What'd she want with you?" Wyll came careening in next, horns & all, looking entirely guilty for her disappearance.
"To extend me an invitation. Zariel wants to see me."
Everyone went quiet. Then all hell broke loose.
"No, no you can't go …" Karlach implored.
"Why are all these devils interested in you…" Gale questioned.
"You're only an Earthling…." Lae'zel sneered.
"Oh, Belle, I'm so sorry, it's all my fault…" Wyll moaned.
"Why are you all carrying on like it's my funeral? I told her no, in the politest way possible."
Gus groaned, burying his head in his hands.
"Should we be readying for a devil attack, now?" Gale asked, stepping back & firing up spells so that he's hands caught on rainbow fire.
"What? No, no everything's fine. I have no idea what it's about, only that she has a proposal for me."
"What else are you hiding? You must be hiding more than you're letting on! An Arch Devil taking an interest in you?" Lae'zel stabbed a finger at her.
"I really, honestly, have no fucking idea…"
Mystra had called on her. A goddess. A major one. What the fuck were they after from her?
"Gale, reinforce the perimeters. Shadowheart, Wyll, help him. Move the bedrolls in closer. No one goes outside the perimeters tonight. Brian & Karlach, take first watch. Astarion & Lae'zel the second. I'll do the last with Wyll."
"Dad, it's not that bad, no-one like that is coming …"
He leant forward to whisper.
"This did not happen in your game, did it?"
"Well … no… but that doesn't mean…."
"Yes, it does. It's off script, Belle. Anything out of the ordinary needs to be treated as a major threat. And they're after you, specifically. Not any of the rest of us, outside the tadpole business. There's something more they're after. From you. Do you think they'll stop just because you told them no?"
Well, when you looked at it like that ….
"No going outside the perimeter" she sulked.
He nodded, squeezing her shoulder, & left to set up some sort of traps or some such with Wyll.
Once they were done, Gale & Shadowheart performed some awesome light show magic to protect the camp. If she squinted, she could almost make believe it was New Year's Eve, back on Earth.
No one got much sleep that night. Belle sat for a long time, cross legged on her bed roll, alternatively gazing at the fire or indulging in staring matches with Astarion, who had set up opposite her. His expression was unreadable. But it passed the time & she got to study that beautiful face of his, so win-win for her.
God knows what he thought of her face; he was either finding it so ugly it was fascinating, or so fascinating it was ugly. She didn't consider herself ugly; but she wasn't on Shadowhearts' level. Even Karlach & Lae'zel were a cut above. But she didn't mind; it didn't bother her at all now, having dealt with beautiful people most of her adult life & coming in second fiddle to them.
After a while, even Astarions face flickering in the firelight became … not boring, never that, but she needed a change of scenery. Lying down, she stared at the stars overhead, trying to place where the Milky Way would be right then. The moon here had a scattering of visible spots spread across its circumference; the Tears of Selune. Which got her thinking…
"Hey Lae'zel" she called out softly, knowing no-one was sleeping but not wanting to piss them off too much.
"Speak. But make it quick."
"Do the gith know of Earth?"
"We have studied it in the past. Our records indicate that there is nothing worthy of more investigation in that sphere."
"What do the records say?"
"That is not for outsiders to know."
"I'm from Earth, Lae'zel. Just tell me."
She heard the gith shift uncomfortably.
" … fine. Earth contains little in the way of technology; so little magic as to be ineffective; and a stagnant population cultured in make believe stories based on fear."
"And when were these records taken?"
"Around seven hundred years ago."
Okey-dokey.
"Your records maybe out of date. We've evolved past that."
"There's no advancement in any society, race or culture in any of the spheres we've studied that show evolvement in that short a period of time." Lae'zel practically told her she was lying.
Belle held up a hand & ticked off a few things.
"Immunisation against disease; cures against disease; bio-weaponry; nuclear energy; mobile technology using satellites, cable & fibre optics; quantum physics; entanglement theory …."
"You lie!" she spat at Belle.
Belle looked at her upside down as she saw Lae'zel sitting up, focused on her.
"How do I know those things if I am?"
"Even if you are telling the truth, the scale on which you're claiming to have evolved your technology … it's impossible!"
"Clearly, it's not. But d'you reckon it might be what the devils are after? Earthlings that can produce such advanced technology in such a short amount of time?"
The gith frowned, turning over the possibility presented to her.
"…it may be… " she allowed, finally, troubled now.
"But why Belle? Why not both of us?" Gus asked as he lay there, listening in.
'Gus has his purpose; you have yours.' Mystra's voice whispered in her mind.
"Who knows? They're devils. They're capricious." she replied, slumping back on her bedroll.
"What's Quantum Physics?" Gale asked, completely lost on a tangent of his own.
"Lae'zel can fill you in, being the expert" Belle filled the silence quickly, doing her civic duty in making sure that pairing came about. She shouldn't, but she couldn't help it; she shipped them, shipped them hard.
"I suppose, if you're interested… " Lae'zel actually sounded like she wanted to! Yee-haw!
The camp fell silent again after that, & she caught some light male snores coming from some sectors, indicating some of them had managed to rest somewhat. Not her, though. She watched the sky as it shifted in luminosity, the quality of the light changing subtly between one blink & the next. Thoughts of gods & devils & what they wanted ran through her mind, but still no answer was to be had.