Anomen’s wish was fulfilled almost instantly. As they rounded the corner into the hallway that ran on the north side of the Great Hall, they were beset by several trolls. There were two small dark grey ones, no bigger than Jan, flanking one of the large green garden variety.

Jan raised his crossbow and put a bolt straight through the right eye of the leftmost ice troll, while Patricia and Anomen closed with the tall center monster. Nalia was a bit late getting off her shot, because she’d had to squeeze up against the wall while Minsc came thundering by waving Sarevok’s old weapon. Her first flaming arrow just singed the ear on the biggest troll.

The ice troll on the right had made good use of his initial reprieve, raking his claws across Anomen’s exposed face and leaving two deep puncture wounds on his right cheek. The priest was so filled with bloodlust himself that he scarcely noticed the pain.

The other two trolls were attacking Patricia with an almost demented fury, snuffling audibly all the while. They seemed almost unfazed by Nalia’s fire arrows, though large areas of their skins were beginning to smolder. Had Patricia been an iota slower in her parry, the green troll would have laid her stomach open, but instead he lost three fingers to the edge of her blade. Jan decided to throw a Magic Missile at his target’s other eye, and managed a direct hit. Blinded, the ice troll could not react quickly enough, and Patricia decapitated it with her next stroke. Minsc neatly severed the right arm of the other ice troll at the shoulder before it could get it back inside Anomen’s helm, and it promptly collapsed from the shock.

Nalia adjusted her aim as soon as Patricia had downed her opponent, making sure that the monster was charred enough to stay dead. Anomen pulled his arm far back, putting all his force into a devastating blow that cracked resoundingly against the side of the large troll’s head, sending it slumping to the floor. Nalia fired another volley while the others caught their breath, sending the last two trolls permanently to sleep.

“They were on us so fast,” gasped Patricia, “they must have smelled me already. Nalia, we’ve got to hurry. How much farther is it to the servants’ quarters?”

“Round the next corner and down almost to the end of the hall,” said the mage. The men looked at each other mystified.

Patricia caught sight of Anomen’s wound. “Can you make it that far before we stop, or do you need help right now?”

“I can go on, milady,” he said stoutly, then winced as the movement of his face aggravated the pain. “But trolls are drawn to the scent of blood, so it would be best to hurry.” Some dim hint of the truth came to him then, but his brain instinctively balked at making the connection.

“I know it all too well,” Patricia replied grimly. She turned to the corpses, searching for the severed arm. Hiding her distaste for the loathsome object, she bent to examine the hand. The fingers were still twitching, but all of the claws were intact, so there weren’t any broken pieces to worry about inside the wounds on Anomen’s face. You had to be careful about things like that; if not removed, the healing spells might not work properly, or the pieces might later work themselves out through the skin. She got Nalia to fire an arrow at the arm for good measure, then stood with her face lit by the dancing flames.

“All right, let’s go, double quick. We’ve got to reach that room and bar the door behind us. Here, Anomen, take your helm off and hold this cloth over that wound until we get there. Whatever you do, don’t drip.”

Cautiously, Patricia peered around into the eastern passageway. It was clear. “Jan,” she hissed. “Here, come with me. You may have to pick the lock. I’ll guard your back.” Together they slipped down the hall as silently as they might. There was no carpet to help deaden their steps. They reached the door without incident, and it took only a few seconds for Jan to get it open. Patricia waved back down the hall to Nalia, and the others quickly joined them. The room was blessedly empty, and Jan barred the door behind them.

Nalia was already moving to the end of the row of beds. “Here, Patricia, this is Melissa’s chest. I know she’ll have some, she’s my maid.”

Yes, of course she’d have her own maid, thought Patricia to herself. It’s amazing she’s got as much of a sense of injustice as she does, growing up surrounded by so many people to wait on her hand and foot. Aloud she said, “Great. Can you get it open yourself?” Nalia looked at her a bit indignantly, then stooped and clicked it open with a hairpin.

Patricia joined her in rummaging through the overstuffed trunk. She’d no idea how this Melissa had ever managed to get the lid closed, it was jammed so tight. They found what she needed quickly enough, though. A good thing, since her supplies of these necessities had disappeared along with everything else while she was in Irenicus’ clutches, and she’d forgotten to restock.

She risked a look at their male companions. Jan was helping dab off Anomen’s wound while the priest readied his spell. Minsc was feeding Boo a cracker. “Now,” she whispered to Nalia, and together they sauntered by the men, using their bodies to conceal what they held in their hands. At the garderobe door she passed her load to Nalia, then cleared her throat to attract the others’ attention.

“We’ll be back in a minute. Why don’t you all check those other chests for more parts of the flail?” She was pretty sure they weren’t going to find any, but it would give them a distraction.

“Whew!” she said to Nalia as soon as they had the garderobe door safely shut. “I’ll be back around in a minute.” She came back out from behind the screen confident that the trolls could no longer detect any unusual odor, and a good bit more comfortable.

“How does yours take you?” she asked Nalia conversationally, as she took the opportunity to check how well her hairpins were holding. It was important that her braids not fall loose in the middle of a battle. “Bloating, cranky, achy, or agonizing pain?” Nalia sat on the counter, idly combing her hair with her fingers.

“Cramps, mostly,” the girl answered.

“It gets my lower back,” confided Patricia. “Though sometimes it goes into full-fledged cramps. My back’s hurting now, in fact. Could you do me a favor?”

“What?”

“There’s a spot on the left side of my back, about two-thirds down and an inch away from the spine, that will be really tender. If you can put pressure on it for about five minutes, it’ll relieve my backache. I’ll tell you when you’ve found it. It’s handy to know about, because it works for cramps too.”

“Okay.”

“I tell you what--- ouch, yes, that’s it--- I’m just glad I don’t wear armor. I’ve no idea how Jaheira stood it, although maybe being half-elven helped. That would have to be incredibly awkward.”

Nalia grinned as she worked on Patricia’s back. She’d always wondered what it would be like to have a big sister. Patricia was more approachable at this moment than she’d yet seen her. There were times when all women had to stick together. The grin faded as she thought of her Aunt Delcia. Daleson hadn’t seen her since the troubles began. Much as her aunt’s imperious ways annoyed her, she still loved her. Nalia couldn’t remember her own grandmother, but Aunt Delcia--- really her great-aunt--- had taken her place. She prayed to Tyr with all her heart that she wouldn’t find her lying on one of these floors somewhere like the porter.

Outside, the males were getting bored. Jan had found several small jewels, but nothing else of much value. Anomen had healed his wounds, and Minsc had finished giving Boo his snack. They’d passed around a canteen. None of them dared mention it, but they were all wondering what on earth those two were doing in there. What could possibly take ten minutes? They could hear faint voices, but that was all.

Finally Jan could stand the silence no more. He began to hum, then began drumming his fingers on one of the chests as well. Minsc began stomping his feet with the rhythm, and suddenly Jan burst into song with a voice like a rusty gate:

Lord de’Arnise had a keep, E-I-E-I-O,
And in this keep there were some trolls, E-I-E-I-O,
With an ice troll here, and a spectral troll there,
Here a troll, there a troll, everywhere trolls, trolls.

Minsc joined in for the second verse:

Lord de’Arnise had a keep, E-I-E-I-O,
And in this keep there were some yuan-ti, E-I-E-I-O,
With a snake-man here, and a snake-man there,
Here a snake, there a snake, everywhere yuan-ti.

Anomen tried vainly to shut the two up: “What foolishness is this? Do you two want to bring every single monster in this keep down on our heads at once?” Lor

d de’Arnise had a keep, E-I-E-I-O,
And in this keep there were great big bugs, E-I-E-I-O,
An umber hulk here, and an umber hulk there,
Here a bug, there a bug, everywhere umber hulks.

Lord de’Arnise had a keep, E-I-E-I-O…

By this time Anomen was poised by the door, sure that something would try to come through it at any second. Nalia and Patricia finally came out of the privy, and Jan and Minsc both stopped their singing abruptly at the icy look on Patricia’s face. She stared at each of them until their eyes dropped. When she spoke, each word dropped into the silence like a stone into a pond. “I don’t ever want to hear you doing that again. That sort of stupidity can get you killed.” She paused. “Unless, of course, you want to change the key to something I can manage. It’ll make a marching song for outdoors, though this is scarcely the time or place.”

She turned to the Watcher. “Thank you, Anomen. I appreciate your responsible behavior in the face of all this insanity. Is everything still quiet outside?”

He put his ear to the door, straining to catch any faint noises in the hall. Finally he nodded. “All is quiet, milady.”

“Then the three of you take your turns in there,” jerking her head towards the privy, “and let’s get on out of here.” Silently, they complied, and in another ten minutes they were on the move again.