Cards Reshuffled

Revenge. A powerful force, one that may drive us to do things unimaginable, things we would otherwise never contemplate. It is one of the most powerful needs there is. And for some people, it is the only one.

Excerpt from ‘Ruminations Of A Master Bard’

Jaheira was screaming, long wailing cries mixed with sobs and curses, screaming as if her heart was being torn from her body while she was still alive to feel it. Minsc was trying to hold her, so she wouldn’t injure herself, but it would only work for so long. Zaerini could hear the terrible noises, but she was unable to stir. She stood motionless, her entire attention focused on the table in front of her. Or rather, the body that was lying on the table.

The corpse had been neatly opened from throat to pubis, the breast bone sawed apart to provide easy access to the organs within. Then it had been emptied of said organs, leaving only an empty husk behind. Against her will, the bard found her eyes drifting towards the jars on the shelves lining the walls. The neat, clean jars, with their neat little labels. ‘Heart’. ‘Lungs’. ‘Spleen’. ‘Upper intestine’. There were more, many more, all of them hiding dark horrors inside. Somehow, the neat labels made it all worse.

Behind her, she could hear Imoen moan, but the words were only noises in her head. “He cut…he cut and cut…to show me, he said. Where is the soul? In the heart? The heart is just a muscle, foolish girl. In the breath? In the belly? But see, I cut them open, and there is no soul to be found…”

The face was rotting, ready to peel from the skull beneath. It was still recognizable though, despite the fact that one of the eyes was missing, the other one staring in mute and glazed accusation at the ceiling.

“The eyes…” Imoen whimpered. “The eyes, girl. Windows to the soul, people say. Shall we see if they are correct? You need to see…to learn…”

Beneath clumps of reddish brown hair, the skull had been sawed open, the brain removed. The empty cavity looked strangely vulnerable without it.

Imoen was sobbing now. “The mind…will we find the soul there, do you suppose? We must examine every possible place…we must be thorough.”

The face. The poor, mutilated face, still with an expression of pain and fear stamped across familiar features. “Khalid…” Zaerini whispered, not recognizing the sound of her own voice. “Oh…Khalid…”

Jaheira had found her voice again, hoarse with sobs and horror as it was, and now she broke free from Minsc’s grasp with a half-choked curse and brushed past Zaerini, towards the table. She stood there for a few seconds, staring at the corpse, her face a white mask of pain. “Khalid…” she whispered. “Khalid….say it is not so. SAY IT IS NOT SO!” She slammed her hand into the table, making the corpse stir slightly, almost as if it was coming to life. “This…this is an illusion,” Jaheira whispered fervently. “It is a dream. A bad dream.” She tore away from the table, her quarterstaff swiping despereately at the jars in the shelves, making them break and shatter against the floor, making their sad and pitiful contents spill wetly forth. “Where are the…the mirrors…the switches to pull…to show where he is hidden…KHALID!” Finally she collapsed to her knees, her face hidden in her hands, her shoulders shaking. “Damn…damn you. Damn you! I will have the heart of who has done this! I will tear their blackened heart from their... I will...I…no…”

I have to do something…say something… Rini thought. She had no idea what, though. Tentatively, taking care not to let her bare feet get cut by the broken glass or to step on any of the contents of the jars, she crossed the floor, then knelt by the druid’s side, then hesitantly put her arm about the other woman, feeling her stiffen. “Jaheira? I…I don’t know what to say, really. It’ll probably be the wrong thing anyway. I just want to help. If I can.”

The druid got to her feet with an angry gesture. “Shut up! No more words! Words are nothing! They will not bring him back, will they?”

She’s right, Rini thought, hanging her head. And about what she isn’t saying as well. This…this filthy thing happened because of me. Because of me. If not for me, if not for being my friend, she would still have her husband. How can I ever look her in the eyes again? She should just kill me now. It would be no more than I deserve.

Yoshimo had been watching the entire exchange, a wary expression on his smooth face. “I knew not this man,” he told Jaheira, “but I know what it is to lose a loved one. I mourn for your loss.”

The druid turned on him, her green eyes spitting fire, her teeth bared in a snarl. “Stranger! Nobody! I will not hear your words! Leave me! What do you know? What can you know? Leave me, I say!”

Imoen was patting Khalid’s bloody hair gently, humming a lullaby. “I told him to stop…” she murmured. “But he wouldn’t. He wanted me to see…to know. But I won’t remember. I don’t want to. That will teach him…”

Minsc was shaking his head sadly at Jaheira now, holding out his hamster. “Minsc is very, very sorry. A brave man has fallen here, but that is no cause to hurl insults at the living. Here, Boo shall comfort you.”

Jaheira batted his hand away angrily, desperately. “Imbecile! Affront to nature! What do you and your rodent know! What can you know!! No words! No more words!! Save your speeches, save your proverbs!! The only voice I wish to hear is... is dead!! No more!! No...” Her anger faded, and she bent over Khalid’s prone form, gently touching his cheek. “Sil... Silvanus guide the light... to the source. Take this man to what he justly deserves. By... nature's will, what was given is returned, what was turmoil is now... is now peace. Khalid of my heart, let my love...my love guide the way...”

“Jaheira…” Rini tried. “I know it’s a long shot…but if we can get out of here…there may be a way of returning him to life. I’ve heard of such things. Shouldn’t we try?”

The druid shook her head, and when next she spoke her voice was calm, though her eyes were still glittering with unshed tears. “Such spells are difficult even under the best of circumstances, and only rarely successful. And past a certain amount of time they are useless, particularly when the body has been…desecrated. No. I…I must let him go. I have no choice.” Then her face hardened, and she clutched her staff hard enough that her knuckles whitened. “And one day…one day there will be a reckoning for this crime. One day.”

“Jaheira?” Imoen said as the druid was passing her on her way towards the door on the opposite side of the room. “I’m so sorry…about Khalid I mean. But…I thought you should know…he wasn’t alive when those things were done to him.”

“What?” Jaheira said, her voice sharp. “What do you mean? Did you see this done?”

Imoen nodded, and her voice was distant as she spoke. “He said he wanted to show me…to make me understand. He would cut and cut, a little at a time. Say ‘Do you see?’ He wanted to show me something, he forced my eyes open and made me look. But I don’t know what he wanted…”

Jaheira closed her eyes for a second, and a muffled sound was torn from her throat. “No more, child. No more. I…cannot…no more.”

“You should all leave this place,” Yoshimo said into Rini’s slightly pointed ear, making her startle. “This man was your friend, you are hurting. I will search the boxes in here and join you outside.”

The half-elf nodded. “Yes…you’re right. Thank you, Yoshimo.” He really does seem to care. Perhaps I may trust him after all. “Come on,” she told her friends. “We should go. The sooner we leave, the sooner we can get revenge.” For what he did to Khalid. For him making Jaheira suffer like this. For making Minsc lose Dynaheir. For making Imoen watch…this horror, trying to drive her insane. And for me. For making me the reason for my friends’ suffering, for making me share the guilt. For all of those, I will make him suffer.

At this very moment, far above Zaerini’s head, another woman was also entertaining thoughts of vengeance. Aerie’s plan had worked perfectly up to this point. The circus, and Quayle with it, had provided her with the security she needed, but now it was past time to move on, and she intended to do so with a flamboyant display of death and destruction. After all, soon the foolish gnome would want her to display what he thought was her devotion to his ridiculous god. Little did he know of where her real loyalties lay.

Loviatar, my Mistress of Pain, this should please you greatly. Aerie smiled at herself in the mirror. It was a perfect smile involving rosy lips, pearly white teeth, wide blue eyes and just the faintest hint of a blush. Just right. It had served her well in the past, and it would do so again. The elf idly twined a lock of shining golden hair about her delicate, almost translucent fingers, as she thought about the plan again.

Poor, poor ‘Uncle Quayle’. How surprised he would be to learn the truth, that I am in fact a powerful priestess of the Goddess of Pain, and not the slightest bit interested in his foolish gnome god. Or his raccoon. Not to mention that the loss of my wings, the terrible trauma that makes him pity me so, that that was in fact my own willing sacrifice, my offering to my Goddess in return for the power I crave. The power I deserve.

Aerie’s face darkened, and the innocent look faded before something ancient and terrible, something that would have sent Quayle away screaming had he seen it. Fools! All of them. My mother, refusing me the power, telling me to ‘curb my ambition’. The hypocrite! Well, she will hold me back no longer. In fact, I think the Cowled Wizards would be very interested to learn of a possible source of valuable spell components. Such as Avariel wings. It would help to have the wizards in my debt, and it will improve my finances. I must remember to see to it once I am out of this stinking circus.

Yes. The circus. It had served her well, but now she was done with it. Soon, despite her charm spells, Quayle would start asking questions, would perhaps wish for her to take part in his rituals for Baervan Wildwanderer. Illusion spells would help, but they only went so far. No, it was time to leave, and to serve her Mistress she wanted to cause as much suffering as possible before she did so. Thus, Kalah. The poor, foolish illusionist gnome would be the perfect scapegoat.

A tentative knock on the door to her wagon interrupted the elf’s thoughts, and she gracefully rose, smoothing her hair as she did so. Her face once more schooled into a sweet mask of innocence she opened the door to let in a small and furtive-looking gnome, his most prominent feature a bad squint. “Oh!” she said. “H-hello, Kalah! Please…please come in.”

The gnome sidled past her, sitting down on some of the bright yellow pillows scattered on the floor, and helplessly sinking down into them. “Aerie…are you sure this will work?” he asked. “I wouldn’t want anything to go wrong, you know.”

Aerie laughed, a tinkling little laughter like silver bells. “Oh Kalah…you big silly! Everything will work just fine.” She smiled a dazzling smile at the gnome, while part of her brain took a cold pleasure in the way he blushed and stammered. He was hers, heart and soul. “I…I think it is terrible the way they all t-treat you. The way they l-laugh at you. I don’t know how you can…how you can stand it. You deserve better…so m-much better.”

Kalah grimaced. He wasn’t a particularly good illusionist, and it was quite true that he was often made an object of ridicule. Quayle had in fact confidentially informed Aerie that he planned to fire Kalah, and she had made certain to let that information ‘slip’, along with several carefully planted barbs about how the rest of the circus employees frequently mocked ‘poor Kalah’. By now, the gnome had worked himself into a paranoid and homicidal rage. He would have taken a crossbow and started mowing circus workers down if she’d told him to do so. However, she had other, more extensive plans.

“I just want respect,” Kalah muttered. “I deserve respect, don’t I? It’s their own fault if they won’t give it to me.”

“Of course it is!” Aerie cooed. “You p-poor man…it is only…only right that you should be admired. And they will admire you…once you show them how great you are.” She handed the gnome a spell scroll, a very rare and expensive one. “They will all respect you. As I…as I already do.” Here, she made herself smile shyly, a delicate blush adding to the effect.

“B-but what if we fail? What if…”

“Kalah!” Aerie said, now making her voice reproachful and hurt. “I…I thought you…you were brave! Are you…are you afraid to be…to be the same in your own…a-acts and valour, as you are in…in d-desire?” She sniffed. “I am but a…a weak w-woman. But you…are you a m-man or not? Would you…would you live a coward, letting ‘I dare not’ wait upon ‘I would’, like the poor vampire in the sunlight?” Good quote that, she thought to herself. Hopefully this idiot has never learnt the lines to ‘The Bloody King’ like I have. And the inflection was just right…

Kalah’s will melted before this combination of reproach, admiration and flowery perfume. “I…dare all that suits a man,” he said. “But if I dare more…will I still be one?”

When this is done I will take great pleasure in slowly ripping you to pieces, you stubborn gnome, Aerie thought. And then I will be rid of this place, and free to seek my vengeance on the ones who humiliated me. Domination spells were out of the question, she needed Kalah’s mind fully functional. Instead she made crystal tears seep from her eyes and trickle down her rosy cheeks. “But you h-have sworn!” she said. “And you…you could be more than a m-man, if only you would. Weak as I am…I t-try to keep my word. Always. Had I a baby…a sweet little b-b-baby…even as it was smiling at me with its toothless gums, I would tear it from my breast and dash its b-brains out, had I sworn so!” Yes, that truly is an excellent play.

Kalah gave her a frightened look, and for a moment she wondered if she had gone too far. But then she saw his resolve crumble, and knew that victory was hers. “But if we fail…”

“We will not fail!” Aerie cried out, clasping the gnome’s hand. “Screw your courage tight, and victory is certain. Now go! The evening performance is soon to start! The time is now!”

Kalah rose, nodding. “It will be so,” he said. “I am settled on this course, and I will go.”

Yes, Aerie thought, once again smiling sweetly at the back of the retreating gnome. And then I will toss you to the wolves, of that you may be certain. But for now…I will carry on with this little show. As always, a fair face will hide what the false heart does know…