All That Glitters...49

Chapter Forty-Nine

"Anomen...are you all right, lad?"

Anomen blinked. He was lying down, although he couldn't remember how that happened. "I...I am awake," he said in a dry and raspy voice.

Keldorn smiled. "Good. We almost thought we lost you. Drink these." He handed over several bottles.

Anomen sat up, too quickly, and his head spun. He put out a hand to keep his balance, and Keldorn held on to his shoulders until Anomen could sit up on his own.

"Careful, there," Keldorn said. "You lost a great deal of blood. You'll be feeling faint for a little while."

Anomen shook his head, trying to clear out the fuzzy feeling of exhaustion. It was coming back to him, now. Kal had just been knocked over, and it was himself and Captain Arat, charging toward the snake. Then, it had lunged to the side, and...

He instantly put a hand to his side, and nearly cut himself on the jagged edges of his damaged plate mail.

"There isn't much that can be done regarding your armour," Keldorn said. "We'll have to see about getting it repaired afterwards."

"The...the captain?"

"He was not as lucky," Keldorn said with a sad shake of his head. "He was killed almost instantly. Our...our other healer," he began, but then stopped himself. "Viconia," he made himself say, "used much of her magic simply keeping you and many of the guardsmen alive. A number are not even conscious."

"And...Kal? How is...he?"

"He's...fine," Keldorn said, and looked over his shoulder.

---

Kal was sitting by himself, in a corner of the keep, on a collapsed part of the inner wall. The remainder of the De'Arnise guard were tending to their wounded, carrying their unconscious comrades out to their little wooden fort.

The house guards were giving Kal a rather wide berth. As much as they had known that he was on their side, the speed, accuracy and strength with which he had taken out the sword-wielding snake had frightened them. Kal could feel them looking at him, could hear the whispers, though he didn't look up. He was staring into his hands, though he was not seeing. His eyes were blankly wide, lost in thought.

"So what is on your mind?" Viconia asked, walking up and sitting beside him.

"Don't I usually ask that question?" Kal asked with a faint smile.

"And is it not I who usually evades it?" she returned.

"True enough," he said. The smile vanished from his face, and he waved at the body of the snake-creature, two bloody holes punched through its eyes and in the back of its head. "I was thinking of...that."

"What about it?" Viconia asked.

"Well...that...that wasn't me, out there. It wasn't all me. It was...him." Kal closed his eyes, unable to keep the memory out of his conscious mind, the events replaying themselves against his will.

Viconia took his hand. "What...what really happened?"

"When I...when I took out my bow, he came back. I can't miss now, but that's all because of him. The moment I aimed the bow, I..." He paused. "It's hard to describe. I was aiming, and I was also...not aiming. Someone else's reflexes. Someone else's skill. Someone else's...bloodlust."

"But you managed to put the bow down."

"Yes, but that wasn't...that wasn't it. He knew I was going to drop the bow. He meant for me to do it! So that I would get Captain Arat killed, and nearly kill Anomen, too! And so that I would see it, and let him in even more!" Kal put his hands to his head. "I don't know how to stop it, Viconia. He's fighting me, inside my mind and spirit, and I don't know how to stop it. It isn't like mathematics or physics - there's no problem I can solve to find a solution, no way to know where it came from or where it's going. It's just...there. It's happening. And I don't know what to do."

"You will not become Bhaal," Viconia said, squeezing his hand. "I know you can avoid it. I know you, Kal, and I know you are not Bhaal."

"But, then, what am I, Viconia?" Kal asked. "What am I? I thought I knew...but I don't, any more. I'm a scholar, or at least I was."

"And...?" Viconia prompted, with some trepidation.

"And I can't remember. I can't remember some of my favourite authors. I can't remember the melody of Istar's Sixth Symphony. I can't remember the date of the first battle between Mulhorand and Thay, or who first invented the mangonel, or how to make smokepowder. I'm losing what I am, and I'm trading it for ‘not-Bhaal', whatever it is. That's not what I want to be, Viconia. I don't want to be defined by what I'm not. But every day I'm losing a little bit more of me, and becoming a little more of him. And all I know is that I'm fighting him. And that I'm not winning."

On the other side of the courtyard, Anomen stood, casting aside the last, empty, bottle. He looked over at Kal and nodded.

Kal stood. "You're ready?"

"I am well enough," Anomen responded.

That makes one of us, Kal thought, and led the party back inside.

---

The hall in front of the master bedroom was, strangely, well-lit. As Yoshimo would have no chance to sneak in, Kal decided on a brute-force approach - they'd open the door and pour through as quickly as possible. Even though Daleson said there were no trolls left, there was another one of the snake-things still around, and after their last experience, Kal wasn't about to underestimate one of them.

The room turned out to contain only one occupant - a human warrior, dressed in elaborate full plate and wielding a two-handed sword.

"That's Glaicas!" Nalia said. "My father's bodyguard! What's he doing here?" Raising her voice, she shouted, "Glaicas! Where's my father?"

Glaicas turned glazed eyes towards the party. "Intruders...interfering...must be eliminated!" he rumbled in a slurred voice.

"Charm," Keldorn hissed. He held forth his holy symbol, calling on the power of Torm. Unlike other paladins, he could not heal or cast spells. But Torm had granted him other powers - especially the ability to dispel magic.

Keldorn drew a circle in the air with his holy symbol, and a trail of white fire followed its path, forming a ring. As soon as it completed, the gauntlet-symbol of Torm appeared in the centre for a second, before the entire symbol transformed itself into a beam of white light that lashed out towards Glaicas...and then reflected off an invisible barrier, bouncing harmlessly into a corner of the room and dissipating. Glaicas blinked once, then held his weapon high and charged.

"Don't kill him!" Kal shouted, then charged to meet him. As Glaicas took his first swing with his weapon, Kal sidestepped, levelling a vicious offhand slash directly at the other weapon's flat, nearly pulling it out of Glaicas' hands. He followed up by turning and hammering the flat again with his on-hand weapon, causing Glaicas to lose his grip. Yoshimo snatched away the blade on the ground, then joined Kal and Anomen in tackling Glaicas to the ground. In short order, Glaicas was tied, hand and foot.

"I don't understand why I did not manage to dispel the charm on my first try," Keldorn said. "I should try again."

"Don't do that," Nalia said. "It's not that it didn't work, it's that he has another spell on top of the charm that's intended to block dispelling attempts."

"So how is it to be removed?" Viconia asked. "It appears to protect itself."

"It does...from spells. Hold on. Let me look at it more carefully," Nalia said, staring at Glaicas.

"Er, look at what, milady?" Anomen asked.

"The spell. Just because it's already been cast doesn't mean I can't still read it." She looked up from her contemplation of Glaicas. "Oh yeah. I can do that. Sorry."

Viconia started to say something, then threw up her hands in frustration and shook her head.

It took ten minutes. At the end of those ten minutes Nalia spoke again. "I don't know who was behind this attack, but there's at least one incredibly powerful wizard. I can't understand all of this spell, but from what I can read there are several parts dedicated to repelling spells of a lower power level. I think there's a loophole, though."

"A...loophole?" Cel asked. "In a spell?"

"Bad wording," Nalia said by way of apology. "What I meant was that there's something that the creator didn't anticipate."

"And what's that?"

"That's you, Cel," Nalia said. "Your magic shield - or rather, the circle of power Kal projects when he's holding you, could undo the spell."

"Really? Why?" Cel asked.

"Well, it's because...," Nalia started, then stopped. "Do you really want me to go on?"

"No," Kal said. "If you say it works, we'll trust you. What do I have to do?"

Nalia pointed at Glaicas. "Hit him. Turn on your shield, get within five feet, and hit him. Don't hold back on the fire."

"Lightning," Cel corrected.

"Right," Nalia said. "Lightning. Sorry. That spell you're enchanted with is written like a fire damage spell, though. Very confusing."

Nalia's solution worked as she said it would. Cel's shield erupted into glowing visibility, Anomen and Keldorn flinching slightly as it was the first time they'd seen it. Then Kal tapped Glaicas on the side with Cel, and she unleashed a bolt of lightning. The deflecting spell redirected the lightning bolt away, but then Cel's antimagic field unravelled it like a poorly-knit sock. Keldorn then tried his dispel again, to much greater success.

Glaicas suddenly blinked twice, and pressed his hands to his head. "Oh...my head.... Wh...what's going on? What's happening here?" He looked up. "Oh...Mistress Nalia!"

"You were charmed, Glaicas," Nalia said. "Do you remember what happened?"

He nodded slowly. "Yes. I...I remember now. Your father and I...we came up here to get the last flail head. And...your father put the flail together, but the guard was overwhelmed too quickly. We were forced into the warded room, the one where the treasures are kept...and the golems did not attack because Lord Arnise was in the room. His presence disarmed their detection. During that battle, this spell was cast on me, by a wizard who stayed in the shadows."

"A wizard that powerful wouldn't need to bring an army along," Nalia said pensively.

"The wizard did not want to seem involved, milady. They made me write a letter. I do not recall exactly what was written, but it was a confession that I had killed your father and that I was about to...kill myself."

"Yes...my father!" Nalia said, dropping the question of the wizard. "Do you know where he is?"

Glaicas took a deep breath. "They dragged your father down to the cellars yesterday. They've been torturing him ever since. I do not know what they want."

"All right," Kal said. "Glaicas, can you make it out on your own? The way to the front gate is clear."

He nodded. "I...I can. I am so sorry, Mistress Nalia...I couldn't stop them from taking your father...."

"It is not your fault," Yoshimo said, in a surprisingly comforting manner. "Magic sometimes forces one to do things that they would never wish to do. You are free now."

Nalia reached inside the fireplace. "The key's hidden in here. Give me a minute."

Glaicas added one last thing as he left. "The flail...it is still in the same room. If anyone can use a flail...it will be most valuable against the trolls."

"I can use a flail," Anomen said. There was a pause, and then, "But you should not...I mean, we should not divert our attention just for..."

And now he acts all modest and self-effacing, Kal thought. Out loud, he said, "It's good tactical sense, Anomen. Every little bit will help, especially if the opposition down there is as tough as we've heard it is."

"I simply do not wish to selfishly...."

"You aren't." Kal said shortly, trying to ignore Anomen's abysmal sense of timing yet again.

Nalia pulled her hand out of the fireplace. "I've got the key."

"Good. Let's get the flail, and then get down to those cellars. It's long past time this was finished."