Memento Mori: 8

"Stop it, child!" the half-elf snapped, cutting off Greeneley's maniacal laughter so sharply that the silence that followed rang in the Hunter's ears. "Now is not the time or place."

"But it is, Jaheira!" Greeneley wiped tears from her eyes. "It's funny. She thinks she's going to kill Irenicus with just a blade and good intentions. Isn't that the most ludicrous thing you've ever heard?" Her hateful stare drove the Hunter a step back before she realized that it wasn't truly meant for her; Greeneley was looking at something loathsome within her mind's eye. "You know what he did to me, first thing? He killed me. Well, he almost killed me. He cut my throat and then cast a slow spell on me so I could truly appreciate it. I felt every part of me die, sloooowly. And then at the very last second, he healed me. And then we did it again. And again. And again."

No reply existed that would have been appropriate to make, so the Hunter evenly met Greeneley's glare and said nothing. The hin continued. "I never knew there were that many ways to kill a person. So many ways to hurt someone. And I thought I knew a lot about killing. What an education I got from him." Tears brimmed in her eyes and her pouting lips trembled as they readied for her sobs. But instead her face hardened into a cold, angry mask and she looked at Imoen. "That's nothing compared to what he did to you, is it Imoen? What was it that he used-"

"Shut up!" Imoen breathed, her face pale as milk.

"-was it a mage's staff or just a mundane mop handle? Let's get the little details right for when we tell the story of what happened to you-"

"SHUT UP!" Imoen's scream propelled both the Hunter and Jaheira forward to protect the little human from Greeneley's verbal onslaught. Imoen turned to Jaheira, burying her head in the half-elf's shoulder as she cried. "Shut up! You said you wouldn't tell! You said!"

"Toughen up, chickie babe, or you'll never survive in this hard old world. Isn't that right?" Greeneley turned on Minsc, who had not raised his head. Before his face he had cupped his hands to whisper to something within them. "You didn't even cry when Irenicus killed Dynaheir right in front of you. Just stood there and watched. Tough guy." She laughed, a short bark that finally made the big man wince. "Flayed her alive. With a spell. Whatta spell, huh? I bet she would've loved to learn that one."

"Enough!" the Hunter said, but Greeneley did not look at her. All her attention was fixed on Minsc.

Minsc looked up and fixed Greeneley with a fierce glare. "Dynaheir said Minsc was not to cry," he said, his voice ragged. "My Dynaheir said the evil mage would only laugh if Minsc cried, so Minsc did not. Minsc always does what Dynaheir says."

"Well now she's gone, so you're left doing just what your rat tells you. Unless he takes Boo away from you, too. Scary thought, isn't it? Booga booga, Minscy. "

Minsc took a step toward Greeneley, rage building in his eyes. "Dynaheir also said Minsc should never whop little girls littler than he is who can't fight so well. But Dynaheir is not here now!"

"Don't threaten me, muscles, unless you can back it up!" From sheathes strapped to her ankles, Greeneley pulled out two daggers and brandished them at Minsc. Without reply, the big warrior's hand dropped to the two-handed sword at his hip, and as one they charged at each other.

"Enough!" The Hunter stepped between the two as they rushed toward one another, catching Minsc's raised swordarm with her right hand and Greeneley in the chest with her left foot. She did not notice until they both stopped moving that Yoshimo had also grabbed Minsc's arm. "Blood shall not be spilled before me here!" She nudged Greeneley hard with her boot, knocking her back several paces. Greeneley rubbed her chest and glared at the Hunter but did not move toward Minsc again. "You will hold your tongue! And you, chingare -- you will hold to the words of your mistress. Leave this one be."

Misnc lowered his sword and gave the Hunter a puzzled look. "Minsc is not a chigger, miss, though he is known to cause great painful irritating rashes on the butts of evil things."

"Er ... it is not my doubt that you do." The Hunter looked at Yoshimo to see if he understood what Minsc had said any better than she did. Although she had spoken common most of her life, sometimes she would hear an odd phrase that she could not quite comprehend. But Yoshimo was looking at the ceiling, trying very hard not to smile.

She shook her head and turned to Greeneley. "I am sorry for what you have borne in this place. But it is no reason to treat those who are your comrades with such cruelty."

Greeneley stared at the floor. Her long, white-blonde hair hung over her face but did not obscure the misery etched so plainly in her features. "You think I want to be like this? It's not like I have a choice, it's who I am," she whispered. She brought up her chin and looked at the Hunter, and the pain that gave her such dignity was banished again under disdain. "No better time for it, really. It's not like they're used to anything else in this place. So now that you know who he is, you still want to go after Irenicus? Or will you slink away like a big coward because he's too big and scary for you?"

The Hunter ignored Greeneley and her goading words and looked at the rest of the group. They stared back, each wearing an expectant expression. Minsc looked as if he were awaiting the punch line of a joke she had not finished telling. Imoen was a broken, troubled child waiting for someone to lead her home. Jaheira alone looked professional, like a soldier expecting to be told the next battle's strategy. Yoshimo stood with his arms crossed across his chest, gazing at her like a man watching a particularly interesting play.

There is much I do not know about this Shattered One that Linvail has set me against, she thought. Perhaps I would slay him as I had planned. There is no great trick to killing a mage, only that he must not be allowed to cast. That can be done. It is difficult but most things in life are. I am bound to do this thing, but I have older, deeper obligations that I must follow first.

"I am a servant of Kelemvor," she said slowly. Jaheira's eyebrows rose, and she looked at the Hunter with more interest. "For him I slay vampire. But before I would destroy the dead, I am bound protect the living. We will leave this place together." And then I will return to Linvail and find out from him exactly who this Irenicus is.

"Excellent!" Yoshimo clapped his hands together. "A wise choice, ryoujin, one our new friends will be happy to hear, I'm sure." He drew a blade from a sheathe at his hip, a finely crafted katana. A tassel of red cord hung from the hilt swung as he used the blade to point at the bolted door. "We begin there, against the little fiends, who should provide us with no challenge after what we all have faced already."

As if on cue, everyone drew their weapons. The Hunter pulled the bastard sword from its sheathe on her back with her right hand and cut at the air to accustom it to her grip. She was ambidextrous, but she rarely wielded this blade with her off-hand. Again, she tried to move her left arm and had to hiss out her breath as the pain flared in her shoulder. "If you are wounded, I can help," Jaheira said as she came to the Hunter's side.

She raised her hands again to put them on the Hunter's shoulder, but the Hunter backed away. "Save your prayers, drabengra. Such spells are not meant for the likes of me." the Hunter said apologetically.

The half-elf paused, then cast a critical eye over the Hunter. "A vampire hunter who cannot benefit from a healer's prayer, and one who speaks the travelers' tongue," she said softly. "From where do you hail?"

"I am attached to the City of the Dead in Waterdeep," the Hunter answered. "Are we known to one another?"

Jaheira smiled. "We do not, but we may have friends in common, if you are who I think you are. How is Balantine? Does he still play the harp so prettily?"

"That he does," the Hunter said slowly. Balantine, a cloth trader who brought his wares and information into Waterdeep each season, was a Harper, and if the woman knew that, that meant she was as well. She tried to think if he had ever mentioned a Tethyrian healer named Jaheira. "We speak only of business, not pleasure, lady. I fear your name is not known to me."

"That's him, all right. So you are who you are. Odd, but from his tales I also would have thought you to be more capable than this!" She tugged gently on the edge of the sling. Her teasing did not rankle the Hunter the way Greeneley's did, and she returned Jaheira's smile with a grin of her own.

Imoen, a shoddy short sword in her hand, took a deep breath and went to the door. Her hands shook as she undid the bolt. She opened the door a crack and peeked through it. "Awww, mephits," she moaned as she hastily closed the door. "Haven't we had enough of those guys?"

"How many?" the Hunter asked.

"Lots. Steam ones and radiant ones and fire ones, I think."

"There are four portals," Yoshimo said. "That's where the little beasties come from. If the portals are destroyed, we could more easily defeat the ones that are there." The Hunter looked at him, but before she could ask how he knew that information, he said, "I noticed when we were there before. The little -- what did you call them, mephits? -- they're in small cages, and I didn't even notice them until they began to create their spawn to attack us."

"Mephits are quick, and they heal quicker," Jaheira said. "They bite and they claw, but it is the breath weapons you must beware of. We four," she indicated herself, Minsc, the Hunter and Greeneley, "should destroy the portals. Imoen and the bounty hunter can cover us from the door with their bows. Agreed?"

The Hunter nodded. Yoshimo did as well, though he muttered, "The bounty hunter has a name, you know." He sheathed his katana and strung his short bow. Then the Hunter looked up and saw Greeneley disappearing through the door, her daggers out and a grim smile fixed on her face. "Wait!" she shouted.

Jaheira rolled her eyes. "Dammit," she sighed. "Come, let us go before she gets into more trouble than she can handle. Which she usually does."

---

Glossary, Romany
chingare -- warrior
drabengra -- healer

Glossary, Kozakuran
ryoujin -- hunter