Chapter 7

Sacrifice: Chapter 7

"Are we almost there?"

"Aerie, you've asked that six times within the last hour, and the answer remains the same. We shall get there when we get there," Jaheira said impatiently.

"Oh...okay, it's just that...well, my legs, they ache so much!" the blonde elf whined. Gods, she's annoying, I thought.

"Wow, she's annoying," Nalia, the young girl we whose keep we were going to try and save, whispered to me. I held my breath to keep from laughing.

We had left the inn and made our way to slums. We ran into a man named Gaelen Bayle.He claimed he knew of a group who could help us find Imoen and Irenicus too...for a price. 20,000 gold was a little less than the amount we had acquired during our journeys on the Sword Coast before we were captured and all of our money was stolen. But it was the amount he wanted and he suggested we go to the Copper Coronet, an inn in the slums of Atkatla. There we met Nalia D' Arnisse, a girl whose keep had been under attack. We agreed to help her and she joined the group to show us the way. However, she had not mentioned what exactly had invaded her home. It's possible that she's just stressed out and she forgot to mention details, I thought, she's younger than me after all.

But by the third night, I was beginning to worry that maybe she didn't tell me because she didn't want to. That night, after everyone had gone to sleep and Nalia and I were on watch, I decided to ask her.

"Nalia, I know you're probably very worried about your family right now and your home, but I think you should tell me exactly what were going to be up against," I said as gently as I could.

Nalia suddenly looked very ashamed and stared at the ground. "I'm...I'm sorry Auren. I was meaning to tell you...my keep has been invaded by trolls. I was...afraid to tell you because I thought you wouldn't help me."

I smiled a little bit. Yes, trolls seemed like more than a challenge for the group but we had defeated worse. I wanted to help Nalia, and I knew I could count on the group to help.

"We'll save your home, Nalia," I said, feeling halfway confident, but that soon changed to fully confident when I saw Nalia's face light up like a child receiving a gift.