Chapter 71: Never the Same Again
Several tendays passed as the group slowly traveled down the Sword Coast. Ember and Minsc left the group for about a tenday; they went into Cloakwood to visit the druids there, while Imoen and Edwin and Alora waited at the Friendly Arm Inn. There, they heard two paladins call for more adventurers to come with them and fight a monster that was hiding in the ruins of Durlag's Tower, where it had killed a group of tourists. When Ember and Minsc returned, they all signed up for that, joining two dozen or so others.
Imoen was excited to see the tower and all its tricks and traps when they first arrived there, but as they moved down through its many levels, they saw more and more of the tragedy that'd happened there, and her excitement gave way to sadness. It was especially dismaying to travel through the living quarters of Durlag and his family; those rooms were riddled with doppelgangers who were still running around mimicking the family, just as they'd done when they'd killed them. It felt very good to destroy the doppelgangers.
Now the tower was cleared of both demon and doppelgangers, and the poor ghosts that had flitted through it for so long were at rest. They'd even rescued some other adventurers on the way; a young girl and an even younger boy who were all that remained of a party that'd set out from Ulgoth's Beard. The two paladins who'd originally assembled the large group took it upon themselves to escort the girl and boy home, and Imoen and her friends went with them as far as Gullykin. A large troupe of smiling halfling youngsters welcomed them back to the village, and Alora greeted each and every one of them with hugs and smiles and happy talking, leaving Imoen to wonder exactly which of them was the one Alora had wanted to return for. It took Imoen three days to find out for sure, but at the farewell feast for Imoen and Ember and Edwin and Minsc, Alora spent the entire evening dancing with the blacksmith's son, a shy boy with black hair and pretty brown eyes. Imoen asked about him the next morning as they said goodbye, and Alora giggled and whispered that she thought she wanted to marry him.
Then the four of them left the village to go spend the winter in Beregost. Imoen looked forward to that; they could go to High Hedge and get more stuff from Thalantyr, there were lots of fun little stores in Beregost, and it'd be the first time she'd get to celebrate the Feast of the Moon outside of Candlekeep.
On their last night on the road before reaching Beregost, they set up camp in a small clearing. Once the fire was ready and Minsc finished assembling the bits and pieces needed for a rabbit stew in a cooking pot, he left Imoen in charge of the stew and took Ember with him to practice combat in a nearby field. Ember had a scimitar now instead of a staff, and she and Minsc trained every evening so she'd become more familiar with it.
Imoen took her culinary responsibilities quite seriously, and gave the rabbit stew a good stir every few minutes. The smell of food was becoming more and more enticing. "It won't be long now," she told Edwin, who was sitting on a tree stump behind her and studying his notes about the Nether Scroll. He spent almost every spare moment looking over those notes, and a few days ago he'd told Imoen that the Nether Scroll was precisely the kind of artifact he'd been sent to find. She thought it was awfully convenient that his artifact had been the topic of the very book they'd used to enter Candlekeep, but hadn't said anything about it. Yet.
"Come with me to Thay," Edwin said abruptly.
Imoen sighed. "The answer's still no, Eddie," she said, and stirred the pot again. "And what about that scroll of yours?"
"I can study my notes in Thay as well as I can here (if not better)," Edwin said, "and I hoped you might have come to your senses."
"I like my senses the way they are," Imoen replied testily. He can ask all he wants, but he doesn't have to be so rude about it!
"(I just don't understand her!) Why do you insist upon limiting yourself like this?"
"Because I like it here, silly!"
"And what is there here that you could not have in Thay (other than an exorbitant amount of inferior manners and simian intellects)?" Edwin all but shouted. "Why don't you see that I would hand you the world on a silver platter if only you would stop clinging to this barbaric territory!"
What?! Imoen turned slowly and looked at Edwin. "Um, why would you want to do that?"
"Do what?" Edwin asked. He looked a bit like a trapped animal.
"Hand me the world on a silver platter."
"I, um... ah..." Edwin gritted his teeth. "Because you are ...special. Unique. I have never encountered anyone with your talents, or with a mind of your caliber. You deserve better than this squalor. Yes. You deserve the best. What I am offering you is no less than to share in my grand destiny." He glared nervously at her.
Imoen stared at him. He had to be joking!
But he wasn't. He couldn't possibly look so angry and so scared at the same time if he wasn't dead serious.
Edwin was in love with her.
Or, at the very least, wanted her.
Why me? her mind protested. I'm nothing like those concubines he used to talk about!
Imoen bit her lip. It didn't really matter why he wanted her. She wanted someone who was nice and sweet, like Alora's boyfriend. She didn't want someone she couldn't talk with unless it was about magic. She didn't want someone who'd let her share their power; she wanted someone she could snuggle with. She did not want someone like Edwin Odesseiron.
He was still glaring at her. She had to tell him something. But what was she supposed to say?
"I'm sorry, Edwin," she said quietly.
The glare on Edwin's face deepened into a full scowl. "Fine," he snarled, and grabbed his pack and headed out of the clearing.
"Where are you going?" Imoen called out after him.
"Somewhere where I can think!" he shouted back.
---
Ember and Minsc returned to the camp, sweaty and sore from training, to find a very unhappy Imoen and a slightly scorched stew.
"What's happened? Where's Edwin?" Ember asked, looking around. There was no trace of the wizard.
"Did the evil wizard upset little Imoen?" Minsc demanded.
"He asked me to come to Thay again," Imoen said. "Then he said he wanted me to share in his grand destiny."
"He what?!" Ember exclaimed, staring at Imoen in disbelief.
"Yeah, he really did say that," Imoen said miserably. "I turned him down and he got angry and went into the woods to think and he took all his stuff with him and I don't know if he's coming back at all!"
"And here I thought he only had eyes for Thayvian ladies," Ember muttered, shaking her head.
"Well, he seems to think I deserve better than the horrible squalor I've spent my entire life in, so I guess he likes my magic skills enough to overlook my bad upbringing," Imoen said with a tinge of bitterness. Ember gave her a tight hug.
"The evil wizard likes you?" Minsc looked puzzled. "Then he shouldn't make you sad! Boo will have to teach him some manners!"
"No, it's all right," Imoen said. "He's just being a bufflehead, as usual, and... I upset him, too. But you know what he's like in the forest, and it's getting dark!"
"Boo says there is snow in the air, too. Minsc can go look for him," Minsc suggested.
There was a sound of snapping twigs.
"That must be him coming back," Ember said, turning in the direction of the sound. "It'll be all right, Immy, just wait and see. He'll understand."
It was not Edwin who emerged from between the trees. Instead, six armored men rushed into the camp.
The last thing Ember saw was a cloaked figure who stood at the edge of the clearing, looking straight at her.
The figure's face was completely hidden by a leather mask.
---
Edwin stamped through the woods, cursing vehemently in Thayvian.
He had thought that nothing could make him feel worse than he had felt for the past month or so. He'd been wrong.
How could she have refused him like that? Who would ever offer her more than he had? Was she really that great a fool? Well, she could go dally with her little farmhands and lackeys if that was what she wanted. He didn't care. (No, not one bit!) And one day, she'd realize what she'd turned down, and she'd be sorry!
There was a fallen tree ahead of Edwin. He sat down on it with a heavy sigh.
Now what?
He'd wasted precious time in trying to convince the girls (especially that ungrateful little...) to come to Thay with him, but it was not too late. He could go seek out Denak right now. It probably wouldn't take him more than a day or two to find his superiors and report the location of a Bhaalspawn. Yes, he could send them straight to the Jovial Juggler, and even though he wouldn't be granted the extra glory he'd hoped for, he would have fulfilled his mission.
He'd be able to go home to civilization.
And he'd never have to see her again.
Then it occured to him: he never would see her again. They would never take a barbarian to Thay for no good reason. They might bring her as a means to make Ember cooperate, but it was far more likely that they would kill her, along with the Rasheman idiot. A chill went down his spine. Yes, they would do just that if Ember didn't come willingly (and he knew she wouldn't), and if he were to tell them about Imoen's talents, they'd only be even more likely to kill her, just to prevent her from using her talents against them.
"(I am trapped!)" Edwin moaned.
As he sat on the tree, trying desperately to think of a way out of this mess (shouldn't the greatest mind of all times be able to solve such a problem?), it began to snow. He pulled his robes and winter cloak tighter around him. The whiteness in the air was disorienting to look at. He closed his eyes.
He woke up a short while later (he hoped), feeling cold. It was no longer snowing, but the ground was covered with a layer of white. He picked up his belongings and headed back to the campsite.
He could not bear to risk Imoen's death (regardless of her folly, that would be a travesty beyond compare!), so he could not report Ember to Denak. He would have to find another Bhaalspawn to report. Meanwhile, he would travel with the others at least as far as Beregost; he'd have all winter to decide if he should go on his separate way. And he would not mention any of this to Imoen ever again.
It was difficult to traverse the forest, rendered unfamiliar as it was by the dark sky and the snowy ground, but Edwin's sense of direction was impeccable, and it was not too long before he was near the campsite again. It was remarkably quiet; the others were probably asleep already. He pushed aside a few wet branches, and entered the clearing.
The campsite was empty.
The tree stump he had sat on was there, the location of the campfire was discernible as a wet, dark spot in the snow, but there was no trace of Imoen, Ember, the giant fool, or any of their belongings. They might as well never have been there.
They had abandoned him.
Edwin dropped his pack and screamed with rage.