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Part 19


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#1 Guest_Flarn_*

Posted 27 May 2003 - 05:48 PM

A visit to Gaelan Bayle yielded no surprises for Alyndria - he had heard of the interest from the new guild and was willing to settle for the same price. But she had promised Khalid they would look into other options, and so they set off for the Government District after a stop at the Copper Coronet to check for Minsc, and to sell of their latest spoils.

They entered the Government District just as the sun crept upwards on the horizon, illuminating the City of Coin in a gilded splendour.

"Look, Anomen, the--the sun is rising..." remarked Aerie from her place near the rear.

Alyndria saw Khalid smile faintly at the Avariel's comment, and surmised that their shared hesitancy in speech inspired a certain sympathetic fondness in the half-elven warrior. Aerie, however, stammered only at intervals, and mostly from nervousness. For Khalid the habit, if it was indeed nothing more than mere habit, was far more ingrained.

"Aye, like a bird of raw and flaming power..." came the would-be knight's answer. After a moment of silence he picked up the thread of the conversation again. "You don't talk much, do you?" he asked gently.

"What do you mean?"

"You hesitate in your speech as if you are considering what to say next. Knights, such as myself, must be speaking with people constantly."

"Are you... Are you scared about your test at all?" Neatly Aerie deflected his analysis of her weakness by probing at one of his, though it was probably unintended.

"Ha, I do not have the time to be frightened. And besides...the Order cannot turn me aside forever."

Alyndria looked up from consulting her map, trying to find the Council of the Six building, and caught a glimpse of a fair amount of activity down near a dark, forbidding building that looked like it might be a prison. "What's that?"

"Probably an execution," said Anomen dismissively. "Justice demands it once in awhile, pay it no mind, my lady, it will be over shortly."

Without taking her eyes from the scene, Alyndria began folding her map, and started walking towards it, as if in a trance.

"Alyndria," Khalid called nervously, "they behead people in Amn, are you sure you want to be going in that direction?"

"I am aware of that, Khalid," she replied without turning around, hearing the reluctant footsteps of the group begin following behind her. "It's what they had planned to do with Brage back in Nashkel. And as you know, I regularly pulp people's heads - more regularly than I'd want actually... So, it's not really so different." But it was different. Deep in her heart she knew that. People she fought always had a chance to do the same to her, the battle was equal. More than equal if you counted the fact that if she happened to die, her body would turn to dust, with no chance of resurrection, her taint returning to her Sire. Killing people who were helpless was quite different. Even criminals who had murdered did not die in the way their victims had died - suddenly and without warning, in most cases - no, instead they had a lingering anticipation, knowledge of the means, method, and circumstances, often for days before the event took place. Yes, it protected the people, but the thought of it still left her with a bitter taste in her mouth.

So why was she going to see it? The answer eluded her, except for a nagging certainty that she *had to*. /Maybe it'll build character.../ she thought glumly.

As they drew closer, the hubbub was more apparent, and she wove herself into the crowds. A glance back told her Nalia and Aerie had remained at the rear, out of viewing distance, but Yoshimo, Khalid, and Anomen followed her more closely.

For a public execution it didn't look that organized, and it also didn't look like a beheading, no, it was a burning, the victim tied to a stake mounded around with wood. She winced to herself, having been on the receiving end of more than one well-placed fire spell of various sorts. That had been painful enough, but to be utterly consumed by fire? Though the blaze hadn't been started yet, the victim didn't look so well, white hair streaked with dirt and soot, her skin already blackened... No... that was the natural colour of her skin. It was...

"Viconia..." Alyndria breathed, glancing back at Khalid and beginning to push forward in earnest through the crowds as he followed her.

"My lady?" Anomen asked in confusion - of course he hadn't been with them before, he didn't know.

"Look ye all upon this foul Drow that we have bound before ye!" bellowed a man in priest's garb, standing on the edge of the platform that held the soon-to-be pyre. "A creature of evil and darkness, my brethren! A creature of foulness and deceit, bent only on our destruction!

This creature has foolishly come amongst us, my brethren, thinking that we would be lax in our senses! Tell me what should be done with it!"

"Burn it!" came the cries from the enraged crowd.

"Burn her!!"

"Burn the Drow!!"

"Aye, burn the elf!" roared a man standing nearby. "Her dark and fiendish kin rose up from their underground homes and killed my father and my brother! They are all evil, I tell you! All of them!"

"Then the Drow shall burn! Gather 'round, my brethren, and witness the will of Beshaba triumph over foul evil!"

Beshaba. Alyndria was possessed by the sudden desire to laugh. It had indeed been a stroke of bad luck for Viconia to have been discovered by these Doommasters.

"It seems a dark elf has been caught and is about to be put to the torch. Good. Such a fate is no less than the fiend deserves."

Alyndria turned back to stare at Anomen, then sighed. Could she really fault him for that perception when she herself probably wouldn't have known any better once. All the books she had read on Drow suggested they were purely evil, and yet there had been Drizzt - as kind, as humane an individual as could be found anywhere in the Realms. And if he could change, then why couldn't Viconia? She too was disenfranchised from her dark goddess, granted she had traded one for another, but Shar had to be a slight improvement, surely.

"You rivvin are mad!" shouted Viconia. "I have done nothing to any of you! I seek only to make my way without molestation! Why have you done this?! Why?!" The desperation in her voice was something Alyndria had never heard before, not even when they had rescued her from the Flaming Fist soldier bent on seeing her dead.

"I have no love for Drow, nor for this Drow in particular..." said Khalid. "And Jaheira wasn't too fond of her either, but I don't think even she would have wanted to see her dead when she has done nothing to deserve this fate other than simply be a Drow. This is not justice."

"I agree," said Alyndria grimly. "Tell the others to be ready."

She pushed through the few remaining people between her and the scaffold, and moved to stand at the foot of it.

"Excuse me," she tapped the fanatic on his booted toe, and he leaned down towards her with a smile that did nothing to set her at ease.

"Join us, my lady, and rejoice in our righteous destruction of this most unholy entity! Behold the forces of good triumphant!" A spray of spittle accompanied the fervent words, making Alyndria's stomach recoil.

"What has this Drow done? What crime is she accused of?"

"What crime? The crime of being dark and evil, of course! Look on her, fool! Her skin is black with the stain of her foul soul! She is a Drow, and all the Drow deserve no mercy!"

"Shar! My deliverance is in your hands!" Viconia raised her eyes skyward for a moment, and then scanned the crowds. "...wait...I recognize you! Alyndria! It is I! Viconia DeVir! You must remember! My life depends on it! Please, Alyndria, I beg of you! Save me from these madmen!!"

If she had not been decided before, the sound of her name on Viconia's lips would have settled the matter. Evidently, Drow or not, she remembered those who showed her kindness, and that was something to kindle hope in any heart. Her salvation could never come from fire. It required life.

Decisively, Alyndria pulled herself up onto the scaffold, mentally thanking Khalid and Minsc for all those hours of training that enabled her to move reasonably normally in armour. The element of surprise was on her side - no one expected someone to climb up onto the scaffold and boldly march up to free the hated Drow, which is exactly what she did.

Off to the side, she saw Khalid, Nalia and Yoshimo with arrows nocked, and Aerie preparing to cast a spell. Anomen was somewhere ready to help, she hoped, getting ready to pull her weapons free. She was not going to have time for casting anything in what she feared was shortly to be a miasma of angry fanatics.

"Praise the goddess! My thanks for your timely intervention!" The relief was plain in Viconia's face and voice.

"What are ye doing?!" The main fanatic turned on Alyndria angrily as she put herself in front of Viconia protectively. "Why have ye interfered with the judgement of Beshaba?! Her will must be shown to the people!"

"I think something else needs to be shown to the people!" Alyndria shouted, trying to drown the man's ravings out. "The concept of mercy and forgiveness, the fact that you cannot judge an individual by what a group has done!"

Her words fell on deaf ears. "Allies of the foul creature! Allies of the Drow!"

"This can never be allowed! The Drow dies!"

An arrow whizzed past Alyndria's ear and most of the crowd of watchers shrieked and dispersed as the battle was joined.

She heard a murmured spell and then Viconia leapt into the fray, slashing at the leader of the fanatics with a flaming sword of magic.

Alyndria gratefully seized on the distraction and cast Animate Dead, watching a few skeletons emerge from the ground to engage their foes. Her tactical decision was proved sound as she saw a flash of enemy magic out of the corner of her eye - these were definitely not simple thugs, but higher members of the Beshaban clergy who would doubtless put up quite a fight.

Together she and Viconia finished the leader, and she looked around for more enemies. Luckily one of them gave himself away by firing an arrow through her left shoulder.

The pain dizzied her for a moment before she regained her focus. "There, to the left!" An armoured figured prepared to draw his bow again and Alyndria jumped from the platform, running towards him.

"What about your wound?" Viconia called behind her.

"No time, help the others!"

She pulled Twilight and the Flail of Ages from her belt as she ran, the pain of her wound turning her battlecry into a scream of pain and rage. /I despise the shedding of blood, I despise the shedding of blood.../ it was a mantra in her brain, one that could have no peaceful resolution in this mad world, /but I will do it if I must./

The bowman loosed an arrow at her but it went wide. He drew his sword.

"Surrender, you don't have to..."

What she would have said was interrupted as the man made a slash at her, it was deflected by her splint mail, but the impact itself smashed bruisingly across her ribs.

"...*die*!" she finished. One after another, her morningstar and then the Flail of Ages battered him in quick succession. She felt the power of the blows reverberate up her arms, heard the low, muted thuds as flesh became meat, smelled the rawness of blood; saw the ruin of a face that had once been human.

With a cry she turned around, looking for someone else to fight, but it was over. Viconia and the rest approached her.

She reached up and grabbed the arrow shaft with both hands, snapping it before yanking the front half of it out by the fletching. At least she hadn't been shot in the back.

"I owe you my life, abbil...you have saved me once again. I did nothing to provoke their attack, I tell you! I was passing through the city when the man guessed my identity under my hood.

But, come...we must be on our way soon if we are to avoid drawing another crowd. I distrust these barbaric people too much to hang about."

Viconia's crimson eyes held Alyndria's. "It would be both a privilege and an honour to join you, Alyndria. What say you to my proposal?"

Alyndria looked at the others. "Excuse us for a moment."

Anomen spoke first. "I had not thought the Drow could be so... striking." He swallowed as if his mouth had suddenly gone dry. "A beautiful creature, this, if devoid of compassion as I hear. Bring her or send her away, it matters not to me."

"Truth be known, I am not opposed to having Viconia travel with us," Khalid said hesitantly. "Remember, though, that many will think less of us simply because she is here."

"D-don't let her come with us, Alyndria! The Drow... all of the Drow... are cruel, terrible creatures! They kill the Avariel without mercy and cannot be trusted!" Aerie seemed quite agitated, and was so loud that Viconia overheard.

"Do you claim to be an Avariel, girl? Where are your wings, then? Or did they find you as pathetic and stammering as I do and fled you gladly?"

"Sh-shut up! Alyndria, you saved her...n-now make her go away!"

"Hah! I have nothing against you, wingless one, but from your quivering I have no doubt you would make a poor companion. Why do you keep her, Alyndria? Pity?"

"For the same reason that I am keeping you, Viconia," Alyndria said, looking between the wingless Avariel and the homeless Drow, both exiles in their fashion. "Make of that what you will."

Aerie bit her lip and turned away in disappointment.

Viconia, for her part, chose to ignore any comparison between herself and Aerie. "Khaless ussa, intrepid one, a spirited campaign and the pitiless slaughter of our foes await! Shar tlu malla!"

"One thing, though, Viconia... you should probably know that Imoen is being held hostage by the Cowled Wizards, and that I intend to rescue her."

"I remember the insipidly cheerful girl you mention. You would risk such danger to recover her annoying presence? Why would you bother, Alyndria?"

"Because she is the closest thing to family I have. And even if she wasn't, she is one of my companions, and I have a responsibility to her."

"It seems that my own circumstance leaves me little choice. Very well, Alyndria, let us rescue the girl if it means so much to your misguided senses."

She saw a glow as Anomen carefully applied a healing to himself. Over a little ways, by herself, Aerie was doing the same.

Alyndria's shoulder throbbed, and she wasn't looking forward to pulling the arrow out, but her left arm was beginning to grow numb. She looked around at the carnage in dismay. "So much for going to see that Cowled Wizard representative."

"Agreed," Khalid stammered, "now might be a very good time for us to go on Lord Firkraag's errand."

"It will have blown over by the time we return," Anomen said confidently. "The actions of this rabble were not sanctioned by the courts, anyone was within
their rights to stop it..."

"Only none really saw the point in risking their lives to save a 'foul Drow', no matter how unjustly accused," Viconia remarked ironically, and closed her
eyes for a moment.

"Are you alright?" Alyndria asked, peering at the dark elf in concern.

"I have endured worse, abbil, but some rest and food would not go amiss." The weary admission, devoid of the Drow's usual snappishness, touched Alyndria's
heart in a way she couldn't explain.

"I think we will be safe enough if we leave the area and rest for a night at the Coronet," Alyndria decided. "Yoshimo, will you go rent us a room?"

The thief took a few coins and disappeared.

"Here, take this," Alyndria pulled off her cloak and handed it to Viconia, and Nalia produced a scarf, which the Drow wrapped around the lower part of her
face before pulling the hood up over her head. "You'll need clothes too," she realized, taking in the Drow's shredded attire. "I think we'll make a stop at the Adventure Mart. Ribald doesn't care who his customers are, so long as their coin is good..."



Somewhat later, at the Copper Coronet, a refreshed Viconia, bathed and dressed in clean clothes, regarded her rescuers.

"Your group has changed somewhat," she remarked, fingering her new mail coat where it lay draped over a chair. "You told me where Imoen was, but your
half-rivvil half-darthir family," she indicated Khalid, "is down by one sour-mouthed bitch of a druid. Where, oh where, could she be?"

"Here, I have a spare sling," Alyndria pulled a scrap of brown leather from her pack hurriedly and tossed it at the Drow, hard, hoping she would take the hint.

Viconia caught it without missing a beat, and smiled as the uncomfortable silence grew.

"Jaheira is dead, Viconia," Alyndria admitted.

"Ah, that would explain the downcast look in our friend's eyes there. Foolish surface-dweller sentiment. You, male!" she addressed Khalid, who was cleaning the Sword of Chaos. "Where I come from a male rejoices when death frees him from the slavery of an unpleasant female. He is then free to seek out the protection of one more powerful, and hopefully more pleasant in the bedchamber."

The older half-elf lifted his head very slowly from his task, his dark eyes heating like coals about to take flame. "You know nothing of her," he said
quietly, warningly.

"N-n-nothing?" Viconia drawled, mimicking Khalid's stutter.

The widower ignored the barb, and continued polishing his sword, a tension infusing his form. "And if you weren't a woman, and if Alyndria had not already, out of her too-kind heart, spilled her blood to save your life a second time in as many years, so help me gods, I would not be sitting here cleaning my sword. I would be using it." Though spoken with his usual hesitancy, the tightly controlled anger behind his words actually appeared to give the Drow pause.

"Interesting," murmured Viconia, "so you do have a spine after all."

Khalid said nothing in response, calmly sheathing the Sword of Chaos and leaving the room.

"I'll go get you some food," Alyndria told the dark elf, irritated and yet relieved the situation had not escalated. She unknotted her pack and Scorch sprang free, the little pseudodragon alighting on her shoulder with a soft cooing sound of reassurance.

About to leave the room, she stopped with her hand on the door. "Oh and Viconia?"

"Yes, abbil?"

"You're welcome."




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