Rush Of Blood To The Head, part 5.7.

Rush Of Blood To The Head, part 5.7.

“There! It is done!” Adalon exclaims loudly as a stream of magic flows through me, but I do not feel that much different inside… only that the skin of my hands has changed to the color of dark ebony…

“When you arrive at the gate, tell them that you are from the city of Ched Nasad and that you seek sanctuary within Ust Natha. You will be able to pass through the Drow with ease, they will not see through the illusion I have created,” Adalon explains, “Yes, you now fully resemble the denizens of the Drow city, complete with a house insignia that will not draw undue attention. I would suggest you to act like Drow when speaking with anyone you meet.”

“I will make sure that our cover is not blown due to some idiotic, childish mistake,” I hear Viconia’s retort and can only imagine how much she enjoys the situation where her knowledge will be crucial to the group’s survival…

“While under the cover of the illusion, your speech will be heard in the language of Drow, such as though you have spoken their dark tongue for all your life,” Adalon continues her lecture, “The illusion will last as long as it is necessary, but if you try to leave the city through the main gate to the surface the magic will be dispelled. You will be facing an army, without any chance to survive – I apologize, but I must protect my interests. The only safe escape is through my influence once you have recovered my eggs.”

“Wonderful, another self-righteous blackmailer on our trail,” Edwin sneers, “this Red Wizard does not forget things like that easily, just you wait until we have finished doing your errands, wyrm, and then, after we have acquired everything we need from you in return…”

“Ssssssh! Edwin, control yourself,” I admonish him, “wait a second… how come I still hear you speaking Common?”

“That is because I spoke in Common, fool,” Edwin explains politely.

I turn around to look at my companions for the first time after the casting of Adalon’s spell… I see a young, sneering Drow male – that must be Edwin, unless Adalon’s illusions have changed our sexes… Next to him is a young Drow female with a roguish grin on her lips, beside her stands a Drow that looks remarkably like Viconia… No, actually it is Viconia – of course, she is not affected by the spell.

Next to me stands another Drow female, this one of a rather lithe build, even slimmer than Viconia… Her face, so narrow and delicate, the high cheekbones reminding me of someone I know and her eyes… Jaheira’s beautiful blue-gray eyes, fixing me with an inquiring gaze…

“Err… Jaheira?” I mutter, unable to take my eyes of her face… she does not look like the Jaheira I love, yet… I feel that whomever this woman is, I am supposed to love her too and that is exactly how I feel.

“Theodur? Is that you?” her lips part to pronounce these words and I hear Jaheira’s voice, “you look… well… for a Drow.”

“You look… good, yourself,” I manage, feeling quite awkward, “it seems that we speak Common, and we hear Common, but the Drow will hear it in their language…”

“Wow, that’s complicated,” the roguish looking Drow, also known as Imoen, exclaims, “so, what if someone speaks to us in Drow, we will hear it in Common?”

“I don’t know… say, Viconia, could you say something in Drow?” I ask her.

“Very well, if you insist,” Viconia grins, “I think you are a gorgeous looking Drow male and I am thinking about honoring you with my company this night.”

“Viconia! I heard that!” Jaheira speaks, angered.

“Good, then your assumption is correct,” Viconia grins, “I spoke those words in Drow.”

“I have grown tired of your company, would you mind leaving my lair and getting to the task at hand?” Adalon interrupts our chatter angrily, “Remember, you are from the city of Ched Nasad. Use a Drow name as well, something as common as ‘Veldrin’, for example…”

“Err, yes, thank you Adalon,” I reply, “We will do our best to recover your eggs. For now we will leave you to your solitude…”

With that we turn to leave the cavern and the arrogant Silver Dragon inside it… I feel relieved and pleased about how my risky plans have worked, after all there was a great possibility that a Balor would have slaughtered us and if Adalon would not be in this predicament with her eggs, we would have probably fallen before her might… not helping the gnomes eats away at my conscience a bit, but I hope that we can sort out Adalon’s problems with her eggs and then she will be able to fix the problem of the svirfneblin.

“’Veldrin’, huh? How silly can you get?” I complain, climbing upwards through the darkness of the cave, “there is no way I am going to use such a name… how about Rindvel?”

“Better,” Viconia laughs, “of course, we all need new names… I think I will call myself Covinia Vedir…”

“Hehe, I love these games…” Imoen chirps happily, “how about… Noemi? And Edwin, I have one for you…”

“Never mind that, my fabulous mind is well capable of selecting the most stunning anagram that the rest of you fools could only dream about,” Edwin snorts.

“Well, let’s hear it then, Eddie,” Imoen does not relent.

“Err… what? Oh, yes… yes, of course… Wined!” Edwin proudly declares and is slightly taken aback by our loud laughing, “what are you laughing about, simians?”

“Eddie… hehe… that… that is ridiculous…” Imoen gasps for air, “how… how about… simply - Dewin?”

“Hmm, crude but suitable,” Edwin agrees after a little time of deliberation, “of course, that was the second suggestion on my long list of extremely cunning and impressive anagrams…”

“Sure, Dewin, sure,” I smirk, “Jaheira, dear? What about you?”

“I am not any good at this, to tell you the truth,” she sighs, “what about simply cutting it to Heira?”

“Heira… I like it,” I smile at her, “do not underestimate yourself, being practical does not mean that you cannot be creative as well… Rindvel and Heira, the famous Drow couple from Ched Nasad…”

She only laughs about my reply as we leave the dark cavern. The gates of Ust Natha come into our view soon as we move forward, but before entering the city there is still one thing that I need to make myself sure of…

“Jah… I meant, Heira? Can I have a moment with you alone?” I wink to her and lead her away from our discontent friends.

“Really, can’t he contain his urges until we get into the city and find ourselves some rooms in the tavern?” Viconia complains as the two of us disappear behind a large pile of rocks.

“You also feel that way, don’t you?” I ask looking into the depths of her eyes, the only thing that strongly reminds me of who she really is, “Embarrassed… odd… as if I am with you, but in the same time…”

“As if I am with another man…” she finishes, “yes, it is very… confusing… I mean, I know it is you, your eyes and voice, but…”

“So… what are we going to do about it?” I feel myself blushing and wondering if it is visible through the illusion, “I mean, are we…”

“I think we simply need to get used to it and it will be all right,” she smiles, “perhaps we will have to spend a lot of time in that city and I… would not want my nights to be lonely…”

“Me neither… so, how about we, err… practice a little?” I ask timidly, “will this gorgeous Drow allow me to kiss her?”

“I think that she will,” she smiles and leans into my embrace… her lips are so thin compared to my half-elven lover’s that it indeed feels like I am kissing a complete stranger. However, something in her kiss and the way she clings to me is very Jaheira-like… I look into her eyes as our lips part and we both gasp for breath… she looks even more confused now.

“That was… I mean it felt good, but… it was like kissing someone other than you,” she averts her gaze, “it almost feels like cheating on… you. But that is ridiculous, is it not? I mean you are still the same person…”

“I feel exactly the same…” I reply, before kissing her tenderly on the cheek, “perhaps we can get used to it with time… maybe practicing is all we need and in time we will get used to our new bodies and… we will adjust to each other bodies too…”

“I agree… I have to say that the thought about spending the night with you in this form is slightly… eh, frightening…” she smiles weakly, “but, I am sure we will get used to each other. Come, let’s get going… our friends and the Drow city awaits us. And Irenicus, be he damned…”

We return to our less than impressed friends and after hearing their complaints about prolonged waiting, we head towards the gate of the Drow city…