In The Cards

Through all my journeys I have found that there is nothing more powerful than the love of friends and family. They are the ones who help us through the darkest days of our lives, asking nothing more than our love in return. They deserve all the songs I could ever write about them and more than that. They deserve everything. Except possibly for my private supply of emergency chocolate. That's mine.

Excerpt from Ruminations Of A Master Bard

There was a coppery smell to the air, hot and tingling. Zaerini felt she ought to recognize it, but something was wrong with her head. Her pulse was pounding through it like some giant drum and everything was blurry.

Must be coming down with the flu, she thought groggily. Should be in bed. Then she realized that her arms were aching horribly, as if she had been chopping wood for an hour. What was going on? Trying to gather her thoughts she took a step back and felt something metallic drop from her numb fingers and hit the floor with a clatter. She reached up to touch her aching temples and was surprised at feeling how wet and sticky her fingers were. Squinting she tried to take a closer look at them, but her vision was still not clear. Still in a daze, the half-elf was starting to feel very much afraid. Something was wrong, terribly wrong, and she had no memory of what had happened to her. There was something lying on the floor too, and for some reason the thought of looking at it made her want to scream. Her breath now quick and superficial the girl took another step backwards, tripped over something soft and fell heavily to the floor, hitting her head in the process. Zaerini groaned and opened her eyes. And as she did so she found herself staring into another pair of eyes, empty and already starting to milk over. There was a corpse right next to her, and she was close enough to kiss it.

"AAAGGHH!" Zaerini screamed, scrambling to her feet. The corpse was still there. Not just a nightmare, but really there. As her eyes darted wildly around the room she spotted the other one and felt the bile rise in her throat. This second corpse was lying a little ways off, looking like it had been mauled by some huge cat. There was blood everywhere, and Zaerini knew just what the wet stickiness on her face and hands had to be. As she stared at the body in mute horror she heard a low buzzing noise and saw the flies already starting to land on the dead man. Then she bent over and watched the remains of her lunch land on the floor.

Shaking with nausea Zaerini started to remember what had happened. The two would-be assassins, Carbos and Shank, who had cornered her here, intending to kill her for some strange and unfathomable reason. She had tricked them into fighting each other. And then there were only strange, distorted images in her memory. Heat rushing through her body, a fierce joy filling her heart as she felt hot blood hit her face. Had she licked it off her lips as well? The taste wouldn't go away. Tears were streaming down her face now, trying to wash the blood away, not succeeding.

I killed them, Zaerini thought. I had to. But…did it have to be like that? Like I was losing my mind? Gods, I was actually laughing as I hacked that man to pieces, wasn't I? Like some cheap villain out of a story. What kind of a monster am I?

Zaerini furiously tried to wipe her face and hands on the tablecloth. She had to get out of here, but she didn't want to walk about the Keep looking like some sort of ravening fiend. She had to see Gorion. He would know what to do. He always did.

Imoen was wandering about the Candlekeep gardens, feeling very pleased with herself and her latest accomplishment. While she frequently bragged to Rini about her stealthy and silent ways she still got caught out with her pranks as often as not. Not this time though. Gorion had no idea that she'd managed to sneak a peek at that mysterious old letter of his, a letter that she couldn't wait to tell her friend about. If she ever turned up that was. Imoen scowled a little. Now where had Rini got to? She'd been looking for her everywhere. Shrugging a little Imoen decided that staying put would probably be her best course of action. She was right outside the Keep entrance, sooner or later Rini had to walk by. Satisfied with this Imoen decided to practice standing on her hands while singing, determined to beat her best friend at this game of dexterity. Not an easy feat, seeing that they were both agile girls, but she sure was going to try. She soon got so obsessed with her practice that she forgot all about what else she was supposed to be doing.

"A Wizard whizzes whimsically," Imoen sang at the top of her lungs, "as wise as he can be. And anyone who wants a whizz must serve him cake for three!"

"For tea," said a weary voice behind her back. "It's for tea, Immy." Imoen yelped and lost her balance, landing in a heap on the ground.

"Rini!" she cried out. "Don't scare me like that!" Then her eyes widened as she took in her friend's disheveled appearance. Zaerini's wavy red hair was always wild and unmanageable, and she wore it at just above shoulder-length simply to spare herself the trouble of trying to keep it under control. But right now it was also streaked with a darker red here and there, red turning slowly black as it dried. The same substance dotted her cheeks as well, where she hadn't quite managed to wipe it all off. No doubt her clothes were in equally bad shape, but it was a bit difficult to tell due to Rini's fondness for dark colors. But the worst thing was the eyes. Imoen had always secretly been just a little bit jealous of her friend's cat-like amber colored eyes, comparing them with her own more ordinary dark blue and finding herself lacking. They were usually bright and clear, sparkling with humor and mischief. But right now they were haunted, as if Rini had seen something bad enough that she would never be able to forget it.

"What happened to you?!" Imoen said, getting to her feet. "You look like somebody dragged you backwards through a bramble hedge."

"Oh, nothing," Zarini said, her lips twisting into something that was obviously meant to be an encouraging smile. It came out as more of a grimace. "One of…one of the cats didn't like me petting it, that's all."

Imoen's eyebrows lifted almost into her reddish-brown hair as she looked at her friend. "Must have been some mean cat", she said. "That your blood or the cat's? You're so lucky the stains won't show much on those clothes of yours."

Zaerini gave her a weak grin at that. The clothes in question were new, a tight black vest and pants, and they clung to her body in ways that had almost made Gorion throw a fit when he saw what she had bought. Imoen preferred hot pink herself, and had bought a similar outfit in that color, except with a hood and a slightly lower neckline. Gorion hadn't approved much of that either.

"Oh, fine," Zaerini said. "You'll find out soon enough anyway, I suppose." Her face turned grim. "Somebody tried to kill me", she said. "No, make that two somebodies. But I…I killed them instead." Again that half smile, half grimace. "You're right by the way", she said. "Black is good for hiding blood stains. Probably the only reason why half of Candlekeep hasn't already demanded to know why I look like I just came from a battlefield."

Imoen was doing her best to take all this in. "Kill you?", she asked, hearing her voice rise to an almost scream. "Gods, Rini, are you hurt? What happened?" She gripped her friend by the shoulder, her eyes scanning for injuries.

"I'm fine," Zaerini said. "Or as fine as possible under the circumstances." Her eyes darkened. "Much better than they are, at least. I hope I never have to do anything quite like that again in my entire life." She seemed to make up her mind about something, her face taking on that determined look that Imoen knew so well. "I should go", Zaerini said. "Gorion will be waiting for me."

That made Imoen suddenly remember the reason why she had been waiting for her friend in the first place. "Rini?" she asked. "What did Gorion want? I mean earlier, when he sent for you?"

The half-elf looked thoughtful at this. Then she smiled slightly. "Don't really have much to tell you 'little one' ", she said. "My foster father just told me to prepare for a journey, but he would not say where."

Imoen huffed. "Little one?" she said. "I'm bigger than you are, ya know. Even if you are a little older. I could take you with one hand tied behind my back."

"You may be bigger," Zaerini smirked, and now the glint in her eyes was back as she descended into familiar friendly rivalry. "But I'm faster and cleverer. Not to mention two years older."

"Yeah? But you're part elf, and elves age more slowly than humans. So you're really just a baby compared to me. So there!"

"All right!" Zaerini said, chuckling a little. "You made your point. I'll ask if you can go with us."

"Oh, don't be silly!" Imoen said, shaking her head for emphasis. "Gorion would never even let you finish the sentence. Especially after what that letter of his said…"

"Letter?" Zaerini gave her friend an intent look. "What letter?"

"I…I only had time for a quick look," Imoen explained. "I was afraid Gorion would come back and see me. It was a letter for him, from somebody called 'E'. Don't remember all of it, but it warned Gorion to leave Candlekeep as soon as possible."

"I see," Zaerini said. "Much the same as what he told me. Not that it says very much. I suppose I had better go see Gorion now. The sun is about to set. He'll be waiting for me."

"I…I suppose so," Imoen said. Suddenly she looked at her best friend as if she had never seen her before. It came to her that perhaps she would never see her again. Impulsively she reached out and gave the half-elf a big hug. After the initial moment of surprise the hug was returned.

"Just…just take care of yourself, Rini", Imoen said. "Be careful, OK?"

The half-elf smiled, her golden eyes lighting up as she did so. "I promise, Immy", she said. "I'll be home soon, I'm sure. And think how many wonderful stories I'll bring back with me! We'll have to stay up all night for me to tell them all." Then her voice turned more serious. "Don't you worry about me", she said. "I'll be with Gorion, remember? Gorion can handle anything. I'll be just fine." She turned to walk away, waving over her shoulder as she did so.

Imoen stood watching after her friend for a minute, thinking. Then she made her decision.