SquidgeWorld Archive

The wizard picked his way over uneven stones and slimy mosses following the stream deeper into the woods. His boots, heavily enchanted, were nearly silent aided no doubt by the care he took not to get the hem of his deep purple robes wet. He paused and sniffed the air for all the world like a hunting hound. He was a moon elf, dark haired and light skinned, slender of build and to the short side even for his own race. The best descriptor for him was sharp, sharp ears, sharp nose, sharp chin leading up with an almost feline cast to dark green eyes that seemed to see everything around them. His thin lips curled down in distasteful sneer even though there was no one nearby to see it. This odd, fallow valley full of rotting vegetation stank almost as much as the swamp. He sighed and muttered to himself wondering for the thousandth time just what in the hells he was doing out here looking for a ranger that did not want to be found.

"Hmph, and there you were, yes?"

He knelt lifting his robes fastidiously and peered at the bank near the deeper looking pool the stream flowed into. Daeghun had stopped here to bathe, something Sand truly could appreciate. He had never met another adventurer who preferred to be clean rather than wallow in filth until he met his Knight-Captain's cool and distant foster father. It was a refreshing change. He found the slight indentions where he had crouched doing whatever it was rangers did in such places, then a place where a few of the reeds had been pushed aside as he waded out into the water. Sand tested the water. It was warm from the sun, warmer than the rest of the creek anyway. In a few minutes, he had a powerful ward set up, his clothing off, and was availing himself of the appealing spot.

He sighed contentedly as he stood naked in the sun letting its warmth seep deep into his muscles and bones. He felt the slight tingle of forewarning as someone neared his ward and inhaled deeply catching a familiar scent that was now much stronger than before. His quarry had found him it seemed.

"Ah, there you are Daeghun, a moment and I will reset the ward to your presence." He concentrated then nodded, "there, you may approach." He picked up his clothing and began dressing nonchalantly.

"Are you following me, wizard?" The half-elf made no move to close in on the other man.

"No, I was tracking that other ranger running about on a fool's quest to undo the past. Have you perchance seen him?"

"Did Duncan send you?"

"Hmph, irony is completely wasted on you. You do know that don't you? No, Duncan did not send me, in fact I haven't seen him in a moon. He has actually managed to stay sober and marginally clean for some time now and is gainfully occupied in helping rebuild the villages devastated in the battle."

"Then why are you here? I told you when you tracked me down in the Mere that I had no intention of returning until I found her or at least had some evidence of her fate."

He turned and studied the archer with an alchemist's knowledge. He was thin, but not dangerously so. He was eating but driving himself hard instead of resting. His skin was bronzed from the sun, but healthy looking, his eyes almost uncannily sharp.

"What?"

"You look well. Better than last time, at least. I suppose game is more plentiful or the bark and twigs are ripe or something of the like."

"Nature is settling back into its proper pattern at last. You did not come all this way to make sure I was not malnourished. So, out with it, what do you want?"

"Your warm and welcoming demeanor is second only to your subtle diplomacy and tact when dealing with others, my friend." He was not surprised when only silence met his sarcasm. "Very well then, I came out here to check on you because no one has heard from you in a season. Whether you like it or not, there are people concerned with your well being, both in West Harbor and elsewhere. People who wish to cling to you because you are all they have left of her."

"Then they are being foolish and need to mind their own business." He turned to walk away but Sand stopped him with three little words.

"I found something."

He spun around and was nose to nose with Sand in a moment. "What?"

"Hm, you do move very quickly. That was rather amazing actually."

"What did you find out?" he asked slowly in the tone he used with people who were either trying his patience or complete morons.

Maybe something important, maybe nothing at all; is there somewhere safe nearby to set up a camp? I'll show you what I have, preferably over something to eat that isn't dry, salted to death, and suspiciously close to leather in texture."

"Tell me what you found."

"Camp first, finding after; play by the rules or you don't get the prize."

Daeghun's eyes flashed, but he turned and led the way without another word.

"Much better," Sand murmured as he finished the last tender bites of rabbit. He glanced across the narrow shelter formed by a fallen tree as big around as a small castle tower at Dhaegun who was immersed in the books and scrolls he had brought. He had been pleasantly surprised to find that he not only read, but read several languages with ease. "Well?'

"It's the same sword, the Sword of Gith, I'm sure of it."

"Yes, the magical properties described in the account could belong to no other weapon of which I have heard."

"You think this legend-"

"Prophecy."

"This prophecy is about her, that she was somehow pulled from the brink of death to fulfill some destiny tied to the Betrayer and the Wall of the Faithless?"

"As crazy as it sounds, yes I do."

"That would mean-"

"That she is alive somewhere. She will draw her companions to her as the script describes, a sleeping god of beasts, an angel who has lost its faith, a master of Thay, and this mysterious walker in dreams born of forbidden love. They will attempt to right whatever ancient wrong this Betrayer set in motion and break some sort of curse."

"But it does not say when or where this epic quest will be, the only references are to this shadow world."

"The shadow plane is what I believe it means. It is another plane that parallels our own, but not exactly. There are places in this plane where the shadows are stronger than most. In those areas, the shadow plane can break free and a portal open. It is said some of the Red Wizards can even open these portals purposefully."

"It mentions a master of Thay, the red wizards are centered on the other side of the world at Thaymount, near Rashemon. Could she be there?"

"Perhaps," Sand tugged one of his forelocks thoughtfully, "but their influence extends far beyond Thaymount into many lands, across many seas, and there is more likelihood that any companion of hers would be a rogue rather a member in good standing with academy and tower. The Wizards of Thay rule many lands because they know no remorse or compassion, what they cannot command they destroy. Their power is extraordinary because each one devotes his or her entire life to a single school of magic. Like a craftsman who only shapes a plough and nothing else, with a life's devotion to perfecting his craft, he would in time become the greatest maker of ploughs in the world, and his plough would be the very best."

"So you have brought me a hope, but one I can do nothing but speculate on."

"And out of the generosity of my heart, I will waive the usual fees for my service." A short chuckle startled him into staring at Daeghun.

"I should be grateful then since Duncan assures me that you are worst kind of purse gouging charlatan."

"Hmph, maligning my good name yet again. I shall have to visit my favorite besotted barkeep and teach him some manners. Though perhaps, those unkind words were worth it to hear such lightness in your voice."

A thin eyebrow rose questioningly and Sand tilted his chin up defensively, "you take thinks far too seriously far too much of the time, it isn't healthy."

"Then thank you for your concern."

He tilted his head curiously and for once replied simply and honestly, "you're welcome."

When darkness descended with all its mysterious sounds, Daeghun finally put the texts away back into their oiled cases to protect them from the weather and put out the fire scattering the charred remains first then covering them all with dirt. When he finished he brushed the natural debris over the spot leaving nothing to indicate that it had been there. A huge moon slid up over the horizon shedding a silvery light on the valley. Sand settled in on a pallet of furs he was fairly certain was his companion's bed given up for his comfort. He liked the smell of it and let tiredness from the long trek drag him down toward sleep. He was almost there when he felt a tickle on his neck. He shifted and brushed at it, but it only moved up to his cheek. Irritated he opened his eyes and grabbed the offender crying out and flinging it away as he realized it was furry, alive, and had way too many legs.

"What is it!" Daeghun bolted upright from his own makeshift bed of a cloak and his pack.

"Spider!"

"Spider? You screamed for a spider?"

"It was a big spider and I didn't scream. I just shouted a warning."

"A warning?" He plucked the confused tarantula up and held it up. "You shouted a warning for this little spider?"

"Kill it!"

"I am not going to kill it, it isn't even poisonous."

"Then hold it still and I'll kill it." He raised his hand summoning power.

"I don't think so." Daeghun carried the spider outside the shelter and let it go. "Don't tell me after going through Sylvanus knows what dungeons and wastelands to battle the Shadow King, you are afraid of an ordinary spider."

He sniffed, "well not afraid, I just don't like them." Daeghun shook his head and started back toward his bed.

"Wait, shouldn't you check to see if there are more?"

"More?"

"Yes, you know, they might travel in a pack or a herd or whatever. You could be a good, little ranger and save their creepy, little lives."

"Should I check for the boogeyman while I'm at it?"

"No, I'm quite sure we killed him and there is no closet in here."

Daeghun laughed, he could not help it. He did however pointedly search the entire shelter and even whipped off the cloak Sand was using as a blanket. He shook it out thoroughly then dropped back across his guest.

"Thank you. You did that very much like a father, you know?"

"Did I?"

"Yes you did." He looked up at the half-elf studying his profile in the faint moonlight. "One night when were in the Duskwood, I heard her crying in her sleep. Everyone else was exhausted and sleeping like stones. I went to her meaning to pat her shoulder, whisper a 'there there', make her settle down to better dreams."

Daeghun dropped into a crouch in front of the wizard listening intently.

"I touched her and said her name quietly and she sat up, flung herself up really, into my arms. I held her as she sobbed on my shoulder. When she was all cried out and sinking back into sleep she whispered hoarsely, 'I'm sorry father, I should have said it before I left.' Then she was asleep again and I tucked her in. She never mentioned it again, nor did I so I do not know what she never got the chance to tell you, but I do know it was a great sorrow to her that you two never had the chance to set to right what was wrong between you."

He watched Daeghun as he lowered his head fighting his emotions under control behind walls of ice and stone. If those walls did not come down, the pressure inside would someday be his ruin. He reached forward letting some hitherto unused instinct guide his actions. His hand cupped a warm cheek and tilted it up. He stared into rich brown eyes, mostly pupil in the darkness. His mind raced in the way that astounded those who did not know him well seeking connections and correlations processing facts and observations and finding truths hidden in plain sight.

"You never told her that you loved her or that you were proud of her, and she never told that she loved you and admired you just as much?” The strong jaw clenched hard and his scent flared the smell of a panicked deer who knows the wolf is at his heel.

He might have turned and fled had Sand not pulled him into an awkward embrace just then. He was confused, hot and cold and so full of grief. His eyes burned, his mind ached and Sand was warm against him. He did not cry, it was not in his nature to cry, but he buried his face in the silk clad shoulder and sank into the offered comfort until the storm inside of him died down.

Sand discovered as he whispered soft words of comfort that holding a sorrowful girl child one respected and cared deeply for was entirely different than holding a sorrowful man one felt powerfully attracted too. He risked burying his nose in the honey brown hair and breathing deeply of his scent. It was tainted heavily with sorrow, but still uniquely his own, an intoxicating mix of wind and sun and forest. His hand moved of its own accord stroking his back soothingly. Like his daughter once had, he slowly relaxed sagging against him. He noted idly that the supple leather he wore under his chain shirt was much nicer to hold than the scale armour she had been wearing.

"Thank you for being there with her that night, Sand," Daeghun spoke from somewhere near his neck and the voice was as calm and collected as ever.

"Camaraderie truly isn't such a bad thing you know. A friend to share the loneliness and the worry, a pair of eyes to watch while you sleep, someone at your back in a fight; I rather miss it." He pulled his cloak around both of them.

"Someone to put the spiders outside for you?"

"Yes, there's that, a very important part of it."

"Are you offering to join me in my search."

Sand had not actually thought that far ahead but the answer came with quiet certainty startling him as much as the man in his arms, "I would follow you anywhere if you wished my company."

Daeghun sat up and looked thoughtfully at him for a long time. Then he nodded once. "Best you get some sleep then, wizard, we leave with the dawn."

"Dawn? What is it with adventurers and dawn, noon is a perfectly fine time for leaving in my book."

"Sleep," Daeghun ordered retiring to his own cloak and his interrupted repose.

Two moons later, he was wondering if he should have followed the spider instead of the ranger. He was fairly sure Daeghun was going to take them all of the way to Rashemon. He probably expected him to swim the ocean when they hit the coast. He was tired and almost out of magic, and the wound on his back burned horrendously. He had gone down the corridor a thirty count behind Daeghun when he heard the all clear whistle. Halfway down the hairs on the back of his neck had stood up and he knew he was in a trap. The solid floor beneath him winked out of existence and he was falling into a chamber lit with moving torches and firepits. He tucked himself into a controlled tumble and came up face to face with a lich warrior. His horrific face was fixed in a fleshless grin of malice. He had growled out the words that sent a spray of deadly fireballs into the midst of the undead, but he had not seen the lich queen behind him. Pure fire bit into the flesh of his back and he screamed in pain and the strange fury that took him in battle. He turned unleashing a blast of pure white light into her face dazzling her while he searched desperately for something left to finish her off with before the rest of the drooling, slavering zombies and shadows overcame the sight of their burning comrades and took him down from behind. He reached for the power to cast burning hands and found nothing. He was done, out of mana. He dug at his belt and found a minor healing potion. He lobbed it at her and it hissed and sputtered burning her flesh just enough to make her mad. She raised her whip burning with hellfires and cracked it hard. The blow never landed. An arrow whizzed past him charged with arcane power and struck her, burying itself to the fletching in her chest, then it exploded in a shower of liquid fire. Regular arrows rained down as he made his way to the wall of the pit and climbed laboriously up to the hallway.

"Are you unharmed, Sand?"

"More or less." He lifted his pack and hung it over one shoulder knowing he would not be able to stand it on his back.

"I am sorry."

"Hm? What for?"

"I did not see that trap. I should have."

"I didn't see it either, it's nothing to worry about, all's well that ends well."

"That's the last of them," he stood up looking almost as weary as Sand felt. "We can camp outside Ember tonight."

"And what, pray tell, is wrong with camping -Inside- Ember tonight? I happen to know that there is a very nice inn there with a well equipped alchemy workstation and an absolutely wonderful shepherd's pie."

"There's no point in wasting time in the city, we can get an earlier start-"

"Don't make me knock you out and carry you, my pack already weighs a ton," he interrupted.

"You wouldn't."

"Like I said when you woke up with that splitting, magic induced headache in that filthy barn, we will rest when we need to, or else."

"Fine, you go into the village, I will wait outside until morning."

"No, you are coming with me."

"I have no desire to be in a strange village teeming with people."

"You'll get over it."

Brown eyes fought green in a staring match that could have melted the gold off a temple icon. Seeing he was not gaining ground, Sand played the gambit he had been saving, "besides, there is a boy who lives here who knows her very well, a seer. He might know something."

"Very well, but you should do the talking."

"Indeed, if only more people realized the truth of that statement." He chose to ignore his partner's look of resignation.

The inn was neat and clean and the food as good as he remembered. Sand finished off his mutton pie as he finished brewing the last dozen potions. Once they were neatly packed in their carry cases he snagged a loaf of fresh bread and some fruit and cheese from the table and carried them up their room. The inn only had three rooms in it, and as he understood from the common room talk, this was the first time all three had been occupied at once. The merchant Galen had taken it upon himself to take up Shandra's route and carry goods too and from Ember. He had the large room for himself and his six carefully screened bodyguards. The other room on the main floor housed a dozen gnomish miners. Their appearance was at least odd enough that an elf and half-elf passed virtually unnoticed. He and Daeghun had the attic room. It had a single large bed under the eaves piled high with quilts and blankets since it did not have an actual fireplace to heat it, just the chimney stones running up one wall. It was warmer than a hole in the rocks or a rotten tree trunk somewhere in his opinion.

Daeghun sat at the small table putting away the arrows he had fletched. He was sticking to his normal wilderness routine in spite of being inside out of stubbornness. Sand put the plate of food and a second meat pie in front of him with a flourish. We are restocked on supplies and sundries and we made quite a tidy sum unloading the junk we found.

"And the boy?"

"Ah yes, the boy."

"What did he have to say?"

"Many things actually but only a little about her. I will recount his readings as you eat." He looked pointedly at the food until the ranger sighed and began to eat mechanically.

"Better, the winter has made you entirely too thin. The boy said that she is in a place of ice and snow and surrounded by many spirit forms, some animals some human. He says she has a haze all around her as if she walks in the waking world and the world of dreams as well. There is a darkness inside her that she battles with all her will and lines of power and love binding her to her companions and strengthening her." He took a deep breath, "he also says that we cannot help her. Her choices and hers alone will seal or unleash forever an ancient evil. She must seek out a dead god then travel to the very fortress of Kelemvar to battle for justice."

"That's all?"

"That is all he said about her."

"What else did he say that you are not telling me?"

"Nothing well not nothing, but nothing important to our quest, exactly."

"You are not very good at hiding things, Sand, better to tell me now."

"It's just something embarrassing and personal and nothing you would care about, honestly."

"If it concerns you, it concerns us a team."

"I will tell you later, when I have time to consider it myself, yes?"

He sighed realizing he would get nothing else, "fair enough. So what he says corresponds to what the prophecy describes. I do not like that part about dead gods and Kelemvar. It has been my experience that no good comes of it when gods meddle in human affairs."

"I agree with you on that point, my friend. Oh, an old man in the common room told me there is a blizzard on the way and we should be prepared to be stuck here. Some of the others dismissed him as a doomsayer though.

"It will not pass over."

"You're sure? Oh course you are, you have weather sensing don't you?"

"Put our packs by the chimney so the potions won't freeze and break."

"If you think it will get that cold inside, would we have survived it outside?"

"I would have found us a small tight place, preferably one with some furred animals living in it. We would have had to huddle and wait it out."

"All in all, I think I prefer huddling together without furry creatures in a soft bed under blankets with both of us bathed and well fed for once, hmm."

"Soft city boy."

"Oh yes, and not a thing wrong with that, swamp farmer."

He set the packs down and rummaged around until he found a stiff bristled brush. He stretched in the warmth radiating from the brick and earth chimney wall. “Some of us happen to prefer the amenities of the modern world. He unfastened the top of his robe letting it hang by the belt at his hips as he brushed his unbound hair. He jumped as he felt a light touch on his back.

"You didn't tell me that lich's whip didn't miss.” The quiet voice was accusatory and more than a little angry though not at him.

"Ah, I actually had forgotten it, it doesn't hurt anymore. It's nearly healed thanks to some fresh potions. The demon's fire hurts like hell when it burns you, but it does burn clean and cauterize at the same time. It’s nothing."

Daeghun ran his finger along the long, lash mark. "It will scar."

"I have other scars, what is one more," he tried to ignore the way the touch made his skin heat and tingle.

"This one is my fault. I misjudged."

"Don't even start that, you were there when it mattered. You always are." He heard a sigh somewhere just behind his left ear and the touch retreated. Quick as a snake uncoiling, his hand shot out and caught Daeghun's earning a surprised grunt from him. No one ever seemed to guess how fast he could move until he had them, He raised the hand to his chest pressing it over his heart. "What do you feel?"

"What do you mean?"

"Tell me what you feel, the instructions are simple enough."

"Your heartbeat, your chest rising and falling with your breathing, your skin, your warmth, your hand pressing down on mine..."

"My life is what you feel. I'm alive, and all those things are your proof of that. You never trust in anything until you have proof. That is just your nature. I have put my trust in you. I have faith in your abilities and in you. You have never let me down, and you will not let me down. That damn, stubborn, harborman blood will not let you."

"Foolish wizard, I hope you never come to regret it.”

Sand was about to protest when an arm slid around his waist and pulled him into a quick hard hug. Every inch of his body seemed charged and aware as Daeghun pulled away from him. His fingers curled around the hand he still held squeezing tightly. For just a moment, he wondered if his heart was going to tear right through his chest into the waiting palm. Then Daeghun moved away gently freeing himself. Sand turned and watched him, not even bothering to hide it as he stripped out of his leathers with the same swift efficiency he displayed in everything he did. They were so unalike in so many ways, but somewhere beneath it all there was something the same, some common ground that made them work as a team. He lowered his head and closed his eyes bringing his own hand up over his heart and searching in his vast storehouse of information and observation for something, some secret words or special codes to reveal the true depths of what he was feeling without frightening him away, but the words for once eluded him.

Daeghun turned around and looked at the wizard with concern. He was seldom silent for more than a few minutes. He caught his breath as he saw him standing there like some sort of vision. His purple silk robes had slid down until they clung by the belt and a prayer to the narrow ridge of his hipbones. They swept the floor in a vibrant pool of colour setting off the pale silvery hued skin of his flat belly and chest. His hand was pressed to his heart as if in prayer and sooty lashes rested on high sharp cheekbones. His hair fell, black and sleek over his shoulders and down his back. The expression on his face was intriguing and far beyond his ability to decipher. "Sand?" he whispered through a suddenly bone dry throat.

"Hmm?" Dark lashes flicked up and green eyes found him in the shadows cast by the oil lamp.

"Come here." Daeghun held out his hand to his partner with no earthly idea why. He was operating on instinct not thought.

Sand gave him a puzzled look but moved to him without hesitation taking his hand. "What is it, Daeghun?"

He brought his free hand up and found the sash at his waist freeing it so that the silk whispered to the floor.

"Daeghun?" his voice was hoarse almost pleading for an answer as to what was happening.

"Hush wizard." Daeghun closed the distance between them bringing their mouths together.

Sand melted into his kiss sliding his arms around him and pressing close. He was gasping for air when they parted and more than a little pleased to see that his stoic companion looked utterly thunderstruck. Before either of them could say something and ruin the moment, he pressed in again for another kiss as sweet as the first.