The Companions of Tartiël (11 page)

“Lady Astra, please sheathe your sword,” Kaiyr said softly. “We have spilled enough blood on these holy grounds.”

Caineye nodded and placed a hand on the nymph’s shoulder, which she immediately shrugged off. “I agree, Lady Astra. I’ve seen enough bloodshed to last me a while,” he added. “Besides, the thing that tried to kill you was washed away by the magical waters of this spring. Your Nemesis is no more. Now we have… a child, I suppose.”

“A child who looks just like you,” Wild chimed in. “I wonder what’s with the wings, though?”

Astra pressed her lips into a line, a vein visibly throbbing on her forehead. “Whatever,” she hissed. “Just keep her away from me.” Storming off, she headed back into the abbey and headed for the dining room.

“Well,” Wild said mildly, “that settles that. What do we do now?”

Kaiyr found his hair under assault by the “newborn.” Catching her hand in his, he disentangled it from his hair and straightened. “I know not,” he admitted. “Let us take her to one of the unused beds and let her sit. She seems to have no balance.”

It took them several minutes, but eventually, the three of them helped the girl walk down the hall and into the main bedroom, where everyone except Astra and the wererats had been sleeping. There were more beds than people, and they sat her down onto white sheets.

“What do we do with her?” Caineye wondered aloud.

“We cannot take our eyes off her,” Kaiyr said calmly, “lest Lady Astra attempts to murder her. Again.”

They all blew a communal sigh, watched by a curious, naked ex-Nemesis sitting on the bed. “I can’t say I’ll mind ‘keeping an eye on her,’ if you know what I mean,” Wild chortled, breaking the silence and earning a few reproving glares.

Suddenly, the girl reached up and tugged on Kaiyr’s robes. Her gray eyes looked at him with a puppy-dog expression. “Unnnh,” she said by way of explanation.

Caineye and Wild crowded over Kaiyr’s shoulder as the blademaster knelt in front of the girl. “What is it?” he asked softly, still trying to get a read on her.

She whimpered again. “Are you hurt?” Caineye asked, dropping down next to the blademaster. “Do you need to use the privy? What do you need?”

Then her stomach rumbled loudly. The three companions fell back, a chuckle escaping their lips. “I guess that makes things simpler,” Wild said.

“Yes, let’s get her something to eat,” Caineye agreed. “But first, clothes.”

After finding some suitable garments, they led her to the dining room on her wobbly legs and sat her down on a chair while Kaiyr went to make something to eat. Astra stood inside the kitchen, leaning against the counter with her arms crossed over her ample chest.

“Why are you caring for that… thing?” she demanded in a hiss. From out in the dining room, the girl let out a giggle, finding herself entertained with Vinto when the wolf arrived to join in the meal.

Kaiyr commenced in slicing some bread and cheese, and he gathered up a few nuts and fruits as he replied, “There is nothing else we can do until we learn more.”

“Blademaster, that thing tried to kill me,” Astra growled. “I don’t see a need to keep it around. In fact, I’d feel a lot safer with it gone, if you get what I mean.”

Kaiyr looked at her out of the corner of his eye. “Lady Astra, I am astounded at how violent you are. Do you truly believe that the sharp end of your rapier is the answer to all your problems? The girl no longer knows what she was. She wears your face, yes, but that is all.”

Astra snorted. “Are you so conceited that you think you know anything about that thing, or what’s best for me?”

Kaiyr shrugged as he spread out the victuals on a tray. “You are right. I know nothing about her because she
cannot
speak, and I know little about you because you
will not
speak.” He lifted the tray and took the tray out to the dining room, pausing as he passed her. “Lady Astra… I know not what troubles you, but should you ever feel the need to let someone know about them, about you, and take up some of the burden that must lie on your shoulders… I am listening. I can offer you my own stories in return, if you feel you need a trade.”

The nymph just snorted. “Right. Like I’d want to learn about you. Oh, Kaiyr,” she said in a snide mockery of emotion, “please tell me about yourself. I want to know all about you.” Then her tone turned hard. “Blademaster, I’m leaving for now. Next time I see you, it had better be without the dumb girl over there. Don’t bother trying to follow me. I’ll find you.”

“If you need our help,” Kaiyr said with a note of lament in his voice. “I am sorry, Lady Astra.”

“Stow it,” she snapped. “I’m outta here.” Leaning back, she melded into the wall again, and Kaiyr, quieted, returned to the dining room.

*

“The girl eats the food, but you all end up having to show her how to use a fork,” Dingo said, stretching. “I think we’re going to end it there for the night. Your characters all get some rest. We’ll pick up next time with you guys waking up in the morning.”

Matt gawked at him. “What about the girl?”

Dingo shrugged. “She doesn’t give you a whole lot of trouble. She just doesn’t know how to do anything herself. But she doesn’t really need your help to go to sleep.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Maybe she might
like
some help,” I jested, drawing chuckles from around the room. “Kaiyr whips his junk out and…”

“And the Astra-like girl with wings squints, trying to find what you’re supposed to be showing her,” Xavier said, and everyone, myself included, laughed harder.

“Naw, man,” I protested for the sake of protesting. “It’s like unrolling the red carpet! Did I ever tell you Kaiyr lost a leg in the war? You can’t imagine how hard it was to get that thing into a shoe, much less bend it like a knee.”

“All right, all right,” Dingo pleaded, doubling over with laughter. “You guys are gonna kill me one of these days.”

We all got moving, then, and packed up the game. Dingo and Matt rolled out, and Xavier and I headed to bed, all of us happy with the game.

IX.

“I just feel like this game is
going
somewhere,” I told Xavier while we waited at a table in the CUB. Dingo would be getting out of class soon. He was going to join us for dinner, and then we would all meet up back at Lackhove for another night of D&D. We were so excited about playing this game that for the next month or so, we would play more than once a week, most of the time.

“Yeah, I know,” Xavier agreed.

“I mean, I’ve been in so many games where the NPCs
^[20]
are cardboard cut-outs that stand to the side and don’t do anything important.” I shook my head, thinking. “Or, I guess sometimes they do
all
the interesting stuff,” I said, referring to a game I’d played in a couple years before. “But we won’t even go there.”

Xavier chuckled. “You just like Astra.”

I shrugged, not denying it. “I think she’ll be a big part of the game. She’s got the whole ‘damsel in distress’ thing going, along with a strong desire to remain independent. Kaiyr’s mostly trying to stick to her because he thinks—or rather, he
knows
—that whatever she’s doing, she’s in great danger. I mean, she won’t tell any of us about anything. Hell, I’d be surprised if Astra was her real name.”

The two of us spent a few more minutes speculating about the game and the highly secretive storyline Dingo had planned. None of our guesses turned out to be remotely accurate, except for the one about Astra being in danger. That had to do with the fact that anyone doing anything interesting in D&D was generally in danger of being eaten by a dragon or turned into an aboleth’s mind-slave.

Dingo finally arrived, and the three of us ate a hasty dinner, all eager to return to Lackhove and the story we were telling therein. After a short trek over frozen ground, our faces stung by evening February winds, we arrived and got settled in.

*

It was at breakfast the next morning that Kaiyr came to a decision about his quest, the one on which the elders of Ivyan had sent him, to recover a battle-helm belonging to an ancient hero. Lingering at the abbey, he knew, would avail him nothing, and despite his optimism, no new paths had presented themselves. It seemed he would have to find one on his own.

“Masters Caineye and Wild,” the blademaster told his comrades privately during breakfast, using the elven language to maintain privacy from the wererats, “I intend to leave this abbey now that our business here is concluded. I am on a mission from my village to find a stolen artifact, and while I know not in which direction to go, I sense that I must choose one anyway. I will not ask you to accompany me, but I will admit that in the brief time I have known the two of you, I have found your company no less than cheerful and your hearts true.”

Caineye shrugged, as did Wild. “I was actually going to leave here soon. I don’t like to sit in one place for too long,” the druid said. “Besides, Vinto needs new hunting grounds every so often. He tends to scare away even the other predators.” He ruffled the wolf’s ears, who looked up at him with a tongue-lolling grin.

“I wouldn’t mind sharing some space on the road with the two of you, if you’re of a mind to be heading in the same direction,” Wild told them. Then he winked at them. “I suppose if it came down to it and you split up, I guess I’d have to go with Caineye, though. Master Kaiyr doesn’t much like it when I borrow things people don’t need.”

“I consider myself lucky that I have nothing you deem excessive, then,” Kaiyr intoned quietly.

Wild just grinned and shrugged. “People lose things all the time. I just find them. I can’t help it if I don’t know to whom I should return things.”

“It’s settled for me, then,” Caineye said. “I’ll go with you, Master Kaiyr. I find myself enjoying your company, and you are a stalwart companion. We needn’t fear the dangers of the road with you around.”

Kaiyr gave the druid a smile. “Do not belittle your own contributions, and those of Vinto, to our safety and survival, as well as Master Wild’s, Master Caineye. I will gladly welcome your presence alongside me, both of you.”

Wild jerked a thumb at the gray-haired, -eyed, and –winged girl sitting next to them all and who had been staring, bewildered, at them the entire time. “What do we do about her, though? Surely she isn’t fit to travel.”

Kaiyr gave the girl an appraising glance, then shook his blue mane of hair. “She is physically fit enough to travel. I fear only having to focus on protecting her on the unpredictable road.” He glanced at the wererats. “I would not want to burden them with the girl, nor the responsibility of teaching her the ways of the world, including language. But I believe we could manage it and perhaps hire someone in a larger city to find the means to care for her. A temple of Arvanos Sinterian, perhaps, could take her in.”

The other two nodded, and while Kaiyr tended to cleaning up the kitchen, they readied themselves for the road. After a short session of goodbyes to the wererats, the party was off. The trio promised the creatures that they would return for a visit, and the grave look in Kaiyr’s eye told them such a visit would be more than just a friendly one.

The beginning of the party’s misfortune began not half a mile from the abbey. One moment, all was serene, and a split second before the new “constable” and his men sprang from the surrounding trees, Kaiyr’s foresight screamed at him of impending danger.

It was too little, too late, though, when a weighted net rushed by him, ensnaring the winged girl. She fell to the road with a shriek of surprise and began wailing like a child.

“Take heed!” Kaiyr shouted, reaching into his spirit and pulling forth his soulblade as two soldiers leaped toward him, swords drawn.

“Capture them all!” called the constable. “Our masters want them alive!”

The sudden press of many soldiers had the party backing away from the road—and from the winged girl, who found herself dragged by her hair behind the enemy’s front lines.

Caineye, his palm wreathed in flames and ready to launch, looked uncertainly at Kaiyr as the soldiers advanced with wicked gleams in their eyes. “Blademaster! There are too many of them.”

Kaiyr glanced behind him and into the trees as he defended himself. The ambush had been sprung just a little too early, and their foes were working to fully encircle the group. His blood boiled at the sight of the poor girl being hauled so viciously by the men around her. He hated to think about what might happen to her in the hands of these people, but he also realized that it was hopeless. “We run and live to fight again,” he growled, whirling and hauling Wild up so swiftly that the bolt in the halfling’s crossbow fell to the ground. Shoving Caineye ahead of him, he sprinted into the trees.

Shouts and booted feet pursued the trio and wolf into the forest, but Kaiyr, carrying Wild, and Caineye and Vinto all knew the ways of the woods and how to navigate them better than the heavily-armored humans in clumsy pursuit. As they ran, Kaiyr spoke to Caineye while Wild crossed his arms and huffed indignantly.

“Master Caineye, let us circle around,” the elf suggested. “They may expect us to return to them, but I do not intend for the girl to remain long in their clutches.”

Caineye nodded as they slowed the pace, their pursuit now far out of sight and earshot. “I agree. Let’s see where they take her.”

“Excuse me,” Wild interrupted, now that the group had slowed to a fast walk, “but could you put me down now?”

“Ah,” Kaiyr said, mildly surprised. “My apologies, Master Wild. That was very undignified of me.” He set the halfling gently on the ground, and they all set off on a new course.

Circling around to follow their foes, the group was stunned to discover that the soldiers had not returned to Viel. Caineye spotted deinonychus tracks in the road, where the soldiers must have tied off their mounts. The trail led north and slightly east into the woods, veering away from the road leading due north.

Their quarry must have ridden hard and fast, and since they not only were on foot but also had to stop to make certain they had not lost the trail, the party’s going was slow. The entire day passed with none of them saying a word, all of them too focused on keeping to the trail and remaining as stealthy as possible.