The Flower, Part 3: Shelter.
***
The Dungeons of Battlehome.
“The king summons you.” Said a dwarf in accented common.
Jain’n and Sheyreiza had been laying in her cell when the dwarf walked in to deliver the king’s summons. Jain’n rose in answer to the dwarf and nodded. He took Sheyreiza's hand and led her to the cell where Amenia and Inthara had been living. There they found Amenia and Inthara speaking with two other darthiir. One of the darhtiir was a pale skinned male with dark, blue tinged hair. He looked nervous. Jain’n said his name was Vraja. The other darthiir was a redheaded female named Kalina. Both wore weapons and armor and both looked capable of using them. Jain’n left Sheyreiza and her entourage in their care and went to see the king.
Sheyreiza walked into the cell, head held high, acting every inch the princess that she was. The conversation ended as Sheyreiza entered. For a moment, drow and elf regarded each other in silence. The redheaded female Kalina turned to Inthara without taking her eyes off the arrogant new arrival.
“Is this the yathrin you spoke about?” Asked the flame haired elf.
Sheyreiza answered before Inthara did. “I am. I am the Yathrin d’Lolth Sheyreiza Auvryndar, youngest daughter of Matron Shyntlara of Qu’ellar Auvryndar, Fourth House of Ched Nasad. I am also the Yathrin d’Lolth Elvaelaeyl Tlabbar, princess of Qu’ellar Faen Tlabbar, Third House of Menzoberranzan.”
“And yet you are a prisoner in a dwarven stronghold.” Kalina replied.
“Yes. And I am a prisoner in a dwarven stronghold. How observant of you to notice.” Sheyreiza retorted.
“Well, I just want you to know what that means for you. This one,” Kalina indicated Inthara, “does not seem to appreciate her situation. I don’t think you do either.”
Sheyreiza looked Kalina in the eye. “We live every day of our lives under the threat of death. For the last few months, yes, we have lived under the shadow of a dwarven axe, but before that, we lived with the threat of death from a mad wizard, a shadow dragon, a drow house and many other enemies. It is simply the way of our lives.”
Kalina seemed to understand what Sheyreiza meant. The redhead nodded. “Well then, what should we call you?” Kalina asked.
Sheyreiza raised an eyebrow. “That is not the question. The question is what will you call me. My entourage calls me ‘Yathrin’ or ‘Mistress,’ Jain’n calls me Sheyreiza, the dwarves call me ‘that Spider-Whore.’ What you call me is your decision. You are the one carrying the sword after all.”
Kalina was about to answer when the door opened. A drow girl child stood in the doorway.
Kalina’s eyes lit up. “T’ia!” Sheyreiza recognized the name as belonging to Jain’n’s daughter. Jain’n’s Ilythiir daughter.
“Mommy!” T’ia exclaimed, rushing over to take Kalina’s hand.
“How did you get here?” Kalina asked.
“I followed you after you left.” T’ia admitted. T’ia looked at the other three drow. “Who are they? Are they coming home with us?”
Kalina smiled a little. “We don’t know yet child.”
Sheyreiza regarded T’ia. She was really a young woman now, almost old enough to attend the academy had she been raised in a proper Ilythiiri city. Sheyreiza could tell from the innocent, naïve expression on her face, however, that she would have been ill prepared for such a fate. The academy was not for those unaccustomed to life in Lolthian society and the trust, the ‘love’ that shown on this one’s face was a clear sign she was not so accustomed.
“You must be Jain’n’s daughter.” Sheyreiza said. T’ia looked up at the yathrin.
“Yes, I am.” T’ia answered, a little excited and a little unsure.
“You are very beautiful, and that is a lovely dress you are wearing.” Sheyreiza said, smiling just slightly. Sheyreiza wondered what the little one’s reaction would be. She wondered what the little one knew of her own heritage.
The others began to speak and Sheyreiza noticed Vraja settling a hand on his knife’s hilt. She caught the darthiir’s eye, frowned slightly, and shook her head. The eyed Sheyreiza back, nodded a little, but kept his hand near his weapon.
Sheyreiza smiled to herself. At least one of Jain’n’s people had the common sense to be untrusting. This Vraja might be worth something. Of course, those worth something were also the ones that posed the greatest risk.
The conversation continued and Sheyreiza simply observed. Though Jain’n had lit a fire in her heart she betrayed none of that warmth here and now. She was standing before her entourage, in front their enemy, facing their fate. She would be as cold and determined as the situation demanded. She was, after all, the Yathrin. Such was her lot in life.
Behind T’ia, Jain’n appeared in the doorway. Sheyreiza tried to catch his eye to see what it would reveal but he would not look straight at her.
“I have spoken with the king.” Jain’n said. “He has decreed your fate.”
Sheyreiza’s heart leapt into her throat and she waited for Jain’n to continue. How long had Sheyreiza waited to hear those words? Three months? More? She had lost track of exactly how long she had been in the dungeons of Battlehome. She no longer remembered her time in the dungeon by cycles, or ten-days or by any conventional measure of time. For Sheyreiza, her incarceration was defined by the emotional periods she had passed through: fear, defiance, determination, despair, hope and finally the bittersweet taste of irony. Sheyreiza was certain her fate would sealed as she would not avow faith in Eilistraee. What a trick of fate. To find love in a dungeon that she had never known while free, only to have it ended almost as soon as it began by a gallows rope.
“The king will release you into my care, to return to lonely wood.” Jain’n said. “I am to be responsible for you. This was not an easy thing for me to accomplish. The king wants you dead, but between my pleas and Drizzt’s whispered jokes, he has relented, at least for the moment. The king says that if you prove us softhearted elves wrong, he will come and take your heads. ”
“Prove us wrong, and we will deliver your heads to him.” Vraja threatened.
Jain’n shot Vraja a quick look. This was Jain’n’s moment, and he had a message to deliver.
“There are restrictions.” Jain’n added. “And these restrictions are imposed by me not the King. First, you will not leave the Lonely Wood without an elven escort. The folk of the ten towns will likely attack you or riot if they see you on your own. Second, you will treat my people with respect and kindness.”
Sheyreiza frowned. “I will treat your people with the respect I am given.”
Jain’n was ready for Sheyreiza. “And my people will show you respect and hospitality.”
“We will follow your restrictions.” Sheyreiza said.
Jain’n began giving his traveling orders to Kalina and Vraja. Sheyreiza looked from Amenia to Inthara. In the drow dialect of elven she spoke to them. “You two will obey the restrictions, do you understand?”
Inthara blinked and looked at Sheyreiza. “What instructions?” She replied also speaking in the drow dialect.
Sheyreiza narrowed her eyes. What was wrong with Inthara? She was three feet from Jain’n as he told them the restrictions and now she could not remember? Sheyreiza repeated the instructions in drow and told Inthara to wake up and pay attention for it was her life that was at stake here.
Next to Kalina, T’ia stared in growing horror at Sheyreiza and Inthara. “What are they saying mom? Dad? I know that language!”
Jain’n saw T’ia’s fear and he knew what lay behind it. He looked at Sheyreiza and barked. “Stop.”
Sheyreiza did not see T’ia’s fear, she did not meet Jain’n’s eye nor hear his protest. Sheyreiza continued to speak with Amenia and Inthara in the drow dialect. T’ia’s fear grew and bordered on panic as she clutched Kalina’s hand. Jain’n’ moved towards his fear stricken daughter and put his hand on the hilt of his sword, his eyes widening, anger beginning to creep across his face. Just as he thought he could not take any more, just as he thought he would rather leave these three miserable drow in this cell, they stopped.
Sheyreiza looked at him, as oblivious to his concern for T’ia as she was to T’ia’s fear itself. It was simply inconceivable to Sheyreiza that an Ilythiiri child would be terrified of the Ilythiiri language.
In the dialect of surface elves, Sheyreiza spoke to Jain’n. “We are ready to go.”
And so, after three months of captivity, Sheyreiza, Inthara and Amenia, escorted by Jain'n and his elves, left the dungeons of Battlehome and slipped from under the shadow of the executioner’s axe headed for the shelter of Lonely Wood.
Dark Flower Ch. 9 (previously The Flower Ch. 3)
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Mikayla
- Valsharess of ALFA
- Posts: 3707
- Joined: Sat Jan 03, 2004 5:37 pm
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Dark Flower Ch. 9 (previously The Flower Ch. 3)
Last edited by Mikayla on Thu Oct 28, 2004 11:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
ALFA1-NWN1: Sheyreiza Valakahsa
NWN2: Layla (aka Aliyah, Amira, Snake and others) and Vellya
NWN1-WD: Shein'n Valakasha
NWN2: Layla (aka Aliyah, Amira, Snake and others) and Vellya
NWN1-WD: Shein'n Valakasha
