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The barest possibility that they had decided to move on without him had entered and festered in his mind like an open wound. He wasn’t sure how he felt hearing that the others had failed the same way he had. |
"If they don’t want us finding them, it could be unsafe." |
"And that would stop you? What a good friend. What a wonderful ally," the glare he gave was blistering. "If you would abandon them now, your body is not fit to fertilize the soil they piss on." |
"By the Lady of Sorrows," she tossed up her hands and stalked away. "Curse me for bothering to try!" |
He said nothing. |
His mind wondered, catching back on whatever tune that had managed to filter itself up from his memories. From a time before the rain. |
"Cold hearts may not remain unkind, |
If I love, I would love dare to try." |
"Listen patiently to the shadows in my mind, |
Feel for the scarring language they have left behind, |
I am still healing from the damage they’ve done, |
But there is some sweet relief knowing I am not the only one." |
"Still dismal." One day Quinntav would put down their sorrows and only ever sing about daffodils and lady bugs. Or vampires in corsets and high heels with wonderful hair. |
Day...eight, they supposed it was. The distinct lack of light was beginning to play with them, but they had begun to follow their markers in the stone back, back to the ravine where they had been forced to flee from as it rose as to not to drown. Old, gnawed bone had revealed itself in the pools they had once waded thr... |
"Will this be the day that I die," they asked no one but the pressing silence. If they concentrated they could hear the waters rushing somewhere distant, but they dared not press further and risk brushing anyone’s mind. The moment they had a lock they would come rushing down, and Quinntav couldn’t risk any one of them ... |
"Krakens are not real, krakens are not real," they shoved the waist of their torch in their mouth and tugged on the lever. It barely shifted, so caked with grime and age as it was, even putting their full weight into it barely did anything. This was why Karlach and Halsin were-. |
"Need aid, friend?" |
"SWEET FATHER OF MURDER!" |
Halsin’s bellowing laugh shook itself through the tunnel around them. Quinntav was clutching their heart, hearing their torch begin to go out in a puddle before Halsin made a noise and swooped in to pick it up. "I would not advise wishing for Bhaal’s aide in any situation, dear Hunter." |
"Do you know of any over grown elves stalking about these-," Quinntav flung themself at the bear of a man, his mirthful chuckles shaking them in response, but the feel of his weighty hand on their back so wonderful an experience they nearly never wanted to let go. "It is good to see you in one piece, Quinn." |
"The others," they made some room, searching his kind eyes for answer, not satisfied when his expression failed to turn grave. "Are they unhurt?" |
"Completely. It seems to share the sharp end of the stick this time, my friend. Though I must confess they are very much sharing an urgent desire to see you again." |
"How in the Hells did you get here?" |
"Where great beasts may fail to tread, smaller creatures still may take the path forward," he waved at a crack. "I squirreled my way down through the stone." |
"You could have been crushed!" |
"Not ever in this life, sadly, have I found myself capable of being crushed by anything or anyone—," was he flirting? "I would have managed, but your concern is not unwelcome. And it seems that you have found the stair well upward." |
"Would you believe that I may have passed it four days ago," they laughed dryly, perhaps the sound more genuine then expected. Sweet Hells they were prepared to call on Raphael to break themself free. "The lever, it’s stuck fast." |
"Let us compare grip strength." He was flirting. He grabbed the lever, Quinntav stepping out of the way so he could position himself properly, and— it broke. The two of them stared at it for a moment. |
"Do you know...a spell." |
"Shaping stone is not beyond my realm of experience," he grinned, Quinn’s tail lifting at the news. The Druid pressed a palm to the wall, and concentrated. |
"Ah." Their tail dropped. "The path is flooded. I fear the water unleashed may flood the tunnel we now stand in." |
"Could you turn into a shark and swim us upwards." |
"I fear that in that state of mind I may panic, but the greater fear is that that it would take to long to traverse with how long you are capable of holding in air. If we also find an obstruction along the way and are cut off, we may find ourselves at a dead end you may not survive." Right to the point. |
"What about shaping stone through another wall?" |
"It may risk destabilizing the ruins around us and sending the stone down on our heads." |
"I could continue following the path back..." |
"The ravine is still yet flooded, you will only encounter water ahead. Unless you happen to be a remarkable swimmer with lungs that can hold air for ten minutes at a time, the risk is too great." |
"Fuck." At least their fear of putting the others in jeopardy was not unfounded. "If I could just shift and follow you back up...Gale! If he could transcribe a scroll of polymorph, or if he has one on himself to use, maybe-?" |
"That is an excellent idea! I could fit the paper in my cheek pouch, and make my way back down. Time is passing as we speak, do you have provisions?" |
"I have some." Enough for another small meal; the creatures of the halls had long since learned of their presence and begun to avoid the sounds they made. Rationing had been their only option, but they could likely go awhile without needing food and survive. "How long did it take you to reach me?" |
"With careful pathing, five hours. As long as it has not changed over much, I can make it back in three. Will you be well, Quinntav." |
"As I can be. I’ll wait here, keep myself busy writing a ballad or something." |
"Perhaps consider making it out in your mate’s name, to make up for the distance." |
"How is Astarion?" |
The Druid shook his head. "Mournful. He secludes himself in the upper floor, away from our party. No amount of speaking to him has brought him down to join us." |
"Is, is he eating?" |
"I cannot say. I have not scented blood in the air, nor found the corpses of prey animals that may mark his passage." |
Mark. Quinn still had his lock of hair. If they used their Hunter ability... "Why would he starve himself." |
"Sometimes in periods of fear all that would matter is to the safe return of one’s heart to one’s breast. I will return, Quinntav," he brushed their shoulder with a great hand, squeezing gently. "Perhaps the news of your wellbeing will return to him some spirit." |
"ASTARION! WAIT!" |
Astarion ignored the Druid. There was a passage, somewhere, beneath the waters of the second floor. If he could find it and swim through, he could reach the Hunter and be done with waiting-." |
"DON’T TOUCH ME!" He flung off the Druid’s grab. Beyond him, down the hall Astarion had stalked from, the others had begun to follow. Including Gale, the damnable Wizard stating he had the means of making a scroll, but longer then Quinn had to live in order to complete it. "I do not need air to breathe! Point me to the... |
"But they do! Think for a moment! What is there use in killing them in the process of this mad attempt at rescue!" |
"Are you saying I should stand here and wait for them to starve instead?" |
"We could move ahead, find someone to aid us in locating them-." |
"Do you suggest traversing the Shadowfell in it’s entirety, finding a singular scroll of use to us, and looping back to find them? Really? They could be dead by then!" |
"Wait! I have an idea!" Astarion glared furiously towards the Wizard. "I could polymorph myself, follow Halsin down to where our friend waits, and Dimension Door us back to the surface!" |
"Why in the bloody hells did you not think of that sooner!" |
He glared back from the Druid’s side: "Because you wouldn’t stop to think for a moment yourself! Enough with this arguing— Halsin, are you prepared?" |
"I can achieve a Wild Shape once more for the day. Sadly along my original route I had to change during a shift in the stone in order not to be crushed." |
"That is...a calming statement to hear. Alright," Gale coughed into his fist. "Down we go. We find Quinntav, and pop back up, and, in the meantime, the angry vampire stays here and waits for our return." |
Quinntav was running. Something had shifted outside or inside or somewhere to move the walls around them, resulting in a rumble, resulting in a warning, resulting them in running for dear life further back the way they came for safety. They had dropped their torch, left behind their pack in their panic to move, and the... |
They yelped when their legs hit cold water, pressing themself against the wall, crouching and holding their head between their knees, waiting for it to be done. It was. Eventually. |
They were still trembling after, aware of their partially submerged body, listening to the tumbling of pebbles near by. |
They waited an hour. An hour more. Before reaching out and feeling. |
Rock. Only rock a few feet to their right. |
Water, water to their left. Water that would dip down for a good few minutes before exiting the other side to dry land. Or it had originally, days before. They couldn’t say the same then, and singular fact filled them with such mortal dread they heard themself sob into the pitch black, the lack of light giving their ni... |
Something brushed their mind. A scratching anger, insistent, afraid. Quinntav knew it. That people’s minds had...specific "feeling" to them was never anything they had considered before, but there was no mistaking the one they connected with most often in their travels. They shuddered, gripping their scalp with their s... |
"Astarion," they heard themself mutter his name aloud: a prayer, a blessing. They had never been so goddamn afraid, not since that night in the inn when they would have sooner gouged out their lug then risk hurting him. Killing him. |
They shut the barrier closed— tried to. He forced his way through, hissing, angry, terrified. |
YOU SELFISH BASTARD! YOU PROMISED! |
Using their guilt against them. Of course. They laughed wetly into the cold air, almost giddy with the sound of him screaming in their head. It was a balm compared to the alternative. |
I’LL FIND YOU! I’LL FIND YOU AND RIP OUT YOUR HEART! |
They would offer it on a silver platter, sopping wet with blood, garnished with leaves of rosemary, sage, and thyme. If only they could see him again. |
IDIOT! CURR! SELFISH CUNT! |
He continued to hurl insults at them. They let him, curling into themself, trying to envision him doing the yelling in person. All fangs and fury, beautiful and resplendent. |
If they would starve down there, drown down there, chew through their flesh even to escape, at least it would be with his echoing anger in their head. |
ENOUGH WITH YOUR PITIFUL SELF-FLAGELLATION— I AM SICK OF IT. |
"You are wonderful." |
DO NOT ATTEMPT TO PACIFY ME AFTER WHAT YOU’VE DONE! |
"Love of my life." |
Only pressure and noise, harsh enough that, they, too, began to feel angry from the ambiance of his mood. At least if they died he would merely be pissed about it. Better that then anything else. |
Something slapped in the water beside them. Quinntav shrieked, kicking— the |
had found them, writhing and hungry-! |
"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME!" |
-?" Quinntav’s head hit he floor behind them, the sudden weight of a body on them, gripping their horns, straddling their torso, but they still could not see, and it was the sensation of fetid breath on their face that clamped their mouth closed. |
"YOU ASS! YOU WERE GIVING UP! YOU WOULD DIE DOWN HERE? YOU COMPLETE PIECE OF SHIT!" |
Quinntav grabbed him. He was wet and stinking from the filth he must have swam through, but he was also still weaker then them, still wriggling as they found purchase and safety and certainty that he was there at all. |
"You’re here." |
"Let me go, you self centered mongrel!" |
"You’re here!" They began blubbering in infernal, so goddamn afraid that if he could understand them he would leave them again, in the dark, alone. "Sweet Heavens I wanted you; I missed you, Astarion, Hells, I missed you. I’m sorry. I’m so, |
sorry! Please!" His wriggling had stopped, their sobbing likely too much to bear. "Please, don’t leave me in the dark again!" |
They continued to mutter into his wet shirt, arms around him, tail around him, face pressed into his hair. And he let them. |
It took two days for the water levels to lower enough for Quinn to swim. They wanted to try, unwilling apparently to have the vampire sit in the dark to wait for too long. But each time Astarion made the walk first, counting the second to see how many minutes they would have to hold their breath. Each time was too much... |
By the time they both emerged Quinn was sick with fever, the cold air of the tunnels below so harsh they had shivered through the hours violently, Astarion unwilling to leave them for a moment in case the tunnel collapsed behind him. He did not dare question this logic— why not leave, find some means of keeping them co... |
He had considering offering, all the same, but each time recalled the stark fear in their voice as they pleaded fiercely in their mother tongue to him. He did not need to know it to understand what they were saying. He knew that fear, too well. |
The others were there, waiting. Karlach with a thick quilt to catch and bundle Quinn up, Wyll offering the same to Astarion, who took it in his dazed state but otherwise refused to leave the other Tieflings be. No one spoke, all faces were grave, but there was nothing compared to the pale pallor of Quinntav’s face, the... |
The rains were gone, sun did appear through the clouds, cutting through the settled autumn air in shafts of apparent warmth. The temple that had been their prison for days seemed a place of refuge, none straying too far as Quinn was bundled into a cot in Karlach’s tent. |
Then...they waited. |
Astarion hovered over their sweating form. Sitting nearby, no one foolish enough to tell him to move. Vigils rotated around him, and he watched their face for change. He watched, and tried to stave back the dark they had left. |
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