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she thought gratefully. Thank the gods. Well, Gale anyway. |
They slunk along the hallways, carefully avoiding servants who were frantically scrambling this way and that. It reminded Tav of an ant mound someone had stepped in - the dizzy activity of a panicking hive. They kept to the shadows, which were deep and plentiful thanks to the new curtains, until they came to the librar... |
"How many idiots do I need to dispatch to find |
one gods-damned spawn? |
" The ascendant was angry, stalking about the room as several night walkers knelt before him. One spawn mumbled something she couldn’t quite hear and he struck her across the face, sending her reeling to the floor. |
"I don’t want |
," he spat, "I want |
" Tav whipped back to the other side of the door as he turned toward her, walking away from them. "No one can find Caeral, Vivienne, or Tavwren. You’ve been searching for weeks and come up empty. |
Useless, all of you. |
" Tav listened in horror at the sound of wolves ripping into flesh and the screams of the spawn ricocheting off the walls. She heard the faint clap of boots as the ascendant walked further into the ballroom. She peeked around the corner again and found him settled in his throne, nervously shaking one leg as he watched ... |
Tav inhaled shakily. It had been so long since she’d seen true combat, she wasn’t sure he could take him down. Seeing him like that, angry and powerful even in his reduced state, she was worried. She glanced around the room, looking for something to take advantage of. She noticed the heavy red curtains darkening the wi... |
"Caeral," she whispered, beckoning him with a tilt of her head. He came close and peered around the door. "Think you can get rid of that curtain?" He smirked, a small flame lighting in his hand. He nodded. |
"Viv, there are at least a dozen wolves," Tav murmured. "You’re not going to be able to sneak." |
"If you distract them, I can still take them by surprise," she whispered. She produced a vial of swirling blackness, handing it to Tav. "Throw this at them when the fighting starts and I can use it to my advantage." Tav nodded. She notched an arrow, her knees wobbling. |
"Ready?" They nodded. Tav closed her eyes hard, then burst through the door, arrow loosing with a twang. |
The arrow whizzed through the air, aim true, but the ascendant’s reflexes were sharp. His head bent to the side just enough for the arrow to bury itself in the plush red cushion of his throne. Caeral lobbed a fire bolt at the curtain, setting it alight. The acrid stench of burning fabric filled the air as thick black s... |
Tav notched another arrow, drawing her bow fully, and leveled it at the now-vampire lord. He smirked at her cruelly, reaching out his hand. She had no time to react as his magic enveloped her, and she was held tight, her bow still drawn. She growled at him from her invisible prison. Caeral ran at the powerful vampire, ... |
He reformed behind her, his mouth close to her ear. |
"I’ve missed you, darling," he cooed. She felt ice as he bit viciously into her neck, drawing some of her blood out. She thrashed in her mind until finally she was able to overcome his hold on her. She threw an elbow back, which caught him in the chest. He released his bite on her, staggering enough for Tav to run away... |
She climbed up on the throne, her hands held out to the beasts before her. She channeled as much magic as she could muster, willing them to be still. They whined, ears cocking to the soothing hum of her voice. |
"Easy now," she whispered, magic infusing her words. "We’re all friends here. I don’t want to hurt you." The wolves calmed, tucking their tails, and turned away from her to wander back out into the fracas without purpose. She locked eyes with Astarion as he lunged at her, knives glinting. She dodged one, but the seco... |
"My love, let’s stop fighting. I don’t want to kill you. I love you." She wobbled, suddenly woozy, and fell into him. He held her aloft, sinking a tender kiss into her lips. She closed her eyes with a soft moan. She felt the blade as it sunk into her side, and she winced, her eyes flying open. Something in her mind sto... |
"You good?" He eyed her wounds and she nodded, shaking off the charm. She blinked rapidly, her head swimming. |
, she cursed internally. She swiftly downed a healing potion and felt the movement return to her shoulder. She turned and ran, aiming for the curtains. She climbed them swiftly, perching atop a wooden beam near the ceiling. From here, she could see the smoldering of the flaming curtain had ceased. She pulled a fire ar... |
The darkness cloud dissipated and Tav’s heart wrenched as she saw Vivienne surrounded. The wolves sprang on her at once, ripping and tearing flesh. From her perch, Tav loosed an arrow, hitting one straight through the neck. It fell with a yelp, and then was quiet. |
"Caeral!" Tav pointed and he turned, spewing blasts of magical energy at the wolves, driving them back from Vivienne. She stood and brandished her knives. Her movements were fluid and graceful, a deadly whirling dance, as she sliced at the wolves surrounding her. Blood showered over her, and Tav was reminded of how Ast... |
She was suddenly gripped about the neck and hurtled to the floor. She landed with a deafening crash, and she felt as well as heard the cracking of her bones. She groaned, rolling protectively, trying to fight off the pain. All at once, he was there, pulling her into his embrace. His face was worried, his eyebrows tilte... |
"Astarion?" She lifted a hand to touch his face. He leaned into her touch, caressing her hair. Her wounds didn’t feel so bad anymore. He smiled at her softly, and she smiled back. His silver hair framed his face, and she noticed it was streaked with red blood. She wiped at it idly, wondering where it came from. |
"Yes, my love. I’m here now. You’re safe with me." She cried silently, staring into his ruby eyes. |
My Astarion. My Starry Eyes. |
He leaned down to kiss her, their eyes locked together. Suddenly, he jumped back, still clinging to Tav, and she winced from the pain in her back. He slipped his hand into her pocket and produced a healing potion. He lifted it to her lips and she drank it down. |
"We’re not out of the woods yet, love," he whispered hurriedly. "You’ve got to help me, please." His large eyes bore into her. Something inside her stirred, conflicted. She willed the thought to come up, her brow furrowing, head pounding, but it was quashed like a rainstorm over a wildfire. She smiled blankly at him. |
"Anything, my love." He kissed her cheek swiftly and placed her on her feet. |
"That’s my girl." He smiled, his thumb trailing over her lips, and her stomach flopped pleasantly. Distantly, she heard someone yelling. She started to turn her head, the pounding inside growing heavier, but he caught her jaw with his finger, gently, and turned her back to him. |
"You were out for a minute, darling. You’re all right now. Let’s finish them." He smiled wickedly, and she nodded. Turning, she lobbed an arrow at the first target she saw. It hit with a satisfying smack, and the creature went down. She notched another arrow, leveling it at a swirling mass of black and red before her. ... |
Then the sun came out. |
The heavy curtain fell away from the window and sunlight came pouring in. Astarion keened behind her, his skin cracking in the sunlight. She rushed to him, panicked. Sunlight shouldn’t hurt, he was... |
Her mind wrenched away from his with a jerk, and she cursed aloud. "Fuck! Charmed |
" She pinned him down beneath her boot, and he screamed in agony. She pulled out the knife she’d stashed in her belt and hovered over him. He clawed at her uselessly, screaming at her. |
"Tav! Please, help me! Oh gods, it burns! Darling, please!" |
"I’m not your darling," she hissed. "And you are |
my love." She plunged the knife into his chest viciously, but no satisfying blood coursed forth. Only ash and grit remained beneath her. He was gone. It was done. She sank back on her heels, heaving. The remaining wolves took off, and Vivienne sat heavily, exhausted. Tav looked around for Caeral, who was laying nearby... |
"Caeral!" She rushed to him, picking up his head. It lolled heavily in her hands. She shook him, calling his name. Vivienne appeared at her side, inspecting the arrow carefully. Sunlight streamed in, illuminating the three of them in the golden afternoon glow. |
"Mother...what happened?" Vivienne pulled gently on the arrow, but stopped when fresh blood sprang forth. Still, Caeral did not move. Tav pulled out her last healing potion and carefully poured it into his mouth. He did not choke or splutter, did not swallow. It filled his mouth and trickled out the side, staining his ... |
"What the fuck," she whispered, panicking. "Why isn’t he moving? Why won’t he get up?" She closed his mouth around the liquid, trying to force it down his throat. Blood oozed from his ear slowly. "Caeral," she called, stern. "Get up. Get up, Caeral." |
Vivienne stood, pacing anxiously. She looked around. "Maybe if we get him out of the sun," she mused. Tav looked at her and nodded. They each grabbed a leg and dragged Caeral across the ornate floor and into the shadows once more. A sickening trail of blood stained the floor behind them. Tav knelt beside him again, pat... |
"No...my boy...my heart..." She sobbed, hefting him up onto her lap. Her fingers raked through his dark hair, shaking. "Caeral..." Vivienne cried softly, her hand over her mouth, and for once she did not sway. They wept over the man who had taken care of them throughout the years, who had protected them with his very l... |
The room spun and flickered, blinking in and out of existence. At once a turbulent sea in the midst of a raging storm, then again a comfortable sitting room, then enshrouded in a black abyss, then coated in the very fires of hell. Gale’s unstable emotional state shifted and changed the surrounding tower as he knelt bes... |
All at once the tempest ceased, the room returning to how it had been when they had first reappeared there. Gale saw Tav’s relief as it ghosted over her face, and he sighed. |
"You should have come back as soon as you realized," he said heavily. "His soul is gone. It will take powerful magic to bring him back." Tav glanced between the two men, her eyebrow raising imperceptibly. |
bring him back, right? Aren’t you a god now? Can’t you just...grab his soul and push it back in?" Gale laughed, a bitter sound. |
"It would not be so simple, even if I were a true god." Tav blanched and he sighed. "It’s time I told you the truth." Her eyes hardened, suspicion coloring her face, and she crossed her arms as if to brace herself. |
"Ao, the Overgod, met me when I put the crown on my head. He was...less than appreciative of my trying to wrest control from him. He decides who is god and who is mortal. Most people believe he is the creator of all other gods - he who came first." Tav absorbed his words silently, and he continued on. |
"He told me that I would have to succeed in an old challenge and follow the old rules, because I wanted to use old magic to usurp him. Should I fail, I would be doomed to an eternity trapped within stone, just as Karsus has been." Tav’s eyes widened, and he added hastily, "I had no doubt you could do it, of course - I ... |
"However, should I succeed, I would not immediately be raised to true godhood - I would have to decide the fate of Mystra. I wish to control the weave as she does, and by the old rules only one god can have a portfolio of talents - hers being command and control of the weave. I can banish her forever from existence, I ... |
"Merge with her?" Tav looked incredulous, and he nodded, not meeting her eyes. "I can’t imagine enmeshing your entire being with your ex for all eternity." |
"It would not be exactly like that," he hedged. "We would become a new entity, neither Gale nor Mystra, and also entirely both Gale and Mystra. It is difficult to put into words for mortal comprehension." |
"Then, this is your chance to get your revenge on Mystra. You can banish her and take her place!" Gale’s mouth fell open, looking at Tav. Had she always been so...amoral? Her eyes were hungry, greedy, and he recognized the look in them. He had seen it before, when Astarion spoke of ascension. When he, himself had firs... |
"I wonder if I might have a private word?" His gaze was insistent, but hers flicked nervously between him and the others before settling with a nod. He walked her down a hall and through a door, into the secluded glen where they had shared their moment of intimacy. She stiffened immediately, discomfort roiling off her ... |
"What’s this about, Gale?" Ever since she’d found him in the hells, she’d been of one mind: how to free Astarion’s soul. She had thought of nothing and no one else. He wondered if that was truly the best solution. He chose his words carefully, sadness and longing mixing into them. |
"I know this has been most difficult for you," he began. "Finding out Astarion’s soul has been trapped in an icy hell is, to say the least, shocking. You’ve had some time to consider the consequences, but you haven’t heard my thoughts on the matter." She bristled imperceptibly; he knew she thought he was toeing the lin... |
"Go on then," she replied cooly. He exhaled heavily before continuing. |
"I truly loved Caeral," he said sadly. "He was the port in a storm and the storm itself. That being said, his soul has moved on from his body. He may not wish to return to it." She cut her eyes to his, surprised. |
"Why wouldn’t he? From what I could tell, he loved you too." Gale felt a pang land in his heart, but he brushed it off. |
"If I am to be a proper god, I can’t just go around plucking mortal souls from their rest for my own benefit," he said. She scoffed, but his plunged on. "If he wants to come back, he will. But if he does not... I would not wish for anyone here to go chasing him." |
"I wasn’t chasing him," Tav whispered, and he knew at once she was talking about Astarion. "He didn’t want me to find him. It was like we were connected, and I found him without looking. Magnetic." Gale flinched internally. He had often felt her magnetic pull for himself. He still wished it was reserved for him alone. |
"I wonder if you’re considering the damage his return might do to you, mentally." Tav looked confused, and he continued. "Whether you want to admit it or not, his body, his mind is what has tortured you for the past fifty years. It was some part of him, even if only part. The worst of him. I can’t imagine the pain it w... |
Tav seemed to consider his words, turning them over in her mind. She resolved something, her brow furrowing, and she looked back to Gale. His pulse quickened at her gaze, as it always did. |
"Of course it will be hard," she said softly. "Nothing worth doing is ever easy, but I’m no fool. That monster controlled me for fifty years, through magic and manipulation. All I’m asking is that Astarion’s soul go free from its prison." |
Gale paused, surprised. "You...don’t want him returned to life?" She blinked, seemingly just as surprised as he was. |
"Honestly, I hadn’t thought that far ahead. I just knew I couldn’t leave his soul there to rot." Gale watched as tears welled in her eyes, and he reached a hand out on the grass between them. She took his offered hand carefully in hers, and he squeezed softly. She felt cool to the touch. |
"Please, Gale." Her large dark eyes bored into his very soul. "We can’t leave him there." Gale stared back at her, his brow furrowing. |
"You have no comprehension of what you’re asking of me, Tav." She looked away, a deep pain coloring her fine features. "If I banish Mystra, the weave will be unstable. She has a great many followers, and I have nearly none. I would be replacing a greater divine being, my own power paling in comparison to hers. It would... |
Her eyebrows raised, her mouth pursing, but she did not speak. |
"You are, effectively, asking me to become one with Mystra for all eternity. Damning my soul, in exchange for his." She flinched hard, drawing her hand away as if scalded. Her shocked face would be comical in any other situation. He shrugged angrily, rolling his shoulders with jerking movements. |
"Unless what you’re really asking is that I become stone for eternity, instead. I can’t simply rescind my bid for godhood - Ao has made clear that should I not become a full god, I will be turned to stone. And not in some abstract "oh we all become dust in the end" way. Truly, my entire consciousness will be turned to ... |
"Why are those the only options?" He blinked at her stupidly. "Why can’t you pick some other god and destroy them? Like, an evil one." Gale sighed heavily. |
"I am not yet strong enough to be picking fights with other deities. Even lesser gods are stronger than I will be should I ascend. It would take decades, centuries to amass the power required to take on another god and win." He cut his eyes to her. "Something tells me you won’t be so patient when you are mortal again." |
Tav sighed heavily, her head dropping into her hands. She pulled her knees to her chin and buried her eyes into them, wrapping her arms around her legs. She looked childlike, afraid and lost. |
"I don’t know what to do, Gale." Her whispered voice carried to him shakily. She was crying. He scooted closer to her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. She leaned into him, allowing him to hold her while she cried. He placed a kiss on her head tenderly. |
"Have you considered," he began at last, softly, gently, "leaving it lie?" She tensed under him, but he pulled her tighter. "Life is for the living. Astarion made his choice, and he is being punished for it. No one can say where his soul might have gone upon death, but it could just as easily have gone to the same devi... |
"You could stay with me," he whispered. "I know you care for me. I care for you. You can forget about him, in time." His gaze bore into hers, his heart pounding in his ears. He would wait as long as he needed for her to forget about the damn vampire. |
Tav stared at him for a long time. Her eyes were soft, but her lips were a hard line. |
he thought. She was at war with herself, and he could only watch the battle unfold across her expressive face. He leaned in, hoping to turn the tide in his favor. He captured her mouth in a gentle kiss. She returned it, hesitant, then broke away. He did not look at her as she stood. He already knew what he would find. |
"I promised him I would come back for him," she said, resolute. "I won’t abandon his soul in hell." Her voice softened a little as she continued. "I do love you, Gale. So I won’t ask you to help me. I’ll take care of it another way. I’ll do something else." He did look at her then, his eyes wide, fear setting his heart... |
"What would you do?" He stood, catching her hand. "You can’t kill a god, it’s impossible." She smiled, but regret colored her face. |
"I’ll figure it out," she said. "I stole from a devil once. Maybe I can steal from another. I don’t know." She turned, her hand slipping out of his. He tried to catch her, as if she was about to walk off a cliff. She turned back, one eyebrow quirked. |
"Can you do me one favor, Gale?" He nodded without thinking, and she smiled. "Don’t turn me mortal just yet. If I could keep your boon for a while, I have more power and I can get more done." He turned pale, feeling sick, but he nodded. She would stay a vampire to save Astarion. She would stride into the very hells to ... |
It had been almost fifty years since Astarion had felt hope. Tenuous and intangible against the bitter cold, the mental anguish, the physical pain. It was barely there, a ghost of an echo of a whisper, but it was there all the same. He remembered clearly the first and last time he’d felt so foolish in this icy prison. ... |
But now, sitting in this cell alone, he felt the barest hope prickling at the back of his mind. |
I’m getting you out of here. |
Her resolute words played over and over in his mind like a spinning wheel. Still, it could have been a particularly elaborate ruse. Until he saw the souls. From his cage near the top of the icy dungeon, he had seen a great glow rise from the pit they were held in, their disembodied voices howling and shrieking, a cacop... |
Astarion had no way to know how she would return, or when, or if she would even succeed. He was left alone to wait, aeons stretching out before and behind him. The waiting was torture enough, it seemed, for the calculating Cold Lord. He did not busy himself with Astarion, nor did he visit the dungeon to survey his men... |
Suddenly he was rendered blind, and he knew a vision was coming. He braced himself for the inevitable. He was sure he would see himself standing over Tav once more, bloodied and broken. Instead, he seemed to float above a moonlit scene. Two people sat beside a babbling brook, close and intimate in the silver light. The... |
"It seems your lover has found someone e new," he drawled. "Pitiful creature. How could she think of you when she has him?" Astarion looked down at the floor. His heart wrenched painfully. |
"Good for her," he choked. The devil laughed, a haughty, cruel sound, as he departed. Astarion did not weep. He felt hollowed out and numb. Perhaps it was for the best. He had made his choice, and though he wished desperately he could take it back, he could not. She shouldn’t trade her soul for his, her life for what r... |
Tav and Vivienne were gone; Gale was alone. Well, not quite alone. He stood, looking at the body on the rug. A night orchid was on his chest, one hand placed on top of it to hold it there. He looked peaceful. Gale hesitated to disturb him. There was every chance that, should he ask him, Caeral would decline to return. ... |
The spell was poised and ready. All he had to do was cast it. Still he stood, green swirling around his hand. He did not want to hear the drow tell him that he was right where he wanted to be. He was afraid. Still, an answer could not be found unless he sought it, and so finally, he uttered the words and allowed the sp... |
The corpse regarded him lifelessly, eyes and mouth open, poised to speak. Gale took a shuddering breath in. |
"Where is your soul?" The bones in the body rattled as arcane air flowed through the body, whistling words pressed through his mouth. |
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