The Companions of Tartiël

by Jeff Wilcox

  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 ro
ad 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.

  The conversation in their camp that night, what little of it there was, was filled with concern about the winged girl and her plight. Kaiyr feared for the girl’s life, vowing to visit righteous wrath upon any who dared touch her. Caineye and Wild gave him solemn nods of accord and went to bed with no further discourse.

  Just shy of noon on the following day, the party’s efforts were rewarded when Caineye spotted a small cabin in the middle of the woods. It looked fairly recent and kept in good repair—perhaps it was someone’s oft-used hunting lodge.

  While Wild and Vinto ducked into the underbrush to scout out any dangers in the area, Kaiyr and Caineye waited in the middle of a small outcropping of rock that was just close enough to afford the companions a view of the cabin between the trees.

  “I couldn’t have picked a better spot, myself,” Wild commended the two when he returned, Vinto padding behind. After receiving two inquisitive looks, he nodded. “Nothing, as far as I or Vinto could tell. The group rode due south from here, which is why we didn’t meet them. The trail’s about half a day old. I didn’t get a good look at the house, but there’s a strange glow coming from the window on the other side.”

  *

  I frowned at Dingo but then looked at Matt. “Master Wild,” I said, deepening my voice to let everyone know that I spoke for Kaiyr, “what do you mean by ‘strange glow?’”

  Matt looked at Dingo, who told him, “It’s a strange, pulsing glow of pale white. It’s only coming out of the one window, since the others are all tightly shuttered.”

  Looking at me, Matt pointed at our DM. “What he said.” Shifting in his chair, he made it clear by his tone that he now spoke for his own character. “I’ll go take a closer look. Since all those windows are closed, they’ll never see me coming.”

  “It makes me nervous to send you somewhere we cannot see you, in case you need our aid,” I said in my Kaiyr voice.

  Matt shrugged. “Listen for the girlish scream. I scamper off toward the house, sticking to the shadows.” He rolled a d20 twice and added the results to his Move Silently and Hide bonuses. “Uh, yeah, they’re not gonna know I’m coming. Twenty-six on Move Silently, twenty-eight on Hide.”

  Dingo’s eyes popped, an expression we learned he gave anytime any one of us rolled tallied results higher than twenty. Considering Wild made Hide checks with a bonus of +13 at the time, it didn’t take much to get higher than a twenty. “Jeez,” he said, “well, you go pretty much invisible to the point where Kaiyr and Caineye lose track of you.”

  “Not likely,” I snorted, and Xavier chuckled, too, considering both our Spot and Listen modifiers were very high.

  “Yeah, you’re probably right,” Dingo said, turning back to Matt. “Anyway, you sneak up to the house without being seen or heard, as far as you can tell. The house is quiet except for the occasional soft, pained moan of a young woman’s voice from inside.”

  Matt nodded. “I keep going around to the open window and look inside, trying to stay hidden.”

  “Okay. Well, looking inside, you see several things. First, the place seems like a normal cabin, with throw rugs, a bed, a couch, kitchen, etcetera. But in the corner sits a strange shadowy form on a rocking chair. The chair rocks, though the creature does not move with the chair, and you can see the slats of the chair through its body. But the light is coming from down on the floor to your right.” He paused.

  “What is it?” Matt took the bait.

  Dingo grinned. “You see the winged girl, bound to the floor with chains that radiate darkness that spreads like a light, only in reverse. And I need you to make me a…” he glanced at his Monster Manual, “… Fortitude save.”

  Matt flinched, but Dingo didn’t notice. “You said a Reflex save, right?” he asked in vain hope.

  “Fortitude.”

  “Reflex?”

  “For—fuck you,” Dingo laughed as Matt groaned and picked up his d20, dropping it on the large book in his lap. “You need to beat a seventeen.”

  “Well,” Matt said in a resigned tone, “with my whopping plus two on my Fort saves, I get a whole six. What happens to me?”

  Dingo winced for Matt but went on, “Well, the good news is, you’re not dead. The bad news is, you’re blind.”

  *

  “What’s wrong with him?” Caineye wondered aloud, crouching next to Kaiyr as their small companion stumbled his way around the house, keeping one hand on the building as if to guide him.

  Kaiyr squinted, focusing on the halfling’s expression. “His eyes… he is blind.” Without another word, the blademaster rushed out to meet Wild.

  “M-master Kaiyr?” Wild whispered, feeling himself picked up by someone larger than he and wearing robes.

  “Yes,” the blademaster replied softly as he shuttled Wild back behind the rocks, Caineye and Vinto joining them as he set his burden gently on the ground. “Please, stay calm, Master Wild. You’ve been blinded.”

  Wild directed a grouchy scowl in the direction of Kaiyr’s voice. “I deduced that myself, thank you.” Much to Kaiyr’s and Caineye’s surprise, the little man found a rock and sat down with more calm and dignity than either of them had expected.

  “What—” Caineye started, but Wild cut in.

  “The girl is on the floor, bound by some kind of ch
ains. She seems to be in real pain, but whatever’s hurting her is invisible and doesn’t give her much chance to scream. My eyes gave out on me when I looked at her, but before that, I saw a shadow in the opposite corner, left of the door. From here, it’d be the far corner of the house.” He patted at his brow with a handkerchief he produced from one pocket. “I think I’m out of the game for now, friends. It’s up to you to get her out of there.”

  The other two nodded. “I can leave Vinto here with you,” Caineye offered, but Wild waved away the suggestion.

  “No, you might need him for that shadowy thing. It didn’t notice me, but I have no clue what it was. Besides, we’ve already found there’s nothing lurking in the woods around here.” Wild blew a sigh and drew his daggers, not needing to see in order to go through that practiced motion. “I’ll just sit tight. Give me a shout when you’re coming.”

  “Very well,” Kaiyr said. “Stay safe. Master Caineye, we must make haste. I cannot stand idle while she suffers.”

  “Right,” the druid said in Sylvan. “Let’s go.” With a hand motion to Vinto, he and Kaiyr headed to the cabin, Vinto circling around the other side and meeting them at the door.

  Kaiyr peered in through the window where Wild had been blinded, keeping his eyes averted from the slightly-glowing form of the young woman on the floor.

  “It’s their blinding beauty,” Caineye whispered to the blademaster, still in Sylvan. “Potent defense that renders all viewers permanently blind.”

  Kaiyr frowned as he ducked back below the window. “There is no cure?”

  Caineye shrugged. “Any simple magical means of recovery, yes. Nothing any layman could afford, but we can fix Wild up soon enough.”

  The blademaster nodded, then indicated the door. “I saw that shadow creature in there. It stares at her with impunity, unless it already is blind.”