Chapter 24

Vaidril and Dirinar stalked around the back of the twisting stalagmite that formed a bazaar on the eastern edge of Ched Nasad, looking for the contact they were meeting with.

He was where they'd expected, a dull-witted and nervous half-orc, twitching while he waited he so badly wanted to flee.

Vaidril spoke quickly, in low drow so as not to be overheard, certain the oaf wouldn't know hand-sign, "Well, you've come. Tell us what you know if you want the gold you were promised."

The half-orc glanced behind him, "Look I never seen 'em, but I hear people talk."

"Speak your piece," Dirinar hissed, wrinkling his nose.

The half-orc's brow furrowed, "They're a special show at the Crystal Spider, I think. Twins is what they say."

Vaidril glanced at his companion, how many twins could there be in one city?

"Where is this place, the Crystal Spider? What sort of place is it?"

"It's in the center of town, nice place, I'm not allowed in there. It's for fancy drow only - women only too. Wine and entertainment I guess. Stuff you come to Ched Nasad for."

"What is the security like? Do you know?"

The orc shrugged again, "I dunno. Real soldiers though, I know that. Big ladies."

"Do you know anything else?" Vaidril demanded.

"No."

Dirinar tossed him his few coins and the half-orc scrabbled for them, shoving them into his pocket and bolting away.

Dirinar swore, "Alright well… I suppose it is as we expected. They must be quite the commodity, of course they're owned by someone big. But it will be hard to get them out. We won't be able to afford them. They sound like their crown jewel."

"...What would you do? Report their whereabouts to Jarlaxle or try to free them ourselves?"

Dirinar thought about this, "Jarlaxle allowed us to stay on here, he must approve of what we're doing."

"Did you tell him what we were doing?" Vaidril asked.

"No. But he must know."

Vaidril sighed and sat on a rock, pushing his hand through his greying hair, "I'm sure he does. What I do not know is if she is really on her way back to Menzoberranzan. Certainly that is what we all assumed but I had not stopped to analyze why. Perhaps she's gone somewhere else."

"Why would she?" Dirinar asked, but he was not being dismissive.

"Any reason. She's hurt and she's her. It isn't as if she could dictate where they go. And besides, didn't Kar'Dritch say she had her sister with her? It would make more sense to head to the surface if she had a say in the matter at all."

"Jarlaxle won't be happy if he's waiting for her back home and she never appears."

"...He'd be plenty happy if we brought her home."

Dirinar laughed in a low voice and sat beside his companion, "How many different trails do we need? Do we find the elf twins tucked deep in a ritzy wine house or do we find the rogue elf herself off to the surface or maybe Menzoberranzan or maybe anywhere?"

"Do you know why she selected us when she suspected Jarlaxle?" Vaidril asked.

"Yes," Dirinar answered easily, "Because I'm a middling wizard unable to strive too far above the station I've already gotten and you're an old man."

Vaidril nodded, "Mhm, I think we should help her brothers."

"Because she rewards loyalty?" he asked.

"Because she rewards loyalty," Vaidril confirmed.

Drinidar did not comment that her rewarding loyalty didn't much matter if she never returned to the Bregan D'aerthe.

The big female soldier in stiff armor shoved Kimmuriel back by the shoulder, "Hold on there, pretty boy, no males, at least none without an escort."

Kimmuriel tried and failed to look pleasant, "I am meeting her inside," he lied.

She barked a laugh, her breath smelling like cheap mushrooms, "Sure you are, get out of here, you don't want to be down there anyway. Go home to mom now."

Gold appeared in Kimmuriel's fingers and he slid it into her palm, "No one will notice me."

She pocketed the gold but didn't budge, "Oh, someone thinks they're a big boy, get out of here."

He tried to change her mind by force but found an enchantment blocking his way. He could have shoved his way passed it but not without hurting her, and that would certainly raise alarms. For now, he did as he was told and backed off.

An elegantly dressed female noble slid passed him, purposely jostling him and whistling before she was waved into the wine bar by the guard.

"Vith," Kimmuriel swore under his breath, retreating to the alley.

He inspected every inch of the wine bar through the eyes of lesser beings that were milling around, orcs, kobolds, a stray human. Nowhere without guards. He swore again, knowing now that Jarlaxle would be much better at this than he was. He himself had never been any good at courting women. They found him awkward and off putting. Usually he preferred that, as it prevented a good deal of wasted time keeping them happy, but now he would need one to get in.

He would need to get a woman to bring him in, then lose her, then steal expensive slaves, then escape. The escape would be easy, he was a portal away from freedom at any time. He tried to look inside the bar but didn't get far. It was drenched in enchantments to keep people like him out. He'd imagine there were a hundred covert deals happening within its walls every night.

He could just curl up and die, he knew what he needed to do. He wanted to swear again. He wanted to go home. He wanted idiotic, selfish, stupid, merciless, unforgiving Tega to just be back. He reached up and unhooked the clip in his hair, letting it fall over his shoulders prettily. Tega had always liked it when he wore it down.

He felt a novel and uncomfortable wrench in his stomach, longing to return to the month on the surface at the library. What was the matter with him, longing for the surface? He unclasped his robe at the throat so a slice of his skin could be seen almost to his collarbone. With a last weary sigh, he turned and walked into a nice but less restrictive tavern. If he was going to get into that wine bar, he was going to have to get someone to take him.

Thank the small mercies of the world that Jarlaxle, nor anyone he knew, was not here to witness him slinking to the bar to sit and try to look pretty. Lloth, what was he supposed to do? Talk to them? Flutter his eyelashes? He sat stiffly in his chair and ordered a glass of wine when the bartender finally saw him.

As he'd feared, the women didn't seem to take much interest in him. It wasn't like he could just proposition them, he needed them to like him enough to take him somewhere nice.

His thoughts seemed very loud to him and were uncharacteristically scattered. He tried to give himself commands. Look over at them. Smile. Look pretty. But he found he was not entirely capable of doing that. When he glanced at them and attempted a smile he knew it looked more like a skitting grimace, which did not attract any women.

His second plan, to simply sit and have a glass of wine and look pretty had its pros and cons. The pro was that he could accomplish it. The con was that he sat. And he sat. and sat. And finished his glass. And sat. And still he remained there alone with no escort to the wine bar.

Lloth's webs, he must have been there for an hour. He scanned the thoughts in the rest of the bar and almost jumped to his feet, half in surprise and half in relief that there was a new option other than flirting. There were Bregan D'aerthe soldiers here.

Two of them in fact. One of them, some little wizard with yellowish hair and a little belly, was nursing an ale and watching a handsome, if sort of old fighter smoothly listen to a big, powerful female noble talk in a booth in the corner.

She was leaning over the old fighter, eyes gleaming as she told her story. He seemed duly impressed and Kimmuriel watching him lean into her unsubtle touches to his knee and fingers.

He swept across the bar and sat with the wizard, who jumped.

Kimmuriel did not ask his question, he just bored his eyes into Dirinar's and glared.

"L-lieutenant," he stumbled.

"What are you doing here?"

"I think the same thing as you," Dirinar guessed. He did not comment on the exposed collar and loose hair, but Kimmuriel heard him think about it. He repressed a blush with the force of psionics.

"You sent the old man?"

Dirinar shrugged, "He's good with women. They like him. They aren't as fond of me."

"You're plain and pudgy," Kimmuriel commented cruelly, not that being slender and pretty had helped him much, a thought shared by Dirinar.

"We will probably have to go in twice," Dirinar commented, "Once to scout and again to get the job done."

"Why? Just take them."

"And do what?" Dirinar asked, keeping his tone submissive, "We can't run off with two confused slave boys."

"Get them outside the building, I will get us out of the city."

Dirinar glanced at him then nodded, "We'll have to let Vaidril know, I'll get him the message, I have an idea."

Kimmuriel's brows twitched down, "I've already told him."

"Right- psion," Dirinar muttered.

Kimmuriel turned back to watch Vaidril talk smoothly to the female, her hand now resting on his arm. They got up and left the tavern together.

Jarlaxle ran his fingers over the armor in front of him, picking up the sword and swirling it to test its weight.

"They're bulky and poorly made," his weapon's master, Rajek complained.

"I know, they're human made," Jarlaxle answered, putting down the sword, "I'd have wished for elvish."

"Why not drow-make," Rajek quipped.

"Drow made arms disintegrate in the sun," Jarlaxle said offhandedly, testing a clasp on the armor and scowling at it, "Who ordered these?"

"I did, it was all I could find of surface arms. We will have to get higher quality versions when we are on the surface. That's where we are going isn't it?"

"Yes," Jarlaxle answered as the answer was obvious, "We are going to overtake a guild in Calimport."

"The human assassin."

"Indeed, there is gold to be had."

"And another adventure," Rajek dared to ask, "I guess the house wars are all sort of repetitive."

Jarlaxle beamed, "Yes, they are, aren't they."

"Is there money to be made on the surface? It's worth all this expense?"

"Yes," Jarlaxle said simply and headed back to his office.

Vaidril let the noblewoman, Katya, hold his arm as she brought them into the Crystal Spider. The wide and lushly carpeted lobby was filled with people, mostly women in richly woven spider silk and fine rothe leather, enough of them to set him on edge. He didn't exactly think anything would happen with an escort, but being around this many women always made him hyperaware.

Kayta nodded to a human waiter and took two goblets of wine, handing one to Vaidril, who took it with a smile, "Thank you, miss Katya."

"Wait until the show begins, it's always good here, there are fights sometimes even."

"As part of the show, or over the performers?" he asked cheekily.

Katya smiled at him, "Both. You told me you liked exotic. You'll see it here."

She found them a booth, sliding her hand over the varnished surface of the table, "It's wood, imported from the surface."

Vaidril looked suitably impressed by that, he didn't even have to fake it, he'd never seen wood imported from the surface. This was turning out to be an excellent plan, it was easy to talk to a beautiful and powerful woman and let her court him while he waited out the show. Of course this would be for naught if they didn't bring out or have the twins, but the worst that would happen is he'd have to let Katya take him to bed, which he could certainly live with.

"So are there dancers? What are the fights you were talking about? Do the dancers fight?" He didn't care if he sounded a little silly, women usually enjoyed explaining how things worked for themselves.

"Ah, well both," she said, "There will be dancers, real ones, not just the little trollops you get down in the cheap taverns. Some of the dancers can hold their own too, unarmed of course, It can be a little choreographed but it's pretty to watch. They're coming out now. They'll start up here and then we'll all wander up for the real show."

This level was set where the street was here, so going up would probably mean that an escape would entail being higher than street level. Getting outside to Kimmuriel would probably mean getting back down to this level and making it out the front door.

The troupe came out, surface elves, lights twinkling so their pale skin could not be missed, their dair hair dancing around their features. They were indeed exotic looking, the males so big and broad, the females so slight, as if the whole species had been made backwards, like humans without their bulky ugliness.

Their silks flowed around them, moving like hair submersed in water as they danced. It was obvious they were highly trained, their motions fluid and following the music that came from hidden shafts in the walls so no one needed to be distracted by players. Lights sprayed out, momentarily blinding the onlookers, and when it cleared two more dancers stood in the center of the performance. They were taller than the others, darker of skin, but in a brownish way, not the gray of a half-drow. They were also identical.

With their looks and movements they appeared more like a single creature reflected in a mirror, an illusion they broke almost as soon as they captured it, moving differently to assure the audience it was not a trick or illusion but to distinct, identical dancers.

That must have been them. While they didn't have Tega's weak frame, they did have her bright, intelligent eyes.

Vaidril leaned forward a bit and Katya laughed, "I know, they're mesmerizing aren't they. But look, that was just a taste."

As she spoke the dancers disappeared, floating magically upward out of sight.

It was a good trick, an excellent hint of a show to make the cover fee of going upstairs seem worth it.

Katya was going to take the bait, enjoying showing off how easily she could drop the amount of gold needed to get a brooch handed to her. She pinned it to her clothes and stood up, holding an arm out to put around Vaidril. He stood as directed and allowed her to tug him close, before they both began floating up in the direction of the dancers.

The upstairs room was lit too with sparkling white lights drizzled down stalactites left naturally in the ceiling.

Katya took his hand and led him to a seat, fetching them more wine on the way. The seats were in something of a semicircle around a center stage area. He could see what she meant now that the show was going on, the dancing having transformed into a spar set to music. He liked it, enjoying the practice moves done so fluidly, it took a great deal of control.

"You like it," Katya said, "You're grinning."

"Ah well yes, I train fighters," he explained, "This is gorgeous."

"Do you? Are you any good at it?"

"At the fighting or the training?" He asked.

"How about fighting? Packing some muscle under that silk?"

He let his knees nudge hers, "I can hold my own."

He caught the eye of one of the twins and signed as quick as he could under the table, hoping the surface elves knew how to sign, 'Tega..'

Because he was watching and because he had watched a thousand young fighters do variations of these moves, even if they hadn't been set to music, he saw the young elf's shoulders tense for just a moment. He had him. He… probably had him.

But now what? They were over there dance-fighting and he was here with Katya and Lieutenant Kimmuriel was outside with his portal. He was going to have to get them down to the main level, so he would need one of those brooches. He also knew he'd need to be able to use the brooch which he wasn't confident about. He'd been hoping for stairs. He was terrible with magic. This was starting to seem complicated. But he it's not like he was going to get a second invite here.

"Excuse me," Katya said, "I have some brief business with an old friend." She rose and left him there for a moment, making this his shot.

He groaned, he'd left most of his weapons with Dirinar, knowing they'd have been confiscated on the way in. He picked up a wine bottle and threw it with all his might at one of the jars holding the magical light. It did what he was hoping and sprayed light in a wild flash, making everyone twist in their seat and look at it.

He charged up, seizing the two boys' wrists, "Window," barked.

"We're two hundred feet up!' the first boy hissed back.

But the other boy, the one who had seen Vaidril's sign, was clearly willing to take the wild chance at freedom possibly orchestrated by his sister. A two hundred foot drop provided easy math, either the mad escape works or it fails and he hits the ground and dies quick. He bolted and leapt, curling up in a ball to break through the glass. His brother did not abandon him but followed shortly after.

Praying to whomever chose to help out, so did Vaidril. Three crossbow bolts driving into his back as he ran. The drow toxin hit him harder than it had when he was younger. He didn't make his jump, crashing into the wall under the window, his inertia alone tumbling him out so he hit the side of the building as he fell outside. Blackness pushing in on every side so quickly he could barely see the ground racing up to kill him.

By the time the portal opened beneath them, he toppled through it unconcious.

Khorvosa and Khiva were fleet-footed but neither of them had expected to be tossed through a psionic portal to a different place entirely. As usual, the orientation of one side of the portal was slightly different from the other so both twins tumbled ungracefully to the floor in Jarlaxle's office. Tangled in each other they had no hope of even leaping up, instead they sort of blinked at Jarlaxle at his desk, who blinked back, himself a bit taken aback.

Vaidril was even worse off, hit with crossbow bolts and dead to the world from the toxin, splayed out now on the floor.

Dirinar and Kimmuriel entered through their own portal, stepping through with much more dignity.

"Ah- you found them." Jarlaxle said, smiling at Kimmuriel.

Dirinar stooped over his companion, casting softly under his breath so Vaidril lifted off the ground, "Captain, I would take him to the medical bay."

Jarlaxle waved his hand dismissively, "Yes, of course," he was far too concerned with the two young elves now getting up.

The twins managed to get to their feet by then, pushing their backs together to regard the room in distrust. Neither of them liked that the one who had helped them was being taken away. They'd been in the Underdark for long enough to expect the worst from a change of circumstance.

"You are not about to become sacrifices to Lloth, that would have been a great waste of my time," Kimmuriel snapped as the thought flitted through the mind of Khiva.

The thought of punching Kimmuriel manifested so clearly in the other one's mind, Khorvosa, that Kimmuriel turned and psionically pinned his arms to his side, but the punch came from the other direction, Khiva hitting the back of his head so hard stars exploded in his eyes.

He was so startled that Khorvosa managed to kick him hard in the knee before he could react, psionically shoving both of them back. His every instinct was to shred them to pieces, but that would have been both a waste of effort and defeated the purpose of rescuing them.

"I am helping you, you foolish little maggots!" he snarled at them, righting his robe and trying not to limp.

"Stay out of my head then," Khiva snapped fearlessly.

"You are as demanding as your sister," he deadpanned.

He was not surprised by the hit this time, and stopped it before it could connect, forcing Khorvosa's hand back to his waist.

"How do you know our sister?" Khorvosa demanded.

Jarlaxle took this opportunity to step in, liking these two already. He understood what the slavers had seen in them, the young elves almost perfectly identical, a rarity among elves and almost unheard of among drow. Their powerfully built bodies almost shivering with energy. Drizzt's age, maybe.

He stood and bowed, sweeping off his wide hat and grinning at them, "Jarlaxle, Captain of the Bregan D'aerthe at your service."

The two boys looked at each other, shrugging their bronze shoulders at each other in unison before Khiva spoke first, "So what the hell do you even want?"

Khorvosa spoke too, the beginning of his sentence overlapping the end of Khiva's, "And where's Tega?"

Jarlaxle's smile widened and he poured them glasses of wine, which they did not take, and offered them seats, which they also did not take. Released from Kimmuriel's psionic grip, they started pacing around the edges of the room, touching Jarlaxle's things. Khorvosa finally sat on the edge of Tega's desk, Khiva stared at a little sizzle in the air that marked one of Jarlaxle's interdimensional pockets where he kept a guard.

"Perhaps you would like an explanation," Jarlaxle offered.

"Yep," Khiva said, picking at the edge of the pocket in the air.

"Your sister, Tega, is one of my lieutenants."

They looked at each other, "Our sister, Tega, is a lieutenant in a drow mercenary army?" Khorvosa asked, incredulity in his tone.

Khiva switched to their native tongue, unable to be understood by the drow, "Strategy, I guess," Khiva said to his brother, ignoring Jarlaxle, "This was a game?"

Khorvosa shrugged, "Came for us then? Sent the wizard boy?" He asked, half nodding at Kimmuriel.

They shrugged at each other again and Khorvosa switched back to drow, "So where is she then, your lieutenant Tega?"

"An excellent question," Kimmuriel said pointedly to Jarlaxle. He had been assuming she would be here already, sitting at the desk where the unruly Khorvosa was.

"Ah well, you see," Jarlaxle said, "She is away at the moment."

"Away?" both of her brothers asked at the same time, turning to give him their full, severe, attention. They had the same sharp glare Tega did when she was really upset, but they were each about a foot taller than she was, towering over both Jarlaxle and Kimmuriel.

"She was in Ched Nasad. She has not yet returned."

Kimmuriel spoke harshly, a quill on Jarlaxle's table shaking slightly, "It took a long time to procure these two. More than enough time for a trade caravan to arrive in the city."

"Ah yes, there is the twist," Jarlaxle said, "We've asked the trade caravans, no one has seen hide nor hair of her on any of them, and none of them were lost."

"...Then is she still in Ched Nasad?" Kimmuriel demanded.

"You lost my sister?!" Khiva demanded, stepping toward Jarlaxle.

"She is simply away. We will find her."

"Is she alone in the Wilds of the Underdark?" Khorvosa asked, also getting up, the two of them circling like wild cats.

"Never worry, she won't be away much longer," he glanced at Kimmuriel and shrugged a little, "We will find her."

Khiva looked fit to threaten them, but a look from his brother held him back, he got himself in order and said, "We'd like to rest and bathe. We need quarters. And proper clothes."

Jarlaxle liked how brazen that was, and enjoyed that they assumed they were here as guests even if they had enough experience to know they could very well be here as captives.

"Kimmuriel will show you to your quarters," he said, "We will talk more when you're rested, I'll make sure food is brought up to you."

Kimmuriel did not much cherish being treated as a boy, showing around the guests, but he did as he was bade, bringing them to a guests chamber and finally leaving them alone.

When the door was shut the twins set to work, scouring the room for enchantments and tricks. Finding nothing, they almost relaxed, sitting on the bed and leaning against each other's backs.

"Are we on our way out then? Is that what she meant for us?" Khiva asked, "Assuming she really did orchestrate this."

"I don't know if she did," Khorvosa mused, getting up to dig through the vanity. He found a set of grooming equipment, as he'd been looking for and returned to his brother to brush out his hair and begin weaving it as he thought, "They don't seem to know where she is and I don't know what they'd gain from lying about that. If they wanted us as leverage it wouldn't really matter if we got a little beat up."

"So attacking the wizard boy would have caused more blow back," Khiva finished for him, "You're right, of course, and if she's really a lieutenant then maybe they want to show loyalty."

They both just cracked up at the same time, giggling so hard their heads fell onto one another's shoulders.

"Tega is a mercenary-"

"-Dad would die-"

"Big bad Mikah would die!"

"A mercenary!"

They giggled and cackled until they could barely breathe, finally calming down enough to speak again.

"Then are we really getting back up to the surface do you suppose?" Khiva asked.

"Dunno, that blue portal shit makes it seem like we could if we could get the wizard to play along. What's his thing?"

"I dunno, in her thrall? Looking for her to give him a leg up? I couldn't get a read on where he was. High up probably, I don't know the ranking system of a drow mercenary band."

Khorvosa snorted, "Well I don't either, maybe he's into her."

"Do drow do that?"

"She might be able to trick them in it," Khorvosa said with a shrug, "We don't know what she's like, I barely remember her."

"I know she was no fighter," Khiva said, "As a child at least, who knows about now. She went with the surface crew, we don't even know where they went."

Khorvosa softened and leaned on his brother again, "Do you think she really came down here for us? To rescue us?"

Khiva smiled gently, "That would be nice, huh? Big sister looking out for us. Getting her pretty drow boyfriends to nab us from that tavern."

"But," Khorvosa said, "We are still in the underdark and still prisoners as far as reality is concerned."

Khiva's smile drifted off his face, "Well… we'll figure something out."