Part 1.
Coppers Cornet, 12 am, one of those days...
"Dear sister."
Sarevok's cold, measured tone put Rima ill at ease, even as she realized that it was another nightmare. The large male bowed. She noted absently that he did not wear armor, but that somehow did not make him neither smaller, no less threatening.
"Get lost," Rima heard herself growling in the dream. In dream Rima was by some reason taller, fairer and much more rude than the sleeping on the straw filled mattress Rima. "Get out of my dreams, you bastard! Is not it enough that I have to dream of a mad mage, this brat Imoen and assorted foes? I am done with you! You are naught to me! You are emptiness! You are a victory won and forgotten!"
Sarevok seemed amused. "Must you offend me so, dear sister? It was your victory, yes. You killed me, and I will be a fool to deny it. But forgotten? Aren't you dreaming of me?" Rima screwed up her face and did not reply. "If I ignore the dream, maybe it will go away?" It did not work for her before, but there is the first time for everything. "Yes," Sarevok said, "there is the firs time for everything." Rima trembled. "Do I scare you?" Sarevok asked immediately. "That's good. Fear makes you more human. And so much warmer." "I am not afraid!" she exclaimed, "I was never afraid of you!" "Then why did you kill me?" his parry was quick. Rima could not be slower in answering, otherwise she suspected that she somehow would lose this duel. "Because I had to,"she said with all calm she could master. Nine Hells, it was difficult to be calm in his presence!
"Good. Now, I wish to see if you are going to lie to me...tell me why it was necessary?" Rima growled: "I will answer if you tell me why it was necessary to kill ME!" Sarevok smiled: "It was not. But I was doing lot's of killing then, and I did not realize what you were destined to become for me. But I know now. It's you turn."
"To deliver the world of your madness," she said slowly, enjoying every word.
"Are you taking me for Anomen, Rima? Truth, tell me the truth!" Rima felt dizzy. She desperately wanted to dream of blooming gardens and laughter. Or Anomen.
To her horror, Anomen did appear by her feet all over sudden. He was laying in between herself and Sarevok, tucked into a thin woolen blanket.
An absent boyish grin on his youthful face. A curl dropping to his brow. A scar which could have been wiped away with a simple salve, but which he was so proud of.
It was Anomen, all right, and Anomen just as she remembered him before falling asleep that night.
"Truth Rima...Mine truth, not his...." She only then noted that Sarevok had a point of his huge black sword resting on Anomen's throat. Sarevok will not even have to push, she thought. He will have only to stop supporting the sword, and the sharp end will open the artery.
"Truth..." Rima licked her lips. "You are my rival...you were my rival. Killing you was the ultimate way to win."
Sarevok laughed and bellowed: "That was my truth back then in Baldur's Gate. But now I see it differently. There is a way sister, a simple way for both of us to inherit our father."
Rima scowled: "You kill him - and I will follow you to the Nine Hells, or wherever you are now!"
"I will not kill the boy, Rima. It will be left to you, I suspect."
The sword slid from Anomen's throat, leaving a dark trace behind it and slid towards Rima. She stood still as if a hold spell was cast on her and felt the cold tip of the blade traveling up her body, cutting her robes apart. The sword's tip stopped dead atop of her left breast, after the velvet and silk parted. Strangely she was not afraid any longer.
"Oh, you almost got it, sister. You are trying out the way...tentatively, yes. As a maiden who touches the cold waters of the lake with one toe of her foot...but I know, I can feel that you are growing bolder and sooner or later, you will dive."
Rima smiled: "Brother, you are the worst dream a girl can have." She tried to close the ripped dress on her chest, but Sarevok's sarcastic smile stopped her and she let the fabric to hang loose again.
Sarevok sheathed the greatsword at his back and started walking away into the strange, reddish mist which now was closing on them. Rima stepped over the still sleeping Anomen's body: "That's right! You get outta here!"
The large figure turned, and Sarevok's voice boomed: "Or you will follow me to the Nine Hells? Patience, my dear sister, patience. We will meet there, I foresee it." Then he added something that Rima could not quite hear.
She finally woke. This time Rima was not coveerd in cold sweat and tears. She felt strangely revitalized. Soon she got bored of staring at the ceiling and the square of the window lit up by the dawn and sleeping Anomen. Carefully she moved the sheets and blanket aside and looked at his throat. The man's tanned skin was untouched. Anomen's eyes opened, and Rima looked into untroubled azure, sweet as the spring sky. She lowered herself and kissed the man. Anomen's hands caught her waist and with a chuckle he threw the blankets away, pressing Rima closer to him.
As Rima shut her eyes, opening her embrace to her lover, she suddenly heard what Sarevok mumbled when he rushed away. This time it sounded louder and she understood every word.
One blood. One soul. One power.
Coppers Cornet, 12 am, one of those days...
"Dear sister."
Sarevok's cold, measured tone put Rima ill at ease, even as she realized that it was another nightmare. The large male bowed. She noted absently that he did not wear armor, but that somehow did not make him neither smaller, no less threatening.
"Get lost," Rima heard herself growling in the dream. In dream Rima was by some reason taller, fairer and much more rude than the sleeping on the straw filled mattress Rima. "Get out of my dreams, you bastard! Is not it enough that I have to dream of a mad mage, this brat Imoen and assorted foes? I am done with you! You are naught to me! You are emptiness! You are a victory won and forgotten!"
Sarevok seemed amused. "Must you offend me so, dear sister? It was your victory, yes. You killed me, and I will be a fool to deny it. But forgotten? Aren't you dreaming of me?" Rima screwed up her face and did not reply. "If I ignore the dream, maybe it will go away?" It did not work for her before, but there is the first time for everything. "Yes," Sarevok said, "there is the firs time for everything." Rima trembled. "Do I scare you?" Sarevok asked immediately. "That's good. Fear makes you more human. And so much warmer." "I am not afraid!" she exclaimed, "I was never afraid of you!" "Then why did you kill me?" his parry was quick. Rima could not be slower in answering, otherwise she suspected that she somehow would lose this duel. "Because I had to,"she said with all calm she could master. Nine Hells, it was difficult to be calm in his presence!
"Good. Now, I wish to see if you are going to lie to me...tell me why it was necessary?" Rima growled: "I will answer if you tell me why it was necessary to kill ME!" Sarevok smiled: "It was not. But I was doing lot's of killing then, and I did not realize what you were destined to become for me. But I know now. It's you turn."
"To deliver the world of your madness," she said slowly, enjoying every word.
"Are you taking me for Anomen, Rima? Truth, tell me the truth!" Rima felt dizzy. She desperately wanted to dream of blooming gardens and laughter. Or Anomen.
To her horror, Anomen did appear by her feet all over sudden. He was laying in between herself and Sarevok, tucked into a thin woolen blanket.
An absent boyish grin on his youthful face. A curl dropping to his brow. A scar which could have been wiped away with a simple salve, but which he was so proud of.
It was Anomen, all right, and Anomen just as she remembered him before falling asleep that night.
"Truth Rima...Mine truth, not his...." She only then noted that Sarevok had a point of his huge black sword resting on Anomen's throat. Sarevok will not even have to push, she thought. He will have only to stop supporting the sword, and the sharp end will open the artery.
"Truth..." Rima licked her lips. "You are my rival...you were my rival. Killing you was the ultimate way to win."
Sarevok laughed and bellowed: "That was my truth back then in Baldur's Gate. But now I see it differently. There is a way sister, a simple way for both of us to inherit our father."
Rima scowled: "You kill him - and I will follow you to the Nine Hells, or wherever you are now!"
"I will not kill the boy, Rima. It will be left to you, I suspect."
The sword slid from Anomen's throat, leaving a dark trace behind it and slid towards Rima. She stood still as if a hold spell was cast on her and felt the cold tip of the blade traveling up her body, cutting her robes apart. The sword's tip stopped dead atop of her left breast, after the velvet and silk parted. Strangely she was not afraid any longer.
"Oh, you almost got it, sister. You are trying out the way...tentatively, yes. As a maiden who touches the cold waters of the lake with one toe of her foot...but I know, I can feel that you are growing bolder and sooner or later, you will dive."
Rima smiled: "Brother, you are the worst dream a girl can have." She tried to close the ripped dress on her chest, but Sarevok's sarcastic smile stopped her and she let the fabric to hang loose again.
Sarevok sheathed the greatsword at his back and started walking away into the strange, reddish mist which now was closing on them. Rima stepped over the still sleeping Anomen's body: "That's right! You get outta here!"
The large figure turned, and Sarevok's voice boomed: "Or you will follow me to the Nine Hells? Patience, my dear sister, patience. We will meet there, I foresee it." Then he added something that Rima could not quite hear.
She finally woke. This time Rima was not coveerd in cold sweat and tears. She felt strangely revitalized. Soon she got bored of staring at the ceiling and the square of the window lit up by the dawn and sleeping Anomen. Carefully she moved the sheets and blanket aside and looked at his throat. The man's tanned skin was untouched. Anomen's eyes opened, and Rima looked into untroubled azure, sweet as the spring sky. She lowered herself and kissed the man. Anomen's hands caught her waist and with a chuckle he threw the blankets away, pressing Rima closer to him.
As Rima shut her eyes, opening her embrace to her lover, she suddenly heard what Sarevok mumbled when he rushed away. This time it sounded louder and she understood every word.
One blood. One soul. One power.