Forgotten Realms 1. Searching

Disclaimer: The Forgotten Realms and two of the characters in this story are not mine. I will not reveal their names at this time, but will say it should be blatantly obvious who they are once they appear and I will give you gentle readers their given names at the end of this fanfic. But trust me, it _is_ really obvious. The other characters are mine though.

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Mathis surveyed the destruction around him and his cohorts. Most of the surviving villagers had fled a few weeks before but the reaped the unfortunate rewards of their courage. A few charred corpses slowly broke down to ash here and there stood in silent testament to their misplaced bravery. A recent rainfall had kept the damage around the thorp to a minimum, but only served to make the scene more tragic. "Keep your eyes open," Mathis grated to his three companions.

Zaiid carefully poked at some of the rain soaked charcoal that had once belonged to a small house with his curved kukri. The dark skinned, black haired and eyed Calishite managed to remain utterly nondescript in the face and his clothing tended towards various shades of brown and grey, none of it matching. Though Zaiid's clean shaven face held no extraordinary qualities, it hid a person who noticed much and had passable tracking skills. "This happened recently," the southern thief called over to Mathis in a soft tenor. "Half a day at most."

"If you say so," Branwe grumbled. The ample blond woman shifted her shield from her back to her arm, loosened a heavy spiked mace from her belt and scanned the purple-grey mountain that shadowed the burned out thorp. Helm's eye stared out from the icily blonde woman's shield and her pale blue eyes coldly regarded the surrounding fields. Scale mail glinted from underneath a drab blue surcoat.

Mathis shifted his shoulders in his steel chainmail armor as he turned a jaundiced eye towards the last member of his adventuring party. Dimly, in the back of his mind, he realized that he did not give Sashen the credit she deserved. On the other hand, he had not wanted his know-it-all kid sister along on this trip. How she managed to convince their parents to let her tag along on a dragon hunt remained a mystery to Mathis. Sashen shared his olive complexion and spare frame but not his pursuit of martial prowess. He saw her sitting in the middle of the thorp, doing something in that journal of hers. She could be prevailed upon to throw spells, but only if she lived long enough to do so.

"Sashen!" he called. "Keep your eyes to the skies! I do not want to explain to our parents how you got fried for not paying attention!"

Sashen rolled her eyes, Mathis knew the look, but got to her feet. "We're really close to the dragon's lair now," she stated.

"Of course we're close!" Branwe turned and snapped. "Look at the village around you!" The watcher of Helm had even less patience with Sashen than Mathis did.

Not that any of this seemed to bother Sashen. She tucked her journal under one arm and pointed towards a small gap in the trees. "The dragon's lair is that way," she said mildly. "There should be a cave complex around that area that it's probably using as a lair."

Zaiid heard and started poking around in that direction. Mathis noted that sometime during the past two days the swarthy thief had begun to trust Sashen's guesses implicitly. She was usually right after all. Branwe's scoffing cut into Mathis's musing, "Right. And what makes you say that, missy?"

"I read a few accounts from a band of adventurers a century ago. They had been hired to clear kobolds out of the caves but noted that the cavern complex was quite large and ran very deep," Sashen ignored Branwe's tone. "I did that while you three were feasting with the county magistrate."

The lady cleric snorted and tromped off to kick at the remains of one of the hovels. Mathis suppressed a sigh. Branwe had not been able to rein in her distaste for his bookworm sister. Well, neither had he but he felt entitled as Sashen's brother and when he bothered to admit it, he did love his younger sister.

Zaiid whistled to the rest of the party. As the fighter, cleric and wizard jogged over, Sashen grinned. She was right about the direction the wyrm went and they all followed the bits of cow that headed off through the forest and towards the single mountain.

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_Elsewhere_

"So, how exactly were you going to convince the Wandering Flame to invest?"

"Well, I explain that once we collect enough rogues to start a mercenary company, our first order of business will be expanding our investor's revenues for a set period of between twenty and fifty years after which we part and go our separate ways."

"At which point we should be able to kill it if it objects strenuously. Or at all. Plan B is we grab as much as we can and then run like every demon in the Abyss is after us."

"Sounds about right."

The two partners grinned at each other. Both stood near the same height and shared a slim, strong and lithe build. From there, the similarities stopped.

One dressed plainly, but carried unornamented, well cared for longswords in an open, easy manner that silently whispered of long use and skill. Slight heaviness in various locations in his shirt, vest, duster and boots hinted at hidden weapons. He crouched in the tight quarters of the dry, warm tunnel in fluid silence as he alertly focused on his surroundings.

The other looked like a fashion plate that had a sudden and violent collision with a wet wall of graffiti. While a little taller than his partner, he did not have as spare a build and managed to convey an air of unconcerned aloofness to his every movement as he kept an eye out on the way they had come.

The armed figure sighed and said, "Well, waiting isn't going to get us our business venture. Let's go."

"Lead the way."

The pair padded stealthily through lightless tunnels.

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All right, here's where you either huff that I stole X amount of time from your lives or gush with joy for chapter one or go find something else to look at on the internet. Please hit the happy author button, I really do need to keep my cynicism in check.


	2. Plotting

Disclaimer: The Forgotten Realms and two of the characters in this story are not mine. I will not reveal their names at this time, but will say it should be balatently obvious who they are once they appear and I will give you gentle readers their given names at the end of this fanfic. But trust me, it is really obvious. The other characters are mine though.

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Zaiid came back to the mouth of the cavern where Sashen thought the the dragon would be lairing. The young mage listened closely with Mathis and Branwe as the thief described the caverns he described the tunnels ahead in a soft voice, " The tunnel is fairly round a long ways in and stays clear most of the way through."

"No cover anywhere?" Mathis asked quietly. Branwe frowned.

Zaiid shook his head. Sashen joined the discussion in a hushed voice, "If there aren't any stalactites or stalagmites then it's probably an old lava tube."

Branwe looked at the dark haired wizard skeptically, "And how might you be knowing that?"

Mathis suppressed a sudden urge to shake the blond cleric. Sashen had a habit of being a bit oblivious at times but she always did her research thoroughly and always had details that kept the rest of them from running into something unexpected. At least she did most of the time.

Sashen simply whispered, "Well, there were a few documents in the archives at Brightkeep that said 'the mountain of fire had been quenched.' Sounds like an extinct volcano to me, which are sometimes riddled with old, empty circular tunnels. Also, red dragons favor volcanoes, active or otherwise, as lairs."

"So could there be other, more normal tunnels in there?" Mathis asked, partly for information's sake and mostly to forestall another one of Branwe's gripes.

Sashen shrugged, "Possibly. How far did you get down the tunnel network, Zaiid?"

The dark Calishite grinned, "Far enough to start to see the dragon's glow. Didn't go take a peek though."

"See any deep fissures or crevices in the walls?" Mathis asked.

"A few that went really deep," Zaiid shrugged. "None big enough for an adult red to get through. Deep enough to hide another cavern network."

"We can use them to escape then, should things go downhill," Mathis commented. "All right you two," The fighter pointed at Branwe and Sashen. "What spells do you two have that could help us or hurt it?"

Branwe smirked, "Helm knows that I've enough protections to maybe withstand a breath or two from the wrym. More if we can all dodge well enough."

"I've got a few abjurations that should help a little and a few non- fire based spells that might be effective," Sashen began slowly. "Ice spells will hopefully work. What's the plan?"

"We heavily enchant one person against the dragon to act as a distraction and strike the first blows against the red," Mathis suggested. "Everyone else takes potshots and runs. Hopefully we find it asleep." The fighter surveyed the skeptical looks that came back at him. "Only a suggestion."

Branwe glared at him, "We should wait until we see the main chamber and if the lizard sleeps."

"That would be a good idea," Sashen chimed in. Branwe stared at the mage, who continued, "But we should get our spells together now and cast the longer lasting protections before we go in there."

"So if the dragon unexpectedly attacks, we have some protection," Zaiid finished for her. "This plan is good."

Mathis nodded agreement and the two spellcasters went to prepare their spells. Zaiid made sure that their little nook by the cave mouth was shielded from casual observation. Mathis busied himself checking and rechecking the straps on everyone's pack and making sure his own weapons and armor were in good order.

A short while later, Sashen closed her spellbook and put it away. As she did so, she whispered to Mathis, "Why does she pick on me so?"

Mathis glanced at Branwe, who still sat at her devotions. "She hasn't gotten used to you yet, that's all," he said in a reassuring tone.

Sashen snorted, "Right. Zaiid was even more obnoxious than she is but he came around ages ago." Mathis opened his mouth to reassure his youngest sister again but Sashen cut him off, "I know you think she's worried about me and my lack of combat experience, but don't you think after those goblins she would have laid off a little?"

"It'll be fine," Mathis clapped his sister's shoulder. "She's just stubborn, like someone else I know." He grinned when Sashen swatted him upside the head and settled back to wait for the cleric.

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Please zap a review with speculations, random musings, brimstone laden diatribes and comments. Also someone please tell me if any character starts to resemble a Mary Sue. I really want to avoid that literary pitfall.


	3. Running

Disclaimer: The Forgotten Realms and two of the characters in this story are not mine. I will not reveal their names at this time, but will say it should be balatently obvious who they are once they appear and I will give you gentle readers their given names at the end of this fanfic. But trust me, it is really obvious. The other characters are mine though.

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Branwe rose from her devotions to the Ever Vigilant and waved Mathis, Sashen and Zaiid over to her. She smiled broadly and said, "I'll be casting a couple of general defensive spells and the longer lasting fire protections." She started muttering and waving her hands through the air while holding her faith's stylized eye etched on a copper medallion. The quartet felt a chill blanket drop over them, followed by a wave of serenity.

Sashen cast armoring spells on herself and Zaiid, the lightest armored of the group and proceeded to cast a displacement on Branwe and stoneskin on Mathis. "That's all of the diamond dust," Sashen sighed, "So don't ask for another one. The spell should last a while though."

Zaiid took up scouting at the mouth of the old lava tube followed by Mathis, Sashen and Branwe. The empty volcanic artery wound steadily deeper into the dark. Mathis noted with growing worry that the cracks that Zaiid had mentioned became deeper, wider and more numerous as they trekked father into the caves. Banwe noticed the crevices as well and became more watchful of the tunnels behind them. Zaiid kept looking ahead for the red glow of the dragon. Sashen wondered if the small glimmers of light she saw in the deep crevices were eyes or a simple trick of their small lantern's light against the rock.

Zaiid held up a hand to signal the troupe to stop. He listened intently for a few minutes before padding softly back the Mathis, Sashen and Branwe. "Voices ahead," the thief murmured.

"How many?" Mathis whispered back. The fighter could feel a cold sweat start to trickle down his back.

Zaiid held up three dusty fingers. "One of them is probably the dragon," he added softly.

"We need to rethink this, " Mathis muttered.

"We need more information," Branwe said as she rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"And we all need to confirm it," Sashen added quietly. Three pairs of eyes stared back at her incredulously. She flushed a little and explained, "Duke Robun doesn't like or trust anyone who even looks like a thief. If we have to go back for reinforcements we will need, unfortunately, more than just Zaiid's eyes on report. Sorry Zaiid."

The Calishite nodded his acceptance impassively. "At least the dragon is distracted," he sighed. "How do you suggest we do this then? You two make more noise than a herd of camels hung with dancers' bells." The thief pointed at Branwe and Mathis.

The burly woman shrugged and said, "I've a silence spell prepared but that'll limit our own spellcasting considerably."

"Area effect spell that can be centered on an object?" Sashen asked. At Branwe's nod, the mage grinned, "Cast it on something we can throw at at the dragon. Then we do that first thing if things go sour." Sashen presented one of the darts she used to bring down small game. "I know it won't do any harm to the wyrm but it is easy to throw."

"I'll cast a few more defensive spells now, then cast the silencing one," Branwe agreed and proceeded to hurry her way through a spell to prevent dragonfear.

After the cleric cast the silence spell, the party continued down the lava tube in an eerie blanket of deafness. Soon enough, a ruddy glow started to bathe the tunnel in macabre light as they crept along. Then the tunnel opened up into the dragon's lair.

The cavern's ceiling shot up into the gloom beyond the ruddy glow that permeated the chamber and reflected off the myriad piles of gold, jewels and objects d'artes that took up most of the hoard room's rough floor. Where the old lava tube had been clear of obstructions the entire way down, the large chamber the quartet found themselves in sported colonnades of rock dropping down from above, pooling on the irregular cave floor. They looked like they had melted into place. A careful eye noted that the roughness of the floor resembled the surface of a pond touched by a strong gale, frozen in stone.

Zaiid carefully scouted ahead and Mathis, Sashen and Branwe fooled when he waved them over to his position. Not able to hear anything, Mathis worried that they may suddenly find themselves facing the dragon around any corner. They continued their slow progress through the treasure hoard.

Zaiid signaled another halt, mouthed "dragon" and pointed around the mound of coins the party crouched next to. Sashen peeked around their cover and Mathis looked over her shoulder.

There the red dragon sat looking down at two figures standing before it. Both were slender and wiry. One stood in an impeccably tailored shirt, vest and trousers, a cloak tossed rakishly over one shoulder. His clothing had bright patterns of yellow and magenta over darker azures and reds. The cloak seemed to shift in hue with changes in how light hit it. His hair was neatly tied back into a long tail.

The other had tousled, short cropped hair and a plain, grey leather duster with a dark blue shirt, worn black trousers and scuffed boots. This one carried a pair of longswords belted around his waist and casually rested his wrists on the pommels as he regarded the dragon.

Most worrying to Mathis was that both figures sported the inky black skin and pale white hair of dark elves and they appeared to be trying to strike a deal with the red wyrm. Sashen pulled back behind their protective pile of dragon's hoard and started to tug on Mathis's collar to get him out of sight.

As it was, Mathis felt through his knees and boot soles a rumble and saw the red dragon bestow a crocodilian smile upon the two drow in front of it and heave a long breath. It stopped smiling and sniffed the air again. Mathis felt a wave of dread suddenly crash over him.

He, Sashen, Zaiid and Branwe crouched close enough to distinguish some of the details of the dark elves garments. He could see individual scales on the dragon's hide. They hid far too close to a live, awake dragon to go unnoticed for long. The basso rumble that shook the rock beneath his boots confirmed Mathis's misgivings.

Sashen figured it out too and threw the silenced dart away. A cacophony of noise hit the party with the force of a hammer blow. Over the din of the outraged dragon, Zaiid shouted, "Scatter!" The thief ran for one of the crevices. Branwe followed him. Sashen took off like a bird in flight in the opposite direction, away from both the red wrym and the fleeing thief and cleric. Mathis hesitated to see what the dragon was doing before running for cover.

The two drow in front of the dragon had spread out. The one in grey threw something at the dragon's face that smoked against the red's scales. As it turned towards his, the other drow drew something like a wand from his belt and pointed it at the irate dragon. A glob of green goo appeared and splattered against the side of the dragon's muzzle. A ball of darkness dropped over the wrym's head half a moment later. Both drow turned and ran in opposite directions, inadvertently following the paths that Sashen and Zaiid had taken.

Mathis shook himself out of his torpor and started running in a direction different from both Zaiid's and Sashen's paths as the dragon started to thrash wildly about, taking out chunks of rock and collapsing the deeper crevices.

Mathis ran into one of those deep cracks, quickly pulled a sunrod out of his pack and struck it on the run. Rumbling crashes continued to resonate around him as he kept going blindly forward.

After moments or months of running, Mathis saw a welcome ample figure in armor coming around a bend followed by a smaller shadow. "Branwe! Zaiid!" the fighter panted, relieved. "Thank the Triad! Where's Sashen?"

"Haven't seen her," Zaiid piped up. "She's sharp enough to..." The thief's words were interrupted by a sudden explosion of rocks and dust from the tunnel wall. Mathis, Zaiid amid Branwe backpedaled as quick as they could as dust swept into the narrow corridor, blocking all vision for a few moments.

When rock had stopped falling, Mathis called out, "I'm fine. Is anyone else?"

Zaiid answered, "I'm in one piece. Branwe?"

"'M good," Branwe grumbled.

"I too am unhurt," remarked a laconic tenor voice. "Not that any of you asked."

The dust started to settle out and Mathis saw three figures in the gloom. The brightly dressed dark elf had stumbled into their corridor.

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A/N: Yes I know this is long, but action scenes take forever to write. Time to make this author happy with a little note saying how much you loved/hated/ate-a-cheese-sandwich-instead-of-reading this fic. The button is below...


	4. Found

Disclaimer: The Forgotten Realms and two of the characters in this fic are not mine. All mystery guests will be revealed at the end of this fic so all I can say is BE PATIENT. .

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Sashen came awake slowly, by degrees. It felt warm and dry, not unlike the memory of her Aunt Dorie's kiln in Baldur's Gate. Gradually, the roughness of the ground on which she lay resolved itself into dull aches and a pounding pain somewhere above her right ear. She felt gritty, like sand and dust had fallen inside her shirt collar. The dull aches turned into sharp pains as she started to move and found the scrapes on hands, forearms and shoulder. Sashen pulled what courage she had together and opened her eyes.

She blinked, then blinked again. It looked exactly the same with her eyes shut as open. The red glow from the dragon had been completely cut off. The space around her was so dark that the dark seemed almost tangible. Briefly, Sashen reviewed the spells she had at her disposal. Nearly all were destructive in nature and would not generate a lasting light.

Sashen pulled herself free of the rubble that she lay in, awakening a whole new set of bruises in the process, and felt around for a marginally decent place to sit. After discovering the hard way that she could not fully stand up, Sashen found a shallow little nook that she could fit into and proceeded to take account of her situation while impatiently waiting for the ringing in her ears to fade away to something tolerable.

The mage remembered running as fast as she could for one of the deep crevices leading off of the dragon's hoard room. She vaguely remembered footsteps following her and supposed that Zaiid, Mathis or Branwe had run in a direction similar to hers. Conceivably, someone was close enough to link up with her and find a way out.

Sashen could feel that her shoulder bag with her spellbook, change of clothes and bedroll still hung off her unscraped shoulder. Unfortunately, she did not carry any of the heavier items associated with camping, but she knew she always kept candles and a small flint stone packed away so she could study her spells at any hour. She checked her knife sheath at her waist and found her dagger in its usual home. The mage grinned. It would take some rummaging but she could at least have some candlelight for a little while, maybe find a useful scroll tucked away in her book and hopefully have her brother, the thief or the cleric find her sooner rather than later.

As Sashen reached to unsling her pack, a faint yipping noise froze her in mid motion. She stayed as still as she could while listening as hard as she could. The yipping became clearer and seemed to move closer. At a loss for what to do in such tight quarters, Sashen pulled her cloak off her shoulders and covered herself with it, ignoring the burning aches that moving brought on and hoping that enough dust caked her cloak to make it less distinguishable from the rocks. With luck, anything with darkvision that looked at her and would think "rock."

The yipping thing now had a friend that made growling barks with it. Burying the panic that screamed at her to flee, Sashen focused on staying silent and still as the creatures got closer. A scent, dry, musty and reptilian, overlaid the smell of dust and igneous rock. Sashen heard a soft patter of footsteps get louder as the creatures came closer.

The footfalls stopped and the mage heard more yips and barks. She waited as the barking voice came a little bit closer. Her fear rose in direct proportion to the critter's perceived distance from her shrank. Then she heard two muffled thuds. Trying very hard not to succumb to the wave of panic that coursed through her, Sashen remained as motionless and silent as a partridge in hunting season.

Something suddenly clapped around her mouth. Terrified, Sashen struggled and thrashed as one of her arms became pinned against something that had a little give to it. She drew breath to start shrieking like a banshee when an oddly accented baritone voice hissed in her ear, "Stop it! Do you want to draw the kobolds to us? Because I can assure you, there are more of them than you or me and they will not be as nice as I. Clear?"

Mouth still held shut and breath coming in small gasps, Sashen nodded and felt the stranger's grip ease a tiny bit. She did not think the new slack would be enough for her to break free. "Good," the voice continued in her ear, "I'm going to let you go now. Try anything... interesting and I will simply leave you here without those candles of yours."

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A/N: I hate cliffhangers as much as the next person but this is a long section and could use some break up. On the other hand I really want to update this on a semi regular basis. For those of you who took the time to read this far, thank you! Please leave a review should you have time to do so!

On an unrelated note, I have discovered that most descriptive language is visually based and not aurally based.


	5. Traveling

Disclaimer: Idea mine. Some characters mine. Forgotten Realms not mine. Two characters not mine. Enough said.

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The hand came away from her mouth and the grip on her arm left. Sashen heard soft whispers of supple leather against rock move from behind and to the side to a place roughly in front of her. She pulled herself free of her tangled cloak and belatedly realized that her shoulder pack no longer lay across her back and was around her waist instead. Groping for the opening of the bag told her fingers that it had come open and some of its contents were not inside. "Where's my stuff?" the mage asked, partially to find out what the newcomer would do, but mostly because she felt too tired from the sudden adrenaline letdown to muster up any more panic.

A few soft swishes of cloth and leather through the dust of the cramped tunnel later, a soft cloth bundle wrapped around something more solid was nudged into Sashen's lap. A quick check told her hands that her beeswax candles were snug in the folds of one of her spare chemises. "You're one of the drow who was talking to the dragon aren't you?" Sashen whispered, nervous. "What are you going to do with me?"

"I am going to deposit you back with your little party and after that is really none of your concern. We should get going."

"But I can't see without light...eep!" The mage felt a very rough, strong hand grip her wrist firmly.

"That's why I'm leading." The drow sounded amused as he gave a light tug on her wrist.

"I've got candles..." Sashen began.

"Which would be better suited elsewhere," he replied patiently. "They aren't bright enough to deter anything." The dark elf gave another light pull on her wrist.

Sashen did not budge. "Why are you helping me?" Her earlier fright gave way completely before her sudden rush of curiosity.

"Think of yourself as a bargaining chip," irritation began to creep into the drow's voice. "Now move." He gave a sudden, hard pull at Sashen's wrist at the same time a soft soled boot caught her on the ankle. Sashen stumbled forward and the pull on her wrist kept her tripping through the low section of tunnel.

The dark elf kept her moving out of the cramped tunnel and into a tall and narrow section where they could stand but sidled along sideways. Sashen could start to feel the rock pressing in around her in a very real sense and tried to stave off the onset of acute claustrophobia. The dark elf kept a guiding hand on her at all times as he led her through the cave passages.

Left with nothing but the whispers of leather and cloth against stone started to grate on Sashen's nerves. She started to remember all the horror stories involving dark elves she had ever read and her nerves frayed a good deal more. Finally, to try anything to get a measure of the person presumably leading her back to Mathis, Zaiid and Branwe, Sashen asked quietly, "What's your name?"

He stopped and countered, "Why do you want to know?"

Sashen just shrugged and heard a short chuckle before the elf tugged her along and answered, "I'm D'Aerthe."

The mage felt her anxiety ease off a little and they continued on quietly for a while. Eventually, Sashen's curiosity got control of her mouth again. "So..."

"Shh!" D'Aerthe stopped moving forward. Sashen felt him draw close enough to whisper, barely audible in her ear, "There is a steep drop off ahead. It opens out into a good sized chamber. You will be able to stand and stretch out for a little. I need to clear the kobolds out first though." With that, Sashen felt a soft swish through the air next to her, then nothing. She felt out to where her ears said the dark elf should be and found nothing but rock and empty air.

She groped her way farther along the narrow fissure, muttering under her breath about impulsive men, starting with D'Aerthe and ending with Mathis and how much she wished her brother was around.

Sashen heard a sudden spate of barks and yips in the tunnel ahead of her. As she felt her way towards the drop off that the drow had mentioned, one of the barks ended in a choked gurgle. Another yipping sound abruptly rose in pitch and tempo before halting mid yap. The chamber beyond erupted into flickering blue light.

For the first time in hours, it seemed to the mage, she could see. The fissure ended in a sharp cliff a small ways off from where she stood. Sashen hurried to the drop off, worried the light would fade before she could get there.

The scene that greeted her blended the surreal and the macabre. Three reptilian kobolds lay dead or dying of the six that Sashen could make out by the dim azure light. D'Aerthe wove in, out and around spear reach of the three diminutive lizard creatures still standing, two of whom stood lined out in illusory blue flames. All the while he threw out the occasional counterattack, parry and riposte with the pair of longswords he spun, not seeming to favor one hand or the other. The dark elf did not act particularly concerned with doing in the surviving kobolds, preferring to dance in and out of reach while scoring them with nicks and cuts that ran black blood in the eerie flickering light.

Sashen readied a loud and obnoxious comment that Mathis would have appreciated, but stopped when she noticed something at the edge of her vision. Something moving appendages like arms in a motion similar to spellcasting caught the dark haired mage's attention. Thinking that the drow, dangerous as she thought he was, still was her best shot to finding Mathis, Zaiid and Branwe, Sashen decided to take steps to keep D'Aerthe in one piece. She spoke a quick, odd sounding rhyme and fired five pink blazing bolts of force at the shadowy creature.

It shot its spell off before she did. A small spark of lightning jumped from the shadowy whatsit towards D'Aerthe as the drow continued to goad and bleed the remaining kobolds to death. The conjured spark danced harmlessly over the dark elf without touching him whereas Sashen's missiles slammed into the enemy spellcaster. In the vague afterimage from her bolts, she could see a kobold shape with a staff or spear falling limp to the stone cave floor. The staff hit the ground with a loud crack.

The remaining kobolds jumped at the noise and D'Aerthe called out, "Uss whol dos!" Then his tempo of combat changed from lazy taunting to terrifyingly fast. He cut down the remaining little kobolds in a blur of steel completely at odds with the slow, easy parries half a heartbeat before. "Lueth rraun whorl ussa," D'Aerthe coolly commented to the still cavern.

Sashen gulped and strove to keep the worry off her face. If the display she just saw was anything to go by, she absolutely did not want D'Aerthe to get in any sort of scuffle with anyone she knew and even remotely liked. If the elf's blade skill did not convince her, the flat, cold glare on his face as he cleaned off his swords did. As she watched him in the dying blue light, the icy look melted away into something warmer as D'Aerthe sheathed his blades and walked to the stone beneath Sashen's perch. "You will find it much easier to get down while there's still light to do it by," he observed mildly.

Still feeling a little unnerved, Sashen replied, "It's too high. I'll fall."

"Hang down by your arms, then let go and I'll catch you," the drow grinned mischievously. "I won't go nearly so well for me if my bargaining chip gets injured while in my care."

Unwilling to turn to masochism for any reason, Sashen sighed in resignation and sidled down the drop until she hung onto the ledge by only her hands. The last of the blue faerie fire flickered and died, leaving the mage disoriented in the blackness with her feet swinging in empty space. She felt a hand grip her boot and steady her. "You're only about chest high from the ground," D'Aerthe said encouragingly. "It's safe to let go."

Still scared, Sashen did so. She lost her balance in the landing and felt her head spin and her stomach lurch. A solid grip around her shoulders guided her to a sitting position on the cool cave floor with her head between her knees. As Sashen waited for the nausea to pass, D'Aerthe's voice quietly came from behind her, "That lump on your head bothering you?"

"I didn't know you knew," Sashen commented. She felt her head ease off its spinning.

"Hard not to notice something the size of a riding lizard's egg on the side of a skull. It'll fade." The dark elf sounded oddly sympathetic. "If you can, we should get moving," he continued. "Don't want the undercreatures to find us among their fallen brethren."

Sashen felt herself go slightly green. D'Aerthe gripped her wrist again and led her through the kobold bodies and the cooling pools of blood to the caverns beyond.

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Uss whol dos - one for you

Lueth rraun whorl ussa - and six for me

Thanks to House Maerdyn's online Illythiiri translator :)

A/N: The next chapter may be slightly delayed because I am penning the last few bits while typing up the middle sections. The next chapter will also be very long, it just worked out that way. And my thanks to you wonderful people who are reviewing! I am feeling the author love!


	6. Reunion

Disclaimer: I've gone through this 5 times already. Go read one of the earlier ones (sigh).

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Mathis stared at the cavern's ceiling and prayed to Illmater for patience for the umpteenth time since the thrice bedamned drow had accidentally dropped into their laps. Zaiid and Branwe had both jumped the dark elf and now had him trussed up like a stuffed roast after a prolonged scuffle. Branwe now sported an ugly, spreading black eye and Zaiid had to be careful about taking deep breaths. Mathis limped slightly from a twisted ankle from when he joined the party in subduing the drow. The fighter's sunrod was propped up like a torch among some rocks, shedding what light it could over their little section of cavern.

Questioning revealed that the dark elf's name was Bregan and that he and his partner had been looking into entering a business arrangement with the dragon. From there, Mathis had been dealing with more arguing from Branwe and Zaiid than actually questioning the drow. Bregan now sported a gag in addition to his bond for trying to elevate, continue or goad Zaiid and Branwe into arguing more. Mathis had gagged the dark elf. He now wished he had done so to the cleric and thief as well.

"We should kill him," Branwe growled for what had to be the hundredth time since the drow had presented himself. "He'll report back to the dragon and try to sell us out and the Duke while he's at it!"

Bregan muttered something around his gag and rolled his eyes theatrically. Mathis suppressed another sigh and felt the beginnings of a monster headache coming on. The fighter caught Zaiid looking at him. The swarthy thief said softly, "You want to look for Sashen, don't you?"

"If we do, then what do you suggest we do about that one?" Mathis nodded towards the drow.

"I still think we may need to question him later. So someone's going to have to stay behind to watch him," Zaiid cocked his head to the side and considered that problem. "It would have to be you or me. Branwe's too likely to kill him while we aren't looking."

Mathis took a deep breath and said, "I'll do it because I know I won't let him loose."

"What idiot do you know who would do that?" Zaiid grinned and started off down the tunnel with soft footfalls.

"Sashen would," Mathis murmured. Zaiid's receding steps stopped and Mathis looked up at the thief, wondering what the hold up was. Zaiid stood barely within the light cast by the sunrod, listening.

"What is it?" Branwe asked the rogue. Even the drow appeared to pay attention to whatever lurked farther down the tunnel. Mathis felt his worry coagulate into a cold lump in the pit of his stomach until he heard a familiar voice joyfully shout, "Zaiid!"

Sashen, dirty, disheveled and sporting a lump on the side of her head, ran into the light and gave the Calishite thief a hug. Mathis felt a huge chunk of his worry lift at the sight of his wayward sister, not that he would ever tell her that. The mage released Zaiid, ran over to Mathis and gave him a hug that threatened to crack ribs, even through his armor.

Branwe's voice cut into Mathis's relief, "I guess we won't be needing this one anymore." The rasp of a knife unsheathing drew Mathis's, Sashen's and Zaiid's attention to the cleric. Branwe toyed with a dagger as she looked down at Bregan. "Now that she's back, we don't need him anymore."

Sashen's eyes widened as she stuttered, "…I …that's not…"

"What the mage means," an unfamiliar baritone voice growled, "Is that killing my partner would be a supremely bad idea." All eyes swung to focus on the second dark elf as he strode into the lighted section of tunnel, a sword in one hand and a dagger in the other. "Anyway," he continued, grinning, "That's my prerogative."

Bregan, still bound and gagged, huffed a breath through his gag and rolled his eyes. D'Aerthe stopped out of Branwe's reach, but kept an eye on Zaiid and Mathis as well.

Mathis let go of Sashen and assessed the second dark elf. His long grey duster mostly hid plain, worn sword scabbards and the blue shirt peeking out above his coat collar. The human fighter took careful stock of the new drow's stance and came to the conclusion that any attempt to swarm this one would likely result in a lot of trouble, most of it on his end. "If we cut your cohort loose, what happens?" Mathis asked carefully.

"They betray us to the dragon," Branwe gritted out. "We should kill them both while we can."

"I can answer for myself, thank you," D'Aerthe said coldly to the cleric, "And as far as I'm concerned, four to one odds are good." He regarded Mathis, "To answer you, we either leave or stay and discuss our options with you." Bregan said something indecipherable through his gag and nodded, ignoring the large cleric towering behind him.

Mathis considered. "Branwe, stay where you are and keep an eye on that one." He pointed at D'Aerthe. "Zaiid, Sashen and I will talk it over real quick while you all stay where you are." The drow nodded their consent and D'Aerthe settled down to glare at Branwe.

Mathis pulled Zaiid and Sashen in close and asked, "Any ideas?"

"D'Aerthe, the one that came with me, doesn't seem like such a bad sort," Sashen commented. "He just guided me back here, no attempts to force himself on me or anything. I've read accounts of drow encounters and raids but he acts almost totally opposite those accounts."

"Meaning?" Zaiid prompted.

"He's either halfway decent or a really good actor. What about the other one?"

"He talks a lot," Zaiid groaned. "And his name's Bregan."

"And he seemed absolutely certain that you would turn up unharmed," Mathis looked at the lump on Sashen's head. "Mostly unharmed anyway. And how would he know that unless…"

"Unless D'Aerthe and Bregan have some hidden means of communicating with each other," Sashen finished resignedly. "No wonder D'Aerthe kept calling me a bargaining chip."

"All right, they wanted to wiggle into our good graces… why?" Zaiid asked.

"They were talking to the red before we came in and botched things for them," Mathis mused.

Sashen grinned suddenly, "So, logically, what would they do to salvage their situation?"

Zaiid caught on to the wizard's insight, "Either rob the wyrm blind, kill it and make off with as much loot as they can or try and patch things with the dragon. So…"

"So they've taken steps to try to prove their effectiveness and or secure our trust, depending on which theory you want to hang on to." Mathis saw where the Calishite thief and the wizard were going. "'Trustworthy' is not the first term that comes to mind when describing drow elves."

"So the question is do we want them as allies and what sort of treachery can we expect from them if we do," Zaiid commented and glanced over to where Bregan, still gagged, watched them discuss and D'Aerthe and Branwe busily engaged in a glaring match.

"I wonder how long they can keep that up," Sashen mused as Zaiid and Mathis smothered chuckles. "So," she turned back to her brother and the rogue. "Any thoughts?"

"I don't really see our situation being any worse with them than without them, Mathis," Zaiid commented. "Might as well have an extra pair of swords for however long they stay on our side."

"Three swords," Sashen corrected. "I don't know about this Bregan, but D'Aerthe fights with two swords."

"Anyway," Mathis growled at the mage, "We are agreed that we want them on our side for the time being, right?" Sashen and Zaiid nodded. "Then let's tell them so we can salvage the situation."

"Then all we have to do is keep Branwe and the dark elves from killing each other," Zaiid muttered.

"Right," Mathis turned back to Branwe and the two drow. "Branwe, ungag Bregan there. D'Aerthe, is it?" The grey clad dark elf nodded and Mathis continued, "You said something about discussing our options?"

"So I did," D'Aerthe smirked in satisfaction. "My associate can better outline our proposal." He glanced at a stunned Branwe, who had not yet ungagged Bregan. D'Aerthe arched an eyebrow and remarked blandly, "It would be difficult for him to do so while gagged."

Branwe still stood stunned at the turn of events. Zaiid stepped forward to untie a happy looking Bregan as Branwe recovered her sense of outrage. "You can't be serious!" the cleric told the room in general.

Zaiid ungagged Bregan, who said in an amused voice, "Why not? My partner and I have no interest in the surface at this time. You all want the dragon dead and we want as much gold as we can carry."

"Because you are treacherous scum," Branwe spat.

"No, that's only me," Bregan said patiently. "D'Aerthe's a double crosser only half the time." Mathis looked over at the drow in grey. He seemed to be holding back laughter.

Mathis squelched a sigh. At least Branwe was likely to keep an eye on the two drow and ease off her griping about Sashen. Mathis cleared his throat to get the party's attention. "You two," the fighter pointed at the two dark elves, "Can come with us on the condition that you see this through beginning to end. 'End' means the dragon's dead and we, meaning Sashen, Zaiid, Branwe and I, are safely out of the caverns."

Bregan grinned and nodded as he dusted off his vibrant clothing. D'Aerthe nodded and sheathed his sword and dagger. Branwe glared at Mathis. Sashen and Zaiid wore similar expressions of mixed hope and dread. Mathis felt his headache returning.

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A/N: I restate again that all canon characters are incognito for the full duration of this fic. Names will be revealed at the end. Please send me a little note with a click of the happy author button. Even if you are sending an unhappy note :-)


	7. Revisions

Disclaimer: Some mine, some not mine. You figure out which is which.

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An hour later, Mathis's headache had grown into a dull, persistent pounding in his temples. Bregan and Branwe would not stop sniping at each other. Mathis suspected the flamboyant dark elf thoroughly enjoyed bothering the cleric. For good or for ill, however, it meant that planning with Sashen, Zaiid and D'Aerthe went remarkably smoothly.

"So you think that our original plan of splitting up will still work?" Zaiid asked.

"I suppose so," D'Aerthe shrugged in the light cast by the fighter's sunrod. "You've got a few more fighting sorts available and we may be able to surround her. Still be a tough fight though."

Zaiid stared at the short haired dark elf, "This coming from someone who considers four to one odds good."

"Only because I've walked away from such odds before," D'Aerthe replied evenly. "Never tried a dragon before."

Sashen opened her mouth to say something when Branwe spoke up loud enough to carry, "What would a black hearted backstabber like you know about earning an honest living?!" The people planning turned and looked over at the irate cleric and Bregan.

The dapper dark elf smirked as he noticed the attention on him and said, "So you don't think of mercenary work as 'honest'? How do you explain yourself then?"

Branwe started to flush a shade of red that looked painful for someone with fair skin and started to growl something at the still smirking Bregan, too low for Mathis, Sashen and Zaiid to hear. D'Aerthe snorted and covered his own grin behind his rough hand. Curious, Mathis asked quietly, "What did she say?"

"Gumash il tlu jala mzild kyreshorl?" D'Aerthe snickered, "Sorry, the yathrin threatened my partner with dismemberment."

Mathis felt his jaw drop. Incredulous, Sashen blinked, "That's funny to you?"

"Neither of us really starts worrying until someone starts talking about flaying us alive," D'Aerthe grinned.

"Rough neighborhood you come from," Zaiid remarked blandly.

"Very true," D'Aerthe agreed in a similarly bland tone.

"If you two are finished swapping life stories?" Mathis huffed. Sashen giggled as Zaiid and D'Aerthe turned back to the plans at hand. The dark haired fighter continued, "I still think that one team should be more heavily outfitted than the other."

"Agreed," Zaiid said. "Sashen and I in one, you and Branwe in the other."

"And where do you think you'll fit in best, D'Aerthe?" Sashen turned to the grey garbed dark elf. "D'Aerthe?"

D'Aerthe was frowning at Bregan and Branwe arguing. The colorful dark elf made numerous hand gestures as he punctuated his debating points. Sashen started to feel ignored and gave the swords-elf a poke. D'Aerthe turned back to the planning at hand, still frowning, "I'll go with the mage and sneak thief. And no, you are not responsible for making sure Bregan doesn't get his head smashed in by your yathrin."

"Nice of you to say so." Mathis did not look forward to the prospect.

"As long as I don't get blamed if he knifes her in the back," D'Aerthe replied.

"Back to the hazards at hand, if you will?" Zaiid asked, then continued, "Do we have any more defensive magic or do the casters need to renew the ones we have?"

Sashen shrugged, "Most element based protections last a little while and unless you had a rougher time than I did, Mathis, the stoneskin should still be in effect."

Mathis nodded, "What about…?"

"Bregan and I will be fine," D'Aerthe arched a snowy eyebrow. "You don't really believe we came here unprepared for this possibility, do you?

Mathis shook his head and ran a hand through his own raven hair, "Guess not. I'll go tell Branwe and Bregan that we need to get going if we're going to do this. Zaiid, you're in charge of these two yahoos."

D'Aerthe hid a smirk. Sashen looked indignant. Zaiid kept a straight face and nodded, "We'll take off as soon as we've got our stuff together. As soon as you strike the first blow, we'll be ready."

As D'Aerthe, Sashen and Zaiid started to gather up their gear, Mathis got up and walked over to Bregan and Branwe to give them the plan. Bregan noticed the fighter coming towards him and smirked. Branwe turned and glared at Mathis accusingly, "You actually included them. How dare you?"

"Practicality always wins out in the end, yathrin," Bregan remarked. "It's so nice to see good sense overcome blind faith and misguided dogma without weapons being drawn over such nuisances." He waltzed over to talk with D'Aerthe.

Unsure as to whether he had just been complimented, insulted, mocked or all three at the same time, Mathis watched the colorful dark elf talk to his quieter cohort for a moment, then the fighter turned back to Branwe. "You might want to rein in your distaste at least a little," Mathis murmured to the cleric.

"Drow are the worst scum we could possibly work with," she hissed.

"Which is why I need someone watching my back for me," he went on in a soothing voice. "Someone has to be watching out for a possible double cross."

Branwe gave a grim smile, "Oh, you can trust me to do that."

Mathis grinned back and said, "I knew I could count on you to take care of us."

The fighter walked over to Zaiid and Sashen, who waited for D'Aerthe to finish talking softly to Bregan. Mathis came up to the rogue and mage and whispered, "You two know to watch your backs, right?"

Sashen nodded. Zaiid said, "He tries anything, we run away." The fighter stared at him and the Calishite continued, "I don't think either of us could take him out if it came to that."

"Just stay as safe as you can," Mathis cautioned.

"You too," Sashen replied. She and Zaiid gathered up their equipment and watched D'Aerthe finish talking to Bregan. The dark elf in grey walked over to where Sashen, Zaiid and Mathis stood. "Ready to go?" the elf asked.

Zaiid nodded and started towards D'Aerthe. Sashen gave Mathis a quick hug before following the thief and dark elf out into the tunnels towards the dragon's main living chamber.

Mathis watched his sister and his friend go off with the strange drow. Here's to hoping he's halfway decent, Mathis thought, then turned back to Bregan and Branwe.

The exhibitionist dark elf watched Branwe speculatively as the cleric shouldered her travel pack. When she turned back towards the drow, he busied himself arranging his own gear to something slightly less showy and more functional. Mathis felt his hackles rise and resolved to keep an eye on both of them as they went to meet the dragon for the second time that day.

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Gumash il tlu jala mzild kyreshorl – Could she be any more obvious

Yathrin -- priestess

A/N: Sorry about the delay in posting for those who have been following since I started this. It's been a very busy couple of weeks. As always, I love reviews, even ones that say the story sucks and would you please get to the point. There's still one, maybe two more chapters to go before I reveal all.


	8. Betrayal

Disclaimer: Some elements are original, some are not. Will eventually get around to informing you all which is which, but not right now.

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Sashen held on to Zaiid's hand in the dark. Zaiid held on to D'Aerthe's shoulder as they followed the dark elf through close and lightless tunnels. The thief and the drow had been keeping up a running comparison of locks they had encountered, good heists they had pulled and which leathers offered the best balance between suppleness and durability. The mage found their shop talk incredibly dull.

"So, does that cleric of yours use some sort of lizard hide under her mail?" D'Aerthe asked Zaiid. Sashen got fed up with the two menfolk.

"No, she doesn't!" Sashen said heatedly, "What does it matter anyway? We should be quietly stalking the dragon!"

"I think, unless pointy ears there says otherwise," Zaiid stated, "We're at least a few twists away from the treasure chambers."

D'Aerthe chuckled and replied, "We're a little ways off yet. And we haven't run into any of the sound alarms that Bregan and I found on our way here."

"Sound alarms?" Sashen asked skeptically.

"Sections of tunnel where even very small noises get amplified and carry through farther than any would be thief would like," D'Aerthe explained patiently.

"Shaped or natural looking?" Zaiid asked.

Sashen felt her irritation rising again, "You do realize that we're supposed to be the sneaky side of this party, don't you?"

Completely unperturbed, D'Aerthe responded, "You do realize that your cleric smells like a riding lizard when she gets all worked up, don't you?"

Curious, Zaiid asked, "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Just something Bregan mentioned in passing," answered a nonchalant D'Aerthe, "Shall we continue quietly to assuage your nerves, lady mage?"

At a loss, Sashen nodded, realized that Zaiid could not see the gesture and said, "All right."

They followed the dark elf through a few short sections of cramped crevices before Zaiid, tired of the constant soft scrape of their boots and clothes on the stone whispered "Are we there yet?"

D'Aerthe declined to answer and instead led the thief and mage out of the tight tunnel and into a space where they did not bump into each other and the cave walls every other moment. The dark elf stopped and said in a hushed and worried tone, "We're here, but I don't see the dragon."

"Are you sure?" Zaiid asked skeptically.

"No dragon glow," Sashen murmured, "Last time the treasure room was red with it."

"Naut bwael," D'Aerthe muttered uneasily.

Nervous, Sashen asked, "Why wouldn't the dragon be here? It can't be out hunting us, can it?"

"Let's find a good hiding spot," D'Aerthe suggested warily, "I don't like feeling this exposed…" The dark elf let his voice trail away.

"We need to find the others," Zaiid said, worried, "Mathis needs to know about this."

"Quietly though," the dark elf added.

"Seconded," Sashen agreed.

D'Aerthe started to lead them around mound of coins that clinked whenever the mage or thief misplaced a foot. Their progress felt nervewrakingly slow and far too loud for comfort.

After a few minutes that felt like months, Sashen thought that the lightless cavern seemed less dark. She looked around into the surrounding blackness while keeping hold of Zaiid's hand and saw little twinkles and sparkles of light at her eye level. She wondered if that indicated where the tops of the treasure piles rose to or if the darkness played tricks on her eyes. The mage tugged at Zaiid's hand to get his attention and whispered, "Does it seem less dim in here or is it just me?"

"You mean the little glimmers of light here and there?" the thief replied quietly, "Yes, I see them."

"Your brother is carrying a lit sunrod though the cavern," D'Aerthe's voice broke in, "At least, I think that's where the reflected light is coming from."

"We should check it out," Zaiid commented, "If the wyrm isn't here then we need to figure out what to do next."

"Doesn't matter to me," D'Aerthe replied with absolute neutrality, "I'll be doing the same thing in either case."

Sashen suddenly wondered what would happen if the red dragon was nowhere to be found and they still had the drow in tow. She wondered if it might be more desirable for the wyrm to show up.

While Sashen mused, D'Aerthe had led them closer to Mathis, Branwe and Bregan. There was just enough light to avoid tripping over things now but not enough to distinguish much else. The mage hung on to Zaiid like a lifeline.

Zaiid suddenly lurched and Sashen braced her feet to keep from getting pulled down. In the dim reflected twilight of the hoard room, the mage could barely make out the dark elf leaving their company and disappearing among the heaps of gold. The nervous mage readied a spell of magical darts as Zaiid came up with his kukri in hand, quietly cursing.

"Why didn't he go after us?" the thief growled softly.

"I don't know," Sashen felt her voice go slightly shrill with fear and strove to keep it down. "He has to be going after Mathis and Branwe then."

"That doesn't make any sense. Why are we still here then?"

"We need to find him before something happens to Mathis!" Sashen's voice leaked out some of her panic.

"Up this pile of stuff then and we'll take a look around," Zaiid tugged Sashen towards the nearest treasure pile. The mage climbed up after the Calishite as quietly as she could, but found it impossible to avoid making any sound whatsoever. Every time she shifted, coins and jewelry would slide, clinking until they came to rest. Zaiid fared a little better than she did. When Sashen got to the top, she lay flat against the coinage, Zaiid in a half crouch next to her, looking across the treasure chamber.

Sashen could see Mathis holding the sunrod from her perch, with Bregan and Branwe trailing behind him. They did not seem to notice anything amiss. Zaiid gave the mage a nudge and pointed across the hills of gold and silver, "There he is."

Following the line of Zaiid's arm, Sashen could barely see a humanoid figure lying prone against one of the taller treasure mounds with something braced against his shoulder, pointed in the direction of the rest of the party.

Sashen sucked in a deep breath, unsure whether to scream a warning or cast a spell. Zaiid scooped up a handful of coins and threw them at the shadowy elf.

Several things happened at once. D'Aerthe's crossbow twanged as the coins sprayed across his arms and face. The bolt glanced off Branwe's shoulder armor as Sashen shrieked, "Mathis!" at the top of her lungs. Mathis jumped and at the same time Bregan pulled something out of his sleeve and rammed it up and under Branwe's scale mail from behind.

Mathis spun towards Bregan, shield poised to knock the smaller elf flat. The flamboyant dark elf rolled to the side and past the fighter's shield, coming up and drawing a wand from his belt. Mathis spun back towards him blade drawn and shield ready, keeping between the drow and the cleric.

Meanwhile, D'Aerthe calmly cocked back the crossbow, laid another quarrel in the slot and took aim at the fighter and cleric. Sashen recovered enough to cast darts of magic at the dark elf as Zaiid started down the treasure pile towards D'Aerthe, hoping to flank him.

Sashen's spell did not keep the drow from firing the crossbow again. This time it struck the back of Branwe's shield a hand span above the cleric's forearm. She spun in the direction of the hidden swords-elf with a look of mixed rage and loathing on her face and started to intone something under her breath.

Bregan, still squared off against Mathis, alternated between stabbing at the fighter with his dirk, whacking Mathis's head with the wand and getting out of the way of everything the fighter sent his way. The festively garbed dark elf heard the cleric casting and shouted, "Qee'lak! Elgg lil maelthra p'los il thir'kun!" Mathis took advantage of Bregan's momentary distraction to shield slam the drow, sending him stumbling into a pile of gold.

Whatever D'Aerthe might have done following Bregan's shout was interrupted by Zaiid lunging at him, kukri in hand. The swords-elf rolled and parried with the crossbow, then grabbed the thief's wrist and kicked Zaiid's feet out from under him. They both ended up rolling down the treasure pile D'Aerthe had been shooting from. The two of them scuffled on the way down, throwing knees and elbows as each tried to gain the upper hand.

Sashen set loose another set of magic missiles, aimed at Bregan this time, to the same ineffectiveness. The flamboyant dark elf rolled to his feet, stepped past and under Mathis's sword, punched the fighter under the arm and threw the dirk at Branwe. The cleric, red faced and angry, turned back towards him and spat fire in Bregan's general direction. The drow ducked again and the flames licked across Mathis's back, setting his blue surcoat alight. The dark haired fighter dropped to the ground and rolled to smother the fire. Branwe made no move to help him and instead swung an enlarging hand at the Bregan, who backpedaled away.

Zaiid and D'Aerthe finished rolling down the treasure pile and ended up with the swords-elf landing on top of the thief, driving a knee into the Calishite's solar plexus. As Zaiid gasped for breath on the ground, D'Aerthe drew blades and ran towards Branwe and Bregan.

Sashen scrabbled down the mound of coins hoping for a position where she could see better and still stay out of the way enough to throw magic. Mathis, his surcoat blackened but otherwise looking all right, saw her and shouted, "Sashen, get back!"

The mage suddenly got her first good look at Branwe since the fracas started. The cleric did not resemble her usual grouchy self. Instead, Branwe seemed to be sprouting ruby red wings and a tail and growing larger by the second.

As Sashen's mind tried to wrap itself around the cleric's shapechanging, D'Aerthe stepped up to Branwe's back and stabbed her through the base of the right wing and slashed at her tail. Branwe whirled on the dark elf to spit fire at him. D'Aerthe ducked and stepped towards Branwe's back, forcing her to turn in order to keep him and his blades in view. Bregan took advantage of her momentary distraction to throw two daggers into her back.

Coughing, Zaiid got up from where D'Aerthe left him and disappeared into the shadows cast by the dropped sunrod. Mathis picked himself up and made an aborted movement towards the melee between Branwe and both drow. The cleric looked more draconic than human.

The fighter came to a couple of conclusions very quickly. First, Branwe's antagonism towards Sashen perhaps had more to it than a difference of personalities. Second, both drow were clearly focusing their efforts on what they considered the most dangerous of the potential threats in the cavern. The fighter hoped his line of reasoning was not going to result in a very guilty conscience later and stepped into the fray. He ducked under a flailing wing and slashed at Branwe's midsection. The blow glanced off scales and the former cleric hissed as she turned towards him and swiped down at him with claws. Mathis dodged away and shouted, "Zaiid! Sashen! Aim for Branwe!"

Branwe suddenly quadrupled in sized as the rest of her transformation finally kicked in. The forgotten sunrod's light was drowned out by the red glow from Branwe's scales. The former cleric reared on her hind legs and swiped at Bregan and Mathis standing in front of her. As she did so, Sashen spun her hands through her lightning spell, set it loose at the dragon and ran for the nearest cover. The bolt crackled and sparked over the wyrm's crimson scales.

As Branwe's new tail slapped where Sashen had been standing, Zaiid came out of the shadows of one of the small treasure piles and drew his kukri across the dragon's left hind leg. The cut frosted over and Branwe roared loud enough to leave echoes reverberating through the chamber. She kicked at the thief, who danced away as Mathis rushed in at her underbelly and D'Aerthe came in hard and fast for her right hind leg. The dragon swung her head around to fry both fighters and Bregan fired a glob of green goo from his wand to her face. The ball of glue splattered across the left side of Branwe's muzzle. She snorted flames out through her nose as Mathis quickly reversed direction to avoid a death by incineration. D'Aerthe stuck both of his swords into her right leg and tried to slice them through the tendons. Branwe gave a muted squeal of pain and kicked the dark elf into one of the surrounding treasure piles. The swords-elf managed to keep a grip on one of his blades as he went flying but dropped it when he crashed and rolled among the coins and objects d'arts. The other sword remained buried in the dragon's scaly leg, not quite biting into the achilles tendons.

Sashen, hidden on Branwe's left side, cast another bolt of lightning at the dragon. In the after glare from the spell, the mage suddenly found herself looking a very angry red dragon in the face. Sashen stuttered her way through her last set of magic missiles, fairly certain that it would be the last thing she ever said.

A blob of bright green, sticky gunk splatted across the right side of Branwe's muzzle, sealing the dragon's mouth closed and clogging her nostrils. Sashen's bolts of magic exploded against the crocodilian face, leaving little charred spots on the dragon's scales. The mage turned and ran before the first bolt hit, angling to get a pile of precious metal between herself and the dragon.

Whatever Branwe might have done was interrupted by Zaiid. The thief snuck up behind and under her, grabbed a hold of D'Aerthe's sword, still stuck in the wyrm's leg and hauled it through the tendons in the back of the leg, effectively hamstringing the wyrm. Branwe thrashed her wings and tail in an effort to stay upright and in balance, allowing both Sashen and Zaiid to scramble for cover. The thief took D'Aerthe's blade with him.

"Can we suffocate her using that stuff?" Mathis asked Bregan. The gaudy drow shook his head, "It won't last long enough to make it worth our while and I only have so many charges."

"Not to interrupt you conspiring, but could we please focus on the problem at hand?" D'Aerthe cut in impatiently, looking somewhat the worser for his brief flight but still with his one remaining blade at the ready.

"I don't hear you coming up with anything, ussta og'elend abbil," Bregan retorted.

"Move!" Mathis yelled as Branwe, still fluttering and flailing about on one leg, swiped down at him and Bregan. She missed them both as they dodged aside in opposite directions.

D'Aerthe snuck underneath the dragon to try taking out her one remaining good leg and found Zaiid there with the same idea. The thief and the swords-elf swung for the dragon's right hind leg and were rewarded with a sharp pop as the tendons gave way. Zaiid and D'Aerthe scrambled with no regard for stealth to avoid death by crushing as Branwe's bulk came crashing down, scattering coins and jewelry everywhere as she tried to stay upright.

Sashen, recovered from her scare, conjured a bit of acid and sent it streaking for the dragon. The magic ate at Branwe's muzzle scales. Mathis ducked under a swipe from the wyrm's front paws and slashed at her face. The blow creased scales and bruised muscle but otherwise did little damage.

D'Aerthe retrieved his second blade from Zaiid and they both wove around foreclaws and wings, hoping to get around behind the dragon. Bregan fired off another glob of goo from his wand to the dragon's face while she ducked under her own wing stroke at Mathis. The lime green blob caught Branwe's jaw and held it fast to the cave floor.

The wyrm thrashed harder with wings and tail to keep the humans and drow off her as she pulled against the goop sealing her firebreath and holding her down. Sashen's acid bolts did not hold Branwe still although they did create raw bare patches in her armor of carmine scales. Mathis, standing more or less in front of the furious red dragon, had his hands full dodging wings and foreclaws. He cut whatever appendage swung closest as the opportunity arose but otherwise kept behind his shield and kept Branwe's attention focused on him. Bregan stayed out of range of the flailing claws, wings and tail and kept moving around, hoping to pin something else to the floor and render the dragon easier to kill.

Zaiid appeared suddenly at Branwe's shoulder and drove his kukri into the armpit of her left forepaw. As before, the deep puncture frosted over at the edges. As the dragon gave a muffled squeal of pain and moved to swipe the thief away, Mathis saw his chance and using two hands, rammed his sword point through the wyrm's upper and lower jaws. The fighter saw Branwe's attention swing back to him and realized that he now stood in a very bad position, within the reach of her claws. He could see her left talons starting to rise and yet could not look away from the former cleric's reptilian face. Then the fury suddenly drained out of the dragon's face, replaced by a startled blankness as she went limp and death stole over her quietly. The dragon's red glow slowly faded until the only light in the treasure chamber came from the discarded sunrod.

Confused, Mathis looked around for his remaining companions and saw Sashen poke her head out from behind a rotted, broken chest, eyes like dark blots in the sunrod's dim light. Zaiid, blood drenched up to his biceps, stood breathing hard behind Branwe's left wing. Mathis then looked around for the two dark elves.

D'Aerthe, grinning and standing just behind the felled dragon's right shoulder, turned and said happily, "Nindel zhahaus jivvin! Ori'gato udossa xun nindel'sohna!" Bregan, standing just beyond the reach of the dragon's right wing, threw a couple of coins at his partner. D'Aerthe batted them out of the air with a sword candy coated in wyrm's blood, still grinning. Mathis could see that blood soaked both of D'Aerthe's arms, stuck to the front of the drow's duster and that the swords-elf seemed to be standing in a pool of it but none of the spilled blood seemed to belong to the drow.

Mathis, not really caring if both drow managed to steal the entire hoard out from under their noses, watched Branwe's dragon shaped cooling corpse for a few minutes, dreading that she would return to her human shape after death. The red dragon remained a red dragon, albeit a deceased wyrm.

--)--------

ussta og'elend abbil – my heretic friend

Nindel zhahaus jivvin! Ori'gato udossa xun nindel'sohna!

That was fun! Let us do that again!

A/N:

Ok, ok I apologise for the ridiculous amount of time it took to update this fic. I do not usually write combat scenes because they take me forever to scribble out. Only one chapter left to go! Please leave whatever comments you all like and happy 2007!


	9. Partings

Disclaimer: Wait for it...

--)--------

"She really was a dragon, wasn't she?" Sashen's shaky voice crept into Mathis's reverie. The fighter turned and saw that both Zaiid and Sashen had come to stand next to him, similar expressions of shock painted across their faces.

"I suppose so," Zaiid said, quietly resigned. "How do we explain it to the Duke?"

"You say the dragon ate her," Bregan's melodic tenor cut across the trio's shock and their attention swung to the eye catching dark elf. The drow shrugged, "Why not? It has the charm of actually being the truth. Truly, why did you think she wanted me dead without an interrogation?" He turned back to investigating and poking at the oddball artifacts, examining each one thoroughly. Some ended up dropped in a sack, others were tossed aside.

"It does sound plausible," Zaiid whispered to Mathis. "We could gut the dragon and find out for certain." Sashen gagged a little and turned pale.

"Ghil zhah folbol whol dos," D'Aerthe's dark baritone called from by the dragon's tail, cutting into the humans' train of thought. The swords-elf had shrugged out the bloody grey duster and now stood in his vest and deep blue shirt with a couple of obvious daggers sheathed on his back in addition to the newly cleaned swords on his belt. In the interim, the lean drow had poked about the treasure piles and tossed something to his partner. Bregan caught it and shook into shape a wide brimmed, plum colored hat with a rather large, fluffy, dove grey feather stuck in the band. The flamboyant drow set it on his head and tipped it rakishly to one side.

"Why am I not surprised?" Mathis muttered, shaking his head. He turned back to Sashen and Zaiid, "We'll need to take the dragon's head as proof."

Zaiid blinked at the fighter, "But it's Branwe."

"It was a fiction." Sashen sounded numb. "A figment of the imagination. An illusion."

"You believe the drow then?" the thief asked, surprised.

"I'll cast a few divination spells tomorrow and we'll see if Bregan is lying or not," Sashen's mind started to work through her shock. "If she's still in the land of the living, I'll find her. Or we'll get really lucky and she's waiting outside for us."

"Not a chance," D'Aerthe sang out from the base of a treasure pile on the other side of the dead dragon.

"Nobody invited you into this discussion," Mathis yelled back, "Unless you're thinking of helping us remove the dragon's head."

The dark swords-elf held up a glittering crescent shaped sapphire pendant to the light to examine its facets and said, "Unless you are thinking of a payment in something more... interesting, there is far too much gold and jewels around to buy us off." He dropped the pendant into a pocket inside his vest and continued, "Besides, you don't need my help. Use the small blades to remove the scales, use the sword for the main slicing and cut between the backbones when you get to them. Easy as poaching rothe." D'Aerthe turned back to poking through the gems in his immediate vicinity.

"Well, that was useful," Mathis murmured, then spoke up, "Sashen, Zaiid? If you could start prying scales off?"

The wizard, thief and fighter fell to the slow and messy task of beheading a creature with tough scales and a neck as thick around as Mathis's chest. All of them kept part of their attention on the drow, who continued to ignore the humans as they combed through the treasure chamber.

As Mathis finally got through the last bit of sinew and bone holding the dragon's head in place, Zaiid pulled out the party's portable hole and dropped it over the gory prize. Sashen looked around and noted, "The dark elves are gone."

Zaiid looked up from the flattening hole and glanced around the chamber. "Good riddance," he murmured softly, then gave a small relieved laugh, "For a minute there, I thought they were going to kill all of us to avoid leaving witnesses."

The mage shrugged, "Witnesses to what? Them not living up to the exacting standards of vileness that drow are supposed to be?"

"Right," Mathis rolled his eyes and took a deep breath. Under normal circumstances he might have come up with an irritated remark regarding Sashen's wandering trail of thought, but he just felt tired. "Sashen, could you please cast something to detect magic and see if the drow managed to make off with everything holding an enchantment? I'll start collecting coins and gems. Zaiid..."

The swarthy thief gave a wan smile, "I'll keep an eye on Sashen and keep her out of trouble." The mage had already cast spells of detection, taken one of the sunrods out of Mathis's rucksack and now wandered past the headless wyrm corpse, holding the lit wand aloft. Zaiid followed after her as she poked about the treasure piles. Mathis watched for a moment then struck up one of the few remaining sunrods and went hunting among the precious metals.

--)--------

Bregan and D'Aerthe stalked down a tunnel leading towards an Underdark portal. The magic gate would take them within a few days hard travel to Mantol-Derith. From the trading outpost, they could hire on with any of the merchant caravans coming or going and get themselves back home to Menzoberranzan.

D'Aerthe carried his duster, stiff with dried bloodstains, slung over one shoulder. He walked through the smooth, open section of cavern with a spring in his step. Bregan noted his partner's cockiness and dryly remarked, "You are aware that she wasn't really a priestess, right?"

The swords-elf grinned in the dark, "Doesn't make it any less of a good kill if I do say so myself. By the way, you never told me what happened to the human priestess, just that she was dead."

"I didn't?" the fashionable dark elf smiled. "She valiantly threw herself in front of the dragon to save me."

"You mean you tripped her," D'Aerthe corrected.

"She may have had help in her fall to the ground," Bregan remarked blandly, "Dead clergy seem to bring out your better moods anyway. What of it? I'm just glad to get out of that fracas in one piece."

"Me too." D'Aerthe continued his light step through the tunnel.

"With regards to dead priestesses, no matter their shape," Bregan smirked, "You are a terrible liar."

"You can't prove it and even if you could, you've certainly benefited from it." The dark swords-elf sounded smug.

"So I have," the flamboyant drow mused, "I wonder if that talent of yours could be turned to more subtle arts..."

"If you are thinking of one of us trying to infiltrate a noble house, again, then you are dreaming big," D'Aerthe said seriously, his good humor draining away with every word. "I've got the wrong attitude and you are far too recognizable."

"You would be the best bet to do it though." The foppish dark elf continued thinking out loud, "It would have to be a fairly ambitious house that could benefit from your lack of inhibition concerning putting any and all of Lolth's servants to your blades... Well we'll just have to knife that goblin when it gets to us."

"Sure, past all the traps and pitfalls we'll leave for it," D'Aerthe laughed. Bregan tipped his new floppy hat and the pair continued on through the unrelieved darkness.

--)--------

Hours later, Mathis, Sashen and Zaiid stepped out into light noonday drizzle. The mage took a deep breath of the damp air and sighed, "I thought we'd never get out of there."

"It is good to have something other than rock overhead," Zaiid agreed heartily and continued in a more solemn tone, "Do you think that you can try that seeking spell again, Sashen? The one you cast earlier to see where Branwe had gotten to?"

"I could," Sashen said glumly, "but I think I'll get the same blank result. She's not on this plane anymore. I don't know any spells to tell us exactly how she died. I suppose all of the earth shaking was part of some trap system of some kind."

"I didn't notice any traps," the Calishite thief commented, then shrugged, "On the other hand, it is tough to notice such things when running for one's life."

"First order of business will be to tell the temple of Helm, then," Mathis resigned himself to the sad task. He glanced over at his sister, then smiled and shook his head. After all that had happened in the past two days, Sashen had unslung her shoulder bag, removed her leather bound journal and started to try to walk and write at the same time. Zaiid noticed as well and both men walked a little faster to keep up with the distracted mage. The thief caught at her as she tripped over her first root of the march back and stole a look at the open page of the field notebook. "Are you sketching those two dark elves?" Zaiid asked, surprised. "I would have thought that you would want to put all that behind you."

Embarrassed, Sashen said quietly, "Well how we lost Branwe and the whole story ought to be written down somewhere. As for the drow... well I know I'm not really any good at drawing, but you have to admit they were a bit odd and make for a good story."

Mathis looked at the sketch in question and commented, "It'd look better if you weren't trying to walk at the same time."

"But it'll be easiest to draw while the memory is still fresh," the mage protested, "I'm going to do one of Branwe too, even though she was a bit curt with me all the time."

"If you think you are going to forget that fight and the drow in the time it will take us to get somewhere where we can camp for the night, then I'm jealous," Zaiid smirked. "You obviously didn't have a few years scared out of you."

"Did so," Sashen grumped, "You try getting caught in the dark by a dark elf sometime."

"If you two would stop?" Mathis asked. "Sashen, it looks like you've got the basic figures framed out. May I suggest holding off until we camp for the night?"

"All right," The wizard reluctantly acquiesced, "But I'm still going to write everything down."

"I'll make sure you don't find any large rabbit holes to fall into," Zaiid volunteered, smiling.

"Sure, leave me with keeping an eye out for trouble and telling the bad news to the duke and Helm's clergy," Mathis heaved a sigh. "At least most of this trip is behind us. Between drow dropping in on us and a dragon incognito among us, even a drunken bard wouldn't believe this tale."

--)--------

Ghil zhah folbol whol dos – Here is something for you.

Author's note and the full disclaimer:

Sashen, Zaiid, Mathis, Branwe and the plot line were all figments of my imagination. I hope you all enjoyed sharing them.

Neither of the dark elves were mine.

"Bregan," as I'm sure most of you guessed, was used as an alias for Jarlaxle. If the initial description of him didn't tip you off, then I really hope the hat did. If that didn't do it... oh well, I hope you enjoyed this character anyway.

I have absolutely no idea how many of you guessed that "D'Aerthe" was an alias for Zaknafein Do'Urden, but it was intended as such. Clues were his overall attitude, his blades of choice, swordsmanship and the date in the little summary. 976 DR is way too early for Entrei or the annoying drow ranger who shall not be named to show up. I wanted to give a look at the weaponmaster, pre- House Do'Urden and offer an explanation to his alluded friendship with Jarlaxle.

I hope this was fun for you all and please zap a review to let me know what you thought, even if it isn't complimentary.

Good plotting and dark caverns.


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