The shrill screaming of Tauster's alarm continued for a minute then stopped. Echo, followed by Jyothki, left to go outside. Tauster appeared, looking more than a little upset. "You'll never learn, will you?" he grumbled. "Leave my doors and windows alone." He walked over to the door.
Lytern appeared in the room a couple of minutes later, obviously having just pulled on his armor and grabbed his sword. "Where are the prisoners?" he asked sleepily. "I need to hire some guards and escort them back to my father's keep for trial." He gave Azrun an almost apologetic look, "And I'm going to have to take you into custody too. You'll be turned over to Cormyr to stand trial there."
Aloysius was just headed towards the cellar door when Lytern emerged. "The prisoners are in the cellar," he answered. "Arachne and I were going to ask them if they had any knowledge of our two missing comrades. We'll bring them up."
The mage then looked down at Arachne and whispered in her ear.
Azrun looked at Aloysius and Arachne sternly, "Aloysius, if you are trying to get me out of this stop right now. You all don't need the Lord's men hunting you too."
Azrun looked at Lytern and nodded. He laid his staff on the ground. He dug into his pack and removed the two daggers he had picked up earlier and laid them with his staff. "I have only two requests to make, if you'll hear me. One, let my friends be your guards. They could use the money and it would let them possible find out the fates of our friends. Two, after I'm going tell them where they might find the priest, Renchifus.
Aloysius's jaw dropped as Azrun spoke. "Arachne and I really ARE going to speak with the prisoners," he said to Lytern. "Methinks the matter of Azrun's 'arrest' can wait 5 minutes more until our inquiry is done, can it not?"
The mage appeared to be baffled by Azrun's apparent surrender. "Mage Tauster, be there any dweomers on your cellar door? Oh, and its location might be useful as well." The mage's ears turned red as he said this.
"Us? Help a prisoner escape?" Arachne shook her head. "We _lose_ prisoners." She frowned. "Doesn't make us very suitable as guards for Azrun, does it?" She went with Aloysius.
"I didn't realize Cormyr's law extended this far." Blacky commented dryly
Lytern listened to the various comments from everyone before answering. He gave Azrun a relieved look, "I will do what I can to grant your requests. If your companions want guard duty, they are welcome to be among the escort. I will hire some other guards from the town too. Master Tauster, if you wish to come with us, I'd be grateful." The young man glanced around the room, "Where are the rest of you?"
Azrun looked to Lytern, "Gala felt it best that she not associate with us anymore. Jana, Jythoki, and Echo are outside waiting. If you are going to hire additional people to march with us, then I'll wait here until you've finished. You have my word that I will not leave. I know that may not mean much to you at this point, but it is all I have to offer."
He continued, "You have my word that I will ask my father's permission to speak with our friends about the place I think the priest might be hiding. If he says no, I can't tell you."
"That's all I can ask of you," Azrun nodded.
"As for Cormyr's laws, Blacky, we are not under them, but her influence is felt here. My father is on good terms with many of her nobility and temples. He would be foolish to court trouble with potential allies when his lands appear headed towards serious problems."
Azrun looked up to Blacky, "Eric, it's okay. This was going to catch up with me sooner or later. It's best that it happened before I got too attached to you guys." Azrun had become very solemn at this point.
"I've had my share of unjust charges. Where I came from, the lords appear just but use the law to do whatever they please. I know little of Cormyr, but the only reason you got caught here is because you were trying to help instead of running farther away. Am I right?" Blacky said, as much to Lytern as Azrun.
Lytern shifted slightly but did not make any remark or look at Blacky. He glanced out the door, "Could one of you go get the others so you can discuss if you want to go? I need to know how many guards I have to hire."
Tauster walked back to the cellar door, muttered a quiet word, and opened it for whoever wanted to go down to the prisoners. He did not answer Lytern's request for him to be among the escort to Parlfray's Keep.
Still thinking about the mage's concern about the dark, Arachne attempted to slip in in front of him.
Azrun stood up and looked to Lytern, "Maybe it's best if I tell them. If they know I'm ok with all of this then maybe they won't make any trouble." He headed for the door, then stopped and looked back at Lytern with a smile, "Don't worry, I'm not going to run off."
Lytern gave Azrun an exasperated look that quickly turned into a pained expression. "Go ahead," he muttered.
Aloysius nodded a quiet thanks to Tauster as he headed down the stairs to where the prisoners were. "Now," he said loudly as he stepped onto the top stair, "let us see who wants the 'deal' and who wants the 'wheel'."
Arachne stopped her descent and glared at the mage. "Aloysius," she said sharply, "that sort of speech simply does...not...work." She added something else that may or may not have been understandable to the mage.
"I said that you may _question_ the prisoners about your friends," Lytern added quietly, but loud enough for Aloysius to hear. "Please keep that in mind."
No sound came from the cellar in response to Aloysius.
"As long as we don't hurt them that counts as questioning, right?" Blacky said and grabbed a stone to sharpen his axe with as he headed down after Aloysius. "Oh, and as long as Azrun is going along with this, I'll guard him to your fathers' keep. It's more likely that the other prisoners will kill him, than he try to escape."
"Questioning is just what it sounds like," Lytern replied tightly. "My father has taught me that you should never make a threat that you can't carry through on, and since you are not going to hurt them, don't tell them that you will."
"Can't or won't, there is a difference. I am perfectly capable of carrying out any threat I make. I _Won't_ carry them out in deference to your authority. But these men don't sound like they respond to threats anyway, so I suppose the point is moot." Blacky said hopefully getting his point across.
The boy sat down and put his head in his hands as the others headed down into the cellar.
Tauster followed them down the cellar steps with a lantern.
Once the group reached the bottom of the stairs, Aloysius looked over the captives. His earlier bravado seemed to fail him as he looked to be at a loss for words. Finally, he addressed them.
"Gentlemen," he began. "Certainly by now the three of thee have had a chance to ponder your current predicament. You are going to be taken back to Parlfray's Keep and held for trial on charges of assault, kidnapping, and possibly murder."
He glanced over at his companions to see how he was doing.
"It seems clear that you are simply employees of those who actually planned these foul offenses. Therefore, any information that you could provide to help mitigate the injuries you have caused would likely work in your favor. We are seeking two men, an elven archer and a priest of Selune. We found their equipment in your hideout. Tell us where they are, and we will advise Lord Parlfray of your assistance. Without that, I fear, your bones will likely draw rats in Parlfray's dungeon."
"They went downriver with the caravan yesterday morning," one of the men replied. Another one just chuckled to himself.
Aloysius glanced at Arachne and Blacky, a look of concern sweeping over his face. "And where, praytell, would the caravan be stopping next? I fail to see the humor in this situation."
"Amused at the implication that they went voluntarily, I expect," Arachne said. She was turning to go, then changed her mind and gave her attention again to the prisoners. "Incidentally," she said, "we had occasion a few days ago to slaughter some attackers -- men, but I don't think they were from your company. Anyway, they did reek more or less of fish. You wouldn't happen to know where they originated, would you?
"If you're asking where they stopped last night or where they will stop tonight, I don't know. They are headed to the southlands, eventually," one of the men answered.
"I don't know nothing 'bout no fishy smelling men," another inserted.
The man who had been chuckling stopped but continued to look amused.
Aloysius thought for a moment. "Yon river doth split to the south of here. Would they be going into the Shrieken Mire or into the Thornwood?" He smiled weakly at the man who had been speaking to him. "Thy cooperation hath been noted. I'll need thy name so the authorities can give thee proper credit."
The man who had given Aloysius the information looked at him blankly. He did not provide his name.
Aloysius waited expectantly for a moment until he realized that no response was forthcoming. "Uh....very well. Forget your name then. For what purpose does your group plan on employing our companions? Kaileer is a fine marksman, but speaks poorly. Brightmantle is......well....." he looked at Arachne for assistance.
"Moral?" Arachne suggested dryly. "Inclined to take care of the spiritual wellbeing of everyone he meets? Also, I gather, he has a hobby of stalking full moons." She sighed. "Look, I rather doubt that they're being employed for their peculiar talents. Not yet, anyway, and not willingly. Come on, Aloysius. These guys are so ignorant it'd be a waste of time to use on them that cool potion we found." She made for the stairs, adding "I wonder how often these guys' trusting employers used it on them, though."
"Isn't that the wrong way?" Arachne muttered.
"Mayhap we could simply release this one," he suggested to Arachne and Blacky. "He hath said far more than the others. Of course, we'd still need to know if the Thornwood or the Mire was the proper destination......." he mused.
Blacky stopped sharpening his axe for a moment. "They were led by a priest of Cyric, a rival of the priest who led you I understand. You wouldn't know where to find _THEM_?" Blacky added.
The man who had stopped chuckling started to laugh outright now. "Who, pray tell, do you think WE were looking for? If we knew where to find them, why would we be in this little rundown excuse for a village?" He was so overcome by his laughter that he could not speak for a moment. "So Ranchefus is leading a band of fishy smelling men? That is just too much. I'm sorry Heragon died before he could hear that. That's something he would have appreciated." The man's face grew serious, so serious it was almost startling after the laughter, "Like I told some of you yesterday, no matter what you do with us, you are certain to have claimed the attention of our organization by interfering with its business."
"And what, pray tell, is your organization?" Blacky said standing directly in front of the man and glaring down at him imposingly. "So I know who to thank for this armor."
"The Zhentarim," the man replied, "as I'm sure you already knew. Be sure to thank them personally, okay? They'd be happy to see you in Darkhold." He winked at Blacky and started laughing again.
Azrun came in after a few minutes. He saw the Lytern sitting and walked over to sit beside him, "I couldn't find them. Jyothki doesn't like towns so they may have gone outside of the walls to wait for us. Didn't think it would be a good thing for you to look out and see me heading for the gates."
Azrun looked at the young man carefully, "You okay?"
Lytern nodded and stood up, "I'll go see if I can find them. You stay here." He walked woodenly to the door and out into the village.
Azrun looked up as he walked out, "Be careful." He then pulled out his journal to write what could be his last entry.
