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The Rest of the Story	By : Anesor Category: +M through R > Neverwinter Nights Views: 2561 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Neverwinter Nights nor the characters from the game, and I make no money from this.

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Certain major characters are not mine, though the Commander is mine, among others. Rate M for language and other bad things, just to be safe.

--- x x ---

Parts Unknown - - -

-- Neeshka

I hope we make it, I hope we make it, I hope we make it... That was all I thought as I hightailed it into the gate, my head still echoing from earlier.

I wasn't sure if anyone had ever managed to bandage Zhjaeve. I was never that fond of her and it had been far too easy for me to be willing to attack her for Garius. But the Commander had only said something rude with such a look of disappointment, before yelling for help from Runty. The spells soon cast, it was such a relief to fall and not see their faces anymore. I felt like shit.

The only thing that had made me feel better when Garius had his hooks in me, was that these scum hadn't asked me much of anything about my friends. Qara kept spouting off out of spite. Bishop had been mostly silent, looking at her with contempt, making a tiny corner of my heart laugh, despite the fact he was still scum. I couldn't say or do anything about it, I was a passenger in my own body most of the time. I could only watch as Qara gloated about her plans for Sand and his corpse. With his hatred of chains and orders and people who gave them, had Bishop even noticed I was in magical chains? He just didn't give a damn about any chains on other people, only on him.

But this Reaver general had lost me, then Bishop and Qara, and then his very existence, even as I was still numb and dazed.

Elondra and Casavir had helped me up after Khelgar knocked me silly, and I realized Qara and Jerro were both dead, and Bishop was gone. My head was echoing like a stage. Zjhaeve was doing some healing, as were Grobnar and Casavir. The Commander was thinking and looking around slowly. No one looked at Qara's body.

It could have been far worse.

Then, I could only look at the corner where I could just feel a gate was forming. Zhjaeve cast one of those strange blessings of hers, and the next battle began.

By the end of it, the stupid King of Shadows had finally been destroyed and Zhjaeve was worst injured, though we all needed some healing.

Hells, hells, hells! The ceiling also wanted to come down and keep us company. We all knew we had to use that strange gate now, and Elondra yelled at us to move our asses!

She slung Grobnar through the gate, even as Elanee and Naloch went. I looked back at her swearing at Casavir, before my run for the gate, but he was reluctant to go first. I knew she was more fond of him than she let on. Khelgar and I had been with her far longer, since before being with the Greycloaks and city politics made her watch every word and action, but I remembered her before. The runt never noticed some things.

I ran for the damn gate, hoping it would stay open long enough for all of us to flee. The only ones still there were Sand, Casavir, and Commander Elondra.

Running through, I wondered what plane we were going to. There were so many bad ones, from what I'd heard and from things Jerro mentioned.

--- x ---

After I went through, I landed on something unstable and wet that went 'squelch' with my boots when I took a step. I regained my balance, and found I was standing on a bed in a dark room with several candles burning nearby. The room stank with the copper smell of blood. I was alone aside from a bloody corpse that had a long dagger in his throat.

No bard, no runt, no paladin, no friends at all in the dim bedroom. Hells! Where'd they end up? Where was I? But they weren't here with me, none of them would leave a mess, an injury like this. And I'd been too close behind them.

My head still echoed and I could feel a near migraine, I guess, but I didn't have any potions anymore. Qara had taken mine, the bitch.

Scanning the room, the body was a human male. Middle aged, wearing only his extra smile now, and he needed more clothing to look passable. Whoever did it, dripped some blood leaving the bed. A little sloppy for a professional, but not my business. I only robbed them. If I killed them, I couldn't rob them again, after all.

The room was of someone quite wealthy, the sort of room Leldon would have liked to own. He hadn't had this kind of good taste, I thought, as I scooped up some loose items in a hurry. I wasn't sure why I was hurrying this much as this guy wouldn't care, and I was leaving the bigger and more identifiable items. Who'd really care about a snuff-box or jeweled inkwell? I even took the counterfeit hand-mirror.

The smell of blood in the closed room was getting to me, and reminding me of the recent battle and those I was missing. I had to get out of here.

I went over to the window, and found the shutter slightly ajar. Swinging it open, I saw the horizon that looked pretty normal, even if I didn't recognize any landmarks outside the window. The buildings I could see looked similar enough to ones in Neverwinter, but I could see several towers not that far away. Neverwinter didn't have any towers like this, and I was getting a bad feeling about that. I may still be on the Sword Coast. Easing out the window, it was easy to climb down to the ground. As I did, I heard some pounding and yelling from the building I just left. I needed to find a hiding place, and fast.

The street was oddly empty for so early in the night. This is not a happy town. Where are the drunks? The teenage hormones on parade? The shoppers? The partiers? There wasn't even a watch to enforce this graveyard, and it was too damned quiet. I ran down the evening street, staying nearer to the shadows, turning randomly until I found myself near a small, smelly dock. My head was still ringing from the earlier fight, and I still wondered about the others, even the runt.

I missed my friends.

Hearing the plodding of several bully-boys, I faded into the shadows of an aged shed that had not much of a smell. There was a small door hidden in a building that looked like it would collapse any day. It felt like a good place to hide and rest. I wished I'd had healing, as Garius didn't do anything to make sure I'd kept mine. Real stupid if he wanted us to be effective, but I guessed I hadn't been dead enough to please him.

Inside, it was very dim even for me, and I froze, hoping the plodders would pass by. It seemed to take forever, but I heard them go away. Then I heard a sigh of relief.

“Who's there?” I snarled, pulling my daggers.

“Ferrit,” came out of the darkness very shakily.

“Come out where I can see you better, it's been a bad day.” I kept my voice low. Perky wouldn't help here, and I wasn't feeling too nice after today's events.

A slim shape shuffled out, covered in fresh bruising, blade nicks, and blood. Swaying on his feet, he was wearing little more than ruined rags. He was barely a teen, and barely conscious. And he was terrified of me.

Me.

First I was glad and felt powerful, but then I felt like shit for even enjoying it a little. My head still felt a little funny, like I was rattling inside my skull.

“Okay, kid. You stay quiet there, and I will over here. You betray me, and it'll be the last thing you do,” I said, trying to sound menacing. Too bad I couldn't have killed Bishop like that, but I knew he was too tough for me unless I got really, really lucky. Even flanking was harder with Karnwyr around, even though he seemed to left the ranger in the Mere.

Ferrit snuffled, nodded and sank to the ground. I felt bad, he didn't look any threat to me, so I added, “You give me a hand, and I'll pay you. Cash, or goods even.”

The panic on his face faded as he realized I wasn't going to kill him outright and he nodded.

I knelt down, and put away my daggers. “Well, Ferrit, let me start with the news. Where are we?”

His eyes got big in disbelief, “Luskan. The old docks.”

Hells! I'm sure I would not be welcome here, if the movers here found me. I'd been here briefly a few years ago, but never really left the team for that job. Staying here even long enough to heal did not seem a smart idea. Next, I asked, “How well do you know the city?”

“Pretty well. You here to buy someone?” he asked in a whisper, his fear back.

“Nah, I don't even buy horses. I just want to get out of here,” I admitted.

“To Ruathym? Are you a spy?” The kid looked excited at that thought, as if one would be as... misplaced as I was right now.

“I'd prefer Neverwinter,” I admitted. At least Neverwinter wasn't officially at war with Luskan right now, there should be even legit shipping. But I would prefer a lower profile, given the ways we'd annoyed important people from this city.

He almost begged, “Take me with you. That's my price.”

“Why? How hot are you?” He may be more hunted than I, but that might be all the better for a successful escape.

He looked away. I was sure he was about to lie.

“I escaped from one of the captain's hands. They don't allow rebellion, and I want to stay me,” he said too flatly.

That sounded true. It sounded truly desperate.

“You do know that you won't know anyone there? Life can be hard in Neverwinter, too.” I wasn't gonna sell him some myth about golden cobblestones.

“I haven't heard Nasher likes young boys, for all the things they've said about him. That's good enough for me,” Ferrit said bleakly. He briefly looked older than me.

I did not want to think about that right now, and said, “Okay, deal. You get me to a ship's captain for a quiet trip, and we're gone.”

Carefully he admitted, “They won't be out now to take on quiet passengers. We'll have to wait for tomorrow.”

“Sounds good. Play it straight, and I'll even get you started in Neverwinter.” I still had a hidey-hole near the Flagon I didn't really need anymore. If it was still there. But I'd prefer he didn't try to rob me as I slept.

Taking a few small sips from my waterskin, I offered him some. Warily, he drank. I didn't have any rations anymore, or much at all actually, I guess Garius didn't think I'd need any.

I moistened a rag, and wiped off my face. Resettling on the floor, I could see the sides of my boots were drying into a tacky mess, though the soles were dry. I tried to wipe some of it off, but it didn't do much good, and I started to weep.

It wasn't the boots, and it certainly wasn't the deaths of Qara or Jerro. I had come far too close to helping kill my friends. It wasn't really my choice, but that wasn't any less horrible. Now I didn't know where the gate sent them. I curled up, and continued to weep, watching the door hatch and keeping myself silent.

They could be anywhere; gates were tricky. They could have appeared here in Luskan, too. If they were recognized, they wouldn't go down quietly. The Commander might be okay, but she wouldn't leave anyone behind, especially the paladin. The rest could be tricky or find an ally. Khelgar found other dwarves in the oddest places. Elanee, Grobnar, and Sand would have no problem fading out of sight, one way or another. Zhjaeve could be a problem, but not as much as a paladin... here. I'd have to listen for any disturbances.

Then again that gate could have taken them anywhere, the rat-bastard of shadows was coming from another plane. They could have gone wherever he came from, or even some random plain, making the abyss more likely than any other plane. Even if they stayed here, they could have appeared in the middle of an ocean, in a volcano, or in a dragon lair. I got lucky.

I hoped they had too, and sent a prayer to Tymora.

Elondra and Casavir were behind me, maybe they didn't even get through in time and were dead underground. They all could be, since the gate was made by those who saw dead people as better than us live ones. I wept until the light shifted for a new dawn coming.

Wiping at the tears, I looked over at Ferrit, who was curled up and watching me warily from the corner.

“What're you looking at?” I whispered.

He mumbled, “Nuttin.”

“Remember that,” I muttered as I settled again to rest, where I could keep an eye on him as much as the hatch.

I woke later, hearing the morning sounds of a muted docks area. Some birds, a cart rolling away. But not enough of the shouts, curses, and bragging I should have heard. The kid was sitting there watching me, silently. My stomach was complaining, but I wanted to stay off the streets. I didn't know enough to go out.

Not realizing why, I moved over to Ferrit in the early light and covered his mouth and put a quieting finger in front of my face. He nodded, and I withdrew my hand. After a moment, I realized what I'd heard was the podding footfalls of some bully boys or watch. One stopped and leaned against the shed which creaked. The other stopped and pissed onto the shed.

A few drops came through knotholes, and it reeked.

“Har! You got the bitch to leave us alone today! But you still owe me eight gold from last night,” a rough voiced man said.

“Four gold,” a smoother voice stated tiredly. “I agreed to double two gold, not four. Her intestines only reached four feet before she stopped screaming.”

“Heh, my mistake,” Rough said insincerely. “You wanna double again in two nights? I hear they actually got a few Ruat sailors, and their twitchy noses, brought in this morning. They might even think they are being ransomed. They fight much better than some of the supposedly captured spies.”

Smooth chuckled, “I made a lot off that one 'spy' a few tendays back. All you idiots thought he'd be tough, with his armor and used weapon.”

Groaning, Rough agreed, “Rub it in again, how you spotted the hammer incised on his armor. He didn't even fight at all, starting some fucking hymn...”

“He screamed nicely enough, when that other prisoner finally managed to hit him in the right places like the crowd wanted,” Smooth said musingly. “But it meant the little planar cunt, got to live several more matches.”

I was biting my lip, as I could easily imagine my friends in this horror. Looking at Ferrit, his face was unchanged by this discussion. Somehow that was even more horrible, that this was nothing new to him.

“Yeah,” Rough gloated, “After she won a couple times, she even got to have fans visit her. But I couldn't afford to buy a piece of her ass.”

They both laughed, and Smooth asked, “Dice?”

“Sure, silver though, this time. Haven't run into anyone trying to bribe me lately, to collect that reward from a Captain as well...”

It must have been only a half hour, but it seemed longer while they played. They only stopped briefly, when another joined them.

“Ah, Namos. Enjoying your students?” Smooth asked carefully.

The new voice was very flat and controlled and gave me the goose pimples, even though I wasn't sure why.

Namos said with a smile I could hear, “I always do. Soon this little group of fledglings will be released to find their own futures. I will have the sad task of starting the training from scratch again. It is so hard to find good recruits who have no contacts in the city and might escape my tutelage. Silver or gold today?”

“Silver. I hear you enjoy teaching them many things, and three in four won't graduate,” Smooth said with a laugh.

“Three in five, but one of those three will have fulfilling positions in helping others find relief. Teaching them how to think is always a rewarding task. Though the prettier or more striking ones are... admittedly more likely to make it through training. I am a little soft as I grow older,” Namos said snidely.

I could taste the blood in my mouth from where I'd bit my lip. The dice game had resumed for a little while, and Ferrit looked paralyzed. Some dock bells went off, and the gamblers finally left after exchanging coins and threats.

Sitting there, thinking, I realized I'd been lucky when I was here before, or perhaps it had gotten worse since then. But I doubted it. Sand had been here for a while and plainly hated them here, though he seemed okay. And what Bishop had said to the Commander at the end, meant he'd been trained like that. And that ass Lorne as well.

While Bishop had turned when she tried to give him a chance, even he didn't do these things. Strange to find a place where he seemed moral. But this better explained the neutral masks that both he and Sand, in their own ways, wore in towns. I didn't think I could have kept a straight face hearing that horror. Ferrit had almost dozed off at one point as this was so normal to him.

A bit longer, and it felt like after noon, and I moved over to ask in a whisper, “How much longer?”

“Fourth bell. When officials make their extortions in the taverns, others make some in the dock. Wilben's a courier and doesn't have to get departure papers.” His whisper was hard to hear.

“Fine. You start negotiations, you know them. I'll figure out if I have enough to cover it.” I hoped I could trade my latest acquisitions, I wasn't sure my Neverwinter coins would be good here, and I sure as the Hells wasn't going to trade off important items if I could help it.

He curled up again to sleep. He must have found a rag, as his face was now a cleaner kind of grubby. I stretched, and flexed, and pretended to pick the lock of my room at the Keep. Hours passed, and the dock became even quieter. I heard the return of a cart, not too long before the tolling of four bells.

Ferrit gestured for me to follow when we finally left the shed. The late afternoon light seemed very bright after being in that shed all day. There were people about, many more than last night, but they were all suspicious of each other, to the point of...near insanity. I saw very few women out, only cheap 'professionals', some even plying their trade in the nooks. One had some avid watchers for the show, the other didn't even get any notice from passersby.

Spotting a weak fountain, I detoured to refill my water skin. Then the boy led me to the building signed as, 'Wilben Bros. Shipping. Luskan, Neverwinter, Waterdeep.' The word 'Ruathym' had been poorly painted over. Entering the dim shop, I moved a few yards and I faded into the shadows to watch the negotiations.

Ferrit walked in only a couple steps, almost like an old man. It wasn't an act, I'd caught glimpses of some injury, the whole way here, despite my own wariness.

“Captain Wilben?” he asked carefully.

Another tiefling stepped out from an alcove, and I could feel myself bare my teeth in a snarl. His smile felt like a mirror to the ass-hole ranger's.

He stepped over to Ferrit, and stopped, coldly saying, “So, did you enjoy your time with Geppol? You going to parley that into a job, or have you reconsidered my offer to work on the North Gale?”

The boy blanched, “How could you? How much did he pay you?” before launching himself at this Wilben with one of my daggers, waving it wildly.

Ferrit was an excellent distraction, Wilben turned to ward off the boy and my own dagger slid right into Wilben's spine nicely, my other into his ear.

Ferrit was standing over the body in shock.

“Gimme back the dagger, kid. And take all his money,” I whispered as I carefully took the blade from him.

I checked the rest of the cluttered store-front, and found a hidden moneybox. That provided a nice cache of coins. I broke open the decoy one also, and made a mess. Now all we needed was another captain. When I got back to Ferrit, he hadn't moved, and was still staring at the body.

Shaking him, he finally met my eyes.

“Come on kid. You're not the first one that's happened to. It happened to... a friend of mine in Neverwinter too.” Or close enough, Helm's Hold was not the best preparation for the docks.

Stripping the corpse of everything valuable, I gave the purse to the kid. “Here, have fun spending his money when we get out of here.”

I was happy to see more than a hint of satisfaction in Ferrit's face. The first positive emotion I'd seen from him. He'll be a charmer when he grows up.

Trying to be calming, I said, “Now who's your second choice? Preferably someone less friendly and more greedy, we can deal with greedy.”

“Captain Klellan's a greedy bastard, but holds his deals,” the kid said, looking at the pool of blood around the corpse.

“Lead on,” I said pulling him towards the door.

He lead me to another ship, with a half-elf officer. This wasn't Klellan, but his first, Nalled. It took all the coin we got from Wilben, and I sweetened the deal with the counterfeit to the officer. I even told him it was a counterfeit, and why. The boy's face got huge, though he was still painfully quiet. We got to share a cubby just above the bilge, though Nalled threw in some hard tack for us to gnaw on until we had left port.

The Friendly Rick's left port at true dawn, after a number of visits from inspectors. Once we were out to sea, we could come out and eat with the crew and move about. I even paid for some things for the kid. and help from the ship's healer. I was up at the prow looking out over the water, when Ferrit found me.

He asked me only, “Why?'

I looked away again. “Let's just say I've been a bit corrupted by some people I know. And one gave me a new start despite warnings from others.”

Maybe that's what Elondra had been trying to give Bishop, before he bit her hand. But I found I liked the feeling of giving Ferrit a break. Not quite as much as a well-planned job working out, but it still felt good.

I hoped aloud, “I hope they're still alive, too.” I looked at him again, “But you, you're too young to have no options. Whatever you had to do back there, I know enough people who will help you, just because. So think about what you'd like. If you like the street life, you can have that. If you want something more respectable, I know people, from a mage to a paladin to dwarven king. If you just want to be a kid for a few years, you can do that, as long as you're willing to run errands sometimes. So think about it, just let me know after we're safely off this ship. My offer of the cubby holds, too, but the streets can make you do stupid things. I know.”

“Thank you,” was all he said.

A few hours later, Ferrit said he wanted to be a kid, and that I should call him Sanndor. I told him about Wolf and his gang at the Keep, but warned him I wasn't positive they made it through the war. Then I had to explain the war and the King of Shadows. Then I had to back up and explain the Commander. By then, I had also gotten the attention of a few others, including Nalled, who let me know, in that snooty elvish way, that I knew too much. I didn't talk much about the rest of us, or even anything about Elondra personally. But bad mouthing Qara, Torio, and Garius was fun. Not quite as sure about Bishop, as he'd left that last battle on his own, I left him out. I made sure the blame for Ember went where it belonged.

Wryly, Nalled asked later, “Have you had bard training?”

“No,” I admitted, “But my one friend is, and I think he wanted to do something for Ember.”

--- x ---

The Friendly Rick's put in to Neverwinter, four days after leaving port. Most of it was a rough passage, so I spent part of it sick and all of it worried. I was so glad to be back. The docks were still partly shut down, and the city was under martial law. We had to sneak off the ship and avoid the patrols, not that these were hard to do, even with Sanndor tagging along.

I just wanted to find them.

The Flagon looked to be open, kind of, and I told the kid it was a safe place. He should get some food, and a room of his own, which I'd cover for a bit. I'd meet him later.

I went first to Sand's shop, where his golem or whatever it was, was trying to sell a pathetic selection of potions. So he wasn't back yet. Dashing over to the Flagon, I wasn't surprised to see that it was pretty empty. Sanndor must either not have come, or gone to bed.

Duncan was there, with a cloud over him. No one else of our party was here either. That left only the Keep to check for them, but I wanted to talk to Duncan first.

“Heya, Duncan! Do you have anything good to drink?” I tried to say cheerily.

“Neeshka! You're back!” Then his face got an awful look, instead of the happy one it briefly had. “Where is she?” he whispered.

“Sorry, I dunno what happened,” I wanted to cry. “Ya see, there was this gate, and she was alive when we went through...”

--- x ---

A/N: Thanks to my beta reader, who's been kind enough to point out stupid flubs. Any typos that remain are not intentional... Reviews or a PM to let me know what you think would be very appreciated.
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