A Familiar Story - 6. The Vigil

“When you play with life, you learn quickly, life is no game.”

It took the entire day to get you healed. We returned to our rooms after, and you slept soundly. In the morning, Jaheira told us her hopes for the day, to find the house infested with spiders and clear them out.

You instantly began reading up on your fire spells, despite my warnings that fire might not be the best weapon for fighting in a house. Jaheira read out the location of the house, next to the Jovial Juggler inn. Within an hour of waking, we were ready.

They stood in front of the small shack where the spiders waited. Aerin readied his magic armour, nodding to Jaheira.

The group hurried into the house, Aerin unleashing a spray of colours from his hands. The spray reached all corners of the single room house and the spiders all fell unconscious, allowing the four in the group to quickly smash their heads.

Aerin grimaced as he wiped spider guts off his staff.

“Gods I hate these things,” he muttered.

“Look for some wine and a pair of boots,” Jaheira said, stuffing one of the bodies in her bag.

Aerin opened a trunk, finding a bag of gold inside, next to a pair of boots. He took the boots, leaving the gold behind. A cupboard behind the trunk contained a bottle of wine.

Stuffing the items into his bag, Aerin stood up, turning back to the others.

“I-I think we’re d-d-done here,” Khalid said.

“We’ll head back to the Friendly Arm Inn and spend the night there. The gnome who gave us the job said they would stay there until we returned.”

“What about the bodies?” Aerin asked.

Jaheira shrugged.

“Not part of the job,” she said. “Some guards should clear them out.”

“Isn’t that a little… wrong?”

“N-not at all,” Khalid said. “It’s n-normal for the e-e-employer to clean if… if the monsters are in th-their homes.”

They walked through the town, Aerin looking at the Burning Wizard inn.

“Maybe we should get that man’s boots first,” he said.

“We already have the boots from the gnome’s house. Let’s try not to mix things up again,” Gaius said, curling across Aerin’s shoulders.

“Hey, it was fun while it lasted,” Aerin defended.

“You know what else could be fun?” the dragon whispered into his ear.

Aerin shivered at the feelings running through their bond.

“No,” he grumbled. “I will not do that again.”

“Might I remind you that you, in fact, did nothing? It was all me.”

“Gaius! I will not discuss this with you right now!”

Jaheira and Khalid looked at Aerin as they walked, surprised by his outburst. The town fell behind them as Aerin forged onward, determined not to look at his companions. His ears burned in shame. Gaius had awakened emotions in him he had never felt before, and the idea that he felt them toward his familiar, a dragon…

“I know what you’re feeling,” Gaius purred in his ear.

Aerin shrugged his shoulders, knocking the dragon away. Gaius caught himself quickly, his lithe body twisting through the sky ahead of the group.

“There are ways!” he yelled back at the mage.

There were ways. Aerin didn’t know how just yet, but he had always heard of wizards turning people into frogs. Couldn’t he take the principle and turn a dragon into a human? It would take years of research, but the mage felt confident that eventually, he could unlock the secrets of human transmutation. His other studies would suffer though.

As they entered the inn the half-elf continued his line of thinking. What he wouldn’t give to be back in Candlekeep among Gorion’s research. Someday…

Until then, Gaius would have to learn to leave him alone in bed.

They headed up to the top floor of the inn, Jaheira and Aerin handing a gnome the items they had picked up from her house. Receiving three hundred gold in return, Jaheira added the money to her bag.

“I want to start tracking that man that confronted Gorion,” Aerin said as they returned to the ground floor.

“And how do you propose we do that?” Jaheira asked. “I can’t track from the scene of his death, it has been too long.”

“M-maybe one of the b-b-bandits hunting you will k-know something,” Khalid suggested.

“I believe heading to Nashkel is our best choice,” Gaius said. “We can’t help anyone if we just wait for you to be attacked.”

“Why don’t we discuss this in the morning? It has been a long day,” Jaheira said with a yawn.

They paid for two rooms out of the gnome’s money and headed back upstairs to sleep.

As Aerin lay on the bed, Gaius curled on his chest, he shivered.

“You know, before we went into that house, I saw a vision of us dying in a blaze of fire,” he whispered.

“I wondered why you didn’t use a flame spell,” Gaius said, nuzzling his way to Aerin’s throat.

The half-elf stroked the dragon’s neck, causing Gaius to purr in pleasure.

“We’re alive and safe. That is all that matters.”

Walking through Beregost a day later, Aerin heard a crier declaring a bounty on the head of an ex-cleric for no less than five thousand gold, a sum the wizard could barely believe. He still wanted to find the boots for the man in the Burning Wizard, but Jaheira was pushing to go to Nashkel immediately. Adding another quest to the list would hardly be beneficial, but the bounty on the cleric’s head would more than pay off the removal of Aerin’s curse.

The mage hurried back to the Burning Wizard, seeking out Jaheira, who was listening for rumours in the inn.

“Crimes against nature?” the druid asked sharply when Aerin was done repeating what he had heard from the crier. “That undoubtedly means necromancy. This Bassilus must surely be stopped. Do you know where he is rumoured to be hiding?”

“No, but Kelddath Ormlyr gave out the bounty.”

“The priest of Lathander? You should go speak to him. We’ll remain here one more day. Then we must go to Nashkel.”

Aerin nodded, hurrying out of the inn. He directed his steps east toward the temple of Lathander.

Two hours later, all he had learned was the necromancer was rumoured to be hiding in the Red Canyons. Getting there would be a journey the mage was not eager to make.

“If he truly is a necromancer, he likely will be as deranged as Xzar and Montaron,” Gaius said as they walked back to the town proper. “It would be a mercy to put him down.”

“Shall we play the Lord of Murder then?” Aerin growled quietly. “I merely hoped to bring him in.”

“For gold,” Gaius noted coolly. “What would the priests of Lathander do to one so perverse as to use the dead for their own gain?”

“You assume-”

“Stop Aerin. Do not attempt to defend a man you intend to collect a bounty on. It makes no sense,” Gaius said sharply.

Aerin dropped the subject, bringing up a different topic.

“I think I’ve found the school of magic I want to research.”

“That’s great,” Gaius smiled.

“It’s transmutation. I think it would be best for both of us,” Aerin continued.

“Any particular reason?”

Aerin’s ears burned and he decided not to answer. Not yet. Not when they were about to enter an inn full of people.

“The Red Canyons? That’s not too far from here. If we follow the road west out of town, then head south, we should find him rather easily,” Jaheira said.

“Maybe we should head to Nashkel first,” Aerin suggested.

“I don’t think so. A necromancer is not someone we should suffer to let live,” the druid denied. “We can head to Nashkel after we have dealt with this abomination to nature.”

Jaheira set a hand on Aerin’s shoulder in a motherly fashion.

“I know you are averse to ending life, but this cleric, he has doubtlessly taken lives of his own, or the church would not put a bounty on his head. The god Lathander has an appreciation for life. If you desire, you should speak with one of his priests before we leave.”

Aerin stood up from the table with a nod.

“I think I’ll do that,” he agreed.

Aerin and Gaius stood in front of the temple of Lathander. They had been here twice already, but the sight of the large temple still amazed them.

Entering the front courtyard, Aerin let Gaius crawl onto his shoulders. They silently walked through the court, Aerin knocking on the door to the church proper. The sun was sinking in the sky, and the temple was going to close soon.

A young man in brown robes opened the door, smiling at the mage.

“Welcome, sir. What ails you on this day?”

“Matters of death,” Aerin said evasively.

The priest nodded.

“I see. Many find issue with death during their lives. Why don’t we step inside, and discuss your troubles?”

Aerin followed the man inside, the priest leading him and Gaius toward a small alcove.

“Now young half-elf, perhaps you can be more specific concerning your problem?”

Aerin lowered his head.

“I have murdered many people in the past week,” he said.

The priest raised an eyebrow at the confession.

“I see. And tell me sir, what caused you to murder these people?”

“Self-defence,” Gaius spoke up from around the mage’s neck.

“If it was self-defence, then you were within your right.”

“But I might be about to murder another person soon.”

“And may I inquire who this person may be?”

“Bassilus.”

The priest’s eyes widened in recognition.

“I can assure you Lathander bears you no ill will regarding the mad cleric’s death.”

“I am not a religious person,” Aerin said. “But I am having troubles with the deaths I have caused.”

“Perhaps you have not yet let them go. If you would like, I can guide you in a ritual that may ease your mind.”

Aerin nodded.

“Thank you sir. I have never killed a soul before this week and it is hitting me rather hard.”

“I understand.”

The priest of Lathander left the alcove, returning with a set of candles, one of them lit.

“I suggest that for each person, you light a candle in their name. Meditate for a time on their life, and then on the ending of that life.”

Aerin thanked the man again, the priest nodding before exiting the alcove once more.

The mage thought a moment, before setting the candles in the runic shape signifying life. He sat in the middle of the candles, lighting four of them with the extra candle.

“Forgive me,” the half-elf breathed, lowering his head.

For the next six hours, he sat in the alcove, thinking of the men that he had killed. Slowly his mind turned once more to Gorion.

Aerin came to realize he was not to blame for the death of his foster father. He was not to blame for the actions of others, even if they had killed Gorion because of him. And as he blew out the candles around him, Aerin let go finally.

You seemed happier after the temple, more willing to accept your role in the world. But we still did not know what that role would be. For now, we continued as we had, accompanying Jaheira and Khalid, trusting they would keep us protected.

It was not long before that trust would be tested once more.