A Familiar Story - 3. Jaheira and Khalid

“Of goblins and rings are tales untold. Of dragons and rings, there are many to behold.”

You slept fitfully that night, plagued by your actions as so many before you have been. Even the warmth of my body could do little to soothe you. Not for the first time, I wondered if you might need a body to comfort you, one that was human, not dragon. If you ever found someone to give you that pleasure, I would not envy you. But while we were on the run, it was unlikely you would ever find a friend you could share your entire self with.

Besides, at the rate people were entering and leaving our life, none would last.

Aerin awoke to a gentle knock on the door, nearly jumping out of his skin at the noise. Gaius growled quietly, stalking around the bed. If the half-elf hadn’t been terrified of who might be on the other side of the door, he would have found Gaius’ actions adorable.

As it was, he prepared for a fight, not knowing who to expect. Gorion’s friends were supposed to be here, yet he hadn’t seen anyone familiar downstairs the day before.

“Who is there?” he called through the door.

“Friends, I believe,” a woman’s voice called through the door.

Gaius took to the air, hovering over the doorway as Aerin approached, staff in hand. The weapon gleamed, the blood of the assassin scrubbed off of it the night before. Aerin prayed the woman was friendly. He had no spells and he did not want to fight anyone.

Opening the door cautiously, he peeked out of the room. Two half-elves, both in heavy armour, stood in the hall outside, weapons holstered but in the open.

“Who are you?” Aerin asked again.

“My name is Jaheira. This is my husband, Khalid,” the woman said. “We are waiting for Gorion, and you match the description of his ward.”

“I am his ward, or I was,” Aerin said.

“W-was? He i-isn’t with y-you?” the man stammered.

“No, he was killed two days ago as we fled Candlekeep,” Aerin said.

“That is sad news,” Jaheira murmured. “He was a good friend of ours and a good man. In his memory, we offer you our companionship, such as it is. Perhaps you will join us to Nashkel? We have business there to attend to.”

“Two others asked me to accompany them to Nashkel, though I fear their intentions are less than honourable. I would gladly go with you and lend you my aid, in hopes of preventing any harm they might cause.”

Gaius dropped to the ground, climbing Aerin’s shoulder again. He stared at their new companions, warning them both with a glare.

“There are a few tasks we must complete here before we can be on our way. I hope you will accompany us,” Jaheira said unflinchingly.

“Of course,” Aerin nodded. “I feel the need to warn you that I am being hunted, though for what purpose is unknown.”

“Thank you for telling us. As long as we feel your actions are pure, we will guard your back.”

The group left the inn shortly after, Jaheira leading the way out of the castle. She took a moment to look at a book, turning to Khalid.

“The goblin packs should be dealt with first I believe. They’re just to the north of here. After that, we should be able to hunt down that ogre to the south easily enough.”

At the word ogre, Aerin was grateful he had focused on combat spells that morning.

“There he is!” someone snarled.

Gulping, Aerin turned back toward the castle, spotting Montaron and Xzar running toward him.

“I believe you have something of ours,” the halfling growled, a dagger in his hand.

“Friends of yours?” Jaheira asked, glancing at Aerin.

“Past acquaintances, until I realized they were necromancers.”

“We’ll be taking our scrolls back now. If you do as we say, I promise your death will be swift.”

“This half-elf is under our charge. If you threaten him, you threaten us all,” Jaheira said, a mace appearing in her hand.

“Bah, I could take all of you easily,” Montaron sneered. “Xzar!”

The necromancer began intoning a spell and Gaius leapt from Aerin’s shoulder, crossing the distance to the man in the blink of an eye. He knocked the mage off-balance as Aerin pulled his sling out. Whirling a bullet around, the half-elf launched the stone, striking Xzar in the head.

Montaron roared, his dagger slicing into Khalid’s arm, past the half-elf’s longsword. Jaheira’s mace crushed the halfling’s skull, ending the threat to the party.

Thunder sounded in the sky as Montaron fell, and rain began falling on the group.

“The gods seem displeased with our actions,” Jaheira said, looking at the sky.

She intoned a spell, touching Khalid’s arm lightly. Light glowed around the man and when it was gone, his arm was healed.

Khalid knelt beside the dead necromancers, taking several items off of Montaron, though Xzar already seemed picked clean save for his spellbook.

“That has dark magic in it,” Jaheira confirmed, setting the book alight.

Aerin suddenly felt afraid for his own spellbook. Maybe joining these two was a bad idea.

“Let’s be off,” Jaheira said.

“What about Xzar?”

She glanced at the wizard, his green robes soaking in the rain.

“What about him? He’s dead.”

Aerin paled. He didn’t mean to kill the man, just keep him from casting. Another person was dead by his hand.

“Cheer up,” Khalid said. “A g-great evil was ended by...by your hand.”

“Let’s get moving. I want to finish our quests soon,” Jaheira said.

They walked around the castle, to the north along the road. Within an hour, Jaheira spotted a hobgoblin, charging toward the creature with a roar.

Khalid sighed as he hurried after his wife, leaving Aerin and Gaius to watch their backs. And to watch a second hobgoblin jump out of hiding to attack the two fighters.

Aerin hurled another stone, striking one of the goblins. He missed his second strike, but by then Khalid had cut down the first goblin and turned to the second, his armour shrugging off a blow.

Within seconds, both hobgoblins lay dead, the battle over. Jaheira immediately began searching the bodies, removing bags of gold from them.

“No ring,” she muttered as Aerin neared.

The mage gagged at the smell coming from the monsters’ bodies.

“Get used to death kid. You’re going to see it a lot,” Jaheira said, clapping him on the back.

Aerin stumbled forward at the blow, barely catching himself before he fell on the corpses.

“Are you okay Khalid?” Jaheira asked.

“I-I’m good,” the man nodded. “Shall w-we see if the n-n-next group has the ring?”

They continued their journey around the keep, running into a trio of goblins down the road. Again the fighters charged in, Gaius following close behind while Aerin provided ranged support. His bullets all went awry, and the mage could only watch as a goblin struck Jaheira in the leg.

The sight of his wife’s blood enraged Khalid and the man attacked furiously, cleaving one of the goblins in half. The remaining monsters fell quickly to their fury and the fighters stood over their kills, panting heavily.

Jaheira spent a moment to wrap her leg up before repeating her search of the fallen. It amazed Aerin how callously they pawed through the belongings of the dead. The half-elf wondered if he was destined to become this jaded in his travels.

Maybe that letter had been right. He had been too sheltered.

“Found it!” Jaheira exclaimed triumphantly, holding up a golden ring with a large sapphire.

“G-great!” Khalid smiled. “Let u-us take... take it back to i-to its owner.”

They began backtracking down the road, Jaheira taking the lead with a slight limp. Aerin was surprised how long it had taken to recover the ring for whoever needed it back. Most of the day was gone, and the mage felt certain that it would be dark by the time they entered the inn once more.

As he thought, the sky was darkening as they returned to the keep, Jaheira leading the group toward a house Aerin hadn’t seen when he first arrived. A young woman sat in front of a fire within the house, cooking a supper that smelled amazing. Dimly Aerin realized he hadn’t had a cooked meal in over three days.

“Oh! You’re back!” the woman smiled, standing.

“Yes, and we found your ring while ridding the inn of some evil,” Jaheira said, revealing the jewellery.

“I thank you. This was a gift from my father. He gave it to me when I left home, and I just couldn’t bear to think of a bunch of goblin hands on it.”

“I’m glad to do my part Joia.”

“You are a good sort and I will gladly say so to anyone who asks,” Joia smiled. “I am afraid I do not have any gold to spare. Would you like to stay for supper as payment?”

Aerin smiled at the kindness of the offer.

“I think we would like that very much,” Jaheira said with a look at the mage.

“Please, sit.”

Joia began scooping bowls of stew, passing them around the room. She glanced at the dragon on Aerin’s shoulder with an apologetic smile.

“Forgive me, but I do not have any food fitting for a dragon.”

“That is okay. Gaius is a herbivore. I have food for him in my bag.”

Aerin pulled out a small bag of mixed berries he had picked the night before. They weren’t Gaius’ favourite berries, but he would eat them.

The stew was some of the best stew the half-elf had ever eaten. He had to restrain himself, eating slowly so as not to seem rude.

“T-this is delicious,” Khalid said, finishing his meal.

“Thank you,” Joia smiled. “Alas, it takes more than a good meal to attract friends.”

“Trust me, I understand that,” Jaheira chuckled. “Of course, my cudgel seems to put people off a bit too.”

“That is unfortunate.”

“It would be, if a certain someone hadn’t worked his way past my defences.”

Khalid smiled at his wife, leaning his head on her shoulder.

“You two are well suited for each other, it seems. And are you their son? I don’t remember seeing you yesterday.”

Aerin shook his head.

“No, I’m just a stranger brought to them through unfortunate events.”

Gaius nibbled at Aerin’s ear, bringing a stubborn smile to the mage’s face. The dragon may put him in his place much of the time, but he still tried to keep a smile on Aerin’s face.

“Thank you Gaius,” he whispered, wriggling at the dragon’s tickling breath on his ear.

Their meals finished, the half-elves stood.

“Thank you for supper,” Aerin smiled gratefully.

“Thank you for helping to recover my ring,” Joia nodded.

The group headed out of the home, Jaheira pointing them to the main inn. They would rest for the night before continuing on their quest.

A familiar is often only as happy as their master. Yet for us, our bond seemed to go further than that. I truly found joy in making you happy, just as you found joy in caring for me. Maybe I was hard at times, just as you were, but together we saw each other through our trials. And through it all, our bond as master and familiar continued to grow, beyond simple friendship and into something akin to love.

Jaheira and Khalid showed me something I never knew I wanted. Unconditional love, the kind you always believed only existed in books. It existed. And I wanted you to experience it. But you seemed ill-fated for love, being hunted by the world for a reason you did not understand. I had my work cut out for me.