Arilyn used the momentum of the horse's movement to dismount. Throwing herself backward in a somersault, the agile half-elf rolled out of the saddle and landed on her feet, moonblade in hand. With the flat of her blade she smacked the mare's flanks, hard. The horse fled, dodging the clutching talons of the five still-standing, hungry lizards. The lizard men, robbed of the promise of horseflesh, surrounded Arilyn and closed in.
The half-elf could hear excited squeaks and harsh, high-pitched chattering just outside the tight circle of scales and blades. Wonderful, Arilyn thought with dismay. The goblin hunting party had finally decided to join in. As if she didn't have enough to deal with.
One of the lizard men got through her guard, and the tip of its sword slashed a burning line across her left shoulder. With her next swing Arilyn cut the lizard across the face. Blinded and roaring, the creature pawed at its eyes and reeled away, knocking one of its brothers to the ground in its frenzy. The fallen lizard man thrashed about, struggling to regain its footing on the marshy, blood-slick ground. With a quick jab, the moonblade found its heart, and the monster lay still. Arilyn leaped over it toward the blinded lizard, and quickly ended that beast's suffering.
Now there were but three of the lizard men left. Even tired and wounded, Arilyn felt confident of winning against those odds. She doubted, however, whether she would have the strength at battle's end to wade through a band of goblins.
As she fought, Arilyn heard a strange battle hymn drifting from somewhere on the marsh. It was a bawdy ballad, set to a well-known drinking song, and it was rendered triply incongruous by the refined tone of a well-trained tenor voice:
They're far from staid after a raid
Those men of Zhentil Keep:
They kill off all the women
For they much prefer the sheep.
The Zhents don't eat their ill-got treat;
Not one of them's a glutton.
So isn't it a marvel
That they always smell of mutton?
Blasted human! Arilyn ducked a battle axe and gritted her teeth in annoyance. To her surprise, she found that the foolish song rallied her more effectively than the battle skirl of Moonshae pipes. She fought on, buoyed up by a mixture of relief and irritation. Danilo would get away, and in his own flamboyant fashion.
Unimpressed by the music, the three lizard men pressed in. One of them lunged at her with a dagger. Arilyn knocked the weapon from its claws and darted forward, thrusting the moonblade deep into its reptilian eye and immediately killing it. The creature fell heavily forward, and the half-elf tore her sword free and leaped clear of the toppling corpse.
With a triumphant roar, a huge, brown-scaled lizard man hefted his battle axe and took a mighty swipe at the half-elf's knees. She leaped high to avoid the blade, but on the back-swing the axe's handle caught her and knocked her sideways. Thrown off balance, she flew several feet before she hit the ground hard. She stopped face down beside a steaming, sulphur-scented pool. Arilyn scrambled to her feet. If she had been hurt by the fall, the pain would come later.
The remaining pair of lizards, smelling blood, closed in. Arilyn faced them and crouched in a defensive stance, holding the moonblade before her in a two-handed grip. The sword glowed a brilliant blue in the gathering darkness, lighting the half-elf's grim face and reflecting the cold fire of her eyes. The monsters, expecting a wounded half-elf and an easy kill, fell back in surprise and fear. Taking advantage of their reaction, Arilyn advanced, raising the magic sword high.
A clatter of hooves distracted the lizard men. Brandishing his sword, Danilo Thann rode his dainty chestnut mare in tight circles around the creatures and the half-elf, his blade prodding and teasing as he harried the monsters, as if trying to draw their attention away from Arilyn.
What now? she thought in exasperation. The fool would get dizzy and fall off his horse before he managed to accomplish anything of value.
Roaring its annoyance, one of the creatures raised a length of rusty chain and tried to swat away the pesky human. Its first blow knocked the sword from Danilo's hand, and with a triumphant snarl the creature started whirling the chain, preparing to launch the weapon at the nobleman.
Arilyn pulled a knife from her boot and hurled it into the creature's open, snarling mouth. With a strangled gurgle, the beast stopped dead. The chain kept whirling, however, wrapping itself around the lizard man's arm with a cracking of bone. To Arilyn's surprise the monster merely spat blood and switched its weapon to its other hand.
Danilo's wild ride brought him too close to the axe-wielding brown lizard. The monster hoisted his weapon and swung, slashing the nobleman's silk sleeve from elbow to wrist and drawing blood.
Danilo galloped several yards away, then reined in his horse and regarded his ruined garment with dismay. He jabbed a finger at the lizards. "That's it. Now I'm angry," he informed them. The lizard men roared and continued to lumber toward Danilo, chain and axe raised for the kill.
"When in doubt, run," Danilo announced to the marsh at large. He wheeled his horse around and headed to the north. The lizard men fell in behind him.
"Oh, no you don't," Arilyn shouted at the monsters. For lack of another weapon to hurl, she snatched up a stone and threw it. "Stand and fight, you overgrown sacks of shoe leather!"
The missile struck the axe-wielding lizard man in the back of the head. Bellowing its fury, it threw its weapon aside and thundered back toward Arilyn. The beast lunged forward in an elemental frenzy, its fangs bared. Arilyn stood her ground until the last moment, then she dove to one side and rolled safely away. The charging lizard's jaws closed on air, and the monster skidded to a stop, arms windmilling wildly as it struggled to maintain its balance.
Arilyn came in low and sliced the lizard man cleanly across its throat. The beast crashed nose-first into the ground. With a brief nod of satisfaction, the half-elf headed off at a run in the direction of Danilo and the final foe. She easily overtook the wounded and slow-moving beast, and stomped hard on its tail to distract it from its overdressed prey.
With an incongruous squeak, the lizard spun around. Ignoring Arilyn, it dropped its chain weapon and gathered up its tail and draped it over its wounded arm, gazing mournfully down at the tip and emitting pitiful, chirruping whimpers. Involuntarily, Arilyn's sword arm lowered.
Suddenly the beast stiffened. It hissed, gurgled, and slumped twitching to the earth. A sword protruded from its neck at a hideous angle.
Behind the fallen lizard man stood Danilo Thann. Not bothering to advertise his intent, the dandy had quietly skewered the monster through the back of the neck. Arilyn felt a sudden and unreasonable flash of anger. "Where are the goblins?" she demanded, thinking it better to vent her rage on them than on her hostage.
Danilo pointed. To Arilyn's surprise, all six members of the goblin hunting party lay in a bloody pile.
Breathing heavily, she held the moonblade up before her. Its light was almost gone, a sure sign that the danger was past and the battle over. She sheathed the weapon and turned to the nobleman. For a long moment they regarded each other silently over the dead body of the brown lizard man. "You had to kill him like that?"
Danilo recoiled, blinking in surprise. "Whatever are you talking about? Him who? There's a lot of dead 'hims' out here to choose from, you know. A few 'hers' too, I would imagine, although I'm no expert on lizard anatomy."
Arilyn raked one hand through her sweat-soaked black curls. "Forget it. Where's my horse?"
"She won't be far away," Danilo said. He placed one boot gingerly on the brown scales of the lizard man and yanked out his sword. After fastidiously wiping it clean on a clump of marsh grass, Danilo took the reins of his mare and went in search of the other mount. Arilyn trudged after him.
They hadn't far to go, for Arilyn's horse milled just inside the walls of the ruined keep. Danilo produced some sugar lumps from his magic sack, and coaxed the mare to him. The horse sniffed, then its rubbery lips folded around the sugar in Danilo's outstretched palm.
The dandy smiled and scratched the white star on the horse's forehead. "The sugar should sweeten your temper a tad, my pretty," he said. The horse nickered softly and nudged at Danilo with her muzzle.
"It worked!" he said. He cast a speculative look at Arilyn, then with a sly smile he offered her a sugar lump.
Arilyn blinked, her mouth dropping open in astonishment. Then her worn face lit up unexpectedly and she laughed.
"I shall accept that as an apology," Danilo stated, an expression of delight flooding his face as he surveyed the loveliness of her usually stern visage. "Quite a fight, eh?"
His frank admiration disconcerted her, and his casual approach to battle defied her perception of him. Danilo Thann was not quite the helpless, shallow dandy he appeared. He was dangerous, in more ways than one. Arilyn's smile faded, and her eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"The goblins are dead," she observed.
Danilo quirked an eyebrow as he surveyed the carnage around them. "You have a firm grasp on the obvious."
"How?" she persisted, ignoring his teasing.
He shrugged lightly. "You know goblins. They're always fighting among themselves and…"
"Enough!" Arilyn snapped, rounding on him. "I am not a fool. I do not enjoy being treated like one."
"You get used to it," Danilo interjected mildly as he adjusted the angle of his hat.
"To which, no doubt, you can attest," she noted with asperity. "Whatever else you may be, though, you can fight. Where did you learn to fight goblins?"
He grinned disarmingly. "I have five older brothers."
"Very amusing," she said dryly, crossing her arms over her chest as she studied the man. "That is not enough to explain your skill or your confidence in battle."
"All right then, would you believe six brothers?"
Arilyn's shoulders sagged in defeat. "This isn't getting me anywhere," she muttered to herself. She straightened and addressed the young man in a brisk tone. "All right. Your secrets are your own. You saved my life, and I owe you. You have more than earned your freedom."
From beneath the brim of his hat, Danilo gazed pointedly around the forbidding landscape. "How lovely," he drawled. "Now that I'm no longer strictly necessary to you, you no longer require my company. In compensation, I get to pass some time in the Marsh of Chelimber, taking in the sights, conversing with the natives. A bargain, by my eyes. Tell me, am I to undertake this suicidal journey on foot?"
"Of course not," she retorted. "You'll ride."
Danilo lay one hand on his chest, a dramatic gesture of gratitude. "Ah, the lady gifts me indeed-freedom that I could have taken for myself and one of my own steeds. They are my horses, by the way. Truly, I'm overwhelmed."
Arilyn gritted her teeth and silently counted to ten. With sorely tested patience she spelled out her intent: "At daybreak, we head south. Both of us. Once we find a merchant train, I'll leave you in their care. Now do you understand?"
"Ah. Thank you for the kind thought, but no."
Exasperated, the half-elf sank onto the ground and dropped her weary head into her hands. It would seem that the fop had something of the merchant in him after all; judging from his tone, he was prepared to barter like a Calimshite peddlar.
"I take it you have something else in mind?" she observed.
He sat down on a rock facing her, grimacing as he held his richly embroidered robe clear of the lizard blood that pooled on the ground near his feet. "As it happens, I do," he said lightly. "You."
Startled, she sat upright and eyed him with suspicion. "I beg your pardon?"
"Your company," he clarified. "From now on, we shall be partners and travel-mates."
Arilyn stared at the nobleman. Remarkable though it seemed, Danilo appeared to be serious. "That's impossible."
"Why?"
Leveling a stern look at Danilo, she said, "I work alone. I walk alone."
"Or so it is written in the stars," he intoned, gently mocking the stiffness of her tone.
Arilyn flushed and looked away. "I didn't mean to sound so pompous," she continued quietly. "I simply do not wish to travel with another."
"What have we been doing for the better part of two days?" he asked, then raised one hand to cut off the argument she had ready. "Yes, yes. I know. Escape, hostage, secrecy, that sort of thing. All that aside, you said you would keep me with you until you reached Waterdeep. Is the word of Arilyn Moonblade given with such fervor, but taken back so lightly?" He smiled at the angry flash that came to her eyes. "No, I thought not. Here it is, then: by your own words, you owe me. As payment for your life, I choose to stay with you, to Waterdeep and perhaps a while longer."
Arilyn massaged her aching temples as she tried to sort this through. "Why?"
"Why not?"
Arilyn's patience was thinning rapidly. "Why?" she demanded through clenched teeth.
"If the truth must be told, I'm a bit of an amateur bard. Well thought of in some circles, too, if I may say so."
"Eventually, this will have a point?" she asked wearily.
"Naturally. You heard me sing the Ballad of the Zhentish Raiders?" Danilo waited, his expression obviously courting praise. Arilyn's only response was a continued glare, so after a moment the dandy shrugged and continued.
"Yes. Well. This journey is turning out to be quite the adventure, isn't it? I've decided to seize the opportunity and write an original ballad about the Harper Assassin. The first! My fame will be assured! You'll feature largely in the tale, of course," he noted hastily and magnanimously. "Part of it is written already. Would you like to hear what I've got so far?" Without waiting for encouragement, Danilo cleared his throat and began to sing in his fine tenor voice some of the most strained verse Arilyn had ever heard.
Arilyn sat through two stanzas before drawing a knife and placing the tip at Danilo's larynx. "Sing another note," she said calmly, "and I'll carve that song from your throat."
Grimacing, Danilo took the blade between his thumb and forefinger and eased it away. "Merciful Milil! And I thought the critics in Waterdeep were harsh! What do you expect from someone who's merely a gifted amateur?"
"A straight answer would be nice," she suggested.
"All right then," he said bluntly, "I'm concerned about survival, plain and simple. I have no desire to be on my own, and you're as good a bodyguard as any I've seen. Frankly I doubt I'd be any safer traveling with a merchant caravan, so my present lot suits me just fine."
Arilyn considered the statement for a moment. His words rang true, and he looked as serious as his foolish countenance would probably allow. If he wanted protection, Arilyn acknowledged, she owed him that much. She thrust the blade back into her boot and gave in to the inevitable.
"All right," she conceded. "We ride hard and split the watch, the hunting, and the cooking. There'll be no chatter, no magic, and no singing."
"Anything," he agreed readily. "Get me safely to Waterdeep, my dear, and I'll even polish your weapons for you. By Tempus, they could use a good once-over." As he spoke, Danilo reached out to stroke the moonblade's ancient, tarnished sheath.
Immediately a spark of blue light lit the marsh. With a sharp oath, Danilo recoiled, jerking back his hand. He held up his index finger, regarding it with disbelief. The skin at the tip was blackened, blasted by the sword's magic.
"What did I do wrong? What prompted that thing to attack me?" he demanded. "Didn't you say it couldn't draw innocent blood? Oh, wait a minute-no blood. Forget the last question."
Keeping her eyes steady on Danilo and her voice level, she added, "There will be one more condition to this 'partnership.' You must never touch that sword again."
Sucking on the offended digit, Danilo nodded avidly. "That goes without saying."
The half-elf abruptly rose to her feet and swung herself up into the saddle. "Let's go."
"Shouldn't we tend to our wounds first?" Danilo asked, eyeing Arilyn's torn and bloodied shirt with concern.
She looked down at him with disbelief and disdain, as
suming he referred to his finger. "You'll live," she said flatly. "Just be thankful you didn't try to draw the sword."
"Oh? What would have happened? And how do you keep it from doing that to you?" he asked as he rose to his feet.
Arilyn swore silently. No one had ever touched the moonblade without her permission. Why had she let her guard down now?
"Well?" he prompted.
"Night has fallen," she said in a tight voice. "You may have noticed that we are still in the Marsh of Chelimber. Would you rather ride out of here, or talk?"
"Can't we do both?"
"No."
The dandy gave a resigned shrug and mounted his horse. "I suppose we'll hunt for supper sometime soon?"
"Your turn to hunt." Arilyn pressed her heels to her horse's sides and headed westward out of Chelimber.
Danilo fell in beside her. He cocked his head and asked in a tentative voice, "Have you ever eaten lizard? I hear it tastes a little like chicken."
Thoroughly appalled, Arilyn twisted in her saddle to level an icy glare at the dandy. "If I thought you were serious, I'd leave you in the marsh."
"I'll hunt!" he said hastily. "Really!"
The pair rode in silence until they'd left the marsh behind. As the foul-smelling mists faded, the ground firmed beneath the horses' hooves. Stars began to twinkle, forming the autumn constellations that had been Arilyn's friends since childhood: Correlian, Esetar, and the Shard of Selune. Still far in the distance, a few trees formed dim silhouettes against the night sky. Trees, Arilyn thought with a silent sigh of relief. Trees were a sure sign that Chelimber was no more than a memory. Never had she been so glad to see trees. From deep within her elven soul welled a prayer of thanks, a silent song of welcome to the stars and the forest.
"I say," Danilo blurted out, "how far is it to Waterdeep?"
Arilyn's private joy evaporated like dew at highsun. "Too far."
Dark though the night was, Arilyn's elven vision took in the dandy's uncertain smile. "Have I been insulted, or is it just my imagination?"
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