Serena’s Ponderings

Kythorn 12th - road to Nesme

The thoughts swirled through Serena’s mind as she stood her watch that night . . .

"Is it just a dangerous road? Or is somebody out to get us? Certainly, somebody was out to get Gaard. He was murdered just after we left him in Neverwinter. His murder must be a connected with the stones and his efforts to deliver them to Lady Alustriel. Who would want the delivery stopped? Somebody who wished to keep the meaning of the stones a secret, of course. Not just somebody who wanted the stones for himself – otherwise, why murder Gaard when you could just track down the deliverymen and recover the stones that way? Why would somebody want to keep the meaning of the stones secret? Because that "somebody" already knows their secret and doesn’t want to share it with the Harpers or anyone else!"

"Who could that somebody be? The somebody that silenced Gaard and wants to protect the secret of the blue stones? What about the Harpers’ traditional enemies: the Zhentarium and the Cult of the Dragon? We’ve already met the infamous leader of the Zhentarium – Manshoon himself. If he was looking for the stones, he certainly could have taken them from us at that meeting. I think he was just interested in Soggrin. The Dragon Cultists we met, likewise, made no mention of the blue stones. They wanted to kill us for their own reasons – reasons which, admittedly, are none too clear."

"So, who else is there? Certainly not the Heralds, the Lords Alliance, or the Harpers themselves. But what about the evil Arcane Brotherhood? The Brotherhood maintains safehouses in Luskan, north of Neverwinter. And they are rumoured to have a mountain stronghold somewhere to the north and east of Luskan – right in the neighborhood of where these blue stones were found! By process of elimination and relative proximity, it seems the members of the Arcane Brotherhood are the most likely culprits trying to stop the delivery of these stones."

"Now, if the Brotherhood murdered Gaard, what have they done to us so far? Serena recounted in her mind the myriad attacks the Unknowns had undergone since leaving Neverwinter. Xred and his orcs had no special interest in the blue stones. Xred just dumped them into a chest with a bunch of other loot. The bandits who attacked outside Triboar? Possibly they were sent by the Brotherhood, but the country was crawling with bandits anyway, so who could say? The halfling Hael certainly was operating independently – he pilfered the caravan he had stayed with on the Long Road, as well as us. And Kazan, bless his heart, also knew nothing of the blue stones. The Black Raven raiders were interested in Soggrin, but not in the stones – they fear and despise anything magical. That leaves us with the dopey bandit Khelin Haldonn and Feeb – neither of whom pose much of a threat, so if they are minions of the Arcane Brotherhood, we don’t have much to worry about --"

Serena’s ruminations were cut short by a cry in the night . . .

 

15th Kythorn - night

Serena stood at the rail, her blankets clenched tightly around her body.She gazed out into the night, at the black water churning past. Below decks,the gnomish engine throbbed and chugged, somehow powering this magic boat upriver.

The far bank was shrouded in mist. The scent of troll hung in the air,drifted over from the moorside. "Could the trolls keep pace with this magical boat?" She had seen them moving in gangs as twilight fell. They did move quickly. "Still, even trolls would need to rest. It would be difficult for them to get ahead of the boat and stage an ambush in the narrows upstream. Unless they were already massed there for another raid,another river-crossing attempt on the trunks of massive trees they had hauled from who knows where."

"At some point, this boat would go beyond the protection of the Riders of Nesme. The Riders kept the tree-trunk bridges cleared within the limits of their patrols. But beyond the patrols?" She doubted the Sky Ponies would be quite so obliging, yet those barbarians must be at constant war with the trolls, just as the Riders of Nesme were. Trolls liked the taste of manflesh, she had been taught, and it probably didn’t matter to them whether it was a man (or woman!) of Nesme or of the barbarian tribes.

"The gnome captain, Graasz, seemed to have a lot of confidence packed into his little body. ‘Simply ram those log bridges,’ he had said. The littlefellow didn’t even stop to wonder what might happen if a tree-bole rested higher than the prow of this wonderful boat. The damn thing might rip apartthe whole superstructure of the vessel, including Graasz’ precious flamethrower. Good thing that magical engine was down belowdecks. It would survive, at least, to carry us to our destination."

Serena listened to the throbbing engine. Her thoughts drifted for a while,like the patches of mist that loomed up ahead before being shredded by the vessel’s passage. Something was going to happen on this boat-trip, this she knew. "Things looked too easy. Something always happened on this journey,especially when things started looking easy."

Serena chuckled. "How proud they had felt for talking down that sillybrigand. What was his name? Khelin Hardonn? Something like that. And then - WHAM! - Manshoon swooped down, carrying away Soggrin, and those dragon-cultists nearly finished us off."

"Yes, something was going to happen on this river trip. And whatever itwas, it was going to be a bigger challenge than any of us has faced before." The problem was that Serena had no clue where the trouble would come from. This is what made her uneasy. "If I knew the threat," she thought, "Icould at least plan for it. But this . . . this . . . uncertainty. That is what is truly unsettling."

"But we should be prepared," she thought, "We fighters." She left the railing and made her way along the deck. "I should talk about this with Lucretia. We should have a plan," she thought.

She turned the handle to Luc’s cabin door. The engine throbbed belowdecks.And Serena suddenly realized that she was throbbing as well. And she knew that she wasn’t going to discuss defensive strategy with Lucretia that night.

26th Kythorn - night

Roused by an unremembered dream, Serena awoke. The cold had penetrated beneath her blankets and she shivered. She hunched herself up and looked around the camp. Lucretia’s bedroll was empty, so it must still be the first watch, she thought. She gazed forlornly at his bedroll for a few moments and then huddled back beneath her own blankets, seeking whatever warmth they could still provide.

Closing her eyes, she wondered if she would ever share Lucretia’s bed again. He was headstrong and boastful, she thought, but in bed he was deliberate and thorough – yes, very thorough, she remembered -- and a lot more caring when they were together in love’s embrace than when they were together in the company of the Unknowns. Why was that? She had shown no overt affection for him amongst the Company. Not like Ceely and Milo did, with their languid glances, hand-holding, and whispered nothings. Somehow she knew that sort of thing would not suit her and Lucretia. But still, why did he have to be deliberately obnoxious to her?

Was it because she was a woman, trying to take the role of leader? Was he annoyed – as a man -- that she would dare such a thing? She had seen this sort of thing all the time in Lord Nasher’s army. That was the main reason she had quit. But she expected more consideration from Luc, especially since he had seen her action. They had fought side-by-side against vermen, hobgoblins, trolls, giant forest goblins, and Kazan’s minions. Surely, he had seen that she could hold her own in battle. Why couldn’t he respect her for that, at least?

Sleep was beginning to take hold of Serena’s senses once again. She yawned and wrapped the blankets more tightly around her armored body. No respect. What did Lucretia respect anyway? A nice ass, a strong arm in battle. But she had both of those. Was she too outspoken? Was Blondung right? Did she make Lucretia look like a fool?

A dreamy vision formed in Serena’s half-asleep mind. Lucretia – in a jester’s tassel-belled cap, and two opposed faces. Just like Volo and Dolo. One Luc face was leering and crowing, "Nice ass, baby, nice ass!" The other was raging, "You know what your problem is?"

"My problem?" she thought, as her conscious mind fell away into slumber. "My problem is you, my love . . ."