The Chronicles of Valen Ch. 46
*Disclaimer*: Valen, Nathyrra, The Seer, and several of the other characters are the property of Bioware. If you’ve played the game, you’ll recognize them. The rest is the invention of my twisted little imagination, including Morrighu Badb and the goddess she serves.
*New Beginnings*
Tivia continues as if she had never been interrupted, “You can increase her practice schedule from there, but do it gradually. She should be back to a normal practice schedule by about this time next year.”
Morrighu, unable to restrain herself, squawks again, “In a year? Are you ma…?”
Valen levels another one of his abyssal glares at her and she halts, pouting at him.
She sulks, “An hour a day is hardly sufficient to keep my skills sharp. What good will all this do if I get myself killed?”
Tivia looks at Valen, “And another thing, I don’t want her in combat at all for quite some time. It’s stressful and tiring. She needs neither of those things right now and indeed, it will be some time before she’s truly ready for such a thing again.”
Tivia sizes the tiefling up, “You might be a more fit judge of that than I am.”
He sighs, “While I don’t disagree with anything you’ve said, I would like for you to tell me how, exactly, I am to manage all this with a stubborn, head-strong, paladin who can try even the patience of her patron deity.”
Tivia pats him on the shoulder, “If you love her, you will find a way.”
Tivia turns to Morrighu, “If you love him, you will let him care for you and do as you should. It really is for your own good and the good of any children you might consider having. Since Graciella’s is here, I no longer feel the need to visit you every day, but do send word if you need or want my assistance with anything. I would also like to see you in the temple in a month.”
Morrighu shrugs but Valen nods and elbows her. With obvious reluctance, Morrighu nods as well.
Tivia reaches out and pats her arm, “It need not be such a burden. It should be quite pleasant to be cared for.”
Morrighu looks up at her, “We’re going to try to buy a slave. Her present masters aren’t very kind to her and I was rather hoping that at least one of you might be me around, in case she needs…assistance.”
Tivia glances at Graciella who nods.
Tivia bows and takes her leave.
Graciella glides foreword, “If you wish, I will go with you. If her situation is so poor that it has moved you to attempt to purchase her, then perhaps I should be present. That way if she needs my services, I’ll be close at hand.”
Valen nods, “There will easily be room for you in the carriage. I have a question for you though? Do you need to go to your temple to fetch anything? We could go while we’re all out.”
Graciella smiles at him, “It is thoughtful of you, but Krisstinna has already taken care of that.”
Valen nods, “Well, if we’re going to go anywhere, we both need to get dressed. Perhaps you’d care to meet us down stairs?”
Graciella nods and glides away.
Valen looks at Morrighu, “You had best get dressed if you’re going anywhere or have you become such a slugabed that I must drag you about.”
Morrighu plants a quick kiss on his cheek before running off to change. He lounges on the bed waiting for her, when he hears her call to him. He can hear a lot of rustling fabric and some mild cursing. He levers himself off the bed and walks over to the screen she’s dressing behind so that he can peer over it.
He quickly bites the inside of his lip to keep from laughing. In trying to get the dress on over all the undergarments, she’s gotten the skirt hooked on the screen, which is rocking precariously. Since the dress is half over her head, she can’t see and arms are rather effectively bound.
She can’t really move without risking tipping over the screen.
Chuckling softly to himself, he steps around the screen, “Here…just hold still and let me get you sorted out.”
He unhooks the hem of the dress from the screen, straightens the dress and pulls it down, into place, freeing her. She smiles up at him gratefully and once again, he finds his heart skipping a beat.
He smiles back at her, “If you’ll turn around, I’ll do up all your laces and buttons.”
She smiles at him again and his heart skips another beat as she lifts her hair out of the way, turning so that he can fasten her dress properly.
When he’s done, he leans down and wraps his arms around her, pulling her into an embrace, “You look really lovely. You don’t wear dresses often enough.”
She twists her head to look up at him, “We should go get the shop girl before they can do anything else to her.”
He sighs heavily into her hair, “Defender of the defenseless.”
She grins at him, “It is in my oaths.”
He nods and releases her, offering her his arm. He escorts her into the taproom, where quiet rolls through the room as they enter.
Durnan looks her over, appraisingly, “The dress becomes you.” Durnan turns to Valen, “You’ll be the envy of every man in Waterdeep that sees her.”
Valen laughs, “I’m already the envy of every man in Lith My’athar. You should see some of her other dresses. They’re a bit too…becoming.”
Morrighu blushes and shrugs, “What good is having a tattoo that shows your status, if no one ever gets to see it?”
Graciella clears her throat, “The carriage is here. I would prefer to get the girl back here as soon as possible so that we can see what, if anything, she needs.”
Valen nods, “Your point is well taken.”
With that, he whisks the healer and the paladin into the waiting carriage. At his knock it rumbles off, and Morrighu leans against him as he lounges against the side wall, looking out the window.
She gestures to Graciella, “Are you from here? You might be a better guide. I don’t know the city all that well myself.”
Graciella smiles at her and begins to point out various businesses, telling who owns them, and a bit about each one.
Finally the pass a pawnbrokers and Graciella says, “Mirt the Moneylender owns that.”
He becomes rather more interested and asks, “What do you know about him?”
Graciella shrugs, “Some people say that he’s a very bad man. Other people nearly revere him. Durnan would be able to tell you more about him that I can. The two of them have been friends since long before Mirt came to Waterdeep. In fact, I think Mirt might have come here because Durnan was here.”
Morrighu nods, “Durnan and Master Drogan were old friends too. I think Durnan knows about half of Toril.”
Graciella smiles at this as the carriage rocks to a halt in front of Nelkaush’s shop.
Valen taps Morrighu on the nose, “Wait here and I’ll see if I can get your shop girl for you.”
He picks up her pack and jumps down, striding into the shop.
The shop keeper greets him and asks what he can do for him.
He sizes the man up and he seems kindly enough so he explains his errand.
Nelkaush frowns at this, “Are you sure?”
Valen shrugs, “Morrighu seemed certain enough of it and I did hear her say that we had saved her a beating.”
Nelkaush’s frown deepens as he gestures for a scampering assistant, “Go fetch Dardiana. Tell her that I would like to speak with her.”
The boy nods and darts away.
~*~
After a few minutes of silence, Morrighu can hear something that sounds quite a bit like Valen yelling at someone. Morrighu grimaces at Graciella and jumps out of the carriage before dashing into the shop. The shopkeeper is between Valen and the shop foreman. The shop foreman has his hand drawn back, preparing to hit the unfortunate shop girl. Morrighu takes the scene in and throws herself in front of the shop girl, shouting for calm.
She levels a finger at Valen, “You — calm down.”
She turns to the shop foreman and glares at him, “You — let go of the girl.”
She looks at Nelkaush and says, “You - tell me what’s going on here.”
The shop girl, having been released from the foreman’s grip, runs behind Morrighu and huddles against her back.
The shop keeper grimaces, “The tiefling came in and wanted to buy the shop girl from us, presumably to assist his wife. I asked why he wanted her, and he said that someone here at the shop was mean to her. I called her up here to ask if that was true.”
Nelkaush gestures at the foreman, “Pankul heard the boy tell her to come up here and he followed her. Apparently, what has been said is quite true.”
The foreman grumbles something and Morrighu holds up a finger to Nelkaush and turns a laser glare on the shop foreman, “Would you mind repeating that?”
The foreman glares at her, “Stupid uppity women, think you can just march in here like you own the place. Someone ought to teach you a lesson.”
Valen starts to react, but at a warning gesture from Morrighu halts.
Morrighu narrows her eyes, “Oh and I suppose that you think you’re going to teach me a lesson, do you?”
The foreman sneers at her, “Harrumph! You’re just another uppity bitch. I could teach you a thing or two, just fine.”
The foreman gestures at Valen, “He’d stop me though.”
Morrighu arches a brow at him, “Suppose I promise you that he won’t interfere.”
The foreman sizes up the tiefling and shakes his head.
Morrighu turns to him and says, “Wait for me in the carriage. Take her with you.”
Valen starts to object but sees her palm one of Nathyrra’s daggers from a pocket in the dress.
To the foreman’s surprise, the tiefling gives him a wicked grin, “It’s your death.”
He pries the shop girl loose from Morrighu, picks her up, and carries her bodily to out of the store. Outside he deposits her in the carriage and waits anxiously for any sign of noise or movement.
Graciella begins a hasty examination of the girl and winces at what she finds. Bruises bite marks, and old scars cover the girl most everywhere under her clothing. He catches this out of the corner of his eye and grimaces.
~*~
Inside the store, the foreman eyes her warily.
She tells Nelkaush, “If you would be so kind as to excuse us, I’ll be sure to pay any damages to the shop or goods.”
Nelkaush bows to her, shrugs and retreats to a storage area. He opens the door and half of his staff nearly falls out of it. They’ve crowded into the doorway, peeking through the crack so that they can watch the outcome. The few that can see are busy reporting back to the rest. Nelkaush shakes his head, thinking that there is about to a murder in his shop.
The staff crowd back into the doorway and one of them mutters darkly, “She’s doesn’t seem like she’s afraid of him. Perhaps Pankul will finally get what’s coming to him. The heavens know that he’s deserved it for long enough.”
Nelkaush considers this for a moment before he asks one of his staff. “Why haven’t any of you told me about this sooner?”
One of his staff pipes up. “You remember Magerris?”
Nelkaush nods, frowning, “You mean the little Halfling girl that killed herself?”
Another of his staff snorts, “Suicide my ass. She let it be known that she was going to tell you what he was doing.”
Nelkaush sits down, hard, on a crate with his head in his hands, nearly weeping.
He looks up, ashamed, “Why didn’t you come to me? I’d have dismissed him immediately.”
A few of them shrug, “Would you have hired guards to watch our families? To see us to work and home again every day? No one blames you.”
~*~
Morrighu turns to the foreman, “So, it would seem that we are alone. Let’s see these lessons you think you can teach me.”
Morrighu curses her skirts silently as she gathers them up, preparing to strike. The foreman gives her an evil chuckle and starts forward, when one of the tailors sneaks up behind him and clubs him with the wooden arm of a display manikin.
The tailor looks at Morrighu apologetically, “He was going to hit you.”
Morrighu smiles at him and flashes the dagger briefly, “Perhaps, but only once and then no one else ever again. Still, he will have to be dealt with at some point. Since I am on restrictions for health reasons, I would suggest that you come and see my husband to be about some training. He can teach you how to deal with people like this. We are staying at the Yawning Portal.”
The tailor’s eyes grow large, “I knew that Dardiana said that you’d been in here. We may all come to see you. He does bad things to all the girls, but he’s especially mean to Dardiana. I’m glad to see her leaving here.”
Morrighu nods, “Now that Nelkaush knows about it, I’m sure he’ll do something about the situation. What kind of bad things are you referring to?”
The tailor becomes obviously agitated, “You know…bad things. He makes them do things for him…special things.”
Morrighu’s eyes get narrow again, “What kind of special things? Are you saying he rapes them?”
The tailor shifts nervously, “Not…not exactly. But if they don’t do things for him or if they tell anyone, he fires them and won’t give them a reference. It makes it pretty hard to find another job… unless you want to work at one of the brothels. One client or a lot of them — most girls choose one.”
She looks up and sees the rest of the staff peering through a crack in the door and gestures for them to come out. A few brave ones venture out but it’s obvious that the rest are too afraid.
She toes the foreman, “Is what he said about this man, Pankul true?”
One of the other girls opens her blouse a bit and shows Morrighu the bite marks that cover her in silent answer.
Morrighu’s face becomes a mask and she toes the foreman again, “He did that to you?”
The girl nods, too ashamed to speak.
Morrighu’s jaw clenches and she snatches the wooden arm from the tailor and whacks the foreman with it solidly a few more times. With a none too gentle kick she rolls him over on his back and puts a knee on his chest. He groans groggily, so she pulls him around to face her.
When she speaks there is hard edge to her voice that Valen would recognize, “Wake up, Pankul. I want you to be awake for this.”
She shakes him until he starts to come around, and pulling out the dagger shows it to him, “Do you see this? Do you know what it is? It’s a treated blade. There isn’t a mage in all of Toril who can fix what I’m about to do to you.”
His eyes get very wide before he starts screaming as she goes about her task.
~*~
Valen hears screaming from inside the shop but it’s all male so he paces nervously next to the carriage, waiting. He casts the occasional anxious glance at Dardiana, where she waits in the carriage. Dardiana has heard the screaming and she pales, burying her face in Graciella’s shoulder.
~*~
Morrighu finishes her work and looks into Pankul’s eyes, “I’m not sure what passes for justice here, but this is traditional where I come from. You marked them, now it’s your turn to be marked. You will have a small dose of your own medicine. Now everyone will know you force women. We’ll see where you work next.”
The tailor looks at her, “Carving his crime into his forehead seems a bit extreme to me. Why did you slit his nose?”
Morrighu gestures to his wedding ring, “It’s not extreme. It serves as warning to anyone he might encounter as well as his punishment. He’s married and a rapist. That makes him an adulterer. I marked him so his wife would know. If they have daughters, they should be kept far away from him.”
The tailor nods, “I hadn’t considered it. It is a good thought though.”
The tailor looks at her, “Your face…”
She shrugs, “We’re going back to the inn. It’ll be fine.”
Pankul lies on the floor of the shop, sobbing and bleeding, in roughly the same shape as many of the girls he’s encountered over the years.
The tailor follows Morrighu to the door and bows to her before she leaves. When he turns back, Pankul is gone.
~*~
Morrighu saunters out of the shop and heaves herself back into the carriage. Graciella, who has had her hands full trying to calm Dardiana looks at Morrighu in alarm. He catches the look of alarm on Graciella’s face and turns to see what the problem is.
He sighs heavily, “Is that blood?”
Morrighu shrugs, “Yes, but not mine so no cause for worry.”
Graciella looks at her sternly, “You have been told no combat.”
Morrighu nods, “And there was none. This is the result of an object lesson I administered.”
Valen grimaces, having seen her object lessons a few times.
Graciella frowns at him, so he explains, “When we were in the Underdark, she scoured a whole colony of illithids clean as an object lesson. They would not turn aside from their alliance with the Valsharess, even though she offered to protect them. So she taught them that they could not stand against her either. She made Mephistopheles convert and take oaths as a paladin to her goddess. I feel certain it was an object lesson, but I’m not sure who was supposed to learn from it.”
Morrighu grins at him, “I have gifted my goddess with a paladin that is nearly as powerful as she. He should be quite distracting which means I will get chided less. He on the other hand will see what it’s like to be a paladin. It works out quite well, all the way around.”
He shakes his head, “You see what I have to deal with. She doesn’t even share all of her plans with me.”
Morrighu grins at him, while wiping the blood from her face, “If I knew them myself, I would tell you. I don’t always know what I’m going to do until I do it.”
He sighs and puts an arm around her shoulders, “Well, we have acquired your shop girl. Are you pleased?”
She nods vigorously.
Dardiana looks at her, puzzled, “You…you asked him to come and get me. Wh-what for?”
Morrighu shrugs at her, “I have a lot of things I could use some help with. I really need someone to help me write thank you notes. We’ve been absolutely inundated with wedding presents. I am also founding a temple here and I could use a smart girl who can read and write. There will be a lot of correspondence going back and forth.”
Dardiana looks astounded so Morrighu grins at her.
Morrighu rolls her eyes, “I’m a paladin. It’s not like we bought you for some fell purpose. I don’t care what rumors you’ve heard. We don’t sacrifice young girls on altars. In fact, you won’t be a slave for long if I have anything to say about it. I’ll have Valen see what he can do about getting your papers from your former master.”
She looks at Valen questioningly, “We did pay for her, didn’t we? Or have we just stolen a slave?”
Valen nods, “I left the price we agreed on sitting on the counter.”
Morrighu reaches out and pats the girl’s arm, “Once you are free, we will offer you good honest work. There are a couple of conditions, though.”
Dardiana looks apprehensive so Morrighu sticks out her tongue and says teasingly, “You can’t be calling people Master. Valen gets ideas from that sort of thing and I, for one, will not be calling him Master. You’ll have to learn to fight, too. Nathyrra is more your size and might be the best teacher for you. Her style of fighting will probably suit you better, too.”
Dardiana sighs, “What happened to the foreman? He’ll kill me.”
Morrighu looks grim for a moment, “I don’t think he’ll be bothering you or any of the other girls again.”
Dardiana looks surprise, “Did…did you kill him?”
Morrighu shrugs, “Not exactly.”
He turns to her and arches a brow, “What do you mean by not exactly? There aren’t a lot of half measures involved with being dead.”
Morrighu shrugs again, “His crime is carved into his forehead.” He thinks for a moment, “You did this with one of Nathyrra’s daggers?”
She nods so he thinks for another moment, “Is it the one that weeps acid into wounds?”
She nods again and he sighs heavily.
He shrugs at Graciella, “Well, that would explain the screaming, at least.”
Morrighu nods, “I told Nelkaush that I’d pay for any damages to his shop. When you stop in to see about her papers, will you find out what they were and cover them?”
He looks up at the goddess, “I think she’s through the worst of it.”
The goddess looks at him “I know that she is, defender, but you must stay with her until she is fully awake or she may yet be lost. Tell her that she can call her armor and that it will come and give her the blades once she wakes. I have called her spirit back, but depending on how far she has roamed away from this,” and she gestures to paladin’s body sprawled on the bed “it make take her a while to answer.”
Valen’s gaze follows her gesture and he blushes nearly purple at the sight so he moves quickly back to his chair and begins studying his feet carefully.
The goddess’s face darkens as she turns to the Seer “I must go. I have the Halasters to deal with. They will not be permitted to do this to another. I would consider it a personal favor if you would heal her once she wakes.”
Valen looks at Nathyrra confused “Halasters?”
Nathyrra speaks hesitantly “Halaster managed to copy himself at least once. They were having an argument over who the original is when they teleported us here.”
Valen reaches with his free hand and lifts the sheet off the floor and tosses it in the general direction of the bed, much to Nathyrra’s amusement.
Nathyrra spreads the sheet over the still unconscious paladin, “There, Valen, your modesty is preserved.”
Valen sits with his fingers still unthinkingly tracing her tattoos and looking pointedly at his feet.
Nathyrra says “Seer, we should bathe her before all that blood clots in her hair.”
Before Valen can respond the Seer says “I think you are correct. We shall need your help in this, Valen. Nathyrra, go get Valen some clothing that can get wet. I will go get Imloth to help you change.”
The two of them depart to go about their tasks, leaving Valen alone to study the paladin. He stares at her, trying to read her face but gets no sense of anything. He does, however, realize that she is quite beautiful.
She moans slightly and twitches a bit. Valen picks the pillow up off the floor and stands, thinking about how to place it under her head with one hand. Finally, he puts it on the bed and tugs it in to place under her head.
He feels her start to shiver and looks for the rest of the bed coverings. He sees the blanket but cannot quite reach it. He un-slings his flail and uses that to catch the corner of the blanket and drag it to him.
He picks it up and drapes it over her. She sighs slightly and rolls into a ball, pulling his hand closer. He has to move the chair closer to her bed to accommodate her new position.
Imloth knocks and enters followed closely by Nathyrra.
She grins at his obvious embarrassment, “Valen, I found some old pants and shirt that should keep you decent with our guest.”
Imloth chuckles and says “I understand that I’m supposed to help out of your armor and into these things,” as he starts unbuckling Valen’s armor.
Valen squawks “What if she wakes? Won’t it alarm her to find herself in presence of a naked tiefling?”
Nathyrra nearly doubles over in laughter, “I’ll hold up a blanket so that she won’t be able to see you.”
Valen looks at her sternly “Turn your back and no peeking!” and with that, he begins helping Imloth remove his armor.
Finally freed of his armor and the under-padding, he pulls the pants on. He looks at his bound hand and then the shirt dismissively and tosses it into the chair.
The Seer returns with some acolytes pushing a bathtub full of steaming water. The Seer turns to Valen and Imloth “Pick her up and put her in the bathtub. Valen, your job is to keep her head above the water.”
Valen’s eyes go wide and he blushes again “Seer, I…I…that’s not proper.”
Imloth calmly pulls the under-sheet from the bed and looks at Valen and says “Get your end of the sheet. You need not see anything of her at all.”
Valen looks confused so Imloth continues “We’ll put her and the sheets into the bath. The Seer can remove the sheets, do what needs doing and we’ll figure out how to get her out later.”
Valen rolls his eyes but complies with Imloth’s instructions.
Imloth moves Valen’s chair near the tub and grins “You’re on your own. I’m sure you can handle a single unconscious paladin.”
The Seer looks at the discomfited Valen, “Just watch her face and make sure that we don’t drown her. Step into the tub if you must, but keep her head above the water.”
Valen watches as the women begin to unwind her hair so that it can be washed. Rather than wearing padding in her helmet, it seems that she uses her mass of hair. It’s a rich range of cinnabar shades that seems to shift in the light as the braids and pins are released.
It puddles, tangled and matted, in the floor at his feet. It must come well past her waist. Valen stares at it and wonders what it would be like to… His reverie is interrupted by a sudden movement.
One of the acolytes has shifted her position and she’s sliding deeper into the water.
He grabs for her arm in time to keep her from sliding under the surface and hauls her up. “Seer, I think it may be time for that blindfold. I fear that I need to hold her up while you work. It seems a shame to have her drown now, after she has been though so much and so much has been done on her behalf.”
The Seer gestures to Nathyrra, who removes her dagger, cuts a strip off the sheet, and holds it out. “Wait a moment, Nathyrra and let me shift my position.”
With that Valen balances on the back of the tub and puts his legs into the water. He pulls the paladin toward him, and drapes her arms over his thighs, supporting her. Her head lies in his lap.
“Now, Nathyrra” and she binds his eyes.
With that, the last sheet is removed and the Seer sighs in dismay. The bath is already turning pink.
Valen hears sloshing approach and one of the acolytes says “I must get you wet to wash out her hair.”
Valen sighs and says “Do what you must.”
He feels the water being poured over her hair. He tries to shift his position to keep himself as dry as possible but he bumps her and she moans.
“Seer, I think she is injured. Can you come and look?” He hears the Seer approach and says “I think I need to turn her so that you can see.”
He pulls the paladin over his leg so her back is exposed.
He hears the sharp intake of Seer’s breath “Such scars…and you’re right, Valen. We must clean and bandage this but that will have to be after the bath.”
The women finish their work and the Seer says, “Can you lift her or shall I call Imloth to help you? We have the bed ready for her.”
Valen sighs again “Of course I can lift her. It isn’t her weight that’s an issue here. Once I have her, one of you will have to lead me to the bed. One of you come here and hold her up for a moment.”
He moves from the back of the tub and reaches down and lifts her easily onto his shoulder.
He stands and says “Where am I going?”
Nathyrra takes his elbow and guides him to the bed.
He sits her down and the Seer speaks. “Can you hold her there? We need to tend her wounds.”
Valen sighs heavily “Of course, Seer” and under his breath “Just what every tiefling needs – a beautiful, naked paladin.”
A few moments later the Seer says, “Bring Valen his chair and some dry clothes. You can lay her down now.”
Carefully, Valen lays her over on her side thinking that if her back is wounded, lying on her side might be preferable. For the first time, he sees some signs of life in her.
Her hand changes its grip on his. She curls into a near fetal position and pulls his hand to her cheek. She murmurs something he can’t quite catch and sighs.
Nathyrra giggles “I think you may have made a friend, Valen.”
Valen blushes again and removes the blind fold. He asks Nathyrra to have someone clean is armor and to hand him his belt, since her blades are still in it.
He changes into the dry clothes and makes himself comfortable in the chair and dozes lightly. Nathyrra arranges herself on a couch and naps as well.
~*~
The bard signals to the bar keep for more ale. He nods to the tiefling, “Interesting. It has the makings of a good story - a paladin and tiefling who fall in love; the involvement of both a goddess and a devil in the prime; a greedy queen; and evil mage. Odd that she made her way through all of the traps and snares in Undermountain only to fall to Halaster’s geas.”
The tiefling nods, “Did I not tell you it should be an epic? It gets better, though. I think…I think I started to love her then. Even wounded as she was her will and her determination were formidable. I know I admired her even then, though I dared not tell her. Some parts of this I got from Nathyrra after the fact. I will include it here, because…because she said she started to love me then, too.”
~*~
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