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[IronDragon]

Notemeal:
This is a chapter from my ongoing BG1 novelization ?The Fallen, the Dark, and the Blessed? available at EpicExtreme.





The Brave Knight and the Beautiful Princess


If I could read your mind love
What a tale your thoughts could tell
Just like a paperback novel
The kind that drugstores sell
When you reach the part where the heartaches come
The hero would be me
But heroes often fail

If You Could Read My Mind
Gordon Lightfoot



Hadrian?s room at the inn was small and unadorned but it was clean and adequate to his needs. A narrow bed pushed up against the wall, a large oak dresser, a washstand with pitcher and bowel, the single arrow slit window shuttered against the chill night air looked out onto nothing. As small as the room was, it was still a good deal larger than the room he had grown up with at Candlekeep. Luxury was not something he needed or desired, a private room like this felt like an extravagance they could ill afford and he had protested the suggestion of a private room. However, Hadrian was honest enough to admit that he would not have slept at all if he were to take a bed in the barrack like room usually reserved for servants and the poor. Khalid and Jaheira had also insisted he and Imoen remain close to them, their room was only a few doors down the dim hallway.

He stared at the bed wondering if he really wanted to climb between its sheets. He had not had any real sleep for days and for the first time since leaving Candlekeep he was clean, his stomach was full, and thanks to a laying on of hands by Jaheira his arm and shoulder were now blessedly free from pain. Still, he was sure sleep would elude him. No matter how inviting the bed looked he knew it was a honey trap, sweet smelling and innocent looking, something to draw him in where the true horrors awaited. Tonight was not the first time in his life that Hadrian felt the twinge of jealousy for those whose sleep was not nightly punctuated by horrific nightmares

The emotional numbness that had settled over him since the murder of his father was slowly lifting. Already he could feel the dark pit of depression looming large and beyond that an ocean of anger burned, of the two depression was preferred, he knew all to well where anger led.

The soft staccato tapping on his door shattered the silence, it was both surprising and familiar. He quickly pulled on a pair of loose linen pants and tied their drawstring as he put his shoulder to the heavy dresser he had shoved in front of the door. It scraped across the floor with only mild protest. As soon as the dresser was aside and the door unlatched, Imoen slipped into the room. She slammed herself into her brother and wrapped her arms around his midsection, pressed her head into his chest and squeezed hard. Hadrian returned the gesture. They stood silent in their embrace for some time before Imoen turned her head and regarded the dresser that had been guarding the door and glancing up at him said, ?Feeling a little paranoid??

Hadrian did not break their embrace. ?In the last four days four different assassins have tried to take my life. One of them managed to kill father. There is a bounty on my head and I do not know why. I think I have the right to be paranoid.?

?I suppose,? Imoen said. ?But that spiked armor guy was no assassin, he worked with a group and he was good, real good. And if he were an assassin, I really don?t think he would have bothered with someone like you. No profit. After all the bounty on you is only two hundred gold, so you can?t be that] important.?

Hadrian pulled away and scowled at his sister.

Imoen reached up and gently patted his cheek. ?And don?t look at me that way.? She settled onto his bed and pulled the thick patchwork quilt up around her shoulders against the chill night air. The small smile that had briefly played across her face vanished. ?I think Jaheira and Khalid know why there is a bounty on your head.?

?I think that they know why too.? Hadrian sat on the bed and pushed himself across it to rest his back against the wood paneled wall. ?What I don?t understand is why they try to pretend that they do not know. At first I thought they just didn?t want to say anything in that common room, but even after leaving they remained tight lipped.?

?Do you think we can trust them??

?No.? Hadrian sighed and put his head into his hands. ?I should trust them. If they wanted us dead, they could have just stayed their hand and not bothered to intervene with that assassin. Father trusted them, and that should be enough but it is not.? Hadrian rubbed his temples. ?Unless of course they were the ones who hired Tarnish to attempt to kill me just so they could save us and gain our trust.?

?You don?t really think that, do you??

?No, I don?t. Just trying to look at all the possibilities, there are far too many to sort out just what is going on. And these two Harpers just add to possibilities rather than make things clear. Do you think we can trust them??

?I don?t know if we should trust them. I mean, what do we really know about them? Nothing.?

The silence settled around them and stayed for some time.

?This isn?t how I pictured it,? Hadrian said quietly. ?Leaving Candlekeep I mean. This isn?t what adventuring is supposed to be like. In all those stories and books, where the hero leaves his home to seek destiny and his fortune, he always knows where he is going and what his next move is. A hero doesn?t hide in an inn with the door blockaded to keep the bad guys out trying to decide who he can and cannot trust, and he certainly doesn?t sit in that room with his sister. A real hero wouldn?t be hiding, he would be tracking the assassin?s employer to confront that evil doer and along the way he would find an enchanted talking sword, slay a dragon, save entire towns, rescue the beautiful and mysterious queen of the elves, solve the mystery of his past, and end up breaking at least two hearts.?

Imoen made a fist and gently punched Hadrian on the shoulder. ?You bufflehead, don?t tell me you believed those fluff and nonsense stories.?

?No.? Hadrian blushed, ?of course not.?

?Liar.? Imoen almost laughed. ?Finally, the truth comes out, all of your dreams about becoming a knight were based on nothing but a bunch of third rate bard tales and cheap books by semi-literate hacks.?

?Was not. They were, at the very least second rate bards tales. And as far as books by semi-literate hacks go, you don?t have a lot of room to talk dear sister. I seem to recall you living on a steady diet of books about amazingly beautiful merchant daughters who disguise themselves as commoners in order to save their family?s fortune only to end up falling in love with some dashing rouge or pirate captain who, naturally, turns out to be a foreign prince and the two of them marry and live happily ever after.?

?Those books were completely different, they had cultural value.?

Hadrian snorted.

?You just never learned to appreciate great literature.? Imoen picked at the seam of the quilt. ?But you?re right, it wasn?t supposed to be like this. This defiantly was not how I thought I would leave Candlekeep or what I would be doing once I left. And I wanted to leave so very badly for so very long.?

?I know.?

?Was I that obvious?? Imoen asked.

?Yes, you were. I?m surprised you stayed as long as you did.? Hadrian stared at a blank spot on the wall for a while. ?I hated that place.?

Imoen nodded. ?I know. And yes, you were that obvious. Why did you stay??

?Why did you stay??

?The same reason you did I guess. I wanted to escape Candlekeep, but I didn?t want to escape father. I miss him.?

?I miss him too,? Hadrian said taking Imoen?s hand

?So, where do we go come morning?? she asked. ?This place wants us around about as much as Candlekeep did. What does the brave and heroic knight think we should do??

?He was hoping the beautiful and clever princess would have a few ideas.? Hadrian shrugged. ?I don?t know what we should do, but I can tell you this, I will not go into hiding, I would refuse to hide even if there were an army of Harpers here to take us to some sanctuary. Running away doesn?t solve anything and it won?t answer any of our questions. It won?t avenge father?and I am sure it would do nothing to keep us safe.?

?You mean keep you safe baby brother. I?m not the one with the bounty on her head. And let me tell you it?s a good thing that reward is a mere pittance, now if it were a thousand gold?well, lets just say that a girl could do quite a lot with a thousand gold don?t ya know.?

?Imoen, your concern for my well being is touching.?

?Yes, I know it is, and it is completely undeserved as well. Back to the question of what do we do next?.Jaheira wants to go investigate the Iron mine in Nashkel. We could go with them. I know we can?t exactly trust them, but they are all we have right now.? A sly grin played across Imoen?s features ?Maybe once we get there we can hook up with Xzar and Monty again. Wouldn?t that be great??

Hadrian frowned, ?It?s good that I know when you are joking.?

?Better yet, we can find that weird red wizard again. I think he liked you. I mean REALLY liked you? She winked theatrically at Hadrian, ?If ya know what I mean.?

?Please don?t??

She leaned close the brother and dropped her voice an octave and said in a breathy voice ?Ho there wanderer, stay thy course and indulge an old man?Do you like my hat? It?s so big and red and?? Imoen let out a shuddering gasp, ?pointy.?

Hadrian stifled a laugh

?Made you smile.? The mood faded quickly, Imoen sighed. ?I guess we are back to our original question?.do we trust Jaheira and Khalid? Can we trust them if they wont trust us enough to tell us why someone wants you dead??

?Their lack of trust in us is only part of it.?

Imoen waited in silence for a time before poking her brother in the arm. ?And?the other part??

?They are afraid.? Hadrian held up a hand, ?Don?t ask what they are afraid of, me, us, whoever wants me dead, something else?I don?t know. We can add that question to our ever-growing list of unanswered questions.? Hadrian yawned. ?No, we can?t trust our new Harper friends. Yes, we should go with them to investigate the Iron Shortage despite the fact we cannot trust them, if for no other reason than to hope that soon they will tell us what they are hiding. No, we will not hook back up with Xzar and Monty even if we find them. And that red hat may have been pointy?but I?ve seen bigger.?

[Solar's Harper]

Not bad IronDragon.
It's refreshing to see a more serious side of Imoen for the first parts of the journey, after all they've been pratically and literally forced out of home and left to fend for themselves while running from assassins and the like.
Trust is never easy in that situation.

Imoen did seem a bit too formal at some points, but nothing too out of character. So again, great work!

Edit: btw loved the title reference

Edited by Solar's Harper, 01 September 2007 - 04:52 PM.

[Celestine]

I second Solar's comments on the title reference. I really like it and the interactions between Imoen and Hadrian.

[IronDragon]

Not bad IronDragon.
It's refreshing to see a more serious side of Imoen for the first parts of the journey, after all they've been pratically and literally forced out of home and left to fend for themselves while running from assassins and the like.
Trust is never easy in that situation.

Imoen did seem a bit too formal at some points, but nothing too out of character. So again, great work!

Edit: btw loved the title reference

I?ve always felt Imoen uses flippancy to hide her feelings. It isn?t until SoA that we get to see her insecurities.
And considering where she grew up she is certainly one of the best educated people one might encounter

[IronDragon]

I second Solar's comments on the title reference. I really like it and the interactions between Imoen and Hadrian.

Thanks Celestine