Demonic Magician

The warmth of the bath was almost as comforting as the body of the elf resting up against me. Although we had started the event with impassioned undressing, as soon as we hit the water, any carnal desire washed away. Thankfully, so too did all the stress and tension the house collapse had labored us with.

So instead, we had washed our healing wounds and removed the dust clouding our hair and skin, and just soaked together. Selfish, when we had the others downstairs with our captive… but I wanted to be selfish and take what I wanted. Life was too short.

“I’ve fully accepted the other side of me,” I said softly. “There are trace amounts of a demon that has become part of me.”

“Explains the eyes then. How do you feel?”

I was currently in the most relaxing bath I think I’d ever had. A naked elf who loved me was currently cuddled up beside me. I had recently bested a group of people intending to kill me, hardly breaking a sweat.

“Pretty okay,” I undersold it.

“You’ve come a long way since the awkward showman from the first island.” Her fingertips ran across my chest.

‘Awkward’ wasn’t exactly a fair take on things, but I thought back to when we had first met. She had undoubtedly saved my life—or at least prevented a lot of personal injury—by interrupting my fight with the two thugs. I had latched onto her as a point of safety in a world that was strange and wanted me dead. Even agreed to murder people to grease the wheels of our partnership.

I had never imagined it would have amounted to this.

“Couldn’t have done it without you by my side,” I said.

She exhaled through her nose. “I know.” Her fingers gripped against me softly and she pushed away to look me in the eyes. “Think the others will be pissed we ditched them for this?”

“Maybe.” I shrugged. “Let them be. Quinn can have his turn after, and I’ll overfeed Wolf.” With my hand, I pushed the wet hair from her face.

“And Tanya?”

I sighed and pulled a face. “Caught me. The real reason I came up here was to avoid making a decision.”

Her bright blue eyes rolled. “Your constantly wandering hands tell a different tale, trickster.”

With a smile, I ran my fingers behind her head and pulled her toward me. “Shhh,” I hissed, before we shared a soft kiss.

A signature scowl returned to her face as she moved back away. “Did you just shush me, asshole?”

“Yes, I did.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You and I will have words later tonight.”

Three little words, I was pretty sure. We had settled into a new stage of comfort, our feelings out in the open. Other than the playful jab at me quietening her, she hadn’t had so much as a frown since we stepped into the bathroom.

“What are your thoughts on her?” I returned the subject back to what was more important to the brain, even if less to the heart.

Ren groaned and moved away to sit against the opposite side of the oval tub. She pouted and crossed her arms. “Pass, I was hoping you’d do all the heavy lifting.”

“In exchange for the heavy petting?” I winced as she flicked water at me. “Your opinion is important, Ren. You have the ear of the king.”

She rolled her eyes again. “Honestly? Killing her in cold blood would be pragmatic, but doesn’t sit quite well with me. We’re trying to erase the Lady and her negative influence on this world, but that means cultivating good Players too, right?”

“You’re saying that Tanya hasn’t taken the blood, so she could change and do right for the world?”

Ren pulled a face. “I’m saying I’ll stand by whatever decision you make, even if you regret it or it brings us ruin in the future.”

Sounded more like she was still delegating the hard part to me, but was self aware enough to accept the consequences for her just being the greater woman standing behind the great man. She knew I could read that from her, so there wasn’t much need to extrapolate.

“Alright,” I sighed. “Let’s leave this slice of heaven and see what mistakes we can make for future us.”

Other than almost tripping out of the bath and cracking my head open on the floor, getting dried and dressed was an uneventful part of this process - where I only stole a dozen glances at the elf repeating the same motions. With a bright smile, she gave me a nod, and we both sighed before we opened the door.

Heading down the stairs, five eyes narrowed our way.

I leveled a scowl back at them. “What? I just had a house dropped on me and had to kill our aggressors. I’ll take a bath if I want to.”

Quinn immediately dropped any ire he might have felt towards the pair of us, some surprise in his eye at my curt response. Wolf relaxed, but still seemed put out at having to babysit our captive. Curiosity had filled Tanya’s expression, but other than that, she didn’t speak up.

I felt Ren’s hand on my lower back, either gesturing me forward or supporting my tact.

“Update me, Quinn, then you can go bathe or take a break however you see fit. Wolf, find something to fill with food and I will overburden it.”

That won them over. Had to lead them with the stick and show them an easy route to the carrot once they did something for you. The bear was almost immediately searching around for the largest container the house could offer. Quinn licked his lips, his eye going into his STAR menus to send me something.

My Map opened up, and several coordinates were highlighted. I furrowed my brow as I shared it across to Ren.

“Quinn here has already told me about the groups you have dealt with,” Tanya began. “These are the rest, as per my update yesterday.”

There were a few more than I had been expecting. Not that it seemed realistic that the necromancer’s group would be our only obstacle before reaching Candlekeep, but I had underestimated how many people were in this area. “Is everyone now Crimson or dead?”

She shook her head. “No. There are two Guilds offering resistance, and the occasional unaffiliated few who have not taken the blood.”

We knew of one of the groups who wanted us to meet them at some point - the Eternal Wardens.

Ren crossed her arms. “You couldn’t have joined one of them?”

Tanya shrugged. “Hard to be indecisive with a blade to your neck, and they have a dim view of desertion. Not that I had any opportunity - the guy your demon inhabited was essentially my handler.”

I grunted. Would have to go through the Map properly when I had the patience for it. With the bath long past me, my mood cooled.

“Alright, everyone at ease. Tanya, with me to the side room.” I gestured to the door just before the kitchen.

Although I received some cautious glances from my team, Ren gave my arm a brief squeeze before I followed our captive into the other room.

Some manner of study, or something. Bookshelves on one side, desks on the other. Small table with a pair of chairs in the center as if it had been prepared for this purpose. A soft low couch was beside the bay window at the far end. I shut the door behind us, turning the convenient key in the lock.

“Sit,” I requested, and as she did, I sat opposite her at the table.

She shuffled uncomfortably and sighed. “Could you at least make it painless? I’m sure you know a few good places to cut to end me quickly.”

I said nothing, but from my Inventory I brought out my Dagger of the Trickster, and placed it in the center of the table. Point end facing me. Her jaw worked, and she looked between it and me.

“Hands,” I requested.

Tanya’s expression remained stoic, as she placed both hands with palms down on the table.

I rolled my head around on my neck. Forgot to ask Ren for that massage - the bath had all but melted away any such thought, but now I felt tense again. Oh well, I had already made my decision.

With the wave of my hand, the Nullifying Cuff was unlocked and then looted, as if it had just vanished from her. It reappeared on my own wrist. Dazzle icon.

She furrowed her brow and rubbed at her left wrist where it had been. “Why? I don’t understand.”

“Words mean little to me,” I said, relaxing into my chair. “You’ve said a lot in the short time we’ve had you captive. About wishing you hadn’t signed up with the Lady.”

Her head nodded slowly as she tried to put the pieces of the puzzle. Trying not to look at the knife that lay between us.

“Thus, I give you this gift.” I smiled and tilted my head. “I have Mana Exhaustion, so I cannot cast anything for a good twenty or so minutes still, even without the cuff. The door is locked. I have provided you a knife, and you could probably escape through the window.”

Tanya looked over toward the thin glass where the quiet daylight sat in pensive expectation.

“You could kill me,” I continued. “The Lady would be happy, wouldn’t she? You’d not be a failure. One of her favored, I’d assume. One of the first to go home… if she could even be successful.”

Her right eye twitched. “Why are you doing this? You’re going to give me the alternative option now, right?”

I shook my head. Usually that would be how this cliche would play out, but I didn’t want to force her between two choices. Perhaps she knew that I still had a chance to defend myself even without my magic, but I wasn’t about to prostrate myself any further.

“This is all about your legacy, Tanya. What you want for your life and this world.”

Internal conflict had her frozen with a wrinkled face. I could see now that she was a little older than I had first thought. No grays in her black hair, but the tired experience now weighing on her eyes told me a lot more. Late thirties, early forties perhaps. Her fingers were tensing at the edge of the table, either trying to get a grip on her emotions or perhaps mimicking the motions for grabbing the knife.

“There’s someone you want to go back for, isn’t there?”

Her eyes came up to meet mine, and any stoicism had now washed away. The sadness of the truth too much to bear. “Husband and daughter,” she replied.

The simple three words painted enough of a picture. Motivation for the necessary evil even beyond saving her own skin. If it wasn’t for her Class ability, no doubt she would have taken the blood and just been another raving cult member, too deluded and full of hate to reach what they desired. It made my hatred for the Lady double.

“I’ll not lecture or make any promises,” I said, quietly. “Your burdens are your own, and I am in no place to change the course of your destiny.”

If the Lady really did have knowledge and capability to get us back, then I would accept taking a knife to the neck so this mother could be reunited with her family.

Her hand went slowly across the table and gently took up the handle of my blade.