Philip Athans - Baldur's Gate 2 by Shadows of Amn

Author:Shadows of Amn
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2012-11-26T21:08:33+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

"Your skin," Bodhi said, her eyes sliding slowly along the drow's lithe body, "it's so ... May I touch you?"

The drow woman smiled and shrugged. Bodhi brushed the back of one finger against the drow's cheek,

and the woman leaned into the touch, smiling. Bodhi recognized the subtext of that smile. She'd offered it

herself in the past, usu-ally right before she made a vampiric thrall out of someone.

"Satisfied?" the drow Phaere asked playfully.

"No," Bodhi replied, taking her hand away, "but there are other ... priorities tonight."

"Is it night?" Phaere asked playfully, lightly, but with the understanding that something terrible could

happen any second.

"Force of habit," Bodhi admitted. "My apologies."

The drow woman crossed the dimly lit chamber, her slippered feet whispering on the fine spidersilk rug.

She uncorked a decanter of wine, picked up a glass and tipped it toward Bodhi, who only shook her head.

"You're not afraid of me," Bodhi said.

"Should I be?"

"I'm a vampire," Bodhi said directly. "That unsettles people."

Phaere laughed, the sound tickling Bodhi's ears in a way that was at once pleasurable and disturbing.

"I'm not 'people,' Bodhi. I am drow."

"You say that like you're the only drow."

"And you speak as if you're the only vampire."

Bodhi nodded in conciliation and sat in a deep arm-chair upholstered in a strange, soft leather. She

touched the leather in the same way she'd touched the drow's ink-black skin.

"Halfling," the drow offered. "Very expensive."

Bodhi knew she'd passed another not-so-subtle test by not recoiling from the fabric.

"You have the pieces of the lanthorn," Phaere said, changing the subject.

Bodhi nodded and said, "My brother will hold up his end of the bargain as long as you do."

"I'm drow," Phaere said. "We're all about bargains. I'm a decoy, aren't I?"

Bodhi laughed and nodded, shrugged, and said, "And you'll get what you want in the process, Phaere."

The drow smiled, her violet eyes twinkling.

"I like it here," Bodhi said, her eyes caressing the richly appointed room, lingering on the tall window

over-looking the subterranean city. "The sun never shines here."

"Vampire paradise," Phaere murmured.

"Drow paradise," Bodhi replied.

Phaere looked at her sharply and said, "We weren't always down here."

Bodhi returned the drow's stare and said, "You'll get what you were promised if you do what you have

promised."

"The mythal," Phaere said.

"Power," Bodhi concurred. "Enough to destroy your mother, yes?"

Phaere smiled and turned away. "I won't expect you to understand the subtleties at work. It's not just

matricide."

"Of course not," Bodhi said quietly, though she knew that's exactly all it was.

* * * * *

It started with mist.

They'd been underground for some unmeasurable length of time and had fallen into a sort of routine, the

three of them. The Underdark held certain surprises, but each was dealt with in turn. They persevered and

continued on. They found traces of Irenicus and some-one else at odd intervals—enough so they knew they

were on the right track.

The mist, at first, was just the next oddity in the long string of oddities that defined their adventures in the

Underdark. The mist was cool, not too thick, and didn't even really seem unnatural. It wasn't too hard for

Abdel to believe that even the Underdark could have its variations of weather.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.