'Tell me about Kera,' she said in a thoughtful voice. Caledan looked at her sharply, feeling a momentary flash of irritation. But then, why shouldn't the Harper want to know about Kera?
'What do you want me to say?' he asked her softly.
Mari shrugged. 'I don't know,' she said simply. 'When did you learn that Ravendas and Kera were sisters?'
Caledan raised an eyebrow, but Mari did not meet his gaze. One of the others must have told her, he realized, or maybe even the Harpers had. 'It's strange,' he said, thinking back. 'It was Ravendas I knew first, not Kera. It must have been twelve, thirteen years ago. I was sent on a mission by the Harpers to the city of Baldur's Gate. Rumor had it that an assassin had been sent to wipe out the Council of Four which governed the city. That would have been disastrous. The Zhentarim would be all too happy to step in and take control. Anyway, it was an ambitious young commander in the city's secret police who helped me infiltrate the council so I could spy on them. I discovered the would-be assassin who-and this isn't much of a surprise-turned out to be Zhentarim.'
'And that young commander was Ravendas?' Mari asked.
Caledan nodded. 'Even then, she was an ambitious woman, daughter of a famous mercenary, proud of her ability as a warrior and as a commander, and determined to rise up in the world. But at the time I didn't have an inkling of her true nature.' He shook his head. No, he had underestimated Ravendas every step of the way. 'I met her sister before I left the city, though I didn't think much of Kera at the time. She was little more than a girl, about five years younger than Ravendas. Ravendas didn't think much of Kera either. Her little sister was quiet, shy, and thoughtful. Those weren't traits Ravendas much respected.'
Caledan swallowed hard. 'Some years later, my travels brought me back through Baldur's Gate. By that time Ravendas had become leader of the Flaming Fists, yet even that position didn't satisfy her. I spent some time with her, as an old friend, but I grew weary of her delusions of power. Before I moved on, however, I ran into her sister again, and…'
'And time had done its work on Kera,' Mari said.
Caledan grinned. 'It had done its work well. Let me tell you, this time she was definitely more than a sweet, shy girl. After my last visit to the city, Kera had spent her time gathering as much information as she could about the Harpers. Kera wanted to help people as much as Ravendas wanted to control and dominate them, and she wanted to join the Harpers. She asked me to take her to Berdusk, to Twilight Hall. I agreed.
'The next time either of us saw Ravendas was several years later, perhaps eight or nine years ago. We ran into her in Berdusk, and it was clear that she had changed for the worse. While she had always been power-hungry, now she seemed consumed by her visions of greatness. She tried to convince us to join with her and her allies in a scheme she boasted would make us all rich.
'As it turned out, those 'allies' of hers were the Zhentarim. Of course, we refused her offer and left the city. Kera put on a brave face after that, but I know it devastated her to learn that her sister had thrown her lot in with the Black Network. I don't think she ever really got over it.'
'And the next time you saw Ravendas?'
'She was raising an army of goblinkin outside of Hluthvar. The Harpers sent Kera and me, along with the Fellowship, to stop her.' He looked at Mari sadly. 'You know the rest'
Mari nodded. She was silent for a long time. 'You're never going to let go of her memory, are you?' she asked finally, her voice husky.
Caledan shook his head. How could it still hurt so much, after all these years? He was going to make Ravendas pay. 'What would be left of me if I did?' he asked.
The Harper sighed, then amazingly she smiled at him. 'I hate to say this, scoundrel, but for once I actually understand you.' Caledan could only watch in wonder as she spurred her mount ahead, leaving him to ride on alone.
At sundown they reached the village of Asher. The hamlet, a small cluster of fieldstone houses with thatched roofs, was set in a vale between two tree-covered hills. The folk here seemed a bit friendlier than those at the last village, and they directed the companions to the village's lone inn, a rambling one-storied building set against a hillside.
After a filling supper, Tyveris asked the grizzled old innkeep if there was anyone in the village who knew any tales of elder days. Much to the companions' delight, the innkeep himself professed to be an expert on the Fields of the Dead. When Caledan asked him if he had ever heard the name Talek Talembar, the innkeep scratched his narrow chin thoughtfully.
'Aye, that I have,' the innkeep said in his country drawl. 'He was a great hero long ago, or so the stories go. Some say he turned back entire armies with a song, though in the end I can't say that helped him much. He died with a goblin's barbed arrow in his back, he did.'
With the prompting of a gold piece, the innkeep was happy to describe how they could find Talembar's death site, in a valley not a half-day's march away.
That night the companions' sleep went thankfully uninterrupted, and after breaking bread the next morning they rode north from the village across the plains.
It was early afternoon when they came upon a massive, gnarled oak tree standing alone in the middle of a vast field. 'This must be the 'Lonely Oak' the old innkeep described,' Caledan said, the cool air ruffling his dark hair. 'If he's right, the valley where Talembar fell should be just over the next rise.'
Ferret rode up the hill to scout out the terrain, but in a few minutes he came riding back. 'Well, I've got good news and bad news,' the little thief said.
'Why don't I like the sound of this?' Tyveris groaned.
'What is it, Ferret?' Caledan asked, not much in the mood for guessing games.
'Well, first the good news. It looks like the valley the innkeep spoke of is just beyond that last ridge.'
'And the bad news?' Caledan prompted.
'I think you may want to see that part for yourself,' Ferret said in his raspy voice.
Caledan glowered at Ferret but knew it would take longer to wring more information out of the thief than it would to simply ride ahead and see for himself. He spurred Mista forward, and the others followed. When he reached the top of the ridge he stopped.
'By all the gods,' he swore, and the others followed his gaze.
Before them stretched a long, narrow valley fading into the hazy distance. The sun filled the valley with a green-gold light, and Caledan caught the faint, sweet scent of wildflowers on the breeze rising up from below.
'What are all those queer round lumps on the valley floor?' Estah asked.
Tyveris shook his head. 'Those aren't lumps, Estah. Those are barrows.'
'But there must be hundreds of them!' Estah said in dismay.
'No-thousands,' Caledan corrected her without relish. 'Thousands of barrows.' He turned to the others, his expression grim. 'It looks as if Talek Talembar has some company.'
Fifteen
'This one looks like it's got more Calimshite soldiers,' Tyveris said in disgust. He threw down the spade next to the hole he had dug in a low barrow and pulled out a helmet that bore the crest of the southern land of Calimshan. A human skull, its blankly staring orbits filled with dirt, still rattled around inside the helmet. Muttering a prayer to appease the dead, Tyveris set the skull back in the pit.
'We could try that barrow that Estah noticed last night,' Mari said, though without much enthusiasm. 'She said it looked more weathered than the others.'
'We've been digging up barrows for three days now, Man,' the big Tabaxi said in annoyance, picking the spade back up and filling in the hole, 'and not a one of them seems to date from the time before Indoria fell. By Oghma himself, if I turn up another Calimshite skull, I'm going to march south to Calimport, barge into the Emperor's throne room, and brain him with the blasted thing as punishment for all the soldiers his predecessors sent up here to die and torment me.'
'Now what good would that do us?' Mari asked.
'None, I suppose,' Tyveris grumbled, 'but it would make me feel a bit better.'
