The half-drow blinked his garnet-hued eyes once and said in an even tone, 'Please try. So much good would come of ridding the world of you. I welcome the opportunity.'
'Kael,' Tauran said, moving between them. 'Vhok still has a part to play in this. Reign in your killing lust for the moment, please.'
The half-drow stepped away and returned his attention to adjusting the straps of his armor.
'And you,' Tauran continued, turning to face the cambion, 'you would do well to remember to hold your temper in check while visiting the Court of Tyr. Don't make it more difficult than it already is for me to maintain your status as a guest here. Until we can convince them otherwise, most citizens of the Court, like Micus, will perceive you as an invader.'
Kaanyr scowled. ' 'We'? I have no intention of convincing anyone of anything. That's your game, not mine. When you were bargaining with Micus, you forgot to consult with the bargaining chip. I never agreed to go anywhere with you or tell anyone my 'story.' '
Tauran nodded. 'Of course. Forgive me. I should not have presumed.' He turned and began to pace, clasping his hands behind his back in a studious manner. 'Based on your stance, then, I trust that you would prefer to be considered a deadly intruder to be slain on sight. Is that correct? Please let me know in no uncertain terms how you wish to be treated, so that I might inform the folk of the realm. Once they hear of your unwelcome entry into our Court, they most likely will be lining up for the chance to slay you.' He turned back to Vhok and gave the half-fiend a level stare. 'So? What say you? Bargaining chip or outlaw? The choice is yours.'
Vhok's eyes narrowed, and Aliisza saw his hand twitch, hovering over Burnblood. When Tauran didn't react, Kaanyr relaxed his posture and folded his arms across his chest. 'Entice me,' he said with that same smug sneer Aliisza was growing tired of. 'What do you have to offer me besides your supposed protection from harm, in return for my cooperation?'
'Why, your freedom to return home, of course,' Tauran replied with all sincerity. 'The portal through which you traveled here has flown away, it would seem, and you will not get far hunting for another.' Vhok's expression changed only subtly, but Aliisza could tell he was admitting to the veracity of the angel's comment. 'All I ask for in return is that you travel with me back to the Court and explain in exacting detail everything you know about Zasian, his intentions… all of it.'
Kaanyr scowled at the mention of the priest's name. 'Not as much as I believed, obviously,' the cambion muttered half to himself. 'His deception was thorough.' Vhok straightened again. 'But your offer is not strong enough to convince me to admit as much before a court of sniveling wretches such as yourself.' He stepped closer to Aliisza. 'I think we'd rather take our chances finding our own way home, without aid from you.'
Aliisza sidestepped away from Kaanyr and turned to face him. 'Remember what you just said about bargaining chips, and the follies of not consulting with them?' she asked.
Vhok's face darkened in anger. 'You would betray me for this… this angel?' he snarled, waving his hand toward Tauran dismissively. 'That is not the Aliisza I know. Perhaps Zasian's spells of shielding did not work as well as he promised. The simpering celestial's magical coercion has changed you after all.' The cambion adopted a dismayed expression. 'He lied about everything else, why should I have expected him to be truthful in this?'
Aliisza ignored Kaanyr's shallow tactic. 'He's not the only liar,' she shot back, letting that simmering anger erupt at last. 'You deceived me, you bastard,' she said, shoving her chin up a bit in defiance. 'You let him weave spells upon me, let me become hunted and caught, let me suffer an angel's 'healing ministrations,' all for your own gain! You put my child, a child I didn't even realize I bore, in danger!' She gestured toward Kael, who had stopped studiously ignoring the whole proceeding and was now watching the two fight with an implacable stare.
Kaanyr snorted in derision. 'A child that was not mine!' he said. 'The moment I'm out of your sight, you're tumbling between the sheets with a drow wizard and who knows what else!'
Aliisza rolled her eyes. 'Don't play indignant with me,' she said with equal coldness. 'You've shared many another maiden's bed in your time, too. We both know that we do what we do. It's beside the point.' The alu waved her hand to dismiss his argument. 'You thought the child was yours when you hatched this scheme. You believed you were sending your own son into harm's way, and me along with him, for your personal gain.'
'It worked, didn't it?' Kaanyr asked. 'You and I are both standing here, at the other end of the journey, aren't we? Why are you whimpering about it?'
'I'm not,' the alu retorted through clenched teeth. His ability to change the argument around never failed to annoy her. 'As I said, we do what we do, and I shouldn't expect anything different from you.' She stepped back, joining with Tauran and Kael, leaving the cambion by himself. 'Just don't expect me to 'take my chances' with you when there are better offers on the table.'
And don't expect me to leave my son just because he's not your child, she silently added.
Kaanyr stood glaring at the alu for a long moment, as if sizing her up. Finally, shaking his head almost in disgust, he shrugged. 'Very well,' he said, turning to Tauran. 'Let's negotiate.'
'My offer still stands,' the angel said. 'Your freedom to return home in exchange for your testimony before an assemblage of high members of the Court. Everything you can recall concerning Zasian in exchange for free passage from this place with your health intact.'
'A fine bargain for most, I'm sure,' Kaanyr replied, folding his arms across his chest once more and beginning to pace, 'but I require something more.'
'The reason you came here in the first place,' Tauran said. 'It must be a great prize, if you were willing to risk your lover, your child, and your own life in order to claim it.'
Kaanyr nodded. 'Indeed. And I will have it before I return to claim Sundabar as my own. But it is a trifling thing for you to grant, I think, and thus not something that should cost overly much.' He drew a deep breath and said in the most casual, off-hand way, 'I wish to bathe in the Lifespring, to partake of its influences.'
'I see,' Tauran said, sounding doubtful.
'As I said, a simple request, easily granted. And in exchange, I will happily provide you and your assemblage the most exacting, detailed tale of Zasian Menz I can muster.'
Tauran shook his head. 'Alas, it cannot be, Vhok, for that is a sacred pool, and you are not worthy to enjoy its soothing, healing embrace. It is, after all, the very potency of godhood.'
'I will have its energies,' Kaanyr said. 'Even if I must slay every one of you stinking, self-righteous poofs to get to it.'
The sharp ring of sword on marble was the only indication to Aliisza that Kael had moved, but almost instantly he was standing between Vhok and the other two. 'Me first,' he said, assuming a defensive stance. 'Whenever you're ready.'
Kaanyr pulled Burnblood free and dropped into a crouch of his own. 'I see you inherited your father's bluster,' the cambion said, beginning to circle. 'And it seems you are also destined to inherit his method of demise-at the hands of demons.' He feinted a strike at Kael's leading knee, but the half-drow slid his much larger blade into place to block the blow with a mere flick of his wrists.
Later, Aliisza would find it difficult to recall the word that Tauran muttered. The instant after he did so, however, a thundering, concussive roar and a blinding flash of light slammed against her, knocking her to the marble floor in a daze. As the world around her tilted askew, she curled into a fetal ball and clamped her hands over her ears, fighting to regain her equilibrium and sight.
As the ringing and afterimage of searing whiteness faded from her ears and eyes, the alu rose onto her knees and looked around. She saw Kaanyr sprawled nearby, his arms clamped around his own head. Burnblood lay unattended a few paces away. Then he, too, sat up, blinking and rubbing at his eyes.
'Enough,' Tauran said. 'You try my patience.'
Beside the angel, Kael had returned to his stoic stance, greatsword point down before him. He seemed none the worse for wear from Tauran's powerful magic.
'If you wish to die trying to gain access to the Lifespring, I will not try to discourage you from it. But that was just a taste of what I and my kind can inflict upon you here within the Court, Vhok. Do not consider yourself so potent that we all would fall helplessly before your blade.'
Kaanyr grimaced but said nothing.
'If such a quest is so important to you, then at least hear me out before you begin your ill-conceived rampage. I propose an expansion of our bargain. You desire to claim the powers of the Lifespring for your own. Though rare is the instance when outsiders are permitted to draw on its essences, such an act is not unheard of. In such dire circumstances as these, I believe I can bring it to fruition for you.'
