Forgotten Realms Fan Fiction ❯ The Fateful Coin ❯ Chapter 9 Part One: Ties ( Chapter 10 )

 

Chapter: Nine

Ties Part One

In loving memory of Steven Samuel Shy,

Who loved to read as much as I.

 

Anashra sighed, it had been a hectic three days in Mirabar; but they had been some of the best days of her life. Although they had not made any progress in procuring Therin's whereabouts, she was not too concerned. Mirabar was thick with Dwarves and Thalen was having a hard time sorting out which clan to go ask. The best part about all of this incessant waiting was that Thalen was showing her the nicer parts of living in a city. Anashra had lived in the grove with LeÄ­Ì'Tai and had left for an occasional, necessary excursion to Evereska. The Elven city was NOT Mirabar, by any stretch of the imagination; where Evereska was quiet and cloistered, Mirabar was loud, rowdy, and ostentatious. The low squat stone buildings were a far cry from the sweeping majesty of the living trees, ancient, wise, and whispering. Not that she minded she was enjoying the hustle and bustle of the teeming crowd, with her keen Elven eyes she could spot and half a dozen races, burly Dwarves, stout Halflings, fellow Elves, Humans, and even a Half-Orc. Her eyes fallowed the creature for a bit, as the Dwarves gave it a rather wide berth, not in fear, but in pure disgust. A small twinge of pity flashed and left as quickly as it had come, the Half-Orc reminded her rather uncomfortably of herself. She was like it, half of one thing so despised. She snorted as she watched the human males tip their hats to her as she passed, they would not be so quick to repeat the gesture if they knew she was half Drow. Lost in her meanderings, she never felt the quick deft hands of the cutpurse, as he relieved her of her monetary burden. By the time she had shook herself of her daydreaming, her purse and the thief were as a ghost upon the wind. Anashra continued walking still unaware of the theft. She felt strangely light as if she had several glasses of Firewine¹; frowning she put her hands to where her purse had been only to find what was left of the strings dangling from her belt. Anashra's eyes widened and she clenched her teeth; and swore the rudest curse she knew. This caused several Elven traders to raise their eyebrows and leave their mouths agape in shock. Her face turned crimson, she had learned that particular phase surprisingly from LeÄ­Ì'Tai; he had tripped one morning coming down the stairs; causing him to brake a toe. The oath had several subtle meanings, as it basically cursed Beshaba² and implied that she was of questionable parentage. Anashra strode away quickly to avoid further stares, and decided that it was a fine time to find Thalen.

 

An hour and very long walk later and she still had not caught sight of him; so she decided to head back to the inn where they were staying. Named The Forge & Hammer it was a small but clean establishment; and it was always packed to the rafters with patrons of every race, Half-Orcs, Dwarves, Humans, Elves, and even the odd Half-Ogre. Aörlin, the owner of the tavern was quite happy to accept anyone's custom as long as they did not cause too much trouble. Anashra released a heavy sigh as she approached the wide double doors, reached for the large brass handle, turn it and when inside. Never noticing the pairs of eyes that watched her actions...

 

 

Thalen groaned inwardly, rubbed his temples in exasperation, and took a sip of his Firewine¹. Enjoying the slight burning sensation of the alcohol. He leaned back in the sturdy oak chair, placed his booted feet upon the table; and held the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger. This thrice-damned day had come straight from the Lord of the Nine Hells; Thalen was sure of it. For one thing, he had a headache that just simply would not surrender; and the large drunken crowd, combined with his sensitive hearing was not helping his mood any. For another thing, Therin was proving nigh on impossible to find, his contact in the thieves guild had fled at first sight of him and after chasing him down all he received for his trouble was the door being slammed and bolted in his face. Thalen mentally compared it to having ten thousand spoons when all he needed was a knife, since the populace of Mirabar was mainly Dwarven. And to top off his bad luck he had completely forgotten to keep an eye on the moon, until his reflection in his shaving mirror had pointedly reminded him what grave error that had been. Upon looking at his reflection, he immediately noticed that his normally stormy gray eyes were shot with gold giving him and even more wild and feral appearance. He then quickly recounted the number of days since his last change... 28, ³ it had been twenty-eight very short days, which meant one thing and one thing only he had to find Anashra, and fast. He drained his glass, signaled Mirani the tavern wench for another, and upon further thought, he decided to have the rest of the damned bottle. His hands on his aching forehead “Oi, just leave the bottle on the table, love.” After digging around in his pocket, he pulled out a gold piece that was worth four times the value of the liquor, pressed it into her palm, and told her to keep the change. He had a sinking feeling that he was going to need the booze later. He was sitting in the darkest corner in the bar with his back to the wall but he still had a fairly clear view of the entrance. Lost in his musings Thalen nearly missed the soft squeak and dull thud of the doors that announced Anashra's return. Thalen gave the doorway a cursory glance only to see a woman with blue hair, who was wearing a white, cloak had entered. He turned back to his liquor intent on drinking away his pain. *Wait... Woman with blue hair, wearing a white cloak... Anashra!* “Thank the gods!” he bit out, relieved, now he would not have to traipse around looking for her. He quickly downed the remnants of his drink and stood. *Bad idea*, was his first thought, as his head gave a particularly painful throb. And as he strode over to her the bar suddenly became deathly quite, drawing Thalen's attention back to Anashra. Several drunken male patrons had begun to accost her and he could not help the snarl that escaped from his lips...

 

Idiot#1 “Hey there, sweetness.”

Idiot#2 “Yeah, Angel why don't you come with us for some fun?”

Idiot#3 “Say babe did it hurt when you fell from heaven?”

Idiot#4 “Don't be shy we won't bite ... much.”

Idiot#2 “Come on sugar show us some love.”

Idiot#1 “What's the matter? Think you're too good for us or somethin'?”

Idiot#3 “You know want to.”

 

 

The whole thing was nauseating, and Anashra seemed to find fending off all their rather persistent attempts difficult. One of bastards was brazenly stroking her shoulder. Scowling, Thalen resigned himself to a fight. “Excuse me, but I do believe Milady is NOT interested in what you suggest; do try your luck elsewhere.” “Larry did we invite this nosy bastard to our party?” “No Shep, we'll just have to teach this ugly fool to mind his own business.” Thalen raised an eyebrow making his thin scar pronounced then replied, “So, not only are you deaf, you're blind, and complete morons as well.” Shep said in return, “You'llpay for that asshole.” Thalen could not help but smirk arrogantly, as he ducked a fist. He unfastened his weapons and belt pouches, and tossed them to Anashra who had made it off to the sidelines and safety. Thalen waited for the next punch as his adversary stepped forward and as the right hook came towards him Thalen's arm shot and grabbed Shep's forearm between the elbow and wrist, took a step backwards and gave a short sharp jerk upward using the momentum of the blow to aid his maneuver. He abruptly reversed directions causing Shep's elbow to dislocate and snap. Thalen didn't have time to enjoy the satisfying look of shock and pain as he still had the other three to deal with and caught Larry's jab in his palm, grabbed his forearm shifted his feet and threw the ignoramus onto a near by table splitting it down the middle and knocking Larry into dreamland. Two left, he snatched the wrist of his nearest assailant and twisted up and so that it was pinned behind his back and brought his other fist down on the base of his enemy's neck sending him crashing into the floor and unconsciousness. *Last idiot*, Thalen thought and threw an uppercut the connected solidly against the man's jaw. Thalen grabbed the reeling man by the short hairs at the back of the neck, shoved downward, and brought up his knee into his gut and solar plexus, earning him a grunt and causing him to slump to the floor. He looked around and scoffed, “Well that was easy. Anashra go to our room before the city guard gets here I'll deal with them; you need not be involved.” He saw her nod and turned to Aörlin threw him a sack of coins for the mess and looked up in time to see the guards burst through the doors. He did not struggle as they put him in chains along with the four idiots who had gotten him into this mess. He could escape at anytime he chose and considering what tomorrow had in store for him being arrested seemed like the only good thing that had happened to him all day. Thalen snorted at the idea that being arrested was a good thing and was laughing madly all the way to the prison.

 

 

 

 

AUTHOR NOTES:

Hello my avid readers! I am MOST sorry I have not had time to update in 2 months... give me a break though I've had 3 DAYS off in 4 MONTHS. AndI've been depressed because my Friend DIED from Sarcoma a type of Cancer... and then my CAT MILO DIED so I 'vet been too down to feel like writing ANYTHING. Also, I now have a FORUM for my story and you can post Suggestions, comments and ideas there. Who knows I may incorporate it into the story and give you credit! So go on post away!

 

May the Stars Shine bright when next we meet.

-Burning

 

 

Fire wine: STRONG alcoholic beverage

Beshaba: Goddess of bad luck, Misfortune

28: There are 30 days in a Faerúnic month divided in 10 ways a week or a “Tenday”