For the last 4 months, we stayed in a cozy inn outside the eastern city walls, the Dancing Dagger. It was a very lively inn, and the bard knew how to use his instrument, although Sanise could still teach him a few tricks. By now, in my 6th month, I was feeling really fat, and I had to rely on Ykril's help to wash my feet. It was really humiliating, but Ykril seemed to enjoy serving me like the queen of his dynasty.
But it always got fascinating after sex when our child started kicking in my belly as if it wanted to escape so that it wouldn't have to face the intruder again. Ykril always laid his head gently on my tummy after sex to listen and feel the kicks, while I just grinned happily to myself.
During the day, Ykril always disappeared to the east and returned home in the evening, completely filthy. Like he dug a deep hole in the forest. But he refused to tell me why or what he was doing there. It was going to be a surprise, he always said. I went back to the temple, continued sewing clothes for the priests, and was examined over and over again by the clerics.
Luckily for us, there was even a full moon today, and we decided to hike to the Dessarie River for a picnic. In the silvery glow of the moon, we discussed our future, and I tried to refresh his memory a little more. It was questionable if he would ever be able to remember everything again, but at least he remembered the most important things.
In our satisfaction at having each other and our joy that we would soon have our first child together, we neglected to pay attention to the surroundings and allowed some Drow assassins to get too close to us. We were surrounded in no time, and we barely had a chance to defend ourselves before being overwhelmed. It seemed that the Underdark no longer trusted just one of them to capture us. Before they stunned us, I managed to count five attackers.
»Are you crazy? If Lolth gets aware of what you're doing to a pregnant Drow, the entire House of Zarethi will be repelled.« an upset, feminine voice snapped me out of my dazed state.
»Calm down. She's an Eilistraeen and only a half-breed« another one replied, whose voice sounded familiar to me.
»Infusing her with the Tear of the Virgin while she's pregnant is definitely too much! I'm not going to take part in this« was all I could hear before a door was slammed.
The musty aroma, mixed with spices that I only knew from the Menzoberranzan market, suggested that I must be very close to the capital. As I tried to move, little bells attached to my shackles rang out and woke a goblin, who jumped up with a grunt.
The Drow turned to me, and I recognized her face. The last remaining member of House Zarethi, Nendra. Not only one of the bullies back in school, but also the youngest Zarethi, whom I wanted to save so that the house was not completely without a future. Sighing, I stopped struggling.
»I should have killed you when I had the chance.« I grumbled quietly as I looked around, passing the Praetorian who seemed to be guarding me, and found Ykril chained up naked to a bed near me.
»It's too late now« she said confidently.
As she lifted the lid of a pot that remained warm near a small fireplace, I noticed a familiar balsamic, spicy, and slightly lemony scent. The well-known aroma of the 'Tear of the Virgin' potion.
»But before I'll take your child, I'll take something else first.« she laughed, dropping her clothes as she walked towards Ykril.
»Get me the potion!« She ordered the guard later, when she was done with Ykril, who immediately obeyed.
»It will not be long until I give him a descendant instead of you.« she grinned maliciously. She took the potion and served it to me while the Praetorian held my mouth open and my nose closed. I couldn't help but swallow the potion. This time, I was unable to hide my tears.
»How weak you are. Crying for an unborn child! Pathetic behavior for a Drow!« she laughed out loud.
But I simply couldn't say anything in reply; I just let myself fall, defeated. Humiliated, I turned my head away from her and cried.
»Mistress?« The guard began, »should we get rid of them?«
»Not yet. I still need him, just to be sure. And as for her, I want her to watch how I fuck her lover!« she said with extraordinary spite.
»Call in some additional Praetorians. One to guard him and another for her. As a reward, do whatever you want with her! But don't kill her. There's someone, who paid a lot, awaiting notification, that we captured her alive.« she grunted
It wasn't long until I only felt one last heartbeat, my own, in my chest, and my abdomen became filled with piercing pain. At the same time, my connection to the weave became stronger again, and my native magic was returning to me. This was the proof that our child inside me had died. Yet, my sorrow was overwhelmed by a more powerful emotion. Rage. Pure rage, as I have never felt before.
Shortly after, I screamed out from the depths of my soul, and it echoed in my skull as if I were outbidding a dragon. My body became wrapped in glistening blue lightning bolts streaked with vibrant shades of purple that melted my chains. As my feet touched the ground, I immediately smelled the sharp smell of the melting stone, succumbing to my power.
After slaughtering the Praetorians in an absolute rage when they came back in, I walked at a leisurely pace towards the Drow, whose face seemed to crack with absolute horror. As my whip manifested in addition, I only required a blink as the whipcord wrapped around her body, burning her flesh, and pulled her towards me.
»I'm going to end this! Now!« I roared at her, and with just a short flick, the body of the last heiress of the House of Zarethi was torn apart, and the two parts of her body collapsed to the floor in a pool of blood.
As fast as that power passed through my body, it seemed to leave me just as quickly, and I collapsed onto my knees. The pain, which I had successfully suppressed for that short moment, returned. I dropped the whip and shakily grabbed my stomach before I began to scream out of control. Lightning shot out of my body across the room, bursting and burning everything it impacted. With a bright flash of light and a loud blast that seemed to take over the entire room, I curled up in a ball of pain, and lost consciousness.
I couldn't have been out for long because I felt totally exhausted and powerless. After a quick inspection, I noticed that the room had been destroyed. Even the door frame had collapsed and, fortunately for us, blocked other guards, who were already working on the other side to remove the rubble, from getting in. That might give us a little time to escape if I was able to find another exit.
With difficulty, I managed to reach Ykril and release his chains. He seemed lethargic, traumatized, and frightened even by my hands. It seemed as if he had regained his consciousness a few days earlier and suffered a lot.
Reflexively, I cleaned the worst parts from his body, put him in his pants and shirt, stuffed the rest of his armor into a backpack and looked for a way out, which I found behind a collapsing, seemingly outer wall. The wall was broken enough that I was able to take it down without much effort and drag my man out.
As it turned out, they really brought us back to Menzoberranzan. How long was I without consciousness? I quickly put the question aside and tried to focus on more important things. I instantly thought about one place where we could stay for a short time. In the past, I had been chained up among the slaves. We would be able to recover there, as they were already loyal to me back then and helped me escape, for a few days and gain enough strength to return to Waterdeep.
Ykril was able to recover a bit on his own, but he did not say anything, and his face had become lifeless. I wrapped him in my Piwafwi, slipped into my mask so that we wouldn't be recognized immediately, and sneaked through the city as far as we could. Despite my best efforts to avoid being spotted, one of the goblin slaves seemed to have taken notice of me and offered us shelter in his small den, in which we were barely able to fit.
