Cataclysmic Beginnings
Apr. 16th, 2022 11:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
senmut posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
tales_of_faerunCataclysmic Beginnings (6,988 words) by senmut
Chapters: 3/3
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Minor Character Deaths
Characters: Zaknafein Do"urden, Vierna Do'Urden, Drizzt Do'Urden, Yasdra Do'Urden (OC)
Additional Tags: Canon Divergence, Autistic Drizzt
Series: Part 1-3 of Cataclysmic Beginnings
Summary:
The cavern was still shaking from time to time. So much for the solidity of cavern stone to protect them all, when the cavern itself was split, Narbondel had fallen, and there were magma vents where none had been before.
He estimated where the chapel had fallen, and his guts wrenched to see the broken stone, all the magics shattered by the physical destruction. How could any -- NO. He could not think that way until he found them. If they were dead...
... he told himself to stop thinking that way and moved carefully.
Vierna had come awake with a spell completely unknown to her burning in her mind and a compulsion to get to her brother. She'd never had her god do this to her before, but the words came and what she needed was in her hand. What had happened?
The stone rose around them, forming a shield on the sides and the top of them. Even with the bowl that formed, she felt true fear as the breaking of the cavern rocked them, casting down houses that had stood for centuries... and the protective bowl they were in shattered as they hit the rubble below, with her losing consciousness from the forced spell.
Drizzt was scared. The chapel had broken after Vierna woke him, throwing herself around him and shaping the stone to hold them. He couldn't see anything but her, and she was sleeping. Despite being small and weak compared to her, he tried to move the big rock above them off, his back to it, and willing himself to levitate like when he cleaned the statues.
It didn't move, not really, though it made a scraping noise at least.
That noise had been different than the rest of the settling, quaking noises, and Zak's head shot up toward it. The heap he'd thought might be the altar... wasn't? He moved as sure-footed as possible over, and found that very little rubble was on top of the oddly slabbed stone, light enough that he should be able to push it off.
Zak checked the debris around it to make certain he would not cause a worse issue, and set himself to the task of lifting the slab. The moment he saw that yes, the hollow had occupants, his strength surged, and he was able to shove it open enough to see his son peering up with large purple eyes, and curled around where the boy was crouching was his daughter, unmoving.
This was not the first meeting he'd ever envisioned for himself and the boy, but moreover, he needed to know if Vierna was hurt. She... was breathing, and it was not rasping, so maybe?
"I am the weapon master," Zak told the child. "You must follow me exactly, young one, because I must carry her. We need to seek safety."
"Yes, weapon master," the boy piped at him.
There was a side passage, one that he knew of because of his time on city defense. The tunnel was thick, and if the mouth was open or could be reached, he'd feel safe enough to check her for injury, use the salve from within his piwafwi for them. Drizzt seemed uninjured, and after Zak scooped up his daughter, followed along bravely, running or leaping from rock to rock to match the weapon master's stride.
Zak was having a harder time navigating his way there, the rubble shifting under his feet, landmarks gone that normally broke the cave up, but he kept moving until he knew he was on the correct outer wall, and looked for the right patch of deeper black that would be the mouth of the tunnel he knew about.
"Boy," Zak said, looking down at the child who had, through sheer stubborn -- so much like himself -- stayed close. "I have to get her up there. You will be alone. Do not move."
"Yes, sir," the boy answered swiftly, before hunkering down in a less humanoid shape, freezing so that he had an unmoving profile.
Vierna was teaching him well.
Zak gathered himself, firmly commanding the house emblem to let this happen, and levitated up --so slowly! -- to lay his burden down in the mouth of the tunnel. None of the rock had broken there, so that was promising, even as another ominous rumble lashed out at the city.
He gave a quick look, didn't see anything immediately threatening. Hopefully all the shaking had driven the predators and scavengers away for the moment. He then dropped in a controlled fall back to his son... who was still imitating a small, warm boulder.
Zak reached down and rested a hand on the back... and the boy unfolded, twisting to be picked up in silence. Zaknafein gathered him close, and got them both up to the mouth of the tunnel. He was relieved to see nothing had changed as he got them into the mouth. It was low, and he needed to get Vierna tended before they moved further.
"Keep your eyes on that side of the tunnel, and if anything moves, say 'Zak'," the man told his son, pointing to the far end. He glanced down into the cave, saw other Houses trying to respond and recover for themselves, but he had no intention of trusting others.
All he cared for was either right here, or had more resources than he did to figure the mess out.
Vierna was largely unharmed as far as his check could find, and he decided the unconsciousness had to be from magical effort. Zaknafein reached into a specific pocket, found an ampule, and broke the thing under her nose. The scent of it was acrid, sharp... and had the effect he needed, as she began to stir under his hand.
He watched her open her eyes, take in the change of location, notice him... and then try to sit up too fast to find the boy.
"Easy, he is here too," Zak said, and the way her face shifted to his awareness made him think she ... felt safer?
Some of the tension in her face eased, anyway.
"What happened?" she asked in a low hiss.
"Groundquake, biggest I've ever seen. The cavern itself broke, ceiling and floor. Not sure there's a house that isn't at least cracked wide open." Zaknafein assisted her to sit in the confines of the tunnel, so they could both put their backs to the walls.
He watched her reach for the boy, pull him into her space, even as he squirmed enough to keep his eyes down the tunnel like he'd been told to. Her hands moved over the child, and Zak found his chest actively hurt to see that. It was not a rough check, but gentle, caring, strange as that was.
"We were probably protected some because of how close to the wall we were," Zaknafein briefed her. "I did not see any other signs," he told her, honestly, but that was because he hadn't looked.
He didn't want the others to have lived.
"What now?" Vierna asked, stunned by this, grateful to her god, but overwhelmed. She'd had no idea more than the tiniest tremors could happen, and those never broke Houses!
"You're the priestess, and as far as I know, Head of House," Zaknafein pointed out.
"And I am in no way, shape, or form qualified to guide us from here, through the wilds, anywhere," Vierna said, after looking down in the cavern. "They will do all they can to kill one another, stupidly, over the resources they dig out of the rubble.
"I say we take our chances and leave for Chad Nassad, or any other settlement you think can be reached."
His eyes stayed on hers, testing her resolve, seeking any sign of a trap in that.
"You expect me to keep you, the boy, and myself alive, to a strange city, and then help you carve a place there?" he decided to ask, to be certain.
"There is no one else who could, because I have faith in your skills, Weapon Master."
Zaknafein swore inside his head that no woman in all of drow society could have confused him more than she just had, but he bowed his head to her briefly.
"I'll need my hands free, fully," he pointed out.
"I will carry my brother," Vierna said. "I can make a sling of the shawl I have, to help support him on my hip."
He looked at the boy, still so slightly built, and wondered if he'd favor Malice's diminutive build or his own height in time. Assuming they survived. Vierna was closer to his own size, after all, but there was something of Malice's beauty in Drizzt's young face.
"I can walk," the boy said, unable to refrain from it at last, and Vierna... smiled. That, more than anything else, made Zak's eyes widen. He also saw the bunching of muscles that said the boy had realized he'd spoke up without permission.
"You may, at times, but we need to move swiftly," Vierna said. "So you will cling to me as needed."
Zak looked down at the cavern, saw a small mob was forming, bearing down on the ruins of House Baenre.
"Not salvaging from in there. Let's get moving." He stood, hobbled over slightly from the smallness of the tunnel, and Vierna stood to follow, one hand in the boy's for now. The tunnel was low enough that they couldn't move too fast for the child.
When they found a safer point, he really ought to get the introductions made more properly.
Safer point turned out to require a little work, but Zak got the cave fisher pulled out of the hole he wanted after all but dicing it into pieces. He made certain it was clear, boosted Vierna up into it -- they were trying hard to limit their use of the House Emblems, just in case. Or he was and she was going along with it.
Once she was secure, he lifted Drizzt up into it, made certain the passage they were in was still clear, and grabbed the lip of the hole to flip himself up into it.
"Boy, are you holding up well?"
The child had walked, without complaint, for the length of the first tunnel, then allowed Vierna to secure him to a hip once it opened enough for the elder pair to begin to cover distance more swiftly.
"Yes, Weapon Master," was the quick answer. "Vehna?"
The mispronunciation was deliberate, Zak was almost certain, based on how the boy was holding himself, a testing of boundaries or an attempt to bring a smile?
"I will need to salve my legs," Vierna admitted. "I have not had to do so much walking in a very long time."
She favored the boy with a long look. "Drizzt, you should know the weapon master's name. He is Zaknafein, and shares our House name," she told him.
Zak watched the boy turn, pull himself into a properly polite stance, and then smile shyly.
"Hello Zaknafein Do'Urden. I am honored to have your name known to me now."
That had Zak side-eye the priestess, but she was actually rolling her eyes at the boy's decision to be formally polite.
"It is good to know your name as well, Drizzt," Zak said.
Vierna found the salve in her pocket and began working it along her legs, as Zak averted his eyes out of politeness.
He watched instead as the boy explored, seeing the heat signature of the face move all around, taking in the dimensions of the hole they were in. As the boy was moving slowly, and the space was small, Zak let him have that freedom for now. Vierna must have felt the same, as she worked on easing the muscle pains.
"Water's going to be a problem, food might be," Zak admitted. "We're ill-equipped for a trek like this. I haven't looked at outer maps in decades, not since that last duergar push against the city."
"What choice did we have? The city was destroyed, those who remain were already turning on each other. And we will have both water and food, I promise, my teacher," she said, deliberately going for less formal with him by the set of her shoulders.
He could not truly hold past actions against her, not now that they needed each other. And she was gentle with the boy, shockingly so.
"You think that wasn't the result of something attacking your goddess with all they had?" Zak asked skeptically.
Vierna's laughter was, again, not what he expected.
"Oh I truly hope so," she said. "But She is not, and never has been, mine."
He studied her, but she was reaching into her pocket, drawing out an item that tingled with magic, dancing with subtle patterns in the darkness of its material to their vision.
"You... you follow the Masked God?"
"Yes, and I am thankful I never let the whip be near my resting," Vierna said. "I truly hope it was crushed."
Zak shook his head in shock. "I find myself pleased, surprised, and... curious. Until that one was born," he said, pointing to the boy, "the last He'd been sighted in the city was just as I was entering Melee-Magthere."
He saw her slender features change a little, as apparently that was news to her. She then looked at the boy who had found something to fascinate him, and was lying on his belly starting at it, Zak noted.
"I have been protected by Him since I was a child. He offered me a spell, and has kept me strong within it since then."
Zaknafein played back over the years of his daughter's life, and even the reason he had drawn away from her made so much more sense now. Of course she had had to, to protect herself, and been more merciful about killing that young drow than anyone else would have been.
"That... is an exceptional deception, Priestess."
She smiled at him, and then looked over at the boy. "Drizzt doesn't know, of course, but I will be thankful to be able to just answer his questions instead of... being as expected."
"Boy likes to ask things?"
Vierna looked back at him. "Incessantly."
"Might not be so bad now," Zaknafein told her. "Vhaeraun had made me wonder that night about you, but... I was tired of trying to find any hope in anything of our lives. Even knowing the boy had been spared, given how that came about."
Vierna's mouth set in a thin line. "I know it can't have been easy. I'd caught the edges of Matron Malice's displeasure with your beliefs in how she spoke of you."
"No offense, but I'm not here for your god either, and He knows it," Zak told her. "If that's a problem -- "
"No," she said so quickly that he lifted an eyebrow at her.
"He does not insist you follow him. He knows what you've endured. More than that, though, you are the one person I have been able to trust my entire life, and the separation between us has... bothered me," Vierna told him.
Zak had to take in a deep breath. "It's always been the children that bothered me the most, Vierna," he said, noticing the way her body language grew more open at the use of her personal name in his quiet tone. "But you were merciful, and I see that now, that you had to.
"We will make this work, somehow, for our freedom, and the boy's future."
Vierna reached out for his hands, taking them to squeeze. "So we will."
Once Vierna had rested long enough to pray for her spells, she reached for her god's guidance as well.
"Not Chad Nassad," she said softly, after. "He will lead us, but it will be a long journey, Zaknafein."
She watched him set his shoulders back, and then nod. "We will do as needed."
Drizzt, who had acquired a small lizard to entertain himself, looked up at her. "He?" the boy questioned, and Vierna reached to stroke his hair.
"Yes. Not Lloth, and I will teach you as we go."
His face scrunched up, but his purple eyes fixed on her with absolute trust, almost making it too hard to breathe.
"Alright."
Vierna gave into the urge to draw him back into her lap, and Drizzt went willingly. She then looked at Zak who was watching with the softest expression she had seen on a drow face.
"He is yours?" she signed at him as Drizzt laid against her chest.
"Yes," he answered in kind.
Vierna considered that, adding up other pieces, and decided to ask her own question in sign. "Am I?"
Zaknafein hesitated, and she knew it was their culture that said all children belonged to the mother, before he gave a sharp nod.
Her two-handed ability, her speed, all the skill she had with her maces and the gifts of dagger and pirate spider had been making her suspect. Now she was almost certain Zak was why she had been chosen by Vhaeraun.
"I am grateful to know that," she signed.
She set to providing them a simple meal, grateful that she would be able to keep them fed, even as she dreaded protecting her little brother for countless miles of the Underdark.
Zak knew, a moment too late, that he'd tripped a magical detection line, and twisted, shoving Vierna with Drizzt back against the wall. He grunted as a bolt hit the shoulder of his armor, but did not penetrate.
He did not tell her to stand back, as his blades were drawn and he readied to fight.
"Stand down," a voice hissed in the dark -- proper accent, deeper register -- and Zak merely stood ready to be the death of any who came at him if they did not obey the voice.
"The line is further out than I remembered," he said when no attack came.
"Didn't expect our first guest to be you, oh Ghostly one."
Zak's body language changed slightly, trying to convey 'less threat stay on guard'. "Jarlaxle, I thought you'd've made it out somehow. You should know not to ever count me down." Zak then evaluated the new person who stepped into sight, and after a moment, put his blades away. "You've always played fair by me in the past. We are not going back to that city."
"There is no city to return to," Jarlaxle said soberly. "Come, into the shelter. You and your companions."
Zak beckoned, and Vierna came, having set Drizzt down to have her hands free for her knives. He walked at her side, quiet now, his pet lizard hiding in his hair.
They went in and found a generously sized cavern, with men, and a few women, in various states of injured and well, supplies that had been thrown into anything at hand, and faerie fire lighting it all.
"Not many," Zak said softly.
"No," Jarlaxle told him in a grim voice, guiding him to a smaller cave off the side of it. "Were you looking for us?"
"No. Looking to raid the supplies I expected to find," Zaknafein admitted.
Jarlaxle threw his head back and laughed. "Ahh, you old rogue, I will part with what I can, but tell me: would you not rather stay in among us as we seek our next place? You know my views."
The small chamber had furniture, one piece being a couch, and that was where Zak steered his family. Vierna was keeping silent, letting him do the dealing, which was likely best.
"We have guidance on where to go," Zak told his old friend. "But with the boy, it would go easier if we had travel rations."
"Of course." Jarlaxle nodded to that, then looked through his uncovered eye sharply at Zak. "I'm surprised," he said bluntly, "but of course you have reasons."
Now Vierna did speak up. "My father has chosen to trust my judgment."
Zak enjoyed the startled look, even as Jarlaxle smile, the eye patch shifting with the motion.
"Finally have yours to call your own, old friend. Well good."
Jarlaxle sprawled back in his chair, looking at them, and Zak's posture relaxed, one hand coming to rest on Vierna's back to encourage her to calm.
"I can spare some. Likely not enough for your full journey, but it will help. Will you take a message ring?"
Zak debated, then nodded. "I'd be stupid to lose the potential resources, and I would like to know where you end up."
"I'd like to know the same, just in case my first option doesn't pan out.
"You must have gotten out swiftly, Zak. I did look."
Because his hand was still on her, Zak felt Vierna's surprise in the bunching of her muscles.
"The old loop tunnel," Zak said. "I knew it was in stable rock, or should have been. And it wasn't far from our House. Once I had them both, I went straight there."
"Of course! I should have realized. It was all very disorienting, though, sifting through the ruins, pulling capable people from the mobs, finding trinkets and bits to help along the way."
"What was the full situation you left?" Zak asked from curiosity.
"Sorcere seemed to have the most survivors, but Oblodra must have had shelter in the rift, or sheltered by their mind magics," Jarlaxle said. "I have no loyalty to the Arch-Mage, and despise the mind-readers, so we are moving on.
"As it was shaping up into a war with potentially three sides... the rabble, the wizards, and Oblodra."
"May the rabble win," Zak muttered, getting a sharp grin from Jarlaxle.
"I'll stop back in a decade or three to find out," Jarlaxle told them.
"Do you have the space for us to stay and rest before we go again?" Zak asked.
"Of course," Jarlaxle said. "Will you join me to go over your needs? They can stay in here, and I will set out a meal for them."
Zak snorted, knowing just what was intended... and he wasn't against that idea at all. "Vierna?"
"I follow your lead now."
"Agreed, then."
When they set out, they all had packs, even Drizzt whose small sack had foods and their healing salves. Vierna had a single mace; they had not turned up any others. She was fine with that; the dagger in her other hand would work just as well, if she wasn't spell-casting.
Jarlaxle had even turned up a single knife small enough for Drizzt's hands, and he was working on getting used to holding it the way Zak had shown him.
They did let the boy ride on their hips or backs when they needed to cross caverns, but it was often easier to let him walk and run along side them in tunnels. The only rule was that he did not go past Zak, who was usually out in front.
The lizard had been joined by another, and Vierna was beginning to wonder her little brother's habit of finding small animals. That it kept him entertained was one thing.
The day that they suddenly hissed from his shoulders and he froze, just as Zak held up a 'stop' ahead of them was going to stay in Vierna's mind a long time. She got to see as her father got both blades in hand in time to deflect a blow from some monstrous creature, before rapidly destroying the lumbering hulk with too many spines and teeth.
"More coming?"
"They're loners. Not even worth their meat, though," Zak said in disgust. "Let's get some distance before the crawlers come."
Vierna gestured, and Drizzt clambered up to hold on to her shoulders with a little bit of help. She would think on the strangeness later, as she often did with her quizzical little brother.
The giant bat, shaped more like a manta ray than a bat, laid very still, hoping to avoid notice. Something had actually knocked it out of the air, and a rock had pinned its tail.
Drow were dangerous, evil creatures. The giant bat, or sinister as they were called, knew that.
"Oh," the small one breathed and the sinister realized she had been spotted. Drow resistance to magic was legendary but she had to--
--no. The child had gone to the rock. Was moving it even as the big ones settled, not seeing the child's intentions.
Two small spitting lizards were in the child's hair, and they peered at the sinister, making her wonder at this all.
"You have to move. Can't hold and move you," the child said very softly, as if not wanting to draw attention to what he was doing.
The deep bat felt the pressure on her tail shift and she scooted awkwardly forward, pulling her much abused tail out from under it.
The child set the rock back down, and then bravely reached out to pet before she was able to get her forcefield back up.
It felt nice.
"Drizzt?"
"Helping a bat, Vierna! She's nice."
The sinister readied to fight and flee now... but the adult drow didn't come? Was the child actually in control? Not a child, maybe?
"Thank you for letting me pet you," the child told her, before moving back. "Do you need help to get back in the air?"
This was so confusing. She fluttered her sails a bit, and the levitation returned, along with the protective force fields. Those, she dampened so she could flutter over the child, causing his hair to move and him to laugh. She headed up high, toward her roost, and the child went back to the other two.
It was very interesting, to know that a drow could help.
The brute that had swatted her to the ground was back, and this time had a small tribe of goblins to help hunting. The drow were quick to respond, but the boy... the boy was vulnerable to the thrown spears or darts, and there were so many.
The sinister didn't think so much as react, swooping down to where the child huddled, making herself vulnerable long enough to present her back as a safe haven.
Amazingly, the child understood, and was soon safely lying along her back, and she could soar back up, keeping him safe within her protective sphere while the adults dealt with the threats.
When all of the enemies were dead, and the pair looked for the child, the little one peeked over the edge of a wing sail, and called down.
"I am here! The nice bat is protecting me!"
She slowly came down as the weapons went away, and when no aggressive move was made, lowered the field. The child slipped free and ran to the slower of the pair, getting scooped up.
Repayment for the rock moving done, the sinister floated back up, pleased... and considering moving on with the group, since this area was infested by killing creatures now.
On the third day of their journey, with Drizzt actually able to keep up because the sinister insisted on carrying him, Vierna had to ask her god what to make of this.
~He's a wild-called ranger,~ Vhaeraun deigned to reply, some curiosity in His words as He answered the simple query. ~It used to be common among our people, before we were driven below.~
The concepts had translated in her mind, rapidly enough that Vierna would need to digest them, but her Lord wasn't angry over the boy's oddity, more curious like she herself was.
Weeks of travel, too many near death experiences, and Zak growing worried because their path was taking them ever higher, out of the regions he knew best, had finally culminated with them being in a cavern that actually opened onto the surface itself.
Try as he might, he could not find a way down or through.
Vierna looked at the opening in trepidation, but she did not want to bother her god when the spell had clearly led them this way.
"We wait for nightfall," she decided, noticing the dim light coming through that crevice.
Zak sighed, a little, having hoped she would say they had turned wrong at the last junction. He glanced at his son, who was saying farewell to the sinister, as it was one of the deep kind, who did not go above.
"Will he be safe?"
Vierna took a deep breath. "He must be," she said. "Let us trust in my God this far, and go, no matter how strange it is, once the darkness of night falls."
Zak faced the opening, and could only hope she was right. He would, if it came down to it, fight even the gods for his children, he decided.
They did not venture out far, before they were met by other drow, drow that greeted Vierna as a long lost sister.
"The labyrinth is broken and home to demons from the cataclysm that was the strike on Lolth," one said, "so we were sent to take you by the surface to our city. The entrance is in the woods, which is called Neverwinter Woods by the surface folk."
"You know what happened?" Vierna asked.
"The Infernal Ones decided that they were done with having Lolth and her assorted underlings on their plane. Our Lord was warned — he has kept careful relations with them — but not when it would occur, or you and others like you would have had more time."
Zak sighed out in relief, Drizzt currently on his back, staring at the land and sky and strange things called trees.
The foremost of the trio sent to guide them nodded, able to discern the reason why, being male himself. "Yes, Her power will be diminished for a time."
"Come; if we walk quickly enough, we can be at the portal we need before the sun rises," the one woman said.
The small family followed, unknowing of what life would be like in the new place… yet together, as each wished to be.
"Honored Priestess, my request is simple," the man said, a low-born drow who had, nonetheless, won a position of prestige in the temple of Vhaeraun.
"Speak it, then, and I will see what can be done," she said formally.
The man bowed his head to her. "I know the boy of your House is expected to learn much, but we have noticed his skill with animals. And we recently brought in new tizzin stock.
"Is it possible, Honored Priestess, for the boy of your House to spend time with us in the corral, settling them before parceling them out to the Houses that have requested such?"
Vierna did not outwardly sigh in relief. "Such a task will help him use the energy that children seem to have, benefit our Lord, and see us grow stronger. After his classes, he may report to you. I will tell him this. But. If he does not arrive promptly, you must send word."
"Of course. I can ask one of my hands to escort him, even."
Vierna inclined her head and saw him out again. She looked to her father's door, and listened... yes Drizzt was studying with him, working on knife skills.
What kind of fighter would her brother become, beginning so young?
Well, she would talk to him after dinner.
Drizzt was mostly ignored by the adults working around him in the corral, but Burchi was guiding him through, showing him the holding pens, the stalls, and explaining which of the riding lizards were dangerous.
He was excited to be allowed to come and help.
"Now, these are the new ones," Burchi said, pointing to the last pen. "We know you have a magic with animals, lad. Can you help us settle this herd down? They have young in there, and that's making them hard for us to get calmed."
"Will try!" Drizzt climbed up on the corner post, and looked in. The lizards milled, trying to hide the young ones, glaring with danger in their eyes.
Burchi stood ready to act on the boy's behalf, but he sat quietly, reaching into the small pouch he wore, pulling out dried mushrooms. The scent of food caught some of the lizards' attention, but Drizzt didn't seem to think it was a threat.
Several moments passed before the oldest, biggest, most scarred of the new herd pushed all the way to that post, and Burchi nearly snatched the child back.
"Hi. Yes. I will share." Drizzt put a piece flat on his hand, and the tizzin's tongue darted out, taking it.
Drizzt placed his hand on the snout when the lizard snuffled for more, and the big beast reared back... only to come back on all four when the boy did not react at all.
"Yes, I know. Scary and strangers all around you," Drizzt said. "But it will be okay. Lots of food, and no more monsters trying to hunt you."
Was the beast understanding the child? It moved so that the boy's hand was higher up, near the beast's eyes even! Burchi watched in amazement, and thanked his Lord that he had been strong enough to go the Masked Traitor and ask for this boon.
He stayed near, even as Drizzt petted and scratched at the lizard, while marveling at the gift the child had.
Zak came to see how his son was handling the duties he'd taken on, with an eye to seeing how the other drow were treating his strange child. As he got inside the corral, he heard squealing and laughter, and the working drow he could see were smiling at the sounds, or whatever had set them off.
That was promising, at least.
The squealing was because his son was in the middle of the smallest tizzin Zak had ever seen, with a stiff-bristled brush, doing his best to brush each one, but they kept butting each other out of the way.
Zak leaned back, watching his son laugh and smile as he tended the little ones, until Drizzt finally looked at the adult lizard closest to him.
"Help! Make them behave!"
The big lizard moved close, using their snout to bully the little ones away, only allowing one to go to the boy at a time.
Zaknafein was more certain than ever that whatever a 'ranger' was, his son was a powerful one in the making.
It hadn't really sank into his brain that 'baby' meant a new person coming into their home and changing all of their routines. He was not so certain about this idea once the baby was there, and his normal day changed so completely. Fortunately, Vierna had decided to take over some of his training, which almost offset the disruption, and he did like learning from his sister. Zaknafein made time for him in the morning, and Vierna trained him in the later day.
He had more time to work at the corral, which was also good, but... it was taking him time to adjust.
It wasn't until the baby was beginning to crawl that Drizzt was spending much time with it -- her, he supposed. Zaknafein had cordoned off space in the part of their home that was for training in, cutting down the floor space they could work with, to allow the baby time to move under Zak's watch even as he taught Drizzt more.
"Will she learn to fight?" Drizzt asked, after the end of a long, grueling session left him sprawled on his stomach, looking into the baby cage, as he thought of it.
"At least enough to effectively defend herself, yes. What she chooses will be up to here, just as Vierna asked you when you turned sixteen if you wanted to continue learning to fight or something else." Zak watched his son and daughter, leaning on a cool wall, knowing that Drizzt had been resistant to all the upheaval in their lives since the baby had been given over to them.
"She won't be a priestess like Vierna?" Drizzt asked, face scrunched up. Of course he wanted to be a fighter; he was going to be just like his father, and be the fastest, best two-handed fighter!
"She might be. Or she might choose magic. Or, oh my son, she will be just like us."
Drizzt rolled to look at his father, not sure of what he thought about that.
"Only time will tell," Zak said. "Enough resting; back up, try that form with me again."
Drizzt pushed up, feeling the lessons in all his muscles like he should, and went back to it.
Drizzt was in his favorite chair, with a precious book, and Vierna had lit a candle lamp for him to read by. It was his privilege for having passed all of his academic exams in the temple.
Yasdra came out, blinking against the light, dragging a blanket.
"Bright."
Drizzt looked at her with a moment of upset, because he'd thought she was sleeping, and he would be able to read alone.
Then he remembered that his father had told him, just the day before, that he needed to be a good example for her.
He couldn't disappoint Zak.
"I earned the right to read, and needed the candle," he explained.
"Read to me?" Yasdra asked, even as she came closer, and Drizzt watched her squint her eyes to endure the light.
She was so brave, he realized, coming close to something that hurt like it did. He carefully put the book to one side, and reached down to help her up into his lap.
"Close your eyes," he told her, as he settled her so he could hold the book. She tucked her blanket on both of them, not very well, but Drizzt helped with that too.
She was a warm, quiet weight on him as he began reading aloud, letting her share the history he was learning now.
Yasdra watched as Zaknafein helped Drizzt inside their home, noticed that Drizzt looked much cooler than he should. She stayed out of the way as their father got her brother laid down, but when Zak moved to go get something, she climbed up on the couch by her brother's legs.
He was breathing funny, and his face was scrunched up like he was hurt.
Zaknafein came back and helped Drizzt sit up to drink something in his hand, a very small bottle, but whatever it was, it made her brother calm down, let him breathe better. He even started warming back up, and Yasdra scooted up closer to his chest.
"Easy little one," Zak said.
"No, fine, father, let her?" Drizzt said softly. "The potion fixed it."
"Alright."
Yasdra moved to lie along his side, by the back of the couch, her head on his shoulder.
Vierna came in then, hurrying like Yasdra rarely saw her do, but Zak moved and intercepted her.
"He's fine. Ribs and maybe his lung, but the potion fixed it," Zak assured her. She paused, ran a hand over her hair and braids, which Yasdra knew was to calm herself down. Big brother didn't deal well with people being upset around him.
"What happened?" Vierna asked in a low voice.
"Someone spooked the herd; he was in their way." Zak sighed. "Burchi said this is the third 'accident', but the first Drizzt didn't manage to get out of the way."
Yasdra didn't know that word from her sister, but given her brother flinched, she bet it was bad.
"Drizzt?" Vierna asked softly, coming over, "do you need more healing."
"No. Just want to rest with my baby sister."
"Alright. You do that." Vierna looked at Yasdra in That Way, and Yasdra nodded. She would keep Drizzt very still so he could rest.
Drizzt looked up as his door opened, and Yasdra slipped in.
"Why are you leaving?" the slender girl asked.
"Because... I am not like everyone else," he told her honestly. "I'm tired of the accidents, tired of the attempts to provoke me into fighting, tired of fighting and bringing shame on our sister."
Yasdra gave a shake of her head. "It's not your fault, and Vierna knows it. But... you're not happy here."
Drizzt dropped on his bed next to the pack he had been making. "No. I want to be. This is home, and the god brought us here from far away, but... It's not good for any of us for me to be like this."
Yasdra came and sat beside him. "You have to find a place that doesn't hurt you," she said, and he could see how brave she was being to understand that. He put his arm around her, and held her close.
"I will come and visit, I promise," he told her.
"I know. And when I am grown up, and decide what I will be, I might come visit you."
Drizzt smiled into her hair, and pressed a kiss to her temple. "Family is what matters, right?"
"Always," she said, settling into his arm to have one last snuggle -- for now -- with her brother.
senmutChapters: 3/3
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Minor Character Deaths
Characters: Zaknafein Do"urden, Vierna Do'Urden, Drizzt Do'Urden, Yasdra Do'Urden (OC)
Additional Tags: Canon Divergence, Autistic Drizzt
Series: Part 1-3 of Cataclysmic Beginnings
Summary:
When divine warring breaks Menzoberranzan, a small family sets out together.
Wilds of the Underdark
Zaknafein was nothing if not persistent. His children, both of them, were in the remains of the chapel. He had to find them. That Malice nor Briza were taking control gave him hope both were dead. But he refused to think his children were.The cavern was still shaking from time to time. So much for the solidity of cavern stone to protect them all, when the cavern itself was split, Narbondel had fallen, and there were magma vents where none had been before.
He estimated where the chapel had fallen, and his guts wrenched to see the broken stone, all the magics shattered by the physical destruction. How could any -- NO. He could not think that way until he found them. If they were dead...
... he told himself to stop thinking that way and moved carefully.
Vierna had come awake with a spell completely unknown to her burning in her mind and a compulsion to get to her brother. She'd never had her god do this to her before, but the words came and what she needed was in her hand. What had happened?
The stone rose around them, forming a shield on the sides and the top of them. Even with the bowl that formed, she felt true fear as the breaking of the cavern rocked them, casting down houses that had stood for centuries... and the protective bowl they were in shattered as they hit the rubble below, with her losing consciousness from the forced spell.
Drizzt was scared. The chapel had broken after Vierna woke him, throwing herself around him and shaping the stone to hold them. He couldn't see anything but her, and she was sleeping. Despite being small and weak compared to her, he tried to move the big rock above them off, his back to it, and willing himself to levitate like when he cleaned the statues.
It didn't move, not really, though it made a scraping noise at least.
That noise had been different than the rest of the settling, quaking noises, and Zak's head shot up toward it. The heap he'd thought might be the altar... wasn't? He moved as sure-footed as possible over, and found that very little rubble was on top of the oddly slabbed stone, light enough that he should be able to push it off.
Zak checked the debris around it to make certain he would not cause a worse issue, and set himself to the task of lifting the slab. The moment he saw that yes, the hollow had occupants, his strength surged, and he was able to shove it open enough to see his son peering up with large purple eyes, and curled around where the boy was crouching was his daughter, unmoving.
This was not the first meeting he'd ever envisioned for himself and the boy, but moreover, he needed to know if Vierna was hurt. She... was breathing, and it was not rasping, so maybe?
"I am the weapon master," Zak told the child. "You must follow me exactly, young one, because I must carry her. We need to seek safety."
"Yes, weapon master," the boy piped at him.
There was a side passage, one that he knew of because of his time on city defense. The tunnel was thick, and if the mouth was open or could be reached, he'd feel safe enough to check her for injury, use the salve from within his piwafwi for them. Drizzt seemed uninjured, and after Zak scooped up his daughter, followed along bravely, running or leaping from rock to rock to match the weapon master's stride.
Zak was having a harder time navigating his way there, the rubble shifting under his feet, landmarks gone that normally broke the cave up, but he kept moving until he knew he was on the correct outer wall, and looked for the right patch of deeper black that would be the mouth of the tunnel he knew about.
"Boy," Zak said, looking down at the child who had, through sheer stubborn -- so much like himself -- stayed close. "I have to get her up there. You will be alone. Do not move."
"Yes, sir," the boy answered swiftly, before hunkering down in a less humanoid shape, freezing so that he had an unmoving profile.
Vierna was teaching him well.
Zak gathered himself, firmly commanding the house emblem to let this happen, and levitated up --so slowly! -- to lay his burden down in the mouth of the tunnel. None of the rock had broken there, so that was promising, even as another ominous rumble lashed out at the city.
He gave a quick look, didn't see anything immediately threatening. Hopefully all the shaking had driven the predators and scavengers away for the moment. He then dropped in a controlled fall back to his son... who was still imitating a small, warm boulder.
Zak reached down and rested a hand on the back... and the boy unfolded, twisting to be picked up in silence. Zaknafein gathered him close, and got them both up to the mouth of the tunnel. He was relieved to see nothing had changed as he got them into the mouth. It was low, and he needed to get Vierna tended before they moved further.
"Keep your eyes on that side of the tunnel, and if anything moves, say 'Zak'," the man told his son, pointing to the far end. He glanced down into the cave, saw other Houses trying to respond and recover for themselves, but he had no intention of trusting others.
All he cared for was either right here, or had more resources than he did to figure the mess out.
Vierna was largely unharmed as far as his check could find, and he decided the unconsciousness had to be from magical effort. Zaknafein reached into a specific pocket, found an ampule, and broke the thing under her nose. The scent of it was acrid, sharp... and had the effect he needed, as she began to stir under his hand.
He watched her open her eyes, take in the change of location, notice him... and then try to sit up too fast to find the boy.
"Easy, he is here too," Zak said, and the way her face shifted to his awareness made him think she ... felt safer?
Some of the tension in her face eased, anyway.
"What happened?" she asked in a low hiss.
"Groundquake, biggest I've ever seen. The cavern itself broke, ceiling and floor. Not sure there's a house that isn't at least cracked wide open." Zaknafein assisted her to sit in the confines of the tunnel, so they could both put their backs to the walls.
He watched her reach for the boy, pull him into her space, even as he squirmed enough to keep his eyes down the tunnel like he'd been told to. Her hands moved over the child, and Zak found his chest actively hurt to see that. It was not a rough check, but gentle, caring, strange as that was.
"We were probably protected some because of how close to the wall we were," Zaknafein briefed her. "I did not see any other signs," he told her, honestly, but that was because he hadn't looked.
He didn't want the others to have lived.
"What now?" Vierna asked, stunned by this, grateful to her god, but overwhelmed. She'd had no idea more than the tiniest tremors could happen, and those never broke Houses!
"You're the priestess, and as far as I know, Head of House," Zaknafein pointed out.
"And I am in no way, shape, or form qualified to guide us from here, through the wilds, anywhere," Vierna said, after looking down in the cavern. "They will do all they can to kill one another, stupidly, over the resources they dig out of the rubble.
"I say we take our chances and leave for Chad Nassad, or any other settlement you think can be reached."
His eyes stayed on hers, testing her resolve, seeking any sign of a trap in that.
"You expect me to keep you, the boy, and myself alive, to a strange city, and then help you carve a place there?" he decided to ask, to be certain.
"There is no one else who could, because I have faith in your skills, Weapon Master."
Zaknafein swore inside his head that no woman in all of drow society could have confused him more than she just had, but he bowed his head to her briefly.
"I'll need my hands free, fully," he pointed out.
"I will carry my brother," Vierna said. "I can make a sling of the shawl I have, to help support him on my hip."
He looked at the boy, still so slightly built, and wondered if he'd favor Malice's diminutive build or his own height in time. Assuming they survived. Vierna was closer to his own size, after all, but there was something of Malice's beauty in Drizzt's young face.
"I can walk," the boy said, unable to refrain from it at last, and Vierna... smiled. That, more than anything else, made Zak's eyes widen. He also saw the bunching of muscles that said the boy had realized he'd spoke up without permission.
"You may, at times, but we need to move swiftly," Vierna said. "So you will cling to me as needed."
Zak looked down at the cavern, saw a small mob was forming, bearing down on the ruins of House Baenre.
"Not salvaging from in there. Let's get moving." He stood, hobbled over slightly from the smallness of the tunnel, and Vierna stood to follow, one hand in the boy's for now. The tunnel was low enough that they couldn't move too fast for the child.
When they found a safer point, he really ought to get the introductions made more properly.
Safer point turned out to require a little work, but Zak got the cave fisher pulled out of the hole he wanted after all but dicing it into pieces. He made certain it was clear, boosted Vierna up into it -- they were trying hard to limit their use of the House Emblems, just in case. Or he was and she was going along with it.
Once she was secure, he lifted Drizzt up into it, made certain the passage they were in was still clear, and grabbed the lip of the hole to flip himself up into it.
"Boy, are you holding up well?"
The child had walked, without complaint, for the length of the first tunnel, then allowed Vierna to secure him to a hip once it opened enough for the elder pair to begin to cover distance more swiftly.
"Yes, Weapon Master," was the quick answer. "Vehna?"
The mispronunciation was deliberate, Zak was almost certain, based on how the boy was holding himself, a testing of boundaries or an attempt to bring a smile?
"I will need to salve my legs," Vierna admitted. "I have not had to do so much walking in a very long time."
She favored the boy with a long look. "Drizzt, you should know the weapon master's name. He is Zaknafein, and shares our House name," she told him.
Zak watched the boy turn, pull himself into a properly polite stance, and then smile shyly.
"Hello Zaknafein Do'Urden. I am honored to have your name known to me now."
That had Zak side-eye the priestess, but she was actually rolling her eyes at the boy's decision to be formally polite.
"It is good to know your name as well, Drizzt," Zak said.
Vierna found the salve in her pocket and began working it along her legs, as Zak averted his eyes out of politeness.
He watched instead as the boy explored, seeing the heat signature of the face move all around, taking in the dimensions of the hole they were in. As the boy was moving slowly, and the space was small, Zak let him have that freedom for now. Vierna must have felt the same, as she worked on easing the muscle pains.
"Water's going to be a problem, food might be," Zak admitted. "We're ill-equipped for a trek like this. I haven't looked at outer maps in decades, not since that last duergar push against the city."
"What choice did we have? The city was destroyed, those who remain were already turning on each other. And we will have both water and food, I promise, my teacher," she said, deliberately going for less formal with him by the set of her shoulders.
He could not truly hold past actions against her, not now that they needed each other. And she was gentle with the boy, shockingly so.
"You think that wasn't the result of something attacking your goddess with all they had?" Zak asked skeptically.
Vierna's laughter was, again, not what he expected.
"Oh I truly hope so," she said. "But She is not, and never has been, mine."
He studied her, but she was reaching into her pocket, drawing out an item that tingled with magic, dancing with subtle patterns in the darkness of its material to their vision.
"You... you follow the Masked God?"
"Yes, and I am thankful I never let the whip be near my resting," Vierna said. "I truly hope it was crushed."
Zak shook his head in shock. "I find myself pleased, surprised, and... curious. Until that one was born," he said, pointing to the boy, "the last He'd been sighted in the city was just as I was entering Melee-Magthere."
He saw her slender features change a little, as apparently that was news to her. She then looked at the boy who had found something to fascinate him, and was lying on his belly starting at it, Zak noted.
"I have been protected by Him since I was a child. He offered me a spell, and has kept me strong within it since then."
Zaknafein played back over the years of his daughter's life, and even the reason he had drawn away from her made so much more sense now. Of course she had had to, to protect herself, and been more merciful about killing that young drow than anyone else would have been.
"That... is an exceptional deception, Priestess."
She smiled at him, and then looked over at the boy. "Drizzt doesn't know, of course, but I will be thankful to be able to just answer his questions instead of... being as expected."
"Boy likes to ask things?"
Vierna looked back at him. "Incessantly."
"Might not be so bad now," Zaknafein told her. "Vhaeraun had made me wonder that night about you, but... I was tired of trying to find any hope in anything of our lives. Even knowing the boy had been spared, given how that came about."
Vierna's mouth set in a thin line. "I know it can't have been easy. I'd caught the edges of Matron Malice's displeasure with your beliefs in how she spoke of you."
"No offense, but I'm not here for your god either, and He knows it," Zak told her. "If that's a problem -- "
"No," she said so quickly that he lifted an eyebrow at her.
"He does not insist you follow him. He knows what you've endured. More than that, though, you are the one person I have been able to trust my entire life, and the separation between us has... bothered me," Vierna told him.
Zak had to take in a deep breath. "It's always been the children that bothered me the most, Vierna," he said, noticing the way her body language grew more open at the use of her personal name in his quiet tone. "But you were merciful, and I see that now, that you had to.
"We will make this work, somehow, for our freedom, and the boy's future."
Vierna reached out for his hands, taking them to squeeze. "So we will."
Once Vierna had rested long enough to pray for her spells, she reached for her god's guidance as well.
"Not Chad Nassad," she said softly, after. "He will lead us, but it will be a long journey, Zaknafein."
She watched him set his shoulders back, and then nod. "We will do as needed."
Drizzt, who had acquired a small lizard to entertain himself, looked up at her. "He?" the boy questioned, and Vierna reached to stroke his hair.
"Yes. Not Lloth, and I will teach you as we go."
His face scrunched up, but his purple eyes fixed on her with absolute trust, almost making it too hard to breathe.
"Alright."
Vierna gave into the urge to draw him back into her lap, and Drizzt went willingly. She then looked at Zak who was watching with the softest expression she had seen on a drow face.
"He is yours?" she signed at him as Drizzt laid against her chest.
"Yes," he answered in kind.
Vierna considered that, adding up other pieces, and decided to ask her own question in sign. "Am I?"
Zaknafein hesitated, and she knew it was their culture that said all children belonged to the mother, before he gave a sharp nod.
Her two-handed ability, her speed, all the skill she had with her maces and the gifts of dagger and pirate spider had been making her suspect. Now she was almost certain Zak was why she had been chosen by Vhaeraun.
"I am grateful to know that," she signed.
She set to providing them a simple meal, grateful that she would be able to keep them fed, even as she dreaded protecting her little brother for countless miles of the Underdark.
Zak knew, a moment too late, that he'd tripped a magical detection line, and twisted, shoving Vierna with Drizzt back against the wall. He grunted as a bolt hit the shoulder of his armor, but did not penetrate.
He did not tell her to stand back, as his blades were drawn and he readied to fight.
"Stand down," a voice hissed in the dark -- proper accent, deeper register -- and Zak merely stood ready to be the death of any who came at him if they did not obey the voice.
"The line is further out than I remembered," he said when no attack came.
"Didn't expect our first guest to be you, oh Ghostly one."
Zak's body language changed slightly, trying to convey 'less threat stay on guard'. "Jarlaxle, I thought you'd've made it out somehow. You should know not to ever count me down." Zak then evaluated the new person who stepped into sight, and after a moment, put his blades away. "You've always played fair by me in the past. We are not going back to that city."
"There is no city to return to," Jarlaxle said soberly. "Come, into the shelter. You and your companions."
Zak beckoned, and Vierna came, having set Drizzt down to have her hands free for her knives. He walked at her side, quiet now, his pet lizard hiding in his hair.
They went in and found a generously sized cavern, with men, and a few women, in various states of injured and well, supplies that had been thrown into anything at hand, and faerie fire lighting it all.
"Not many," Zak said softly.
"No," Jarlaxle told him in a grim voice, guiding him to a smaller cave off the side of it. "Were you looking for us?"
"No. Looking to raid the supplies I expected to find," Zaknafein admitted.
Jarlaxle threw his head back and laughed. "Ahh, you old rogue, I will part with what I can, but tell me: would you not rather stay in among us as we seek our next place? You know my views."
The small chamber had furniture, one piece being a couch, and that was where Zak steered his family. Vierna was keeping silent, letting him do the dealing, which was likely best.
"We have guidance on where to go," Zak told his old friend. "But with the boy, it would go easier if we had travel rations."
"Of course." Jarlaxle nodded to that, then looked through his uncovered eye sharply at Zak. "I'm surprised," he said bluntly, "but of course you have reasons."
Now Vierna did speak up. "My father has chosen to trust my judgment."
Zak enjoyed the startled look, even as Jarlaxle smile, the eye patch shifting with the motion.
"Finally have yours to call your own, old friend. Well good."
Jarlaxle sprawled back in his chair, looking at them, and Zak's posture relaxed, one hand coming to rest on Vierna's back to encourage her to calm.
"I can spare some. Likely not enough for your full journey, but it will help. Will you take a message ring?"
Zak debated, then nodded. "I'd be stupid to lose the potential resources, and I would like to know where you end up."
"I'd like to know the same, just in case my first option doesn't pan out.
"You must have gotten out swiftly, Zak. I did look."
Because his hand was still on her, Zak felt Vierna's surprise in the bunching of her muscles.
"The old loop tunnel," Zak said. "I knew it was in stable rock, or should have been. And it wasn't far from our House. Once I had them both, I went straight there."
"Of course! I should have realized. It was all very disorienting, though, sifting through the ruins, pulling capable people from the mobs, finding trinkets and bits to help along the way."
"What was the full situation you left?" Zak asked from curiosity.
"Sorcere seemed to have the most survivors, but Oblodra must have had shelter in the rift, or sheltered by their mind magics," Jarlaxle said. "I have no loyalty to the Arch-Mage, and despise the mind-readers, so we are moving on.
"As it was shaping up into a war with potentially three sides... the rabble, the wizards, and Oblodra."
"May the rabble win," Zak muttered, getting a sharp grin from Jarlaxle.
"I'll stop back in a decade or three to find out," Jarlaxle told them.
"Do you have the space for us to stay and rest before we go again?" Zak asked.
"Of course," Jarlaxle said. "Will you join me to go over your needs? They can stay in here, and I will set out a meal for them."
Zak snorted, knowing just what was intended... and he wasn't against that idea at all. "Vierna?"
"I follow your lead now."
"Agreed, then."
When they set out, they all had packs, even Drizzt whose small sack had foods and their healing salves. Vierna had a single mace; they had not turned up any others. She was fine with that; the dagger in her other hand would work just as well, if she wasn't spell-casting.
Jarlaxle had even turned up a single knife small enough for Drizzt's hands, and he was working on getting used to holding it the way Zak had shown him.
They did let the boy ride on their hips or backs when they needed to cross caverns, but it was often easier to let him walk and run along side them in tunnels. The only rule was that he did not go past Zak, who was usually out in front.
The lizard had been joined by another, and Vierna was beginning to wonder her little brother's habit of finding small animals. That it kept him entertained was one thing.
The day that they suddenly hissed from his shoulders and he froze, just as Zak held up a 'stop' ahead of them was going to stay in Vierna's mind a long time. She got to see as her father got both blades in hand in time to deflect a blow from some monstrous creature, before rapidly destroying the lumbering hulk with too many spines and teeth.
"More coming?"
"They're loners. Not even worth their meat, though," Zak said in disgust. "Let's get some distance before the crawlers come."
Vierna gestured, and Drizzt clambered up to hold on to her shoulders with a little bit of help. She would think on the strangeness later, as she often did with her quizzical little brother.
The giant bat, shaped more like a manta ray than a bat, laid very still, hoping to avoid notice. Something had actually knocked it out of the air, and a rock had pinned its tail.
Drow were dangerous, evil creatures. The giant bat, or sinister as they were called, knew that.
"Oh," the small one breathed and the sinister realized she had been spotted. Drow resistance to magic was legendary but she had to--
--no. The child had gone to the rock. Was moving it even as the big ones settled, not seeing the child's intentions.
Two small spitting lizards were in the child's hair, and they peered at the sinister, making her wonder at this all.
"You have to move. Can't hold and move you," the child said very softly, as if not wanting to draw attention to what he was doing.
The deep bat felt the pressure on her tail shift and she scooted awkwardly forward, pulling her much abused tail out from under it.
The child set the rock back down, and then bravely reached out to pet before she was able to get her forcefield back up.
It felt nice.
"Drizzt?"
"Helping a bat, Vierna! She's nice."
The sinister readied to fight and flee now... but the adult drow didn't come? Was the child actually in control? Not a child, maybe?
"Thank you for letting me pet you," the child told her, before moving back. "Do you need help to get back in the air?"
This was so confusing. She fluttered her sails a bit, and the levitation returned, along with the protective force fields. Those, she dampened so she could flutter over the child, causing his hair to move and him to laugh. She headed up high, toward her roost, and the child went back to the other two.
It was very interesting, to know that a drow could help.
The brute that had swatted her to the ground was back, and this time had a small tribe of goblins to help hunting. The drow were quick to respond, but the boy... the boy was vulnerable to the thrown spears or darts, and there were so many.
The sinister didn't think so much as react, swooping down to where the child huddled, making herself vulnerable long enough to present her back as a safe haven.
Amazingly, the child understood, and was soon safely lying along her back, and she could soar back up, keeping him safe within her protective sphere while the adults dealt with the threats.
When all of the enemies were dead, and the pair looked for the child, the little one peeked over the edge of a wing sail, and called down.
"I am here! The nice bat is protecting me!"
She slowly came down as the weapons went away, and when no aggressive move was made, lowered the field. The child slipped free and ran to the slower of the pair, getting scooped up.
Repayment for the rock moving done, the sinister floated back up, pleased... and considering moving on with the group, since this area was infested by killing creatures now.
On the third day of their journey, with Drizzt actually able to keep up because the sinister insisted on carrying him, Vierna had to ask her god what to make of this.
~He's a wild-called ranger,~ Vhaeraun deigned to reply, some curiosity in His words as He answered the simple query. ~It used to be common among our people, before we were driven below.~
The concepts had translated in her mind, rapidly enough that Vierna would need to digest them, but her Lord wasn't angry over the boy's oddity, more curious like she herself was.
Weeks of travel, too many near death experiences, and Zak growing worried because their path was taking them ever higher, out of the regions he knew best, had finally culminated with them being in a cavern that actually opened onto the surface itself.
Try as he might, he could not find a way down or through.
Vierna looked at the opening in trepidation, but she did not want to bother her god when the spell had clearly led them this way.
"We wait for nightfall," she decided, noticing the dim light coming through that crevice.
Zak sighed, a little, having hoped she would say they had turned wrong at the last junction. He glanced at his son, who was saying farewell to the sinister, as it was one of the deep kind, who did not go above.
"Will he be safe?"
Vierna took a deep breath. "He must be," she said. "Let us trust in my God this far, and go, no matter how strange it is, once the darkness of night falls."
Zak faced the opening, and could only hope she was right. He would, if it came down to it, fight even the gods for his children, he decided.
They did not venture out far, before they were met by other drow, drow that greeted Vierna as a long lost sister.
"The labyrinth is broken and home to demons from the cataclysm that was the strike on Lolth," one said, "so we were sent to take you by the surface to our city. The entrance is in the woods, which is called Neverwinter Woods by the surface folk."
"You know what happened?" Vierna asked.
"The Infernal Ones decided that they were done with having Lolth and her assorted underlings on their plane. Our Lord was warned — he has kept careful relations with them — but not when it would occur, or you and others like you would have had more time."
Zak sighed out in relief, Drizzt currently on his back, staring at the land and sky and strange things called trees.
The foremost of the trio sent to guide them nodded, able to discern the reason why, being male himself. "Yes, Her power will be diminished for a time."
"Come; if we walk quickly enough, we can be at the portal we need before the sun rises," the one woman said.
The small family followed, unknowing of what life would be like in the new place… yet together, as each wished to be.
A Useful Talent
Growing accustomed to the number of bats and lizards that accompanied Drizzt to their home since they had settled in the small drow city under Vhaeraun's protection had been interesting to say the least. But when the master of the corral came to visit Vierna after a long day in the temple, she realized that the strangeness of her brother had come to notice elsewhere."Honored Priestess, my request is simple," the man said, a low-born drow who had, nonetheless, won a position of prestige in the temple of Vhaeraun.
"Speak it, then, and I will see what can be done," she said formally.
The man bowed his head to her. "I know the boy of your House is expected to learn much, but we have noticed his skill with animals. And we recently brought in new tizzin stock.
"Is it possible, Honored Priestess, for the boy of your House to spend time with us in the corral, settling them before parceling them out to the Houses that have requested such?"
Vierna did not outwardly sigh in relief. "Such a task will help him use the energy that children seem to have, benefit our Lord, and see us grow stronger. After his classes, he may report to you. I will tell him this. But. If he does not arrive promptly, you must send word."
"Of course. I can ask one of my hands to escort him, even."
Vierna inclined her head and saw him out again. She looked to her father's door, and listened... yes Drizzt was studying with him, working on knife skills.
What kind of fighter would her brother become, beginning so young?
Well, she would talk to him after dinner.
Drizzt was mostly ignored by the adults working around him in the corral, but Burchi was guiding him through, showing him the holding pens, the stalls, and explaining which of the riding lizards were dangerous.
He was excited to be allowed to come and help.
"Now, these are the new ones," Burchi said, pointing to the last pen. "We know you have a magic with animals, lad. Can you help us settle this herd down? They have young in there, and that's making them hard for us to get calmed."
"Will try!" Drizzt climbed up on the corner post, and looked in. The lizards milled, trying to hide the young ones, glaring with danger in their eyes.
Burchi stood ready to act on the boy's behalf, but he sat quietly, reaching into the small pouch he wore, pulling out dried mushrooms. The scent of food caught some of the lizards' attention, but Drizzt didn't seem to think it was a threat.
Several moments passed before the oldest, biggest, most scarred of the new herd pushed all the way to that post, and Burchi nearly snatched the child back.
"Hi. Yes. I will share." Drizzt put a piece flat on his hand, and the tizzin's tongue darted out, taking it.
Drizzt placed his hand on the snout when the lizard snuffled for more, and the big beast reared back... only to come back on all four when the boy did not react at all.
"Yes, I know. Scary and strangers all around you," Drizzt said. "But it will be okay. Lots of food, and no more monsters trying to hunt you."
Was the beast understanding the child? It moved so that the boy's hand was higher up, near the beast's eyes even! Burchi watched in amazement, and thanked his Lord that he had been strong enough to go the Masked Traitor and ask for this boon.
He stayed near, even as Drizzt petted and scratched at the lizard, while marveling at the gift the child had.
Zak came to see how his son was handling the duties he'd taken on, with an eye to seeing how the other drow were treating his strange child. As he got inside the corral, he heard squealing and laughter, and the working drow he could see were smiling at the sounds, or whatever had set them off.
That was promising, at least.
The squealing was because his son was in the middle of the smallest tizzin Zak had ever seen, with a stiff-bristled brush, doing his best to brush each one, but they kept butting each other out of the way.
Zak leaned back, watching his son laugh and smile as he tended the little ones, until Drizzt finally looked at the adult lizard closest to him.
"Help! Make them behave!"
The big lizard moved close, using their snout to bully the little ones away, only allowing one to go to the boy at a time.
Zaknafein was more certain than ever that whatever a 'ranger' was, his son was a powerful one in the making.
Adjustments Needed
Drizzt had listened to the discussion around if Zaknafein would have time for both things, wherein 'things' were training him as well as tending a baby.It hadn't really sank into his brain that 'baby' meant a new person coming into their home and changing all of their routines. He was not so certain about this idea once the baby was there, and his normal day changed so completely. Fortunately, Vierna had decided to take over some of his training, which almost offset the disruption, and he did like learning from his sister. Zaknafein made time for him in the morning, and Vierna trained him in the later day.
He had more time to work at the corral, which was also good, but... it was taking him time to adjust.
It wasn't until the baby was beginning to crawl that Drizzt was spending much time with it -- her, he supposed. Zaknafein had cordoned off space in the part of their home that was for training in, cutting down the floor space they could work with, to allow the baby time to move under Zak's watch even as he taught Drizzt more.
"Will she learn to fight?" Drizzt asked, after the end of a long, grueling session left him sprawled on his stomach, looking into the baby cage, as he thought of it.
"At least enough to effectively defend herself, yes. What she chooses will be up to here, just as Vierna asked you when you turned sixteen if you wanted to continue learning to fight or something else." Zak watched his son and daughter, leaning on a cool wall, knowing that Drizzt had been resistant to all the upheaval in their lives since the baby had been given over to them.
"She won't be a priestess like Vierna?" Drizzt asked, face scrunched up. Of course he wanted to be a fighter; he was going to be just like his father, and be the fastest, best two-handed fighter!
"She might be. Or she might choose magic. Or, oh my son, she will be just like us."
Drizzt rolled to look at his father, not sure of what he thought about that.
"Only time will tell," Zak said. "Enough resting; back up, try that form with me again."
Drizzt pushed up, feeling the lessons in all his muscles like he should, and went back to it.
Drizzt was in his favorite chair, with a precious book, and Vierna had lit a candle lamp for him to read by. It was his privilege for having passed all of his academic exams in the temple.
Yasdra came out, blinking against the light, dragging a blanket.
"Bright."
Drizzt looked at her with a moment of upset, because he'd thought she was sleeping, and he would be able to read alone.
Then he remembered that his father had told him, just the day before, that he needed to be a good example for her.
He couldn't disappoint Zak.
"I earned the right to read, and needed the candle," he explained.
"Read to me?" Yasdra asked, even as she came closer, and Drizzt watched her squint her eyes to endure the light.
She was so brave, he realized, coming close to something that hurt like it did. He carefully put the book to one side, and reached down to help her up into his lap.
"Close your eyes," he told her, as he settled her so he could hold the book. She tucked her blanket on both of them, not very well, but Drizzt helped with that too.
She was a warm, quiet weight on him as he began reading aloud, letting her share the history he was learning now.
Yasdra watched as Zaknafein helped Drizzt inside their home, noticed that Drizzt looked much cooler than he should. She stayed out of the way as their father got her brother laid down, but when Zak moved to go get something, she climbed up on the couch by her brother's legs.
He was breathing funny, and his face was scrunched up like he was hurt.
Zaknafein came back and helped Drizzt sit up to drink something in his hand, a very small bottle, but whatever it was, it made her brother calm down, let him breathe better. He even started warming back up, and Yasdra scooted up closer to his chest.
"Easy little one," Zak said.
"No, fine, father, let her?" Drizzt said softly. "The potion fixed it."
"Alright."
Yasdra moved to lie along his side, by the back of the couch, her head on his shoulder.
Vierna came in then, hurrying like Yasdra rarely saw her do, but Zak moved and intercepted her.
"He's fine. Ribs and maybe his lung, but the potion fixed it," Zak assured her. She paused, ran a hand over her hair and braids, which Yasdra knew was to calm herself down. Big brother didn't deal well with people being upset around him.
"What happened?" Vierna asked in a low voice.
"Someone spooked the herd; he was in their way." Zak sighed. "Burchi said this is the third 'accident', but the first Drizzt didn't manage to get out of the way."
Yasdra didn't know that word from her sister, but given her brother flinched, she bet it was bad.
"Drizzt?" Vierna asked softly, coming over, "do you need more healing."
"No. Just want to rest with my baby sister."
"Alright. You do that." Vierna looked at Yasdra in That Way, and Yasdra nodded. She would keep Drizzt very still so he could rest.
Drizzt looked up as his door opened, and Yasdra slipped in.
"Why are you leaving?" the slender girl asked.
"Because... I am not like everyone else," he told her honestly. "I'm tired of the accidents, tired of the attempts to provoke me into fighting, tired of fighting and bringing shame on our sister."
Yasdra gave a shake of her head. "It's not your fault, and Vierna knows it. But... you're not happy here."
Drizzt dropped on his bed next to the pack he had been making. "No. I want to be. This is home, and the god brought us here from far away, but... It's not good for any of us for me to be like this."
Yasdra came and sat beside him. "You have to find a place that doesn't hurt you," she said, and he could see how brave she was being to understand that. He put his arm around her, and held her close.
"I will come and visit, I promise," he told her.
"I know. And when I am grown up, and decide what I will be, I might come visit you."
Drizzt smiled into her hair, and pressed a kiss to her temple. "Family is what matters, right?"
"Always," she said, settling into his arm to have one last snuggle -- for now -- with her brother.
