Ambitious Heresy
Chapter Two
The heat coming off the Grymforge made Lydia’s nostrils burn. She was standing in the center of the arena, cut off by the sea of lava Shadowheart had just pumped into the area. She stared down the robot. Grym was soulless, unmoved, not phased. They had been battling it for hours, killed imps that had come to its aid, but it had yet to fall. Gale and Astarion had worn it down, Lydia standing in the center constantly beckoning it to take a wade into the molten pond around them.
“THIS THING ISNT GOING DOWN IS IT?” Astarion asked, dodging a swipe. The vampire was exhausted.
“We just need to keep at it,” Lydia yelled back.
“Easy for you to say you’re not fighting it with a butter knife!” Astarion quipped.
“I beg your pardon but that dagger is hardly a butter knife you ungrateful, blood sucking….LOOKOUT ASTARION!!!” She launched a eldritch blast, but it barely moved the metal giant, he slammed down on the ground, Astarion collapsing under the impact.
“ASTARION!!” Lydia darted forward about to shadow step when someone grabbed her arm.
“Gale? I need to help Astarion,” she pulled at her arm, trying to get loose.
“No! He’s coming this way, LOOK OUT!!!” Gale pushed her away just as Grym’s weapon slammed into the ground sending a thunderous wave. Gale took the full force. Shadowheart shot her last guiding bolt, attracting Grym to move toward her.
“It hurts,” Astarion whimpered, Lydia looked at them both distraught, meeting Shadowheart’s gaze. She looked as helpless as Lydia felt.
“Can you heal him?” Lydia yelled.
“I’m out, healing spells will be ineffective,” Shadowheart yelled, dodging Grym, the robot was smoking and creaking like a collapsing building, one blast should do it. Lydia was about to cast it when she heard the felled the wizard next to her whimper in pain. He was bleeding out, any second without healing and Gale will surely die. Any wrong move from Lydia and they all will surely die, all the things they have done on their adventure so far will be for naught. She had a potion in her pack, or she could deliver the final blow.
“Take-take the shot,” Gale groaned, her saw her hand glow red with the tell-tell sign of an eldritch blast. She looked down at him, his face was pale, he didn’t have long.
“Don’t, take him out, stop worrying about me,” Gale pleaded, Lydia heard the automaton coming her way, its loud step made her jump out of her skin.
“Do it now!” Gale choked out.
“Lydia!” Astarion yelled, he tried to get up.
Lydia took the potion and poured it on Gale, she turned her back from Grym. Gale got up in an instant, looking at her outraged, a speed potion still ran through his veins, he pulled her behind him, just as a spew of magic missiles flew at Grym. Sadly, Grym was not in the lava, making the hits mean nothing.
“Gods,” Lydia cursed as Grym stormed toward them. The large automaton started limping toward them. Gale groaned, nearly doubling over, Lydia held onto him.
“You foolish girl,” Gale stumbled back a little.
“Shadow step,” Gale said.
“No, I am not leaving you,” Lydia snarled.
“Save yourself,” he growled, “I’m not worth a self sacrifice.”
“Yes you are,” Lydia answered back, she jumped again, Grym was right on them, he was so huge that it was all she saw. Lydia hugged Gale, practically holding the wizard up, bracing for impact. She shut her eyes, squeezing them tight.
Lydia then heard a loud clank, metal groaning, then she heard a loud crash. Lydia smelled smoke, oil, and hot metal. What she didn’t feel was being crushed to ribbons by a giant foot. She opened her eyes to see a felled Grym, a bloodied Astarion still holding his bow, an arrow had been loosed. Shadowheart standing next to him. Lydia stared her dearest friend in the eye, a smile of relief tracing her features. Astarion sighed, and then crumpled into Shadowheart with a whimper.
“Here,” Lydia handed Gale another potion, and then darted to Astarion.
“I owe you one, my dearest fanged friend,” she knelt down to him, pouring her last potion into his lips.
“It was nothing, but you should’ve seen the look on your face,” he chuckled then winced.
“You definitely deserve a bite tonight,” I said.
“Oddly enough I don’t feel that famished right now,” he said, crying out as Lydia pulled a piece of shrapnel out of his arm, helping Shadowheart piece their bloodsucking savior back together.
“Well nearly dying can do that to a person,” Shadowheart said snidely.
“The things I do to keep you alive, will there ever be a day I don’t have to keep saving you my dear?” He asked Lydia, Gale watched a soft smile form on her lips at Astarion’s comment. Gale found himself frowning.
Astarion ended up carrying her the rest of the way. After her sobs had subsided, she simply passed out, exhaustion finally capturing her in its numbing embrace. It was a mercy he thought. Shadowheart had given him the run down of what happened on the docks. The whole sordid tale left a burning rage in his veins. He had let her go so she could be with the wizard, she may have released him so he could heal and they could be what he really needed: friends; but for her, HER, to just be thrown away like that, it was unfathomable to him. Even he could not stoop that low, and he was a undead cutthroat.
It was twilight by the time they got back to the Inn, the Elfsong had survived the battle with the Absolute, and by the god’s grace, so did their hotel. Astarion gave her a potion he had nicked from the bar. Astarion could not help but feel relief when he walked into the familiar walls of their inn suite. He felt Lydia stir. She opened her eyes and looked onto the now abandoned belongings of one Gale of Waterdeep. Astarion was debating torching all of it when he heard Lydia whimper.
“I’m sorry my dear,” Astarion spoke softly as he laid her down in her bed. She rarely spent time in it, favoring being with Gale.
“Why?” She asked, “why wasn’t I good enough?”
“He wasn’t good enough for you, don’t think this is your fault,” he said, picking up a rag and some soap, he started cleaning the blood off her.
“I deserve this, I was so arrogant, I actually thought I would get a happy ending? After all the people I killed?! Him using me, making me think he loved me to get what he actually wanted, that was my just desserts,” her words made Astarion’s dead heart go cold. He wished Gale was here, he’d send the wizard to the afterlife in pieces.
“Shut up about him! Forget him, you defeated a god, helped liberate the githyanki, I’m gonna get us cleaned up and we are going out to celebrate, you are the hero of Baldurs Gate, I will not have some magical idiot ruin that for you,” Astarion said sternly, “he didn’t deserve you.”
“I miss Laezel,” she said softly.
“Me too, she’d hunt him down and burn all his books infront of him,” Astarion heard a soft laugh come out of Lydia.
“Did you know she was the first one to help me back at the nautiloid? When we’re were infected?” Lydia said softly, “she didn’t even know me, almost killed me on sight, but she decided to tag me along with her to seek a cure.”
“You make her sound like a ray of sunshine,” Astarion scoffed. Lydia chuckled at that.
“Remember when she was trapped in that cage?” Lydia asked.
“I remember how the tieflings fled from you at the first glance, it seems a drow is more fearsome than a githyanki,” Astarion said.
“Seldarine Drow, do I even count I was raised in the Bhaalist Temple, not the Underdark,” Lydia said, “Gale even brought that up.”
“What?” Astarion asked.
“He said I was a typical Drow and a Bhaalspawn,” She sounded so small, “granted I did threaten to burn every shrine of his and kill his followers, he asked me to be his chosen, Astar, not his equal but his chosen, like I had been with Bhaal.”
“That bastard,” Astarion snarled, “did he not realize how that would make you feel? Make anyone feel, he conned us all didn’t he?”
“I’m the biggest chump, I slept with him,” fresh tears fell from her face, Astarion wiped them away with his thumbs.
“Yes, well, I tried to warn you my dear,” he quipped, grinning triumphantly when he heard a small chuckle from her.
“I expect I will be hearing the same from Minthy soon enough, where is she?” Lydia looked around as if her fellow drow would appear.
“They’re down stairs, she decided to share a drink with Rolan and the others, I’m sure she’s already trying to have him join her harem of men in the under dark,” Astarion quipped.
“Oh poor Rolan, we might need to rescue him then, let’s get a drink, I definitely need one, or two,” Lydia frowned.
“Maybe a dozen really, we just saved an entire city, I still haven’t come to terms with it, me, a hero,” Astarion sounded genuine, no joking to be heard.
“I feel like I need to just not think for a bit,” Lydia sighed.
“You will have to face it eventually,” Astarion said.
“You dare use my own words against me, cheeky tart,” she smirked at him.
“Yes well it tasted gross coming out I will admit,” he said, she barked out a laugh, this earned a smile from the vampire, “sickly sweet, but it’s true.”
“I will eventually, just not tonight,” she said, getting up, she offered her hand, Astarion looked down at it before taking it.
“Fair enough, not tonight,” he said getting up.
Both went downstairs.
Not facing what had happened, together.
