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Chapter Text

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"I picked up a little present for you," Miresha said, pouring her handful of earth into an empty crucible. "But don't get all worked up. He's not dead yet. Although from the look of those lines it could be any moment."

Jadaar jumped up, and had to grab the edge of the wagon to keep from falling. "You promised an antidote!" he raged, hobbling over to the table as fast as the leg-irons would allow. "Give it to him!" Several guards ran between him and Miresha, holding him back with their weapons.

"Do I look like a caregiver?" Miresha said lightly, then warned, "Keep it up and you'll go before your friend."

Jadaar was close enough to see that, although Asric's skin had a sickly green tint, he was still breathing, although the breaths were shallow and erratic. He forced himself to stand still.

"That's better," Miresha said. "No need to get bossy – I did, after all, promise enough antidote for the elf." She smiled.

"Why are you waiting?" Jadaar demanded. Seeing Asric so near death – all of his earlier anger was washed away. This person – this person – when had this person, this annoying Scryer thief, become so important to him?

"I'm waiting for you to catch on … " Miresha said. "I do hope the expression on your faces will be worth all the work I've done."

"Catch on to what?" Griftah demanded. "What you do?"

Miresha sighed. "You two are unbelievably stupid. It's taking all the fun out of it."

"You swore an oath to cure them!" Griftah said.

"No," Miresha said with a malicious smile, "I swore to provide enough antidote to cure the elf."

"You can't mean … " Jadaar said, as a terrible fear flooded his chest.

Griftah clenched his fists and growled, then muttered something in Trollish.

"About time!" Miresha said to Jadaar. "Really, taking the first dose for yourself was quite selfish."

"Selfish?" Jadaar was astounded. "If I had known you were only providing enough for one person, I wouldn't have taken any for myself!"

She laughed. "Oh, no, of course you wouldn't have!"

"I don't care if you believe me or not," Jadaar said. "Please give us another dose so that Asric can be cured!"

"Are you begging?" She raised an eyebrow. "Lucky for you you're hobbled – otherwise I'd require you to kneel."

"If that is what it takes." Jadaar fell to his knees, the spiked insides of the irons piercing his ankles to the bone, but he didn't care. "Please." He clasped his hands in supplication, and bowed until his head touched the dirt.

Griftah said gently, "Jadaar mon, don' be making no desperation deals with this aqir."

"I'm impressed," Miresha said to Jadaar. "And more than a little surprised. From the way you fight I had no idea you were sweet on the little bastard – or does the fighting just spice up the makeup sex? Bet that's a sight. A goat topping a chicken." She smirked. "Tell you what. Since I'm such a sucker for dramatic gestures, I'll be generous and cure you both."

Jadaar knew she wasn't to be trusted, but nevertheless he said immediately, "Thank you. Whatever you ask, I will do it. But let it be done quickly."

"So here's what I'm thinking," she said, snapping her fingers at the guards. "Self-sacrifice is just puffery to make yourself look and sound good for the audience." She made a buzzing noise and two clicks, and the guards stepped to the table and lifted Asric off her lap. "Friendship, altruism, compassion, empathy – they don't exist undiluted," she said as she slipped off the table. "People never do anything unless they see some benefit to themselves."

Jadaar shook his head. "If you truly believe that, I feel sorry for you. What an angry, unhappy existence you must have."

For an instant, Miresha's expression softened, but then she said angrily, "I'm the one talking here, not you, so shut up unless you want me to change my mind." She pulled out the second vial of antidote as the guards put Asric back down on the table. "Now, draenei, I'm going to give you a choice – even though I know what you'll choose." She nodded to the guards. "Bring him here."

The guards dragged Jadaar to the table and yanked him to his feet.

"Go ahead and maintain this kind and noble act if you want to, but you're not fooling me," Miresha said. "Put your hands behind your back and open your mouth."

"Why?"

"Just do it," she hissed.

Reluctantly, Jadaar complied, but when Miresha made to pour the vial into his mouth he twisted his head away. "What are you doing?" he asked. "Give that to Asric!"

"No, you're going to give it to Asric," Miresha said. "Or you can pretend to, I really don't care. Either way, I'm going to pour this into your mouth, and you can either swallow it or give it to your friend. No one but you will know what decision you made – until one of you dies, that is."

Jadaar's face was burning, but he gathered up all his emotions and knotted them into silence. "If I do this," he asked, "do you give your solemn word that you will provide an additional dose for Asric, to replace the one I drank?"

"Oh, of course, " Miresha said, "but only if you administer each though a kiss. A lover's kiss."

"They ain't that way for each other," Griftah said furiously. "Ya no need to be so cruel!"

"But I love seeing the big ones get all bashful and squirmy!"

Her eager expression sickened Jadaar, but what else could he do? "I am ready."

"Open wide," she said. "And be careful! Wouldn't want to spill any."

It was difficult, in that first instant, to suppress his instinct to swallow, but he quickly pressed his lips together and bent over the table to keep any of the antidote from trickling down his throat. Hatred for Miresha, and this degrading thing she was making him do, surged through him, but he had to concentrate on this task. He banished the word kiss from his mind; this was not a kiss, this was a procedure, and the only thing he should focus on was how to transfer the liquid in his mouth to Asric's. Fortunately, the elf's lips were slightly parted, so at least there was some egress. He supposed that he could simply open his mouth and let the antidote drip out, but there was the chance that some would be lost that way, and so, keeping his lips tightly closed, he lowered his mouth to Asric's, nuzzling until his lips were against the elf's teeth, and then slowly poked his tongue out and into Asric's slack mouth, letting the antidote flow in. He had no idea how to ensure that Asric wouldn't choke on the liquid, but it seemed that the touching of their tongues was helping in that regard, triggering a swallow reflex.

And then, even in such an awkward position, with Miresha snickering on the other side of the table, the word kiss started to become un-banished. Mentally apologizing to Asric, and hoping that enough of the antidote had been transferred, he closed his mouth and straightened up.

"Well, that wasn't bad," Miresha said. "Not nearly as hot as I was hoping it would be – the eyepatch is ugly and distracting, and your head is so enormous that it blocked most of my view. Still, I'm looking forward to the next dose almost as much as you are."

"I am not doing this for your entertainment," Jadaar said. "I am doing this because I want to save my friend."

Miresha rolled her eyes. "Put him back in the cart," she ordered the guards.

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Miresha left – "To take my afternoon bath and be worshiped" – and Griftah hurried over to Jadaar with rags and herbs to staunch the bleeding from the leg irons.

Jadaar was grateful that the troll was silent: he didn't think he could take any colorful aphorisms just then. He watched from the corner of his good eye as Griftah went back to the table, put a folded cloth under Asric's head as a pillow, then stood by the elf's side, apparently watching for any sign that the poison was retreating.

"Trix," Jadaar said.

"What?"

"Trix. Just before I left, she called you her darling man. She was very upset that you had been taken."

"Really?" A slow grin brightened Griftah's face. "How 'bout that." He turned back to Asric, and peered close at the elf's upper arm. "Hey, I think it fadin' a little, mon."

"Good," Jadaar said wearily. "That's good."

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Miresha returned not long after. "I'm so refreshed!" she said. "Now, where was I? Oh yes. I've decided that I want you to craft me an amulet that will make every one who sees me fall in love with me."

Griftah chuckled. "Let me guess. You went out any snatched you some people, and they din' say thank you?"

"I don't understand it," Miresha said. "Usually my presence is enough to inspire total, absolute worshipful adoration. Do you know, since my subjects feel blessed just to catch a glimpse of me, those I deign to speak to usually commit suicide from pure happiness? But these new ones I took from the Faire," she said, pouting, "they didn't adore. I suppose subjects from the ugly races might show the proper respect, but I don't want to have to look at them."

"You are beyond vile," Jadaar said. "Treating people as puppets for your amusement. Do you even value those who worship you now? Will you value those you will force into worship?"

"Hm," Miresha said to Griftah, her eyes cold. "Is there a wind in here? I thought I heard the wind blowing. Making noise, saying nothing."

Griftah glanced at Jadaar and frowned. "Don' worry about that guy," he said to Miresha. "He in some pain."

"Sure, from making a fool of himself," Miresha said. "Anyhow, back to my amulet. How soon can you deliver?"

Griftah stroked his chin. "Pretty quick, if you can bring me four five love mojo bags from me wagon. And one each blue and bronze dragonscale."

"Bronze? That's not going to be easy."

"Warders in Tanaris Cavern shed 'em," Griftah said.

"Oh, right." She disappeared.

Griftah grabbed a handful of woody plants from the table and hurried over to Jadaar. "Why you makin' trouble?" he asked crossly, beginning to snap the twigs and stems in half, breaking each with a small crack. "Sooner get done, sooner get out of here," he said sternly. Finding a twig that was too green to be broken, he waved it at Jadaar. "Ya chew some here, it be helpin' the pain." As he bent down to hand the twig to Jadaar he whispered, low and urgent, "Follow me lead, even if it be crazy."

Then he turned and sauntered back to the table, putting his hands on his hips in annoyance. "Why she leave dis elf in me way? Can't get no work done!" He pushed Asric aside – but gently, Jadaar saw – and began to work, crushing herbs with the pestle, measuring and mixing various liquids, sorting through piles of tiny bones and small flat stones, using a small knife to inscribe marks on some of the stones. From time to time he'd absently stir the leavings into the cauldron, like someone making a soup of leftovers.

Miresha returned, holding the dragonscales and four small red mojo pouches from Griftah's inventory. She glanced at Jadaar. "What's that stick in his mouth?"

"Pain chew," Griftah said, taking the dragonscales, looking them over, then tossing the bronze one into the cauldron. "Keep him mouth quiet."

"I'd rather just kill him, " Miresha said, watching as Griftah shook the contents of the pouches out onto the worktable. "He's annoying."

"Now I tol' ya, don' wan me man dead," Griftah said, quickly sorting the heap of crystals, metal flakes, small bones, and powdered herbs from the pouches into neat piles. "Him life be me payment."

"Keeping your life is your payment," Miresha said sharply. "These other two are optional."

Griftah dropped the blue dragonscale into the mortar and began to crush it with the pestle. "All right," he said. "Jes need one ingredient more."

"Which is?"

"Gonna need some ya royal jelly. Ya can get?"

"Why do you need it?" Miresha looked suspicious.

"Makin' a Queen bag," Griftah said easily, peering at the pulverized blue dragonscale, then grinding it with extra vigor. "Gotta feed it Queen food."

Miresha turned to the guards and made sounds that send two of them scurrying, then turned back to Griftah. "Am I going to have to keep this third amulet you're making moist as well?" she asked frostily. "Because I truly dislike having to stay in blood elf form for the travel one."

"No," Griftah shook his head. "Travel stone almost done drinkin' ya lady juices. And Queen stone only needs one feedin'."

She sighed with exasperation. "This is turning out to be much more work than I expected."

"Hang to it," Griftah reassured her, "One last, and ev'rything be set." He added, "Ya be givin' us more antidote after?"

"In my pocket," Miresha said, patting her hip. "Very delicate glass, though. Easily broken."

"I ain't gonna grab nothing," Griftah said. "Ya made a Thread-oath."

"You know," Miresha said thoughtfully, eying Griftah, "I'm not sure I want you to rush off. It would be nice to have a Royal Conjurer again."

He shrugged. "I got people ta tend back at da Faire. But I open for freelance work."

"People?" Miresha laughed. "You don't mean that purple-haired troll slut who's given it up to everyone but Jumbo the Elekk?"

Jadaar, who had forced himself to sit silently chewing the end of the tasteless twig for the entire conversation, was sure that this comment would dissipate Griftah's cool, but the troll shook his head and said only, "Sometimes the gift better den de wrappin'."

"Sure, when the box opens for everyone," Miresha said, just as the guards came back escorting an insectoid carrying a brownish bowl of a thick ivory substance. "Mmm, now I'm hungry," she said. "Is this almost finished?"

"Ya," Griftah said. "Almos' done." He threw a handful of something in the cauldron, and thick, acrid smoke began to billow out.

"What are you doing?" Miresha demanded, coughing and waving her hand.

"Las' part of de spell," Griftah said, "Don worry, it clear soon." He held out a small red pouch. "Here be the worship mojo: all who can see you will worship you. When you take it, me oath be fulfilled."

As Miresha took the pouch Griftah suddenly fell to the ground with a moan. "Hail to da Queen!" he cried put. "Jadaar mon, adore dis goddess wit' me!"

Jadaar – who'd received an errant gust of the smoke that had blurred his vision – took this as his cue. He dropped to hands and knees and pulled himself across the prison yard toward Griftah and Miresha, wondering what, exactly, Griftah had done. Had he accidentally fallen under his own spell, or was he just acting?

More importantly, how were they going to get the last doses of antidote?

"Please, blessed queen," Griftah sang out without raising his head, "Please show us ya true glory!"

There was a tearing sound, and then as best as the bleary-eyed Jadaar could see, several things happened very quickly.

The prison guards all fell to the ground, prostrating themselves and chanting "Apok'rita! Apok'rita!" Griftah darted forward, snatching something up from the ground, throwing what sounded like a rock into the cauldron, then scrambling backward as a giant insect with huge parchment-like wings, a furred upper body, and an elongated, orange brown abdomen lifted in the air and hovered above the cauldron. Her stinger jerked and dripped with venom.

"Grab me leg!" Griftah shouted, standing to slip an arm under Asric's back and pull the unconscious elf against him. As Queen Apok'rita buzzed angrily in the smoke Griftah upended the mortar of powdered blue dragonpowder over the four of them ...

... and then, just like that, three of them were back at the Faire.

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"What just happened?" Jadaar asked. They were in a wooded back area that he didn't recognize.

"All be clear in a bit," Griftah said, laying Asric across Jadaar's lap and handing Jadaar the shreds of Miresha's robe. "But firs' look see if the antidote be in a pocket like she said. Imma go get someone to cut dem irons off ya."

As Griftah ran off Jadaar searched though the rags, feeling and then finding a single vial. "No," he whispered. Two doses wouldn't be enough to cure Asric: by unknowingly drinking the first one, he had delivered a death sentence on his friend. Even so, knowing it wouldn't be enough, he still uncorked it and poured a dribble into Asric's mouth.

The elf didn't swallow. "Damn you, Redmourn," Jadaar muttered. "Must you be difficult to the very end?" He poured the remainder into his own mouth and administered a second antidote kiss, then sat, staring but unseeing, thinking of all the ridiculous things the elf had said and done in the past few days, wondering if what Griftah had said about Asric was true, wondering how he could have so completely missed the signs. "Idiot."

He was still holding Asric when Griftah returned with Silas, Burth, Yebb, Rinling, Chronos, and Apothecary Arlecchino.

"Wah, those are nasty!" Yebb said, crouching down and poking at Jadaar's shackles. "I've never seen this sort of metal before! Is it that saronite stuff?" he asked Rinling, who shrugged, "Well, we'll probably have to put Jadaar on the anvil and get Kerri to help chisel them off."

"Not yet," Jadaar said. "Did you find the antidote?"

Arlecchino held up a vial of yellowish liquid.

In response, Jadaar held up the empty vial, whose sides had faint smears of dark green. "Whatever he has can't be right," Jadaar said to Chronos. "This is the actual antidote."

Arl made a contemptuous noise, then said a few words.

"He says," Chronos translated, "that he probably used alternate ingredients."

"He's not getting any of Asric's feet," Jadaar said firmly. "Or his body."

Arl snarled, swept his cloak around himself, and disappeared.

.

Despite Jadaar's protests, Griftah and Chronos took Asric while Burth slung Jadaar over his shoulder and carried him to the anvil.

The gawkers on the midway seemed highly amused.

"There's really no point in doing this," Jadaar said calmly, watching as Burth held a chisel against the shackle-bolts and Kerri Hicks swung her two-handed mace. "I've only had a third of the antidote I need to be cured." He didn't add that he'd briefly held two more doses in his mouth.

"Well, it seems to have staved off the advance of the poison," Chronos said. "It may very well have been enough to cure you, if you didn't have as large an injection of poison as Mister Redmourn." He handed the antidote vial to Sylannia, who held the vial up to the light, then unstoppered and sniffed it cautiously.

"I'll see what I can do, " she said. "She does owe me a favor or two." She hurried off.

"Now what?" Jadaar asked. His ears were starting to ring from the clang of chisel on metal. "Is something going to come drag you off, or will you just disappear into the Twisting Nether?"

"What you mean?" Griftah asked.

"Aren't both oaths broken?"

"No," Griftah said. "We got three dose from Miresha, even if she didn't give the last one."

"I meant you," Jadaar said. "You didn't – "

"Hey mon, I delivered all three mojo to her," Griftah said, spreading his arms. "Not me problem if she drop her travel amulet." He dug in his pocket, and pulled out the stone.

"How did you get that?" Jadaar asked, puzzled.

"Fell out when she went aqir," Griftah said. "I snatch it up wit' de dress."

"But she can still take her ship to go hunting new subjects," Jadaar said. "She'll captivate them and take them to her island!"

"Well now," Griftah said, "Funny … she did ask for mojo to make all who see her gonna worship her."

"But that's what you gave her, right?" Jadaar asked.

Griftah nodded, grinning wickedly

"I don't understand why you're smiling, then," Jadaar said, wincing as the chisel finally broke the bolts on the first shackle.

"Well, detective," Griftah said, "here be ya clues. Cauldron was my big spell, makin' time smoke from de bronze molt. And blue dragon powder activate all mojo close by."

"You threw … her invisibility amulet in the time smoke," Jadaar said slowly, comprehension blooming. "So now she's – invisible all the time?"

"Ya," Griftah nodded. "Amber magic. Like tree sap trap."

"And if no one can see her – "

"She be Queen ta no one. Serve her right, tryin' to twist up words to trick me an' me bodyguard."

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It was the last hours of the Faire.

Asric, his cane nearby, sat next to Jadaar on the dock and fished. Griftah was at his barrel, calling out last minute deals.

Fine Poking Stick! This no ORDINARY stick, no! What ya be seein' here be a stick of incredible rarity and extraordinary value, shaped by the very powers that wrought the world! Ya wanna own this fantastic piece of Draenor, touched by magnificent power, I know ya do. I be practically givin' em away!

A Tauren rushed up to the barrel. "I need seven hulas!" she said.

"Special deal jes' for you," Griftah said, handing her a bag. As she ran off, Griftah chuckled and said to Jadaar, "Las' time I give her seven, she pay me for twelve. This time she pay me for seven, I give her twelve!"

Two women walked by, a human with dark hair and a night elf with a long blue braid. Griftah motioned them over, then went to the wagon and pulled out a bouquet. "Terokkar lilacs," he said. "For you, no charge."

Jadaar saw the two walking to the Stormwind portal later: the night elf had lilac blooms tucked all along her braid.

A dark form bounded out of the night and jumped onto Griftah's barrel: a large cat wearing a glass pendant, with pale moon symbols curved along each shoulder. "I've been practicing," she said, head-butting Griftah affectionately, then leaping off the barrel and loping to the portals.

"Almos' closing time," Griftah said.

A towering pile of Darkmoon prizes came toward them down the midway: beneath it was Dargrim, the dwarf death knight. "Finally got the hang of it!" he said, then added in a low voice, "I'll be back after closin' ter talk to ya about that special mission."

"Okey-dokey," Griftah said.

"Special mission?" Asric asked, after the dwarf had gone into the Stormwind portal.

"Silas sending Dargrim in with a team to liberate any wantin' to leave Queen Island," Griftah said.

Michael Schweitzer thanked everyone for coming, invited them all to come back next month, and urged them to proceed to the exit portals. As the sky bloomed with fireworks, Steven and Tatia came by to collect the fish Asric and Jadaar had caught.

"Coming to the beach?" Tatia asked them. "Silas bought special refreshments for the closing party."

"They comin' in a bit," Griftah said. "Got some business to wrap here."

"Business?" Jadaar asked, watching Asric struggle slightly to stand up. The extra doses of antidote that Sylannia had created "with the help of a friend" had removed the toxins from their system, but Asric still had some recovering to do.

"Ya," Griftah said, going to his wagon. He returned with two small pouches that he handed to Asric and Jadaar. "Jes' somethin' ta thank ya," he said. "I know ya like a warm place away from crowds." He was about to say more, but was silenced by Trix, who tackled him, covered his face with kisses, and started unbuttoning his vest.

"I don't think he'll need guarding tonight," Jadaar said, opening the pouch and taking out a pendant.

"No, Trix is … she's formidable," Asric said. He held up his own pendant. "Well, shall we see where these take us?"

"After you, my friend," Jadaar said. "After you."

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Author's notes and story ramblings in my Dreamwidth and Livejournal.

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(03) 14 Feb 2013