by Tasharene

AN: this story in its entirety was written for and is dedicated to you, Kendris. It is my humble way to say thank you for everything (and you know very well what I mean). You wanted Deekin – here you have him together with a BIG bear hug from me!

OOO

Disclaimer: Tasharene is mine, Valen and Deekin belong to BioWare… but everybody knows that, right?

OOO

OOO

Feeling another nightmare coming, Tasharene instinctively snuggled up to Valen and sighed quietly. Her tense muscles relaxed as she felt the warmth of his body, and her fists slowly unclenched when she rested her head on his chest. The sound of his heartbeat calmed her down instantly.

She felt safe.

Suddenly, a strange noise downstairs woke them both up and made them jump out of the bed. Fully awake, they listened carefully. Obviously someone had rushed inside the Inn and, in complete darkness, tripped over a chair in the bar. After a moment of silence another chair hit the wooden floor with a loud bang.

Valen shot Tasharene a quick glance. “Either he is drunk or wants everybody to notice his presence,” he murmured.

Then they heard a sound of footsteps on the stairs. The stranger had stopped in the corridor, most probably looking for someone or something. In complete silence, Tasharene grabbed the hilt of her sword and approached the door, putting her ear to the wood. At the same moment they heard a desperate cry.

“BOSS! Where is you? Deekin need your help! BOOOSS!”

She dropped the sword to the floor and rushed outside the room. A second later she was crouching beside the kobold, hugging him so tightly that he couldn’t catch a breath. Valen peeked out at them, trying to hide a smile.

“Deekin was looking for you, boss,” the bard squeaked, sniffling and wiping his reptilian eyes with his tiny fists. “Deekin very unhappy. Tragically unhappy and Deekin thinking only boss can help him…”

Tasharene stood up and patted his head.

“No worries, my bard,” she said warmly and sent the kobold a reassuring smile. “Boss sure will help you, whatever it is that troubles you. But damn, good that Durnan is away or you would be a dead kobold by now for waking his guests up like that in the middle of the night!”

The kobold only stretched his wings.

“Deekin knew boss will help…” He looked around suspiciously and lowered his voice to a confidential whisper. “But, boss, is the goat-man with you? Deekin afraid of him, he not likes Deekin…”

Valen chuckled and slowly came into the light.

“The goat-man might actually consider helping the boss,” he said, making his voice sound as serious as possible. “Whatever it is that the boss wants to do for you.”

Seeing the tiefling, Deekin immediately hid behind Tasharene, surprising the human with his fright. After a while, however, he faced Valen bravely and looked up into his eyes.

“Deekin see you are still with boss, but Deekin want to know one thing…” He raised his bony finger threateningly, never minding that he reached only as high as the tiefling’s waist. “What be those four nasty scars boss have on the cheek, huh?”

Tasharene winced unwillingly and grabbed the bard’s hand, dragging him into the room. When Valen had closed the door behind them, she sat on the bed and put her hands on the kobold’s shoulders.

“A lot of things have happened since you left our company, Deekin,” she said slowly and quietly. “Good things and bad things, but Valen has always been with me, not against me. Always!”

Deekin nodded and scratched his head. “Aha! So Deekin think he will write a song about the goat-man for boss,” he murmured, already deep in his thoughts, looking for rhymes to ‘horns’…

Here we go again… The tiefling rolled his eyes and sank to the chair with a quiet sigh. If he ever happens to like me, he will want to sing the doom song during my funeral as well. And this indeed will be my doomsday, no doubt…

Tasharene saw the miserable look in her beloved one’s eyes and she raised an eyebrow. “What is it?” she asked shooting him a questioning glance over the kobold’s head. “You look terribly worried.”

He shook his head. “I fear what trouble this creature has put himself into this time…” he replied grimly. “What if he has made some monarch deaf with his music? Or insane with his singing? He might have an entire kingdom after him right now.”

“Valen, stop that!” she barely managed to stifle a laugh and she looked into Deekin’s eyes again. “We will help you, but first you need to sleep a little. You look like shit. Even as for a kobold.”

“Boss very kind.” The bard yawned. “Can Deekin sleep here?” Not waiting for an answer he sneaked past her, crawled onto the bed and immediately fell asleep. After a minute his loud snoring filled the room. If not the entire Inn…

Tasharene carefully got up from the bed and sat on Valen’s lap, resting her forehead against his temple. For a while they watched the bard, sprawled across the bed, hugging one of the pillows tightly.

“Poor thing,” she whispered. “He must have been deadly tired. And he seemed to be very frightened as well. Have you noticed how scared he was to see you?”

“I can bet that by morning we will be equally tired from all this noise.” The tiefling wrapped an arm around her waist. “Well, my love, shall I fetch our bedrolls or shall we just share the bed with him?”

Tasharene chuckled. “If not for those wings of his, we would have plenty of space left for both of us,” she said lightly and poked Valen’s chest with her finger. “But I prefer to share one bedroll with you than this big bed with you and a kobold.”

OOO

Early next morning, Tasharene scowled at Deekin and waited patiently for him to reveal the reason for his trouble at last. He was sitting on a chair, his feet dangling a few inches above the floor and he was in his glory, showing off his musical achievements.

“And boss, Deekin famous now!” the bard was jumping up and down, gesticulating frantically. “And the king says he likes Deekin sing! And the princess say Deekin sweet… or stinky… Deekin remember not, but she…”

Valen rushed to the window and folded arms on his chest, narrowing his eyes to slits. The people outside were passing by the Inn, meeting friends, chatting, going somewhere, coming back... and the kobold kept talking, and talking…

“I strongly suggest,” the tiefling said suddenly through his gnashed teeth, “that you tell us what had forced you to look for our help. NOW.”

Deekin gaped and let his skinny arms fall limp to his lap. He did some exhaustive thinking and scratched his head.

“Deekin want no help from goat-man,” he murmured at last, obviously offended. “Deekin came here to find boss.”

Tasharene coughed to conceal a chuckle. “Umm, alright,” she said soothingly and shook her head. “Calm down a bit, both of you, and you, little reptile, better tell me what had really happened there.”

The genuine shock flashed in the bard’s eyes. “But boss, first Deekin want…”

She waved her hand with annoyance and didn’t allow him to continue. “You will have all the time in the world to tell me about your damn career,” she declared, a little bit too roughly. “Now I want to know what mischief you have made again.”

The kobold sagged in his chair and pouted. “Deekin broke the king’s crystal sphere…” There was a moment of silence and then he jumped to his feet and began pacing the room. “Deekin only wanted see it shine. It was pretty when Deekin take it to sunlight. Deekin see elves dancing inside… and sometimes monsters… when Deekin be sad there be monsters… yes… and Deekin often play with the sphere, the king always let everybody look at it… he say people learn to like their fears when people look at it… and Deekin…”

He stopped suddenly and looked Tasharene in the eyes. “And Deekin got scared one day when he saw something there and dropped it and it broke and…”

Silence.

“Deekin?” Tasharene approached and stood before him, lifting his chin with her finger to look into his yellowish eyes. “What happened then?”

Silence.

Valen turned around and watched the kobold warily.

Tasharene frowned, seeing fear behind the bard’s eyes. “Deekin, I can’t help you unless you tell me everything,” she whispered. “The crystal sphere got shattered and what happened next?”

“And there was no king, no princess and no palace… only poor, scared kobold and hell.”

OOO

A few hours later, they both watched Deekin stuff himself with food, and they couldn’t believe he managed to survive the nightmare he had unleashed. It seemed obvious that the crystal sphere contained an essence of some demon, and once it got shattered to pieces, it allowed the creature to materialize and slay everybody around. How it was possible that it let the kobold live, however, remained a secret.

Tasharene sighed and rubbed her forehead. “That demon is still in the palace, or else we would have some rumours about a beast raging in the north, am I right?” she whispered to Valen.

He nodded. “Sounds reasonable. That little kingdom is not too far away from here and some news would have reached us by now.”

“And they had such a skilled smithy at the palace…” she murmured with regret vibrating in her voice. “Damn kobold curiosity…”

The tiefling sent her a dark look, but didn’t make a comment. After a while they heard Deekin burp thunderously and sigh as he patted his belly contently.

“Boss, can Deekin tell you about the princess now?” he beamed immediately and looked at Tasharene in anticipation.

“No, damn you!” she shouted, getting annoyed. “The princess is dead now and we must go there to clean the mess you have made. Before more people get killed.”

The bard blinked and tilted his head. “Boss mad…” He sniffled. “Deekin sorry, boss.”

“I don’t give a damn,” she roared. “Why do you always have to touch everything? Try everything? Tell me why, damn it?”

The tiefling put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it tightly. “Hush,” he murmured in her ear. “He doesn’t know that you are angry because you are worried about him.”

She turned on her heel and left the dining room hastily. Valen glared at the kobold, who banged his forehead against the table several times, whispering that the boss would never forgive him.

OOO

Tasharene finished sharpening her sword and put the whetstone away. She stood up and was just about to strap the sword to her back when she heard the door open a little.

“No, Deekin.” She quickly turned around and raised her finger, putting it to the kobold’s nose. “I’ve already told you that there was no way in hell you could go with us.”

He looked up at her with puppy dog eyes and sighed deeply. “Boss not like Deekin any more,” he squeaked, dropping his eyes and hunching his back. “Boss mad Deekin asked for help.”

Without a word she took her backpack and pushed the door. “Just stay here and stay out of trouble, got that?”

The bard reached out his hands, holding his lute. “Boss not need Deekin’s music?” he pleaded quietly. “Deekin wrote a new doom song…”

She swallowed and patted his head. “No, I’ll be just fine without it this time.”

He nodded quickly and watched her leave the room.

“Deekin very, very sorry, boss. Tragically sorry,” he whispered when the door closed behind her. “But Deekin will not let boss face the terrorizing terror alone!”

OOO