The Glass Prison

"What?" Vheod said, turning to her. ''The Ravenwitch said a lot of things back there, but we never asked about the strange green stones the gnolls seem to be collecting."

"I wouldn't have believed her anyway," Vheod said. "Do you think everything she said was a lie?" Mela

"I know her kind. The Abyss is full of creatures like her. They lace their lies with hints of the truth, just to make the lies more believable." Vheod looked at Mela

"She confirmed your belief that Chare'en was a fiend, not a wizard," she said after a moment.

"Yes. As I said, traces of the truth." Vheod picked up a twig from the ground and whirled it around in his fingers.

"What about what she said about you? About you freeing him? Serving him?"

"Lies," Vheod said harshly and quickly in response to Mela

"Vheod," Mela

"I am in control of my own destiny," Vheod protested, shaking his head. He snapped the twig in his hands and tossed it aside.

"But what if you aren't? What if there's a part of you-the evil, fiendish part-that actually conspires against you? I‘ve seen that evil nature well up inside you. It could be capable of anything."

Mela

Vheod started to get up after a moment. I’ll see if I can get something for us to eat."

"No, Vheod," Mela

"Are you sure you don't want a bedroll?" Mela

"I'm sure," Vheod told her, as he had on previous nights.

They both lay on the ground in silence, listening to the wind gently tug at the tree branches above their heads.

'"Vheod?" Mela

By the time Mela

Whitlock appeared considerably better, and another dose of Mela

Vheod had thought all through the night. Try as he might, he couldn't rule out that perhaps a part of him had conspired with other evil forces. That foul portion of him, which claimed obvious links to Chare'en, might have pla

"Vheod," Whitlock said, swallowing his food, "once again I owe you ray thanks. I didn't trust you, and you still went to great lengths to save me."

"Perhaps you were right," Vheod whispered.

"What?" Whitlock asked.

"Perhaps you were right not to trust me. Perhaps I am a fool for trusting myself."

"Look," Whitlock continued, "the Ravenwitch- she's insane-mad and evil. I don't credit her with one word of truth. As far as I'm concerned, the things she said change nothing."

"Nothing?" Mela

"I think that we would be fools to end our quest on the word of someone who was in the process of changing me into some raven creature." Whitlock almost laughed- Vheod had to admit, in the light of day, miles away from the tree, it did almost seem absurd.

"And even if every word she said was truth-" he glanced at Vheod, then back to Mela

"So you want to press onward," Vheod said. "Of course," Whitlock answered.

"You never have told me," Vheod said, "how you came to find out about Chare'en and the staff in the first place."

Whitlock and Mela

"We were lucky in that we encountered a pair of traveling sages passing through our town. When we spoke to them, they told us that the wizard-who's name, they said, was Chare'en-had kept a magical staff that could lift any curse he had bestowed. The staff, they said, was buried with him in his crypt."

"These sages," Vheod asked, following a hunch, "what do you remember of them?"

"Not much," Whitlock replied, shaking his head. "I think their names were Gyrison and ah… Arach."

Vheod's mouth dropped open in surprise. Did that make the whole tale more believable, or less? He really couldn't be sure. Thinking back, he knew he'd never told Mela

“I’m afraid that after hearing what the Ravenwitch had to say," Mela

"If we don't go and find out for ourselves, well never rest," her brother said. "We'll never forgive ourselves if Mother and Father succumb to the curse. As much as ever, we've got to go. We've got to find the crypt of Chare'en-or his prison, or whatever it is."

Mela

Vheod couldn't help but admire their convictions, and their bravery. This was the point at which circumstances put his convictions, and more, his faith in himself, to the test. The Ravenwitch had said he'd come to Toril to free Chare'en. The Taint seemed to be leading him onward, and he had little remaining doubt that the Taint was evil and untrustworthy. Still, he had to believe he was ultimately in control of his own actions.

If I can't trust that much, he thought, I should just give up on myself right now. If I can't believe that I control my own actions, I don't want to live.