Baldur's gate II_ throne of Bhaal - Drew Karpyshyn [18]
In response, Abdel wrapped his mighty right arm around her shoulders, pulling her tight against his muscled chest, his fingers burrowing into her thick, dark hair. His injured left arm dangled uselessly by his side.
"Jaheira," he breathed, saying nothing more but allowing the soft scent of the half-elf to envelop him.
A second later Imoen was there too, leaping up to wrap her own slender arms around Abdel's broad shoulders and sturdy neck.
"Welcome back, big brother!" she exclaimed, literally hanging from his back in her joyous relief.
Abdel held Jaheira against his own body a moment longer before releasing her. He shrugged slightly, and Imoen let go of her grip on his neck, dropping to the ground and landing lightly on her tiny feet.
Seeing them brought back the chilling memory of how he had been on the verge of slaying them both, how he had nearly succumbed to the essence of Bhaal within himself during the last battle and transformed into the Ravager. Abdel vowed he would do everything humanly possible to avoid unleashing his father's fury again. He would only resort to violence as a desperate last resort. If necessary, he would let himself die rather than allow himself to morph into the Ravager again.
Confident now that both Jaheira and Imoen were unharmed, Abdel took quick stock of his environment. The clearing was still bathed in the light of Jaheira's incantation, but glancing up Abdel could see the night above was still dark. The dead, twisted trees still surrounded them, and the decaying leaves still carpeted the clearing floor. The reeking bodies of the foul wolves lay scattered about. Abdel's gaze merely skimmed over their mangled forms, and he quickly averted his eyes when they wandered across to the broken, bloody corpse of the Huntress crumpled near the edge of the clearing.
"How long was I gone?" he asked.
Jaheira took a step back and tilted her head so that she could look directly up into the eyes of her man. His question seemed to momentarily catch her off guard. "A few seconds, Abdel. You were here one second, the next you were gone. What happened?"
Abdel didn't answer right away. He took a second to collect his thoughts.
"I… I was taken to another plane. I think. I think I was in the Abyss."
The half-elf looked at him with curious eyes, but it was Imoen who voiced the question. "The Abyss? Who or what could possibly have summoned you there?"
Taking a deep breath, Abdel replied, "Sarevok."
Jaheira gasped and brought her hand up to cover her mouth.
"Sarevok?" Imoen asked. "Why do I recognize that name?"
There was a brief silence. Neither Abdel nor Jaheira was anxious to speak of Sarevok's crimes and open old emotional scars. It was Jaheira who finally spoke.
"He was also a Child of Bhaal, Imoen. He had Gorion killed, and Khalid, my husband. Sarevok tried to start a war in Baldur's Gate. Hundreds of innocent people suffered horribly from his actions. Abdel killed him in the end."
"He's the one who murdered Gorion?" Imoen whispered, not trying to mask the shock and sympathy in her voice. "How horrible it must have been, Abdel, meeting him again."
It was Jaheira who asked the next question, the one Abdel had been dreading.
"What did he want?"
Abdel shuffled his feet, struggling to make himself say the words. "He wanted me to bring him back to life."
Imoen actually laughed. "That's impossible! You're no cleric, Abdel!"
The big sellsword fixed his gaze on Jaheira, trying to read her face as he spoke the next words. "No, it is possible. He told me how, in exchange for the knowledge of how to return to this world. Jaheira would have to help me."
"No!" The half-elf turned her head and spat contemptuously on the ground. "No! I would never do such a thing. To release such a vile evil upon the world is unthinkable. Leave his soul trapped there for all eternity. He deserves no better!"
Gently, Abdel placed his uninjured hand on Jaheira's shoulder. He understood her feelings-his own reaction had initially been the same. Abdel had listened to Sarevok's