Realms of the Arcane - Brian M. Thomsen [82]
All I could remember was the face of the angel.
* * * * *
I awoke again much later-at least I thought it was much later, since the room seemed to have been brighter upon my first awakening.
Careful so as not to repeat the outcome of my first endeavor, I allowed my eyes to get accustomed to the ambient light. I slowly scanned as much of my surroundings as I could without moving my head and jarring my obviously bruised brains. I still felt a certain throbbing tenderness in my skull. Ever so slowly, I turned my head to the side.
The woman I first took for an angel was still in the room. She was turned away, her curvaceous figure backlit by an alcoved lantern. She cast a decidedly human shadow on the opposite wall. I could not make out her face. Saving my strength, I waited for her to turn around.
After a few moments, my patience was rewarded.
As she pivoted toward me, I closed my eyes for a bit more than a wink, to give the impression I was only now coming around.
She noticed my optical flutterings. Her footsteps were soft as she crossed the room to come to my side.
"Easy now," she purred. "No sudden moves. We don't want a repeat of your last episode, now do we?"
With more careful maneuvering, I turned my head to face her. I opened my eyes to behold the face of the angel that filled my memory. Our eyes made contact, and a smile came to her lips.
The fog that filled my head began to dissipate, and the scene around me came into focus.
I was lying on a makeshift cot in some storeroom. The angel of loveliness who had first inspired thoughts of ecstasy, passion, and compassion also became clearer. Far from the angelic vision of my dreams, she had the ragged look of a gutter snipe. This is not to say she was hard on the eyes, mind you, only that she was of the common sort one usually found along the docks of Waterdeep.
Waterdeep! I must have been mugged in some Dock Ward alley. Well, that explained how I'd gotten here, and the abuse my cranium endured.
She smiled again, and whispered, "Good. You're coming around. I was afraid you were going to pass out again."
The tone of her voice had not changed, and what I had taken for the sensuous purring of an amorous angel was probably just the modulated tones of a careful nurse. Perhaps, too, she was reluctant to announce our presence to passersby, predators, or watches.
I slowly turned to the side, raised my head up with the support of elbow, arm, and hand, and hazarded a question. "I'm in Waterdeep, right?"
"You are correct," she answered tentatively, as if expecting another question hot on its heels.
"Good," I replied with false bravado. "It's always good to know where you finally wind up. It's almost as important as your own name."
Even now, I cannot be sure whether the tension that crossing my nurse's face was real or imagined. At the time, I was too distracted to pay attention. Only then did I realize I hadn't the foggiest notion in all Toril what my name was, or for that matter, what my past was.
I panicked and lurched forward. I wanted to escape this storeroom and seek a clue to my identity. The nurse tried to press me back to the cot. I quickly dodged her grip and got to my feet…
And promptly passed out again for all my hasty efforts.
* * * * *
Sounds from outside the storeroom soon brought me around. Numerous dockworkers were none too quietly heading to their jobs. My nurse was once again present, slightly the worse for wear, as if she had just finished a hard night's work. This time, she was accompanied by a burly fellow for whom the term gentleman would have been wishful thinking.
I also noticed a few measures taken to facilitate my rehabilitation. A cool compress was on my forehead, and my arms and legs were tied down, evidently to keep me from further damaging myself; at least I hoped so.
"I've learned my lesson," I said groggily. "No sudden moves for me. Now will someone please tell me who I am?"
My de facto nurse looked at her male companion as if seeking approval, and then back to me before saying, in the innocent