The two companions rode away from Neverwinter southeast to Waterdeep before dawn. The elf-maiden rode on a sleek white mare named Gladden. Deallyona and Gladden seemed to have a deep understanding of one another, a talent of many elves. Brisid, on the other hand, had no such luck. He rode a smaller dark brown stallion he had purchased that morning. He had paid well more than the horse was worth, but since it had been much before dawn, the elves didn't think they had much choice. The man had said the horse was aptly named Chestnut. "How are you, Chestnut?" Brisid had asked upon their meeting. The horse had looked away, as if it knew not its name or that it had been spoken to. The man had said the horse was just going through a phase. Brisid had reluctantly handed over the platinum pieces, dubious about purchasing a horse that disliked its name.

They traveled though the forest, parallel to but out of sight of the well-used trade road between the two cities. He asked Deallyona why they didn't take the road. Surely it would be easier on the horses. She responded as one would to an elfling. "We're not riding on it because there are too many people. And we're being followed." Brisid thought he heard her add quietly, "Gods, what an ignorant fool!"

"Why are we being followed?" he asked. He scanned behind them but saw nothing. Deallyona ignored him. This was going to be a very long trip, he thought.

They arrived at the city walls of Waterdeep just before dusk, but, to Brisid's surprise, didn't ride to the gate. Instead, they stopped in a small patch of trees at the outskirts of the surrounding forest. There Deallyona dismounted and tethered her horse.

"You must remain here and remain silent," she commanded and disappeared from view. Her invisibility spell amazed Brisid for it masked even the slight scent of her hair which had been intoxicating him the entire trip. Sighing, he dismounted and leaned against a nearby maple tree. The sky was a swirl of reds, oranges and purples. Around him, the crickets suddenly went silent. Animals usually didn't do that around the elf. Strange they should do so now, he thought. The leaves rustled behind him betraying the presence of another. He immediately jumped away, unsheathing his sword. A dark, hooded figure stepped out of the woods and spoke in the language of magic. Fearing a lightning bolt would be thrown at him, Brisid leapt forward swinging his sword at the figure's neck. His swing was interrupted by another blade that appeared in front of him.

"Stay your blade, you idiot!" yelled Deallyona whose invisibility spell faded when the swords clashed. "He is... an ally," she continued, not unkindly. The figure finished his spell, which had no obvious effects, nodded in satisfaction and lifted his hood.

"Hail, Brisid Celebmegil, I am Dhenn Duinutinu, a priest of Mystra," the figure, a man, introduced.

"Brisid, do you always meet new people with your sword leading?" Deallyona said dryly.

"Well, he sneaked up behind me and started casting..." Brisid began.

"A simple identity spell. I had to be sure you were really who Deallyona said," the priest interrupted.

"And why are ye here?" Brisid asked Dhenn.

Dhenn looked at Brisid curiously, and soon the elf could almost see a glowlamp turn on in the priest's head. "Ahh, of course. You've got to love Deallyona's "info-on-a-need-to-know-basis" attitude."

"We mus... Cannot we get moving? We have a schedule to keep," Deallyona said, staring daggers at Brisid.

"As much as I hate to admit it, Deallyona's right. We need to keep moving," admitted Dhenn. "I'll fill you in as we ride."

Seeing only two horses, Brisid began a question, but stopped as Dhenn snapped his fingers and another horse appeared. Dhenn's horse was a gray gelding that was obviously well trained. While riding, Brisid asked Chestnut why the horse was such an exception. As the elf had expected, Chestnut kept trotting along the path, oblivious to his master's inquiry.

"Before I tell you about why we're here, you must understand the history of Alleria," Dhenn said to Brisid. "Alleria is a small, isolated kingdom of primarily moon elves, hidden deep within an unnamed forest far east of here. It has existed for many, many centuries. According to stories, the kingdom was created soon after Evermeet was founded. The first of Alleria's rulers was King Etheron I. He was slightly 'different', let us say, and believed the only way to preserve elfish values was through complete isolation from the rest of Faerun. He ruled for four-hundred years before passing the crown to his son, almost an exact replica of himself. This son ruled for another three-hundred years.

"Over those seven-hundred years, the city-state disappeared from the few maps that had existed. Wards were cast along the kingdom's borders to hide its existence from the casual traveler. No trade existed with any of the neighboring cities, and eventually racism against humans, dwarves, gnomes-all the lower races, as they prefer to say-permeated through the land. Amazingly, at a time, even gray elves were included in this prejudice. Now, they've grown more tolerant of gray elves in their community, but minor, race-motivated disturbances still occur occasionally.

"During the time of this anti-gray elf sentiment, about five-hundred cycles ago, Lady Velisa Hithwesta was accused of blasphemy. After her first husband had died, she had allegedly..." Dhenn paused and continued with mock horror, "Married a gray elf! Rithyll Celebmegil was his name. The Hithwesta family was a noble family, and such a charge could topple their standing. No proof was found, but it was suspected Velisa had born two children, a son and a daughter."

"I'm Velisa's son, right?" guessed Brisid.

"No, you couldn't be!" Deallyona's tone dripped with sarcasm. Dhenn nodded, ignoring the elf-maiden.

"Why did my uncle tell me that story about a drow attack? Was he even my uncle?" Brisid felt his past memories unraveling before him.

"Of what blood was your 'uncle?'"

"He was a gray elf."

"I believe he was truly your uncle. Probably the brother of your father. And to answer your first question, your uncle must have had quite an imagination. It is, unfortunately, a common experience for many non-Allerian elves I have heard. Maybe he wanted you to have a... a normal childhood.

"Anyway, neither your father nor sister have ever been found. A century later, during a dinner party, the lady of a rival noble family and the hostess of the gathering, another nut by the name of Lady Edasa Ar'ai'mithe dragged the previous charges up, claiming she had obtained new evidence. She said she had discovered witnesses and would not reveal their names. Actually the identities of these alleged witnesses remained hidden. They tried to arrest her, but the stubborn and headstrong lady she was, she resisted. A fight ensued."

"A fight? As in blades and arrows?"

"No, they threw pastries and pork chops at each other, genius," remarked Deallyona who had been listening silently.

Dhenn continued as if not interrupted, "Edasa had already spoken with the king who held a little prejudice himself, so she had royal troops backing her up. Velisa was executed that night, but before she was killed, she placed a curse on the city-state. She said a plague would spread throughout the kingdom that would affect all full-blooded moon elves except those of the Hithwesta family. It could only be stopped by one of her children activating a magical device in her home. At the time of her decree, witnesses say the house was enveloped in a thick black fog through which no one has been able to pass. However, no disease sprang up; the black fog was considered a large illusionist's trick. There was public outcry at her execution, since the king's "justice" rested uneasily in their minds. Families chose sides, and a civil war broke out-the pro-gray elves versus the royalists. For thirty-some years, the war continued with no major results. Then the king died, under slightly mysterious circumstances. His successor, King Kallen I, our current king, was a puppet of the pro-grays and immediately called a truce."

"He was strongly influenced by the pro-gray elves," Deallyona corrected.

"Whatever," Dhenn pointedly brushed her off. "A truce was called and a pro-gray policy was adopted. And then, two years ago, a plague came to Alleria. The royal mages, unbelieving it was Velisa's plague, searched for a cure. They died before any progress was made. They then started searching for you and your sister, but all scrying spells failed-your mother was a mage of great talent and apparently cast some permanent cloaking magics on you two.

"While all of this was going on, I was on my little tour of the world. I had found your guild and read your member list. Ignorant of the problems back home, I casually returned. After being brought up to date, I quickly fetched Deallyona to get you, and here we are."

"So, ye need me to save yer kingdom from a plague my mother created?"

Deallyona rolled her eyes but said nothing. It was too easy, she thought. Dhenn nodded.

"And how would I accomplish this task?"

"Velisa actually made a very long speech about how racism was bad and all that before she was executed. The curse segment, in fact, lasted about five minutes. She liked to talk a lot...

"She said... Let's see if I can remember this... This is a rough translation... 'All elves of the moon not within nine generations of my ancestors' blood will perish from plague until one from my womb enters my house. Only two other elves, also within ten generations of my ancestors' blood may accompany my child.'"

"Why ten generations?" Brisid interrupted.

"Lucky number? I don't know." Dhenn shrugged. "Anyway, she continued to say, 'In the house, the gray moon-elf will cast light from the small tower to dispel the darkness enveloping the throne.'"

"Huh?" wondered Brisid.

"The Hithwesta family, as nobles, had special duties to the crown. One of those was time-keeping. Thus, they had built a tall clock tower on their house-the "small tower". I suspect you need to get up there and cast a glow lamp spell in the castle's direction."

"Sounds simple enough."

"Hmph," Deallyona grunted, "Simple if there wasn't an extra-planar beast wandering the mansion."

"I was just getting to that part," continued Dhenn, irritated at Deallyona for stealing his surprising line, "Velisa was a great mage who experimented with trans-planar spells. Part of her curse was to free a monster to roam the house."

"Pray tell, how would I defeat it?"

"I have no idea."

It was already long into the night, and although Dhenn's story was terribly exciting to Brisid, the latter found himself yawning. He and Deallyona had been riding since before dawn. He wondered what kept her going. "Maybe her blood is not of elves, but of some Mech android" he wondered silently. Looking at her figure, he immediately dispelled the idea as impossible.

"The horses are tired. We'll camp here," Deallyona said suddenly. She dismounted and tethered her horse near a stream. After pulling the saddle bags to the ground, she took out some sugar cubes and fed them to the horse. The way she handled Gladden made Brisid think the elf-maiden actually cared about the horse. "You mean she doesn't hate everything in this world?" Brisid quietly remarked to Dhenn.

"Aye," the cleric agreed. "Shocking, isn't it?"

The group camped in a small glade in the forest beside the stream. Around them tall firs rose into the dark sky. Deallyona cast protective wards around the clearing. She said they were still being followed. They had a cold and gloomy supper, not wishing to call undue attention to themselves with a fire.

"By whom are we being shadowed?" Brisid asked. Dhenn, seeing the elf-maiden wasn't going to answer, responded, "There is a faction in Alleria that wishes the plague to run its course. Most are gray-elf mixes who hold grudges from the discrimination. It pains me to see them cling so tightly to revenge."

"Most? What about the others?"

"The others are your kin who demand vengeance for Velisa's death," Dhenn said slowly. Deallyona stopped the conversation.

"You two should get some rest. I'll take first watch for three hours. Dhenn, you second."

"What about me?" asked Brisid.

"You just rest."

After Deallyona moved away, Brisid whispered to Dhenn, "Why do I sense she dislikes like me?"

Dhenn responded, "Remember how part of Velisa's curse was that you can have two other family members with you?"

Brisid nodded, and an idea popped into his head. "Is Deallyona my sister?"

Deallyona snorted, quite unladylike, and muttered, "I wouldn't be your sister if you paid me a thousand jewels! I'm a distant cousin, but I can still come with you into the house."

Brisid silently cursed his bad luck. She was such an attractive elf , and he had to be related to her. He turned to Deallyona, "Why do ye hate me so much? I should think ye'd be happy to be related to someone so important to Alleria's survival."

"Think about how my life is," she retorted. "How do you think you'd feel if you saw all the destruction of that plague? Everyone hates you because you're of that family, because your relative caused it, and you aren't sick. And you can't do a damn thing about it because you're not 'legitimate.' The only thing you can do is play escort for a certain ignorant gray elf who's been living in some distant, barbaric land!" She turned away angrily and stomped off into the forest.