So, I had decided a while ago to fix this junk story. I reread it and decided it was not good enough so here is a complete revision and an extra few chapters. Thank you to Amanita Virosa-Amaranthus for prompting me to actually post it so there's some smut at the end just for you ;)

The hot, beating sun scorched the back of Artemis Entreri's neck as he rode away from it. It was a common feeling he reflected, considering how many years he had spent in Calimport, walking on the sifting, hard sand. The burn was more familiar than the cold of Damara or the soft skin of Calihye's body. There were no lies from the heat, or haven offered in the wavering, invisible heat lines that danced on the horizon. Gritting his teeth in inward annoyance to his wandering thoughts, Entreri kicked the nightmare on faster, flying across the sandy dunes away from Memnon. He wasn't too sure of where he was going but at this point he couldn't care. Anywhere but here was good for him.

Nothing moved ahead of him in the bleached brown landscape, no plants, no animals and no people. The way the assassin found that he liked. His life felt begun again and this time he wanted no interference from drow, dwarves, Pashas, or goddamn dragons.

A lesser man would not have noticed the portal that shimmered into existence unexpectedly in front of the galloping steed but the quick eyed assassin spotted it immediately. Simultaneously, he bitterly and ironically felt that the gods must have heard his thoughts and decided to blow his wish for solitude away before it was even born.

Veering a bit wildly, Entreri pulled the nightmare into an about-face, the gargantuan hoofs kicking up sand in a shower. He kept his eyes on the portal in time to see a person being shoved out from the other side, seemingly from nothing. The form rolled down the dune in a dazed tumble as the portal closed, fading rapidly like dew to the desert dawn. The body continued down, limp but alive.

Suspicious and alert for a specific psionist, Entreri slid off the nightmare nimbly and dismissed the snorting beast. Quickly he scanned the barren dunes for any other sign of life, kneeling low to scoop up the figurine. Seeing not even insects flying in the Calimshan evening, he grasped the hilts of his dagger and Charon's Claw before descending the sandy hill.

As he approached, Entreri took in the intruder's odd appearance. It was a woman, lying on her side and groaning softly from her fall. Not a peasant or a beggar to be sure, he judged, considering the clean, un-tattered state of her lengthy loose blue skirt and black, long sleeved blouse. Cautiously, he felt for the sensation of magic or traps but upon finding none, he nudged her lower back with his foot briskly.

A pained, confused moan came from her before she rolled to her back slowly, clearly disorientated. Instantly she brought a pale hand up to block the sun from her eyes, hissing in discomfort at the light. When she sat up on her elbows in the unsteady sand to squint about, she found the tip of a very wicked looking dagger blade just under her chin. Entreri tilted her face up to look up at him from where he kneeled at her side, noting her frightened staggered breathing.

"Who are you?" he demanded calmly. The woman's wide brown eyes stared at him in shock and what looked like surprised recognition. He did not know her although it was very apparent that she was not a local. It looked as if she had barely spent a week in the sun throughout her entire life with how pale her skin was and unmarred by the harsh environs of the desert. It was possible that she was an expensive bauble brought in from the north for a harem, never allowed to leave her gilded cage. There was not a sign of a weapon or wand with her. Her chestnut hair was chopped short about her face and neck softly, not common with women outside of bounty hunters and adventurers. Despite being an adult, she was as soft and unthreatening as a child.

"Not answering will not save your life," he warned coldly as the silence wore thin, lifting her chin a little more to expose her throat. She swallowed hard, scraping her skin on the blade slightly.

"I-I'm a very frightened woman with a very sharp blade at her neck," she replied waveringly, clearly shaken and startled by where she was and who was assaulting her. Entreri fought back a sudden smirk at her audacity. Frightened but bold enough to make a joke? She was suicidal.

"I meant your name, woman. I will not ask again," he restated firmly, holding the blade perfectly still at the soft spot under her jaw. Fear halted all breath in her throat as the woman licked her dry lips and fought for her voice.

"Carolyn," she croaked. "M-May I ask a question?"

"No. Where did you come from?" Entreri demanded, not moving the blade. Carolyn's mouth hung open as she floundered and tremors began in her shoulders. She did not seem to know what answer to give him. Perhaps she did not remember. To his relief, she did not start crying as he was afraid she might. He hated seeing that sort of thing despite his best efforts to be aloof.

"Earth? I mean, we are on Earth, right? Things have been rather odd recently so I'm not quite sure," she stammered hesitantly. It was obvious that she knew the question sounded rather foolish.

"I have never heard of a place called Earth. We are several leagues outside of Memnon in Calimshan," Entreri replied carefully, watching her reactions as he lowered the blades edge from her throat slightly. Carolyn's eyes almost doubled in size at his response and she inhaled through her nose sharply, still blinded by the sun above.

"That would explain some things," she muttered bitterly before staring down at his dagger in horrified wonder. "Would that mean that you are Artemis Entreri?"

Entreri hid his dismayed surprise well with a narrow eyed glare. Jaraxle was never going to let him be, no matter what he threatened. There was no real other explanation at this point; who else would bother messing with him like this? The woman obviously had no idea where she had been tossed into and had no idea who did it. But she knew who he was. She had recognized him the moment she saw him, he could see it plainly.

Heaving an annoyed sigh at this interruption of his galloping towards freedom, Entreri finally lowered the blade and sheathed it as he stood. No point threatening the already terrified woman. There was nowhere for her to run that she could get to before she died of thirst and heat. At first she kept still, eyeing him warily as he took a step away and allowed her space to stand.

"Yes."

Carolyn nodded mutely, still seeming unable to wrap her head around the situation. For a moment, she took the liberty of glancing about at the barren dunes in wonder. Abruptly, she looked dismayed again as she looked back up at him.

"You aren't angry with me, are you?"

Rather silly question, he thought.

"Only mildly. I am not going to kill you just yet if that is what you are worried about."

Carolyn sighed in relief and nodded. Blowing another deep breath as she crossed her eyes, she slowly staggered to her feet, unsteady on the sand. Trying to catch her unsteady breath, she brushed at her clothes and struggled to stand in her black slippers. Now on her feet, he found her to be a good half head shorter than he and much less coordinated. Keeping her hands out at her sides for balance on the dune slope, the woman spun about slowly, taking in the foreign world before resettling her gaze on him.

"I don't suppose you have an idea as to why I am here? I mean, I am gonna say Jaraxle but-"she cut off, a bemused and startled expression upon her face. Reaching up under her the cuff of her right hand sleeve, she suddenly found her upper arm harshly gripped by the assassin. Alarmed, Carolyn gazed up at his glaring dark eyes, her lips a line of anxiety.

"There's something in my sleeve, I don't know what it is," she explained cautiously, not looking away in case he sensed dishonesty. Relaxing the muscles in her arm, she waited for him to investigate himself. With the very tips of his fingers, he pulled the hem of her elbow length sleeve out to allow a simply silver cord of a bracelet to fall free to her wrist. Attached to it was a tiny note. He released her and she raised her hand to her eyes to read the little placard.

"I can't read it," she said helplessly after glancing at it. Guardedly, Entreri leaned closer and grasped the tag to turn it about. As soon as the tip of his left hand touched the paper, the bracelet snapped to life, breaking and flying to his outreached arm like a thin snake. The other end reattached at Carolyn's wrist. Despite the fact that he was extraordinarily fast with nearly inhuman reflexes, the living cord proved quicker. Latching about his left hand wrist, it shrunk the length between them so that the back of their hands touched and effectively creating shackles.

"Now I am going to kill you."

"I didn't do it!" Carolyn immediately cried in defense at his withering, murderous glare. He tugged at the cord, finding it tough and restricting about his own wrist. It relented about a foot of length between them and then wouldn't stretch further. Before he could reach for it again, the card nipped itself off and fluttered to the ground like an autumnal leaf. Once it touched the searing hot sand it burst into purple flames, disintegrating in seconds. Entreri tugged harder to get free from this unexpected magical hellhole of annoyance that had been thrown in front of him.

"Ow, please stop yanking it. Sort of hurts."

"It's either that or you lose your arm. Now shut up," Entreri snapped in irritation, grasping the cord and pulling it up along with Carolyn's hand to examine it. "This is definitely magic wrought."

He narrowed his eyes darkly before sighing in furious dejection again. Jaraxle was never going to leave him alone. He gave Carolyn one more grave look before tugging her along with him up the dune.

"You know you could turn a vineyard into a raison field with that look," she commented nervously, stumbling behind him. Her attempt at humor only soured his mood more. Entreri jerked his hand, yanking her to his side.

"Shut up and don't walk behind me," he snarled quietly. Carolyn cast him a hidden yet distasteful glance and huffed, hitching her skirt up as she walked.

"Make sure I don't get on your bad side. Books don't lie," she muttered under her breath.

"Books?" Entreri asked bluntly before he could stop himself. She nodded before slipping on the shifting sand. It wouldn't have mattered to the man except the fact that he was attached and dragged along with her movements.

"Yeah, how did you think I knew so much? A scrying bowl?" she snorted slightly as she got to back to her feet. After a serious look from Entreri, she reconsidered her words. "Okay, sorry, no, that's not how I know. Where I am from, an author named Salvatore wrote about all of your stories. He wrote about Drizzt's mostly, Jaraxle's and uh…well, those are the only ones I read to be honest."

"My stories?"

"Yes, your adventures, your thoughts, everything is in there from Drizzt to your mom to Ca-" Carolyn's voice cut off abruptly at his threatening glower. Seeming to realize the dangerous water she blabbered into, she corrected herself hastily. "Ca-Arthrogate."

"These stories have my thoughts? This Salvatore can get into my thoughts?" Entreri demanded incredulously. She gave him a weighted, unsettled look and nodded.

"So can anyone and everyone who bothers to pick up the book."

"Such as yourself."

She nodded hesitantly.

Entreri didn't think that she understood the implications of such knowledge well enough so he felt obliged to enforce it firmly. Swiftly he grasped her upper arm to force her to face him. Carolyn blanched again, her pale face going whiter but she had enough sense to not fight him. Smart woman. Entreri leaned closer, catching a hint of foreign perfume from her.

"As a forewarning, keep such things to yourself. Don't ask questions and you won't die," he said in a quiet, level tone.

With that he released her, turning to dig about in his hip pouch. She remained silent despite the discomfort of their bound hands. His unwanted guest was forced to move with him with each motion, irritating them both. Awkwardly, Entreri leaned down and set the onyx figurine of the nightmare upon the ground and stepped back quickly, whispering its name.

Within moments the steed stepped out of fire, its flaming mane and hooves scalding the dry earth beneath it. Over time, he had grown accustomed the gigantic black stallion with its fiery mantle. Apparently, it was a sight to behold for the woman. An ecstatic cry of delight escaped her, grating on his nerves.

"Oh…my…god…"she whispered breathlessly, her eyes lighting up and a grin spreading on her unabashedly. She seemed almost childlike as she approached the dark horse with him, not having enough nerve to touch it.

"Get on. We are going back to Memnon," Entreri ordered stiffly, not comfortable with her open emotions. Carolyn gave him a fluttering, paranoid grin.

"How are we going to ride together? My arm doesn't bend backwards and I can't ride facing the horse's ass properly."

Entreri reconsidered the cord that bound his left hand to her right and found that they did have a problem. The as-of-a-day-dead Entreri would've have merely cut off her hand and carried on but now it felt annoyingly wrong. He glanced back at the sun to find it close to setting and sighed. Of all the things he had anticipated during this tumultuous day, this was the last.

Without another word he led her around the other side of the horse. Mounting awkwardly, he gruffly reached down and helped heft her up to sit on his lap, facing him with her legs over his.

"Oh, right," Carolyn murmured in embarrassment, shifting to get comfortable and adjust her skirt. It had lifted up about her waist when he settled her and now it was barely covering her white thighs at all. For a lesser man, that would have been terribly distracting.

"Put your free arm around my waist and get it out of my way. Put your head against my shoulder. Do not try anything or you will be dead before this horse stops," he ordered briskly, throwing in the threat as a reminder and arranging her limbs to his needs as he spoke. He ignored her silent blush as he kicked the nightmare to a run, wheeling it about back towards the dying sun.

Carolyn squeaked at the sudden motion and held onto him tighter with her free arm, burying her head next to his neck reflexively. He stiffened at that, waiting for some sort of bite or attack. When it didn't come it puzzled him and made him even more suspicious. He couldn't think of one person he knew who wouldn't take advantage of his poor position.

It grew dark before they reached Memnon, the sun seeming to rot in its own clotting blood as it fumed behind the dunes to its death. Once that spectacle had faded, the multitude of stars came out to glitter as a priest's hoard might in the velvety black of the sky.

"I've never seen so many stars before," Carolyn said loudly over the pounding of hooves. Entreri glanced at her to see her leaning back a bit, eyes turned to the sky in awe. He must have had a vaguely puzzled look on for she shrugged helplessly.

"Where I'm from, the lights of the city blot them all out. Can't even see them from the country really," she explained, turning her gaze back up in awe. The nightmare started down a steep hill, jostling her up into the air and causing her to yelp. Startled, she clutched at him again. He rolled his eyes and focused on the low lying city ahead as it rolled closer and closer.

"Get off," he ordered abruptly as he slowed down the nightmare a short time later. Carolyn looked up from the protective cleft of his neck. They were on the opposite side of a dune from the gates of Memnon, shielding them from view.

"Why?"

"It isn't a brilliant idea to walk in astride a nightmare, especially as we are situated."

She winced at his blunt, dry statement. With a small 'oh' she slid off, clutching his tunic tightly in case she fell; which she did anyway, tugging him half off in the process.

"Sorry," she muttered at his venomous look.

"Just shut up."