The Alabaster Staff r-1

by Edward Bolme

  With a sigh that was half exhaustion, half relief, Kehrsyn abandoned the search.

  "There, you see?" she said to the dragonet. "I'm done. And not a thing out of place."

  She dragged herself up into the chair, her joints protesting the sudden change. She stretched her arms up over her head and leaned back, popping her spine to loosen it up. Just as she folded her hands into her lap again, someone knocked at the door.

  Kehrsyn froze. Her eyes darted over to the dragonet, who still stared at her, unconcerned.

  "Kehrsyn?" Tiglath's unmistakable voice sounded muffled through the door. "Open up."

  Bewildered, Kehrsyn moved to the door, and, planting one foot firmly to prevent the door from opening too far, unlocked the deadbolt and cracked it open. She peered through the gap and saw the high priestess looming in the hallway.

  "Ordinarily, one does not have to request admission to one's own room," observed Tiglath.

  Kehrsyn backed away from the door, letting it swing open as she retired to a spot near the window.

  "I had rather expected you'd be more, you know, surprised to see me here," Kehrsyn said.

  "I was," said Tiglath. "I got over it."

  "What do you mean?" asked Kehrsyn, confused.

  Tiglath held out her arm, and the dragonet leaped from the bed, buzzing its wings, and alighted nimbly.

  Tiglath kissed its muzzle and stroked its scaly little body, then, as an aside while she petted her creature, said, "Tremor's eyes are my eyes. I see whatever he sees. So while I was surprised to see you enter, I got over it while watching you. Why did you feel compelled to search my room?"

  "I had to make sure you weren't behind the attack and the staff and all," said Kehrsyn.

  "You don't trust me?" asked Tiglath.

  "You yourself said no one is what they seem," parried Kehrsyn. "So because I trust you, by your words I shouldn't. So why did you let me search your room?"

  "I wanted to make sure you weren't going to steal anything," said Tiglath as she doted on her pet.

  "You don't trust me?" echoed Kehrsyn with a teasing smile.

  Tiglath glanced over at her, then turned her attention back to Tremor and said, "I wanted to make sure you weren't going to steal anything."

  Kehrsyn's face paled, and her smile vanished in the space between her heartbeats.

  "Uh, right," she said as she fished through her sash. "I–I was going to give them back…"

  Kehrsyn held Tiglath's keys out to her. Tiglath nodded, seemingly to her pet.

  "I know," the priestess said.

  "You do?"

  "You took nothing," replied Tiglath, crossing over to sit at her desk. "You even left me my secrets." She drew a deep breath, then let it out slowly. "If you'd opened that diary, however," she added, "things would be very different right now."

  "Right," said Kehrsyn, who didn't know what else to say, yet felt an acknowledgment was necessary.

  "So did you find out what you came to discover?" asked Tiglath.

  Kehrsyn sucked in her lips and nodded.

  "You don't have the staff," she said.

  "Of course not," said the priestess. "It's broken."

  Kehrsyn hesitated, wondering how much to divulge. She gritted her teeth, hoping she wasn't about to make a big mistake.

  "No," Kehrsyn said, "it's not. What we saw was a decoy. The real one-"

  "That was a forgery?" gasped Tiglath.

  "Uh, yeah," she said, pulling Eileph's forgery from her sash and showing it to the priestess.

  "Now, that is truly remarkable," said Tiglath in wonder, reaching for it.

  Kehrsyn didn't let her touch the staff, but showed her the crack running around the center.

  "See?" she said. "I had it repaired."

  "That's a fine job," said Tiglath, squinting at the workmanship.

  "So that means that the real staff was really stolen," said Kehrsyn. "I had to make sure it wasn't you."

  "I already knew that," said Tiglath, once she had recovered her aplomb. "What convinced you?"

  "I saw the way your people acted around you and the way they acted when you weren't around. And I saw the way you are, and how you reacted to the, uh, stuff at… on Wheelwright's Street. And here," she added, gesturing vaguely around, "there's the fact that you lock your door and keep your little dragon in your room while you're out, and everything in your room is meticulously arranged, down to the angle of the strongbox so that it lines up against the crack in the bottom of your drawer. All these things show that you don't trust anyone but yourself. And that means that if you arranged for your people to steal the staff, you'd have led them yourself, or else you'd take control of the staff as soon as they got it. And it's not in this room, and, frankly, I don't think you'd keep it anywhere else."

  Tiglath considered that and slowly nodded.

  "Yes," the priestess said, "I think you're right."

  "Plus, you know, your reaction right now, well, that looked pretty genuine," added Kehrsyn, by way of a joke.

  Tiglath did not respond. She rose from her chair and crossed to the door, stroking Tremor's tiny serpentine head. She opened the door a crack, and Tremor leaped out, bouncing along like a ferret before launching himself into the air with a buzz. Tiglath nodded once to Kehrsyn as she crossed back over to the chair.

  "Give us a moment, will you?" the priestess asked. "I need to know if this staff is under my roof."

  She sat in her chair and stared at the desktop for many long minutes, moving nothing but her lips, which framed voiceless words that Kehrsyn did not recognize.

  Kehrsyn eventually took a seat on the rug by the window and passed the time by twiddling with a lock of her damp hair.

  Finally Tiglath leaned back in her chair and looked in the general direction of the ceiling.

  "It is not here," she said with finality. "Tremor found nothing, and I trust his senses. I have him hiding in the main hall, where he will sniff at anyone who enters or leaves. He will not find anything, though. I train my people well."

  She grumbled deep within her throat and crossed her arms in frustration.

  "That means that whoever here arranged the attack and took the wand has another place to keep it," the priestess continued. "Either they have a hideout, which I doubt, given the lack of living space these days, or else they're working with another group or faction seeking power. That is likely the case. The lure of ruling Unther could create some dubious alliances. The question remains whether this is the work of an ambitious soul seeking to advance within Tiamat's order or a turncoat serving a new master."

  "Do you think it might be the Zhentarim?" asked Kehrsyn. "I've been hearing them mentioned a lot lately."

  "Those bastards?" spat Tiglath. "The only thing I'd hate to see more than them getting into power is the return of Gilgeam himself! Oh, if one of my people is working with them, they will rue the day they were born."

  Tiglath set her chin in her hands, a scowl darkening her features.

  Kehrsyn sat for a while longer, then broke the silence. "I should be going," she said as she stood, her voice barely above a whisper. She gestured vaguely with one hand. "I'll just let myself out the, uh, way I came in."

  "That," said Tiglath, "would probably be best."

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Demok stood beneath a faded silk awning and waited for Kehrsyn to reappear. The awning sagged beneath its burden of rainwater, and periodically the level of the water rose to a point where a sudden cataract dumped over one side. The regular purge was as good a marker of time as any.

  From his vantage point across the boulevard from the building Kehrsyn had entered, Demok could not make out the seal that hung over the main entrance; the rain was too heavy. Even though the thin pedestrian traffic offered cover, he chose not to move closer and check. Kehrsyn had no idea she'd been shadowed, and he didn't want to give either her or the occupants any chance to discover they were being watched.

  Not that Kehrsyn had taken particularly good precautions. To
a seasoned stalker like him, her subtlety rang with furtive intent. Still, he rationalized, she was cautious, and that was probably more than enough in weather like that against what he presumed was an unsuspecting target.

  He'd watched her study the building, moving in a circumspect circuit around it. He'd seen her study the figure that sat near one window. He'd watched her bump a massively built matron of a resident, presumably to cut her purse or some such. Though the acting was contrived, she had fast hands. He had to give her that-very fast hands, and a light touch. The matron had left, none the wiser.

  The front door of the building opened again, and a group of people stepped out. They walked in roughly his direction, hunkered down against the rain. He glided out of his cover along an intercept course, hoping to glimpse a clue to their affiliation as he passed. And, as he asked them for unneeded directions, he did: they were dressed in scarlet and black, and he caught a glimpse of the dragon-heads sigil that marked the bearer as a follower of Tiamat, the Dragon Queen.

  Demok touched the brim of his rain-soaked hood in thanks for their assistance and watched them shuffle off into the cold winter rain.

  Tiamatans, he thought. How interesting. My masters will be most interested to hear of her escapades here.

  Demok crossed back to his watch post and waited for Kehrsyn to reappear.

  I only hope she is of the proper temperament to be recruited, he reflected. If not… such a weapon cannot be allowed to fall into other hands.

  He saw a shadow exit the building from the upstairs window. It was Kehrsyn. His heart skipped a beat as he caught a glimpse of her. The excitement of the hunter when he sees his prey, he told himself.

  He watched the lithe, expert fashion in which she climbed back down the building, and one corner of his mouth pulled up appreciatively. She moved away, unrolling her cloak against the rain. She never noticed him slide from the shadows and begin stalking her again.

  "Well, fancy meeting you here," said Kehrsyn, her smile a bright oasis in the grim, gray rain that drenched the stalls of the bazaar.

  Demok pressed his lips together in an expression that Kehrsyn suspected was as jovial as his scarred face ever got.

  "Massedar sent me to look for you," he said.

  "Why, Demok," said Kehrsyn with mock astonishment, "I do believe that's the longest sentence I've yet heard you say."

  To her surprise, he actually laughed, a single coughing snort that showed teeth.

  "I'll work on that," he said.

  He stepped aside and gestured chivalrously. Kehrsyn nodded and winked at him, and the two of them walked side by side through the soggy streets of Messemprar, the dense city mud unable to stick to their boots in the face of such a rain.

  After several moments of silence, Kehrsyn finally said, "Is there some kind of problem? I mean, I'm surprised that someone as important as Massedar would trouble himself for someone like me."

  "Explain."

  "I mean, I'm just a juggler who-"

  Demok raised his hand so sharply that Kehrsyn thought he was going to strike her.

  "No," he said, 'You're not."

  "Yes, I am," she said. "Call it what you like, but-"

  "A juggler you are. You are not a 'just a' juggler," said Demok, glaring at her.

  Nervous, Kehrsyn returned his gaze and said, "If you didn't look so angry, I'd say that was maybe a compliment."

  "You have exceptional skills," Demok said, dropping his eyes.

  "Well, I don't know if-"

  "Good with people, too."

  There was a long pause.

  "Thanks," said Kehrsyn.

  She glanced at Demok, and perhaps he nodded, but that was all the acknowledgment he gave.

  They walked a ways farther.

  "Does he think that?" she asked, a guilty lilt in her voice.

  "Who?" asked Demok.

  "Massedar," said Kehrsyn with a smile. "Does he think I have 'exceptional skills'? Is that why he sent you out to find me?"

  "In part," said Demok.

  "Why else?" asked Kehrsyn.

  She glanced at her companion, but she couldn't see his eyes for the hood he wore. All she received for an answer was a resolute set to his jaw.

  "Is he…?" she pressed. "Does he think I'm…? That is, I know it's business, but…" She couldn't bring herself to say it, so instead she gave up, exasperated. "Oh, you wouldn't know," she sighed. "Just forget about it."

  Demok stopped in his tracks and turned to face her.

  "I will," he said, "if you will."

  "What do you mean?" asked Kehrsyn, but Demok had already turned and was heading on, his long gait even faster than before, and Kehrsyn had to trot to keep pace. "Tell me! What do you mean?"

  "Forget about it," said Demok. "Good advice."

  Kehrsyn grumbled at his curt behavior but said nothing further for several blocks, though she refused to keep trotting and started to trail behind her escort. Gradually Demok's pace slowed to allow her to catch up.

  They walked a while farther in peace, listening to the rain on their hoods, before Kehrsyn broke the silence again. "I hope I didn't offend him," she said, a little too loudly to be talking to herself.

  Demok did not appear to hear her statement.

  "Do you think I upset him?"

  He glanced at her and said, "You stole his staff."

  "No, I mean about saying I expected him to… you know, well, have his… his way…"

  Demok slowed just a bit.

  "Why did you give that answer?" he asked, his eyes boring into Kehrsyn's.

  "Well, because I'm poor, and he's powerful, and my mother was poor, and it happened to her when she attracted the attention of a powerful man. And I've got her good looks, or so people say, so I've always just figured it was a matter of time before it happened to me."

  Demok nodded and resumed at his brisk pace.

  "You didn't answer my question," Kehrsyn said, but to no avail.

  "Well," she puffed under her breath, "if he wants to avoid talking, he should quit asking questions."

  "I understand thee not," said Ahegi. "Why dost thou not search the maid straightaway?"

  "Dear advisor," replied Massedar, "thou hast the subtlety of a flatulent camel. Heed thou my words, and all shall be reckoned well with the maiden."

  "I shall obey thee," said Ahegi, though he bridled speaking the words, especially after such a comparison. "Just rest stalwart that this wench stealeth not thy heart as well as thy treasures."

  Massedar narrowed his eyes just a shade and said, "Thinkest thou that I remain not in control of all within this house?"

  In response, Ahegi studied his lord. Ahegi knew all about lusts. He had, in fact, spent his whole life indulging his own, and, while he might never admit his own ruled him, he could tell when lust ruled others. He knew Massedar was a man of lust, though he had never quite figured out what its object was.

  "Think I that thou dost protest overmuch," answered Ahegi at last, measuring the words evenly.

  He bowed and left the audience hall, shutting the door quietly behind him.

  A pair of guards met Demok and his quarry at the door. The guards gruffly ordered them to follow, not even allowing them to doff their cloaks. The fluster of movement enhanced the sharp division between the cold weather outside and the warm surroundings inside. Though Demok was used to such abrupt and disruptive arrangements-they being a staple of Massedar's forcible negotiating style-Kehrsyn seemed put out by the aura of urgency. That, of course, was the intent.

  The guards ushered them along briskly and blew into the meeting room without preamble. One of the guards shoved Kehrsyn forward so that she stood alone in the center of the room, almost exactly where she had been manacled in the first interview.

  As expected, Massedar stood with his back turned. He'd lowered his head almost to his breast, his arms crossed.

  Demok counted silently in his head. One… two… three… four.

  Massedar whirled, his long robes swirling around him
menacingly.

  "Where hast thou been?" he shouted, carefully enunciating every syllable of the High Untheric for maximum effect.

  Demok nodded appreciatively. It was a good pause, too long to be short, short enough to be surprising.

  Kehrsyn stood startled, perhaps even scared. Massedar widened his eyes beneath his placid brows, giving him a murderous aspect. He strode over to Kehrsyn, his lips pressed into a slight frown, his nostrils flaring like those of a frenzied horse.

  Kehrsyn's mouth worked, but no sound came out. Massedar didn't break stride but moved right up against her, looking down upon her fair face as he gripped her head in his hands.

  "Speak thou an answer unto me," he said, an authoritative tone to his quiet voice, his nose brushing hers, his lips scant inches from her mouth.

  Demok could see Kehrsyn trembling ever so slightly.

  "I've been trying to find it for you," Kehrsyn wailed, barely keeping her composure from collapsing entirely.

  Demok raised one eyebrow. She was trying to find it… for him. He was right. The young woman was falling for Massedar. Despite demonstrations to the contrary, he doubted the reverse was true. Demok had hardly ever seen the man display an unconditionally honest emotion.

  Massedar closed his eyes and drew a deep breath, putting a very slight shudder into it. He released her head gently and stepped backward, letting his fingers delicately trace the curve of her jaw as he disengaged.

  He exhaled slowly and opened his eyes, filling them with a pleading look as he locked with Kehrsyn's tear-bedewed gaze.

  "Thou must forgive me," he said, softly, sadly, gently, with an almost imperceptible shake of the head. "I have been greatly afflicted by thy absence, and my thoughts have been of thy charge."

  "I'll get the staff for you," said Kehrsyn, drying one eye on the cuff of her blouse.

  "Of course thou shalt," said Massedar, "but as well must thou return in safety. Say thou the word and it shall be given to you, even unto the best of my guards to ensure your well-being."