Enter.
Krystarn Fellhammer stepped through the wall and into the library. The fifteen drow left in her command stood in rank behind her, dropping out of view as the dimensional door spell eclipsed.
She felt tense as she went through the library stacks on either side of her, drawn by Folgrim Shallowsoul’s voice in her head. The stacks towered over her head in this wing of the great library, the spines and jackets crafted in fine woods and showing great artistry. She badly wanted to take one down, imagining how fine the wood grain must feel, only guessing at what it might contain.
“Two of the agents you recruited in Waterdeep have found Baylee Arnvold.” The lich’s physical voice sounded gravely and happy.
Krystarn’s stress did not alleviate. She knew the lich hadn’t called her into the library for a celebration. She took the next turn to the left, then walked up the circular stairs to the next floor landing.
Shallowsoul stood in a cul-de-sac of walls and windows that overlooked the section of the library Krystarn had just walked through. “There is a problem, however.” He gestured to the crystal ball on the short, narrow table before him where a book lay open atop a half dozen other books. The open one possessed a striking amethyst cover that looked cut from a huge, flawless stone. All of the pages appeared to have been cut from the same stone, sliced extremely thin. The writing was engraved on each page, complete with pictures.
“That’s good.” Krystarn ignored the small figures in the crystal ball on the table, concentrating on the loose stack of books, drawn into the puzzle of what the lich might be researching.
“No,” Shallowsoul snapped, “it isn’t.” He closed the amethyst book, then draped his robes over the collection of books.
Krystarn shifted her gaze to the crystal ball. “Why?”
“I need him alive.”
“Until now, you’ve needed him dead.” Krystarn met the lich’s gaze more bravely than she had in the past. Since the battle with the skeleton warriors, Shallowsoul had only seen her once. And then only to take from her the personal items she’d stolen from each of the agents she had hired in Waterdeep to look out for Baylee Arnvold.
“Things have changed.” The lich waved to the crystal ball. “The spell I had placed upon this ball’s tracking abilities let me know as soon as one of your lackeys had found the ranger.”
Krystarn had not known such a spell was possible. Scrying usually only entailed looking for, or at, a subject by the viewer, not having the ball do the work. Even more astounding was Shallowsoul’s claim that the ball could track more than one subject. She had employed nearly two dozen spies to search for Baylee Arnvold.
“When I knew they had found him,” the lich went on, “I watched them. He had with him a silver flask which I believe to be a bottle of thought.”
Krystarn was familiar with the magical item. “Who’s?”
“I don’t know. But this ranger has no one else with him, so I assume it’s from someone who knows about the library.”
“Fannt Golsway.”
“Yes,” Shallowsoul answered. “It would make sense that he would leave a message for his protégé.”
Krystarn peered more deeply into the crystal ball. “What would you have me do?” She did not recognize the two men closing in on Baylee Arnvold, having to take for granted that they were indeed men she’d employed.
“Speak to the doppleganger filth you have tracking the ranger. Tell them he is to be left alive.”
“How?” The fact that they were dopplegangers limited the names to a list of six.
“They will hear you.” Shallowsoul touched the ball with a talon. An amber glow clouded the glass, but didn’t dim the clarity of the image.
The lich’s instruction let Krystarn know the crystal ball was evidently one of Moredlin’s, able to transmit sound from the viewed location to the scryer, and from the scryer to the viewed location. She leaned forward, her breath fogging the amber-tinted crystal.
Xuxa took to wing at once and swooped toward one of the approaching sailors. The man’s cutlass whistled by only inches from the azmyth bat.
Baylee dodged a blow from the viciously twisted boat hook the other man held. The ranger stepped to the side, looking for a means of escape.
The sailor with the boat hook reset himself and came again. His movements were precise and measured. Evidently he was a skilled fighter and no neophyte to actual battle. Baylee blocked the blow, slapping the back of his wrist against the man’s weapon forearm and using his strength and leverage to keep the arm from descending. The ranger threw a bunched fist into the sailor’s face, snapping his head back.
For a moment, the sailor’s face seemed to wobble, and the ears grew longer. He staggered back, his free hand across his nose and eyes.
Baylee recognized the long ears and twisted features for what they were. He had fought dopplegangers before. Xuxa.
I have seen, the azmyth bat replied. They are all foul, cowardly creatures.
But in nowise less dangerous, Baylee pointed out. He gave ground before the doppleganger as it came at him again. Xuxa tried to keep the second one occupied, and to get close enough to use her own unique powers to end that part of the battle. But her attacks took glide time to maneuver. As soon as she broke off, the second doppleganger joined the first in attacking Baylee.
Without warning, a feminine voice spoke from the very air around them. “Keep the ranger alive,” she said, “or you’ll know my wrath.”
“Alive?” the one with the cutlass argued. “But that was not the bargain.”
“The bargain has changed. Surely you, of anyone, would understand change.”
Baylee believed he recognized the voice as belonging to the drow woman. They had tracked him. The pursuit had not ended.
“It is all right, Zyzll,” the other doppleganger with the boat hook said. “She only needs him alive. Not of a whole piece. We’ll still take his arms and legs. And if need be,” he held up the cruel boat hook, “we can take his eyes as well.”
Seizing the moment, Baylee turned and fled. His action caught the dopplegangers by surprise, and he gained three good strides on them before they took up pursuit. The ranger headed for his mount tied up in front of Nalkie’s. He came up from behind it at a dead run, used his hands on its rump to vault up, then landed with his feet on the saddle. He took one step as the horse shifted in surprise, and leaped onto the solid wood awning over the tavern, hoping that it would hold his weight. He ran the length of it, away from the sea and deeper into the shops.
A glance over his shoulder showed him that Xuxa winged toward him. The two dopplegangers raced after him as well. One of them rippled, the arms and legs stretching as it grew two feet taller than it had been. At its new height, it easily grabbed the edge of the eaves over Nalkie’s and hauled itself up.
The eaves vibrated beneath Baylee’s feet as the creature dropped onto the awning. The doppleganger with the boat hook followed along on the street below.
Baylee ran, quickly as he could, leaping over the open gaps between the awnings. A handful of shopkeepers and their patrons came out to watch, not daring to get too close. But Baylee knew the watch would be called, and with them would be Cordyan Tsald.
The line of buildings ended only a short distance ahead, leaving only the street or the alley behind the buildings. Baylee vaulted the low roof overhang of a leatherworker’s business and ran for the back of the building.
At the end of the roof, he took one glance down and spotted the trash heap behind the seamstress’s shop. He dropped into discarded fabric, breaking his fall, then clawed his way out. The footsteps on the roof above crashed, sounding close. With its greater stride, the doppleganger pursuing him across the rooftops gained ground.
Further down the alley, a young man swabbed out the back of a butcher’s shop, the door wide open behind him. He looked up as Baylee approached, freezing into place.
The ranger eyed the handle of the mop. It looked good and strong, the grain showing that the cut had been made with it instead of against it. A thud sounded behind Baylee, and he guessed that the eight-foot tall doppleganger had dropped down.
The youth mopping out the butcher’s shop stared past Baylee with wide eyes. The ranger reached out for the mop, snatching it from the youth’s hand. “Excuse me. I need this.” He turned to face his pursuer.
The doppleganger was almost on top of him. He couldn’t have outrun it any longer. The creature’s borrowed face split in a huge grin. “You’re going to fight me with a mop?”
“If you’re not too cowardly,” Baylee replied, holding the mop defensively before him. “After all, we are alone. Your kind generally prefers to outnumber an opponent. And I am a fair hand with a mop.” He breathed fast, trying to keep his breath regular after the exertion. Even fighting for his life as he was, part of his mind was occupied with what might be on the elven ship.
The doppleganger waved the cutlass with certain menace. With its enhanced height, the heavy-bladed weapon looked small.
Baylee shoved the youth back into the butcher’s shop, out of the way of the confrontation. He ducked under the doppleganger’s first slash. Instead of striking back as he stood and moved back from his taller foe, he put the wet end of the mop on the ground, then stomped the handle just behind it. The oak handle broke in a jagged arc. He side-stepped the next thrust.
The other one is coming, Xuxa warned.
I know. Baylee took another step back, giving ground, getting the feel of the changed weight of the mop handle. It was too short to be a true staff, but in his hands it was a dangerous weapon.
The doppleganger swung another cut at him, stepping forward in anticipation of Baylee moving back again.
Baylee deflected the blow, stopping enough of the sword before deflecting it to ensure the doppleganger’s hand would ache from the impact. Caught off guard, the creature was unprepared for Baylee’s reversal of the mop handle, or the swing that connected with his face.
The doppleganger roared with rage and pain, struggling to get the cutlass up.
Baylee ducked to the side, reversing the mop handle again and striking the doppleganger on the side of the knee with a meaty smack. The leg trembled and almost went out from under the creature.
Trying to recover, the doppleganger aimed a backhanded blow at the ranger. Baylee parried the cut and came across the top of the cutlass, ramming the rounded end of the mop into the creature’s forehead hard enough to jerk its head back.
The doppleganger stumbled back, a worm of blood already threading down its face. The creature howled with rage and threw itself at its opponent.
Baylee whirled away, catching sight of movement behind the first doppleganger. Xuxa tried to intercept the second doppleganger, but managed only to narrowly escape the boat hook. Keeping his attention on his first foe, the ranger slid the handle through his hands and swung it hard.
The heavy oak caught the doppleganger on the foot, breaking bone. The creature hobbled, trying to stay upright on its injured foot.
Swinging again, Baylee connected with the doppleganger’s head, knocking it to the ground. Before it could rise, he ran the sharp end of the handle into its throat, up into the brain. The doppleganger ceased its struggles, shivered convulsively, and died.
Baylee turned, the handle in his hands, and watched as the second doppleganger came to a halt only a short distance away.
The creature’s eyes widened in fear, but anger shaped the features. “You killed Zyzll.” The doppleganger raised the boat hook.
“Choose well,” Baylee said, “your next move. It could well be your last.”
“Take him,” the drow woman’s voice spoke from thin air. “I know you, Tweent. If he doesn’t kill you, know that I will.”
The doppleganger screamed and came at Baylee with the upraised boat hook.
Baylee blocked the hook and avoided his foe’s charge. Stepping to the side, he slipped the handle under the other doppleganger’s cutlass and flipped it into the air, making it come back toward him. With a skill that would have caused a carnival knife artist envy, the ranger caught the cutlass by the haft. As the doppleganger tried coming back around to get at him again, Baylee swung the cutlass at the juncture of head and neck.
The cutlass’s keen edge separated tissue, muscle, and bone in an explosion of power. The doppleganger’s head leaped from its shoulders.
Baylee looked down at the creature, feeling a little remorse. There had been too much death already in the pursuit of whatever prize Golsway had learned of. Talking to Golsway’s pseudo-shade had brought all that home to him.
“He was fairly warned and fairly fought,” a deep voice thundered. “There’s no need for reconsideration here.”
Baylee looked up, spotting Civva Cthulad ahorse at the other end of the alley.
The justifier slid his own sword back into its scabbard. His horse shifted under him, its hooves ringing against the flagstones. “I’m sure the watch has been called. Do you want them to catch up to you?”
Baylee tossed the cutlass away. Xuxa landed on a support strut beside the ranger and hung upside down, folding her wings around herself. “What are you doing here?” the ranger asked.
“Following you, of course.”
“I never saw you back there,” Baylee said. How did you miss him?
I don’t know, Xuxa answered honestly, sounding surprised herself. But then, a bat flying through Waterdeep in midday has to keep a low profile herself in order not to attract a lot of attention. Or become a cat’s dinner.
“You were never intended to see me.” Cthulad urged his mount forward. “I’ve been at your heels since you left your mentor’s home. I should imagine Junior Civilar Tsald is vexed at both of us.”
“They have no place in this,” Baylee said. “The people that are responsible for Golsway’s death aren’t from Waterdeep. The answers to their identities aren’t even in Waterdeep.”
“You talk as though you’ve found out some things.”
“Yes.”
“Perhaps you’d care to elaborate,” Cthulad suggested.
Baylee shook his head. “Not now. We’re being scried upon at this moment.”
A small smiled twisted the corners of the warrior’s face. “Then I suggest we attend to that first. I have a friend who can expedite matters.”
“So do I,” Baylee replied. “And he can be trusted to keep his mouth shut.” He paused, studying the justifier. “If you were so close to me, why were you so far away when these dopplegangers attacked?”
“I saw you take the flask from the fountain,” Cthulad said. “I guessed that it might be from your mentor. While you were in Nalkie’s, I thought it would be better if you had some time to yourself to sort things out. By the time I saw what was going on, it was over.”
Baylee nodded, satisfied with the answer. From start to finish, the battle with the dopplegangers had lasted hardly any time at all.
“I have to tell you,” Cthulad said. “I don’t mind cutting the Waterdhavian watch out of our operation, but I feel a bit rancorous about being cut out myself. As I told you, I represent the families and friends of those slain at the forgathering. I shall not shirk that duty.”
“I represent them as well,” Baylee said.
“No, my young friend. You represent your own interests. Not to say that you are in nowise selfish, but you are closely involved in these matters. A clearer head will prevail. If you allow me, I can be of service.”
“Perhaps.”
Cthulad laughed. “You against the world? Baylee, that’s only your youth talking. Your mentor left you a clue to the next part of this quest you are upon, or I’ll eat my horse. Do not foolishly assume you can defeat a power that took his life. By all accounts, Fannt Golsway knew his way around a spell or two. The foes you may be facing could be formidable indeed.”
Baylee remained silent.
“I should like an answer,” Cthulad said. “Your word that I shall be included in this endeavor. Or we can part here and I’ll dog your tracks anyway.” After a moment, he offered a hand, reaching down from his saddle.
“You’ve got my word,” Baylee said, taking the other man’s hand.
“Good. Then let’s get your horse and see about removing those scrying eyes.”
Folgrim Shallowsoul waved a hand over the crystal ball. The amber tint faded from the crystal, but the figures of Baylee Arnvold and Civva Cthulad remained. The lich turned his hollow-eyed gaze on Krystarn Fellhammer. He knows where the wreck is.
Krystarn met the lich’s gaze straight on, wondering how best to play the bit of information she’d just received. “What wreck?”
Shallowsoul ignored the question. Do you have a means of getting in touch with the other agents you have in Waterdeep?
“Only by teleporting there and contacting them. As you know, I can’t do that until after dark.” Krystarn almost shuddered at the idea that the lich might ask her to journey to Waterdeep for such an undertaking anyway.
“By then you will be too late,” Shallowsoul said, and Krystarn jumped at the sound of his spoken words. “I don’t think they’ll remain in the city much longer. He turned away from the crystal ball.
Krystarn stared into the crystal ball’s depths, watching as Baylee returned for his mount at the front of the tavern. Together, he and Cthulad rode along the docks, going north.
“After all these years,” Shallowsoul said, “the library will once more come closer to being complete. How I have longed for this day. And to have it threatened by this Baylee Arnvold, who is not much more than a mere boy, is insufferable.”
For the first time, Krystarn heard the madness in the lich’s words. She had always heard such creatures were quite mad, but she’d seen no real example of it. The weakness gave her hope. As a drow, she’d been trained from birth how to exploit the weaknesses of others.
“Perhaps,” she said, “you could send me to this shipwreck and I could prevent the ranger from arriving there.”
The lich turned to her, its grotesque face tweaked into angry mirth. “Do you take me for a fool, Krystarn Fellhammer?”
“No,” she answered quickly.
“Good. Because I don’t take you for a fool either. Were I you and had a chance at the things that you might find in that wreck, I would take what I could and run. Studying those things alone would take several lifetimes, even for a drow.” The lich shook his head. “No, it would be better if you were not subjected to such temptation. I would be loathe to kill you while you are still of use to me.”
Krystarn waited quietly, watching Shallowsoul open the amethyst book and read. In the crystal ball, Baylee and his companion arrived at a small shop in Waterdeep. A few moments later, the image in the crystal ball silently closed like a giant eye. It did not reopen.
“Baylee is gone from us now,” the lich said. “Use the crystal ball to reach your other contacts within the city. I want to know how he leaves Waterdeep. The crystal is already attuned to all of those you gave me information about.”
Krystarn sat and began her work. When she was finished, Shallowsoul dismissed her like a child. She mastered her anger and didn’t say anything. She felt his hollow-eyed gaze on her all the way back to the dimensional door. But her mind was busy thinking up ways to make Baylee’s diversion pay off for her.
“I’m afraid I wasn’t able to get you much,” Madonld said apologetically. He was short and wiry, silver-haired with a neatly cropped beard. Despite wearing the robes of a law-reader, he also wore the worn sword at his hip with authority.
Baylee looked at Golsway’s old friend. The ranger hadn’t often talked with the law-reader over the years, but there had been a few occasions when the old mage had invited the man to their table for eveningfeast and conversation afterwards. Those conversations always turned to the stories and twice-told tales they all shared as new speculations had arisen and been debunked all in the same hour.
“I did not expect miracles,” Baylee said. They sat in the back of a pipeweed shop near the dock area. A few silver pieces had purchased the room for an hour. A number of shops fronting the wharf area had the same business practices. A number of “trade” agreements had to be reviewed, as well as any bribes paid that needed paying. The room was small, having only a circular table and three spindly chairs. Candles in wall sconces lit the room and filled the air with the odor of burning wax.
Madonld passed over the money belt from a bag of holding he carried. “I think you’ll find you’re well provided for there, Baylee, but Fannt left you much more. It’s just at the moment, all those belongings and moneys are being scrutinized. I’ve already had an officer of the watch banging on my door less than an hour ago.”
“Cordyan Tsald?” Baylee asked, buckling the money belt around his waist.
“That’s her.” Madonld gazed at him carefully, glancing back at Civva Cthulad, who stood by the door. “Are you in some kind of trouble? Maybe it’s something I could help with.”
No trouble that you could help with, Xuxa put in.
“Maybe I should be the judge of that,” Madonld said.
Law-reader Madonld, if there was anything you could do besides what you’re doing here and now, don’t you think I’d be the first to know?
“Xuxa’s right,” Baylee said. “She would tell me to talk to you. And she wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer.” He checked through the pockets of the money belt, surprised at the amount of gold coins he found.
“You’ll find that you’ve been quite well provided for,” Madonld said to Baylee. “Fannt wanted you provisioned for whatever expedition he’s set up for you, and he wanted you looked after so that you may ‘charge with the winds, wherever your curiosity and sense of adventure,’ as he put it, takes you.”
“I never expected this,” Baylee said in a strained voice. “He was someone—” His voice finally broke. “You just thought he would live forever.”
Madonld put his hand on the back of Baylee’s neck. “I know.” The law-reader’s voice was husky. “I’m going to miss him too. So you be sure you get this matter cleared up and get back to me. I don’t want to see you lost as well.”
After a moment, Baylee stood. “I haven’t been to Golsway’s crypt to say my good-byes. I can’t go now because the watch will probably have it surrounded.”
“There will be time later. A more proper time.”
“Would you do me a favor?”
“Yes.”
“Would you send someone to take a flower blanket to put over his crypt? Wild red roses, with the thorns left on, and some dark purple orchids if you can. He never said so, but I knew they were his favorites.”
“Of course.”
Baylee shook the man’s hand and left the room, Cthulad at his heels. He had money enough, now. All he had to do was find a ship.