"Sly upon sly, a feint within a feint! Of course you knew the effects of Thesali antivenin. Of course you knew that I would run back here to my personal cup- board! And you have had the time, haven"t you, Artemis Entreri? Clever lad!"
Theebles looked to the window and thought to throw the cake out into the street. Let the homeless waifs find its crumbs and eat them, and all fall down dead! But the cake, the beautiful cake. He couldn"t bear to be done with it, and he was so, so famished.
Instead, he moved across the room to his private desk. He carefully unlocked the trapped drawers, checked the wax seal to be certain that no one had been here before him, to be certain that Artemis could not have tampered with this supply. Satisfied that all was as it should be, Theebles opened a secret compartment at the bottom of the drawer and removed a very valuable vial. It contained an amber-colored liquid, a magic potion that would neutralize any poison a man might imbibe. Theebles looked back to the cake. Would Artemis be as clever as he believed? Would the young rogue really understand the concept of sly upon sly?
Theebles sighed and decided Artemis just might be that clever. The vial of universal antidote was very expensive, but the cake looked so very delicious!
"I will make Artemis Entreri pay for another vial," the now-famished lieutenant decided as he swallowed the antidote. Then he romped across the room and took a tiny bit off the edge of the cake, testing its flavor. It was indeed poisoned. Experienced Theebles knew that at once from the barely perceptible sour edge among the sweetness.
The antidote would defeat it, the lieutenant knew, and he would not let the young upstart cheat him out of so fine a meal. He rubbed his plump hands together and took up the cake, gorging himself, swallowing huge chunks at a time, wiping the silver serving platter clean.
Theebles died that night, horribly, waking from a sound sleep into sheer agony. It was as if his insides were on fire. He tried to call out, but his voice was drowned by his own blood.
His attendant found him early the next morning, his mouth full of gore, his pillowcase spotted with brownish red spots, and his abdomen covered with angry blue welts. Many in the guild had heard Dancer speak of the previous day"s challenge, and so the connection to young Artemis Entreri was not ahard one to make.
The young a.s.sa.s.sin was caught on the streets of Calimport a tenday later, after giving Pasha Basadoni"s powerful spy network a fine run. He was more resigned than afraid as two burly, older killers led him roughly back to the guild hall.
Artemis believed Basadoni would punish him, perhaps even kill him, for his actions; it was worth it just to know that Theebles Royuset had died horribly.
He had never been in the uppermost chambers of the guild hall before, never imagined what riches lay within. Beautiful women, covered in glittering jewels, roamed through every room. Great cushiony couches and pillows were heaped everywhere, and behind every third archway was a steaming tub of scented water.
This entire floor of the hall was devoted to purely hedonistic pursuits, a place dedicated to every imaginable pleasure. Yet to Artemis, it appeared more dangerous than enticing. His goal was perfection, not pleasure, and this was a place where a man would grow soft.
He was somewhat surprised, then, when he at last came to stand before Pasha Basadoni, the first time Artemis had actually met the man. Basadoni"s small office was the only room on this floor of the guild hall not fitted for comfort. Its furnishings were few and simple-a single wooden desk and three unremarkable chairs.
The pasha fit the office. He was a smallish man, old but stately. His gaze, like his posture, was perfectly straight. His gray hair was neatly groomed, his clothes unpretentious.
After only a couple moments of scrutiny, Artemis understood that this was a man to be respected, even feared. Looking at the pasha, Artemis considered again how out of place a slug like Theebles Royuset had been. He guessed at once that Basadoni must have hated Theebles profoundly. That notion alone gave him hope.
"So you admit you cheated at the quarter challenge?" Basadoni asked after a long and deliberate pause, after studying young Artemis at least as intently as Artemis was studying him.
"Isn"t that part of the challenge?" Artemis was quick to reply.
Basadoni chuckled and nodded.
"Theebles expected I would cheat," Artemis went on. "A vial of universal antidote was found emptied within his room."
"And you tampered with it?"
"I did not," Artemis answered honestly.
Basadoni"s quizzical expression prompted the young rogue to continue.
"The vial worked as expected, and the cake was indeed conventionally poisoned," Artemis admitted.
"But..." Basadoni said.
"But no antidote in Calimshan can defeat the effects of crushed gla.s.s."
Basadoni shook his head. "Sly upon sly within sly," he said. "A feint within a feint within a feint." He looked curiously at the clever young lad. "Theebles was capable of thinking to the third level of deception," he reasoned.
"But he did not believe that I was," Artemis quickly countered. "He underestimated his opponent."
"And so he deserved to die," Basadoni decided after a short pause.
"The challenge was willingly accepted," Artemis quickly noted, to remindthe old pasha that any punishment would surely, by the rules of the guild, be unjustified.
Basadoni leaned back in his chair, tapping the tips of his fingers together.
He stared at Artemis long and hard. The young a.s.sa.s.sin"s reasoning was sound, but he almost ordered Artemis killed anyway, seeing clearly the cruelty, the absolute lack of compa.s.sion, within this one"s black heart. He understood that he could never truly trust Artemis Entreri, but he realized, too, that young Artemis would not likely strike against him, an old man and a potentially valuable mentor, unless he forced the issue. And Basadoni knew, too, how valuable an a.s.set a clever and cold rogue like Artemis Entreri might be-especially with five other ambitious lieutenants scrambling to position themselves in the hope that he would soon die.
Perhaps I will outlive those five, after all, the pasha thought with a slight smile. To Artemis he merely said, "I will exact no punishment."
Artemis showed no emotion.
"Truly you are a cold-hearted wretch," Basadoni went on with a helpless snicker, his voice honestly sympathetic. "Leave me, Lieutenant Entreri." He waved his age-spotted hand as if the whole affair left a sour taste in his mouth.
Artemis turned to go, but stopped and glanced back, real izing only then the significance of how Basadoni had addressed him.
The two burly escorts at the newest lieutenant"s side caught it, too. One of them bristled anxiously, glaring at the young man. Lieutenant Artemis Entreri?
the man"s dour expression seemed to say in disbelief. The boy, half his size, had only been in the guild for a few months. He was only fourteen years old!
"Perhaps my first duty will be to see to your continued training," Artemis said, staring coldly into the muscular man"s face. "You must learn to mask your feelings better."
The man"s moment of anger was replaced by a feeling of sheer dread as he, too, stared into those callous and calculating dark eyes, eyes too filled with evil for one of Artemis Entreri"s tender age.
Later that afternoon, Artemis Entreri walked out of the Basadoni guild hall on a short journey that was long overdue. He went back to his street, the territory he had carved out amidst Calimport"s squalor.
A dusty orange sunset marked the end of another hot day as Artemis turned a corner and entered that territory-the same corner the thug had turned just before Artemis had killed him.
Artemis shook his head, feeling more than a little overwhelmed by it all. He had survived these streets, the chal lenge Theebles Royuset had thrown his way, and the counter-challenge he had offered in response. He had survived, and he had thrived, and was now a full lieutenant in the Basadoni Cabal.
Slowly, Artemis walked the length of the muddy lane, his gaze stalking from left to right and back again, just as he had done when he was the master here. When these had been his streets, life had been simple. Now his course was set out before him, among his own treacherous kind. Ever after would he need to walk with his back close to a wall-a solid wall that he had already checked for deadly traps and secret portals.
It had all happened so fast, in the course of just a few months. Street waif to lieutenant in the Basadoni Cabal, one of the most powerful thieves" guilds inCalimport.
Yet as he looked back over the road that had brought him from Memnon to Calimport, from this muddy alley to the polished marble halls of the thieves"
guild, Artemis Entreri began to wonder if, perhaps, the change was somewhat less miraculous. Nothing really happened so quickly; he"d been led to this seemingly remarkable state by years spent honing his street skills, years spent challenging and conquering brutal men like Theebles, or the old lecher in the caravan, or his father....
A noise from the side drew Artemis"s attention to a wide alley where a group of boys came rambling past. Half the grimy mob tossed a small stone back and forth while the other half tried to get it away.
It came as a shock to Artemis when he realized that they were his own age, perhaps even a bit older. And the shock carried with it more than a little pain.
The boys soon disappeared behind the next shack, laughing and shouting, a cloud of dust in their wake. Artemis summarily dismissed them, thinking again of what he had accomplished and what heights of glory and power might still lay before him. After all, he had purchased the right to dream such dark dreams at the cost of his youth and innocence, coins whose value he did not recognize until they were spent.
BLOOD SPORT
Christie Golden
"I understand you"re used to being on the other side of these iron bars,"
said the woman called the Shark. Her black eyes were hard as she gazed through the barred window into the Mistledale prison cell. "Weren"t you once captain of the Riders? They called you Rhynn "the Fair," right? Oh, but that was before you turned traitor to the people you were sworn to protect."
Inmate Rhynn, an indigo-haired moon elf, did not reply. Only her clenched hands, their slim wrists encircled by metal shackles, betrayed her tension.
The Shark opened the door with the key given her by the new captain of the Riders. She leaned her tall, well-muscled frame casually against the cold stone of the cell. The elf"s glare grew more hostile, though she trembled violently. A malicious smile spread across the Shark"s tanned face. Her functional, masculine garb-wool tunic, breeches, and cape- kept her warm, even in the middle of the month of Hammer. Rhynn Oriandis was clad only in a shabby tunic that dozens of prisoners before her had worn. Her skin, pale as that of the quarry the Shark had been summoned to hunt, was covered with gooseflesh.
The Shark knelt and brought her tawny face within an inch of Rhynn"s. "It"s all come out, Rhynn. I want the vampire."
"I don"t care what lies you"ve heard. He deserved to go free."
"Ah, you elves do protect your own, don"t you?" The Shark"s lips curled in a sneer. "I"ve never heard of an elven vampire before. I"m looking forward to this case."
"Race had nothing to do-"
"It had everything to do with your actions!" the Shark interrupted. "What you forgot is that this creature is not an elf any longer and therefore did not deserve your misplaced protection. He"s a vampire. They are things of purest evil. They know no race, and the only thing they "deserve" is a stake through the heart. Give me the information I want, or I"ll simply take it from you."
Rhynn"s eyes remained steady. "Torture me all you like. I won"t break."
"I wouldn"t be so sure. They call me the Shark because I"m the predator"s predator. I"ve fought twenty-two vampires and countless humans, and I"ve always made my kill." Pride colored in her words. "Now-" her hand was a swift blur as she tangled strong fingers in Rhynn"s hair "-cooperate, and you come out of this with your sanity and maybe your freedom. Fight me-" she tightened her grip until Rhynn gasped softly "-and you"ll have neither."
The Shark chanted an incantation, blunt-nailed fingers digging into Rhynn"s skull. Rhynn arched in pain, her shackles rattling furiously, but she could not resist. The Shark"s spell tore open the elf"s mind.
The woman"s emotions had obviously been confused by the vampire"s magical charms, for she saw him as a being devoted to good rather than the monster he was. The Shark had probed other minds in this manner before, and always, in the victims" memories the blooder was a veritable saint. The Shark concentrated on the elf"s appearance, his name, his destination, even as Rhynn tried frantically to secret the information. In her weakened condition, Rhynn could not bear the mental violation. Her mouth opened in a soundless scream, then unconsciousness claimed her.She"s luckier than she knows, thought the Shark; had she resisted further, the struggle to protect the vampire would have destroyed her sanity.
Triumphant, the Shark released her hold on Rhynn. On a whim, she tossed the keys within the elf"s reach. Rhynn might revive and free herself before her captors realized it. Maybe she"d escape. Maybe they"d kill her. It didn"t really matter. The Shark slipped the hood of her cloak over her head and vanished, thanks to the cape"s enchantment. With hardly a thought, she walked out of the small prison and pa.s.sed the two guards. Her horse was waiting for her behind the jail, out of sight of the guards. Quietly she mounted. Snow m.u.f.fled the hoofbeats as the Shark headed toward Mistledale"s single main gate. The idiot guards there noticed nothing.
According to Rhynn, the monster wanted to return to Evermeet, the elven homeland. The Shark snorted with contempt. Did the blooder actually think he could cross water? No, he"d be stranded along the Sword Coast, probably in Waterdeep. He already had a three month head start. She"d have to ride hard to catch up with him.
The Shark turned her mount westward, toward the place that was becoming known as the "City of Splendors," and kicked the animal savagely.
The hunt was on.
A bawdy song spilled out of the Orc"s Head Inn. The Shark, clad in demure feminine attire and appearing deceptively fragile, entered the noisy tavern.
She brushed snow off her cape as she observed the noisy, slightly drunken crowd, then un.o.btrusively seated herself in a shadowed corner. The blooder wasn"t here yet, but her sources had a.s.sured her he would make an appearance tonight.
She had only been seated a moment when a pretty young barmaid plunked a foamy tankard of ale in front of the Shark. The girl was small but full-figured, with a tumble of golden curls cascading down her back.
"On the house tonight," the barmaid explained. "Shallen Lathkule-" the girl gestured to an extraordinarily handsome youth surrounded by merry companions "-is to be wed tomorrow afternoon. He"s buying drinks for all, in memory of his lost bachelorhood."
"Well, to Shallen and his bride. He seems to be a popular young man,"
ventured the Shark, hoping to draw the barmaid into conversation. Perhaps this Shallen knew the blooder.
"Oh, he is indeed. Friendly as you"d like. And talented. Crafts the prettiest baubles this side of Evermeet, so they say."
"He"s a pretty bauble himself, isn"t he?" joked the Shark. Before the girl could answer, the door opened and the barmaid"s eyes lit up with pleasure.
The Shark followed her gaze-and her own eyes flashed in excitement.
A slim figure entered, carrying a large crate. He leaned on the door to close it behind him. Though he wore a gray cloak over his blue tunic, his shoulder- length hair was uncovered, brilliant wheat-gold dusted with snowflakes. No hood shadowed his fair features and bronze skin. His eyes perused the scene with subtle caution, a furtiveness that the Shark recognized. The silver gaze settled on her for a moment, then moved on.
Her elven vampire had arrived.
She watched him intently as he moved gracefully to a spot near the door and set down his crate. Un.o.btrusive as he was, Shallen spotted him. "Thereyou are!" the young man cried happily, extricating himself from his less sober companions. "Khyrra told me to talk you into coming to the wedding tomorrow."
"I"m afraid I cannot," replied the elf. The Mistledale folk hadn"t exaggerated when they had described the blooder"s voice as sweet, like music. "But this might take the sting out of my refusal." With a small dagger, he cut the rope that had secured the crate and pulled out a small statue. Carved of soft pine, the figurine was a mere eight inches high, but the moment the elf brought it into the light, all eyes were upon him and his work.
Balanced in his golden palm was a miniature of Lliira, Our Lady of Joy. Her long hair flowed about her, merging into her swirling dress as she danced in sheer delight. One hand was raised, palm flat, while the other one curved around her body, following the drape of her garb.
"Her hand is empty, but there"s a little hollow right here," the elf pointed out.
"Fill it with a jewel that has a special meaning for you and Khyrra. Our Lady of Joy will stand in my stead at your wedding tomorrow."
Shallen"s blue eyes were wide and sparkling with tears. The Shark"s own eyes narrowed. How easily tricked they were, all of them-Rhynn, Shallen, and probably that little barmaid as well, judging by her reaction to the elf"s entrance. Like the vampire who had made it, the gift was beautiful, but surely also dangerous.
"Thank you. I-" Shallen"s throat closed up and he turned back to the bar, embarra.s.sed by his emotion.
"Too much ale," quipped a friend. The awkward moment dissolved into laughter, and the performers resumed their tune. Though the music was loud enough to drown out most conversation in the tavern, the Shark had come prepared to eavesdrop. She rested her chin on her hand, ostensibly en- grossed in the singing. As she did, she held a tiny, perfectly formed horn to her ear, easily concealed by her flowing black locks. She whispered a spell, and the voice of the barmaid came clearly to her ears.
"That must"ve taken you months! What"s Shallen done for you that you give him so pretty a thing?"
The elf glanced back at the jeweler. "He wears his youth and happiness like a beautiful robe, for all to see and share in. That"s enough. When it"s time for you to get married, Maia, I promise I"ll give you and your husband something even prettier."
Maia"s response was an uncertain laugh. "Don"t know as I"ll ever have a husband." Slender, nervous hands gestured at her body, a shade too ripe for modesty, and her beautiful face, a touch too hard for innocence. "Most men like uncharted territory, Master Jander, and I"m more like their own backyard."
The vampire reached to still her suddenly anxious hands. Gently, he said, "You told me something of that sort six months ago, when I found you in the City of the Dead. I told you then that your past need not destroy your future. I was right-Kurnin hired you at once, didn"t he?"
A sheepish smile played on her full lips. "Aye," she admitted. "But, Master Jander, none of these people know what I am!" Her voice had dropped to a near-whisper.
The elf"s teasing expression grew more solemn. "You"re wrong, Maia. They know what you are. They don"t know what you were, and that no longer matters.""You think so?"
"I know so."
As Shallen had been a moment earlier, Maia seemed close to tears. She blinked them back and allowed herself a true smile, revealing the purity of the beauty that lurked behind the hard facade. "You"d charm the very birds off the trees," she laughed, trying to lighten the mood.