Kate Novak - Masquerades

"Lord Ssentar is a longtime ally from a noble merchant house. His word holds more weight than that of a common little sell-sword who blew in on the wind," the croamarkh snapped.

Alias smiled the tight smile that came to her lips whenever she was about to lose her temper. She pulled out the chair before her and sat down in it. This not only established her attitude that she was on equal footing with the merchant lord, but kept her from lunging across the table and wringing his arrogant neck. The seat cushion was warm, which probably meant the chair had just been vacated by Lord Ssentar or a member of his retinue. Alias laid her hands on the table, one over the other, looked Luer Dhostar in the eye, and spoke. "A sell-sword I am, and common those may be, but /, Lord Luer, am not common, a fact you no doubt recognized when you offered me a thousand gold retainer for ten days of work. Should you wish to break our contract, I will accept two hundred as a penalty fee and two hundred for the two days of service I have rendered to date." Luer Dhostar looked astonished by the swordswoman's nerve, but there was also a hint of dismay in his expression. He quickly returned to the offense, though, insisting loudly, "I have no intention of canceling our contract. I want you to fulfill the terms without harassing any of the merchant houses."

"So you're going to let Haztor Urdo go free?" Alias asked.

"He's already been released," Durgar said from the doorway.

"Well, then, Lord Luer, I don't see the problem," Alias replied with her tight smile. She kept her voice at a low rumble as she explained, "I will continue hunting Night Masks. Should any of them turn out to be Haztor Urdo or some other thieving noble merchant scion, you may feel free to apologize all you want to their parents and grant-them freedom. That's your business. I will not, however, agree that I have made any mistakes just to soothe your misplaced anger. I've fought assassins, a sorceress, a lich, an ancient dragon, a mad god, and a fiend from Tarterus, and all in my first year as an adventurer. If you think you can subdue me simply by shouting, you are most amusingly mistaken."

The croamarkh heaved himself to his feet and glowered down at the swordswoman as he growled, "In all my life, I've never had so disrespectful a hireling."

"Or, I'll wager, one with an eye for detail equal to your own," Abas answered.

"Detail? What detail?" Luer demanded, leaning over the table toward the swordswoman.

"The Night Masks used a smoke powder explosive last night. Recently you caught House Urdo attempting to smuggle smoke powder."

"We confiscated that shipment. The Night Masks did not get it," Lord Luer snapped.

"Not that shipment, but no doubt there have been others you've missed. That's why you've finally decided to hire a mercenary, someone for whom you did not have to be fully accountable. Fourteen years ago, the Night Masks were just an annoying thieves guild, so you ignored them. In the past few years, however, smoke powder has become less rare, like Amnite sugar cubes. Ordinary thieves can do more damage with it than powerful wizards can with fireballs. You realize that more and more smoke powder is being smuggled in. Whether it's brought in by House Urdo or House Anybody, you can't afford for the Night Masks to build a reserve, because if they do, it's just a matter of time before they start deciding who the next croamarkh will be. With the right threats, they might convince some of the houses to vote for a compromise candidate-Haztor Urdo, now wouldn't he be perfect. His father certainly stands behind him."

Luer Dhostar waved his finger in Alias's face. "You take care of the Night Masks. I'll take care of the merchant houses," he said. "Victor will see that you receive your full retainer today so that there will be no more discussion of broken contracts." The croamarkh motioned with his finger from his son to the door. That will be all," he finished and sat back down in his chair. Alias rose and followed Victor to the door.

"Durgar," the croamarkh said, "please assign some members of the watch to escort this not-so-common sell-sword back to her hotel with her retainer. We wouldn't want her robbed."

"Yes, Your Lordship," Durgar replied. He opened the door and followed Victor and Alias from the room. Once he closed the door, Victor clapped Alias on the shoulders. "You were wonderful," he said. "Wasn't she wonderful, Durgar?" Durgar raised an eyebrow, but did not reply.

"I've never seen anyone square off against Father as well as you. Fifteen minutes ago, he was threatening to fire you, now he demands you remain. You should be a merchant. Shouldn't she, Durgar?"

"Considering that House Dhostar is paying her a hundred times the salary of a guard of the watch, she certainly has the financial outlook," the priest replied dryly.

"House Dhostar isn't paying me to be a watch guard, Your Reverence," Alias retorted. "They're paying me to bring down Night Masks. As to your father's firing me,Victor, it wasn't likely. He knows that if he did, and I continued to catch Night Masks, he couldn't take the credit for it."

"That may be so, but he was sorely tempted," Durgar said as he motioned for Alias to climb the staircase to the next level. "The noble merchant houses are sacrosanct as far as Lord Luer is concerned, as well he should be."

Alias turned and climbed the stairs backward as she looked back down on the priest and Victor behind him. "Are you saying you approve of freeing Haztor Urdo, Your Reverence?" she asked with some surprise. "I would have thought you of all people would expect the law to apply to all."

"I am a pragmatist, young woman. I understand the importance of bending some laws so that society remains orderly. The croamarkh is elected the first among his equals, his equals being the other noble merchant lords. Some nations obey their monarch because they believe he has a divine right to rule. Tyrants hold sway with armies or fell magic. Here in Westgate, the croamarkh rules by the consent of the noble merchant houses. He needs their support to rule, and without him to rule, there would be anarchy in this city."

"You mean the common people might be free to block traffic if they want to watch a puppet show?" Alias teased.

"And powerful merchant families with money to hire mercenaries would be free to run those common people down with impunity," Durgar retorted. "The croamarkh's laws protect the weak as well as the strong. Now you must excuse me, I have other duties. I will arrange for two guards to meet you at this door with a porter. Good day." The priest continued down a corridor, leaving Victor and Alias standing at a guarded doorway.

Victor pulled out a key hanging around his neck and unbolted one lock of the doorway. The guard, with his own key, unbolted a second lock and pushed the door open. The room within held two accountants, four more guards, and enough coin to satisfy a young dragon. Victor wrote out an order for Alias's payment, and the guards gathered up twenty small sacks filled with fifty gold each and piled them into a box.

Alias signed a receipt and hefted the box under her arm. As she and Victor left the room, Alias could hear the guards on the other side relocking the bolts. She and Victor sat on a bench beneath a window beside the counting room door.

"So what do you think of all this?" the swordswoman asked the young merchant.

"Well, no one loathes Haztor Urdo more than I," Victor said with a laugh, "but my father and Durgar have a point. The croamarkh must stand united with those who've elected him. We've had a croamarkh ever since Verovan's death. For a hundred and twenty years, that's protected us from another tyrant. Any of the merchants would be better than someone like that, and Father is the best of all of them." g

"How about a croamarkh who isn't a merchant, elected and supported by all the people?"