Марк Энтони - Crypt of the Shadowking

The loremaster laid one of his big hands gently on Mari’s own. “How long ago did his spirit move on?” he asked her softly.

“Three years ago today,” she said, surprised at the tightness in her throat and the trembling in her voice. What would Master Andros think of her? He had always taught her to be strong. “I joined the Harpers after he died,” she said, clenching her jaw and forcing her trembling to stop. “I want more than anything to make him proud of me.”

They sat in silence for a time while the doves sang their sorrowful song. Finally Tyveris squeezed her hand and then stood. “Why must you make him proud of you, child?” he asked her softly. “Was he not already?”

Before Mari could reply Tyveris turned and walked back into the firelit glow of the inn, leaving her alone in the darkness of the garden.

Caledan headed down the narrow back stairwell and joined the others in the private dining chamber.

Tyveris and Mari were helping Estah set supper on the board as Ferret entertained Pog and Nog with a copper coin the thief had borrowed from them. The weaselly little man sent the coin dancing about his knuckles, the penny disappearing in one hand only to reappear in the other. The two halfling children watched in rapt delight, and Nog squealed when Ferret seemingly pulled the coin right out of the boy’s ear.

“All right, that’s enough,” Estah scolded the three of them. “To the supper table with all of you.” Pog and Nog groaned in disappointment but shuffled off, dragging their feet, to obey their mother. Ferret, of course, pocketed their coin as he followed.

“So are you ever going to tell us why Lord Ravendas wanted to string you up, Ferret?” Caledan asked the thief as they broke bread.

Ferret shrugged. “All you had to do was ask, Caledan. It isn’t as if it’s a secret. I was making plans to escape from Ravendas’s work gangs beneath the city, along with the other prisoners who were going to be hanged.” He scratched at the dark stubble on his pointed chin. “But then one of the prisoners in on the plan got scared and betrayed us to the Zhentarim. That’s when Ravendas decided to make an example of us. Oh, by the way.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small object. He handed it to Mari. “I believe this is yours.”

“How—?” Mari started. He had handed her the moon-and-harp pin she always wore on her jacket, the sigil of the Harpers.

“Just trying to keep in practice,” Ferret explained with a wink.

“Well how did you get yourself captured in the first place, Ferret?” Tyveris asked.

“A minor miscalculation,” Ferret replied, looking decidedly uncomfortable. “I had decided to relieve one of those spineless lords of a portion of his rather considerable store of gold. Unfortunately, I had the bad luck to pick one who had managed to get himself on Ravendas’s bad side. Just as I was about to leave his tower, the Zhentarim broke down the door and threw the lord in chains, hauling him off to the dungeons. They captured me as well, even though I was merely an innocent bystander.”

“ ‘Innocent bystander?’ ”

Ferret shot Caledan a sour look. “Anyway,” he said in his raspy voice, “Ravendas has quite an operation going on down beneath the tower’s dungeons. The tunnels go on for miles. She must have close to a thousand cityfolk slaving for her against their wills. I don’t know what it is she’s digging for down there, but it must be something pretty important.”

Caledan nodded intently. “I’d pay handsomely for that information.”

“Really?” Ferret asked, a gleam in his beady eyes. “I might be able to … ask around.”

Caledan grimaced, reaching for his purse. “All right, Ferret,” he grumbled. “How much is it going to cost?”

It was midnight. Caledan and Mari stood in the shadows of a deserted intersection in the Old City, waiting. “Where is he?” Mari said in a whisper. “You don’t suppose he ran off with the gold we gave him, do you? He is a thief, after all.”

“He’ll be here,” Caledan whispered back. Unless the rogue ends up with a knife in his back, Caledan added silently to himself. “Ferret may not be strictly honorable, but there is a certain consistency to his actions, and we’ve been friends a long time. Besides, he wants the Zhentarim gone from the city just as much as we do, and I’m sure the thieves’ guild does as well. They must be losing a fortune to Ravendas.”

“I’m still not certain petitioning a thieves’ guild for help is a good idea,” Mari said.

Caledan disagreed. “Thieves are as much a part of city life as temples, schools, and markets are. They keep the merchants from getting fat and lazy, and give the city guards something to do besides troubling honest folk. Now what could be wrong with that?”

It was scant minutes later when the shadows stirred, and Ferret abruptly appeared. “So did you have any luck?” Caledan asked.

Ferret nodded. “A little, I think. I tried all day to find out if there were any thieves in the city who had done work for Ravendas since she’s been here, someone who might have heard what it is she wants, or know something concrete about her underground operations.”

“And?”

“Most thieves have been avoiding her,” Ferret explained. “No one wants to do work for someone who’s likely to dispose of you when the job’s finished. But I did hear of one old fellow, named Tembris, who did a job for her when she first came to Iriaebor. He may know something.”

“So where is this Tembris?” Mari asked.

Ferret cast a nervous glance over his shoulder. “Uh, I’ll tell you on the way. I don’t think it’s such a good idea to stand around here for long.” He started off at a brisk pace down the street, and Caledan and Mari hurried to keep up.

“All right, Ferret. Who did you kill?” Caledan asked the rogue sternly.

“No one,” the thief answered in his raspy voice. “Er, no one you know, that is.” He gave Mari a sheepish look. “People can be so uncooperative sometimes.”

The Harper glared at the weaselly thief. Caledan, however, didn’t care how Ferret had gotten his information as long as it got them some answers.

“This Tembris is a member of the Purple Masks Guild,” Ferret explained as they made their way through the darkened streets.

“Well, that’s going to complicate things,” Caledan muttered.

“How so?” Mari asked.

“Ferret and his family are independent thieves, Harper,” Caledan replied.

“He means we’re not aligned with the guild,” Ferret added. “Guilds don’t usually tolerate independents like us. They generally give independents two choices—either join or be killed.”

“Why hasn’t your family joined?” Mari asked with a puzzled frown.

Ferret laughed nastily. “You don’t know my grandmother Jewel, the head of my clan. She refuses to answer to anybody. Even a guildmaster would think twice before tangling with her.”

Soon they stood before a temple built of pale marble. Graceful columns supported an intricately carved façade, behind which rose a lofty, tapering spire. An elaborate frieze glimmered in the moonlight beneath the temple’s cornices, depicting a woman with flowing hair holding the reins of a chariot that rode through the sky, bearing the orb of the moon.

“The Purple Masks Guild is in the temple of the goddess Selûne?” Caledan questioned Ferret.

“Of course not,” the rogue protested. “It’s beneath it. The Moon Goddess is revered by all who walk the night, you know.”

They stepped through massive doors of polished mahogany into the shadowy temple. Within was a long, column-lined hall. Moonlight poured through windows high in the pale walls, caught and reflected by mirrors so that the entire temple glowed with an unearthly light. A few priests and worshipers moved quietly about the temple, but none seemed to take notice of the three newcomers.