Elfsong - Elaine Cunningham [29]
"I have met all this evening's performers," Lucia began. "Despite your skill on the harp, lady, you are not one of them. May I know your name?"
The harpist did not look up from her playing. "You may call me Garnet Since we have worked together before, I see no need for formality. Please, sit down."
Lucia sank onto the low, velvet-covered bench, as far away from the strange half-elf as possible. "My memory is excellent but I don't recall our association."
"Three nights ago, in the Street of Swords bazaar district. That ballad you heard was mine, and that bard is under my influence. By itself, the ballad is creating quite a stir, but I watched you at work afterward, and I must admit that you enhanced the situation admirably."
"You flatter me," the noblewoman said cautiously, distressed to learn that her actions had not escaped notice.
"Not at all. I've made some inquiries, and you are an astonishingly versatile woman. Your business interests make you an influential part of Waterdeep's web of commerce, and you pay membership dues to two guilds. You have also reached a high position in court society." Garnet finally stopped playing and looked up, locking her intense blue gaze with the noblewoman's wary eyes. "And, most important, you have managed to infiltrate the Lords of Waterdeep. No wonder the Knights of the Shield speak highly of you. I am told that you're their highest ranked agent in this city."
Lucia's heart thumped painfully, but she merely folded her hands in her silken lap. "I would be a fool to admit to any of this," she said.
"Yes, you would," Garnet agreed with a thin smile. "But since I am quite sure of my facts, I don't require verification."
The noblewoman's mind raced over the possibilities. Other than her trusted agents, no one in Waterdeep knew that she was a member of the Knights of the Shield, a secret organization from the south that gathered information and manipulated politics to whatever end suited them. Obviously, with this information, Garnet could threaten to ruin her in Waterdeep and demand whatever she liked. There was a second danger the half-elf's words revealed to Lucia that this information had come directly from high officials in the Knights of the Shield. Lucia had secured her position with the Knights by claiming to be one of the secret Lords of Waterdeep. Since the identity of the Lords was a closely held secret, and since the Knights and the Lords were bitter enemies and not known to exchange information, she had little fear that either her superiors or the true Lords would discover her ruse. If this half-elf-who clearly had the ear of someone important among the Knights-was going to demand favors that only a Lord of Waterdeep could accomplish, then Lucia had a serious problem.
"You seem to know a great deal about me, and therefore you have me at a disadvantage," Lucia said sweetly, hoping to draw more information from Garnet.
"What would you like to know?" the half-elf responded bluntly.
"Well you said that the bard was under your influence. How was this done?"
Garnet plucked a large purple trumpet flower from the vines overhead and handed it to the noblewoman. "I'll show you how it was done," she said simply, and once again she put her fingers to the harp strings. She began to play a lilting dance tune, to which she sang a few lines of cryptic verse.
The flower in Lucia's hand collapsed into a withered brown thread. The noblewoman gasped and looked up at the trellis. The vines were also blighted,