Masquerades - Kate Novak [106]
"Come on out," Alias ordered, holding her sword level, still ready to strike. Magical creatures sometimes used the face of a friend as a ploy to get adventurers to lower their guard.
Victor stumbled forward sheepishly, nodding at the saurial and the halfling as they approached him warily. "Dragonbait. Mistress Ruskettle. How do you do? I was afraid you were the Faceless."
Alias looked at the paladin for some confirmation of Victor's identity.
Dragonbait concentrated his shen sight on the man before him. There was nothing but the sky-blue of grace in his soul. If he was not Victor Dhostar, he was his twin in all respects. The saurial nodded.
Alias exhaled and sheathed her sword. Then she leaned in toward Victor and snapped angrily, "What are you doing down here?" Her voice rang through the chamber like a bell clapper.
Victor sighed. "Being a damned fool," he answered. "I thought I could help you find the Faceless's lair. I followed up a few clues and found this place. I was investigating it when I heard a voice down the hall. I hid because I thought it might be the Faceless."
"How did you get past the quelzarn?" Olive asked suspiciously.
Victor blinked twice. "There was a quelzarn? I mean, there really is one?" he asked.
"Perhaps it didn't attack because it failed to hold him magically, just as it let me across," Alias suggested.
Olive was not mollified. "So how did you get in?" she demanded of the merchant noble.
"This," Victor said, pulling out from his vest pocket a key on a pink ribbon. He handed the key to Olive. It appeared identical to the one Alias had from Melman. "There's a secret door on the banks of the Thunn. You look through that hole in the grip to see it, then the key opens the door."
"How did you find the secret passage beyond the meeting room?" Olive demanded, running her fingers along the teeth of the key before handing it back.
"The latch behind the throne. King Verovan had something like that over a hundred years ago. Now it's a fairly standard release for the merchant houses to use in their treasuries."
"Where did you get the key?" Olive demanded.
Victor looked down at his hands as if examining them for dirt. "I'm afraid I can't tell you that," he said coolly.
"Can't or won't?" Olive pressed.
"Olive," Alias said in a cautioning tone.
Victor met Olive's intense gaze. "Won't," he retorted. "Certainly not to an employee of a rival house." He looked at Alias. "I will explain all to you later," he said, "when we are alone."
Alias accepted the noble's terms with a nod, but she had to ask, "Lord Victor, if you had some clues, why didn't you contact me?
Victor sheathed his sword. "There was some indication that another noble house was involved, so I thought I had better check it out first, to spare you another incident like yesterday's with the Urdos," the young man explained.
"You shouldn't have come down here alone. You could have been killed!" the swordswoman exclaimed.
"I realize you think of me only as a merchant, but I am capable with a sword and I can take care of myself," Victor replied.
There was a chill in the nobleman's tone that stung Alias like an icy rain. I've offended his pride, she realized, and although she couldn't help think of the awkward way he'd held his sword up only a moment ago, she knew she couldn't bring herself to challenge him. "Victor, this isn't about your being able to take care of yourself," she began carefully. "This is about your life being too important to risk on such a reckless excursion. Your father, the croamarkh, needs you. Westgate needs you." The swordswoman held his eyes with her own and, in a whisper, added,"I need you."
"How absolutely precious," a harsh whisper echoed through the cavern. "I'd nearly forgotten how amusing mammal love is."
Alias and Dragonbait held their swords up at the alert and wheeled back to back in a long-practiced maneuver.