Masquerades - Kate Novak [19]
Mintassan smiled and flipped up the sides of the box and twisted the lid back on. He looked up slyly at the swordswoman, noting, "There is, of course, one exception to the sphere's abilities."
"I have a permanent misdirection shield cast on me," Alias explained.
"Grypht mentioned it, and of course I had to test it," the sage said. "I struggled for hours trying to get the sphere to reveal you-without success. You didn't even set off the alarms at my door when you entered the shop. Now that we've finally met, I suppose you'll head right back to the Lost Vale." Mintassan sighed and leaned forward to stare into Alias's eyes. "Protected from magical scrying so only the lucky saurials have the pleasure of gazing on you."
"He must realize we don't find you as attractive as he does," Dragonbait said in Saurial.
"He knows," Alias said in Saurial. "He's flirting with me."
"Really?" Dragonbait asked. "Do you think he'd make a good mate?"
Alias ignored the paladin's question and replied to the sage, "That's our plan. As soon as there's a ship going that way," Alias said. "We may be stuck here a few days, though, according to the harbor master."
"Good," Jamal said to Alias. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to retire to one of the spare bedrooms."
Alias wondered if Jamal was explaining her sleeping arrangements to protect her reputation or to let Alias know the field was clear.
Jamal rose and began limping over to a staircase in the back of the workroom. She turned at the stairway and said, "Since you'll be around a few days, you'll have a chance to catch one of our performances. You'll see what a great cheap hero you make.
"I don't want to be a cheap hero," Alias called after her.
"Too late," Jamal called back as she pulled herself up the stairs by the railing. "I've already written the first act."
"I don't want to be a hero, cheap or otherwise," Alias insisted to Mintassan.
"I don't think you get a say in it," the sage replied. "Anyway, there's really nothing I can do about it. Jamal has total creative control over her theater. At least this time she's picked someone easy on the eyes," Mintassan noted with a grin.
Dragonbait chuckled. Alias glared up at him and said, in Saurial, "I am not going to take on the Night Masks, the merchants of Westgate, or whatever cheap villains Jamal has in mind," the swordswoman insisted.
"Don't worry. I'm sure you'll be a very good cheap hero," the paladin reassured her.
Four
The Faceless
Within the city walls of Westgate, but some distance from the neighborhood where Mintassan the Sage lived, a far larger gathering of people would soon be discussing the topics of Jamal, the fire, and the two newcomers. The room where they met was hidden deep beneath Westgate's well-traveled streets. Long ago it had been protected from magical inquiries and priestly divinations, and over the years its entrances had been regularly relocated, the construction crews that performed these feats quietly slain to ensure secrecy. No long-lost crypt in the Fields of the Dead, nor dark-hearted shrine beneath the wreckage of Zhentil Keep had been as diligently protected. In time, the very secret nature of the place became its own protection. A place no one has seen, which cannot be detected super-naturally, must be a myth, so enforcers of the law, fortune hunters, and revenge seekers had long since ceased to search for the lair of the Night Masters, alleged leaders of the Night Masks, and the Night Masters' lord-the Faceless.
Yet myths and allegations are often true, and the Night Masters and the Faceless met in their secret lair to plan the activities of the Night Masks and to evaluate their successes and failures.
These secret masters of their city were average-looking men and women. Most tended to the sprawling girth that marked success in those fields where the younger and less experienced can be convinced to do the physical labor. The Night Masters did not choose nervous fidgets or careless drunkards to join their number. On the surface above, they were shopkeepers,