Masquerades - Kate Novak [60]
Alias snarled with annoyance that she would have to deal with this fool while the Night Mask leader was climbing a wall of crates to the loft.
"Now you will die for challenging the true rulers of Westgate," the swordsman announced dramatically.
Alias snorted derisively, but resisted the temptation to run him through. She feinted high with her sword, and when the Night Mask caught her blade on his own she closed in on him and delivered a punch to his belly. Assured that the man wore no armor, she slugged him twice more before he collapsed in a groaning heap at her feet.
Free from distractions, the swordswoman began climbing the crates, following the Night Mask leader.
The Zhentish woman had leaped from the top of the pile of crates into the loft. She was bending over a lantern when Alias came up on her. Alias poked her sword in the woman's back. The Night Mask whirled around, holding a tube of metal with a burning candlewick hanging from one end.
Alias froze. She'd never seen the device the woman held, but she'd heard about it. It was some magical explosive made with smoke powder, so simple that even a thief could use one. It could be deadlier than a wizard's fireball. The Night Mask leader backed away until she stood in the section of the loft above the cribs of wine barrels.
"Kiss your wine good-bye, Dhostar lackey," the Night Mask said with a laugh.
"The wine's not in those barrels," Alias replied with a smirk. "It's hidden behind the crates on the other end of the warehouse."
The Zhentish woman glared at her opponent. She glanced back down at the warehouse floor, where two halflings stood guard over the Night Masks who had surrendered. They'd made the Night Masks lie with their faces to the floor. The Night Mask leader scowled down at her former troops who had surrendered so easily.
She dropped the explosive tube down on their backs.
"No!" Alias screamed. "Get behind the crates!" she shouted at the people below. One of the halflings looked up at her with a confused look on his face.
The tube exploded with a flash and a great boom, which rocked the empty wine barrels and the crates in the loft overhead. Smoke poured up from the floor of the warehouse.
As Alias turned around to confront the Night Mask leader, the Zhentish woman smacked her on the side of the head with her hammer. The swordswoman reeled backward and lost her grip on her weapon. Her attacker lunged toward her, dagger drawn. Alias lashed out with a kick, catching the Night Mask squarely in the chest. The Zhentish woman toppled over the low loft railing, landing with a sickening, deadly thud on the stone floor below.
Through the clearing smoke Alias could see Dragonbait examining the bloody carnage of bodies below. Intent on a prayer to heal a bleeding halfling, the paladin was oblivious to the recovered Night Mask swordsman, who was now sneaking up behind the saurial. Just as Alias cried out in Saurial, Olive Ruskettle dashed out from behind a pile of crates and smashed the Night Mask on the knee with a hammer pillaged from one of his compatriots. He crashed to the ground, swearing profusely. Dragonbait continued praying over the halfling.
With their leader dead, and most of their party killed- eight of those torn apart by the explosive device wielded by their own leaders-the remaining Night Masks were easily rounded up and convinced to surrender.
The second halfling caught in the explosion was beyond help from even Dragonbait's prayers. The other halflings glared at their remaining eight prisoners, muttering angrily. Olive had the sense to send the two halflings who muttered the loudest out for the watch, and two more to fetch down the Night Mask on the roof.
Despite the hostility of his captors, the Night Mask swordsman