Masquerades - Kate Novak [67]
Croamarkh Luer Dhostar sat at the far end of the table, dominating the room with ill humor. He glared like a basilisk as the swordswoman entered, and drummed his fingers impatiently on the arm of his chair as he waited for her to approach. Victor, seated on his father's right, looked nervous and worried, but smiled weakly. Kimbel, who stood behind the croamarkh, to his left, blinked like a lizard. Alias strode over to the table and stood behind one of the large chairs.
"Last evening you attacked a group of individuals breaking into the Thalavar warehouse," the croamarkh announced.
Alias wondered if she should nod in confirmation, but the elder Dhostar stormed on, "One of these individuals was Haztor Urdo, the youngest son of Lord Ssentar Urdo. Lord Ssentar has just been in here to demand an apology for your mistake."
With a flash of insight, Alias realized that Lord Ssentar must be the rude merchant noble who'd slammed into
her as she entered the tower. And Haztor… "Haztor Urdo?" she asked. "He wouldn't be an arrogant young man with mediocre skill with a blade and black hair that pigeons could nest in, would he?"
"That's him," Victor agreed in a whisper.
"I made no mistake," Alias said coolly. "Haztor Urdo may be a pitiful excuse-"
"You made a mistake!" the croamarkh interrupted with a bellow. "I know you made a mistake, because Lord Ssentar informed me that his son is innocent. And because I need the support of the Urdo family in council, I had to a-pol-o-gize." Lord Luer spat out each syllable of the last word as if it were poison. "Apologize for someone in my employ, even if her position is on a trial basis."
Angrily Alias replied, "As I was saying, Haztor Urdo may be a pitiful excuse for a thief, but he is a Night Mask, albeit a petty one."
"He is not a Night Mask!" exploded the croamarkh.
"Because Lord Ssentar said so?" Alias asked in disbelief.
"Lord Ssentar is a long-time ally from a noble merchant house. His word holds more weight than that of a common little sell-sword who blew in on the wind," the croamarkh snapped.
Alias smiled the tight smile that came to her lips whenever she was about to lose her temper. She pulled out the chair before her and sat down in it. This not only established her attitude that she was on equal footing with the merchant lord, but kept her from lunging across the table and wringing his arrogant neck. The seat cushion was warm, which probably meant the chair had just been vacated by Lord Ssentar or a member of his retinue. Alias laid her hands on the table, one over the other, looked Luer Dhostar in the eye, and spoke. "A sell-sword I am, and common those may be, but I, Lord Luer, am not common, a fact you no doubt recognized when you offered me a thousand gold retainer for ten days of work. Should you wish to break our contract, I will accept two hundred as a penalty fee and two hundred for the two days of service I have rendered to date."
Luer Dhostar looked astonished by the swordswoman's nerve, but there was also a hint of dismay in his expression. He quickly returned to the offense, though, insisting loudly, "I have no intention of canceling our contract. I want you to fulfill the terms without harassing any of the merchant houses."
"So you're going to let Haztor Urdo go free?" Alias asked.
"He's already been released," Durgar said from the doorway.
"Well, then, Lord Luer, I don't see the problem," Alias replied with her tight smile. She kept her voice at a low rumble as she explained, "I will continue hunting Night Masks. Should any of them turn out to be Haztor Urdo or some other thieving noble merchant scion, you may feel free to apologize all you want to their parents and grant them freedom. That's your business. I will not, however, agree that I have made any mistakes just to soothe your misplaced anger. I've fought assassins, a sorceress, a lich, an ancient dragon, a mad god, and a