Rise of the Blade - Charles Moffat [75]
"Draque has the drow curse of greed in him. From what I know of the vault, nine tenths of the gold in there is his and he doesn't know what to do with it all."
"Asides from build a bigger, better vault when spring comes. He's already working on plans for having four sets of doors, all with different versions of his Insignia on them. He estimates it will take four hours to check for all the traps, disarm them all and finally open the doors."
"He told you this?"
"No, I caught his thoughts by chance."
"Ah, but what is chance? Is it fate?"
"Chance is fate?" Pierce questioned aloud.
"What else could it be? You didn't see it coming did you? It simply happened with no warning."
"Shouldn't that be the other way around? If it was fate, then I would have seen it coming right?"
"Yes, you should have. Does that mean that chance is the opposite of fate? That you can't predict good luck?"
"Are we talking about karma now?"
"Yes we are. Karma is the feeling that something is simply better. You don't know why, other than a hunch that it is somehow better. When you hold up two swords, you have a feeling that one is better than the other so you use the one that simply feels better."
"I see what will happen and feelings have nothing to do with it."
"Yes, but where do we find a distinction between a karmic feeling and foresight? Both do roughly the same thing don't they?"
"Foresight tells me whether I'll hit with the sword and karma tells me that I believe I'll hit with the sword."
"So foresight is certain and karma is based on belief. What happens if you believe in good luck?"
"Then you have a paradox."
"How so?"
"Its circular reasoning. If I say that I believe in good luck because I have a good feeling about it, then when I miss I realize that I was wrong and should have done the other thing."
"Hindsight is twenty twenty. How would we rate your foresight? Can you see the future with your left eye better than your right?"
"Its a mental image. If I close my eyes I still know what will happen even if I can't see it visually with my eyes. My mind will still see it in my head."
"So if a person thinks in his head that one sword is better than another, even though they both look exactly the same and feel physically the same, he'll pick the one that he thinks will work better. Is it fate that causes him to pick one over the other? Or is it chance?"
Pierce shook his head and wanted to scream. "You enjoy confusing my foresight don't you?"
"These philosophical talks help you though right? Over the years your foresight has gotten stronger and you can see things with a clearer mental image."
"Yes, it is stronger, but do you have to confuse me like that? I won't be able to sleep tonight because I'll be trying to figure it out in my head."
"Is that your foresight speaking or a karmic prediction?"
Valeska looked down at the revelry from her place in the rafters. The cafeteria was filled with people, young and old, rich and poor. Bards and musicians from every race waited in a long line to have their turn at entertaining the populace. She waited until a gawky looking half-elf stood up on the piled tables which was the stage before she made her interruption.
The clear smooth sound of her violin drifted down slowly at first and then drowned the people in her music. It was a sound more melodious than a Harp and smoother than anything else. It calmed the nerves and sang in the hearts of every man and woman who suddenly found themselves rooted to the ground and spellbound as they raised their eyes to the rafters and saw the drow standing there on the beams.
Valeska whispered a mental prayer to her god and continued to play. The music grew and the tempo increased dramatically as people realized who they were watching. The entire chamber was quiet, with the possible exception of one corner.
"Do something Draque!" Pierce hissed in the drow's ear.
"No," replied the drow and puffed on his cigar.
"Why not? We've been trying to catch her for years!"
"The Harpers have. I haven't. Valeska is a nuisance to you, but she