Silver Shadows - Elaine Cunningham [127]
"So you're back," Tinkersdam announced, not bothering to come out from under his current invention. "Brought friends, I see."
The half-elf stooped down and peered at the alchemist, who was busily connecting an odd network of tubes and vials. Arilyn did not want to think about what explosive force he might have in mind to power this strange conveyance. I've got a job for you," she said.
"As you can see, I've got one at the moment," Tinkersdam pointed out.
Words danced ready on Arilyn's tongue: the importance and urgency of the task ahead, the impact it would have on the elven folk, her own desperate need to free her Harper partner, if not herself, from the servitude demanded by the sword she carried. But none of this, she knew, would have the slightest impact on the alchemist.
"How would you like to blow up a palace?" Arilyn asked casually.
Tinkersdam looked at her at last with the expression of one who hardly dared to hope he might have heard aright. "How would I like to? As in, what method would I prefer to use?"
"Bad choice of words," the Harper agreed dryly. "You can use any method you like, but there must be enough of an explosion to throw all who are within the palace walls into confusion. The explosion must come from inside, and it must happen quickly, so as not to alert whatever passes for a city guard in Zazesspur these days."
The alchemist scooted out from under the carriage, bounded to his feet, and bustled over to a table. Muttering all the while, he began to toss odd-smelling powders and tip flasks of liquid into a large caldron, working with apparently indiscriminate haste.
"I've been wanting to try this for years," he said happily, briskly stirring all the while like a goodwife beating a batch of biscuits. "Oh, I've run the odd small test or two, but nothing truly substantial."
"That mansion you rendered into rubble in Suzail- that wouldn't by any chance have been one of those small tests?" Arilyn asked cautiously.
"Oh, yes, indeed. I'm looking forward to seeing what this can do when given a bit of time and space. What palace are we destroying, if I might ask?"
"The home of Abrum Assante."
"Not the master assassin?" demanded Ferret, speaking for the first time since they had entered the cavern. "Are you utterly moon-mad?"
Arilyn turned to the incredulous elf. "Assante has something we need. You remember the story you told of the Soora Thea, the hero who will return? Well, she can and will, but first we have to get her from her resting place-in Assante's treasure chamber."
The elf's eyes lit with hope and then blazed at this sacrilege. "So that is what the dwarf has been blathering about! The liddle blue-haired elf woman, indeed! Of course I will help. But you said the explosion must come from within the compound. How is this possible? Its defenses are nearly proverbial!"
Arilyn quickly outlined the story of her previous mission and described the water-filled tunnel they would need to swim to get in. "But we cannot take her out the same way. We will have to go out by the front door. And the only way to do that is to create enough chaos to convince Assante that he must use his escape tunnel. We will await him there and persuade him to see us safely out of the complex."
"And then he will die," Ferret added. "I can think of no man who would be more dangerous if left alive to nurse such a grievance. Even within the safety of Tethir, I would be ever looking over my shoulder! But what then? How are we to carry the sleeping hero into Tethir?"
"As luck would have it," Arilyn said dryly, "I have a friend working in the shipping guild. He will help make the arrangements."
"Here you are," the alchemist said, handing each of the elf women a small bowl. Arilyn glanced at hers. It appeared to be fine Shou porcelain, and around its rim was painted a ring of fire-breathing serpent dragons. A clear, waxy substance, still somewhat pliable, filled the bowl, and a cotton wick thrust up from it. At the bottom of the