Temple Hill - Drew Karpyshyn [42]
"All in a day's work, Lhasha. All in a day's work."
CHAPTER NINE
Once they reached the House of Hands, Fendel used a key to open a door at the back of the wall surrounding the church grounds. If the gnome hadn't pointed it out, Corin wouldn't even have noticed the camouflaged entrance built into the stone
"We want to attract as little attention as possible," Fendel explained. "The front might be under surveillance."
The secret door opened into the courtyard, still Uttered with the frames, canopies, riggings, and half finished structures of inventions being built in honor of the Wonderbringer.
"No one will bother us in my private workshop," Fendel assured them. "You'll be safe there, at least for tonight. It'll give us a chance to talk over Lhasha's… situation."
Fendel's workshop was in a much better state than the last time they'd seen it. The damaged tables had been repaired or replaced, as had the chairs. The reams of paper blueprints and plans still littered the scene, but Fendel had gathered them into neat little piles scattered over the furniture and floor of the room.
"I see you've cleaned up a bit," Lhasha said.
"The automatic farmer didn't work out, Lhasha-love. Too unstable. I've since decided to spend a few tendays focusing on simpler gadgets. Trying to get back into the High Artificer's good books, you know.
"Pull up a chair," the gnome continued. "I want to know exactly what happened."
Once they were all seated, Corin related his simple tale yet again.
"Three men broke into Lhasha's room. I knew they were there to kill her, so I killed them. Not much to tell. Nothing I couldn't handle."
Lhasha sniffed indignantly.
"You forgot to add that the poison they were using almost killed you. This is serious, Corin."
"I couldn't agree more," Fendel said in a grave voice. "I know people in this town. Important people. Connected people. People who know things. I thought I'd get a heads up before the Masks moved on Lhasha." The gnome paused and tugged thoughtfully on his scraggly beard. "I hadn't even heard that Lhasha was an active target, much less that they were sending someone out today. Somehow I'm out of the loop. I don't like being out of the loop. Things must be more serious than I thought."
"You mean I've got more of a reputation than you realized?" Lhasha asked with a slight smile.
"The world doesn't revolve around us, Lhasha-love," Fendel replied. "There are dark doings in Elversult these days. Always have been, I guess. Sometimes when the wheels of history get rolling, the little people like us are left to fend for themselves, or get crushed underneath.
"I was under the impression that my contacts had some influence with the Purple Masks. Since nothing had happened, I was actually beginning to think my contacts had managed to convince the Masks to forget all about you. Obviously that isn't the case.
"Events must have pushed the favors promised to an old gnome to the bottom of their list, and it was just good fortune that it took the Masks almost a full month to find you again. Now that three of their members are dead, I don't think there's any chance the Masks will agree to just forget about you."
"I dealt with them once already," Corin assured the gnome, Til deal with them again."
Fendel shook his head.
"No, Corin. You won't. They didn't expect you to be there this time, this wasn't a very well planned mission. The next time I guarantee you'll both be dead before you even know you're in danger."
Corin bristled. "I think you underestimate me, little man."
The gnome ignored the insult.
"It's not a slight against you Corin. You don't know what you're dealing with. I think you both need to leave town. Now. Take a trip to Teziir. Catch a ship up to Cormyr and lay low for a while, take a break from the burglary game. At least until my contacts in the thieves' guild let me know what's going on, and for Gond's sake, don't steal anything on the way."
"Wait, Corin," Lhasha said before her companion could continue the argument. "Fendel's always been there for me my whole life.