The Alabaster Staff - Edward Bolme [69]
Massedar stood at the window in his study, gazing out at the pale winter sky. Sunshine slanted into the room but did not warm it. He felt the outside chill pouring in through the open window, counterbalanced by the warmth radiating from the roaring fire. The blaze warmed his back and the hands clasped behind, and the reflected flames glinted merrily in his rings.
A knock came at the door-not the door that led to his private bedroom, of course, but the doorway that led to the audience hall in which he had alternately cowed and impressed their young thief.
"Enter thou," he said, not turning his head. His breath misted in the chill draft.
He heard the door open and close again. One pair of footsteps came over to his side.
"Ahegi, faithful servant," said Massedar. "Thou wouldst speak with me in privacy ere the interrogation?"
"Indeed, sir," said Ahegi, likewise in High Untheric.
Massedar turned. Ahegi's head was freshly shaved, and the two circles that adorned his forehead glistened. Ahegi's close-set and piggish eyes, set deep beneath heavy brows, glowered with black irises and blacker thoughts.
"Speak thy heart, then," commanded Massedar.
"My heart ponders, belike we have erred to entrust ourselves unto that maiden," said Ahegi. "Would that we had plied her lips forcibly with red irons and turnspindles, that we might have such knowledge of our trespassers unto ourselves."
Massedar smiled thinly and said, "The spangled sandpiper feigneth grave injury to lure the wolf from its nest, and the butterfly spider feigneth comeliness to lure a mate to its doom. If a simple animal understandeth that nectar draweth the prey willingly whilst the fire repelleth, wherefore dost thou despair of this lesson?"
"Mayhap I find the act of dissimulation cometh less easily unto me than it doth thee," Ahegi replied, his lips pressed together. "By my troth, I find that falsehood taxeth my patience."
"That, old friend, maketh thee an advisor of great worth," said Massedar.
Ahegi bowed and turned back to the door.
He opened it and said, "Demok, thou art granted audience to the Lord of Wing's Reach."
Demok stepped in and nodded slightly but respectfully. He kept his eyes studiously unfocused, looking at a vacant spot in the air to give his peripheral vision the greatest advantage.
"Sir," he said.
"My advisor Ahegi sweareth that thy maiden-thief lieth beyond trust," said Massedar. "What opinion hast thou?"
'Trustworthy," said Demok, nodding. "Sound heart. Looking to impress, find a home."
"Sound heart?" echoed Ahegi with a sneer.
"Good with kids," said Demok. "Cares about people."
"We shall not abide a net of such flimsy braids," said Ahegi. "She hath led us unto the lair of our enemies. Henceforth shall we vanquish them by advantage, striking the vipers in their den."
"Can't," said Demok with a set jaw.
"Thinkest thou not that I possess the power to smite whomever draweth my wrath?" asked Massedar. "Thou hast shadowed her unto the gates of her guild. We strike."
Demok looked at Massedar, then at Ahegi. "She spotted my tail. Got away. Tried to follow; no luck. Don't know where the guild is."
Massedar stepped forward, drawing a breath to say something, but then stopped, closed his eyes, and exhaled bitterly.
"Perforce must we wait," Massedar said eventually. "These are ill tidings, Demok. I pay thee handsomely for better. Leave thou me."
Demok nodded again and left the room in a flickering with his efficient, graceful movements.
Massedar and Ahegi stood silently for some time.
Ahegi said, "He speaketh not the truth unto us," he said.
"I know," Massedar said, nodding, "but we know not yet wherefore. Arrest ye him not before the measure of his deceit hath been revealed in full. Someone within Wing's Reach cleaveth to the Zhentarim. If it be he, must we then proceed with great prudence, lest we alert those who bring our doom."
By the time Kehrsyn left the enclave, the streets had been freshly washed