The Dream Spheres - Elaine Cunningham [82]
"Heard, yes. I'm not sure I understood what went unsaid between you."
"I implied that her potions or others in the shop might be poison. I told her I had no use for them at the moment but was looking for those who might. An assassin hunting down assassins. She heard and warned us."
"I know people who can test it for me, see what it is and how it works. It will take a few days for me to get back the answer, but it would be information worth having."
Danilo digested this in silence. "Do not misunderstand me when I say that testing the perfume would be effort wasted."
"But-"
He cut her off with an upraised hand. "Diloontier took the bottle into the back room, promising to 'repair the scent.' By now the contents have been altered. We must look elsewhere."
Arilyn could not refute his logic. She gritted her teeth and acknowledged it with a curt nod. There was no more speech between them, though she could not help but wonder if Danilo was relieved at finding a wall at the end of this particular alley.
She had her moonblade and her duty to the elven people. Danilo had title and privilege and a nobleman's loyalty to family and peers. Of one thing she was grimly certain: Before this matter was settled, either she or Danilo would be called upon to sacrifice something of deep value. She only hoped it would not be each other.
In all truth, though, she did not see how it could be otherwise.
* * * * *
Lilly walked quickly down the streets of the Castle Ward. She seldom had reason to come to this posh district of Waterdeep, but her determination sustained her, just as it had through the horrid trip back to the city.
This ward was almost as foreign to her as the tunnels and caves had been. There was little work to be had in the Castle Ward, since the taverns hired serving girls with more polished speech and manners. Nor did she dare ply her trade as thief so close to the castle and the horde of guards and watchmen who patrolled the area.
She nervously smoothed her hands over the skirt of her best dress and hoped that she did not look too conspicuous. More than one masculine glance lingered upon her and followed her as she turned onto the Street of the Sword. Usually Lilly would look upon such things as nature's course, a compliment paid without words. Today she feared the stares meant she was out of place.
Worse yet, under scrutiny.
The thought sent her blood skittering through her and set up a humming in her ears like that of a dozen whining mosquitoes. "I'm in a dither, that's all. No call for it," she assured herself in the most stouthearted tone she could muster.
Tossing back her head, she walked the rest of the way with feigned confidence and entered Balthorr's Rare and Wonderful Treasures as if she did so twice every tenday.
The proprietor glanced up. Lilly rocked back on her heels, unprepared for the man's scarred visage. She'd heard that Balthorr had lost an eye in a battle with a chimera, but she didn't expect that he would flaunt his loss as proudly as a family crest. He wore a glass eye, striking in that it was nothing but a white sphere. To Lilly, it was eerily reminiscent of the dream spheres.
"I have come to sell," she said, more abruptly than she had planned.
Balthorr studied her with his one good eye. He rose and jerked his head toward a curtained room.
Lilly followed him, then quickly spilled her coins onto the table. "These are platinum. Not many will accept them from the likes of me without asking questions. Can you exchange them for lesser coin?"
The man studied one of the large, shining disks. "Two hundred silver," he offered.
She worked out the exchange in her head and decided the deal was fair enough. "This, too," she added, placing the ruby on the table.
Balthorr picked up the gem and studied it. "Very pretty. Too big to be real, though."
For a moment Lilly's heart sank, but she quickly gathered herself, bolstered by her conviction that