The Mage in the Iron Mask - Brian Thomsen [39]
The master traveler fingered his beard for a moment. He realized that it was futile to argue, particularly since she was entirely right, and he was just being lasciviously selfish.
"An amulet of non-detection, eh?" he asked. She replaced it back into its safe hiding place, as the master traveler followed its journey with his eyes. "Always wanted to get my hands on one," the master traveler continued, adding, "the amulet, I mean. That accounts for why you were able to get the drop on me so easily back at the Retreat yesterday."
Chesslyn chuckled.
"And I thought it was because of my superior skills as a ranger," she countered with a smile.
He replied only with a grin, glad that there were no hard feelings.
They once again continued on their way, Volo urging his steed forward so that they could ride side by side for as long as the narrow road would allow it. After all, they didn't have to part until the next sunrise, and much mutual enjoyment of each other's company could take place until then.
Volo struck up a new topic for discussion.
"So," he asked, "what do you think those two buffoons were looking for yesterday?"
"Probably the crystal wand," she replied. "Rickman is Selfaril's right-hand man, and the head of the Hawks. He probably sent them to investigate the slaughter. Kind of funny, though. My confidential sources are the best in Mulmaster, and I didn't know that anything had happened there. I was there just on the merest of coincidences. I had promised one of the elders that I would deliver his winnings to him, once they exceeded a certain amount."
"Come again?"
"Only the elders of the Retreat were allowed to come to Mulmaster, and then only on a rotating basis as the need arose. One of the elders, Damon of Runyon, would stop by the temple on his visit and leave a series of bets with very specific instructions. When his winnings reached a certain point, it was my place to bring a portion of the kitty to him, and, for a tidy fee, to bring out new betting instructions. He was pretty lucky, at least up until now."
"Obviously."
"So, anyway. He must have been surprised at the attack."
"At least."
"As surprised as we were to discover it."
"Right."
"So how did Rickman know to send some men to investigate it?"
"And how," Volo added, "would they know to look for something as specific as the bloodstained Thayan crystal wand?"
"Unless," Chesslyn continued, "he knew what they would find, and how would he know…"
"… unless he himself was involved."
"Agreed," the Harper agent concurred. "Curiouser and curiouser. The sole piece of evidence, the bloodstained wand, may not point to Thayan perpetrators since it might have been placed there by allies of Rickman."
"Which still doesn't explain the reason for the attack on the Retreat and merciless slaughter within," Volo added.
"Or why, beyond the obvious, Rickman would want to pin it on the Thayans."
Volo fingered his beard once again, this time in confusion. "What's the obvious?" he asked, unashamed of his ignorance.
"Rickman is Selfaril's right-hand man, and Selfaril hates Thayans," Chesslyn answered.
"But he's married to one," Volo countered.
"That's right," she replied with a grin. "Sometimes life's a bitch, ain't it?"
7
Past Tenses
In the Office of the Captain of the Hawks in Southroad Keep:
"Captain Rickman?" inquired an out-of-breath Hawk by the name of Danovich who hoped that the news he bore was sufficiently urgent to warrant disturbing the second most feared man in all of Mulmaster.
"What is it?" the captain of the Hawks demanded without looking up from the surveillance reports that seemed to form a blotter of paperwork upon his desk.
"You requested updates on the searches for the escaped prisoner, the released prisoner known as Passepout, and the travel writer Volothamp Geddarm?" Danovich asked tentatively.
Rickman looked up, his stern visage betraying the throbbing that resounded within his tortured brow.
"So I did," he said in a sarcastic tone. "Let me guess, they are all now in custody,