Tymora's Luck - Kate Novak [102]
Joel handed his torch to the yugoloth spokesman and began climbing down the ladder. When he'd gone down four steps, he looked up at the yugoloth and ordered, "Close the door behind me. I'll knock when I'm ready to leave." Then the bard continued his descent.
With his hand clenched about the little wooden harp, Joel stepped down to the floor of the gate's control room. It was possible the gatekeeper would prove to be some creature he couldn't deceive. If such a creature, whatever it was, attacked him, he would be left with no choice but to flee to Fermata.
The air was suffocating in the room below. It took Joel's eyes a few minutes to adjust to the dim light of a single torch. A tiny window in the outer wall looked out over the gate, and another one on the opposite wall looked out over the courtyard. An array of large gears, levers, and handles occupied the other two walls.
There were signs that the gatekeeper actually lived in the room. A cot stood against the outer window, and beneath that a chamber pot. On a small table beside the cot rested a water bottle and a half-finished meat pie.
A figure stood beside the cot. Joel's eyes widened in surprise. While his inductive reasoning had proved correct-the gatekeeper did indeed prove to be a human, and a priest -the gatekeeper's identity came as a bit of a shock to the bard. The gatekeeper wore the robes of a novice. He was tall and handsome, with blue eyes and golden hair.
It was the same priest of Xvim Joel had battled four nights ago in Sigil. The priest who had arranged for Jas's abduction. The priest who had deliberately killed himself by slicing his flesh to shreds on the razorvine. Upon his death, the Xvimlar had returned here to his god's realm as a petitioner.
Lucky I disguised my features, Joel thought. It was lucky, too, that he had learned the priest's name from Walinda's interrogation of the dead hydroloth. "I am Hate-master Camfer, Hatemaster Perr," the bard greeted the man.
The priest bowed. "Perr?" Was that my name?" he asked.
Suddenly Joel remembered that petitioners recalled nothing of their past lives. Finder had given his only two petitioners their names again, but apparently the Xvimlar didn't bother with such niceties.
"Yes," Joel answered.
"I was powerful then," Perr noted, with a hint of anger in his voice.
Joel was struck with an idea. An unsettled gatekeeper was a poor gatekeeper. A true follower of Xvim would never settle for such a lowly position. Even as a petitioner, a follower of Xvim would be ambitious, would despise others, especially those who kept him from the superior position of power to which his faith entitled him.
"Yes," Joel replied. "Before you died, you were powerful. If you had succeeded in your last mission, they would have made you a ruinlord… possibly." "Possibly? Why possibly?" Perr asked.
"Well, you know the political situa- Oh, excuse me. I'd forgotten. You don't remember, do you?" Joel asked.
"No," Perr replied with a chill tone.
"Suffice it to say you did not get along with Tyrannar Neri, but he might still have promoted you. After all, you were his man. Tyrannar Noxxe, on the other hand, never appreciated your devotion."
"But Tyrannar Noxxe is dead," Perr noted.
"But he wouldn't have died if Beshaba hadn't entered the fortress, which she might not have done if you had been successful in your last mission. But if you had been successful and lived, Noxxe might still be alive and you wouldn't be promoted. Hence, I qualified my statement with 'possibly.'"
"What was my last mission in life?" Perr asked.
"Well, your cover story was you were bringing back a runaway slave. Actually, you were involved in arranging an attack on Beshaba's fortress," Joel lied.
"Why?"
Joel shrugged. "I do not know. You would not tell me more before you left."
"I told you of my mission?