The tall man, whose remaining long black hair was tied behind his shaved scalp, rubbed his head and smiled at Vharem without saying a woid. He simply pulled his signal horn up to his lips and blew. The high, cleat sound echoed in the court.
"Oh parhard," Vharem and Laraelra swore.
¦ Meloon's eyes remained clouded, the haze of silver replaced by a full blue glow. He saw Lauroun's face again, her cerulean eyes, hawklike pose, and strong brow beneath a chain mail headpiece. She smiled at him, and mouthed the words he heard in his head. Home again. Good. Meloon tightened his grip on Azuredge, the axe whose voice spoke to him.
A small hand at his belt steadied him before he fell forward, and he shook his head to clear his eyes. Meloon found Vajra smiling up at him. Her brown eyes became purple and she licked her lips while looking at him. The eyes shifted again to sea green, and she said, "Listen to Lauroun. She'll never steer you wrong." Her gaze darted to the magical axe, and she said, "Nameless's portal only works when the first rays of dawn strike the place where he was born. Alas, we alone arrived on target. The others are near, scattered by some whim of magic attached to this mountain. Perhaps the Godstair interferes…" Her voice trailed off and Meloon followed her gaze to the peak of Mount Waterdeep. When she turned back to look at him, her eyes were brown again. "We have little time and must get to the tower. They can meet us there." "No," Meloon said.
"Don't argue with me, warrior. Why not?"
"Because you faint. A lot. And I can't fight and carry you. So we find the others first." He looked around and found that the cobblestones on which they stood were scorched in the shape of a cat's head. "Did we do this?"
"The Spellplague did a century ago," Vajra said, her hazel eyes shining with tears. "It robbed jne of both husband and familiar in one magical blow. The magic marked the city forevermore, even though they have changed the stones seven times in and since my lifetime."
"Vajra?"
"Tsar-Unh," Vajra said. "Fehlar's Bones, this hurts! They keep pushing out of my head!"
"Yet another reason why we need the others," Meloon said, looking out from the intersection in which they stood. The crossroads led straight along the ridge of the mountain to the south, but zigzagged away from their meeting point down the slopes to the west, east, and north. As he looked down to the city, a brief flash of colors flared up in a court south and east of them, and he pointed. "There!"
Meloon turned to help Vajra along, but she sped off ahead of him, running faster than he thought possible-he had to run full out to catch up. He wished he knew the names of the streets, but they headed down toward the flash, and Meloon's speed showed him why all the roads were switch-backed and zigzagged. If they ran roads straighter in Mountainside, carts or horses would easily get out of control or run too fast down the mountain and shatter legs or goods along the way. During the run, Meloon heard a horn and noticed a number of shuttets disturbed by it, as well as some folk either heading toward the sound or away from it.
By the time Meloon caught up to Vajra, she stood outside a court and was casting a spell at the backs of a Watch patrol. The two men and one woman all fell asleep before their bodies slumped to the cold ground. She looked back at him as he arrived and slid to a halt on a patch of ice. She wore a serious mien, and her gray eyes held no humor. "Come. Our comrades await.".
Meloon and Vajra entered the court, and Meloon's stomach growled as he caught the scent of fresh bread. He ignored it and beamed as he spotted Elra and Vharem-and the watch armar past them. Just as Meloon focused on the oddly mussed and frizzy hairstyle of the atmat, the man's eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he fell forward, unconscious. Behind him, a grinning Osco Salibuck stepped out of the shadows, his sling dangling from his right hand. Moments later, Renaer appeared in the alleyway behind the halfling.
Everyone entered the courtyard, saying nothing but surveying the four downed Watchmen, then the large covered well at the yard's center. The folk who lived and worked in this stories-tall court had opened their windows or doors when the horn sounded, and they yelled out their upper windows and into the streets. "Young Neverember and his friends assault the Watch at Trellamp Court! Murderer on the loose 'tween Sulvan's Way and Three Lords' Crossing!"
"We're innocent!" Renaer shouted. "We've killed no one!"
"Aside from that one-eyed Watchman and his flunky," Vharem whispered to Osco.
An elderly matron of doughy countenance leaned out her window and cackled at Renaer. "If ye're innocent, stay and explain why the Watch lies at yer feet, laddie!"
With more than a few folk yelling into the streets, a warning bell sounded in a nearby temple tor, and the sounds of boots approached.
"Parharding bells." Renaer groaned, and then said, "This way, everyone!"
The six of them sped out of Trellamp Court, racing down Sulvan's Way as if gods themselves dogged their steps.
CHAPTER 14
Pave your path through life with kindness to others and every step forward will reward you with soft landings and little resistance. Pave it with anger or force to others, and your every advance will be hard fought.
11 Nightal, Year of the Ageless One (1479 DR)
That way!" Renaer said, kicking a block out from behind a wagon wheel, and Vharem did the same on the other side. "Down Shyrrhr's Steps and northeast on the Garmarl's Dash over to Windless Way!"
The, two of them pushed the wagon and sent it careening back down the street to slow any pursuers and distract any observers. They caught up to Laraelra and the others dashing down a short stairwell linking them to an alleyway behind a slate of rowhouses. They looped around a pair of adjoined buildings and a covered well, startling three scullery maids filling buckets there. With Osco in the lead, the group slipped over to the brick-paved Windless Way.
Laraelra stopped dead and rasped, "Osco, stop!" She looked for Meloon, Vajra, Vharem, and Renaer, and spotted another Watch patrol in pursuit behind them. Luckily, the morning sun rose into the Watchmen's eyes, which helped conceal the fugitives. Laraelra could see both Vharem and Renaer keeping their hands in front of their torsos, hiding their ditections from the Watch, and pointing her to theit right, to the south.
Laraelra held back, letting Osco, Meloon, carrying the swooning Vajra, and finally Vharem and Renaer past her, as she hid behind the side of an apothecary shop. Once everyone was past her, she let the Watch close a little more before she cast her spell, unleashing an explosion of magical colors over them. Of the quartet, three fell unconscious and the armar went blind. She smiled at the effectiveness of her magic and ran to catch the others.
Renaer had led the rest of them down the dark-bricked Windless Way. As Laraelra reached them, they darted onto a black cobblestone alley and into a tiny bricked courtyard. Three doors faced out onto the court, and the southwest-facing upper windows of the three two-story homes were still shaded from the morning sun. Renaer pointed at the door on the far left and said softly, "A friend lives there. He should be able to hide us from the Watch for a nonce."
When Meloon approached the door and raised a fist, Renaer whispered, "Stop!"
The burly man raised an eyebrow in question, and Renaer reached up and. used the door knocker-a crude iron sculpture of a bird's head set atop a large plate of iron. The knocker oddly made no sound, but within a moment, a window overlooking the door on the upper floor opened.