Victor nodded to the captain of the guard, and the three were allowed to approach the lighthouse without challenge. Feeling suddenly lighthearted, Alias dashed up the structure’s stairs without stop until she reached the walkway at the top. She looked first out to the sea, letting the breeze ruffle her hair until Victor and Dragonbait finished the climb.
“Are you always so energetic?” the merchant lord asked as he stood clutching his side and gasping for breath.
Alias smiled, but did not reply. She studied the light in the center of the walkway—a polished brass framework surrounding a floating marble sphere, which, even in the daylight, shone brightly enough to be noticed far out to sea. “There’s a continual light spell cast on the marble?” the swordswoman asked.
Victor nodded. “There are also protections to keep the magic from being dispelled by accident or to keep others from destroying it. The bronze frame can be used to hold up colored screens so we can send coded messages to ships at sea—fire, plague, send help, and so on.”
Alias nodded and turned to look back out across the harbor and the city. Victor moved to stand beside her. “There’s no better place to start to get oriented.” He pointed leftward, out across the bay at various landmarks. “There’s the River Thunn. Between the river’s east bank and the city wall is Castle Malavhan. Just across the river from that is Castle Vhammos. It was once the royal castle. Those four clustered due south of us are Castles Guldar, Athagdal, Thorsar and Urdo. They were all built at the same time by rival architects from different nations.
“The building in the center of the market is called the Tower. It serves as the city’s registry and headquarters for the watch. The jail is in the dungeon beneath the Tower. Against the western wall is Castle Ssemm. South of that is Castle Thalavar. In the northeast corner, by the sea, is the Temple to Talos, and to the west of the Tower is the Temple to Mask. At the base of the harbor’s arm are the temples to Loviatar and Gond, and just west of them is the Temple to Ilmater.”
“You’ve pointed out the castles of all the merchant families but your own,” Alias noted.
“Castle Dhostar isn’t in the city. We’re latecomers to the city, here for only three generations. When Father decided to build our family’s castle, he decided it was more important to use the land we owned in the city for our warehouses. So we built out to the west. You can see how the city’s starting to expand in that direction beyond the walls.”
“Can you see your castle from here?” Alias asked.
Victor put his hands on Alias’s shoulders and turned her to face westward. Dragonbait’s tail twitched nervously. Alias did not like being touched by strangers. To the paladin’s surprise and relief, she did not shake off the young man’s hands or growl at him.
Victor stood directly behind her and pointed over her shoulder. Alias looked out with attentive interest. “Follow that line of islands there, to that forested bluff. Just behind that is Castle Dhostar.”
“Yes, I can see it,” Alias said.
“I often come up here to think,” the merchant lord said. “Well, really, to dream.”
Alias leaned her head back against Victor’s chest to look up at his face. “What do you dream about?” she asked with a smile.
Victor gave a small, self-deprecating laugh. “I dream about what I’ll do should I find Verovan’s treasure hoard.”
“Verovan’s treasure?” Alias asked with a teasing laugh.
“Yes. About a hundred twenty years ago, Westgate was a monarchy ruled by an incompetent tyrant, King Verovan. He nearly bankrupted the city with his excesses and destroyed it with his intrigues. He fancied himself a great boatman, and challenged the other rulers of the coastal cities to a race. The city coffers couldn’t cover the cost of hiring the boat and team Verovan wanted—a windjammer with blood-red sails, crewed by Turmishmen. So Verovan passed a grain tax, clinching his unpopularity with everyone. On the day of the race—”
“On the day of the race,” Alias interrupted, “Verovan’s crew set a course for a rocky shoal, then teleported away, leaving Verovan to fend for himself. He couldn’t. The boat was wrecked on the shoals, and Verovan was presumed drowned. Some people speculated that the ‘Turmishmen’ were really Red Wizards of Thay who avenged themselves on the tyrant for his intrigues against their nation. The city’s leading merchants led a revolt before Verovan’s son could be crowned. A mob stripped the royal castle bare. The patriarch of the merchant house of Vhammos moved his family into the castle, and he and the other merchants took charge of governing the city.”
Victor gave the swordswoman a puzzled look.
“I was born in Westgate,” Alias explained with a sideways look at Dragonbait. The saurial was enjoying the view, watching a round ship from Sembia, riding low in the water, try to maneuver into a dock across the way. “I know all about Verovan. He was real. His treasure, though, is a fable, like the stories about the liches that live in Westgate’s sewers or the sea serpent that lives in its harbor.”
“You forget you’re dealing with a merchant,” Victor said. “The books, you see, do not balance. The sum total of everything removed from the royal castle does not even approach the vast amounts of wealth that ever went in. Verovan skimmed a share of every fee and tax the city ever collected, and he bought valuable pieces of magic and art that disappeared into the castle. He never purchased anything with his own money, but with the city’s, and he left scores of debts for things he’d ‘purchased.’ ”
“So, you believe in the magic door?” Alias teased.
“What door?” Dragonbait asked.
Alias turned her attention to the saurial, who had not seemed to be paying attention to the conversation.
“There’s supposed to be an invisible bridge leading away from one of the castle’s towers,” the swordswoman explained to the saurial. “On the other side of the invisible bridge, there’s supposed to be to an invisible portal. Verovan’s hoard is supposed to be behind that portal.” With a darker tone, Alias concluded, “Guarded by fearsome monsters. No sage, mage, or priest has been able to find it, though it’s said that the Watch has on occasion found a body lying at the base of one or other of the castle’s towers.”
“I’ll remember, when I find the treasure, that you were a disbeliever,” Victor threatened with a grin.
Alias laughed again. “So, in your daydreams, what do you do with this hoard of wealth when you find it?”
Victor turned away and looked back across the city. “I make Westgate the greatest city in the Realms,” he answered with vehemence. “Greater even than Waterdeep. Clear out the Night Masks so people can stroll the streets at night. Build a second city wall farther out so people can expand their businesses and households. Build a navy so we can protect our ships from pirates. Build a library so scholars would come here to live, and an opera house to bring in bards and musicians. Run irrigation to the lands south of the city, with water from the River Redden, so we never have to worry about droughts.”
“They all sound like good plans,” Alias said.
“Yes.” Then he looked back at her with a sly smile and said, “Of course, if a certain someone, who was, after all, born in Westgate, would agree to help my father and me, I wouldn’t have to discover Verovan’s treasure first to get rid of the Night Masks.”
Alias chuckled at the smooth way the merchant had shifted the conversation back to his father’s offer of employment. “Well, since a certain someone doesn’t think you’ll be finding that treasure anytime soon,” Alias replied, “and does think you should do something about the Night Masks in the meantime, I guess that someone had better agree to help out.”