Twenty
The next afternoon found Olive Rus-kettle slipping through the alleys of Westgate, her spirit deeply troubled. The light of day and the official proclamations from the Tower had done little i to clear her confusion. She needed to speak with Jamal; the actress often helped her get her thoughts straight even as she was plying the halfling for information.
Olive was about to step out on the main road and cross the street to Mintassan's house when she spotted the symbols on the cobblestone. There were two of them, scrawled in charcoal, in a most inexpert manner, but there was no doubt about their meaning. The first symbol was used by Harpers to mean danger. The second symbol was used by thieves to mean danger. Both were aligned to indicate Mintassan's.
Olive stood in the shadow of the alley, studying all the approaches to the sage's house. In a few moments, she spotted Kel, lurking in a doorway down the street. The halfling moved out into the main street, striding in the boy's direction, without looking at him. She stopped by the door, pretending to study a slip of paper for an address.
"You put out those symbols, Kel?" she asked, without looking at the boy. "Yeah. Jamal taught me to write 'em. Did it right, didn't I?" "Did it fine," the halfling assured him. "What's up?" "Supposed to warn Jamal's friends not to come by. Dhostar's spider Kimbel's taken over the house, tossed Jamal and me out. Jamal's up at Blais House."
"Thanks. Keep up the good work," the halfling said. She kept going, then slipped down the next alley to make her way to Blais House.
At the hostel, Mercy escorted her two flights up to a guest room far smaller than Alias's and Dragonbait's suite. The room was cluttered with Jamal's costume wardrobe, puppets, and theater props. Jamal was seated at a table, scribbling furiously in a small black book. "I was hoping you'd come by," the actress said. "What is going on?" Olive demanded.
"I thought you could tell me," the actress said in exasperation. She blotted the ink in her book and slipped it back into the bottom of her jewelry box. "That worm Kimbel came by Mintassan's this morning with an officious-looking scroll claiming House Dhostar is supposed to oversee Mintassan's estate in the sage's absence. It had Mintassan's seal on it, and Kimbel had seven large Dhostar guards with him, so I wasn't in a position to keep myself from being thrown out on the street. I left Kel to warn off my friends. I don't want all my contacts running into Kimbel or vice versa. The manager of Blais House is willing to let me stay here for a while." "Where are Alias and Dragonbait?" Olive asked.
Jamal shrugged. "No one saw Alias and Dragonbait return last night, but Mercy says Alias's armor is missing. I guess Alias came back for it before going back out to hunt more Night Masks. I'm used to Mintassan disappearing into the night for weeks on end, but 111 confess I'm getting a little nervous that Alias and Dragonbait haven't returned. What happened at the meeting of the merchant nobles this morning?"
"Durgar recapped the events of last evening, giving us the final tally of the dead," Olive reported. "The heads of Houses Guldar, Ssemm, Thalavar, Urdo, and Vhammos were killed by the Night Masks' iron golems. Houses Ssemm, Urdo, and Vhammos also lost their recognized heirs. The croamarkh wasn't at the ball, but Durgar claims that a golem got him anyway and carried his body into the sea. Then Lord Victor says that his hireling Alias, with her companions Dragonbait and Mintassan, found a clue last night that led them into the sewers to search for the Faceless. Finally, at Durgar's suggestion, the heads of the merchant houses-mostly inexperienced cousins and youths-unanimously voted Victor Dhostar in as interim croamarkh. They're supposed to make an official proclamation tomorrow, after the funerals." "Durgar said a golem killed Luer Dhostar?" Jamal Olive nodded.'"Ґes. Why?"
"I think it's time we throw all our cards on the table and see if we come up with a full deck," Jamal suggested. "I've got a source in the watch who says they found the Faceless dead, stabbed in the ribs. Durgar unmasked him, and it was Luer Dhostar, but Durgar has ordered the watch to keep mum about it."
Olive laughed. "Making all Lord Victor's hard work in vain. Victor Dhostar knew his father was the Faceless. He's been feeding Alias clues, hoping she'd unmask Luer for him. Then the nobles would be disgraced by the knowledge that the Faceless turned out to be their own elected croamarkh, and they'd have to pick a candidate popular with the people." "Alias?" Jamal asked in astonishment.
"No," Olive corrected, "the noble responsible for hiring her-the noble who's wearing her token-Victor Dhostar."
"Well, that's how it ended up, anyway," the actress said.
"Not exactly," the halfling replied. "The nobles haven't been disgraced, and they've only made Lord Victor interim croamarkh. If anything, the Night Masks' attack last night has made people feel more sympathy for the nobles."
"No kidding," Jamal said. "I tried a puppet show this morning portraying the nobles as sheep running from the wolf. It was not well received."
"You should have known better than to kick a dog when it's down," Olive retorted. "Even I make mistakes," the actress replied with a shrug. "So, Lord Victor was planning to turn on his own kind and reveal all, but Durgar stopped him. If we could get him out from under Durgar's influence, he might prove useful-a noble who cares what the people think."
"The only one Victor Dhostar cares about is Victor Dhostar," Olive snapped. "He was manipulating Alias into uncovering the Faceless, he manipulated Durgar into proposing him as the new croamarkh, and, given half a chance, he'll manipulate you and anyone else in Westgate fool enough to support him. He doesn't just want to be croamarkh. He waints to be king" elamal raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Never happen," she replied. "Not in Westgate. Not after Verovan. No one will ever go for it. Not the merchant lords, and certainly not the people."
"Wrong," Olive retorted. "If the people start clamoring for it and the merchant lords are weakened, they might have no choice."
"The people don't want a king. They want to rule themselves," Jamal argued.
"Jamal, I've studied you humans for years. Humans don't want to rule themselves. Only a few humans want to bother with the mess it takes to rule themselves. The rest want to be left alone. Your average Westgate citizen wants the Night Masks taken care of, but for over fifteen years they've been waiting for the merchant nobles to handle it. Some of them look at a nation like Cormyr, with a king who's managed to purge the land of assassins and who exiles convicted thieves, and they think maybe the gods favor monarchies. Should a popular candidate come along, some of them might start dusting off Verovan's regalia," the halfling concluded.
Jamal looked for a moment as if she might explode. Olive knew she'd just called into question a basic tenet of the actress's beliefs. A moment later, though, Jamal sighed. "Just because people won't take charge of their own lives doesn't mean they can't," she argued. "I'm not saying that," Olive replied.
"Well, you may be right about the king thing," the actress conceded. "I have heard people talking about Azoun of Cormyr as if he were the gods' gift to the people. Are you sure about Victor Dhostar, though? Alias seemed to think he was ail right."
"Even Alias makes mistakes, something I intend to correct just as soon as she and Dragonbait get back from the sewers," Olive said. "In the meantime, Lady Nettel's dying request was that I protect her granddaughter. House Thalavar lost three halfling bodyguards to the golems last night, so I've spent the last twelve hours not letting Thistle -Thalavar out of my sight. I think the girl was getting tired of me. After making all the arrangements for her grandmother's funeral, she locked herself in the study to go over House Thalavar's account books and Lady Nettel's personal journal. I should be getting back to Castle Thalavar to keep an eye on visitors offering their condolences. When Alias gets back-" "You'll hear from me," Jamal promised.