The fat merchant looked down at the scattered frag shy;ments of black and silver steel again and Dove smiled thinly. "There are those who feel far too many Chosen of Mystra walk the face of Toril these days," she said. "This is one secret you'd best not spill with your over-loose tongue."
The Old Wolf shook his head. "And you trust me.. " he murmured in wonder. He shook his head again, then cleared his throat and said formally, "Dove Falconhand, know that I will obey you in anything. You have but to call on me."
The silver-haired woman regarded him soberly and said, "Be careful, Mirt. I may one day collect on that promise-and my calling may cost you your life."
Mirt kept his eyes on hers as he went to his knees. "La-Dove, I will answer that call right gladly, even if it comes with the clear promise of my death. We must all die … and in your service seems to me a goodly way to go."
Dove shook her head and turned away, but not before Mirt saw what might have been tears in her eyes. When she spoke again, however, her voice was calm and composed. "Words spoken near death tend to lay bare the heart more than grand and formal prom shy;ises. Forgive me if I wonder aloud why a man so eager to promise me his death now, cried out as he did, ear shy;lier, just before he was struck down?"
The Old Wolf nudged a piece of armor with the scuffed toe of one of his boots and replied, "If die I must, I'd rather it not be in the throes of my own mistake, or a calamity I've caused. That's why I spake thus, then." He looked up at her, discovered her eyes steady upon him, and added quietly, "You're waiting for another answer, though, Lady Falconhand. . aren't you?"
She smiled and almost whispered three words: "Lady? Clever Bitch."
Mirt smiled ruefully. "Dove," he began carefully, "know that I came looking for you because I knew of both your skills and the approximate location of this your Dancing Place, though nothing of how or why you danced."
The silver-haired woman made a cycling motion with her left hand, bidding him say on.
Mirt drew in a deep breath, let it out in a sigh, and began to speak in a rush, as if emptying himself of a heavy burden. "As you know, I've been a rather busy merchant for some years. I've done business with many folk in most cities between here and the Sea of Fallen Stars. I'm known professionally to a score of men, or more. In Scornubel, perhaps ten times that many trust me with some secrets, or seek my counsel."
Dove bent her head and regarded him sidelong. "And what currently troubles bustling Scornubel?" she asked softly.
Mirt threw back his head in thought, framing his next words, and caught sight of one of the flying swords. It was hanging motionless in midair above the lip of the dell, pointed toward him and half hidden among tree branches. He turned his head and saw another, and another, hanging silent in a deadly ring.
Waiting.
He looked back at Dove's calm face, and said, "Lady, please understand that alliances and formal pacts in the Caravan City come and go with the passing hours, not merely by the day or tenday. Few of my contacts there habitually trust or confide in each other. In the matter that brought me here they spoke to me sepa shy;rately, each driven by his own fear."
Dove nodded and he continued, "Folk have been slow to realize this, and therefore we can't say with any surety as to when it began or how widespread 'tis. Scor shy;nubel is experiencing a stealthy influx of drow."
Dove raised an eyebrow. Drow. Most humans of Faerun had an almost hysterical fear of the dark elves.
The evil, spider-worshiping Ones Who Went Below cleaved from their fairer elf brethren millennia ago to descend under the earth and dwell there. Vicious and stealthy, masters of fell sorcery whose skins were the color of the blacksmoke obsidian sold in Tashlutan bazaars, the drow were a mysterious race, all but unseen but for the rare, terrible nights when they crept up to the surface to raid, cruelly slaughtering at will. Drow never stayed above, for fear of their magic losing its efficacy and finding every creature's hand raised against them. So how were they invading Scornubel? Burrowing up under warehouses to make a building above seem part of their dark realms below?
"Drow are dwelling in Scornubel?" she asked.
Mirt shrugged and said, "It seems someone is giving the dark-skins the magical means to adopt the shapes of humans-for months or tendays, not mere hours-and they're then practicing copying human ways, speech, and mannerisms. At times, various mer shy;chants have told me, 'tis like talking to a bad actor lampooning a grasping horse monger or an oily dealer in scents. . and 'tis chilling, if you know the mer shy;chant well and were joking with him only a day or two before."
The silver-haired ranger nodded. "Folk of Waterdeep tend to suspect dopplegangers when they encounter such impostors," she observed. "Why then are you so sure these are drow?"
Mirt spread his hands. "I know no details, but at least two mages learned so with their spells. One left the city shortly thereafter; the other's not been seen for a little more than two tendays now."
"And the drow are taking the likenesses of-watch-blades? Lord inspectors? The richest moneylenders?"
The Old Wolf shook his shaggy head. "One Scornubrian merchant company or family, then another, not local authorities. Their purpose, if they share one, is as yet unknown. They seem uninterested in seizing control of the city, but very interested in gaining control of its most important shipping and caravan concerns. We don't know if the humans they displace are enslaved or simply slain. There've been no bodies found-and they seem to take the places of everyone in a target family, down to the children and chamber servants."
"While I can see no good in this," Dove said slowly, "I've little stomach for slaughtering my way through a city of drow-and starting wildfire rumors that will bring about the deaths, one way and another, of many 'suspected drow' in cities all over Faerun. I serve Mystra, not the Lords' Alliance or some 'humans over all others' creed."
The fat merchant nodded. "I expect no whelmed Harper army to descend on Scornubel this season, or next. . I just want to know why."
Dove frowned, then smiled wryly. "An eternal human need," she commented, "wherefore we have a grand variety of altars across this world, and others."
Mirt stood looking at her anxiously, like a dog await shy;ing either kind words or a kick. When she saw his face, the silver-haired ranger smiled and strode forward to clasp his forearms, as one warrior to another. "Your journey wasn't wasted, Old Wolf. Someday soon, if I can, I'll tell you a story set in Scornubel."
The fat merchant smiled as she patted his shoulder, then he turned back to her and asked curiously, "Do you-Dove, tell me-do you ever grow tired of racing around Faerun righting wrongs and setting the crooked straight?"
They stared into each other's eyes for a long, silent time, and Mirt was shaken by the sadness and longing she let him see before she smiled, shrugged, and replied, "It's what I am, and what I do."
She turned away then, the folds of her shift swirling around her bare feet, and added briskly, "Return to Waterdeep, Lord Mirt. Follow me not, nor linger over-long in this place."
She strode across the trampled moss to where rising ground marked one edge of her dell, and turned to look back over her shoulder at him severely.
"And don't let your invigorated body make you a young fool again," she told him. "You're not to go look shy;ing for other trouble or trying to find again the adven shy;tures of your youth. I don't want all of my healing work wasted."
"You condemn me to a life of boredom," Mirt protested, half seriously.
Dove's merry laugh rang out across the dell. "Would it be impolite, my lord, to remind you how much some folk of Faerun would give to enjoy such boredom?"
Without waiting for an answer she moved her hands in two quick gestures, and spell-glow filled the dell once more, blue-white and swirling, as the swords she'd danced with flew down from their hovering stations to swirl around her.