Everyone shouted and snatched out weapons. The room was briefly lit to dazzling brilliance with the reflected fire of so many daggers, drawn in wild unison, then everyone went deathly silent at once.
Lying unmoving on the table, Storm could see the two slyblades glaring at her. Their blades were out, their grips hard and tense, and their eyes never left her for an instant. Calivar Murpeth stepped forward and cleared his throat loudly several times. He was obviously scared, and at a loss to know what to do now, but aware that he must boldly seize the moment and show himself a strong leader or every one of the men in this room would know just how weak he truly was, and begin plotting accord shy;ingly.
"Nildon Baraejhe," Calivar said at last, striving to sound coldly calm and managing only to sound brittle, "did you bring your mrildeen with you?"
The Borderer nodded. "Of course," he murmured, and jerked his head at the woman on the table. "An application to her head?"
Murpeth's lips tightened. "Of course," he echoed, his tone not quite mocking.
Baraejhe gave him a brief; wordless look of glacial warn shy;ing, then strode to Storm, drawing a small, flat bottle from an underarm pouch. He spread a two-fingered dab of the clear, thick ointment on her throat, jaw, nose, and beside either eye before his fingers dipped to the back of her neck and lastly, to touch her upper lip. Where those deft fingers went, there came a tingling, as the mrildeen banished all paralysis in very small, specific spots under the skin it was applied to.
Before she might try to bite him, the Borderer's other hand struck her hard across her cheek, the hard slap turning her head to stare at the watching men. An instant later, he slapped her other cheek, giving her a view of the nearby wall and making her ears ring and eyes water. Again he struck her, and again, all of them hard blows that snapped her head back and forth.
"You’ll get these full force, and not these gentle taps," he told her almost earnestly, as if explaining how a toy worked to an avid youth, "if you dare to scream. Do try to remember that."
One last blow almost tore one of her ears off, and left her half blinded by tears and half deaf from the roaring raging in her ears.
The Borderer stepped back, giving her a genial smile-she almost found herself trying to smile back at him-and Thone, Ridranus, and Murpeth converged on her in unison. Both of the slyblades plucked pokers from the bra shy;zier and held them over her, inches above her face and her breast, letting her feel the searing heat.
"Did you do something to our beloved mage?" Murpeth asked almost idly.
"N-no," Storm said, letting a tremulous sob govern her voice. "No! How could I?"
"Indeed," the Zhent leader purred. "How could you?"
He waved the two pokers away-back into the brazier they went-and let his fingers drop to her belly. Cold fin shy;gertips trailed up her smooth curves to stop, almost deli shy;cately, at her throat.
"I'm more interested," Calivar Murpeth remarked almost conversationally, "in how you helped Maervidal Iloster escape us earlier, and why. Is he a friend of yours? Or do you work together?"
"I–I don't know him," Talantha the escort said, then screamed as his hand fell like lightning to her breast, and tore off a little tassel, the brass claw that held it to her flesh and all.
It dripped blood as Murpeth held it up and told it gently, "I do hate liars-don't you?"
"I'm-I'm telling the truth, lord!" the lady escort sobbed. "Truly! I've never seen him before this night, when I helped him out the back door-the one we escorts use."
"And why did you do that?" Murpeth pounced. "Helping a stranger? Or a client?"
"N-neither, lord. He gave me coin to do it."
The Zhent leader glared at her. "Who?"
Talantha pointed with her eyes at Ridranus, standing beside the brazier with his arms folded and a grim little smile on his face. "That man, by the brazier. He threat shy;ened me, too, that if I refused he'd cut off my. . cut off my …"
Murpeth whirled away from her and made a hand signal. Five men drew steel and started toward the slyblade in grim, careful unison.
Ridranus went white then red with fury, and snarled, "She lies!" as he brought his own weapon out again.
He was just in time to furiously parry the thrusting blades, but as he deftly turned aside reaching steel and took a quick step back to be out of immediate reach, a strangle wire snapped around his throat from behind. Murpeth and Thone watched like two statues as Ridranus fought like a frenzied man, twisting and kicking in a des shy;perate attempt to topple his attacker over his head. When the slyblade did finally manage to drag the small, agile man forward, the man let go one handle of his wire, and swung on the other as he bounded away, slicing the slyblade's head half off.
As the shocked, staring face of Ridranus lolled crazily to one side and blood fountained in all directions, more than one of the watching Zhents whirled away and began to be noisily sick.
The dark-gloved, leather-clad strangler calmly retrieved his bloodied wire from the slumping corpse and turned back to Murpeth for further orders. The Zhent leader made a grim hand signal that seemed to mingle thanks and an order to "get hence, away."
Calivar Murpeth looked a little like he wanted to be sick himself, but his voice was calm enough, even drawl shy;ing, as he drifted over to look down at the helpless escort and said, "Suppose you tell me more about the words you exchanged with the man who gave you coin to assist the scrivener out the door. Was there anyone with him?"
"Y-yes, lord. Four men, all with knives. I think one of them had a sword, too."
"I see. Did he name any of these men?"
"N-no."
"Did you see any of them clearly?"
"Yes, lord. All four."
The Zhentarim leader straightened up and gave the other men in the room a chilly smile. "Gentlesirs, I desire you to draw forth and let fall every last blade you carry-now-and approach this table."
There was a moment of uneasy hesitation, wherein the Zhentarim leader raised an eyebrow and said mildly, "I'm interested, you see, in exactly how many of you are tardy in following my orders. It will give me a fair idea of how far Maervidal Iloster has infiltrated our ranks with his people, and how many more bodies are going to decorate the floor of this chamber, this night."
He drew back out of their, way smoothly, signing to Thone to watch all of the Zhents as they reluctantly dropped their weapons to the floor and shuffled forward. The glares many of them directed at the still, large-eyed woman on the table were not pretty to behold.
"Look up and down their ranks, lady," Calivar Murpeth said gently. "Say nothing until they step back, then I shall lean close, and you shall whisper to me if any of them stood with Ridranus when he gave you coin. Fear them not. Thone shall protect you."
He nodded his head at the surviving slyblade, who was holding a dagger ready in one hand, its hilt moving rhythmically back and forth as he fondled its tip between his thumb and first finger. Three drawn daggers waited in his other hand. Thone smiled and nodded his chin in her direction, but his eyes never left the line of reluctant men.
Who now, at Murpeth's gesture, stepped forward.
"Look well," the Zhent leader commanded Talantha, who kept her eyes wide, frightened, and bereft of any recognition as they roved back and forth along the tense, silent line of sullen men.
They stepped back in unison at another signal from Murpeth, who then leaned over and murmured, "Well?"
"The two closest to my feet," the lady escort quavered, "the one on the end, nearest my head, and the one three down from him-the one with white at his temples and the ring in his ear."