The man sitting at the table remained on the bench, looking up with no expression. He ate neatly from a small clay plate.
He is a watch wizard, Xuxa announced, though more than that I cannot fathom.
"Baylee Arnvold?" Cordyan asked.
"And you are Lieutenant Cordyan Tsald, though I don't know why you would be looking for me." Baylee watched the way the woman moved, noting the symmetry of power and grace. Though young in years, she carried experience wrapped around her. And for one so young, she had gone far in a very challenging arena to make lieutenant.
"First I must inform you I am here in an official capacity."
Baylee inclined his head. "Of course. I hope you've enjoyed the festivities despite that capacity. I hear you're quite good with an axe."
The woman let the compliment roll past her without acknowledgment. "I need to know when the last time was that you spoke with Fannt Golsway."
"I would have to refer to my journal to give you the exact date," Baylee said. Without warning, a leaden feeling filled his stomach.
"An approximation at this point would be adequate."
"Months," Baylee replied.
"What was the nature of that discussion?"
"I'm sure it had something to do with an antiquity or a point of history," Baylee assured the watch lieutenant. "Golsway has little time to talk to anyone about anything other than that."
"Would that be in your journal as well?"
"If it was something I was interested in."
The woman shifted, taking a step closer to Baylee. "I've been told you and your mentor weren't on the best of speaking terms the last time you saw him."
"We had a disagreement," Baylee agreed. "One which I fully intend to redress when I see him at the end of the second tenday from now."
"You have intentions of traveling to Waterdeep?"
Baylee glanced around at the forgathering. The questioning had drawn more than a few spectators. "Yes."
"Why?" Cordyan asked.
"You ask a number of questions without giving me an explanation," Baylee said.
"I'm afraid that is the nature of my business." Cordyan's face remained unreadable even to Baylee's trained eye.
"I'm returning to Waterdeep to see Fannt Golsway," Baylee answered.
Cordyan regarded him silently for a moment. Then she said, "I'm afraid I have some bad news for you. Fannt Golsway is dead."
"Malla, we are ready."
Turning her attention from the staff she held, Krystarn looked over the three men standing in the hallway with her. Only minutes had passed as the men readied themselves for the coming battle. "That is satisfactory, Captain Vnk'itn." She handed him one of the golden bands Shallowsoul had given her. "You understand my instructions on how to use this?"
"Yes, Malla."
Krystarn gave the two remaining bands to the other drow males. 'To flinch or lose your focus will get you killed more surely than a blade in the back."
All three males nodded. None of them appeared happy about being in possession of the bands.
"Those of you who fail to use the bands will die by my hand," she promised. Then she took up the staff the lich had given her. She spoke the activation phrase and tapped the staff against the floor.
A ruby beam spat out from the tip of the staff and splashed against the empty space between the walls of the hallway. The beam formed a thin crescent at first, finally flaring out into a full circle that rapidly expanded and filled with swirling rainbows. In heartbeats, it filled the hallway.
Once the dimensional door was secure, the beam faded away.
"Kill the ranger, Baylee Arnvold," she said. "And kill any who are with him." The drow warrior leaped into the dimensional door in front of her. The familiar chill wrapped around her, then took her away.
"When did Golsway die?"
Cordyan Tsald stared into the jade gaze of Baylee Arnvold. "A tenday and two days ago." Her heart went out to the ranger, and she wasn't used to it doing that so easily. In her trade, she worked with thieves and liars on a continual basis. And men motivated by a need for power or wealth. There were few whom she respected.
Hurt flickered in his eyes, scarcely under control. He had not known about the old mage's death. Cordyan would have wagered anything on that.
No, child, he did not know. Nor did he realize how hurt and confused he would be by such an act.
Cordyan looked at the woman standing beside Baylee who gently put a hand to his shoulder. She was surely too young to have been the one to touch her mind. The voice that she had heard carried more age than the young woman beside the ranger.
My name is Xuxa. I am in the tree above you.
Cordyan kept her off hand on her sword pommel as she glanced up. She saw the bat hanging from a branch above her, spreading its wings to further draw her attention.
He must know the rest of it. There will be no easy way to tell him.
"What happened?" Baylee asked.
With practiced neutrality, the watch lieutenant relayed all she had learned of the old mage's murder. She had worked the night patrol in Waterdeep long enough to know there was no proper way to tell anyone a loved one would not be returning home. Each word seemed to weigh the ranger down. The easy, light-hearted and challenging smile had dropped from his face from the beginning, and grimness hammered his features into tight, hard lines.
"Someone sent you out here to tell me about this?" Baylee asked.
The elf at Baylee's side shook his head slowly. "They suspected you of the old mage's death, my friend. Isn't that right, lieutenant?"
Cordyan didn't flinch from the question. Hiding wasn't her way. "There has been some consideration."
The words reached through the confusion and hurt that had surrounded Baylee. The ranger's emotions were immediately apparent to Cordyan, as were the real concerns of his friends around him. As she watched, a portly bald man in priest's robes materialized at his side as well, offering his sympathies.
"I am your only suspect then?" the ranger asked.
"I don't know," Cordyan answered. "I was given only to find you and question you. Then find out if you would be willing to accompany me back to Waterdeep. Even without the matter of the assassination, there remains the estate to be administered."
"The estate?" Baylee looked at her, clearly puzzled.
"Yes. He had his will filed with a law-reader. The house and the surrounding grounds in Waterdeep are all yours. Most of his other belongings as well, except for a few items that are to be disbursed among other friends."
Baylee shook his head. "When will you be ready to leave?"
"As soon as you are."
"I would be willing to start riding tonight."
Calebaan Lahjir shifted at the table. "My sympathies for your loss, Baylee Arnvold, but after morningfeast would be more logical."
"Of course. I shall be ready." Baylee looked into Cordyan's eyes. "If there isn't anything else, I'd like to be alone with my friends now."
Cordyan nodded and watched the ranger walk away. She cursed the luck that she should have to tell him the old mage was dead. It would have almost been better had he been Golsway's killer. That way her own heart wouldn't be filled with sadness. Movement broke away from the branch overhead. She glanced up and watched as the bat flew after the ranger in a flutter of leathery wings. She signaled across the way to two of her best trackers, setting them on Baylee and his party. Even though she believed the ranger, there was a possibility other information could be gleaned from watching him.
Cordyan sat at the table, suddenly overcome from all the fatigue of the travels that had brought them to the Glass Eye Concourse. She had no stomach for the remnants of the meal she'd been enjoying only moments ago. "Some days I hate the employment I have."
"You like him." Calebaan seemed genuinely surprised by the announcement even though he'd uttered it.