Baylee turned, the handle in his hands, and watched as the second doppleganger came to a halt only a short distance away.
The creature's eyes widened in fear, but anger shaped the features. "You killed Zyzll." The doppleganger raised the boat hook.
"Choose well," Baylee said, "your next move. It could well be your last."
“Take him," the drow woman's voice spoke from thin air. "I know you, Tweent. If he doesn't kill you, know that I will."
The doppleganger screamed and came at Baylee with the upraised boat hook.
Baylee blocked the hook and avoided his foe's charge. Stepping to the side, he slipped the handle under the other doppleganger's cutlass and flipped it into the air, making it come back toward him. With a skill that would have caused a carnival knife artist envy, the ranger caught the cutlass by the haft. As the doppleganger tried coming back around to get at him again, Baylee swung the cutlass at the juncture of head and neck.
The cutlass's keen edge separated tissue, muscle, and bone in an explosion of power. The doppleganger's head leaped from its shoulders.
Baylee looked down at the creature, feeling a little remorse. There had been too much death already in the pursuit of whatever prize Golsway had learned of. Talking to Golsway's pseudo-shade had brought all that home to him.
"He was fairly warned and fairly fought," a deep voice thundered. "There's no need for reconsideration here."
Baylee looked up, spotting Ciwa Cthulad ahorse at the other end of the alley.
The justifier slid his own sword back into its scabbard. His horse shifted under him, its hooves ringing against the flagstones. "I'm sure the watch has been called. Do you want them to catch up to you?"
Baylee tossed the cutlass away. Xuxa landed on a support strut beside the ranger and hung upside down, folding her wings around herself. "What are you doing here?" the ranger asked.
"Following you, of course."
"I never saw you back there," Baylee said. How did you miss him?
I don't know, Xuxa answered honestly, sounding surprised herself. But then, a bat flying through Waterdeep in midday has to keep a low profile herself in order not to attract a lot of attention. Or become a cat's dinner.
"You were never intended to see me." Cthulad urged his mount forward. "I've been at your heels since you left your mentor's home. I should imagine Junior Civilar Tsald is vexed at both of us."
"They have no place in this," Baylee said. "The people that are responsible for Golsway's death aren't from Waterdeep. The answers to their identities aren't even in Waterdeep."
"You talk as though you've found out some things."
"Yes."
"Perhaps you'd care to elaborate," Cthulad suggested.
Baylee shook his head. "Not now. We're being scried upon at this moment."
A small smiled twisted the corners of the warrior's face. "Then I suggest we attend to that first. I have a friend who can expedite matters."
"So do I," Baylee replied. "And he can be trusted to keep his mouth shut." He paused, studying the justifier. "If you were so close to me, why were you so far away when these dopplegangers attacked?"
"I saw you take the flask from the fountain," Cthulad said. "I guessed that it might be from your mentor. While you were in Nalkie's, I thought it would be better if you had some time to yourself to sort things out. By the time I saw what was going on, it was over."
Baylee nodded, satisfied with the answer. From start to finish, the battle with the dopplegangers had lasted hardly any time at all.
"I have to tell you," Cthulad said. "I don't mind cutting the Waterdhavian watch out of our operation, but I feel a bit rancorous about being cut out myself. As I told you, I represent the families and friends of those slain at the forgathering. I shall not shirk that duty."
"I represent them as well," Baylee said.
"No, my young friend. You represent your own interests. Not to say that you are in nowise selfish, but you are closely involved in these matters. A clearer head will prevail. If you allow me, I can be of service."
"Perhaps."
Cthulad laughed. "You against the world? Baylee, that's only your youth talking. Your mentor left you a clue to the next part of this quest you are upon, or I'll eat my horse. Do not foolishly assume you can defeat a power that took his life. By all accounts, Fannt Golsway knew his way around a spell or two. The foes you may be facing could be formidable indeed."
Baylee remained silent.
"I should like an answer," Cthulad said. "Your word that I shall be included in this endeavor. Or we can part here and I'll dog your tracks anyway." After a moment, he offered a hand, reaching down from his saddle.
"You've got my word," Baylee said, taking the other man's hand.
"Good. Then let's get your horse and see about removing those scrying eyes."
Folgrim Shallowsoul waved a hand over the crystal ball. The amber tint faded from the crystal, but the figures of Baylee Arnvold and Ciwa Cthulad remained. The lich turned his hollow-eyed gaze on Krystarn Fellhammer. He knows where the wreck is.
Krystarn met the lich's gaze straight on, wondering how best to play the bit of information she'd just received. "What wreck?"
Shallowsoul ignored the question. Do you have a means of getting in touch with the other agents you have in Waterdeep?
"Only by teleporting there and contacting them. As you know, I can't do that until after dark." Krystarn almost shuddered at the idea that the lich might ask her to journey to Waterdeep for such an undertaking anyway.
"By then you will be too late," Shallowsoul said, and Krystarn jumped at the sound of his spoken words. "I don't think they'll remain in the city much longer. He turned away from the crystal ball.
Krystarn stared into the crystal ball's depths, watching as Baylee returned for his mount at the front of the tavern. Together, he and Cthulad rode along the docks, going north.
"After all these years," Shallowsoul said, "the library will once more come closer to being complete. How I have longed for this day. And to have it threatened by this Baylee Arnvold, who is not much more than a mere boy, is insufferable."
For the first time, Krystarn heard the madness in the lich's words. She had always heard such creatures were quite mad, but she'd seen no real example of it. The weakness gave her hope. As a draw, she'd been trained from birth how to exploit the weaknesses of others.
"Perhaps," she said, "you could send me to this shipwreck and I could prevent the ranger from arriving there."
The lich turned to her, its grotesque face tweaked into angry mirth. "Do you take me for a fool, Krystarn Fellhammer?"
"No," she answered quickly.
"Good. Because I don't take you for a fool either. Were I you and had a chance at the things that you might find in that wreck, I would take what I could and run. Studying those things alone would take several lifetimes, even for a drow." The lich shook his head. "No, it would be better if you were not subjected to such temptation. I would be loathe to kill you while you are still of use to me."
Krystarn waited quietly, watching Shallowsoul open the amethyst book and read. In the crystal ball, Baylee and his companion arrived at a small shop in Waterdeep. A few moments later, the image in the crystal ball silently closed like a giant eye. It did not reopen.
"Baylee is gone from us now," the lich said. "Use the crystal ball to reach your other contacts within the city. I want to know how he leaves Waterdeep. The crystal is already attuned to all of those you gave me information about."
Krystarn sat and began her work. When she was finished, Shallowsoul dismissed her like a child. She mastered her anger and didn't say anything. She felt his hollow-eyed gaze on her all the way back to the dimensional door. But her mind was busy thinking up ways to make Baylee's diversion pay off for her.