"Me?" Bartimus yelped, taking a step back. "I can't-oh, wait. You want something else." He began to think about his repertoire of magic. "There are a number of different things I might try. Let's see," he said, beginning to mentally tick off possibilities. "I could-"
"I don't want the details," Grozier said impatiently. "Just come up with something suitably nasty that's certain to deal with everyone." The merchant was nodding then, a pleased look on his face. "Yes. If our nosy little mercenary lieutenant slips through Junce's ambush and still wants to track down his favorite dagger, we'll just let him. That should solve our problems just fine."
As usual, the Temple of Waukeen in Arrabar was bustling with activity when Vambran arrived. The building itself soared from the middle of a vast open lawn, a great rounded structure capped by a massive dome and surrounded by various towers that were all topped with sweeping, majestic spires, each one taller than the next and reaching skyward. All of their various surfaces were etched in gold inlay and precious gems, some of the stones large enough to glitter brightly even when viewed from several blocks away. No expense had ever been spared in the construction of the temple, and its expansion continued even then, as more and more space was needed to house the new priests who pledged their lives to the Merchant's Friend each day.
Vambran bypassed all of it with barely a glance, for he had seen it many times before, and truly, such a display of wealth did not impart the same impression upon him that it would most others. Still, he was surprised by the amount of new construction going up on the grounds. He gazed at the scaffolding where another wing was being built, the walls already halfway up and the skeletal ribs of the interior floors being put into place. Soon enough, the outer shell would be complete, and workers would plaster and paint those walls, embedding more gold and gems into the surface as they finished.
The lieutenant stepped inside the main entrance. In addition to the scores of worshippers who had come to pray for a boon before their day's business dealings, numerous priests moved through the spacious sanctuary, their robes, miters, and scarlet cloaks glittering with precious gems, gold, and even divine light, the result of magical orisons placed upon them. The effect was designed to bedazzle all who looked upon the holy men's and women's dress. More of the precious jewels and metals covered nearly every surface of the interior of the temple, the only exceptions being the broad arched openings that served as windows and doors, the tapestries that hung on the walls-though those were more often than not woven with thread-of-gold and had tiny gems stitched into their images like elaborate stained-glass windows-and any surfaces where adherents would need to walk. As a faith designed to pay homage to wealth, the temple presented the right message to its people.
Rather than moving into the main sanctuary, Vambran turned to move down a hall, heading deeper into the interior of the temple, up into some of the spires of the structure where many of the various offices were housed. Even as he walked, though, Vambran nodded in satisfaction that even on the day after a festival that ran long into the night-or even into the small hours of the morning, in some quarters-the devotion to the goddess of trade, coin, and wealth was strong.
Vambran passed beyond all of that and wound his way into the halls where the business of the church was handled, where the priests responsible for all the various financial activities worked. He sought the offices of his superior, Kovrim Lazelle, who was in charge of many of the business-related activities of the Sapphire Crescent. Vambran and Kovrim would spend the morning together going over the business details and financial documentation of the lieutenant's company's most recent excursion, to Aglarond and Sembia. Vambran was certain Kovrim already knew that Lady's Favor was in port. In fact, the older priest had most likely already ordered its cargo unloaded. Once he and Vambran went over the manifests together, the goods would be put up for sale in temple-owned shops and stalls throughout the city and in the bazaar. Vambran's visit promised to be filled with tedious but necessary paperwork, but he was looking forward to the day nonetheless. Uncle Kovrim was also family, the lieutenant's mother's brother.
The lieutenant climbed a circling staircase that spiraled just inside the main outer wall of one of the towers, rising a couple of levels and passing narrow, arched windows on occasion. When he reached a landing that let out into a large, open rotunda, he stepped off the stairs. There, the temple was airy and bright, exposed to the outside through numerous additional arched openings set high in the dome overhead. The indirect light of the morning sun shining through those windows was further enhanced as it reflected off the gold leaf of the ceiling. As was common in the architecture of Arrabar, a fountain bubbled in the middle of the rotunda, and all around the perimeter of the chamber, doorways led into offices.
Vambran turned to one side and passed through an arched opening, moving not into an office but out onto a bridge that spanned the distance between the tower he had ascended and a second one next to it. The walkway was not long, and the protective walls along either side of it not so high that Vambran couldn't see some of the city from the vantage point if he wished to, but it would require squeezing between the various clay pots that were set at regular intervals along the span and filled to overflowing with blossoming greenery. Instead, the lieutenant simply enjoyed the warming sun that shone down and moved on into the next tower.
Inside that second tower, Vambran made his way up another rounded flight of stairs and into a similar rotunda. From there, he was before the doorway that led into his uncle's office chambers. Sticking his head inside, Vambran could see that Kovrim Lazelle was not in, though the mess of parchments scattered across the desktop told the lieutenant that his uncle was around somewhere. He went inside, stepping past the desk and the shelves filled with scroll cases and wood-bound books and through another arched opening to a balcony beyond. A brightly colored bird, mostly greens and blues, was sitting atop a wooden stand. It cocked its head sideways and squawked once as the lieutenant appeared.
Vambran smiled and lifted a bit of hard bread out of a bowl.
"Hello, Mackey," he said, holding the nibble out for the creature, which was perhaps a foot tall.
"Hello," the bird mimicked.
Mackey eyed the bit of food and darted its head forward and snatched the bite out of the man's hand, eating it in a single swallow.
Vambran smiled and ruffled the gorgeous bird's head feathers gently, then turned toward the balcony. Trellises formed a see-through wall, set where the railing kept occupants from falling to the ground four stories below. Tendrils of climbing vines covered the wooden frames, dappling and diffusing the majority of the light. Still, there was a narrow opening between the trellises, and Vambran moved there and leaned forward on his forearms to have a gaze outward.
Kovrim's office faced west, toward the harbor, so at the moment the sun was on the opposite side of the tower, keeping the near side in shade. In the afternoon, when the day was at its hottest, the sun would normally shine directly onto the balcony and into the priest's office, making it stifling. The trellises were a necessary relief from the afternoon heat. Still, on that morning, like every morning, the view from such a vantage was wonderful. Vambran could see the open expanse of the lawns below, green and lush, with a number of priests and visitors strolling in small groups or alone. Others had found a shady spot, either on stone benches or on the grass itself, beneath any of a number of large shadowtops that grew throughout the property.
Out beyond the temple grounds was the city, sloping gently down toward the harbor, where Vambran could clearly see the piers jutting out from the quay and the various ships currently in port. He spotted Lady's Favor in the same spot where he'd left her the previous night and noted that she rode high in the water. Her cargo had indeed been unloaded and she was waiting for a new one. In fact, as Vambran squinted, he could see swarms of men just beginning to shift crates around so that cranes could hoist them off the pier and down into her holds. The lieutenant estimated that she would be departing before night
fall. He felt a small pang of regret that he would not be going with her.
"Vambran!" Kovrim's voice boomed from behind, and the lieutenant spun to see his uncle walking into the office, a sheaf of parchment and a hunk of sealing wax in his hands. "Hello, nephew," the priest said, smiling broadly and dumping his work onto the desk so that he could properly greet his visitor.
"Hello, Uncle Kovrim," Vambran replied, smiling himself and crossing the distance between them to give his relative a hearty hug.
"It's great to see you home," Kovrim said, slapping Vambran on the shoulder before stepping back to look at his nephew. His face went from a smile to mild shock. "What's this on your forehead?'' he asked, genuinely surprised.
"I've been studying with one of my men," Vambran explained, suddenly feeling a bit uncomfortable. "Not a whole lot, just enough to pick up a few tricks. I find them useful on the battlefield."
"I see," Kovrim said, tilting his head to one side, as though considering what he thought of the revelation. "The Lady's divine grace isn't suitable?" he asked.
Vambran frowned, trying to figure out a way to explain it.
"It's not that," he said, "I'm still very attentive to my holy studies. But there are some things I'm finding out work better this way."
Kovrim broke into another big grin.
"Well, then, good for you I'd rather see you prepared for anything, you know. So, your trip went well, I gather," he said, gesturing toward a narrow, high-back chair in front of his desk.
"Absolutely," Vambran replied as he sat, relieved at his uncle's apparent approval. "Nothing at all like the last time," he said, grinning and remembering the skirmish he and his company had engaged in during the previous trip.
A local dispute had a horde of guildsmen up in arms in Procampur, and they had tried to blockade the ship to prevent it from offloading its goods. It hadn't been much of a fight, though relations with that particular guild were substantially cooler than they had been. The temple in Arrabar had already dispatched an envoy to Procampur in order to try to smooth things over.
"Well, that's good to hear, though I already knew it," Kovrim said with a laugh, gesturing at the pile of work on his desk. "There was a nice stack of new reports waiting for me when I arrived this morning. Another smoothly run business operation ready to be put to bed, thanks to you."
Vambran only smiled and said nothing.
"So, how's my sister?" Kovrim asked, leaning back in his chair. "How is everyone over at House Matrell?"
Vambran tried not to grimace.
"Mother's fine, as always," he answered, trying to keep his voice light. "She still spends most of her day helping Grandmother Hetta, who's still going strong. And Em's growing like a weed," he added with a laugh.
"I'll bet," Kovrim said, chuckling along with his nephew. "Well, I'm looking forward to visiting for Em's birthday in a few days. It'll give me a chance to catch up with the family. And I know Ladara will be happy to see me."
"Yes," Vambran said. "Mother will certainly like that, and everyone would enjoy your company. Just don't show up without a big, expensive present for Em, or she'll never let you hear the end of it."
They both laughed.
"Well, are you ready to settle these accounts?" Kovrim asked, rising from his chair to grab a large, leather-bound ledger from a shelf behind his desk. "We can get these books in order and go have a bite to eat."
Vambran let the smile fade from his face.
"Uncle Kovrim, I have a problem," he said. "I need your advice."
Kovrim grew serious as well and sat back down.
"Certainly, Vambran, whatever I can do to help."
Vambran sighed, unsure how to explain things.
"Last night," he finally began, "On the way home from the docks, there was a killing."
Kovrim grunted, shaking his head in sorrow, but gestured for the lieutenant to continue.
"City guards accosted and 'dealt with' a pair of common folk in an alley near our estate. They claimed that the two victims were falsely marking themselves thrice."
"Oh? Haven't seen that in quite a long time."
"Exactly," Vambran said, leaning forward. "It struck me as odd, too. But besides that, these city watchmen just didn't seem quite right to me. They didn't really understand procedure, and they were downright surly toward Em and me."
"I see. Were you wearing your marks last night, too?" Kovrim asked, pointing toward Vambran's forehead.
Vambran nodded and said, "Yes, and of course they behaved rather poorly about it, too. Very accusatory, not surprisingly. But it was more than that. Even after I demonstrated my talents, they were downright rude, at least until a second squad of guards arrived."
"So what are you concerned about?" Kovrim asked, scratching at his balding pate. "Did something happen?"
"Not as such," Vambran replied. "But I decided to draw out the sergeant's surface thoughts, to see what he was really about, and what I read was unsettling. I just don't think they were actually watchmen. He seemed very worried about someone finding out what had happened last night."
"I see. So, what did you do about it?"
"Well, Em was there, and I didn't want a skirmish breaking out, so I just kept quiet. The second squad was led by a captain, and she certainly seemed to know what she was doing. They gathered the bodies and told me to report this morning for a debriefing. I was actually looking forward to it, because I wanted to see what came of the communing with the dead."
"And?"
"Last night, two Waukeenar priests showed up unannounced and ordered the bodies burned, due to magical plague."
Uncle Kovrim's eyebrows shot up in surprise.
"Oh, really?" he said. "I haven't heard a thing about the plague breaking loose anytime recently."
"I figured you would be the one to know, if anyone did," Vambran said. "I think the magic plague is just a ruse. Someone is hiding something, and I'm worried about the implications that these two priests are involved in it."
"Yes," Kovrim said absently, scratching at his head again, deep in thought. "That doesn't sound good."
"I mean, it may be nothing, but a moment or two conversing with the spirits of the slain couple could have cleared it all right up."
"Yes, it could have. So, did you voice your doubts to this captain?"
"I did. She was not interested in listening to me. Claimed to have put a couple of her men on it, and that was that."
"And you're not satisfied with her efforts."
Vambran was silent for a long time. Finally, he looked his uncle squarely in the eye.
"You know what's troubling me," he said at last.
Kovrim nodded slowly and said, "You can't keep blaming yourself for that, Vambran. You were just a boy."
"You know that doesn't make it feel any better. It haunts you just as much as it still troubles me."
"That's different. I was an adult, I should have known better than to have given you that crossbow. If I hadn't-"
"So neither of us can forgive ourselves so easily. The fact remains that all I can think about is what Rodolpho's family must have thought when they heard the news and afterward. Bewildered, wondering why someone would assass-" Vambran clamped his mouth shut, unwilling to continue that thought. "Anyway, now, I see it happening all over again. I can't help but wonder how the families of these two are feeling, thinking their dead kin were criminals. It's not right."
"I understand your passion for this, Vambran, I really do. But I'm not sure you can do anything about it. I wish there were; maybe we'd both feel better afterward."
"There's something else," Vambran said, unwilling to let it go. "Em thinks she recognized the woman, though she can't remember from where. And," he added, wondering if his uncle would approve of what he was about to suggest, "the suspicious guards kept something of Em's, a dagger I'd given her and which they confiscated last night. I think I can track them down if I needed to."
"Hmm," Kovrim said, nodding. "You could tell the watch captain
this, lead her to the men."
"I already offered. She still wasn't interested."
"A pity for her, but an opportunity for you." Kovrim leaned forward and gave a hard stare at his nephew. "I wish I could go with you, but these bones are getting a little too old for traipsing around the city in pursuit of criminals. I'll leave it to you. But if you do track on the dagger, you do not go alone, do you understand me?" Vambran nodded. "Take a couple more stout bodies with you. Someone you can trust."
Vambran nodded and said, "I think I know just the two."
"In the meantime," Kovrim replied, sitting back, "I'll help you any other way I can. I'll look into the two priests. If there's something going on that the temple's involved with, I'll find out what it is."
Vambran smiled.
"Thanks, Uncle Kovrim. I knew I could count on you."
The ride to the Pharaboldi estate was serene, if not terribly entertaining, inside the full coach. Emriana did her best not to fidget and complain, but she found the confines of her dress, the coach, and the company of her mother all to be very stifling. The vehicle made its way through the merchant's district of the city, the iron-rimmed wheels rolling loudly over the cobblestones and jostling the occupants incessantly. Emriana looked out the window, watching the hustle and bustle of the city flow past them while Ladara made small talk with Hetta and the attendants who had traveled with them that day.
Emriana tried to tune her mother out, completely disinterested in the latest gossip concerning the truly wealthy of Arrabar, the plots and intrigues they were involved with, and the speculation over what marriages might be occurring between Houses in the near future. She wished Jaleene were there to give her some companionship that would be more to her liking, but true to his word, Uncle Dregaul had ordered the handmaiden to remain behind to be disciplined. At least she wasn't going to be let go, for which Emriana could thank her grandmother. Hetta had revealed to the girl before they finished their breakfast that she had informed Dregaul he was not to relieve the handmaiden from her duties, but that he could make the threat to do so if it made him feel better.
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