Chapter One

The raven-haired Alanis Reyne slipped elegantly through the crowds of nobles lining the streets. She glided past the bustling merchants, the streetlamps both lighting her way through the otherwise dimly-lit city and accenting the glittering sapphires and rubies set into the fabric of her dress and the jeweled dagger tucked away on her right hip. She wore a powerful perfume, magically enhanced to attract any possible suitors for the duration of the charm. The hard stone of the city streets would have made her footfalls echo loudly against the brick buildings on either side of the main plaza of Neverwinter, but the uproar from the crowd drowned them out.

As Alanis made her way through the throng of nobles, she spotted her target: a particularly pompous young aristocrat whom she knew had an insatiable appetite for wine and women. Her plan was quickly put into motion as she recalled the night's preparation. Her jeweled dress, gem-encrusted dagger, and the charm-spelled perfume were all a part of her scheme.

The young noble, Terros Salvak, the son of a wealthy shipping magnate whose dealings were underhanded, as often as not, stood in a group of his fellow lords and ladies. They spoke loudly about the trouble in nearby Luskan, Neverwinter's neighboring city, directly to the north. It sounded as though not only were the Arcane Brotherhood upholding their reputation for being a nuisance, but also a fleet of pirates had begun attacking the more northerly Waterdeep's trade ships and haunting the once safe trade routes. Their intervals of laughter and uppity language made it evident to all within the sounds of their voice that they were no more concerned for matters of the arcane or of pirates than they were of their homes being ransacked by gnoll or orc raiding parties.

Approaching him, she noticed not only the finely adorned clothing he wore, exquisite silks from the East, but the bulky rings on his fingers, whose jewels shone as brightly in the lamps as those embedded in her skirts.

She drew near to him, wrapping both her arms around one of his. Alanis noticed the thickness of his arm and the strength of his powerful muscles as they flexed under her grip. She looked up into his eyes longingly.

"M'lord, on such a fine evening as this, I would greatly enjoy the company of a man of your nobility." Her perfectly practiced honest expression played perfectly into his pride, and his face reflected the fact that his arrogance had been bolstered by this woman's proposition.

He smiled pretentiously and agreed loudly, broadcasting his acceptance of her offer so that all those around would turn to watch him. "Of course, my dear. There is a small pub nearby where we could obtain a private room, no doubt. Come with me."

Terros turned with Alanis still on his arm, smiling up at him innocently. As they strolled off in the direction of the pub, Alanis's mind was racing. Reaching the door, Terros opened it for her and made a show of guiding her inside.

He spoke to the bartender, placing a few coins on the counter, and led Alanis up a narrow flight of stairs to the second floor of the pub. This time, with no audience, Terros opened the door and stepped inside, leaving Alanis to make her way into the room and close the door behind them.

Terros grinned arrogantly, sitting on the end of the bed as his mind contemplated what pleasures he would soon experience, but as Alanis closed the door, her fingers beginning to weave a spell, the smirk disappeared from his face, replaced with a feeling very unfamiliar to Terros: fear.

Alanis's fingers moved deftly and the magic held deep within her was called up and focused. The spell was finished as quickly as it had begun, and the fear that Terros felt was quickly replaced by an overwhelming urge to close his eyes and drift off to sleep. Despite his fiercest effort, Terros slipped into unconsciousness and fell back onto the bed.

Alanis was on him in an instant, slipping the rings off his fingers and placing them in a pouch she had hidden in the folds of her dress. She then drew the dagger, slicing his coin purse free of his belt. Her fingers skillfully searched for any other valuables on him, rifling through every pocket and pouch on him. In one of his soft leather boots, she found an extra coin purse, no doubt in case the first was emptied in overindulgence or stolen by brigands. Alanis slipped both coin purses into her pouch and closed its latch.

Leaving the room and locking the door behind her, Alanis made her way quickly down the stairs and through the pub's first floor, not bothering to speak to the bartender or any of the patrons on her way out.

Back on the city streets after only a few minutes of thieving, Alanis slipped into the shadows and alleys, this time attempting to get away from the crowds instead of into their midst. Letting her spell-guise fall, her dress melted away to reveal her leather suit and boots, all the blackest she could buy. Her hair, now red and lengthy instead of black, was pinned close to her head to avoid it getting in the way in a critical moment.

She had no sooner stepped out of an alley, mere feet from crossing the road to the run-down building she used for a cache when a member of the City Guard bellowed at her to "halt".

Alanis's head whipped to the side to see the guard approaching quickly and the scenario played out in her mind. Something about her demeanor leaving the pub made her seem suspicious. Someone must have gone up to the room to make sure everything was alright with the couple that had just before seemed eager to slip away and be alone. The person that checked must have knocked on the door, and finding it locked with no answer after only a few minutes, must have suspected foul play. Still, she thought, her spell-guise should have worked, and the guards should have been looking for a raven-haired woman in a blue, flowing gown, shouldn't they?

The guard's armor was clanging loudly as he approached. Alanis turned on her heel and sprinted away quickly, the guard following in pursuit, keeping up the pace despite his heavy armor.

As Alanis raced through the city, several guards joined the chase, and more than a few times Alanis thought she was cornered, only to find some narrow escape and avoid the guards' grasp by only a hair's breadth.

Quickly realizing that she was no longer welcome inside the city, Alanis knew her only hope was outside of Neverwinter's walls. With the city gates closed after nightfall, she understood that they were not an option, and that an exit from the city would not be as easy as she had hoped.

With her heart pounding and the guards only a few yards back, Alanis reached the wall surrounding Neverwinter. The wall was only about fifteen feet tall, but that was still much higher than she could jump. Gathering her wits, she quickly saw the wooden merchant's booths as the stairs she needed to leave Neverwinter.

After a powerful jump, she had half of her body on the roof of the booth, and after swinging her leg over and a bit of maneuvering, she was standing on the top of the booth, looking up at only a few more feet of wall. She launched herself up and pulled herself over the wall just as the guards were drawing their crossbows and firing a volley of bolts toward the place where she had just been standing.

Dropping fifteen feet to the rocky ground below, Alanis twisted her ankle. She barely had time to wince until she heard the sound of the city gates opening. The guard was pursuing her outside the city!

She limped as she ran, but she was still able to beat a hasty retreat eastward into the few miles of forested wilderness that lay before her. As the terrain changed from the rocky sand around the city to the grass and ferns that line the forest floor, her ankle began to swell and throb. Her boot felt tighter with each step.

Alanis could hear a rumbling growing closer, and she knew then that the guards were pursuing her on horseback. She pushed ahead despite the pain and limped deeper into the forest. The hoof beats were growing louder as she was finally giving in to her screaming ankle. Perhaps if she turned herself in and returned the property she had stolen, Lord Nasher would be sympathetic and grant her a light sentence. Even spending time in a dungeon seemed better than a night in the forest with an injured leg.

She was about to turn and face the guards that she knew had already spotted her when she limped one final step forward. The ground seemed to bend under her weight, and to her utter surprise gave way, causing her to fall through into a seemingly endless, dark abyss.

She fell for what seemed like days, though she knew it had to have only been seconds. Without time to cast a proper spell, she would no doubt be killed when she hit the floor of the gigantic cavern that she was then tumbling through.

Alanis could hear her fall speeding up, quicker and quicker, her senses telling her that the ground was also racing up to meet her. This is how I'm going to die, she thought. Alanis hurtled like a cannonball toward the floor of the cavern, feeling with all of her heart that the ground was only feet away and then suddenly…everything stopped.