The Arcane Brotherhood

"You have the rune?" asked Safiya.

"Yes," replied Marin, for what felt like the hundredth time. The rune of recall lay within easy reach in her pocket. "And I have the scroll that will anchor a stable portal, once I've determined where home is."

Safiya seemed reluctant to let her go. "Then I suppose… then I suppose there is not much more left to be said."

"The Founder brought me here to release the suffering of your love; now I go to find mine." Marin shouldered her travel pack, reassured by the familiar weight of it and the equipment therein. She grinned at the red wizard. "Don't worry, we'll speak again."

Khaman, the red wizard apprentice chosen to escort her, stepped forward. "My lady, we are ready to proceed."

Marin hesitated, clasping Safiya in one last embrace, then turned and plunged through the rainbow hues of the portal.

"My lady, sir," said the Hosttower apprentice, bowing to them. He kept his face averted, having been instructed in no uncertain terms not to in any way impede the passage of the Hosttower guests. "Fast horses await in the stables. I will take you…"

"In a moment, apprentice." A Hosttower mage stepped from the shadows, clad in black. He regarded Marin with undisguised greed. "It is not often we receive guests from Thay; you must excuse my curiosity. To what purpose is your visit, if not to visit one of the Hosttower?"

"Our purpose is not be questioned, sir," replied the red wizard apprentice harshly.

"Easy, Khaman," said Marin, spreading her hands slowly before the wizard's scrutiny. The movement caused her cloak to fall apart, revealing her swollen belly. "Our Hosttower counterpart is merely enquiring as to our passage here."

"It's not so much your passage that interests me as it is the magicks that you carry," replied the Hosttower mage. "There seems to be…"

"Might I remind you the terms of the agreement?" demanded Khaman, bulling his way to the fore. "You may want to check with your superiors before you do anything rash. Your Brotherhood has already received its payment for this transaction; in return you owe us safe passage for one of our matrons, away from the prying eyes of her Thayan enemies as she reaches her term."

The Hosttower mage's eyes remained fixed on Marin. "Still, there is something…"

Marin reached up, rubbing the back of her neck as she tried to ease the tension in the room. Her weight shifted imperceptibly as she gauged the distance between herself and the mage. Unsuspecting, she could have him down in one strike. The fingers of her right hand touched the hilt of the Sword of Gith, hidden in its enchanted scabbard down the length of her back.

"I must offer my apologies," said the Hosttower mage, bowing before them. "I really had no place to interfere. Please… do proceed." Khaman scowled at the cowering mage, who scurried aside and let them pass. The air about him flickered as he teleported from sight.

"That was too easy," muttered Marin, edgy. After facing down Sydney Natale she wouldn't have thought any of the Hosttower mages could be so easily intimidated.

Khaman was unperturbed, instead cuffing the apprentice cowering before him. "Take us to your stables."

Marin glanced around uneasily. Led through the Hosttower complex by the cowering apprentice, they had been unchallenged since the altercation with the mage in the portal room. Despite that, she couldn't shake the feeling of being watched; an almost palpable weight of oppression pressing down on the back of her neck. It grew with every step she took as they drew nearer to the stables.

Khaman looked across at her, noticing her ill-ease. "Almost there, my lady."

"I wouldn't count on a smooth ride out of here," was her reply.

The words were no sooner out of her mouth when her skin crawled with disjunction in the arcane flows of magic. The apprentice led them round the last corner to the stables, where they found the mage from the portal room waiting, flanked by several others. After one frightened look at his superiors the apprentice flickered and vanished from sight.

Regardless, Khaman stood his ground. "You seek to interfere? Face the wrath of the Red Wizards!"

"Stand down, you fool!" said Marin urgently. Facing such odds, the young mage would get himself and her incinerated before he managed to throw his first spell. At the order of the lead Hosttower mage, she placed her hands flat-palmed behind her head. Her right hand slid surreptitiously lower, closer to the hidden hilt.

"There is something about you, Matron, which leads us to believe that you may possess magical artefacts of interest to the Arcane Brotherhood."

Marin held her poise. "I am sure there are many artefacts of interest to the Arcane Brotherhood, which are currently held by other powers. Register your interest with my apprentice and I'm sure we can see what can be done to satisfy your curiosity, at a later time."

"Consider our interest noted, Matron, and let us see what it is that you carry now."

Marin stiffened as a familiar voice intruded on the confrontation. "Come now, mi'lords, there is no need for unpleasantness here."

Torio Claven entered the chamber, flanked by a hulking bodyguard and Hosttower arch-mage. Several others followed behind. "Be assured that this is a matter of the highest diplomatic importance to Luskan. I will take it from here."

"Lady Claven…"

"I assure you; your diligence is noted and appreciated, most esteemed of the Hosttower." Torio paused, looking each mage in the face, fully conscious of the effect her commanding presence had. "But it won't be necessary or appreciated here. Leave us, now."

One by one, the Hosttower mages vanished from sight, cowed by the scarcely veiled threats in the diplomat's words. Torio drew a wand from her sleeve, casting one of its charges to ensure no hidden mages remained. Satisfied, she turned to Marin. "We should move, and move quickly."

The tiefling hesitated, her fingers still resting on the hilt of the Sword of Gith. Torio turned on her at once, her voice a hiss ragged with tension. "Draw that weapon here and you will be beyond my power to shield you. Your friends have done well to hide its presence, but nothing will avail you should the Hosttower become aware of what you carry, and who you truly are."

"Why? Why are you helping me?"

Torio smiled. "Remember what your paladin friend said…"

Marin stiffened, her voice catching in her throat as she automatically corrected her. "His name's Casavir."

"Then remember what Casavir said." Torio smiled, looking back at her. "Now that she no longer goes in fear for her life, she may aspire to better things."

Marin stared at her, astounded. "You heard that?"

"You were standing outside my quarters… It took a while, but you could say it had a lasting impression." Torio signalled to her men and they closed ranks about Marin, shielding her from any further scrutiny. "That's all I'll say for now."

"Brego will see you through most dangers the road can throw at you, although I know you can handle yourself well enough," said Torio, holding the horse's bridle.

Marin secured her travel pack to the saddle before hauling herself up with the assistance of the mounting block. "You'll see that Khaman makes it back safely through the portal to Thay? Left to himself, he might just pick a fight along the way that'll start a new war."

"Changing the plan already?" Torio smirked, looking up at the tiefling. "Your red wizard ally will be most displeased."

Marin returned Torio's gaze with a level look, and the Luskan woman shrugged. "Leave it to me, then." Seeing her charge settled in the saddle, Torio led the horse out of the stables and into the road. She handed up a furled scroll, the red wax sealing it stamped with a signet unreadable in the darkness. "The gate guards will let you pass with this. You're on your own once you are beyond the walls of Luskan. Good luck."

Marin tucked the scroll inside her tunic. She could feel the horse was anxious to be moving but she reined in, looking down at the erstwhile Luskan ambassador to Neverwinter, who had once sought her blood. "Torio… thanks."

The woman smiled again; an expression Marin was unaccustomed to seeing on her face. "I hope you find what you are looking for, Knight-Captain. May the gods watch over you."