The next day, they rose past noon and went to report to the watch station.
She smelled it before she saw it. Smoke was rising up into the otherwise clear air, and not the pleasant smell of wood smoke. This smoke was acrid and made all but Elanee's eyes water. Flames licked the walls of the watch building. She looked down at her skin. I've walked through fire before. Instinctively, she ran up to the building to try and get in, to see if anybody was still alive in there. A burly watchman caught her around the waist and tackled her to the ground. Her head hit the cobblestones and a wave of nausea swept over her as a smell not unlike roasting pig wafted from the building. She struggled, but he was bigger than her and pinned her soundly.
"If you want to help," he said, letting her up, "You'll grab a bucket and make sure the rest of this district doesn't go up in flames as well!"
"There are... there are people in there," she said, "I can smell them."
"So can the rest of us, lass," the watchman replied," There's nothing you can do for them now without burning yourself to a crisp as well.
"What... what happened?" she asked.
"War," he replied, "The bloodiest war Neverwinter's ever seen, if Captain Brelaina will let the men and I do what needs to be done."
"What do you mean?"
"The "good" Captain's been too timid out here... afraid to clamp down on this district. And this is what her caution has brought us. Listen, you seem to have some sway with Cormick. Go speak with him, over in the Merchant Quarter. Maybe you can get them to put a stop to this."
"Fine," Adahni said, "Let's go, then." She shot one backward glance at the building, feeling for the poor souls trapped in there.
The Merchant Quarter was separated from the Docks by the Neverwinter River, diverted through the city into a stonewalled canal. They made their way across the bridge, leaving the smoldering headquarters at their backs. It looked like it was in better shape than the Docks, but not by much. The buildings were mostly three stories high instead of two, the upper levels leaning in towards the streets, giving it the feel of deep forest. Adahni was looking up, taking in the houses and shops, when Khelgar nudged her.
"Someone wants your attention," he whispered.
Khelgar was mistaken. While there was a small band of men blocking the street and preventing them from crossing fully into the district, it was not Adahni they were looking at.
"I'm disappointed – I thought you'd be harder to find, Neeshka," their leader sneered. He was a large man, in his twenties but prematurely gray.
"Here we go again," Khelgar rumbled, "I see you didn't lay eyes on the corpses we left behind from the last band of thugs that were sent after goat-girl here."
"We've already gone through this," Adahni echoed, "Get the fuck out of here and I'll leave you legs you can get the fuck out on."
The leader began to speak, but Adahni ignored him, asking Neeshka loudly, "Who is this clown?"
"Name's Tremmel," Neeshka replied, "Bastard son of husband of the Luskan Ambassador and a local whore known for having the biggest ass this side of the Spine of the World. He'd be nothing but a whoreson if his noble father hadn't left him enough gold to buy his way in to a street gang."
"Leldon's not just paying me gold for this," Tremmel said. He was gray-haired, but it appeared to be more the result of unfortunate genetics than a factor of age, for he didn't appear to be a day over twenty-five. He did, however, favor his left ankle, a fact of which both Adahni and Khelgar took a mental note, "He's also bringing me in as his partner... just as soon as I bring him your horns."
"Partners? With Leldon?" Neeshka said, "Trust me, I'll be doing you a favor, killing you."
Adahni caught herself before she sighed with exasperation in front of the enemy. Neeshka might have been good for spotting whatever tricks and traps the insane or diabolically clever minds who designed castles and dungeons and crypts had left behind, but in a hand to hand combat, she was more of a liability than an asset. This was made more frustrating by how drastically her bark dwarfed her bite. She gave the band of thugs another once-over and announced, "This is getting tiresome. Let's get it over with."
They killed Tremmel, leaving him in a puddle of his own blood. There was one half-orc thug whom they left alive. In lieu of relieving him of his hand, Adahni sliced both of his cheeks down the sides. "Tell Leldon that Adahni Farishta sent you, and that if he's going to fuck with Neeshka again, he can expect a lot worse than that." The frightened thug just whimpered and ran off into an alley.
"Leldon's more obsessed than I thought," Neeshka said, "I wonder how many of his goons we'll have to carve up before he gets wise."
"Well if that one does what I said, we shouldn't have that problem. Still, I think it's time we paid Leldon a visit," Adahni sighed, "I'm not going to lie, I'm getting a little sick of this bullshit."
"All right," Neeshka said, "It has been fun screwing with his thugs, but it is getting harder each time."
"I'm not certain Leldon is the one we need to worry about," Elanee said quietly, "At least he makes his grievances plain."
"He'll know we're coming, though," Neeshka said, "Expecting us, like."
"All right," said Adahni, "So we fuck him up."
"Nah, too much fun to be had messing with his head," Neeshka said, "I think we ought to steal something of his."
"Please tell me it's something expensive and/or useful," Adahni sighed.
"A coin," Neeshka said, "He's gotten it into his head that this little coin he has is lucky. It's obnoxious, to say the least. We take it, and he's lost his mojo, and he leaves us alone."
"And what would that accomplish?"
Elanee interjected, sounding genuinely annoyed. "If theft got you... and us... in this trouble to begin with, I fail to see how it will solve matters by stealing again."
"He might leave us alone if I can show him once and for all who's best," Neeshka insisted. That bark again... and Adahni would bet a kingdom that it would be Neeshka that Khelgar would have to carry to the Temple of Tyr on his back.
"Well I still think we should beat him to a pulp," Adahni said, "After all it's what I do best. But whatever you say."
"This doesn't even make sense!" Elanee protested.
"All I have to do is prove I'm better than him, and he slinks off with his tail between his legs," Neeshka said, her red eyes snapping like they always did when she was frustrated.
"If he's willing to kill over a theft he won't stop just because you do it again!" Elannee said, raising her voice much higher than she was accustomed to, "Going to the Skymirror was something we could do to find out more about these shards and the Mere... what you're suggesting is some fool's errand that will accomplish nothing except stir up trouble."
"I liketrouble," Khelgar said, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Look, we already did what you wanted to do," Neeshka said, petulantly.
"You're not going to shut up about it until I agree, are you?" Adahni observed.
"Nope."
"Fine. We'll do it your way."
"Good," Neeshka said, smirking at Elanee, who scowled back.
"Where to?"
"Well I'm going to have to call in a few favors to figure it out. I think Ophala would know. Yeah... she might be able to help us."
"Ophala?"
"She owns the Moonstone Mask here in the Merchant Quarter. It used to be a place for people who... erm... needed some privacy. She's cleaned it up since the war, though."
"So she's a pimp," Adahni said, the bile rising in the back of her throat.
"She wasa pimp. Now she's a madam," Neeshka corrected her.
"Same thing," Adahni said, "She sucks the life out of young girls like you and me for her profit. Call it what you like, scum of the earth is what she is."
"I wouldn't have pegged you as such an ardent upholder of morality," Neeshka said, rolling her eyes.
Adahni laughed, "Not morality. I've got no problem with a woman – or man for the matter – selling her body on her own, it's when a third party involved and starts siphoning off profits for himself that I get testy."
"I see," Elanee sniffed, still clearly put off by Adahni's decision, "And this is what so-called civilization gets us? A person performing a sacred, natural act for money?"
"Maybe if you performed a few more "sacred acts" yourself you wouldn't have your skivvies in such a twist about it," Neeshka said, "Look, like it or not, Ophala's the one we're going to have to talk to. If you two don't like it, you can wait outside."
Adahni led the way, though each step she took felt filled her with more and more dread. Neeshka skipped along behind, whistling the tune to "The Cuckoo's Nest," which Adahni found to be anything but amusing at this juncture. Khelgar plodded along behind, clearly looking forward to the prospect of ogling some of Neverwinter's young beauties. Elanee glowered along in the back, mumbling to herself.
"Here it is!" Neeshka piped up as they reached a large, free-standing structure. There were some normal-looking people holding a conversation outside. At least it wasn't the seedy den of sin that Adahni had grown accustomed to associating with a brothel. As she set foot inside, she was struck by how clean and elegant is was. There were a number of good-looking girls, some with black roses stuck in their bodices and a couple with white ones. Suddenly, the cleanliness and opulence of the place made the whole thing more insidious. At least, she supposed, all of the women looked to be at least twenty years old, some of the older ones must have been near fifty. She didn't see any of the cowering teenagers she was expecting, only poised, elegant women.
Ophala, standing in the middle of the room like an abbess among her novitiates, was a small, thin woman, half-elven perhaps. She wasn't pretty, but had lined her eyes with black paint that made her look a little off, almost frightening. She looked right past Adahni at Neeshka.
"Neeshka," she said, her voice clipped, nasal and decidedly upper-class, "Perhaps now was not the best time to return. Leldon is not in the best of moods since your last visit."
"So I see," Neeshka commented.
"You need to either make amends with him or pay him back what you owe him," Ophala said, raising her carefully plucked eyebrows. Adahni felt an old loathing creep over her, and narrowed her eyes at the madam.
"Owe him? I don't owe him jack shit!" Neeshka squealed angrily.
"Listen," Adahni said, leaning in to speak with Ophala, "This Leldon needs to be dealt with. Getting a little big for his britches, see?"
"It's dangerous," Ophala said, "Are you sure you want to do this?"
"He's threatening Neeshka here, and she's a valuable sword arm," – lie – "I'd rather he die than her, so here I am," Adahni said.
"Yeah! What she said," Neeshka said.
"Fine," Ophala sniffed, "You can find him further north along this road. Hard to miss. Is there anything else I can help you with?"
"Yeah," Adahni said, glancing around at the women in the room, "So I hear this establishment used to be different before the war."
"Haven't smoothed out all of the rough edges," Ophala said, nodding.
"I see," Adahni said, "Where do your employees come from? Foreign?"
"A few," Ophala said, "Yes, a few of them came in on a ship from Amn, the market is in bad shape there and they thought they'd seek employment elsewhere. The rest of them are Neverwinter, born and raised, from the city or the provincial villages. Why the interest?"
"I don't like what it is you do," Adahni said, "I think it's disgusting, but you're going to do it whether I like it or not, so I might as well make sure that everything's... on the up and up, so to speak."
"I assure you," Ophala said, her voice icy, "I follow stringent ethical guidelines."
"I see," said Adahni.
"Why, may I ask, are you so concerned for the welfare of my girls?"
"Because you're a pimp, plain and simple," said Adahni, "I know your kind, and I figured while I was in the business of smiting injustice and dropping ice cubes down the back of tyranny, I might as well check in on the worst sort of bully there is."
"I am well within the bounds of both law and morality," Ophala said, "Ask Lord Nasher if you don't believe me."
"You know, I just might do that," Adahni said.
"Are you done interrogating me?" Ophala sniffed.
"No," Adahni said, "One more thing. The husband of the Luskan ambassador – does he come around here at all?"
"Mistress Claven's husband has been missing for over a year. Where have you been, under a rock? It was the scandal of the decade!" Ophala said, "And it's really none of your business whether he's been here or not. Luskan or not, my clients receive the highest degree of privacy."
"Thank you, Mistress Ophala. We won't be returning here." She turned on her heel and strode out of the place and her three befuddled companions followed.
"What was thatabout?" Khelgar asked, "What's your concern with some dead Luskan diplomat?"
"Well," Adahni said, "Neeshka said that that gray-haired lout we just relieved of his life was the son of the Luskan ambassador's husband and the whore with the biggest ass this side of the Spine of the World. Frankly, I've seen some pretty big ones and I was curious if she still worked there."
Khelgar guffawed and slapped his thighs, "You are a piece of work, lass, a right piece of work."
"Look there," she said, pointing to a large structure which exuded light and calm and peace, "That's a temple of Tyr, isn't it."
"Sure looks like one," Khelgar said, "How do I look?" He licked one thick hand and used it to smooth his reddish eyebrows, "Monkish?"
"Might want to jam the handle of your axe a little further up your ass. It'll give you the proper, uptight look," Adahni suggested.
Khelgar laughed and slapped her on the back, an act which sent her reeling. "You've a smart tongue on you. One of these days it might get you into trouble."
"I thought you liked trouble," Adahni said.
"That I do, lass, that I do," He reached up and put his hand on her shoulder avuncularly, "I'll be glad to send whatever trouble it is screaming into the nine hells. So long as there's ale at the end of it, of course. There will be ale, right?"
"Khelgar, old boy," Adahni said, "There will always be ale."
