Chapter 9: When everything seems to go wrong...
Nil homini certum est. For a human nothing is certain. Ovid
The dining hall was almost empty when Entreri and Jarlaxle went there for breakfast the next morning. Mirjami greeted them warmly and Jarlaxle noticed the look of despair on Entreri's face; the assassin clearly disliked the guild where everyone tried to be friends with each other. The drow realized that his own disappearance the last day hadn't made the assassin's mood any better, and after Entreri had explained their next task and how he had been hiding in the library for hours before the delegates from Calimport finally left, Jarlaxle felt very surprised that the guildhouse was still standing. He had to admit that even he would have hesitated offering Artemis Entreri a book on etiquette, even if it was only for a joke.
"After they had left I talked to Aran and he explained the plan in details," Entreri said when they sat down to a table in the corner of the room. "He wanted to wait for you, but you were nowhere to be found. I suspect that... Oh no!" Entreri muttered and his eyes fixed on something behind Jarlaxle's back.
"Well?" Jarlaxle turned to face Shandara, who was standing next to him and looked at him with an expecting look on her face. "'Well' what?" he asked. Shandara rolled her eyes and sat on the bench next to Entreri. The assassin glared at her, but she didn't seem to mind him at all.
"Well what happened with you and Isaldora?" the woman asked, snatching a piece of apple from Jarlaxle's plate. "There was some progress, but still you spent the rest of the day and night with Irlana," Shandara said and Jarlaxle noticed a trace of disapproval in her voice.
"I thought I saw Mitsu following us," the drow replied. "Good to know that I was right. She wasn't very good at it. More apple?"
"Don't tell her that," Shandara replied, ignoring the plate Jarlaxle was offering her. "She was quite proud of herself, and if you had been anyone else, you wouldn't have noticed her. Well, maybe she would have had trouble with you too," she added to Entreri. "Would a smile kill you?" she sighed when the assassin didn't respond to her comment in any way. "No need to answer. Anyway, I was talking about Isaldora. Take good care of her. She's not an innocent little virgin, but she's not a man-eating temptress either. That's more like my line of work," Shandara chuckled. "But nothing happened? Nothing... you know. You didn't sleep with her."
"I can't believe you're so interested in this," Jarlaxle laughed. "I promise, I will keep you updated on any progress."
"No need for that. I can find out things myself," Shandara replied, snatching another piece of apple from Jarlaxle's plate and getting up. "Just be good to her and stop wasting your time with the whores. If you're with her, you can't sleep with other women. She would kill you. Or die trying. And she's my friend, so I don't like that option either."
"There's no need for you to worry," Jarlaxle said. "I can handle women."
"You'd better," Shandara replied. "And you," she said turning to Entreri, "dance practice this evening. Aran said you should do it," she continued before Entreri could say anything. "Come and get me at five. Find some proper dancing shoes. Boots won't do."
"You can't be..." Entreri started to say, but Shandara stopped him. "I'm dead serious. In order for our job to succeed, you need to know how to dance. If you're not up for the task, we'll find someone else. This is business now. You'll have your turn, believe me" she said to Jarlaxle, who was doing his best to hide his smile. "I'll see you tonight," she said to Entreri, staring straight into his eyes, although the cold grey stare almost made her run away screaming. She turned her eyes away first and shrugged, then walking away in her soft, swinging style that made Jarlaxle smile even more. The woman had charms that she was well aware of, and she also knew how to use them. Jarlaxle could have sworn he saw Entreri's eye twitch when the assassin's gaze followed Shandara, and the drow wondered what would happen if she actually could charm Artemis Entreri. Something pretty interesting, of that Jarlaxle was sure.
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Shandara was starting to get annoyed. Aran had ordered her to make haste with the preparations for Lord Kheran's ball, but it seemed that everything was going wrong. Erik had forgotten to repair the music box, once again, Shandara thought, and he wasn't sure whether he could get it ready by that night. This hadn't worried Shandara much; she was ready to postpone the dance practice, but then a message had come from Anya, the head seamstress, telling that she had broken her arm and couldn't make the clothes needed. Her assistants could make the clothes with her instructions, but Shandara had wanted the best, mostly because the clothes for Jarlaxle and Entreri should be glamorous, but also suitable for sneaking around unnoticed.
Shandara knew it would've been smart to go and meet the seamstresses in order to get things started. But her steps took her to Isaldora's room, and when she knocked on the door, she swore to herself that she would take care of everything right after this.
"Hi," Isaldora said when she opened the door. "Come in and help me to find something to wear." Shandara stepped in the room and looked at the clothes the elf had laid out on her bed. "What are you doing?" she asked. "What's with all the... Oh. Jarlaxle, right?"
"Jarlaxle," Isaldora said nodding. "We were in Waukeen's Promenade yesterday and he was so..." she stopped, searching for right words, while Shandara pushed away a pile of trousers and sat down on the bed. "Wonderful?" Shandara suggested when Isaldora didn't seem to get anywhere.
"'Wonderful' would be one of the words," Isaldora said. "I'm going to go to him tonight and... Well, you know. But I need the right clothes," she said and picked up a blue dress.
"In my experience clothes do not play a very large part in sex. Well, maybe in the beginning a bit. You don't want something that is hard to take off," Shandara said and ignored Isaldora's glare. "Besides, the way Jarlaxle is staring you, he doesn't care whether you are wearing rags or a beautiful gown. Just be yourself."
"I try to show the more attractive side of myself," Isaldora sighed. "I'm just so nervous. His eyes..."
"Why are you going on about his eyes all the time?" Shandara laughed. "I'm not blaming you, he has lots of charm. But don't worry, I think he'll be using them only to you. Wear that blue dress and leave your hair untied. If that doesn't make him fall on his knees and worship the ground you're standing on, then nothing will."
"I'm not so sure whether I need anyone worshipping me," Isaldora said grinning. "But thank you. Oh, did you want something? Here I am just talking about my clothing problems and..."
"It was nothing important," Shandara said. "I have to go and take care of hundred little details, but you don't need to worry about them. At least today. Tomorrow I'll probably need your help with dance practices and deciding what kind of clothes we're going to be wearing. But tonight you don't need to worry about any of those things," Shandara said getting up and giving Isaldora a sly wink. "Enjoy."
"I think I will," Isaldora said, and when Shandara had left, she started to put the clothes back in the wardrobe, leaving only the blue dress. Shandara had a bad habit of always being right about these kinds of things, and Isaldora wasn't going to overlook a good advice. This evening she would wear the blue dress and go to meet Jarlaxle. And then... Isaldora had to admit that she already had a very vivid image of what she wished would happen, but the reality could be different. It didn't matter much. The silver eyes of the drow haunted her every moment, and she couldn't take it any longer. She had to know.
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It was almost five and Shandara still didn't have the music box, but everything else was almost in order. Anya's assistants had seemed like intelligent young women, and Shandara was sure that they could make almost as fine clothes as their teacher. She had also ordered jewels for herself and Isaldora, and chosen the gift Entreri and Jarlaxle should give to Lord Kheran. There were also other minor things, but she didn't worry about them, there was two weeks to take care of carriages, hairstyles and make-up.
"Good, you're already here!" Shandara said cheerfully when she headed to her room and saw Entreri leaning on the wall, looking (as usual) bored and annoyed. "But I'm afraid that we can't have the dance practice today. Erik hasn't fixed the music box," Shandara explained.
"Music box?" Entreri asked, once again giving in to his curiosity, which had happened a lot in this place. Shandara grinned; she enjoyed seeing the proud man giving in and asking her, a common whore, for some answers.
"It's a magical device that plays different tunes," she explained. "It's good when you have to practice dancing, because you don't need musicians. I think Erik will get it fixed by tomorrow, so we can practice then."
"So I can go then," Entreri said, turning to leave, but Shandara snatched his wrist. "No! We can still practice other things. Sorry," she muttered when Entreri stared at her coldly, and then she let go of his wrist. "Do you have any idea how scary you can be?"
"Is this really necessary?" Entreri asked. "I don't like your company any more than you like mine, so why don't you just stop it?"
"What makes you think I don't like your company?" Shandara asked smiling. "True, you can be a complete..."
A sound of an explosion echoed in the hall. Shandara's eyes widened with surprise. "That didn't come from..." There was another explosion close by, and a hot air stream rushed through the corridor, throwing Shandara and Entreri on the floor.
"What the hell was that?" Entreri asked, getting up to his feet. He held out a hand and Shandara took it, getting up and wincing with pain when she put weight on her left leg. "Are you alright?" Entreri continued and Shandara looked at him sharply: "You sound like you actually cared. I don't know what it was, but..." An alarm started to sound in the corridors and Shandara gasped, astounded. "This is serious. They don't ring the alarm unless things are really bad. Could you help me? We have to get to the main hall!"
Entreri helped Shandara towards the main hall, while the alarm sound seemed to be getting louder. There was a lot of smoke in the corridors and people were pouring into the corridors, all of them hurrying towards the main hall. He noticed that Shandara was clearly in pain; she had fallen on her leg pretty badly, but she was still almost running. They reached the main hall and stopped at the doorway, staring at the terrible scene.
