Chapter 16: Dance practice



Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live. Norman Cousins



Erik Jansen put the music box on his table and looked at it, smiling. He had finally managed to fix it, after several threats from Shandara and Aran, and he was sure that from now on it wouldn't keep playing only bagpipe music. Shandara had told him that she would be needing it that night for dance practice, and the gnome had made sure that the box played all the songs she wanted it to play.



The gnome had to admit that he was a bit worried about Shandara. He couldn't understand why Aran had ordered Artemis Entreri as her bodyguard, nor why she had to be the one teaching the assassin and his drow companion to dance. Erik had heard stories about Artemis Entreri, stories that he would've liked to forget, and he wondered whether the man had changed enough so that he wouldn't be a threat to them all.



Shandara had told him that he didn't have to worry. She would manage, she had said, flashing one of her charming smiles. Shandara relied on her charms and appearance, but according to what Erik had heard about Entreri, the assassin didn't seem to have any weaknesses that were common to ordinary men.



The gnome pressed one of the runes and soft music filled the room. He went through the runes, until bagpipe music started to play. Shandara couldn't stand it, while Erik enjoyed it. It was calming, and perfect to listen while cooking. He had built a little cooking corner in one corner of his room, because Mirjami had banned him from the kitchen after that unfortunate turnip accident. Erik couldn't understand how few dozen turnips that just happened to explode were a bad thing, but Mirjami had been furious, and the gnome had finally decided that people who didn't appreciate the beauty of turnip dishes didn't deserve them. He still offered his turnip delicacies to anyone who came to his room, although not many actually ate them. They didn't know what they missed, Erik thought, and it was their loss, not his.



The gnome poured water in a large cauldron and put in on the fire. When he began to slice turnips, he thought about the last three days. Aran had managed to arrange things well, and quickly. The day after the attack the Shadowmaster had made a speech to all the members and reminded everyone that Shadow Thieves didn't let themselves be scared by anyone. They would continue their operations like before, and at the same time get ready for the battle against the rival guild. They would find out all there was to know about the new guild, and then they would crush it. The Shadow Thieves always won.



After the turnips had been sliced, the gnome took two large onions. He was just about to start to slice them, when there was a knock on the door. "I'm busy, come back later!" he shouted.



"I'm busy too, I can't come back later!" Faershan answered and opened the door. The smell of turnips was worse than she had remembered, but she stepped in bravely, leaving the door open so that at least some air in the room would change.



"Faershan, nice to see you," Erik said, putting an onion down. "You've been here for three days and you've waited so long to come to see me."



"Sorry," Faershan said grinning and sitting in the only chair in the room that seemed like it wouldn't break. Unfortunately it was a gnome-sized, and the half-elf stretched her legs in front of her and tried to find a comfortable position. Erik pushed of a pile of metal parts from another chair, sitting down and giving Faershan a wide smile. "So how have you been?"



"I wasn't away that long," Faershan said calmly. "But I still feel like everything has changed. Tell me, how is Aran doing? He's claiming he's fine, but I think he was stressed even before the attack. And I haven't seen Isaldora at all, and Shandara seems to be spending all her time planning some strange operation nobody is telling me about. And who is that man with her? And why is there a drow here? And I think the water is boiling."



"Oh, wait a moment," Erik said and got up. He put the turnips in the cauldron and started slicing the onions. "Well, I think I'm allowed to tell you about the operation. Shandara will seduce Lord Kheran and Entreri, Jarlaxle and Isaldora will steal his amulet and box. Entreri is the man following Shandara, Aran ordered him to be her bodyguard. The drow is his companion. And Isaldora is spending most of her time with the drow, because she is in love with him. And I think if you want to know how Aran is doing, you should try to find it out yourself."



"All that information and you still manage to cut onions so neatly," Faershan laughed. Erik grinned and threw the onion slices in the cauldron, adding few spices and then returning to sit. "Don't laugh at me," he said. "I think that I can give you some more information only if you behave."



"Sorry," Faershan said. "Isaldora's in love? With a drow? How the hell did that happen?"



"I think that Shandara played some part in that. But although I had my doubts, I think that Jarlaxle actually cares about her. It won't last foe ever, but..." Erik sighed. "I think it'll do her good."



"And Shandara and the bodyguard? Entreri? Oh god," she gasped. "Artemis Entreri?"



"So you've heard of him too," Erik said. "My thoughts were exactly the same, but now I think that he can be trusted. Still, he's a deadly adversary, and I have to admit I'm a bit worried about Shandara. She thinks that her charms will work on Entreri, but I'm not so sure about that."



"She's a survivor," Faershan said. "If there's someone who can deal with Entreri and the likes of him, that's Shandara."



"But we'll still keep an eye on her, don't we?" Erik asked. Faershan nodded; she was always worried about Shandara who - in her opinion - played with fire too often, and with the dangerous assassin she should be extra careful. And her friends would have to look after her.



"And Aran," Erik started, "he had problems with Tassa long before the attack, and now he is working too hard in order to forget the way he treated her. Help him if you can. This is no time for our leader to work himself to death."



"I'll do my best," Faershan said. She was worried about the Shadowmaster, the man who had hired her without asking questions about her past. Now she realized that she would be willing to tell everything about her past to him, if he only asked. But it seemed that Aran Linvail had relationships only with brainless and beautiful women, who looked good at his side. Faershan knew that some men found her appearance attractive; she had brown skin from her human mother and her silvery white hair from her elven father, but she also knew that she wasn't really beautiful. She wished she was, maybe then Aran would...



She stopped the thought there. She had her god, that should've been enough. But she had to admit that no god could keep her warm during nighttime, no god could kiss her and have long talks with her about everything that was going on in the world. And apparently no man would do that either.



"Cheer up," Erik said quietly, and when Faershan looked at him, she noticed an unusually serious look on the gnome's face. "Everything will be fine. Someday," he sighed and then got up. You know, it takes about three or four hours to get this ready, and I still have to add many more ingredients. Would you like to help?"



"No," Faershan said, trying to sound as convincing as possible. Worrying was bad enough, she didn't want to taste Erik's Turnip Surprise. Of course, if she stayed, she might finally find out what the gnome actually put in the dish. But the prize for that knowledge was too high for her to pay, and she said goodbye, heading towards her own room. She would have to make a sleeping potion and then force Aran to drink it every night so that the man would sleep and she could stop worrying about him for a while. It was too painful, dreaming about the man and worrying about him at the same time. She would have to stop doing both and concentrate on her religion, on her god and on things that she could reach. Aran's love was out of her reach.



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Artemis Entreri was surprised how things had worked out in the guild in the last days. Aran had made a speech that had been - in Entreri's opinion - quite useless, but people seemed to have like it. All operations would be continued, life would go on as it had before, and Entreri had been ordered to have dance practice.



He didn't like the idea, but it had to be done so that their operation would be successful. And Shandara had assured him that he would learn the steps with no difficulties. The last three days that Entreri had been guarding the woman had proven to be quite boring. Shandara had concentrated on planning the costumes, and Entreri had spent most of his time sitting in corners of rooms, watching the woman argue with seamstresses and going through different colour choices.



She had said that he should wear green. Entreri couldn't help but smile; the whole situation was so strange that he had to take it with humour. He was still annoyed that Aran had simply ordered him to guard the woman, but he had decided that he would have to take it. Maybe after the operation, or when the new guild had been destroyed, then he might get rid of this useless task.



Entreri reached the door to Shandara's room and knocked. She shouted something which sounded like 'enter', so Entreri opened the door and stepped in. Shandara was sitting in front of the mirror, looking at her reflection and working feverishly on her hair. The assassin leaned on the wall and stared at her.



"Are you trying to kill me with your eyes?" Shandara asked, letting go of her hair and giving him a tired look. "I've been trying to do something with my hair, but... Hopeless," she sighed giving Entreri a quick smile. "So, are you ready to dance?" When she got up Entreri noticed that she was only wearing a red corset and a white, simple shirt.



"Maybe I should come back when you have some clothes on," Entreri said dryly.



"Why?" Shandara asked, opening the wardrobe and tossing a simple red dress on her bed. "You have trouble concentrating? Just a joke," she continued when Entreri stared at her coldly. "No need to look at me like you're going to rip my head off. Men..." she muttered, took of the shirt and pulled the dress on.



"I think that this will be easy. You are a warrior, so you should control your body, but the complicated steps may be hard to remember," Shandara said, taking a pair of high heeled shoes and slipping them on.



"I just hope this will be over soon," Entreri said. Shandara gave him a quick look and then shrugged. "So do I."

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Erik's Turnip Surprise was boiling nicely when Shandara entered the gnome's room. Entreri stopped at the doorway, stunned with the smell. The gnome turned and smiled cheerfully. "Would you like some Turnip Surprise?" he asked, stirring the brown mixture with a hopeful look on his face. "It'll be ready soon."



"Surprisingly not," Shandara replied. "Do you have the music box ready?"



"Sure. Let me see..." the gnome started to rummage through the things on his table, throwing strange objects over his shoulder. Entreri ducked when a strange, whirring object flew to his direction. It hit the wall behind him, bounced back, made few circles and exploded with a pink flash. Shandara chuckled and turned back to Erik who had found a black box with runes carved on it.



"Each rune is a different song, remember?" he said. "Press the rune and the box will play the tune. A nice phrase, isn't it? If I ever start selling these, that phrase will make people queue in front of shops for days."



"It's a good phrase," Shandara said, managing to keep a straight face, then taking the box and turning it around. "Which songs are in this?"



"I can't remember," Erik admitted. -"But try them. There should be enough for your practice. Enjoy," he said, winking at Entreri. Entreri ignored him and when Shandara lead him out of the room and closed the door, he sighed with relief. The smell had been terrible.



"Turnip Surprise," Shandara muttered leading him along the corridor. "I have never had the nerve to taste it. Maybe the surprise is that it's actually good. I'm not risking it, though," she said and pressed a wood panel that opened a secret door. It let them into a large practice room. Shandara took an enchanted ball that was placed on one of the shelves in the room and pressed few runes on it. The ball began to glow and soon it's light filled the whole room.



"Maybe not as glamorous as the ballrooms will be, but... Oh no," she sighed as she glanced at Entreri's feet. "You can't dance in those boots. We need to find you a pair of high-heeled shoes. You will have to wear them in the ball, so we might as well train with them. Wait here, she said," before Entreri could say anything, "I'll go and find you shoes.".



"Wait," Entreri started, but then shrugged. This didn't seem like a good time to argue. Shandara gave him the music box, smiled and ran off, her hair flowing behind her. Entreri turned the box over in his hands a few times, but decided not to press any of the runes. The box smelled of turnips and Entreri couldn't help but smile. This was simply too strange.



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"Here you are, nice shoes for you," Shandara entered the room after a while, carrying a pair on light blue, high heeled shoes. She gave the shoes to Entreri and took the music box, staring at it. "I might as well give it a try." She pressed the first rune and suddenly the room was filled with high, wailing sound. She hit the rune again and the music stopped. "Bagpipes," she said, looking at Entreri who was wondering whether his ear drums were still working. "I'll have to remember that it's the rune that looks like squished worm. Let's hope the next one is better."



This time the box started to play a beautiful soft melody. Shandara put it on one of the shelves in the room and walked in the middle of the room. "Come here," she said to Entreri, who had changed his shoes. The assassin left his weapons on a shelf nearby and walked to her. She took his hand, stepping close. "Put your other hand on my waist and then... Well, the steps are simple. Take two steps forward, starting with your right foot. Then you just..."



After an hour they had gone through five different dances, and Entreri was still forgetting their names. "Fighting is easier," he admitted to Shandara. "You can improvise in it."



"You can improvise in dance also," she remarked. "I'll play the first song and you can forget the steps, for now," she added. "Just let the music lead you and lead me so that we won't end up in a heap on the floor. Alright?"



"Very well," Entreri said, not wanting to start another argument like the one they had gone through because of - or at least Shandara had claimed so - Entreri's lack of trust for his dance partner. Get it over with as soon as possible, he had told himself. Shandara pressed one of the runes and the music started to play. "Start any time you want," she said. Entreri took hold of Shandara's hand and drew her close. He listened to the soft music and then started to move, making sure that Shandara kept up with him.



It was easier than he had thought. She followed his lead and managed to keep up with even those steps that Entreri knew went wrong because of his mistakes. He had to admit that she was quite beautiful, with her dark hair flowing free and her green eyes sparkling like she was laughing all the time. Shandara noticed his look and looked at him questioningly. At the same time Entreri missed a step and his foot came down on the hem of her dress.



Shandara felt the tug on her dress and heard the sound of ripping fabric. She tried to hold her balance, but tumbled forward, straight into Entreri's arms. She kind of liked it; the assassin's strong arms went around her and their bodies were pressed together.



"Concentrate on the steps," she whispered, looking into his eyes. "Not on something else." Entreri pushed her away and she flashed him an evil smile. "No need to feel embarrassed. Didn't I say that I'm good in what I do?"



"If you think that..." Entreri started angrily, because he knew that the woman was right. He had let his concentration slip because of her looks, something that didn't happen to him often. "I don't think anything," Shandara said quickly. "This is enough for one day. We can go through the dances again tomorrow. I can find my own way to my room, your free for the rest of the night," she said and took the music box, then turning and heading towards the door. "By the way," she added from the door, "I really enjoyed that."



After she had run off Entreri started to change his shoes feeling rather annoyed. She had made him lose hi concentration once, but that wouldn't happen again. Although she was attractive, Entreri had to admit that, she was still a common whore. And while Entreri realized he might enjoy a night with her, it was no excuse to let her presence effect him in any way. He threw the blue shoes in the corner of the room and took his weapons. He might as well train his fighting skills now that he didn't have anything to do. More discipline and self-control, that's what he needed. After all, those were the only things that had ever had any meaning in the life of Artemis Entreri.