1 Flamerule
"Viconia, you saw your...matron in that illusion?" I said.
"The Matron Mother, yes. Ask me further of the Underdark only if you do not cherish your life."
"...What about you, Edwin?"
"(What? Ah!)" He jumped slightly; he had held a handkerchief over his face all day, hiding the marks of Ajantis' fist. "Oh, four expensive concubines, a deep marble bath filled with milk and rosepetals, three large jars of honey, and a sponge or two. What did you expect?"
"There speaks a virgin," Eldoth said.
"Women of my rank are difficult to find!" Edwin protested. "Watch your words when addressing me, you squalid little social climber, lest they be fed to you with the aid of a Fireball."
"My, my. A single Fireball marks a wizard of your rank? I have known lady wizards inclined to enchant themselves threefold with resistance to the element, and then to bathe in multiple castings...sometimes with a companion."
"That's nothing compared to the erotic uses of...Of a Shocking Grasp spell," Edwin said sulkily. "(Necessity is the mother of invention!)"
"No doubt that spares you from hirsute palms, considering all they say of apprentice wizards."
"Many Eltabban concubines would say otherwise. Once I met one who, well, if you understand what I mean..." Edwin's accompanying gesture, I suspect, would have been incomprehensible to anyone.
"How tedious. I was once—acquainted with a lord's daughter; half a paladin, and without her armour very f..."
Ajantis looked back; his cheeks and ears had turned bright pink. "You pair of degenerates shall watch your mouths around the fairer sex!"
"What did the dryad do to you?" I asked him.
He sighed. "A beautiful maiden of the forest trapped within the very mine we seek awaiting our rescue. With gentle purity," he added over a crass comment from Edwin.
"Males, I hear something," Viconia said. "Something that resembles humanoids in armour, marching as gracelessly as our own pimpled specimen."
"Back to the trees. Separate yourselves," Shar-Teel ordered. She drew Spider's Bane. "Boy, get ready."
I saw the six guards before they saw us where we waited in the shadows of the trees. They wore rather good chainmail, with a red and grey design on their sleeves and tabards that at a distance resembled Black Talon banners. All were armed equally with longswords and shields.
Then three sets of magical missiles hit the tall man in the lead, and Shar-Teel ran toward the band. One raised a bow, but Viconia dealt with him; for a moment, Shar-Teel fought the four, and then one was already dead and Ajantis and I had reached her.
I faced a strong man with iron-grey hair beneath his helmet. He struck quickly; blocking it almost winded me. Shar-Teel killed her second man; brushed his sword aside with her own, and stabbed into the flesh near his shoulder and down.
The man I fought let down his guard—or did not do so, for he showed loyalty to his masters. "Tam! Bear news!" he cried, and left his upper-right open. He did not block the left-handed blow with his shield, and Varscona sliced partway into his neck.
Tam ran—quite young, he was, I suppose younger than Eddard, hair the colour of Garrick's under lamplight; and I gave chase. Imoen's bow shot after him, but the trees were too close for a reliable target. I am equal to Imoen in swiftness of foot, and I do not wear either robes or plate. Tam ran as prey—his comrades died behind him; their last cries were audible—and I pursued. I heard him panting like a dog. Perhaps he felt horror at what was happening to his companions; or perhaps he was afraid only for himself. I gained on him until scarce three feet remained between us. Then he turned. His choices were to kill me quickly or risk a stab in the back; if he could achieve the first, he could make the message reach Sarevok.
He half-growled, half-snarled when he abruptly turned to attack; he surprised me though I understood what he had meant to do. I stepped back, quickly; and his wild swing made no connection.
That was the key, perhaps. In Shar-Teel's lessons and fights such as this. A rogue does not have to be as strong at her; a rogue dodges, a rogue waits for the opening, and it's that chance to—
To kill—likeallthebandits—
He was slow and unwieldy, and about to bolt again. Lean out of his way; feint to his right; he cut me, but that was necessary. Varscona found the opening he left. His breath smelled like onions, and he looked surprised. He was already dead when a storm of magic crashed into his chest and burned a deep hole in his chainmail. Edwin. There was blood on my arm, but I could still move it; it hurt.
"The rest of them gone, Edwin?"
"Such gratitude!" he sneered. "Why, Edwin, thank you ever so much for saving my worthl...I mean, somewhat pathetic life," he mocked. "Why Edwin, now I see the true value of your magic aiding me upon this childish venture..."
"I killed him." Human eyes could still see nothing beyond the thick trees, but it was time to scout. After Viconia's healing. "Come on, let's go bury the bodies." The men would, at some point, be missed; we would attack soon, and there were many things in the Cloakwood. I was supposed to find out exactly what.
The forest was thickly grown here, and sometimes there was even the howl of distant wolves. The rest of the party was back-east-under-the-tall-reddish-tree, I could tell myself; but, unable to see them, it felt as if I was completely alone in the wood.
Which was good, since not meeting any guards was the idea of scouting. Shar-Teel had tried to teach me some things about forest battles. The wind rustled through the trees; where had Tam been running to? I searched for human-made noises.
There was a lake; or would it be more properly called a stream of the Chionthar? The water was wide and ran further than I could see, but the isle in its centre seemed even wider. The woods grew even more densely upon it; I could see nothing but green and brown wrapped tightly together.
The sounds of someone walking. I clambered up a tree, and hid; Damon used to say many things about hiding. Shadows are the canter's best friend. The sounds of metal came from a northward direction, though I could hardly see the guards through the trees; when they passed, I travelled there.
A wooden bridge stretched over the lake. The ropes holding it in place were thick and dark-coloured, and its planks stretched tautly; it looked, even, relatively new, as far as I could tell at that distance. Something of a hint. The thick trees blocked the view of the islet beyond it. Then there was a guard walking near it on the other side, and I fled for the shadows.
The guard was from the isle. There had to be some way to get a closer look, without walking up to that guarded bridge in the open. I followed the line of the lake. Looking carefully at the trees, I thought I could see the neat lines of fenceposts here and there between the leaves, a high shield against prying eyes. A second man-made bridge joined together two separate islets.
At last I found a part of the lake that seemed relatively narrow; and, better, a depression on the opposite side of the water, a crack to hide in. I could hear nothing. The studded leather armour was relatively light, and besides it I carried only Varscona; no born Baldurian does not know how to swim. Without splashing, I stepped into the cold and muddy water; nothing with teeth touched my ankles.
A few human voices were louder upon the other side. The depression took me close to Sarevok's walls; I found a crack to peer through, and tried to find what Shar-Teel needed to know.
The shadows are a canter's friend. It's not real magic, our ability to hide; but to melt into areas of obscurity and darkness is a trick of the mind as well as the body, dancing one's self into that dark weave of threads. It's the strongest shield of all. I waited; listened; and found just enough.
"The mine entrance is probably somewhere on the eastern side. Heavily fenced all the way around; one bridge; soldiers' barracks, I saw about twenty guards and a man in wizard's robes, there's probably more that that; some buildings that are probably for storage, there were sacks being carried out of them; and there are the slaves, of course," I said.
"Is it possible to bring down the fences?" Shar-Teel said.
"Fireball!" Edwin said happily.
"I think it would take a lot of those; they're large," I said. "And the water is quite deep; swimming with heavy armour could be..."
"I have trained for that," Ajantis said.
"Fireballs from the riverbank, then swim in, bring the rest of the fencing down, and attack... Might take too long," Shar-Teel said. "Better to rush the bridge if we have to."
Fire... That was a rogue's idea. Successful military attacks in history books can use stealth.
"Ajantis could put on a guard's armour," I said hesitantly. All I had seen were male, and he was the one in our group who looked most like the guards. "If he goes in, gets quickly into the fortification, leaves the gates open, sets something on fire as a distraction, and then we..."
"What about the slaves? We can't hurt them," Imoen said.
"Slavery is morally wrong and economically inefficient," I recited. "Also extremely illegal. The Iron Throne's slaves are more valuable than the slaves themselves might realise; Ajantis can fire one of the evil guards' buildings or whatever, and they'll probably evacuate the slaves themselves."
"I strongly dispute that," Edwin said. "One slave matters little, and the Iron Throne makes a sane decision to use such manual labour. (What else are slaves for?)"
"They have to use a lot of their resources kidnapping the slaves and keeping their operations a secret," I said, "and even when that's not necessary, paying guards to prevent slaves from escaping or rebellion and healers to ensure their ability to work is a huge expense..."
"Yes, but you ultimately save on gold since you don't have to pay slaves because they're slaves; you're missing the point yet again, my dear child. They're an untapped source of useful labour and items for trade that has given Thay some of its greatness."
"Shut up, Edwin," Imoen said.
"They also stop Thay and other nations from achieving things—they stifle innovation," I quoted. "Because with slaves it's easy to use 'buy more slaves' as the solution to a problem—"
"It's a solution that works," Edwin interjected. "Perhaps after a whipping or two."
"You will be silent about your abhorrent nation, Red Wizard," Ajantis said.
"But with freemen, the solution to the problem becomes, 'innovate the methods'. So you're less efficient," I said.
"And morally wrong, Skie," Imoen said.
"We are wizards and we craft new magics all the time. You are wrong; own your inferiority. Even a few slaves can be traded for wealth most of you westerners could hardly dream of; and looking at allocative efficiency, our system wherein they carry out labour wizards would scorn..."
"Close your mouth or I shall give the righteous smiting you richly deserve."
"Do be quiet, dunce; I am trying to give the girl a lesson in basic economics..."
Shar-Teel growled.
"Very well; plans. I agree. Let us set something on fire, I purchased an Oil of Fiery Burning myself that I shall very generously lend you. I would suggest adding a slight fuse to it to escape the vicinity beforehand (these simians never manage to grasp the simplest of safety instructions)."
"Get area-effect spells and spells against enemy casters," Shar-Teel ordered. "We strike as soon as it is dark."
"Our destruction of this evil mine shall be just and noble. Despite the means."
"Right." Imoen dropped down to sit cross-legged under a wide-leaved tree. "Spellbooks!" She stared at her muddied, pink-bound pages, bringing her eyebrows close together above her eyes and screwing up her face in deep concentration. "I'll take magic missiles, Grease, that Stinking Cloud, a Mirror Image just in case..."
"Magic missiles? Larloch's (Which your inferior talents will never manage to cast) is a far better disruption to an enemy caster...and very enriching to oneself," Edwin corrected.
"I am in agreement," Eldoth said smoothly; white light played about his right hand.
Edwin seemed to gape at that.
"On second thoughts Magic Missile really becomes quite an effective spell for a wizard as gifted as myself; multiple projectiles and that sort of thing," he added. "Larloch's was really designed with the apprentice or dabbler in mind."
"You forget Charms," Garrick said rather loudly. "Charms to ensnare a person, to make them follow you out of love and gain despair..."
"Yes, yes, prepare your little cantrips, I require peace and quiet," Edwin said. "Innk nitre nab..."
"My goddess grants me precisely what I shall need," Viconia said. She laid a hand on my left arm; the one which usually wielded Varscona. "Xal oloth plynn mina. Let darkness prevail."
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