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stairway to reach the ground, and there they paused. The forest stood thick around them. "We meet just outside Solace," Mynx explained. "Odd place for a thieves' ring," Tarscenian commented. She snorted. "Everything's odd, now that Hederick's in charge. Gaveley thought we'd be safer out here. The temple is north of Solace. This place is as far southwest as you can be and still find quick access into the city. Gaveley wanted to keep out of Hederick's way, I guess. My chief is not one to offer explanations, and it's a wise thief that doesn't look for them." "This Gaveley, he's the leader?" Mynx nodded. Then she stopped and addressed Kiffle-wit. "You needn't attend us any longer, kender. Go back to your family, wherever they are." "But..." Mynx cut him short. "Gaveley's ring of thieves has no use for another kender. Go away." Another kender? Tarscenian thought. Mynx's kender friend had been a member of the ring? Kifflewit protested loudly. "But we're a team! Didn't you notice how we were working together back there? Could Tarscenian have pulled it off without me? Could he?" "It won't seem so wonderful when Hederick's guards find you," Mynx snapped. "Mynx had a kender friend who died because of the High Theocrat," Tarscenian told the kender. Mynx swung on him angrily. "He was killed, Tarscenian. Executed by one of Hederick's bowmen. I was an arm's length away when it happened." "All the same, my dear, I doubt you'll be able to lose a kender who doesn't want to be lost," Tarscenian said. "Ha. You just wait." A footstep sounded before them in the trees, and the three darted into the shadows. This time, Tarscenian's was the hand firmly planted over Kifflewit's mouth. There were more footsteps, then muted voices, and finally a pair of figures hove into view. Mynx relaxed. "Gaveley," she mouthed soundlessly to Tarscenian. A half-elf of medium height, his arm slung casually across the shoulder of an equally well-dressed human, strolled past without any sign that he'd noticed them if indeed he had. He was speaking so softly to his companion that the three in the shadows couldn't make out a word. After he had passed, Mynx let out a sigh. "Lesson one: Never interrupt Gaveley while he's on a job," she whispered to Tarscenian. "Lesson two: Never admit to knowing him outside the den." She turned toward the kender. "And lesson three: Keep kender away from him. Far away." She pointed south. "Out, Kifflewit Burrthistle. Our paths part now." At that, the little creature shrugged his shoulders and skipped off without so much as a protest or backward glance. Odd, Tarscenian thought. He could see that Mynx, too, was surprised by such unaccustomed obedience from a kender. But after Kifflewit Burrthistle was out of sight, she too shrugged and led Tarscenian away. Soon they stopped, and she left him waiting before a huge boulder while she disappeared into the underbrush. Tarscenian heard a click; the boulder shifted aside. Mynx returned, leaned over the rock, and triggered a mechanism behind it. She put her shoulder to the granite chunk and easily pushed it aside. "Gaveley's invention," she muttered. She disappeared into a hole; Tarscenian felt her grasp his hand and tow him behind her. He felt something else slip past him in the dark but, guessing what it was, said nothing. There was the scrape of the boulder returning to its place. Light flared from an oil lamp. "Gaveley won't be back for a while," Mynx said as she adjusted the wick. "We may as well make ourselves comfortable while we ..." She spotted the kender, and her jaw dropped. Tarscenian, stifling a laugh, tried to look disapproving. "This is terrific!" Kifflewit burst out. "What a superb locking mechanism! A three-way Ergoli trip with a sideways catch I've never seen one of those. And look at this place! All the jewels! Are they real? What..." Mynx collared the talkative creature. "Out, kender!" she repeated vehemently. "Gaveley would kill you for intruding. You're lucky I have a soft spot." Still holding Kifflewit by his skinny neck, she reached toward a shelf and moved a bejeweled statue of a harpist a few inches to the left. Just in time Kifflewit grabbed at air. Then there was the sound of something sliding aside. Mynx tossed the kender up the entryway and into the night. "Ouch! But...!" Kifflewit protested. "Be gone by the time Gaveley returns, or kiss your topknot good-bye," Mynx growled. "And don't let me hear you try fiddling with the lock, either." The slamming of the door drowned out the kender's reply. Mynx turned toward Tarscenian again. "Gaveley himself designed this place," she said calmly, as though she were used to ejecting kender from the den. Perhaps she was, he thought. Tarscenian gazed around. The half-elf certainly had a taste for the ornate, he thought. He examined [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |
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