Songs & Swords 1 (16 page)

“It’s not the Jade Jug,” Danilo apologized, naming Waterdeep’s plushest inn, “but it’s habitable, and—most important—it’s the headquarters for the Vintners, Brewers, and Distillers Guild. I’ve been here many times. It has no ambiance or style, but it boasts the best selection of spirits in all of Waterdeep.”

Arilyn bristled at Danilo’s evaluation of the inn’s merits. Perhaps the House of Good Spirits was not up to the pampered nobleman’s standards, but after many days of hard travel, she found it an inviting haven. The tavern room was warm and dimly lit, with a low ceiling and scattered small nooks that created a cozy feeling. The air was redolent of roasting meat, pleasantly bitter ales, and the pitchy scent of the northern pine logs that crackled in a huge open fireplace. Whatever the inn’s supposed limitations, it certainly did a brisk trade. Cheery barmaids and stout young men wielded large trays of drinks and simple, well-prepared food.

“I’ve seen worse,” Arilyn responded curtly.

Danilo recoiled in mock surprise. “Praise Lady Midnight! It’s a miracle! She speaks!”

Arilyn cast Danilo a withering glance and swept past him into the tavern. She’d tried unsuccessfully to ignore the fop for almost two tendays, speaking no more than necessary. Yet Danilo did not seem the least insulted by her silences, and he continued to chat and tease as if they had been friends from the cradle.

“If you’ll find a good table, I’ll get us some rooms,” offered Danilo, trailing along behind her.

Arilyn spun around to face him. “This is Waterdeep. We part company here, tonight. Your most pressing goal may be getting drunk, but I’m here to search for an assassin, remember?” she said in a low voice.

Unperturbed, Danilo gave her his most winning smile. “Do be reasonable, my dear. Just because we’ve arrived in Waterdeep, I see no cause to pretend we don’t know each other. In fact, since this is a rather small inn, such pretense might prove difficult. Look at this place.”

He gestured around the tavern room. It was full nearly to capacity, a mixed clientele made up of hardworking Waterdhavian craftspeople with a scattering of wealthy merchants and nobles—all dedicated drinkers who knew the inn’s merits. The exotic clothing and road-weary appearance of many of the guests marked them as travelers in for the festival. Conversation was low and leisurely, and the patrons savored their food and drink with an air of contentment. Judging from their mug-littered tables and blurred smiles, many of the patrons appeared to have hunkered down for a long evening of serious imbibing. Few empty seats remained in the house.

“You see?” Danilo concluded. “You’re stuck with me for one more evening. Dinner hour is nearly past, and it would be foolish for one of us to go into that storm to seek another inn, just to make a point. Truth be told, I doubt there are many rooms left in the whole of Waterdeep. Since I’m a regular and, if I may say so, a valued customer here, we’ll be well taken care of.”

Seeing her hesitation, he pressed on. “Come, now. We’re both cold and wet and in need of a good night’s sleep, and I for one would like to eat something for which we did not have to hunt.”

He has a point there, Arilyn admitted silently. “All right,” she conceded rather ungraciously.

“It’s decided.” Danilo’s attention drifted off to a point past Arilyn’s shoulder. “Ah! There’s the innkeeper. What ho! Simon!” he called as he headed off toward a pudgy, apron-draped man.

Will I never be rid of the fool? Arilyn stalked off toward the fireplace in search of an empty seat. A number of small tables were scattered there in the shadows, drawing her with their isolation. Perhaps one of the nooks would be unoccupied.

“Amnestria! Quefirre soora kan izzt?”

The melodious voiced stopped Arilyn in midstride, and all thoughts of weariness and hunger were washed away on a flood of memories. When was the last time she had heard that language?

She turned to find herself face to face with a tall, silver-haired moon elf. Dressed in dignified black, the elf had the graceful carriage—and the well-kept weapons—that marked him as an experienced fighter. He spoke the formal language of the moon elven court, a language that Arilyn had never quite mastered. With a pang the half-elf recalled herself as a restless child squirming at her mother’s side, impatient with Z’beryl’s efforts to school her in anything other than swordplay.

“I’m sorry,” she said with regret, “but it’s been many years since I’ve heard that dialect.”

“Of course,” the handsome quessir replied, switching smoothly to Common. “An old tongue, and spoken all too seldom. Forgive me, but there are too few of our race in these parts, and I was momentarily overcome by nostalgia.” The elf’s smile was both wistful and charming.

Arilyn accepted his explanation with a nod. “What did you call me just then?”

The elf responded with a short bow. “Again, I must apologize. For a moment, you reminded me of someone I once knew.”

“I’m sorry to disappoint you.”

“Oh, I am certain you could never do that,” he swore. “Even as we speak, I’ve grown to realize how fortunate an error I made.”

Arilyn’s rarely seen dimples flashed briefly. “Are you always this gallant with chance-met strangers?”

“Always,” he responded in kind. “Seldom, however, does chance deliver me such lovely strangers. Would you do me the honor of joining me? This is one of the few places in Waterdeep were one can find Elverquisst, and I’ve just ordered a bottle. Not many can appreciate the nuances or the tradition.”

Arilyn’s face relaxed in a genuine smile. The surprise of meeting a moon elf in this place—and of hearing him speak the language Arilyn associated with her mother—had lowered her natural reserve. The elf’s avowed homesickness reminded her that it had indeed been too long since she’d been to Evereska.

“A gracious offer, most gratefully accepted,” she replied, using the formal polite response. She extended her left hand, palm up. “I am Arilyn Moonblade of Evereska.”

The quessir placed his palm over hers and bowed low over their joined hands. “Your name is known to me. I am indeed honored,” he murmured in a respectful tone.

The tread of approaching footsteps interrupted the elves.

“I’ve got good news and bad news, Arilyn,” Danilo announced gaily as he sauntered up. “Hello! Who’s your fr—” The young man stopped abruptly, his eyes narrowing as he focused on the moon elf.

Danilo’s face darkened, and, to Arilyn’s horror, his hand strayed to the hilt of his sword in unmistakable challenge. What was the fool doing? she thought with dismay.

The patrons of the House of Good Spirits were, for the most part, hard-drinking folk, many of them veterans of countless tavern battles. They could sense a fight in the making as surely as a sea captain could smell a coming storm. Conversations trailed off, and glasses clinked busily as the patrons drained their spirits while conditions permitted.

As quickly as it came, the threat passed. Looking faintly surprised at himself, Danilo released his sword and fished an embroidered handkerchief from his breast pocket. He wiped his fingers as if they had somehow been sullied by the touch of a weapon, and his vaguely apologetic smile took in both Arilyn and the elf. “Someone you know, I take it?” he said into the inn’s sudden silence, gazing down at the elves’ joined hands.

Selfconsciously, Arilyn snatched her hand away and stuffed both balled fists into her trouser pockets. Before she could issue a scathing rejoinder, her new acquaintance spoke up.

“For a moment, I mistook the etriel for an old friend.”

Danilo’s eyebrows flew up. “By the gods, an original ploy!” he said with great admiration. “I shall have to try that myself next time I see a lady whose acquaintance I should like to make.”

The quessir’s eyes narrowed at the implication, but Danilo’s bland, smiling face betrayed not a hint of sarcasm. For a moment the three stood, unmoving. The moon elf made a curt bow of dismissal to Danilo, then, turning his back on the dandy as if he were of no further consequence or concern, the elf took Arilyn’s arm and escorted her toward a table near the fireplace. The inn’s patrons sensed that the crisis was past, and the clink and murmur of resumed drinking and conversation filled the inn.

Still aghast at Danilo’s rude behavior, Arilyn felt a flood of relief that a fight had been avoided. In the Marsh of Chelimber Danilo had proven himself a remarkably good fighter, but Arilyn did not want to see him take his chances against this elf. As the quessir led her to his table, she shot an angry look over her shoulder mouthed Go away! at Danilo. She glared at him and silently willed him to leave well enough alone.

If Danilo understood her warning, he stupidly refused to take it. Casually the dandy followed the elves to their table. It was a corner table, big enough only for two to share a bottle and conversation, but Danilo dragged a third chair up and dropped comfortably into it. His smile was arrogantly complacent, as if his presence there had been commissioned by royalty.

“Danilo, what has come over you?” Arilyn snapped.

“What has come over you?” he countered languidly, gesturing across the table at the quessir. “Really, my dear, accepting an invitation from this, er, gentleman—or would the term be gentleelf?—without benefit of a proper introduction.” The dandy shook his head and tsk-tsked. “At this rate, how shall I ever induct you into Waterdhavian society?”

Enraged by Danilo’s presumption, Arilyn drew in a long, slow breath. Before she could expel it in a barrage of much-deserved abuse, something in Danilo’s meanderings struck home. Come to think of it, she realized, the elf had not given her his name. She turned her eyes toward the quessir. He was observing the exchange with an alert expression in his amber eyes.

“I make no secret of my identity,” the elf said, speaking only to Arilyn. “We were merely interrupted before I could complete the introduction. I am Elaith Craulnobur, at your service.”

“Well, damn my eyes!” Danilo interjected in a jovial tone. “I’ve heard of you! Aren’t you known as ‘the Serpent?’ “

“In certain objectionable circles, yes,” the elf admitted coolly.

Elaith “the Serpent” Craulnobur. With an effort, Arilyn kept her face expressionless. She had also heard of the elven adventurer. His reputation for cruelty and treachery was legendary, and Kymil had issued strict and repeated orders for her to stay far away from the moon elf. Her mentor emphasized that Arilyn’s reputation, damaged by the unfortunate label of assassin, would be further tainted by association with such as Elaith Craulnobur.

Arilyn, however, refused to be prejudiced by the dark rumors or by Kymil’s old-lady fussing. After all, tales of some of her own exploits had come back to her, twisted beyond all recognition. It could be so with this elf. Arilyn turned to face her host, keeping her voice and face carefully neutral. She would judge for herself.

“Well met, Elaith Craulnobur. Please accept my apologies for my companion’s unfortunate remark.”

“Your companion?” Elaith regarded Danilo with the first sign of interest.

“Thank you very much, Arilyn, but I can speak for myself,” Danilo protested cheerfully.

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” she muttered. “Really, Danilo, I know that seats are scarce, but would you please excuse us? I have accepted Elaith Craulnobur’s invitation for a drink. I will join you later, if you like.”

“What? You want me to leave? And miss the opportunity to meet such a legend? Not likely. What kind of amateur bard do you think me?” Danilo folded both arms on the table and leaned toward Elaith Craulnobur, smiling confidingly. “Did you know that songs are sung about your exploits?”

“I did not.” The quessir’s tone did not invite more discussion on the matter.

Danilo missed the unspoken message entirely. “You mean that you’ve never heard ‘Silent Strikes the Serpent?’ It’s quite a catchy tune. Shall I sing it for you?”

“Another time.”

“Danilo …” Arilyn warned through gritted teeth.

The dandy smiled apologetically at her. “Arilyn, my dear, I’m forgetting myself again, aren’t I? Mark of an amateur, that’s what it is: going on and on like this, when a true bard would merely listen and observe. I’ll do that, really I shall. Please, do go on with your conversation. Pretend I’m not here at all. I’ll be as silent as a snail, really.”

Stubborn fool, Arilyn thought, stifling a sigh. She knew that arguing with the dandy usually made matters worse, so she smiled ruefully at Elaith and said, “With your permission then, it would seem that we are three this evening.”

“If it pleases you,” the elf agreed mildly. He regarded Danilo as one would an overgrown and badly trained puppy. “I don’t believe we have met.”

“This is Danilo Thann,” Arilyn supplied quickly, before the young man could say something more to risk the elf’s ire.

“Ah, yes.” Elaith smiled with gentle amusement. “Young Master Thann. Your reputation precedes you, as well.”

The elf left that remark for Danilo to take as he would, turning his attention to the ceremony of the Elverquisst. With a flick of his long-fingered hands, he tossed a tiny magical fireball toward the candle at the table’s center. Arilyn winced as the candle caught flame. At that moment she caught Danilo’s curious gaze upon her, and she gravely shook her head to warn him not to interrupt. The nobleman subsided and watched the ceremony in growing fascination.

Elaith Craulnobur cupped his hands first over the candle, then over the decanter of elven spirits on the table before him. The bottle was a marvel, made of transparent crystal that sparkled from thousands of tiny facets. The elf took the decanter in both hands, turning it slowly before the candle, and the bottle grew ever brighter as it absorbed the light. Finally the quessir spoke a phrase in Elvish, and the stored light coalesced into thirteen distinct points that glowed like stars against the sudden darkness of the crystal decanter

Arilyn’s throat tightened, as it always did, before the sight of the autumn constellation Correlian. To the moon elves, the appearance of this star formation marked the final demise of summer. Elaith and Arilyn joined softly in a chant of farewell, and the light faded from the decanter with the final words of the ritual.