Temple Hill (13 page)

“No one will bother us in my private workshop,” Fendel assured them. “You’ll be safe there, at least for tonight. It’ll give us a chance to talk over Lhasha’s … situation.”

Fendel’s workshop was in a much better state than the last time they’d seen it. The damaged tables had been repaired or replaced, as had the chairs. The reams of paper blueprints and plans still littered the scene, but Fendel had gathered them into neat little piles scattered over the furniture and floor of the room.

1 see you’ve cleaned up a bit,” Lhasha said.

“The automatic farmer didn’t work out, Lhasha-love. Too unstable. Fve since decided to

spend a few tendays focusing on simpler gadgets. Trying to get back into the High Artificer’s good books, you know.

“Pull up a chair,” the gnome continued. “I want to know exactly what happened.”

Once they were all seated, Corin related his simple tale yet again.

“Three men broke into Lhasha’s room. I knew they were there to kill her, so I killed them. Not much to tell. Nothing I couldn’t handle.”

Lhasha sniffed indignantly.

“You forgot to add that the poison they were using almost killed you. This is serious, Corin.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Fendel said in a grave voice. “I know people in this town. Important people. Connected people. People who know things. I thought I’d get a heads up before the Masks moved on Lhasha.” The gnome paused and tugged thoughtfully on his scraggly beard. “I hadn’t even heard that Lhasha was an active target, much less that they were sending someone out today. Somehow I’m out of the loop. I don’t like being out of the loop. Things must be more serious than I thought.”

“You mean I’ve got more of a reputation than you realized?” Lhasha asked with a slight smile.

“The world doesn’t revolve around us, Lhasha-love,” Fendel replied. “There are dark doings in Elversult these days. Always have been, I guess. Sometimes when the wheels of history get rolling, the little people like us are left to fend for themselves, or get crushed underneath.

“I was under the impression that my contacts had some influence with the Purple Masks. Since nothing had happened, I was actually beginning to think my contacts had managed to convince the Masks to forget all about you. Obviously that isn’t the case.

“Events must have pushed the favors promised to an old gnome to the bottom of their list, and it was just good

fortune that it took the Masks almost a full month to find you again. Now that three of their members are dead, I don’t think there’s any chance the Masks will agree to just forget about you.”

“I dealt with them once already,” Corin assured the gnome, Til deal with them again.”

Fendel shook his head.

“No, Corin. You won’t. They didn’t expect you to be there this time, this wasn’t a very well planned mission. The next time I guarantee you’ll both be dead before you even know you’re in danger.”

Corin bristled. “I think you underestimate me, little man.”

The gnome ignored the insult.

“It’s not a slight against you Corin. You don’t know what you’re dealing with. I think you both need to leave town. Now. Take a trip to Teziir. Catch a ship up to Cormyr and lay low for a while, take a break from the burglary game. At least until my contacts in the thieves’ guild let me know what’s going on, and for Gond’s sake, don’t steal anything on the way.”

“Wait, Corin,” Lhasha said before her companion could continue the argument. “Fendel’s always been there for me my whole life. He raised me from a baby. I’ve learned to trust his judgment. He knows this town better than anyone. If he thinks we should leave Elversult for a while, maybe we should.”

Corin shrugged, momentarily taken aback by the ease with which Lhasha had consented to the gnome’s suggestion. His own ideas were never accepted so readily. “I think you’re both over reacting, but I go where Lhasha goes. My job is to keep you safe. It doesn’t matter to me if its here or on the other side of Faerun.”

A look of relief crossed Fendel’s grimy face.

Tm glad you’re being reasonable about this, Lhasha.”

“We’ll leave tomorrow,” Lhasha assured him. Then added, “But I’ve got one last job to pull before I go.”

“But Lhasha-love—” the gnome began.

She held up a hand to cut him off.

“No lectures, Fendel. If I’m going to Cormyr to live in temporary retirement, I’ll need some money to tide me over. This job will pay more than enough to get me by.”

“If it’s money you need …”

Lhasha didn’t mean to laugh, but she couldn’t help it.

“Fendel,” she said once she’d caught her breath, “how are you going to get me any money? What you don’t spend on materials and supplies, you’ve donated to the Church.” In a softer voice she added, “And besides, I won’t accept charity from you. I can look after myself.”

Fendel didn’t say anything else, but by the look on is face it was obvious he disapproved.

“Relax,” she said, giving the gnome a kiss on his wrinkled forehead. “Ill take Corin with me on this job, just in case. I’ve taught him a few tricks of the trade. He might as well put them to the test.”

The gnome gave heavy sigh, then threw up his hands in resignation.

“Well, if I can’t talk you out of it, the least I can do is make sure you have all the tools you need. Tell me about the job.”

Corin was always surprised at how dramatically the young half-elf s demeanor changed as soon as she started talking shop. Usually her tone was light and playful, but she was dead serious when the conversation turned to business.

“It’s one of the warehouses in the Caravan district. Simple in and out. Don’t know the exact nature of the package, but I was specifically told carrying it out wouldn’t be a concern.”

“The Caravan warehouses, eh? I think I’ve got some

blueprints. Just give me a minute to find them.”

While the gnome was rummaging about his workshop, Corin moved in closer to Lhasha.

“How can you steal something when you don’t even know what it is?” he whispered.

Lhasha waved him off and curtly replied, “Don’t concern yourself with the details, Corin. I don’t try to tell you how to do your job, so don’t you tell me how to do mine.”

“Excuse me?” Corin said, still whispering—though his voice was strained with indignation. “You damn well did tell me how to do my job. You wouldn’t let me stand guard in your room, remember?”

“That just proves my point,” Lhasha answered without missing a beat. “We saw how things turned out when I interfered with your profession. The lesson is obvious: don’t meddle with experts doing their job. When it comes to burglary, I’m the expert.”

Maybe the lesson is that I’m always right and you’re always wrong, Corin thought.

“This smells like a set-up. I won’t let you walk into a trap.” Corin said.

Fendel found what he was looking for and turned his attention back to his guests.

“I agree with your soldier friend,” he said to Lhasha. Corin didn’t know how much the gnome had overheard, but obviously his old ears were still sharp.Tou hired Corin to protect you. If his instincts say something’s not right, maybe you’d better listen.”

“I’ve learned to trust my instincts,” Corin added.

Instead of continuing the argument, Lhasha simply pulled out the small pouch tucked in her belt and dumped the contents. A handful of gems clattered onto the table—diamonds, rubies, amethysts, emeralds. One large stone bounced off the hard surface and skittered across the floor until it came to rest at the toe of Corin’s

boot. He bent down to pick up the multi-faceted stone, marveling at its size and hue. Corin didn’t have the first clue of how to appraise precious stones, but even he could recognize the value of the gem in his hand.

Fendel, who Corin suspected was more familiar with the true worth of Lhasha’s cache, was too stunned to even speak. All he could manage was a tiny whistle of amazement. Slowly he approached the table and picked up one of the ghttering rocks.

“It looks genuine,” he said after a few seconds of careful study.

“Of course it is,” Lhasha said, slightly annoyed. “You know I could spot any fake even while blindfolded and drunk on Cormyrian wine. They’re all real. If this job was a set-up, why would my contact have given me all this up front? Is luring me into a trap really worth this much money to the Purple Masks? To anyone?”

Neither Corin nor Fendel provided an answer.

“Besides,” Lhasha added, “Corin will be with me.”

“How much is all this worth?” Corin finally managed to ask.

“Enough to pay Fendel for whatever items he can give us,” Lhasha said with a smile. “And I imagine we’ll still have enough left over for a healthy down payment on your prosthetic arm.”

Corin glanced briefly at his stump, then looked up at Lhasha again.

“We should use this to finance our trip to Cormyr. We need to buy supplies, we might need disguises, we might need to bribe some of the Teziir officials, we’ll have to hire a ship to cross the Dragonmere …”

“We’ll have enough,” Lhasha assured him. “This is just a down payment. Once I deliver the package, we’ll get the rest. More than enough to cover the trip to Cormyr. And believe me, we’ll travel in style!”

After a few more seconds of marveling at the wealth on the table, Fendel at last turned his attention from the stones.

“We may not like this, Corin,” he said to the soldier, “but we’re not going to talk her out of it. So let’s get down to the nuts and bolts and make sure this job is done right.”

He carefully moved the gems aside, and unrolled a set of blueprints—building plans for a large warehouse. “This is pretty much your standard Caravan district warehouse,” he explained. “You’ll have to get past the city patrols assigned to watch the perimeter of the Caravan district. Shouldn’t be too hard. Elversult doesn’t pay its civil servants that well, and these guys don’t have the pride and prestige that goes with being a Mace. Half the time they’re asleep at their posts.

“But if this package is as important as your client seems to think, there’ll be private mercenaries hired for extra security around the warehouse. Most likely they’ll have guards watching the loading bays, and guards at all the exits. So you’ll have to go in through the roof.”

“That’ll be a neat trick,” Corin said. “What are we supposed to do? Scale the wall?”

“That won’t be a problem,” Lhasha assured him. “I can climb up there without even breaking a sweat.”

“But if the warehouse is patrolled, you’ll need me inside in case you run into any of the guards,” Corin reminded her. “Maybe you can make the climb, but I can’t. I doubt I could have made it even when I had two good hands.”

“I’ve got that covered,” Fendel said, a hint of excitement in his voice. “A new invention of mine.”

“I hope it works better than that stupid farmer thing,” Corin muttered as the gnome went over to a bench on the far side of his workshop and began to rummage through the clutter on top.

Fendel returned with a half dozen long metal poles. The poles were rectangular in shape, two fingers width on each side.

The collapsible ladder,” he said triumphantly.

Corin grunted.

The last thing I want in a ladder is a tendency to collapse.”

Fendel gave him a sour look.

“It won’t collapse while you’re on it. Guaranteed to hold the weight of an oversized ogre with a belly full of kobold stew.”

Lhasha picked up one of the square poles. Watching her, Corin noticed that one end of each pole was hollow, the other slightly tapered.

“So how does it work?”

“Glad you asked, Lhasha, glad you asked.” Fendel grabbed a pole in each hand. He slipped the tapered end of the first into the hollow end of the second and pushed. “Just slip them together like so,” he said. “Keep adding another piece until they reach the top.”

That’s a lot of pieces,” Corin said. “We’d probably need a dozen or so.”

Fendel shrugged.

“I’ve got plenty, and they’re surprisingly light, but strong, very strong.”

Corin hefted one of the four-foot lengths, surprised at how little weight there was. “Mithral?” he guessed.

Tartly,” Fendel replied. “It’s an alloy I like to work with. A little mithral, a bit of tempered steel, some iron, and a few other things thrown in. My own personal recipe.”

Lhasha grabbed several of the pieces and snapped them together in the space of a few seconds.

“Good fit,” she said. “I like it. Throw them in a backpack and you’re ready to go.”

“All right, I can see how they fit together,” Corin

admitted. “But where’s the ladder part? So far all we’ve got is a really long pole with squared off edges.”

“Here’s the beauty of it,” the gnome said with obvious excitement in his voice. “See this mark?” he said, indicating a small circle imprinted on the base of each section. “Press here.”

Corin hesitated, a little wary of what the gnome might have in store, but with Lhasha watching he wasn’t about to refuse. Using his thumb, he applied firm pressure to the spot. The circle clicked inward, triggering a spring. Two sets of metal bars, popped out at perpendicular angles to the rod. Corin dropped his piece in surprise, letting it clatter to the floor.

Fendel let out a gleeful laugh, and picked the rod up again.

“See that? Spring loaded. You can stand on these, to use them as rungs to help you up and down the pole.”

Corin picked the pole up to give it a second look. The small bars that extended out were attached to recessed hinges set into the main body of the rod. When folded down the bars lay almost flat against the pole. The area beneath where they folded down had been shaped and shaved away to allow the bars to lay flat against the pole in the recess, making them almost unnoticeable when they weren’t extended.

Corin pushed on one of the bars, trying to bend the hinge. He grunted and strained, but couldn’t budge it.

“I guarantee you won’t be able to fold it back down,” Fendel assured him. “Push the button again and they’ll retract.”

Corin did, and with a quick snap the bars folded back into place, recessed into their respective notches in the rod. Even though he knew they were there, Corin could barely see the thin line marking out the section that folded open.