The kender produced the jewelry reluctantly, and Tarscenian handed it gravely to Mynx. "Present that to your chief as a token of my sincerity. Now it's time for us to talk, Mynx. I want you to take me to meet your fellow thieves."
Her dark eyebrows rose. "How did you know I… ?" He laughed, shortly. "Oh," he said, winking at the kender, "I've known a few thieves in my time."
"I've known some, too!" chimed in Kifflewit, not want shy;ing to be left out.
With somber brown eyes, Mynx regarded the balding, gray-bearded stranger. Then she nodded, her long, lone earring tangling in her unkempt brown hair. She gestured for him to follow her.
She didn't know what Gaveley, the head of the thieves' ring, had in mind for Tarscenian. The tall stranger seemed a decent enough sort, but appearances were nothing to count on these days. Her own role in the scheme was simple: She was to carry out Gaveley's orders, and Gave shy;ley would pay her accordingly. It had gone off almost too easily, she mused.
What a piece of luck, she thought, that the selfsame Tarscenian who was seeking a ring of thieves was, him shy;self, being sought by just such a group.
Chapter 12
For some time, the three traveled southwest on the wooden walk-ways, making as little noise as possible as they passed dark dwelling after dark dwelling. The tumult from the refugee part of town receded behind them. They passed the Inn of the Last Home, a tavern that-before Heder-ick's installation-would have rung with song and drink even this late at night, but now the Inn was still.
Even the kender managed to stay mostly silent. Single file, they wound down a circular vallenwood 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 compan shy;ion 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 whis shy;pered to Tarscenian. "Lesson two: Never admit to know shy;ing 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 mecha shy;nism 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 com shy;fortable while we …" She spotted the kender, and her jaw dropped. Tarscenian, stifling a laugh, tried to look disap shy;proving.
"This is terrific!" Kifflewit burst out. "What a superb locking mechanism! A three-way Ergoli trip with a side shy;ways 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 top shy;knot 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 him shy;self 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 the thick, imported rug with its border of pegasi and unicorns. Tapestries hung all around. He drew his sword and went around the room, lifting the panels. Nothing lurked behind them but plastered rock. Mynx, still holding the lamp, stood watching with a faint smile. "Nobody here but us, stranger," she said. "But it gives me hope for you."
Mynx placed the oil lamp behind a thin slab of translu shy;cent peach-colored quartz, studded with rubies. With her movement, the room's light went from yellow to pale pink. She proceeded around the room, in succession light shy;ing three other such lamps, and the illumination in the den deepened to rose. She halted before the last quartz-shaded lamp. The slab of rock held three rubies-and one empty setting.
"I know there were four jewels when we got here," she muttered.
"I suspect the fourth ruby is traveling through the woods with Kifflewit Burrthistle right now," Tarscenian commented.
Mynx grimaced, then directed Tarscenian to a seat on a green brocade divan, handing him a crystal goblet filled with sweet elven wine.
"Where are the rest of the thieves?" he asked.
"Some are working. Others are sleeping elsewhere. This is a meeting place, not a boarding house." She regarded him with direct brown eyes. "Gaveley's unlikely to be back for some time. In the meantime, there are things I'd like to know."
"Such as?"
"The high priest said you were a Seeker priest once."
"True."
"Yet no longer."