opened and some stacked haphazardly. Renaer moved to the large fireplace on the eastern wall. He grasped the coiner cornice and slid it upward into the mantle. The nearest bookshelf clicked, and its lower half swung open, revealing a hidden area behind it.
'We'll need these. I don't have time to check which ones, so we'll take them all.' Renaer pulled the bookcase open further and he and Laraelra knelt down. Set into the stone wall was a recessed shelf on which were five books bound in black leather with ornate silver clasps. Renaer pulled them out and loaded them into her arms.
'Whose books are these, and why do we need them now?' Laraelra asked. The books thrummed beneath her touch-she could feel there was magic within them. The drumbeat of the battering ram echoed through the mansion.
Renaer shouldered the shelf back into place and headed for the door. 'I'll explain later. Right now, we've got to get out of here.'
'Let me guess-there's a hidden slide in the walls that'll whisk us to the alley out back?'
'Even better, but we need to hurry.'
Loud retorts joined the battering ram's blows as the door started to crack. Renaer heard someone yelling down in the entry hall, 'The door's cracking! Get the bar up here now!'
The two of them ran from the library and up the stairs to the third floor. They met Meloon, his arms piled high with various bear, wolf, and ermine pelts.
Laraelra asked, 'Renaer, why aren't you carrying something? The rest of us-'
'Fine,' Renaer snapped as he opened the door to his room. 'I'll let you carry Vajra, then, and I'll take Varad's books.'
He crossed the darkened chamber to his desk, pulled open the right-hand drawer, and pocketed a large ring of keys. He then moved over to the bed. Vajra lay beneath a heavy fur cloak, which Renaer kept on her as he picked her up gingerly. She groaned and threw an arm around Renaer's neck without coming fully awake.
Renaer whispered, 'Head back out into the hall and turn right. Look for a stone rosebud on the wall.'
The four of them moved quickly out of the room and down the passage, soon followed by Vharem, who ran up the stairs with two armloads of parcels, from one of which jutted two long loaves of bread. The hallway past Dagult's office ended at a deep curved recess in the wall, stone roses carved in relief all over the back of it.
Meloon chuckled. 'First the sewers, then a secret door privy, and now a garderobe. Lovely smells follow our adventure at every turn.'
Renaer smirked, and nodded to the sorceress. 'Elra, turn that last stone rosebud on the right-hand side toward us, please?'
Laraelra shifted the books into one arm, and she did as directed. Above the pulse of the battering ram, they heard the grinding of stone as a circular stair descended from the ceiling down into the garderobe. A slim pillar of stone rose from the floor of the gard-erobe to add support to the center of the stairs as well. A chill breeze came down with the stairs, as did Madrak's voice. 'Hurry masters and milady, the Watch is almost inside!'
They mounted the spiral stairs, Renaer having to choose his steps gingerly and make sure Vajra's head did not hit anything as they ascended. When they reached the top, they found themselves greeted by Madrak, all wrapped in a heavy cloak. Once all of them were up the stairs, Madrak shoved a metal bench over the stairwell, and the stones recoiled back into place.
'I'm not seeing a way out of here, Renaer!' Laraelra looked over the rooftop garden, its plants in decay or wrapped in burlap to help them survive the coming winter. The entire roof was a meticulously designed garden with tiled paths and a walkway around the perimeter that might have an arbor of roses arcing overhead in summer. With the winter, the terraces and flower beds and arbors were bare mausoleums of dead vegetation. 'Do you mean for us to jump down to the roofs of your neighbors?' Laraelra saw the look of excitement on Meloon's face and frowned at him. Despite the strong sunlight, the slight wind made it bitterly cold.
'Be quiet and follow me, all of you. Madrak, if you please. We'll meet you later, if or when you can join us. If Father or the Watch continues to hunt for me, tell him or them I'm off with some lissome young priestess learning about yet another god and its promises-and no hinting at malefic gods this time, mind you.'
Renaer and Madrak each winked and smiled at each other, and then moved across the roof. Meloon and Laraelra hurried to keep up with the short butler.
His white hair whipping in the wind, Madrak stopped in one corner in front of a small statue of a kneeling elf maid, her hands cupped as if drinking water. The halfling whispered, 'While I pour water into her hands, the gate remains open. Go quickly, and may Brandobaris grant your feet speed.'
Renaer nodded and stepped inside the arbor, cradling the still-unconscious Vajra. As Madrak poured water into the statue's hands, Renaer stepped forward and was gone. Meloon stepped back in surprise, while Laraelra said, 'Fascinating. Not even any flash or hint of magic.'
'Get moving and follow him!' said Madrak. 'This only works once a day and only with one stream of water. Now hurry!'
Vharem smiled and followed Renaer's footsteps exactly. 'Thanks, Madrak!' he said as he vanished into thin air.
Laraelra stepped under the arbor and along the same path as Renaer. She also rushed into nothingness. Meloon timidly followed suit and vanished just as Madrak s bucket poured the last of its water into the statue's hands. -
Madrak smiled as not one drop of water remained to betray what he'd been doing. He quickly walked back to the servants' exit, hugging himself for warmth. He left his cloak on a peg just inside the three-foot-high hidden exit. When he descended through the passage down to the kitchen, he stopped and peered through a spyhole and found exactly what he expected-a cadre of Warchmen bullying the staff for information.
Time to buy the young heroes some time to do some good, Madrak thought. 'Tis about time someone did.
Inside the door, he had left an empty slop bucket to explain what he'd been doing-throwing kitchen scraps onto the compost on the roof. As he had done exactly that, there was no way for anyone to claim he lied. Now he simply had to stall for time and keep the Watch from asking too many questions about his lord.
CHAPTER 8
10 Nightal, Year of the Ageless One (1479 DR)
Khondar nearly jumped out of his chair when an unexpected knock on his door disturbed his inadvertent nap-. The tome he had been reading before he fell asleep tumbled to the floor. Already, his dream of a wizard in charge of each ward of the city faded to obscurity.
'Who dares disturb me?' he snapped. He picked the tome off the floor as he adjusted his chair. He placed the tome inside his desk and closed the drawer.
'The Blackstaff,' came the reply.
'Come in, come in,' Khondar said. 'I'm honored by the Black-staffs presence.' Behind the closed door, Ten- Rings grimaced at the irony of what he said, given his hatred of the man whose guise his son wore.
The man entered the chamber and closed the door behind him. 'Can we talk here?' the Blackstaff asked. 'Is it safe?'
'Yes,' Khondar said. 'One of the few benefits of this poor office location is that a previous tenant set rather durable spells to prevent anyone from hearing anything from without.'
'She finally gave up some secrets, Father.' The Blackstaffs form shimmered, and the bearded face of Khondar's son smirked at him.
'What are you prattling about, boy?' Khondar said. 'She's been out of our grasp since last night-thanks to your and Granek's failures.'
