was nondescript, a brass chest with iron banding on its edges. He could not detect any magic on the small chest itself, having examined it from every angle and picking it up easily with one hand. Some weight shifted inside but made no noise against the metal. Khondar's tirade proceeded unabated.
'The mongrel races that pollute our city weaken and reduce Waterdeep to a stew of problems. Were we to winnow out all but the most useful of them, we would have no problem restoring prominence and greatness to this city!'
'Father, you're overstating,' Centiv said, 'and you're losing your focus. Just because some old gnome rattled you doesn't mean-'
'Do not accuse me of losing focus!' Khondar raged, grabbing a handful of Centiv's robes. 'That gnome laughed at me-despite all I plan to do for-'
'Yes, Father,' Centiv said in an oft-repeated litany. 'He didn't recognize all you do for us, for the city.'
Centiv knew Khondar's temper flared whenever he felt old or belittled. Centiv wondered if Khondar sought the Blackstaffs mantle for the secret of long years, or if it was simply his hatred of Samark. Still, he needed to calm Khondar down and get back to the task at hand. He kept his voice neutral and only fed his father what he wanted to hear.
'Father, you can address those insults later. For now, let's see what that gnome gave you. The work is old and well-done, but I'm no smith. All I can tell you is that there are no spells on the chest itself or its locks. It should open easily and safely. Let's do this, please?'
Khondar's face drained of its red rage, and he exhaled loudly, his shoulders dropping. 'Very well. Time enough later to deal with disrespectful dirt-grubbers. Let's see what they kept for our city's archmage.'
There was an emblem at the front of the chest and Khondar rotated that sunward until it clicked and the chest's lid popped up. He opened the lid, and inside lay a bundle of red kid leather. Khondar unwrapped it to expose a small garnet-pommeled dagger in a silver sheath set with three more garnets and two large heavy iron keys covered in runes with wolf s heads for their handles.
'Yes,' he whispered. 'The book you found talked about keys to Blackstaff Tower, worn as amulets rather than wielded, for there are no locks on the tower-just locks in the mind.' -
Centiv bristled, as Khondar had kept him busy with other errands, collecting spell components and preparations for tonight's work. The elder Naomal had locked up the book, keeping what it said secret from him. He trusted his father not to steer them wrong, but he ached to have that knowledge for himself. Then he could prove his worth to his father and to everyone. 'Father,' he asked, 'of what else did the book talk about? Do we need more magic prepared than those scrolls provide?'
'Of course we will, fool!' Khondar snapped without taking his eyes off the key he rotated in his hands, looking at it from all angles in the late afternoon sun. 'We must go back to the Towers of the Order and meditate, then memorize our strongest spells. The scrolls and keys will gain us entry to the tower, but we shall have to win the Blackstaff ourselves.'
'But I thought the keys-'
'Khelben Arunsun and his successor Tsarra Chaadren were the last to allow a door on Blackstaff Tower. Since their deaths, none but the Blackstaff, his or her heir, or their chosen guests have entered the tower. Part of that is due to its lacking a door. The keys allow us safe passage through the outermost defenses and make us seem to be heirs to the tower. When used in concert with the scrolls, the keys allow us to unlock other secrets that might normally trap intruders.'
'Couldn't we use the Duskstaff we already have? We know we can move that with Ncral's Ring. Having a weapon crafted by the Blackstaff might come in handy.'
'Very good, Centiv, and well planned. As it will support your disguise as Samark, I was going to suggest that very thing. After all, we can't teleport inside the curtain wall around the tower, and the book suggested we would need a staff to open the gate. I assume that, should we take it into the tower, we can use it to sense for sympathetic enchantments and track those to the Blackstaffs seat of power.'
'So all we need do now is wait for the fall of night and then we breach Blackstaff Tower, to claim its power for ourselves?'
'Yes, my son,' Khondar said, looking away from the keys for the first time to focus on Centiv. 'And with the power of the Blackstaff and this guild behind us, we should be able to force the Lords into working with us to help restore a more proper order in Waterdeep.'
CHAPTER 11
10 Nightal, Year of the Ageless One (1479 DR)
I don't want to-get too close. Marael said she'd heard that Black-staff Tower drives folk mad who're not supposed to be there.' 'I heard it eats the souls of folk who touch it without protection.' 'My mother always said Blackstaff Tower stayed strong because of all the ghosts in it.'
'Well, you know that if Blackstaff Tower ever falls, so goes the City, right?'
The whispers and rumors flew fast among the Watchmen posted that morning and afternoon around Blackstaff Tower's walls. For the first time in recent memory, the Watch stood guard over one of Waterdeep's oldest landmarks.
'We've been standing out here all day. Why're we here again?'
'You didn't hear? The old man's foreign consort turned up dead!'
'Are we supposed to watch for anyone skulking around the place? Or just guard it?'
'I dunno. I'm not the civilar! I could go for an eel pie right now.'
'Stop talking about food. You're making me hungry!'
'So if the BlackstafPs so powerful and this place is powerful, what're we doing here?'
'Jarlon promised the Watchful Order the favor of guarding this place, and he's ordered us here. That's all I know.'
'Since when does the Watch work for the wizards of the Watchful Order?'
'Since Ten-Rings and Jarlon learned to scratch each other's back, that's when.'
'Stifle it! Here's comes Jarlon. And look who's with him.'
'Rorden or no, he looks like a kid begging for a toy from those old men.'
'Better not let him hear you say that.'
Jarlon, the Watch rorden, walked up the street, and the young Watch officer motioned the guards to let them through the gates. The cordon parted without a word, allowing him, Samark the Blackstaff, and Khondar 'Ten-Rings' Naomal to approach. Samark tipped the Duskstaff forward and touched the gates. A ringing sound resonated through the gates, and the ironwork writhed and twisted, the iron rosebushes and staves shifting out of the way to unlock and open the gates. The ringing stopped, and only the slightest of protesting groans accompanied the sound of the gate's hinges.
Once they passed through the open gates and were inside the curtain wall, both men turned to face the Watch. Samark addressed the guard captain. 'Thank you, Rorden Jarlon. We appreciate your men's vigilance. Thank you all for keeping watch over my tower from those who attacked my heir during my absence. Now, you may disperse, as your services are surely needed elsewhere.'
The watch commander nodded, then shouted, 'Stand down, men! Convene back at the Tharelon Street post!'
The two dozen men and women of the Watch did not linger, though a few muttered as they fell out of formation. Not a one cast another look back at the forbidding stone wall or tower that they would all swear made them feel colder than the chill winds did.
