They ran east and up over the slope of the mountain, leaving Osco and Renaer behind them. The two of them exhaled in relief, their warm breath clouding the air around them.
'Sorry, Renaer,' Osco said, brushing snow and frost off the human's cloak and vest. 'No time for warning. How you humans avoid trouble with such poor eyes and ears is beyond me.'
'I suspect avoiding trouble's not on our agenda today,' Renaer said. 'You heard them and that horn. How much would you wager they've spotted some friends of ours and sounded the alarm?'
Osco beamed a broad smile. 'Haven't had a tussle with the Watch in four days myself. Let's see if we can trip them up without them being the wiser, eh? We'll head up Gorarl's Way and over to
Tybrun Ridge, right?' With that, the halfling slipped through the wide rail fence and scampered off into the shadows.
'Osco!' Renaer whispered harshly, but not too loud to draw attention. 'I meant we should-grrr!'
Renaer got up and found he could not slip between the rails as the hin did. He found the gate and eased it open with only some noise from its hinges. He headed in the same direction as the halfling and the Watch, and he found it easy to know what direction to travel by seeing the scuffs in the mostly undisturbed frost on the street. He just hoped they'd reunite with their friends before anyone got caught.
Laraelra slipped and began to fall as the ground under her proved too icy. She felt someone catch her, but she could not see with the rising sun lancing in her eyes. Shielding her face, she realized that Vharem stood behind her, and he kept his feet despite the ice. 'Thank you, Vharem,' she said.
'Any time I can help damsels in distress.' He grinned.
'Any idea where we are?' Laraelra asked as she regained her footing and looked around. The two of them stood in an open court that sat higher on the mountain slope than most of its surrounding one- and two-story buildings. In the shadows of the buildings, untouched by the rising sun, furred creatures stirred and stretched. One or two dogs slipped into the sunlight and approached the two humans, growling and apprehensive.
'Stlaern,' Vharem whispered. 'Elra, back out of here as calmly as you can, but quickly.'
She tried but found her way blocked by another growling dog, a Moonsharran mastiff. 'Where are we?'
Vharem did not answer. He reached into his belt pouch and withdrew three latge hunks of dried venison, which he now waved to spread the scent. He whispered, 'I'm going to toss these. Then we run.'
The court exploded with color and light and numerous yelps. Laraelra grinned as Vharem turned to find her casting her spell. She clapped her hands together as if brushing off dust, and said, 'Or I can take care of a pack of dogs with a simple spell.'
'You didn't get them all-run!' Vharem threw the venison to her right. His aim was true, and the mastiff caught the largest hunk of meat in his jaws instead of lunging at the sorceress. Other dogs now fought over the unclaimed meat as Vharem and Laraelra ran out of the enclosed court and into the small street.
Vharem looked left, saw a number of folks heading east toward them with hands raised to see against the rising sun. Two wore Watch colors. Vharem pulled her to the right and the two ran. No other steps disturbed the morning frost on the streets in this direction. Laraelra realized they were up in Mountainside, racing down the northern slopes of Mount Waterdeep. This road ran parallel and just one block east of Tybrun Ridge, the slope edge of the mountain. She recognized no buildings, as she'd rarely entered Mountainside.
'What was that?' she whispered.
'Wildhound Court,' Vharem said as he steered them to the right and onto a wider street that curled back north almost immediately, but ran lower on the slopes. 'Whenever dogs get loose up on the mountain, as they do when drunken nobles stagger home in early morn, the dogs get drawn to that court and form a wild pack, no matter how good-tempered they might be normally. Oftimes, folk who wander into it at night are found dead by full morning. It has something to do with some old curse left over from the warlords' time or something. Here!'
Vharem pointed, and he and Laraelra swung left into another court that had an exit opposite them. He rushed them both toward a baker's window just opening for morning business. He flipped a few coppers toward the young apprentice and said, 'Fresh bread, and hurry.'
The entire time they stood there, Vharem never stopped tapping his foot.
'Do we have time for this?' she asked in a fierce whisper.
'We've got to let those Watchmen go by.'
'But why are you nervous now?' Laraelra asked. 'You weren't even this twitchy against that fake Blackstaff two nights ago.'
'I was sure he didn't know me or carry a grudge,' Vharem said. 'There's a few Watchmen up here who really don't like me, and I need to get both of us out of here. We need to find the others. Why didn't we arrive together?'
'I don't know,' Laraelra said, 'but don't worry. We'll find them.'
'I'll worry. I've played some pranks on the Watch up here.'
The apprentice baker reappeared with two piping hot loaves, which he handed over nervously, apologizing for the slow service. Vharem handed one to Laraelra and moved to keep on walking, when the court exit was blocked by a Watch patrol. One of them pointed, and the rest chuckled. Vharem and Laraelra turned on their heels to leave the way they had come, only to find the Watch armar blocking their way.
The tall man, whose remaining long black hair was tied behind his shaved scalp, rubbed his head and smiled at Vharem without saying a woid. He simply pulled his signal horn up to his lips and blew. The high, cleat sound echoed in the court.
'Oh parhard,' Vharem and Laraelra swore.
¦ Meloon's eyes remained clouded, the haze of silver replaced by a full blue glow. He saw Lauroun's face again, her cerulean eyes, hawklike pose, and strong brow beneath a chain mail headpiece. She smiled at him, and mouthed the words he heard in his head. Home again. Good. Meloon tightened his grip on Azuredge, the axe whose voice spoke to him.
A small hand at his belt steadied him before he fell forward, and he shook his head to clear his eyes. Meloon found Vajra smiling up at him. Her brown eyes became purple and she licked her lips while looking at him. The eyes shifted again to sea green, and she said, 'Listen to Lauroun. She'll never steer you wrong.' Her gaze darted to the magical axe, and she said, 'Nameless's portal only works when the first rays of dawn strike the place where he was born. Alas, we alone arrived on target. The others are near, scattered by some whim of magic attached to this mountain. Perhaps the Godstair interferes…' Her voice trailed off and Meloon followed her gaze to the peak of Mount Waterdeep. When she turned back to look at him, her eyes were brown again. 'We have little time and must get to the tower. They can meet us there.' 'No,' Meloon said.
'Don't argue with me, warrior. Why not?'
'Because you faint. A lot. And I can't fight and carry you. So we find the others first.' He looked around and found that the cobblestones on which they stood were scorched in the shape of a cat's head. 'Did we do this?'
'The Spellplague did a century ago,' Vajra said, her hazel eyes shining with tears. 'It robbed jne of both husband and familiar in one magical blow. The magic marked the city forevermore, even though they have changed the stones seven times in and since my lifetime.'
'Vajra?'
'Tsar-Unh,' Vajra said. 'Fehlar's Bones, this hurts! They keep pushing out of my head!'
'Yet another reason why we need the others,' Meloon said, looking out from the intersection in which they stood. The crossroads led straight along the ridge of the mountain to the south, but zigzagged away from their meeting point down the slopes to the west, east, and north. As he looked down to the city, a brief flash of colors flared up in a court south and east of them, and he pointed. 'There!'
Meloon turned to help Vajra along, but she sped off ahead of him, running faster than he thought possible-he had to run full out to catch up. He wished he knew the names of the streets, but they headed down toward the flash, and Meloon's speed showed him why all the roads were switch-backed and zigzagged. If they ran roads straighter in Mountainside, carts or horses would easily get out of control or run too fast down the mountain and shatter legs or goods along the way. During the run, Meloon heard a horn and noticed a number of shuttets disturbed by it, as well as some folk either heading toward the sound or away from it.
By the time Meloon caught up to Vajra, she stood outside a court and was casting a spell at the backs of a Watch patrol. The two men and one woman all fell asleep before their bodies slumped to the cold ground. She looked back at him as he arrived and slid to a halt on a patch of ice. She wore a serious mien, and her gray eyes held no humor. 'Come. Our comrades await.'.
