'The manes have found a focus,' the paladin said, 'a leader to organize their attack.'
Alias spun around and looked up at the serpent of mist. She looked into its bright blue eyes. She gasped. 'It's Victor!'
'Move toward the portal,' the paladin instructed, taking Alias's arm. 'The circle of protection should move with us.'
As the three adventurers shifted their position, the serpent hissed with anger, but it uncoiled and let them pass, unable to withstand the magical constraints of Minta amp;san's spell. It followed them to the portal, devouring mist as it moved, growing larger and darker.
The portal loomed ahead like a hole of darkness. Dragonbait stepped out onto the bridge and held his hand out to Alias.
As Abas stepped into the night sky over Westgate, she took a deep breath of the cool air and laughed. Mintassan flew out from the portal and swooped over the bridge.
Dragonbait gasped and spun about. His shen sight suddenly perceived a hundredfold increase in the evil emanating from the mane serpent. Mintassan's circle of protection had dissipated when he had flown through the portal. The serpent wavered over Alias's head and struck before the paladin could pull her out of danger.
From the top of the tower, Jamal, Olive, Thistle, and Durgar watched in horror as a huge, dark serpent swung down over Alias and coiled around her body. Dragonbait thrust his fiery blade into the creature, and Alias stabbed at it with her sword. Little bits of glowing mist seeped from the creature wherever it was hit, but the beast remained intact, healing over the cuts almost immediately with some otherworldly power. Mintassan hovered over the beast and sent five magic missiles shooting into the creature's hid^e, but they passed right through the monster and fell to the ground.
The serpent brought its head down to survey the warrior woman in its embrace. Noxious poison dripped from its fangs. It opened its jaw and brushed its tongue along her face. It was toying with her before it devoured her- lording its power over her, just as Victor had when he had embraced and kissed her poison-paralyzed body. 'Close the gate!' Olive shouted to Thistle.
'If I do that, the bridge will collapse. They'll fall to their deaths,' the girl argued.
'Durgar, Lady Thistle said the place was full of manes. Aren't they some sort of undead?' Jamal asked. 'Maybe this thing is, too. Use your power to turn it away.'
Durgar looked exceedingly doubtful of the actress's suggestion, but he began a prayer, nonetheless, asking Tyr to compel the monster to flee. 'It's working!' Olive shouted.
The serpent began to turn translucent, all except the tongue, which took the shape of a man and fell from the monster's mouth to the ground far below. The body of the serpent began to turn to mist, which drifted quickly back through the portal. Unfortunately, the part of the serpent that had been coiled about Alias was no longer over the bridge. As the coils dissipated, the swordswoman fell with a shriek toward the ground- To be caught by the arm by a flying sage.
Mintassan set the swordswoman down on the roof of the tower just as Dragonbait stepped off the bridge. They turned to watch the last of the mist escape through the portal, fleeing from the power of Durgar's god. Thistle flung the brooch across the bridge and into the portal. The bridge retreated and disappeared, then the portal snapped shut, leaving the top of the tower in darkness.
Olive leaned over the battlement and stared down at the ground. Members of the watch held torches aloft as they surveyed the dark shape that had fallen to the ground from the top of the tower. 'It's Lord Victor!' one of the watch shouted.
'He's dead! He just fell from the tower!' another guard cried out.
'No,' Olive whispered to Jamal, 'he fell a long time ago.'
Twenty-Five
The day after Lord Victor Dhostar, Croamarkh of Westgate, was found dead at the base of the southernmost tower of Castle Vhammos, Mintassan the Sage held a private tea party to celebrate with four close friends. The Faceless was dead; the Night Masters and many of the Night Masks had been killed or captured. The deadly magic once at their disposal had been destroyed. Citizens of Westgate were tossing the remaining bullies and thieves into the harbor. They had a lot to celebrate.
Mintassan sat at the head of the table in his workroom with Jamal the Thespian and Olive Ruskettle on his left and Alias the Sell-Sword and Dragonbait the Paladin on his right. The boy Kel had been banished to an upper room to work on learning his letters with his new tutor, Mercy. The former Night Mask had accepted his and the half-elven girl's banishment with such grace that it caused Olive to mutter, 'Who's teaching whom, and what's being taught?'
After taking a sip from her mismatched mug of tea, sweetened with five sugar cubes, Olive returned to her interrogation of the conspirators, as she had come to call Alias, Dragonbait, and Mintassan. 'So let's see if I have this straight finally,' the halfling said. 'After Kimbel shot Dragonbait and kidnapped him, Mintassan followed Kimbel and knocked Kimbel out. How'd you get the drop on an assassin as sharp as Kimbel?'
'My superior tactics and skill with weaponry,' the sage said.
He was invisible when he snuck up on Kimbel. He hit him on the head with a rock, Dragonbait signed in the thieves' hand cant.
Jamal laughed. 'Then you rescued Dragonbait, poly-morphed Kimbel into yourself and yourself into Kimbel and feebleminded Kimbel, all so you could find out what Victor was up to.'
Mintassan nodded. 'Yes. Actually the double polymorph and feeblemind was Dragonbait's idea.'
'Figures,' Olive said. 'Paladin's are a sneaky lot, and Dragonbait's the sneakiest of the sneaky.'
'You stayed in character pretty well,' Jamal noted as she poured a hefty dose of brandy into her tea. 'Especially considering Dhostar brought you a dying Alias. You must have some acting blood in you after all.'
'If I had known at the time that Dhostar was the Faceless, that he was upstairs poisoning Alias,' the sage said softly, 'I would have come up and stopped him without bothering to stay in character. Fortunately, knowing the Faceless had iron golems at his disposal, I had actually prepared a slow poison spell.'
'Because iron golems sometimes breath poison gas,' Alias explained.
'But the golems at the ball were the cheap Thayan kind, so they didn't,' Olive noted. 'Then you faked Alias's death with a phony tattooed arm. Where did you get the arm?' the halfling asked. 'Ham hock with a polymorph spell cast on it,' Mintassan said. 'Before that, though, came the hardest part of the plan.' 'What?'
'Convincing Alias not to go storming up into Castle Dhostar and run Lord Victor through with a sword.'
'But why did you turn her into a halfling?' Olive insisted.
'Because it fit in with our plan,' Alias said. 'When I recovered from the poison, I told Mintassan about all the things Victor had ever said to me. Learning of Victor's fascination with Verovan's hoard gave Mintassan an idea. He knew Lady Nettel's brooch was the key to the hoard-' 'You knew about Verovan's hoard?' Olive exclaimed. 'For about eight years,' the sage answered. 'And you never did anything about it?' Mintassan shrugged. 'I don't need gold.'
'Bite your tongue!' the halfling demanded. 'Such blasphemy. As if it isn't bad enough that Thistle threw the key back into the portal so that no one can ever reach all that gold again.'
'She was also making sure the manes didn't escape, Olive.'
'To get back to your plan,' Jamal insisted. 'You knew Victor would go after Thistle, so you became a halfling to help protect her, since House Thaiavar trusts halflings and hires them,' Jamal guessed.
'Yes,' Alias said. 'Although I didn't do a very good job. Thistle fired me. I guess I didn't make a very good halfling.'
'You weren't so bad,' Olive critiqued. 'A little too bossy and crabby.'
'Well, I did use you for a model, Olive,' Alias pointed out.
Olive did not comment on the swordswoman's claim. Instead she asked, 'Why couldn't you tell me, though?' 'And me,' Jamal seconded, glaring at Mintassan.
