night!”
The old faerie lord flicked his level gaze at Tielle. “Thisslowglass has been retrieved at enormous risk. There are certain aspects of the scene about to be played that are unlikely to be faked.” Lord Faen motioned tohis assistants. “We shall be able to judge for ourselves.”
The Justicar knelt so that his bulk would not inconvenience the audience. When the Erlking gave permission, spells were thrown. Time accelerated for the slowglass gem, the images trapped within shining outward through a magic lens to shimmer in midair. Lord Faen stood leaning on his staff, watching days speed past in seconds, finally holding up his hand as the images began to show familiar events.
The faerie lord watched carefully as recoded events began to unfold.
“This is about three weeks ago,” said Faen. “The slowglassgem lies in a jeweler’s strongbox. Ah! Here we have the gem being traded to LadyNightshade. Tielle inspects it. Here it is mounted on a necklace. Money is paid, and the gem comes here to the palace. Ah, Cavalier Tarquil!” The now deadcavalier’s image froze as the sorcerer froze the time spell. Tarquil peeredstraight toward the gem, dangling it at arm’s length as he inspected it with asly smile.
“Continue!”
The images moved once more. Lord Faen stroked his goatee as he watched Clan Nightshade’s plots and plans. “Now they enter the DreadwoodForest and the camp of Escalla and her companions. Here the necklace is placed in Lady Escalla’s baggage. What joy as she discovers it the next day!” Eventsplayed themselves fast and sure, the court craning forward to make sure no details escaped their eye. “Here we have the gem held up before Escalla-welldressed for once. She makes a welcoming gesture-interesting!” Faen nodded, thenheld up his hand. “Ha! Nighttime at the palace! Escalla looks into the gem, thenslings it about her neck. Stop! Let the gem play events at their real speed.”
The gem’s viewpoint was occasionally alarming. At the moment,it showed a scene bracketed by Escalla’s meager cleavage as she flew down astarlit path. The girl apparently wore a lacy silk dress and little else. A few titters from the audience were met by a dire glare from Escalla, who paced impatiently back and forth in the middle of the ballroom floor.
The images showed Escalla approaching the balcony of her old bedroom. Cavalier Tarquil’s bodyguard gave a knowing look and deliberatelywalked away. The view lofted over the balcony, through gauzy curtains and into Escalla’s old bedroom. A reflected image in the mirror showed Escalla standingin her dress, the slowglass gem sparkling about her neck.
The gem’s point of view wobbled and shifted as Escalla hungthe necklace over a the door handle. Coming back into the gem’s view, Escallaturned, surveyed the still form of Tarquil-
— And then began doing a strip tease.
“Stop!” The Justicar leaned in to stare hard at every singleaspect of the scene. He pointed to the still form of Cavalier Tarquil, lying sleeping on his face amidst his cups. “Continue.”
The slowglass gem could see both Escalla and Tarquil. The image of the nearly naked Escalla blew the gem a kiss, waving and grinning and setting the entire faerie court agog. Faerie lords guffawed. Faerie princes raised their brows appreciatively. Faerie ladies tittered. At the middle of the ballroom floor, Escalla turned beet red and clenched her fists in rage.
“Hey! It seemed a good idea at the time, all right?”
The projected image of Escalla was slapping her bottom and dancing up and down beside the still form of Tarquil. A magician slowed the action to catch Escalla mid sashay, slapping her rear and giving the slowglass gem a nasty piece of sign language.
Red with fury, Escalla stamped her foot on the ballroom floor.
Court ladies laughed, and Escalla folded up her arms and seethed.
Stroking his stubbled chin, Jus fixed his puzzled eye upon the girl and asked, “What were you doing?”
“Showing him the goods he was going to miss out on!” Escallawaved hands in anger. “Hey! I have a nasty side!”
In the air above the ballroom floor, the nearly naked image of Escalla blew a final kiss to the sleeping Tarquil, who still lay unmoving. Escalla triggered the magic gateway in her room and dived through with an admirable athletic clench of her rump and flip of her heels.
The Justicar turned to Lord Faen and said, “Freeze time.” Theimages froze. “The images are clear. At no point did Escalla touch or evenapproach the Cavalier.”
A faerie lord from the Seelie Court, a weird creature with long antennae, gave a lazy flip of his hand. “She may have done this as a show!She may have deliberately hung the slowglass gem there as evidence, then arranged another way to kill the Cavalier.”
The Justicar gave a nod. “She may. One hour from the time ofher disappearance from the palace, Escalla was in company with myself and her father. Lord Faen can confirm this.”
With a flip of his long hand, Oberon gestured to Lord Ushan. “My Lord, you are satisfied that this human speaks the truth?”
Looking as though he would rather choke, Lord Ushan gave a chop of his hand. “He speaks truth, my lord! But-”
Jus signaled to the faeries controlling the slowglass, and the images reeled on. “There will be another visitor to the room sometime withinthe next hour of elapsed time.”
Tarquil lay perfectly still, utterly unmoving. The entire court frowned, noting the unseemly stillness of the victim. Someone cleared a throat to speak, when suddenly an image appeared. A new figure had entered Tarquil’s sleeping chambers.
The figure stole in through a magic gateway made by the fireplace arch. White robed and masked in a blank faceplate painted with mocking tears, the image carried itself with incriminating stealth.
Jus froze the scene.
“As it pleases the court, this individual-or an identicallydressed one-was later found to be a consort of the demon queen Lolth, who wealmost had as your uninvited guest here this morning.”
The scene played on, and the entire court leaned forward to stare.
The masked faerie pulled something palm sized from its pouch, holding it with enormous care. Creeping carefully over to Tarquil, the assassin cautiously pressed its gloved hand into the sleeping cavalier’s hair, held theposition, and then withdrew.
The masked figure put its weapon into its pouch and drew the heavy leather glove from its hand. A silver ring sparkled briefly on the assassin’s hand. Jus froze the image, looked at the ring, then watched as themasked faerie kicked at Escalla’s discarded dress. With an air of triumph, themasked face peered directly at the slowglass gem, heard a noise, ripped the gem free, and shoved it into the front of the robes.
Down
“Hey!” Escalla looked betrayed. “I have understatedelegance!”
“Understated enough to be identifiable.” The Justicardismissed the pictures above. He nodded to Escalla who began rummaging inside a portable hole. “My Lord and Ladies. Commissioned by Lord Faen to pursue thestolen slowglass gem, I pursued the gem through magic gates into the underdark. This slowglass bauble is a rather expensive gem, and so coveted that the thief saw fit to wear it as a necklace, even though it only hung from a piece of string.” Jus stroked his chin quietly.
“From this point, the slowglass will show the thief’s journeythrough the underdark-a journey through drow checkpoints and a lich’s lair,through a kuo-toan temple, and into the city of the drow themselves. The gem thief has been working to a larger plan, a plan to use Lolth as an instrument to release the faerie Queen of Wind and Woe from imprisonment.”
The entire faerie court immediately froze.
The Justicar merely shrugged and continued, “The images herewill show the summonation ceremonies. Escalla and my party were able to interfere. The masked faerie lost the slowglass in combat with Escalla.”
