“Be swift. The library is closing in five minutes.”
The Justicar had no intention of leaving. Ignoring a sudden raise in volume of the market crowds, he leaned forward onto the cluttered desk.
“I want to find a book describing the life of the wizardKeraptis.”
The Justicar glowered. “You teach your children about evil?”
“It is a sad fact that time reduces even the greatest of mento mere abstractions.” The librarian drew in a long, cold breath of pride.“Keraptis was a visionary. He realized that the only true nobility is thenobility of the intellect. A true sorcerer is therefore liberated from the moral codes invented to restrict lesser men.”
The librarian clicked his fingers, and the lights within the library doused themselves one by one. Marching from between the shelves came three very large, very heavily armored men who glared at the Justicar.
The librarian indicated the door. “I have other work to do.The library is closed. You will leave now.”
High above the floor, Escalla was in her own little world.Minding her own business and fluttering about the shelves, she had been poking through the scrolls and finding interesting tidbits here and there. Sitting atop a bookshelf, she found an old lamp shield made of blown glass rolling about in the dust. The faerie blew it roughly clean and looked through the smoke-stained glass to peer at her two companions down below.
Jus had given up the argument and was preparing to leave. Cinders grinned like a mad thing above the man’s head, red eyes twinkling.Escalla lifted up the glass tube and looked through its sides at the room, childishly pleased at the way it dimmed her view of the window light.
She turned her toy upon the librarian and gazed at him, shading half of his face black with the lantern sleeve. She stared at the two-colored face, with its long, limp hair and hatchet nose, then let the glass tube sink quietly to her side.
“Oh, no.”
Escalla backed frenziedly away, trying to hide herself behind a shelf. A scroll rolled free behind her and fell onto the floor below. The librarian turned to scowl. Escalla blurred low over the floor. Jus was leaving through the door, and he almost fell as Escalla shot between his legs and out the door. The faerie swooped up to flatten herself against the library wall and saw the librarian suddenly running to the window to scowl across the square.
The librarian stared for a long, hard moment, then sniffed and turned away. He had the air of a man interrupted in the middle of business. Escalla felt her little heart racing as she tugged at Jus’ belt and dragged himout of sight of the library door.
“Jus! Jus, it’s
“What?” The Justicar whirled. He stood on the library steps,staring at the door in cold calculation. “You’re sure?”
“I’m sure! Hey have I ever steered you wrong?”
Jus and Cinders both swivelled their eyes sideways toward the invisible faerie, their gazes speaking volumes. Escalla waved invisible hands in annoyance. “Oh, fine! Well, you two guys just kick the door down and marchstraight in there. You can ask him yourself!”
“All right, we believe you.” The Justicar tapped his fingersthoughtfully against the pommel of his sword. “So our man is here?”
“No… not yet, anyway.” Jus stood in grim thought,Escalla settling onto his shoulders. The big man scratched at his stubbled chin. “The two-toned man is either the top of the chain, or he’s a link to the top. Idon’t want to kill him until I know which.” He drew a long, hard breath. “We’llcome back when it’s dark and take a careful look for clues.”
“Hoopy!” Escalla leaned to look closer at the library. “Hey,do magic scrolls have significant resale value?”
“They’re not ours to take.”
Escalla sat prim and erect on Jus’ shoulders and announced,“If he’s an enemy of the public, then the public deserves a little compensationfor troubles caused.” The faerie fanned invisible wings. “Since I am a member ofthe public, I consider myself qualified as a representative.”
The argument wasn’t working this time. As Jus stalked his waydown the library steps, Escalla tried again.
“Hey, look. If this guy steals, then he’s taken money out ofpublic circulation, right? By reselling his stolen goods, I’m actually injectingall that cash back into the economy. It’s like
Escalla kept speaking as they reached the halfway point down the stairs. She stopped just in time to see a priest of Bleredd run through the markets, make a massive swing of his warhammer at a priestess of Geshtai, and smash the helpless woman to the ground.
9
The murder took place right in the middle of the square. TheGeshtai priestess fell without a sound, her blood spraying out across the market stalls as her murderer laughed and disappeared, running toward Bleredd’s templeat the far end of the square.
For a few seconds, a crowd of a thousand simply stood and stared, dumbstruck. Then Geshtai worshipers suddenly looked at Bleredd supporters and gave a wild scream. The Bleredd worshipers put a hand to their weapons, and an instant later the whole marketplace shook beneath a tidal wave of hate and rage.
Street merchants threw themselves at their neighbors while shoppers grappled one another, hammering daggers into one another’s guts. Fromeach temple, gate guards and soldiers began to run into the battle. Maces and halberds smashed into unarmored civilians, clawing bloody swathes through the crowds until both private armies met each other face to face. Priests joined the soldiers, and the blast of spells began to gouge into the rioting mob.
Behind it all, Escalla and Jus stood on the steps of the library, overlooking the churning chaos of the melee.
The Justicar shoved through a pair of brawling fishwives, cracking their heads together and letting them fall. Shoving battling merchants aside, he tried to catch sight of the murderer of the Geshtai priestess.
“Damn! Cinders, where did the killer go?”
The hell hound sniffed, using senses born on a far-distant plane.
“Just the killer, or the victim too?”
Escalla dodged a jam jar thrown by someone in the melee.
“An illusory murder? Great! Someone’s inciting a riot!”
It was more than a riot. It was a war. A thousand citizens battled in the marketplace, with temple priests and temple guards thickening the fray. Striding from both temples came their high priests with chosen warriors who had been issued weapons from the temples’ vaults. From the Geshtai templecame a long silver trident and from Bleredd’s halls, a magic hammer. Thewielders of the weapons launched themselves into the crowds. Backed by high priests and warriors, they began to wreak pure carnage as they hacked their way into the unarmored mobs.
