Alodar raised his swordpoint In front of his chest. 'You will learn nothing of it here tonight,' he said slowly. 'Be gone and return only if we need more ingredients from your master.'
Rendrac smiled and stepped forward, fingering the hilt of the sword at his side. 'And I leave when it suits my own purpose,' he growled. 'Not the whim of a mere novice.'
Alodar took a deep breath and tightened the grip on his blade. His heart began to race and his eyes widened as he looked up at the giant coming towards him. He ran through his mind his sparring yard training and set his jaw in a determined line. It must come to a true test sooner or later, he thought, and defending the four vials was as worthy a cause as any.
Rendrac completed one slow step and stopped, eyeing the distance between them. 'Come forward, little man,' he said. 'Come forward and show your mettle.'
Alodar looked at the angle of Rendrac's sword arm across his body and tilted his shield upward. The man would slash down rather than across, he thought, as he slowly slid his own blade toward the side.
'You learn nothing of alchemy while you stand frozen,' he spat back into Rendrac's smile. 'To search the shop you must first win the right to do so.'
'Very well,' Rendrac growled. 'If you are alive or dead, I will find out what I wish. To me it does not matter.'
Then, with the swiftness of a much smaller man, he drew his sword and dashed it down towards Alodar's unprotected head. Alodar whipped his shield upwards and received the blow with a numbing jar. A shock ran through his arm; his elbow buckled from the contact. Involuntarily he stepped backwards, banging the heel of his boot against the wall. He peeked over the top of his shield and saw Rendrac's sword arm again raised above him. He took a deep breath and stiffened his body in anticipation for the next downward slash.
The blow rocked his shield and skittered away. Alodar staggered and huddled lower to the ground. He thrust tentatively to the side, but quickly withdrew his arm. His reach was too short. He would have to extend beyond cover even to prick Rendrac's skin. He scowled and gritted his teeth as Rendrac's arm flew upwards for the third time.
'When you have finished with him, prepare to take on another,' a voice rang out suddenly from the doorway to the street. Rendrac halted in midswing and glanced in the direction of the challenger. He looked back quickly at Alodar, then thrust the countertop candle towards the door with his free hand.
The flame flickered from the motion, then held steady and cast its light across the entrance. Rendrac grunted in recognition and pointed his blade in challenge. 'I am no weaklimbed and untutored pupil, old man,' he said. 'You would fare no better than the novice.'
'You will not slip past my guard with words, Rendrac. I am willing to cross swords with one of your petty reputation, if you are with one such as mine. Use your sword or put it away. It is one or the other.'
Rendrac flexed his fingers on his swordgrip and paused in thought. Alodar frowned at his hesitation, and then turned and squinted across the countertop.
'Cedric!' he said. 'Why are you here?'
'I have not seen you at practice for two weeks now,' Cedric replied, 'and, as I have said, your activities with my cousin have piqued my curiosity. It seems that I arrive at a most fortunate time.'
Alodar lowered his eyes and dropped his shield to his side. 'You must think I am no great credit to your teaching, warmaster,' he said.
'A big man is not often bettered by a little one, no matter how talented the latter,' Cedric said. 'And you cannot expect six months' training to make up the difference between you. Raising your sword against this Rendrac would have cost you your life and proved nothing. But I am more of a match in size. Let him decide if he wishes to measure which of us has the greater skill as well.'
'As I have said,' Rendrac growled, 'you will find me more a match than your fledgling pupils.'
'That I judge to be true, Rendrac,' Cedric replied slowly. 'But then you will find me more than you have yet encountered as well. In my life I have fought a dozen of your bulk and I suspect I will learn little from another. But the choice is yours. Sheath your sword and walk out unscathed. Or come forward with it drawn and afterwards we will remove your body.'
They all stood silent for several minutes, but finally Rendrac scowled, thrust his sword back into its scabbard, and stomped around the counter. Cedric stepped into the shop and motioned to the doorway. Rendrac pulled in his cape and shot a last glance back around the room. His eyes danced to avoid Cedric's; when he looked in Alodar's direction, he saw the beginning of a smile. His scowl tightened and he waved his fist threateningly. 'The next time, you may not have a protector,' he growled.
Alodar opened his mouth to reply, but stopped when he heard loud voices suddenly spilling in from the street.
'But do you not see, Saxton, that the risks you take are unnecessary. I have to demand twenty years because, as I understand it now, no fair return will I get for the brandels I have lavished already upon your venture. But as a partner I can do much to ensure the success of all.'
Two stout figures suddenly jostled to enter the doorway, and Alodar saw Saxton guided through by Basil's silk-covered arm. Basil's cheeks flushed red from the exertion of supporting the sagging weight at his side and Saxton's were redder still from his visit to the tavern,
'Rendrac,' Basil said as his eyes adjusted to the candlelight. 'What are you doing here?'
'No less than what you attempt with a jug of wine,' he snapped back.
Basil looked to Alodar, then Cedric, and finally frowned at Rendrac's words. 'We will speak of this later,' he said at last.
'Why such attention?' Saxton cried gleefully as he sagged to the floor. 'There has not been such activity in my shop since twelve years ago when I thought I had stumbled on to a philtre of longevity.'
'Oh, be quiet, you fool,' Basil said, 'else I add the cost of the wine to what you already owe. Come along, Rendrac. The night is wasted here, and we should be off to attend other matters.'
'Poor Basil,' Saxton chortled as he sat with his hands folded over his stomach. 'It is too much to bear, is it not? Someone else on the street is to make a profit from the Fumus Mountains and you cannot let it be.'
Basil stopped in the doorway and turned to look down on the alchemist. 'What about the Mountains?' he asked slowly. 'What does your formula have to do with the mines?'
'You may as well know,' Saxton laughed. 'There is nothing else to purchase. We will be done in three days time and then it will not matter. Yes, Basil, it is the Fumus Mountains and the jewels of the lower depths. We shall get them, Alodar and I, while sweat stains your fine garments as you watch us pass by.'
'A new tunnel,' Basil said as he bent down beside Saxton and grabbed the folds of his soiled robe. 'Some sort of acid that will eat through to the bidden passageway that runs high and cool.'
'No, far better,' Saxton giggled as he tried to brush Basil's hands aside. 'A caloric shield that will make the depths accessible for exploration. I wager that you will be repaid with a topaz far larger than a robin's egg.'
'Then the partnership,' Basil said excitedly. 'It is as I have promised. Forget the debt for the ingredients. Share with me the plunder from the bowels of the volcano and I will release you from the agreement to which you are bound.'
'The wine loosens my tongue,' Saxton said, 'but some sense I still retain. It is Alodar and I who have shared this formula in good faith. It is only right that we reap all of the reward from it as well.'
'A novice of a few months,' Basil said. 'How important could such a loyalty be? I have worked the Street for years and in truth am a member of your craft as much as one whose robe bears the inverted triangle. What cause can you have to deny me so?'
Saxton slowly shook his head. Then with surprising strength, he wrenched Basil's hands free from his robe. 'I remember too well the stare of Eldan and the others,' he said, suddenly sober. 'Too many fine craftsmen have I seen you sweep into your factories and too many poor useless hulks have I seen you push into the alley on the other side. No Basil, I will not share with you the fruits of my labor.'
Basil stared for a moment into Saxton's unflinching eyes and then slowly rose. He smoothed his tunic and adjusted the magic dagger at his side.
'Very well,' he said at last. 'If you choose to play by the letter of our contract, then so will I. You have assured your repayment by gold or by the future labor of your back and brain. But that assurance is good only so long as you possess sound faculties upon the date they are due. If I judge that you endeavor beyond the usual risks of the craft and jeopardize the value I may receive, then I can rightfully ask for a guarantee of sounder value. And
