Eltorchul was killed for the dream spheres?'
'In all truth, I wouldn't lay odds one way or another,' Dan responded. 'Remember, I knew the man. He might just as well have incurred the wrath of a former student or a fellow mage, but it is possible, yes.'
'Everyone at that meeting I overheard last night was opposed to the sale of dream spheres. Perhaps one of them hired the tren. Find out who was there, and we've got a place to start looking.'
Danilo folded his arms and scowled. 'Wait a minute. A place to start? You intend to go after the killer?'
'Don't you?'
'I fail to see how this fits any definition of service to the elven people.'
'Maybe not.' She shrugged. 'Nonetheless, one way or another I might not have a choice.'
He gave her a keen look. 'I'm not going to like this, am I?'
'No.' She began to pace, picking her way through the clutter. 'I can't make sense of this. At first I assumed that the tren attack at the Gemstone Ball was directed against Elaith. But I was there first, and then the same tren showed up at my lodging house. It is possible that second attack was the tren's vendetta-I killed a couple of his clan, I wounded him-but it's also possible that I, not Elaith, was his original target.' She blew out a long breath. 'There's another possibility. As you pointed out, the markings that led us here to this tower room seemed a little too convenient.'
Danilo looked puzzled, so Arilyn reluctantly contin shy;ued. 'It's well known that some assassins occasionally work with tren. The tren provide muscle as well as a means of disposing of the body. You know my reputa shy;tion. Some people might ask why I just happened to be the first one on hand after a tren attack. The Eltorchul clan is going to want to know the answer to that.'
His face clouded. 'Surely you have left those rumors behind at last! I have not heard anyone speak of you as an assassin for years.'
'Nor would you,' she retorted. 'Yet I don't imagine that even now your peers are eager to accept me into their midst!'
'Only because you're half-elven,' he said heatedly. A look of utter mortification crossed his face as he real shy;ized what he had said.
Arilyn quickly turned away, before any reaction of hers could add to Dan's regret. She understood the impli shy;cations of their friendship in the young nobleman's world, probably far better than he did. To forestall any further discussion, she began kicking at the debris with more force and fervor than the task required.
After the first moments, Arilyn became genuinely absorbed by the puzzle before her. She began to circle the octagonal room, studying the chaos in search of some small pattern.
The wizard's tables had been overturned, and shards of pottery lay scattered on the floor along with a variety of weird spell components that Arilyn could not begin to name. Oddly enough, none of the shelves had been dis shy;turbed by the struggle, as if the mage had deliberately avoided damaging any of the contents. That seemed to fly against logic, but Arilyn had heard of people who protected their possessions more fiercely than their own lives.
'What is the worth of all that?' she asked, pointing to the orderly shelves.
Danilo's gaze swept across the rows of glass and silver bottles, carved wooden boxes, and carefully stacked scrolls. 'Almost beyond estimation,' he admitted. 'This is a most impressive study.'
'Worth dying for?'
'I wouldn't say so. Oth might have. I see your point, though. This was an unusual struggle. Another thing puzzles me: there is far less blood than one might expect.'
'Not unusual for tren attacks,' Arilyn corrected. 'They're … tidy. They also feed with astonishing speed. On the other hand, it is possible that Oth died else shy;where and that his hand was left here for someone to find.'
'That someone being you.' Danilo frowned. 'I am finding more to dislike about this situation by the moment, but we cannot dismiss the possibility that Elaith was the target of the first tren attack. Perhaps we should see what he knows.'
Arilyn had no desire to seek out the rogue elf, but she could see the sense in that. She nodded toward the one door that led out of the room and drew her sword. 'The tren is long gone, but we might not be able to leave this place without meeting opposition.'
'One moment.' He took a carved wooden box from the shelf, emptied the dried herbs it contained onto the floor, and then, to her astonishment, pushed the disem shy;bodied hand into it. He carefully fastened the clasp and then tucked the box under one arm.
'What do you think you're doing?'
'It is better that I turn this matter over to the Watch than you,' he explained. 'After all, I once studied with the Eltorchul family, and I could contrive a reason for entering Oth's tower. No one need hear of your presence here.'
Arilyn started to protest, but she recognized the im shy;placably stubborn expression in her friend's eyes. She turned and walked toward the door. 'Good thing you're giving up that Lord's helm,' she muttered. 'I wouldn't call this upholding the laws of the city.'
'You haven't actually broken any, have you? Recently?'
'I just got here,' she said with a bit of grim humor.
'Well, then,' he said, his tone suggesting that the matter had been settled.
She led the way down a winding stairs into the main hall. The building that supported the wizard's tower was small, just a center hall with a few rooms to either side for servants and household functions. There was no sign of anyone in the building, and they slipped out into the courtyard without challenge.
Since they had come that far, Arilyn deemed it safe to begin the search for Oth's killer. She nodded toward the carriage shed, from whence drifted a faint murmur of sound. Tucking away her sword, she went to inquire.
A thin man with lank, yellow hair was busy digging a stone from the hoof of a bay horse. Three matching steeds munched hay in tidy stalls, and a fine carriage stood nearby, its undercarriage still grimed with a layer of street dust.
The man looked up when Arilyn's shadow fell upon him. His lip curled disdainfully, and he brandished the small knife as if he were shooing off an importunate stray dog.
'Be off with you,' he snarled, 'and be quick about it. There is no work for you here. My master would sooner turn the likes of you into a lizard than hire you.'
Dan stepped around her. Even in his current bedraggled state, he was unmistakably a man of wealth and position. The coachman leaped to his feet, chagrin on his thin face as he recognized the raven-and-unicorn heraldry on the young man's pendant as the mark of a noble family. 'My lord,' he stammered. 'I did not-'
'You apparently speak for Lord Eltorchul,' Danilo said, cutting off the man's apology. 'Perhaps then you can tell me where he is. No one answered our knock.'
'Nor will they, my lord,' the man said quickly, obvi shy;ously eager to undo whatever ill will he had caused. 'Lord Oth gave the servants a day's holiday to enjoy the harvest festivals. I delivered him myself to the Thann estate last night.'
'And from thence?'
The coachman hesitated, clearly at conflict whether or not to speak of his master's business. Danilo held up a large silver coin. 'I have forgotten already what you are about to tell me. Try to convince me to overlook the insult you offered my lady.'
The man's eyes shifted incredulously to Arilyn. She supposed she could understand why he'd come to the conclusion he had. Clad in worn leather breeches and boots, wearing no ornaments but an elven sword, she looked like any one of the hundreds of mercenaries who thronged the city and made their way the best they could.
The coachman caught the coin Dan flipped him and nodded his agreement to the bargain. 'I took Lord Oth to a tavern in the Sea Ward. The Silken Sylph. There was a woman with him.' A quick grin jerked across his thin features, and his hands traced a voluptuous outline in the air.
'I am acquainted with the general concept,' Danilo commented. 'Can you offer something a bit more specific?'
'Red dress, black hair, big dark eyes,' the man remi shy;nisced. 'Dark skin, but not as dark as a Calishite.
