'I thought the Northern Wizards had taken control,' protested Kehrsyn.
'That is what they want people to believe,' responded Tiglath, 'and, for that matter, many others are content to let that illusion remain, for without that false sense of security, the populace would panic. The Northern Wizards do have some power. They have consolidated their hold on the bureaucracy and taken nominal control of the judiciary, which was no small feat, but the rest eludes them.'
'But they have the army,' suggested Kehrsyn.
'Actually, they don't. Just like a jackal defends her lair even though vipers have killed all her pups, so the army defends Messemprar and northern Unther. They are too busy fighting to meddle in politics, and frankly, they don't care who pretends to be in power so long as they get their support. So they take what they need, and no one dares stop them, for doing so risks everything we're fighting over.'
'But who else is fighting?' asked Kehrsyn.
'The Northern Wizards are opposed by groups like Furifax and his band-Gilgeam called them bandits, but they call themselves revolutionaries-our church of Tiamat (all glory to her name), Mulhorandi sympathizers, the Zhentarim-'
'The Zhentarim?' echoed Kehrsyn with alarm.
'They're a poison in the wine if ever there was. While the rest of us fight at the top, they're undermining the bottom, turning themselves into the heroes of the rabble and many of the minor noble houses, spreading their lies with free bread, extra constables, ploys like that. It wouldn't be so bad if they weren't part of a network that covers most of the continent. The organization is affiliated with the church of Bane, though I'm not clear if the Zhentarim are an arm of the church, or the church is an arm of their network.'
'Oh, boy,' said Kehrsyn. 'I can think of a number of things I'd rather have heard than that.'
'I know the feeling,' commented Tiglath, and Kehrsyn didn't doubt it. 'Then there's the leftover Gilgeamite clergy, two or three so-called royal houses that trace their lineage to Gilgeam's dalliances, the Hegemony of Artisans, and, rumor has it, a subversive group of slaves that wants to turn the power structure upside down. Those are the people vying for power. The Red Wizards and a few other groups are trying to ingratiate themselves with whoever might come out on top by assisting in whatever manner possible.'
'I think I get the picture,' said Kehrsyn, 'and it looks pretty ugly.'
Tiglath chuckled and said, 'That's the thrust of it. At the center of Unther, there is nothing. That cannot last.'
'No wonder you can't trust anybody.'
'Almost nobody,' Tiglath amended. 'The difficulty lies in finding those few who aren't bent by the proximity of so much unwielded power.'
The dragonet whizzed back down the stairwell, arced once around the room, circled once again around Tiglath, and alighted on the priestess' shoulder. Once more it thrust its muzzle into her ear, and the speed with which it did so made Kehrsyn cringe. Tiglath hardly appeared to notice.
'It seems our friends were thorough,' said Tiglath, after the dragonet had withdrawn its muzzle and curled up in the cowl around her neck. 'There is but one enchanted item left in the building. It lies in Tharrad's office. Come, let's see. With luck, it will be the staff of which you spoke.
They walked into the office where, but a watch or so before, Kehrsyn was having a rather enjoyable conversation… even if it was with someone she sought to betray. The once-pristine room had been ransacked. Tables had been overturned, drawers pulled out and their contents scattered, even Tharrad's chair was slashed and gutted. The dragonet nosed among some of the detritus and indicated what it had found.
Kehrsyn's heart stopped. There was the coveted wand, broken in two and left behind. Tiglath kneeled, picked up the halves, and looked back over her shoulder at Kehrsyn.
'Is this the item of which you spoke?' she asked.
Kehrsyn could only nod.
Tiglath passed her hand over the object, murmuring an incantation under her breath. After a few moments, she stood up and held the pieces out to Kehrsyn.
'What magic it had has been shattered and is fading fast,' she said. 'I'd say that Tharrad or one of his people broke it rather than let it fall into the hands of… my people.'
Kehrsyn took the pieces and turned them over in her hands, stunned that something that magical could be so readily sundered. She ran her thumb along the smooth surface of the scepter and down the edges of its carvings. She noted with surprise that a hollow tube ran down the center of the wand, empty save for a few motes of alabaster dust from when the item was broken.
'I–I don't know what to say,' muttered Kehrsyn. She ran one finger around the smooth, hollow interior. 'This is a really old item, lost for a long time, and now it's gone, just like that. I thought this was important to them, important to Unther.'
'Regardless, it was a pointless waste,' murmured Tiglath. She looked at the bodies at the foot of the stair. 'A real waste,' she repeated. 'I wonder what the cause was?'
'Isn't it obvious?' asked Kehrsyn. 'They knew that the Furifaxians had the staff, and they wanted it. That means they had some kind of inside information about its theft.'
'What?' responded Tiglath. 'How would they know about something being stolen from a merchant house, let alone care?'
'Well, Tharrad… you, like, knew him, right? He said that they had allies who had someone on the inside of Wing's Reach. They had a map, and they knew exactly where the staff was being kept.'
Kehrsyn stopped prattling and looked askance at Tiglath. The priestess looked blankly at Kehrsyn, then it dawned on her, too.
'Are you saying that I have a spy planted in Wing's Reach? I have no such thing. Why would I give a wedge about a merchant?'
'Because he's got the Staff of the Necromancer,' observed Kehrsyn.
She started to step away from Tiglath, resting one hand on the hilt of her rapier. Tiglath folded her arms and sank her head on her chest to think.
'That makes a vile sort of sense, you know,' the priestess said, rocking on her heels. 'If my people are working behind my back, this is the sort of scheme they might buy in on, but infiltration is not their style-not our style, that is. No, the Staff of the Necromancer is supposed to be quite a potent weapon, and that's what they'd be in it for. That makes me wonder if Furifax's people didn't actually double-cross my people.'
'How so?'
'Furifax convinces my church to attack Wing's Reach to capture the staff, but the day before they send you in early to steal it. Immediately afterward, my people attack. They take the risk, take the blame, and get nothing to show for it, while Furifax gets the staff and avoids discovery.'
'That almost sounds like you're defending your followers, when they're running around behind your back,' observed Kehrsyn.
Tiglath snorted and said, 'Old habits die hard. And, now that you point that out, that theory doesn't shed any light on how my people found out, now does it?'
'So how are you going to find out the truth?' asked Kehrsyn.
'I don't know,' Tiglath said. She paused, her mouth compressed, and blew air out of her nose like an angry bull. 'Get used to lies and deceit, Kehrsyn,' she said. 'These days, nothing in Messemprar is what it seems.'
'Does that include you?' Kehrsyn asked, looking at Tiglath from under her brows.
'Well, I certainly hope I'm more than a fat and angry old crone,' joked Tiglath. She paused, her eyes turned inward on her own soul. 'And I hope, too,' she added, her eyes softening to sadness for just a moment, 'that I'm not actually as cruel as I probably seem.'
Kehrsyn smiled, then her grin faded again as she ran her thumb across the carvings in the halves of the wand.
'Well,' said Tiglath, brushing dust off her hands, 'I have some undesirable work to do among the faithful. An alliance has been broken, and somehow I doubt those who came here are likely to discuss the matter freely. Good day,' she said as she mounted the stairwell. 'I do hope we can meet again.'
With that, the priestess left Kehrsyn standing at the base of the empty house, amidst broken oaths, broken bodies, and a broken wand.
