Along with Deliah the White and several others, Piergeiron found himself nodding. This whole mess had started when a patrol of Evereskan Tomb Guards interrupted a rendezvous between a powerful Shadovar wizard and what the elves took to be a company of human tomb robbers. A phaerimm had been drawn to the sound of the resulting turmoil, and during the terrible battle that followed, the patrol leader's Weave-based magic had clashed with the Shadovar's shadow-based magic. Nobody really understood what had happened next, except that the result had torn a hole in the mystic barrier that had kept the phaerimm imprisoned beneath Anauroch for over fifteen hundred years.
After allowing his audience a moment to contemplate his words, Aglarel continued, 'Can you imagine the consequences if that spell had been loosed by one of Water-deep's battle wizards?' He glanced at Gervas Imesfor. 'Or perhaps a high mage from Evereska?'
'There is no need to imagine,' Storm said darkly. 'We all know what happened at Shadowdale-which is why I am finding your concern for our welfare so difficult to believe now.'
'What happened at Shadowdale was a misunderstanding,' Aglarel countered, 'and it was your attack that opened the Hell breach. We lost one of our own to it as well.' 'A small price to be rid of Elminster,' Storm spat.
'That was never our intention,' Aglarel said. 'Rivalen and the others were there to talk-'
'Perhaps you forget that I was there, Prince,' Storm warned. 'I saw what your brothers did.'
Before the lightning that flashed in her eyes became bolts flying from her fingers, Piergeiron raised a hand and said, 'As concerned as we all are about Elminster's fate, that is not the matter before this council.'
He could not allow Storm to turn this discussion into a quarrel over who had caused Elminster's disappearance. The argument was a sore one, and growing more so since the Simbul had turned up missing as well. There were some who suggested she had already recovered Elminster and spirited him off to some other dimension to recuperate. But Storm insisted on holding the Shadovar responsible for Elminster's continued absence, and she never missed an opportunity to rebuke them over the matter.
Piergeiron did not know what to believe-he had heard convincing evidence that supported both sides- and it really didn't matter to him. His only goal was to keep the matter from erupting into a full-blown magic duel anywhere within a hundred leagues of Waterdeep- much less within the walls of his own palace.
He locked gazes with Storm and said, 'Whatever happened that day in Shadowdale, the last thing Evereska- or Faerыn itself-needs is war with the Shadovar, too.'
'Whatever happened?' Storm fumed. 'I have told you what happened! The Shadovar are as bad as the-'
'Come now, Sister,' Laeral said. Almost as tall as Storm, she had the same silver hair but emerald eyes instead of blue. 'Exaggeration serves no one, and I have seen for myself what the Shadovar can do against the phaerimm. We need all the help they can provide.'
'Help from a nest of vipers will prove poison in the end,' Storm retorted.
'We are asking for no more than was Netheril's in the days of our fathers,' Aglarel said. 'Leave us to Anauroch, and no one on Faerыn need fear Shade Enclave.'
'Anauroch is not Waterdeep's to grant or deny,' Piergeiron said, trying to guide the conversation back to the matter at hand. 'Just as Evereska is not the Shadovar's to quarantine.'
'I could not agree with you more, Lord Piergeiron,' Aglarel replied. 'Which is only one of the reasons we should establish a coordinating council. I'm sure we can all agree that it would be in Evereska's best interest if our nations shared in the responsibility of making these sorts of decisions.'
'A magnanimous gesture, Prince Aglarel, considering that the Shadovar have dealt the phaerimm the few losses they have suffered in this war,' Laeral said warmly. She knew whereof she spoke; her beloved Khelben 'Black-staff Arunsun had vanished during a battle early in the war, and she was spending much of her time at the front trying to determine what had become of him. 'I am certain Lord Imesfor would welcome such a council.'
Before the elf could voice his approval or disapproval, Storm asked, 'Who would lead this council? The Shadovar?'
Aglarel nodded without hesitation. 'For now,' he said, 'it appears we are best equipped to assume that duty.'
When dragons kneel before halflings! scoffed Brian the Swordmaster. As one of the Masked Lords of Waterdeep, his words came to Piergeiron as a barely audible whisper. They're trying to take control of the war zone. Aglarel cast a brief glance in Brian's direction, then looked back to Piergeiron and said, 'If the Lords of Waterdeep find our leadership uncomfortable, we would not be adverse to naming Lord Imesfor master of the council. It is, after all, his home that is in peril.'
Piergeiron was almost too astonished to reply. The discussions between the masked lords were shielded by the same magic that protected their identities, yet Aglarel had plainly heard what Brian had said.
'The lords will discuss the council you propose later-in private,' Piergeiron said, 'but we do appreciate your suggestion.'
Many of the spectators in the hall would be mystified as to why he did not immediately agree to name Lord Imesfor the council leader, but they had not seen how the elf trembled at the slightest sound or heard the screams that echoed through the palace halls whenever he retired to his room to attempt the Reverie, Gervas Imesfor was in no condition to lead a horse, much less a political and military alliance of this magnitude. Piergeiron felt quite certain that Aglarel had known that when he proposed it.
I'm sure our deliberations would be more meaningful if we knew more about the nature of the shadowshell, Deliah said, still pressing for details. Like nearly every respectable wizard on Faerыn, she seemed more alarmed by the Shadovar's mysterious magic than by the evil of the phaerimm. If the prince is concerned about spies, perhaps we could meet later 'I am at liberty to reveal the nature of the shell only to our declared allies,' Aglarel said, drawing an audible gasp from three of the lords who had not previously realized he was listening in on their private conversations. 'However, it is difficult to predict how the phaerimm will respond. It really would be better to establish the coordinating council at once.'
'You have doubts that the shell will hold?' Lord Dyndaryl asked.
'Not at all. The shell will hold.' Aglarel deliberately looked at Imesfor and said, 'It is Evereska we are concerned about. We do not understand the mythal well enough to know how long it can withstand a sustained assault.'
'It's still up?' The relief in Imesfor's voice was obvious. 'You know that?'
The phaerimm had enclosed the entire Sharaedim within a magic deadwall that prevented any sort of travel to or communication with Evereska, and he was not the only one in the room who had been wondering if the city was still in elf hands.
Aglarel hesitated a moment, then gave a nod so slight it was barely perceptible. 'Thank Corellon!' Imesfor gasped.
'Then you are in contact with the city?' It was Laeral Silverhand who asked this. 'Do you know if Khelben is there?'
Aglarel looked away. 'Unfortunately, I am not at liberty to answer your questions, Lady Silverhand.' He managed to sound genuinely apologetic. 'That information would be available only to our allies.'
'To your allies?' Laeral fumed. 'Who do you think has been fighting at your side-'
'Were the choice mine, Lady Silverhand, I would tell you,' he said. 'Your contributions have not gone unnoticed by our Most High, but your allegiance is obviously to Waterdeep, and Waterdeep has not declared itself our ally.'
Nor are we like to, said Brian. Waterdeep won't yield to strong-arm tactics. Never!
Aglarel looked directly at Brian. 'This isn't strong-arming. How many of its secrets would Waterdeep reveal to a city that refuses to call itself an ally?'
'We are not asking for any of your secrets,' Laeral said, straining to sound patient 'Only the simple courtesy of-'
'The Shadovar are showing you every courtesy, Lady Silverhand,' Aglarel said. 'That is what I'm doing here. It is Waterdeep that is being discourteous, that receives information given in good faith with suspicion, that rebukes our offer of friendship with high-handed accusations of coercion, that allows a visitor under its palace roof to call Shade Enclave a den of liars and vipers.'
