comrades he recognized, Kersh kept going, ascending a short flight of steps to a separate complex. Torches clung to the walls on either side of his path. The soot piles they left on the stone gave the air a dense, pressed-in feeling.
Or maybe that's your conscience prickling you, Kersh thought. He knew Icelin was innocent; it was the elf that worried him. Icelin would need the protection of the Watch, whether she wanted to admit it or not.
Turning down a south hall, Kersh stopped in front of an iron-bound wooden door. He rapped twice on the solid planks.
'Come.'
The gruff voice sounded much deeper than Taythe's-the rordan who worked the night watch. Kersh felt a sinking in his gut.
He entered the small office. A broad table dominated the center of the room, lit by flickering candles that dribbled pools of white wax down the table legs.
A gray-haired man stood hunched behind the table, surveying a crinkled map spread out before him. A bronze, boxed compass sat at his right elbow. He looked up when Kersh entered the room.
Kersh swallowed and immediately saluted, tapping his forefinger against his temple. Gods, he'd come looking for a superior officer and found the commander of the Watch himself.
The Watch Warden of Waterdeep, Daerovus Tallmantle, surveyed Kersh through steely, narrowed eyes. A gray moustache draped the lower half of his face. In Waterdeep he was known as the Wolfhound, and Kersh could well see why. He moved around the table with a graceful, predatory air, despite the years on his body.
'Well?' the Warden asked, knocking Kersh from his stupefied staring. 'What have you, lad? Don't lurk in the door. Close it behind you.'
Kersh shut the door and came to stand in front of the table. Now that he was here, before the Watch Warden, he felt even more the betrayer. Icelin would never forgive him.
'I have news,' Kersh said, 'on the whereabouts of Icelin Team.'
The Warden nodded. 'Your patrol spotted her?' 'Not my patrol,' Kersh said, 'myself alone.' 'Did you apprehend her?'
Kersh felt his throat dry up, but he was an honest man. 'I did not. I spoke to her, and I let her go.'
The Wolfhound sank slowly into his chair. He leaned back, crossing his arms. 'So you've a tale to tell me about why you acted thus. Out with it, lad.'
Kersh had expected fury from the Watch commander. He hadn't counted on the man's cool-eyed assessment, which, by its sheer weight, was harder to bear than any shouted censure.
'I believe Icelin Team has been wrongfully accused of theft,' Kersh said. He relayed to the commander the whole tale, as Icelin had told him from under the bridge. He didn't have her gift of memory, but he thought he recalled the details as near perfect as he could manage.
'Do you believe her?' the commander said when he'd finished. 'Do you think this elf, Cerest Elenithil, is responsible for Brant Team's murder?'
'I do,' said Kersh. 'I believe he has a personal vendetta against Icelin, and that she needs our protection.'
'You have no proof that your friend isn't spinning her own tales,' the commander pointed out. 'Her name is known in this barracks, and among many in the Watch.'
Kersh felt a flare of indignation. 'That does not exempt her from our protection, should her claims prove true.'
'You don't believe the murder of a Watchman should warrant our enmity?'
Kersh felt his face flush with shame and something else. Righteous indignation, he might have called it, though he'd never thought himself capable of such emotions. However you termed it, the wrongness sat bitterly in his mouth. 'There was no murder,' he said. 'It was an accident, as all involved are aware. Blame the gods if you will, but no man or woman should be punished for the fell magic that has gripped this city since the Spellplague.'
The Warden gazed at him steadily. Kersh felt his heart hammering against his ribs, whether from anger or fear of a reprimand, he couldn't say. He'd never been so bold before.
'As it happens,' the commander said softly, 'I agree with you, lad.'
Kersh offered a quiet prayer of thanks. 'I want to take a patrol into Mistshore.' He spoke faster, planning it out in his head. 'I should never have let her go. She could be killed-'
The Warden held up a hand. 'Before you break ranks, lad, and start leading your own parrols, hear me out. You say she intends to seek out this thief, Ruen Morleth?'
'That was her intention when she left me,' Kersh said.
'Then our solution resides with him.'
Kersh kept his mouth from falling open with an effort, but he couldn't keep his tongue from moving, not now that it had got going. 'He's an escaped criminal; he's not to be trusted with her safety. How can you consider such a thing?'
The Watch Warden almost smiled. Kersh could see the quiver in his moustache. 'Ruen Morleth has never escaped from anything in his whole life.'
This time Kersh did gape. 'You know where he is?'
'Indeed. He is a fine thief and as crooked as they come, but he's also smart. Ruen Morleth is a survivor. He has contacts in Mistshore and the Warrens, and probably other places we aren't aware of. We made him a generous bargain: his freedom in exchange for access to those contacts in Mistshore. With Morleth as our agent, we can work within Mistshore, and none of our own men need die. It's a bargain both sides were more than willing to make.'
'Why are you telling me this?' Kersh asked. He felt hollow, betrayed by his own ignorance.
'Morleth is many things, but he won't harm your friend,' the Warden said, as if sensing his distress. 'We'll contact him immediately. When he finds Icelin, he'll bring her in, and I'll see to her protection personally until this matter can be resolved to your satisfaction and mine,' he said.
'How will you find him?' Kersh wanted to know.
'We'll attempt magical means. But as you know, such methods don't always function well within the city,' the commander said. 'Fortunately, we have other ways to get information into Mistshore. Go outside the door, lad, and call down to the commons. Then come back. I've work for you yet.'
Kersh hastened to obey. He had no idea where the night would lead him. But when the Wolfhound spoke, he found himself eager to follow the man.
When he was alone, Daerovus Tallmantle spoke to the empty air. 'You heard, I expect.'
A figure stepped into view from nowhere and crossed the room. The train of her fine crimson cloak was last to appear from the empty air.
She had gray hair to match the Watch Warden, but hers was a frizzy mass gathered into a hasty tail at the back of her neck.
Her spectacles rode low on her narrow nose, held in place by a sharp upturn at its end.
'Will you want me to contact Morleth?' his assistant asked.
No one in the Watch or the Guard knew that the Warden employed the small woman as his spell guatd. Tesleena had been with him for years. She never seemed to mind staying in the shadows while he conducted the affairs of his post.
'Yes. See if the girl has made contact,' Daerovus instructed. 'If she has, we'll have to move carefully. We don't want to lose her. If all goes well-and I expect nothing less-she'll be brought in safely. I want this Cerest Elenithil summoned as well. Then we can determine guilt and innocence.'
'And if Ruen Morleth is forced to aid us in this, you'll have the opportunity for a clear test of his loyalty,' Tesleena pointed out.
'He will honor his end of the agreement,' the Warden said, 'or he knows we will hunt him down. But,' he conceded, 'I would just as soon know for certain that our contact in Mistshore is secure.'
'Then I will leave you.' The gray haired woman bowed briefly and vanished into the invisible world all wizards seemed to gravitate to.
Daerovus sighed and rubbed his eyes. 'Where are you tonight, Morleth?' he said aloud, and chuckled. 'You have no idea what interesting encounters you have in your future.'
