Downshadow

'For true, though,' Talanna whispered, 'you ought to ward yourself. I have seen how you look at Kalen, and I've told you time and again…'

' 'Romancing anyone in the Guard, Watch, Magistry, or Palace is a grave mistake as well as improper,'' Araezra quoted from the Talanna Taenfeather rulebook. She'd learned well the value of dampening jealousies and avoiding entanglements among the city's elite. 'I'm well-you needn't worry, Shieldlarr

Talanna pinched up her face. 'Ooh, citing rank, are we? I see someone's a bit touched.'

Araezra ignored that. It wasn't particularly proper, this repartee on duty, but their friendship ran too deep. It was like sisterhood.

'He's just a man, Rayse,' Talanna observed.

'Who?' Araezra's blush belied her feigned ignorance.

'Don't try to deny it,' Talanna said. 'You're still sweet on him.'

'Look, it's over, aye?' Araezra said. 'Jusr let it pass.'

'Honestly, though-is it him? Poor bedroom play, I think.'

'No,' Araezra said. Then, blushing more, she added, 'I mean, no, I wouldn't know, because we never-'

'Right, right,' Talanna said. 'And that's why you get so flustered whenever I ask.'

She signaled Treth and Turnstone to halt and caught Araezra's arm. She leaned in closer.

'Just tell me one thing, aye? Is it yea-' She held up her hands, about the length of a dagger apart-'or yea?' She brought her hands closer together.

'That's… that's none of our business,' said Araezra. 'Gods curse you!'

'Ooh,' Talanna murmured. She brought her hands even closer. 'Aye?'

'I am not having this conversation,' Araezra whispered. She looked back, where Treth and Turnstone were watching them closely. 'Belt up, men!'

Turnstone coughed and looked down, as though interested in his boots. Treth snickered.

Talanna poked her. 'So I'll just have to seduce him myself if I want to find out, aye?'

Araezra blushed fiercer than before. 'I'll have you flogged in the public square for this.'

'Better not have Jarthay do it.' Talanna grinned. 'He'd enjoy it a bit too much.'

'I mean it,' Araezra warned.

'Ha! No, you don't.' Talanna laughed.

Araezra scowled. 'No, I suppose I don't.'

Talanna squeezed Araezra's hand reassuringly. 'Love is for fools, sweetling!'

'Good thing I'm not a fool.' She waved to the men. 'Swords forward!'

As they crept through the tunnel, Araezra wondered if Talanna's words didn't hold a ring of truth.

She remembered very clearly when first she had met Kalen Dren, on a raid in Uktar last year, back when he'd been a Watchman on the streets of Dock Ward. In her six years in the Guard, since she had joined at fifteen, never had she seen a man so determined and deadly-at least, not on her side of a raid. In his full helm, he'd waded into combat unhindered and unafraid, his eyes cutting through as many men as his sword. During the battle, he had saved her life from a stray arrow by raking it in his own chest.

She hadn't seen his face before the healers had taken him away, but his eyes haunted her dreams for nights after. She learned that Kalen had survived his wounds and was resting at the barracks, healing naturally. When she'd protested, his superiors had explained that letting him heal without magic was a rare reward for valor in the raid; he seemed to loathe anything but emergency magic, and only grudgingly accepted the Watch healers. He preferred to live with his scars, it was said, as a mark of pride.

She visited his bedside and was surprised at his youth: he was hardly older than herself. She'd talked with him for the day and into the night, long after aides had told her ro let him rest. Kalen had merely waved them away, so they could speak in privare.

In Kalen, Araezra had found someone like herself-someone who burned with the desire to fix the ills of Waterdeep. He wanted nothing more than to find and punish the guilty. He told her of a vow he had made to himself as a child-never to beg. All the while, his eyes had stared through her to the frustrated soul beneath-weighing what they found there, like something more than human. His eyes had made her shiver, but not with fear.

Was her desire really so surprising?

She'd been due for promotion to valabrar-the youngest ever to hold the rank-and she insisted Kalen come with her as her aide. For a time, she thought they could be much more, but he had refused her every attempt in that regard. When finally she confronted him, he told her of his illness, and Araezra's heart broke. She would have stayed with him thereafter, but his eyes were so sad-so frustrated-that she had let their short-lived romance fade.

She remembered his vow and knew that for her to beg would shame him.

As his physical prowess diminished, she'd kept him in service as her aide, thinking that he would want the post but would never ask. She'd thought it would do him honor, but now she wasn't sure. As a caged lion might relax but still see the bars, so might a wild beast waste away at the center of his pride, knowing that he has outlived his days of ferocity.

Nor was she sure that her motivations had been entirely selfless in awarding that assignment.

She had confessed to herself that she still desired him-confessed it every day. It was not love, exactly, but she wanted him to crave her, too-to show her anything but cold distance.

'I see that gleam in your eye,' Talanna said. 'Honestly-'twas but a simple question…'

'This isn't the time,' Araezra snapped. 'You're sure the boy pointed in this-'

Then she almost jumped out of her mail breeches when Bleys Treth cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, 'Lady Lorien!'

'Shush!' snapped Talanna. 'She'll just hide from you.'

'Aye, Shieldlar,' Treth said sourly.

'Shush, both of you,' Turnstone said. 'You'll only call monsters or thieves.'

Giving a duelist's sneer, Bleys spread his hands. 'Let them come-I've my steel.' He tapped the heel of his hand smartly on his sword hilt.

'Shush, all of you,' Araezra growled. 'Did you see yon radiance?'

A bright white light flashed in the chamber at the north end of the tunnel. They heard the clash of steel-a duel, she thought. She put her hand on her sword hilt and nodded. The others did likewise, and Talanna plucked a pair of throwing daggers from her belt.

Araezra waved, and they picked up their steps. She heard two voices, one a familiar soft soprano, the other a rolling bass.

Araezra and Talanna stepped into the chamber. A man in black leathers and a tattered gray cloak stood before them. His face was anonymous, hidden behind a full steel helm. In his arms was the very noblewoman they sought, the priestess Lorien Dawnbringer.

Araezra gasped.

'Away from her, knave!' shouted Talanna, hefting her daggers to throw.

'Hold!' Araezra said, half a heartbeat too late. The man shoved Lorien down and dived to the side. One of Talanna's blades whistled harmlessly past where the priestess had been, and the other sank into his left bicep. Unhindered and unarmed, he ran toward them.

'Hold!' she shouted. 'Down arms-you too, Talanna!'

No one listened. Bleys Treth snapped his blade out and lunged with the speed that had once earned him his moniker, but his target parried with an empty black scabbard. Treth twisted this out of his hands with an expert circle and cut back at his hip, but the man leaped like a noble's stallion over the last fence before the finish.

Araezra watched, gaping, as he soared over their heads and darted down the south tunnel.

'I've got him!' Talanna ran, drawing another blade as she went.

Araezra and Turnstone ran to Lorien. Turnstone searched warily for another foe, while Araezra knelt at the priestess's side.

'Are you well, my lady?' Araezra asked without ceremony. 'Did he hurt you?'

'No,' the priestess said. 'I came here to spread Sune's healing, and yon knight protected me.' Her cheeks were flushed. 'Shadowbane… he means us no ill.'

Shadowbane. Araezra shivered.

She considered whether the priestess had been deceived. They might have just saved her from a charming-