'She's real? She's not just a story?' Tiep persisted.
'What real? All Weathercote people real. What people not real?'
'What's this about a story?' Rozt'a demanded. 'Tiep, you look like you swallowed a ghost. What stories have you heard?'
'Stories,' Tiep whispered without taking his eyes off Sheemzher. 'Lady Mantis comes to the village at night, when someone's sick or dying. She heals them… sometimes. But sometimes, she just comes and steals a Zhentarim or two.' He retreated toward the wall. 'One that needs stealing. They say she eats them. They never come back, that's for certain.'
That had to be the least believable tale Tiep had ever told. Dru broke the cord knotting up the silk. Four coins clattered to the floor. Three were the angular bits of black metal that passed for currency in the charterhouse. The fourth was bright silver and larger than the others combined.
Twilight had gone to evening and they needed to light the lamp, but even without it, Dru saw knew he'd never seen this coin's like before. No coin minted near the Heartlands bore the sun's face on one side and a dragon on the other. He offered the coin to Galimer who lit the lamp before accepting it.
'Is this what I think it is?' Galimer asked with his thumbnail framing the script beneath the dragon's wing.
'Sure looks like it to me.' He left the coin in Galimer's care and towered over the goblin. 'Who minted that coin? How did you get it?'
Sheemzher wrung his hands. 'Good lady Wyndyfarh send Sheemzher here. Good lady Wyndyfarh give Sheemzher silver. Sheemzher buy food, other things. Sheemzher bargain good, good sir. Sheemzher had too much silver; not now. Sheemzher reward good sir. Good lady not angry. Good lady have many, many coins, good sir. Many, many same silver coins.'
Common wisdom said goblins weren't clever enough to deceive a human. Common wisdom also said that goblins scavenged what little clothing they wore and never bathed. Druhallen would wager every last one of the good lady's many silver coins that Sheemzher had nothing in common with common wisdom.
'Where does your lady get her coins?' he asked.
The goblin shrugged. 'Sheemzher not know. Good lady know. Good sir ask good lady, yes? Good lady wise. Good lady know Wood. Good lady know coin. Good lady know all. Good sir ask good lady; good sir become wise.'
Dru was thinking that Lady Mantis had her own mint somewhere when Rozt'a asked, 'What did he give you? Is it an elven coin? Something from Myth Drannor?'
'Better,' he replied. 'We've seen the script before on an old piece of glass, but this coin could have been minted yesterday.' Druhallen looked again at Sheemzher. 'Your lady's not using someone else's stamps to mint her coins, is she?'
The goblin shook his head solemnly. 'What be stamps, good sir? What be mint, good sir? Sheemzher confused; people not clever. Good lady Wyndyfarh have coins. Good sir need coins? Good sir need special coins. Good lady help good sir. Good lady kind.'
Druhallen threw back his head and laughed. 'Amarandaris. He's cleverer than I thought.' He looked down on the goblin. 'Amarandaris sent you, didn't he?'
'No, good sir. Sheemzher come alone. Good lady Wyndyfarh say, 'Stay out of the way of the Zhentarim. There's no reason for them to know anything they don't expect.' '
When it came to quoting his good lady's speech, the goblin got the words right but used an unfamiliar, lilting accent. Sheemzher was a mystery and so was his good lady. Druhallen exchanged a glance with Galimer; they were both intrigued. They were both wizards; curiosity was their greatest vice.
'Why that coin, Sheemzher?' Dru pointed at the silver in Galimer's hand. 'Why reward me with that particular coin? Do all her silver coins look like that one, with dragons and a sun's face. Do they all have that squiggly script around the wing? Do you know what it says, Sheemzher? What it means? Where it's from and how many years have passed since it was minted?'
'Not clever, good sir. People not clever. Sheemzher not clever. Good sir visit Wood, yes? Good sir ask good lady. Good lady wise. Good lady answer.'
'Good lady,' Dru repeated. 'Good lady Wyndyfarh. Lady Mantis. Mantis. That's a bug, isn't it? A bug with big eyes and clasped hands. The Kozakurans put them in cages and keep them as pets. Is that what happened to you?'
'What be Kozakuran, good sir? What be pet?'
'Give it up, Dru!' Galimer advised, slapping him across the back. 'You're talking to a goblin! Might as well interrogate a four-year-old! We'll keep the coin-if it's as old as it looks, the dog-face has given us a fortune. If not, at least the silver's pure.'
Druhallen had blinked when he heard Amarandaris's words coming out of Galimer's mouth, but there was merit in what both men had said. He took the coin from Galimer's hand. He'd seen ancient coins dug out of the ground. All tarnished and corroded, they didn't look like the goblin's coin. The goblin's coin-Lady Wyndyfarh's coin- shone; its relief was sharp. The coin had to be new; it couldn't have come from Netheril.
'Call it coincidence, Dru, and let it go. We've got more important things to worry about.' Galimer cocked his head toward Tiep, who hadn't budged from the wall.
Before Dru could agree, the goblin was tugging on his sleeve.
'Good sir leave Parnast? Good sir need leave? Need leave quick? Sheemzher know way. Sheemzher know very best way leave Parnast. Sheemzher help good sir. Good lady help; Sheemzher promise.'
Rozt'a joined Dru, Galimer, and the goblin at the center of the room. 'What gave you the idea that we wanted to leave Parnast?' she demanded coldly.
Sheemzher released Dru's sleeve and backed away. 'Good sir meet Zhentarim lord. Go up together. Come down each alone. Good sir angry, not happy. Zhentarim angry, not happy. Sheemzher confused. Sheemzher worry. Good sir save child. Sheemzher understand. Good sir wise; good sir leave Parnast, yes? Sheemzher come. Sheemzher help good sir leave Parnast.'
'And get an arrow in my back? You almost had me, Sheemzher. I was starting to believe you. It's dark, the gates are shut. Once curfew's rung around here, the Zhentarim shoot anything that moves.'
'Good sir safe with Sheemzher. Good sir and all friends. Not horses. Horses not come. Sheemzher give friends silver coins. Horses safe with friends. Good sir, friends safe with Sheemzher. Good lady give good sir silver-'
'Enough!' Rozt'a shouted. She clamped her hand on the goblin's neck. 'It's time for you to leave.'
'Sheemzher return before dawn, good sir,' the goblin said, wriggling out of Rozt'a's grasp. Things didn't usually escape from Rozt'a. 'If good sir ready, Sheemzher lead good sir, friends. Good sir, friends, safe with Sheemzher. Weathercote Wood welcome good sir, friends. Good lady welcome good sir, friends. Sun not set, good lady welcome. Good lady help.'
The goblin opened the door himself and was gone.
Rozt'a pulled it shut. With practiced moves, she looped the latch string around the bolt and pulled it taut. 'That was no natural creature. If he comes back, he can scream himself blue before I'll let him in. I say, melt those coins and quickly!'
Dru shrugged and handed the coin to Galimer. 'What are the chances that it's truly Netherese?'
'About the same as someone called Lady Mantis having a goblin servant.'
Tiep stirred. 'She might. I could ask Manya-'
'Village talk,' Rozt'a sniffed. 'Every wood is haunted when you're a farmer.'
'Weathercote is haunted-well, not quite haunted. There's Lady Mantis and the Gray Man and a bunch of others. They're not wizards, Dru, not according to Manya; they're more than wizards. She wouldn't go into Weathercote Wood for love nor money, but her pa said he met the Gray Man when he was young. He showed me an arrow: a gray-metal arrow. Not tin or steel or anything I'd seen before. He told me to try breaking the shaft. I thought he was joking, but I couldn't make it bend.'
'What about Lady Mantis?' Dru asked. 'I got a look at your face when the goblin spoke that name. If you're in trouble, Tiep, you'd be wisest to tell us everything right now.'
Tiep stiffened. 'No trouble,' he insisted, not altogether convincingly.
Dru thought fast. What they needed to do was get out of Parnast quickly, before discomfort became disaster. He missed the first part of what Tiep had to say about the goblin's lady.
