Read Online The Alabaster Staff by Edward Bolme - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Edward Bolme
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a pocket. “So are you gonna do our job for us, or shall I give this a little toot?”
“Please!” said the fugitive in a panic. She sagged visibly. “No, please don’t. I’ll … I’ll do it.”
“Aw, now don’t look so sad, hon,” Ruzzara continued. “Life is full of adventure, and every adventure begins with a single step!”
“I have found more often that what the bards call an ‘adventure’ begins with a single mistake.”
“Wow, hon, your outlook is as bleak as an eighty-year-old prostitute.”
“It’s not bleak,” said the young woman. “It’s realistic. The trick is knowing when to stop so you don’t make that mistake.”
“Whatever you say,” said Ruzzara. She paused and raised one eyebrow. “Are you trying to sneak your hand to that dagger you keep under your bag, hon? My associates wouldn’t take that very well,” she added, waving a hand vaguely in the direction of the street, or maybe the rooftops.
“Uh … no,” said the young woman, avoiding Ruzzara’s eyes.
“Excellent!” said Ruzzara, though her eyes were as cold as steel. “I’d hate to think you looked at me as a mistake to be unmade.” She studied her quarry and smiled. That was the best time to interrogate, when the last shred of hope had been taken away. “What’s your name, hon?”
“Kehrsyn.”
“Well, olaré, Kehrsyn. So where do you live?”
“I … don’t really have a … a place to stay. Anymore.” Kehrsyn’s voice was very soft.
“Well, Kehrsyn, I’d say maybe your luck is changing,” said Ruzzara. Once someone had no hope, it was best to be the first one who offered it.
Kehrsyn looked up, and Ruzzara saw a desperate sparkle return to the waif’s eyes. Kehrsyn stood, ending up a little taller than Ruzzara, which annoyed her. It was harder to be intimidating when looking up.
“You mean I can sleep in the guild house?” asked Kehrsyn, with just a shade of fear and hope.
Ruzzara laughed. She liked the hint of desperation in Kehrsyn’s voice. It was best to cultivate that by keeping the ray of hope to a glimmer.
“Aren’t you getting ahead of the horse there, hon? We gotta talk about the assignment.”
“Right,” said Kehrsyn, and Ruzzara was pleased to see that she was focusing her attention so she’d remember what she was about to be told.
Ruzzara turned so that she faced Kehrsyn squarely. She folded her arms to add gravity to her words.
“This merchant has somehow laid his grubby paws on an important item of great magical power,” she began.
“You want me to steal a magic item,” interrupted Kehrsyn, her lower eyelids trembling.
“No hook in your blade, is there? That’s right. It’s apparently pretty potent. Some daredevil grave robber done said that he dug up this magic staff while under hire from this here merchant. It must be right important if a merchant sends folks after it while the city is under siege, don’t you think? We think we can use that staff to protect our city against the pharaoh’s army, or mayhap even drive them back.”
“Drive them back?” asked Kehrsyn. “What does it do?”
“That’s not your concern,” said Ruzzara. “Leave that to those what can handle it. You just need to know what it looks like. It’s a wand one span shy of a cubit, the color of dried bone, and carved all over with those pictoglyph thingies. And there’s a wavy band of bronze all wrapped ’round the top, with a big piece of black amber in the top. We think this here merchant intends to sell it to the Zhentarim. They’ll take it up away to the north, for their own plans. Needless to say, that makes us as mad as a constipated goat, selling out our whole darn future for a few lousy shekae.”
“Sounds to me like it must be worth a mountain of gold,” said Kehrsyn.
“That’s beside the point, hon,” groaned Ruzzara. “Keep the big picture here. We’re talking saving Unther’s collective hide from the Mulhorandi army.”
“Right. Almost a cubit
“Please!” said the fugitive in a panic. She sagged visibly. “No, please don’t. I’ll … I’ll do it.”
“Aw, now don’t look so sad, hon,” Ruzzara continued. “Life is full of adventure, and every adventure begins with a single step!”
“I have found more often that what the bards call an ‘adventure’ begins with a single mistake.”
“Wow, hon, your outlook is as bleak as an eighty-year-old prostitute.”
“It’s not bleak,” said the young woman. “It’s realistic. The trick is knowing when to stop so you don’t make that mistake.”
“Whatever you say,” said Ruzzara. She paused and raised one eyebrow. “Are you trying to sneak your hand to that dagger you keep under your bag, hon? My associates wouldn’t take that very well,” she added, waving a hand vaguely in the direction of the street, or maybe the rooftops.
“Uh … no,” said the young woman, avoiding Ruzzara’s eyes.
“Excellent!” said Ruzzara, though her eyes were as cold as steel. “I’d hate to think you looked at me as a mistake to be unmade.” She studied her quarry and smiled. That was the best time to interrogate, when the last shred of hope had been taken away. “What’s your name, hon?”
“Kehrsyn.”
“Well, olaré, Kehrsyn. So where do you live?”
“I … don’t really have a … a place to stay. Anymore.” Kehrsyn’s voice was very soft.
“Well, Kehrsyn, I’d say maybe your luck is changing,” said Ruzzara. Once someone had no hope, it was best to be the first one who offered it.
Kehrsyn looked up, and Ruzzara saw a desperate sparkle return to the waif’s eyes. Kehrsyn stood, ending up a little taller than Ruzzara, which annoyed her. It was harder to be intimidating when looking up.
“You mean I can sleep in the guild house?” asked Kehrsyn, with just a shade of fear and hope.
Ruzzara laughed. She liked the hint of desperation in Kehrsyn’s voice. It was best to cultivate that by keeping the ray of hope to a glimmer.
“Aren’t you getting ahead of the horse there, hon? We gotta talk about the assignment.”
“Right,” said Kehrsyn, and Ruzzara was pleased to see that she was focusing her attention so she’d remember what she was about to be told.
Ruzzara turned so that she faced Kehrsyn squarely. She folded her arms to add gravity to her words.
“This merchant has somehow laid his grubby paws on an important item of great magical power,” she began.
“You want me to steal a magic item,” interrupted Kehrsyn, her lower eyelids trembling.
“No hook in your blade, is there? That’s right. It’s apparently pretty potent. Some daredevil grave robber done said that he dug up this magic staff while under hire from this here merchant. It must be right important if a merchant sends folks after it while the city is under siege, don’t you think? We think we can use that staff to protect our city against the pharaoh’s army, or mayhap even drive them back.”
“Drive them back?” asked Kehrsyn. “What does it do?”
“That’s not your concern,” said Ruzzara. “Leave that to those what can handle it. You just need to know what it looks like. It’s a wand one span shy of a cubit, the color of dried bone, and carved all over with those pictoglyph thingies. And there’s a wavy band of bronze all wrapped ’round the top, with a big piece of black amber in the top. We think this here merchant intends to sell it to the Zhentarim. They’ll take it up away to the north, for their own plans. Needless to say, that makes us as mad as a constipated goat, selling out our whole darn future for a few lousy shekae.”
“Sounds to me like it must be worth a mountain of gold,” said Kehrsyn.
“That’s beside the point, hon,” groaned Ruzzara. “Keep the big picture here. We’re talking saving Unther’s collective hide from the Mulhorandi army.”
“Right. Almost a cubit
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