Read Online The Mage in the Iron Mask by Brian Thomsen - Free Book Online Page B

report.
    "The thespian, a certain Passepout, son of Idle and Catinflas, was bailed out yesterday by person or persons unknown. After leaving the custody of the keep, he apparently disappeared. The city watch at the gate has no record of his having left Mulmaster in the past twenty-four hours, and he is not on the registry of any of the local inns. A drunkard matching his description may or may not have been at the Wave and Wink last night, but other than that we have no leads."
    "Did you check the most recent roundup of vagrants that were picked up after tavern closing last night?"
    "Yes, sir," the efficient Hawk replied. "I even checked with the officer on duty for last night's round up. According to him, Lieutenant Boston, the streets were free of human debris before sunrise. If he had passed out, he would have been found, sir."
    Rickman made a minor adjustment of his eye-patch as he was wont to do while thinking. The thespian was obviously in hiding, but why? Surely he didn't have an inkling that his presence among the living was no longer desired by the Mulmaster powers that be. Where could he be?
    "When he arrived in Mulmaster was he alone, or with someone?" the one-eyed Hawk captain inquired.
    "According to the city watch officer who was on duty at the gate at that time," Blough answered, "he was alone."
    Rickman readjusted his eye-patch once again. Tension usually brought on a certain degree of discomfort in his now vacant eye socket, as if the missing eye had somehow returned with an exceptionally annoying feeling of irritation and itchiness.
    No stone must go unturned, the captain of the Hawks thought to himself, or the High Blade will have my head.
    "Are there any other aliens who have arrived in Mulmaster within the last three days?" he demanded.
    "I assume you mean above and beyond the normal merchants who travel in and out of the city like clockwork, paying the necessary duties as they sign in and out on schedule."
    The captain of the Hawks answered with a quick nod.
    "Well, there is the entire entourage of the First Princess of Thay," Blough answered, adding, "and because of their diplomatic immunity, none of them had to register…"
    Great, Rickman thought to himself, the High Blade will have my head for sure.
    "… and there is one other," the efficient Hawk added, "a travel writer by the name of Volothamp Geddarm. According to the city watch on duty at the gate, he left Mulmaster early this morning, but has maintained his accommodations of two adjoining rooms at the Traveler's Cloak Inn for at least an additional week, paid in advance."
    Volothamp Geddarm, the captain of the Hawks repeated to himself. Why does that name sound familiar?

4
    Miss Alliances
    At the Retreat:
    Volo did exactly as the voice he now recognized as female instructed, dropping the blade from his hand, and moving his arms away from his sides, palms out and empty. All of this was done slowly and carefully, without any sudden movements.
    The master traveler of all Faerun (if not all Toril) had no desire to drown in his own blood.
    "Spread your legs further apart," she ordered.
    "Glad to," the master traveler answered, complying. As he felt a slight decrease in the pressure against the blade that was still resting against his throat, he slowly tried to turn his head so as to get a look at the fellow visitor to the slaughterhouse that had been known as the Retreat.
    "Eyes forward!" she barked.
    "Sorry," he answered, once again complying, as he felt a deft hand giving him a practiced body frisk.
    Volo, in an attempt to ingratiate himself with the overly cautious woman, started to volunteer certain information about what he was holding. "I have a bando-"
    "Quiet!"
    "Sorry."
    Her practiced hands undid the bandolier of blades that the master traveler always had concealed under his cloak, dropping it to the ground. She also quickly removed several of his other concealed surprises (though missing a few that the master traveler thought better of