Read Online The Ultimate Helm by Russ T. Howard - Free Book Online Page B

down.”
    “Okay, sir, okay.”
    “Now, Teldin, what do you suggest?”
    Teldin thought for a moment. “It might be best if we stagger this, try not to call attention to ourselves in one large group. Let’s try to get to the tower in threes and fours. I’ll go out as Emil —”
    “Oh, yessir, yessir, you bet, this sure is —”
    Teldin and CassaRoc exchanged a glance. CassaRoc rolled his eyes at Emil and said softly, “Don’t ask.”
    Teldin continued. “I’ll go out in the first group, with you, CassaRoc. A larger group will follow, tightly protecting someone in the middle, someone with my build. Chaladar can lead them, and maybe make those who are watching us believe that I’m with them. Perhaps a little subterfuge will confuse them.”
    “The neogi aren’t that smart,” CassaRoc said.
    Teldin adjusted his cloak, now a duplicate of Emil’s brown, plaid cloak, around his neck and wondered if he looked as ugly as he felt. He turned to Cwelanas. “How do I look?” he asked.
    Cwelanas smiled softly. “It might work, Teldin. You better stay low, though. Even with your cloak concealed, its magic can still be detected.”
    “Rest assured,” Chaladar said, “the scum will be out looking for you.”
    CassaRoc said, “Cwelanas, go on ahead. Let my boys in the Tower of Thought know we’re coming. They’ll be ready for us.”
    Cwelanas nodded sharply and faced Teldin again. She kissed his cheek. Across the room, Emil blushed. “Be careful,” Cwelanas said, and she hurried out the door.
    Mostias murmured to CassaRoc, “Now, about that tab ...”
    *****
    Cwelanas reported as she had been told, and the first group from the centaur tower, including the disguised Teldin Moore, made it safely across the great starboard wing of the Spelljammer to rendezvous with three of CassaRoc’s men at the edge of the ship’s long landing field.
    The group crossed in front of the council chambers and entered the great open market beneath the ship’s stores. Here merchants hawked their meager wares and curios; weapons and armor were made and repaired; clothing and footwear were tailored to order.
    The market was neither as extensive nor as bustling as had been most markets Teldin had toured, but it was certainly more friendly than most. At least a half dozen humans waved to him, greeting him as Emil or “little adventurer” – a term Teldin quickly came to despise, and he wondered just how Emil could put up with it. But, knowing Emil, he mused, how could they put up with him?
    Then he remembered how valiantly Emil had fought against the neogi, and he realized that, though Emil’s body was small, his courage and honor more than made up for it.
    The band of warriors passed a booth full of charms and crystals. The men hardly noticed an old woman sitting in the stall who gasped as they walked by. They did not know that Teldin had been spotted, and quite easily, at that; the magical qualities emanating invisibly from his cloak had been detected by the old woman, who had seen the cloak’s energies fanning out behind him in the shape of a great manta, glowing with all the colors of the spectrum.
    As Teldin’s company left the market and headed straight for the Tower of Thought, Teldin was also identified by an elf loitering near a stall that sold exotic desserts. “Did you see that?” the elf said. The shopkeeper, a stout man used to eating a large percentage of his own wares, twisted his fat bulk out of the booth to watch the warriors turn toward the tower. “What? I don’t see anything.”
    The thief ran off with an armful of pastries and sweets, and he headed straight for his quarters at the Elven High Command. It’s true. It’s true! he thought. The Cloakmaster legend is true! The Dark Times are almost upon us! The elf knew he had to report to Lothian Stardawn that he had seen the one called the Cloakmaster enter CassaRoc’s tower, and that the stories about the cloak were true: for with a simple magical charm