Artemis Entreri stepped through the portal and froze. Entreri now knew why there had been such a temperature difference on the other side of the portal. Calimport's greatest assassin was staring right into the eyes of an enormous red dragon.
Entreri had not known fear often, if ever, and was uncomfortable with the feeling. He quickly dismissed his fear and replaced it with anger. What had he ever done to LaValle to deserve this type of treatment? The idea that the wizard would send Entreri to his death was so outrageous that he began to analyze his situation to ensure everything was as it seemed.
The dragon's existence was not in question. Entreri stood less than twenty feet in front of the sleeping maw. From chin to nose, the mouth was as tall as the assassin, and the huge mouth was twice that in length. Beyond the head, the body reclined on an enormous pile of wealth that filled a space easily as big as a city block in Calimport.
The head of the dragon so dominated Entreri's view that he could not accurately judge the size of the rest of the worm's body. Heat rolled off the slumbering creature in intense waves, and Entreri felt like he should feel each blast of air as the beast exhaled - but he did not.
Everything Entreri knew about dragons, which was very little, said they were acutely alert when asleep. Some slept with one eye open, but they all had a keen sense of awareness. With Entreri standing frozen in front of this great beast, barely more than a dozen feet from the huge nostrils, the dragon surely must have smelled him. Not only did the red make no move to recognize the intruder, but it made no move of any kind.
Entreri slowly began to relax as he realized what was going on. The dragon was dead. How it could still be producing heat was a mystery to Entreri, but dragons did not follow the standard rules of nature, and perhaps their magical bodies took years, if not centuries, to completely cool.
Entreri let out a long sigh and, against every impulse in his body, took a step closer to the dead dragon. He took several more until he stood right next to the great jaws. An idea of how he had gotten here began to form in his mind, and he had to satisfy his curiosity.
Entreri placed the ivory cylinder in one of his jacket pockets, grabbed the upper lip of the dragon with both hands, and heaved upward. The row of teeth was imposing, but Entreri saw that at least three of them were missing. Keeping the mouth open with one hand, he reached back into his jacket and held the white cylinder up next to the remaining dragon teeth. It was an exact match.
One tooth could easily produce five or six cylinders, and Entreri wondered if LaValle had the rest of the tooth or had only stumbled across the carved cylinder. The assassin was willing to bet on the former. LaValle had probably even visited this cavern several times. Entreri laughed at the idea of the guild wizard keeping this place a secret to all the Pashas he had served under. There was more wealth in this cave than Calimport's greatest guild master could amass in several lifetimes.
When LaValle visited, the difference was that the wizard no doubt had a way to return home. That thought led Entreri to wonder how far from home he was. Entreri discarded that line of thinking for consideration at a later date. Right now, curiosity about this enormous dead dragon filled his mind.
Entreri walked a complete circuit around the dragon and could find no reason for death. It was possible that this dragon could have died of old age, but Entreri doubted it would still be as hot as it was. Perhaps a powerful mage or a formidable poison. Whatever the reason, Entreri felt he would probably never find out.
When he had left Calimport, Entreri had not brought much money with him, only a small bag of coins, knowing full well that money was not something he had to struggle to find in his dark trade. Now, as he looked around at the piles and piles of gems and coins that lay scattered about the cave like so much sand in a desert, he knew wealth was not ever going to be a problem.
Entreri had never valued coin much anyway, but he was not blind to the immense usefulness of this cache. Apart from LaValle, he was probably the only person who knew of this cave's existence.
Before that thought had even left his mind, Entreri heard voices. The soft red glow from the dragon's cooling body was plenty to light up the cave, and Entreri spotted a small opening halfway up the cavern wall that emptied onto a narrow ledge. The assassin quickly hid between piles of wealth, ensuring that he had a clear path to move in so he would not rustle on the coins.
Two men appeared on the ledge a minute later, one of them holding a lantern. Entreri had a good idea that the empty-handed one had never been here before. The look on his face must have been similar to what Entreri had worn when he had first arrived. The difference was that this man had indeed been told what he was about to see while Entreri had stepped out of the Copper Ante and into hell.
“I told you,” the one with the light said.
“A-are y-you sure it's d-dead.”
“Of course, I'm sure. Do you think I'm an idiot?” The man put the lantern down momentarily and picked up a rock. He hurled it at the dragon's belly. It flew directly over Entreri's head and fell well short of the terrific beast, splashing loudly in a bed of coins.
The sound of money and the reassurance that the dragon was indeed dead brought both of the men to life. The leader picked up the lantern while his friend pushed past him and hurriedly scampered down the steep descent of the cavern ledge. “Master Cailring will be ecstatic when he sees this,” the second man said as he tripped down the slope.
The man with the lantern was more careful. “I already told him that I had found a treasure hoard, but I didn't mention the part about the dragon. I wanted that to be a surprise.”
“Well, Riechen, Cailring will almost surely promote you to the head of the guild for this,” he stopped when he reached the bottom of the ledge and saw the wealth at eye-level, “for this . . . this . . . whatever you want to call it.”
“I like to call it a retirement fund, Trent.”
“And I like to call it mine,” Entreri said loudly as he rose from his hiding spot and walked out from behind the pile of gems. He had watched closely as the two men had descended the ledge and noticed with interest their clumsiness. Even Riechen, in his caution with the lantern, had made more noise than Entreri would have if he had run across the bed of coins at full speed.
Trent drew his sword quickly. “Who are you?”
Entreri eyed Riechen as he spoke, for he felt he was the more reasonable of the two. “My name is not important. What is important is why you are here, when you will leave, and with how many body parts still intact?”
“I'm sorry, stranger,” Riechen said, stepping past Trent, “but this treasure belongs to the thieving guild of Karenstoch, under the direct rule of Master Cailring.”
Entreri looked around the cavern as if searching for something. “I don't see your guild's name anywhere. As far as I can tell, I got here first and claimed the treasure as my own.”
“You thieving, rotten,” Trent started until Riechen turned to quiet him. “Just let me kill him, Riech.”
“It's funny that you should call me a thief when you just declared yourself to belong to a thieves' guild.”
“I did no such thing,” Riechen said, turning back to look at Entreri. “I merely told you who this treasure belonged to.”
“Me,” Entreri countered.
“I am going to have to ask you to yield to our superior claim on this treasure, stranger. You are outnumbered, and we will not back down.”
“Then we are at an impasse,” Entreri said.
“No,” Trent spoke up, “you are dead.”
Despite Riechen's restraining hand, the younger man burst out from behind him and charged. Entreri had not drawn a weapon yet and did not now. The thief's short sword was barely a yard away from Entreri when he finally moved. The skilled assassin sidestepped the weapon, allowing the blade to thrust itself in front of his chest parallel to his shoulders. Trent collided hard into Entreri's side, but with the older man's elbow extended, the thief took the brunt of the blow.
The air left Trent's lungs in a rush, and he dropped his sword. Entreri grabbed the extended sword arm and quickly stepped around the stunned man, pinning his arm awkwardly and painful behind his back. He gave the appendage a sharp tug, resulting in a yelp of pain from Trent. With the thief straightened in pain, Entreri placed his foot in the small of the shorter man's back and kicked out hard. The thief's feet left the ground briefly under the shove, and he stumbled headfirst into a pile of coins fifteen feet away.
Entreri noticed a golden battle-axe lying half-buried in the pile right next to Trent's landing site. After ensuring that the thief had also seen it, Entreri turned his back on him. “Like I said,” Entreri spoke to Riechen, “we are at an impasse.”
Trent tried to be quiet as he pulled the axe free of the pile, but to Entreri's expectant ears, it sounded like a waterfall. With his back still to Trent, Entreri slipped his toe under the pommel of Trent's dropped sword and kicked it up to his hand. He caught it and turned in one smooth motion. Like Entreri had predicted, the axe was far too heavy for the small thief, and Trent could not stop his charge in time.
Continuing in the same motion of his spin, Entreri slapped the axe harmlessly away, spun completely around again, and slammed the pommel of the stolen sword into the side of the thief's face. Trent stumbled under the blow and dropped the axe. Catching sight of a small crack in the floor, Entreri changed his grip on the sword and stabbed it down along Trent's back.
At first, to Riechen, it looked as if Entreri had delivered a killing blow. Entreri did not want to kill either of these men yet, knowing they were the best chance to begin his new life. Instead of stabbing Trent, the assassin had slipped the end of the blade inside the back of the thief's waistline, thrust the weapon down through the bottom of his trousers, and secured the tip of the sword into the crack in the cave floor.
Trent was forced into an awkward sitting position by the strength of the move. He tried to rise, but he was stuck fast to the floor. His inflexible arms tried to reach back to the pommel of his sword in the small of his back, but he could not attain a substantial grip on it.
“If you can't control your friend,” Entreri said to Riechen as he walked away from Trent to pick up the fallen battle-axe, “I will have to tie him down.” Entreri casually tossed the axe back onto the treasure pile.
Riechen stared on in shock. Trent was actually one of the better young fighters in the guild, and this man had just treated him like a child without so much as a scratch to show for it. “What do you propose?”
“As I see it, I feel my claim is valid beyond anything you might have to offer, and you undoubtedly feel the same way about your claim. One option I have is to kill you both and hope you have not told anyone else about this cave's existence. To save your own life, you will, of course, say that everyone else in your guild knows about it, and I don't stand a chance against them.”
A loud ripping sound came from behind Entreri, and the assassin did not need to turn around to know that Trent had given up on trying to pull the sword out of the rock. Instead, the stupid thief had stood up, ripping the entire backseat out of his pants. Entreri did not fear another charge by the young man, for in order to run, he would need both hands to hold up his pants.
“Whether there is any truth in your claim that the rest of your guild knows about this place is irrelevant. In either case, you will be missed, and I will be found. So I have no choice but to accept your claim on this treasure, but at the same time, there is nothing you can do to keep me from taking what I like whenever I like.”
“Master Cailring will not agree with you. He will insist that you pay back each coin taken from here with a quart of your own blood.”
“And who will drain it from me?”
“You need not boast of your skills, stranger. I have eyes that work. I saw what you did.”
Entreri was waiting very patiently for this dim-witted thief to put things together, but it was painfully slow.
“There is only one way for us both to be happy,” Riechen finally said. “If you claim that this treasure is yours and the guild claims that it is theirs, the only way to reconcile the difference is to make the two one.”
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“You wish for me to join your guild?” Entreri asked skeptically. Of course, this had been his plan, but now that it was presented to him, he was not so sure he wanted it. If it turned out to be Calimport all over again, he could always leave. If Trent was an example of the guild's skill level, Entreri need not worry for his own safety.
To Riechen, this encounter only sweetened the pot. The treasure was great indeed, but he doubted Master Cailring would ever dip into its wealth much more than a sampling. To flash too much of it around the city of Karenstoch was to make yourself a target.
So while the gold was nice, Entreri's blade would probably be better. What good was wealth if you did not have the means to protect it? Gold would make the other guilds jealous, but skill with a blade would make them fearful. When you are feared, you are respected. You might still become a target, but that was always an inevitable result of success.
Entreri agreed to the conditions. “For now,” he said. “I do not often stay in one place long, but I shall see what your guild has to offer. But realize that the entire time your guild employs me, you will be paying me with what I believe to be mine already.”
Trent stomped up behind the pair, having rigged a shoddy belt out of a piece of rope he had been carrying. He tossed Entreri an evil glance, and the assassin realized he would have to kill him before too long. Such was life.
The maze that led back out of the cavern made Entreri glad he still had the ivory cylinder. To find this place again through conventional means would not be easy. The way out joined other passageways continually, and while the trip was a straight shot up to ground level with little choice in what tunnel to take, the trip down would present numerous options.
After almost half an hour of travel, they came to the cave exit. The three men stepped onto a small ledge that barely ran the width of the narrow opening. The cave opening was three-quarters of the way up a cliff wall, some 80 feet above the canyon floor below. The opposite side of the canyon was barely 35 feet away, rising a good 20 feet above the cave's wall.
The most important aspect of these surroundings to Entreri was the sky. It was filled with stars. When Entreri had left the Copper Ante less than two hours ago, it had not yet been noon. Now it was the middle of the night. While most of Entreri's travels had been north and south along the Sword Coast, he could understand that traveling east and west would change the time of day. Entreri must be on the other side of the great sea to change it by twelve hours. Jarlaxle would never find him.
There were two repelling cords bunched on the ledge that the thieves had used to climb the wall. Riechen turned to speak to Entreri for the first time since leaving the dragon's cavern. “We cannot use the cords to descend. There would be no way to detach them once we reach the bottom, and we cannot mark this spot for others to find.”
“It looks like you will not be able to follow us back home after all, stranger,” Trent said with a smug face as he attached one of the repelling cords to his homemade belt and put on spiked climbing gloves.
Entreri eyed the wall below them and thought he might be able to walk down it. However, he decided to impress these men with a different skill in his repertoire. Before Riechen retrieved the second repelling cord, Entreri picked it up. The line was 150 feet long, almost twice as long as the decent, and perfect for what Entreri planned.
He untied the grapple, which had a foot and a half long shaft, and found a good-sized rock. Entreri walked a short way into the cave and pounded the iron tool into a soft patch of the tunnel so it looked like a short metal tree. He looped the middle of the repelling cord around the “trunk” of the short tree and tossed the rest of the rope down the cliff wall.
Without a word to his new friends, Entreri threw himself off the ledge with both lengths of rope in his hands. His feet first touched the side of the cliff wall halfway down, and he was standing at the bottom of the canyon barely five seconds later. Entreri looked up and was pleased to see that with the ledge in front of the cave protruding as far as it did, it made the entrance completely invisible from below.
Riechen eyed the setup, smiling. “Clever.” He could see that by tugging on one of the cords, this stranger would be able to bring the entire cord down quite easily.
“The grapple will mark this cave for others to find,” Trent said, though he did not really believe it.
“I can barely see it now, and I'm standing five feet from it,” Riechen remarked. The old, iron grapple was nearly invisible against the gray stone of the cave, and even though it was night, the canyon ran north and south, never seeing any direct sunlight.
Riechen took the two cords in hand and made his way down the cliff. Trent huffed in frustration and began to climb down manually. Entreri watched the man's slow descent and realized he was not as clumsy as he had shown himself in the cavern, but there were few thieves in Calimport that would take as long as he to climb down the wall.
Riechen yanked the cord Entreri had rigged down and had the entire length of it looped and on his belt before Trent made it to the bottom. The tricky descent was one of the reasons Riechen had not shown this site to anyone else until now. Though Cailring had begged to see it, his gluttonous habits had left him less than graceful. Now the descent was easy enough that even he would be able to make it. The climb would still be tricky, but Cailring might manage it.
When Trent finally reached the canyon floor, the three men walked to the entrance of the narrow crease. Entreri took careful notice of the surroundings to acquaint himself with this new land as soon as possible. The canyon emptied into rocky foothills that grew to a small mountain range behind them.
Half a mile through the unfriendly terrain brought them to the edge of a forest. The trees were thin in the gravelly soil, but Entreri saw they got denser as they left the mountain’s shadow. As the canopy above them became thicker, blotting out the nightlights in the sky, both Trent and Riechen drew their weapons.
Riechen had relit the lantern after the descent from the cave, and Entreri could see worry written on his face. Woods were not unfamiliar to Entreri, though he preferred the alleyways of a city. “Goblins,” he asked, guessing at the source of their disturbance.
Both men stopped and turned to look at the assassin. “Goblins?” Trent asked, making sure that Entreri heard all the disrespect he had thrown into the word. “You've been reading one too many bedtime stories, my friend.” Without further explanation, Trent turned around and continued through the forest.
“Bears,” Riechen clarified, still puzzled as to why Entreri thought goblins were in this forest or even existed at all.
Entreri nodded, taking the rebuke in stride. Where had LaValle sent him? Was he still on Faerun? He had heard tales of the stars in the night sky being suns for different worlds, but he doubted LaValle had access to that kind of magic.
They walked for another hour before they came upon a road. The two natives relaxed visibly once the troop was safely walking down the path. Entreri thought he noticed a light through the woods and pointed it out.
“Elliorn the Ranger,” Riechen said. “We'll not be bothering her.”
Entreri frowned at the women's chosen profession. Riechen noticed the look of disgust. “She has her uses. For one, the wildlife in this area has become much tamer since she moved into her cabin.”
“Makes it good for the hunters when you can sneak up on the deer without needing a bow,” Trent said. Entreri doubted the stupid thief could sneak up on a dead deer but did not say so.
The sky was getting light in the east when they started up a slight hill. Peaking the rise, Entreri was given his first look at the city of Karenstoch. It was smaller than Calimport, but comparing the two cities on any level other than size would be pointless.
Calimport was a hive for thieves and killers in the middle of the desert. This city was a settlement on the edge of a dense forest with rolling farmland and prairie as its other borders. The sky brightened to Entreri's left, telling him he was looking south. A glance over his shoulder told him the mountains they had come from were mostly northwest of the town. A good-size river that came out of those mountains to the west cut through the center of the city.
The city itself looked shiny and new. This was probably because Entreri was used to the sandy streets of his old home. A wall along the two sides of the city bordered the forest, but the south and eastern sides were open to the prairie. The city's large buildings in the center and forest edges reduced in size in a pretty constant slope, dissolving into the poorer section of the town and eventually thinning into the occasional farmhouse separated by acres of fertile fields.
The river ran from west to east through the city, with several bridges connecting the larger buildings to the residential section of the city. All in all, Entreri guessed the population of this city to be half that of Calimport, perhaps twelve thousand.
Riechen noticed his new companion's extended look at the city as they crested the hill and realized he had no idea where this man was from. “First time to Karenstoch?” he asked. There were a few rugged settlements around the mountain range, but this man did not look like an outdoorsman.
Entreri just nodded. Riechen shrugged. He did not even know this man's name. All would hopefully become clear when he introduced him to Cailring. The three men walked down the gradual slope of the hill, staying on the road and heading for the main northern city gate.
Entreri was interested to notice that there were no guard towers along the wall. Apparently, the wall was just used to keep the non-existent goblins and such out of the city. As they dropped down from the hill, Entreri also noticed that he had misjudged the size of this city. The tallest buildings in Calimport were maybe three or four stories high. Karenstoch boasted dozens of buildings that topped five stories easily.
The main gate consisted of only two guards, and neither one protested the trio's entrance into the city. The walk through the streets consisted of only two turns. Unlike Calimport's haphazard structure, this city was laid out neatly in square blocks with few dark alleys.
The city was just waking up when the three men ended their walk by entering a tavern on the bottom floor of a seven-story building. The tavern was called “The Pale Ale.” While the tables were all empty, Entreri could tell by the barmaid's activity and the smell of bacon and sausage from the back kitchen they were expecting a large morning crowd.
Riechen moved right to the back of the restaurant, through a door, and to a stairway. Instead of up, as Entreri had expected, Riechen led them down. A doorman eyed Entreri suspiciously but allowed the three men into the basement of the guild house.
A short hallway led to the main room. There was a large table at which three men ate while being waited on by two young serving girls. Four other men stood by, armed and watching the three arrivals closely. Entreri picked out Cailring easily enough.
“Care for a bite, Riechen,” he said, stuffing a wad of waffles in his mouth, syrup dripping down his chin. “I trust my treasure is still secure. Please have a seat.”
Cailring wiped his chin and looked up at the group, seeing for the first time who had accompanied Riechen. “Who's your friend?”
“We found him in the cavern when we arrived,” Riechen explained.
Cailring had reached for a goblet and was ready to take a sip but paused dramatically. He placed the glass down and looked hard at Entreri as Riechen continued.
“He claims that the treasure is his, and he will not give up that claim.”
The other two men seated opposite each other stopped all motion and looked at their boss at the head of the table. “Really?” Cailring said. “And why is he still alive?”
“It didn't seem wise at the time to-” Riechen started.
Cailring was not interested. “And why is he still alive?” Cailring asked again, looking this time at the four guards in the room. The guards reacted immediately to their master's command.
“Hold!” Entreri said loudly. For some reason, the four guards paused with their swords halfway out of their sheaths as the stranger’s voice held a ring of authority. They cast a questioning look at Cailring, and he shrugged. The guards pushed their weapons back down, for now.
“What is your claim to my treasure?” Cailring asked, leaning back in his chair.
“I could ask you the same thing,” Entreri responded.
“And if you do,” Cailring responded, “there will barely be enough left of you to feed my dogs. Now answer my question.”
Entreri thought of several ways he could approach this situation. He could maintain a tough-guy image, but he knew Cailring's type, and that would not get him far. The other end of the spectrum was to beg acceptance into the guild. That might work, but it would put him at the lowest rung in the organization.
As it turned out, Entreri did not get to pick an option. Cailring waited five seconds for a reply before he spoke. “Trent,” he spoke up, “could you please kill our guest.”
Entreri knew the thief stood less than three feet behind him. The assassin spun around quickly, delivering two hard punches to Trent's face before he could even clear his sword. When he finally did, Entreri delivered a third punch to his stomach and easily wrenched the sword from the stunned man's grasp. With a flip of his wrist, Entreri reversed the blade and plunged it into Trent's chest.
The whole encounter took less than three seconds, and Entreri spun back around. His short cape flared as he turned, hiding the entire fight from Cailring. All the guild master saw was Entreri spinning around and one of his best men falling dead to the floor with his own sword in his chest.
The four guards pulled their swords out cleanly this time. “Hold!” It was Cailring who stopped them now. “Who are you!”
“My name is Artemis.”
“Well, Art, what are we going to do with you?”
“You are going to make me a lieutenant in this organization. You are going to give me the finest room available. I shall come and go as I see fit. I shall decide when my tenure with your guild is at an end. At which time, I will be able to walk away from this city free and clear.”
The laughter was expected. The rest of the room was deathly still, but Cailring roared. “I shall make you a guild jester perhaps!” The laughter was forced, and he recovered from it quickly. “Please tell me, Art, why should I do this for you? Tell me quickly, for my food is getting cold, and my guards are impatient.”
Entreri turned to Riechen, who was still staring, stunned at Trent's cooling body. “How many people did you show the cavern to?”
Riechen was too much in shock to think his answer through. “Trent was the only other one who knew-” he paused in his response as he felt a tingling sensation in his chest. As he looked down, he saw the briefest glint of steel as Entreri returned his dagger to its hidden sheath inside his jacket. Entreri had told the man this exact event would take place and how he would need to answer to save his life. He had failed. “-the location of the-” was all he managed as he fell backward, the red stain on his shirt growing quickly.
The guards moved quicker than Entreri had expected, but then, so did Cailring. “Wait!” he yelled as he leaped up from his chair and ran around the table over to Riechen. The man had died before he had hit the floor, and the cavern's location had gone with him.
Cailring did not bother to crouch down next to the dead man, seeing he would not get the information he needed. Instead, he turned on Entreri. The assassin did not back down from this man, who outweighed him by close to a hundred pounds and was half a foot taller.
“You are playing a dangerous game, Art.”
Not half as dangerous as you are if you keep calling me Art, Entreri thought. “There is very little keeping me from walking out of here. If you want your treasure, you better make it worth my while to stay.”
“You would never make it ten steps if you tried to leave this building,” Cailring said in a low growl.
“What would you do? Kill me?”
“I could find the cavern on my own,” Cailring said, thinking he might let the guards have their fun with this stranger. On the other hand, he had just seen what Entreri was capable of, and he wondered who would really be having the fun.
“I don't think so. I don't even know how our old friend Riechen found it.”
“But you did?” Cailring asked. Entreri nodded. “And you can find your way back?” Entreri felt the bulge of the ivory cylinder in his pocket and nodded again. “Suppose I make you bring my guards out to the cavern so they can see you are not lying.”
“Suppose I kill your guards and keep all the treasure for myself.”
Cailring's fists were opening and closing at his side with enough force to crush a piece of charcoal into a diamond. Entreri was braced for action at the slightest hint of an attack. If Cailring had been so foolish, he would have found himself on the floor next to Trent and Riechen, with his four guards soon to follow.
Cailring finally stepped back. “Crane,” he spoke to one of the guards, “take our guest upstairs and show him to Riechen's old room.”
Crane stepped forward with a look of disgust on his face. Entreri smiled pleasantly at him. “And the rest of you,” Cailring said, gesturing to bodies on the floor, “clean this mess up. I'm trying to eat in here.”