The ride from Luskan was swift indeed. Entreri and his cohorts appeared to any curious onlookers as no more than a shimmering blur in the night wind. The magical mounts left no trail of their passing, and no living creature could have overtaken them. The golem, as always, lumbered tirelessly behind with great stiff-legged strides.
So smooth and easy were the seats atop Dendybar's conjured steeds that the party was able to keep up its run past the dawn and throughout the entire next day with only short rests for food. Thus, when they set their camp after the sunset of the first full day on the road, they had already put the crags behind them.
Catti-brie fought an inner battle that first day. She had no doubt that Entreri and the new alliance would overtake Bruenor. As the situation stood now, Catti-brie would be only a detriment to her friends, a pawn for Entreri to play at his convenience.
She could do little to remedy the problem, unless she found some way to diminish, if not overcome, the grip of terror that the assassin held on her. That first day she spent in concentration, blocking out her surroundings as much as she could and searching her inner spirit for the strength and courage she would need.
Bruenor had given her many tools over the years to wage such a battle, skills of discipline and self-confidence that had seen her through many difficult situations. On the second day of the ride, then, more confident and comfortable with her situation, Catti-brie was able to focus on her captors. Most interesting were the glares that Jierdan and Entreri shot each other. The proud soldier had obviously not forgotten the humiliation he had suffered the night of their first meeting on the field outside of Luskan. Entreri, keenly aware of the grudge, even fueling it in his willingness to bring the issue to confrontation, kept an untrusting eye on the man.
This growing rivalry may prove to be her most promising - perhaps her only - hope of escaping, Catti-brie thought. She conceded that Bok was an indestructible, mindless destroying machine, beyond any manipulation she might try to lay upon it, and she learned quickly that Sydney offered nothing.
Catti-brie had tried to engage the young mage in conversation that second day, but Sydney's focus was too narrow for any diversions. She would be neither side-tracked nor persuaded from her obsession in any way. She didn't even acknowledge Catti-brie's greeting when they sat down for their midday meal. And when Catti-brie pestered her further, Sydney instructed Entreri to "keep the whore away."
Even in the failed attempt, though, the aloof mage had aided Catti-brie in a way that neither of them could foresee. Sydney's open contempt and insults came as a slap in Catti-brie's face and instilled in her another tool that would help to overcome the paralysis of her terror: anger.
They passed the halfway point of their journey on the second day, the landscape rolling surrealistically by them as they sped along, and camped in the small hills northeast of Nesme, with the city of Luskan now fully two hundred miles behind them.
Campfires twinkled in the distance, a patrol from Nesme, Sydney theorized.
"We should go there and learn what we may," Entreri suggested, anxious for news of his target.
"You and I," Sydney agreed. "We can get there and back before half the night is through."
Entreri looked at Catti-brie. "What of her?" he asked the mage. "I would not leave her with Jierdan."
"You think that the soldier would take advantage of the girl?" Sydney replied. "I assure you that he is honorable."
"That is not my concern," Entreri smirked. "I fear not for the daughter of Bruenor Battlehammer. She would dispose of your honorable soldier and be gone into the night before we ever returned."
Catti-brie didn't welcome the compliment. She understood that Entreri's comment was more of an insult to Jierdan, who was off gathering firewood, than any recognition of her own prowess, but the assassin's unexpected respect for her would make her task doubly difficult. She didn't want Entreri thinking of her as dangerous, even resourceful, for that would keep him too alert for her to move.
Sydney looked to Bok. "I go," she told the golem, purposely loud enough for Catti-brie to easily hear. "If the prisoner tries to flee, run her down and kill her!" She shot Entreri an evil grin. "Are you content?"
He returned her smile and swung his arm out in the direction of the distant camp.
Jierdan returned then, and Sydney told him of their plans. The soldier didn't seem overjoyed to have Sydney and Entreri running off together, though he said nothing to dissuade the mage. Catti-brie watched him closely and knew the truth. Being left alone with her and the golem didn't bother him, she surmised, but he feared any budding friendship between his two road-mates. Catti-brie understood and even expected this, for Jierdan was in the weakest position of the three - subservient to Sydney and afraid of Entreri. An alliance between those two, perhaps even a pact excluding Dendybar and the Hosttower altogether, would at the least put him out, and more probably spell his end.
"Suren the nature of their dark business works against them," Catti-brie whispered as Sydney and Entreri left the camp, speaking the words aloud to reinforce her growing confidence.
"I could help ye with that," she offered to Jierdan as he worked to complete the campsite.
The soldier glared at her. "Help?" he scoffed. "I should make you do all of it by yourself."
"Yer anger is known to me," Catti-brie countered sympathetically. "I meself have suffered at Entreri's foul hands."
Her pity enraged the proud soldier. He rushed at her threateningly, but she held her composure and did not flinch. "This work is below yer station."
Jierdan stopped suddenly, his anger diffused by his intrigue at the compliment. An obvious ploy, but to Jierdan's wounded ego, the young woman's respect came as too welcome to be ignored.
"What could you know of my station?" he asked.
"I know ye are a soldier of Luskan," Catti-brie replied. "Of a group that's feared throughout all the northland. Ye should not do the grovel work while the mage and the shadow-chaser are off playing in the night."
"You're making trouble!" Jierdan growled, but he paused to consider the point. "You set the camp," he ordered at length, regaining a measure of his own selfrespect by displaying his superiority over her. Catti-brie didn't mind, though. She went about the work at once, playing her subservient role without complaint. A plan began to take definite shape in her mind now, and this phase demanded that she make an ally among her enemies, or at least put herself in a position to plant the seeds of jealousy in Jierdan's mind.
She listened, satisfied, as the soldier moved away, muttering under his breath.
Before Entreri and Sydney even got close enough for a good view of the encampment, ritualistic chanting told them that this was no caravan from Nesme. They inched in more cautiously to confirm their suspicions.
Long-haired barbarians, dark and tall, and dressed in ceremonial feathered garb, danced a circle around a wooden griffon totem.
"Uthgardt," Sydney explained. "The Griffon tribe. We are near to Shining White, their ancestral mound." She edged away from the glow of the camp. "Come," she whispered. "We will learn nothing of value here."
Entreri followed her back toward their own campsite. "Should we ride now?" he asked when they were safely away. "Gain more distance from the barbarians?"
"Unnecessary," Sydney replied. "The Uthgardt will dance the night through. All the tribe partakes of the ritual; I doubt that they even have sentries posted."
"You know much about them," the assassin remarked in an accusing tone, a hint to his sudden suspicions that there might be some ulterior plot controlling the events around them.
"I prepared myself for this journey," Sydney countered. "The Uthgardt keep few secrets; their ways are generally known and documented. Travelers in the northland would do well to understand these people."
"I am fortunate to have such a learned road companion," Entreri said, bowing in sarcastic apology.
Sydney, her eyes straight ahead, did not respond.
But Entreri would not let the conversation die so easily. There was method in his leading line of suspicions. He had consciously chosen this time to play out his hand and reveal his distrust even before they had learned the nature of the encampment. For the first time the two were alone, without Catti-brie or Jierdan to complicate the confrontation, and Entreri meant to put an end to his concerns, or put an end to the mage.
"When am I to die?" he asked bluntly.
Sydney didn't miss a step. "When the fates decree it, as with us all."
"Let me ask the question a different way," Entreri continued, grabbing her by the arm and turning her to face him. "When are you instructed to try to kill me?"
"Why else would Dendybar have sent the golem?" Entreri reasoned. "The wizard puts no store in pacts and honor. He does what he must to accomplish his goals in the most expedient way, and then eliminates those he no longer needs. When my value to you is ended, I am to be slain. A task you may find more difficult than you presume."
"You are perceptive," Sydney replied coolly. "You have judged Dendybar's character well. He would have killed you simply to avoid any possible complications. But you have not considered my own role in this. On my insistence, Dendybar put the decision of your fate into my hands." She paused a moment to let Entreri weigh her words. He could easily kill her right now, they both knew that, so the candor of her calm admission of a plot to murder him halted any immediate actions and forced him to hear her out.
"I am convinced that we seek different ends to our confrontation with the dwarf's party," Sydney explained, "and thus I have no intention of destroying a present, and potentially future, ally."
In spite of his ever-suspicious nature, Entreri fully understood the logic in her line of reasoning. He recognized many of his own characteristics in Sydney. Ruthless, she let nothing get in the way of her chosen path, but she did not stray from that path for any diversion, no matter how strong her feelings. He released her arm. "But the golem travels with us," he said absently, turning into the empty night. "Does Dendybar believe that we will need it to defeat the dwarf and his companions?"
"My master leaves little to chance," Sydney answered. "Bok was sent to seal Dendybar's claim on that which he desires. Protection against unexpected trouble from the companions. And against you."
Entreri carried her line of thinking a step farther. "The object the wizard desires must be powerful indeed," he reasoned.
Sydney nodded.
"Tempting for a younger mage, perhaps."
"What do you imply?" Sydney demanded, angry that Entreri would question her loyalty to Dendybar.
The assassin's assured smile made her squirm uncomfortably. "The golem's purpose is to protect Dendybar against unexpected trouble...from you."
Sydney stammered but could not find the words to reply. She hadn't considered that possibility. She tried logically to dismiss Entreri's outlandish conclusion, but the assassin's next remark clouded her ability to think.
"Simply to avoid any possible complications," he said grimly, echoing her earlier words.
The logic of his assumptions slapped her in the face. How could she think herself above Dendybar's malicious plotting? The revelation sent shivers through her, but she had no intention of searching for the answer with Entreri standing next to her. "We must trust in each other," she said to him. "We must understand that we both benefit from the alliance, and that it costs neither of us anything."
"Send the golem away then," Entreri replied.
An alarm went off in Sydney's mind. Was Entreri trying to instill doubt in her merely to gain an advantage in their relationship?
"We do not need the thing," he said. "We have the girl. And even if the companions refuse our demands, we have the strength to take what we want." He returned the mage's suspicious look. "You speak of trust?"
Sydney did not reply, and started again for their camp. Perhaps she should send Bok away. The act would satisfy Entreri's doubts about her, though it certainly would give him the upper hand against her if any trouble did come to pass. But dismissing the golem might also answer some of the even more disturbing questions that weighed upon her, the questions about Dendybar.
The next day was the quietest, and the most productive, of the ride. Sydney fought with her turmoil about the reasons for the golem's presence. She had come to the conclusion that she should send Bok away, if for no better reason than to prove to herself her master's trust.
Entreri watched the telltale signs of her struggle with interest, knowing that he had weakened the bond between Sydney and Dendybar enough to strengthen his own position with the young mage. Now he simply had to wait and watch for his next chance to realign his companions.
Likewise, Catti-brie kept her eye out for more opportunities to cultivate the seeds she had planted in Jierdan's thoughts. The snarls that she saw the soldier hide from Entreri, and from Sydney, told her that her plan was off to a grand start.
They made Silverymoon shortly after noon on the following day. If Entreri had any doubts left about his decision to join the Hosttower's party, they were dismissed when he considered the enormity of their accomplishment. With the tireless magical steeds, they had covered nearly five hundred miles in four days. And in the effortless ride, the absolute ease in guiding their mounts, they were hardly worn when they arrived in the foothills of the mountains just west of the enchanted city.
"The river Rauvin," Jierdan, at the front of the party, called back to them. "And a guard post."
"Pass it by," Entreri replied.
"No," Sydney said. "These are the guides across the Moonbridge. They will let us pass, and their aid will make our journey into the city much easier."
Entreri looked back to Bok, lumbering up the trail behind them. "All of us?" he asked incredulously.
Sydney hadn't forgotten the golem. "Bok," she said when the golem had caught up to them, "you are no longer needed. Return to Dendybar and tell him that all goes well."
Catti-brie's eyes lit up at the thought of sending the monster back, and Jierdan, startled, looked back with growing anxiety. Watching him, Catti-brie saw another advantage to this unexpected turn. By dismissing the golem, Sydney gave more credence to the fears of an alliance between Sydney and Entreri that Catti-brie had planted upon the soldier.
The golem did not move.
"I said go!" Sydney demanded. She saw Entreri's unsurprised stare from the corner of her eye. "Damn you," she whispered to herself. Still, Bok did not move.
"You are indeed perceptive," she snarled at Entreri.
"Remain here, then," she hissed at the golem. "We shall stay in the city for several days." She slipped down from her seat and stomped away, humbled by the assassin's wry smile at her back.
"What of the mounts?" Jierdan asked.
"They were created to get us to Silverymoon, no more," Sydney replied, and even as the four walked away down the path, the shimmering lights that were the horses faded into a soft blue glow, then were gone altogether.
They had little trouble getting through the guard post, especially when Sydney identified herself as a representative of the Hosttower of the Arcane. Unlike most cities in the hostile northland, bordering on paranoia in their fears of outsiders, Silverymoon did not keep itself hemmed within foreboding walls and lines of wary soldiers. The people of this city looked upon visitors as an enhancement to their culture, not as a threat to their way of life.
One of the Knights of Silver, the guardsmen at the post on the Rauvin, led the four travelers to the entrance of the Moonbridge, an arcing, invisible structure that spanned the river before the main gate of the city. The strangers crossed tentatively, uncomfortable for the lack of visible material under their feet. But soon enough they found themselves strolling down the meandering roadways of the magical city. Their pace unconsciously slowed, caught under the infectious laziness, the relaxed, contemplative atmosphere that dissipated even Entreri's narrow-visioned intensity.
Tall, twisting towers and strangely shaped structures greeted them at every turn. No single architectural style dominated Silverymoon, unless it was the freedom of a builder to exercise his or her personal creativity without fear of judgement or scorn. The result was a city of endless splendors, not rich in counted treasures, as were Waterdeep and Mirabar, its two mightiest neighbors, but unrivaled in aesthetic beauty. A throwback to the earliest days of the Realms, when elves and dwarves and humans had enough room to roam under the sun and stars without fear of crossing some invisible borderline of a hostile kingdom, Silverymoon existed in open defiance of the conquerors and tyrants of the world, a place where no one held claim over another.
People of all the good races walked freely here and without fear, down every road and alleyway on the darkest of nights, and if the travelers passed by someone and were not greeted with a welcoming word, it was only because the person was too profoundly engaged in meditative contemplation.
"The dwarf's party, is less than a week out of Longsaddle," Sydney mentioned as they moved through the city. "We may have several days of wait."
"Where do we go?" Entreri asked, feeling out of place. The values that obviously took precedence in Silverymoon were unlike those of any city he had ever encountered, and were completely foreign to his own perceptions of the greedy, lusting world.
"Countless inns line the streets," Sydney answered. "Guests are plentiful here, and are welcomed openly."
"Then our task in finding the companions, once they arrive, shall prove difficult indeed," Jierdan groaned.
"Not so," Sydney replied wryly. "The dwarf comes to Silverymoon in search of information. Soon after they arrive, Bruenor and his friends will make their way to the Vault of Sages, the most reknowned library in all the north."
Entreri squinted his eyes, and said, "And we will be there to greet them."
