Suspicious Activity

The Changeling, Ant, tries to find the wizard responsible for kidnapping Syndi's parents.

9.

Suspicious Activity

 

She moved with her usual focused determination, watching everything around her as she hurried through the streets, thankful that the persistent rain had stopped by an hour after noon.

Ant had eliminated most of the inner circle of Muld Mozzil’s guild as accomplices to the wizard that was blackmailing him and his fiancée.    Though Rick had brushed her off when she had approached him in disguise, she had been able to do a quick scan of his thoughts and it revealed a man struggling with some aging and relationship issues, but one who was very loyal to his guild.

She doubted that the Halfling and goblin were involved with the wizard, for both were spoken of highly by those who had dealt with them.    

So she had to find another angle.    The Changeling girl knew that the wizard had to have help to kidnap the Losasidhe royals.     Someone in Westmark had to be in on it, and after mulling over the details that had been revealed to her, she felt she knew where they were being kept.

It was simply logical deductions, actually.    The wizard had used an airship to attack and kidnap the royals.    His men had killed all of their crew and had lost a few of their own in the battle.

But the note to Muld and Syndi had been placed outside of their room before the time of the attack.     There was no way that the note could have been left by the wizard himself, then, a short time later, lead an attack against the Losasidhe ship hundreds of miles away.

Someone in Westmark had placed the note there, and probably was still there.

Her Bitter Dreg contacts that she had managed to reach in the cities and towns within a day’s trip by airship had all reported that no strange airship had arrived in any of their cities.

Most of the towns had no docking facilities for the airships and so any airship would have received a lot of attention.    This wizard would not have wanted this, so Ant theorized that he would have had two options left to him.

He could have stayed aboard his pirate airship with the kidnapped Losasidhe king and queen, but there would be many other airships on the lookout for a pirate ship.    So he wouldn’t have chanced this.    

The elusive floating city of Windhaven was most likely too far north for him to reach before he contacted Muld and Syndi by crystal ball.     Even if the wizard had ditched his airship, where could he have taken hostages without being noticed?   Certainly not Hammerforge, nor the Losasidhe capital.    The only cities with a population large enough for them to slip into without being noticed were King’s Reach and Westmark.     Since she knew that the wizard had some people in Westmark already, and since the surge of demi-human refugees would make it easier for him to hide the Losasidhe royals, this was the most logical place for him to keep his hostages.

Ant had a theory on what the wizard had done.

He had monitored the Losasidhe royals - perhaps he even had spies among the royal court- and when they came to Westmark to see their daughter, he knew it was time to act.     The bustle of the city and the numerous airships coming and going allowed his airship to go unnoticed and he probably found out ahead of time when the Losasidhe airship was planning to leave, and sent his ship ahead to ambush them.   

After kidnapping them, he had his airship bring them most of the way to Westmark by air, then drop them off some miles outside of town.   His cronies then took them into Westmark by foot or by cart and he had them hidden here somewhere.

She was determined to find out where.

 

Ducking down a dark alley on the edge of town becoming known as ‘the wizard’s quarter’ due to the numerous magic-users living there, she leaned against the wall, closed her eyes and focused on morphing into a new form.

 

It wasn’t a difficult morph; any elven or half-elven female form was quite simple for her, though as she changed, she was vulnerable.   She selected the pale skin and blue eyes of a Faesidhe elf, her hair slowly changing hue to a golden blonde.

Because she would soon be digging for information -hopefully- from several male elven wizards that she knew of, she made her body curvy and graceful, with long shapely legs, a butt slightly larger than normal for most elves, but firm, and breasts that were much more generous and round than the average Faesidhe woman.

But she wanted to be noticed and appreciated, for that was how she could get information.   The thought of the role she was about to play made her shiver in revulsion, for Ant hated to have men look at her like that.    Repressing her fear, she took a calming breath as the metamorphosis completed.

As usual, she had a drained feeling rush over her and a mild headache.    But she didn’t pause.    Immediately she pulled the backpack off of her shoulders and began rummaging through it.  

Soon she had her costume pulled out and she frowned distastefully at the skimpy attire.    But she was playing the part of a sorceress.     Glancing up the alley to make certain no one was watching her, she quickly stripped out of her clothes and into the scant outfit.    It clung to her tightly, emphasizing her femininity in its design.     The final part was the leather thigh boots, which took her nearly five minutes to lace up.    

She felt as if she was standing naked in the alley as she folded up her regular clothing and shoved and pushed to get it all to fit into the backpack.    She debated throwing a cloak over her until she got off the street, but that would be counterproductive to her plan.

  There were a handful of apartments that she rented around town so that she had various places to go when assuming an identity.

One was nearby and Ant hurried into the building, unlocked the apartment and tossed her backpack inside, then locked it back.

A few minutes later she was back on the street and heading into the heart of the ‘wizard’s quarter’ of the city.  

Ant smiled slightly as she assumed the role of a sorceress.   Westmark was far safer than the Underdark city of Hor’olorbb, which had been her home for years.

She began to walk with the exaggerated sway and strut that was the trademark of most confident experienced sorceresses.   She had to look the part, for she had no idea who was watching her.

Ant felt especially vulnerable without her sword, but that was a hazard of the job.    She knew a few spells, but certainly nothing that would get her out of trouble.

She’d have to bluff her way out of any dangerous situation.

Soon she could see the large octagonal shaped building that was the Library of Magic, maintained by the Wizard’s Guild of Westmark.

There was far more likelihood of finding information here than in one of the taverns in town.

 

Ant saw out of the corner of her eye, several young magicians’ apprentices looking lustfully at her as she swayed into the building.

A quick scan of their thoughts revealed many vulgar fantasies of her that sickened her stomach.     Though they would probably be more than willing to answer any questions she asked them, she was too disgusted by their thoughts of her to speak to them.

 

She pretended to be searching for a specific magic tome and managed to cover all four floors of shelved books and the reading areas on each floor.    There were perhaps two dozen wizards and magic-users in the building and she briefly scanned their surface thoughts as she passed them to see if they would betray any knowledge of the kidnapping.

But all she found were wizards pursuing their crafts.   Some of them took notice of her as she passed, but the majority of them were so wrapped up in exploring the ancient magical texts that they were not even aware of her presence.

Ant was not deterred by this, though.    She found a large old tome on the ground floor and took it to a table near the entrance.    Any new magic-users coming into the library would have to pass by her and she would be able to surface scan their minds as they passed.

So she sat and tried her best to appear to be interested in the old book, as if she was seeking some grand ancient spell.    Though she could not read the text - which was in a language unknown to her- the author of the book had extensively sketched ideas and observations in the wide margins which were actually quite fascinating to ponder.

For three hours she monitored the wizards, sorceresses, apprentices, and conjurers that passed her.    With the exception of one half-crazy old mage who was pondering how to conjure a demon as he passed her, the rest of those who entered the library had thoughts that she expected from spell-casters.

Ant was on the last pages of her illustrated book and was already planning her next course of action since she had not had any luck with this idea, when a grey robed wizard rushed into the room.

Ant noticed his elven features as he passed and immediately reached out mentally to scan his mind.

She was surprised to find his thoughts guarded in the amateur way that someone using a magic device that gave telepathy to the user did.     Ant eased back telepathically, to keep him from sensing her probe.   Thankfully, he wasn’t on guard for any telepathic spying, and since he was not a natural telepath, he could not sense someone spying on him unless he consciously focused on it.

His mental shields kept out all but the most immediate thoughts that were on his mind, but these thoughts alarmed the Changeling girl.

He was focused on finding a spell that would quickly clear the mind of someone imprisoned for several days in suspended animation while still maintaining the restriction spell placed upon him to keep him from blurting out things that the wizard did not want him to say.

Though this was the only thought that Ant was able to grab from the man’s mind as he passed, she was familiar enough with the different thought processes of the various elven races to determine that this wizard was most likely Faesidhe.

This fit with a theory that she had about the identity of the wizard.   If this was the one kidnapping the Losasidhe royals she had to be very careful.   She had to find a way to gain his trust and see if he would reveal their location.

But if he tried to telepathically scan her and detected her natural mental shields, he might suspect something.

She didn’t have time to work out a better plan.   She had to act.

 

Ant waited until he went into the stacks of books on the first floor.    She snatched up the illustrated book and assumed a mildly frustrated and stressed expression on her face, then rushed into the stacks near to him, mumbling to herself as if she was flustered and annoyed.

“Stupid humans…”  She said just loud enough for him to hear it as she feigned angrily pulling books off of the shelves.

She sensed him observing her, yet he did not say anything to her.    She moved toward him, scanning the binding of the books as if looking for a specific tomb.    Ant hoped he wouldn’t pay too close of attention to the titles of the books she was quickly pulling from the shelves.    The Changeling girl expected him to use his arcane telepathy to scan her mind, but apparently he had forgotten he had a device that enabled him to do this, for instead of reading her mind, he just observed her.

Even out of the corner of her eye she could see that he was admiring her shape and looks.    So she turned slightly toward him, as if trying to glance at books that he was standing directly in front of.   She leaned forward slightly, craning her neck to look past him - which thrust out her chest in his face.

The rather wild-looking wizard took a half step backwards with an amused look on his face and said, “Excuse me.”

Ant looked up at him, with slight distain (which was typical of Faesidhe nobility) and mumbled, “Sorry.”

“Is there something specific you are looking for?”

She kept up her persona, giving him a ‘mind-your-own-business’ glare, but maintaining it for a few seconds, before sighing and slowly shaking her head.   “I don’t know… it’s been a horrible day.   You know what?    To hell with what she wants!   I’ll find another school.   I’m sick of being treated like a slave!    I want to learn spells, not sweep floors and run errands all day.    That was the stupidest decision of my life!”

She looked at him as if just now noticing him and arched her eyebrows.

“Hey!   You’re a wizard aren’t you?    Do you know of any wizardry school taking students?    Preferably one taught by elves.”

 

Ant noticed his subtle expression as she said this and she lightly scanned the surface of his mind.    It wasn’t deep enough for him to sense her scan with his telepathic device.

She sensed his satisfaction at her words and his curiosity at who she was and why she was here.     Ant could feel him beginning to try to use the magic device to read her mind.     

For a natural telepath, the clumsy scans by magic devices were extremely primitive and basic.    But she needed him to believe the background story she was crafting.     So she blocked all thoughts out of her mind and brought up the memories she had once pulled from another Faesidhe noble woman’s mind.    This lady had hated the Drow and non-elves ruling over the great forest, and she had fled with a group of Faesidhe refugees southward into the tangled mess of forest west of Aeropolis.

Ant had been assigned to monitor her and she became familiar with the woman’s history from frequent secret scans of her thoughts.

This noble woman had longed for revenge of her people, but was later killed by Torrin’s followers.

 

Ant forced the memory of this lady’s past to flood her mind, clearing away her own thoughts so that to the amateur telepath relying on a magic broach or ring, these memories would seem to be her own.

A few moments later she felt the telepathic probing of someone with a brilliant mind, but without any psionic training or discipline.

Ant brought up the memories of the most horrible events of this late Faesidhe noblewoman’s life.    A rape by a human male a few days after her group of refugees entered Aeropolis.   Ant mentally changed a few of the facts to better suit the story, and then projected them as if reliving them for the millionth time.

The wizard easily found the vivid thoughts and actually flinched as he saw the events in his mind.    She mentally built up a feeling of terror mixed with rage and hatred of humans.

For a few moments the wizard just stood there reading the borrowed memories of the Faesidhe noble woman.   

“I don’t know of any wizardry schools ran by elves,”   The Faesidhe wizard finally answered her question, “But there are those who can train you independently.    Tell me; are you Faesidhe in ancestry?”

She had expected him to ask her that, and knew that he’d be scanning her mind as she answered, so Ant was prepared.     She brought up apprehension of answering his question to her mind, feigning to be fearful that he might not be who he seemed to be.

“Why do you ask?”   She replied cautiously.

“Because I share your thoughts on humans, “  He replied in a soft tone in the Faesidhe tongue.    He had believed her nervousness and was trying to reassure her.

Ant looked around fearfully as if she was worried about others in the library hearing him speak their native tongue.

“Shh!”  She whispered to him, “Don’t speak in Faesidhe… I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“Why?”  He asked, speaking once again in the common tongue.

“I don’t know… I just think it is better that we don’t openly proclaim our heritage after all the tragedies that have been inflicted upon our people.”

He nodded, agreeing with her choice of words.   Ant knew then that he was a disgruntled Faesidhe noble, just as she had suspected.    Most likely, it was the ‘Wizard of Windhaven’ who stood before her, but she had to take things slow and carefully, for the man was certainly not stupid and he had many tools that he could use to detect her lies, if she said or did something troubling to him.

She leaned in close to whisper to him, “There are too many wizards in here - let’s go some place open and away from everyone to talk, alright?    My name is Moleya Thantendrayl, by the way.”

She had chosen the name carefully, using a fairly common Faesidhe first name, and the surname of a well-known and large family of Faesidhe nobles who had led resistance to the absorption of the Faesidhe kingdom into Marksylvania.     They had made peace with King Eleazar, but everyone knew that the family simmered with offended pride and arrogant feelings of superiority.

“I am Gelden Lloyfeydis; I am familiar with the Thantendrayl family.    Who are your parents?”

Ant shook her head, “Not here, please!    Down the street is the great fountain.   It is open enough there.   We’ll talk there.”

The wizard sighed in reservation, but nodded and followed her out of the library.

Ant continued to scan his surface thoughts, careful to not go deep enough where he would detect her mental presence with his telepathy device.

Gelden was slightly annoyed at having to leave the library, but he was too intrigued to find out who she was to turn her down.    He also was extremely attracted to her, more so now that he had learned that she was of noble Faesidhe stock.

Now she could work her magic on him.

She didn’t speak until they reached the open plaza and she led him around to the south side of the enormous fountain.    None were close by and she sighed as if relieved to be away from everyone.

“Okay, now we can talk.”   She spoke in Common, for though she knew the Faesidhe language, she spoke it with a non-Faesidhe accent that would probably give her away as a fake.

“Who are your parents?”   The wizard got right to the point, which was not surprising to Ant.

She was ready with a story, for she knew enough about the Thantendrayl family to make up a credible tale.

“My mother was Rae Thantendrayl, she was one of the ladies of King Neberordric’s court.”  

“Lady Rae was your mother?”   Gelden asked excitedly, and Ant read how excited this news was to him.    Thankfully, she also found in his thoughts no personal knowledge of the notorious ‘Lady Rae’, who was renowned as the most beautiful lady in the Faesidhe kingdom and rumored to be Neberordric’s favorite mistress.

Ant nodded smiling slightly.

“So who was your father?”   The wizard asked and Ant only arched her eyebrows slightly and smiled a secretive smile, knowing that the Faesidhe man would of course assume it was Neberordric himself.

“Oh… really?   That is… fascinating.”

“I was taken to some of my mother’s family living in the southern part of the forest when the trouble with Marksylvania began.   My uncle feared that King Eleazar would seek me out and murder me if my identity was known.    My mother took the knowledge of me to the grave with her and I was raised under another name to escape the dark elf’s attention.”

“So why did you risk coming to Westmark now?”

“There are no Faesidhe wizards left in all of the forest.    I desire to gain as much power as I can and perhaps -someday- to set things right again and get vengeance for the atrocities against my family and the Faesidhe people.”

As she expected, her words pleased the wizard and he nodded in agreement of her statement.

“We share that dream, Princess Moleya.”

“Please do not call me that!    Simply Moleya - it is for my safety.”

“Of course, my apologies.   Moleya, I would be willing to train you as a wizard… in return for your assistance in a personal matter.”

The Changeling was still scanning his surface thoughts and already knew what Gelden wanted as soon as he spoke the words, but she had to play her role well.    Ant looked suspiciously at him, a hint of anger in her eyes.

“Assist you in what sort of personal matter?”

The wizard smiled slightly, “Nothing like that, Princ-… sorry, Moleya.    I was insulted by a human yesterday - one of the practical magicians that have been the talk of the town recently.     He humiliated me in front of my men and usually I would take care of this affront myself, but there are… circumstances… that require me to stay low-key.”

“So what do you want me to do?”

“Why, kill him, of course!”    The wizard’s eyes were cold and cruel as he said these words and his surface thoughts revealed that he saw all humans, Halflings and non-elven races as nothing much better than animals.    

“I am not an assassin, mage!”   Ant protested, trying to sound like how a proud, aloof princess that was asked to do something beneath her.

“This is why you would be perfect for the job,”   The wizard said with a devilish grin, “He wouldn’t suspect someone as lovely as you.     I have learned of his infatuation with elven women, so he would not be able to resist you.”

“Yes, but  killing someone - even a human…”  She wrinkled her nose to show her disgust at the task.

“I wouldn’t expect you to attack him.     I would supply you with a poison that would make him die quickly.”

“I don’t know… it sounds gruesome work to me.”

“If you would do this for me, I would take you as my apprentice and teach you far greater spells than any human mage could teach you.   You would learn powerful and long-forgotten spells of our people that would give you the tools you need to extract your revenge.”

Gelden’s eyes gleamed like a hungry wolf.   Ant acted as if she was mulling this over in her mind, but after he reaffirmed that she would not have to stab or harm him herself, she agreed.

She felt him clumsily scan her mind as soon as she agreed, but she was shielded from detection and kept her thoughts on seeking revenge and gaining power.    Ant knew these would be motives that he would understand and approve.

His reading of her thoughts seemed to satisfy him, and he outlined to her who it was that he wanted killed and how he thought she should do it. 

 

***

 

“We’re going to simply drown!”   Tadd whined to Mutt as the two of them sloshed through the half-flooded basement of the city’s largest cloth merchant.

“The water’s going down, don’t worry,” Mutt replied to his friend.   “At least it isn’t raining like it was this morning.”

“Yeah, that’s true.    Hey, I think I see the source!   Over there by the stairs - see the water trickling down?”

“Yep, that’s probably it.    Runoff rainwater from the downpour this morning, I guess.   But I still haven’t seen any mice.”

“Me neither.    They’d either be drowned, floating on debris down here or swimming for their lives.   Master Fenric is crazy, Mutt!”

“I agree, but since we’re here, let’s just recast the repel vermin spells again and get out of here.”

“That’s fine by me!   I’ll take the south corner of the room; you take the north side like we did the last time.”

“Okay.”

The Goblin and Halfling sloshed into position and began chanting the spells, touching sections of each wall to activate the field of effect.    They finished within seconds of each other and immediately began the Lesser Permanence spells that would bind the effects.

These spells took a quarter of an hour and both of them were completely miserable by the time they were completed.

“We’ll probably catch nasty colds.”   Tadd told Mutt as they hurried up the stairs.   

“Well?”   Master Fenric, the head of the Westmark Cloth Guild asked as he waited for them in the store front of the business.

“We didn’t see any vermin, but we went ahead and recast the spells, just to play it safe,”  Tadd told him.

The man nodded, satisfied.    “You won’t charge me, correct?”

“There is no charge, sir.”

“That is fine, then.    I apologize about the flooding down there… you don’t have any practical magic spells to repel water, do you?”

“Well, actually we do, but I’m not sure they would cover an area as large as your basement.   I’ll discuss it with Muld and I’ll get back to you.”

“That will be fine; just let me know.    I’ve got to get back into the dyeing room - we’re having a time with a purple dye, so if you two gentlemen can see yourself out, I’ll take your leave.”

They bid him farewell and he hurried out of the room through the door leading to the workshop area, sending a blast of nasty smelling chemicals from the dyeing vats as he opened the door.

“Well, are you ready?  I want to change out of these wet clothes,”  Tadd asked his friend.

“Yeah, let’s go.”   Mutt had his hand on the handle of the door and was about to push it open when he heard a couple of people stop just on the other side of the door.    Not wanting to hit them with the opening door, he paused, expecting them to open the door and enter.

Instead they just stood there and finished a conversation.    What they said made Mutt and Tadd listen closely in alarm.

“So you understand what I want you to do?”   A man’s voice said.

“Yes… but it may take several days.”

“Just so he is killed.   Use the poison carefully, for it will kill elves as easily as humans.”

“What was his name again?”

“Rick - he’s the dark haired human in their guild - one of the managers of the guild.    Remember, I do not want any of the others harmed - especially Muld and Syndi- as I have plans for them.    When the deed is done, return to the wizard’s library the following morning at nine and I will meet you there.”

“How will you know that I killed him?”   The female voice asked.

“I will know… now go on, so we won’t be seen together.   I have business with the cloth merchant.”

Tadd shot an alarmed glance at Mutt, then quickly turned the lock on the door, hoping the man on the other side wouldn’t hear it.

But he was saying something else to his paid assassin and a few moments later the doorknob turned, but he found it locked.    He rattled the door a few times, they heard him curse and the shuffle of his robes as he stormed off.

Tadd and Mutt stood there hardly breathing for a full minute, before they put their ears against the door.   All they heard was the muffled sounds of people in the streets.

Cautiously Tadd opened the door and glanced around, but the man was gone.   The two hurried out of the cloth merchant’s shop and rushed down the street toward the guild.

“My God, Mutt, it’s that wild looking wizard who came into the shop yesterday!   He has a contract out on Rick!”

“We’ve got to warn him immediately!”   The Goblin responded, motioning for the Halfling to follow him down an alleyway shortcut.

Halfway down the alleyway, something leaped out of the shadows after they passed and before they could do more than turn and cry out in alarm, both were poked in the arm with some sort of long pin or needle.     They tried to pull back to fight their attacker, but Mutt slipped down to his knees and then face forward into the alleyway.

“Help!  Help!”   Tadd called out, his tongue feeling heavy and sluggish, then consciousness left him as well.

“You’re not going to warn him, little ones,”   Ant said softly, scooping up the pair (surprised at how heavy the Halfling was) and pushing open the nearest door in the alleyway.    It was the back room of a produce merchant and fortunately for the Changeling, he and his assistants were taking produce orders to the restaurants in town, having been delayed that morning by the heavy rain.

She checked to make sure the small building was empty, then wizard locked both doors, scooped up some water from a basin on a table and splashed it in the two demi-humans’ faces to wake them up.

They came awake quickly, sputtering and coughing and found a beautiful Faesidhe lady holding each of their short swords an inch away from their necks.

“Don’t cry out or try anything, for the doors are magically sealed.    If you want to save your friend Rick’s life, we need to have a little talk.”