"It seems I'm being summoned by Father. Time, I fear, to pay the piper. Excuse me, please."

Victor waded over to the croamarkh's carriage and disappeared inside.

Alias looked back at the stage, where a skit involving two Night Masks stealing a medusa's head was unfolding. "Let's move on," she said to Dragonbait. The two made for the perimeter of the crowd, then circled about to Victor's curricle. A boy stood holding the horses' reins. Victor must have pressed him into service, Alias realized. She tipped him a silver piece and told him he could go.

As she rubbed the noses of the two yellow mares, Alias spoke to the paladin in Saurial. "That money you offered could have been perceived as a bribe, you know. You could have been arrested. How would that look, a paladin in the local hoosegow?"

"Wouldn't be the first time," the paladin replied with a chuckle. "I could not sit by and watch the words of the law confused with the spirit of the law."

"What's the spirit behind the law against disturbing the peace?" Alias asked.

"That no one should be injured. No one was. At the worst, a few carriages-and carts were inconvenienced."

"I don't imagine the merchant lords in those carriages will take your side in,that argument," Alias murmured. "Imagine all that fuss over a puppet show when the Night Masks get away with murder in this city."

"As the croamarkh pointed out, the watch can only ensure that the lawful obey the law, but the Night Masks are lawless," Dragonbait reminded her. "I don't imagine the watch is content that this is so."

"You're saying I shouldn't have insulted them," Alias replied. "You're probably right. Not very politic-"

Alias halted. From the croamarkh's carriage she could hear the croamarkh and Victor arguing. More accurately, she could hear the croamarkh's angry words, but only the slightest hint of Victor's voice. While Lord Luer wasn't exactly yelling, he was one of those people to whom it would never occur to modulate his voice. No doubt he believed it was the only way to make others listen.

Alias realized that since the carriage curtains were closed, Lord Luer probably did not know she stood near enough to hear.

"-and I cannot understand what motivated you to support that woman," the croamarkh was saying. For a moment, Alias was concerned that she was the subject of Lord Luer's tirade, but the croamarkh's next words disabused her of that notion. "Not only is she as common as dirt, but she is a rabble-rouser, and her little shows do nothing but breed discontent. I sat here and had to watch you cross an officer of the law, your father's law, in front of all these commoners."

Victor responded briefly, but too softly to be understood. Then the croamarkh continued, "It is not your place to act as judge. That's what Durgar is here for. Did you think that maybe Jamal's street people would start treating nobles better if they had a noble patron? Did you think they would stop spreading lies about us, about the Night Masks, because you threw some money around? And how does it look to the commoners, that you could buy justice in public? Will they believe that justice is not bought in private as well?"

Victor started to speak, but his father interrupted, "You did not think. That is the problem. Now if the watch shuts her down for some future violation, it will appear that the croamarkh's house is weak. If she continues, the other nobles will think we have her in our employ-which means they will think that what she says comes from our mouths. You've made a muddle of this. Have you done any other damage this morning that I should know about?"

There was a long pause as Victor answered too quietly to be overheard. Lord Dhostar was still huffy, but not as irritated as he replied, "Well, that's something. We need someone to clean out the stables, see justice served against those scoundrels."

Victor said something else that undoubtedly angered the croamarkh, for he answered loudly, "You will not. We have a dinner and talks with Lord Urlyvl and his people over at Castle Athagdal. I hired that young woman for her sword, not for you to practice your courtly graces. You may return to your duties."

The carriage rocked slightly. Alias handed the horses' halters to Dragonbait and retreated five paces. As the carriage door opened, she walked up toward it, creating the illusion that she had just arrived on the scene.

Victor stepped down the carriage steps, grim-faced and angry, but brightened immediately upon spotting Alias. "Hullo," he greeted her. "I've just told Father about your decision to join us."

Another man exited the carriage behind Victor, a broad-shouldered stranger with close-cropped white hair and a heavy silver mustache covering his mouth. He wore blue-and-purple robes tied loosely with a white sash, a white glove on his left hand, and a black glove on his right-the ceremonial outfit of a priest of Tyr, the bunded, one-handed god of justice. Beneath the robes the man wore a chest plate elaborately engraved with a scale of justice balanced on a war hammer-the god ТутЬ symbol.

Once the stranger had closed the carriage door, someone within thumped once on the ceiling. The carriage driver urged his horses forward, and the carriage pulled away from the crowded plaza.

Tour Reverence," Victor addressed the priest who stood at his side, "please allow me to present Alias the Swordswoman and her companion, Dragonbait. Alias will be helping us with our Night Mask problem. Alias, this is Durgar the Just of Tyr, who heads our watch and serves us as judge.

Alias and Dragonbait nodded politely to the elderly priest. Durgar fixed his steely gray eyes on Abas for several moments without speaking, and Alias realized she was being assessed with skillful judgment.

When Durgar finally spoke, his voice was chill and void of emotion. "The croamarkh has informed me of his plans for you. I can't say I'm particularly pleased. While Westgate has a rich history of employed mercenaries, they never seem to last for long. Justice requires constant, unending, organized vigilance. That's why I founded the watch here. For fourteen years my men and I have done all that can be done to blunt the ravages of the Night Masks. I informed Lord Luer that in my considered opinion he was placing too much stock in your abilities, but he went on about fresh eyes, fresh blood, and fresh approaches, as if my experience meant nothing. Take care, young woman. The Night Masks are savage brutes who would spill your blood in the street without a second thought."

Alias might have taken offense at the priest's vote of no confidence, but there was the slightest trace of exhaustion in Durgar's tone, which prompted her to refrain from a heated reply. Westgate's judge, she realized, was a man who continued to struggle at a seemingly hopeless task because he believed in it. Consequently, the swordswoman framed her reply as diplomatically as she could. "Perhaps, Your Reverence, I'll get lucky. If I can throw the Night Masks off balance, the Night Masters and the Faceless might grow careless and give your watch an opportunity to capture them."

Beneath his mustache a trace of a smile flickered across Durgar the Just's face. "That's very gracious of you, but the watch is not about to waste its time on fictional characters of puppet shows."

"His Reverence," Victor explained, "does not believe in the existence of the Night Masters or the Faceless." – "Why not?" Alias asked.

"You aren't the first adventurer hired to uncover them, you know?" Durgar replied. "Yet in fourteen years, no divination by mage or priest or magical item has been able to detect any persons called the Night Masters or the Faceless. No warrior or hired thief has been able to discover their lair. No offer of wealth and power has enticed anyone to betray them. The Faceless and his Night Masters are all myths. The Night Masks foster these myths because they lend to them the illusion of power and authority. The common people believe these myths because they cannot accept the fact that chaotic forces have such control over their lives. They choose to believe people like Jamal-" Durgar waved in the direction of the performers, who were now leading the crowd in a high-spirited song- "who spread this romanticized notion that lawlessness is embodied in one being, a Prince of Night, a Lord of Thieves. Then all they need is a hero to vanquish it once and for all." Durgar's voice took on a passionate tone as he declared, "But lawlessness is not vanquished once and for all. It must be fought every day, without cessation, till the end of time."