He moved so close that he had to crane his head up to look at Kehrsyn. He held the halves aloft for her inspection, spinning them and pointing to the pieces as he spoke.

"See? First of all, this is stone, not bone like the original. Didn't have any good bones handy, but it looks much the same as a weathered bone, and anyway that organic stuff is a regular mess to carve properly. But stone is heavier, so I had to hollow it out just like this to match the weight properly. Now this side you already saw in the sketches I showed you, but I didn't know what this side looked like, so I had to wait for your delivery to be able to duplicate it. Hard work, too, but I'd already had practice in the style with this first side here. The river and setting the jeweler made, and laid the black amber and smoky quartz to match the original. Then I cast Mythrellaa's Lust upon it-that's a rather more stylish version of the Fool's Aura, a little trick the zulkir gave me in payment for a small service I'd rendered her. And there it was, all but indistinguishable from the original, except, of course, it wouldn't work."

"That's… very impressive," said Kehrsyn, stepping back to get some personal space between her and the sour-smelling magician.

"Humph," said Eileph, inspecting the pieces. "Of course, that doesn't explain how this came to be broken."

"They don't tell me such things," said Kehrsyn, pleased that she'd come up with such a plausible non-answer off the cuff.

"And who does?" yelled Eileph, flicking a finger at Kehrsyn. "Oh, I know all about such things," he said as he hobbled away, then stopped dead in his tracks. "Or, more accurately, I don't. You see, the zulkirs and tharcions, and all the Red Wizards are very good at not telling things." He hobbled back over to Kehrsyn and stood too close again. "Which makes it very scary," he whispered, "when one considers all that one has been taught by others who thrive on secrets. It makes one wonder how much knowledge they hold back! And that makes all of us hunger for that knowledge, plot for it, scheme for it…" Eileph's arm started to tremble, tapping his cane on the floor. "Good thing I'm such a stable person," he said.

Kehrsyn nodded. She didn't trust her voice not to crack were she to lie at that moment.

"Well," said Eileph, as he started back to the cadaver.

He tossed the halves on his table as he passed. Kehrsyn thought maybe the fake one would pass inspection at Wing's Reach, at least until she got the real one. She feared returning empty-handed with Ahegi lurking around.

"Um, Eileph, sir?" asked Kehrsyn. "Can you fix it?"

Eileph whipped around, staggering when his whirl exceeded his balance.

"What?" he bellowed. "First they destroy my art and now they say, 'Jump, Eileph, fix the staff!' What do they think I am, a trained homunculus?"

"Standard rates," said Kehrsyn, raising her voice to be heard over Eileph's tirade. "Double for a rush job."

Eileph's countenance softened in an instant. He picked up the two halves and fitted them together, working his jaw from side to side.

"Humph," he said. "I can do it, young lady, never you fret. I can have it for you tonight, if you don't mind a bit of a crack, or tomorrow for a job as good as new. If you want one carved afresh, that'll take a while."

"How big a crack are we talking about?"

"Oh, not a very big one," said Eileph. "Fit the halves together and take a look. I can make it a bit better than that."

Kehrsyn fiddled with the broken pieces. The crack would be just a hair wide.

"That'd be great," she said, handing the pieces over.

Eileph limped back over to her and patted her hand gently, almost tenderly.

"Don't you fret your heart, young lady. I'll have it delivered tonight," he said, with a smile that was the picture of warmth despite the malformed frame in which it appeared.

Massedar stood at the window in his study, gazing out at the pale winter sky. Sunshine slanted into the room but did not warm it. He felt the outside chill pouring in through the open window, counterbalanced by the warmth radiating from the roaring fire. The blaze warmed his back and the hands clasped behind, and the reflected flames glinted merrily in his rings.

A knock came at the door-not the door that led to his private bedroom, of course, but the doorway that led to the audience hall in which he had alternately cowed and impressed their young thief.

"Enter thou," he said, not turning his head. His breath misted in the chill draft.

He heard the door open and close again. One pair of footsteps came over to his side.

"Ahegi, faithful servant," said Massedar. "Thou wouldst speak with me in privacy ere the interrogation?"

"Indeed, sir," said Ahegi, likewise in High Untheric.

Massedar turned. Ahegi's head was freshly shaved, and the two circles that adorned his forehead glistened. Ahegi's close-set and piggish eyes, set deep beneath heavy brows, glowered with black irises and blacker thoughts.

"Speak thy heart, then," commanded Massedar.

"My heart ponders, belike we have erred to entrust ourselves unto that maiden," said Ahegi. "Would that we had plied her lips forcibly with red irons and turnspindles, that we might have such knowledge of our trespassers unto ourselves."

Massedar smiled thinly and said, "The spangled sandpiper feigneth grave injury to lure the wolf from its nest, and the butterfly spider feigneth comeliness to lure a mate to its doom. If a simple animal understandeth that nectar draweth the prey willingly whilst the fire repelleth, wherefore dost thou despair of this lesson?"

"Mayhap I find the act of dissimulation cometh less easily unto me than it doth thee," Ahegi replied, his lips pressed together. "By my troth, I find that falsehood taxeth my patience."

"That, old friend, maketh thee an advisor of great worth," said Massedar.

Ahegi bowed and turned back to the door.

He opened it and said, "Demok, thou art granted audience to the Lord of Wing's Reach."

Demok stepped in and nodded slightly but respectfully. He kept his eyes studiously unfocused, looking at a vacant spot in the air to give his peripheral vision the greatest advantage.

"Sir," he said.

"My advisor Ahegi sweareth that thy maiden-thief lieth beyond trust," said Massedar. "What opinion hast thou?"

'Trustworthy," said Demok, nodding. "Sound heart. Looking to impress, find a home."

"Sound heart?" echoed Ahegi with a sneer.

"Good with kids," said Demok. "Cares about people."

"We shall not abide a net of such flimsy braids," said Ahegi. "She hath led us unto the lair of our enemies. Henceforth shall we vanquish them by advantage, striking the vipers in their den."

"Can't," said Demok with a set jaw.

"Thinkest thou not that I possess the power to smite whomever draweth my wrath?" asked Massedar. "Thou hast shadowed her unto the gates of her guild. We strike."

Demok looked at Massedar, then at Ahegi. "She spotted my tail. Got away. Tried to follow; no luck. Don't know where the guild is."

Massedar stepped forward, drawing a breath to say something, but then stopped, closed his eyes, and exhaled bitterly.

"Perforce must we wait," Massedar said eventually. "These are ill tidings, Demok. I pay thee handsomely for better. Leave thou me."

Demok nodded again and left the room in a flickering with his efficient, graceful movements.

Massedar and Ahegi stood silently for some time.

Ahegi said, "He speaketh not the truth unto us," he said.

"I know," Massedar said, nodding, "but we know not yet wherefore. Arrest ye him not before the measure of his deceit hath been revealed in full. Someone within Wing's Reach cleaveth to the Zhentarim. If it be he, must we then proceed with great prudence, lest we alert those who bring our doom."