Chapter 7 – Part 6

Pienna sat quietly in a small tavern, her back to the fire that blazed in the hearth. Missy stretched out at her feet, the big cat rumbling as it slept.

The druidess had picked at her meal, a fine vegetable stew, and now she was toying with her tea. She’d ordered it with brandy, something that was truly a rarity with her.

The tavern was not crowded, not this early in the afternoon, but none sat near her. The proprietor had taken one look at the panther when she had entered and begun to protest, but she’d handed him a ruby the size of her littlest fingernail, demanding good service and adjacent rooms, and he’d gone quiet right away.

For all I with to be disassociated from Cannith, I use its wealth when convenient, she thought to herself, taking another sip of tea. The brandy was suitable, even if she had quite obviously overpaid. She had three hidden stashes of gems and money in the Reaches, and she was dipping into one now.

The doors to the tavern opened, and an elven woman in fluttering pastels entered. She’d come in before and played a wonderfully carved flute for the lunch crowd. A stir greeted her, and she smiled at those who hoped for an encore performance from this daughter of House Phiarlan.

“Sit, flutist,” Pienna said, a bit over loudly. “I would buy you a drink.” She winced somewhat at the hollowness of it. These cloak and dagger situations were not her cup of tea.

Of course her cup of tea didn’t usually have brandy in it either.

The elven woman bowed. “Never would I refuse one so high in House Vadalis,” she said smoothly. All in one graceful motion she sat and waved for a serving wench. “Mayhap you can tell me how you came to tame such a great cat.”

Pienna waited until the serving wench had come, deposited a fine bottle of wine and two reasonably nice goblets, and gone, before she raised a sarcastic eyebrow. “Vadalis? You think anyone here thinks I am anything but a druid?”

The elven woman smiled as she poured herself a full cup. “It’s more important to me that they think I don’t know the difference.” She sipped her cup, and then drained it. “Hm, not bad. Well, this half-elf priest –”

“Gatekeeper, like myself,” Pienna interjected with irritation. This woman had received quite a bit of money, and the druidess expected her to at least get details right.

“Yes, right,” the Phiarlan woman said. “You said that he approached you because he was embarrassed, because this elven man named Aruunis had tried to recruit him to find you based on racial loyalty of some kind.”

Pienna nodded as she drained her tea. Most Gatekeepers were orcs, humans, or orc-human hybrids. Those Gatekeepers who were not of those races sometimes had cause to feel that they were looked down on. Pienna liked to believe that her order was above such petty things, but she was not naïve. Of course Aruunis had been a Gatekeeper for over a century, and if anyone should feel as if he fit in over a long time, it should be he. “Fortunately the half-elf was unnerved by such a mindset, and he didn’t care to track me.”

“He said that he would not have even tried to find you, but that you appeared in Cree,” the Phiarlan woman noted. “This Aruunis, can you tell me more about him?”

Pienna took a goblet and toyed it, wondering at the wisdom of putting wine atop brandy in her stomach. “He grew up in Karrnath,” she said. “He loves order, he’s very into law, somewhat preachy about it, like a Karrnathi. He hates undead, claims that exposure to Karrnathi practices is what lead him to become a Gatekeeper. He arrived in the Eldeen and took his oaths over a century ago. He was moving back and forth between the Eldeen and Aundair freely when the Reachers declared their independence, and he was emphatic to everyone he met that the gatekeepers should not get involved in the war.”

“But you have,” the elven woman noted.

Pienna glared at the elf, and her oak circlet glowed a bit. She had the satisfaction of seeing the woman flinch. “Are you selling me information or are you collecting it from me?”

“I am trying to understand,” the woman said, holding her hands too steady, likely because they wanted to shake. “I have heard tales of Merylsward, I do not seek to anger you.”

“Then help me understand why Aruunis is trying to track me,” Pienna demanded. “Or give me back the small fortune in gemstones that I gave you.”

“Aruunis is desperately trying to get ahold of you,” the elven woman said. “He is even putting out word with smugglers and arms runners, and he is spending a great deal of money. He hasn’t said why, but he is spending money I would not expect a druid to have, and his is desperate.”

“How desperate?”

“Desperate to use such a clumsy tactic as racial loyalty with a half-elf who admires you, and desperate enough to spend serious money contacting people who he must know are freely overcharging him. Oddly, he has not contacted my House.”

“Maybe Thuranni is giving him something more solid,” Pienna said sarcastically.

“Patience,” the woman said. “Your investment in me is not without merit.” She poured herself another cup of wine. “The money Aruunis spent caught our notice, because of where it came from.” She took another drink. “Please, dear lady, remove the scowl from your face, people will think poorly of us.” Pienna forced her face still. “He cashed in a store of Kundarak bearer bonds, some ten thousand gold pieces worth.”

Pienna was shocked. “Where on Eberron did he get that kind of money?” she asked.

“He has some family money stashed away, as you do, no doubt,” the Phiarlan woman said. “But in the past two months he has been obtaining funds, small bits, here and there, and taking them to a Kundarak banker in Varna to turn into the bearer bonds.”

“Why?” Pienna asked. According to an idle remark that she had heard, about two months ago Aruunis had disappeared briefly, and when he returned from wherever he had been, he was in a foul mood.

“We don’t know, but we do know that his wife’s estates in Fairhaven were sold shortly beforehand,” the elven woman stated, sipping more wine. “It appears as if the two of them are liquidating, but why we don’t know. It never occurred to anyone to inquire why the actions of an avowedly neutral druid should be important.”

Pienna did her best to keep her face frozen, but her thoughts were exploding like a bolt of lightning. “Get out, take the wine with you if you want,” the human druidess told the elven woman.

“Excuse me?” the Phiarlan agent asked. Then she started as a sudden, sharp pressure was felt against the base of her spine.

“Lady Pienna told you to leave,” Bresbin said. The little goblin had been seen by no one, hiding in a patch of shadow from a half-shuttered window, but he was now pressing the tip of a dagger against the elven woman’s back. “So you leave.”

Missy lifted her head at this, and casually bared her fangs.

“I see,” the elven woman said, slowly standing up. The Phiarlan agent had a reputation for playing the flute, but also for hearing soft footsteps and spotting hidden dangers. But Bresbin had clearly caught her off guard.

Some people at a nearby table were also startled by the goblin’s sudden appearance, but they quickly decided to look down at their food.

“Bresbin, sheath your weapon,” Pienna said. The goblin immediately did so. Pienna withdrew another pair of gems from her purse and tossed them on the table. “As for you, take my thanks, and this bonus.”

The Phiarlan agent took the gems with a tight mouth and exited quickly. Bresbin watched her go, then climbed into her chair. “Elf forgot her wine,” he noted approvingly, pouring himself a cup. He looked into Pienna’s eyes as he sipped. “What bothers the Lady?”

“Aruunis has never told anyone in our order that he was married,” Pienna told the goblin. Her voice sounded cold, and she struggled to control herself. “Let alone that his wife had property in Aundair.”

Bresbin sipped more of the wine. “More than a hundred years in the Gatekeepers, and he does not say that he is married?” The goblin cocked his head to one side. “No one notices?”

“We tend to be preoccupied with our duty,” Pienna said. “And we do not wear unnecessary jewelry to denote marital status.” She stood, and Missy stood with her. “Enjoy the comforts of this place as you desire, Bresbin, but do not overindulge. At first light I will cast the traveling spell, and we will be in Varna.”