The Staff Of Naught Part 17

"Of course," said Tanner and stood, as did Lousa, Humbort, and Hazlebub as they quickly exited the lush chamber.

"I don't think ...," started Lousa but Tanner silenced her with a quick shake of the head. "Not here," he said in a low tone and the four made their way out of the building, and only stopped to pick up their iron helmets at the door.

Back inside the building Lilithia appeared from behind another door and moved next to Lorim and put her arm around the gnomelike man making his entire body give a little shudder. "You did well my sweet," said the silver haired darkling and ran her fingers through his thinning brown hair.

Lorim nodded his head and leered up at her, his own arm snaking around her slender waist, "Well enough to be rewarded?"

"Not that well," said Lilithia with a smile as she detached his arm with shake of her hip and moved across the room to the painting of the volcano where she lingered for a long moment. "Now, the next phase of my plan is going to be more difficult but I have confidence in you, trade master."

"Your wish is my command, Lilithia. I don't think they will counter particularly high and your resources should be able to purchase the item without too much difficulty. If worse comes to worse we can attempt a violent solution again. Now that I have a better understanding of their strength I imagine we can pull it off without too many difficulties."

"Ah, my little friend," said Lilithia, "and I only say little in reference to your stature, not your other attributes, that is not what I have in mind."

Lorim smiled broadly, leaned back in his chair, and stretched broadly which caused his heavy belly to extend. "I am confused then," he said. "I thought the object was to purchase the item legitimately rather than attempt a more, shall we say, direct approach."

"After consultation with my mother the plan has been changed. As you are to be the intermediary in these negotiations I must trust you with certain information. This information is of a delicate nature and I must have a.s.surances that you will not share it with other parties."

"My discretion is beyond doubt, Lilithia," said Lorim opening his palms up to the woman. "I'm hurt that you would even suggest otherwise."

"Your discretion is truly beyond doubt," said Lilithia with a smile. "It is available to the highest bidder and that is why I want to make it quite clear that in this case, the highest bidder is offering to let you live should you keep this information to yourself."

"Are threats really necessary, my lovely," said Lorim a wide smile on his face.

"I notice you don't deny the accuracy of my character a.s.sessment," said Lilithia as she returned the smile.

"Strong moral fiber is not a suitable trait for my position as trade master," said Lorim and again smiled at the woman, "but, that said, I certainly understand the price you put on my discretion. Please feel at ease to explain the situation to me so that I can pa.s.s it along to the interested parties."

Lilithia paused for a moment and looked at Lorim with narrowed eyes before she walked over to the front of his desk and leaned towards him. Her high necked silk top revealed none of the decolletage that Lousa had in abundance but enhanced her more limited attributes in the same way. "I no longer wish to obtain the staff," she said with raised eyebrows.

Lorim's lips pursed and his eyes narrowed for a moment and he sat in silence for some time before returning his gaze to the darkling, "I see. So the offer was intentionally low hoping they would not accept."

The woman nodded her head.

"And no matter the counter offer I am to refuse, saying it is too high. Eventually the negotiations stall and then you offer something else. Is that fairly accurate?"

"I suspect," said Lilithia leaning back and smiling, "that they do not want to sell the staff but simply want information about it. They want to know what it is and, more particularly, how to destroy it. They were surprised that their ally, I can't remember his name, the one whose head was smashed in by the boy?"

"He is dead, his name is unimportant," said Lorim as he leaned forward in his chair, licked his lips, and waited for Lilithia to unveil the true plan.

"Not completely," said Lilithia. "My mother is quite interested in whom he was and how he came to have the staff but that will all be part of the information exchange. Nevertheless, my goal is to give them the information they want and make certain they believe what I am telling them. Therefore the negotiations must have a ring of truth to them."

"I see, I see," said Lorim. "That is easier said than done. We want to lose the bargaining but make it seem as if the losing was not our intention. Tanner is a crafty merchant and it won't be easy to fool him."

"Tanner, he is the plain looking fellow," asked Lilithia.

"Yes, the merchant. He is here with his wife and children. I had thought that we might use threats against them to facilitate the negotiations, but I see now that is not our plan," said the trade master once again leaning back in his chair. "Would you care for a drink of fine dwarven Apple Brandy? A shipment came in this morning as a gift for my part in negotiating an iron ore treaty with a citadel of the little fellows."

"Please," said Lilithia, "I a.s.sume it is strong and thick just like the people who make it?"

"Indeed, a little too much for my delicate palette but I add a dollop or two of water to even things out. I find the dwarves to be a distasteful race on the whole given over to simplicity and violence. But, they are excellent customers so one must make sacrifices." With that the little man stood up and went over to the small sideboard and opened it to reveal many bottles of brilliantly colored liquids. After a moment he chose a bottle with a light brown fluid inside and poured some of the contents into a pair of round gla.s.ses with long stems. He swirled them several times and brought them over to Lilithia. "Now, tell me what I am supposed to learn from the merchant and his friends and what I am supposed to tell them."

Chapter 22.

"You're going to sell it!" shouted Ariana as they gathered in a common room and people at the other tables of the Camel Sway Inn turned to see why the girl screamed.

"Keep your voice down," said Lousa with a raised forefinger of her right hand and gave the girl a stern look. "This is a private matter and not for everyone in the bar to hear. And, no, we are not planning on selling the staff."

"Then why did you say you were?" asked Ariana her voice still elevated and she looked back at Lousa with a frown and a glare still in her eyes.

Tanner, seated across the table from Lousa and Ariana and next to his wife interrupted, "We didn't say we were going to sell it. We just gave the trade master that impression. If we tell him that we refuse to sell then he has no other choice than to try and take it from us by force.

"He already tried that," said Unerus with a grin towards Shamki who used a knife and fork to go at a thick hunk of meat and appeared not to listen to the conversation. "And it didn't work!"

"The trade master has a virtually unlimited supply of warriors willing to do his dirty work and while I respect the prowess of Shamki," said Tanner and Unerus gave him a glare and pulled out a little knife. "And, of course, your growing skill," he continued. "I also think that if it is in the trade master's best interests to take the staff from us he will make that happen. Therefore, we have to keep negotiations open in order to try and get as much information as possible."

"Exactly," said Lousa with a nod of her head to Tanner. She wore one of her least revealing outfits, a thick leather coat made from the hide of an alligator under which she had a wool shirt perhaps one size too big. She had her hair pulled back into a long pony tail and wore no makeup. Yet, even now her cheeks were a rosy red, her lips flush, and her green eyes glimmered like emeralds. "Tanner has it exactly right. He is experienced in these matters."

Almara looked up from her bowl of noodle soup and her eyes darted back and forth between her husband and the woman. Tanner nodded his head and tore his eyes from the hypnotic half-elf and looked down at his own plate of steak and thick potatoes. "Thank you, Lousa."

"What kind of information," asked Ariana her plate of mixed vegetables untouched.

"Information on how to destroy the staff," said Lousa her hand reached out to pat the girl's, but Ariana s.n.a.t.c.hed her own hand back and left the woman with her arm poised uselessly in midair.

"I don't want to destroy it!" said Ariana. "We're supposed to use it!"

"How do you know that, dear," said Hazlebub while she stirred the steaming contents of her own bowl and did not look up although her body tensed.

"I just know it," replied Ariana and looked down at her vegetables and gave them a desultory stir with her fork and then took a sip from the mug in front of her.

"Yes," said Lousa and nodded her head, "but how do you know it?"

"I already answered you," said Ariana again. "I think we are supposed to use it."

"Use it how?" asked Humbort his mouth filled with steak and vegetables so much so that a partially chewed carrot fell out and landed next to his plate.

"I don't know!" shrieked Ariana again, and this time she stood up quickly which caused the table to rock precariously as her knee smacked one of its legs. The mug in front of Shalalee fell with a bang; a milky liquid poured out onto the table and quickly spread in rivulets across the cloth. Almara pulled the napkin off her lap and immediately began to soak up the liquid while Tanner, Lousa, and Hazlebub quickly followed.

"See what you did," shouted Shalalee at Ariana and glared at the girl until Ariana dashed out of the common room towards the hallway that led to her room.

"It wasn't her fault," said Tylan jumping to his feet.

"Then whose fault was it," said Shalalee back at him. "You just take her side because she's your girlfriend."

"She's not my girlfriend!" said Tylan and pushed his sister who fell over her chair, her arms flailed, and crashed into the table which sent three more gla.s.ses tumbling.

"Tylan!" shouted Almara. "Go to your room."

"She's the one who fell on the table," he replied but the glare he got back in return from his mother sent him to the room without a further word.

It took a few minutes to get things straightened up but eventually the table was back to normal albeit missing the two children.

"She's becoming overly attached to that staff," said Lousa to Unerus. "She loves you Unerus; do you think you can talk to her about giving it to one of us for a while?"

The young boy shook his head and said, "No. She's stubborn about stuff like this. I remember when she was little and I'd leave her with one of the girls at the Red Garter and by the time I'd got back they'd have tied her to a chair to keep her from climbing over the bar and getting at the pretty bottles."

"It's all because of the stupid staff," said Shalalee her face still red from the fight but that seemed to make the young girl pretty. "Why don't we just sell it to whatever his name is and then we don't have to worry about it anymore."

"Yeah," said Humbort as he again emerged from the depths of his food.

Shalalee looked at the tall man as he immediately dug back into his food using his fork like a shovel, holding the plate up to his mouth and sighed. "I guess we can't do that."

Everyone else at the table laughed out loud and Humbort looked up and around at them in confusion but then went back to eating without further thought.

"The question becomes," said Lousa looking to Tanner. "How do we convince Lorim to give us the information we want without selling him the staff?"

"Darkling," said Shamki and didn't even look up from this plate as he glowered at the steak.

"Shamki's right," said Lousa. "We're dealing with Lorim but whoever that darkling girl was is the real interested party. She wanted the staff and hired Lorim to steal it for her. When that failed she made a grab for it herself. Thanks to Shamki and Unerus that plan failed."

"I still don't understand why a darkling would want the thing," said Tanner. "They worship spiders and this thing has got Smyrnala's name written all over it."

"That I don't understand at all," agreed Lousa with a shrug. "But, I suppose it is enough to know that she wants it and we can use that as a negotiating tool."

"I'm going to see about Ariana," said Unerus and stood up from the table.

"Ask to be excused," said Almara to the boy who stood for a moment and looked at her in confusion. "It's polite to ask to be excused instead of just leaving."

"Oh," said the boy. Then he looked at Lousa who nodded, and then at Shamki who completely ignored him. "Can I be excused?" he asked with his eyebrows raised and his nose wrinkled in confusion.

"Of course, dear," said Almara. "Why don't you go see to your sister and Tylan?"

"Isn't that ... never mind," said Unerus turning from the table and heading off in the same direction as his sister and Tylan went a few minutes before.

"Can I go as well," said Shalalee and her mother nodded her head as the last child departed from the table.

"It's good to teach them manners," said Almara to everyone at the table and no one in particular.

"I agree Almara," said Lousa nodding her head. "Those two could learn a lot from yours. They had no family life at all, Unerus was on the streets from a young age, and Ariana knows nothing else."

Almara looked at Lousa for a moment and her normal glare when she dealt with the half-elf beauty softened a bit and she smiled, "Thank you, Lousa. You should think about being a parent yourself one day."

Lousa laughed, "Trying to get me married off already?"

"There are worse things," said Almara, "and so many eligible men hereabouts," with a look towards Shamki although Humbort looked up hopefully and smiled at Lousa. The big half-orc stared steadily down at his plate and made a grunting sound.

"Yes," said Lousa a flush coming to her cheeks. "Something to think about in any case."

Back in the room that Shalalee shared with Ariana, Lousa, and Almara, Unerus sat on one bed while his sister lay face down on another a blanket pulled up almost over her head, and Shalalee busied herself with some sewing needles and a shirt with a loose b.u.t.ton.

Unerus looked at his sister, "Ariana, they just want to try and figure out how to, you know, get rid of the staff."

Ariana gave a little moan from under the covers.

"They can't figure out why the darklings want it when it really belongs to Smyrnala," said Unerus. "But, I don't even understand these G.o.ds in the first place. I mean one rules spiders and the other death. That doesn't make any sense."

"They're not really G.o.ds," said Ariana and suddenly sat up from under the covers.

"That's not true!" said Shalalee. "They protect us. There's Chantico who makes the sun rise every morning and set at night, and Coyolxauhqui who controls the moon, and Tezcatlis who created the earth from a great volcanic eruption! And there are plenty of others too but each one has their own domain because no one G.o.d could do it all."

"None of that is true," said Ariana and Shalalee gasped along with Unerus.

"You can't say that!" said Shalalee to the girl and covered her own ears. "The G.o.ds will strike you down!"

"If they do strike me down it's because I'm telling the truth!" said Ariana now getting to her feet and she eyed the satchel that was under her bed. "They aren't G.o.ds at all, just people or monsters like us!"

"Ariana," said Unerus and looked at his sister with his mouth open, "who told you all this?"

"n.o.body, nothing, no one told me. It's just obvious. Anyone could figure it out," she said with her fists clenched.

"We've never been to any church except to rob, er borrow, the offerings," said Unerus. "When did you even start thinking about this?"

"I'm not stupid," said Ariana. "Do you think I'm stupid?"

"I didn't say that," said Unerus and looked around to Shalalee for support.

"He didn't say that you were stupid," said the girl with a nod of her head. "Why are you angry all the time?"

"I'm not angry," shouted Ariana her face turned red and her teeth, the ones that were in, clenched together. "n.o.body listens to me!"

"Did ... did it tell you," said Shalalee and looked at the satchel under her bed.

"I'm not saying," said Ariana, folding her arms across her chest, and looking out one of the windows of the room to the barren landscape outside.

"It's okay, Ara," said Unerus. "I won't tell the adults and neither will Shalalee, will you?" he asked looking at the girl.

Shalalee looked back at him for a moment and sat and thought. "If it's important we should tell my mom," she finally said.

"Fine then," said Ariana and sat back down on the bed but kept her arms crossed and silence engulfed the room.

"Come on, Shalalee," said Unerus, "promise not to say anything to your mother or father."