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.There's nothing in Gond's teachings that forbids us from working something of the magi's art into our creations.The High Artificer might not approve, but he rarely approves of anything I do anyway."From the first time he'd seen Fendel's odd farming contraption, Corin had suspected something more than simple mechanical engineering in the gnome's work.For a brief second, Corin let his mind turn to thoughts of the metal hand Fendel had promised him.He had been skeptical about the possible results, but if the wizened inventor planned to infuse the creation with some type of magical enchantment.Lhasha brought the warrior's thoughts back to the here and now by quickly, and none too subtly, changing the topic from the role of wizardry in Fendel's craft."The sooner we get started the better.Corin and I will go to the warehouse tonight.""And then on to Cormyr," Fendel pointedly added.With a sigh Lhasha consented."And then on to Cormyr.As soon as we get paid, of course."CHAPTER TENFendel was right about one thing, anyway.The Elversult guards assigned to patrol the perimeter of the Caravan district were asleep at their posts.Corin felt like kicking them as he and Lhasha walked past.Their disregard for duty sickened him.Using the directions provided by the nameless employer from the Weeping Griffin, Lhasha led the way through the rows of warehouses that made up the Caravan district.A few were tiny, little more them storage sheds, but most were enormous buildings like the one they planned to break into.The warehouses were primarily owned by the various merchant guilds that operated in Elversult—individual merchants could then rent space from the guild to store their inventory.Some were still owned privately, by wealthy families or organizations rich enough and powerful enough to resist the pressure of the merchant guilds to sell their holdings.From personal experience as a hired guard, Corin knew that most of the buildings held little that was of value to the common thief.Huge shipments of raw goods filled the warehouses; worthless to etnyone but the guild artisans andcraftsmen who would transform them into a finished product.If somebody stole the raw goods, the only buyers would be the same guild merchants who had imported the product in the first place.They wouldn't be likely to pay for the same goods twice.To further protect against thieves, every shipment coming in to or going out of the guild controlled warehouses was meticulously inventoried and cataloged to verify a chain of ownership, making it virtually impossible to sell stolen goods in any measurable quantity.In the Caravan district forged documents, bribed customs officials, and counterfeit goods were the new tools of the crook.In Elversult's new culture of legitimate business, embezzlement was a much more efficient method of making a dishonest profit than simple robbery.Theft was still a concern for some who operated warehouses within the district.Since Yanseldara had come to power, the smuggling trade in Elversult had fallen on hard times.Yet there was still enough illegal goods coming into the city to require significant storage facilities.Many of the privately owned warehouses were stocked with addictive spices, banned poisons, stolen gems or jewelry, slaves, and other contraband.The Purple Masks and the Cult of the Dragon had many operatives posing as humble merchants, operatives who preferred not to leave a detailed paper trail for Elversult officials to stumble across.The underground activities of Elversult's criminal element were the only ones who really still needed to guard against burglars.They knew the city guards were useless, but they usually had no trouble coming up with their own mercenaries to watch over their inventory.Corin suspected the building Lhasha and he were breaking into was one of these illegal, and heavily guarded, warehouses.This is it," Lhasha whispered, setting the pack she had slung over her shoulder on the ground."Keep watch while I pop Fendel's contraption together."In the silence of the night the soft clicks, as Lhasha joined the individual sections of Fendel's collapsible ladder together, seemed conspicuously loud.Nobody came to investigate.In less than a minute she was done.She pressed the trigger on the bottom section, and the rungs popped out with a loud snap."Try to keep up," she said with a slight smile.Corin watched her ascend for a few brief seconds and knew she'd be waiting on the roof long before he even neared the top of ladder.She didn't climb up, she glided.Every movement flowed into the next, each step up with a boot, each gloved hand reaching for the rung above— every action was part of a fluid, seamless whole.Clad in what she referred to as her work outfit—all black, form fitting clothes that were a sharp contrast to her typical eye-catching ensembles—Lhasha quickly disappeared into the darkness that engulfed the top of the ladder.Corin knew she was still there, and still moving, but her graceful ascent allowed her to naturally blend into the soft shadows of the night.After a moment's delay, Corin followed with more difficulty.In part, his progress was slowed by his handicap, but even more debilitating was his fear of heights.Despite his best efforts not to look down, Corin was well aware of the empty space yawning beneath him.With each step up, he had to make sure both feet were firmly planted on rungs of the same level before he dared to release the grip of his one good hand.Even with his amputated arm wrapped tightly around the metal pole, he felt as if he was on the verge of toppling over each time he let go of the ladder to reach for the next rung.The sensation of the ladder wobbling beneath his awk-ward, jerky movements did little to alleviate his fears.By the time he finally reached the top, Lhasha had used the shears to cut through the wire mesh over the ventilation chimney, and had already attached the spreader to the iron bars that blocked the opening.Corin could hear the groaning of the bars as the metal became fatigued from the stress being applied by Fendel's invention.Lhasha grunted softly with each turn of the screw, obviously it was hard, slow work.The air was still cool during these first few nights of the Sunsets, but Corin could see tiny beads of perspiration on Lhasha's forehead, the result of her efforts to try to bend the iron bars."Glad you made it," she said between breaths, noticing Corin standing above her."Maybe you could give this contraption a try, while I collapse the ladder."Corin nodded, still a little winded from the climb up.It hadn't been physically demanding, but he had been holding his breath virtually the whole way.He turned his attention to the bar spreader.Lhasha had clamped it onto two of the bars as Fendel had shown them, now it was simply a matter of turning the handle.With only one hand, Corin couldn't get the same leverage as Lhasha, but his superior strength more than compensated for the mechanical disadvantage.By the time Lhasha had the collapsible ladder stowed away in her backpack again, Corin had bent the bars enough to open a hole several feet wide.The mortars holding the iron bars in place had begun to crack and disintegrate into dust as the bars warped and twisted [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]