Mirt glanced back, but could see nothing more than a lot of sparks and cinders, high above the roofs of Waterdeep. Then the horns of the Watch started-the full alarm-call that would summon the Guard, and mages, and-
"The Portal" Durnan reminded his friend.
Mirt lurched two steps more along the way back to the inn before the air in front of them flickered, and the Keeper of Secrets was suddenly standing in front of them, her eyes glittering with anger.
"Gentlesirs, I find I need you," she said.
"Us? Upstanding merchants of Waterdeep?" Mirt grunted.
Taunamorla smiled thinly and said, "Indeed. Upstanding merchants of the city are precisely what I'm in need of, just now."
"How so?"
"Your word will be accepted by the Watch-and I can bargain with you."
"You want us to lie about something," Durnan observed. "About what, and for what reward?"
"My thanks for your haste," the Keeper of Secrets said in a rush, giving him a smile that might warm most men's hearts. "I will trade you all of Yelver's secrets for a few words of false testimony."
"Say on," Mirt rumbled. "What testimony?"
"To defend his very life, a friend of mine was just forced to trade spells with several Watchful Order mages. Men died-a lot of men, some of those mages and officers of the Watch among them-and I need you to swear that this friend of mine was with you, since you left my office earlier this night."
Durnan lifted a disbelieving eyebrow and replied, "Our word against many of the Watch? Lady, you overestimate our reputations. If they know they saw him, the protests of an innkeeper and a moneylender aren't going to-"
"When fighting the Watch, my friend wore a magical disguise. He looked like a dragon, not like himself."
Durnan cast a swift, questioning glance at Mirt-who looked straight at Taunamorla and shook his head.
"Nay," Mirt grunted. "Yelver's secrets were worth seventeen dragons to me-if they could lead to the recovery of all my loaned coins. Knowing just who an' what ye truly are-for peace of mind alone-could be worth much more, in the years ahead. So that would be my price. Full and honest answers to these: What manner of creature are ye, lady? When came ye to Waterdeep, an' why? The answer that stands behind keeping secrets for worms like Yelver, mind ye."
"Do you know what you're asking?" the Keeper of Secrets asked.
"Aye, lady, I believe I do."
Torches flickered behind them, and there were shouts. Cries of discovery from the Watch, and hastening feet. The woman in the green cloak glanced over Mirt and Durnan's shoulders, her mouth drawing down into a tight line.
"I'm out of time," she snapped. "I, Taunamorla, agree to this bargain. Do you, Durnan of Waterdeep? And do you, Mirt of Waterdeep?"
"Lady, I do," Durnan said. "By blood and my last coin I bind myself."
"Lady, I do," Mirt echoed, hard after his friend's words. "By blood an' my last coin I bind myself." And he added less formally, "Though 'twould help if we at least knew thy friend's name."
"Raumorth, he's called," the Keeper of Secrets said swiftly, as the Watch thundered down upon them in a thunder of running boots, clanging blades, and angry shouts. "I accept your bindings."
"And where is Raumorth?" Durnan asked urgently.
"Right behind you," Taunamorla hissed.
The two friends whirled around-to meet the cold smile of a man they'd seen before: the tall, cloaked man who'd been walking toward them as they'd questioned the Keeper near the ruins of her shop. His hands were raised-as if he'd been ready to blast Mirt and Durnan down. Not far beyond him was a running pack of armored men: a great mustering of the Watch.
"I'm a mage from Tethyr." Raumorth's voice was deep and rich. "You don't know me well, but you've befriended me-a trader and traveling investor who's visited Waterdeep once a season or so, for years."
"Of course," Durnan agreed, smiling at the man and stepping casually past him so that the foremost Watch officer's sword no longer had a clear path to Raumorth's back.
"Way! Make way! Stand aside, man!" that onrushing Watchman bellowed.
Mirt and Raumorth winked at each other-and obediently stepped back, Durnan with them, the three men parting like windblown leaves to leave the Watch a clear path to charge at… the Keeper of Secrets.
Who suddenly looked bewildered and flustered, as she squeaked, "Ohh! The Watch! The Watch!"
"Stand! Stand all, in silence! Down all arms!" a deeper, grander voice commanded.
"My arms don't come off," Mirt explained innocently, "but I am standing."
By then the Watch had surrounded the four, and tense silence was falling. The officer who'd spoken glared coldly at the fat moneylender.
"I know you, Mirt."
"Yes," Mirt agreed with a broad smile. "As I recall, ye owe me eleven dragons, four shards-unless ye're late paying me by highsun tomorrow, whereupon-"
"Enough" barked the Watch commander. "Now keep silence for a moment or so." He turned his head deliberately to gaze at Durnan. "You're also known to me, Durnan of the Yawning Portal, in Castle Ward."
"At your service."
"Undoubtedly. However, these two with you….Good lady, you were seen outside a certain shop this night, and stand under the suspicion of the Watch. Your name, citizenry, and trade."
The answer was a tremulous, "Taunamorla Esmurla, a scribe, formerly of Amn but now of Waterdeep. I–I've done nothing wrong!"
"And I," said Raumorth firmly, "am a trader from Tethyr, arrived in Waterdeep just this day, who stopped to talk with Mirt and Durnan, whom I've done business with in earlier visits down the years, and regard as friends. I've no intention of doing anything that merits pointing so many loaded crossbows at me, Watchmen, and I'd appreciate it if you'd lower them "
The crossbows wavered not a fingerbreadth, and the Watch commander scowled.
"You were seen outside that same shop," he snarled, "and were observed to change into the shape of a great dragon-"
"A fang dragon, sir," one of the other Watch officers murmured.
"A fang dragon, indeed," the commander continued, "and in that form did spell-battle with officers of the Watch, including wizards acting in defense of this city and its peace and safe order. Wherefore I arres-"
"Hoy, hoy, hoy now!" Mirt protested. "Raumorth here's been with us for… well, since we all left Taunamorla's shop together. That was some time back, as we've not been walking all that swiftly, and-"
"Yes," Durnan said firmly, looking at the Watch commander. "I'd take it very poorly if my word was set aside, here on the street, before all the watching city. Raumorth here's been walking with us. If he can somehow be in two places at once, changing into dragons and hurling spells all over the place, then he's a mightier mage than any I've ever heard of! Why don't we all go to Blackstaff Tower, right now, and you can ask them if such a thing's even possible. Raumorth's been walking at my side, alive and solid-I know, because I clapped him on the arm more than once!"
"Ohhh," Taunamorla gasped, going pale, "do you mean … a dragon, lots of spells … is my shop all right?"
The Watch commander blinked and asked, "What shop is yours, lady? I don't recall seeing a quill signboard anywhere near the…"
"I," Taunamorla Esmurla said, "am better known in Waterdeep as the Keeper of Secrets."
"What? Don't move…"
Several Watchmen shouted at once, and a crossbow fired, its quarrel humming off into the night sky.
Quietly and without any fuss, six hulking dragons had faded into view behind Taunamorla. There wasn't quite enough room in the street for the two at either end of the sudden great mountain of scaled flesh. Signboards and balcony railings shattered and fell like tossed kindling.
Raumorth made a swift, intricate gesture, and Mirt and Durnan felt their skin tingling. Then the mage clapped his hands to their forearms and towed them toward the nearest alley mouth, scant moments before Watch halberds stabbed through-their own immobile images, that still stood in a cluster facing the raging Watch commander.