“Genasi?” Wigglefingers said with a gasp. He thought about it for a few moments, then burst out laughing. “Planetouched offspring of human and djinn, and now playing the eight-limbed beast with a halfling? Ha, but that’s grand!”
“And profitable,” said Donnola, and the clever pickpocket rolled her fingers around again and produced, again seemingly out of nowhere, another perfect pink pearl, of the type Pericolo’s people knew how to coax from the deepwater oysters. Pink and perfect and, because so few could get to them, quite rare. And rarer still, because Pericolo’s group alone understood the true value of these particular oysters. They harvested pink pearls, while others slobbily ate the creatures!
“Let me know when he wakes up,” the Grandfather instructed Donnola. “Obviously our little guest is in need of a good lesson or ten.”
He looked to Wigglefingers. “You have a pair of fine pearls to prepare, I do believe,” he said, and the mage seemed all too happy to comply, bowing and springing back lightly, then rushing to his work.
“This new recruit will prove to be a difficult project,” Pericolo warned Donnola when they were alone. “Headstrong and angry, I fear. I came upon him when he was taunting a group of far-older children-seeking a fight he could not win. Alas, his mother died giving birth to him.”
“And his father is a drunkard,” Donnola remarked. “Perhaps he has a reason for his anger.”
“Oh, indeed. And that, my dear granddaughter is the first thing we must coax out of him.”
Donnola rocked back on her heels and took a good long gander at Pericolo. “So you think there is more value about him than just a deep diver,” she stated flatly.
“He is full of talents,” Pericolo admitted. “He earns the name Spider as surely asked, and Catti-brie nodded awkwardly, and though he has grown from boy to man, his voice, of late, has reverted to a childlike pitch …”
Regis’s eyes popped open, and he frantically slapped at his arms and torso, trying desperately to put out the biting flames. He stopped abruptly, though not even realizing that there were no flames and no burns, and instead grabbed his head on either side, groaning loudly and closing his eyes very tight.
“Yes, it is not unlike the morning after a night of very heavy drinking,” he heard, and he slowly opened his eyes, squinting against the pain. He glanced to the side of his bed, to see a fabulously dressed, meticulously groomed older halfling relaxing in a comfortable chair. Regis knew this one, of course, and was not surprised.
“It will pass quickly.” Pericolo reached to a night table beside his chair and handed Regis a cup of water.
Regis just stared at him, not releasing his head, not reaching for the water. He did glance down at his bare arms, his expression one of puzzlement.
“Do not berate yourself too unkindly,” Pericolo said. “My wizard friend has spent years perfecting that fiery illusion-and that of the dogs, as well. The explosion would fool a seasoned assassin, let alone a mere child, and with the added benefit of the magical winds he imbued upon the door, how could you guess the dogs to be an illusion?”
Regis gradually released his grip on his throbbing head and accepted the cup from the Grandfather-the Grandfather of Assassins, he reminded himself, well aware of the implications of such a title, given his previous life in the murder-ridden city of Calimport. He looked at the clear liquid suspiciously, but then realized that if Pericolo Topolino had wanted him dead, he would already be dead.
He emptied the cup in one gulp.
“I was quite surprised, though pleasantly so do not doubt, that you would be so bold as to try to rob me,” Pericolo said. “Saves me the trouble of hunting you down, for you are a difficult one to find. Although I admit that I am confused as to why the sudden good fortunes of your family, at my purse, would bring you to such treachery.”
“Good fortunes?”
“You lived in a lean-to of rotting wood. Your father haunted the alleyways behind taverns to find discarded scraps of food. Now you have the comfort of a reputable inn to call home, and all the food you can eat.”
“And all the liquor Eiverbreen Parrafin can drink,” Regis added solemnly, staring hard at the Grandfather.
“Well, that is his choice, of course.”
“Your generosity will kill him.”
Pericolo sat up straighter, a clear tell to Regis. The Grandfather knew the truth of his generosity and had been caught off his guard that this mere child understood that truth.
“I’m not in the habit of telling others how to live their lives,” Pericolo said.
“Aren’t you, then? It is said that Grandfather Pericolo controls the docks of Delthuntle.”
Another surprised look came from Pericolo, and he slowly nodded asked, and Catti-brie nodded.we DR) Netheril
“My father was not unlike your own,” the Grandfather said, and it was Regis’s turn to wear a surprised look, both at the revelation and the tone of sympathy. He silently warned himself to stay on his guard, for Pericolo Topolino was certainly bound to be a master of deception, given his station.
But surely Pericolo seemed sincere as he continued, “I was more fortunate than you, my little Spider, for I did not lose my mother so young.”
“I never knew her.”
“I know,” Pericolo said. “Which makes your ascent all the more impressive. Your work is outstanding, and truly a boon to your family.”
They had walked a rhetorical circle, right back where they had started. Regis let his expression show that he did not much care for that.
“I watched you that day long ago when you taunted the older boys,” Pericolo said, catching him off his guard. “The glue on the whistle! Oh, but that was a grand and clever trick!”
“Truly I feel as if I have been spied upon,” Regis answered with dripping sarcasm.
“But you have, Spider!”
Regis reflexively began to correct the Grandfather regarding his name, almost blurting out his true name. Almost, but he stopped short, and not for any fear. Spider, he thought, and found that he more than accepted that particular moniker.
“What is it?” Pericolo asked, and Regis shook his head. “Your name is not Spider, then?” the too-perceptive Grandfather asked. “I have heard no other. Eiverbreen did not say …”
“Perhaps he doesn’t know.”
Pericolo looked at him curiously.
“If he did not care to give me a name, it is my right to choose my own, yes?” Pericolo laughed heartily. “Granted!” he said. “So choose!”
“Spider,” Regis replied with a wry grin and not the slightest hesitation. “Spider Parrafin.”
“You do me honor,” said Pericolo, and he stood up and bowed. “Indeed, I do like the name for you, given how easily you scaled the side of my house.” Regis considered it some more, but found himself nodding, fully accepting it. “Very well then, Spider it is, as we move forward.”
Regis nodded again as Pericolo sat back down, before a puzzled expression crossed his cherubic young face. “Move forward?” he echoed tentatively. “Of course.”
“You mean when you turn me over to the city guard, or when you read the judgment over me.”
“Hardly,” Pericolo said with another hearty laugh. “Judgment? Why, Spider, I have long judged you quite worthy! You may number me among your admirers.”
“I broke into your house, and perhaps not merely to steal-”
“Loyalty to your father!” Pericolo exclaimed. “Another commendable trait, though I hope you come to accept that Eiverbreen’s choices are Eiverbreen’s to make, and not Pericolo Topolino’s.”
“You are killing him,” Regis said grimly. “He is senseless most of the day, full of booze and choking on his own vomit.” led them at a great pace o the Desaion
“I am merely fulfilling my end of our bargain. In exchange for the oysters you fish.”
“Then you will get no more oysters from me.”
“You would go back to the rotting lean-to?”
“Yes,” Regis answered without the slightest hesitation. The easy path didn’t seem so alluring to Regis if it meant such distress for Eiverbreen.