"And if I don't?" Bastro asked defiantly.
"Are you saying that was not what happened in your office?" the
speaker of the three dwarves asked.
Bastro seemed to be mulling over his choices, but soon said, "No…no,
that's how it happened. The statue must have malfunctioned and gone
beserk for a moment. It happens to old enchantments sometimes. I had
underestimated you, young lady," he said to Ehlissa. "You are an
excellent…bargainer. I look forward to learning where this class of
yours will be held. After that, I trust we will not cross paths
again."
"Come, let's all leave here at once," Tenser said as he motioned for
the five women to move back with his hands. If he said more after
that, Ehlissa could not hear it over the chatter that sprang up from
her friends all at once, all wanting every detail of what had
happened.
Ehlissa held off the questioning and, breaking free of their ranks,
stopped Tenser before he could part from them at the intersection of
hallways. "Wait," she called out, and Tenser turned and stopped.
"How did you know where I was?"
Tenser took a step back towards her. He rubbed his chest where it had
been kicked. "That was easy enough. I was in that class that let out
right down the hall there as you came in. I saw you turn your back
and head down this other hall, reserved for senior guildsmen. Then
one of the other senior guildsmen, Ringlerun, pulled me aside, said
you might need some help, and gave me the command word for the statue
outside Bastro's office. I think Ringlerun has the office next to
his."
Ehlissa processed all that as much as she could. "So…I owe you my
life," she said, her heart suddenly lighter than it had been in days.
"I can't let something happen to my future adventuring partner, can
I?" Tenser answered.
The answer was intended with good humor, delivered with a wink and a
grin, but it brought back with it a little bit of that weight on her
heart that Ehlissa thought for just a moment had lifted.
"And don't forget that he could have dispatched us easily if more
witnesses had not turned up in time," Tenser added.
"We saved Ehlissa's life!" Eura shouted gleefully. "Who wants to go
celebr
ate?"
Everyone was cheerful save Ehlissa who walked with her head down and
almost walked right into Gleed.
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