came not for food, merely for information," he explained. "They know I am in Calimport."
"Many guilds know," LaValle confirmed with a nod. "And yes, I did know. I saw you through my crystal ball as, I am sure, have many of the wizards of the other pashas. You have not exactly been traveling from shadow to shadow."
"Should I be?" Entreri asked. "I came in with no enemies, as far as I know, and with no intent to make any."
LaValle laughed at the absurd notion. "No enemies?" he asked. "Ever have you made enemies. The creation of enemies is the obvious side product of your dark profession." His chuckle died fast when he looked carefully at the not-amused assassin, the wizard suddenly realizing that he was mocking perhaps the most dangerous man in all the world.
"Why did you scry me?" Entreri asked.
LaValle shrugged and held up his hands as if he didn't understand the question. "That is my job in the guild," he answered.
"So you informed the guildmaster of my return?"
"Pasha Quentin Bodeau was with me when your image came into the crystal ball," LaValle admitted.
Entreri merely nodded, and LaValle shifted uncomfortably.
"I did not know it would be you, of course," the wizard explained. "If I had known, I would have contacted you privately before informing Bodeau to learn your intent and your wishes."
"You are a loyal one," Entreri said dryly, and the irony was not lost on LaValle.
"I make no pretensions or promises," the wizard replied. "Those who know me understand that I do little to upset the balance of power about me and serve whoever has weighted his side of the scale the most."
"A pragmatic survivor," Entreri said. "Yet did you not just tell me that you would have informed me had you known? You do make a promise, wizard, a promise to serve. And yet, would you not be breaking that promise to Quentin Bodeau by warning me? Perhaps I do not know you as well as I had thought. Perhaps your loyalty cannot be trusted."
"I make a willing exception for you," LaValle stammered, trying to find a way out of the logic trap. He knew beyond a doubt that Entreri would try to kill him if the assassin believed that he could not be trusted.
And he knew beyond a doubt that if Entreri tried to kill him, he would be dead.
"Your mere presence means that whichever side you serve has weighted the scale in their favor," he explained. "Thus, I would never willingly go against you."
Entreri didn't respond other than to stare hard at the man, making LaValle shift uncomfortably more than once. Entreri, having little time for such games and with no real intention of harming LaValle, broke the tension, though, and quickly. "Tell me of the guild in its present incarnation," he said. "Tell me of Bodeau and his lieutenants and how extensive his street network has become."
"Quentin Bodeau is a decent man," LaValle readily complied. "He does not kill unless forced into such a position and steals only from those who can afford the loss. But many under him, and many other guilds, perceive this compassion as weakness, and thus the guild has suffered under his reign. We are not as extensive as we were when Pook ruled or when you took the leadership from the halfling Regis." He went on to detail the guild's area of influence, and the assassin was indeed surprised at how much Pook's grand old guild had frayed at the edges. Streets that had once been well within Pook's domain were far out of reach now, for those avenues considered borderlands between various operations were much closer to the guild house.
Entreri hardly cared for the prosperity or weakness of Bodeau's operation. This was a survival call and nothing more. He was only trying to get a feeling for the current layout of Calimport's underbelly so that he might not inadvertently bring the wrath of any particular guild down upon him.
LaValle went on to tell of the lieutenants, speaking highly of the potential of young Chalsee and warning Entreri in a deadly serious tone, but one that hardly seemed to stir the assassin, of Dog Perry.
"Watch him closely," LaValle said again, noting the assassin's almost bored expression. "Dog Perry was beside me when we scried you, and he was far from happy to see Artemis Entreri returned to Calimport. Your mere presence poses a threat to him, for he commands a fairly high price as an assassin, and not just