comfortable demeanor or some barely perceptible extraneous noise.
LaValle turned around then and jumped back just a bit upon seeing Entreri standing in the middle of the room. Again the assassin's perceptions nagged at him. The wizard didn't seem frightened or surprised enough.
"Did you believe that Dog Perry would defeat me?" Entreri asked sarcastically.
"Dog Perry?" LaValle came back. "I have not seen the man-"
"Do not lie to me," Entreri calmly interrupted. "I have known you too long, LaValle, to believe such ignorance of you. You watched Dog Perry, without doubt, as you know all the movements of all the players."
"Not all, obviously," the wizard replied dryly, indicating the uninvited man.
Entreri wasn't so sure of that last claim, but he let it pass. "You agreed to warn me when Dog Perry came after me," he said loudly. If the wizard had guild bodyguards nearby, let them hear of his duplicity. "Yet there he was, dagger in hand, with no prior warning from my friend LaValle."
LaValle gave a great sigh and moved to the side, slumping into a chair. "I did indeed know," he admitted. "But I could not act upon that knowledge," he added quickly, for the assassin's eyes narrowed dangerously. "You must understand. All contact with you is forbidden."
"Kelp-enwalled," Entreri remarked.
LaValle held his hands out helplessly.
"I also know that LaValle rarely adheres to such orders," Entreri went on.
"This one was different," came another voice. A slender man, well dressed and coifed, entered the room from the wizard's study.
Entreri's muscles tensed; he had just checked out that room, along with the other two in the wizard's suite, and no one had been in there. Now he knew beyond doubt that he had been expected.
"My guildmaster," LaValle explained. "Quentin Bodeau."
Entreri didn't blink; he had already guessed that much.
"This kelp-enwalling order came not from any particular guild, but from the three most prominent," Quentin Bodeau clarified. "To go against it would have meant eradication."
"Any magical attempt I might have made would have been detected," LaValle tried to explain. He gave a chuckle, trying to break the tension. "I did not believe it would matter, in any case," he said. "I knew that Dog Perry would prove no real test for you."
"If that is so, then why was he allowed to come after me?" Entreri asked, aiming the question at Bodeau.
The guildmaster only shrugged and said, "Rarely have I been able to control all the movements of that one."
"Let that bother you no more," Entreri replied grimly.
Bodeau managed a weak smile. "You must appreciate our position ..." he started to say.
"I am to believe the word of the man who ordered me murdered?" Entreri asked incredulously.
"I did not-" Bodeau began to argue before being cut off by yet another voice from the wizard's study, a woman's voice.
"If we believed that Quentin Bodeau, or any other ranking member of his guild knew of and approved of the attack, this guild house would be empty of living people."
A tall, dark-haired woman came through the door, flanked by a muscular warrior with a curving black mustache and a more slender man, if it was a man, for Entreri could hardly make out any features under the cowl of the dark cloak. A pair of armored guards strode in behind the trio, and though the last one through the door shut it behind him, Entreri understood that there was likely another one about, probably another wizard. There was no way such a group could have been concealed in the other room, even from his casual glance, without magical aid. Besides, he knew, this group was too comfortable. Even if they were all skilled with weapons, they could not be confident that they alone could bring Entreri down.
"I am Sharlotta Vespers," the woman said, her icy eyes flashing. "I give you Kadran Gordeon and Hand, my fellow lieutenants in the guild of Pasha Basadoni. Yes, he lives still and is glad to see you well."
Entreri knew that to be a lie. If Basadoni were alive the guild would have contacted him much earlier, and in a less dangerous situation.
"Are you affiliated?" Sharlotta asked.
"I was not when I left Calimport, and I only recently came back to the city," the assassin answered.
"Now you are affiliated," Sharlotta purred, and Entreri understood that he was in no position to deny her claim.
So he would not be killed-not now, at least. He would not have to spend his nights looking over his shoulder for would be assassins nor deal with the impertinent advances of