by Dave Gross
“Don’t worry,” I said. “Once we figure it out, he’ll be his usual self again.”
Illyria gave me a weak smile, but it didn’t last long. She looked worried. I knew how she felt, but right there in plain sight of the boss, I figured I shouldn’t ought to get too friendly with her.
I went back down to the hearth. I drank a little water, ate some dry rations, and laid down back to back with Arni for a nap.
When I woke up, Illyria was sleeping on a nearby bench, which surprised me after all the fuss about summoning her own cottage on the road. Eando was laying down his bedroll, yawning into his fist before going straight down into a hard sleep.
I went up to check on the boss. Arnisant followed me, head hanging low.
The boss didn’t look up as I arrived. He just kept reading, jotting notes in his journal while his finger traced lines in the Tome. His face looked paler, and he was getting jowly. The Azlanti stones circled his head. Every once in a while, one would turn toward me like an eye that could see inside me.
The boss scratched away in his journal, rings clicking on his fingers.
I saw he had the Tome, the Lacuna Codex, and a copy of the Lexicon of Paradox in front of him. He’d marked the pages with little slips of paper. Arnisant lay down at the far end of the table, not at the boss’s foot like usual.
“Read any bad books lately?”
My voice startled him. He reached out to cover the books, all protective until he realized it was just me. He gulped and winced like it hurt. His hands were shaking.
“What is it?” he said. He went back to writing a note.
“I just wanted to see how you’re doing. Getting enough to eat?”
“No thanks to that woman. Between her hovering and that Pathfinder’s incessant questions, I will never master the more powerful spells in the Tome.”
“But you don’t need to master them. You’re going to destroy the book, right?”
He looked around, saw that no one else was nearby, and said, “There may be an alternative.”
“But you promised—”
“These pages contain more than knowledge. Combined with these stones and rings, they represent more power than anything we have ever encountered. Think of it, Radovan: The one who wields Zutha’s spells and weapons could transform the Empire.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “He could cast the infernal legions back to Hell.”
The boss was careful not to talk treason, but I knew how he felt. More than anybody, he hated the House of Thrune. He was one of the few who remembered what Cheliax was like before they came to power. The Jeggare family had to swear loyalty. If there was one thing everybody in Cheliax learned, it was that if you talked treason, it was only a matter of time before the inquisitors paid you a visit. And then it was only a matter of time before the Hellknights took you, and you ended up on the tines.
“Maybe let’s first break this curse,” I said.
He set down his pen and looked at me. His eyes were bloodshot. “Removing the curse could be counterproductive.”
“You remember how you asked me to tell you when you start to go peculiar?”
“Radovan!” He banged a fist on the table and right away looked like he regretted it. “If I seem passionate, it is because of the astonishing opportunity before me.” Arnisant perked up as the boss raised his voice. I looked across the room to see that Eando and Illyria were still sleeping.
“It’s just that Eando and Lady Illyria are worried about—”
“They do not bear the responsibility of a count of Cheliax. They are incapable of the risks and sacrifices demanded by great actions.”
I could tell by his glistening eyes that there was no arguing with him. “Just let me know what you need me to do.”
He crooked his finger. I moved close. He grabbed my neck with a clammy hand and whispered, “Find out what the others are saying. I can see them whispering about me.”
His eerie voice made me almost as sick as what he was saying. “Me and Arni, boss. We got your back.”
He nodded, turned away, and dipped his pen. “See that I am not disturbed.”
Too late for that, I thought.
* * *
We spent days like that, the wizards reading and making notes, the rest of us trying not to bother any of them. Every day Eando and Illyria moved farther away from the boss. Sometimes one of them would go over to talk to him until he snapped. They started writing notes and leaving them on his table before making quick getaways.
I started taking turns with Janneke checking on the carriage. On my third or fourth turn, I found Kaid’s Band burning orc bodies. The good news was the scouts spotted the marauders in time to set an ambush, and they didn’t lose a single woman. The bad news was a couple orcs got away riding dire wolves. If they didn’t move camp, the mercenaries could expect more company.
I told the boss, but he didn’t want to hear it. All he said anymore was, “I must not be disturbed.”
I resisted the urge to share my joke about that with the others. It might make them laugh, but I didn’t want them thinking I’d lost my faith in the boss.
I told them about the orcs, though. Svannostel said, “I will deal with them. Will you come with me, Night Bear?”
Kazyah nodded. She put on her bear hat and cloak, and picked up her earth breaker. They started to leave.
“I want to go,” said Janneke. She gave Zora a look. “Radovan, can you keep an eye on Zora?”
“Where’s she going to go?” I said.
“Just don’t let her escape.”
“Do I look like a jail keeper?”
“All right, the manacles it is.” She shrugged off her pack to find them.
“Dammit!” Zora let out a heavy sigh.
“Wait, wait,” I said. “All right. I promise I’ll keep an eye on her.”
Janneke smiled, and I knew she’d played me. “Thanks,” she said.
The big girls headed out.
“You’re really going to watch over me?” said Zora.
“You prefer the manacles?”
She shot me a dirty look.
“I knew an elf girl who liked manacles.”
“Why am I not surprised?”
I had an answer for that, but my heart wasn’t in it. The fact was, I didn’t like keeping prisoners, not even for Janneke. I looked at Zora pouting and asked, “Think you’re wearing her down?”
“Not really,” she said. “That hill giant wants her bounty.”
The way the boss was paying her, Janneke didn’t need the money. I’d asked her about it before, and she said it was all a question of professional pride. If it got out that she’d let Zora escape after capturing her, all the other bounty hunters would make fun of her.
I didn’t like to think about what would happen to Zora after she got turned in. She’d made someone real mad—probably a wizard. You don’t want to make a wizard mad. And if you do, you definitely don’t want to get caught. I said, “You got a plan?”
“Back in Kaer Maga, I hoped the count would buy her off. He seemed generous. Now I don’t know what to think of him.”
“He’ll be all right after we break the curse.”
“But will he make Janneke set me free?”
He could, if he wanted to. But I knew he wouldn’t. I shook my head. “The boss told Janneke she could take you in. In Cheliax, one of the worst things you can do is break a bargain.”
“Can’t you talk him out of it?”
“Not after he gave his word.”
She sighed and thought a while before talking again. “Listen, I’m not asking you to do anything. But it might help me if, at the right time, you did nothing. Just let me take my own chance.”
I touched the lump on my jacket where my harrow cards were. “You gonna keep your hands off my stuff?”
“I only did that to get your attention.” When I smiled, she added, “Not like that.”
“I get it. You had a spell on you. This Master, Ygresta, he told you not to warn
us about his plan, but he didn’t tell you not to pick my pocket.”
She nodded.
“I’ll think about it,” I said. “Meanwhile, until Janneke gets back, you stick to me like my shadow. Got it?”
“Got it. Say, there’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you.”
“Yeah?”
“What is it with you and dwarves?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I saw you jump out of your skin when you ran into some on Jeggare Street. Janneke made some remark, too. And when the dragon mentioned dwarves, you growled.”
“I don’t growl.”
“You did.”
“You were following me all the way from Jeggare Street to the Jug and got there before me?”
She shrank a little, like she expected me to be mad. “Yes.”
“You must have spied on me in Beggar’s Alley.”
“Maybe a little.”
“Huh. You’re better than I thought.”
She bloomed at the compliment. “So, dwarves?”
“It’s a long story.”
“It’s a long way to camp and back. Janneke won’t return for hours.”
“All right, here’s the short version: Janderhoff was the first bit of civilization we reached on the way back from Sarkoris. We’d had trouble with orcs all the way. The last band chased us right up to the gates of the city. Lucky for us, the boss had friends there. One of the guards actually started singing a song when he saw us. The boss sang back in dwarf talk. They did a little dance. It would have been comical if we weren’t half-starved. The dwarves saw we were in bad shape, so after the greetings, they brought us in for a big feast.
“Now the boss warned me not to play patty-fingers with the fancy dwarf ladies. I think his exact words were, ‘consign your attentions to the help.’ You know, on account of I’m not a noble. And, you know, hellspawn.”
“That doesn’t bother everybody,” said Zora.
“I know. I’m not exactly unlucky with the ladies.”
“But the dwarf ladies…?”
“So after we washed up and got a bite, I consigned my attentions to the help—or the ones I thought were the help. The boss was so tired, and he drank so much ale before I showed up from my bath, he left out one little detail. On special occasions, the dwarf nobles’ daughters serve the guests.”
“Oh no!”
“She was a pretty little thing, and friendly. You could say she was consigning her attentions to me, not the other way around.”
“You like to brag about the women you’ve known. Elf girls. Dwarf girls.”
“Don’t forget Sczarni girls,” I said with a wink. “It’s not bragging if it’s true. See, I can tell you like me.”
“I like how easy it was to make you chase me. I like how easy it was for me to lead you to Kaer Maga.”
“You like to think I’m going to let you go before Janneke gets back, but I won’t.”
“Not yet,” she said. “I have yet to work my charms on you.”
“Good luck with that. Anyway, we barely got out of Janderhoff alive. The girl’s father was going to kill me or make me marry her—I’m not entirely sure which. He was so drunk, and so was the boss, I couldn’t understand all the dwarf talk. Anyway, we didn’t wait long enough to find out.”
“It sounds like it was all an honest mistake.”
“The boss explained that dwarves think all mistakes are dishonest.”
“Goddamned dwarves,” she said.
“Goddamned dwarves.”
We went back to the library. Illyria and Eando were sitting farther away than ever. They’d been talking, but they changed the subject when they saw us coming.
Maybe the boss was right. They had been talking about him.
“Say, Radovan,” said Eando. “Jeggare keeps comparing the Gluttonous Tome with other books from his satchel, but he won’t let me see them. Do you know what they are?”
I knew, but I shrugged.
“Was one the Lacuna Codex?”
“The lagoon of what?”
He chuckled and shook his head, but Illyria gave me a hard look. She knew I was playing dumb.
As I walked away, Illyria and Eando started whispering again. They were in the same spot Illyria where had been when I’d heard her from the whispering corner. When we got far enough away, I nudged Zora. “Want to see something? Hear something, I mean.”
“Is that your idea of making a pass at me?”
“Nah, my passes are smooth.”
“Sure.”
Thinking all the time whether that meant she wanted me to make a pass at her, I took Zora to the gallery and stood her in the place. “Hear anything?”
She turned her head to listen. “Maybe a little. It sounds like voices.”
“Let me try.” It was the same for me, just some indistinct whispering at first.
Then I heard Kazyah’s voice: “I thought you would chase them all the way back to Urgir.”
The dragon’s voice said, “I’m grateful for your aid. Their sorcerers surprised me.”
“I wish they’d come back,” said Janneke. By her muffled voice, I figured she’d put on her helmet again. “I wanted to shoot the count’s scorpion.”
Someone else said something I couldn’t make out, and they lowered their voices.
“Let’s get back there,” I said.
There was a surprise waiting for me. Everybody except for the boss stood around a table, leaning over books they’d left open.
At first I thought someone new had showed up, an elf standing a full head taller than Janneke. Her eyes were a lightning-scarred sky, her skin the battered bronze of storm light at dusk. Even though I knew she had to be the dragon, she looked soft enough to touch.
Svannostel turned as we approach. She raised an eyebrow and looked right at me. “I suppose there’s something to be said for consistency of purpose.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“It’s what you were thinking of doing.”
I tried not to think about her soft blue lips and white hair, light as corn silk. Svannostel’s eyes widened. I was only making it worse.
“Come on, I can’t help it. Why don’t you look like a dragon instead?”
“My claws are hard on books.”
“What were you thinking?” Zora poked me in the arm.
“Never mind,” Svannostel and I said together.
“Say, Radovan,” said Eando. He pushed a few pages across the table at me. “Would you mind taking these notes to Jeggare?”
I looked at the parchment. He and Illyria had made some notes for the boss. “He might have questions for you.”
“He’s less likely to tear a strip off of you,” said Illyria.
“Such fearful little creatures!” Svannostel snatched up the pages and walked across the library toward the boss.
Eando looked after her, but I caught him glancing at me before he pretended to go back to reading. Illyria soon did the same. Kazyah and Janneke just sat there trying not to look like they’d stopped talking when I showed up.
Svannostel came back a few minutes later, a blue blush on her cheeks. She was mad as hell. “No mere half-elf dares speak to me in that manner. To be so reckless, he is farther gone than we thought. The stones of the Crown activated as soon as I drew near. I could feel the rings humming with power. He has charged them with spells.”
Kazyah stood. “Then it is time.”
“Time for what?” I said.
“Radovan,” said Illyria. She came to me and put her hand on my arm. “Come with me. Let’s all retire to the gallery so as not to disturb the count.”
I shrugged off her arm, but I followed her. We all did. I took a seat on one of the benches. Zora sat next to me, but the others formed a little half circle.
“We know how loyal you are to Count Jeggare,” said Illyria. “We need you to help us help him.”
“Forget it.”
“You don’t even know what we’re suggestin
g.”
“Whatever it is, you should tell it to him. I don’t like this secret meeting stuff.”
“He’ll never find a way to break the curse in the Tome, or either of his other cursed books for that matter,” said Eando. “He’s not even searching anymore. He’s spent all this time trying to learn the spells.”
“Good!” I said. “Maybe one of them can destroy the book.”
“You know he won’t destroy the book,” said Svannostel. Her face darkened. She grew taller, wings unfolding from her shoulders, what had looked like patterns on her gown spreading out to become her scales. In a moment, she towered over us. “He is giving in to its seduction. He will become the runelord!”
“Then get the book away from him.”
“No one can do that,” said the dragon. “You’ve seen how it hovers near him. The book is bound to its master.”
“But the boss took Eando’s book away.”
“Not exactly,” said Eando. “I could feel it back in Kaer Maga, when we each held one. It wasn’t Jeggare taking it from me. It was the Codex calling to the Grimoire.”
“Besides,” said Illyria, “if it’s true that Varian is descended from Runelord Zutha—”
“It is true,” said Kazyah. “I asked my ancestors.”
“—then even a more powerful wizard might not be able to take it from him.”
“Besides,” added Eando, “there’s no fourth part of the book. It’s complete.”
“But we do know that Professor Ygresta escaped the curse through death,” Illyria said.
“Sure, but he had someone ready to bring him back from the dead.”
“So do we,” said the dragon. She arched her neck over Kazyah, pretty much the one thing I could imagine making the shaman look small. “The Night Bear has scrolls.”
“The oracle was entrusted with them in case a great hero of our people should fall,” said Kazyah. “He passed them to me.”
Once I’d seen a cleric use a magic scroll to bring a fallen general back to life on a battlefield. It was a rare and expensive spell, so I knew they’d never do one for me. The boss was rich and important back home, but we were a long way from there. I sensed a catch. “The boss isn’t a great hero of your people.”
