“My what? Oh, Ben?” Gin said, looking over her shoulder. “Yes, I suppose he followed me in here. He said that the hall sounded like a cat fight so I came as soon as I…you two worked out what you were fighting over?” Gin stammered. Anni looked at bit too comfortable next to Sath. She was almost in his lap! The tune she was playing changed slightly as the bard focused her attention on Gin. “He’s not me…I mean my wizard, he’s not that, Sath, what’s happening here?”
“What do you mean, Gin?” Sath said. Gin’s gaze locked on his for a moment and he blinked, seeming puzzled. The tune started over just then, though, and his gaze again softened as he looked toward Gin and Taeben. “Nothing’s going on here. Anni and I have been talking about old times, and she’s catching me up on life back home.” Gin sucked in a breath as Sath ran his claws down Anni’s back and she arched in response, purring loudly. “We have a lot more in common than I thought, it seems.”
Gin took a step backward. “But you and I…I mean, with the others…are we going to keep traveling together?” She shook her head, trying to clear it.
“Oh, aye, eventually,” Sath said. “Once we’ve all recovered from our ordeal and you’ve rid yourself of…unpleasant and unwelcome company,” he said, staring pointedly at Taeben. The music grew a bit louder, and Gin could almost make out Anni whispering something to Sath. He laughed loudly and smiled back at her. A hot, steely pain resonated through Gin’s heart as she recognized the smile as one he had reserved for her in the recent past.
“Not possible,” she muttered to herself. “It’s not possible. This is NOT possible.” She backed out of the main room of the grand hall, almost running over Taeben in her regress. “He hated her. She tried to…do I mean nothing to…” Gin gripped the wall as she stood in the foyer. Taeben reached out to steady her but stopped, his hand hanging in midair just behind her shoulder. She turned to face him and he removed his hand quickly. “It’s like…like she’s charmed him or something?”
“I’m not sure what you mean, Ginny,” Taeben said, hoping the use of the childhood nickname would snap her out of the lull that Anni had put her in with the music from her lute. He carefully touched her arm, and smiled inwardly when she did not flinch away from him. “Why don’t we leave them here for now and go join your friends for that pint at the tavern, hmm? Perhaps the crisp evening air will clear your head, tis a bit stuffy with incense in here I must say.” Again, he tried to push into her mind but found that same barrier as before. Make her come with me, he silently commanded Anni, smiling wickedly as the song changed and intensified. Gin blinked twice, and then turned her face up to Taeben’s.
“Maybe that would help,” she said. “Let’s go. I just…” She looked over her shoulder at Sath and Anni just as Sath took Anni’s face in his paw and brought her close to him, sniffing deeply. Gin’s shoulders sagged as she turned back to Taeben. “Yes, let’s go.” The wizard wound his slender arm around her and led her to the hall door, watching more carefully this time as she opened all the locks and then the door.
Have the Cat change those once we are gone, he silently commanded Anni.
Yes… What should I call you?
Sir will be just fine, Anni, Taeben thought, grinning.
Yes, Sir.
Taeben tightened his grip on Gin’s shoulders and led her out into the lobby as Anni slithered closer to Sath, nuzzling her head into his neck and purring loudly. The wizard inhaled deeply, reveling in the smell of sunflowers.
Teeand looked up when the tavern door opened and scowled. Elysiam had her back to the door, so she did not see what made the dwarf’s face contort. “What is it, Tee?” she asked.
“It’s Gin, and that wizard,” he said, his voice barely a whisper. “I had hoped I’d never see that charlatan alive again.”
“All of us hoped that,” Hackort added. The gnome wiggled around in his seat and stared at the door as Gin stood there, looking forlorn and lost, with Taeben’s arm around her shoulder. As soon as the wizard made eye contact with the three of them, his arm slipped off Gin and his face contorted into a frown. Hackort hopped off his seat and scampered over to Gin, his face split wide in a grin. “Ginny!” he exclaimed as he threw his arms around her knees. She absently patted him on the head.
“Ginolwenye, what’s the matter?” Teeand said in his language, jumping to his feet and running to her side. He wrapped his arm around her and guided her to their table. “Did the wizard do something to you, Flower?” he whispered as he helped her to her seat.
“No,” she said, her words as hollow and quiet as her stare.
“Gin, where’s Sath?” Elysiam asked, her eyes narrowing as she locked her gaze on Taeben, who glared back at her.
“Sath is with Anni,” Gin whispered. Tears welled up in her eyes but did not escape. She wiped her eyes on her leather bracer and then held her face in her hands a moment to get herself together. “They have a lot in common and he seems…he seems…” She stopped a moment before she started sobbing again.
“He what?” Teeand exclaimed. “That’s impossible, he…that’s impossible!”
Taeben moved to stand behind Gin’s chair. “We saw it with our own eyes, didn’t we Ginny?” he said, putting his hands protectively on her shoulders. Teeand’s eyes narrowed as he noticed that Gin did not shrug Taeben’s hands off.
“I am the only one that calls her that,” Hackort said, balling up his fists. “Not you, wizard.”
“His name is Ben… Taeben,” Gin said. “He is a childhood friend of mine and I think we could use his firepower when we’re hunting, especially if Sath is…well, he said that he would be hunting with us again eventually, but…”
“Right, I’m off. Be right back,” Teeand said, stomping out of the tavern. Hackort returned to his seat and finished the rest of his pint of ale as Elysiam glared at Taeben across the top of her mug.
“Here, have a seat Ben,” Gin said, patting the empty chair that Teeand vacated. “And call me Gin, Hack isn’t kidding that he’s the only one that calls me that.” Taeben inclined his head to her, put on his best smile, and sat down.
“Sathlir Clawsharp!” Tee bellowed as he made quick work of the locks on the grand hall door and shoved it open. “SATH! Where are you?”
“What’s got your beard on fire, Tee?” Sath asked as he came around the corner from the stairway that led to the upstairs rooms. Anni trailed behind him, stopping cold in her tracks in the doorway as soon as she saw Teeand standing there.
“NOT in front of her,” Tee said. “I need to speak to you. Alone.”
Sath’s eyes narrowed. “Anything you need to say to me you can say in front of Anni, Tee. Since when do we not trust each other?”
“YOU, I trust,” Tee said. “HER? Not so much.” He folded his arms across his chest. “But if that’s the way you want to play it, fine.” He walked over to Sath who knelt so that he was eye to eye with the dwarf. “Tell me that you are with Anni of your own free will and I will leave it alone,” he said in his own language, knowing that Sath was as fluent in it as he was in Qatunari. Many nights in many different dungeons across Orana had left them with plenty of time for language learning. Sath’s eyes were like slits in his furry face as he stared at Teeand. In the next room, Anni held her breath. There was no time to start up the lute again, so she hummed the tune as quietly as she could.
“Of course I am, Tee, don’t be ridiculous,” Sath said, his language as fluent as ever. “I’m trying not to be offended at the question.” Anni, who could not understand them, let out a relieved sigh at his tone, but kept humming the tune as she did so. She came through the doorway into the main room, and then moved closer to them.
“How is Gin?” she asked, looking as concerned as she could manage. She had no idea what they were saying in the funny, grunty-sounding language that she could only assume was that of the Dwarves. “She left so quickly, I was concerned that something was wrong.”
“Nothing is wrong with her. And I’ll be going now, if you don’t mind.
I know when I’m being a third wheel,” Teeand said scowling.
“What’s going on, Tee?” Sath said, looking concerned.
“Nothing at all, Your Highness,” Tee said in flawless Qatunari. “You know where to find us if you want to hunt again.” The dwarf turned on his heel, rage burning in his eyes as he stalked out of the grand hall.
Anni moved closer to Sath and put her hand on his forearm. He covered it with his own and squeezed slightly. “That was about me, wasn’t it?” she purred as she buried her face in his fur. He turned to face her, lifting her chin until she looked him in the eyes.
“It doesn’t matter,” Sath said. “All that matters now is how happy you’ve made me. I cannot believe I didn’t see it before. I had forgotten the beauty of our language, having spent time only with those who either cannot speak it at all or at the least not well. And as for you…All this time we’ve known each other,” he murmured as he ran a claw down the side of her face, “and I never noticed how lovely you are.”
“You flatter me, Highness,” she said, blushing.
“Anni,” Sath said, his eyes dancing. “Please, call me Sath? I find that I like it very much when you say my name.”
“Sath,” she said, barely getting the name off her lips before he pulled her to him in a rough kiss. Anni melted into him, her heart soaring. You were right, Sir, she thought.
Just keep him there, came Taeben’s silent command.
Forever, Sir. Forever. This I swear. Anni forgot all about wizards and magical tunes and gave herself over to Sathlir, her spirit leaping with joy when, without her tune, he continued the kiss. He was hers, finally, and he would forget about that wretched little wood elf and his life here among these commoners. They would rule Qatu’anari.
Sath did not think about what he was doing, only that he had to do it. Why not? Anni was utterly devoted to him. She was his kind. They had grown up together. She understood him, she spoke his language. He pulled her closer to him, drinking in her scent as he did, feeling her claws rake down his back. A memory nagged at him, one that he could not quiet form in his mind. It was like looking at something through a dirty window. And why on earth was the lingering scent of sunflowers in his nose, or the feeling of tiny fingers, not Qatu claws but human-like fingers winding their way into his fur…why were those thoughts poking at him from somewhere way back in his mind?
“Are you all right?” Anni asked him, and he looked down at her, puzzled. Her eyes engulfed him and he felt like he was lit with emerald fire that sizzled the length and breadth of his body and his mind. It was a good feeling; a safe, warm, and happy feeling and he sighed, content.
“I am,” he murmured. “As long as you are with me. Please, Anni, promise me you will not ever leave me, as my mother left my father? Can you promise me that?”
“Oh, aye Sathlir. I will never leave you,” she said, tears shining in her eyes. “Never.”
“Well?” Hackort asked, in a voice thick with the drowsiness that always accompanied a night at the tavern. Elysiam was already asleep on the table; her head was nestled on her folded arms. Hackort rubbed her arm from time to time and she would murmur something to him about waking her up that involved a weapon or threat of a magical swarm. He would wait until she was almost unconscious again and then rub her arm, grinning wickedly. “What did you find out from Sath? When is he joining us to hunt?”
“He isn’t,” Teeand said brusquely as he flopped down in a chair. “I suppose I’m too late for last call, am I?” One of the tavern girls heard him and, winking at him, shook her head as she headed off behind the bar to pull him a pint.
“What do you mean he isn’t?” Gin said, rousing from her half sleep. She was leaning against Taeben who met Teeand’s disapproving look with a glare. Sitting up in her chair, she leaned across the table and took Teeand’s weathered hand in both of hers. “He told me himself that he would join us…oh…once I had…” She looked back at Taeben apologetically but he waved her off.
“No worries, Ginny,” he said, his slender fingered hands raised in a gesture of finality. “I know that none of your companions know me and they are certainly right not to trust me after the circumstances that recently forced us into each other’s lives.” Elysiam looked up from the table and said something untoward at Taeben in Gnomish before putting her head back down, leaving Hackort to blush madly. He stood and started collecting his things, and then took Gin’s hand in his. “I only hope that you will continue in safety and success, my old friend, and that if you and yours ever have need of me you will not hesitate to ask. I am forever in your debt for rescuing me from the clutches of that hag in the Tower.”
“Wait, wizard,” Teeand said, not breaking eye contact with Gin. “If our Gin thinks enough of you that she’ll welcome you into our little family then I’ll not be the one t’say no.” He took the mug from the barmaid and took a long drink, and then put it down on the table. “Another, my dearie, and one for our skinny friend here. In fact, you might bring us all some stew, and him a double portion, he looks like it wouldn’t take much to blow him over.” The girl giggled and scampered off to the back to order the stew and then to the bar to pull another round of pints for them all.
“Thank you, Tee,” Gin said, smiling at Taeben who felt like his heart and mind might just burst right out of his body. “You’ll see, it will be good having Ben around, he’s always said himself that he was one of the brightest wizards of our age.” She grinned at him, poking him in the ribs playfully as he sat back down. “Truthfully, though, he’s made some bad decisions but who among us hasn’t? I think that he has more than done his time for his past while being held by that awful woman in the Tower and by Lord Taanyth in the Keep.”
“I suppose,” Hackort said slowly, “that I can put your name back on my list for now. After all, you need us to keep you safe from the dragons and dragonkind, it seems. But I’ll be watching you, wizard, you understand?”
“I do, thank you good sir gnome, Hackort was it?” Taeben said, trying to keep the grin he felt from exploding across his face. “And your lady there, I won’t wake her.” Hackort erupted with laughter, waking Elysiam as he scrambled not to tip over his mug of ale.
“My what?” he said, overcome with giggles. Gin wiped the tears from her eyes as she laughed along, and even Tee chuckled a bit. Elysiam looked from face to face, fury spreading across her face like a wildfire through a forest.
“What is so funny?” she demanded, looking at each in turn and then settling on Taeben. “What is HE doing here and where is Sath?”
“Taeben is going to join us hunting,” Teeand said, holding up a finger as Elysiam opened her mouth to protest, “on our Gin’s recommendation.” Elysiam looked at Gin for confirmation, and then studied a loose thread on her tunic after Gin nodded; she was clearly hurt by the trust Gin was placing in Taeben. “Sathlir has taken another path for now, with those of his own kind.” He swallowed hard, pushing both anger and sadness back down into manageable forms in his chest as he did. “We wish him well. In fact,” he said as the girl returned with their pints, “to Sathlir and his Anni, may he find whatever it is he’s after.”
Hackort and Taeben raised their mugs and joined the toast. Elysiam raised her mug and remained silent, and Gin pushed her chair back from the table. She locked eyes with Teeand for a long moment, and then left the table and headed out the door of the tavern. Taeben stood as if to follow her, but Teeand grabbed the elf’s arm.
“Let her have this one, Taeben,” he cautioned. “There are strong feelings there that she needs to work through. She will be back though. Our Gin is a loyal one. She knows who her family is.” Taeben nodded and took his seat again, deciding that he would have to ingratiate himself to this crowd if he was ever going to get Gin away from them.
Outside the tavern, Gin ran toward a small hill just behind the stone building that housed a variety of traders for explorers who had been lucky on their travels and wished to trade. She skidded to a stop and flopped down into the
grass, breathing in the scent of the tiny flowers that grew there and finally releasing the tidal wave of sobs that had threatened to overcome her.
How many times had she sat just there, just in the few weeks prior, her spell book open, trying to memorize her magic while Sath sat opposite, training his magical tiger? How many times had he yanked the spell book from under her nose, knowing there was no way she could reach it, just to get her to relax and laugh for a bit? She looked back toward the Great Hall. It was there, in the grand marble building, that their former leader had introduced them, and had asked Sath to keep an eye on Gin. “Make her feel at home here, Sathlir,” he had said, “for I fear our little druid has had a rough start of it, and doesn’t know quite where she fits in our world.”
“I’ve found my place now, Cat,” she whispered as she dried her eyes on her tunic. “Seems like you have as well.” Memories of Sath holding Anni in his arms surrounded her, threatening to smother her with their vividness. “Good luck to you, Sathlir Clawsharp, and to your Anni, that neither of you ever cross my path again.” Gin held her head in her hands and sat very still, meditating and trying to forget how Sath’s voice sounded or his fur felt. “Good riddance,” she said in a whisper. “Good riddance.”
Sath and Anni left the grand hall and lobby, heading for the path to the north that his sister had taken earlier that evening. Anni reached out and took hold of his tail as she followed along behind him, and for a moment, a memory surfaced and Sath turned back, expecting to see Gin’s tiny fingers holding on to his tail as she had done in the past so that she would not get lost. However, all he saw was Anni, and because he could not really remember why he was expecting anything any different, he returned her smile and turned back to the path. As they followed the cobblestone road that led out of the Outpost, Sath thought about what it would mean to return home to Qatu’anari, to do as Anni had suggested and present himself to the royal court. He could return to his life as the Crown Prince of Qatu’anari. He would not have time for hunting and adventuring. Somehow, that struck a sour note with him, and just before they left the Outpost, he stopped in his tracks.
Wanderer Page 36
