“So, they are after him, but it don’t make much sense. Drynn’s a boy, an extremely nice and polite boy too. How can you even be considering—”
“It isn’t human,” Heath said. “They said if you want proof, all you have to do is untie the scarf around its head. They believe it’s one of those forest fairies and they’re willing to be very generous with us if we return it, and rather nasty if we don’t.”
“Seriously? They think he’s a fairy?” Jesp paused, and no one denied it. “And they think I have him? So why haven’t they come for him? My house isn’t exactly a fortress.”
“They might, but they think it would be better if you capture it. It’s small, but it’s fast. Its guard is up, but it trusts you. They think you’ll be able to corner it for them. Drug it, restrain it, whatever you have to do so they can take it from there. They say it will be a good lesson for him.”
They wanted Drynn to think all humans would hurt him. They wanted him afraid.
It worked.
“I knew he had it rough,” Jesp said. “Some kind of runaway, scared of his own shadow. They want to cage him like some animal and sell him who knows where.”
Heath shook his head, his expression pained. “I’m not saying I like it, but a civil war is coming. You know it, and I know it. In the end, it’s going to be the thieves or the robes, and we have to think of our own before anyone else, wait out the storm, and stay out of their way. Can I at least tell them you’ll think about it?”
Jesp shrugged. “I don’t know where he is anymore. But if they think he’s here, it might buy him some time to move east or wherever he wants to go.”
“Don’t play games with this, Jesp. The Lord’s people are everywhere and better organized than the king’s army. They always retaliate. You’ll put your family at risk, all for some forest creature you just met.”
Jesp’s voice grew loud. “I don’t care if he’s kin to the demon horde. He’s a good boy; I told him I would help him, and I’ll do my best to keep him safe.”
Jesp meant it. Drynn was sure of it. He had finally found kind humans, the ones he hoped to find in the temples, but it didn’t matter. He couldn’t set down his guard around the humans or live with himself if something happened to them on his behalf.
The Lord would kill them all if Drynn gave him reason to.
Jesp might think he was willing to risk it, but Drynn could never let it happen. Not again. He needed to leave. The Lord could search the house and would never find any evidence of him.
Hopefully that would be enough. Drynn might be a coward for not doing more, but in a kingdom full of warring wizards and thieves, he didn’t know what else to do.
* * *
A mountainous building of white stone shadowed Kalum’s capital city. The Tower sat in an open garden, though the humans seemed to use a single guarded path to approach it.
Tayvin followed the same etiquette, waiting in line, but he couldn’t do it peacefully. He paced in a circle, tailed by a horse borrowed from Nami’s neighbor, a mount that had cut his journey here by several days, but still not fast enough in his mind.
Humans crowded the streets around him, but Tayvin barely noticed them anymore. Humans always crowded streets in thunderous herds as benign as livestock. There were predators though, thieves and magic users. If they were behind his brother’s disappearance, he would find his answers here. He might not know enough to do it “properly” as Cindle had wished, but enough time had passed regardless. He would deliver Nami’s message, and then he would have his brother back if he had to take the whole place by force.
But for now, he tried to smile as he reached the front of the line. A uniformed human carrying a sword called for him to approach the path leading up to the Tower. “Well?”
Tayvin stepped forward, the horse still dogging his steps. “I have a message for Sage Xavian. See—”
“You’re a messenger?” the man asked.
“I guess I am. Nami told me to show you this.” Tayvin brought out a letter tied with an elaborate seal.
The man snatched it from Tayvin, turning it over a few times. “Der’helder.” He glanced over his shoulder at a robed blond man, sitting under a canopy. “Do you want to inspect it, milord?”
The blond man never opened more than half an eyelid. “Der’helder? Their correspondence is of no interest to me. Just wave them through.” He gestured vaguely to the path behind him, mumbling a nonsense word under his breath.
The first man nodded. “Straight to the Tower. Deliver your message and out again.”
Tayvin took back the letter. “Thank you.”
The man had already dismissed him, turning to the next group in line. The horse followed Tayvin to the front door of the Tower and to another human guard, who required they go through almost the same ritual.
“Sage Der’helder?” He stared at the message’s seal long and hard before returning it to Tayvin. “He is either in class or with his apprentices. Leave the note in his rooms under the door. Stairs are to the right at the end of the main hallway. Six floors up, turn left, third door on the left. Leave the horse here with Gart.”
The small boy he referred to had straw in his brown hair, but was wide-eyed and friendly compared to all the disinterested guards. “How’d ya get ’im to falla ya like that?”
“Tiny?” Tayvin shrugged. “I just asked him to.” It worked better in Elven, but it worked even in Human once they were used to each other. Strange that the humans never tried it, always going for ropes or some other way to gain animal assistance.
The boy tugged on the horse’s reins. “Come on, Tiny.”
The horse snorted his displeasure. He shook his head and backed away.
“Go on, Tiny,” Tayvin said. “I’m kind of in a rush, but I’ll be right out.”
Tiny snorted again, but he went along with the boy.
Tayvin’s hand strayed to his sword as he entered the Tower. Vaulted ceilings rose to peaks above him. Tapestries decorated the walls with elaborate, fanciful versions of magical creatures. A few robed humans with light complexions mixed in with darker-haired humans who seemed more like the usual sort on the street. They were all very quiet and somber as they dashed around, looking a lot busier than the humans with robes.
Tayvin put his hand down. After all the rumors he had heard, he had been gearing for some kind of fight, but nobody glanced in Tayvin’s direction.
They didn’t seem interested in him at all.
There was nothing left to do but follow the guard’s instructions. After that, he could ask about the rumors connecting his brother here. He climbed the stairs. It wasn’t something he had done a lot of in Wildred, with most houses contenting themselves with single stories or a ladder, but it took more out of him than he expected, each step draining his breath until he reached the proper landing.
How could he have possibly gotten so weak? The stairs weren’t much higher than the ones circling his tree at home and he hadn’t been locked in the healer’s house that long.
He shook his head, and pressed down the hall. The door opened before he reached it. “Drynn?” a robed boy asked, as if he expected him to be there.
Tayvin’s heart leapt at his brother’s name, but then his hand found his sword again.
Something was familiar about this boy.
And the human’s eyes widened. “You’re Drynn’s brother. Tayvin.” The boy backed away, hitting the wall and cementing the image. Tayvin did know this boy—a more ragged version of him.
The time for hiding was over, and the time for answers had come.
“And you’re a thief,” Tayvin said. “My name is High Prince Tayvinaldrill-Falberain to you. What did you do to my brother?”
The boy let out a long sigh. “Oh good. You speak Kalmic. I thought this would be a whole lot tougher. But I don’t know where Drynn is anymore. The stupid lizard said he might be coming ’ere, so when I felt you . . .” The boy waved at the air around Tayvin as if that was supposed to mean something. “
Torch it, you’re brighter than ’im. Don’t you know how much everyone ’ere would love to nab you, even if you don’t go around yellin’ about your title? The trained ones usually block it out, but the moment you do something that looks magical, they’ll all—”
“You took Drynn?” That was all he cared to know. The robed boy didn’t look like a thief anymore, but maybe among the humans, wizards and thieves weren’t so incompatible. “You brought him here for money or so you could become one of them?”
“No. I mean, that was Cain’s plan at first, but things . . . changed. When Sorren came for Drynn, I told ’im to run, and he did. That’s how I got ’ere.”
Was any of that supposed to make sense? “Sorren is a wizard in Wildred. Is Drynn there?”
“No. Sorren never got Drynn. I helped ’im, like I said. I can help you too if you put the sword down. I can get Drynn back for you, I swear.”
“I’ve heard that before.” Trusting Cindle was one thing, but this boy would probably say anything to keep his head. Tayvin had never desired to hurt a human before, but this one—no one could blame him for dismembering him a little.
“Yeah, but I can really do it.” The boy brought out a green stone—the opal, but it didn’t glow as it had before. He looked around conspiratorially. “Get us out of ’ere, and he’ll come to us, like the lizard said. He might be coming to us either way, but it would be better if we weren’t in the Tower when that happened, believe me.”
“Why should I? You’re a thief. You stole my brother and took the opal from him.”
The boy reached forward with the opal. “I could give it to you.”
Tayvin stepped back. “I don’t want it.” He wanted the stone dismembered more than the human boy who carried it.
“Then what do you want?”
“Nothing you can give me. I’m here for a wizard named Der’helder.” And if that wizard was a friend of Nami, maybe he could help Tayvin sort through all the lies.
The boy smiled. “Well, I can give you that. Arius!”
The door opened again, this time by a blond man in red robes and wild hair. The wizard looked at Tayvin’s sword, and the wind picked up around him.
Tayvin’s knees hit the floor and he rolled into the wall. Was this human magic? He tried to regain his balance, but the same wave of weakness came as it had on the stairs, the sword too heavy in his hand. Though that just made him more determined to keep his weapon. The boy had called for magical reinforcements, but Tayvin would fight them all if he needed to. At least he would try.
But after forcing Tayvin into the wall, the wizard didn’t attack again. “Kol, are you all right?” the man asked, as if that was all he cared about.
“Wot? This?” The thief got in front of Tayvin. He didn’t seem to fear the sword at all anymore, swatting away the flat of the blade. “We’re friends. This is just how we say hello. I stick daggers at ’im; he sticks swords at me. It’s fun.”
The thief shrugged as the wizard stared with his eyebrows raised. At least Tayvin wasn’t the only one who was confused.
“Tayvin just wanted to see you,” the boy added.
Tayvin only wanted to see one wizard, and why would Nami send him to speak to a friend of a thief? “You’re Xavian Der’helder?”
“No,” the wizard said.
“I am.” Another man came out the door after the first. Xavian wore green robes and seemed a bit more polished than the first man, but there was no mistaking the similarity. Tayvin had found another set of human twins, two Der’helders when he only needed one.
Tayvin shook his head, lowering the sword the rest of the way and taking the letter out of his belt. This place was stranger than he could have ever expected, but he had to complete at least one of his missions, no matter what else happened. “I’m Healer Nami’s apprentice.”
“Nami?” Xavian’s jaw went slack.
“She wanted me to give this to you and make sure you read it right away.”
Arius was still staring at Tayvin until Xavian grabbed his brother’s arm, and both wizards backed up to examine the letter. Tayvin slumped back against the wall. He didn’t know what Nami had written in the note, but if her words could somehow turn these thieves and wizards into his allies, it would seem another spell. And if Nami’s words weren’t enough . . . what was he supposed to do in the face of all this magic? No wonder the wizard at the entrance barely looked at him. Swords were useless here and easily dismissed.
Only the thief boy was paying attention to him now. “Sorry. I didn’t think he’d throw you.”
That couldn’t be true. “He was protecting you. You called him to help you.”
“I called him to help you; you said you wanted ’im. Usually, I’m the one robes throw around.”
That Tayvin could believe. He tried to stand, but the dizziness remained. The wizard’s magic hadn’t throw him that hard. Did just getting close to the opal do this? Was Drynn already gone, transferring the curse?
There had to be another explanation. “This place is . . . strange.”
“It’s the magic. Vernack said there was a way to block it, but I got no idea where he is now, so we need to get you out of ’ere before you pass out.” He leaned over, hands outstretched.
To grab him? Help him?
Tayvin didn’t want either. His blade slashed through the air.
The thief backed up, hands up in surrender. “No touchin’. Got it. I was tryin’ to help. Anyone ever tell you you’re nothin’ like your brother?”
No, Tayvin wasn’t. He had been impulsive again, when he thought he was being smart. He couldn’t fight a tower of wizards—he couldn’t fight one wizard. Not even one Nami had claimed was safe. If an evil wizard took Drynn . . . how could he ever fight against that? Maybe he couldn’t, but he still had to know what happened. “You know Drynn? You spoke to him, helped him?” Making friends with a thief did sound like something his brother would do.
Drynn talked to rats all the time.
The boy rolled his eyes. “I tried. That kid’s a handful. He would hug—”
“A cave troll?”
“I was gonna say scorpion, but sure.” Now the boy sounded like Cindle—coarse—but maybe Drynn would call him a friend either way. And Tayvin wasn’t going to have a lot of luck finding answers here if his weakness continued. He had to be smarter. Maybe not like Cindle’s so-called matron spirit, but more like Drynn.
Tayvin’s eyes went back to the wizards talking together. Xavian was still staring at the note in his hands as his brother took his shoulders. “Don’t worry about a thing,” the red-robed wizard said. “I’ll think of something to tell the council and Karleana can help me cover your classes for a while.”
“Are you sure you’ll be all right?” Xavian sounded dazed.
“I can stay out of trouble for a few days.” His twin pushed him forward. “Just get going.”
Xavian turned back to Tayvin. “You are going to take me to Nami?”
That was what he came to do. “Yes, but the thi—”
“Kol,” the boy offered.
“Kol has to come with us.”
Xavian frowned, exchanging glances with his brother. “Why?”
Tayvin put his sword away and shrugged. “We’re friends.” And if Kol didn’t get Drynn back as promised, it would be more convenient to have the thief close by. Somewhere out of this soul-draining place where Tayvin could demand answers more effectively.
* * *
Drynn ran until Jesp’s house was out of sight. He checked the band around his head, though with the thieves’ description of him, hiding his ears seemed almost as dangerous as showing them. He couldn’t cover his hair or his eyes. He needed to leave the city. Now.
He fixed his gaze on the Tower. He used it to find the main road, and turned his back on it. Whatever pull it had on him before was gone, leading him in the other direction.
Good. He didn’t want to go to the Tower or anywhere else in the human lands. He wanted to go home, whatever sta
te it was in. He would leave by the quickest route, straight through the city, then east, hopefully on his way to Elba.
Humans swarmed around him. Any one of them could be ready to pounce, but he still felt like he needed to be there, in the middle of the crowd. The city’s noises faded in his ears. Peace, a familiar presence but jarring and foreign after all this time, drew him in. A flash of green.
Calling for him. He just had to—
Someone grabbed his shoulder. “Drynn?”
The trance was broken. He wasn’t safe here. He would never be safe again.
Drynn jerked and ran, ignoring the man yelling his name. He weaved through the throng, ducking under a cow and leaping over a merchant’s stall. More shouting followed.
He darted around the corner. A fence blocked his path, lined with scattered trash bins. An alley. The man dodged through the crowd as adeptly as Drynn, but he probably couldn’t climb.
Drynn cleared the fence and jumped onto the roof. He caught his breath.
The man’s boots hit the shingles behind him. “Drynn, what’re you running for?”
Drynn peered over the far edge to the streets below. Maybe he could reach another roof if he jumped. Maybe. Or he would fall and reopen the scars on his foot, but maybe the man would stop chasing him if he made a big enough scene and then hid in the crowd.
“Aldrayndallen-Falberain, get over here right now. You’re not going anywhere without me, but if you make me run anymore I might take it personally.”
Drynn froze. Elven words. And the voice. He turned.
“Tayvin?” Drynn didn’t dare believe it, but there he was. A cap covered his ears and he wore human clothing, but his infectious smile was the same, as was the sword across his back.
“Tayvin!” Drynn raced into his arms.
Tayvin laughed, switching to Human. “What tree did you fall out of? Of course it’s me. How many people do you think know your name around here?”
Tayvin could call him crazy all he wanted, so long as he stayed. “I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry? For what? Kol and the rest of the thieves should be sorry, if anyone.”
The Queen's Opal: A Stone Bearers Novel (Book One) Page 30
