Azure bonds - Kate Novak [13]
She lay down on her bed and stared at the ceiling, fingers laced behind her head.
*****
She was not aware she had fallen asleep until a bell from some temple signaled noon. She opened her eyes to see Dragonbait standing at her bedside with breakfast on a pewter tray-bread and slices of spring fruit with cream.
Alias planned her next move while they shared the meal.
"I could rent a horse and ride out to the sage's home in half a day. Save a lot of time," she said to Dragonbait. Even if he didn't understand her, it helped her put her thoughts in order to say them aloud. "But if I purchase a horse and ride it out through the town gate, I might as well hire a loudmouthed herald to announce my departure. Besides, we have to conserve our meager funds. Sages aren't cheap. And I don't even know if you can ride."
Dragonbait watched her while she spoke exactly as if he understood her.
"And I don't want to leave you behind, do I?"
The lizard stretched his neck forward and tilted his head as though he were confused.
The swordswoman sniffed and laughed. Dragonbait returned to licking the cream out of his bowl.
No, I definitely want to keep him around, she thought. He feels familiar-as though I've traveled with him before. Maybe he was on the sea trip with me. If I lose track of him, he might fade from my memory, too. Besides, I owe him for saving my life last night. Taking him into my service is the least I can do.
After sending the barkeep's daughter out for a cloak to hide her companion's "lizardness," Alias pulled on her boots and rearmored herself. When his cloak arrived, Dragonbait sniffed at it and growled, but when it became clear Alias was not going to let the creature out of the inn in daylight he relented and, seeming every inch the paladin forced to drink with thieves, he slipped on the garment.
The idea of a lizard with vanity amused Alias. She wondered if he was some magical creature, bred to act as combination jester/servant/bodyguard, like something out of a childhood tale. With a shudder, she was reminded of the story of the golem supposedly responsible for the spreading Anauroch desert, a creature ordered to shovel sand into the region and then forgotten by the wizard who gave the order. Why is it I can recall stupid old stories when last ride, last month, much of last year is a blank? Angrily, she shoved the legendary images into the back of her mind.
Their walk out of Suzail was pleasant and uneventful. Alias deliberately set out in the wrong direction and doubled back twice in case anyone had followed her from the inn Dragonbait proved to be as tireless a hiker as she, and they reached their destination just before dusk.
Dimswart Manor was a sizable farm, an estate just large enough to be considered a suitable "summer home" by a Waterdeep noble. A red-tiled roof set with three chimneys crowned the solid stonework walls of the main house. Alias scowled, knowing that a sage who lived so well would not sell his services cheap.
Despite the gathering gloom, there was a great amount of activity around the house as she approached, as if the grounds were the site of some tremendous siege. Gardeners were trimming hedges and lawns and reorganizing flowerbeds. At the rear of the house, canvasmen were laying out the poles of a huge tent. Dwarvish stoneworkers were arguing heatedly with elvish landscapers over the correct placement of their creations of rock and wood, while a tired-looking gnome tried to mediate between them.
In the midst of the chaos stood a tall, straight-shouldered woman with a sunburst of red hair. She hustled about from worker to worker, consulting with each from rolls of plans tucked under her arms. As Alias approached the house, she could hear the woman shouting for some elves to start hanging lanterns in the newly replanted trees.
Alias pounded on the front door with the hilt of her dagger. She had to knock twice before a parlor maid, loaded down with tapestries, opened the