Azure bonds - Kate Novak [141]
"Giogi?" Alias remembered, whispering the name aloud.
Giogi Wyvernspur leaped three feet, spinning around as he did so. A silver flask flew from his hand, and amber liquid arched through the air.
"You!" he gasped. "The madwoman! I mean, the bard's friend!" He dived behind his horse. "What are you doing here?"
"Just dropped in to borrow your horse," Alias replied with a grin. She advanced carefully, looking to each side to make sure the young noble was alone.
"My…'' the young man's throat went dry, "horse?"
Alias nodded and swung the chain manacled to her arm. "Do you have a problem with that?"
"No! I mean, no problem. You probably have a good reason that I don't need to know. Honest!"
"Don't fret," said Alias. "I'm not dangerous, just in a hurry to get into the city." She patted the skittish Daisyeye's front haunch and slipped her foot into the stirrup. "Just out of curiosity, what brings you to Westgate?"
"Diplomatic mission," the Cormyrian noble lied. "Nothing important. Just trade agreements. That sort of thing."
The warrior woman swung herself into the saddle. "You want your gear?" she asked.
"No!" Giogi answered. "I mean, no thanks. If you're heading to Westgate, maybe you could… uh… drop off my things. At The Jolly Warrior. Just let me get…" He summoned all his courage to approach, then fumbled in a saddlebag. Pulling out a large, official-looking document bearing the purple dragon of Cormyr, he stepped back. "There," he said. "All yours."
Alias looked down at him. He wasn't really dressed for hiking. "You know," she said with a smile, trying to show no ill will, "two can ride as well on a horse as one."
Giogi gulped. "No. I mean… that is, you said you were in a hurry, and I need the exercise, anyway."
"As you wish." She couldn't blame him. "I'll drop your gear at The Jolly Warrior. I'll even make sure I don't stay there. Oh, and Giogi, thanks. I'll make it up to you when I get the chance." With that, she wheeled the horse around and set it trotting toward the road.
Giogi frowned after her. He'd come here at Azoun's request for the express purpose of finding her, but he'd panicked when actually confronted with her presence. Now I'll probably never see her again, he thought. Or poor Daisyeye.
He sighed and cursed his bad luck. Giogi began walking, head down, kicking stones, and talking to himself.
"Yes, I'll let you ride with me, provided you behave. If you don't, I shall be very cross. That's what I should have said."
He kicked a particularly large rock, which glittered as it danced away. Curious, he chased after it. When it had stopped rolling, he lifted the great yellow gem out of the high grass and marveled at it. Maybe his luck was changing, he thought.
26
Reunion at The Rising Raven
Alias reached Westgate well ahead of her friends and, of course, Giogi, only to find the city sealed. Persons without residence or official business within were turned away from the gates by squads of guards, backed by crossbowmen on the walls. She did manage to convince a guard to take Daiseyeye to The Jolly Warrior and board her for, as she explained it, "a warrior who will arrive from Cormyr on official business." She trusted the purple-sealed document would get the young Wyvernspur past the guards.
As she stood by the gate, Alias could see smoke rising from the northwestern section of the city. Other travelers told her that a dragon had crashed within the city, smashing into a portion of the city wall, damaging some buildings in the slums just outside the city and several of the Dhostar warehouses within. The Dhostars, one of the powerful merchant families that ruled the city, convinced the others to slam a seal down on the city's gates until the matter was cleaned up.
Alias considered circling around to survey the damage from the outside, but she was feeling worn from fighting and riding and dragging around the chain attached