Azure bonds - Kate Novak [146]
She was just passing the Vhammos yards, its paddocks jammed with horses and caravan oxen, when suddenly someone addressed her. "Hello, Lady Olive."
Ruskettle was startled. Perched on a fence post was a short, familiar figure. He was dressed in sunburst yellow taffeta, fashioned into the costume of a Vilhon Reach merchant. His smile stretched nearly ear to ear in an inhuman mockery of the humanoid form.
"Phalse!" Olive wondered if the pseudo-halfling could read minds. "A Fortune. Well met."
"A fortune and well met to you, dear lady. You've surprised me. I did not know you were bound for Westgate. May I accompany you into the city?"
Ruskettle nodded, and Phalse hopped down from his perch. He paced the halfling as she walked. "The river gate?" he asked.
"However did you know?" Olive grinned pleasantly.
"Thinking like a halfling, my lady," he answered. "I must repeat, I am astonished to see you here so soon. Were you involved with the sky display earlier?" He waved an arm toward the seven mounds south of the city.
Olive's eyes narrowed. "Maybe," she replied coyly, but she wondered how he could possibly know that.
"Maybe-that's a straight answer from a halfling. I take it the human woman is with vou?"
Ruskettle shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe" She had the uncomfortable feeling that her time with Alias was going to end much sooner than she'd expected.
Phalse smiled. "I see. Will 'maybe' be the answer to my inquiries about your other traveling companions, the mage and the lizard?"
"Maybe." She wondered what the pseudo-halfling's interest was in Akabar and Dragonbait.
"I think you and I should have a drink," he said. "Several drinks."
The small couple approached the gates, where a squad of soldiers was posted, checking credentials. Phalse took Ruskettle's arm gently, and they strolled through gates, into the city, completely unchallenged.
"I'm impressed," the bard said, jerking her head back at the gate guard. "What's your secret?"
Phalse winked one of his peculiar blue eyes. "Clean living. Let's find a nice, quiet bar with private booths and low ceilings. I have a deal that I am certain will interest you."
"As long as you're buying, I'm all ears." Olive moved a little closer to Phalse, and he tightened his grip on her arms.
*****
"Well?" Alias said, pursing her lips.
"Gone," Akabar replied. He'd been peering at the swords-woman's arm and the saurial's chest with a tiny magnifying glass. "The surrounding pattern hasn't just covered up its sigil, the sigil has disappeared completely."
"Do you think the sigil might return if Moander gets another body in the Realms?"
"I'm afraid that's a possibility," the mage sighed.
They were all cleaned up now, wrapped in towels and blankets while their clothes dried in the late afternoon sunshine. Dragonbait had played nurse, helping Akabar with his bath, a service that had made the Turmishman mildly uncomfortable, but which he had accepted gratefully since his only alternative was Alias's help. In the meantime, Alias had fashioned him a cushioned sling to cradle his arm until Dragonbait could repair it properly.
Akabar leaned back on the room's lower bunk. "So where does this development lead us?"
"Into more hot water. We're just outside the city where Cassana and the Fire Knives are supposed to reside. I have a hunch that our mystery bull's eye sigil owner resides here as well. And now that we've exploded a very large calling card over their city, odds are they know we're in the area."
"Maybe they'll reconsider their actions and leave us alone. We destroyed one of their partners already-the god."
Alias shook her head. "No. They'll just become more ruthless, Akabar, I want you to go home to Turmish-take Olive and Dragonbait with you. Being near me is too dangerous."
Akabar asked, "What good do you think you can accomplish alone?"
"Find these people," said Alias, "Talk to them. They need Dragonbait to put their plans into motion, so they won't be able to control me as long as he's safely hidden somewhere."