Azure bonds - Kate Novak [156]
Olive crept over to the door and pressed her ear against it. She could hear men in the hallway, panting as if from strenuous labor, accompanied by a dragging sound. Olive peeked out the keyhole. Two Fire Knives were hauling something behind them. Olive caught sight of a scaly, green arm- Dragonbait. A thumping noise came from the staircase- they were being none too gentle with the saurial.
Two more assassins flicked by the keyhole, carrying Akabar by the arms and legs. Cassana's new toy, he was given preferential treatment. He was not thumped down the steps. Olive heard Phalse say, "Leave him in the cell next to the crafter's."
Last of all, Zrie Prakis floated by with Alias cradled in his arms. He paused by Olive's door, blocking her view. Olive heard a bolt sliding across tlie door.
She waited until all noise in the hall had ceased and no sounds came from the stairway. Then she tried the door.
Prakis had unlocked it for her. The bard poked her head out of the doorway. The house was silent. After closing and bolting the door to Phalse's room behind her, she crept down the hallway and tiptoed down the stairs. She dashed through the entry hall. The front door beckoned her. She twisted the knob, but it was locked.
Olive reached into her hair and drew out a pick, but before she began working on the bolt, she noticed a blue line drawn across the threshold, with three interlocking circles sketched above it. A magical ward-one of Prakis's. Was it the type that warned the designer something had crossed over it, or the kind that disintegrated into dust whatever crossed over it? There was no way for Olive to tell.
"Boogers," Olive muttered. "What's the matter? Don't you trust me, Prakis, old bones?"
Dodging into the dining room, the halfling slipped behind the heavy curtains. The lock on the large windows was easily unfastened, but another blue mark was scrawled along the window sills. Grinding her teeth in annoyance, Olive dashed back into the entry hall and up the steps. There was a window in the upstairs hallway, but it, too, was warded.
Zrie Prakis had made sure she would stick to her side of the bargain. He'd unlocked her cell door, but he was not going to let her escape from the prison. As she saw it, she had one chance. Unlocking the door to Phalse's room and slipping back inside, she examined the window within. Unguarded. The wards must have been a last-minute thought on the lich's part, and he had neglected to come back to Phalse's room to set one there.
Olive climbed out onto the window sill. The roof sloped away gently. She would have an easy time slipping down to the gutter-a perfect halfling's footpath-and walking along that until she found a rain spout to slide down. But what then? she wondered as she sat with her feet dangling over the roof tiles.
She'd have to find another adventuring group to travel with, one that could help protect her from Phalse and family should they decide she was worth chasing.
Finding a new party wouldn't be easy. Alias and Dragon-bait were perhaps the finest sword wielders she'd ever seen, and Akabar had helped destroy a god, and the three of them had been defeated. Of course, she hadn't been there to help them out, she consoled herself. She wondered idly if her presence would really have made a difference. According to Prakis, Cassana had been concerned that it might have. Is it possible, Olive wondered, that Cassana put me to sleep because she was afraid I might interfere somehow in this ceremony to remove Alias's will?
Although Phalse had not told her, Olive knew the ceremony would involve the sacrifice of Dragonbait. Alias had said something about it to Akabar the day before, back at The Rising Raven. The loss of the paladin would not have made too much difference to the halfling before yesterday. Yet Olive had to admit, he hadn't done her any harm so far, and