Azure bonds - Kate Novak [32]
Alias stood up and stretched. "Going to be a cold night. We need more wood." She walked toward the clearing where the moonlight revealed fallen limbs.
"So, what's her story?" Olive whispered to Akabar, jerking her head at Alias's retreating figure.
"Story?" echoed Akabar. "To what are you referring?"
"She has a magical arm!" Ruskettle's voice rose half an octave.
Akabar shrugged. He was taking a lot of pleasure in thwarting the woman's unbearable curiosity.
"Look, mage," Olive sighed. "I owe her. I want to help."
Akabar's feelings softened somewhat. "Not that I believe you for a moment," he said, "but just in case your words are earnest, I will tell you. The glyphs on the lady's arm are magical, not the arm itself. Some unknown power carved them into her flesh, but she cannot remember the event. As a matter of fact, she cannot remember the events of several of the past months. In exchange for the meaning of the glyphs, she has agreed to deliver you safely to Master Dimswart. The best service you can do her is to come along peacefully and perform well at this wedding."
Olive pondered the information for a few minutes, then she speculated aloud, "So anything could have happened during the time she can't remember. She could have been a slave, or a concubine to a powerful sorcerer, or married to a foreign prince-a princess dripping in jewelry."
"Or a wandering swordswoman," added Akabar.
"Or a princess," Olive repeated to herself, "dripping in jewelry, her lover killed, her kingdom usurped, and her memory lost through the fell magics of her enemies."
Akabar shook his head at the bard's wandering fantasy. He was reaching for another log to throw on the fire when a strong wind suddenly rushed down from the hilltop. The pines danced with alarming energy, and sparks from the campfire scattered across the ground. The ground shook, and over the howl of the wind came a malicious laugh that brought both mage and halfling to their feet.
"Alias!" Akabar shouted, dashing toward the clearing.
Olive Ruskettle grabbed a brand from the campfire and rushed after him. If Alias had some wealth, the halfling realized, she could prove profitable to have in one's debt.
*****
While Ruskettle was trying to persuade Akabar Bel Akash to tell her about Alias, the swordswoman was searching for Dragonbait. She'd assumed he had gone off to collect more firewood. If that were the case, Alias thought, he would have returned by now. He kept eyeing the hilltop. I'll bet he's gone to investigate that stone circle.
With a sigh Alias began climbing the hill.
A shadow at the edge of the clearing moved, accompanied by a scrabbling sound. The lightning-blue beams emanating from the sigils had died away, but the cursed patterns still gave off light enough to rival the moon. Alias drew her arm from her cloak and held it up. A large shape by the base of a pine tree, startled by the second light source, scampered down the hill into the darkness. Only a porcupine, peeling tree bark for dinner, O great warrior, Alias mocked herself. But don't worry, you scared it off.
Chuckling, she doubled her pace until she reached the center of the stone circle. The half moon hung overhead like a gold lion coin split apart by looting pirates. In the moonlight, the red stones appeared black and their edges and corners, dulled by the wind and rain, blurred into the darkness. She wondered why more enduring and brighter rock had not been used in the circle's construction. All the druid temples she'd ever visited before had been built of granite, not sandstone, and placed among oaks, not pines.
She jumped on a rock and surveyed the landscape. The tops of the encircling pines stood out against the moonlit sky like triangular crenelations of a castle wall. The original