Azure bonds - Kate Novak [4]
Alias scowled at his features. "Do I know you, Turmite?"
His expression turned stormy. "No. If you did, you would know our people prefer to be called Turmishmen or Turms.''
Alias sat down and motioned him into the seat opposite her. She liked his control in the face of her insult. "You care for my drink? I've lost the desire."
Nodding, the Turmishman took a long pull on the mug. If it was fermented pig-swill, as Alias suspected, then such drinks were common in the south, she decided, because the stranger seemed to savor his swallow.
"I take it you are the Turmishman who declared I was not a witch?"
The man nodded and wiped a bit of foam from his moustache. "Your friendly innkeep was too afraid to take you in, and the lout who found you was ready to have you burned. Or at least relieve you of your purse."
"But you knew I was not a witch? '
"I know that the Witches of Rashemen, if they ever leave their frozen climes, know better than to decorate their bodies with tattoos proclaiming their origins."
Alias nodded. ''I'm not of that sisterhood." At least as far as I know, she thought inwardly, since I can't swear to what I've been doing for the past week or so.
She hesitated, then asked, "Did you see who brought me here?"
The Turmishman shook his head. "I was at this very table when the northerner left and then came right back in, babbling about a dead witch on the front steps. Everyone here investigated, and I convinced them your glyphs were harmless, though I have no idea what they are. I must confess, to being most curious about them. May I see them again?"
Alias frowned but held out her arm, palm upward, revealing the symbols. In the dim common room they seemed even brighter than before, glowing from within.
The Turmishman looked at them and shook his head, still mystified. "I have never seen the likes of these before. Where are you from?"
"I… get around." After another pause she added, "I was born in Westgate, but I ran off and never returned."
"I've seen naught like this in Westgate, and I have traveled the Inner Sea from there to Thay. I must confess, though, I am by no means a sage. May I cast a spell on them?"
Alias involuntarily jerked her arm back. "You a mage?"
The Turmishman grinned, displaying a line of bright white teeth. "Of no small water. I am Akabar Bel Akash of House Akash, mage and merchant. Do not fear. I have no wish to entrap you by magics. I only wish to know if the marking's origin is in magic."
Alias glared across the table at the Turmishman. He was a merchant-mage. One of those greengrocers who dabbled with the art, but probably wasn't skilled enough to cut it as just a sorcerer. Still, he ought to be capable of detecting magic, and he looked sincere. She needed to know more about the tattoo, and here was this Turmishman offering his services for free She held out her arm. "I am Alias. Magic does not frighten me, am be quick about it."
Akabar Bel Akash leaned over the symbols and began mumbling words quickly and quietly. If the runes on her arm were magical, Alias knew, they would radiate a dim glow.
The merchant-mage chanted, and Alias felt the muscles of her arm writhe beneath her skin as though they were snakes. The symbols danced along her arm as if mocking the Turmishman.
Suddenly, strands of hellish blue light, intense as lightning flashes, shot from the symbols on her arm, illuminating the whole room. The beacons of color crackled along the beams overhead and were reflected off all the bottles and armor in the tavern, turning the surprised faces of every patron in the room to a deathly blue.
Akabar Bel Akash had not been expecting so violent a reaction to his magical inquiry. He toppled backward in surprise, chair and all. His flailing arm caught the half-drained mug of beer and sent it flying across the commons room. The droplets of spilled ale took on the appearance of a cluster of blue fireflies.
Alias caught sight of the barkeep frozen in the blue light. An instant later, the portly man regained his senses and dove like a sounding whale behind the bar.