Azure bonds - Kate Novak [45]
"Perhaps they were planning on delivering you to the king's court," Akabar mused. "You know, Azoun might have come to the wedding. His mage, Vangerdahast, advised him against it. At least, that was the rumor I heard."
"It's just coincidence that I ended up at Dimswart's," Alias replied.
Akabar shrugged. "Perhaps. But if Azoun had attended-"
"I'd have tried to kill him instead of that fool Wyvernspur."
"Not a chance," Olive said. "Vangerdahast goes everywhere with His Marshmallowness. He would have fried you with a lightning bolt before you got within an arm's length."
"I don't think this conjecture will get us very far," Akabar said, confused. "Shall I continue with the other sigils?"
Alias nodded, and Akabar held up the card bearing the sign of three rings, each interlocked with the other two. "The trinity of rings is pretty common as well. It was used by several trading houses about the Inner Sea until the Year of Dust, over two centuries ago, when it was taken up as a banner by a pirate gang in Earthspur. After a few years new pirate leaders toppled the old and adopted a new banner.
"Since then the circles have been used as a signature mark for a notable Cormyrian portrait artist, as a stamp for a Procampurian silversmith, and the sign of an alehouse in Yhaunn in Sembia. The alehouse, by the way, was fireballed fifty years ago by a wizard because their symbol happened to be his sigil. He claimed the exclusive right to use it. He was a pompous northerner known as Zrie Prakis."
"I knew some fell wizard had to be involved," muttered Alias.
Akabar held up a finger to continue. "Prakis protected his mark religiously, seeking out any others who used it and destroying those who would not give it up. It's a mark of his success that the symbol is now considered unlucky among many taverns, silversmiths, and artists. However, Zrie Prakis was supposed to have died in a magical battle some forty years ago, somewhere near Westgate."
"Someone must have made a mistake," Olive pointed out. "After all, when two mages are fighting, no one in their right mind gets close enough to tell who's winning. This was the symbol on the crystal elemental that attacked us in the Stone circle, isn't it?"
Alias nodded, remembering how the sigil had blazed from the monster's chest.
"Anyway," Akabar concluded, "Master Dimswart got a cleric to do a divination for him. The exact question was: Does Zrie Prakis, whose symbol was the triple rings, still live? The answer was: No."
"Well, I'm not a work of art or a silver dinner service," Alias said. "That leaves me branded by a defunct pirate gang or an alehouse. Neither very likely candidates."
Akabar, though tempted, did not disagree with her about the alehouse. He held up the next copper plate engraved with the insect leg-shaped squiggle. "The sorceress who destroyed Zrie Prakis was named Cassana of Westgate. This happens to be her sigil. To the best of Dimswart's knowledge, Cassana still makes her abode in Westgate. She's reputed to be fairly powerful, but she's extremely reclusive. No one's seen her for years. She's not dead, but she must be getting on in years."
"Maybe this Prakis fellow had an apprentice," Olive suggested. "The apprentice is greedy for power, see, and he teams up with his master's enemy, this Cassana, and tells her how to defeat him. Then, when Cassana kills Prakis, the apprentice takes his master's sigil."
Akabar's eyes narrowed into slits. "Your expertise on the workings of betrayal is quite interesting."
Olive smiled sweetly. "Over the years I've made a study of all the evil you humans perpetrate on one another."
Alias's head began to throb. Anxious to get this discussion over with, she pulled out the next copper plate, but the writing blurred before her eyes. She held the plate up to Akabar. "What about this mouth in the hand?" she asked.
"Dimswart found this most curious," answered the mage, running his fingers along the engraved fangs in the mouth. "This is a holy symbol-or the unholy symbol, rather-of