Azure bonds - Kate Novak [46]
"The town of Yulash was built on the site of the complex, but Yulash has itself long since been turned to rubble. Hillsfar and Zhentil Keep are continually battling over its strategic location. Dimswart gave me the name of another sage who may know more, but he warned me that getting an appointment with this person may prove to be a problem"
Alias held up the last copper plate. The blue upon blue bull's-eye was represented on sheet metal by three concentric rings, its deepening shades of color not represented at all, but described in the upper right hand corner. Nothing was written below the sigil. Alias looked up at Akabar, her eyebrows raised.
The mage shifted nervously. "Dimswart has seen naught like this in his travels or his books. He thinks it's something new, perhaps an up-and-coming power. Note that the two magic-user's sigils are grouped together, but this sigil follows the marking of a dead and banished god."
"So Dimswart thinks it may be another cult," said Alias. She picked up her now empty mug and stared into it. The halfling studied the ceiling beams.
"Actually, that was my own observation," Akabar replied. "Balancing the sigils seemed logical to me, but…"
"But we may not be dealing with balanced or logical people," Alias concluded for him.
Akabar nodded. "The evidence that the Fire Knives are involved is pretty incontrovertible. The attack of the summoned earth elemental would seem to indicate that some mage is definitely at work here as well. The pattern circling the symbols is common throughout nations of the Inner Sea, symbolizing unions or contracts. Ivy and rose vines are generally used for weddings, dragons for royal charters…"
"Serpents for evil pacts," Alias added in reference to the serpentine pattern that wound around the runes on her arm.
"What about the sixth party?" Olive asked.
"What sixth party?" Akabar demanded.
Alias held out her arm, wondering herself what Olive was talking about.
The bard pointed to the swordswoman's wrist, where the serpentine pattern that linked the five sigils wound about an empty space.
"There's nothing there, you fool," Akabar snorted.
"Not yet, there isn't," Olive said. "Maybe Alias escaped before they got around to adding it, or maybe they're waiting for a sixth member to pay up their dues. Maybe a sigil's going to grow there."
Alias shivered and curled her arms back around her knees.
Akabar tried giving the bard a kick on the ankle to shut her up, but the little woman's feet swung too far off the floor for him to reach.
"As much as I'd hate to slander a patron," Olive continued, "I think you need better advice than Dimswart's given you."
Alias was inclined to agree. "Where'd this other sage live, the one Dimswart recommended?" she asked Akabar.
"Shadowdale. That's rather far off though," the mage pointed out. "It would be simpler to investigate Westgate first."
The barkeep came to their table and wordlessly unloaded a platter of sandwiches and fresh drinks.
"Shadowdale is on the way to Yulash," Alias said.
"But it makes more sense to head for Westgate," Akabar argued. "The Fire-" he looked up at the barkeep "-two of the five guilty parties work out of Westgate. Another one died there." He smiled at the barkeep. "Thank you. That should do nicely for some time," he said, dismissing the man. "We can reach Westgate by ship in two or three days. If we can discover nothing there, then a trek to the north would make more sense."
Alias remained silent, feeling nauseated at the sight of food. With a last paternal glance toward the swordswoman, the barkeep left the table and returned to his other duties.
Olive picked up the five copper plates and began