Azure bonds - Kate Novak [56]
Something croaked her name, harsh and low, and she came up with a dagger in hand. The others seemed not to hear the voice.
Did the wind carry it to her ears alone? Or did sorcery? she wondered, remembering the attack at the abandoned druid's circle, where the wind had drowned out her cries for help.
The swordswoman reigned in her horse behind the others and listened. The sound came again, a harsh, dying croak that called her name, this time from one of the scrub bushes on Alias's left.
Spotting Alias behind them, Olive harrumphed.
Akabar called back, "Alias? Are-"
Suddenly, the bush near Alias rustled and exploded in a flurry of feathers.
Old reflexes took over, and Alias felt like some mechanical toy. She aimed, snapped her wrist back, and flicked her knife forward, loosing the dagger.
The spinning weapon struck the bird, a huge raven, at the base of its left wing and stuck there. A smaller creature would have been skewered, but the raven took to the air with the blade embedded in its flesh-the dagger's gold-wrapped hilt jutting out and flashing in the sun.
Hissing, Dragonbait drew his sword.
"Lee-as, Lee-as, Lee-as," the bird shrieked as it rose straight up, spun, and flapped in an ungainly manner toward the nearest cliff wall, taking Alias's weapon with it.
The woman warrior shook her head angrily. The unnatural silence had unsettled her, and her little flash of paranoia had cost her a good throwing dagger.
"I thought it was something more dangerous than a blasted bird," Alias said, rejoining the group. "I thought it was calling my name." Then she laughed, one of the first deep hearted laughs she'd permitted herself in gods knew how-long.
"It was only a robberwing," the mage said, surprised by her reaction. "They're quite common on the southern shores of the Inner Sea. I thought they were well-known in the north, too. They take shiny objects on occasion, but otherwise they're harmless."
"In Waterdeep," chimed in the halfling, "a corrupt lord trained a flock of robberwings to steal for him."
"Natives of Waterdeep," replied the mage, "have all sorts of odd ways to pass the time… when they aren't counting their money."
"Robberwings are considered an ill omen in Thay," Olive added.
Dragonbait hissed again. His dead, yellow eyes glared at the cliff where the raven had disappeared.
Alias's laughter subsided. "It's all right, Dragonbait," she said, patting him on the back. "I know it was just a raven." She turned to the others. "It's just that I was expecting… a dragon. Or a harpy. Or at least a nest of blood-sucking stirges. I feel a little foolish at having lost a weapon to… just a bird."
"A lost weapon's like a lost meal," said the halfling, wheeling around on her pony. "Replaceable, but you have to know where to look. Speaking of which, are we going to sit here until dark or press on to this marvelous inn of yours?"
"We press on," Alias said.
"Thank heavens," the bard said, kicking her pony past Akabar's stallion. "Great adventure can wait. Hark, I hear something calling my name, too." She held her hand up to her ear. "It's a warm bed and something else… a hot meal, one not spiced to within an inch of my life."
Ruskettle peeked out from under her wide-brimmed hat to catch Akabar's reaction, but his face remained impassive. Five nights before, Olive had complained about the mage's cooking and announced that, if Akabar didn't go easier on the pepper, she'd be forced to take a hand in the cooking herself. Since then, she had continued to complain about the spicing, but had yet to lift a finger to help prepare meals.
The halfling set her pony in a trot. Akabar followed, looking regal on his white