Azure bonds - Kate Novak [74]
"But I learned it here," Alias insisted.
"Sometimes these old songs get lost if they aren't written down," Mourngrym said. "Isn't that right, Han?"
"Yes, my lord," the musician agreed.
"I thought it was a common song in the dalelands," Alias said, growing a little frustrated.
"It will be soon, lady, if you tell me the words. With your permission, I'll sing it from here to Harrowdale."
"I'll write them down later," Alias promised the musician, "and leave them with Jhaele before I go."
"Thank you, lady." The young man smiled. "Excuse me," he said, bowed to Alias, and went back to his stool to play more sets with Olive.
Alias looked up and spotted Jhaele just then. "Would you excuse me, Your Lordship? There's someone I'd like to say hello to."
"Certainly," Mourngrym said, nodding. He watched Alias walk over to the innkeep, and then he turned to focus his attention on the musicians. The swordswoman was acceptable, he decided, a little addled maybe, but nice. From experience, though, he knew it wouldn't hurt to keep an eye on the halfling.
Alias went up to the bar, smiling at Jhaele. The woman smiled back, but still gave no sign of recognition, so Alias asked her, "Jhaele, do you remember the Company of the Swanmay?"
"Yes, I do." The innkeep's smile spread further across her worn features. "They were hell-raisers, that lot."
"How many were there?"
"Well, let's see, The two fighters, a pair of thieves, a cleric, and Kith, the would-be mage. Six in all. All women."
"You don't remember me?"
Jhaele stared at Alias for a long moment. "No, I'm sorry, lady. I can't say that I do. The Swanmays would sometimes pick up strays, but none of them stayed in my memory, I'm afraid. I won't forget you now, though. Your song was wonderful. I'm honored you sang it in my taproom."
"But, Jhaele, you taught me that song," Alias insisted.
Jhaele laughed. "You must have me mistaken for another, lady. I can't sing a note. Never could."
Alias opened her mouth to laugh, thinking Jhaele was teasing her, but the sincerity in the innkeeper's face unsettled her. She blushed and fled through the door to the kitchen. Jhaele looked after her, but the swordswoman ran out the side door into the night.
"Something eating at that one," Jhaele muttered and returned to her chores at the bar.
The sun had just slipped behind the distant Desertsmouth Mountains, and the sky was a deep, dark blue. The night air was cold, but Alias was too furious to notice as she strode hastily away from The Old Skull eastward down the road toward the common and the river.
"This doesn't make any sense," she growled. "I wasn't some stray the Swanmays picked up! I was a member! For three seasons!"
It was one thing for this new lord, Mourngrym, to forget the tale of the Swanmays, but Alias had wintered twice in The Old Skull. She and Kith and Belinda had spent at least a hundred evenings in Jhaele Silvermane's company. The innkeep had mulled wine especially for them and taught them bawdy songs about men in general and certain male adventurers in particular. And Jhaele had taught her the song about the Standing Stone.
"How could she forget me?" Alias whispered angrily. Her throat constricted as tears welled in her eyes. She gulped uncomfortably for air.
How can you blame Jhaele, when you don't even remember Elminster? her conscience said. To hear Mourngrym describe him, you'd think this sage was a town landmark. I could not possibly have missed noticing him in a town as small as Shadowdale. And even if I had, according to Mourngrym I should have heard about him from people in the outside world. He's supposed to be famous.
Maybe, she thought, Mourngrym was exaggerating the sage's renown. Anyway, Mourngrym hadn't been here seven years ago either, so how could he know for sure if Elminster was around then? Maybe these Elminster's Tales that Mourngrym mentioned weren't all that accurate. How could this Elminster mention the Swanmays and not mention me? How dare he forget me?
Having passed