Azure bonds - Kate Novak [88]
Akabar's mind raced. Is this the bond that keeps the lizard so close to Alias? If she knows of it, why hasn't she told me? Of course she doesn't know it. The lizard has kept it a secret from her. That's why he's come all the way down here to wash. No doubt he is afraid of losing her trust if he reveals that he too is branded. Is he truly just a benign companion helping her evade her enemies or is he one of the enemies' servants helping to track her?
Akabar caught one last phrase spoken by the hooded one. "Sure ye will not accompany me?" he asked.
Dragonbait hissed and shook his head.
"Ye've chosen the hardest path. I'd wish ye Tymora's grace, but I don't believe in it." The hooded one turned to leave.
Hastily, Akabar leaped back to the path and began walking toward the road to conceal his eavesdropping. But when the Turmishman rounded the hedge, the hooded one had vanished and Dragonbait's back was turned as he pulled on a shirt of kelly green cotton.
Confused by the hooded one's disappearance, but anxious to see Dragonbait's reaction to his own sudden appearance, Akabar called out cheerfully, "Dragonbait? What are you doing here?" as though he'd just spotted the lizard.
Dragonbait wheeled about and went into a defensive crouch. Startled, Akabar fell back a step. Hardly the behavior of an innocent creature, the mage thought. Aloud, he chided the lizard, "Jumpy this morning, aren't we? I just got through at the sage's. Are the others at the inn?"
Dragonbait glared at him suspiciously and nodded curtly.
"Well, you had better come back there with me then." The lizard continued to glare at him.
"Can't have you dawdling about people's backyards," the TLirmishman joked. He felt as though he were addressing a wall, and a hostile wall at that. Dragonbait's gaze was like a snake's, unblinking and unwavering.
Finally, the lizard turned and snatched up his towel and cloak from the bench by the water vat. Akabar could tell something long and stiff was wrapped in the cloak. Undoubtedly the creature's sword. Dragonbait pushed past the mage without a sign or sound and headed down the road toward the inn.
As he followed Dragonbait through the town, Akabar marveled at the creature's rudeness. In Alias's presence, he was always the polite, servile clown. Perhaps he really is an arrogant servant of some sinister power, Akabar thought. His conversation with the hooded one must have upset him greatly. He's dropped his guard and revealed himself.
If he told Alias of Dragonbait's behavior, with no one else to substantiate his words, would the swordswoman believe him? Probably not. Alias was very attached to the lizard. She felt safe with him.
Which left Akabar to decide whether or not to tell the swordswoman of the markings on her scaly follower's chest. Trying to get the creature to remove his shirt to prove it would no doubt prove painful and perhaps even violent. And was no guarantee of Alias's reaction. It was possible that she would perceive the lizard keeping his markings hidden from her as an act of betrayal, but it was more likely that she would feel even more attached to him, believing him to be a fellow victim. Were Akabar to try to convince her otherwise, she would no doubt accuse him of jealousy or paranoia.
No, he would be better off waiting, keeping a close watch on the lizard until he could discover some incontrovertible proof of the creature's guilt. But would it be too late by then? he wondered.
As he reached The Old Skull, Akabar remembered he had one other subject which required some consideration- his meeting with the sage. Alias, intent on reaching Yulash, had not really shown any interest in the mage's self-appointed mission to the sage of Shadowdale, but it would not have slipped her mind. She would ask about it. In the face of his uselessness the evening Dragonbait had destroyed the kalmari, the Turmishman was loath to confess his failure to gain an audience with Elminster.
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