Curse of the Shadowmage - Mark Anthony [76]
"You have quite a bit of explaining to do, Ferret Talondim!"
* * * * *
"You've hurt her feelings terribly, you know." Cormik, murmured. "I know," Ferret replied sadly.
They were alone now; the little thief had sent his masked servants away. He cast a fleeting look at his grandmother. She stood on the far side of the octagonal chamber, where Mari and Kellen were doing their best to calm her. Jewel stalked lithely back and forth, looking almost like a dangerous violet panther in her dusk-purple leathers.
"Honor doesn't mean much to thieves," Ferret went on, "but blood does. I suppose my operations have been cutting into Grandmother's business."
Morhion gave the thief a hard look. "I think you err in judging the source of your grandmother's ire, Ferret. Whatever she might say, I imagine she cares little enough for any gold you have cost her. I would say she is angry at the grief you have caused her by letting her believe that you were dead." Mari cast a furious look in their direction. "And I suspect Jewel may not be the only to feel that way," the mage added meaningfully. Ferret swallowed hard. "Perhaps I acted recklessly. I suppose, now that Grandmother knows I'm not really dead, she'll go ahead and kill me anyway." Across the room. Jewel let out a particularly blistering array of expletives. Cormik raised an eyebrow, clearly impressed. "You may be right." He laid a ring-laden hand ferret's bony shoulder. "Unless, of course, you go over right now and speak to her. You are her grandson, after all. And her favorite, from everything I've heard. That might still count for something."
Ferret nodded uneasily. "I suppose it's worth a try. If nothing else, maybe if I beg for mercy she'll make my demise a little less painful."
Morhion poked a finger against Ferret's chest. "And when you've finished explaining things to Jewel, you can start explaining them to the rest of us. Last we knew, you were lost in the destruction of the Shadowking's crypt beneath Iriaebor. I'm very interested to learn how you got from there to here, and you're going to satisfy my curiosity. Understood?"
Ferret's eyes bulged out. "I hope you're not expecting me to say I'm looking forward to it."
"Frankly" Morhion countered, "I'd be happier if you were dreading it."
"You would, Morhion," Ferret said with a grimace and scurried across the room.
Morhion allowed himself the bare suggestion of a smile.
It was good to see the little thief again. The world had been a duller place without him.
Mari approached, gripping Kellen's hand. "Let's give Jewel and Ferret a little space," she suggested, and they withdrew to the far side of the room. It was only a short while later that Jewel and Ferret strode toward them.
The weasely thief was grinning his crooked-toothed grin, and now the matriarch of the Talondim clan was smiling as well, though there was a slightly perturbed light in her eyes.
"It's all right," Ferret pronounced in his raspy voice, "We've made up."
"That was quick," Morhion noted dubiously.
"He didn't play fair," Jewel complained.
"What do you mean?" Mari asked.
"He kissed my cheek and told me that he loved me," Jewel said, as if this were a tremendous outrage.
Ferret beamed. "Even a grandmother as remarkable as my Jewel can't resist kisses from her favorite grandchild."
A scowl cast a shadow across Jewel's ageless face. "You always were the slyest scion of my clan," she muttered.
Cormik adjusted his jewel-encrusted eyepatch. "I hate to interrupt this sweet but twisted family reunion, but perhaps it's time we told Ferret why we were searching for 'Stiletto' in the first place."
Minutes later, they gathered in a sumptuously appointed chamber deep in the underground warrens that were Ferret's-or Stiletto's-hideout.
"Not bad," Cormik said with grudging approval as he eyed the room's mahogany furniture and thick tapestries. "Not bad at all, for an amateur." Cormik, of course, was an expert on luxury.
Soon the companions were seated in comfortable chairs, sipping rich red wine. Morhion