Darkvision - Bruce R. Cordell [32]
Kiril didn't like being questioned by Thormud-she didn't know the answers. When she was one with the righteous blade, she was not tormented or put upon. Why not pull him out again and tell Thormud what she thought of his stupid stunt of luring the creature out of the netherworld in the first place?
Her hand reached, but instead of grasping Angul's hilt, she pulled out her flask, spun off the cap, and knocked one back.
Better.
* * * * *
Sighing, the dwarf bent to study the ground where Kiril had pinned their attacker. He ran his fingers through the dirt, scooped up a palmful of grains, and let them fall, one at a time, his expression intent. Thormud shook his head. "The attack was too quick for the earth to recall."
He ascended to the bluff top and repeated his actions, but they proved no more fruitful. Kiril watched, scowling at Xet, who flew intricate, probably meaningless patterns in the air above its master's head.
Thormud paused, scratching his beard. A new thought struck him. "Xet! Bring me the big map!"
"Find something?" Kiril asked him.
"I remember a detail from my divination."
The crystal dragonet winged over to the destrier and dived headfirst into one of Thormud's packs. It emerged several heartbeats later with a leather tube clamped in its mouth. Kiril recognized it as one of the map cases that the dwarf referenced from time to time. She recalled this map as having recognizable names and political borders inscribed on it. Many of the dwarf's other maps depicted topography meaningless to her.
Meanwhile, the dwarf approached the destrier. Xet craned its neck to deliver the map to Thormud's outstretched hand. Kiril ambled over, too. Might as well see what the old dwarf was up to. Better to get the explanation as it developed, rather than ask Thormud to recap later, after he thought too much about it-the dwarf would one day kill her with his mind-numbing explanations.
Or, in order to prevent that, she'd stick her dagger in him. If only, she mused, grinning.
Thormud looked at her enigmatic grin, smiled without understanding the reason for his bodyguard's expression, and unrolled the map on the destrier's back. He grabbed Xet and placed the creature on one side of the curling parchment to hold its edge down, and weighted the other edge with his moon rod. The dwarf had to study it for only a few moments before his finger stabbed down into the lower right corner.
"The Golden Water!" he said, exultant.
Kiril cocked an eyebrow.
"This was in my vision-a swath of water that shone like molten gold. I thought it seemed familiar. North of it was a singular spire, like a wolf's…" the dwarf's voice trailed off as his finger traced north across a wide bay labeled "The Golden Water," to the coast near a city called Huorm. Standing just a few miles from the water was some sort of natural rise called Adama's…
"… tooth," finished the dwarf. His finger tapped the landmark. "Adama's Tooth. That's the place the earth first showed me, before I became lost."
Kiril asked him, "So what?"
"We shall discover 'what' when we get there."
Kiril studied the parchment. The map didn't show elevations, but Adama's Tooth looked suspiciously solitary. She rubbed the scar on her hand where lava had burned her during a previous expedition planned by Thormud. "You're certain it's not a volcano?"
The dwarf brightened. "Oh, wouldn't that be just delightful?"
"Right," Kiril said. "Hey, our friend left a small piece of himself behind-see that? One of his sigils."
Thormud stared at the tiny piece of purplish crystal. He produced a leather scarf, dashed over, and quickly wrapped the crystal, completely hiding it.
"Why'd you do that?"
"Whatever sent that creature might be able to see out of the crystal, as if it were