Darkvision - Bruce R. Cordell [45]
Iahn moved to reset, and nearly cried out when the woman's hand snaked forward to capture his retreating fist. So fast! But he was faster, if barely, and he resumed his guard.
The woman frowned. Iahn railed against his stupidity. It simply wasn't like him to make such a mistake. He should have let Tebora grab him. He said, "My pa taught me something of boxing, Miss. He had it tough on the docks."
Tebora chuckled, "Perfect!" and lunged for him. He resisted his reflex to roll away, and she had him. She squeezed him so hard he gasped, then she threw him to the floor. Only his training allowed him to take the fall without breaking an arm or his back. The woman apparently had little regard for others' servants.
Tebora looked back at Ususi, Iahn stretched out at her feet. "See! Despite his boasts, I knocked him down easily, because I'm a plangent. You could be the same as me, or choose some other attribute mix. You could…" The woman's voice trailed off as she gazed at Iahn gathering himself on the floor. The illusory facets of his disguise were boiling away like mist in the sun, leaving gaps and fissures through which his true appearance began to wink.
He had but a moment. If the presence he had seen outside the Imaskaran ruin lived in Datharathi crystal, then it probably also lived in the plangent. If the presence within her crystal limbs caught sight of his real shape, he feared every other plangent in Vaelan would also know a Deep Imaskari vengeance taker was in town. He thrust himself from the floor, his legs like great springs. As he rose, he cocked his left hand into a fist and delivered an uppercut, perfectly timed with the assumption of his full height.
The blow, which impacted perfectly on Tebora's most vulnerable bone and nerve plexus, might have taken her head clean off if she were a normal, unenhanced woman. Against Tebora, it was merely sufficient. The saleswoman gasped at the impact, then slumped down, unconscious. The luminosity of the woman's artificial limbs dimmed and went out.
"Well," said Ususi, one hand fumbling inside her disguise, perhaps seeking her wand in a reaction too late in coming, "I… I'm relieved to see plangents are no match for a vengeance taker."
Tebora's limbs relit with an electric crackle, and lavender radiance started to pulse anew in the chamber.
"Go!" yelled Iahn. His disguise was in utter tatters.
Ususi went. He raced after her out the door and into the street. As soon as the door closed, they slowed to a regular gait, like others who walked nearby. Iahn surreptitiously stripped away the dregs of his ruined disguise. He followed Ususi, assuming a position as a bodyguard instead of a manservant, especially with his dragonfly blade once more in hand instead of strapped uncomfortably to his back.
"Where to?" the wizard asked him as she walked down the street.
The hairs on Iahn's neck prickled-one of the protective enchantments he cast daily on himself was alerting him he was under unseen observation. The vengeance taker pointed toward the closest alley. He considered telling Ususi how foolish she'd been in agreeing to the saleswoman's suggestion of a fight. But she was a wizard-she could figure it out on her own. The most important thing now was to deal with whomever was following them.
Ususi walked into the alley and Iahn ducked in after her. In Vaelan, alleys were usually small side streets, but in this case, Iahn and Ususi were granted a stroke of luck-the passage was so narrow that relatively little light illuminated it from above. Plus, the alley was jammed with enormous jars and vases belonging to a nearby retailer. He motioned Ususi to continue walking. She shrugged and acquiesced, moving ahead of him. Iahn secreted himself behind a large vat filled with white beans and waited.
Not ten heartbeats later, a shape with a hood drawn low over its face and a blue sash tied around its waist stepped around the corner and into the alley. As the spy passed Iahn, the taker grabbed the hood and