Dragonquest - Donita K. Paul [62]
Granny Noon managed to look sympathetic even with a smile on her lips. “You’re not a bad person, Kale. You’re not obligated to love a woman you don’t know. You’re not bound to obey a woman who’s done nothing to demonstrate that she’s trustworthy.”
“But she’s a servant of Paladin. She’s been doing a dangerous job for years.”
“The woman you describe does not resemble the Lyll Allerion I knew years ago.” Granny Noon paused to stir her tea. “Living in the stronghold of evil does take its toll on an individual. People change.”
“Sometimes for the better,” Kale put in, thinking about how much she had learned since leaving River Away.
“Yes, and sometimes not,” said Granny Noon. “We will wait and not evaluate her character without knowing more. Wulder will reveal her heart.”
Granny Noon stood. Kale jumped to her feet. This sign of respect she did not begrudge her emerlindian mentor.
“Our time for talk,” said Granny Noon, “is limited, Kale. I must give you and your friends the things you need to dwell in the city. But you’ve said some things that I cannot let pass.”
She swallowed at the sound of Granny Noon’s stern voice. She is disgusted with me.
“I am not!” The voice snapped in her mind. “Now listen to me. You referred to yourself as a slave. You are never to do so again. You said you had no talents of worth to your comrades. In this you mock Wulder’s wisdom.”
Kale gasped.
Granny Noon nodded. “Precisely so. It is a grave error to belittle the talents given to you by Wulder. Judge accurately the value of those talents. You must know exactly what you’re worth so that you do not fail your friends. This would be an inadequacy in your spirit, not in your ability.” The emerlindian gathered her skirts in her hands and headed for the door.
“We’re running late. I want you to be able to enter the city by tomorrow afternoon, which means you must leave before this day turns into night.” She stopped with her hand on the doorknob. Her voice softened. “Kale, remember to use to the fullest the talents given you and enhance your skill with every opportunity Wulder provides. You are the Dragon Keeper, and none of your gifts are insignificant.”
26
AMBUSH
Kale rode on top of a stack of trunks and luggage strapped to the carriage roof. Bardon sat beside the driver, a marione named Bruit, with Toopka tucked between them. Librettowit, Regidor, and Dar rode inside. With instructions to stay out of sight, the little dragons slept contentedly in their pocket-dens.
Granny Noon had given the adventurers bags of coins, letters of introduction, lists of contacts, and a key to an upper-class residence. The questing party would not be trooping through mountains, valleys, and hidden caves, but through the streets of a metropolis and the homes of the wealthy. Regidor would be disguised as a foreign abbot whose monastery indulged in trade for the benefit of their demesne. Librettowit, an art dealer. Dar, butler and valet. Bardon would play the part of household sheridan, a special servant armed to protect family and property. Kale and Toopka were ordinary servants.
Granny Noon had given Kale a piece of silver, a rather odd, flat disk with two irregular pie shapes cut out of the sides. Granny Noon said it would help her identify people. Kale turned the shiny silver piece over and over in her callused palm.
“How?” she had asked.
“I don’t actually know, dear. But Paladin said it would come in handy, so do your best not to lose it.”
Kale kept the disk in the pouch with the egg Paladin had picked. Now, as they bounced along in the warm afternoon sun, the small metal piece was all but forgotten.
A giant draft horse pulled the carriage. The urohm-bred animal had no difficulty hauling the load up and down the cultivated