Elfshadow - Elaine Cunningham [42]
"Whazzat?" Danilo sat up abruptly, staring bleary-eyed into the grim face of the half-elf until his vision focused. "Oh. Hello there. I suppose it's time for my watch?"
"Time to leave," she said flatly.
"Oh. If you say so." Danilo struggled to his feet and stretched, shifting this way and that and wincing as he worked out some stiff spots. "Where are we going?"
"Waterdeep."
"Oh, marvelous," he said, brightening. "We can probably catch up with one of the merchant trains within a few days and-"
"No," she broke in quietly.
"No?" Danilo looked puzzled, stopping in mid-stretch. "Whyever not?"
Arilyn explained with the patience usually afforded a rather slow child. "A very skillful tracker has been following me. I was headed west when he lost me. I'm assuming he knows my routes and habits well enough to consider Waterdeep my logical destination. He is likely to take the most common route, the trade route. If we were to travel with a merchant train, he could easily catch up."
"Ah. Never overlook the obvious," Danilo commented, nodding sagely.
"Something like that," Arilyn admitted. "So we'll take the northern route."
The dandy shook his head and sputtered in disbelief, "Surely you jest. The northern route? As in, troll country? I'll have you know I detest trolls. Utterly."
"Don't worry. We'll skirt the High Moors."
"No trolls?"
"No trolls." Danilo still looked distressed, so Arilyn elaborated. "It's riskier than the southern trade route, but we'll get to Waterdeep faster. Also, we pass through open country. If my guess is wrong and someone is still trying to track us, we'll see them as soon as they see us." She thought it best not to tell the nervous dandy that she would actually prefer such a confrontation, and she paused before dropping the other boot. "And another thing. We'll save more time if we cut through the bottom lip of the marsh."
Danilo caught his breath and held up both hands in a gesture of protest. "The marsh? We're talking about the Marsh of Chelimber, I assume? We are. Well, no thank you. I think I'll just take my horse and head south, if it's all the same to you."
Arilyn had anticipated this reaction. "I'm sorry," she told him firmly, "but you're going to come with me."
He sighed with resignation, then smirked. "I do grow on people, don't I?"
"Hardly. I need to reach Waterdeep and disappear without alerting the assassin. But," she added pointedly, "if I let you loose along the merchant route, you would sing this song to anyone who would listen, and I'll be back where I started."
Danilo considered her argument for a brief moment, then nodded. "All right," he said agreeably. He started to stuff his belongings back into his magic sack.
His ready compliance surprised Arilyn. "You agree? Just like that?"
Still packing, he arched an eyebrow at her. "Do I have much choice in the matter?"
"No."
"Well then, no sense in whining about things you can't change, is there?" he concluded cheerfully. He picked up the last item-a silver flask-and took a bracing pull at it before he slipped it into the sack. Thus fortified, he rose and faced Arilyn.
"There. Packing's done. I say, do you think you could catch us something for breakfast? Anything at all? At this point I could eat a pickled wyvern. And while you hunt, I'll just freshen up a tad. Not that we're likely to meet anyone from polite society along the route you've chosen, but one can't travel looking like leftovers from a gnoll's feast, can one?"
Danilo's gaze swept over Arilyn, who was clad for travel in boots and trousers, a simple blue tunic over her loose shirt, and her dark cloak. "By the way," he added casually, with an obvious and exaggerated attempt at diplomacy, "that outfit is very… well, it's certainly very practical. It looks comfortable, really! For whatever it's worth, I vastly prefer the clothes you wore at the inn. Maybe all those veils would be a bit much for the road, but at least let me lend you a few pieces of jewelry to brighten up your ensemble?"
Arilyn stifled a sigh. It was going