Finder's Bane - Kate Novak [34]
Yet he held a grudging respect for the priestess. To walk into this proverbial dragon's den had taken more than courage or foolhardiness. The woman was devoted to her god. Joel wondered if he would ever show himself as worthy of Finder as she had proven herself to Bane. Until he knew the answer, he felt a curious tie to the priestess, as if only she could help him discover it.
"I agree," he answered at last. "We have a truce, you and I, until we escape. We will aid each other. You will help me rescue my companion, and I will ensure she keeps the bargain as well." Joel paused, then remembered it was to be an oath. "I swear this in Finder's name," he added.
Walinda bowed. Despite the plate armor encasing her figure, the bard couldn't help being impressed with hot slender and graceful the woman was. She replied, "And I, too, declare that we have a truce, you and I, and your companion, should we rescue her, until we are well dear of the Temple of the Sky and the Flaming Tower. I vow this in the name of the mightiest of gods, Lord Bane, who sleeps, waiting for his faithful to come to him."
And may he wait a long, long time, Joel thought privately. Aloud he asked, "So what now?"
"Keep watch, Poppin, while I complete my research. I shall not be very much longer," the priestess said Then she returned to the book in the alcove.
Joel watched her for a few minutes as she skimmed the pages of the book, apparently oblivious to his presence. Either she really trusted him now because he'd made an oath, or she did not perceive him to be any threat to her. The smile had returned to her face, and Joel found himself enchanted by the beauty of her features.
A voice inside chided him. Stop being an idiot. The less you look at her, the safer you'll be. The bard began pacing back and forth before the alcove, anxious to get going and free Holly. He thought of leaving Walinda to search for Holly himself, but realized it was far more reasonable to wait, since the priestess knew her way around.
From the alcove, Walinda whispered, "Yes. At last.'
Joel poked his head into the alcove. Removing a tiny blade from inside her bracers, Walinda began slicing pages out from the chained book. Something dark and liquid oozed from the cut edges that remained and pooled and clotted in the book's spine.
"It's-it's bleeding," Joel gasped.
Walinda looked up at the bard as she carefully folded the stolen leaves. "If you put your ear close," she said "you can hear it weep as well. A sweet sound… but we must go." She slid the paper beneath her breastplate and swept out of the alcove.
Joel turned away from the book with a shudder and hurried after his newly pledged ally.
Walinda led the bard down the corridor opposite the one he'd arrived by. She turned down the third side passage on the left, a route Joel might have avoided. The tunnel was deteriorated and difficult to traverse. They were forced to climb over rockfalls, crawl under low ceilings, and balance on thin ledges in places where most of the tunnel floor had collapsed into deep, dark chasms. Oily water seeped from the wall and ceiling and made the floor slick. Despite all the difficulties, Walinda didn't seem the least bit uncertain, not even when they reached a dead end.
"Here" she said, touching a section of the wall. "Push here," she ordered Joel.
Joel put his shoulder to the wall and shoved hard. The seam became a crack, but something within the wall squealed alarmingly.
"Wait!" Walinda whispered urgently. She stepped up beside Joel and set her hands on the center of the door where it pivoted. She murmured words Joel did not recognize. Then she stepped back and said, 'Try it now."
Joel pushed again. In his bones, he could feel the grating of