Finder's Bane - Kate Novak [74]
"I am Grypht. Pleased to meet you, Joel of Finder," the saurial wizard said in perfectly recognizable common speech. Since the sounds he made didn't match the movement of his mouth, Joel guessed that the wizard had used magic to speak with him. Grypht turned to Copperbloom. "I bring a message from Sapphire the Finback. She asks if you will please come to bless her new egg before the end of day."
Copperbloom nodded.
"Meander destroyed so many of our young that every egg is precious to us," Grypht explained to Joel. "Each one is blessed by every priest and priestess we have."
The young saurials who had been rehearsing the play burst out from the temple, the flyers taking to the air, the others heading for the staircase. Copperbloom snagged one of the finheads by the shirt and pulled him toward her.
"This," Jedidiah said, "is Handful, Copperbloom's oldest hatchling. Well met, Handful," he addressed the young saurial.
The priestess made a clicking noise, and Handful bowed quickly to the group, then fidgeted in his mother's grip.
"He grows more like his father every day," Jedidiah noted.
Handful narrowed his eyes and looked up at the old priest. If the young saurial made a reply, Joel couldn't hear it.
"Yes, he does seem to share his father's immunity to your charms," Grypht said to Jedidiah.
Jedidiah winked at Handful. Copperbloom released her son. The boy made another, much more formal, bow, which Joel sensed was more saucy than reverent. Then the young saurial dashed into the gardens and was soon lost from sight.
"I was wondering if you would show Holly down to the village," Jedidiah asked Grypht. "I have some church business to discuss with Joel and Copperbloom."
Holly descended the stairs with the saurial wizard, and Jedidiah motioned for Joel and Copperbloom to follow him back into the Singing Cave.
The three priests sat on the moss and ferns, and Jedidiah instructed Joel to describe his adventures since arriving in Daggerdale. Joel related his encounters with the Zhentilar, Holly, Randal Morn, Bear, the Xvimists, Walinda, and Jas. He told how he, Holly, and Jas were hunted across Daggerdale and how Jedidiah had rescued them in Giant's Craw Valley.
Then Jedidiah explained why he had put some of his power into his half of the finder's stone. Copperbloom chirped, and a scent like baked ham rose from her body.
"Yes, I know I could have just left them, but I wanted to stay with Joel," Jedidiah replied to the saurial priestess.
Copperbloom chirped something else.
"Of course he can take care of himself," Jedidiah retorted. "I just-I wanted-" Jedidiah hesitated then sighed. "I wanted the chance to go adventuring again," he admitted.
Copperbloom looked up at the ceiling, shaking her head slowly back and forth.
"That's not the worst part," Jedidiah said.
Copperbloom leaned forward with her eyes fixed rigidly on the older priest. Jedidiah reported quickly and matter-of-factly how Walinda had stolen the finder's stone. Copperbloom gestured wildly with her hands, making a series of whistling noises, which Jedidiah listened to with a grim look. Then Jedidiah told her of the banelich and the old priest's agreement to find the
Hand of Bane in exchange for the finder's stone. Copperbloom put her head in her hands and moaned.
"I was stupid and reckless, I know," Jedidiah said to the priestess. "But there's nothing to be done about it. I have no choice. I have to find the Hand of Bane so I have something to bargain with. It's somewhere in Sigil."
Copperbloom trilled something, and the smell of baked bread rose from her body.
"Yes, that's exactly what I want," Jedidiah said. "Would you please bring it to me?"
Copperbloom huffed. She rose to her feet and retreated down the hallway toward the other caverns, shaking her head and making disturbed clicking noises.
"She doesn't look pleased," Joel noted. "She reminds me of how my mom used to act when I did something dumb."
"Ever since she became a mother she treats me like a child," Jedidiah said. "Actually, come to think