Guild Wars_ Ghosts of Ascalon - Matt Forbeck [108]
As for Dougal, he tried to relax, looking up at the pattern the Foefire’s beacon made across the sky. But at last he had to give up, and sat up, looking at the city’s crumbling edifices.
Kranxx cleared his throat. “You still have that ambient thaumaturgic construct?” the asura asked.
“The Golem’s Eye?” Dougal nodded.
“Can I see it?” Kranxx said.
Dougal fished the stone from his pocket and gazed at it again. It was worth more than he might otherwise make in a year, but that did him little good at the moment. “Sure,” he said, dropping it into the asura’s hand. “Just make sure you take care of it.”
“Oh,” Kranxx said, “that I can promise you. I had to leave most of my tools back in Ebonhawke, but I brought a matrixulator. I could recalibrate it into a recharging device, given sufficient sympathetic energy.”
Dougal blinked at the asura, realizing for the first time what Kranxx had given up to come along. For most of the trip, he had thought the asura was concerned with his own skin. Now it was clear he had left behind his lab and his projects, which for an asura were as important as his life.
“Why don’t you hold on to it,” said Dougal, “and see if you can figure it out.”
The asura’s eyes opened wide and his long ears perked up. “Hang on!” he said, and ran back to his pack, rooted around in it a bit, then came back with one of his bottles, a red syrup oozing down its sides. “Here. Use this if you’re injured. It’s a good batch. I think.”
Dougal smiled and put the untested potion in his pocket. “And if we don’t find enough treasure in Ascalon City, that gem is yours. Buy yourself a new workshop.”
Kranxx made a choking, gurgling noise and pulled out a device that looked like the product of a union between a violin and a crossbow. “Yes. Yes! You see, it is fully primed, but just needs some basic arcanic updates to handle the annual progression of the stars over the past two centuries!”
Dougal shook his head, understanding about one word in three. Which when dealing with the asura, was better than usual. He looked up and saw Gullik’s broad back, his legs hanging over the southern-facing cliff.
“If you’ll excuse me …” said Dougal, standing up.
The asura looked almost disappointed. “You don’t want to hear me explain how it works?”
“Later, perhaps,” Dougal said. “I owe Gullik a story.”
Dougal walked over to where Gullik was sitting, crossing paths with the patrolling charr. Ember just nodded at him and continued on her rounds. The human sat down next to the norn, looked out over the quiet emptiness south of the city, and coughed softly.
“I first met Gyda …” said Dougal, and noticed that Gullik flinched at the name. He started again. “I first met Gyda Oddsdottir in a second-story room in a tavern in Divinity’s Reach. We had both been hired by Clagg, who you’ve met. And let me say that Clagg was the type of asura who would only be brave if he was backed up by a large golem or a norn. Clagg had both, and the norn was your powerful cousin, so you can imagine he was insufferable.”
Gullik let out a chuckle, and Dougal continued. He spoke of their adventures beneath Divinity’s Reach, of finding Blimm’s tomb, and of the final battle with the skeletal tomb guardian. He did not mention Gyda’s bullying or threats, and once or twice, when he spoke of her kind nature, Gullik gave him a sidewise glance and a smile. For the most part, he told the truth, but it was the truth you would speak about the dead for the benefit of the living.
When he had finished, Gullik clapped Dougal on the shoulder. By that time the sky was lightening to the east, although its rise would be obscured by the gathering clouds. It would be an overcast and gray day in