Guild Wars_ Ghosts of Ascalon - Matt Forbeck [41]
Dougal tried to slip out of the way, but the norn was too big to avoid. The massive warrior’s chest came down hard on Dougal’s legs, pinning him to the ground. Dougal howled more in frustration than pain.
“Dougal!” Riona rushed to his side. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.” Dougal struggled to extract his feet from beneath the norn’s bulk. “Just get him off of me!”
Scowling in disgust, Doomforge reached down with both hands and heaved the slumbering norn onto his back.
“Who is he?” Dougal asked as he pulled himself to his feet.
“Gullik Oddsson,” Killeen said.
Doomforge whistled at this, a strange, low note that emerged not from her lips but her teeth. “The Oddsson? I heard he single-handedly defeated a score of destroyers in the old dwarf mines beneath the Dredgehaunt Cliffs.”
Riona blew out a long breath. “He’s supposed to have stormed aboard the schooner Watery Gravestone, slaughtered Captain Deadbeard, and then taken command of the ship to terrorize the Sea of Sirens.”
“Gyda told me he slew a mad grawl with his bare hands when he was only a child, no taller than me,” said Killeen.
“He’s a drunken ass who tried to kill me and nearly broke my legs,” said Dougal. He kicked Gullik in the shoulder. The norn didn’t even stop snoring long enough to acknowledge it. “And he’s not sleeping in here.”
Doomforge grunted. “How do you suggest we move him?”
Crusader Naugatl and a squad of guards showed up then, drawn by the sounds of the battle. They gaped at the norn and then at Doomforge, but they put their swords away at a sign from her.
“Leave him here,” she said. “Secure the door and window. Post a squad of guards, and come find me as soon as he shows signs of rousing.” She pointed at one of the guards. “Have another room prepared for Keane. Right now.”
A guard ran off to fulfill his orders, and Doomforge sauntered after him, motioning for the others to follow. “Come,” she said. “I can’t speak for you, but after that, I need a drink.” Killeen produced a blanket and laid it over the snoring norn’s chest, then turned to the door as well.
“Are you coming?” she said.
“I was serious about that nap,” said Dougal.
“I still need to get something from the bazaar,” said Riona. To Dougal she said, “Can we leave you alone for more than five minutes?”
“Maybe,” said Dougal, “if the rest of the world will stop beating me up long enough so I can get some sleep.”
It isn’t mind-reading,” said Killeen, “and we aren’t all connected into one big mass mind. However, before we come into the world, the sylvari are united in the Dream of Dreams.”
The three of them sat at the end of a table large enough for a platoon. Dougal had slept at least six hours in the most comfortable bed in all of Lion’s Arch, and had been roused only unwillingly by Killeen saying that Riona was back and dinner was in a half hour. It was already dark, and a heavy moon shown through the tall windows.
Dinner was excellent, a rare treat for Dougal. He had spent many of his years on the road, able to eat only what he was willing to carry with him. As a result, he had survived on mostly water and hardtack and the occasional bit of small game he brought down.
Tonight, though, Soulkeeper had made sure that he, Riona, and Killeen had the finest food and drink available in Lion’s Arch. They dined on succulent roast mutton, braised moa, fresh breads, and a selection of the finest fruits available from the city’s busy harbor market. They also split a pair of bottles of wine that was older than anyone at the table and finer than any Dougal had ever tasted.
It was not the first “last meal” Dougal had enjoyed before heading off on a job from which he had no assurance he would ever return. He hoped it would not be the final one despite his misgivings, and he was determined to make the most of it either way.
Riona had set Killeen off by asking the question “You’re five years old. How do you know so much?” Indeed, it was a question that plagued Dougal as well. Unlike Riona, he had known a number of sylvari, and they always surprised him