Masquerades - Kate Novak [136]
"Perhaps once I have recovered my powers I should cast a spell to speak with Luer's dead spirit," the priest said gravely. "Then we will get to the heart of the matter. There will be no- Look out!" Durgar shouted suddenly.
Alias spun about, her sword at the ready, just in time to see the golem bat away the watchmen who stood guard over its form. The swordswoman threw herself in front of Victor before the monster could harm the nobleman, but instead the creature strode toward the dead body of the croamarkh.
Durgar rose, drawing his mace, but, with its remaining hand, the golem flipped the table onto the priest. Then the creature hefted Luer Dhostar's body over its shoulder like a sack of potatoes and began plodding toward the door. Alias was prepared to follow, to battle the golem for the croamarkh's corpse, but Victor held her back.
"Durgar will be crushed!" he exclaimed. "We have to get this table off him."
Alias nodded. Victor was right. The priest's life had to take priority. She laid down her weapon and helped Victor heft the table from Durgar's pale form. Durgar groaned, but he still breathed.
The golem had left the warehouse. Alias could hear members of the watch shouting and banging on the monster with their useless weapons. She retrieved her sword and rose to leave, but Victor grabbed her gown. "Where's Dragonbait?" he asked. "We need him to heal Durgar."
"I don't know," Alias said. "Victor, I have to go after the golem."
"Why?" he demanded. "Why risk your life for my father's body?"
"Without it, Durgar can't speak with his dead spirit. We might never learn the truth," she replied.
"I've seen enough. I don't think I want to learn any more," the merchant lord declared. "There's no guarantee my father will answer in death any questions he would not answer in life."
Gently Alias took Victor's hand from her gown and gave it a sympathetic squeeze. "We still have to try," she said. Then she raced off after the iron monster.
By the time Alias caught up with the fleeing golem, it stood at the edge of the harbor, teetering on the thick wooden pylons that protected the shore. The watch soldiers had the monster cornered. Alias shouted for them to get a rope on it, but she was too late. Ponderously the creature rocked back, then forward, pitching headlong into the water with a tremendous splash.
The ripples spread outward until they hit the pier and bounced back. The moon was nearly full, but Alias could detect no bubbles or turbulence in the dark water below. She returned to the ramshackle warehouse. Victor was ordering one of the watchmen to fetch a priest for Durgar. The old man lay on the floor of the warehouse, his breathing strained and shallow, his complexion turning gray.
"It's just cracked ribs," Durgar assured Alias. "After years of combat wounds, I can tell,"he added with a grim smile.
Alias reported on the fate of the iron golem and Luer Dhostar's body.
"Damnation," Durgar growled with annoyance. "It could walk across the bottom of the bay and be halfway to the Pirate Isles before it corrodes. We'll never get Luer's body back now."
The watchman Victor had sent out returned with a stern-faced young man in white robes, a follower of Ilmater, god of suffering. The others maintained a respectful silence as he knelt beside the elderly priest and began intoning a curative chant, his hands hovering over Durgar's chest. When the young man had finished, Durgar took a deep breath, then another, and his complexion began to grow rosier.
"I just can't believe it," Durgar said as Victor helped him to sit up. "I've known Luer for years. I can't believe he was-he was… Victor, I'm so sorry," he concluded, patting the merchant lord's hand.
"It's all right," Victor said softly. "He hid it well. I couldn't believe it either, at first."
"But your father lived for this city and for his business!" the old priest insisted. He picked up the Faceless's coin mask and sighed. "Luer's greatest pleasure was going over his books," he said, still unable to grasp his friend's treachery. "We used to work together in the Tower