Pool of Radiance_ Ruins of Myth Drannor - Carrie Bebris [5]
No, she wouldn’t miss the Bell, or Phlan as a whole. It was a place, just another place. By next week she’d be in a new one.
The food arrived. Kestrel tried to eat, but the doughy bread stuck in her throat. She washed it down with the ale, but it sat like a lump in her stomach.
“So tell me what happened.” Ragnall lifted his own tankard but set it down without drinking, his blue eyes narrowing. “He didn’t hurt you, did he?”
“Who?”
“The old goat in the market today.”
“No!” Kestrel snorted.
“What is it, then? I’ve never seen you quite like this.”
She stared at him a moment, debating. Would he think her crazy? On the other hand, what she’d witnessed today might make her crazy if she didn’t tell someone. She quaffed more ale and leaned forward.
“The Pool of Radiance has reappeared,” she said in a low voice.
Ragnall’s eyes widened. “You know this for a fact?”
“I saw it suck the life out of someone today-rotted his flesh right off his bones.”
He leaned back in his seat and let out a low whistle. “After we parted at the market, I heard a few rumors, but I didn’t put any stock in them.”
She frowned. “What kind of rumors?”
“Stories similar to yours. I guess several people-the number increases with each telling-have disappeared since last night, and others speak of undead creatures wandering the city. Like I said, I thought they were just bogeyman tales to keep children in line, but supposedly Elminster himself arrived tonight to investigate.”
“Elminster? How did he get here so fast? Or even hear about this?”
Ragnall shrugged. “How do wizards do anything?”
How indeed? Kestrel disliked spellcasters, considering them more treacherous than the sneakiest assassin. They were always muttering under their breaths, moving their hands in strange gestures, collecting odd substances. They gave her the creeps. Just when a body least expected it, they’d blow something up or send objects flying through the air. Or worse-set traps, like the one at the tower, that unleashed their sorcery long after the spellcaster had left the scene. She still bore a scar on her left wrist from trying to pick an ensorcelled lock three years ago.
“You going to report what you saw?” Ragnall asked.
“Yeah, right,” she said. “That’s what I need-to solicit a wizard’s notice. No thanks.”
“I hear there’s a reward.”
That got her attention. “What kind of reward?”
“One hundred gold pieces for a genuine firsthand account.” He broke a hunk of cheese off the wedge. “That’s what I heard anyway. Don’t know if it’s true.”
A hundred gold pieces. Kestrel had been debating the wisdom of trying to retrieve her treasure from its hiding spot near the pool. If she couldn’t get to it, the nobleman’s money pouch was all she had in the world, and any additional coins would make a big difference. Even if the rumors of reward proved false, perhaps she could convince Elminster that her tale was worth paying to hear.
She stood, immediately regretting the quick movement. A wave of dizziness rocked her. That firewine must have been more potent than she’d thought.
Ragnall extended a hand to steady her. “You all right?”
She nodded. The dizziness passed, but her head remained cloudy. “Fine. Where did you say Elminster was?”
“Meeting with the Council of Ten.” He snorted. “As if the blowhards who run this city could have anything useful to say. Why do you ask?”
She drained her tankard, tossed a few coins on the table, and fastened her cloak around her shoulders. “I’m off to see the wizard.”
* * * * *
Kestrel groaned and rolled over. She was going to kill whoever had stuffed her mouth with cotton. And glued her eyes shut. And now shone a lantern in her face.
Someone was sitting on her head.
Slowly, she forced one eye open. Then the other. Then both. Then squeezed them shut again.
She was back in her room at the Bell, lying facedown on her lumpy mattress. Sunlight poured in the window, sending darts of