Shadows Return - Lynn Flewelling [110]
He stepped slowly into the room, watching the rhekaro for a reaction.
It paid him no attention until he came up behind it and touched its shoulder.
It turned and looked up at him, then its lips made a little sucking motion.
“Are you hungry?” Alec whispered.
The creature made no reply but fixed its gaze on Alec’s hand.
“All right, then.” He went to one of the tables and found a bodkin lying next to a bowl of flowers. He stabbed his finger and offered it. The rhekaro took it eagerly and sucked, looking him in the eye as it always did.
“Do you know me?” he asked softly. “Can you speak?”
As always, there was no answer. Perhaps it lacked the ability to speak or understand, thought Alec. And despite the number of wounds it clearly had, he hadn’t heard much screaming, either.
The rhekaro made no move to resist when Alec untied one of the bandages around its left arm to inspect the damage. He expected to find skin sliced away, but instead he found a painted symbol similar to those he’d seen on the amulets Yhakobin had made him wear.
Other bandages revealed similar marks. Some looked inflamed, but there was no serious wound. So the alchemist was taking better care of this one, at least. The little thing was clean and its long hair shone in the firelight.
“What are you for?” Alec murmured, retying the bandages.
As soon as he was finished, the rhekaro squatted down to feed the fire again, seeming to forget all about him.
Alec left it to its task and began searching the shop for anything that might help them escape. There was nothing like a weapon, except for the bodkin, and that wouldn’t be much good against a sword. What knives Yhakobin used were stored away out of sight. Once again, he cursed his lack of Plenimaran. The drawers of the alchemist’s cabinets and cupboards were all carefully labeled in clear but incomprehensible script.
“Damn! I can’t even find the tea, much less a knife,” he muttered aloud.
The rhekaro straightened again and went to the tallest of the cabinets, the one with scores of small drawers. Without any hesitation at all it pulled one out and reached in, then came to Alec and held out a pottery jar with a leather top. Surprised, Alec opened the lid and sniffed at the contents.
It was tea.
Meanwhile, the rhekaro went to one of the tables and grasped the handle of a drawer there. When it would not open, it just stood there, apparently baffled.
“Is that where the knives are?” Alec asked, not expecting an answer.
The rhekaro touched the handle again, then let its hand fall to its side.
Alec made short work of the simple lock and opened it. Inside was a neatly arranged array of knives that would have made a butcher happy.
He clapped the rhekaro on the shoulder. “Thank you. Now, you don’t know if he has any dyes, do you?”
The rhekaro went to another large cupboard and opened it, showing Alec a pile of leather pouches, many of them stained from the contents inside.
“Brown dye?” Alec tried.
The rhekaro selected a pouch and carried it to him.
“Do you know how to mix it?”
Stymied again, the rhekaro just stood there.
“That’s all right. You’re a good helper.” It was impossible not to speak to it as if it was an actual child. “Keys?”
Again there was no response.
“Food? Bread?”
Nothing.
“Flower?”
Despite the fact that the flower bowl was only a few feet away, the rhekaro paid it no mind.
“Let’s see. What would be useful? Rope?”
It went to a closet and returned with several hanks of rope, some of it stained and stiff with what appeared to be blood.
“Seregil?” Alec tried. As expected, that got him another blank look. It seemed that the rhekaro’s education was very limited. “Well, let’s try this. Alec?”
The rhekaro immediately came to him, took his hand, and sucked on his finger.
Alec chuckled and pulled his hand free. “At least you didn’t come at me when I said ‘food.’” He took those cool little hands in his and pressed them to his chest. “Alec. My name is Alec. Alec is me. Do you understand? Name?”
The rhekaro gazed up at him and he could have sworn he caught a fleeting look of