Song of the Saurials - Kate Novak [26]
Olive grinned, thinking of all the Wyvernspurs she'd met and trying to imagine Finder getting along with them. "I guess I should have known better."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Finder asked.
Olive chuckled at his defensiveness. "Did they kick you out?" she asked.
Finder's eyes narrowed to slits. "I left them. They never took me seriously"
"Never a prophet in your own land," Olive teased. Finder's face darkened, and the halfling realized she might be pushing him too far. She decided to change the subject. "So where is this home?" she asked.
Finder made a sweeping motion with his arm, indicating something behind Olive.
"Finder's Keep," he said.
The halfling turned around abruptly. The walls of a crumbling manor rose behind her. Thistles and grass grew between cracks in the stone. Kudzu covered the chimneys. Moss and fungus grew from the fallen roof beams. "I think you need a new decorator," Olive quipped.
"The underground complex was sealed. It should be in good condition," Finder said.
"Are we still in the Dales?" Olive asked.
Finder nodded. "The southern edge of the Spiderhaunt Woods."
"That's not too far from Shadowdale," Olive said, her mind racing. "We can walk to the road connecting Shadowdale and Cormyr. There should be plenty of traffic on it this time of the year. Then we can get a lift from a caravan going north.
We should be able to reach Shadowdale in about four days."
"Olive, you've been trying all morning to convince me to flee Shadowdale,"
Finder reminded the halfling. "Now you want me to go back and turn myself in to the Harpers. Suppose Kyre isn't the only one in Moander's possession?"
"You are a problem, aren't you?" Olive sighed. "All right. When we get to the road, we'll go south to Cormyr, and we'll send a message back to Dragonbait with the first caravan we meet that's heading north to Shadowdale."
"No," Finder said. "I don't want to do that."
"Then how are we ever going to tell Dragonbait about Grypht?" Olive asked, exasperated.
"We're not," Finder said simply. "If Dragonbait finds out about Grypht, he'll try to help him."
"That's the idea, isn't it?" Olive asked.
"Alias, in turn, will want to help Dragonbait," Finder explained. "And I don't want her going anywhere near Moander or Moander's minions. Moander wants her for a servant. I won't have the god using her again."
"That's Alias's business, not yours," Olive replied.
"She's my daughter. I'll protect her as I see fit," Finder retorted sharply.
"Then don't you think you should warn her that Moander might be after her again?" Olive asked.
"Moander can't detect her if she doesn't go looking for the god," Finder said.
"What she doesn't know can't hurt her."
Olive shrugged. "Whatever you say. No note to Dragonbait. We still want to get to the road before dark. We'll catch a caravan going south to Cormyr. That place I told you about, where we can't be detected magically, is in Cormyr."
Finder shook his head. "I'm not hiding anywhere. I've decided you were right.
I've credited the Harpers with too much power. Once I get access to my workshop, they'll never capture me again."
Olive sighed. She had planned to send a note to Dragonbait anyway. It didn't look as if she'd get a chance unless she left Finder.
The halfling didn't really want to leave the bard, though. Olive genuinely liked Finder. He knew more about her than anyone in the Realms, yet he didn't condemn her for her greed or her cowardice or her minor jealousies. He'd shown a lot of patience in teaching her more about music in one month than she'd learned during the rest of her whole life. In addition, he'd offered her a passage to respectability by giving her his Harper's pin.
"You know," the halfling said, rubbing her chin, "I'm beginning to worry that I might be a bad influence on you."
Finder chuckled. "Don't worry. I'm not influenced easily." He turned and headed up the hill toward the crumbling manor house.
That's what I'm afraid of. Olive thought, but she held her tongue and followed.
*****
When Alias heard that