Song of the Saurials - Kate Novak [87]
*****
Dragonbait started awake at Brock's touch on his shoulder. The ranger looked deeply disturbed. The saurial chirped quizzically.
"It's Alias," the ranger said. "She's walking in her sleep. What should we do? "
Dragonbait felt genuine panic. Alias hadn't walked in her sleep since right after she was "born," when they'd been on the ship en route from Westgate to Suzail after escaping from Cassana's dungeon. Though fully grown, the swordswoman had been like a child then, with all the fears of a child. The horrors of the ceremonies and magic behind her creation had surfaced in her nightmares, only to be blessedly forgotten after her days-long sleep in Suzail, from which she'd awakened as an adult.
Now Alias stood beside the fire, wearing nothing but her tunic. She was very pale, her eyes were closed, and her mouth hung open. She was whimpering slightly.
Dragonbait rose and approached her. He ran a clawed finger up under her right sleeve, along her magical blue brands. The swordswoman quieted instantly and her breathing slowed.
Suddenly the air about the fireside was full of high-pitched clicking and whistling sounds. Dragonbait whirled around, emitting a joyful lemony scent, expecting to see Grypht. There was no one in the clearing but himself, Breck, Alias, and the sleeping Zhara. Dragonbait turned back to Alias, his eyes wide in astonishment.
"What is it?" Breck asked. "What's wrong?"
Dragonbait motioned for Breck to remain silent. The ranger couldn't hear the whistles and clicks coming from Alias's mouth. His ears were as deaf to the sounds as any human ear not augmented by magic. Although Alias made the noises with her extraordinarily gifted voice, even she herself couldn't possibly hear them. Dragonbait heard them, though, for they were not only the sounds a saurial would make, but they were also actual words in saurial.
Although Alias spoke in saurial, what she said seemed to be nothing but babble.
"We are ready for the seed. Where is the seed? Find the seed. Bring the seed," she repeated over and over again.
Without the scent glands that saurials would ordinarily employ to convey emotion and emphasis, her speech was as flat as the sign language Dragonbait was forced to use with her. As the paladin listened to the hypnotic rhythm of the words, he realized that, if the swordswoman could only release scents, she would be singing and not merely chanting. Then Alias began a new verse.
"Nameless is found," Alias said in saurial. "Nameless must join us. Nameless will find the seed. Nameless will bring the seed."
Suddenly Alias stopped her saurial chant. She held out her hand, with one forefinger pointed downward, and traced a circle parallel to the ground.
The paladin shuddered.
Alias began to shout in Realms common, "No! No! No!"
She reached out and grabbed Dragonbait's shoulders. Her eyes opened and she blinked in the firelight. Then she started to cry softly.
Dragonbait stroked the brand on her arm again and wrapped his cloak around her.
He pushed down on her shoulders until he got her to lie on his blanket beside the fire. He wrapped the blanket around her, too, and Alias closed her eyes again. The saurial stroked her hair until she ceased weeping and lay still and, Dragonbait hoped fervently, slept peacefully.
"Maybe you'd better take second watch instead of her," Breck suggested.
Dragonbait nodded.
"Does she do this often?" the ranger asked.
Dragonbait shook his head in an emphatic negative.
"Never, huh?" Breck asked. "Like she never gets mad at you?"
Dragonbait squinted his eyes angrily at the ranger.
"I'll bet I know why she's sleepwalking," Breck said. "She's upset with you because of Zhara."
Dragonbait looked into the fire.
"You've got to tell her you're sorry for whatever she's angry at you for," Breck said. "We can't be hunting for Kyre's murderer and dealing with weird stuff like sleepwalking at the same time."
The ranger turned and strode away to his own saddlebags, sniffing the