Tangled webs - Elaine Cunningham [111]
After a while, the rolling gait of the elementals began to falter. The creatures' paths started to weave, and they looked for all the world like ships tacking back and forth to catch a particularly capricious breeze. None too soon, the elementals stumbled into the surf and fell gratefully into the sea, like a pair of drunken sailors falling facedown into their beds.
Liriel lifted a hand to her face to hide her smirk. She understood now why the sea elves had reacted as they had to the suggestion of breathing ale.
Fyodor came to her side. He wrapped an arm around her waist and leaned in close. "Well done, little raven!" he whispered in her ear. "The sea folk will wake up with a headache the size of the northem sea. But thanks to you, at least they will awaken!"
Nor was Fyodor the only one to come to this conclusion. Smoke burst from ibn's pipe in angry little puffs as the sailor observed the strange escape.
He'd long suspected that the drow female was in thick with the sea elves; this proved it. Hrolf, the damned fool, was too besotted with the long-eared wench to see it, and the villagers were too awed by her healing magic to listen to words spoken against her. And he, ibn, was hardly m a position to press the matter. The elf woman had made sure of that, keeping secret his attack against her.
ibn spun on his heel and made his way to Hrol.Ps cottage. Once before he had taken matters mto his own hands. The attempt had failed. He would try again, and again, until at last the elf woman lay dead: He could not do otherwise, for there was far too much at risk.
Chapter 15
The Raven's Call
Fyodor left for Holgerstead later that day. Wedigar had sufficiently recovered from the injuries he'd incurred while in animal form to feel ready to travel, but he was hesitant to do so alone. Fyodor and Liriel tried to convince him he was free from the nereid's charm, but Wedigar was haunted by the things he had done while under the evil creature's seductive power. He would not risk the possibility that he might again turn upon his own people, and he exacted a pledge from Fyodor to watch over him and stop him should he prove a danger. The young Rashemi could not deny him this, for he himself had lived with such fears for many months.
With both Hrolf and Fyodor gone, Liriel felt alone and exceedingly restless. She buried herself in the Green Room's treasures, learning all she could of Ruathen lore and history, but the knowledge of rune magic that she needed remained just beyond her grasp.
Unlike the magic she knew, runes could not be learned through reading and study. Life was the necessary conduit for such knowledge. Some simpler runes could be taught and had been passed on from master to seeker from time beyond memory. A few were gifts from the gods, but the most personal were shaped through the questing journey. This Liriel knew, and her frustration increased as she read. Her journey, to all appearances, had come to an end. What, then, was she to do now?
And there was also the matter of the hideous creature she had glimpsed behind the face of Xzorsh's sea-elffriend, and the chilling evil that surrounded him. Liriel could not rid herself of the feeling that she ought to warn the sea ranger. It would not be an easy task, for it was plain that Xzorsh was fond of his companion, and she doubted he would hear words spoken against him. And what proof did she have, except for the Lloth-given vision?
With a heavy sigh, the drow opened a lore book and began once again to study the turbulent history of the Northlands. But the saga of slain heroes, endless warfare, and titanic sea battles could not hold her attention. At