Tangled webs - Elaine Cunningham [151]
At length she described the scene that had transpired in her bedchamber, and once again she laid out her accusations. This time Fyodor listened with a more receptive mind, but he was still slow to accept.
"it might have been as Dagmar said," he ventured. "perhaps she did not mean to do you harm-perhaps the pillow did slip from her hands."
"She was still holding it after i sliced it in half," Liriel pointed out. "But even if she'd caught it as it fell, there is a more basic question: why did she come into my room in the first place?"
"Perhaps you did call out in your sleep."
" 'There are those who think, and those who dream,' " Liriel quoted softly. "You are forgetting something, something that Dagmar could not possibly know: drow do not dream."
Fyodor was silent as he sorted through all that she had said. "Do what you must to unveil the traitor," he said somberly. "i will help you where i can and try not to question your methods overmuch."
Chapter 22
Deeper
in the dark hours before morning, the shaman's daughter crept down to the shore and dragged her small boat off the beach. The familiar signal had been left the night before, the strange pattem of pebbles and shells indicating that once again Dagmar was required to meet with one of the creatures who held captive that which was dearest to her heart.
She hadn't rowed far beyond the cove when a pair of slender, webbed hands seized the rim of her boat. Dagmar barely had time to draw in a startled gasp before the creature leaped in and seated himself across from her. The little boat rocked wildly as Dagmar stared at one of the sea elves her nets had recently ensnared. She recovered her wits quickly and dove for the fishing knife at her feet-a thin blade longer than her forearm.
But the elfwas faster still. He seized her wrist with one webbed hand and hurled her back onto her seat. "i like this no better than you do," he said with cold disdain. "But there is news from Ascarle. Listen well, so i need not look at you any longer than i must."
"At our last meeting, you promised vengeance against me for ensnaring you!"
"if i acted only to please myself, i would have slain you that day and relished the deed," the sea elf responded. "But the powers of Ascarle wish otherwise. You do your job well enough, and the failure of the raid at Holgerstead is not laid upon you. In other matters, however, you have been too diligent. Leave off the kelpies; there are far too many in these waters. I myself dodged one-and the human she was in the process of drowning-0nly to be caught by another a few lengths away."
The color drained from Dagmar's face. "We were so close!" she whispered. "The day we caught you, if only we'd cast our nets farther out to sea, Hrolfmight yet be alive!" "A little late for regrets," the elf taunted her. He reached into a sealskin bag and drew forth a small, folded object. "A token from your mistress. Plans have changed; you are not to destroy the drow and deliver her body to the sea. But the new shapeshifter still lives, and your mistress finds this most displeasing."
Dagmar stared at the grisly object in the elf's hand: a bloodstained lock of pale yellow hair, proof that her twinborn sister still lived.
Although all of Ruathym thought y graine had been lost in a sudden spring squall, the truth of the matter was that the two sisters had been waylaid by Luskan pirates. The cruel N orthmen had cast lots over the girls; y graine was chosen as hostage and Dagmar as spy. There was little chance their warrior kindred might rescue the girl, for y graine was held captive in a place far beyond the reach of men.