Tangled webs - Elaine Cunningham [152]
Dagmar's gaze fell on the knife still clenched in one fist, the knife that had sent her betrothed husband-Thorfinn, the future First Axe of Ruathym-to his ignoble death, the knife that would have slain Fyodor of Rashemen and Hoigerstead, had he yielded to her that night. There were times when any man, even the greatest of warriors, was vulnerable to the quick thrust of a knife, a time when caressing fingers could count to the spot between the third and fourth rib, force the blade in, and pull the knife down. This and more she was willing to do, to end Y graine's captivity;
She turned her eyes upon the sea elf seated across from her. Unlike most ofher people, she understood that the sea folk bore no special enmity against her people. She had been astonished to learn that this one was part of the plot against Ruathym, and that he was willing to implicate the elves in the island's woes. More, he was willing to work with her to this end, even after she had unwittingly attacked him!
"i know why i must betray my people," she said softly. "But what of you?"
The male responded with a smile of pure malevolence. "Like most of your kind, you are easily deceived by appearances. I am no more elf than you are!"
With these cryptic words, the apparent sea elf dove into the water and disappeared. Dagmar sat silent for a long time and then rowed back toward the shore. Her movements were slow, weighted down by the knowledge that many of her people would soon be dead. At least their deaths would be won in honorable battle, their place in the Northman afterlife assured.
For herself, Dagmar no longer held such hopes. Her soul was in the hands of her tormenters, just as surely as those of the unfortunate sea elves in distant Ascarle, who were locked for eternity in a prison made of wool and silk. But this no longer mattered to her. All that Dagmar valued was held captive, and she would do whatever it took to claim back what was hers.
Unknown to either Dagmar or Sittl, there were two witnesses to the secret meeting. Liriel and Fyodor sat silently nearby; their borrowed rowboat cloaked in a ghost-ship spell that the drow had learned during her days in Ruathym's library.
"Convinced?" she demanded.
Fyodor nodded somberly. "You were right about all. We must go to Aumark with this news at once."
But to his surprise, the drow shook her head. "Not yet. We know Dagmar is playing the traitor, but at whose behest? Luskan, almost certainly, but i have long suspected the city does not act alone. There is another layer to this conspiracy; we must go deeper before we know the true scope of the danger facing Ruathym. I must know about this Ascarle that the sea elf-0r rather, the malenti-mentioned."
As she spoke, Liriel remembered words that the nereid had said: the kelpie sprouts were grown in a wondrous place far below the sea. Perhaps it was time to take the nereid up on her offer.
"Judging from what i have read," Liriel began, "the warriors of Luskan do not care much for magic. It seems likely to me that all the creatures of the elemental plane of water are commanded from this Ascarle-including the nereids. I will compel my slave to take me there. 1'l1 scout their forces, do what i can to uncover their plans, and bring back enough proof to force that idiot Aumark to pay heed! But i must go alone."
Fyodor did not like any of this, and he and the drow held long and heated discussion on the matter. Finally Liriel reminded him that he, like Wedigar, must bide his time and accept risks for the greater good-even when they contradicted his own sense of honor and duty.
"i like it not when you quote my own words back at me," Fyodor grumbled.
The drow tossed him a wicked grin, and they rowed in silence toward the shore of inthar.
The nereid responded to Liriel's questions with great glee.