The Howling Delve - Jaleigh Johnson [128]
"Yes," Garavin said without hesitation. "He's been touched by a god and a demon, and still he's trying to find his way back. That's what the lass believes. As long as there's hope, she can't give up on him, just as ye couldn't give up on yer father or Aazen."
"I left Aazen to the Shadow Thieves," Kali said. "What good can that possibly do his future?"
"Nothing," Garavin said, unwilling to lie to his friend. "But ye set his mind and heart free from his father, something he couldn't do for himself. He'll find his way on his own. Whether ye approve of his path or not, ye can't change him. Ye've yer own course to follow now."
"And you're coming with me?" Kali asked, trying to make it sound casual.
Garavin wasn't fooled. "Aye, lad, I'm coming, if only to see ye don't get trampled on by that wizard and the Harper firebrand."
"I'm hoping Morgan and the boy will mitigate some of that," Kail said, though he privately wondered if he weren't setting himself up for a world of hurt when he finally did track down Cesira, with a fire-loving Harper, a thief, an orphan, and a rogue wizard in tow. He suspected Dantane's motives for joining the group had everything to do with Meisha's desire to take a leave from the Harpers and come along, and not any real concern for Cesira.
He looked up at the sky, but there were no birds today. The clouds threatened rain. They would be soaked by the time they got on the road, but Kali didn't care. His path, now that he'd found it, spanned Amn, the Sword Coast, to the frozen North if necessary. Whichever road led him to Cesira, he would follow it gladly.
"Where are we meeting Meisha?" Garavin asked. "Outside the Delve," replied Kail. "After she takes Varan home."
Meisha guided her master back to his pallet in the small workroom. With a word, she lit newly placed torches along the walls, flooding the room with watmth.
Varan did not seem to notice. He sat right down and reached into the wall, pulling out fresh tools and components as if from nowhere.
Meisha suppressed a shudder at how comfortably he fell into his old routine. Now that she knew just what his hands touched -what ancient power-was she doing the right thing?
"I'll be back to look in on you," she said, hoping some part -of him heard her. "Between visits, someone else will come to take care of you. You won't be alone."
Varan made no reaction, so she turned to go.
"Fixed."
"What?" Meisha asked, turning back to him.
Varan held up an object: a small, square disk that seemed to be made of fluid metal. "Fixed now, firebird," he said confidently. "I'll fix them all."
"Eventually," Meisha said. She smiled a little as Varan's face blurred in her vision. "Fix them all, Master Maybe when you do, you'll find your way back to me."
Talal waited for her in the hall. Meisha's anxiety, deep as it was, couldn't hold undet the boy's shy grin. "Ready?" she asked.
"More than," he said. His eyes fell on the pouch in her hand. She'd removed it from Varans neck. "He let you take that?"
"The demon's eye has been destroyed," Meisha explained. "The jarilith-and in tutn Varan-only ever guarded it because it setved as the link to Varan and to this plane. That's why he killed Shirva Tarlarin and attacked me-to protect the link."
"What will you do with it?"
"Give it to Dantane. He needs payment for his contract in Keczulla, and he wasn't able to salvage any magic items from the Delve. I offered this, and whatever's inside." But she'd temoved the apprentices' rings. They now rode on a chain around her neck.
Talal looked disappointed, but he didn't say anything. "You don't like him," Meisha guessed. "Dantane." "I don't trust him," Talal countered. "Neither does Kail," he added.
"Kail trusts him. He just doesn't like him," said Meisha, smiling.
"Why not?"
Meisha shrugged. "Maybe because Dantane was able to relieve Kail's father from his enslavemenr-if only for a little while. It was something Kail couldn't do. I think it chafes him a bit, though he'd nevet admit it." She glanced sidelong at him. "I still don't know why you're coming with us," she commented.