The Howling Delve - Jaleigh Johnson [16]
"By falling asleep in a cemetery, weeping atop a stranger's grave." Garavin rummaged in a pouch that rode at his hip. He pulled out a vial of milky liquid that Kail recognized immediately. "Most folk of Amn haven't that much sentiment in them, and mores the pity." He held the vial out to Kail. "Drink it all."
Kail took the vial but did not drink. "I wasn't weeping." In truth, he remembered little about the previous night and his sleep, but he wasn't going to admit that to the dwarf. "How did I get here?" he repeated.
Garavin's keen eyes glinted like twin agates. "Drink and I'll tell ye."
Kali shrugged and drained the vial, feeling the warm liquid course down his throat. The fire that had burned in his ribs since the night before gradually began to cool, and Kail took his first easy breath with a sighing pleasure. He stopped, wary, when he noticed Garavin watching him closely.
"Ye're quite trusting," the dwarf remarked lightly.
"I'm not…" Kali started, then hesitated, his eyes going dark as they regarded the dwarf.
But Garavin waved away his suspicion. "No, no. Forgive my rudeness. I did want to see to yer wounds, but I have an awful curiosity. If I had a sister, I'm knowing for a fact she would have remarked on it. I found myself wondering what ye knew of the Art, one so young and full of Amnian blood. Yer eyes rounded at my talk of portals, yet ye took the healing potion as if ye knew exactly what it was."
"I know what magic is," Kail said sullenly. "Enough, anyway. I asked how it brought me here."
"So ye did, and my apologies again, for prolonging the mystery." Garavin stood and walked to the false grave, toeing aside dirt and dead branches to reveal a loose circle of stones. "Ye'll have to picture it-the portal in Amn is a mirror to this one, though with a different trigger. I'm guessing about here's where ye were lying." He put a boot in the circle. "Tears are the key to yer mystery-or a few drops of water, whatever's handy. If a body-a living body, mind you-steps in the circle and sheds three or four tears, or a thimbleful of water, the portal will activate, and he'll be somewhere else in the next eye blink." The dwarf smiled, clearly pleased with himself. "Most folk won't be shedding any tears over the grave of someone who never existed, and a good thing, considering how the portal stands in the open. Keeps folk from stumbling into countries they didn't mean to."
"What if it rains?" Kali asked curiously.
The dwarf chuckled. "Ye've an active mind. The portal is sunk beneath the grass blades, so it cannot easily be seen. The rest we leave to luck and hope that no one will be walking about in a cemetery during a storm or crying atop the grave. Ye have the unfortunate honor of beating our odds this time."
Kali crouched outside the circle. From a distance, the stones appeared to be ordinary rocks, but up close, he recognized the same symbol he'd seen carved next to Alinore's name. "Who put the portal here?" he asked. "You?"
Garavin shook his head. "No, lad. I haven't the Art, either. I only drew the map. That's what I do. I make maps and scout tunnels and hunt up knowledge-for myself, and those who need it done."
Kail looked in the direction Morgan and the half-elf had gone. Garavin followed his gaze. "When I need them to, my diggers-those two, and others ye haven't seen-dig. We're always needing more tunnels, it seems." He gave a mock wince. "At times, they dig in the wrong places, but no one's perfect."
"If the portal's a secret, why are you telling me about it?" Kail asked, suspicious again.
"Because yer eyes are asking, and yer mouth will follow once I get ye to the camp for morningfeast, so I thought I should get a head start on the day." Garavin turned, his wide, muscled body rolling like a loaded wagon. "If ye've enemies out searching, it's not wise-for either of us-to send ye through the portal just now. Eat with us, and we'll talk some more."
Kali wasn't sure. He watched the dwarf and the huge dog, which was sniffing around the packages Kail had unearthed in the