The Howling Delve - Jaleigh Johnson [44]
Midmorn the following day, Rays Bladesmile would be entering The Thirsty Gnome. Kali merely had to wait for the man to quit the place in his usual drunken stupor.
His first test as a merchant lord, Kali thought as he rode to the city. He'd best not be late to his first business meeting;
CHAPTER 13
Amn 1 Marpenoth, the Year of
Lightning Storms (1374 DR)
Meisha walked blindly, absorbed in her thoughts. Kail had long left her sight, on his way to Keczulla. She hadn't been back to the city of her birth since leaving the Delve and Varan's tutelage. As the wizard had predicted, the Harpers were eager to welcome her, but Meisha could feel them always watching, gauging her power and temperament. Without acknowledging it, Meisha had followed Varan's advice and kept het anger-mostly-in check.
The thought of het master and their final parting brought a swell of unpleasant memories to Meisha's mind. Even the company she kept with the Harpers hadn't been able to banish her past with the wizard and his underground home.
She'd promised Kail she would look into where the crystal came from. Meisha clutched the small object in her hand. She'd sooner destroy the magical toy than question its owner. She'd sworn long ago never to teturn to the Howling Delve.
How she could consider breaking that vow for a man who'd once threatened her life, Meisha had no idea.
Obviously, something about Kali Motel affected her. Maybe it was that night in Esmeltatan, when he'd been willing to burn alive rather than let her get to his father. She'd never witnessed such loyalty. Or perhaps it was what she'd learned of his family in the years since meeting him.
Or maybe it had nothing at all to do with the merchant's son, and everything to do with her own private demons. If she could make peace with her former teacher, perhaps she could move forward. She could feel as if she belonged to the Harpers instead of merely fulfilling a role.
Meisha shook her head in disgust. Keeping her emotions buried had softened her.
She lifted het hand, examining the small gold ring on her finger. She'd never gotten rid of the magical gift-in fact, she rarely took it off.
"I don't want to go," she whispered aloud, surprised at how frightened her voice sounded, "but I don't have a choice, do I, Master?" A part of her still lived in the Delve, whether she chose to admit it or not.
She spoke the command word on the band, and the ring winked with a brief, magical burst. The radiance spread outward to engulf the Harper's entire body.
The sunlight disappeared.
Meisha blinked the white light from her eyes as the ever-present chill of the underground seeped through her jerkin. Water dripped in a distant rhythm, a sound from her earliest memories of Varan. With it came the familiar sense of intangible dread, a feeling she'd tried to forget in the years since her tutelage had ended.
She took comfort in the fact that she was still in Amn, albeit far beneath the land's surface. Varan had wisely scorned the idea of taking up residence in a populated area. A wizard living openly in a tower or estate would not go unmolested. Amn had persecuted wizards longer than Varan had been alive-for crimes he'd had no part in, but that didn't matter. The people still remembered the plagues, the waves of magical death wrought by practitioners of arcane magic. Amnians were not forgiving, which made Syrek Dantane's presence in Kail's house all the more confusing. What had Morel been thinking?
Meisha pushed the thoughts aside. She had more troubling concerns. She had to find Varan and learn how one of Balram's men came into possession of het master's work.
As Meisha's eyes adjusted to the dimness, she realized the cavern in which she stood was unfamiliar. Her ring should have teleported her directly to her old chamber, unless some magic of Varan's had malfunctioned.
Automatically, Meisha drew a stiletto from her boot and listened. Three of Varan's enspelled stalactites cast a dull glow from the ceiling.