The Lost Library of Cormanthy - Mel Odom [61]
Hurt flickered in his eyes, scarcely under control. He had not known about the old mage's death. Cordyan would have wagered anything on that.
No, child, he did not know. Nor did he realize how hurt and confused he would be by such an act.
Cordyan looked at the woman standing beside Baylee who gently put a hand to his shoulder. She was surely too young to have been the one to touch her mind. The voice that she had heard carried more age than the young woman beside the ranger.
My name is Xuxa. I am in the tree above you.
Cordyan kept her off hand on her sword pommel as she glanced up. She saw the bat hanging from a branch above her, spreading its wings to further draw her attention.
He must know the rest of it. There will be no easy way to tell him.
"What happened?" Baylee asked.
With practiced neutrality, the watch lieutenant relayed all she had learned of the old mage's murder. She had worked the night patrol in Waterdeep long enough to know there was no proper way to tell anyone a loved one would not be returning home. Each word seemed to weigh the ranger down. The easy, light-hearted and challenging smile had dropped from his face from the begin?ning, and grimness hammered his features into tight, hard lines.
"Someone sent you out here to tell me about this?" Baylee asked.
The elf at Baylee's side shook his head slowly. "They suspected you of the old mage's death, my friend. Isn't that right, lieutenant?"
Cordyan didn't flinch from the question. Hiding wasn't her way. "There has been some consideration."
The words reached through the confusion and hurt that had surrounded Baylee. The ranger's emotions were immediately apparent to Cordyan, as were the real concerns of his friends around him. As she watched, a portly bald man in priest's robes materialized at his side as well, offering his sympathies.
"I am your only suspect then?" the ranger asked.
"I don't know," Cordyan answered. "I was given only to find you and question you. Then find out if you would be willing to accompany me back to Waterdeep. Even without the matter of the assassination, there remains the estate to be administered."
"The estate?" Baylee looked at her, clearly puzzled.
"Yes. He had his will filed with a law-reader. The house and the surrounding grounds in Waterdeep are all yours. Most of his other belongings as well, except for a few items that are to be disbursed among other friends."
Baylee shook his head. "When will you be ready to leave?"
"As soon as you are."
"I would be willing to start riding tonight."
Calebaan Lahjir shifted at the table. "My sympathies for your loss, Baylee
Arnvold, but after morningfeast would be more logical."
"Of course. I shall be ready." Baylee looked into Cordyan's eyes. "If there isn't anything else, I'd like to be alone with my friends now."
Cordyan nodded and watched the ranger walk away. She cursed the luck that she should have to tell him the old mage was dead. It would have almost been better had he been Golsway's killer. That way her own heart wouldn't be filled with sadness. Movement broke away from the branch overhead. She glanced up and watched as the bat flew after the ranger in a flutter of leathery wings. She signaled across the way to two of her best trackers, setting them on Baylee and his party. Even though she believed the ranger, there was a possibility other information could be gleaned from watching him.
Cordyan sat at the table, suddenly overcome from all the fatigue of the travels that had brought them to the Glass Eye Concourse. She had no stomach for the remnants of the meal she'd been enjoying only moments ago.
"Some days I hate the employment I have."
"You like him." Calebaan seemed genuinely surprised by the announcement even though he'd uttered it
"I feel for him," Cordyan said. "His pain is real."
"Yes, and I have