The Nether Scroll - Lynn Abbey [26]
"Behave!" he scolded, imprisoning its hands within his own.
It began to gnaw on his knuckles and he was tempted to let it go altogether. He should have known better. Goblins were incorrigible. But, having begun the rescue, he held on until they were out of his spells' influence.
"Run off with you," Dru suggested and gave the scrawny child a push toward the palisade.
Naturally, the goblin wouldn't let go of his hands. He didn't know what to do next when a goblin female shot out of the natural shadows. She grabbed the youngster. It shrieked as loudly as it had in the chicken coop then both it and-presumably-its mother were gone.
Dru was more than a little relieved, more than a little dirty, and in a fine mood to tell Rozt'a and Galimer about the day's misadventures.
4
30 Eleasias, the Year of the Banner
(1368 DR)
Parnast
Druhallen found it harder to tell Rozt'a and Galimer that he suspected Tiep had betrayed them than it had been to listen to Amarandaris create those suspicions. They didn't want to believe the youth they loved as a son and brother would snuggle up to the Zhentarim. Galimer had gotten an unexpected cold shoulder from every merchant in the morning's caravan and couldn't guess why until Dru's tale offered an explanation.
"I warned that boy about making friends among the Zhentarim," Galimer muttered several times before sinking into a dark silence.
Rozt'a's faith in their foundling was not so easily shaken. "It could just as easily be our fault. We could have been overheard after we got here. How many times have I said-'Don't say anything; the walls have ears' only to have you tell me not to worry, that you've set wards? You depend too much on magic, Druhallen. Wards and locks only keep the honest people out and you're not the greatest wizard who ever walked. Maybe you're the equal of this Amarandaris, but who calls the tune for him? Sememmon in Darkhold? Gods spare us! The Network spies on itself-always has, always will. Do you think there's nothing in Darkhold to break your wards?"
"It doesn't take magic to break my wards," Druhallen shot back. "Anyone can break them. But no wizard-not all the Network wizards working together-could reconstruct them afterward, at least not in a way that would fool me for a heartbeat. You'd know if I tried to sharpen one of your knives, wouldn't you? Well, it's the same with my wards." Dru stretched his arms toward the walls. "They're mine, exactly as I set them. No one, not a mouse nor a mage, has put an ear to our walls."
"What about a priest," she persisted. "A priest and his god. You'd never know."
"A god wouldn't stop with the wards. If Amarandaris had been spying on us, he'd have known what the Candlekeep spell could and couldn't do. He thinks it's more potent than it is-that's Tiep. That's got to be Tiep."
"The boy's been through a lot," Galimer said from the corner. "And he's always had a taste for dice. I thought we'd gotten those lessons pounded into his head, but this time it's different. This time he's trying to impress that goose girl."
Before Dru thought through Galimer's implications, Rozt'a's eyes narrowed the way they did when she held her sword.
"That goose girl," she whispered coldly. "Manya. The Pit take her. She's your spy, Druhallen."
"She's still a child," Dru protested, but he wasn't that naive. More than one man had been separated from his secrets by a woman, even by a goose girl. "She's Parnaster. I don't know why or how, but I can't believe that a Parnaster would run to Amarandaris."
"Forget Parnast," Rozt'a advised. "I should have asked questions. I didn't like the look of her from the start-all shy and helpless smiles. They're the worst. You never see a helpless girl who isn't too pretty by half. Like as not, she caught Amarandaris's eye and now she's working for him, will she or nil she."
Dru shook his head. "The first thing we told Tiep was: