The Wyvern's Spur - Kate Novak [101]
Olive tensed with excitement, her eyes wide.
Blue light flared all around her-light so bright that Olive instinctively closed her eyes and raised her hands up to cover them. She tried squinting and peeking through her fingers. So much light flooded the room that it was like being underwater.
"Do you have everything, Mistress Ruskettle?" Cat's voice asked mockingly through the azure radiance.
"Very funny," Olive said with a sniff, "You've had your little joke. Now, if you don't mind-"
The light dimmed and faded.
"I thought you said only a few things here were magic," Giogi said testily, trying to rub the spots from his eyes.
Cat shook her head. "No, I said a minority of these papers were magic. There are still many, many papers, and the room itself has enchantments cast on it, as do many of the items."
"I see. Well, you'd better start sorting through the magic," Giogi said. "That's what we brought you for," he added. Then he turned sharply away from the mage.
Olive saw Cat look down at the floor as if she'd been slapped by Flattery. The mage returned to Drone's desk.
"Mistress Ruskettle, you and I can start looking for clues Uncle Drone might have left about who the thief was" Giogi said more enthusiastically.
Olive nodded wordlessly, wishing she could shake Giogi and explain to him that it was imperative he win the mage's loyalty-something he wasn't going to do by treating her like a dust rag. With a sigh, the halfling began studying the papers piled on the floor.
The nobleman drifted toward the stone table holding the alchemy setup and sniffed at the air. He thought of all the time he used to spend in the room when he was little-begging his Uncle Drone to teach him magic. The wizard had always told him he should concentrate on his other talents. Giogi had never figured out what other talents he had, though.
Olive perused a letter dated nearly thirty years before. It was signed by King Azoun's father, Rhigaerd II. Wax imprinted with the royal seal was still affixed to the letter. The halfling looked up at Giogi and Cat. Giogi was sifting through the papers on the stone table, and the mage had her nose buried in Gaylyn's catalog. Olive slid the document into her skirt pocket.
"Here's Uncle Drone's journal," Giogi said, "propped under this alcohol burner."
Olive, her eyes still fixed on Cat, saw the mage's head snap up in alarm as she heard the sound of the book's leather cover sliding along the stone tabletop. The mage wheeled in place as Giogi said, "Ick. What's this yellow powder all over it?"
"Giogi! No!" Cat cried, throwing herself at the nobleman just as he flipped open the journal's cover.
Olive instinctively threw herself in the opposite direction. An explosion thundered through the room, pressing the halfling to the floor like a great hand. Papers gushed up and fluttered back down. Glass alembics and vials from the alchemy set smashed into the far wall and slid to the floor, their contents streamed out in greasy rivulets.
"Giogi?" Olive whispered into the smoke.
"Did I do that?" Giogi whispered in reply.
Olive picked herself up off the floor and stumbled across to help Giogi, who lay pinned beneath the mage. "Are you all right?" she asked.
"I think so. Cat?"
Cat lay still on top of the nobleman. The back of her cream-colored gown was scorched yellow and brown. Giogi rolled on his side and slid the mage over gently. Her face was very pale.
Damn! Olive thought.
"Cat?" Giogi whispered. "Oh, please, say something."
Cat remained silent and motionless.
"Mistress Ruskettle," Giogi ordered, "run and get Freftie! He's in the room two stories down. Tell him to bring a healing potion. Tell him to hurry!"
Olive tore down the outer stairs. It might be all right, she tried to convince herself. Cat might not be as bad as she looks. She can't die. We need her. Damn that stupid fop!
Giogi cradled the mage's head in his lap. Hot tears streamed down his cheeks. "Cat," he whispered. "Don't