The Wyvern's Spur - Kate Novak [103]
"It will make you powerful. Now do me a favor. Move the journal to your uncle's desk so I can study it."
"Is it safe to touch now?"
Cat nodded like a mother encouraging her child to mount a pony. Giogi lugged the heavy wood-bound tome from the stone table to the desk while Cat joined Olive, who stood next to the door.
The mage knelt beside the halfling and addressed her so quietly that her words could not be heard by the men. "Please, Mistress Ruskettle. You've already made me safe with your amulet. Go with Giogioni. He needs your protection more than I. Flattery commands many undead. This potion will help if you are attacked by any." She handed Olive the slate-gray potion.
Olive took the vial uncertainly, not sure what to make of Cat's behavior. She's encouraging Giogi to do just the thing Flattery warned her against, but she isn't joining us in the activity. So she's still avoiding a direct confrontation with the wizard-a confrontation that would reveal exactly where her loyalties lie. Am I going to regret giving her a free rein with Drone's lab? She could find something about the spur, or even find the spur itself and take it right to Flattery.
"Please, look out for him?" Cat pleaded in a whisper.
Olive wanted to say, Me? Woman, I'm no hero, just a halfling that knows more than is good for the both of us. Instead, she pocketed the vial and nodded grimly. "Don't worry," she said.
The door handle rattled and shook, and someone began thumping on the door.
"Giogi," Frefford whispered to his cousin, "I'm not sure that this is such a good idea."
"Freffie, it'll be just fine," Giogi whispered back. "Do me a favor and lend Cat a horse to ride home-I'll have Thomas return it right away."
"Giogi, she's not staying at your house, is she?"
"It's more complicated than that," Giogi tried to explain.
"She is. You devil," Frefford said with a grin.
"Freffie, it's not like that."
"No? You know you'll take as much heat for being innocent as for being guilty if Aunt Dorath finds out."
The pounding on the door stopped, and a voice that could wake the dead shouted from the other side, "Giogioni Wyvernspur, you open that door right now!"
"Just a minute, Aunt Dorath. I'm, um, trapped under a-a gong," Giogi called out, banging on the brass gong beside the desk.
Cat stepped away from the door and crept to Giogi's side. "I have to hide now," she said. Good luck. Take care." She took another potion vial from the shelf and unstoppered it. After taking only a little sip, she restoppered and pocketed the rest of the potion. In a moment, she vanished before their eyes.
"Frefford, are you in there with your cousin?" called the voice of doom.
"Yes, Aunt Dorath."
"Open this door immediately."
Frefford strode over to the door and yanked on the handle. "It seems to be stuck, Aunt Dorath. I must have bent a hinge when I broke it down before."
"Keep pulling at it," Aunt Dorath demanded. "Giogi, you get out from under that gong and give Frefford a hand."
"Yes, Aunt Dorath," Giogi called out, giving the gong another bang. He felt something brush against his lips. "Cat?" he whispered. The invisible mage kissed him again, on his ear.
"Behave yourself," he whispered.
"I am behaving," Cat whispered back.
"Yes. Badly," he replied, although he was unable to keep the grin from his lips.
The spell that Cat had cast to hold the door shut wore off suddenly, with an almost tangible crack. Unprepared, Frefford bashed the door into his head, and Aunt Dorath came tumbling into the room.
Giogi rushed forward to help the elderly woman to her feet.
Dorath rose on her own and shook off her nephew with a look of displeasure. "Gaylyn told me you were up here. You've frightened her half to death. I demand to know what you've been doing!"
"I came up to look at Uncle Drone's journal," Giogi explained. "I thought he might have something to say about the spur in it, but it was-"
"Firetrapped, you fool!" Dorath interrupted. "How many times has your uncle told you not to touch things in his lab? You almost didn't live to see your tenth