The Wyvern's Spur - Kate Novak [116]
"You also said don't move and don't speak," Cat pointed out with a mocking tone, "so I'm just a trifle confused."
"You'll be a trifle dead if you keep acting smart, you little ass," the man said. With his dagger still pressed into her flesh, he moved around her so that thev stood face to face.
Cat shuddered when first confronted with the man's face-Flattery's face. After a moment, she saw it wasn't Flattery, though. The man was too young, too nervous, and he had a birthmark by his lips. He was Steele, the kobold-torturer.
"Now, give me the spur and don't try anything. My uncle was a wizard, so I know all your foolish conjurer tricks."
"I don't have the spur," Cat objected.
"Don't lie to me. I was at the inner stair door. That halfling freak locked it, but her people aren't the only ones who can pick locks or listen at doors. I was listening. I heard Giogi call you a little ass, and he was right. Only an ass would risk her neck to save that idiot. The divination said the spur was in the little ass's pocket. Now, reach into your pocket very slowly and pull it out and hand it to me."
"I'm afraid you're mistaken. Master Steele. I haven't got the spur. Maybe the divination referred to the little burro that Master Giogi had yesterday. A burro is a small ass, you know. It's missing, though, like the spur, I'm afraid."
"Asses don't have pockets!" Steele shouted angrily. "Now give me everything you've got in yours."
"I have to put these scrolls and this book down to use my hands," Cat said.
In a fury, Steele knocked the book and the scrolls out of Cat's arms.
"Now, that pocket first," the nobleman ordered, pointing to the right-hand side pocket of her dress's skirt.
One at a time Cat pulled out three potion vials she'd removed from Drone's shelves. Steele knocked each one to the ground, where all three smashed to pieces. Cat bit her upper lip angrily but remained silent.
"I want to see you turn the pocket out to prove it's empty," Steele said.
"There's something else in there," Cat replied.
"Give it to me."
"Very well." Cat drew out the last item and held it out for Steele's inspection.
"What is it?" Steele growled.
"Something inflexible, Master Steele," she said, inscribing a circle in the air with the small iron nail she held. At the word "inflexible" the tip of the iron bar sparked and the nail vanished.
Steel tensed to lunge, but he was transfixed by the mage's spell. He stood as still as a statue with his one hand reaching for the magically expired nail, the other still holding the knife. Cat pulled away carefully from the Wyvernspur's blade. Steel remained immobile. Hastily the mage gathered up the scrolls she'd dropped and stuffed them into a sack. She wiped the broken potion vial glass and liquid as thoroughly as she could from the cover of Gaylyn's catalog and left the book on Drone's desk.
Snatching up her fur muff, Cat backed toward the outer stair's door. "Apparently that's one trick you didn't learn from your uncle, hmmm, Master Steele? Mages call it 'hold person,' spell component, a small piece of straight iron"
Cat laughed and was turning toward the door when something heavy cracked across her temple. The blow felt as if a fireball had exploded in her skull and left a fire raging there.
Cat collapsed to her knees as a woman's voice said, "We know the trick 'hold mage,' though. Spell component, a stout stick."
Cat felt a pinprick at her throat.
"This pin's coated with poison. If it breaks your skin, you'll be dead," the woman's voice warned. "Now, release Steele," she demanded.
Despite the agonizing pain in her head, the mage managed to recall the magic word. "Willow," she whispered.
Steele sprang back to life, half falling forward, jabbing at the empty air with his knife. He caught himself and straightened up. "Good work, Julia," he said. "You managed to tear yourself from your peasant lover, I see," he added with a sneer. "You've hobbled up here just in time."
Julia, Steele's sister. Cat remembered. She must be as crazy as he is, the mage thought. Julia drew her poison