The Wyvern's Spur - Kate Novak [141]
Gaylyn looked up plaintively at the wizard. "Oh, Uncle Drone. You'll get my baby back, won't you?" she sobbed.
"It's out of his hands," Olive said.
Sudacar and the Wyvernspurs turned to the bard for an explanation.
"He left a note," she said, rattling the scroll. "It's for Giogi. 'The brat for the spur and my Cat,'" she read. '"Bring no one else. Cat can lead you to my audience chamber. If you keep her or try to bring anyone else, you seal the child's doom.'"
Strengthened by the healing potion, Cat stirred in Giogi's arms. "Giogi," she whispered, "I'm sorry. I tried to stop him. I really did. I fought him."
"It's all right," Giogi whispered.
"I surprised him, too," she added, her voice very weak. "He didn't believe I would do it."
Giogi looked up at Frefford, unable to say what he must.
"I understand, Giogi," the young lord said. "No one expects you to trade one life for another."
Giogi kissed Cat gently and untangled himself from the cloak he'd wrapped around both of them. "I'll take him the spur," Giogi said, rising to his feet. "He'll give me Amberlee or… I'll kill him." He trembled as he realized that he wanted to do it.
Olive shook her head. He can't go up there alone, she thought, when another idea struck her.
"Jade's sack," she said, pulling out the magical pouch Jade had given her to hold. "If I can fit into Jade's sack, he won't know I'm with you. I can sneak attack him, in case he cheats us- correction, when he cheats us. He hasn't changed from the time he killed your father," she pointed out to Giogi.
"Jade's sack?" Drone asked. "The miniature bag of holding I gave her? Not even you would fit, Ruskettle. Twenty pounds is its limit. Hold on. Wasn't there a potion of healing in it?"
Olive opened the sack and drew out a minty-smelling vial.
"Take that, Giogi," Drone ordered. "You may need to use it."
Olive held out the vial.
"No," Cat said, snatching the vial. She unstoppered it and quaffed the potion in one fluid motion.
Her skin glowed with a trifle more pink, and she rose to her feet on her own, still clutching the cloth sack she'd held while unconscious. "There. I'm better now. I'm going with you," she told Giogi.
"No, you are not," the nobleman retorted. "I'm not letting you near that madman ever again"
"You haven't got a choice," Cat snapped. "If you won't carry me with you, I'll fly up on my own. I won't leave you to face him alone."
"Mistress Cat, you can't go," Gaylyn said softly. "He'll kill you. I won't let you. Not even for my Amberlee." Gaylyn broke down in tears.
"What makes you think I won't kill him?" Cat snapped with steely determination.
Now she sounds like Alias, Olive thought grimly.
"Cat," Giogi whispered, "I don't want you to come."
"I know. I don't want you to go, either. Neither of us has any other choice, though, do we?"
"You may as well give in, Master Giogioni," Olive said. "She'll find a way to follow you. You're better off if you look after each other."
Giogi turned away from Cat, struggling to hide his rage. "I'll change in the courtyard," he said as he left the room.
Cat picked her cape off the floor and followed behind him.
"We can watch them from the tower," Drone suggested.
Frefford, Gaylyn, Sudacar, and Julia remained in the nursery, but Olive followed behind the old wizard with interest. The last of the daylight was fading, and the countryside reflected the deep blues of dusk.
Steele was in the tower room, looting through papers, when they got there.
"Steele Wyvernspur, haven't I told you to keep your paws off my toys?" Drone growled.
Steele stood up sharply as if struck by lightning. "Uncle Drone. You're not dead. How?"
"I just keep breathing-in, then out," Drone snapped. "You're just the person I wanted to see, for a change. Saddle up two horses and ride up to the House of the Lady. Fetch back Mother Lleddew. We need her to heal Sudacar, and if our luck goes from bad to worse, we'll need her to bash a few heads, too."
"Mother Lleddew?"