The Wyvern's Spur - Kate Novak [148]
"Oh, my gosh," Olive said. The realization of exactly who Flattery was dawned on her and made her tremble. "You aren't his son. You're the first creature he made to sing his songs, the one that got him in all the trouble with the Harpers in the first place." Olive knew that many wizards had died in Nameless's bizarre experiments to create living vessels for his works.
"What do you mean the first creature?" Flattery demanded.
"Well, he made another one. Woman. Very pretty. Sings like a bird," Olive said. She kept Flattery's attention fixed on her. Behind the wizard, Cat retrieved Giogi's foil and returned it to him. Olive bragged, "Everyone loves the songs she sings. The songs he wrote."
"You lie!" Flattery shouted, closing on Olive. "I will kill you and slay him with the spur. His name will never be spoken again." His eyes wide with rage, Flattery raised a ring-bedecked hand and pointed at the halfling.
Giogi slammed into Flattery, spoiling whatever magic the wizard had intended to cast at Olive. "Stay behind me, Mistress Ruskettle," the young noble said as the halfling scurried to his side.
"Little present from your aunt," Olive whispered, slipping the wyvern's spur into the top of Giogi's boot. Giogi concentrated on the dream. From behind the nobleman's body the halfling taunted the wizard. "You're too late, you know, Flattery. Nameless's true name is on everyone's lips. Best bard in the Realms- Finder Wyvernspur."
Flattery lunged at Giogi to get at Olive but found himself confronted with a wyvern.
Flattery leaped backward with a snarl. His foil was not likely to penetrate the wyvern's scales, and Giogi's transformed body was immune to his spells. Flattery might have run, but he spotted Cat picking up the finders stone.
Backing away farther, the wizard drew something out of his pocket. It was a crystal as dark as a new moon. Just like the one Jade had stolen, Olive thought.
"Catling, you want this? Come and get it," said Flattery, circling to keep the enchantress between him and the wyvern, Giogi.
Cat looked with confusion at the crystal. Her eves shone with desire. She took a hesitant step forward.
"It's a trick, Cat," Olive shouted. "He destroyed the real crystal. He just wants to use you against Giogi."
Flattery was a fast thinker and a taster liar. "I made a second crystal, Cat. It's everything the first was. Just come here, and I will give it to you."
Cat froze, then stepped back, taking up a position behind Giogi. "It doesn't matter anymore, Flattery," she said proudly. "I can make myself new memories."
With that, Olive said, "Time to go," took Cat's hand, and pulled her toward the exit. Giogi backed slowly in the same direction, waving his tail over his head. He had to get the mage and the bard to safety before he finished with the wizard.
The three of them slipped from the audience chamber quickly. Something exploded behind them. Flattery shrieked, and a howl went up from the undead.
"Run!" Olive shouted.
The halfling and the mage pounded down the corridor. Behind them, Giogi continued backing away as fast as he could. Drone, in his human form, stood waiting outside the door.
"Giogi?" said the old man.
"Right behind us," Olive gasped.
The wyvern backed out of the keep door and changed quickly back into a human. "You know, this wyvern form is deucedly awkward enough to walk in going forward," Giogi said with irritation. "I can't see where I'm going at all when I go backward, let alone try to be graceful about it."
Drone took Cat by the shoulders. "Where are my scrolls, young lady?" he demanded.
Cat swallowed. "Gone," she said. Flattery took them. He's already opened one, I think. We heard an explosion as we fled the keep."
"You knew the scrolls you took were covered in explosive runes?" Drone asked.
Cat grinned slyly. "Except for the few I used," she said.
"The exploding scroll