The Wyvern's Spur - Kate Novak [32]
Olive could feel herself blushing beneath her furry hide. After all she had suffered last night, going without dinner would have been unbearable. The oats' molasses coating had rendered them almost tasty, actually better than some of the things she'd eaten at inns outside of Cormyr. After a few experimental nibbles, Olive had polished the remainder off without thinking.
Now confronted with the empty pail, though, she worried that she might grow too burrolike and forget that her favorite meal was not grain, but roast goose, and that she might come to prefer water to Luiren Rivengut.
"How about a little treat," Giogi said, holding out a quarter of an apple.
At least that could be considered halfling food, Olive decided. She muzzled the fruit from the nobleman's hand. Giogi's other hand slid something up over her ears. The feeling of leather straps about her muzzle caused Olive's nose to twitch. Nine Hells, she thought. I fell for the apple and the halter trick.
Olive brayed and tried to back away, but Giogi held fast to the halter he'd just slipped on her. "Whoa, girl. Easy, now. We're just going into the catacombs beneath the old family crypt to look for the thief who stole the wyvern's spur."
The wyvern's spur? Olive thought with astonishment. The Wyvernspur family's most precious heirloom? It's been stolen? Olive looked up at Giogi with puzzlement. How can you be so calm about a thing like that, boy? she thought.
As Giogi began brushing her coat, he briefed her in soothing tones. "The catacombs aren't so bad," he said, "except for the kobolds, stirges, bugbears, and occasional gargoyles. Of course, first we have to get past the crypt guardian. The guardian shouldn't bother us, though. I think. We're old friends. Last time I saw her, she said I was too small-1 presumed she meant too small for her to eat. Her idea of a joke, I suppose. You know how perverse those crypt guardians can be."
Able to distinguish the meaning of his words, Olive had no trouble sensing Giogi's nervousness as well. A shiver went up her long spine. Giogi patted her reassuringly and laid a blanket over her, then a set of packs. As he pulled the cinch under her belly and knotted it through the buckle, Olive considered trying to get out of the little jaunt by lying down or rolling over, but she decided that the floor was just too dirty. Besides, she thought, I won't learn anything more about the Wyvernspurs in a horse stall, but if Giogi keeps babbling, I might pick up quite a bit.
"Actually, she's probably not as terrible as I remember," Giogi Continued with his reminiscences of the guardian. "It's just that I was only eight back then. My father had just died, you see, and I inherited his key to the crypt. My Cousin Steele was so jealous that I had a key and he didn't that he badgered my other cousin, Freffie, and me into sneaking into the crypt. Then he, Steele, that is, swiped the key from me and locked me in there all alone and left with Freffie.
"Freffie had an attack of conscience and told Uncle Drone, but I ran into the catacombs to get away from the guardian. I spent the good part of a day wandering through them and missed supper before Uncle Drone found me."
There, Olive thought. I have three murder suspects already: jealousy-ridden Steele, guilt-ridden Frefford, and nephew-ridden Uncle Drone. I can rule out Giogi's father, though-Unless he's undead.
Giogi strapped the picnic basket atop the packs, balancing it on either side with a pair of full water skins. Olive groaned under the weight, but the noise came out as a testy bray.
The water and tea things, however, were only a beginning. Into the packs Giogi loaded oil, torches, a lantern, a tinder box, rope, a rope ladder, spikes, a portable stool, a blanket, a heavy mallet, several sealed vials, a can of white paint, a brush, and a large map. He then added a small sack of feed for the burro. "Can't have you missing lunch," Giogi said, patting Olive's rump.
Don't worry about me, Olive thought. I'll collapse