The Wyvern's Spur - Kate Novak [36]
The nobleman sighed. Everyone in the Realms except me knew that my father was an adventurer. Most of the members of my family knew he used the spur, but I didn't. Maybe I should have tried listening at a few keyholes. Giogi turned back to the mausoleum, unlocked the door, and pushed it open.
"Giogioni," Julia continued, "Frefford has the family title. You have all your mother's money. Why shouldn't Steele get the spur?"
Giogi turned around thoughtfully. It wasn't hard to come up with an answer to that question. "Julia," he said, "do you know what Steele said to me when Uncle Drone gave me my father's key to the crypt? He said he wished your father would hurry and die so he could have his own key. Steele was a jealous, mean little boy, and as far as I can tell, he's grown into a jealous, cruel man. Did it ever occur to you that he doesn't deserve the spur?"
"What have you done to deserve it?" Julia asked with venom.
"Julia, I don't want the spur. I just want to return it to the crypt, where it belongs."
"Then why has Uncle Drone been secretly nagging Aunt Dorath all winter to let you have it?"
"Listening at keyholes again, are we?" Giogi asked, using the question to hide his own surprise.
"I have servants to do that for me now," Julia said coolly.
Too lazy to do your own dirty work, eh? Olive thought.
Giogi sighed again. "Look, this whole argument is moot if we don't find the spur. I'm going into the crypt after Steele. You should be back helping Aunt Dorath and Frefford with Gaylyn."
"Steele will find the thief before you do. He's an hour ahead of you, and he knows how to use his weapon. He isn't bogged down by some overgrown pack rat, either."
Olive brayed loudly, jerked her halter from Giogi's hand, and charged at Julia.
Not used to being charged upon by burros, the noblewoman retreated with a yell and almost toppled over a headstone. Olive herded Julia out of the graveyard and waited at the entrance until the woman had fled down the path.
Giogi grinned as the little burro trotted back to his side. He scratched behind her ears. "Don't you pay any attention to her, Birdie. Julia's too foolish to see what a superior burro you are. She doesn't even realize I'm better with a foil than Steele is. Steele only used to win by thwacking at me with the flat of the blade. That's cheating, you know."
Giogi picked Olive's lead rope off the ground and pulled her through the door into the family mausoleum. He closed and locked the door behind them. Olive shivered. It was colder inside than out, and, naturally, as dark as a tomb.
Giogi drew a shining crystal from his boot. Olive stared at it with astonishment. It was a finder's stone, just like the one Elminster had given Alias. Olive had spent many hours guessing at its value before it was lost near Westgate. Olive remembered now that Alias had run into Giogi again, outside of Westgate. If this is the same stone, Olive thought, then there are more coincidences in my life than in one of those bad operas in Raven's Bluff, the Living City.
Whatever its origins, the finder's stone filled the mausoleum with a warm, rich glow. The twinkle of precious metal attracted Olive's attention to the tomb itself. Giogi was busy lighting torches set in gold-plated sconces. The flames' reflections danced on every surface around them. The floor was checkered with black and white squares of polished marble, and the walls and ceiling were covered with solid plates of a dull gray metal, which Olive presumed was lead. Two white marble benches, inlaid with runes of gold and platinum, were the only other decor in the room. The husks of long-dead flowers lay on one bench. Olive could see no other exit besides the one Giogi had just locked.
Giogi finished with the torches and began hopping like a child