The Wyvern's Spur - Kate Novak [57]
As usual when he wrote in his journal, there were things he thought it best not to record. Aside from keeping secret his Cousin Julia's scandalous behavior in the graveyard, he couldn't bring himself to reveal that Cat was the second thief. She hadn't actually stolen anything, after all, and she'd apparently left Flattery's evil influence.
Giogi realized he could not mention that he knew Cat to be a Wyvernspur, either, since that would put her under suspicion of the theft. That meant he could not mention a speculation he'd formed regarding the identity of the thief.
As he'd been writing in his journal, it had seemed an awfully unusual coincidence that both Flattery and Uncle Drone had found unknown Wyvernspurs to enter the crypt for them. This had reminded him of how unusual it was that he'd run into two women who looked like Alias of Westgate. That's when it had struck him. Perhaps Alias was a Wyvernspur, too.
If that were the case, the swordswoman could be the thief. Last night, Sudacar had said she was supposed to be in Shadowdale working for Elminster the sage, but perhaps Sudacar was mistaken. There was one person who might know for sure: Alias's friend and patron, Olive Ruskettle, who happened to be in town.
Giogi laid his quill down. He would go see Frefford's new baby first, he decided, then speak with Aunt Dorath about the spur. There was no point, he realized, in trying to get in touch with Mistress Ruskettle before sunset. All entertainers slept in the day. After supper, he could stop in at the Fish to see if the famous bard was in.
*****
Mistress Ruskettle, the famous bard, stirred uneasily in her sleep. She was plagued by nightmares of Cassana, the evil sorceress who'd created and tried to enslave Alias. In the current dream, Cassana was not destroyed, but had transformed into a lich, an undead magic-user. Cassana wore, as she had in life, the most expensive clothing and jewelry. All her finery could not hide her emaciated form, nor distract Olive's gaze from her withered skeletal face, which had once resembled Alias's.
In Olive's dream, the Cassana lich had captured Jade, but Olive, in her halfling form, was too frightened to rescue her. Instead, she fled from Cassana. As often happened in dreams, though, no matter how fast Olive tried to run, she seemed to stand still. She heard a horse whickering. If I could just find the horse, catch it, and mount it, Olive thought, I could ride to safety.
The horse whickered again. Olive started awake. She was back in Immersea, in Giogi's carriage house, still a burro.
"Silly mare. Here, have some oats," a familiar voice said.
Olive peered through a gap in her stall wall. Cat stood outside Daisyeye's stall with her hand extended out to the mare. The mage had successfully routed the horse's instinct to raise an alarm by bribing it with more of the sweetened grain. The beast sniffed curiously, nuzzled up the treat, and lost its distrust of the woman.
Sleet still splashed and skittered on the roof overhead, but some gray daylight trickled into the carriage house from a window. Late afternoon, Olive guessed.
What's she doing here? the halfling wondered. Maybe she's decided to leave Giogi, after all, Olive thought, and she's here to steal Daisyeye to escape. It occurred to Olive again that Giogi's Uncle Drone might have been wrong about Giogi not finding the spur's real thief in the catacombs. Cat could have had the spur all along and been only waiting for the most opportune moment to run off with it.
Instead of saddling the horse, though, Cat drew out a sheet of white paper from a pocket of her muddy robes. She began folding the paper, over and over, pulling and tucking corners until it resembled a long-winged bird.
She held the bird up to her face and stared at it angrily. With a sudden motion, she' crumbled the figure and tossed it into Olive's stall.
Olive watched Cat walk to the outside door, but the mage hesitated with her hand around the door handle. She turned about and walked back to Olive's stall.
Unlatching the door,