The Wyvern's Spur - Kate Novak [58]
Holding the figure to her lips, she whispered, "Master Flattery, your Cat has information about the spur. She begs thee to come swiftly to her. She waits alone in Giogioni Wvvernspur's carriage house."
The mage walked out of Olive's stall so preoccupied with her paper bird that she left the door open. She walked back to the outside door, opened the upper half, and held the rumpled figure in her palm. The bird twitched, then fluttered its wings. "Fly to my master's throne," Cat instructed. The paper bird sped from the carriage house and disappeared into the sleet.
Cat left the upper half of the door open, climbed up into the unharnessed, open buggy, and settled onto the cushioned seat. She sighed once and sat very still with her hands folded in her lap. She closed her eyes, but not completely, and from her posture, the halfling could tell she was still alert and aware.
Olive trembled with anger. The treacherous witch didn't waste any time, the halfling thought. As quietly as she could, the burro tiptoed out of the stall and slipped into the shadows at the rear of the carriage house. How long, she wondered, would it take for Cat's master to arrive from his throne? Cassana and ol' Zrie Prakis sat on thrones. Mages who sit on thrones always mean trouble, Olive-girl. They take themselves too seriously.
Either Cat's little paper bird had the speed of a dragon, or her master's throne was just on the other side of town. Whichever it was, the woman didn't have too long to wait. In less time than it took to hard-cook an egg, something arrived.
A huge black raven swooped through the open upper door and landed on the buggy's lantern pole. The bird shook its feathers dry and fluttered to the buggy seat beside Cat. At first, Olive thought the bird was some sort of magical messenger, perhaps Flattery's familiar. Then the raven grew monstrously. Its feathers became cloth and hair, its wings turned into arms, and its claws into legs. Cat remained still and silent throughout the transformation.
The raven finished changing into a man. He wore a black cloak of great size. Silky black hair, shinier than raven's feathers, hung to his shoulders. His face was turned away from Olive, but the halfling had no trouble hearing his words, and there was something disturbingly familiar in his deep bass rumble. "Well, Catling?" he demanded.
Cat trembled and bowed her head. When she spoke, her tone was so meek that Olive cringed to hear it. "Forgive me, master; Cat said. "I failed at the task you set me."
Without a word, Flattery backhanded the woman across her face. The crack of his hand on Cat's flesh startled Daisyeye, who kicked at her stall and nickered nervously. Olive backed up, prepared for an awful fight. Only last month, she'd witnessed Jade slash the finger off some fool mercenary who'd pinched her, and, of course, everyone who'd tried to keep Alias as a slave was dead, by her hand or the hands of her allies. Olive had a momentary fear that the carriage house would not be big enough to contain any magical reaction by the sharp-tongued female mage, sister to both Jade and Alias.
Cat sat motionless. She uttered no sound of protest. Her head remained bowed.
"Since I set you this simple task the spur has twice defied my power to detect it. Your failure could mean we've lost it forever," Flattery snarled.
"The spur was not where you said it would be."
"Are you saying I made a mistake?" Flattery asked.
"No, master. I'm saying someone else stole it before I reached the crypt."
"Who?" Flattery demanded.
"I don't know," Cat answered. She continued hurriedly, "But I may be able to discover that information." She paused as if hoping for some sign of pleasure or excitement from her master, but she hoped in vain.
"Continue," Flattery said coolly.
"I saw no one else in the catacombs that evening," Cat explained, "save the monsters who live there. After