The Wyvern's Spur - Kate Novak [66]
Sudacar wasted no time whipping his line out over the water, but he continued with another story about Cole. This story was set, as Sudacar put it, "in 'aught eight," when the gnolls came down from the north. Saboteurs had burned the bridge over the Starwater. The purple dragoons might never have marched to the Cormyr border's defense in time had Cole not managed miraculously-and mysteriously-to repair the bridge overnight with no one to help him but Shar, the master carpenter-who later became Cole's father-in-law.
Giogi's gaze remained fixed on Sudacar's lure as it flew out over the water, slithered downstream and jerked out, over and over again. The noble's thoughts, though, were occupied with trying to figure out why Sudacar's tales sounded so familiar. It wasn't until the older man began a story with Giogi's mother in it, that the reason came to Giogi in a flash.
In the story, Shar, the master carpenter, had come to Cole begging that he rescue Bette, the carpenter's daughter. Bette had refused the mad red wizard Yawataht as a suitor, so Yawataht had kidnapped and imprisoned Bette on top of a glass mountain. He left her there to freeze, high above the tree line, up in the clouds. Cole flew up there-though Sudacar could not say how-but he looked so fierce when he arrived that Bette mistook him for one of Yawataht's minions and smacked him on the head with a hammer.
The name "Yawataht" and the image of a woman striking a man with a hammer finally reminded Giogi why Sudacar's tales sounded familiar. "Uncle Drone's told me all these stories," he said, "but the hero was someone named Callyson, and the woman he rescued on the mountaintop was named Sharabet-"
Sudacar laughed. "Wasn't your grandmother's name Cally?" he asked.
Giogi smacked himself on the forehead. "Callyson-Cally's son! Sharabet-Shar's Bette! Of course! Aunt Dorath made Uncle Drone swear he wouldn't tell me my father was an adventurer, but Uncle Drone told me all about my father, anyway-only he disguised the truth as bedtime stories."
"So, did he tell you how your father used the spur in the stories?" Sudacar asked.
"He-" Giogi hesitated. He racked his brains trying to remember any mention of a magical item in the Callyson stories. "I don't remember for certain. He told me those stories more than ten years ago. I don't think so, though."
"Well," Sudacar said, "since your father wasn't a magic-user, it's probable the spur gave him the power to fly."
"There's lots of other magic like that, though," Giogi pointed out. "Why steal the spur just to fly?"
"It could also have been responsible for Cole's strength and fighting prowess," Sudacar suggested. "Killing a hydra is no small feat. Neither is chopping and carting the lumber for a bridge meant to span a river as wide as the Starwater."
"That's true," Giogi agreed. "It might help if I could pin its powers down more exactly, though."
"Wait a minute," Sudacar said, stroking his chin. "There is someone you could talk to, someone I know traveled with your father at least once."
"A rogue or a ruffian?" Giogi asked.
"Pardon?"
"According to Aunt Dorath, my father traveled with rogues and ruffians. Aunt Dorath is a little funny that way-"
"Yes, I've always found her amusing," Sudacar admitted grimly. "The person I was thinking of, though, was Lleddew of Selune." The instant Sudacar mentioned Selune, the goddess of the moon, he got a strike on his fishing line.
"Mother Lleddew?" Giogi echoed with astonishment. He'd been expecting Sudacar to name one of the adventurers who'd been at the Fish last night. Lleddew was a high priestess and older than Giogi's Aunt Dorath. The idea of the ancient holy woman tramping about the countryside with Cole was a little hard for the nobleman to accept. "Are you sure?"
Sudacar grinned and nodded as he pulled in his line, playing