The Wyvern's Spur - Kate Novak [84]
Olive sat on the bed and picked through the debris. "It has to be here," she insisted. "I'm the only ass in Immersea. Steele said so." Face it, Olive-girl, she told herself, trying to overcome her disappointment at not finding the spur. Steele must have been wrong, as usual.
But Jade being the thief had made so much sense. If the guardian accepted her as a daughter of Finder, the Nameless Bard, Jade could have entered the crypt. Flattery had told Cat that twice his magic had failed to detect the spur. Jade, just like Alias, had been proofed against magical detection and scrying. Jade would have thwarted Flattery's attempts at magical detection.
Then a more unsettling thought occurred to Olive. Suppose Jade did steal the spur and it was on her when Flattery disintegrated her? Wouldn't that be ironic?
But, then, would Steele's divination reveal that the spur was in the little ass's pocket? Could Steele's god have lied to him? Or was there another little ass that Steele had missed somewhere? Giogi might be considered a bit of an ass, but he was far from little; he was taller than Jade had been. Cat was an ass for sticking with Flattery, but if she had the spur, she'd have turned it over to the evil wizard. There could be other Wyvernspurs who were fools, or, for that matter, any one of them could have secretly wed some fool to steal the spur for them, as Flattery had.
Olive wondered idly, Had Flattery really married Cat just to make her a Wyvernspur, or was he just trying to bind her to him? Even if the evil wizard hadn't any idea that Cat was already a Wyvernspur, he still didn't need to marry her to get past the guardian. He could have gone in the crypt himself. Why hadn't he? What had he been afraid of?
Olive wished Finder were there now. If Flattery hated him so much, there was a good chance Finder knew Flattery and could tell her something useful about the evil mage. Finder was far off in Shadowdale, though. This time of year it would take more than a month to ride up to Shadowdale and back. Olive and Giogi needed each other's help now. Even if they didn't have the spur, they still had Cat to use against her master.
The problem is how to convince Cat that Flattery can't do anything to her and that he has nothing to offer her. The first part's easy enough, the halfling thought. Just use the old amulet of protection scam.
Olive looked down at the junk lying on her bed. What do we have here that's uglier than a monkey's paw? she pondered. She scooped up the chunks of cured meat from Jade's purse and tied them tightly in Jade's silk scarf. That'll do for now, she thought, scooping all of Jade's things along with the homemade "amulet of protection" back into Jade's magic pouch.
Olive sighed. The sun had risen. It was time to join forces with Giogioni Wyvernspur-right after a light breakfast.
*****
About an hour after Olive had gone down to eat at Maela's, back at Giogi's townhouse, the Wyvernspur noble knocked softly on the door to his own room.
"Come in," Cat called sleepily.
Giogi peeked in the doorway. "Just need to get some clothes," he said.
"Fine," Cat mumbled, pulling up the thick down comforter to her chest and rolling over.
Giogi crossed the room and removed an ensemble from his winter clothes chest. He was searching for matching stockings when there was a soft knock on the door. Giogi shot a quick glance from his search to see Thomas entering with his morning tea tray. The servant crossed to the bed and set the tray on the nightstand by his master's bed, as had been his custom every morning for years. Giogi returned to pawing through the chest.
"I say, Thomas," Giogi said, examining a worn patch in the heel of a stocking, "I'm going to need some more warm footgear. And this one will need darning." Giogi held the stocking out in Thomas's direction, his head still buried in his clothing chest. When several seconds passed without Thomas taking the piece, Giogi looked up. "I say, Thomas…" he began, but Thomas was not present.
From the bed, Cat