The Wyvern's Spur - Kate Novak [97]
There was a knock on the door, and Thomas came in, carrying her cloak and gloves. "The carriage has arrived, ma'am," he announced.
Olive laid the fruit-and-nut bowl aside and accepted Thomas's help with her cloak, then joined Giogi and Cat in the front hall. The door stood open. Every bush and tree branch glittered in the sunlight and dropped globs of water and shards of glassy ice to the ground beneath it. A white carriage with four white horses stood waiting outside the front gate.
Giogi escorted the two women out and handed them into the carriage. As he checked the horses' tack and harnesses, Olive settled beside Cat and whispered, "Have you got it on you?"
Wordlessly Cat drew the silk-wrapped amulet halfway out of her pocket and slipped it back out of sight.
"Smart girl. Have a fig," the halfling offered.
"All set?" Giogi asked as he hopped up in the driver's seat.
We may never be that, Olive thought, but she called out that they were.
Giogi clucked at the horses, and the carriage moved forward. None of the party noticed the sleeve of a robe clear the frost from the attic window or a pair of piercing blue eyes watching them move out of the courtyard and onto the street.
15
Drone's Lab
Giogi drove the carriage through the heart of town and then south into the countryside. Since the nobleman sat outside the carriage, making normal conversation with him impossible, and Cat sat looking out the window, lost in her own thoughts, Olive napped for the length of the half-hour trip. Cat nudged her awake as thev drove through the front gate of Castle Redstone.
The Wyvernspurs' ancestral home was an imposing edifice, but Olive always thought castles ostentatious, and red sandstone buildings made her think of rust. She could see why Giogi chose to live in a townhouse in Immersea. Even Cat shuddered when she saw the castle.
A servant ushered them into the parlor, where Gaylyn lay knitting, alone on the couch. "Giogi, you've brought company. How wonderful," the young woman said, peering intently at Olive and Cat. "Don't I know you? Olive Ruskettle the bard, isn't it? What a delightful surprise. Everyone was so pleased with your performance at the wedding reception. We were disappointed that you had to leave early. Aren't you Alias?" she asked Cat.
"She's, um, a relative of Alias's," Giogi explained. "Gaylyn, allow me to present Cat of Ordulin, a mage. Mistress Cat, this is my Cousin Frefford's wife, Gaylyn."
Cat curtsied and whispered a hello.
"You'll excuse me for not rising, I hope."
"Of course," Olive replied. "We've all heard your good news. How is your little girl, Lady Gaylyn?"
"If I ever see her again, I'll let you know," Gaylyn said, laughing. "Amberlee's Great-grandauntie Dorath stole her away the moment she was born and has spent all her time since then doting on the child. Actually, you've just missed her. Aunt Dorath brought her down here for breakfast, and when Amberlee was finished, her Aunt Dorath took her away to sleep in the nursery so I could entertain without waking her," Gaylyn explained.
"Please, sit down," the new mother encouraged them. "You must be freezing from your ride. There's a pot of tea over there," Gaylyn said, pointing to a silver tea set desperately in need of polishing. "Giogi, since we ladies outnumber you, you may do the honors."
Giogi filled and handed out teacups. Gaylyn passed a plate of cookies around. "It's lucky you're here, actually. Freffie has been so busy looking for someone who might be a lost member of the family. He spent all night questioning people at the inns- merchants, mercenaries, adventurers, farmers, fishermen, and now he has to deliver some packages for the memorial service tonight for Uncle Drone. He's up in the tower."
She fixed Giogi with the bright green eyes that had ensnared his cousin. "You wouldn't mind running the packages up to the Temple of Selune for him, would you, so I could get a little