The Yellow Silk - Don Bassingthwaite [117]
Tycho couldn't hold back a startled gasp. Laera twisted around and looked back at him.
"I'm sorry for the trouble I caused you, Tycho," she said. "But I don't belong on the road. My place is here." Her smile faltered. "Like in the story of Dain and Eiter."
Tycho caught the meaning in her words. She was giving herself up for them. He gave her a crooked smile. "You would have made a fine apprentice," he said. Mard choked at his words. Tycho's grin grew just a bit and he added, "Let's hope no one cuts off your hand."
Mard choked again and whirled around. "Dismissed," he shouted sharply to his guards. "Return to stations." As the guards dispersed, he turned back to Laera with a glower. "So you have a brain after all," he sighed. "You chose a fine time to use it." He took her hand and held her close-then glared at Tycho and Li over her head and growled, "Get out of Spandeliyon."
"Father!" Laera protested. Tycho hissed at her and met Mard's gaze.
"A day to bury the dead," he said.
"Granted. Then I don't want to see you again." He looked at Li. "Either of you."
Li snarled at him in Shou. Mard glanced at him. "He said 'yes,'" Tycho lied.
Mard glared at them once more before stalking off. Laera tried to look back, but he held her firmly.
Then they were alone. Tycho sighed and held Veseene's frail body close. A day. It didn't seem long enough.
"What now, Tycho?" asked Li. The bard sighed again and looked up. He nodded along one of the cross-streets.
"There's a cemetery inland behind high town," he said. "I know a priest there. He'll take her in. Tonight even."
"I meant after," said the Shou. "You can't stay here. Even without Mard Dantakain, you've made enemies of two wizards and the Hooded today."
Tycho smiled crookedly. "Now you know why I didn't protest leaving Spandeliyon." He shifted Veseene in his arms and began walking toward high town. "I don't really know where I'll go. Around. It doesn't really matter. New stories, new songs. I still haven't been to Waterdeep and there's that 'vigorous harp' technique to try out there!"
Li fell into step beside him. "I'll be going back to Keelung. I need to tell my father what happened here." His hand twitched toward the pocket that held the scraps of the Yellow Silk. Tycho winced.
"Li, I'm sorry about the Silk."
"I'll give it back to my father. The master weavers of Kuang may be able to repair it." Li looked down at Veseene's still form. "Your loss can't be remade. I'm more sorry for that."
"Thanks." Tycho kissed his old friend's cheek. "She died with a song on her lips. I think her spirit is still singing."
Li smiled. "You know," he said, "the ship I came on should still be in the harbor. I'll be taking it back to Telflamm and starting east along the Golden Way once spring comes. Would you like to come with me?"
Tycho choked. "Bind me, yes!" His face crinkled. "I don't have much coin for passage, though."
"You can earn it." Li opened his coat and dipped his hand inside. There was the sharp rip of cloth. Tycho twisted around to stare. Li's hand emerged, unfolding to show three stones that gleamed black-red in the moonlight. "But here's a start."
"Li!"
"Your reward, remember? For helping me."
"I couldn't take-" Li's eyebrow rose. Tycho sighed. "All right, I can take it. Bind me, you're starting to know me too well!" He looked sideways at the Shou. "Li?"
"Yes?"
"Do I really speak Shou like a whore?"
Li looked up at the moon. "You have an accent," he said diplomatically. "We can work on it." He glanced back down. "Tycho?"
"Yes?"
"What'sThayan pox?"
EPILOGUE
Lander shivered in the cold darkness of his prison, blankets wrapped around him, waiting. How long, he wondered. Soon. Surely soon. His stomach had been growling for an eternity.
The hatch in the bottom of the door popped open. Lander darted forward eagerly.
Except it wasn't a bowl of food that appeared. A rope slithered through the door like a snake. He. yelped and leaped back, but the rope was faster. It shot forward, twining first around his ankles to send