Thornhold - Elaine Cunningham [165]
He lifted one brow. “Do you not hear her? She is in the gatehouse, under the care of hardened soldiers who, at this moment, are no doubt wishing they were patrolling the Mere of Dead Men, instead.”
She cocked her head and smiled fiercely when the sounds of Cara’s angry struggle reached her.
Dag turned to the guard at his elbow. “Have the men send her down.”
The message was relayed, and Cara flew out of the gate-house door like a small brown bird. She threw herself into Bronwyn’s arms with a glad cry. “My father said you’ve come to visit! He said maybe you will stay.”
Bronwyn looked at Dag over Cara’s head, holding his eyes as she spoke. “Plans have changed, Cara. You are going with me. Give your father the ring.”
Without hesitation, the little girl peeled off the artifact and handed it to Dag. That concerned him, and stung more than a little. Hadn’t he impressed upon her the importance of the ring and the power that came with her heritage? Did she value it-and him-so lightly?
Dag thrust aside these thoughts and turned back to Bronwyn. “The artifact,” he said, and his voice sounded colder to his ears than he had intended to make it.
Bronwyn set Cara down and shouldered off her pack. From it she took a small object, carefully wrapped in a travel blanket. Dag watched avidly as she peeled off the covering, holding his breath and hardly daring to imagine what the item might be.
She handed him a small, wooden object. Puzzled, he took it from her. It was a miniature siege tower. A cunning piece of work, certainly, but a toy for all that.
He raised furious eyes to her face. “What is this?”
“Precisely what it appears to be,” she said curtly. “Look at the platform. There are three small grooves. When the rings are placed into them by a descendant of Samular, the tower will grow to enormous size.”
Dag looked at the tower with new interest. This was what he needed, exactly what he needed! With it, he could make short work of an escalade and gain another stronghold for the Zhentarim. That is, if it worked as Bronwyn claimed.
He handed her back the tower. “Show me.”
She looked hesitant. “You’d do better to wait until morning and take the tower out into the open. I’ve seen it grow. This courtyard might not accommodate it.”
That, Dag doubted. Judging from the depth and breadth of the toy’s base, in relation to its height, it could most likely fit into the bailey without difficulty. “How tall does it grow?”
“As tall as it needs to be,” she said reluctantly. “The artifact seems to sense the need and intent of the person who wields it. I believe it will adjust to the wall it is meant to conquer.”
“Well, then, we have no problem, do we? Nor would we, unless Thornhold’s wall were a hundred feet tall.”
She struggled to hide her consternation, but Dag took careful note of it. “As you wish,” she said, and handed him two rings identical to the one in his hand.
Too easily, Dag thought. He shook his head. “You do it.” Bronwyn took a long breath and closed her hand in a fist around all three rings. “Stand out of the way, Cara,” she warned the girl. “I want you to go over to the far wall, by the tower. Just to be safe.”
To Dajs surprise, the child offered no resistance. But though she watched from a distance, there was little of her usual curiosity in her brown eyes. In fact, her expression was unusually shuttered.
“Do not do this thing!” burst out the paladin. He struggled mightily against the men who held him. “Better to die than to give such power into the hands of evil.”
Dag Zoreth lifted one brow and shot a sidelong glance at Bronwyn. “Earnest sort, isn’t he?”
“You have no idea,” she gritted out from between clenched teeth.
She threw an angry look at the man and set the tiny siege tower on the ground. She put the three rings into place, one at a time, and then she leaped to her feet and ran toward Can.
Instinctively Dag followed suit. Behind him, he heard the scrape of a heavy object being dragged quickly against packed dirt and the creaking groans of expanding wood. He darted a look over his shoulder and then redoubled