Tymora's Luck - Kate Novak [82]
Walinda stepped into the pavilion and ordered one of the bar-lgura to bring her the carpet. Emilo followed the hulking tanar'ri inside. When the tanar'ri left, the kender settled himself in a dark corner and watched.
He had no fear of being detected. The gift he'd been given, by a mysterious old man at the end of the magical vortex by which he had arrived in this world, seemed to be holding up well. As long as Emilo kept quiet, wasn't introduced by a companion, and didn't attack anyone, he went completely unnoticed. The hardest part was keeping quiet. The gift had served him well in Sigil until he'd run into Jas.
The mysterious old man had warned him that anyone from Krynn would be able to notice him. Jas had surprised him. Emilo had never seen any winged women on his home world of Krynn, but Jas had indeed noticed him, even though she claimed she came from Joel's world. It was possible she was confused about that. Whatever the case, her knowledge of his presence had turned out all right.
Finder was another exception, which Emilo had to think about for a while. In the end, he decided that since Finder was aware of everything that happened around Joel, and since Emilo had talked to Joel, that explained things. When Emilo had left Joel's side to eavesdrop on Finder and Tymora and Winnie, neither the gods nor the halfling had seemed to take notice of him. Selune had been the ultimate test. When Emilo had surprised the elder goddess with his presence, then he was certain the gift was still working. The way Holly had started when he had finally greeted her in the Abyss had been one more confirmation.
Since the bar-lgura had captured Joel and Holly but ignored the kender, Joel and Holly seemed to have figured out Emilo's secret. They had been careful to keep their eyes away from Emilo and had not introduced him to Walinda. So now Emilo was free to spy on the priestess.
The old man had not explained why he'd granted Emilo such an unusual gift, but the kender assumed it was so he could spy on people. In Walinda's case, the thought didn't give the kender much pleasure. The priestess gave him the shivers. Still, someone had to keep an eye on her.
Walinda unrolled the flying carpet, settled herself in the center, and ran her hand over the heavy wool with a look of pleasure. Then, assuming she was alone in the pavilion, she began poking through the party's gear.
First she dumped out the contents of Holly's backpack. With a disdainful look, she pawed through the paladin's brightly colored clothing. A glittering glass sculpture caught her eye, and she picked it up.
The priestess let out a cry and tossed the sculpture aside as if it had burned her. It landed right at Emilo's feet. As the priestess sucked on her fingers, Emilo scooped up the piece of glass and examined it. It was a piece of red glass, shaped like the sun, with a beaming smile on its face. It was every bit as lovely as Jas's star-filled paperweight and Joel's finder's stone. Emilo slipped it into a pocket of his vest, certain that Holly would not want it left behind.
Walinda stuffed Holly's things back into her pack. Next she looked through Joel's pack and the one Winnie had given them, but she found nothing of particular interest. Joel had kept the finder's stone and the scrolls with him,
Emilo remembered. Since the potions were missing, Emilo figured Joel must have taken them as well. The gold had been in the other backpack, the one Jas had filled with rocks to attack the barghest. Jas had scooped the gold into her own pack-the same pack she'd flown off with when the bar-lgura attacked.
Walinda was just stuffing the last of the party's gear back into Winnie's pack when the awaited ally arrived. Walinda left the pavilion to greet her. The priestess escorted a snake-woman with six arms into the pavilion. The snake-woman never spoke aloud, but Walinda kept saying "yes" and "no" as if she were