Word of Traitors_ Legacy of Dhakaan - Don Bassingthwaite [119]
Of the two guards on duty outside the chamber, only one—a young hobgoblin, new to the service of Khaar Mbar’ost—started when she emerged. The other was Aruget. He glanced at Ashi, then at the younger guard. “Remain,” he said in Goblin. “We will return.”
“Mazo.” The young guard thumped his chest with a fist.
They avoided the main stairs, instead taking the narrower flight of stairs that Ashi had raced up after Tariic’s coronation. Midian was waiting for them there and joined them in their silent climb. When she’d told the gnome about Geth’s message, he’d had the same suspicions as they had. Like them, he’d come ready for a fight. Just in case. In one hand he gripped a polished metal baton—a snap of his wrist, Ashi knew, would pop a slim curved head out of the shaft, transforming the baton into a deadly little pick. On his belt he wore several large pouches, a more convenient version of the backpack he’d worn during their quest for the rod and from which he’d produced a number of cunning magical devices.
“What are you carrying tonight, Midian?” she asked.
“What aren’t I carrying?” was his grim response. “I don’t think I entirely like this, Ashi.”
“I know I don’t,” said Aruget.
“Tell that to Geth when we see him,” Ashi told them both.
The stairs ended as they approached the top of the fortress’s central tower. They were forced onto the main stairs, but they encountered no one. When even the central stairs ended, only a dark, tightly wound spiral staircase remained. Midian produced a tiny everbright lantern from a pouch. A rotating cover allowed him to release a narrow slit of light, just enough for Ashi to see.
She put her foot on the first stair, only to have Aruget push her aside and take the lead, sword ready and ears high.
Ashi clenched her teeth.
Midian just nudged her. “If he wants to go first, let him!”
A trap door—closed—covered a final set of steep open steps above a small landing at the head of the stairs. Aruget waited until she and Midian were with him, then gestured for Midian to close the lantern. Darkness cloaked the cramped space. Ashi’s first hint that Aruget had opened the trap door was a sudden cool draft that carried the smell of imminent rain. The hinges had been well-oiled. After a moment, she could make out the slightly less dark gap of the raised trap, partly blocked by Aruget’s head.
The hobgoblin’s vague silhouette turned. “He’s already here,” he whispered. “He’s early, too.”
“I don’t blame him,” said Ashi. She drew her sword. “Go.”
Aruget threw the trap door open violently and surged through so quickly he was out and looking around before it had even crashed down on the stones of the roof. Ashi came up hard after him, alert as well. About fifteen paces away, on the far side of the roof, a figure whirled around. A covered lantern snapped open, its light glaring into their eyes for a moment.
Geth’s voice came out of the dark. “Ashi!”
She felt a burst of relief. The roof was clear. Beyond the light of the lantern, she could make out the distinctive crouch of the shifter’s body, his thick hair blowing in the wind. He didn’t move.
She took a few steps toward him. “Geth! Rond betch, what’s been going on? We’ve been trying to talk to you since the coronation.” She shaded her eyes with her free hand.
“I know. I’m sorry. Things have gotten … difficult.” Geth shifted the lantern and opened its other sides so that light spilled across the roof, catching him in its glow. He was dressed in clothing Ashi recognized, but just as Midian had told her, he wasn’t wearing Wrath. She opened her mouth ready to ask him where the sword was, when two more things struck her.
He carried a lantern—but he didn’t need one. Geth could see in the dark.
And not only wasn’t he wearing Wrath, he wasn’t wearing the collar of black stones that had belonged to his fallen friend Adolan. He might have left the sword somewhere. He would never have taken off the collar.