Bound in Darkness (14 page)

The young man had to find his father in order to pay the exorbitant sum. The father balked, but the dagger made him pay. Instead of one hundred gold coins, she took ninety-eight gold coins, a horse, and some supplies to get her back home.

Then Isa rode home to her father.

“Father, here is some coin to keep you comfortable. I am no longer going to walk your mule. You may hire someone to do it.” And of course, her father had no choice but to deal with her honestly and fairly.

Isa then found a small cottage of her own and settled into it for the rest of her days, and everyone who dealt with her had to deal with her honestly and fairly.

G
ia sat back and stretched out her gnarled limbs. The other mem had brought her honey water during her telling of the song and now she took a sip.

“That's it? A dagger that makes people tell the truth?” Maxum asked. “What use is that?”

“What use is that?” Airi asked incredulously. “No one could ever cheat you again! Everyone would have to deal fairly with you. No one could lie to you. Don't you think that's a powerful weapon to have?”

“I suppose…but I was looking for something with more power. Something useful in a battle.”

“Don't sell the dagger short, boy,” the old mem said. “The weight of a person's lies can crush them if felt all at once. All you need do is nick the skin and the person would be brought low.”

“Hmm. I suppose that's something.” The more he thought about it, the more he saw the benefit of it. “Where do you think the dagger is now?”

“In Meru's temple I imagine…waiting for a worthy wielder.”

“Where is the temple?”

“Well, if I knew that wouldn't I go and get it for myself? But the story tells you something of it. It is along a stream, in a wooded glade. About two days' walk from Isa's village.”

“What village was that?” Maxum asked.

“Well…let's see…if I remember the song right she came from the village of Corm. Corm is but three days' ride from here on a fast horse. But I warn you, not just anyone can walk in there and claim the dagger. They would no doubt be dealing with Meru directly. If she is even offering it still. Then again it may already have a wielder. It may not be there at all.”

“I'll take my chances. Any other more useful songs you can think of?” Maxum asked.

“I have dozens of them. Maybe you should be more specific about what you want.”

“I want something that will make me undefeatable in battle. Even against a god.”

“Against a god! Ha! No one can fight against a god,” the old mem said. “That's madness.”

“But if I were…what kind of weapon would I use to defeat a god?” Maxum asked.

The mem clacked her teeth together a few times, thinking.

“Have you ever heard the Song of Faya?”

“Faya? Wasn't that the one about a great warrior woman who fought a great beast that even the gods could not destroy?” Airi asked.

“Yes. And the gods gave her Faya's Wrath, a god-made blade that hit true to the heart of every creature it was wielded against. It never missed the heart when stabbed into the body.”

“Yes! Faya's Wrath! That is exactly what I need!” Maxum exclaimed.

“Good luck finding that one. The song says it was lost down an inky well somewhere in the Golan Desert.”

“How was it lost?”

“The song says Faya fell in love with a man, and that man, being what men are, betrayed her by bedding a serving girl from the desert village of Hartung. Faya, in a fit of rage, pierced her lover's heart with Faya's Wrath…and she was so devastated by the loss she cried black tears into a well and threw her sword into it where it was lost forever. Others have tried to find the sword and the well to no avail.”

“Others were not me,” Maxum said firmly.

The old woman threw back her head and chortled with a raspy laugh. “Others thought the same. Either weapon is a fool's errand. But if you ask me the dagger is the more powerful of the two.”

“A sword that can pierce any heart? Maybe even the heart of a god? That is worth ten thousand Daggers of Truth. But since the dagger is closest we will look for it first. Then we will go to the Golan Desert and find that inky well.”

“And dive in after it?” She chortled again. “I hope you can hold your breath a long time. It is said to be bottomless.”

“Everything has a bottom. And as a matter of fact, I can hold my breath a very long time.”

What he did not say was that thanks to a sea witch's spell he could breathe under water. Something that would come in very handy in this case…as it came in handy when he was caught out in the ocean as well. It was one reason he had not been afraid to jump into the water. Even so, if he had drowned he would have simply healed and drowned again. It would be painful but it would have allowed him to make his way to the surface. But perhaps the talisman would have helped in that regard, keeping him from being injured. He wouldn't know because the spell was in place so really it did not matter.

Maxum stood up and held a hand out to Airi. She took it without thinking and let him help her to her feet. The old woman laughed.

“Give in, girl. It'll happen sooner or later.”

Airi flushed and snatched her hand out of Maxum's. He chuckled. He had some time and he had an inn with a proper bed arranged. He had every intention of doing what the old woman said they should do. Now all he had to do was convince her it was a good idea. One worth exploring in slow, deep ways.

The idea made him hard in all of an instant. He shifted his belt around so a pouch hung in front of that evidence, and luckily Airi remained oblivious, but he was pretty sure Gia had noticed. She was cackling again.

“Don't forget my donation, boy!” Gia said, rapping her cane on the floor.

“Of course.” He took off the pouch of gold and put it in Gia's lap.

“Well, well! Been in a dragon's den, eh?”

“How did you know—?” Airi exclaimed.

“I'm not a mem for nothing! Every mem has a special gift. Mine's knowing where things have been. This gold has been in a dragon's hoard.”

“That doesn't mean we got it from there,” Maxum said.

“No, but she just told me you did.”

“Come on,” Maxum said to a sheepish Airi. “Let's go before you tell her everything else.”

“That's not fair! You've already told her what we're going to be looking for!”

“Good luck with all that,” the mem said dismissively as she began to count out the gold she'd been given. “Come back anytime.” She had clearly dismissed the bickering couple.

Maxum took Airi by the arm and led her back out of the temple of Kitari.

As they walked through town Airi couldn't help but think about the story of Isa. She would have liked to hear the story of Faya told from the beginning, but clearly Maxum didn't have the patience for that.

“So this is your big plan? Look for a temple in the middle of the woods somewhere around the village Isa came from? I don't see the prospect of earning much in the way of gold and treasure in that and that's what these guys are in this for.”

“They've got enough gold to last them for a while. A good long while. They know we're not just in it for the gold.”

“Well, I'm in it for the gold,” she said with a frown.

“You don't have to come. But I promise you if you do you will find a reward worth having. There's always a dragon or treasure hunt to be had out there. But my main goal is to get those blades. Most especially Faya's. Once I have that…”

“What? What will you do with it?”

He shut down. “Nothing. It's not your concern.”

“Why are you gathering all of this power? First the talisman to make you invulnerable. Then the ring to make you invisible. Now you want these blades. Just how much power do you need?”

“As much as is possible,” he said darkly. “I don't expect you to understand and would prefer you stop trying.”

“Why can't you just be straight with me and tell me?”

“Let's find the others.”

She growled in frustration, but marched after him all the same. She had to be out of her mind, she thought. She was following a power-mongering man who had a tendency to disregard the safety of his men. All he wanted was whatever he set out to get…to the eight hells with everything and
everyone
else.

He was going to get her killed. No, actually, she was going to get herself killed. She was the idiot following him. But at least these next two items on his list seemed relatively harmless to pursue. No great dragons guarding them. But there was a goddess involved.

“You think Meru is just going to hand over that dagger to you?”

“I don't know. I guess I'll see when I get there. I have to find the temple first. One step at a time.”

“And how will you find the temple?”

“The way Isa did. By following the river.”

“That's extremely vague. Following it for how long? What direction?”

“Well, I'm going to go with downstream. It just seems like if I had a choice of direction along a river I wouldn't choose to go against the current.”

“She was trying to avoid her father. Maybe she thought the same thing and chose to go upstream to throw him off.”

“You're thinking like a thief, not a frightened girl of only thirteen full turnings.”

“This is just hopeless.”

“Then don't come!” he said with a sudden roar, swinging around to get face-to-face with her.

“Oh, I have to come, just to watch you fail miserably. Even if you do find the temple I couldn't think of anyone less worthy of that dagger than you.”

“I can think of one person,” he said meanly.

“Well at least I'm smart enough to admit it!”

She turned her back on him with a huff and resumed her march toward the inn. They moved through the city in sullen silence until they reached the inn. The inn common room was empty except for Doisy who was whispering into a buxom barmaid's ear, making her laugh and blush prettily. Airi shook her head with a smile. The man oozed charm and sex appeal like no one she'd ever known. She wouldn't admit it, but it did sting a little that he hadn't tried to get into her bed. True, there had hardly been any opportunity since Maxum had been occupying it most of the time. But he could have tried last night when Maxum was missing. She would have rebuffed him, but he could have at least tried. It made her feel a little rejected…a feeling she didn't like so she pushed it aside and focused on other things.

Like not kicking Maxum somewhere where it would hurt most. She was appeasing herself by reliving the memory of kneeing him betwixt the legs.

She stomped up the stairs to the inn rooms and went into hers. She checked her saddlebag for the gold she had placed there, not trusting it had been left alone. Oh, the men were there keeping an eye on their things, but the men were not to be trusted as far as she could throw them…well, maybe just Kilon. She didn't think the others would steal from her…but then again, she was a thief. She expected everyone to be stealing from everyone else. It was just the nature of the world to her mind. If you had something, there was invariably someone who wanted that something and would do whatever it took to relieve you of it.

That went for relationships as well as goods and gold. There was always someone out there looking to steal a friend or a man away from a woman. It was usually the trusting fool's closest friend. People simply were not to be trusted.

And right on cue, Maxum pushed into the room.

“Hey! This is my room!”

“Our room. My things are in here.” He went to his saddlebags and nosed around inside of them for a moment.

“Well then take your things and go find another room,” she said.

“Can't. There isn't one.” He looked at her and gave her a wolfish grin. “We'll have to share again tonight.”

“Right now I'd rather share with Kilon!”

“I could arrange that. But I'd sleep with one eye open. He's just waiting for the right opportunity to present itself that will allow him to get rid of you.”

He didn't really think Kilon would kill her, did he? Cold-blooded murder just to get rid of an annoyance? She paled. Knowing what she did of the man, she couldn't put it past him.

“Then I'll sleep with Doisy,” she said.

“Might be a little crowded. I'm fairly certain he's going to be sleeping with that barmaid tonight. Then again, it wouldn't be the first time Doisy's had two women at once.”