The Book of Taltos (39 page)

E
ARLY IN THE AFTERNOON
on the second day after Aibynn had joined me, I was listening to an impromptu concert on iron bar (tuned with pieces of a towel), wooden spoon, and porcelain mug, when I felt a faint twinge in the back of my head. I almost jerked upright, but I held myself still, relaxed, and concentrated on making the link stronger.

“Hello?”

“Boss?”

“Loiosh! Where are you?”

“I . . . coming . . . later . . . can’t . . .”
and it faded out. Then there was connection with someone else, so strong it was like someone shouting in my ear.
“Hello, Vlad. I hope all is well with you.”

It only took me a moment to recognize the psychic “voice.” I almost shouted aloud.
“Daymar!”

“Himself.”

“Where are you?”

“Castle Black. We’ve just finished dinner.”

“If you tell me about your dinner I’ll fry you.”

“Quite. We understand from Loiosh that you’re in something of a predicament.”

“I think the word predicament is awfully well chosen.”

“Yes. He says that sorcery doesn’t work there.”

“Seems not to. How did he get there?”

“He flew, apparently.”

“Flew? By the Orb! How many miles is that?”

“I don’t know. He does seem rather tired. But don’t worry. We’ll be by for you as soon as we can.”

“How soon is that? They’re planning to execute me, you know.”

“Really? For what?”

“A misunderstanding involving royal prerogatives.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Yes. Well, never mind. When can you get here?”

“Since we can’t telep—”
And the link broke. Daymar, a noble of the House of the Hawk and a fellow who has worked very hard at developing his psychic abilities, is capable of being arbitrary and unpredictable, but I didn’t think he’d chop off a conversation in midsentence. Therefore, something else had. Therefore, I was worried.

I cursed and tried to reestablish the link, but got nothing. I kept trying until night had fallen and I had a headache, but I got nothing except morbid thoughts. I fell asleep hoping for rescue and vaguely wondering if I had dreamt it all. I woke up in the middle of the night with the half memory of a dream in which I was flying over the ocean, into a nasty wind, and my wings were very tired. I kept wanting to rest, and every time I did an orca with the face of a dragon would rise out of the water and snap at me.

If I’d’ve had half a minute to wake up, I would have figured out what the dream meant without any help, but I didn’t have the half a minute, or any need for it.

“Boss! Wake up.”
His voice in my head was very loud, and very welcome.

“Loiosh!”

“We’re coming in, boss. Get ready. Is anyone with you?”

“No. I mean, yes. A friend. Well, maybe a friend. He might be an enemy. I don’t—”

“That’s what I like about working with you, boss: your precision.”

“Don’t be a wiseacre. Who’s with you?”

But there was no need for him to answer, because at that moment the wall next to me turned pale blue, twisted in on itself, and dissolved, and I was face-to-face with my wife, Cawti.

I stood up as my roommate stirred. “You and how many Dragonlords?” I said.

“Two,” she said. “Why? Do you think we need more?”

She tossed me a dagger. I caught it hilt-first and said, “Thanks.”

“No problem.” She walked over to the door, played with it for a while, and I heard the iron bar outside hit the floor. I looked a question at her.

“There may be things in the building you want,” she said. “Spellbreaker, for example.”

“A point. Is, um, anyone still alive?”

“Probably.”

Enter Aliera: very short for a Dragaeran, angular face, green eyes. She gave me a courtesy.

I nodded.

“I found this.” She handed me a three-foot length of gold chain, which I took and wrapped around my wrist.

“Cawti had just mentioned it,” I said. “Thanks.”

My roommate, who didn’t seem at all disturbed by these events, stood up. “Remember what we said about the philosophy of escaping from cells?”

Cawti looked at him, then back at me. I considered. He might really be just what he seemed, in which case I’d gotten him into a great deal of trouble for helping me. I glanced at the door to the cell. Aliera was now in the room, and there was no commotion to indicate anyone had noticed us escaping. Behind me was a roughly circular gap in the wall, eight feet in diameter, with nothing on the other side but island darkness, fresh with the smell of the ocean.

I said, “Okay, come on. But one thing. If you have any thoughts of betraying me—” I paused and held up the dagger. “In the Empire, we call this a
knife.
”

“Knife,” he said. “Got it.”

Loiosh flew in and landed on my shoulder. We stepped through the wall and out into the night.

Returning Home

C
AWTI LED THE WAY
, with Aliera bringing up the rear. We slipped past the single row of structures that represented the city. I realized that I’d been right next to the Palace, and that we were copying almost exactly the route I’d taken after the assassination. We entered the woods outside of the town and stopped there long enough to listen for sounds of pursuit. There were none. My feet were not enjoying the woods. I considered sending Loiosh back to find my boots, but I didn’t consider it very seriously. I glanced back at Aibynn, who was also bootless. It didn’t seem to be bothering him.

“It’s good to have friends,” I remarked as we started walking again.

Cawti said, “Are you all right?”

“Mostly. We’ll have to take it slow.”

“Were you, um, questioned?”

“Not the way you mean it. But I’ve managed to damage myself a bit.”

“It’s well past the middle of the night already. We’re going to have to hurry to be there by morning, not to mention losing the tide.”

“I’m not sure I can hurry.”

“What happened?”

“I’m too old to be climbing trees.”

“I could have told you that.”

“Yes.”

“Do the best you can,” she said.

“I will.” My back already hurt, and now my hand started throbbing. I said, “If we meet anyone drumming in the woods, let’s not stop for conversation.”

“You’ll have to tell me about that,” said Cawti. I heard Loiosh laughing inside my head. Aibynn, walking directly in front of me, either didn’t hear the comment or chose to ignore it. Branches slapped against my face, just as they’d done last time. Last time I hadn’t had Cawti and Aliera with me, so I had cause to be optimistic. On the other hand, the branches still stung. Cheap philosophy there, if you want it.

After an hour or so we stopped, as if by consensus, though no one said anything. I sat down with my back against a tree and said, “What’s the plan?”

Aliera said, “We have a ship waiting for us in a cove a few miles from here.”

“A ship? Can you drive one of those things?”

“It has a crew of Orca.”

“Are you sure they’ll be waiting for us?”

“Morrolan is there.”

“Ah.” And, “I’m flattered. Grateful, too.”

Aliera smiled suddenly. “I enjoyed it,” she said. Cawti didn’t smile. After a few minutes’ rest we stood up again. Loiosh left my shoulder to fly on ahead, and we made our way through the woods once more, now at a brisk walk. It was still very dark, but Aliera was making a small light that hung in the air a few paces ahead of us, bouncing in time to her steps.

As we walked, I said to Aibynn, “Is there anything we should be watching for?”

“Trees,” he said. “Don’t run into them. It hurts.”

“Falling out of them isn’t much fun, either, but I don’t think that’s a real danger just at the moment.”

“Were you unconscious when you landed?”

“I expect so. I don’t really remember anything about it. I was pretty much gone as I fell.”

“Too bad,” he said.

“Why?”

“The sound you made when you hit. It was a good one. A nice, deep thump. Resonance.”

I couldn’t decide if I should laugh or cut his throat, so I said, “I’m glad you didn’t tune me, anyway.”

I kept my eyes on the light, watching it bounce, and I wondered how Aliera had been able to produce it without sorcery to work with. For that matter, though—“Aliera?”

She turned her head without slowing down. “Yes, Vlad?”

“I was told sorcery doesn’t work on this island.”

“Yes. I lost my link to the Orb about ten miles from shore.”

“Then how did you melt down that wall?”

“Pre-Empire sorcery.”

“Oh. The rough stuff.”

She agreed.

“Getting good, eh?”

She nodded.

“Isn’t it illegal?”

She chuckled.

Cawti still hadn’t said anything. About then Aibynn increased his speed and caught up with Aliera. “This way,” he said.

I said, “Why?” at just the same moment Aliera did.

“Just want to see something.”

“Loiosh, is anyone around?”

“I don’t think so, boss. But you know I can’t always tell with these guys.”

“Eyeball it. Check out the way our friend is heading.”

“Okay.”

After a few minutes he said,
“Nothing I can see, boss. You’re almost up to the clearing where they caught you.”

“Oh. That explains it, then.”

“It does?”

We got there. The ashes in the fire were quite cold by now. Aibynn found his drum, looked it over, and nodded. If it had been destroyed, I’d have been convinced he was friendly to us. As it was, I still owed him something, but I had no way of knowing what sort of payment he deserved. Time would
tell. He also hunted around some more, then gave a small sound of satisfaction and pulled a mass of fur from near the tree I’d fallen from. He shook it and put it on his head.

“What kind of animal was that?” I asked.

“A norska.”

“Oh, yes, I see.” It was dark brown and white, and still had the norska face in it, with the fangs showing. It didn’t look nearly as absurd or disgusting as it ought to have. We resumed our walk.

I allowed myself to feel cautiously optimistic; the entire army of Greenaere, if there was one, would have a hard time keeping Aliera away from that boat, especially if Morrolan was on the other end.

“The sky is getting light in the east,” said Aliera.

“We’re not going to make it,” said Cawti.

“Tell me where the bay is,” said Aibynn. “I can probably get us there during flood tomorrow without being seen.”

“In the daylight?” I said.

He nodded.

Cawti said, “What do you mean, probably?”

“It depends which bay you mean. If it’s Chottmon’s Bay, there’s too much open ground.”

We all studied him. “If Daymar were here,” said Aliera, “he could mind-probe him and—”

“If Daymar were here,” I said, “he’d still be back at the Palace studying the weave on the rugs while the army took potshots at his back.”

“Does he like rugs?” inquired Aibynn.

“All right,” said Aliera. “I’ll inform Morrolan of the delay. The bay is marked by a high pinnacle, like a crown, on one side, and a stand of tall thin trees on the other. It is about a quarter of a mile across, and there is a small barren islet in the middle.”

“Dark Woman’s Cove,” said Aibynn. “No problem.”

“Remember,” I said. “This is—”

“Yes. A knife.”

He set out in the lead. We moved slowly, but steadily, and didn’t run into anyone looking for us. Aibynn appeared to wander aimlessly, hardly looking where he was going and never stopping to look around. I stayed right behind
him, ready to stick a knife in his kidney at the first sign that he’d betrayed us. If he knew this, he didn’t give any indication, and it was the middle of the afternoon when we saw the little bay, with a lonely ship sitting in the middle of it.

We waited in the woods that came right up to the beach while they sent a boat for us. Cawti still had hardly spoken to me.

H
E STOOD ON THE
prow of the ship, tall, aloof, Dragaeran, and dry. The Orca on the ship assisted us without any questions, and a few of them gave him dark looks. I suspect these had to do with Blackwand, sheathed at his side. No one wants to be that close to any Morganti weapon, and Blackwand was the kind of blade that survivors write dirges about.

He and Aliera were cousins, both of the House of the Dragon, which meant they preferred a good battle to a good meal—practically my definition of madness. They were young as Dragaerans go, less than five hundred years old. I’d live out my entire life while they were both young, but no sense in dwelling on that. He wore the black and silver of the House of the Dragon with the emphasis on the black, she with the emphasis on the silver. She was short and quick; he was tall and just as quick. The three of us got acquainted one day in the Paths of the Dead. Well, that isn’t strictly true, but never mind. There were things that made us friends in spite of differences in species, House, class, and how important we rated food, but never mind that, either. He was there, waiting, when the boat with two undistinguished Orca brought us to the ship.