The Emerald Dragon (The Lost Ancients Book 3) (15 page)

“So she just started hanging out with you all?” I had only been around her for a short while, but I had a difficult time believing she would have hung out here. It was fascinating seeing an actual elven ballroom more or less intact, but the living conditions were far from the room’s former glory.

“None of her people had been out of their city before, not since the elves all vanished. But she was looking for something someone stole from her people so she stayed with us until she was certain we didn’t take it.” His grin turned him about five years younger. “She was so cute how she didn’t think we knew what she was doing.”

“So you didn’t bring her here tied up and against her will?” I knew Tag hadn’t been involved in grabbing me, or bringing me here. Nevertheless, he was still part of the gang who did it.

His laugh made me revise his age. He didn’t just look young, he was young. I’m sure he could tell an interesting tale as to how he joined this group of assassins and thieves.

“Naw. It was handy having her with us the last couple of weeks, but she was free to come and go as she wanted. She left us yesterday or you could have met her. I think you’d like her a lot.”

I had met her, and I wasn’t sure I liked her at all. “But I am a prisoner, right?”

His face dropped at that and I hoped he changed his lifestyle before that innocence and caring was gone. “For now. Locksead thinks he needs you. See, we were counting on Orenda sticking around a bit longer and he’s got a job set up for up north. Need to have a couple pretend to be some famous high-class digger couple and get us into some ruins. Not going in play for a few weeks, but he was going to ask her to be a part of it, but then she and Carlon had a big fight a few days ago and he took off. I guess he was tired of her, because he started the fight. Wasn’t right, you know? She should be with someone kind and funny and handsome.” He looked around to make sure no one else was nearby. “Not him.”

“He’s none of those things I take it?” He’d been wearing a fabric mask when he and I fought over my piece of tile, and he’d stalked away once they removed my hood.

“No.” The look on his face was grim and I hoped I could stay far away from Carlon while I was trapped with these people. “He’s mean, and rude, and just plain ugly inside and out.”

He shook his head and pointed back to the piece of metal. “So what do you know about this?”

I needed to tell him something they didn’t know, but not everything I knew or suspected. I would have to walk that line with everything they wanted me to identify. Hopefully my friends would come find me before I ran out of stalling techniques. I decided that going Harlan on them might be the best approach, both for longevity, and annoyance factor. Most people who asked Harlan to explain something only did so once. And they looked like they completely regretted it the entire time he was speaking during that one time.

“As you can see, this is from the early elven period, most likely sometime around the early reign of King Flouridth and Queen Gallifreid. Now what most people don’t know is that the queen and king secretly loved each other, but since that was completely out of fashion during that period, considered to be quite gauche by all of the royalty, they had to hide their love and sneak out to see each other. King Flouridth built chambers like this for their secret tete-a-tetes, they were huge rooms covered in these panels. Most I’ve seen have been in smaller pieces, this is an amazing find to discover it intact like this.”

Tag’s eyes had started glazing over at my completely fictitious tale of the former king and queen. The names were correct, those were established early kingdom names, but no one had come across anything else.

“So Carlon was right?” His forehead looked so wrinkled from following my tale that I was afraid I had marred him for life. But it did the job.

“I’d say yes, this piece was probably found as we see it here. However Locksead was also correct, it is part of a much larger item. Just not in the way he thought.” I held up the piece so Tag could briefly look at the edges, and then pulled it back. “These were the individual pieces that could have been plastered to the walls of the secret love chamber. Did Carlon happen to say where he found it? Perhaps there are more.”

Tag scowled. “No, he gave a general area, out far past the meadows. But he said this was the only piece there. He’d seen a corner of it sticking out of the ground when he passed out in the woods after one of his benders when we first got here.” He got his protector look back on his face. “That’s another thing about him not being good enough for Orenda. He’d spend all night down in the red light district, drinking, and taking whores, then pass out wherever he crawled to. Sometimes we wouldn’t see him for days.”

I liked this jerk less and less. However, I had to make sure to keep him in a decent light as much as the artifacts and Locksead were concerned. I didn’t care what happened to him once I got out of here, but I didn’t want to be in the middle of a war between those two.

“Let me show you a few more pieces. I know Locksead will be moving folks around to find you a nice comfy wagon to stay in—alone.” He gave a wink, trying to make it seem like his boss was all about my comfort. Fact was, his boss was all about trying to put me in a place with a door that he could lock.

“Let’s see what you have.” I smiled and tried to make sure it made it up to my eyes. Part of this group or not, Tag seemed like a good kid. I shouldn’t take out my anger and fear on him. Besides, I needed to stall until Covey could get some folks together and come find me.

The rest of the pieces were less important from an archeological standpoint but more from a good, old-fashioned, what-we-can-sell standpoint. Most all of them had jewels of some sort and many were made of solid gold. They were from the later elven period and I didn’t have to lie about any of them. They were more like art pieces of no cultural value, but that the idle rich of the elven dynasty they came from would have kept in their homes under lock and key. Not something that Covey or I would care about.

It felt like I had been there about three hours, so it was early evening by now. Still no Covey.

I hadn’t seen Locksead the entire time I was with Tag. In fact, every one of the gang seemed to be avoiding me. Tag and Locksead were the only two I saw well enough to be identified. Which made sense if most of their faces were fresh off the wanted section of the local or distant prisons.

Then Locksead showed up and called everyone into another smaller room toward the back. My stomach growled as wonderful scents of well-prepared food hit me. Tag and I started walking toward the room, when Locksead blocked me. “Not you. I’ll bring out a plate and some ale for you, but the others don’t want you seeing their faces up close yet.”

That was a nice confirmation of my theory on them all avoiding me, but still annoying. Once I got rescued, I had a strong feeling that I wouldn’t be able to find Locksead anywhere, finding Tag wouldn’t help me, and I had no idea what any of the others looked like. Even Carlon and the brute who had carried me in.

Tag came up alongside of me, but I noticed he stayed a half-step behind. “I can get both of us food. I’ll stay with her to make sure she doesn’t get into anything she shouldn’t.”

Locksead nodded, then grinned when he saw me starting to look around where we’d come in. “Even if you fight off Tag, and he’s far feistier than he looks, you wouldn’t get out. The entrance is heavily locked and only I have the key.” He pulled out an ancient and non-elven key from where it hung on from a chain on his neck along with a few smaller normal-looking ones. “And if you did overcome Tag, steal the key from me, and make it outside, you’d never make it through the tunnels. The people who originally looted this place once the elves did their big vanishing trick made one hell of a maze out there.”

Tag came back with a full plate and a mug of ale. He took it down to where we had been looking through their relics, and then went to get another set for him.

Locksead watched him go, and if I knew him better I might say the man was thoughtful. Then he turned back to me. “Tag’s taken a liking to you. It’d be easier for everyone if you’d go along with our plan, help us out, and not try to escape. Nothing bad will happen to you, but we need you. I think in more ways than one.” He looked around and dropped his voice. “I will let you go once we finish our task. I promise.” Those ice blue eyes were chilling even though I could tell he was trying to be sincere.

“I don’t want to be here. You took me against my will.” I stood up and tried to reach for my magic but deflated a bit when the headache came slamming back. I’d done a good job earlier. “But I will try to help you within reason.” I didn’t have a choice. Who knew when my on-again, off-again magic would come back, or how exactly it would help me once I got out of this room? Letting him think I was giving in would give me time for a plan. I hoped.

Locksead didn’t look like he believed me any more than I believed him. However, I had to take what he’d offer. He tipped his head and went back into the dining room. Tag and I settled in for a wonderful meal.

“So you guys have your own master chef?” This meal would rival Amara’s best. And yet the person behind it was here living with a gang of thieves and killers.

“Yup.” Tag finished his bird leg. That was the fourth one he’d had and I was expecting him to have a late growth spurt right in front of me. He put away more food than ten of Foxy’s regulars combined. “Joined up a year or so ago. I think he’s running from something down south. But he sure can cook.”

I had noticed that Tag didn’t mention his name. Again, back to secrecy. Locksead must not care that I knew Carlon’s name, probably hoping I might report him to the authorities when I got free and take care of the problem for him.

Tag went back to eating, and I looked around the example of the elves’ former glory. Alric would love to see this. There were still so many bright colors, and most of the designs looked dusty, not damaged. It said a lot about his ancestors’ skill that whatever caused the building to fall completely underground, the room was still intact

“So why are you here?” My question caught Tag off guard and he almost spit out a mouthful of ale, but he recovered.

“That’s not something you ask when you run with a gang. It’s one of the rules.” He was trying to sound older than he was which ended up making the opposite seem true.

I tilted my head. “Want me to guess?” I didn’t wait for him to answer, but I made sure no one in the next room had come into our side, and they were all too far away and too noisy to hear us. “You are from the south, subtle cues in your speech tells me that. You were once a houseboy to one of the matriarchs of one of the larger cities. Most likely you got blamed for something you didn’t do, or you got bored.” I smiled at the widening of his eyes. “Or a bit of both.”

He didn’t look like he wanted to answer me, but that made it more clear that I’d hit it close to the mark. All of the people here probably lied about where they were from and what life they had before joining. It’d be interesting to find out how fictitious Tag’s story had been. If his co-members weren’t familiar with houseboys and the southern matriarchs, they never would have guessed. However, once I’d realized it, he gave himself away in almost everything he did.

I was about to promise him that I wouldn’t give away his secrets when a stabbing pain hit my head with enough force to blur my vision.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Tag grabbed me before I could fall off the bench. “Are you okay?”

I thought I saw concern and fear in his eyes but my eyes were still swimming so everything looked blurry. I tilted my head and wiped my eyes. It still hurt to look at anything, so I closed them. An explosion of bright colors and jabbering sounds filled my head. I flung open my eyes to find myself on the ground with Tag peering closely at me. “I’ve got to get the doc, I don’t care what Locksead says.”

I grabbed his arm. The pain was fading as suddenly as it came, and as long as I didn’t close my eyes for too long, the colors and sounds stayed away. “No, I’m fine.” A thought hit me. “But I need some medicine. If I don’t take it regularly, I can have fits.” My brain was trying to work through the pain to come up with a plausible medicine I’d use in that case, but nothing floated to the surface.

“I can get it for you.” His earnestness and genuine concern for me almost made me take it back.

“It’s an herbal blend. My friend Covey makes it for me, but I don’t know what’s in it.” Maybe this wasn’t the best plan. I wouldn’t mind if Locksead or Carlon ended up going against Covey—I knew she’d win. But I didn’t want Tag to get hurt.

A pounding at the door in the entrance room cut off our discussion. Tag looked up in shock and Locksead ran out from where they were all eating. He pointed at me. “Stay there.” Then at Tag, “Come with me.”

Judging by the equally freaked-out look on his face, and the fact that the people in the dining room were all louder and sounding more distressed, someone pounding was not a common occurrence.

I decided to interpret his terse “Stay there” to refer to the room in general and crept forward until I could see into the entrance room. He wasn’t kidding about that door being locked. At least five locks and assorted chains had to be undone, and then he pulled out a short sword, slid behind the door, and opened it.

Tag was left to stand in the middle of the room. I almost called out, but he seemed to be watching Locksead’s every move and if this was part of their plan, I didn’t want to mess something up and risk injuring Tag. I was already thinking of ways to get him free of living with these hoodlums.

The door pushed open and a tall thin man, with his face wrapped in fabric, stepped through. Black hair could be seen and I briefly wondered if Alric had come back and found a way to save me.

“Gravlin, you know you’re not to leave your post.” Locksead shut and bolted the door and Tag shook himself and moved toward them.

“They’re coming. Horrible monsters, they found us and took out Smyd and Doster. They were behind me in the tunnels.”

Locksead’s blade was at the other man’s throat in an instant. “You led them here?”

Even Tag pulled out a knife I hadn’t seen on him before and took a step back.

“I never done! They were going right toward it already, we tried leading them off, but they got the other two.”

Locksead looked at the formidable door and all the locks, then patted it and motioned for Gravlin and Tag to come with him. I quickly stepped back to my table.

“Come on, princess.” Locksead held out his hand for me to rise. “I don’t think it’s coincidence that we’ve had our cover blown, right after you join us.”

I rose up and found my eyes covered by a rough cloth and my hands bound. “We won’t use the bag this time, per the boss. But we can’t let you see anyone else, nor where we are.” It was Carlon. He’d probably been behind me the entire time I’d been watching the other room.

My hands were bound with a rope that had a long enough lead to allow them to hand me off. I was terrified that Locksead would hand me off to Carlon.

“It’s okay, I have you. I’ll keep you safe.” Tag said. Unlike Locksead, I believed Tag would do what he said.

Judging from the rumble of feet, panicked voices, and slamming of doors, crates, and who knew what else, this had never happened to this group before. And, it sounded like no one was near Tag or I.

“Don’t you need to get your stuff? How are we going to get out if these attackers are coming in from the only door?” I turned a bit toward the pull of the rope, but it was weird speaking to someone without knowing where they were.

“Locksead will put my stuff in his wagon; I don’t have one of my own.” The tension in his voice made him sound younger. “That’s not our only entrance. We have one for the wagons, but it’s rough going. I don’t think anyone has ever found one of Locksead’s hideouts. If I were Gravlin, I’d take off as soon as we clear this place.”

There was a chance, small as it was, that the monsters they’d seen had been Covey and Harlan. I thought about the weird pain, colors, and buzzing that had hit my head right before the scout had pounded on the door. Could that have been the faeries? I leaned against the table and tried to call out to them.

For a second I thought I would be okay, then the fire ants turned up the volume on the dance contest they were having in my head and I slumped down to the bench. Tag caught me when I almost missed.

“You really need that medicine, don’t you? I’m sorry we can’t stay and get some from your healer friend, but maybe in Kenithworth we can find another herbalist. Have you been there? I have. I liked it, but we only stayed a few days. Then Locksead brought us down here. Now we have a job back up there but it’s too early.”

The sounds of slamming and preparation were slowing down and a huge grating sound filled the cavern.

“Get her over here. She’ll ride with us.” Locksead was somewhere to the far right and high up. Most likely on his wagon.

“Um, don’t you guys need horses?”

My question was answered as what sounded like a herd of hooved animals clattered into the cavernous room. Tag led the way, holding my arm instead of pulling on the rope, then helped me up a pair of steps.

“You two stay inside and hang on. I don’t know if we’re going to make it.” As Locksead spoke, I heard a pounding at the front door. I couldn’t imagine that those tunnels would allow something as big as a battering ram down them, but from the sounds, someone had made one fit.