“There’s magic here,” Zenia murmured.
Jev nodded. “Could be defenses activating. Or alarms to let someone know visitors have arrived.”
The ground was covered with ferns, grass, and moss instead of the cobblestone of the street and walkways outside. Trees grew twenty or thirty feet high, and all manner of shrubbery filled in the ground between them. A few winding paths disappeared into the foliage, the branches trimmed back—or perhaps magically coerced not to grow over them.
Jev wasn’t surprised there wasn’t a direct route to the front door. He just hoped it wasn’t a maze requiring magic or a guide to reach the tower.
He, Zenia, and Rhi walked along what appeared to be the main path with fragrant flowers blooming alongside it.
“It’s beautiful in here,” Zenia said as they passed a bench made from thick vining plants that had been convinced to grow into the appropriate shape.
Rhi sneezed. “Damn pollen.”
Jev sensed someone watching them so he didn’t comment. The wooden door of the tower came into sight, but someone spoke from the foliage before they reached it.
“Human zyndar,” a feminine voice said. “What brings you into this respite?”
I was wondering if any of your people hired the two-faced troll who slipped infected water into the princes’ drinks, Jev thought.
Out loud, he said, “I’m seeking my friend Lornysh. He said he might be staying here now. Is he?”
He opted to speak in the king’s tongue. If the elves didn’t know he spoke their language, he might pick up some useful information, assuming more than one was about and they spoke to each other.
“I have seen Lornysh, but he is not here now.”
“Do you know when he’ll be back?”
“When he wishes.”
Jev thought about backtracking to sit on that bench and wait, but they didn’t have unlimited time. Even though he was proud of Targyon for arranging a reception so he could perhaps confront his cousins’ murderer, Jev felt he should know, or at least have a solid list of suspects, before the event. Ideally, he would find the person responsible without the need for a shindig, but so far, he and Zenia hadn’t made much progress.
“Is the elven ambassador here?” Jev asked.
“He is.”
The female didn’t volunteer anything extra, did she? He couldn’t even see her and didn’t know if there was an arrow pointed at his chest or not.
“We’d like to see him,” Jev said.
“You came seeking one elf but now seek another?”
“Actually, I wanted to see the ambassador all along,” Zenia spoke up. “Jev wanted to chat with his buddy while I did so.”
“I say we just walk up and knock on the door and stop talking to the trees,” Rhi muttered.
The speaker fell silent, and Jev sensed more than heard her move to another spot in the garden. The better to take aim at them? No, the guards shouldn’t have orders to start a diplomatic incident by shooting a zyndar. Or anyone else.
Deciding the direct approach had merit, Jev walked to the door. As he lifted his hand to knock, a silver-haired elven woman stepped out from behind the adjacent trees. She barred the way with a strung bow. Arrows in a quiver poked over her shoulder, and she held one in her hand, ready to nock. She appeared no older than twenty, but Jev knew better.
Rhi stirred at the sight of the weapon, her fingers tightening around her bo. In the first shadows of twilight, Jev thought he glimpsed a faint glow escaping from between the buttons of Zenia’s blouse. She’d found a thong to temporarily use with the dragon tear and now wore it around her neck. Would it make the magical shield again if they got into a fight?
“Greetings.” Jev offered the elf woman his best charming smile in the hope of avoiding such trouble. “Are you going to keep us from going in?”
“The ambassador does not take meetings this late or without advance notice.” She did not appear charmed.
“But I—” Jev glimpsed a shadow moving—no, that was someone running through the brush behind her. “Who’s that?” he called.
Rhi burst into motion before Jev decided if they should interfere with someone leaving. Rapidly.
She sprinted back down the path and leaped into the undergrowth, trying to cut off the shadowy figure. Zenia ran after her.
Jev turned to follow, but the elf grabbed his arm.
“You will not harass those staying at the embassy,” she said loudly enough for the others to hear.
The rattling of foliage and snapping of branches answered her.
Jev twisted his arm free. She had speed and agility, but he had strength. He blocked her when she grabbed for him again and pushed her back toward the door. As she thudded against it, he sprang back down the path after the others.
He didn’t want to fight with the elves and worried there would be repercussions for this, but he also found it suspicious that someone felt compelled to sprint off when he and Zenia arrived.
More bushes rattled several meters from the path, and Rhi hollered.
Jev ran back toward the gate, thinking he would head off the fleeing person if he or she evaded the women. A flare of blue light came from the trees, and someone with a male voice yelped in surprise. Maybe pain.
The elven female raced after Jev. He reached the open gate leading to the street and whirled to face her and whoever else ran out of the trees.
The female sprinted toward him, now carrying a truncheon in addition to her bow. Without preamble, she sprang for Jev.
Not wanting to draw a weapon, he stepped forward to meet her, throwing his arm up to block. He targeted her wrist instead of the hard wood truncheon. He succeeded in knocking her arm aside but almost missed the punch she launched at his face with her other arm. She’d dropped her bow to make a fist.
He ducked, her knuckles brushing his hair, then turned his move into a head butt. When his skull struck padded flesh, he immediately felt like an ass for striking a woman in the boobs. But that didn’t keep him from following up. Before she could recover, he stepped in and launched a punch into her stomach. She twisted but didn’t fully evade him. His fist struck her side, and she stumbled away.
“Over the wall,” she yelled in elven. “We’ll keep them distracted.”
The gate clanged shut behind Jev, and she sprang for him again. He blocked her next attack but glanced left and right, afraid he would miss the running man—elf?—if he gave her his full attention.
More leaves rustled, and a cloaked and hooded figure rushed out of the trees, avoiding the paths. Jev would have thought it was Lornysh, but his friend had no reason to hide from him.
Once again, he blocked the truncheon as it whooshed toward his skull. This time, he turned his block into a grab. He caught his foe by the wrist and twisted. She yelped and dropped the truncheon.
He spun her and pulled her into his grip, wrapping an arm around her waist as he yanked his pistol from its holster with his free hand.
The hooded figure glanced his way but did not slow down. Jev glimpsed the angular features of a male elf. The elf sprang for the fifteen-foot wall, a height nobody should have been able to reach. But he caught the lip and pulled himself to the top.
Jev pointed his pistol and yelled, “Stop!”
His target did not.
Jev almost fired, but could he truly shoot an elf when he had no idea what crime he had committed? If any?
The cloaked elf flung himself over the wall and out of sight on the other side. Jev released the female elf and whirled to race into the street, but he found the gate locked.
He turned back to her, worried she would take advantage of his turned back and attack again. But she stood facing him, her hands open and down at her sides. Right, she didn’t have a reason to attack him now, did she? Not when she’d successfully provided a diversion so the other elf could escape.
Twigs snapped, and Rhi and Zenia appeared with another elven man between them. Dirt smeared their clothing, and leaves stuck o
ut of their hair. Their prisoner’s shirt, one almost identical to the brown tunic the female wore, had been ripped, and an abrasion darkened his cheek. He glared surlily at Jev. As if Jev had been the one to attack him.
“Anyone want to tell me who that was?” Jev waved his pistol at the spot where the hooded elf had gone over the wall, then holstered it. The guards both looked like they were done fighting.
“Only saw him for a couple of seconds,” Rhi said. “Before I got close, Pretty Boy here leaped out and tackled me. Then Zenia tackled him. The other one got away.” She looked in the direction Jev had pointed and grimaced.
“Pretty Boy?” Jev eyed the elf’s scraped cheek and his ripped, dirt-covered clothing.
“He was prettier before we roughed him up,” Rhi said.
“I’m surprise you found time to notice.” Zenia also seemed to realize the fighting was over, for she released the elf and stepped away from him.
“I always notice the important things.” Rhi wasn’t so quick to release their prisoner. Her squint was more suspicious than lascivious.
“You will leave the land of the embassy,” the female said. “You are not welcome here.”
“I’ll leave after we see the ambassador,” Jev said. “We’re representatives for the king, his personally appointed Crown Agents. I’m positive the ambassador will want to see us.”
“He will not.” The female pointed her finger at the exit. The lock clicked, and the gate swung open. “Leave, now.”
Jev looked at Zenia and Rhi, half-tempted to force the issue. He thought they could best the two elves and tie them up somewhere in the garden, but would the ambassador deign to see them after they did that? Perhaps not. Jev feared there would already be a complaint filed with the king about this. Besides, he had a hunch the person he truly wished to speak with had just left.
“Who fled the tower just now?” Zenia walked slowly toward the elf female, commanding her attention. “And why did he run?”
Jev didn’t expect her to get any further with the elves than he had, but then he remembered her dragon tear. With the shadows deepening, he once again noticed its glow seeping through her blouse.
“Did he have something to hide?” Zenia stopped two paces from the elf female. “Was there a reason he didn’t want to talk to us?”
Jev did not think an inquisitor’s mind manipulation magic would work on an elf—he was fairly certain Lornysh had been immune when she’d been trying to manipulate Jev on the docks—but maybe he was wrong. The female didn’t answer promptly, but she did stare at Zenia with her mouth slack, her eyes glazed.
Zenia repeated her questions, finishing with a firm, “Tell me.”
“Yilnesh,” the woman whispered. “He didn’t give his last name. He simply said he needed refuge here, and the ambassador granted it.”
“How long ago was that?” Zenia asked, her eyes remaining locked to those of the elf.
“He came a month ago, then disappeared for a while, then returned. He’s staying in a room on the seventh floor.”
“Why would an elf need refuge here?” Jev asked. “Couldn’t he return to his homeland?”
The elf female frowned over at him, and some of the spell seemed to fade. Jev lifted an apologetic hand toward Zenia. He shouldn’t have interrupted her magic.
Zenia repeated the question, her dragon tear flaring a stronger blue, and the female focused on her again.
“The ambassador said he was cast out,” she whispered.
“Shylena,” the male elf said, stirring from what appeared to be a trance of his own. “You should not answer their questions. They are outsiders. Intruders. The ambassador will not appreciate—”
A clank-thunk came from somewhere in the garden, and both elves’ eyes widened.
“The zarl,” the male whispered. “We’ve displeased the ambassador.”
The female shook her head, throwing off the effects of Zenia’s magic. She threw a confused look at Zenia, but then a deep, ominous growl came from the trees, and she jumped. She and the male fled off the path in the opposite direction of the noise and disappeared, leaving only a few trembling leaves behind.
Another growl came from the trees, even deeper than the first. Deep and hungry.
“Can we go now?” Jev eyed the shadowy foliage.
“I’m done with my questioning,” Zenia said.
“You sure you don’t want to talk to that thing?” Rhi jerked her thumb in the direction of the growls. They were getting closer.
“Absolutely not.”
Jev waved them toward the gate, letting them exit first so he could guard their backs. The leaves stirred among the trees at the edge of the path, and he glimpsed something blacker than the twilight shadows. After Zenia and Rhi reached the street, Jev backed through the gate, pointing his pistol at the inky form.
It growled again, low and dangerous. A pair of yellow eyes appeared, staring straight at Jev.
“I’m hoping you have orders to stay in your yard,” Jev muttered, closing one side of the gate while he kept the pistol trained on whatever strange watchdog this was.
As Zenia reached for the other side of the gate to help close it, the creature sprang from the trees. It moved so quickly, it was nothing but a blur of black with those yellow eyes burning in its head.
Jev fired as he slammed the gate shut. His bullet struck the creature with a thud. It didn’t slow down. As Zenia slammed the other half of the gate shut, it sprang straight for them.
“Lock,” Jev blurted. “How do we lock it?”
Zenia jerked up her arm, and a glowing blue swirl of light surrounded the center of the gate. The creature slammed into the wrought iron. Jev skittered back, expecting the gate to fly back open. It shuddered, hinges creaking, but it held. Zenia had locked it or barred it somehow. The blue magic continued to glow around the gate.
The creature landed, not apparently hurt by slamming into the obstacle. For the first time, Jev had a good look at it. Because of the growls and indistinct shadows, he’d been envisioning some four-legged panther-like creature, and it was as black as a mountain panther, but it landed in a crouch on two legs. The arms that stretched toward the bars were more ape- or ogre-like than feline.
It rose fully on its legs, towering ten feet tall. Hairy, clawed hands gripped the wrought iron and shoved at the gate.
“Let’s get out of here,” Jev said.
Rhi had already sprinted ten paces down the road toward the tavern and their horses, but she paused to make sure he and Zenia followed.
Zenia’s face was set with concentration, and a tendril of blue energy snaked from the dragon tear under her blouse to the gate. Jev had no doubt she was the only reason the creature couldn’t get out.
He reached for her, torn between wanting to drag her to safety and not wanting to distract her from her magic. That thing, if it got out, might very well outrun their horses. Or eat their horses.
“I’m coming,” Zenia whispered, not taking her gaze from the gate.
She backed away slowly. Jev walked at her side, keeping his pistol pointed at the creature for all the good it could do. He knew he’d struck their black-furred foe in the center of its chest.
The creature growled, shaking the iron with frustrated paws. Or hands? Jev had no idea what they were dealing with, whether it was natural and from some distant continent or if a mad elven mage had created it in a laboratory in the tower basement.
It continued to growl and snarl, but Jev and Zenia backed farther down the street until they could see nothing but its hairy fingers wrapped around the bars. Those fingers finally released and disappeared back inside the yard. The growls faded.
Laughter rang out from the tavern. It seemed nobody had noticed the creature or the skirmish going on inside the garden. Even their two horses, which had been joined by several others, were indifferent to the nearby predator. That seemed odder than the rest.
The blue energy around the gate faded, along with the tendril that had attached it to Ze
nia’s dragon tear.
“We better get out of here,” she whispered, turning to unhitch her horse from the post.
Jev already had his horse free. He thought a brisk evening trot sounded like a delightful idea.
“Rhi?” he asked. “Have you changed your mind about riding with me?”
“Yes, it sounds lovely now.”
“Good.”
Jev mounted, offered her a hand up, and as soon as Rhi settled behind him, he and Zenia took off.
He let Zenia pull into the lead so he could watch their backs more easily. A few times, he thought he heard some noise and a faint growl from the shadows behind them, just audible over the clip-clop of their horses’ hooves, but maybe it was his imagination. Or maybe they were the noises of some stray dog or cat.
He and Zenia didn’t slow their horses until they reached the city gate. A couple of bored-looking watchmen regarded them with indifference as they trotted out.
“I’m going to spend the night at Dharrow Castle,” Jev said. “Does either of you want to join me?”
“Was that an invitation for something exotic and outré,” Rhi asked, “or do you think we all need to spend the night twenty miles away from that thing to be safe?”
“Ah, it was neither.” Jev wouldn’t mind having twenty miles between him and the elven guard dog, but he suspected it had orders to stay in its garden, and he didn’t truly believe they needed to worry. Of course, that hadn’t kept him from setting a very brisk pace out of the city.
“That’s disappointing,” Rhi said. “I’ve never done anything outré with a zyndar.”
“You’re a celibate monk, aren’t you?”
“Exactly right. Which is why I’ve never done anything outré with a zyndar.” Rhi grinned at him.
“My reason for going to the castle,” Jev said, eager to change the subject, “is that I’m hoping Lornysh is there, since he wasn’t, if we were told the truth, at the embassy.”
“You think he might have crossed paths with the cloaked elf?” Zenia asked. “Yilnesh, was it?”
“Yes, that was the name. And yes, I’m hoping Lornysh has run into him and can illuminate him for us. If nothing else, he ought to be able to walk into the embassy without being attacked. Maybe he can ask a few questions.”
Agents of the Crown- The Complete Series Page 42