Reva saw a tiny flash of anger in Betulla’s eyes. She’d cornered the Lord Constable with a reasonable request so that, if she denied it, everyone would wonder why. Reva had suspected that Betulla wanted to keep Gania close to her as some sort of cruel punishment for the perceived sins of his mother. Reva didn’t understand the politics or motivations, but knew she had to help Gania. And he would make a great Constable, with the right guidance.
“Why, of course. I’ll draw up the orders in the morning,” Betulla said without hesitation, though her eyes told Reva to not press her further.
The King clapped his hands and smiled. “Splendid. It will be good for the young Constable to have a strong mentor such as you, Inspector. Now, we shall leave you to your work. Reis naeht.”
The King turned and walked out with the Mayor and Betulla in tow. Once they’d left the stable, Aescel and the few others present gave Reva and Ansee a small round of applause, before Aescel said, “Now everyone back to work.”
Aescel turned to leave and Reva stopped him. “Sir, I’d like a favor from you too.”
Aescel sighed exaggeratedly and held up his hands. “What? Isn’t that enough?” he gestured to the commendation in her hands. “Or are you trying to tweak my ears too?”
Reva gave him a “Who, me?” expression and then said, “I’d like the day off tomorrow for myself and my team. I think we’ve earned it.”
Aescel made a show of pondering this, rubbing his chin and looking up at the ceiling. Finally, he said, “No, Reva.” She felt her heart sink a bit, but then he continued, “One isn’t enough. Two days off, with pay.” He gave her a mischievous smile. “You have all earned it.”
He pointed to the parchment and bag of holding on her table. “But I want those on my desk before you leave tonight.” He looked at Ansee. “Your report too, Seeker.”
“Yes, sir,” they both said.
Aescel smiled and then headed for his office.
Forty-five
Reva sat her fork down on the plate and leaned back in her chair. Ansee and her mother were still working on their meals; Ansee had spent most of his time fending off mother’s probing questions. After everything in the past week, they’d finally had a meal together. Dinner had been eel, lightly breaded and seasoned with salt and chile powder, fried in olive oil. They’d had a spinach and walnut salad and Ansee had brought a fresh loaf of rye bread and a bottle of wine.
It was the second day of their time off. On the first day Reva hadn’t done anything but sleep, to her mother’s disapproval. The couple of times Reva had gotten up Aeollas had asked, “Why are you wasting a perfectly good day? The least you could do is clean up your room or help me in the shop.” Reva had ignored her each time and had gone back to sleep.
This morning she’d woken up feeling fresh and rejuvenated. She’d gone to the House of Theobroma and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, savoring her spiced cacao. She wrote a long letter to Gale telling him about the events of the past few days, and then she’d strolled through the shops and markets. She even helped her mother in the shop for a couple of hours in the afternoon. Even Gabii’s incessant squawks and need for attention hadn’t bothered her. It felt good to not be chasing some mad-elf around the city or have to examine a dead body. That would come soon enough, she knew. But today she’d managed to enjoy herself.
“You say your sister is a healer?” Aeollas asked.
“Yes. Her shop is in my parents’ old house in Forest Grove.”
“And which deity does she favor?”
Reva rolled her eyes, knowing what was coming.
“Temoca,” Ansee answered.
Aeollas shook her head, making a tsk, tsk sound. “You know, Cas’s brother is a cleric of Rekna. He spends his time doing noble work, building shelters for the poor and such. He even built a seawall for the village of Ratsoi to protect their fishing fleet. Temoca may be a decent god for a healer, I suppose. But Rekna is a god that truly helps those in need.”
“Oh, Mother. Stop pestering Ansee. You’re not even all that religious.”
Aeollas made a hushing wave with her hand. Ansee took a sip of his wine and then set the goblet down, saying, “I thought that Rekna was the god favored by most dwarves.”
Aeollas looked aghast. “Why, certainly not. I would think that no respectable elf would worship the same god as a dwarf.”
Reva drained her goblet and stood up. “Anybody for more wine? Or vinegar, Mother?”
“Hush,” Aeollas said. She turned back to Ansee. “So, Cas completed her schooling at Auros in only seven years. She finished second in her form.”
Reva rolled her eyes again while pulling the cork on another bottle of wine.
“What about you, Ansee?” Aeollas asked.
“Hmmm?” Ansee stalled. He knew what was coming. Normally he’d lie with this kind of question. He knew enough about Auros Academy to sound convincing to somebody who didn’t. But he didn’t want to lie to Reva’s mother, and he was afraid she’d be able to sniff out any lie he told.
“Where did you finish at the Academy? You must have been close to the same form as Cas.”
“Ummm . . . I didn’t attend Auros,” Ansee said, hedging.
“Really? Is there another wizard academy in the Kingdom? Did you study out of the country?” Aeollas’s voice made it sound like anybody would be crazy to not study at Auros.
Reva took a drink of her wine. “Stop badgering Ansee.”
Aeollas picked up her own goblet and said, “What? I’m just curious.” She turned back to Ansee. “So?”
“Mother,” Reva said, walking back to the table, “Ansee didn’t study anywhere. He didn’t have to.”
Ansee looked up at Reva and she patted him reassuringly on his shoulder.
“What do you mean he didn’t have to? You had a private tutor?”
Reva sighed. Sometimes you had to spell things out to people. “Mom, Ansee is a sorcerer.”
“You knew?” asked Ansee.
“What do you mean a sorcerer?” asked Aeollas.
“Sure I knew,” Reva said, answering Ansee. “I am an Inspector, you know.”
“Wait,” Aeollas said, “so you’re some sort of dragon spawn?”
“Mother!”
“Well, isn’t that how sorcerers are made?” She reached over and patted Ansee’s hand. “I won’t hold it against you, dear.”
At that moment Gabii chose to enter the conversation. She’d slept through dinner, but now she sensed the change in the mood, or maybe Reva’s raised voice had awoken her. “Reva is sexy!” she called.
“You stay out of this,” Reva said, shaking her finger at the parrot.
“Reva is sexy!” Gabii flew to Reva, landing on her shoulder and nipping at her ear. “Reva is sexy!”
“Oh hush!” Reva and Aeollas said together.
“Let me see if I can take care of this,” Ansee said. He made a gesture with his right hand and said, “Beni bu papağan ile konuşsun.”
Turning, he then gave a squawk to Gabii. The parrot cocked her head and looked at Ansee. She then squawked back. The two spoke back and forth for a minute, and then Ansee smiled. “Good,” he said, returning to elvish.
“What? You can speak with animals?” Aeollas asked.
“Yes, Mother. Only sorcerers can do it.”
“Don’t sass me,” she said. “Cas wasn’t able to speak with animals.”
“Yay. Point for me,” Ansee quipped. Both Reva and Aeollas gave him a look, but then both of them smiled.
“Aeollas is amazing!” chimed in Gabii, now in Reva’s voice.
“Well, that’s an improvement,” said Aeollas.
“Aeollas’s pots are amazing,” Gabii said, this time in Cas’s voice.
Aeollas brought her hands together, placing them on her lips. She then threw her arms around Ansee, catching him by sur
prise. “Áeorias,” she said. She let go and patted him on the arm. “Not bad for a dragon spawn.”
All three of them laughed.
About the Authors
Geoff Habiger and Coy Kissee have been life-long friends since high school in Manhattan, Kansas. (The Little Apple, which was a much better place to grow up than the Big Apple, in our humble opinion.) We love reading, baseball, cats, role-playing games, comics, and board games (not necessarily in that order and sometimes the cats can be very trying). The Wrath of the Fury Blade had its germination in the role-playing setting that Geoff and Coy created called Ados: Land of Strife. Geoff had an idea that one of the countries should be an elven kingdom made up of fascist elves. (Somehow the image of goose-stepping elves didn’t seem too far-fetched in Geoff’s mind.) That was how the Kingdom of Tenyl came about. Several years later, when the idea of a police procedural story set in a fantasy setting was being mulled over, Geoff thought that the ideal setting would be in Tenyl. This worked too our advantage as much of the background for the Kingdom was already there, and we were able to flesh out many of the details, from the Purity Laws, to the treatment of halpbloeden. Geoff wanted Tenyl—the Kingdom and the city—to be as much a character in the book as Reva, Ansee, and all the others.
Coy lives with his wife in Lenexa, Kansas. Geoff lives with his wife and son in Tijeras, New Mexico.
Reva’s adventures will continue in Joy of the Widow’s Tears. You can also check out Geoff and Coy’s supernatural gangland novel, Unremarkable.
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