Malediction (Scars of the Sundering Book 1)

by Hans Cummings

  "Are you all right?" The captain's question snapped Pancras out of the vision. Delilah ran over to them.

  "He's tired. We're tired. We've been treated like dirt since we arrived here and spent last night in jail for the crime of defending ourselves." The drak looked around the room. "It looks like we've traded one cage for another, albeit a gilded cage."

  Pancras held Delilah by the shoulder. "No, it is all right. She is right, my lady. It's nothing, just fatigue." He bowed his head. "Thank you for your concern."

  Lady Milena bowed. "I shall take my leave of you, then."

  After she left, Delilah tugged on Pancras's arm. "Are you sure you're all right? You looked like you were about to faint, and the tips of your horns glowed. I don't think she noticed that. Most tall folk don't bother looking up."

  Pancras reached up and rubbed his horns. "It was strange, like I was seeing her through someone else's eyes. I didn't feel like myself." He shook his head. "It was nothing, fatigue. Like you said, we're all tired."

  I hope whatever ails Kale isn't contagious. He sat down in one of the armchairs.

  Delilah peered behind the food lift's tapestry. "How does one get an ale around here? We could use a drink."

  An ale would hit the spot right now. "Maybe Kale can bring some back. Send him a message." He hoped Delilah's brother stayed out of trouble. The drak twins were known for making mischief back home, but Kale was more of a practical joker than a conniver. Schemes were his sister's forte. Pancras kept her with him so he could keep an eye on her. He thought it unlikely Kale could concoct an escape-from-Almeria plan without her. I hope I'm right.

  * * *

  Scar refused to let the guards accompany Kale up to their rooms. "Guards never help us. If you lot aren't here to arrest me or one of my guests, you can wait outside." Kale's escorts were not inclined to argue with a broken-horned minotaur who stood a head-and-a-half over them. The solitude suited Kale fine. His escorts were disinclined to answer his questions with anything more elaborate than non-committal grunts or one-word answers, and they didn't laugh at his jokes.

  Kale banged on Edric's door before opening his own. As he crammed his possessions into his pack, he wondered how he would carry Delilah's and Pancras's belongings as well as his own. Maybe Edric will help.

  He knocked again on Edric's door, but there was no sign of the dwarf. Maybe he's gone next door for a drink. For a brief moment, Kale entertained the thought of inviting his escorts for a drink and then decided they were poor company. He closed the door to his room, locked it from inside, and then opened the window. A blast of cold air whipped his cloak around. Dark clouds moved across the sky, laden with rain, or worse. He looked down at the side of the building, the half-timbered construction provided some purchase for would-be climbers, and Kale spotted a downspout that would help steady him.

  Kale pulled himself up on the window frame and swung his legs outward. He gathered up his cloak to keep it from snagging on the rough wooden edge and lowered himself. Hand-over-hand, he worked his way along the window sill. The downspout was within reach, but only just. Taking a deep breath, he grabbed at it. His claws made no purchase on the pipe, and he slid, scraping the conduit until his toes caught on a protruding support beam.

  Taking a moment to catch his breath, Kale dared to look down. The street was still farther away than Pancras was tall. It was a longer distance than Kale cared to fall. He tightened his grip on the pipe and allowed it to support his weight. When he felt he was not in danger of sliding the rest of the way, he began his descent anew, breathing only when his feet touched the ground.

  Kale looked up as he straightened his cloak. "That wasn't so hard." The alley was deserted, though Kale heard the din of early drinkers in The Assassin's Dagger. The kitchen door was ajar, so he ducked in and dodged the cook's assistant, hiding behind a barrel of salt pork.

  Lenka wiped her hands on a greasy apron, and then carried a steaming platter with some sort of roasted bird on it out into the tavern. Kale took the opportunity to scamper behind her, ducking under a nearby vacant table. When Janek's back was turned, Kale stepped up to the bar and climbed on one of the stools. He looked around the dining room and saw no sign of Edric and then rapped his knuckled on the bar top.

  "Oh, little master!" Janek beamed at him and pulled a tankard from under the bar. "I see the guards didn't give you too much trouble. What'll it be?" Janek looked over the crowd in the tavern. "Where are your friends?"

  I guess I have time for one ale. "Just an ale, please" He tossed a half talon on the bar. "We're staying at the palace now."

  Janek whistled. "Mighty fine. That must be quite a story." He drew Kale a tankard of ale.

  "I was told to look for Kali Blacktalon, Blackclaw? Here?" Kale looked over the frothy mug of ale.

  Janek's cheerful expression fell. "Oh. I see." He cleared his throat, jerking his head toward the back room. "Pull the tap on the farthest keg, the one marked 'Dwarven Winter Beer'."

  "Thanks!" Kale tossed another two talons on the counter. "There are two guards outside The Sleeping Viper. Ale's on me."

  Kale took his tankard and sipped it as he entered the back room. Extra chairs were stacked on top of each other and were surrounded by crates of linens and root vegetables. Several stacked ale kegs obscured the near wall. Kale went to the one farthest from the doorway. He couldn't read the label but saw that it was the only one with a tap.

  When he pulled it, he heard a click, and the front of the keg swung open. A short passageway, too small for a human or a minotaur but passable for a drak or even a dwarf, led Kale through the keg to a set of spiral stairs that plunged into darkness. Kale saw a light at the bottom and heard the sounds of laughter and conversation. Kale chugged his remaining ale and wiped his mouth on his cloak.

  The stairs took him to a room set up as a tavern in miniature. Ten draks sat around a table, laughing and conversing, paying him no mind. Two more chatted with Kali. She saw Kale, smiled, and waved him over. She wore the same brown, leather jerkin but was now also adorned with fine gold chains wrapped around her horns and clipped to gold rings on her ear fringes.

  "I wondered if we would see you!" Kali stood and laughed. "Everyone! This is the drak I told you about. Kale, was it?"

  Kale nodded and looked around the room. The other draks greeted him with a glance or a raised mug and returned to their business.

  "Where's your sister?"

  "She's with Pancras at the palace. We're staying there now. There are two guards outside the inn next door waiting for me. I gave them the slip to see if our dwarf friend was here. You haven't seen a dwarf hanging around, have you?"

  "Nah." Kali shook her head. "The palace, huh? How you swing that?" She pulled out a chair for Kale to sit in next to her.

  "Pancras made some deal with the prince. He couldn't say what."

  Kali took Kale's hand. "We're going to become good friends, you and I." Her scales felt cool to him, but her hand felt soft. Softer than Delilah's. "We could use a friend in the palace."

  Kale narrowed his eyes and pulled his hand away. "Who's we?"

  Clasping her hands together, Kali smiled. "Oh, we have a partnership. Mostly draks, though we've been known to hire some minotaurs as muscle. You may have noticed our kind are less than well regarded here in Almeria. Sometimes we have to…" She spread her hands and shrugged. "Let's just say the humans aren't always willing to deal with us fairly, so we have to improvise a lot."

  Kale understood. He was no stranger to having to sneak around larger people and sometimes procure materials without paying. It was less of a problem since Sarvesh founded Drak-Anor, but before then, he was forced to scrounge for his supplies most of the time. Gasps of alarm from the draks in the room interrupted his reply. Several jumped up from their tables, drawing weapons as a glowing, blue creature bounded down the stairs. It was little more than a furry ball, a massive mouth bisecting its body. It hopped on two stumpy legs, bounced over toward Kale, and bounced up on the table. Two dra
ks threw knives at it, but they passed through its body, embedding in the table.

  Holding up his hands, Kale shushed the alarmed tavern. "It's just a message from my sister. It's not a real boggin."

  The magical boggin looked up at Kale. "Mistress Delilah and Master Pancras are comfortably awaiting your arrival at the palace and would very much appreciate you bringing ale for them." Its message delivered, the blue ball of teeth disappeared in a puff of azure smoke and tendrils.

  "Ale!" Kale threw up his hands. "Like I don't have enough to carry!"

  "They can't get ale at the palace?" Kali scratched her head. "How odd."

  "I don't know. I should get going. The guards are probably looking for me." Kale stood and walked toward the stairs. "I don't want to get into any more trouble."

  Kali accompanied him to the top of the stairs. At the top of the stairs, inside the keg hallway, she pulled him close. Kale's pulse quickened, and his breath caught in his throat. Kali nuzzled his ear. "I'll be in touch." She pushed him out of the keg and grinned at him as she closed the door.

  Clenching his fists to control his trembling, Kale returned to The Sleeping Viper by way of the alley, gathered their possessions, and met the guards out front.

  "We were going to go look for you after we finished these ales." One of the guards tossed his mug toward The Assassin's Dagger. "How'd you get these to us? The woman said you paid for these."

  Kale shrugged, staggering under the weight of three packs. "It wasn't easy. Shall we?"

  Chapter 9

  Pancras groaned as someone pounding on the entry doors roused him from his nap. He had not intended to fall asleep in the armchair but didn't fight the sleep that overtook him. Delilah ran to the doors, rushing past Pancras in her excitement. Her face fell when she opened them.

  "What do you want?"

  The servant bowed. "It is dinner time. May I?"

  "Let him in, Delilah." Pancras yawned. He stood up and stretched and followed the human and drak to the dinner table. The servant stood by the tapestry in front of the food lift. After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, during which the servant stared straight ahead while Pancras and Delilah looked from one to the other, a bell rang in the distance. The servant pulled on the cord to pull up the tapestry, opened the door, and pulled the rope hand-over-hand until a platform containing variety of platters and goblets appeared.

  As he set the food on the table, he glanced around the room. "I understood there were to be three of you?"

  "Yes, so did I. I wonder where he is, Pancras." Delilah looked out the window. Pancras didn't expect she would see Kale. He wasn't quite sure of his bearings, but was fairly certain The Sleeping Viper did not lie in the direction their windows looked.

  "He'll be along." Pancras sat at the head of the table. "He needed to collect the rest of our possessions from the inn."

  "Very good, sir." The servant returned to the food lift, rang a bell on the inside of the shaft, and waited for another tray to pull up. "When you are finished, stack everything inside the lift, and ring the bell." He placed another covered platter and two pitchers of wine on the table. "Will there be anything else?"

  "No, thank you." Pancras marveled at the multitude of serving dishes and plates on the table. It was far more than they could consume, even if Kale and Edric were with them.

  "Yes! I want a bath. How do you fill the basin? I have weeks of dirt ground into my scales."

  "I will have someone draw your bath for you." He glanced over his shoulder as he left. "It will only be hot water, however. We don't have… whatever it is you people bath in.'

  "Water!" Delilah shouted at him as he shut the doors. "We use water!"

  Pancras shook his head and lifted the cloche from his platter. The plate was covered with a bed of multi-colored vegetables, in the center of which was a roasted bird.

  Grumbling to herself, Delilah returned to the table and sat just as there was another knock at the doors. She continued to grumble all the way as she crossed the room to open them, and squealed when she saw Kale standing there, staggering under the weight of three packs. Pancras moved to help him with his gear, but Kale dropped it all inside the entry way and ran over to the table.

  "I thought I smelled food!" He climbed into Pancras's seat and tore into the bird.

  "Hey!" Delilah shouted from the entry doors. "Where's our ale?"

  Kale shot her a withering glance while he ate. " I had to carry all three of our packs by myself. The guards didn't help one bit, even after I bought them ale."

  "Oh well." Delilah's non-committal reply did not hide the disappointment on her face.

  Pancras poured wine for everyone before he sat down. "Did you see Edric?"

  "No sign of him. Janek hadn't seen him, and I couldn't get Scar to talk to me. When I told him we moved to the palace, he just grunted. He looked happy we were leaving, though. For someone who runs an inn, he sure doesn't seem to like customers."

  Before they finished eating, servants appeared again and interrupted Delilah's dinner to fill the tub. The ornately detailed, claw-footed copper bathing vessel stood large enough in which a human or both draks could sit upright but promised a cramped experience for Pancras.

  "You know," Pancras ran his fingers along a tooth-like detail near the rim of the bathing vessel. "It looks like a dragon's maw." Lavender-scented steam wafted up from the surface of the water. Delilah cast off her cloak and unbuckled the harness on which she attached her pouches and fetishes and then climbed into the tub.

  Water sloshed over the sides as Delilah settled in. "Ooo, that's hot!" She shooed Pancras and Kale away with her hand. "You may leave now. I have serious thinking to do."

  Pancras chuckled and returned to the dining area to put the dirty dishes back in the food lift. "Did you have any trouble? You took longer than we anticipated."

  "No trouble, other than carrying three packs by myself. I stopped off for an ale at The Assassin's Dagger. I wanted to see that drak from the jail again."

  Ah, so that's it. "That was dangerous." Pancras feared Kali Blackclaw was up to no good, and he believed Kale was ill-equipped to deal with such people.

  "She wants to be friends." The excitement was evident in Kale's voice. "There's a whole secret tavern under The Assassin's Dagger. It was full of draks!"

  "Kale." Pancras took the drak by the shoulder. "Think about it. The Assassin's Dagger. A secret meeting room. Doesn't that sound strange to you?"

  "Why shouldn't they have a place to have a few drinks without being hassled by the humans?"

  "Janek seemed welcoming enough. Why would such a place be in his tavern?"

  Kale scratched his head. "You… you don't think they're assassins do you?"

  "It's possible." Pancras stretched. Sleeping on the cot in the jail stiffened his muscles and caused pain in his lower back. "It doesn't matter right now, anyway. We're not going to be allowed to go back out in the city."

  "What?" Kale nearly dropped the plate he was carrying. "We're prisoners here?"

  "Guests, prisoners. Honored ambassadors, is the term the prince wants us to call ourselves, by the way. It's all the same right now. I'll work on obtaining us a little more freedom tomorrow. I need to acquire some equipment if I'm going to work on this project for which the prince traded our freedom."

  "Kali gave me the impression she could get into the palace if she wanted to."

  Pancras put the last empty plate into the food lift and rang the bell. Then he closed the door and lowered the tapestry. "If she can, you'll have your answer. I didn't get the impression that many people, be they human, drak, elf, dwarf, or minotaur were free to come and go from the palace as they pleased.

  Kale seemed to consider Pancras's statement. He looked over at the door that led to the bathing room. "Hm. How long do you think Deli will be? The water will be all cold and dirty by the time we get in there."

  "Now that we have our foci back"—Pancras rubbed the tips of his horns—"I think between Delilah and me, we can u
se our magic to clean the water and re-heat it. The servants weren't too keen on bringing it up here in the first place. The less we bother them, the better, I think."

  Kale tried to open the windows, but they were locked. "Do you think we'll be able to get out of here, Pancras? Get back on the road to Muncifer in time?"

  Pancras shared Kale's concerns, but he knew the draks looked to him for guidance and leadership. "I am doing everything in my power to ensure that we will, Kale. I promise."

  * * *

  No amount of dirty looks Delilah directed at the closed door quieted the sounds of Pancras and Kale cleaning up the dinner table. At least I can't hear what they're saying. The hot water reminded her of the heated pools in which they bathed and relaxed in Drak-Anor, although Delilah preferred the mineral scent of the waters back home to the floral-scented waters she was provided here.

  She sighed and sank deeper into the water. She concentrated on blocking out outside sounds. The hot water and steam seemed to melt and dissolve the accumulated grime of the last several weeks, and Delilah reflected that this was truly the first time she had the opportunity to relax since they left home. She missed their friends, but as long as Kale and she were together, Delilah knew they would be all right. She couldn't help what became of Edric, though, and when she was finished with her bath, she grabbed her staff.

  Drawing tendrils and wisps of magical aether to her, Delilah directed them to coalesce in an area above the floor. "Ageliofedros." A glowing blue boggin appeared and waited for instructions, hopping from foot to foot.

  "Find the dwarf, Edric of Ironkrag. Tell him we are no longer at The Sleeping Viper, we've moved into the palace, and he should come find us as soon as possible. Return with his response." Delilah sent the messenger on its way. That'll be faster than combing the city for him, especially if we can't leave. There was the possibility the messenger wouldn't find him, of course, especially if the dwarf were dead or there were a lot of Edrics in town from Ironkrag.