The Glass Gargoyle (The Lost Ancients Book 1)

by Marie Andreas

  I wasn’t jealous. I just wasn’t used to the faeries liking too many people. And they had some serious idol worshipping going on in there.

  Chapter 20

  The pub had been uneventful, except for some distracted flirting from Marcos who was already there when I came in. He seemed to need to keep an eye on the door at the same time he was trying to woo me. The wooing part didn’t really work, and considering he never reacted to anyone who came in, I had to think the door watching didn’t either.

  Foxy had taken the night off, a weekly occurrence, even though I knew for a fact he was in his tiny apartment right above the pub. Once a week he liked to pretend he had a life outside of this place, and we all let him.

  Finally giving up on Marcos’s mixed attention, I headed for home.

  The living room was dark, and unless the faeries had suddenly developed breathing problems, Alric was still on my sofa. His breathing was slow enough I figured he was asleep. Not completely trusting my reaction to him if I found him half clothed while I was drunk, I kept the glows off and stumbled to bed.

  ***

  Another vicious ray of sun, maybe a relative of the one that hit me the other day, stabbed me awake. This time the angle was different, so it was still disgustingly early, the cloud cover from the night before just burnt off early. I held my pillow over my head as I rolled over. The events of the last couple days were not encouraging in terms of me jumping up and seizing the day.

  Then, as so many of my days lately have started, a pounding echoed from the front room. Pushing the pillow harder over my ears, I tried to wait out whoever was denting my front door. For a moment I thought I’d done it, then they resumed.

  Sighing, I threw the pillow across the room and stumbled down the hall to the front door. I was so out of sorts I didn’t even look to see who it was.

  The instant I’d unlocked it the ghost of my unlamented landlady tumbled into my room. Only if possible, this one was shorter, rounder, and so covered in matted gray hair/fur that I almost wasn’t sure where her face was.

  My new landlady, who was most likely here to ream me for killing her cousin.

  The bundle stopped in front of me and whirled. “What happened there?” Without waiting for an answer, she rolled over to the sofa. Too late I thought of Alric, but he’d obviously left long before.

  “Nothing, it’s just a—”

  “You had something here, something…dangerous.” She turned and flashed me a terrifying grin.

  “I’m not sure what you mean.”

  “A man, I saw him leaving, you set me up with him, yes?”

  So she wasn’t as nasty as Nirtha but she was just as crazy. Her and Alric? Actually, I did owe him for messing up my life.

  “Maybe I can do that,” I said then thought about what to say next. How did I apologize for something I didn’t do, but folks thought I did? “About Nirtha—”

  Cackling filled the room and she fluttered her stumpy hands around. “Thanks the gods she is gone, yes? She always has been news bad.” She cocked her head and giggled some more, “Bad news. I am not from Beccia, the words are not the same.”

  Well, that was different. Nirtha had never been this chatty unless money and hopefully her kicking me out was part of the conversation.

  “But she was your cousin?”

  “Oh yes, she was, but not worth anything. Family whole hated her. Now I here.” She patted me on the back and almost sent me across the room. “I just checking on handsome man, he yours?”

  Shaking my head to clear it, I picked up a note on the sofa. Folding it as if it wasn’t anything important I turned back to my crazy landlady. “No, he’s just a…friend. Say, he left before I got up, what time did you see him leave?”

  “Friend, yes, back in old country I had many such…friends.” The wink she gave me was almost as startling as her earlier laughter. “He left just minutes ago. Was whistling, I believed he had your winged ones with him.”

  My winged ones…the faeries? Not trying to appear worried, I went over to the girls’ castle. Yup, they were gone. The pipe above my door was open, so they could have left before Alric did, but judging by their bonding last night I had to assume they were with him. And I wasn’t at all sure how I felt about that. I wasn’t afraid he could hurt them. So why did a cold pit grow in the center of my gut?

  “Yes, he is such a good friend the faeries often go with him.”

  Zirtha nodded, but I don’t think she believed me. Sorting out my confusing thoughts on the subject by being studied by my peculiar new landlady wasn’t high on my morning lists of fun things to do.

  “Ah, I thought only the handsome cat man took care of them for you.”

  And she had been watching me far too much it seemed. “Harlan is a chataling, but cat man does work. But yup, both of them are good friends.” I started herding her toward the door.

  “Thanks for coming by. I’m glad you don’t hold me responsible for killing Nirtha. I assure you I had nothing to do with it.”

  Zirtha burbled again, then patted my hand. “Oh yes you did, is why I give you extra week before rent due. I like you, you get rid of cousin.”

  She waved aside all of my attempts at protest. “No, no. You get bonus week. I get money next week.” A predatory gleam, the only thing she shared with her predecessor, lit in her gray eyes, at the word money. Regardless of how she was acting, money was still vital to her.

  With a wave of her hands, she flounced out the door.

  So I had a nice landlady, but only until I proved I wasn’t a murderer. Plus, my faeries were now becoming friends with someone who at the best was an accidental nuisance, and the worst was actively trying to ruin my life.

  If this wasn’t the worst month in my life, I really didn’t want to live long enough to have something surpass it.

  I thought about going to collect my second half of the payment for Sammy, then looked down and realized I was still in my nightclothes. People really had to stop waking me up.

  Heading to the bedroom to change I noticed the note still crumbled in my hand. I was sharp today, that was for sure.

  It was from Alric, not surprising since the faeries could read if they really tried, but hadn’t figured out writing yet. He had elegant penmanship, managing to make my cheap pens write like a fine-edge quill. This boy may not be a nobleman, but he was educated.

  The note was short and sweet. Thanks for dragging him out of the water, now I only owed him for two rescues.

  What? I owed him? He hadn’t rescued me, not really any way. And there hadn’t been three…there was jail, which I probably wouldn’t have been in if he hadn’t locked me up in his home. There was the watery grave in the ruins, ok I’d give him that. Then there was the Red Light District. I could have made my way out of it. Eventually. So really we were even.

  Crumpling up the note, I threw it at the faeries’ castle. Made me feel a little better as I went and changed.

  The weather had drifted back into the cooler zone again, and my jacket was still filthy. So the cloak was getting another outing. I always felt so secretive in the damn thing, like I was a character in a play.

  There weren’t many folks out. With all the legitimate diggers back in the ruins, the number of people wandering around on a workday had dropped significantly.

  I picked up another pedicab to Largen’s place, but it wasn’t one of the jinn brothers. Thank the gods—I wasn’t up to dealing with them just yet. Besides, I wasn’t sure if I liked whatever the connection was between them and Marcos. Marcos was a bit of an idiot and a coward, but he was a fine piece of eye candy. I just didn’t know if I wanted to dally with him if he was going to report everything back to the jinns.

  Again, I went around to the back, and the same not-too-bright pygmy minotaur grunted at me when I rang the bell. He didn’t invite me in this time, and I didn’t ask, so I just stood in front of the open door. Actually the warmth from the castle’s kitchen was pleasant at this distance, but would probably be a bit muc
h being inside with the door shut.

  Grimwold’s evil twin, or maybe he was the nice one, shuffled into the kitchen, but came all the way to the door. I almost felt insulted that he didn’t invite me in, but the benefit of having easy escape did balance things out.

  “Here is your pay, Taryn St. Giles. I regret to say we have no further need for your services.”

  What the hell? This money would get me caught up on my rent, but I was counting on the second bounty to bring in some needed funds. I couldn’t mooch off Foxy forever.

  “I don’t understand, was there something wrong with my bringing in Sammy?”

  He pursed his lips but didn’t frown. “No, it was acceptable. Unfortunately Gorgeous Sammy is no longer with us. He had been ill and passed away late last night.”

  My stomach clenched. It was a good thing I hadn’t stopped for breakfast before I came over. I knew that possibly some people I brought in didn’t have a good time of it, but I’d never known that I’d been directly responsible for a death. Even scum like Sammy didn’t deserve that.

  “Oh, it was nothing you did,” he wheezed out when he saw my face. “It was his time. We tried to cure him but we were unable to unfortunately.” He held up the pay that I hadn’t reached for yet. I was proud I was able to keep my hand from shaking as I took it.

  “The second case has been…dealt with.” Those dead eyes stole into my soul and pushed hard. Had another person died because of me? A chill hit me—had Alric been their target? Largen’s people had been looking for him before.

  “We will contact you should we have another issue to be addressed.” His grin was more terrifying than anyone else’s scowls.

  “Right, then,” I said with more warmth than I felt as I shoved the packet of money deep in an inner pocket. No way in hell was I going to try counting it here. Actually my life would be complete if I never had to be here again. “It’s been nice doing business with you.” No it hadn’t and he knew it as well as I did. But I had to say something. With another nervous nod, I turned and walked as quickly as was polite away from the terrifying place.

  Death was following me far too closely as of late, and I didn’t like it one bit.

  Once I got out of the scary part of town, I debated wandering to the Shimmering Dewdrop. But the day was far too new and the same problems I would have had yesterday evening would be magnified now. At the turn for the pub, I flipped a sharp left and took narrow side roads back toward the center of town and the university. Covey could be rational and talk me out of walking off a tall bridge.

  Her office door was wide open. Again. Considering the luck I’d had with open doors lately I couldn’t be blamed for showing caution as I approached.

  “She really isn’t that scary, you know.” The owner of the voice behind me almost got smacked. I spun, expecting Alric or one of my other tormentors, only to find a small bespectacled dwarf. Extremely scholarly looking with his full academic robes on, his family line had clearly left the dwarven mines generations ago.

  “Excuse me?”

  “Dr. Ghrelin, she’s really not that scary once you know her. You are a new student here, yes?” He shook my hand, all the while beaming like a mad man.

  “Ah no, I’m not.” Part of me was flattered. I wasn’t old by a long shot, and my partial-fae blood kept me looking young, but no one had accused me of being a college student in a long time. “I’m a friend of Covey, Dr. Ghrelin.”

  “Taryn? What are you doing lurking in my doorway?” Covey’s curt voice cut in. Clearly she was hot on the trail of something.

  I hooked my thumb over my shoulder. “See? Friends. I just hate to sneak up on her.”

  “Oh, you are her archeologist friend, yes? I had hoped to meet you.”

  I pulled back a bit. Someone wanted to meet a digger? More curious, a high-ranking academic wanted to meet a digger? I forced a smile then turned to go into Covey’s office. “Well nice to meet you…?” He continued to follow me in.

  “Dr. Thaddeus. Actually, Dr. Ghrelin and I had an appointment, but as I wanted to talk to her about you. This is most fortuitous.” He beamed some more and motioned toward the evil student chair. I couldn’t turn him down since he was trying to be gallant, but clearly he’d never had to sit in the thing.

  “Good timing. I see you two met. Did you get my note?” Covey shoved aside whatever she’d been working on and folded her arms. Clearly we couldn’t talk while Thaddeus was in the office.

  “What note? No, I just came by to see how things were going.” I tried to add an inflection to my voice to let her know I had news.

  “Ah yes. Well, I had hoped to have you two meet.” The look in her eyes said that wasn’t it at all, but whatever she had was being held hostage until I gave up whatever I had. We were at a stalemate that waited for the tiny academic dwarf to leave.

  “I was hoping that you would be willing to work for me?” The dwarf looked more imp than mountain digger as he watched both of our faces. Covey’s had to be more shocked than mine. Far weirder things had been happening than an academic wanting to be a patron to me as of late for it to shock me too much. More importantly, an academic financially able to be a patron. The contract digs were prohibitively expensive.

  Covey was sizing up her fellow faculty member with new eyes. How in the hell could he afford a digger and contract?

  “Don’t mean to be rude, but I thought buying a patronage was pricy? At least that’s what all my former patrons always complained about.” Certainly wasn’t what they paid the diggers. Oh, a good one could make enough to live very well. But you had to have had some big finds for that level.

  “Well, ahem, yes.” He peered furtively around the room, then got up and closed the door to Covey’s office. “I haven’t been completely honest with Dr. Ghrelin, nor I’m afraid the rest of the staff and faculty here at the university.” He returned to his perch on the low shelves and folded his hands primly in his lap. “I’m rich.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “You said you came from a poor mining town in northern Yubian.” Covey was clearly pissed. She didn’t take to people misleading her, let alone outright lying.

  “That was true, however I actually now own the mining town.” His voice dropped as if embarrassed. “I inherited a potato farm in west Hollis we make—”

  “You’re the Westfield potato farm? They’re huge. Every business buys their potatoes from them.” I was shocked. All the finest places got their produce from them. Foxy even bought a shipment once for a special party when I got my first digger job. They were amazing.

  “Yes, well I am,” he said. “However it has nothing to do with me wanting to hire you. I think having an archeologist associated with the university could only bring good things.”

  Covey was shaking her head, still sizing up her co-worker. “The Grand Dean won’t approve it. He keeps saying we have to stay clear of direct involvement with digs.”

  “Which is why he didn’t go through the Grand Dean, I’m thinking.” I studied my potential patron carefully. There might be something here after all.

  “You are as bright as Dr. Ghrelin has said.” He beamed up at me. “Yes, I do not need to go through the university, since I have my own funds. I do not believe that even the Grand Dean would be adverse to what information I find with my own money.”

  “You may be right.” Covey steepled her extremely long fingers in front of her face, studying him as if he were a new find. “What are you looking for?”

  “A rare artifact. A glass dome.”

  The word glass caught my attention right away. What was it with everyone looking for glass objects in a thousand-plus-year-old dig site?

  “A dome, you say?” I acted interested, hoping I could find out if this was a trap or he was crazy before I signed any contracts.

  “Yes, yes.” He jumped off the bookcase, and scurried over to Covey’s desk. “If you don’t mind?” At her nod, he unrolled an ancient scroll. I wasn’t sure, but it looked elvish.

  �
�You can read that?” I said it before Covey could. Of course Dr. Thaddeus had no way of knowing that if he said yes, Covey was probably going to rip out his throat. She had been working on the mystery language for so long it would not be a pretty sight if someone else broke it first.

  “Alas, no.” He pointed to some drawings on the edges. “But there have been some agreements on some simple glyphs. Dr. Ghrelin herself has published most of the articles I take my translations from.”

  Smart man. He knew Covey better than I thought. Her look went from hostile to preening in a second.

  “Here it mentions a glass dome, a large dome of glass, protected under the city.” He tapped the scroll, sending flecks off. “I believe this dome is a power artifact. One of those used to contain the power of the elven mystics.”

  Covey sat back in her chair. He’d lost her. She didn’t believe in the mythical powers of the elves any more than the kindness of strangers. She believed they existed, and built some amazing things, but she doubted they were any more powerful than mages of today. If they had been so powerful, what happened to them?

  “Good luck with that, Thaddeus,” she said as she pushed his scroll back at him. “So, Taryn, do you want to work for him? I may not agree with some of his assessments, but he’s got funding.”

  Hell, she didn’t agree with anything once she heard ‘elven mystics’. But he did have money and it would get me out of bounty work. Sammy was going to haunt me for a while. I was sure he deserved what he got; I’d just never been so immediately connected to a death.

  “I’d love to work for you, Dr. Thaddeus. Where’s the dig?”

  I should have known something was wrong by the vacant and disgustingly hopefully smile he gave me.

  Chapter 21

  Of course, little did I know that Thaddeus’s pick for his dig was the absolutely last spot I would want. He picked a plot far from every other dig site, which might be encouraging as it could be completely virgin ground. Except for three things: he picked it by consulting an ancient, and in my opinion, false, oracle, it was buried under years’ worth of debris from other digs, and the reason it was buried under all that debris was that no one, absolutely no one, thought there were any ruins to be found there.