Quest Call

by Kirk Dougal

  “His family sold him to you?” I asked.

  “Oh, yes. I believe it was his brothers. They sold him so there would be more inheritance to go around when their father died.” Grol began walking again. “Come along. Let's find your friend.”

  I began to turn but was unable to jerk my gaze away from the trio. That was when I caught the change. The man remained the same, but the women's eyes narrowed, raging for a heartbeat with hatred, then their faces relaxed again, slack jawed and emotionless. I stumbled, realizing that despite their situation they still had not given up hope, at least for revenge if not escape. I wanted to rip the bars apart and help them flee but I picked up the pace, gaining ground on Grol and Stitch instead.

  We passed several more cages, all but one of them appearing to be empty. However, this set of bars felt different. I stared at it as we walked by, slowing a step. The shutters were closed on the outside of this prison, no light shining in to reveal the space, but I felt a whisper of movement, the air changing around me. I wanted to stop, reach out and touch whatever was just out of sight.

  “Mind yourself there,” Stitch said, waking me out of my thoughts. “You'll be dead with that one before you can shout for help. The gods know it won't be easy to get her over the sea without losing some of the crew.” Breath whistled from the darkest corner of the cage in response.

  “Here we are,” Grol said, waiting for me to catch up with the group. “Duke DeBrest, as I promised.”

  I looked forward again. DeBrest was standing near the cage bars but on the side opposite the darkness.

  “Why's he locked up?” Card asked.

  “Simply for his protection,” Grol said. “I could not allow him to leave until we come to an agreement and staying in this area, with her right there beside him, well, let's just say I did not think he could resist her charms for long.”

  “How much?” I asked.

  Grol held his hand to his heart, pinching his lips and shaking his head.

  “No, my friend. Never start by asking the price. That let's me see how badly you want him and I would be a fool to not ask for more.” He smiled. “But perhaps I am a fool. I will also ask you a question: How much do you have?”

  I glanced at Card, but he remained still, his gaze focused on DeBrest.

  “We have one hundred ten in gold,” I said.

  “Now,” Grol said. “You have hundred ten now. What will you have after you break into Oshun's tomb in the Golden Tower?”

  My heart skipped a beat, and I felt sweat collect on my lip. “What do you mean?”

  Grol laughed. “Ah, you do not wish to speak in the open. Come, my friends. We will step into my office and talk more freely.” He turned and walked toward a set of wooden walls that partitioned off a section of the warehouse. Card and Stitch had already turned to follow when DeBrest's hand shot through the bars and grabbed my arm, fingers digging deep into my bicep.

  “Beast, you've got to get me out. I, I can't…” His voice faltered. “It whispers to me. Her voice is inside my head when no one else is around. I…”

  “We'll get you out, Duke. Hang in there a little longer.” I squeezed his forearm, and then walked away, unable to look back, afraid to know what I would do if I saw that look in DeBrest's eyes one more time. But when he whispered, I stopped and tilted my head toward the cage.

  “I know how to get in the tomb,” DeBrest said, his words soft. “Get me out of here.” I nodded and walked on.

  Stitch waited for me by a door, the puckered skin on his cheek standing out in a jagged white line in the semi-dark.

  “Can he be moved away from the other cage?” I asked.

  Stitch smiled, the corner of his mouth on the uninjured side stretching up while the other remained straight. “The others will be waiting.”

  I walked past him into the next room and nearly stopped short in surprise. Where the warehouse had been bare wood and unpleasant odors, Grol's office was nothing short of opulent. Thick rugs covered the floor while tapestries hung from the walls. A slave stood off to one side, continually pulling a rope that moved a fan hanging from the ceiling, circulating the air in the grand room. Grol was already lounging on a couch, waving his hand at someone I could not see. Card was also seated, but he was on an elaborately carved chair, stiff and on its edge as if he did not trust it to hold his weight.

  “Please, have a seat,” Grol said. “Iced wine is on its way. But in the meantime, let us talk about what you will have after you break into Oshun's tomb.”

  “What makes you think we want in the tomb?” I asked.

  The amusement left Grol's face as he drew his eyebrows closer together. “I do not have time to be toyed with. The first night in the tavern, you asked me about the Golden Tower and the tomb. Then you traveled here to the warehouse to ask even more questions. Your friends were seen talking to the pilgrims for most of a day. They were seen inside the sacred room. Now, I ask you for the last time, what are you being paid to steal from the tomb?”

  “Nothing.” I stared back into Grol's eyes, neither of us blinking. This continued for nearly a minute before I broke the silence. “At least, nothing you'd find of value. We're being paid with information.”

  Grol's concentration broke, and he blinked. “Information? To a great treasure? To a gold mine? What kind of information would be so important that you would risk your life stealing from Oshun's sacred tomb?”

  I glanced at Card. This time he at least reacted, giving me a quick shrug of his shoulders.

  “We will be given the information on how to find a certain man.”

  “Who?”

  I let out a sigh. “The last dragon slayer.”

  Grol stared for a moment, and then threw his head back, laughter rolling into the tapestries and rugs and settling in the materials.

  “You are mad!” he said when he regained some control. “Someone is fooling you. He is a myth, a legend. There is no such thing as the last dragon slayer.”

  I held his gaze with my own. “Yemaya says he's real.”

  Grol stopped, his body going rigid, blood draining from his face.

  “So it is true,” he whispered. “The legends are true. She still lives.” He shook his head and raised his voice to a normal level. “Yemaya will give you this information for what? Are there royal jewels inside the tomb? What is so valuable?”

  “She wants the heart of Oshun,” Card spit the words out before I could open my mouth.

  Stitch mumbled, his words a sing-song chant in a language I did not understand. If possible, his scar stood out even more, even whiter against his now pale face.

  Grol wiped his hands together, and then threw them wide, palms out.

  “I want no part of your black deal with Yemaya,” he said. “Bring one hundred gold here tomorrow afternoon, and I will release your friend. Do not be late. We leave at midnight so we can travel through the cool of the night.” He glanced to the side. “Ah, here is our wine. We will drink to seal our deal, and then I must see to other business.”

  Two women walked out from behind the far wall, emerging from an opening I could not see. I stared as they moved, stunned into silence. They were both beautiful women, dressed only in their leather collars and see-through scarves that were draped over their bodies. But my eyes did not linger on their nudity. I stared at their hair.

  They both had the same silver hair of Saleene and Bree.

  “The jailer wanted five hundred gold for DeBrest and you traded three slaves for him,” I said. “Why are you being so generous with your losses?”

  Grol smiled as he took a goblet, letting the fingers of his other hand trail over one woman's hip, pushing aside the flimsy material and revealing her skin.

  “Some things are more important than others,” he said. “Besides, I always find a way to make up for my losses.”

  Chapter 38

  We stayed inside our rooms most of the next day. So close to our time to meet with Yemaya again, none of us wanted to take a chance on something goi
ng wrong, some small misstep leading to even more delay and trouble. We were too close to completing our task and returning to Maegdon, too close to going back to Dinas Farwolaeth to try to shut down the terrorists.

  “You know, I still may need to cut loose of DeBrest,” I said. Card glanced up from the other side of the table and then back down at the food he was pushing around his plate. “Dinas Farwolaeth comes first.”

  “I know. It's just…” Card paused. “If you go back far enough, my mother's side of the family were slaves on a plantation in the South. Georgia, I think. Kind of rubs me wrong to leave him behind.”

  I looked as more movement caught my attention. Saleene walked across the meeting room floor and sat down across from me. “Where's Bree?”

  “She's resting in our room.” Saleene shook her head. “She's done nothing but pace the floor all day. I don't blame her. How do you do it?”

  “Do what?” I asked.

  Saleene gestured at Card and I. “Look at you two. Calm. Talking. Eating dinner. My stomach is doing so many flops that I would heave before I finished swallowing my food right now.” She leaned closer. “Is that something they teach you in the FBI?”

  Card chuckled quietly. “I may be getting a paycheck from the FBI now, but I'm still a cop. Just like my padre.”

  I looked at him. We had served in the same homicide department for more than three years, and he had been my watcher, my peep, since I accepted Tower's offer to work with the FBI. Yet I had no idea his father had been a police officer.

  “It's just as bad for us,” he continued. “We're just better at hiding it.”

  Saleene waved at a one of the serving girls and pointed at Card's plate. The young woman ran off to the kitchen to bring her some food. We were all quiet until a plate was delivered and she began to eat.

  “Do you think he can do it?” Saleene asked between bites. “DeBrest. Can he get us in the tomb?”

  The others had been stunned when I told them what the duke had said once Stitch left us alone.

  “We'll find out.” I turned the box Yemaya had given us over in my hands before putting it down on the table again. “If not, it might be a short night and a long time until we see Dinas Farwolaeth again.”

  *****

  Half the sun was hiding below the sands in the distance when Card and I walked into the warehouse again. Saleene and Bree were both settled in where they could protect our backs one more time, but I had trouble picking them out of the shadows as I crossed through the doors and glanced back. It did not matter, really. At this point, we were on Grol's turf and it would be almost impossible for us to stop anything he wanted to do. At that thought, warmth spread down from the armbands and made my skin tingle.

  “Captain Grol is waiting for you.” The voice did not belong to Stitch. Another man, his ebony skin fading into the gathering darkness behind him, stepped out of the shadows so the final rays of the day caught his face. “You'd best hurry. The caravan will be leaving before long.”

  It was easy to see what he meant. A handful of torches were lit on the inside of the warehouse. Where there had been boxes stacked five and six deep the last time we visited, now the floors were bare. The cages remained, but the two women and the injured man were gone. As we continued to walk toward Grol's living quarters, I jumped sideways, my heart pounding against my ribs. The door to the cage beside DeBrest's stood open, the interior lit by a lantern and revealing only wooden floor.

  “Don't worry,” the man said. “We loaded that one when the sun was high in the sky. No way were we messing with that after the sun went down. She's in a box that will hold her on our travels.” He laughed, but it sounded forced to me, like he was trying to convince himself of the safety.

  DeBrest's prison was also empty and we continued until the man opened the door with a flourish, waving us inside. Grol rose from the same couch he had been on previously but there was little else remaining of the prior riches. The tapestries were gone, revealing smooth walls, and so were the rugs and gilded furniture. In fact, in addition to where Grol had been sitting, only one other chair was in the room. DeBrest sat on it, a goblet in his hand. He stood as well when he saw us.

  “Ah, my friends,” Grol said. “I am so glad you are here. We must conclude our business quickly. As you can see, we are leaving Tsamib earlier than I originally planned.” He opened his arms wide, waving at the almost completely empty space.

  I walked forward and held out two bags filled with gold pieces. “One hundred gold, as we agreed.”

  Grol accepted the bags with a short bow, his back stiff with formality. “And so the bargain is completed.” He nodded to DeBrest who placed the goblet on the floor beside the chair and walked behind me to stand near Card.

  “Thank you for helping us,” I said. “The next time we meet, perhaps I will be able to help you.”

  Grol smiled. “I doubt that we will ever see each other again, but do not worry. As I have said, I always find a way to make up for my losses.” He nodded toward the door.

  The three of us walked out of the room, crossing the warehouse floor in silence. That lasted only two steps outside, however, before DeBrest immediately grabbed my elbow.

  “Come on! We must hurry if we're going to be able to break into the tomb.” He dragged me forward until my surprise wore off, and I trotted alongside him, Card to our rear.

  We ran past three intersections before he stopped at the fourth, looking in both directions then running down the street to the left. Halfway down the block, he swerved inside the door of a building with a yellow banner, earning shouted words from a man who he bumped on the way. By the time Card and I stopped in front of the temple, DeBrest was walking out, holding something under his shirt. It was then that I noticed the building was a Temple to the Blessed Virgin, the gold sun prominent on the cloth above the door.

  “They shut the temple doors after the sun sets, as tribute to Malakbel,” DeBrest said, tilting his head to the side, urging us to walk with him. “But I have what we need to enter Oshun's tomb tonight.”

  Shouts rose from behind us and people began running. I glanced back, but all I could see were three young women dressed in white, wailing and shouting at the crowd. A few seconds later, a roar rose, shaking the walls of the buildings around us, making my chest tremble. I looked at DeBrest.

  “We'd better get back to the inn,” he said. “I don't think that crowd will take me to the mines if they catch me.”

  Chapter 39

  We were back in our rooms at the Lion and the Lamb before DeBrest spoke again. During our race back through the streets, the sounds of a growing mob echoing behind us, Bree joined us in our flight. I caught glimpses of Saleene in the growing dark, her silver braid bouncing on her back like a lioness's tail when she leaped from roof to roof, keeping pace with us from above. She disappeared at one point and suddenly emerged from an alley, racing from the shadows to join us for the last few paces before we ducked inside the inn. As soon as we were in the room that Card and I shared with the door bolted, I turned on the young duke.

  “So what did you take that made them so upset?” I asked.

  DeBrest pulled his hand from under his shirt and opened his fist. On his palm lie an egg-shaped gem, gold and cut with so many facets I could not count them all. Even without the sight I had gained in my time inside Quest Call, I believed I still could have seen the blue glow playing along the edges of the gem.

  “It's a sun gem,” he said. “Every Temple of the Blessed Virgin has one. The one that Yemaya and Oshun's father wore was rumored to be the size of a flattened fist.”

  “Why do we need it?” Saleene asked.

  DeBrest smiled. “It's the key to getting inside the tomb.”

  We all stared at each other for a few seconds before Card spoke.

  “I don't understand,” he said. “Saleene and I examined the tomb as closely as we could and there was no lock, no marks at all on the marble sides.”

  “Not a physical key,” DeBrest said. �
��But the gem makes it so the holder can walk through the marble and into where Oshun's sarcophagus sits. The Holy Mothers take turns entering the tomb every fifth day to lay offerings at Oshun's feet for her life in the sky world.”

  “Who told you this?” I asked. “You didn't know any more about Yemaya and Oshun than we did when we were in the Red Boar.”

  Crimson rose in his cheeks, and he looked away, staring at the wall.

  “I told you she was inside my head,” DeBrest said, his voice dropping to a whisper. “Can you even imagine that? Two of us, in my brain, no thoughts to myself, my memories an open book. It was like someone forced me to tell them everything I knew, forced me to be one with them. It was…” He stopped. I watched his lip tremble before he turned back to us.

  “Whatever she once was, she's a creature of the night now,” he said. “She hates Malakbel. She hates anything that has to do with the sun, the light. Once she knew what we were planning to do, she told me everything. She was the one who told me how to get inside the tomb.”

  I thought about the unseen creature in the cage next to DeBrest at Grol's warehouse. I remembered the sweetness of her voice in my head, the unsaid promises of all that I desired.

  “It's okay, Duke. We understand. You did what you had to do.” I glanced at the others. “Did she say how we use the gem?”

  “You just hold it in your hand and walk through the wall. The gem does all the work.”

  I blinked, remembering a conversation with Grol. “In your hand? You just hold it in your hand and walk through the wall?” DeBrest nodded, and I looked at the others. “Grol told me that after the Golden Tower, the king was found leaning against the tomb walls, dead, with the royal sun gem in his hand.”