I followed Padraig, Covey followed me, and Alric brought up the rear. A quick glance back showed the hedge closing behind Alric. Bunky and Irving kept low over our heads.
We came out of the hedge just past the prime dig spots and only a short walk from Qianru’s site. She was going to be furious with herself when this was over and she found out this chest had been on her plot. I wasn’t exactly sure why a chest that might have been used by the creator of the relics was going to be helpful. Then again, with my luck, it was an evil relic itself, bent on world destruction.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Even in the dim light of the drifting clearthin glows the dig site looked a bit sad after not having anyone working it for so long. Usually, if someone abandoned a site it was declared free to anyone after a few months. It said a lot about the fear of Qianru and her money that no one had attempted to dig here.
That and this wasn’t a valued site.
As Padraig and Alric conferred about setting up camp, two of the clearthin glows bobbed along with me as I looked around to see if anything besides overgrowth had changed. Covey stood in the middle and scowled. She enjoyed the outcome of digs, but not really the process itself.
Bunky and Irving flew along with me and the glows. The company was nice, but the fact they were both in guard mode was getting old. I appreciated their diligence—I did seem to need to have people keeping an eye on me a lot these days. Nevertheless, I was done with it right now.
“Would you two go watch from the woods? If someone is coming our way, come back and warn us.” I pointed toward the area where I knew Alric’s cave hideout was. “And circle there too—we’ll be using that area as well.” Neither of the constructs needed help seeing in the dark. This would keep them busy and leave me alone.
Bunky flew down level with my head and gronked seriously.
“He wants to make sure you’re going to be safe,” Alric said as he broke off from his conversation with Padraig.
I slipped on a pair of thin gloves that I’d tossed in my digger pack and petted Bunky. For some reason, touching Bunky with bare skin launched a flood of images to invade my brain. “I’ll be fine. And you and Irving will make sure things are safe for us.”
He gronked again, even I didn’t need translation to know that was an affirmative, and then he and Irving flew into the treetops.
The dig site looked about as it had before Qianru and I had started. I’d never gotten a good explanation of exactly how she knew the chimeras would be coming out when they did. All of the holes caused by the escape of the chimera constructs and the sceanra anam had closed up within a day of the creatures leaving.
“So how did those creatures come out of the ground after thousands of years?” I poked at the dirt, but it was as smooth as if it had never been disturbed.
Covey came over. “That’s where the sceanra anam came from, right?” She shook her head. “There’s almost no information on them. The elves had fables and stories, but nothing officially recorded.”
Padraig joined us. He left Alric to stage our dig area. Probably a good idea, as he knew as much or more as me about relic hunting. His way might be a bit quicker than standard digger protocol anyway.
“They were nothing more than children’s tales, but they clearly were based on stories from the Ancients.” He dropped down next to me to poke at the dirt himself. “The sceanra anam are elemental magic, like the faeries. They followed the chimeras into dormancy is my guess. Supposedly a nasty mage from the time of the Ancients created them—the faeries and the chimera constructs were their enemies.”
“So they were made after the chimeras? Were the faeries made?” That was a disturbing thought.
He let some dirt run through his fingers, then shook his head. “I believe the chimeras were created after the sceanra anam—to fight them. And no, the faeries came about the same way any of us did—unassisted. As a species, they’ve been around since the Ancients’ time.”
“According to the girls—they were around since before then, way before then in fact.” I wasn’t sure how I felt about my little flying wackos being the oldest creatures on the planet. It really said something about the way this world came about. Might be a good question for Amara. As a goddess, she should have some insight regarding how the world came into being.
Padraig looked thoughtful at that, and then shrugged. “It’s hard to say. Elemental creatures function differently than us mortals. But however long they’ve been around, it is interesting that the chimeras went into dormancy, the sceanra anam did as well, but the faeries did not.”
“I think this is going to be the best spot to start. Do we want to move most of our supplies into my cave first?” Alric had gone into a clump of young gapen trees. He’d been right; with the tree and other plant growth there, the site had never been torn up by diggers.
Covey added a few items to his ‘use now’ collection; I just brought out my favorite pick axe and trowel set.
“Unless you want anything else?” Alric had grabbed the packs and looked toward Padraig who was standing near the sceanra anam hatching locations. Advantage of hanging out with someone perpetually sneaky, they were always prepared if things went bad fast. If we were discovered, only having a few things to take with us out of the area would be to our advantage.
“No, go ahead. I’ll use what you’ve taken out.” Padraig gave one last look to the spot, then shook his head and joined us.
Alric nodded and left with the packs, but Padraig was definitely doing some serious thinking.
“What’s wrong?” Covey asked as she worked her way through the tools before settling on a larger trowel.
“Just thinking of Taryn’s question. What caused them to come out of the ground? And why did they come out when they did? I do wish I’d paid more attention to Qianru, but to be honest, she might not have had much background on what she was looking for. It does appear that Jovan was using her to deflect attention from himself, and he might have had resources far beyond the rest of us.”
“If I had to guess, and you know my guesses are based on research, I’d say the activation of the glass gargoyle triggered it,” Covey said. “We’ve seen that something is calling things into play. Jovan must have known the gargoyle was the first piece. He came north afterwards.”
“We have a problem,” Alric said. He spoke before he came into the clearing, but was dragging something behind him.
It was a body. A dead-for-a-long-time body. There wasn’t much left of it; animals, as well as time, hadn’t been nice to it. However, the stature and clothing looked familiar.
“Is that Largen?” I had little love for the woman; magic wielding evil crime lords really didn’t make me feel warm and fuzzy.
“I cast a spell; yes, it’s her. She’s been dead since a week or so after we were taken by Flarinen.”
“Wait, so the one that’s been working with the mayor for the past few months has been a fake?” Not that it improved things much in my mind. Of course, it took a serious magic user to hold a glamour together well enough to appear as another person, so we might have gone from bad to worse.
“Yes, and I have no idea why.” Alric released the body. “Largen was as corrupt as they came. Yet someone out there has been mimicking her for the past few months.”
I rubbed my eyes. The last thing we needed was yet another weird mystery tied into these relics. Who could possibly care if it was a corrupt crime lord involved or someone else?
“Alric, when I first found you, Cirocco had a bounty out for you. I never knew what you’d done to piss off him or Largen so bad.” It was a jump and the events seemed like lifetimes ago. But my life had turned when Alric somehow pissed off two of the biggest crime lords in Beccia.
He’d been looking back at the body, probably to ready a spell to cover it, but turned back to me. “I’d been trying to track down the glass gargoyle.” He nodded his chin toward Padraig. “He and some of our other alchemists were certain it had been found. Cirocco had some va
luable elven relics…and both he and Largen were looking for a specific one. Something they were working on with someone from out of town,” he swore under his breath. “Probably the mayor of Kenithworth.”
“I know who those two are, but not much else,” Covey said.
“They are/were both mages,” Alric explained to Padraig. “Cirocco more so than Largen, but both strong enough to be dangerous. If they really were working with the mayor of Kenithworth, it explains how he knew of Taryn and her finds. But I’m not sure why whoever killed Largen wanted to keep the ruse up.”
Covey narrowed her eyes. “But Cirocco is a dwoller. It’s hard to fool them when it comes to things like the scent of blood. He’d realize Largen wasn’t really herself.”
“Unless there’s yet another player who is stronger,” Padraig said. He’d been watching us; obviously he’d never met Cirocco or Largen any more than he’d met the mayor of Kenithworth. However, he knew magic. “There are spells that can transform everything. Even the psychic feel of a person.”
Alric’s swearing resumed. “When they duplicated me in the enclave, when they attacked you. It was me in every sense to you, wasn’t it?”
“That was what destroyed me. Everything was you,” Padraig said.
“But didn’t we decide it had been Nivinal? And he’s dead, we hope, now.” I wasn’t sure how worried we should be if his mother didn’t actually kill him.
Padraig sighed and ran his hand threw his hair. “We weren’t certain. Nivinal had been our grand inquisitor since the enclave had been created. Obviously he was part of the Dark, but less obvious was his involvement in the attack on my study. The inquisitor had been in court that day. When I’d realized that it hadn’t been Alric who attacked me, and that Nivinal wasn’t who we thought, I did some checking.”
“But he could have sent a projection?” I wanted him to have been that bastard in that scenario, and I wanted him dead.
Alric shook his head this time. “It wouldn’t have worked in court, not with that many mages in the place.”
“So the attack was orchestrated by someone else who had that kind of power, and who was inside the enclave.” Covey put the pieces together.
I really didn’t like her thinking.
“I believe so. There is another hidden member of the Dark, someone stronger than the knights.” Alric finished his spell and the body of Largen vanished. “And they are here in Beccia.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
“And they are working in disguise to fool some Beccian crime lords by pretending to be one of them.” I shook my head. Maybe it was better not knowing the answers. Neither Largen nor Cirocco had been upstanding members of the Beccian community, but they also weren’t the type to want to rule the world. They just wanted their half to be exceptionally comfortable. Still, no one would lament Largen’s passing, except maybe the minions that were on her payroll.
“Or someone else,” Alric said. “I stalked both of them for a few weeks before they put that bounty on me and I never noticed anything about them and what they were doing.” He was clearly pissed about that.
“This is an issue, I will admit. But I think at this point we need to stick to the plan, get what we came for and get out of town,” Padraig said.
“That would be just fine, except that we don’t want you to leave just yet.” The voice came from behind me.
Bunky and Irving gronked in warning just as I heard a rapid-fire short crossbows lock in place behind me. “Go warn the others! Fly!” I knew my little mental trick only worked with the faeries, but I sent as strong of a mental image as I could of us being under attack and to warn the others as I could muster.
Bunky was the closest to us, he gave another gronk, and then spun around and flew off with Irving right on his tail.
“Well, that wasn’t a great idea. But we’ll be gone before anyone gets out here.”
I turned around slowly. I was pretty sure I recognized that voice. Unlike most of his kind, Cirocco didn’t have the dwoller lisp. But he was just as nasty as the rest of his people. And I had no doubt that his fangs could inflict the same damage. Dwollers were a mostly nocturnal species; tall, gaunt, pale, and fanged were their calling cards. They also fed off blood, and not always of animals. Most were at least partly mad, and while Cirocco wasn’t—he was still deadly.
Cirocco’s man was right behind me, his crossbow pointed at my gut. Even if my friends got away, I was a goner. Considering how close he was, even a spell might not work. If there was ever a time I needed to turn into something huge and scaly, with a tough hide, this was it.
Nothing. Of course, I had no idea if the spell that triggered it was even still inside me.
“Cirocco, you’re being fooled.” Alric’s voice was as calm as if they’d run into each other at a pub. “Largen isn’t who you think.”
“Alric, how in the hell are you still alive? I didn’t even recognize you.” Cirocco didn’t look surprised at Alric being an elf, but it hadn’t been a secret after the incident with the obsidian chimera.
“I’d say the same about you, the alive part anyway. You keep working with these damn syclarions and you’re going to find yourself in an alley in pieces.” Alric looked far more relaxed than anyone else did, including Cirocco. He had some sort of plan to get us free. I just wished I knew what it was.
“I had no idea Thaddeus was a syclarion, and to be honest, as long as it makes me money, I don’t care what they are.”
He had two more men beside the archer with him, ones I recognized as his enforcers. Only the archer was actively holding a weapon. Still aimed at my gut. If Alric could take the archer out, we might make it out of here alive.
“Even if they’re stealing from you and picking you off one at a time?” Alric gestured and Largen’s mangled body reappeared. “If you and she were working toward something, or working for someone, she’s been replaced. Months ago. And I’m pretty sure you didn’t give her, or whoever killed her, your watch.”
Watches weren’t common in Beccia and the few people who had them were the rich, powerful, and usually criminal. I hadn’t noticed the gold chain when Alric first dragged in the body, but I did now.
Cirocco started swearing and moved toward the body.
“Not until he drops his weapon and backs away.” Alric’s sword had appeared in his hand and against the archer’s throat so quickly that I didn’t even see him move.
“Do it,” Cirocco said. His eyes stayed on the body, focused on the chain that led into a pocket.
The archer lowered his weapon and took two steps back. Not near far enough in my mind, but I took three steps away as well. I might have also stepped partially behind Alric.
Alric lowered his sword, but didn’t sheathe it. “Be my guest. Not only has the person you’ve been working with the past few months been an impostor, but they are most likely a high-ranking mage who stole from you, slaughtered Largen, and will kill you too the moment you stop being useful.”
Cirocco pulled the watch out of Largen’s pocket, jerked free the chain, and handed it to one of his men. “Have it cleaned.” He turned back to Alric. “I am not working for anyone, they are working for me.”
Alric rocked back on one heel and smirked.
“If you have something to say, do so.”
“Do you want your men here? Are you sure?”
Cirocco’s eyes narrowed.
I was trying to figure out Alric’s plan. Maybe it was to trick Cirocco into sending away his people so we could overpower him. I kept my laugh inside my head. Right, even with Padraig and Covey included, Cirocco would destroy us. Just might take him a little longer. I had never been a huge fan of any of the crime lords, even though I sometimes ran bounties for them when it was that or me and the faeries being on the street. But Cirocco was more dangerous than the rest combined.
And right now he looked like he was making sure we remembered that.
“Go back to camp. Get someone working on that watch,” he said. “But say nothin
g. Don’t let anyone else see it, and tell no one what you’ve heard or seen here.”
His people faded into the trees silently. Which left him and Alric in the most epic stare down I had ever seen.
“You are being manipulated. I wasn’t sure if you were aware of it or if you were being duped.” Alric sheathed his sword, then folded his arms and smiled. “Your reaction tells me you had no clue. Someone has been manipulating the Beccian underworld for at least the past two years, possibly longer.”
“No one is manipulating me.” Cirocco’s words were solid but there was a tiny crack in his façade.
“This would be easier if I show you.” Alric spread his hands wide and a series of images appeared. At first I thought they were from him, and then I realized they were coming from the body before us.
Cirocco went from pissed to concerned to scared and back to pissed in the time it took for Covey and Padraig to step forward.
“How isss this true? How issss it no one noticed?” His control was vanishing. The dwoller lisp was coming into play and a redness was filling his eyes. Alric might have convinced Cirocco he’d been had, but there was a good chance we were going to die anyway. Rampaging dwollers had been known to kill dozens.
I wasn’t the only one who feared that. Padraig was next to me with his spirit sword in one hand and the other curved for a spell. Covey’s fingers were longer and claw-like and were clenching and unclenching. My sword finally decided to drop in again. But it was on the ground in front of me, and I wasn’t going to break this tableau to get it.
“Back off, fang thing!” Garbage yelled as she led a flight of faeries into the clearing. The clearthin glows picked them up as they passed through but it was hard to tell their numbers.
“No! Taryn, have them stay back,” Alric held up his hand but didn’t turn away from Cirocco. He had his sword back in his other hand, but didn’t seem near as disturbed as he should be, being that close to a potentially rampaging dwoller.
The Diamond Sphinx (The Lost Ancients Book 6) Page 15