Secrets of the Sword 2 (Death Before Dragons Book 8)

by Lindsay Buroker

  Zoltan put his sample on a slide to examine under his microscope.

  “Hey, Freysha, are you aware that some elf was sent to question my mother?”

  “I was not. Do you know who?”

  “Mom didn’t share his name, if he gave it to her. He told her he was investigating her as a precaution before Eireth comes for the wedding.” I watched Freysha’s face, concerned that she hadn’t known about this. Was it possible the elf had lied to my mother and had nothing to do with Eireth?

  I shivered, thinking of the elven assassin, but he’d given Zav his word—and accepted all that magical jewelry—that he wouldn’t bug me again.

  “That is possible,” Freysha said thoughtfully, studying the cracked cement floor. “When Father leaves his suite, he has more bodyguards now than typical. Even though he’s recovered from his illness, our people are concerned that someone will try again to harm him.”

  “Zav came back and explained to you what happened, right?” I hadn’t been to the elven world since my showdown with the assassin, but Zav had gone and told my father about the wedding.

  “Lord Zavryd did explain everything, including that the dragons Xilnethgarish and Quaresthee allowed themselves to be manipulated and used against their wills.”

  “Hm.” That didn’t paint Xilneth in the most flattering light, but I supposed it was better than having the elves believe he’d masterminded the plot. I had never met Quaresthee and had no feelings toward him, but I liked to think of Xilneth as an affable oaf and didn’t want to see him in trouble or ostracized over that fiasco.

  “Elves are wary,” Freysha said. “It will be some time before they relax their guard again. There are also some who… don’t trust you, because of your Earthen heritage. There’s been some speculation that this wedding might be a plot, designed to lure my father off Veleshna Var where he might be more easily assassinated.”

  “I’m not the one who invited him.”

  “Do not be too bitter. It is a small faction of elves who believe this. Others heard that you bested the infamous assassin Varlesh Sarrlevi in battle and are impressed. Still others, mostly of the female variety, are impressed that you got a dragon to claim you as his mate and find the idea of a wedding most romantic.”

  I twisted my lips into what I hoped was a suitably disturbed expression. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I liked it better when your people didn’t know I existed.”

  “But you are glad that your sister knows you exist, correct?” She touched her chest.

  “Yeah, you’re okay.” I thumped her on the shoulder. “Hey, will you teach me how to make fireballs?”

  Her mouth parted, but words didn’t come out. Maybe that hadn’t been the smoothest transition.

  My phone buzzed. It was after eleven, but Thad was calling. That gave me something new to be concerned about.

  “I’ll step outside to take this,” I said. “Freysha, make yourself comfortable if you’re staying. Your room is still the same.”

  “I saw that you have been watering the plants. This is excellent.”

  “I do the indoor ones, and Dimitri does the outdoor ones. We have a system of shared chores around the house.” I headed for the door, answering before the phone dropped to voice mail.

  “What does Lord Zavryd do?”

  “Topiaries.” I passed through the doors. “Hey, Thad. What’s up?”

  “There’s a boy in my house,” he said in a tight voice.

  “Like a burglar?” I glanced at the time again, making sure I’d read it right.

  “A new friend. Amber said you knew about it.”

  “Oh, the decoy boyfriend? He shouldn’t be anything to worry about.” I grinned, tickled that Amber had taken my advice.

  “I’ve told her he has to leave three times now, but she keeps saying they have homework they have to finish. It’s Friday night, Val.”

  “Is it?” I’d lost track of days of the week. “Can’t you be firm and put your foot down?”

  “I never had to before. Amber is a good student, and she’s so busy with swim team that she never had a… a… social life before.”

  Social life, I gathered, referred to boys.

  “You can do it,” I said. “You were in the army. I have confidence that you can get firm with a couple of teenagers.”

  “Do you?”

  “Sure. Don’t you have any baseball bats or other large sports sticks that you can wave around menacingly?” I knew he didn’t keep weapons, but hadn’t he played softball one summer?

  “I have a reproduction cannon, but it’s only eight inches long, and I’d be loath to take it off my Warhammer game board.”

  “Leave it. Your painted miniatures aren’t going to scare teenage boys.” I rubbed my eyes. It had been a long day. “Do you want me to come up there and poke him with my sword?”

  “No.” Thad sighed. Wistfully? “Sword-poking is a criminal offense.”

  “And menacing someone with a reproduction cannon isn’t?”

  “Not a small one, no. Never mind. I just wanted to rant.”

  “That’s allowed.” I bit my lip, feeling guilty once again that I wasn’t around more. Should I offer to let him send Amber to my house for teenager vacations now and then? So he could have alone time with Nin and a break from sarcasm? The only problem was that he’d been at my house during one of the numerous attacks, and he didn’t even think it was safe enough for Amber to visit for sword lessons.

  “Thanks.”

  “How’re things going with Nin?”

  His voice turned shy and smugly happy. “Good.”

  “I’m glad. Look, just let me know if you need me to come up and menace the decoy boyfriend.”

  “Are you sure it’s a decoy?”

  “If it’s not, things escalated from I’m-not-into-boys to dating-boys quickly.”

  “I think that’s how it happens with teenagers. Okay, I’m going to get my cannon. Night, Val.”

  He hung up before I could decide if that had been a joke. I hoped so.

  At your leisure, dear robber, a text came in from Zoltan.

  You have something? I texted back before feeling silly because I could walk back inside.

  “I have a great many things,” Zoltan replied aloud as I entered the basement.

  Freysha, who’d stayed inside, nodded at me.

  “I’ll trust that you will pay my consulting fee and that I need not withhold information,” Zoltan said.

  “Thanks so much.” I looked at Freysha. “I guess giving him a stellar and rare ingredient wasn’t enough of a payment.”

  “I haven’t yet determined if that supposed wraith bone will work in my recipe. But I have determined that the two owners of those bones did not originate on Earth.”

  “Okay.” I would have been more surprised if they had. “Anything else?”

  “Do not rush me, dear robber.” Zoltan straightened his bow tie. “I have also determined that they came from the same world, sharing the DNA that is common, according to my texts—” he waved to books that weren’t written in English, or any other Earth-based language, “—in beings from the reputedly haunted world of Nagnortha.”

  “Is it odd that I encountered them on different worlds?”

  “I cannot answer that question, other than to suggest that perhaps someone borrowed them from their home world. You may leave now. I must upload my video. I’ll invoice you in the morning.”

  “Can’t wait,” I muttered, heading for the door again.

  Freysha followed me outside.

  “You know who I’d really like to talk to?” I asked.

  “Lord Zavryd?”

  “He’s helping heal Sindari. I’d really like to talk to that thief. She’s the one who put the box in the artifacts room, and I can’t help but wonder if she’s the one who sent those flying creatures after us.”

  “Perhaps if you wander around the city,” Freysha said, “she will approach you again.”

  “By approach me, you mean set
a cunning trap to ensnare me?”

  “Yes. If you allow yourself to be trapped, I am certain you will get the opportunity to speak with her.”

  While she had me chained and was walking away with Chopper, right. “I would rather trap her and control the conversation.”

  “How are you going to do that?”

  “I’ll let you know when I figure it out.”

  14

  Before dawn, I woke to a faint gonging in the house. One of Dimitri’s alarms going off. Or was that one of Zav’s? I couldn’t remember, but nobody visited at this hour for any good reason.

  After rolling out of bed, I stuffed my feet into my boots and grabbed Chopper. My window had a view of both streets leading to our corner as well as the sidewalks. A figure in a dark trench coat stood on the strip of grass on the other side of the sidewalk, looking toward one of the dragon topiaries. Its eyes glowed at him. It was too dark to make out his face or tell if smoke was curling up from the topiary’s snout, a sign that it had sent one of its warning gouts of fire at the intruder.

  Whoever it was didn’t have magical blood, not that I could sense, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t trouble. Unfortunately, Zav hadn’t returned during the night. That wasn’t that atypical—it usually took him a while to travel to and from his home world and find the various dragons there—but I worried about Sindari. By now, the magic that let him travel outside of his realm would have run out for the day, forcing him to return. Had Zav found a dragon willing to heal him before that happened? Since Zav had my charm, I had no way to check on Sindari.

  As I jogged down the stairs, I almost crashed into Dimitri coming out of his room on the first floor. He carried a wrench.

  “Prepared to defend us from home invaders?” I waved at it.

  “If necessary. I don’t think you should mock me when you’re wearing combat boots with a… is that a Lord of the Rings nightgown?”

  “It’s The Hobbit, thank you, and it has Smaug on it. I thought it would amuse Zav.”

  “Does it?”

  “It amuses him to take it off me.”

  Dimitri curled a lip. “That’s an even more disturbing image than the boots.”

  “Maybe it’ll scare off our snoop.”

  “There is someone out there then?” Dimitri asked as we headed to the living room window and peeled the curtains open a few inches.

  “Yup. That sketchy burglar is scoping out the premises.”

  Too bad it wasn’t the thief I wanted to catch. Mr. Trenchcoat had advanced to the sidewalk and moved farther from the topiaries. He was studying the front door and didn’t seem to have noticed our noses pressed to the living room window yet.

  A car was parked a couple of houses away, the headlights on and someone sitting in the driver’s seat. Were those the roof lights of a police car?

  Dimitri groaned. “It’s that detective that came to the shop.”

  “He’s stalking you where you live?”

  “Stalking or maybe he gathered the evidence that he needs to arrest me.”

  “Maybe he just came to see if we have one of the door knockers on the house.”

  We did. Dimitri had recently installed a green one on the front door, even though I’d suggested that the topiaries were sufficient. Zav had also installed numerous alarms around the property lines, including an invisible dome-shaped barrier that automatically flared to life if magical winged creatures flew into the area or an unfamiliar full-blooded magical being attempted to walk onto the property. The assassin had destroyed a few of the defenses when he’d attacked, but Zav had since restored everything.

  The detective straightened his back and took a bracing breath.

  “He’s coming up,” Dimitri said.

  I reached over and rested my hand on an orange ball-shaped salt lamp that Zav had altered to work as the controller for the defenses. As soon as the detective took a step onto the walkway, he ran into the invisible barrier and stumbled backward.

  “No, he’s not,” I said cheerfully, as the detective patted the air in confusion.

  Dimitri shook his head, looking glum instead of cheerful. “I’m going to get in more trouble for resisting arrest.”

  “How are you resisting arrest? He hasn’t made it to the door to read you your rights. And he won’t.”

  “I can’t stay in the house forever.”

  “No, but you can call Tam and ask her if she can handle the shop today. Get Inga to come in and back her up if there’s trouble. Did you talk to that baker yet? The only way to make this problem go away is to figure out what actually happened—and prove it to the police.”

  “I went to her house, but she didn’t let me in.”

  “Was she home?”

  “Yeah. When I knocked, the curtains moved, and I saw her peeking out, but then she closed them and refused to answer.”

  “That’s suspicious then. She doesn’t want to talk to you.”

  “She may be afraid I’ll threaten her because she threw me to the wolves by telling the police all about my door knocker.”

  “Maybe, but she may also be lying about what happened with the door knocker and her friend.”

  Dimitri regarded me. “Do you actually think my door knocker is innocent? I mean, that nothing went wrong? I don’t see how it could have—Inga has been enchanting them, and she’s way better than I am—but it’s possible something could have gone wrong…”

  “None of the stuff you make is deadly. Your most dangerous contraption hurls thorns into burglars’ butts. I have faith that your door knockers are innocuous, except perhaps to poofy eyebrow hair.”

  He snorted. “Thanks. It means something that you don’t think my stuff is junk that doesn’t work right.”

  I thumped him on the back and thought about going back to bed. Since the barrier extended all around the house, the detective wouldn’t get in. The driver of the police car had turned off the lights, gotten out, and joined him. They were patting their way along the front of the property, trying to find a hole in the barrier. One strayed too close to the corner topiary, and its eyes flared yellow, and fire streamed out of its snout.

  The guy cursed and leaped back. Flames danced along the hem of his jacket, and he patted at it, then flung himself onto the grass on the other side of the sidewalk and rolled about.

  “Zav’s stuff, on the other hand, I trust less not to turn deadly.” I shook my head.

  “I shouldn’t be amused by that, right?” Dimitri pointed at the guy as he finished rolling, climbed to his feet, and patted at the charred fabric again.

  “No, that would be immature.”

  “I thought so. I just wanted to make sure.”

  The detective made sure his partner was all right, then held up a hand and jogged down the sidewalk.

  “He’s going to try the back,” Dimitri guessed.

  “He won’t get in. You’re safe as long as you stay here.”

  “What if they stake out the house, and I’m stuck here forever?”

  “Maybe you can ask Nin to talk to the baker. Has she ever met Nin? If not, she might answer the door for her.”

  “That’s a good idea. Do you think she’ll mind doing my dirty work?”

  “Questioning suspicious people who are trying to get you thrown in jail isn’t dirty work. It’s smart work. Besides, she won’t want the majority owner of our business to be arrested. Who would run the shop and make the dragon door knockers if you were in jail?”

  “Inga could.”

  “She’s not an owner, and she’s busy raising a rowdy troll boy.”

  “True.”

  My phone buzzed. “Call her before she goes to the food truck for the day,” I suggested, then wandered back to the kitchen and peered out the back window as I answered the phone. “What’s going on, Mom?”

  I almost asked what prompted her to call this early, but she was usually up by five, even this time of year when it was dark until seven. The detective had forced his way through the neighbor’s privacy bamboo,
climbed our fence, perched atop it, and was trying to jump down. But the barrier bounced him back over the fence and into the bamboo. The tall stalks rattled and shed leaves as he tumbled down out of sight.

  Even though I’d told Dimitri being amused was immature, I might have smirked.

  “Is there anyone stalking you who might have an interest in me again?” Mom asked.

  My smirk vanished. “It’s possible. Why? Did someone come to your house?”

  I envisioned Dimitri’s police showing up there to question her, but she wasn’t tied in any way to the door knockers or the shop, except vaguely by being related to me. What if my thief had been there? It was probably too late to set a trap.

  “I’m not sure, but Rocket started barking at around four this morning. He was positive something was out back. I never saw anyone, but I did hear a clattering at one point, and he went on for a good fifteen minutes. I didn’t let him out. I was worried it might be someone with a gun. I was also worried the elves were spying on me and that they would have unfavorable things to say to Eireth if I sicced Rocket on them.”

  “Sicced Rocket? Mom, your dog runs up and leans on strangers’ legs. That’s not siccing.”

  “He would do more than that if someone was threatening me.”

  “Knock them over and stand on their chests while wagging everything?”

  “I called you for advice,” Mom said tartly, “not to mock my dog.”

  “Sorry. I’m just pointing out his affable good nature.”

  “I haven’t gone out to look for tracks. It’s not light enough yet. I just wanted to see if I should take more than my Glock when I go.”

  “What more do you have? No, wait. I don’t want to know. Stay inside, and I’ll come over to help you look around. Maybe Dimitri has a few of his defenses that I can bring over to install around your yard.”

  “I’ve seen his yard art, Val. It’s hideous. I allowed it when he was paying rent because I didn’t want to hurt his feelings.”

  “It’s not just decorative. It’s useful. Right now, I’m watching a barrier knock an intruder off our fence and into the neighbor’s aggressively growing bamboo. Oh, wait. Now he’s moved to the other neighbor’s yard, and, yes, he was just dumped into the rose garden. I hope the thorns tear his pants off.”