Lament (Scars of the Sundering Book 2) (29 page)

“However, you are still my
student during this time, so you will work for this leniency. Go to the
library.” Master Renata leaned in close and lowered her voice. “Study the
Rose
Concordat
, Novice. You will find answers there you are unaware you seek.”

The university library was a
place in which Delilah wanted to spend time but had yet been given the
opportunity. She bit her lip to keep a smile from her face and bowed again,
even though in her heart, she felt she could jump up and fly from the room. She
bowed a third time and climbed the stairs of the aisle, nodding to a beaming
Katka as she passed.

“Now then, let us continue with
today’s tests. Novice Aleks, please come down here.”

Master Renata’s apprentice, a
young woman with whom Delilah was not acquainted, though she’d seen the woman
within the university, stopped the drak sorceress before she left the hall.
“You’ll need this”—she handed Delilah a small scroll—“in case anyone asks why
you’re not in your designated class.”

Delilah unrolled the paper. It
was a note penned in the precise hand of Master Renata explaining that Novice
Delilah was conducting research for her and should be allowed full access to
the library and university grounds.

The drak sorceress grinned and
nodded in gratitude to the apprentice.
Things are looking up, Deli-girl!

Chapter 16

Warmer days didn’t make riding in
the rain any better. Gisella was glad for the rain pinging off her helmet and
armor, making it almost impossible to hear Edric’s complaints about being wet.
Distant thunder added to the cacophony.

The rain did little to dampen
Qaliah’s spirits, but Edric’s grumbling and his ignoring her jibes did. The
fiendling rode next to Gisella, both of them following Pancras and Edric. Where
bare earth was visible, it became redder and redder the farther east they traveled.
Soon, they would approach Curton, a town once famous for its copper mines, now
barely known for its red-clay mud and pottery.

A spur off the road led to
Curton. Gisella considered diverting there to spend a few days in a proper inn
and to give Edric and Qaliah a chance to leave the party. A week’s journey
would complete the final push from Curton to Cliffport, and once there, she and
Pancras planned to board the first ship to Vlorey.

With luck, they would arrive in
Vlorey before the Dusk of Autumn Festival.

“This damned rain.” Qaliah gazed
toward the sky and shook her fist at the heavens. “Damn you, Nethuns! You’re
supposed to keep your water in the oceans and rivers.”

“Once we’re on the sea heading
toward Vlorey, you’d best keep a tight rein on your blasphemies.” Gisella
chuckled as Qaliah wiped the rainwater out of her eyes.

“The gods aren’t going to listen
to me.” Qaliah pulled her hood up and slumped in her saddle. “We’re all thieves
and liars, don’t you know?”

Gisella was well aware of the
reputation fiendlings suffered, particularly in the south. The fewer of them
there were in an area, the less people thought of them. Most of the fiendlings
Gisella encountered were thieves out of necessity; stealing was preferable to
dying of starvation because no one would hire them.

“You’re only saying that because
you’re wet and miserable.” Diverting to Curton sounded better and better the
more she thought about it.

“And you’re not?” Qaliah’s
sidelong glance at Gisella revealed her opinion on the matter.

“I didn’t say I wasn’t. It’s
coloring your perceptions.” Gisella saw hope in the distance, a break in the
clouds. Even where they stood, the sky was lighter than it had been all
morning. The sun threatened to break through and end the miserable rain.

“My per… ceptions are the same
damn color they’ve been since you kicked my naked ass out of bed back in Rock
Ridge.”

Gisella cringed. Until now,
Qaliah kept any resentment she had about that particular situation well-hidden.
“I wish we could move beyond that. While I acknowledge you’re very attractive,
I prefer more masculine company.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Qaliah slowed her
horse and allowed Edric and Pancras to increase their lead. She maneuvered
Comet closer to Moonsilver and reached over to touch Gisella’s arm. “Sorry.”

“No need to apologize.” Gisella
squeezed Qaliah’s hand. “You didn’t know my preferences until you asked. It was
unfortunate everything turned out so awkward.”

“Not about that.” Qaliah shook
her head and moved their horses apart when Moonsilver nipped at Comet. “The
outburst. I’m in a bad mood because Edric is so grumpy. There’s no hard
feelings. You like men? Fine, me too. I have no problem with that. My mouth
runs, you know. I’m sorry.”

A crack of thunder drowned out
Gisella’s reply. She waited until the reverberations faded. “Quite all right.
Perhaps we’ll divert to Curton for a day or two to dry out and enjoy real beds.
We should be only a few days out now.”

“A bed? What’s that?” Qaliah
grinned and spurred Comet to catch up to Edric and Pancras. “Hey, this crazy
woman is talking about roofs over our head and beds. Do either of you have any
idea what she’s talking about?”

Gisella laughed and shook her
head. If nothing else, this motley collection of travelers was entertaining.

* * *

Kale realized something was amiss
when he and Kali returned from their ride around the city. The street their
home was on was usually deserted, but somehow, it seemed even more so. He drew
his daggers as he approached the door and cursed himself for not cleaning the
front window better. The encrusted dirt created a diffuse light inside but made
viewing what was beyond the glass, in either direction, impossible.

“All right, killer. Put the
pig-stickers away, I didn’t break into your house.”

The drak spun toward the voice. A
minotaur stepped out of the shadowed alleyway where Kale and Kali confronted
the drak earlier in the day. The sunlight made his black fur appear streaked
with grey in spots, and the light reflected off his metallic right hand.

“I’m not a burglar.”

“You must be Boss Steelhand.”
Kale neither lowered his daggers nor relaxed his stance. The minotaur stood at
least twice as tall as he, but he wouldn’t be the first minotaur Kale fought
and beat.

“And you really have stripes.
Huh.” Boss Steelhand sniffed and nodded in appreciation. “I figured it was war
paint or something when they told me. No wonder everyone is up in arms.”

“What do you and your thugs
want?” Kali stepped across the street, brandishing her dagger. She was careful
to not cross directly in front of Kale. If the minotaur decided to attack, he’d
have to make a choice.

“Right now? I just want to talk.”
The minotaur gestured toward Kale and Kali’s home. “Why don’t we step out of
the street and have a civilized conversation, huh? I can see you two aren’t
stupid, and you’ve obviously fought at each other’s sides before. But I’m not
stupid either. You don’t think I came alone?”

Kale felt a shiver run down his
spine. He saw no one accompanying the minotaur and assumed he actually did come
alone. He lowered his weapons. “Fine. You can come in, but just you.”

Boss Steelhand held up his hands.
“That suits me.”

Kali kept her blade at the ready.
“Don’t get any funny ideas.”

“I hear you got a sister, but
this one”—Boss Steelhand jerked his head toward Kali—“don’t have any stripes,
so I’m guessing she’s your mate?”

Kale grunted a non-committal
reply as he unlocked the door and ushered everyone inside. Boss Steelhand
hunched over to avoid gouging the low ceiling with his horns. Kale checked the
alley and street, but he did not notice anyone else who appeared to be
interested in the events unfolding in their shop. The only person he saw was
the potato-pushing minotaur at the far end of the street.

He shut the door behind them and
locked it. The storefront still didn’t have any furniture, just bare walls, the
shop counter, empty shelves, and the hallway leading back to the living
quarters. Kali positioned herself between Boss Steelhand and the back of the
building.

Boss Steelhand leaned against the
counter. “Cleaning this place up must have been a lot of work. I’m impressed.”

Kale sheathed one dagger, but he
continued to hold the other one. “My mate asked you a question. Time to
answer.”

“Folks think I run the
undercity.” Boss Steelhand picked his fingernails. “It’s not true. The
undercity is part of Muncifer, and the Council of Lords run Muncifer. They make
the laws, they control the guards. But, most minotaurs and draks were pushed
down here years ago, and someone has to watch out for them.”

Kali scoffed. “I suppose that’s
you?”

“Sometimes.” Boss Steelhand
shrugged. “I gotta earn a living, you know? I hear about someone setting up
shop, claiming to be the savior of the draks, the one who will deliver them,
from what? I don’t know. I need to check it out.”

“I’m not here to deliver anyone
from anything!”

“If you’re here to set up shop,
you gotta give me my due. Plus, a lot of the merchants down here pay good money
to make sure they’re the only game in town.” The minotaur looked around and
chuckled. “It looks like you’re just selling air though, which any fool can get
for free.”

Kale paced the floor as the
minotaur ranted. “I’m killing time until my sister finishes her business with
the Arcane University. Then we’re leaving. Probably going back home to
Drak-Anor.” Kale didn’t feel it necessary to go into all the details about
Pancras and possibly going to Vlorey instead of Drak-Anor.

“Your sister, yeah.” Boss
Steelhand stroked his chin with his flesh hand. “The one who’s been going
through the undercity handing out blessings like candy. Telling everyone she’s
this great and powerful sorceress.”

A glare flashed across Kali’s
face, but she masked it before Boss Steelhand noticed. Kale rubbed his snout.
“She is a sorceress. She brags. We have stripes, so what? Prophecies aren’t
real.” Kale wanted to throttle his sister. In her absence, he settled for
grabbing one of the brooms and throwing it to the floor.

“Everything was going real smooth
until you two showed up.” Boss Steelhand pointed at Kale. “Now you, I hear
you’ve been trying to lay low. I can appreciate that. Your sister needs to stop
riling up the draks. They don’t need the agitation.”

“Can you blame them?” Kali put
her hands on her hips. “Being forced to live down here where all the scum from
the upper city washes down whenever it rains.”

Boss Steelhand spun on Kali. “You
don’t know anything about it, sister. The fact is, the draks are down here for
their own protection. Out of sight, out of mind and all that.”

Kale rubbed his temple. “What are
you talking about? Protection from who? You?”

“Ha!” The minotaur threw back his
head and laughed. “No. Don’t get involved in city politics, little draks.
You’ll be happier. You just tell your sister to stop stirring the pot.”

Kale threw up his hands. “I
can’t! I can’t enter the Arcane University to tell her, and I don’t know when
she’s able to come out for a visit. By the time she’s here, she’s already given
out hundreds of her ‘blessings.’ I don’t get what the big deal is; she’s just
talking. It’s not like she’s using magic charms”

“Can’t get in, eh?” Boss
Steelhand stroked his chin as he chewed on his lip. “All right. I believe you.
Do you know why?” He didn’t wait for Kale to answer. “Because you’re going to
do some work for me. I can get you in the Arcane University.”

Kale ignored Kali’s shaking head
and sighed. “What do you want me to do?”

“It’s a simple job.” Boss
Steelhand reached across the small room, put his hand on Kale’s shoulder, and
pulled him close. The steel hand of the minotaur gripped like a vise. “You take
a package and deliver it to the Arcane University. You’ll receive a pass to go
in. Drop it off, and you take your time leaving again. They’re not going to
worry about a courier wandering around as long as you don’t go poking your
snout into every laboratory and library.”

Boss Steelhand’s job did sound
easy.
How bad can carrying a package be?
Courier work was one of the
jobs he’d discussed with Kali earlier.

“He’s not going to smuggle your
stolen goods for you!” Kali pulled Kale away from the minotaur. Her dagger was
still free of its sheath but not quite pointed at the minotaur.

The minotaur placed his hand on
his chest and took a step back. “I have legitimate business with some of the
guild mages. We don’t smuggle anything into there they don’t want.”

Kale noticed it was not a
refutation of the smuggling claim. He glanced at Kali. Her eyes smoldered. He
didn’t have much of a choice. He didn’t want trouble with Boss Steelhand or his
thugs, he didn’t want to pay protection money for any reason, and he needed to
meet with his sister and convince her to stop her grandstanding.

The drak slumped his shoulders
and nodded. “Fine. I’ll deliver your package.”

* * *

“What are you doing here? Don’t
you have classes?” Seneschal Lyov looked up from the tome he was examining.

Delilah handed him the note. “I’m
doing a special project for Master Renata.”

He glanced at the note and
returned it to Delilah. “Fine. Do you see this?” He held up the book sitting on
the table in front of him. “This means ‘do not disturb.’ Understand?”

“Yes.” Delilah left him to his
studies and gazed in wonder at the floor-to-ceiling shelving filled with books,
codices, and scrolls. The ceilings were twice as tall as Pancras, and each row
of shelves had a rolling ladder on rails to aid wizards in reaching books on
the upper shelves.

The library was arranged in
sections, each in its own room. Texts dedicated to natural sciences like
biology, anatomy, and geology were organized into their own section, as were
metaphysical texts like those concerned with alternate planes of reality,
portals to the fae realm, or treatises on the gods. History books, law books,
and tomes on magical theory were all organized in separate sections. Delilah
even noticed books of poetry and lore.

Where would the
Rose
Concordat
be?
Delilah started with the law section. The
Rose
Concordat
contained the rules by which the Mage’s Guild was organized, but
she knew little of what else might be contained therein. She almost stepped
onto a man flipping through a publication while seated on the floor.