Victory and Defeat: Book Five of the Restoration Series (15 page)

“Doubtful,” Dagan said. “Olliston didn’t get to be old by being a fool. He had to suspect that you would love to get him in your dungeon. I cannot imagine that he will leave the safety of the temple
. The damn thing’s a fortress.”

“Tell me,” Cassandra said suddenly, “what will be made of your sudden visit to Prince Danal’s rooms? Will the
church find out?”

Darion snorted
. “I imagine they already know. There are three main spies that I have allowed to remain in the castle. Angaria, of course — couldn’t really get rid of him. Also, one of my manservants and a maid that the church managed to get close to me. Without a doubt the church has been told that I came here in a rage, but they don’t know why.”

“They don’t know why, but they will want to know very badly. Correct?” Agminion asked.

“Yes,” Darion answered perplexed. “And what of it?”

“Why don’t we wait until tomorrow and then you can tell your son
, Aldon the reason for your rushed visit. You know, keep up the lie that the librarian is pregnant. Aldon will tell the countess and then we can . . . ” he trailed off, not sure exactly what they could do.

“Hmh,” Dagan said thoughtfully, “at the very least we can follow her. Perhaps if we took her and Angaria we could throw both of them in your dungeon. Perhaps your jailors could persuade one o
f them to help us get to Olliston.”

Cassandra shook her head. “No, we need something more than that.” She glanced around at the others. “We need something to get Olliston excited, maybe he’ll make a mistake in his eagerness.”

“Do you have something in mind?” the king asked.

Cassandra smiled as a plan began to take form.

Chapter
15

Mikela rolled over in bed and glanced toward the opposite side of the room. She could see well in the darkness, the light of the moon provided more than enough light. Heather’s bed was empty. For the briefest of moments, she thought Heather was in Enton’s room, but she quickly dismissed that idea. Those two had been cool toward each other, and with the extremely thin walls, she could hear Enton’s deep, reverberating snores. She suspected that if Heather was over there she would have long ago strangled the oaf.

She glanced again at Heather’s empty bed. She felt the first bit of worry creep up within her. Heather had gone to the common room for a drink, but that was right before Mikela had come to bed. She couldn’t imagine where she might be now. Surely Heather wasn’t still drinking. That thought caused another bit of worry to pop up. Drunk
en men in Elem had a tendency to disappear, and she wondered momentarily if that also happened to drunk women.

A shiver ran down Mikela’s back and she sat up in bed. Even though she could so clearly see that she was alone,
it felt like someone else was in the room with her.

“Il-lum,” Mikela said, causing a small ball of light to appear in the air beside her.

In an instant the room was ablaze with light. Momentarily blinded, Mikela twisted this way and that, trying to reassure herself that she was in fact alone. The problem was, that she was not alone. Two eyes blinked at her from under Heather’s bed.

Mikela gasped and just did refrain from screaming. The creature was the size of a large cat or maybe a small dog, but no dog or cat that she had ever seen had ever been so hideous.

The small, gray monster jumped from under the bed and made deep growling noises. It twisted its face side to side, showing small, wicked-looking teeth and an usually long tongue.

Ziteul was enjoying the fear he could so clearly see in the magician’s eyes. Master Flare had sent him with a message, and since the master had not given him specific instructions about how to behave, he felt free to try and scare the woman half to death before he delivered the message. He grinned at his own craftiness. He was still grinning when the first blow landed. The first blow hurt, the second blow nearly addled his brains, and by the third, the imp squealed and dove back under the empty bed.

Mikela paused, holding the wooden staff up and ready to swing again. The creature was back under Heather’s bed. She had gotten a good view of the beast, and she was quite sure that she had never seen anything like it before.

“Don’t hurt Ziteul! Don’t hurt Ziteul,” a deep raspy voice cried from under the bed.

Mikela stepped back away from the bed and looked underneath it. The gray creature was against the wall, holding its head.

Its eyes met hers
, and it cried again, “Don’t hurt Ziteul!”

She nearly dropped the staff in surprise. “You can talk!” she said in astonishment.

Ziteul growled, showing its tiny, sharp teeth. “Of course I can talk. Why did you attack me?”

“Attack you?” Mikela repeated amazed. “I attacked you because I thought you were attacking me. Why did you growl and charge out from under the bed like that?”

Ziteul didn’t answer right away as he thought furiously of a reasonable lie.

“Well?” Mikela demanded.

She moved the end of the staff toward the bed, like she was going to ram it under, and Ziteul decided to talk.

“Because I wanted to scare you! The master didn’t say I couldn’t.”

“Scare me?” Mikela repeated all the more confused. “Why? And who’s your master?”

“I wanted to scare you because I hate being a wizard’s slave. I hate it! I hate it!” Ziteul paused only long enough to take a breath
. “And my master’s name if Flare. He said you knew him.”

“Flare sent you?” Mikela said, and immediately the answer dawned on her. “You’re a demon. Aren’t you?”

A smile spread across Ziteul’s face; it seemed to show every tooth in the imp’s head. “Of course I am.”

Mikela nodded. “Al
l right, what was Flare’s message to me?”

Ziteul glanced to where the end of the staff still pointed at him, then he chose to ignore it. He sat up as straight as he could under the bed and tried to regain a bit of dignity. “He said to tell you that some of Zalustus’
s lieutenants are in Elem. He’s watching two now. He wants you to come with me.”

Mikela regarded the imp with suspicion. As far as she knew
, Flare was the only one who was capable of summoning a demon, so she doubted this was a trap, but then again, the demon hardly seemed trustworthy. “And he sent you for me?”

“You, two fighters named Heather and Enton, and a dwarf. Any of you
, or all of you.”

“Why should I go?” Mikela asked.

Ziteul blinked up at the woman in confusion. “Why? Because the master demands it, that’s why.”

“I don’t trust you,” Mikela said quietly.

Ziteul’s eyes went wide for a moment and then he snarled at her, showing all his teeth. “I do not care if you trust me! I’ve done as I was told, and I can tell it to the master.” His snarl disappeared, and he regarded the staff again and his eyes narrowed. “Please do not hit me again.”

For a moment, Mikela had the unmistakable impression that this imp was a child. She hesitated, nodded, and withdrew the staff. The demon began to crawl out from under the bed. She made a quick decision. “I’ll come with you.”

It took only moments for Mikela to get dressed and grab some reagents; she wasn’t sure what Flare had in mind but she wanted to be prepared.

She put
on her long oiled cloak on before she left her room. It was necessary so as to be able to hide the imp. She resisted the urge to laugh at the thought of a long gray tail poking out from under her cloak.

They
moved down the stairs, and she paused long enough to look into the common room. Relief flooded through her at the sight of Heather listening forlornly to the musician as he played a soft heart-wrenching tune. She considered bringing Heather along but decided against it. The woman had obviously been drinking and might cause problems.

She backed out of the common room entrance and exited through the inn’s front door. The night was fairly quiet, with only an occasional eruption of noise coming from the direction of the docks.

The rain had stopped falling but a thick mist kept everything wet. A steady breeze was blowing off the bay and the wind actually made the temperature comfortable.

Ziteul shifted around so that his body was on her left side. His head was nestled between her left arm and breast. “Go west to just past the candle maker’s shop and then turn south.”

Being very careful, and trying to look every direction at once, Mikela slowly obeyed.

It took her half an hour to follow Ziteul’s directions to a dark and narrow alley. As soon as they turned the corner, the imp jumped down and scurried forward into the darkness.

Suspicious again, Mikela slowly followed the imp forward. She couldn’t see Ziteul or anything else, but she resisted conjuring a ball of light; the light would have only alerted anyone and everyone to her whereabouts.

She took several more steps forward and froze as a form materialized in front of her. The shape was dark and eerie, and Mikela took two quick steps back; her left hand dropped to the hilt of her belt knife. But then the form stepped from some of the darker shadows and faded into the unmistakable outline of Flare.

Mikela sighed deeply and her whole body slumped. “Flare,” she began
, but stopped as he held a finger to his lips.

Flare stepped close to Mikela and said in a very low voice
, “Not too loud. I don’t want them to know we’re here.”

Mikela nodded and whispered back, “Where are they?”

“Across the street, hidden behind some crates,” Flare answered. “I know the swordsman was at Mul-Dune, but his companion looks like a kid.” He took her by the hand and led her forward.

He walked slowly
, as the alley was small and piled with garbage. It was a good thing, because Mikela couldn’t see anything in the pitch blackness. He led her to the front of the alley and pulled her down behind some stacked barrels. The light was only slightly better at the front of the alley, but it was enough to at least some outlines. There was a small gap between two of the barrels and he pointed at it.

“Look th
rough there,” he said. “They’re behind some crates next to the alley across from the inn.”

Mikela peered through the small opening until she located the crates across the street. She stared for several long moments, but couldn’t see any persons. She turned from the gap and very quietly asked, “Are they still there? I can’t see anything but the crates.”

“They’re there,” Flare answered. “They’re just hidden very well.”

“Al
l right,” Mikela said after a moment, “what do we do?”

“I want you to stay here and watch them. I’m going to get some dry clothes on and then I’ll be back.”

“Watch them?” Mikela asked. “How? I can’t even see them.”

Flare nodded
. “You’ll be able to see them once they move. Don’t worry.”

“What do I do if they move or leave?”

“Send Ziteul to find me,” Flare answered. “It’ll be light soon, and I won’t be gone long.”

Flare moved slowly and quietly for the first several blocks and then he picked up his pace. He considered using sorcery to see if there were any other watchers around, but he was afraid that Zalustus might have a sorcerer with him, and he didn’t want to alert the enemy to his presence. He kept the hood on his cloak pulled up and he hurried through the fog.

The streets were empty and
he reached the inn quickly. A servant always slept in the front foyer, and he didn’t want his comings and goings known, so Flare walked around to use the back entrance. The rear door was locked, of course, but Flare tapped it with a finger and said, “Emaneeria,” and the lock clicked open.

Smiling, Flare stepped inside and quietly climbed the back stairs to the second floor.

Flare opened the door to his and Enton’s room as quietly as possible and then nearly jumped out of his skin as Enton let out a massive snore. Fearing that he would wake the entire inn, Flare slipped inside and closed the door quickly.

He breathed a sigh of relief and began to hurriedly change his clothes. It was such a relief to get the soaked clothes off and he immediately felt better.

Once he was dressed, he headed for the door, but stopped. He considered waking Enton and bringing him along. After a moment, he decided against it. If they had to watch the enemy another night, a good portion of the sentry duty would fall on Heather and Enton; better to let them sleep while they could.

He slipped back out into the hall and closed the door behind him. It took him only moments to descend the stairs, but he paused before the rear door. He hadn’t eaten in many hours
, and his stomach was groaning at the lack of food.

He turned his steps toward
the kitchen. There had to be something that he could grab and take with him.

Derek couldn’t fall asleep until just a few hours before sunrise, mainly due to the large number of painful boils on his back, legs, and buttocks, but he finally managed to slip into a light slumber. So he was understandably irritated when he was awoken a little after the sun came up.

He climbed from
the bed and stretched. He didn’t even realize that the pain in his neck and shoulder was gone until he looked in the mirror. For a moment he just stared at his reflection. He wasn’t a vain man, but after a day spent humped over and covered in boils, he was immensely pleased to see his old face again.

There was a soft tapping at the door
, and he realized that was what had awakened him. He glanced around, but Trestus had already left the room.

He had spent the last night in some pain and, consequently, he had slept naked. He grabbed the blanket off his bed and strode over to the door. He opened it a bit and peered through the crack.

Kara stood in the hallway and she looked unhappy.

Derek felt sure he could guess the reason. She had to take that vile potion again and, from personal experience, he hoped to never even smell the stuff again.

Kara looked him up and down. “Get dressed and then come to our room. We’re getting ready to leave.”

She turned and was gone before he could even respond. Nevertheless, he pulled on his clothes from yesterday and walked the short distance to Kara’s room.

He was the last one to arrive. Everyone else was already there and Keenan looked much better today than he had yesterday. The affects of the alcohol seemed to have finally worn off. Derek had distinctly heard the prince muttering, “Never again,” but he doubted that would last very long.

Derek’s eyes were drawn to the small table, upon which sat a steaming mug of the vile concoction that Enstorion used to change their appearance. He let out a small sigh of relief that it was for Kara and not him. He tried hard to hide his feelings but he got the feeling that he failed miserably.