Keeper (First Ordinance #2)(24)

"Then we'll use that," Lissa sighed. "I'll let Ildevar know. Kooper intends to travel with him, along with a few others."

"I'd ask him to choose his companions carefully," Reah said.

"I will."

*

Lironis

Quin

"I didn't want to make a mistake," I assured Kaldill, who fussed about me as if I really mattered. Wolter waited to bring me dinner, telling Dena that she'd worked hard all day and asking her to sit at the table in the kitchen to be served with me.

"Reah made this," Wolter set a wide bowl of food in front of me. "She calls it noodles in mushroom sauce. I've tasted it—it's wonderful."

Dena was served a fish course with her noodles, and both of us were in raptures at our first taste of the food. Whatever Reah was, she was also a master cook. I'd never tasted anything I liked so much.

Wolter, a fine cook himself, was very impressed by her skills. Kaldill continued to sit beside me while I ate, and Wolter offered a cup of watered wine with our meal. "This is worth cleaning out dusty old rooms any day," Dena smiled and sipped her wine.

We weren't finished with the physician's quarters, or even half finished. It would take two more days to clear everything out, and then another day or two to scour it and make it clean enough for Master Ordin's patients.

"We've made good progress," Ordin nodded his thanks to Dena and me. "It won't be long before everything is cleared away and cleaned well enough."

"When we get the bedroom and sitting rooms clean, I'll move equipment into it and start seeing patients," Ordin said.

"Not without a guard present," Justis said, striding into the kitchen. "We've just returned from a reconnaissance mission—Tamblin is making preparations to ride this way."

"Another mystery solved," Torevik said. "Bringing all his troops, I suppose?"

"Yes, and how is it that you speak our language?" Justis muttered, taking a seat next to Dena and accepting a plate of food from Wolter.

"We speak most languages," Torevik shrugged. "Call me Tory. Everybody does."

Justis was tall—Torevik—Tory, just as tall. I wondered if Tory could fight as well as Justis. If Tamblin were bent on causing trouble, that question could be answered soon.

*

Vhrist

Tamblin was furious and shouting at anyone who came close. Omina, whom he'd sent to Lironis to hold the throne for him, had brought winged devils back to Fyris and convinced them to fight for her.

He'd seen them himself—their black wings flapping far to the south as they spied on him—the King of Fyris. Rath had disappeared from his dungeon two nights earlier and ten guards were dead, another four wounded. Yevil was also gone; whether dead or captured, Tamblin didn't know. None remained to stand at his elbow; none that he trusted—or even half-trusted.

That had been Yevil's position. Half-trusted and dangerous. Tamblin's mind wandered to the case of weapons Yevil always hid in his quarters—surely he'd had one with him when he went to fight the winged ones. Those weapons had killed their kind before; why had they not worked this time?

Any guards who'd witnessed Yevil's failure and Rath's subsequent disappearance were now dead—most cut across the throat for a swift death. What had Yevil told him about the winged devils and the oath that kept them from killing anyone from Fyris?

Had that been a lie all along?

Perhaps he should have read some of those books in Tandelis' library before burning all of them. Yevil said they weren't needed. Until now, that had held true.

Tamblin could no longer sort truth from lie, and it made him angrier, still. "I want to leave now," he shouted at the servants, who scurried to pack faster.

*

Kondar: Sector Two

"What do you mean, Sector Four has withdrawn support?" Dorthil hissed at President Pragg's assistant.

"The communication is quite long, explaining all their reasons for pulling away from secession," the assistant handed a tab-vid to Dorthil. "President Pragg desires a meeting with you within three hours. He suggests bringing the Yokarun wizard with you." He nodded to Marid, who stood nearby.

"Do you need a healer?" The assistant gestured at Marid's nose.

"Have you never seen a nosebleed before? It is nothing," Marid waved a hand in dismissal. "Arrange the meeting. I will certainly come."

*

Lironis

“There is nothing I can do," Kaldill fingered the small plant in his hand. Its leaves were sparse and yellow where they should have been green. The limp stem bent over his fingers, as if it hadn't seen rain in a while. The ground was damp, however, so there was plenty of moisture. The soil itself was the problem. "The poison is too firmly entrenched in the land. Even if it were eliminated tomorrow, I couldn't cleanse the soil and begin again for millennia," he added.

"I suspected as much," Daragar agreed as he shortened his stride to walk beside the Elf King. They'd traveled a short distance from Lironis to examine the plants and animals outside the city. "Too much damage has been done to this small country, and the fact that it was hidden away from all others had already caused it to go stale."

"The farmers and herders know little about conservation," Kaldill agreed. "This is a lost cause."