The Ventifact Colossus (The Heroes of Spira Book 1) (34 page)

“That’s a lot to explore,” said Tor.

“
Maybe one looks more like a mouth than the others,” said Ernie.

In another five minutes they had reached the scattering of jagged black clefts in the hillsides. Fortunately the river here was shallow and its current weak.

“This’ll go a lot faster if we split up,” said Dranko. “But we should stay in pairs. I know there’s been no sign of anyone passing this way, but I suppose there might be bears or…or tigers or something living in the bigger caves.”

Morningstar looked at him and laughed. “Tigers?”

“This isn’t really my area of expertise. Put me in a city and I’ll be king of it soon enough, but all this nature…” Dranko scratched himself indelicately.

Tigers notwithstanding, the plan was sound, and it gave her an excuse to separate herself from Dranko. “We’ve got three who are trained to fight,” she said. “Me, Tor, and Ernie. Dranko, you go with Ernie, and Tor will go with Kibi. Aravia, why don’t you come with me? Each pair, make sure you stay within shouting distance of at least one other, and every half an hour or so everyone should leave the caves and make visual contact.”

“So,” said Dranko. “You’re in charge, then?”

Morningstar sighed. “If you have a better idea, I’m all ears.”

“No, no, it was more of a general question.”

“Then here’s my general answer. Yes, until someone else wants to be.”

Dranko swept his arm toward the caves, palm up. “Ladies first.”

Grouped as Morningstar suggested, Horn’s Company combed through the hill caves. Morningstar and Aravia headed a hundred feet downriver, stopping to peer into a few openings too small for either of them to crawl through. First Morningstar would stick her head in (or put her eye up to the hole for the smallest ones) and check with her darksight. Then Aravia used a light-coin to inspect each cavity, hoping to catch the glint of a diamond, assuming all the Eyes of Moirel were the same.

It was difficult to concentrate.
Ell has made you a Dreamwalker.
She imagined confronting all of the sisters who had mistreated her over the years.
There was a plan for me all along. I am every inch the sister that you are, and then some.
But it shamed her to entertain those fancies.
This
is
the plan, or part of it. Keep your focus, Morningstar of Ell.

After a half-dozen of the rocky holes proved empty, Morningstar looked back over her shoulder. Dranko and Ernie vanished into a large cave on the far side of the river.

“The Eye said, ‘A mouth opens,’” said Aravia. “I’d say that points to a larger cavern, and that we’re wasting our time with these little holes. Let’s head to the big ones and worry about the small ones later if we need to.”

“Agreed,” said Morningstar.

They spent the next hour exploring two sizable caves, each larger than the spacious Greenhouse living room. Their search pattern stayed the same; Morningstar would first stand in the opening and sweep her gaze through the darkness, looking both for the Eye of Moirel and for anything that might pose a danger during a close-up search. Then Aravia would come in and shine her light around, and they’d both explore the cavern’s entirety as thoroughly as possible.

Both caves came up empty, but there was a third they had spotted twenty more feet downstream. They picked their way over the stones and scrub until Morningstar stood in the entrance.

There was a man in the cave, asleep on its pebbly floor, tucked in a blanket with his head on a wadded up shirt. The remains of a small campfire rested inside an ad-hoc ring of stones close at hand.

The sleeper stirred and rolled onto his back, revealing his long handlebar mustache.

“Gods, it’s Sagiro, the man from the Mirrors,” whispered Aravia.

Sagiro opened his eyes. Morningstar drew her weapon. “Aravia, get the others. Quickly.” Before the mustachioed man could even sit up, Morningstar strode forward and placed the sharp flanges of her mace against his neck. “Stay on the ground, Sagiro, and don’t make any sudden movements. Do you understand me?”

“Of course,” said Sagiro calmly. There was no trace of confusion in his voice as one might expect of someone just woken. “I do prefer that my neck remain unperforated.”

“After what happened at the Seven Mirrors, I’m tempted to lean a little harder,” said Morningstar.

“You mean when I called upon the people of our fair kingdom to apprehend a band of murderers? I believe the scales of morality are currently weighted in my favor concerning the events to which you refer.”

“We didn’t kill that…man. He killed himself, ingested some kind of poison.”

“I watched you and your friends assault him unprovoked.”

Her patience was fraying. “Why are you here, Sagiro? I already know, of course, but it would make me less inclined to make holes in your neck if you would just admit it up front.”

“Very well. I am here seeking an Eye of Moirel, just as you are. I have had no luck searching in other caves and was taking a rest before setting out to explore this one.”

“Tell me again why you are searching for it.”

“Why would I not want to find a diamond worth hundreds of gold crescents?”

Ell’s shadow, but he sounded so
reasonable.

“And how did you know to look here for it?”

“That is information I am disinclined to share. Are you threatening to kill me if I do not speak?”

That was an easy one. “Yes, I’ll kill you unless you tell me. How do you know where to find Eyes of Moirel?”

Sagiro looked up at her, seemingly relaxed, though the spikes of her mace pressed dimples into his skin. She did not feel moved to mercy towards those who attacked her, but Sagiro had not, as far as she knew, committed any evil acts. Still, the need for this information was worth a bluff.

“On that subject, I regret that I cannot disclose my sources, not even with my life in such peril,” said Sagiro. “If you must kill me, there is little I can do about it.”

Damn. Was he was calling her bluff or simply resigned to his death?

“However, I can promise that if you let me live, I will depart this place entirely and leave the search to you and your friends. I know when I am bested. Would that be acceptable to you?”

Aravia returned to the cave. “They’re on their way.”

Sagiro’s rapier was leaning against the nearest wall. “Aravia, do you see Sagiro’s weapon? Over there. Could you take it, please?”

Aravia did so.

“Also,” added Morningstar, “if he makes any hostile moves, blast him or set him on fire.”

She hoped Aravia would play along, and her faith was rewarded. Aravia wiggled her fingers. “I’d be more than pleased.”

“Stand slowly,” said Morningstar. “Collect your things, and don’t do anything that might make either of us think you’re up to something. When my friends are all here, we’ll let you go, on the condition that you head straight back upriver. Agreed?”

“Will you return my weapon?” asked Sagiro.

“No chance. Letting you live will have to be enough.”

“I have no wish to harm you, truly, but I understand why you are suspicious.”

Morningstar removed the head of her weapon from beneath Sagiro’s chin, and the wiry little man stood, slowly, keeping his hands in plain sight.

Ernie and Dranko appeared in the cave mouth.

“Well, look who’s here,” said Dranko. “The guy with the mustache who tried to frame us. You tried to frame us, I mean. Not the mustache.”

“Sagiro was just leaving,” said Morningstar. “He’s agreed to give up his search and leave the area. We keep his weapon. Ernie, Dranko, why don’t you help pack up Sagiro’s campsite while I keep an eye on where his hands are.”

Sagiro stood stock still while his belongings were stuffed back into his pack. Dranko made no attempt to hide that he was rooting through the man’s possessions, going so far as to pull out a small leather pouch that jingled. “You don’t mind if I take this, do you? I’m sure a man as enterprising as yourself won’t be poor for long.”

Sagiro did not reply. Dranko pocketed the pouch while Ernie tied up the bedroll.

“I hope someday we meet in better circumstances,” said Sagiro. “Perhaps you will have learned the errors of your ways.”

He took a step toward the cave mouth just as Kibi and Tor arrived.

“You!” said Kibi. “What are you doin’ here?”

“Our friend has agreed to skedaddle,” said Dranko. “We keep his weapon, he agrees to go back to where he came from and leave the searching to us.”

Kibi was staring goggle-eyed at Sagiro. “You can’t let him go! He’s got an Eye of Moirel right there in his pocket! I’m lookin’ at it right now, red as a rose.”

Sagiro sighed.

The blood drained from Morningstar’s face. How could she have fallen for such a simple ruse as that? “You’ve had it all this time?” she cried. “You…you little weasel…”

“You know,” said Dranko, “I admire a man who runs a good con. But when your opponent can see the cards up your sleeve, it’s a good idea to cut your losses.”

Sagiro still acted unruffled. “Is that a colorful way of telling me you intend to take my lawful possession by force?”

“Yeah,” said Dranko. “Though the less we have to hurt you, the happier we’ll all be.”

“We don’t want to hurt you at all,” Ernie added quickly.

“And I do not wish to be hurt,” said Sagiro. “Nor do I wish any harm to you. It seems you have won the day again. I invite you to reach into my pocket, which apparently your friend Kibi can easily identify, and remove the object you seek.”

Morningstar sensed a trap. “No.” Dranko said “no” at the same time, probably thinking the same thing. She added, “Take it out of your pocket yourself and toss it to the ground, then back up.”

Sagiro reached into his pocket and pulled out a round diamond, a twin to the one in the Greenhouse. He graced them with a rueful smile.

“Now would be a good time,” he said.

Morningstar only had a second to wonder what the mustachioed man meant or whom he was talking to. A shockwave blast of red light pulsed from Sagiro’s hand, lifting her slightly off her feet, as though she were floating in an ocean while a slow wave rolled past. Something like a blanket was thrown over her sense of self, and all went dark.

* * *

Slowly, slowly she regained consciousness. Her head throbbed, but nothing else hurt, so she sat up. Late afternoon sun shone in her eyes; looking away from it brought her friends into her field of vision. They were all out cold, though their chests were rising and falling.

It took her ten good seconds of hard thinking to remember where she was and why everyone was sprawled on the ground inside a cave. Sagiro! The man with the handlebar mustache had done something, attacked them with the Eye of Moirel. There was no sign of him now. She stood and walked gingerly to the cave mouth, but the only living creatures nearby were two deer drinking from the river. They spooked and bolted. Sagiro was nowhere in sight.

One by one the others awoke, groaning and rubbing their eyes. Only Kibi was still unconscious.

Dranko lurched to his feet. “Damn. Where’s Sagiro?”

“Gone,” said Morningstar. “I wonder why he didn’t kill us all when he had the chance.”

“Or at least rob us blind while we were out,” added Dranko.

Ernie had propped himself up against a wall. “Because that’s what you two would have done, right? Because we’re Horn’s Company, band of thieves and murderers.”

“Relax, Ernie,” said Dranko. “We’re talking about someone who hasn’t treated us very well both times we’ve encountered him.” He grinned. “Also, yeah, of
course
I’d have looted him. It’s strange you even have to ask.”

“Sagiro did say he didn’t want to hurt us,” said Tor. “Maybe he was telling the truth.”

“He just blasted us all into unconsciousness,” said Dranko, “and that hurt.”

“But Morningstar’s right,” said Tor. “He had the opportunity to kill us all and didn’t take it.”

“Could be Sagiro didn’t know how long we’d be unconscious,” said Aravia, “and getting the Eye away was all he cared about.”

“So now what?” asked Tor. “Should we go after him?”

Aravia shook her head. “He’s been gone for hours, and we have no idea where he might have headed.”

Kibi was the last to wake. “What in all the Hells jus’ happened?”

“Our mustachioed friend did some trick with the Eye of Moirel,” said Dranko. “Kibi, you never told us those things were little magic weapons. We should stop keeping ours locked up and start carrying it around for emergencies!”

Kibi groaned and sat up. “I ain’t got no notion of how that’d work. Sagiro must be some kind a’ wizard.”

“I don’t think so,” said Aravia. “Did you hear what he said right before he released the concussive blast?”

Ernie nodded. “He said, ‘Now would be a good time.’”

“And who was he talking to?”

No one answered right away.

“The better question,” Aravia amended, “would be ‘
what
was he talking to?’ Because I think he was telling the Eye itself to cast its spell.”