“Yes.” He clasped my hands. “He has been healed. By the dragon I spoke to you about.”
“The Silverclaw matriarch who hates Stormforge dragons and would eat me if we met?”
“Yes. I came to give you this.” Zav produced Sindari’s charm from some magic pocket. “Then I must return to my world. To five worlds. In exchange for this small favor, she has demanded the still-warm liver of a branoth, the succulent bone marrow of a fran-fran, the eyeballs of an ornax, the rare Cerunian ink fish, and the testicles of a yorak.”
“What lady doesn’t like yorak testicles?”
Zav tilted his head. “Is this something you desire at the wedding feast? Perhaps I could capture yorak and bring them to Earth for the hunt.”
“No, no.” I lifted a hand, reminded that I had to be careful with my sarcasm around the not-from-around-here Zav. “Not necessary.”
“You are certain?”
“Very certain.”
I took Sindari’s charm, eager and also nervous to summon him. Even though I believed Zav spoke the truth, I worried that Sindari might have been irreparably damaged or that the undead taint had changed him somehow.
It might not have been long enough for him to recover on his home world before being called forth again, but I rubbed the charm to summon him, hoping he could come for a few minutes.
“I am still attempting to get my brothers and mother and sister to agree to come to the wedding,” Zav said. “They were unwilling to discuss it once I informed them of the problem on Dun Kroth. A meeting is being called. In addition to hunting for Vanishna-kova’s required foods, I must return in time to attend it.”
“I’m sorry you have to fly all over the world—worlds—to do favors for the grumpy dragon, but I do appreciate you helping Sindari. And me.” I hugged him as Sindari’s familiar silver mist formed.
“You will show me your appreciation later.” Zav hugged me back and pressed his cheek against my hair, lips brushing my ear.
Oh, that was appealing. It made me regret that we were at my mother’s cabin instead of back home.
“I will.” I kissed him on the neck.
Sindari sighed telepathically—and out loud. You brought me into your world to see you nuzzling your mate?
No, to check on you. I released Zav and turned to hug Sindari. The nasty gouges in his side were gone, as was the evil purple glow that had hovered over them. Are you well?
Well enough to go into battle again. He gazed around the driveway, cabin, and… Why was my mother still outside and still naked? Now she was just taunting me; I was sure of it. She’d stopped to point at a couple of sparrows flitting around one of her feeders. Gondo stood beside her, though he shifted from foot to foot, and I was positive he didn’t care about birds and only wanted coffee.
Your mother is unclothed, Sindari observed. Humans lack fur and are unappealing naked.
I agree, but don’t tell her. She gets huffy.
“Let us go inside to your coffee maker, Lady Thorvald.” Gondo reached up and clasped her hand—fortunately the other hand was keeping the towel up, save for an alarming droop—and led her up to the covered porch and the front door.
Is that goblin wooing your mother? Sindari asked.
Just trying to get some of her coffee. I hope.
Val? Freysha spoke into my mind from somewhere in the woods behind the house. I’ve found something.
More than bear prints?
Yes.
I’ll be right there. I lifted a finger toward Zav, intending to let him know, but he’d wandered over, opened the door of the sauna, and was peering in. Well, he had a big day or days of hunting ahead of him. If he wanted to relax in a sauna for twenty minutes, who was I to stop him?
“Can you stay long enough to fight if there’s trouble?” I asked Sindari as I headed around the cabin to join Freysha.
Always. Will there be more of those vile skeletal creatures?
“I hope not.”
16
There weren’t any other houses behind my mom’s cabin, just trees. A muddy trail led off toward Moss Lake and a huge forested recreational area. Fortunately, my senses told me that Freysha hadn’t wandered far. I headed off the trail toward her, passing what even my meager tracking skills told me were bear prints among the soggy brown fir needles.
It must have been something else that interested her. Had the bear been a coincidence? Or someone’s cover?
“Up here,” Freysha called softly from ten feet up in the crotch of an alder tree. She nodded toward my mom’s cabin, the back door and deck visible through the branches.
“Someone was up there?” I gritted my teeth at the idea of the thief or any creeper peering through my mom’s windows from the woods. I’d brain the sucker if I found him—or her.
“Yes.” Freysha closed her eyes, one hand resting on the damp bark of the tree. “An elf.”
I eyed the ground, but the faint indentions in the leaves and mud might have belonged to Freysha. Or my mom, for that matter, since we were so close to the trail and the house. I picked out a few Rocket footprints.
I agree. Sindari was prowling through the undergrowth, leaving a few big prints of his own. It is faint, but the scent of an elf lingers on the foliage.
I sniffed the air, but all my substandard mongrel nose smelled was someone’s wood stove burning fuel nearby. “That assassin was here a few weeks ago. Sarrlevi. Could he have crouched up there?”
It was bad enough he’d visited my mother’s place and left his signature coin where she could find it. The idea of him peeping at her made me wish I knew where he lived so I could go wrap magical roots around him again. Around his throat this time.
“This was a more recent visitor,” Freysha said. “The tree is sharing its memories with me.”
“How does that work?”
“The magic of the forest.”
“Are you going to teach me how to access that?”
She smiled without opening her eyes. “I thought you were more interested in hurling fireballs. Trees don’t approve of fire.”
“Not more interested. Just also interested.”
I would not be able to detect the scent of someone who passed through weeks ago. Sindari was currently sniffing a wild blackberry bush, the fruit long since devoured by critters. Whoever was here is not familiar to me. Since we crossed paths with the assassin, I know his scent.
Freysha jumped down from the tree, landing lightly beside me. “I believe the elf who visited your mother to ask her questions may have observed her from here before approaching her cabin. Perhaps to ensure she is not dangerous or to see how she acts when she is not in the presence of others.”
I scowled, not appreciating quasi-friendly spies any more than assassins. “All because they want to make sure she’s not a threat if Eireth comes to my wedding?”
Freysha hesitated. “It may be more that they are concerned she will be… inappropriate in his presence, especially if his wife comes along.”
“She’s not invited.” I folded my arms over my chest.
“I was there when Lord Zavryd extended his invitation. He invited… almost everyone within his telepathic range, which is vast. Our entire city, essentially.”