Richard Knaak - The Fire Rose

But she was also confident in those with whom she had made her bargain. True, they were not elves, but it behooved them to follow through on their promises. For by aiding her, they aided their own cause.

The slave moved effortlessly through Golgren’s chambers, the heavy bracelets on her wrists and ankles hindering her little. She, who knew him best, had not been entirely startled when Golgren had refused to have the links reforged. She believed his promise that he would free her people and was certain that he still would do so … when it served him best.

The silver-haired elf went to a window near the bed and softly sang. Yet it was no human or elf song that escaped her perfect lips, but rather the trill of a bird .

Mere seconds later, a small, feathered form alighted on the sill. The bird sang a few notes of the same song. It was one of her messengers, her avian friends through whom she made regular contact beyond Garantha. With Golgren away, it was the perfect time to send one of her missives.

“Thank you for taking it,” she murmured to the bird as she placed a tiny note in a small container around the creature’s leg. What the avians did for her was done at great risk to themselves, and she very much appreciated their bravery. Idaria had always prided herself on her rapport with birds, hints that she was perhaps favored by Astarin-or, as humans called him, Branchala-the god of song and life, and thus also the god of the woods and the songbirds who thrived in forests.

With loving care, Idaria gently raised her messenger back to the window. Setting it there, she sang a short note to bid it farewell.

The bird flew up into the sky.

A much larger, leathery, winged form suddenly burst from its hiding place atop a nearby tower. It dropped heavily upon the bird. Before Idaria’s messenger could even squawk, the gargoyle had caught it and crushed it in its grip. The creature quickly spiraled back to its hiding place.

A horrified Idaria stumbled back, in part because of the death of her pet and also because that particular gargoyle was one that she had seen before.

“You’re a dangerous little fish, you know that?” growled Tyranos.

She spun on the wizard, striking him across the face. Or at least she attempted to do so. The tall human snagged her wrist and held it tight.

“Why did you do that? How could you let that beast of yours kill-”

“To save us both some trouble, elf! Your friends have learned enough. Let Neraka stumble in on its own.”

Idaria stiffened. “I have no tie to the dark knights! They are enemies to elves. Or have you forgotten Mina and her army?”

“Oh, I’ve not forgotten that fiery little madwoman. But we’re long past that time, Oakborn , and into another far more complex era when enemies are allies, allies are enemies, and those who should have no common cause with anyone stick their tridents into the mix just to make things more interesting and frustrating!”

She pulled free, but only because he allowed her to. “And where do you fit into everything, wizard? Who-or perhaps what -are you really?”

His eyes narrowed appreciatively. “You are wily. I’ll leave it to you to guess the answers to those questions. But let us speak of other things.” As she opened her mouth to protest angrily, he added, “The bird would’ve died a lot harsher death if it’d made its destination, elf! Your Nerakan friends are on the move, and apparently they don’t want you to know just what they’ve got planned. I can only hazard a guess that, for some odd reason, they think you might be sympathetic to the Grand Khan! I can’t imagine why.”

“You lie! How do you know such things?”

“Choose what you wish to believe. That is my warning to you-take it or leave it.”

Idaria’s eyes flashed. “Why are you really in the palace, wizard? What do you want from me?”

He laughed loudly, ever unafraid that the guards beyond would hear him. Magic cloaked his activities. “I want nothing from you, my dear Idaria. I want something from your loving master. If I read matters correctly, our good Golgren is about to embark on a hunt. I need you to thus relieve him of something I was foolish enough to have you give to him. You remember what I am talking about, don’t you?”

“The signet.”

“Clever elf!” Tyranos’s leonine face broke into another grin. “And mark me, he’s better off without it! In fact, keeping it is going to greatly raise the chances of him getting killed, just when we both need him the most!”

The slave eyed him closely. “You speak in too many riddles. And why do you not simply take it yourself? Golgren is no wizard.”

He looked disgruntled. “I’ve tried, damn it. But the signet seems to like him … warm to him. Or at least it wants to stick around the half-breed for some reason.”

“You are making no sense.”

“I know. It does not make sense.” The wizard turned to glare at Golgren’s bed. “That’s why I need your help. You can get physically closer. Maybe it won’t put up a fight.”

The slave stepped closer, her beautiful face a cold mask. “You forget something. Why should I believe you enough to risk being discovered stealing the signet? We have never been allies, much less friends, Tyranos.”

“I told you, that signet’s likely to get him killed. Isn’t that enough for you?”

“Why don’t you go to him and simply explain that?”

His eyes narrowed. “Do you honestly think he’d listen to me and give it back? After how it saved him during the quake?”

“And it saves him from the Titans too, as you might also recall.” Idaria shook her head, sending her long tresses flying back and forth. “You will have to find another way to get it from him.”

The tall human snorted. “Bah!” He raised his staff and paused. Stretching forth one clenched fist, he muttered, “I was going to give you this when you agreed to help me, but I’ve no use for it, anyway. So take it.”

Tyranos opened his hand and revealed the songbird that Idaria had seen destroyed. It fluttered out of his hand to her.

“But I saw Chasm crush him!” she blurted out, speaking the name of the wizard’s pet gargoyle.

The robed figure chuckled. “Elf, you of all people should understand that appearances are often merely illusions.” He started to fade into shadow. “Just like the faint hope that your Grand Khan will still free your kind …”

“What-” But Idaria got no further before Tyranos vanished.

She examined the bird, looking for the message she had tried to send. Its leg was bare. Idaria started to write another message, but hesitated. After a moment, the slave brought the bird over to the window. She paused again, and murmuring sweet encouragement to the avian, set it free.

The bird soared up into the sky.

Chasm’s head suddenly thrust out of his hiding place. The burly gargoyle-his muzzle thicker and more squat than those of the ones spying on Golgren-peered closely at the bird. The winged beast tensed before, with a brief glance at Idaria, settling back into his hiding place behind the stonework.

He had let the bird go because the small winged creature had not been carrying any note. Tyranos wanted no further contact between her and her conspirators. Whatever she chose to do in the future was to be her decision alone.

The elf looked over her shoulder at the bed.

They had been out of communication for the past few days, but Vorag was not concerned. The Grand Khan had instituted the use of messenger birds with all his hands, but Vorag’s birdcage had accidentally slipped from its secured place atop the lead mastark, and he no longer had any birds to command. However, the ogre commander expected they would be in contact with another hand before long, and they could send word to Garantha.