I pulled back enough to meet his eyes so he could see my smile as it warmed my face.
His answering smile brought more comfort than hot tea on a cold shore.
“Bind my arm?” I asked him, and he nodded gently, tiny smile lines forming around his eyes in the dust there. His hands were gentle as he worked.
“If you’re done breaking all your vows down there, I have a small suggestion for you,” Sir Sorken called down. “Maybe ask your dog not to defile Sir Coriand’s body.”
I looked up to where Sir Sorken was carefully penning in his book and then to where Brindle was sniffing along the trail between Sir Coriand’s body and his head.
“Brindle,” I snapped. “Here.”
He looked up at me, hung a doggy tongue from his mouth as if he were laughing at me, and then turned back to what he was doing.
Something smells wrong here. Very wrong.
“I see your dog is well trained, Beggar. Well done,” Sir Sorken said. “Whatever you do, don’t let him urinate on the golems. They may have frozen at Sir Coriand’s death, but they do hold a grudge, and if they awaken, they might take it personally.”
“Can’t you wake them?” I asked, looking from golem to golem.
“Can I?” Sorken asked. “Do you think that is in my power?”
“I notice you aren’t answering direct questions,” I said grimly. “Has your plan blown up now that your accomplice is deceased?”
“Sir Coriand was my friend,” Sir Sorken announced, loudly but surprisingly dispassionately. “A truth you did not factor in when you beheaded him so dramatically. But we were not conspirators. I came to this place just like you, on the orders of my aspect. I came to seek the Cup of Tears, which I continue to do. If he had other plans, well, that’s news to me. A man is welcome to his secrets. I certainly have mine. But you can hardly prosecute me for what you consider him guilty of committing, hmm? Or have you more in common with Sir Kodelai than we imagined?”
I felt my cheeks heat at his words. He was right. I’d prejudged him without knowing.
“Guilt is a cruel mistress,” Sir Adalbrand said under his breath as he finished tying the bandage around my arm. He’d had one in his belt pouch, of course. That was just like him. “I would not bend my conscience under the words of Sir Sorken. Lying is not impossible for him, even if he’s forsworn against it.”
He had removed his gauntlets to bandage the arm and now he reached out and pinched my chin between his finger and thumb. I felt a little shiver run through me as he looked into my eyes as if they were quenching a thirst within him and said, “Forsworn is not the same as impossible. I know it. Mayhap the Engineer knows it, too.”
I shivered and his ghost of a smile only made it worse.
“See?” He swallowed and looked away sharply.
“Whatever you’re whispering about over there, please keep it down,” Sir Sorken said from on high. “The three of us have work to do. Work that may very well take all night. Perhaps it’s good you’ve opted out, Sir Adalbrand. There won’t be a place up here for you anyway. Ten hours is very little time to write a thesis that must stand the test of millennia. Don’t you think, Penitent?”
“I do think so,” Sir Owalan said distractedly. His pen scratched along his paper and his tongue stuck out one corner of his mouth like that of a schoolboy figuring problems. “I will not fail at this task. Do not try to hinder me again, Beggar. I spared your dog once. I am rather fond of animals, after all. I will not spare him twice.”
Without another word, Sir Adalbrand took my hand and led me to the wall where the water was running down over the marble. He washed his hands and face quickly in the fecund-smelling water and I joined him, just hoping our horses hadn’t relieved themselves into the stream recently. It seemed fine enough, but water could fool you. Just like paladins. That which seems clear and pure could turn out to be poison.
“Will you craft a demon in the harnesses?” Adalbrand asked me quietly as we washed. He had a way of moving his strong hands that seemed too delicate for such large fingers. It charmed me more than I could admit even to myself.
Tell him no.
Again, I could not determine the speaker. And I was worried. Were the two melding together, or had Sir Branson lost his reins on the demon?
“I will not,” I said, firmly.
His smile was tired. “If only this were holy water and not runoff from the melting Rim.”
I smiled ruefully at that.
“I don’t know if these golems may wake again, but you have not slept in a night and a day and I have not slept properly in that same time,” Adalbrand murmured. “Let us sit back-to-back and try to sleep, and if one is attacked the other can defend them.”
“It’s a good idea,” I agreed.
We found a place beside one of the benches, neither of us looking up at the mutterings from overhead.
