Daiana gave him an appraising look that he did not meet for a moment. Eventually, she leaned back in her seat and took a deep drink from the tall glass of ale that Luc had long since placed on the bar beside her.
“Well,” she said, just as carefully. “I always start with determining exactly how many people I’ll have helping, and what they’re capable of. I make sure we have enough fire shields for each person, and all my successful hunts have involved a weapon enchanted with antimagic.”
Adrissu’s heart skipped a beat, unsettled all over again. Antimagic wasdifficult, even for dragons, and to have a weapon enchanted with it—an expert would still need to wield it, of course, but something like that would level the playing field in many ways.
“Where would you get such a thing?” he asked, raising his eyebrows in an expression that he hoped seemed curious and surprised, rather than frightened. “I’ve heardofantimagic, of course, but I’ve never heard of a weapon enchanted with it. That sounds... antithetical.”
“It sounds that way, but it’s not,” she said, shaking her head. “It’s elven make, actually. Developed up in the Aefrayan wildlands, where it used to be only orcs. There’s a military outpost there now, and they have a team doing all sorts of experimental stuff with weapons, but this has been their biggest achievement to date if you ask me. It cost more than I’d care to admit, but there’s only a few people in this world who have anything like it.”
“I’m surprised you were able to even discover such a thing existed.”
“It was luck. I was working with an elven hunter whose sister was on the team producing this shit. I never would have known otherwise. They’re keeping it all pretty under wraps, since things have been so tense with the orcs for years. After the orc king died, if it had gotten out that they were developing new military weapons with the help of orcs in the wildlands—well, the ones that are already on the verge of rebelling would have been pushed over the edge for sure. It’s pure luck I got my hands on one of these.”
Briefly, Adrissu wondered if there was a way he could leverage his own position to find out where such things were being created and have a look himself. He could probably work out how to do it if he dedicated some time to it, but being able to see firsthand how such enchantments were carried out could be indispensable. He was no warrior, but the knowledge could help him develop a defense against them before it became a dire necessity.
“Well, if one didn’t have such a weapon,” he said lightly. “What would you recommend?”
“Magic,” she replied bluntly. “The more magic-users you have, the more of an advantage you can eke out. And have an element of surprise. Dragons are vain and won’t expect you to have backup or some kind of contingency plan. That’s where you can get them.”
“This is all good to know,” Adrissu said, nodding.
“So are you planning to take down this red dragon, then?” Daiana asked, smirking over her drink at him. “No offense, I’m sure you’ve got a decent grip on magic yourself as an elf, but as a scholar...”
He had to stop himself from laughing. “Something like that. Mostly I’m curious how you could accomplish such a feat three times. But I’d also prefer to continue my study of these creatures without losing my life to them, so your insight could only help.”
They chatted for a little while longer, but eventually Daiana stood up once more. “Well, it was quite pleasant speaking with you, Adrissu,” she said, grinning. “I’m afraid I have to be going now, though. I just arrived back home this morning, and it’s been a long journey. I really only meant to drop in to say hello to Luc, so...”
“Of course, don’t let me keep you,” Adrissu said, smiling in return. “Thank you for sharing this information with me. You’ve helped far more than you know.”
Her grin softened slightly as she stepped away. “You’re welcome. I’m glad to help.”
He watched her go, his face growing stony and cold as she stepped through the door. There were other humans like her, ones who hunted and killed dragons—but this one was right in front of him. The chances of her ever going afterhim, after Zamnes, were slim to none, considering how she had talked about how Zamnes was dormant beneath the city: to slay a sleeping dragon would pose no challenge. But she was a danger to dragonkind, and might end up slaying Tyrsun, or some other dragon that he could use to his benefit. Could he let her live, knowing what she knew?
And if she were dead, he could have a good look at her antimagic weapon, which intrigued and frightened him in equal measure. He could even take it for himself, study it, figure out how it worked and how to counter it.
That was enough to solidify the decision for him. He waited only a beat longer, then slipped out of the tavern, shifting the illusion that contained him as he leaned against the door. The light stung his eyes as he stepped out into the late afternoon sun; but he caught sight of Daiana walking down the road to his left, her long braid swinging with movement as she walked. Though he was now a dark-haired, plain-faced human as he exited the tavern, he still magically silenced his steps and followed her at a distance. The streets were busy now that the afternoon was winding down.
He followed her down a few streets, never drawing quite close enough that she might notice him, always with one or two other people on the street between them. As they got into the more residential part of town, she veered off toward a larger house with a broad, fenced-in yard. He watched her go through the gate from a distance, then kept walking past the house as she approached the doorway. Then he turned, walking alongside the other side of the fence to make a slow path around the perimeter of the house. The fence was short enough that he could hop over it easily, and there was a back door, along with several windows—getting in unnoticed wouldn’t be the hard part.
From the backside of the house, he glanced around quickly to ensure there wasn’t anyone nearby, then leapt over the fence, pulling shadows closer to him as he slunk through the yard. He could hear voices from within the house, and he paused, pressing himself up against the back wall. First came Daiana’s voice, muffled but recognizable, then another woman’s voice—she sounded older. Vaguely, he remembered Luc having said something about her mother living in town. As he listened, the voices faded, and he distinctly heard someone going up a set of stairs.
Still muffling his steps, he reached out and tried the door handle; it was unlocked, so he cast another silencing charm and slowly pushed it open. He waited. No one seemed to notice, so he slipped inside and closed the door behind him. It opened into a long hallway, with a staircase to his left, and the hallway turning to the right up ahead. Distantly, he could hear someone moving around, slowly and methodically—an elderly mother—and footsteps from above that matched the weight and cadence of Daiana’s steps.
Silently, Adrissu moved toward the stairs, taking them slowly and watching the landing for any movement. He could still hear footsteps further ahead; and as he reached the top of the stairs, he could see a few doors along the hallway, one at the far end slightly ajar.
There was movement behind it, and Adrissu stopped short, motionless. Daiana was in the room, and he could see her walk from one end to the other, holding a cloak in both hands as if preparing to hang it up. Once she was out of sight, he lunged for the wall, hugging it as he approached. For a moment he hesitated, unsure if he should leap in and try to take her by surprise, or wait until he had a better view of the room and her position inside. But the longer he waited, the more likely it was that he’d be noticed, so he slipped through the doorway as silently as possible, sweeping his gaze around the room. It was empty, and another door on the other side of the room was closed. As he paused, he could hear water running—his luck was perfect. She was bathing.
He took a moment to look more closely at his surroundings. A range of pelts and taxidermy animals were displayed on the wooden walls, and a plush bed was pushed into one corner with a myriad of equipment tossed on top of it. Set on a long table on the opposite wall, though, was a longsword that had been placed with far more intention than the rest of the clothes and equipment thrown haphazardly across the bed and floor.
Adrissu stepped toward it, slowly reaching out to touch the hilt of the blade, immediately feeling the low thrum of magic pulsing through it.
She had helped him, and this was what had frightened him the most out of all Daiana had told him. It would probably still be best to kill her, but…
Maybe he had grown soft—maybe everything with Kian was still too close. But he couldn’t shake the thought that Daiana’s mother was just downstairs, that she would be the one to discover her body if he killed Daiana now.
He hesitated for only an instant, then grabbed the sword by its sheath and hurried out of the room, silencing his steps. For a moment, he was worried the antimagic of the sword would prevent his magic from holding, but it seemed that the sheath kept its range contained.
Exiting the house proved just as easy as getting in, and within moments he was slipping through the back door of the tavern again, his elven visage flickering back into place. He stashed the sword amongst the rest of his things and packed everything he had brought with him back up. It would be best if he was gone before tomorrow, before Daiana could return.
