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“I mean, I knew they hadda have it somewhere,” he was babbling. “But I couldn’t find it—”
“Find what?”
“—after all, we’re at war. Even if they didn’t have one before, they’d have to have put somet
hing together—”
“Ray. One what?”
“—and knowing her Stinginess, I didn’t figure on her letting it too far outta her sight. So, it had to be here—”
“Ray! What had to be here?”
“That,” he said, grinning, and threw open a door—to Ali Baba’s cave. Or it may as well have been.
Damn, I thought, staring around. I’m gonna need a bigger room.
And I did, most definitely. But I hadn’t had a chance to address that yet, the original one having been pretty damned costly. So, I’d made do.
Which was why the now rather small-looking space was crammed with shelves of guns, ammo, grenades, and a grenade launcher—easily enough to fight a small war. And cabinets of magical charms, potion bombs and spelled objects, sufficient to make a war mage drool. And decorative displays of more old school weapons mounted on the walls, with fans of everything from swords and pikes to knives and axes.
“The senate’s armory,” I explained, as Louis-Cesare moved forward, appearing as stunned as I had been when Ray had first showed me. “Or as much of it as I could steal, anyway. The room is also soundproofed, so we can talk freely.”
But Louis-Cesare wasn’t talking. Louis-Cesare was exploring, particularly the rack of swords, rapiers and cutlasses on a nearby wall. They’d just been piled up in dusty chests at the consul’s, because nobody really used them anymore, so I’d helped myself. And, of course, I’d taken the pretty ones.
I guessed I must have chosen well, because Louis-Cesare took down one of the rapiers and slashed the air with it a few times. Then looked up at me, his eyes shining.
“I used to have one like this as a boy. It is an antique.”
“Have that one if you like. I took it for you.” I sat on the chair. “I don’t do a lot of fencing.”
“I could teach you.”
“Maybe someday.”
I watched him slash the air some more, and make a few pretty lunges, with his body extended and his form perfect. He never looked so at home as when he had a blade in his hand. It almost didn’t even seem like a weapon anymore, after he picked it up, but more like an extension of his body.
“This is a work of art,” he said admiring the chasing on the piece that fitted over the grip. I thought it was called a knuckle guard, but wasn’t sure. “Are there any more like this?”
“I wasn’t paying that much attention,” I admitted. “You should go take a look for yourself. Haven’t you ever been down there?”
“No. But perhaps I should.” He made a few rolling motions with his wrist, causing the blade to glimmer and gleam as it slowly wove a pattern in the air.
“You might want to give them some time to restock,” I said. “I already took all the good stuff.”
“And this place?” he stopped admiring the sword long enough to look at me. “You made yourself an armory—that you could carry about with you?”
I shrugged. “Technically, the armory is in a pocket of non-space, so I’m not really carrying anything but the fixed mouth to a portal. But, sure. It sounds cooler your way.”
He just looked at me.
“I got tired of running out of weapons,” I explained.
He shook his head, and put the rapier back. And the next moment, I was enveloped in a warm hug. “I do love you,” he said, a smile in his voice. “And I am sorry, for not telling you about your father.”
“Okay.”
Louis-Cesare pulled back after a moment to regard me more soberly. “It isn’t, though, is it? You’re upset.”
