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As had become our habit after an evening of maneuvering men, we gathered in Qynn’s room, the “we” being me, Palla, and of course Kya, the bodyguard who I found out later had actually been in that alley with us the night I was rescued. I still thought Mistress brave for what she’d done, but also smart. Always have a contingency plan—and someone at your back that you could trust.
The rapid gait Qynn set pacing her boudoir, wearing only a chemise that didn’t even cover her knees, showed her agitation. She nibbled the tip of her thumb, unveiled and her hair loose, not a look many got to see. Only her trusted inner circle.
“There must be a way to get him to talk,” Qynn muttered.
“Who?” I asked as I measured out the powders for refills on three of mistress’s rings. She’d been busy of late and going through a lot more than usual. While Palla followed Kya around adoringly, watching her every move, I preferred Qynn’s methods. I found them more subtle and less likely to result in my getting bruised or broken.
“That goat farmer from the western reaches. He’s visiting the Lord Xuidd.” The current ruler of Thaasky, a decent-sized city known for its underground mushrooms, which were a delicacy in the arid country. An underground spring of water that, to this day, remained undrinkable, fed a string of caverns growing the most succulent fungi. Once dried out, the poison from the water neutralized, allowing for their resale and use as good source, a business profitable enough to keep this city afloat.
“Are you talking about Duke Shazz?” Palla paused the cleaning of her blade, emulating Kya, who straddled a stool to polish hers.
“What have you heard?” A general question asked of all of us by Qynn.
“That he’s fat from eating his goats.” My contribution from listening at the market when I went shopping.
“Old news.” Mistress waved her hand.
Palla went next. “I hear he came with only one bodyguard and a half-dozen squires.”
“That doesn’t surprise me,” Mistress muttered under her breath, but I still heard.
“What are you trying to find out?” I’d come to learn Mistress always had a reason for her curiosity. Like with Lord Jung. She’d gotten him to tell her of an up-and-coming artist whom she anonymously sponsored. It added a nice padding to her retirement fund when the artist’s work began demanding high prices. The statue he’d made us of a rare spiral butterfly, delicate and precise, would fetch a fine coin if we could bear to part with the beauty.
“There have been rumors.” Qynn remained vague.
Palla had less patience than me. “Rumors of what?”
Even Kya paused her scraping of her blade to hear the answer.
“Duke Shazz’s town isn’t just the goat capital of the desert. It also sits atop an old ruin. Rumor has it that, despite the lower levels being closed off, they’ve been hearing noises.”
“So they’ve got a nest of something that needs cleaning out.” Palla pointed her blade and eyed along its length. “Send some people in. If they’re lucky, bring some meat out.”
“It’s a little more complicated than that,” Kya rebuked. “You’re talking about a place with no light, giving whatever is down there the advantage.”
“Obviously they’ll send down illumination first.” Palla rolled her eyes. “Only someone who wants to become dinner would be so stupid.”
“If it’s one of the giants, they might need elekium.” I still remembered the solid exterior of the lizards that killed my family.
“Even with the best weapons and skill, it should be remembered not all threats can be killed.” Mistress chewed her tongue before adding. “There are some claiming they hear voices.”
I could think of a few reasons for that to happen. Echoes being bounced from elsewhere, for instance. We had a tube in our room that allowed us to speak to someone at the other end in the kitchen.
Kya paused her polishing to ask, “Have people gone missing?”
“Yes, which is part of the reason why the Duke has come. He’s asked the King for some soldiers.”
“And what did the King say?”
Qynn shrugged. “I don’t know. Councilor Rexx and the others weren’t allowed to listen in to the conversation with the King.”
For some reason a possible monster nest in another town didn’t seem like enough reason for Qynn to be interested. “There’s something else,” I stated.
“I don’t know if it’s related to the Duke, but apparently the King had some books brought to him from the library. One was a really old book with a fable in it.”
“What would a pretend story have to do with the Duke’s monster problem?” My nose wrinkled.
“Because what if it wasn’t a story, but history.”
