27
ANOTHER SURPRISE
Bardon studied his mother-in-law. She knew Leetu Bends, had trained her to take her place in Creemoor, and trusted the young emerlindian to continue her work. The work had been her way of dealing with the loss of husband and daughter. Now she had her family back, but had Leetu Bends destroyed her labor of all those years?
Lady Lyll looked down at her plate. Using her fork, she pushed one large tubular pasta through the creamy sauce. She twirled it to and fro but did not pick it up.
Bardon’s mother-in-law mindspoke to him. “Keep Gilda busy while I communicate with Leetu Bends.”
Bardon cleared his throat and drew the attention of the others. “What are the chances of finding the meech colony if they don’t want to be found?”
Gilda took the bait. “Once they know that two meech dragons are looking for their own, I imagine they will send out an emissary to lead us home.”
“Why do you call this nameless, hidden location your home?”
Gilda shook her shoulders and lifted her chin as she sat up straighter. “I find most society a little crude. Even my dear Regidor mingles too much with the mundane.”
Bardon chanced a peek at Lady Lyll. She did not look happy. Was she listening to Gilda or Leetu Bends?
Regidor gave Gilda a half smile but looked Bardon in the eye. Bardon watched his expression for a moment and determined the meech dragon had picked up on the tension between Dar, Lady Lyll, and himself.
Bardon tried focusing a thought to Regidor’s mind. It would be pointless unless the meech were already eavesdropping. Are you listening to me, my friend?
“I am, indeed.”
One of our allies, Leetu Bends, is the emerlindian girl Gilda pointed out.
“I had surmised that much.”
Either she’s in trouble, and we should help, or she is doing her job and would not appreciate our interference.
“I’d say neither.”
Why?
“Do you forget that I see auras around people and can discern their general standing, whether good-hearted or a black villain?”
Bardon’s eyes widened. It had been a long time since he had seen his friend use that particular talent.
“And?” Bardon forgot and spoke aloud.
“And what?” asked Gilda.
“And,” said her husband, “Leetu Bends and her friend, Latho, are companions. Friends. Nothing more sinister and nothing immoral.”
Sir Dar cocked his head, his ears perked forward. “The bisonbeck isn’t under Pretender or the evil wizards?”
“No.” Regidor shook his head and turned to study the couple. “The lights dancing around him tell of peace, generosity, and a deep sadness.”
Lady Lyll leaned forward so she could see around Gilda. “Have you ever seen the like of it before, Regidor?”
“No, never.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter now, does it?” Gilda arched a shoulder and smoothed her sleeve. “He’s still a bisonbeck and not to be trusted.”
“I’ve had enough of speculation.” Sir Dar stood. “Excuse me.”
The doneel’s eyes were locked on Leetu Bends.
Bardon decided he’d better go along. “Excuse me.” He followed his friend as the doneel zigzagged between the tables.
Sir Dar approached the table where Leetu and her friend sat. He swept his arm in front of him and gave a court bow. When he straightened, a pleasant smile brightened his eyes and turned his thin black lips upward in a smile that almost stretched from ear to ear across his furry face.
Leetu jumped up from the table and hugged the doneel.
“I want you to meet my friend.” She turned to the bisonbeck who had awkwardly risen and stood behind her. “This is Latho.”
He stretched out his hand and shook with Sir Dar. Dar’s hand closed around two of the bigger man’s fingers.
Latho grunted. It might have been a word, but Bardon didn’t catch it. Leetu Bends looked at him and back to Dar.
Dar stepped to the side, and with an open hand, gestured to Bardon. “This is Kale Allerion’s husband, Sir Bardon.”
“We’ve met.” Leetu Bends saluted Bardon with a fist tapped over her heart. “The introduction was meant for you, Latho.”
Bardon returned the salute, then put his hand out to shake with the bisonbeck. For the first time, except in a fight of some kind, Bardon touched one of Pretender’s chosen race of warriors. Bardon’s hand almost covered the big man’s palm, but his fingers didn’t extend far enough to wrap around the hand.
“What brings you to Grail?” he asked Leetu Bends.
“Latho. His family lives here.” She gave a quick glance around the room. “Look, let’s sit down. We’re attracting attention, and Latho hates it.”
“Hates what?” asked Bardon.
“Don’t be thick,” she said, pushing Dar and Bardon toward the alcove table. “He doesn’t like people staring at him. It happens all the time because he doesn’t wear the uniform.”
They crowded in around the little square table, Latho in the back next to the wall, Leetu Bends next to him, and Dar on the outside. Bardon sat opposite the knight and the emerlindian. The last side had no bench, and servants passed by with their trays and pitchers.
The emerlindian’s hair had darkened since Bardon had seen her last. Instead of the soft honey color, her straight locks held a red undertone that caught the light of the lanterns. A light tan had tinted her skin. He couldn’t see the color of her eyes in the gleam of the scattered lamps. However, Bardon suspected her sky blue eyes were darker now.
Leetu Bends fingered her spoon, turning it over and over where it lay next to her plate. “We heard about the quiss attacking some sea vessels last week and came up because one of Latho’s brothers is a sailor. We couldn’t get any reliable information down south. Some people even said that the boats were transporting the quiss.”
“Ridiculous rumors,” said Latho and shuddered.
Bardon thought it a very believable shudder. He looked across the room at his mother-in-law, and she dipped her head, just enough to relay she perceived the bisonbeck’s reaction to be true and not a sham.
“Why,” asked Bardon, “does Latho not follow the usual path of bisonbecks? He obviously isn’t a warrior.”
“He’s a merchant,” explained Leetu Bends. “He trades goods.” She ducked her head and lowered her voice. “He provides the market commodities for Burner Stox’s army.”
“It’s not as if I have a choice,” Latho said. He shrugged his massive shoulders. “It was either develop a career that aided her cause or mysteriously disappear. And I don’t mean that I would arrange this inexplicable vanishing act.”
Sir Dar patted Leetu Bends’s hand and gently removed the spoon. He laid it on the table out of her reach. “And tell us about your friendship. You know that it is odd, to say the least.”
Latho studied his dirty plate. All the food had been eaten, but the remnants seemed remarkable enough to capture his full attention.
Leetu Bends chose to answer the inquiry. She lowered her voice to such a whisper that Bardon had to strain to hear her. “Latho has abandoned his oath to follow Pretender. He has vowed allegiance to Wulder.”
Bardon opened his mouth to say that the emerlindian’s revelation was impossible. He stopped, sealed his lips together, and looked to Sir Dar to make some remark.
“And you believe him?” asked the doneel.
Bends nodded.
“Why?” asked Bardon. He couldn’t help the frown on his face or giving the quiet bisonbeck another look of examination.
“Because he transported me when I was wounded to a safe house. He paid for my keep while I got well, and…” She lowered her voice even more. Bardon leaned across the table, then realized she mindspoke the final words. “He gives me information about the enemy troops that I pass on to Paladin’s generals. He’s a spy.”