The Eighth Warden Bk. 03 Ch. 05-06

Venni chewed her lower lip. "That's warded more strongly than usual. It stung other people before you'd ever touched it? Did the attunement begin from a distance, or was there some other reason it didn't like them?"

"What do you mean?"

"Normally, the protections don't activate until the sword attunes to someone, and it shouldn't have been able to do that until you touched it. But there might be an additional ward that seeks a specific type of bearer and prevents anyone else from getting close. Here, try this." Venni drew her own sword, Dart, which glowed dark red just as it had that day in High Cove. She laid it out on the desk near his scabbard, the glow fading as her hand left the hilt. "Touch her."

"What?" Would her sword react the same way his had?

"Trust me," Venni said.

Corec tentatively poked the hilt with his finger, but nothing happened. There was no spark and no pain.

"Now, try to pick it up."

He set his own sword down and grasped Dart's hilt, but when he tried to lift it, it barely moved. Struggling to pull it up with both hands, he managed to raise the sword at an angle, the tip of the blade still resting on the desk. He looked at Venni. "What does that mean?" he asked, setting it back down again.

"Dart is attuned to me, so nobody else can carry her. Not easily, anyway. Before I found her, anyone could have taken her. Even now, someone could steal her if they really wanted to, but it's more trouble than it's worth. They wouldn't be able to attune her until I die."

"I didn't know that was possible."

"Attuned weapons are rare, even among other magic weapons. Most enchantments are simpler—typically to keep the blade sharp at all times and prevent it from breaking."

"Then where did these two come from? Are they related?"

Venni shrugged. "I don't know."

Yelena said, "The secret of creating a permanent enchantment has been lost for a long time, but we don't know how long. Your sword came from a Chosar city, which is more than we know about Venni's."

"Why can I touch Venni's, but no one can touch this one?" Corec asked. "Why did it act differently when I tried to leave it behind?"

"Your sword has a more complex enchantment," Venni said. She reached out for the blade, but a green spark arced toward her fingers. She gasped in pain and drew her hand back, then grinned at Yelena. "Do you want to try it? Just so we can prove it's not warded to look for wardens?"

"I don't think so, no," Yelena replied. "I'll bow to your expertise that now that it's been attuned, it will harm anyone but him...regardless of what sort of bearer the initial ward was seeking."

#

Razai gazed out over the plaza in her Aden disguise, trying to catch a glimpse of Dallo or any of his few remaining men. With Kahlvin in prison and Eben having abandoned his holdings, Dallo was the last of the three gang leaders who'd tried to take over the docks. He'd escaped the constabulary—or had possibly been tipped off—but she'd heard rumors that he'd shown his face in his old territory a few times.

She'd caught one of his lieutenants a week earlier, the man who'd murdered Talai's bodyguard. Unfortunately, he'd screamed too loudly when she'd started breaking his fingers, so rather than getting any information out of him, she'd had to kill him before he drew attention. She'd left his body draped over a decorative fountain in front of Dallo's old headquarters. Razai didn't know if the gang leader still owned the building, but the people who lived around there would certainly recognize the body...and the warning.

She was no longer being paid by the divers, but she hated to leave a job half done. Or perhaps she was just bored. She had the day off since Renny was planning to stay home to visit with an old friend, but Vash and Wotar were both out with the caravans. There was no one to go drinking with until Lanii's crew surfaced for the day.

Razai had been guarding Renny for three weeks now, and the concubine was still a puzzle—flighty as a bird one moment and as serious as a scholar the next. The real problem was that with the gangs out of the way, the girl didn't need one bodyguard, much less two. Razai's position seemed more a sinecure than anything.

Eliminating Dallo would ensure the last of the threat was gone. Perhaps that was the real reason she was waiting in the plaza. She didn't want to accept Renny's charity, but she didn't want to leave town until the job was truly done.

There was movement in front of her, and suddenly Corec was standing there. "Razai?" he asked, staring at the Aden disguise, which he'd seen before.

She froze. He'd been to the north for so long, she'd grown complacent. The warden bond didn't tell her how far away he was, only what direction he was in, and she hadn't checked in over a day. She checked now, reflexively, and almost snarled when she realized he was standing north of her, so it felt the same as it had before. Useless bloody spell.

"What do you want?" she snapped.

"Just to talk," he said, holding his hands up in front of him. "We got paid for taking care of the demons."

"So?"

"I've got your share. Six gold and some silver." He counted the coins out of a pouch.

She hesitated, but gold was gold. She took it. "Now, could you leave? I'm trying to work here."

He looked back at the plaza, obviously trying to figure out what she was doing. "First, tell me how you knew about wardens," he said. "And about me."

Razai sighed. "Someone asked me to watch you, and tell him what you were doing."

"Who was it? Prince Rusol?"

"You mean from Larso? The one that killed his brother?"

Corec had been about to say something, but instead had a coughing fit. "Rusol killed Prince Rikard?"

"I didn't see him do it, but it's got to be him. Younger brother, son of a concubine, but only one person stood between him and becoming heir to the throne. It wasn't an accident, you know. The saddle's straps were cut—I saw them."

"You were there?"

"My employer—my former employer—was curious about what had happened, just like he was curious about you. I was nearby, so I snuck into the palace grounds and took a look." That was understating the amount of interest Vatarxis had shown in Rusol and his family. Razai had been there specifically to spy on them, to see how they reacted after Rusol became a warden. The family had kept things quiet, though, and Vatarxis had been pleased with Rikard's death, so Razai had eventually been given another task that led her away from Larso.

"Who is your employer?" Corec asked.

"He's nobody you'd have ever heard of. Don't worry about him—he never asked me to kill you, just to watch. I quit when you bonded me. I didn't sign up for that."

"I'm sorry. We're still looking for a way to end the spell."

"You'd better be."

Corec's brow furrowed. "Why did he want you to watch me? Is he another warden?"

"I don't know why, and no, he's not a warden." Razai managed to keep herself from laughing at the thought.

"But he is the one who told you about them?"

"Yes."

"What else do you know about Rusol? Why is he trying to kill me?"

She stared at him, wondering about the change in topic. "What are you talking about?"

"He's working with some sort of demon to send men with red eyes to attack me."

"Red eyes?"

"Humans with eyes that glow red. They turn back to normal when we kill them or free them from the spell. They said there was a voice that told them what to do."

That did sound like one of the clumsier types of demonic compulsion. Glowing eyes could sometimes be a side effect.

"There weren't any demons in Telfort when I was there, but that was a few years ago. I don't know what Rusol's up to now. I never even saw him—I was in and out in less than a day." The lie came easily. Whatever Vatarxis's interest was in the two newest wardens, he was more concerned with Rusol, while Corec was merely an afterthought. But if Corec discovered she knew more about the prince, he'd never leave her alone.

"Do you think he might know about wardens, like your employer does?"

"How would I know?" The discussion was getting into dangerous territory. Luckily, just then, Razai saw her prey working his way through the crowd. "Now, I've answered your questions and I've got better things to do with my time. Don't look for me again unless you find a way to end the warden bond."

She stalked off, trailing Dallo but taking care to keep out of his sight. Corec didn't follow her, but if he was in Tyrsall, it was time for her to leave. Six gold pieces was a significant amount of money, and on top of what she'd already saved, she could make it to Matagor in comfort. No, not Matagor—some of Corec's friends were from there. Farther away. Southwest through Abildgar, and then on to Chondor or Deece. Maybe even directly south to Nobitar or Sanvar.

But first, she had to deal with Dallo, then tell Renny she was leaving. The girl deserved that much. Perhaps she would know of a job outside the city.

#

As soon as they were alone, Treya hugged her old roommate. "I like your new butler."

Renny smirked. "Varsin warned Mr. Jovan about his behavior, but he didn't stop. I only complained about how he treated you, not how he treated me, but Varsin and Kelsa caught him at it a few times, so now he's gone. Mr. Halson is a big improvement. Did you just get back?"

"We made it in last night. The Storm Heights were cold."

"Well, of course they were," Renny said, laughing. "If you'd switch to the Order of Concubines, you could just stay here. You wouldn't have to keep journeying."

"Most of the time, I like it—just not in the mountains in the middle of winter. I might stop soon, though."

"Oh!" Renny clapped her hands together. "Your journeying is over? You're coming back?"

"Not back here, probably. We're thinking of Four Roads or South Corner, maybe Circle Bay."

"South Corner? Four Roads? Those are in the middle of nowhere! Why would you go there? Wait! We?"

"Remember that group I've been traveling with? We're thinking about settling down and finding work. My healing magic keeps getting stronger, and it just seems like I should be doing more with it. If I stay in one place, people who need me will know how to find me."

"The group with the baron's son?" Renny said eagerly. "House Tarwen of Larso, right?"

Treya snickered. "Trust you to remember a man's rank. Yes, him, his girl Katrin—she's a bard—and a dorvasta woman named Shavala, but she wants to be close to the Terril Forest. That's why we're looking at Four Roads and South Corner."

"He's already got a girl?" Renny sounded disappointed.

"Yes, so you can stop dreaming about some great romance for me." Treya decided not to mention that Corec had asked her to help him with correspondence and information-gathering, two duties that typically fell to concubines. It would just give Renny ideas.

"Oh, fah! All right. But I thought you'd mentioned more people than that."

"The rest of them aren't staying with us."

"When are you leaving?"

"Well, we're not going there right away. We're sailing to Cordaea first."

Renny's eyes grew wide. "Cordaea! Why?"

"We're looking for an old city—or probably the ruins of one, since nobody's heard of it in a long time. We think it's in Cordaea somewhere. After we find it, we'll come back here and look for a place to live."

"Why look for old ruins?"

"Do you remember that spell I told you about?" Treya allowed her rune to shine for a moment before hiding it again. "The people who created it might have once lived in that city, and maybe they left behind a way to undo it. Ellerie—she's a silver elf—she's hoping so, anyway. I'm not sure about it anymore. The spell might be what's making my healing magic stronger, and I don't want to go back to how it was before."

"You're going all the way to Cordaea for that?"

"Not exactly. Ellerie was already looking for the city even before the spell. She wants to find it because nobody else has found it. The rest of the group is going, so I might as well."

"Treasure!" Renny exclaimed. "You're going on a treasure hunt!"

Treya couldn't help laughing at her old roommate's exuberance. "Maybe, but I think Ellerie just wants to find the city."

"I wish I could go!"

"If you really want to..."

"No, I'm just being silly. I'll leave the journeying to you. I'm happy here."

"If you want to help, I know Senshall Trading Company works in Cordaea. Do you know anyone who speaks the language?"

"Which language? Nysan, Doravi, or Stoneborn?"

"Nysan, I think, since we're going to the southern region. One of my friends is a dwarf, and he already speaks Stoneborn."

Renny said, "I'm sure Varsin knows somebody who speaks Nysan. We have regular shipping routes to Ankarov Dor and Nysa. We even run our own caravans there to haul things from the inner kingdoms."

Treya thought about that for a moment. "Then maybe you can help us find maps, too. If Senshall has caravans actually going into the interior, your maps might be better than what we can find at the library."

"Maybe. Varsin's brother Burton handles Cordaea, but I could ask Varsin to ask him."

"Thank you!" Treya said, hugging her roommate. "And you know more about boats than I do...we need to find a cheap way across the ocean. Do you have any ideas?"

"How cheap?"

"Very cheap. We'll be gone for months, and we'll need to pay for food, horses, and supplies. At the moment, I think we've only got enough for about a third of what we need, and that doesn't include the ship. We're looking for work, but we need to keep the cost down as much as we can."

Renny smiled widely. "I could loan you the money."

"What? How?"

"Oh, I never told you! I started my own company! It's like a farmers' collective, but for the seaborn divers."

Treya stared at her in surprise. "A farmers' collective? How did you come up with that idea?"

"Well, you told me to talk to my father about investing in fishing boats, but he said I'd just lose my money doing that. But then he said the divers make decent money for no investment at all other than their time. Only, the fishmongers' guild and the other buyers don't always give them a good price, so I thought we could centralize that, like we learned in our classes. And it worked! I don't make very much money, but I have more than I started with, and I've still got my bond price. I could loan you half of what I've got without affecting my operations."

Treya laughed. Renny was so excitable, it was sometimes hard to remember that she'd been at the top of all their classes.

"Congratulations! But I'd hate to take money from you. I have no idea when I'd be able to pay it back. Or if I'd be able to pay it back."

"It's a treasure hunt! You'll find treasure!"

"We probably won't, you know. We already searched one set of ruins in the Storm Heights, and there was no treasure there—even in the parts that the stormborn hadn't explored yet."

"Oh," Renny said, looking so downcast that Treya had to hug her again.

"I still appreciate the offer. Bobo thinks we might find some pottery or other things left behind, and if we do, he says he could find buyers, but I just don't know if it would be enough to pay you back."

"Well, I'll still talk to Varsin about the other things, and maybe he'll have an idea about the ship as well."

"Thank you."

"This place you're looking for—does it have a name?"

"Tir Yadar."