The City of Towers

CHAPTER 19

He was lying on a blanket in a bare, dusty room. A small man-a halfling-was sitting next to him. Somewhere, bells were ringing.

“Are you well?” the little man said.

Jode. This was Jode. Slowly, memories came back to him. “Jode,” he whispered. “You’re all right.”

Jode shrugged. “I’m fine. They didn’t seem that interested in me. The man who came after me wasn’t even armed, and after I put a knife through his knees he seemed happy to leave me alone. How about you? Can you remember what happened?”

“I … I think so.”

“Apparently Monan-Hugal, whoever-destroyed his own mind, and you were caught in some sort of psychic backlash.” Jode studied Daine intently. “If you don’t mind my asking, can you tell me how we survived the final battle at Keldan Ridge?”

Keldan Ridge … “No,” Daine answered eventually. “None of us can remember what happened.”

“That’s right,” Jode said with a relieved smile. “Just checking.”

“Did you find out what they were after?”

“I’m afraid not. All of the others died. Monan-Hugal is still alive, but he’s not responding to anything.”

“I see.”

“It’s worse,” Jode said. “He’s a changeling. He reverted to his true form after he collapsed.”

“Changeling?”

“So it may have been Monan, it may have been Hugal, or it may not have been either of them. There’s no way of knowing-until we find the other twin.”

Daine rose up to a sitting position. “Are the others all right?”

“Olladra smiles. I’ve healed your back and Lei patched up Pierce. They’re downstairs having breakfast. We thought it best to let you sleep as long as you needed.”

Since the last thing he could remember was eating dinner, Daine was surprised to find that he was hungry. He looked around and found his clothes. “We should stay together from this point on. I don’t know why we were attacked, but clearly something strange is going on in High Walls.”

“Stranger than you think, Captain. But I think I’d better let Lei explain.”

“A basilisk’s eye?”

“I think so.” Lei was enjoying another bowl of the Manticore’s legendary gruel. “Once she’d been petrified, it was safe to examine it. I think someone somehow embedded a basilisk’s eye in the palm of her hand, keeping all the abilities of a true, living basilisk.”

“So this wasn’t the Tarkanans?”

“Assuming the people we met yesterday were telling the truth, there’s nothing similar about the two. Bal’s powers are based on the same principles as a dragonmark. These others … I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“After you collapsed, that other captain-Greykell-showed up with a few members of the local militia. She took us to the healer, Hulda, along with the other bodies. There wasn’t much room in her tent, so we brought you back here once we knew it was safe.”

“With the exception of the changeling, Greykell knew who all of the attackers were,” Jode said. “It could have been an act, but as far as I could tell, she really was surprised and disturbed by what she saw. She claimed to have no idea how or why they would do what they did.”

“Well, we’re getting to the how,” Lei continued. “Those two with the claws? We extracted some sort of creatures from their arms. They looked like worms of some sort. Given the mental powers of the changeling, I think that these worms were linked to their minds somehow. It’s possible their sinews were even controlling their behavior. In any case, I’ve heard of kalashtar adepts who can use the powers of their minds to reshape their bodies, and I think that’s what this was. These worms increased their strength and speed and produced those claws. The petrification makes it impossible to tell, but I’m guessing that the old man who spat acid at Pierce had a similar graft-some monstrous organ implanted in his chest.”

“So you’re saying we’re looking for a man with a deadly touch and we’re being chased by people have been physically altered to spit acid and turn people to stone?”

“That’s about right.”

“Doesn’t anyone use swords any more?” Daine slumped in his chair. “I’m beginning to miss the war.”

“Greykell is keeping the changeling under watch in case he recovers,” Jode said. “I need to go heal some of the local children, so if you want to talk to her about the people who attacked us, we can see what she knows.”

“Clearly we need all the information we can get.” Daine paused for a moment. “Do think that it could have simply been a random attack? That we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time? After all, they didn’t ask for anything.”

“I suppose. One the other hand, Monan did seem to recognize Rasial, and I can’t help but wonder if the attack was related to the dinner conversation. Perhaps we were asking too many questions, and someone wanted you dead.”

“Or maybe …” Lei said thoughtfully. “Maybe someone wanted you alive.”

“What do you mean?” Jode said.

“You said it yourself, Jode. You’re the only one they didn’t try to kill, even after you injured your enemy. Perhaps they didn’t expect the rest of us to last as long as we did. Once we were down, the attackers could have teamed up to subdue you.”

“But what would they want with me?” Jode said.

“That is the question,” Lei said.

“So where do we go from here?”

Daine tried to collect his thoughts. “To begin with, you don’t go anywhere alone, especially in High Walls. Let’s talk to Greykell and see what she knows about our attackers. After that … well, we still need to talk to the wind, whatever that means.”

Lei clutched her forehead. “Sovereign Lords! I’d completely forgotten about that. Do you think we’ll have to fight the guard again?”

“There’s only one way to find out.”