Thick as Thieves (21 page)

“What do they eat?”

This time Madd stirred and looked up at him. “What kind of question is that? They eat nothing, if they’re trapped in a spell or an egg. They’re magic.”

Petal reappeared, bouncing across the floor with a half-eaten cricket in her beak. The soft sound of munching reached his ear.

Madd turned to see what he was looking at. He shrieked and dove for the covers. “Basilisk!”

“It’s the one from your collar. I brought the egg with me. Her name is Petal. She hatched while you were sleeping.” Vorgell eased past Madd to assess the situation. Leaving the bed, he hunkered down and reached out for the creature. Petal scooted onto his outstretched palm.

Petal in hand, Vorgell resumed his seat on the bed. Madd remained buried under the furs. “Get rid of it!” Madd demanded.

“That wouldn’t be right. She’s just a baby.”

“Vorgell, she’s a basilisk.” The furs muffled Madd’s voice. “Maybe you’re magical and a basilisk’s stare doesn’t affect you… but I’m not! If that thing looks at me, I die!”

Petal wouldn’t hurt Madd, would she? Vorgell held her up and gazed into her beautiful eyes. “Don’t hurt Madd, Petal. He’s not so bad. I’ll protect you.”

“Basilisks don’t talk, Vorgell,” Madd informed him. His voice still bore a frantic edge. “Just let it outside so it can turn foxes to stone instead of us.”

“Maybe basilisk stares don’t kill when they’re babies.”

“Maybe I don’t want to take the chance!”

A knock sounded at the tunnel door. Reannry! Vorgell grinned and bounded from the bed, moving quickly to let her in.

“Vorgell, stop!” Madd shouted, furs flying as he tried to kick free. But Vorgell had reached the door and flung it open.

“Thank the gods,” he said, seeing Reannry standing before him, her cloaked shape laden with bundles.

The girl brushed past him and dumped her burdens on the floor. She shot him a smile, then looked at what he held clasped to his chest. The tiny basilisk fixed her with its slit stare.

Chapter 15

T
HE
girl who pushed past Vorgell into the underground room was undoubtedly a witch. Madd read the signs. In Reannry, the old blood showed through: black hair that fell in soft waves past her shoulders, a fair complexion and dark eyes just like his. More than that, though, a golden sunburst glinted on one cute little earlobe, and a silvery moon orb dangled from the other. Embroidered fern fronds hemmed a soft lavender-gray cloak woven from the silky hair of rock goats, and even the cuffs of her shirt were patterned with winter-flowering meadow lace. Everything about her screamed that she belonged to a Circle.

She was also staring straight into the eyes of a basilisk and so far hadn’t turned to stone. She merely
looked
petrified.

“Vorgell, what—” she gasped.

The big man had turned the color of whey. “I—this is Petal. She hatched. I should have been more careful. Madd tried to warn me—”

“Dear goddess.” Reannry went to the chair that wasn’t half-invisible from the cloak of shadows and sat down as her legs gave way. “Is that—”

“It’s a basilisk,” said Madd. He thought it best just to get that detail out of the way. Vorgell was too busy apologizing. The amazing thing was she hadn’t turned to stone… and she should have. Maybe it was true the basilisk was simply too young to have come into its dread power. He wasn’t quite ready to test that theory, so he kept his gaze on her and not on the man standing near the door.

“For all that’s holy, Vorgell—” she began, covering her face with a curtain of hair.

“There, I’ve put her in my pocket. You can both look at me now.”

Vorgell wouldn’t lie about such a thing, so Madd looked. Not only was Petal now in Vorgell’s pocket, but the big man clutched the fabric closed with his hand.

“She’s going to suffocate if you don’t give her air,” Madd pointed out.

“Then we’ll figure something else out, but I’m not going to get rid of her.” After stomping back over to the bed, Vorgell sat down again. Madd would have felt sorry for him, except that the man had a basilisk in his pocket. At least Vorgell had loosened his grip enough to let air in.

Reannry pushed her hair back from her face. “I’m sorry I panicked,” she said. “It’s just that basilisks are so very dangerous. I forgot they can only be handled when just hatched.”

“Can they?” asked Madd. He didn’t like having this witch female interfering. He was trying hard to remember she had helped to save his life.

She must have sensed his suspicion, because she looked at him, not Vorgell, when she said, “Yes. It’s probably how Ibeena planned to tame it to hand. They imprint on the first creature they see when they hatch. Usually that’s the mother basilisk. But a very
skilled
witch might attempt it.”

Wonderful. This basilisk had imprinted on a completely clueless—albeit magical—barbarian.

“And they don’t always turn everything they see into stone,” she continued, tilting her chin obnoxiously and displaying her knowledge. “If they don’t feel threatened, their eyes have a membrane that renders their gaze harmless. They retract the membrane to hunt—and kill.”

Madd brooded. He wished the girl already gone, if only because he disliked witch women even more than other people, especially those who liked to show off knowledge he’d never been given the chance to learn. Circles didn’t educate lowly witchkin males. He regretted his feeling when he saw how happy Vorgell looked now that he knew his pet basilisk wasn’t necessarily going to turn people to stone. The sooner they got the beast to Ibeena, the better.

“Maddog?”

He looked up again at Reannry’s gentle use of his name.

“Do you know where my sister has been taken? She isn’t in the castle, I searched everywhere.”

Beside him, Vorgell sighed. Madd studied Reannry’s face. Her sister? “Who?”

“Gillja Sunraven. She’s the baron’s wife.”

“I know her. I’m sorry, I—I know Vorgell told me.” Now he regretted his harsh thoughts. This girl was Gillja’s sister? They didn’t look alike. He drew a breath, wishing he could give her better news. “I saw Lady Gillja ride out this morning with the baron. When I was caught, he returned… he did not bring her with him, not that I know.” He forced himself to meet her hungry, hopeful eyes. “There was a wizard with me… with the baron.”

“Yes,” she said, urgently. “Vorgell killed him. And I killed the baron.”

They’d slain Usdan… and the baron too. The fullness of that act sank in. The Wizards’ Guild hated witches already, and now the barons…. Another deep breath. “The baron told me Gillja tried to kill him with a spell, that’s how he found out she was a witch.”

“A killing spell? She couldn’t have… she wouldn’t!”

“I’m just telling you what he said. He wanted something from the wizards,” he fought to speak the words, knowing the illnesses he’d laid on Flemgu were to blame for that, “and gave her over to the guild in exchange for their help. They’re hunting witches in this region. That’s why Usdan was there.”

“That’s who we killed? The Grand Wizard?” Realization whitened her already pale face.

He nodded. “He deserved it. He deserved it ten times over. The fiends he set on me—they were fiends he’d created from my mother’s death. He killed her… to make those things.” He blinked, fighting tears. In all this time, he hadn’t cried in front of anyone, not even his Gran. Alone, yes, in the dark night when he couldn’t shutter the black wells of his guilt… or stop from remembering his mother’s voice or seeing her face.

“Oh Goddess, Maddog. I didn’t know.” Reannry darted from her chair to the bundles she’d dropped on the floor. It took her only a moment to dig through them and pull out a parcel wrapped in fine velvet. “I brought this back with me. It’s the wizard’s wand. Usdan’s broken wand. I couldn’t leave behind the bone of one of our own. She deserves to be laid to rest.” She placed the bundle in his hands. His stomach clenched at the cool weight of the fabric, at feeling the broken pieces of his mother’s thighbone within. “She deserves to be laid to rest by her son.”

“But I killed her.”

“Aw, Madd,” said Vorgell. “You couldn’t have—”

“But he did,” Reannry spoke up. Though soft, her blunt words snapped with truth. “Not by his hand, but because of him.”

And Vorgell wondered why he disliked being around witchkin? Madd wanted to laugh, but couldn’t. He hadn’t killed his mother, but Reannry was right: he
had
brought about her death. After he had run away from home, his mother had come to Gurgh to find him and fallen into a wizard’s trap. They’d thought nothing of baiting their trap with one of the dozens of useless witchkin boys who haunted the alleys. Because of him, they’d been able to lure her.

He had thought she wouldn’t care that he ran, that she didn’t love him. Instead, she had cared enough to follow him to Gurgh, even though doing so was dangerous. In the end, she had cared more than he deserved, and he had been a selfish, unthinking child. He had tried to find her, with a boy’s stupid courage. Usdan himself had turned him away with a cold promise that he would see him again. But instead of mourning her properly, instead of being glad for his life or avenging hers, he’d turned to thievery and disdain for witchkin ways.

He was crying now, deep sobs that even to his ears barely sounded human. “I never loved her enough,” he said. “She died not knowing.”

Vorgell’s big arm wrapped him up and pulled him close, the barbarian’s beard crushing his hair as the deep voice rumbled in his ear. “She knew. Same way you know now.”

“I didn’t avenge her. I became a thief—”

“You’re alive, and that’s what she wanted. You’ll have your revenge and more if you stay among the living,” his giant friend said. “I’m even gladder now I killed him. I crushed his skull with that mace and nothing ever felt sweeter. And I’ll crush wizard skulls again and take twice the pleasure in it, now that I know how they come by their power.” Then Vorgell said to Reannry, in a tone no less menacing, “And I’ll kill you too if you say another hurtful word to him.”

“I don’t have to say anything. He knows what he did.”

“And I’ve told you what I’ll do.”

Madd choked back his sobs. He didn’t deserve such a friend. Vorgell had braved wizards and fiends… and now he braved a stubborn little witch. “Let her live,” he said, pushing himself away from Vorgell’s bearish protection. At least he hadn’t blubbered out the worst of it, that he had let the man who’d killed his mother fuck him. That because of it he’d been willing to die the night he’d played the mandolin. He wiped at the moisture from his eyes. “Let them all live, unless you want to slay the whole nation of witchkin. What she says isn’t any different than what they all say.” With a last snuffle, he stroked the velvet bundle. “I’ll bury Zorya Moonswan near this tree. It’s a moon oak, a good place, a sacred place—and she’ll take peace knowing I’m alive still, and that I found refuge here.” He lifted wet eyes to the girl, who had fallen silent. “I think I’m kin enough to know your name.”

She lifted her stubborn chin. “Reannry Suncliff.” She knew what her name told him. She and Gillja shared a mother line gifted with Sun magic, had different fathers, and her father was from a respected line. When he said nothing, she squared her shoulders before making another request. “Did they say anything more about Gillja? Do you know where she was being taken?”

His mother’s thighbone lay beneath his hand, reminding Madd that it was prudent to tend to the living before the dead. “The baron didn’t say and neither did Usdan. But if she’s in the custody of wizards, she’ll be taken to the Guild Keep in Gurgh.”

Vorgell shifted beside him, and Madd looked over to see that the basilisk had crawled back into the barbarian’s hand. The big man stroked her rosy crest while she fixed Madd with a beady glare. Madd sighed. He could see already that getting Vorgell to hand the thing over to Ibeena was going to be difficult. Why was nothing in his life easy?

Reannry popped to her feet and went to her bundles again. She emptied out one of the sacks, only to fill it again with items she pulled from the others.

“Where are you going?” Madd demanded, though he guessed what she was doing. “They’ve got nearly a whole day lead on you.”

“And that’s why I’m going to have to move fast,” she said. “It’s a couple hours from here to the nearest oak walk.” She finished her packing and, leaving the contents of the sacks in disarray, headed for the door.

“Wait!” Vorgell boomed. “There’s a better way. Madd can—”

“No, Madd can’t.” Madd glared at Vorgell for even thinking about it.

“Why not? You did it after we escaped from the tower. It was a small effort, but it got us to Gurgh.”

“To Rattail Alley, the only place I knew well enough to go. But what if that’s guarded?” Rattail Alley being guarded was far from his greatest concern though.

Vorgell was unfazed. “I have sword and mace. If we encounter soldiers, we shall not be long inconvenienced.” He speared Madd with a gaze as commanding as that of any border lord. “We can’t let her go alone. Reannry helped us. Now we have to help her rescue her sister.”

And Madd wanted to. He really did. Gillja had helped him when no one else would. She could have just abandoned him as her husband’s bed boy, but even when he had been cast into a cell… she had been kind. She’d given him a blanket, and wholesome food, and saw to his comfort in a dozen small ways. He knew too few truly good, gentle people, but Gillja was one of them. That she was in the hands of wizards now was something his mother would want him to remedy. And his Gran had charged him to help Gillja, give her a spell, which he’d done… possibly to her harm, now that she was in wizard hands.