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Guilt for long ago abandoning his parents didn't drive him anymore. Nor was it just sorrow in returning the remains of his father to his mother. Longing was still part of it, remembering a mother's gentle touch and firm lilting voice, and how these made his first life bearable for a while. But it had taken the memories that Chap stole from Brot'an in Darmouth's family crypt to make Leesil face much of the truth.
Darmouth had used him. And Brot'an had wielded him like the bone knife Leesil gouged deep into Darmouth's throat. If that moment had been the end of it, he might have put those bloody events behind him. He'd done it before.
But he began to see the pattern of his life, to understand the reason for his existence.
His life had been engraved by the scheme of a grandmother he never knew-Eillean. Even his own father must have had a hand in it, for Gavril had gone along with Nein'as insistence. Leesil couldn't escape what he was-what his mother had made him.
A weapon.
He wanted to look her in the eyes and know the reasons for all she'd done to him, everything she'd trained him to be.
Wy
The tu
Chap shifted anxiously between the mouths of the two passages. He sniffed the stone floor, staring down each in turn. The dog stood silent for so long that Leesil came out of his own dark thoughts, and then Chap trotted off down the right fork without looking back.
"I hope he knows what he's doing," Magiere muttered.
They moved on, and time dragged in this place without day or night. Leesil's shoulders ached from the chest's ropes biting into them. He'd sunk into himself once more when Chap suddenly stopped.
"What now?" Leesil asked, and peered around a too-silent Wy
Magiere felt cold inside standing behind Chap in tense silence. But it wasn't from the tu
Their food was gone, and they'd been on half rations for longer than she could reckon. Their situation was dire, and they all knew it.
Chap lowered his head with a growl.
Magiere dropped her pack to the tu
"What is it?" Leesil demanded in a hushed voice.
Chap let out a whine, then snorted as if some scent in the air had clogged his nose.
"Chap?" she whispered.
His ears pricked up, and he whined again, but it sounded more disgruntled than alarmed.
A light scratching carried up the tu
"We are not alone," Wy
Magiere drew her falchion, holding the crystal out with her other hand.
Beyond the light's reach, a pair of shimmers appeared in the dark. They bobbed up and down as the soft sound of claws on stone came nearer. The paired shimmers rose slightly from the floor. The dark shape of a small creature formed around them.
No larger than a house cat, its body was elongated like a weasel or ferret. A stubby tail, darker than its bark-colored fur, twitched erratically as it sat up on its hindquarters.
Around its eyes and down its pug muzzle spread a black mask of fur. Wide ears perked up with small tufts of white hairs on their points. Its strangest features were its tiny forepaws. Less like paws and more like small hands, they ended in stubby little fingers with short claws.
"Oh no!" Wy
Magiere had to look back. The astonishment on Wy
Chap shifted to the tu
"What is that?" Magiere asked.
"Tashgalh!" Wy
"Is it poisonous or something?" Magiere asked.
Wy
Chap growled, but he didn't close on the creature. He snapped his jaws threateningly and it dashed straight up the tu
Magiere shoved Wy
It clung there as if standing upside down on the tu
Magiere carefully aimed the cold lamp crystal for a better look, and its black, glassy eyes followed the movement.
"Oh no, not on your mangy little life!" Wy
Chap scurried back as the stone went wide, bouncing from one tu
The tashgalh hopped sideways across the ceiling, trying to regain sight of the crystal. Wy
"We will never get rid of the little beast."
"What is it?" Magiere demanded.
"Its name means finder of lost things," Wy
Chap jumped at the tashgalh, his barks filling the tu
"You see?" Wy
"Quiet down, Chap," Leesil yelled.
The tashgalh darted back and forth across the ceiling, trying to stay out of reach but maintain sight of its coveted item. Chap kept barking as he lunged up one wall or the other. The little creature screeched at him, then raced along an arc down the tu
"How many of these things could be in the tu
Magiere shot him an angry glance. When she turned to do as he'd asked, all she saw of Chap was his swishing tail as he took off after the fleeing animal.
"They do not live in caves," Wy
Wy
"Wait! What are you doing?" Magiere called.
"They do not live in caves," Wy
Magiere grabbed up her pack and slung it over one shoulder, preparing to run Wy
"Forests?" Leesil repeated.
Magiere stared down the tu
"Elven forests!"
Chap raced after the tashgalh. The dark tu
The tashgalh went silent, and Chap skidded to a stop, listening. Then he heard its paws scraping on stone ahead.
He had seenits like twice when he was a pup in the elven lands. Majay-hi did not hunt tashgalh, for the little pests were a clever breed and easier prey was available. He could smell its fear of him, knew it wondered why he came after it, but this pursuit could not be helped. He knew it would run for the familiar safety of the forest.
Another scent filled his nose over theanimals musky fear and the passage's stale odor.
Pine… and wet earth… and warm, humid air.