Gorath rose. ‘As I have nothing to pack, I am ready.’
‘Provisions are prepared, though we will be travelling light.’
Gorath said, ‘I expected an escort of at least a full company against attack on the road to Romney.’
James smiled and said, ‘Too much noise and bother.’ He reached into his tunic and pulled out an odd-looking device, an orb with tiny levers on it that could be adjusted by one’s thumb. ‘And we’re not riding.’
‘How are we getting there?’ came a voice from behind James.
James turned to find Owyn standing behind him.
‘We are not going. Gorath and I are. You are staying here or heading home to Timons, as pleases you.’
‘I can’t stay here,’ said Owyn. ‘I’ve got nothing to do and I’m not in the Prince’s service. And I can’t go back to Timons. What if I’m captured along the way and made to talk?’
James smiled. ‘What do you know?’
‘I know you’re bound for Romney,’ said Owyn.
‘How do you know that?’
‘I know how to read a map and I overheard enough between Gorath and Locklear to know that’s where I’d be heading next.’
Owyn hurried on in his pleading, ‘Besides, I’m from the east and know my way around back there. I’ve got cousins in Ran, Cavell and Dolth and have visited Silden and Romney.’
James shook his head as if remembering something, and said, ‘Never mind. I seem to recall that Locklear and I made a similar brief to someone who didn’t want us along, as well, many years ago. Very well, you can come. It’s better to have you underfoot than out of sight and dead, I guess.’
James led them to an empty room in another part of the castle, where weapons and travel items were piled. Gorath picked up one sword and said, ‘A lamprey!’
‘That’s a bloodsucker, all right,’ said James, ‘but why do you call it that?’
‘A name, that’s all,’ said Gorath. ‘My people did not always live in the mountains, human. Once we abided on the shores of the Bitter Sea.’ He admired the curve of the blade and weighed the heft of the hilt in his hand. He put the sword back in its scabbard and said, ‘I will not ask how you came to possess a blade fashioned by my people.’
James said, ‘As you might expect.’ He pointed to three backpacks. ‘Food and other stores, for we may have to do some travelling, but for the most part I hope we’re able to conduct our business quickly and be out of Romney.’
‘Where’s Locky?’ asked Owyn.
‘He leaves in an hour on another mission for the Prince. I will meet with him after we’re done in Romney. This isn’t the only iron in the fire, so to speak, though it may be the most important.’
They picked up their belongings, and Owyn asked, ‘Now what?’
Again James produced the orb and said, ‘Stand close by. Gorath, place your hand on my shoulder, and Owyn, yours on his.’ James put his left hand on Owyn’s shoulder, and with the right, activated the orb.
There was a buzz in the air and the room around them seemed to shimmer. Suddenly they were in a different room. ‘Where are we?’ asked Gorath.
‘Malac’s Cross.’ James crossed to open the door and peered out. ‘We are in a building owned by friends of the Prince, and I had best lead, else you may find your head split before you can identify yourself.’
They were on the second floor of a building. As they descended the stairs, a monk in plain grey robes turned a corner and stared openmouthed at them. ‘Ah –’ he began.
James held up his hand. ‘Tell Abbot Graves we’re here, brother.’
The monk turned and hurried off to do as he was bid. James led them into what had obviously once been the common room of an inn. A large man with a short, grey-shot beard hurried over and said, ‘Jimmy, you scoundrel! What is all this?’ He indicated Gorath and Owyn.
‘Hello, Ethan. A person of some consequence desires to see us quickly on our way to the east, and back again. Using that Tsurani device was our fastest start.’
‘So you come from Krondor?’
James nodded yes. ‘Have you horses we might borrow?’
‘No, but I’ll send a brother over to Yancy’s stable and get three. Care to tell me what this is about?’
‘No,’ said James. ‘Trust me.’
The man named Ethan Graves said, ‘We go back a long way, together, lad, to darker days when I was another man. But while I hold your master in high regard, my loyalty now lies exclusively with the temple. If this is some matter of concern to the Temple of Ishap, you should tell me.’
James shrugged. ‘If I can, I will, but at this point all I have is conjecture and speculation. Still, let me say that it’s time to be wary.’
Graves laughed. ‘We are always wary. Why else buy this inn and turn it into an abbey on the fly?’
‘Are things … well?’
Graves said, ‘Go see yourself. You know the spot.’
‘Will you have horses ready when we return?’
‘And whatever else you need.’
‘Just horses. We have our necessaries in hand.’ He indicated the packs they carried.
He removed his pack and said to the others, ‘Come with me. We’ll be back for these in an hour.’
They left the inn and Owyn looked over his shoulder. It was a modest building, two storeys tall, with a stabling yard, a pair of outbuildings near the barn, and a storage shed. It sat on the outskirts of a modest-looking town, which stretched off to the east. Monks of Ishap were hard at work replacing the wooden fence around the end of the property with stone.
‘What is all this?’ asked Gorath as they walked southward, down a path through some woodlands.
‘An abandoned inn, which has been taken over by the Temple of Ishap. They are converting it to an abbey.’
‘To what ends?’ asked Gorath.
‘There’s something not too far from here they wish to keep an eye on.’
‘Which is?’ asked Owyn.
‘Something neither of you needs to know about.’
They walked for about ten minutes along a path through the woods. They reached a clearing and Gorath halted, momentarily startled by what he saw. Rising up before them was a statue, perfect in detail, of a recumbent dragon, its head upon the ground, its wings unfolding as if it was just about to rise up.
‘What is this?’ asked the dark elf. He walked around it, inspecting it closely.
