'Oh, laugh, go ahead! You were no help!'
'Here you thought the shrew was in danger of her life -- you went flying in the door and knocked her man out cold -- and you expected her to throw herself at your feet in gratitude -- ' Tarma was taking full revenge for Kethry's earlier hilarity at her expense. 'And what did she do? Began hurling crockery at you, shrieking you'd killed her beloved! Lady's Eyes, I thought I was going to die!'
'I wanted to take her over my knee and beat her with the flat of my blade.'
'And to add insult to injury, Need wouldn't let you lay so much as a finger on her! I had to go in with a serving dish for a shield and rescue you before she tore you to shreds!'
'She could have done that with her tongue alone,' Kethry grimaced. 'Well, that's not solving our problem here....'
'True,' Tarma conceded, sobering. She threw herself down on her bed, Warrl jumping up next to her and pushing his head under her hand. 'Back to the subject. Let's assume that the rumor is true; we can't afford not to. If somebody has brought that particular demon back, we know he's going to want our hides.'
'Or worse.'
'Or worse. Now he can't have gotten too powerful, or everybody in town would know about him. Remember Delton.'
Kethry shifted restlessly from foot to foot, finally going over to the window to open the shutters with a creak of hinges and stare out into the night. 'I remember. And I remember that we'd better do something about him while he's in that state.'
'This isn't a job for us, she'enedra. It's a job for priests. Powerful priests. I remember what he almost did to me. He came perilously close to breaking my bond with the Star-Eyed. And he boasted he could snap your tie to Need just as easily. I think we ought to ride up to the capital as fast as Hellsbane and Ironheart can carry us, and fetch us some priests.'
'And come back to an empty town and a demon transformed to a godling?' Kethry turned away from the window to shake her head at her partner, her amber hair like a sunset cloud around her face, and a shadow of anger in her eyes. 'What if we're wrong? We'll have some very powerful people very angry at us for wasting their time. And if we're right -- we have to act fast. We have to take him while he's still weak or we'll never send him back to the Abyssal Planes at all. He is no stupid imp -- he's learned from what we did to him, you can bet on it. If he's not taken down now, we'll never be able to take him at all.'
'That's not our job!'
'Whose is it then?' Kethry dug her fingers into the wood of the windowframe behind her, as tense and worried as she'd ever been. 'We'd better make it our job if we're going to survive! And I told you earlier -- I don't want you cosseting me! I know what I'm doing, and I can protect myself!'
Tarma sighed, and there was a shadow of guilt on her face as she rolled over to lie flat on her back, staring at the ceiling; her hands clasped under her head, one leg crossed over the other. 'All right, then. I don't know a damn thing about magic, and all I care to know about demons outside of a book is that they scare me witless. I still would rather go for help, but if you don't think we'd have the time -- and if you are sure you're not getting into more than you can handle -- '
'I know we wouldn't have the time; he's not going to waste time building up a power base,' Kethry replied, sitting down on the edge of Tarma's bed, making the frame creak.
'And he may not be there at all; it might just be a wild rumor.'
'It might; I don't think I'd care to bet my life on waiting to see, though.'
'So we need information; reliable information.'
'The question is how to get it. Should I try scrying?'
'Absolutely not!' Tarma flipped back over onto her side, her hand chopping at the pillow for emphasis. Warrl winced away and looked at her reproachfully. 'He caught that poor witch back in Delton that way, remember? That much even I know. If you scry, he'll have you on his ground. I promise I won't cosset you any more, but I will not allow you to put yourself in jeopardy when there are any other alternatives!'
'Well, how then?'
'Me.' Tarma stabbed at her own chest with an emphatic thumb. 'Granted, I'm not a thief -- but I am a skilled scout. I can slip into and out of that temple without anyone knowing I've been there, and if it's being used for anything, I'll be able to tell.'
'No.'
