shy;ing knife in old Hederick's gut myself, except he pays reg shy;ular. Not much, but regular. Can't say as I'd mourn long if someone else did him in, though.' She didn't wait for Tarscenian's answer. 'How about this one?' she asked, holding up a brown robe.
'It's gonna be too tight across the shoulders,' the black-haired woman said.
'If s the biggest one in here. It'll have to do.'
'I'm sure it will be fine,' Tarscenian said quickly. He grabbed the robe. 'Don't the temple guards patrol down here?'
'Sometimes,' Helda said. 'When we're baking pastries, they sometimes come to visit. It don't pay to get 'em mad. We always make enough extra. But they only come down here during baking time, not cleanup. Which is now.'
'Isn't that just like a man?' the black-haired woman said with a sigh. 'Show up for the goodies, but…'
Tarscenian interrupted. 'I'd like to try this on.'
'So go ahead.' Both women stared at him as though he'd suddenly sprouted wings.
'Could you two ladies, ah, that is … well, give me some privacy?'
Helda and her friend poked each other, giggling. 'That's a sure sign of quality, Helda,' the black-haired woman said as they left him alone. 'Modesty in spades. Me, I've never had a problem with modesty. Did I ever tell you about the time I…'
Eventually the voice faded. The black-haired woman must have returned to the kitchen. Tarscenian pulled the robe down over him. It was tight but dry, and it did have a hood. Tarscenian poked his head around the curtain.
Helda stood outside, leaning against the wall. She held out a dagger, hilt first. 'It's mine,' she said softly. 'You never know when the temple guards'll overstep them shy;selves, and I do maintain some standards.' She shook off his thanks. 'You'll need it. That lance don't exactly go with a robe, you know. And I gather you're trying to be sneaky.' She accepted Tarscenian1s lance in exchange for the dagger, slipping it behind a pile of sheets in a nearby closet. 'You're sure you're married, now?'
'Absolutely,' Tarscenian said, smiling.
'A shame,' she rejoined.
'I have no way to pay you for the dagger.'
'Do me a favor, then.' Helda leaned forward and scooped aside the thin strap that held her blouse in place. She showed Tarscenian her back, which was crisscrossed with welts, some barely healed before they had been retraced. Then her blouse was back in place, and Tarscen shy;ian was gazing into fierce blue eyes. 'Make him suffer,' she hissed. 'Make him pay.'
He hesitated, then nodded. Helda whirled back toward the kitchen without another word.
Chapter 21
Mynx!
For a short time after Kifflewit deposited her and the Diamond Dragon in his pocket, Mynx continued to fume and drum her fists against her knees.
Eventually, though, she realized the startling fact that someone was calling her name.
Mynx!
She sat up. She could see nothing but the inside of Kif-flewit's pocket, lit by the dragon's purple glow.
Mynx!
Outside, then. Someone outside the pocket was speaking to her. Rejuvenated, the woman jumped up and rocked the artifact from side to side until Kifflewit Burrthistle's hand returned to retrieve it.
'My, this thing is lively tonight,' she heard the kender say. He held up the Diamond Dragon and peered at it. Mynx glared back. Couldn't he see her? Couldn't he remember that the Diamond Dragon had enveloped her?
Perhaps the magical artifact ensorceled him.
Mynx looked around. The kender was seated upon the centaur. Night had fallen. The vallenwoods had thinned out until there were vast distances between them. One of the huge trees towered over them.
Mynx did a double take. This tree glowed at the bot shy;tom. The voice that called came from that glow, she real shy;ized, although she could not have said how she knew. Either the tree was alive, or someone inside the tree was calling to her. Perhaps the Diamond Dragon made it pos shy;sible for her to hear. Mynx shook her head. She was beyond understanding things by now.
'Thou had best put that thing away, little one, lest thou drop it,' Phytos warned. 'We shall enter my home glade soon. I do not want to be delayed pawing about in the brush.'
'Oh, I'd never drop it, Phytos. I'm really careful with important things…'
Mynx! Come here!
That voice again, from the tree. Suddenly Mynx knew that she had to stop them, by whatever means possible, from leaving the vallenwoods. She flung herself from side to side, ignoring the bumps and bruises as she tossed and fell.
The artifact quivered in Kifflewit's hand as he chattered on. 'Phytos, I'm really trustworthy when it comes to things like …'
As Mynx rocked the artifact again, Phytos cried out in alarm.
Then Mynx and the Diamond Dragon were falling.
It was a long way down from the centaur's back. Mynx made herself go limp, hoping that the landing would not break any of her bones.
Mynxl
The Diamond Dragon crashed into the earth and skit shy;tered to one side. Mynx heard the kender call out in dis shy;may, then she blacked out briefly. She awakened as she barreled, end over end, limbs flying, inside the rolling artifact.
Then she caught her balance as the Diamond Dragon came to rest against a stone-an arm's length from the glowing tree. Couldn't the centaur and kender see the glow in the vallenwood? She hurled herself against one side of her prison and then the other, until her head rang with the effort. She had just worked the Diamond Dragon free of the rock when Kifflewit picked up the artifact again.
'No!' Mynx bellowed. Frantically, she resumed her gyrations. She was bruised from shoulders to knees now, but she was determined to succeed.
The kender dropped the artifact again.
Mynx's prison bounced and rolled. It came to rest against the vallenwood's rough bark. 'Help!' she shouted, drumming on the side nearest the tree. 'Help me!'
She spied Kifflewit bounding toward her again, mouth open and hand outstretched. Phytos leaped behind him, annoyance apparent in his face.
As soon as the Diamond Dragon touched the tree, the humming that had annoyed Mynx for so long grew louder and louder, until she dropped to her knees. She covered her ears and closed her eyes.
Miravel firtas, overli ghacom.
Whatever was inside the tree was chanting. The noise increased. 'Stop it!' she screamed. The buzzing drowned out all other sound-Phytos's shouts, the kender's excited squeals, her own entreaties. She smelled smoke and dared to open her eyes a slit. The air around her was ominously cloudy.
Miravelfirtas, overli ghacom. Ytanderal limkir od y'd requis-tandilus.
Then Mynx burst free of the thing. She felt her body soaring through the air, expanding and growing until she thought she must be the size of a vallenwood. She turned over and over, like a stone rolling down a hill.
And landed, soft as a feather. Her hands clutched, not the sides of her head, but pine needles and other litter on the forest floor. She opened her eyes. The tree, Kifflewit, and Phytos swam around her.
She closed them again, then tried once more.
Mynx was back to normal size. The artifact lay at her side on some leaves.
Phytos skidded to a halt, his violet eyes almost starting from their sockets. Kifflewit Burrthistle scooped up the Diamond Dragon and bounced up and down like a cork in a stream.
