from the other side. The paladin evaded with what looked like ease to Lhors.
Malowan finally acted. He sidestepped her attack and stabbed up into her belly, twisting his sword almost all the way around. The giantess cried out, but a sudden gush of blood muted her scream into a gurgling choke. Malowan jumped back, hauling his sword with him. The giantess’ dagger rattledonto the floorboards. She took one staggering step back, righted herself, and came back at him, her eyes glittering with hate. Three strides from the paladin, her gaze went blank, her knees wobbled, and she fell.
Lhors made certain the maids had not moved, then he dared a glance at the paladin. Agya was already beside Malowan, one of her short daggers in hand as she tested the giantess’ throat for a pulse. The serving maidsslowly came to their feet, peering at their fallen elder.
Vlandar had moved over to ease the door open a little. After a quick glance, he pressed it shut and came over to Malowan. “It is still quietout there. Rather, there is no one in the corridor except our people. Are you done here, Mal?”
“Nearly,” he said. “I need Nemis to translate for me.”
Malowan and the mage approached the serving maids. Nemis asked them something in a low, guttural language. Lhors listened but could not understand a word. One of the three maids-the only one who looked uninjured-gotto her feet and answered him.
“What’s it about, then?” Agya asked quietly.
Malowan shrugged and said, “I asked Nemis to ask if theywould help us in exchange for me healing their injuries.”
“You’d heal ’em anyhow,” the thief said sourly.
“Of course. It may help cleanse me of that creature’sdeath-necessary as it was.”
“What makes them better then?”
“They may not be,” the paladin replied, “but they deserve thechance, do they not?”
“Huh,” Agya said shortly. “Not if they warn others we’rehere.”
“That will not happen,” Vlandar said mildly. “We can see tothat, if we must. Nemis?”
“The aged one was the matron of all the serving girls,” Nemissaid. “This one is called M’na’vra, which is ‘butterfly’ in their speech, thoughamong her folk it is not a complimentary tide. She tells me to thank the armored one who saved them from the rages of Jhuka. She tells me she and her two companions came here from their own land to the north. They have no family to protect them, and they swear to keep quiet about our presence here if you will only let them live. All they want is to leave this place and return to their homeland where there is always snow, but at least there is sun and blue sky, and maidens-even the orphaned and impoverished-are treated with some respect.
“They also offer-if you do not trust them-a bribe. Old Jhukahas a collection of potions in a case in her closet. There are also coins,” headded. “M’na’vra asks if they might keep the coins in exchange for the bottlesand powders. They are young and pure, but even the young and pure need coin for dowry if they wish to wed.” The mage was watching Khlened.
Lhors glanced at the barbarian and to his surprise, Khlened seemed to accept this.
“Some sense in that,” Khlened allowed. “Who’d want a lasswith no coin to bring to the marriage?”
Agya glared at him. “Not
The paladin gripped her shoulder and gave it a brisk shake. “When there is time, I will explain better. For now, accept that they have hadenough of violence. They may well choose mates who are less warlike, and they may raise offspring who aren’t monsters like that”-his eyes flicked toward thedead matron-“or like those brutes in the next chamber.”
Agya’s lips twitched, but she said nothing further.
Malowan moved to the mage’s side and smiled at M’na’vra, whocautiously smiled back. “Tell her,” he told Nemis, “that we agree to thisbargain, and furthermore that I will heal their wounds before we go. Tell them to show us the potions and keep the coin.”
“And tell
“I have a spell that will serve,” the mage said. Hetranslated Malowan’s brief acceptance of terms. The maids broke into nervous buthappy laughter. The smallest-Ilowig, which Nemis said meant “swan”-was the onlyone daring enough to dig through the matrons pockets for her keys and unlock the closet where her valuables were hidden. Nemis took possession of the rough-hewn box and rummaged through it quickly, choosing several bottles and setting the others aside. Several went back into the box, which he shoved back in the closet.
Vlandar stayed close to the door as Malowan healed the giants’ bleeding cuts. Lhors watched, fascinated as the three went blank-eyed.Their eyes closed, and they fell back on the bed. “They will waken normally, andthey will remember nothing.”
“Take the matron’s blade,” Vlandar said, “so none of them areblamed when the creature’s body is found.”
Vlandar put Lhors in front of him as he and Khlened got the door open. He led the way north, stopping just short of the partly open door. They waited while Nemis and Malowan consulted.
The paladin shook his head and beckoned for them to move away from the opening. “There are servants and a guard with wolves out in thathallway. If the feast is ending, we could wait here, but if there are bedchambers down here for any of the feasters…”
“Yes,” Vlandar said. “The other way might work better.”
“The passage between kitchens and banquet hall will be evenbusier once the masters have left the table and the servants are sent to clear,”Maera said.
Vlandar held up a hand. “Nemis, get back to that doorand-never mind,” he added as the paladin tensed and gestured urgently toward theopening, then exerted his strength to pull the heavy slab quietly closed.
“There are at least twenty giants coming this way,” hemurmured. “I suggest we go back that way.
They moved quickly back around the turn, but Vlandar stopped there and sent the rangers a few paces back to keep guard while Nemis cast another of the reveal spells he had memorized for the night. “I would like totake that map, especially if it shows where future raids may happen. I would also like to get down those stairs since it
“Why would the trove be below?” Lhors wanted to know.
“Underground for more safety,” Vlandar replied.
Maera gestured urgently the way they’d just come. “There’s agiant just opened the door up yonder, and he’s got wolves with him. Whatever’sin the chamber down here that snored isn’t snoring anymore.”
Vlandar nodded sharply and gestured with his head back toward the entry. Nemis took up rear guard as the company walked quickly the other way. Khlened and Lhors got the door open once Malowan tested to be certain no one was waiting in the entry.
They eased through the door into a poorly lit hallway. There was a door directly ahead, snoring from the left wall, and dead silence on the right. When they reached a left turn in the hall, they could just make out a short passage that ended in another door. Nemis tested this, then swung it aside to reveal yet another hallway with doors on both sides. Maera ran light-footed along this and came back to inform them that there seemed to be a barracks or other sleeping chamber to the south and two long, narrow rooms to the north that were divided by a hall that ended in another door. “I could already hear theclatter of crockery and a giantess screeching for someone to hurry up and finish cutting tubers for the broth or go into the broth himself.”
“Wonderful,” Khlened grumbled. “Stopped no matter which waywe go.”
“Maybe not,” Maera hissed back. “From what I heard, it soundsas if they’re piling things up and getting ready to bank the fire and go to bed.Isn’t there a change of guard due?”
Malowan answered, “If these things are constant from day today, then yes. But in that case, the guard will be another green youth who will likely assume the one he replaces has left early for reasons of his own. It isn’t
