to me immediately.'
'Yes, Lord Piergeiron.' Cordyan bowed her head. She was conscious of the big man leaving, but her eyes were on Baylee Arnvold.
The ranger worked in the drawing room where Thonsyl Keraqt had been burned alive. Although a number of watch investigators had been through the room with all five senses and divination spells, they'd found nothing. Baylee's attention seemed to be concentrated primarily on shattered models that lay broken and scattered across the floor. The azmyth bat hung from the ceiling above him, its wings wrapped around itself as it slept.
'What is he working on?' Calebaan walked up behind the watch lieutenant without warning. He offered her some of the cinnamon bread he'd brought in for his breakfast.
Cordyan accepted the bread, as well as the small crock of honeycomb. She knew the wizard was talking about Baylee. 'I don't know,' she replied.
Baylee continued working carefully, dragging up some pieces of colored papier mache and discarding others. He had brushed debris out of the center of the area where a number of tables had been.
'What was there?' Calebaan asked.
'According to the housekeeper, there were a number of tables that held models of dig sites that Golsway had been to.'
'Dig sites?' The wizard studied her shrewdly, then turned his attention back to the ranger. With calm and purpose, Baylee continued putting hunks of papier mache together, seeming to get more confidence as each piece fit together. 'You mean excavation points? Caves in the ground?'
'And buildings.' Cordyan nodded. 'They were memories, according to the housekeeper. Sometimes Golsway would invite a promising student over to study an interesting facet of the archeological find. But that was not often.'
Calebaan scratched his chin thoughtfully. 'Curious, isn't it?'
Cordyan lifted an eyebrow and smiled. 'The possibility that Golsway left the find he was working on out in plain sight?'
'Yes.'
'I find it frustrating that the old mage would have thought of something like this. Yet, it is very believable.'
'You have to wonder, though, how Baylee thought of it.'
'The answer to that is simple enough,' Cordyan answered. 'He had to know what Golsway was working on.'
'Even though he told you he did not?'
'Either he was lying, or seeing this room and those models brought a perception to him that he didn't know would be made. He went through the house with me on his heels for six hours this morning.' That was one of the biggest reasons Cordyan was so tired now. When Copert's Conquest, the ship they had taken from the other end of the dimensional gate, had tied up at the docks just after midnight last night, Baylee had insisted on coming to the house instead of taking a room at an inn and sleeping.
'I'm glad I got the sleep I did,' Calebaan commented. 'Have you been to bed yet?'
'No.'
'You should think about it.'
'I do,' Cordyan admitted ruefully, 'and those thoughts make keeping my eyes open even harder.'
'I can take over here,' the watch wizard offered.
'No.' Cordyan blinked her eyes with effort again, feeling the grains of sleep moving around in them. She knew Calebaan wouldn't take the decline of his offer personally. They had worked together long enough for him to realize that she was thorough and liked to do things her way. 'If Baylee can do without the sleep, then so can I.'
The ranger looked up abruptly. He sat cross-legged on the floor, his forefingers steepled together and supporting his chin. He hadn't shaved his facial hair in the last few days, and a dark shadow covered his jaw line. 'Can you get something to eat brought here?'
Cordyan studied the man. It was the first time he'd asked for anything, almost the first words he'd spoken independently without being prompted with a question since entering the home. 'Of course,' she answered. 'What would you like?'
'There's a tavern down along the wharf in the dock ward,' Baylee said, 'called the Emerald Lantern. If he still works there, a cook named Tau Grimsby will set a plate showcasing the best from the sea and from the fields, along with an assortment of steamed vegetables and sauteed mushrooms, for only a few silvers. Maybe you could send someone for it.' He offered a purse that held the clink of coins.
'Of course.'
'Thanks.' Baylee tossed the coin purse over to her, then turned his attention back to the model he was reassembling. 'Feel free to have them get you anything you'd like as well. But I recommend this plate.'
Cordyan sent for a watch officer and bade him go to the Emerald Lantern. Hardly had he gone when Baylee called for her.
'I think I have it,' the ranger said.
'Have what?' Cordyan crossed the room, stepping over loose debris and blackened boards.
'Where Golsway's interests lay,' Baylee said, 'if not exactly what he was searching for.'
Cordyan studied the mound of grass-green papier mache piled on the floor in front of Baylee. 'And what do you think it is?'
' Where it is,' Baylee reiterated. 'You've heard of the Greycloak Hills?'
'Of course.' Cordyan was intrigued. The Greycloak Hills were a known destination for adventuring bands.
'In years past,' Baylee said, making a final adjustment to some of the papier mache pieces he'd fit together, 'the Greycloak Hills were called the Tomb Hills. Tombs from the Fallen Kingdom were spread throughout those hills. Many valuable artifacts were found there. Golsway and I went on three major expeditions to the area. Never did we return empty-handed.'
Cordyan surveyed the model he'd assembled. 'How do you know this wasn't an old representation of one of those excavation sites?'
'Because we never found anything in the Greycloak Hills that Golsway would have put on exhibition,' Baylee answered.
'And this is new?' she asked.
'I've never seen it here.'
'You believe that Golsway was interested in a new dig site in the Greycloak Hills?' Calebaan asked.
'No.' The ranger pointed out identifying landmarks. 'This is a very old one, one of the very first. More than a hundred years back, the exact year is open to some conjecture, an adventuring party under the leadership of Bulwgar Helmm journeyed there and discovered enough in treasure to help open the floodgates of tomb raiders that slipped into the area.'
'You believe that Golsway discovered something that had been missed in the earlier excavation?' Cordyan asked.
'That fits this scenario.' Baylee shifted, trying to find a place that fit him more comfortably.
Cordyan understood his motivation. She was tired of staying inside the house, wearied from standing so much in one spot. And she'd not been hunkered over the little pieces of models for hours.
'Those early excavations were purely cursory,' Baylee said. 'Groups charged into the area and took what they could find. A number of hidden areas were missed.'
'You didn't find Golsway's journal, did you?'
Baylee shook his head. 'You've been with me the whole time. Did you see me find it?'
'No.' Cordyan stared at the model, willing it to make sense. Only it sat there. 'I need to be better convinced of the authenticity of your claim.'
'All right. In the north ward, you'll find a mapmaker,' Baylee said. 'His name is Yassit Daggle. For a price, you can persuade him to come here with his topographical maps and confirm what I'm showing you. This section of the Greycloak Hills is quite distinctive to someone who's been there.'
Cordyan glanced at Calebaan, silently seeking his advice.
