Asenka had also suffered a number of wounds: the first batch from the palace guards she'd attacked when the Fury had taken hold of her, but the last and most serious injury was delivered by an arrow strike compliments of Leontis. The priest had been forced to disable Asenka to gain entrance into Taran's chamber. Ghaji had expected Leontis to make amends by healing Asenka, but he'd left that task to Diran, who'd also healed the guards that Asenka had come near to slaying. Ghaji had only ever met a few Silver Flame priests besides Diran, but he'd never known any of them to not give aid to others when it was needed. He was puzzled by Leontis's reluctance to heal Asenka, and he intended to ask Diran about it when the two of them were alone.
"If there's anything you need," Calida said, "anything at all…"
"There is something you could do," Diran said. "Not for us, but for your people-and the people of Perhata. The enmity between your two cities originated from the curse, but now that the Fury has been dispelled, there is nothing to prevent you and Baron Mahir from making peace. Together, your two cities could take full advantage of all the Gulf of Ingjald has to offer, and the Gulf could become an economic power to rival any in the Principalities."
"Not to mention the fact that your people wouldn't have to kill each other anymore," Ghaji added. "Unless they felt like it, that is."
Calida smiled at the half-orc's joke. "A hundred years is a long time to hold a grudge. I'll send an envoy to begin talks with Mahir, and we'll see how things go from there." Before she could add anything more, Taran came running up to her and began tugging on her sleeve.
"Mommy, come splash in the fountain with me!" He lowered his voice and cast a sideways glance at Leontis. "The man in the robe scares me a little."
"Of course, sweetheart." She looked back to Diran and Ghaji. "If you'll excuse me?"
Diran and Ghaji nodded and the Baroness allowed her son to lead her to the fountain-on the other side from where Leontis still sat brooding. As mother and son began playing in the mystically heated water, Ghaji turned to Diran.
"What's wrong with your friend? I'm not always the most sociable man myself, but even I find it odd that he's keeping apart from the rest of us like that-especially after making such an effort to help us fight the demon."
"I'm not certain," Diran said. "Leontis and I trained with Tusya, and afterward attended seminary together. Although we were once close as brothers, we drifted apart over the years. I haven't seen him since the day I took my vows. It's obvious that something is troubling him, and I suspect it's no coincidence that he is here in Kolbyr the same time we are. I shall speak with him alone later."
Leontis wasn't the first person from Diran's past to turn up since Ghaji had begun traveling with the priest-there was Makala-but the fact that Diran said the two men had once been like brothers made Ghaji feel a twinge of jealousy. He knew it was ridiculous of him to feel like that, and more than a little embarrassing, but Diran was the only true friend the half-orc had ever had in his life. The priest was the closest thing Ghaji had to family, and childish though it might be, Ghaji didn't like the idea of sharing his friend with someone else. Plus, there was something about Leontis that bothered Ghaji on an instinctive level. Something that told the half-orc that the grim priest was more dangerous than he appeared.
Ghaji wanted to dismiss the idea, to put it down to another manifestation of the jealousy he felt, but he couldn't shake the sense that something was profoundly wrong with Leontis. And from the tone in Diran's voice and the concerned way he looked at Leontis, the priest sensed it too.
"Let's go talk to the others and see how they fared in their separate missions," Diran said.
Ghaji nodded, gave Leontis a final glance, and then the two men walked over to where their companions stood talking. The others turned as Diran and Ghaji approached and made room for the two men to join them.
"So what news do you have for us?" Diran asked.
"Good, I hope," Ghaji added. He smiled at Yvka, but though she returned his smile, there was something hesitant in her gaze, as if she were having a hard time meeting his eyes. She rubbed her left forearm as if she'd sustained an injury there, but when Ghaji raised a questioning eyebrow, she dropped her hand from her arm and looked away, as if he'd caught her doing something she'd preferred he hadn't seen… something almost shameful. Yvka's reaction bothered Ghaji, but now wasn't the time to make an issue of it.
Tresslar shrugged. "I suppose it depends on what you mean by good. We've compared notes, and we've managed to learn a few things, though I'm not certain they'll ultimately be of much help to us. We've confirmed that Makala took the Zephyr, and that my dragonwand is aboard, along with the infernal barghest who stole it."
"We also know that they sailed the Zephyr out of the Gulf," Yvka said. "But beyond that, we have no clue as to their destination-or even why they would want the Zephyr and Tresslar's wand in the first place."
Hinto frowned. "What I can't understand is why Makala would be working with the barghest. I mean, I know she's a vampire and all, but she's still Makala, isn't she? Why would she do these things?"
Diran let out a weary sigh. "When Makala bit Aldarik Cathmore within Mount Luster, the dark spirit that shared his soul entered her, and she became its new host. The spirit tainted her even further, and I fear she had become a true creature of evil, with little or nothing of the Makala we know remaining."
An uneasy silence fell over the companions after that. It was Asenka who finally broke the silence. "This makes things simpler, doesn't it? The wand and the Zephyr are together: reclaim one, you reclaim the other."
"Simpler, perhaps," Diran allowed, "but not easier. We don't know where the Zephyr is bound, and we have no way of tracking her across the Lhazaar. Unless Tresslar has managed to discover a way…"
The artificer reached around into his backpack and withdrew a small device that resembled a miniature sundial. "I began work on this in Perhata, and I was able to find the parts I needed here in Kolbyr to finish it. It should allow me to detect the dragonwand's thaumaturgical energy signature-but only within a radius of a mile or so."
"Which puts us right back where we started from," Ghaji said. "Without a way to locate the Zephyr."
"I don't believe that's entirely accurate," Solus said softly.
All eyes turned to focus on the psiforged.
"Tresslar has informed me that it isn't good manners to read the thoughts of my friends without their permission."
Yvka's eyes widened for an instant as if she were startled, but her expression quickly returned to one of calm neutrality. The elf-woman's reaction had occurred and passed so swiftly that Ghaji doubted anyone else had noticed it. But then, no one in their group knew Yvka the way he did. What is she worried about? he wondered. Did she fear Solus might ferret out all the Shadow Network secrets she kept locked up in her head? That would make sense, but Ghaji couldn't help thinking that it was something more than that.
"I have taken my new friend's advice," Solus said, "so I do not know for certain, Diran, but I believe the answer to where the Zephyr is headed lies within your mind."
Now it was Diran's turn to look startled. "What makes you think this?"
"The palace was the center of the Fury, and extremely strong psychic turbulence occurred here. Traces of this turbulence yet remain, and I have examined them, primarily out of curiosity."
Ghaji wanted to ask examined how? He hadn't seen the psiforged actually do anything. But then he realized Solus didn't have to take physical action to use his psionic powers. The construct had probably examined the traces-whatever they were-while the others had been talking.