Baylee looked at the man.
"Those people that lost loved ones and friends," Cthulad said, "need that same release you're hoping to achieve by finding that drow female. I've undertaken the job of representing their interests. That way they can get back on with their lives, trusting me to help them lay this to rest."
"I could lose you in the forest," Baylee said, "just as I could lose those Waterdhavian watch members."
"Maybe," Cthulad grudgingly admitted, "but I've been hunting and fighting men longer than you've got years…" He cleared his throat. "You are very good at what you do, Baylee, but exploring isn't the same as handling military engagements. It may well be that you could use someone with my experience."
Baylee thought about the offer.
"There are things you haven't considered," Cthulad said.
"Such as?"
"Calebaan, Lieutenant Cordyan's partner, has been keeping wards up against any who would scry on this area. Have you any protection against that?"
"No," Baylee had to admit.
"You're aligned, for whatever dark purpose we ultimately discover, against foes who have vast resources at their command." Cthulad regarded him quietly. "I'm asking you to let me help you."
Baylee, Xuxa said. He's right.
I know. But Baylee's own independent nature warred against accepting anyone he couldn't control into his sphere of operations. He looked back through the trees, at the fresh graves that littered the hill behind them. If I fail, I've no right to deny these people the chance to right the wrong that has been committed here. Tell him.
Baylee turned to the old ranger and offered his hand. "I'd be glad to accept your help."
"You won't regret this, Baylee Arnvold."
Baylee gave him an ironic smile. "Let's just hope you won't."
15
"What is that book that you work in so diligently?"
Baylee looked up at the question and saw Cordyan Tsald watching him. He closed the leather-covered book and marked his place with a finger. He held a quill in his other hand. "A book."
The watch lieutenant stood before him, dust covered her riding leathers as it covered them. A handkerchief hung around her neck, her lower face white against the dirt-encrusted upper part. "I've watched you work in it for the last three days of this trip," she said. "In my line of work, curiosity is generally considered a boon, but to have to carry it around inside you when you cannot guess at the answer is hard."
In spite of the dark mood that had hung around him since leaving the forgathering three days ago, Baylee smiled. And when the effort felt so good, he couldn't be totally antisocial. "I know the hazards of curiosity."
"I'm sure you do." She made no move to come any closer, standing a few paces from where Baylee sat in the fork of a tree above her head.
The forest was quiet around them, filled with the bright, quick movements of colorful birds. Nearly a hundred paces away, a mountain lion paced them, working out her own curiosity. The big cat had followed them for the last two hours. Baylee judged she would soon stop, coming to the edge of the territory she claimed as hers.
In the distance, Ciwa Cthulad, Calebaan, and the watch members sat around the remains of the midday feast they'd just shared. Cthulad enjoyed his tea, and had laid in a goodly supply, finding a kindred spirit in the watch wizard. It was an humble table the members of the watch sat with the rangers, mostly journey cakes, sweetmeats, and jerked meat they had been supplied with from the forgathering. Baylee had added to it with berries and nuts he'd gathered before the others had gotten up.
You should not be so stand-offish, Xuxa chided from higher up in the tree.
Baylee looked up to where the bat hung upside down, regarding him with those white, pupil-less eyes. You should stay out of things. Over the last three days of hard travel, the azmyth bat had taken time to point out that the watch lieutenant was also a good looking woman, and to make the occasional disparaging remark about Jaeleen. He knew that most of the conversation of that ilk was meant to distract him rather than to offer any real attempt at encouragement.
It wouldn't hurt to talk to her, Xuxa insisted.
"She talks to you?" Cordyan asked.
"She," Baylee growled in irritation, "won't shut up. She's worse than the mother I never had."
"You had a mother," the watch lieutenant said, shaking her head.
Knowing the woman didn't understand, Baylee said, "I'm sure I was born to a woman, but Fannt Golsway was the only parent I ever knew."
"I didn't know. I'm sorry."
"They didn't tell you everything about me?"
She shook her head. "I saw the likeness of you that Golsway had in his rooms."
Baylee was taken by surprise. "I wasn't aware that he had a likeness of me." He'd never sat for a painting, and the old mage had never mentioned getting one of him. "Are you sure it was me?"
"Yes," she replied. "It was a very good likeness." She wrinkled her brow, perplexed. "It was signed by someone named ‘Vi.'"
"That's not a name," Baylee said. With the understanding came a return to the sharp hurt he'd first experienced when he'd heard of Golsway's death, but it was also a bit of a balm. "Those are Golsway's notations, not a signature. He drew the picture."
"Golsway drew that picture?" Cordyan seemed genuinely surprised. "He could have been a very well paid artist if he'd wanted."
"He was a man of many parts," Baylee admitted. "But the only things he ever drew were things he wanted to-" He stopped short, his voice suddenly thick with emotion.
"Only things he wanted to what?"
"Only the ones he wanted to remember," Baylee finished.
"I see. I'm surprised you didn't see this picture. It held a place of prominence in his private rooms."
"I've not been-" Baylee stumbled over the word home. "I've not been back in some time."
"The housekeeper told us there had been some discordance between yourself and Golsway."
"Back to work, lieutenant?"
Cordyan smiled. She poured water from her waterskin onto the handkerchief and rubbed the back of her neck. "I never stray far from it."
"There were some problems," Baylee admitted. "I think we were on the verge of working them out."
"What problems?"
Baylee gazed down at her. "And if I choose not to answer?"
She shrugged. "Then I have more to wonder about when we resume our travels."
"You had parents, I assume," Baylee said.
"Of course."
See? Xuxa put in. Already you're finding common ground.
Baylee ignored her. "Did you ever rebel against your parents?"
"Perhaps, at times."
"And how do you get along with them now?"
"They're dead," Cordyan replied.
The answer caught Baylee off guard. He hesitated, forgetting about the argument he'd been building toward. "I'm sorry."
"It happened some time ago," Cordyan said. "An accident"
Baylee searched her face for any signs of lingering pain, but read nothing. Over the last three days he'd noted that the watch lieutenant could keep her own counsel. "My disagreement with Golsway was much simpler than either one of us would allow it to be. I thought I was grown, and he didn't agree."
"So you left?"
"According to the Lady's teachings, each of us must find our own path. The reward of that path of independence is in how much closer you can be to those whose lives have touched yours."
"Where need and want are one."
Baylee nodded. "You follow the teachings of Mystra?"
"I am an interested observer, but not a passionate worshiper. Not yet. I take it you are."
'To be a worshiper is so simple," he said. "All you have to do is look around you. When you are taught where to look, you will see the Lady's work everywhere. Just as I see Mielikki's." Despite his first allegiance to the Lady of the Forests, he also owed a great deal to the teachings of Mystra.