The Sapphire Manticore (The Lost Ancients Book 4) Read online

  He signaled forward one of the other houseboys.

  “Take them to the mistress.” He tilted his head, noticing our mode of travel as well as where we were coming from. “Tell no one other than her, that goes for all of you.” He was far more confident and loquacious than he’d been before, but then a lot had happened to him since we’d first met all those months ago.

  We stayed silent, mostly because the boy was, and he seemed to be taking complete silence as part of his job. Which gave me time to wonder who Padraig was. Joie treated him with the same deference he and the rest of the houseboys gave to Qianru.

  I think I was going to need a score sheet of everyone I was running into, or heard about, and just who they were. I appeared to keep running into important people in this enclave and not having a clue.

  My wondering about Padraig was cut off as we came out of the forest. At least there would have been no way to miss Qianru’s temporary home even if we hadn’t had an escort. It was on the edge of the forest, massive, and lit up so much I was surprised we didn’t see it from the other side of the forest.

  Qianru couldn’t have been here that long, I’d seen her a month and a half ago. The front room looked like a larger version of her place in Beccia. Down to the freakishly large paintings of her that followed you with their eyes as you entered. Although the clothing and ages seemed different from the ones I’d seen before. Maybe she travelled with an artist in her retinue and had new ones made at each stop.

  But the same glaring white marble, lots of expensive artifacts, the entire works. This house was even larger than her place in Beccia, so clearly she’d just filled it with more stuff.

  “My child!” Qianru came scurrying forward, both over-jeweled hands reaching out to grab mine. Never mind we’d seen each other two days ago. Her face lit up so much it was as if I was her favorite person in the world and she hadn’t seen me in years.

  “I was so worried about all of you.” Then she faced Garbage and the other two faeries buzzing around near the doorway. “I do hope that you lovely ladies can settle your companions down.” Her face wrinkled as if she smelled something rancid. “They have been a bit out of control since you left.”

  Considering that I was sure all of the bad behaviors the nine had picked up were probably from my three, I wasn’t sure Qianru had the right idea. Nevertheless, Garbage nodded solemnly, and then led the other two and Bunky toward the back of the mansion.

  “Now, Lord Niamel, what is really going on in the castle?” Qianru’s tone was far more serious, and less like Qianru, than I’d ever heard before.

  “Please, my lady, I have asked you and your people to simply call me Padraig,” Padraig said as he stepped forward. “The news is not good. I fear we are facing a battle, if it hasn’t already begun.”

  I looked to Alric but his face looked as serious as the other two. What the heck did I miss when I was asleep? I quickly replayed everything that had happened since we’d arrived in the elven enclave.

  Okay, there was an assassin stalking us in the castle, an explosion that took down important wards, and some ghosts that apparently thought their war was still going on.

  “What battle are we talking about?”

  All three looked at me.

  Qianru answered first. “An elven civil war my child. And if it doesn’t stop here, it could destroy all of the rest of the clans.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  I’d finally found the elves and they were about to destroy themselves? I looked around for a place to sit down. It was one thing to have things coming after me, but the elven world shouldn’t be under attack. It didn’t fit with my fantasy image of them.

  “Why don’t we continue this in the dining room?” Qianru said as she looked at me trying to process everything. “My people started setting up a repast once they knew you were here. I have also sent for your friends.” She allowed herself a proud smile. “My relic room has kept them all quite fascinated.” The smile dropped to a scowl that would make a watcher bird envious. “Except that relic hunter. I must have him watched every second.”

  She was partially right. I wouldn’t trust Locksead around a fake relic, let alone a room of real ones. I was feeling a bit nicer about him now though. He had tried to defend us at the castle—something that took guts.

  Since the entire elven civil war issue was still roaming around bashing into things in my head, I simply kept my thoughts to myself and followed her down the hall.

  The hallway was actually shorter than the dining room we were led to. And that wasn’t due to the hallway being short, but rather the dining room being huge. The table before us sat twenty-four people, twenty-six if they added chairs to the ends. Like the entryway, it was all white marble with golden veins.

  Even though it had only been two days since I’d seen them, seeing Covey and Harlan locked in some intellectual debate was a welcome sight. Actually, I really hadn’t seen them for a few weeks. Riding with them in separate wagons didn’t really count.

  They were so busy debating whatever minuscule fact of elven lore they were fighting over that they didn’t even notice when we came in. They noticed when I ran forward and hugged both of them however.

  “Taryn!” Covey returned the hug with even more strength than I’d used. A year ago, she wouldn’t have responded at all and now she was a hugger. The world was truly changing.

  “Sit, sit!” Harlan also hugged me back and waved one large paw at the chair next to Covey. “Now maybe you can settle our debate. Covey here says that the salt shakers of the first period were far more elaborate than those of the fourth, but I disagree.”

  Harlan didn’t dissemble well, but he was getting better at it. They had clearly not been discussing saltshakers of any type but the arrival of at least one of the people behind me made them want to keep their real conversation secret.

  I nodded toward Padraig. “Covey and Harlan, may I introduce Lord Niamel also known as Padraig.” I still wanted to find out what the story was behind his title, but since everyone else around here knew him with it, I figured I should at least let my friends know he had one.

  “I have heard great things about both of you from Alric on his earlier visit. I am honored to meet you now.” He came forward and shook both of their hands. Covey looked quite smitten.

  I knew she and Locksead had something going on, but an elven lord? Wait, Alric was a lord…an elven high lord. Was that what Padraig was? I looked again at his ravaged face. Unless the mark had been on the side that had been marred, he wasn’t one. His lordship status was of a different type. Seriously, I was going to need a score sheet.

  “We have much to discuss, my friends,” Qianru said from a chair that had appeared at the head of the table. She probably didn’t have the table set with it to assure her place. “But I would like to wait until we are all here.”

  I was pulling out the chair to sit next to Covey, and then noticed how she was still watching Padraig. Instead I went around and sat next to Harlan, and Alric took my other side.

  I leaned into him. “Covey looks like she’s going to drag him off to her lair.” I had no idea if it was mating season for her people or if she just was looking for new elven brains to pick. But she was practically drooling.

  Alric watched them both thoughtfully for a moment, and then shrugged. “She reads the scrolls.”

  It wasn’t a question, besides he knew the answer. Covey had gotten much better at understanding the written elven word in the past few months. “Um, yes? So?”

  “He wrote a number of them and she recognized his name.”

  “What?” I said that way louder than I intended. I’d been hiding and running around with an actual elven old one? One from before the Breaking? I dropped my voice, but with those damn ears Padraig probably heard me. “But he looks so much younger than Lorcan or Jovan.”

  Padraig turned and gave me a sad smile. “I am indeed as old as both of them. Jovan was once a good man and scholar. However, I was struck down a year bef
ore the Breaking—I believe it was by him. Locked in my own mind and a sealed spell case for over six hundred years after that. Lorcan made sure my body didn’t age and that it came with them when they fled after the Breaking. I have a feeling that whoever struck me down back then, Jovan or someone else, did it with purpose.”

  “Padraig might have been able to stop the Breaking,” Alric said. “A fight for his life he could have won, but this was a modified sleep spell, not threatening on the surface. When I was born, Padraig was starting to come back to us fully, so we sort of grew up together.” The warmth in his smile told me what I’d already thought—Alric and Padraig were brothers even though they weren’t related.

  “You are that Padraig,” Covey’s smile showed no teeth, but for a trellian that was a good thing. “I am fascinated to make your acquaintance.”

  Wow, the old Covey would have tossed him on the table and interrogated him until he told her all of his secrets. Although I had to admit, I was fascinated as well. What was it like to have gone through all that had happened to him? To come back after over six hundred years to find your culture gone into hiding and probably most of those you knew long dead. Moreover, knowing you might have been able to stop it.

  I now had more sympathy for him than before. If anyone was a tragic figure it was him, and yet, there he was, still looking out for others and smiling at Covey’s barrage of questions.

  Voices came down from another hall, and soon Orenda and Locksead came into view. They both smiled at Alric and I, and Locksead lifted an eyebrow at Padraig.

  “Orenda and Locksead, this is Padraig—he’s a friend.” I wasn’t sure how either would respond to his titled name. Orenda had no knowledge of elves other than her own clan, but Locksead knew a lot more than he gave away. He tried to come across as someone in it for what he could sell, but I had a feeling there was an academic background buried somewhere in that larcenous soul.

  Padraig nodded. “I am pleased to meet both of you. Orenda? I believe that is a name favored by the Kalian elves?”

  She beamed. Like Covey, her eyes lit up at Padraig, but unlike Covey, I totally knew what the attraction was. “It is. My people had no idea that we weren’t the only survivors.” She almost made a move toward him, then rested her hand on Harlan’s shoulder, and sat next to him. Another relationship I wasn’t sure of. Harlan actually had a few wives and I knew at least two of them had other husbands, so even if they were involved he probably wouldn’t care if she made eyes for Padraig.

  “Excellent, we are all here.” Qianru raised her voice, and then shook a small bell that must have appeared with her chair. An army of houseboys swarmed the room and started placing soup bowls in front of us that were soon filled with an aromatic vegetable soup.

  My stomach pointed out to the entire room that I hadn’t had anything to eat for almost an entire day. “Sorry,” I said pretty much a second before the first spoonful hit my mouth. It was still very hot, but I didn’t care. I really needed to find nuts, or some travel bread to carry around with me if I was going to be running around like this.

  Qianru waited until most of the food had been served before speaking. “I believe it is time we know your plans, Lord Niamel—forgive me, Padraig.” She clearly preferred saying his full name but was going to use his given name to be a polite hostess.

  “I wish I had plans.” He dabbed the corner of his mouth and pushed his plate away. “Lorcan and I didn’t think anything would happen this soon, so we haven’t even heard back from most of our sources. There has been evidence of an uprising, one in secret so far. They want to gain control of the enclave to start. But we have little to go on. I do believe Alric is right though, the arrival of all of you might have made them move their plans up.” He briefly outlined the attack in the castle and the one on the shield. Qianru had come out to meet Flarinen right after it had happened, and the others weren’t sure of what the dead mage had done. The truth of the situation sobered everyone.

  “The bottom line is, something is happening in the castle, and Alric is still a wanted man.” Padraig said. “I believe so is Taryn. My theory is the faction working against us moved her to the tower with the intent of her being killed by Reginald’s shadow creation, or some other accident. They probably had some forged document that would point toward a horrible confusion as to where she was to stay. There’s a reason that tower isn’t used anymore.”

  Something about that bothered me. “But no one would have known we were coming in until we got there, but that tower room was made up recently.”

  “Someone tipped them off,” Locksead said. He’d been silent since he came in but was listening to everyone. “Those wagons were not going very fast. Word could have been given by any of the guards to a secret compatriot and they rode on ahead.”

  “Agreed,” Alric said. “Hell, it could even be Flarinen. If he thought our way of life was threatened, he would do anything.”

  I held up one hand as more people started to talk. “We’re talking about people who want to recreate the Ancient weapon and use it. How is that going to save your way of life? Besides, enough folks now know the elves survived, the days of being able to stay hidden are pretty much over.”

  “Surely not Captain Flarinen,” Qianru said. “He has been the soul of courtesy to my people and me.”

  I’d almost forgotten about that—she’d been planning on meeting him for a picnic. Which, considering he’d been out there to bring in Alric, wouldn’t have really been a good time. I glanced at Alric, then at Qianru. Unless Flarinen wasn’t planning on coming back with anyone.

  Crap. Not only did I not know who was important here, I also didn’t know who was on which side.

  “My lady, I assure you we meant no ill will toward the good captain,” Padraig said. “You forget, Alric and I knew him when he was a school boy. We know he wouldn’t mean to do anything to hurt the elven people.”

  His smile was so powerful that Qianru’s face and stance relaxed as I watched. Which was good—if Flarinen was our spy, we needed to know how Qianru would react. Clearly her fondness for Flarinen could be swayed by the even more powerful and mysterious Padraig.

  “I hate to be so confused, but I am.” Covey spoke to the room, but her eyes were on Padraig. “An elven war?” She now looked to Alric as if it was all his fault she was left in the dark on such an important matter.

  Alric didn’t answer her immediately, but he and Padraig did share a long look. Finally they each gave a nod.

  “I think you all need to be told. If you don’t want to be involved, I’m sure Qianru will find a way to get you out of the enclave,” Alric said.

  Qianru blushed and I realized I’d missed something. “How long have you known?” she said.

  “Just since this evening. You’re good, I’ll give you that.” Alric shook his head in admiration.

  And I, again, was clueless. “Okay, not only do we need to know what’s going on in the enclave, what are you talking about now?”

  The others looked as confused as I felt.

  Alric looked to Qianru, who shrugged. “I might as well tell you all, I have a feeling we will be traveling together a lot not too far from now.” She stood up, ignoring the houseboy who ran forward to assist her. “I am a spy.” She held up her hand as if to stall a slew of questions, but all of us, except for Alric, Padraig, and the houseboys, were staring at her in shock. “I work for the Athetling Kingdom. It is true that the elves in our part of the world came out of hiding a few years ago, but we were aware many of the elves were not on the side of good. I was sent to Beccia to try to find more contacts to the north, since much of my research indicated that was where the lost city had been. And we’d heard of Taryn. Your excavations, as well as the suspicious nature of the deaths and disappearances of your patrons, gave our people concern.”

  Qianru was a spy. I was having a hard time working around that one. “Thaddeus was not my fault. He was an evil syclarion trying to remold the world. Besides, Alric killed him. I had noth
ing to do with it.” I carefully tucked away my whole dragon bane berserker rage I’d gone into during that final battle. “And I had nothing to do with the rest of my patrons.” Granted, I hadn’t had a good track record, but it wasn’t my fault.

  Qianru smiled. “We know that, now. I was actually looking forward to the challenge of finding out what you were doing. Nevertheless, it appears you weren’t behind the deaths at all. Oh, and yes, your three missing patrons are believed to have been found—dead. I am so sorry.”

  I wasn’t sure how to take that. Everyone I’d worked for as a digger had died? In addition, Qianru took me on as a challenge? I was sick to my stomach and impressed at the same time.

  “But why?” Covey said it before I could respond as I was still deciding if I was going to throw up or not. “I mean—and no offense, Taryn—but Taryn is not even considered an important digger.”

  I’d be more upset, except that it was true.

  “Oh, but she is!” Qianru nodded to Alric. “He knows. And most likely Padraig as well. Taryn is in the scrolls as the finder of the relics. She was predicted to exist long before she was born. I can even prove it.”

  Qianru darted away from the table, leaving all of us stunned. Rather, everyone except Alric and Padraig. I was stunned, and the patch on my face where the hidden manticore lurked was getting cold again, but I had no one to stare at. Except for Alric.

  “Did you really know? Am I the reason you were in Beccia in the first place?” I’d always figured we’d met because he’d ended up being my bounty when I was between patrons and had to bounty hunt to pay the bills. What if he’d set it all up?