Bound in Darkness (12 page)

“Oh my goodness,” Airi breathed with awe.

“And then there's the coin we took off the dragon.” He went for a smaller sack Kyno had tied to his waist. The orc gave it to him and Doisy dumped it on the bed as well.

“How am I supposed to carry that much gold?” she whispered, still in awe.

“You don't, ya twit. You bank it or hide it. I prefer to hide it. Don't trust banks and a banknote can be taken off you,” Kilon said.

“I prefer to do both. The rest I carry. Come on, let's get this separated and put aside so that we can go on to the next phase of our adventure,” Maxum urged.

“And what phase is that?”

“Follow me and you'll find out,” he said with a twinkle in his eye.

They sorted out the gold, Maxum's fifty percent take enormous. But he took enough coin for expenses and more and tucked it into his saddlebags, which the boys had brought to the inn for him the night before. She was surprised Kilon hadn't gone through them and picked over them like a carrion bird. Maybe he had thought about it, and probably he would have if Maxum had missed their noontide meeting.

Airi shuddered, trying not to think of it. If she thought of it then she had to think of him swimming all of that way for hours on end. What a cold and lonely business that must have been. There was nothing that said his talisman protected him from the cold. He must have been freezing in the cold deadfall waters. And winter was hot on deadfall's heels. Soon camping out in the open would be unbearable. She was lucky her fortunes had turned.

And what a turn they had made! She had enough gold to retire in modest comfort—if she watched her coin closely. She could leave right then and never look back. Calandria was too big a city to suit her—she would prefer something more rustic—but she could leave from there and go anywhere on the Black Continent.

However, if she stayed she could perhaps find more fortune…enough to maybe take her all the way to the Green Continent, where she had always longed to go ever since she was a child. And now that she knew what it was like to travel on a boat—however brief it had been—she knew she could potentially make the voyage. But it was an expensive undertaking and required many modes of travel.

Still, the idea of it held an extraordinary amount of appeal. It was worth putting up with Kilon's nastiness and Maxum's arrogance and recklessness to achieve a dream like that.

They left the inn together, she and Maxum, each hoisting a hefty bag of gold. The first place they went to was the bank. Maxum traded a portion of his gold for a key to a lockbox. Then he followed a very burly man into the vault in order to retrieve the box from the wall of many steel boxes, each with its own number. He used the key in the box and dumped the entire sack of gold in the box under the watchful eye of the vault manager.

“Do not forget your number,” the man said in a nasally voice, “and do not lose your key. The amount you paid rents the vault lockbox for exactly one full turning. Today is the fourth day of letting. On the fourth day of letting an annum from now your box will be emptied and the contents confiscated unless you pay to rent it another full turning.”

“A full turning is more than enough time,” Maxum said. And it was. For who would let their money lie for more than a full turning of all the seasons unless they were settled in the area?

Airi got a box for herself, although hers was a smaller box and she left only three quarters of her gold there. The rest she had surreptitiously tucked into her saddlebag in a hidden pocket and some in her thieves' belt as well back when they were at the inn.

Before they left the vault, Maxum turned to the vault manager.

“Tell me…as a banker you must know many people in this city, yes?”

“Of course,” the man said, looking incredibly bored with them.

“Do you know someone who knows the Songs of the Gods? Someone very old who has heard many songs?”

The man's expression was blank and Maxum was about to repeat the query when he suddenly drew a breath and said, “Yes.”

“Well can you tell me where I might find him?”

“
She
is a mem at the temple of Kitari in the old quarter of the city.”

“A mem?” Maxum frowned. “Is there anyone else?”

“There are others I'm sure, but none that I know of. And mem Gia is the oldest woman alive in this city I'm sure and she knows all of the songs you could ever want to hear.”

Now that was strange, Airi thought. Hadn't Dru told her that Maxum had had a fierce emotional reaction to hearing the Songs of the Gods in the past? Why would he be seeking them out now? And why was he so clearly set against anything to do with the gods one moment, but then wanting to hear about them the next?

“Very well. I guess she'll do. Thank you for your trouble.” Maxum gave the man a great deal of silver and left.

“You really don't care how much money you spend, do you?” she asked him, still incredulous over his wild spending habits.

“Not particularly.”

“Why? You aren't going to be young forever you know. You aren't going to be able to adventure once you've worn out your body. You spend money as if you have no future to worry about.”

“Why worry about the future when you can live in comfort now? Tomorrow I might be dead.”

“Not with that talisman you won't.”

He looked at her from the corners of his eyes. “So you've figured out what it does?”

“For the most part. How does it work?”

“As far as I can tell, it keeps me from suffering any physical damage. But that doesn't prevent a man from being struck with an ailment of the heart of some kind. Or any number of other ailments.”

“No, I don't suppose it would. So what is your plan exactly? To move through the world impervious to outside harm and spending money frivolously?”

“Sounds good to me,” he said.

She growled with frustration at him. “Doesn't anything matter to you?”

“Why does it surprise you so much? A thief is inherently selfish, it's just inbred into you. Do you see me picking apart your nature?”

That stung. She didn't know why, because in fact it was the truth, but it bothered her to have him thinking she was selfish. She needed to be selfish. She needed to take care of herself. No one else was going to do it so it was up to her. She had learned a long time ago, from a very, very young age, not to depend on others.

She was selfish because everyone else had proven they were selfish first.

“I'm just saying you should look to your future.”

“Maybe I don't think I'm going to have a future,” he said, his tone coming across low and a little dark.

“Now why would you think that?” she asked.

“Never mind. Here's the old quarter,” he said. “Let's find Kitari's temple.”

Airi wanted to pursue the topic, but it was clear he was shutting her down. She had to respect that. If their positions were reversed she didn't know if she would want to talk about all her deepest darkest corners. It was probably best left alone.

They found the temple and she went to walk inside, but Maxum visibly hesitated on the step leading under the archway entrance. If she hadn't known he was the sort of man who'd face down a dragon, she might have thought that was fear in his eyes. But she shook her head, thinking she was mistaken, and by the time she looked back at him the expression was gone and all that was there was steely determination. He crossed the threshold and then walked into the forechapel.

Airi stopped the first mem she saw and said, “We're looking for mem Gia.”

The mem took her measure a moment, peering down at her from her significant height and down the blade of a long, strong nose.

“What do you wish of Gia?”

“We—”

“We were told she is the most pious of mems and we wish to pay tribute to Kitari through her,” Maxum talked over her. She found it curious that he didn't just tell the mem the truth. But as she watched the mem's hard stare she realized what he did—she wasn't letting anyone close to Gia without some inducement. And right on cue Maxum said, “We are here to make a donation to Kitari…through mem Gia, of course.” Maxum untied his purse from his belt, hefting the coins with a jingle, then pulled open the drawstring and tipped the bag so the mem could see the gold inside. The mem's eyes widened considerably. Since the mems lived solely through donations of food, cloth, and coin, such a contribution would be more than welcome and Maxum knew it.

But his whole purse? There had to be thirty gold coins in there! If the man was so bent on giving his money away he should just give it all to her and she'd be off to the Green Continent quick as a whip. As it stood that would leave him with only the coins in his saddlebags at the inn to pay their way for the rest of their trip…and who knew how long that would be or where it would take them? Sure, there was quite a bit there, but the way he spent money…

“Why yes…” The mem licked her lips. “You understand Gia is old and we usually don't allow her to be bothered by penitents.”

“But we're not your usual penitents,” Maxum said.

“No. No of course not.” The mem shook herself to attention. “Follow me.”

They did and the mem led them through the main chapel and into the dormitory wings. Mems dressed in the long flowing violet robes worthy only of the priestesses of the queen of the gods hurried to and fro around them. The robes they wore were of fine cloth, thick and with a soft sheen to them, and each mem wore a circlet of gold around her head, in reflection of their patron goddess's stature among the gods. They also wore golden slippers. Clearly Kitari's mems were well-off compared to some other mems in the temples of the other gods.

Each temple dressed their mems in a different way, according to their god, and each had different rules of conduct. But a lot of people had fallen away from worshipping the gods—and often he would see mems on the verge of being destitute and starving. These days if the temple wasn't self-sustaining it did not survive for long. This temple seemed to self-sustain and then some.

They were led through a maze of corridors until they were brought to a door at the end of a long hallway. The mem lightly rapped on the door.

“Well, what is it?” a voice barked from inside.

“Some penitents for mem Gia.”

“Tell them to pray with someone else. Gia isn't well today.”

“Um…” The mem cleared her throat and gave them an apologetic smile. “These are very special penitents, mem Collona.”

“Is it the king?” she asked, still through the door.

“Er…no…”

“Then tell them to go away!”

“Now see here, mem Collona,” she said, though with very little strength. Clearly she was intimidated by mem Collona. It made Airi wonder what she looked like if she could make this formidable woman quail in fear. “These are very
special
penitents.” As if stressing the word “special” this time would make the difference.

“Go away!”

“Enough of this,” Maxum barked. He grabbed for the door handle and shoved the heavy door open. He walked into the room boldly.

It was only a very quick set of reflexes that kept him from getting cracked in the skull by a heavy wooden staff. As it was he got hit on the shoulder. The staff came around for a second blow and this time Maxum caught it and yanked it out of the gnarled hands of the mem swinging it. The mem stumbled with the force of the removal.

She righted herself by some small miracle before she spilled into a pile at Maxum's feet like an old bag of bones.

And that was what she was. Old, stooped over at the shoulders, and as gnarled and bony as could be.

“Mem Collona I take it?” Maxum asked mildly.

“Who are you?” the mem barked. “Who do you think you are pushing into an old mem's room like this?”

“My name is Maxum and I'm here to see mem Gia.”

“Gia isn't seeing anyone ever,” the mem snapped.

“She'll see me,” Maxum said.

“Oh yeah? And why's that?”

Maxum hefty his bag of coins, giving them a jingle.

The mem snorted out a phlegmy laugh. “Is that supposed to impress me? I've had too much gold thrown at my feet in my time to be impressed by a heavy purse.”

Maxum eyed the mem dubiously. “You don't say.”

“I do say. I see what you're thinking, young man. You're thinking I was always this old and ugly. Well, I'll tell you this, I was once as beautiful as Kitari herself!”

“Mem Collona!” the other mem gasped.

“Well, it's true. I was young and I was beautiful. Sexy as all too. I was known to tease a cock in my day.”

“Gia!” the other mem cried, completely horrified.

Understanding dawned in Maxum's eyes.

“Mem Gia?” he asked.

“Gia Collona. Who're you?” she wanted to know, peering hard at them.

“My name is Maxum. This is Airianne. We heard you know all of the Songs of the Gods. Even those that were forgotten.”

“Is that what you heard?” She reached out and snatched her staff back from Maxum's hands. Then, contrary to that quick and strong movement, she used the staff to hobble over to a chair. She lowered herself into it with a creaking of her bones. “Well! Don't just stand there gaping! Pull up a chair. I don't sing like those fancy bards do. I tell stories. If you're looking for a show go to the local inn.”

“I don't need a show. Just some accurate songs.”

She peered at Maxum as he pulled up a chair. The old mem suddenly turned an icy glare on the other mem in the room. “What're you standing there gawking for? I'm going to need some honey water for my throat. Seems like these two will keep me talking for a while.” The mem hesitated until Gia barked, “Move, girl!”

The mem exited hastily, closing the door behind her. Airi pulled up to a little table next to Maxum. Gia Collona had seated herself in a chair with rockers on it close to the fireplace.