The Unwilling Aviator (Book 4) (17 page)

Pat's face softened. Ned's voice sounded weary and old. "I am sure you have a great many more years left in you," she insisted.

Ned turned to her with his glittering eyes. "You believe so?"

"You are as spry as any of us," she replied.

Ned stared forward and sighed. His voice dropped to a whisper. "Too many years were taken from me, and no magic can bring them back."

"Taken from you how?" she wondered.

Ned started from his reminisces and shook his head. "Just an old man blabbering about the past when we should be focusing on the present. In our faith to win the tournament we seem to have forgotten something very important."

"What's that?" she asked him.

"The treasure to destroy the stone." Ned looked to the south. "The book pointed to the base of those cliffs. I suggest you and I inspect them tomorrow while everyone's attention is on the tournament."

"Do you expect the treasure to be difficult to obtain?" she wondered.

Ned stroked his beard. "Possible, but we shall see. For now, let us enjoy the breeze and our friends."

CHAPTER 19

The aviators were reined in a few hours later, and Fred was glad to have his feet back on the ground. Ned unstrapped him and patted the young man on the shoulder. "Admirable flying."

"Thanks," he replied. He twisted his shoulders and winced when his tense body popped. "That isn't easy."

"No, indeed, and success in flying calls for a celebration," Ned replied. "Let us return to the inn and see if we might find our three missing friends."

The four of them left the kite in the custody of the officials and returned to the inn. The hour was just past noon as they slipped inside the dark dining hall. In one corner they glimpsed Sins in all his brooding glory watching over the half-empty room and his sister who bustled about. She looked up from the tables, but her eyes narrowed when they fell on Fred disguised as Crash.

Hugh stood behind the desk and glared at the assassin. When he noticed the others his face brightened. He slid out behind the desk and blocked the stairs. "Good day to you," he greeted them.

"Good day," Ned returned.

"If I'm not being too forward, I was wondering how long you were going to be staying?" Hugh asked the group.

"So long as we can pay your rent," Ned replied.

Hugh straightened and stuck his hands in his pockets. "Well, the rates have gone up. They're now fifteen gold pieces per room," he told them.

"What thievery is this?" Pat exclaimed. Ned raised her hand to quiet her.

"Business hasn't been as good as it was. There's been some rough customers lately and service has been slower for it," Hugh explained. His eyes pointedly flickered over to Sins.

"Very well. We will stay one more night," Ned replied. Hugh's face fell, but only until Ned handed over the advance for that night.

Hugh bowed and glanced more carefully at the group. His eyes fell on Ruth and Fred still in disguise. "Enburn, I heard you had a fine flight. Got some of your magic back, eh?"

"Um, yeah," Fred replied in his best Crash impersonation.

Hugh looked to Ruth still in her male form. "And this must be your new squire. I thought you were going to have that other boy," he commented.

"He was too good for me," Fred replied. Pat jabbed him in the elbows. "And, um, he left town. Said he had other things to do."

"Did he? He'll miss a fine tournament," Hugh scolded.

"I wish. . ." Fred mumbled.

Hugh turned back to Ned. "Would you be wanting another room for your friends?"

Ned chuckled. "They won't take up any more space," he assured their host.

Hugh smiled and nodded. "A pleasure having you as customers, sirs and lady."

Ned led the younger members of the group upstairs and they walked down the hall to their rooms. Percy stepped out of the room he shared with Canto, and his face brightened when he caught sight of them. "We thought perhaps you had all been eaten by a wild cantankus," he teased. His eyes fell on the male form of Ruth. "But who do we have here?"

Ned chuckled. "We kept ourselves occupied, and this is Ruth in disguise." He gently tapped her head and her disguise fell.

Percy turned to Fred. "And I must admit I am very perplexed with how our captive can be in two places at once."

"Merely another disguise, this for Fred, but how did you fare?" Ned returned as he glanced at the young man's worn clothes.

Percy looked down at himself and sheepishly grinned. "I'm afraid I haven't had time to change, as there have been more important matters to attend to. For one, Canto and I have been to see the stone's resting place."

"A moment. This is better said in a space with four walls," Ned interrupted. He herded them inside and the door was shut behind them.

Canto sat on the bed with the blunt edge of his ax at the ready. In the center of the room still sat Crash, but the back of his head sported one more lump than Fred and Pat remembered him having. Ned noticed the abuse and frowned. "Have you had problems with our guest?" Ned asked the pair.

"Aye. We can't find the bottle to knock him out, so we've had to do it the old fashioned way," Canto replied.

Fred winced and Pat stepped forward. "That is our fault. We broke the bottle while trying to administer it."

Ned chuckled and pulled out another vial from his robes. "It is fortunate for our friend I have a spare of these, but only one," he told them.

Canto patted his ax. "We've always got the simple method," he pointed out.

"Speaking of which, he had a nasty bump on his head when we came in," Percy spoke up. He looked to the three younger companions.

Pat blushed. "That was me," she admitted.

Canto laughed. "That's using yer sword!"

"And speaking of using the sword, I don't believe you've kept your word, Canto of Galaron," Ned scolded.

Canto ruffled at the insult. "Kept my word? A dwarf always keeps his word," he protested.

"You have yet to train our dear Pat in the art of sword play," Ned reminded him.

Canto scoffed and waved his hand. "Bah. She's had practice enough with all the things we've been fighting," he argued.

"A promise is a promise," Ned insisted.

The old dwarf frowned, but didn't argue. "If that's what she wants."

"If I can't beat you in battle then I want it," Pat spoke up.

"All right, but not until we're out of this dang place. The wind keeps me up and Ah'm not in me best fighting strength."

"After String, then, and no excuses," Ned agreed.

"If I may change the subject, but what is our plan for the remainder of our visit here? When Canto and I glimpsed the building where the stone resides it was well protected by guards," Percy wondered.

"Win the tournament, destroy the stone, and leave," Pat replied.

Percy smirked. "Simple enough, but the first must happen for others to occur. What if that condition doesn't happen?"

Canto stood and patted his ax against his open palm. "Then we take it and save 'em, whether they're looking for saving or not."

"You saw the guards around the stone. It won't be easy," Percy argued.

"And we are still in need of the treasure," Ned reminded them. "That is something Pat and I will take care of tomorrow. Ruth and Fred will try their best with the tournament, and you both may stay here and watch our friend. We may be gone for some time and if he awakens he would ruin Pat and Ruth's chance at winning the tournament in his name."

"Isn't that stretching us a might thin?" Canto wondered.

"Do we have a choice?" Pat countered.

"No, but if'n that stone decides it wants to wake up and cause some trouble we'd be at the three corners away from it," he pointed out.

"Unless you can convince our assassin friend to leave his vigil below then it must be done," Ned insisted.

Canto scoffed. "Ah wouldn't think him very useful, anyway. He doesn't know what we've been doing."

Ned smiled. "Assassins have long ears, and I expect he knows more than he tells us."

"Pretty easy considering he doesn't tell us anything," Canto argued.

"If you don't have any other objections to our plan other than Sins not pulling his weight then I suggest we rest for the remainder of the day and enjoy the festivities," Ned replied.

Percy chuckled. "I think I've enjoyed them enough, but a good meal sounds tempting."

Ned patted Fred on the shoulders and looked the young man over. "What say you, my young apprentice?"

"Can I get out of this disguise?" he pleaded.

There was a knock on the door. "Friends of Sins?" Ti called through the door.

The companions whipped their eyes to their captive. "Into the corner!" Pat hissed.

Percy and she scooted his chair along the floor to the far corner and Canto covered him in a holey sheet from the bed. The three of them stood in front of the ghostly figure while Ned strode over to the door and opened it a crack. Ti stood in the hall with a large, coiled poster in her hand. "Good day, my dear lady. Is something wanted?" he asked her.

"It's about your friend. The young one that's gone away," she told him. Ned's eyebrows raised and he let her inside. He shut the door behind her and she looked around at the friends who each had wide smiles plastered onto their faces. Her gaze fell on Fred disguised as Crash. She marched up to him and pulled on his cheek.

Fred yelped and yanked his face from her grasp. "What was that for?" he yelled at her.

She leaned toward him, narrowed her eyes, and looked him over. "You're not Crash," she stated.

The color drained from Fred's face. "Y-yes I am," he argued.

"I've known Crash for a decade. He was a decent aviator, but he never flew without first getting a drink from the bar. You didn't get that drink before you left this morning, so who are you?" she asked him.

"You have us, my dear Ti," Ned spoke up. He strode over and knocked Fred on the head with the tip of his staff.

Ti gasped when the magic fell away to reveal Fred. "The boy!" she exclaimed.

Fred frowned. "I'm not a boy," he argued.

"What are ya doing? She didn't have to know!" Canto scolded Ned.

TI scowled at him. "If you're honest to Ti then Ti is honest to thee," she argued. She held the poster out to Ned and nodded to Fred. "You might want to look at this."

Ned took it and unfurled the paper. Everyone crowded around him and looked over his shoulder to see the contents. The center showed a picture of Fred with a wicked smirk on his face and narrow, cunning eyes. His nose was long and crooked, and his hair was slicked back. At the top above the picture was the word WANTED and beneath the picture was his name, a description, and the reward.

Canto snorted. "Only a measly five hundred gold coins?"

Ned leaned forward and squinted his eyes at fine print at the bottom-right of the picture. "Sketched from eye-witness accounts. That certainly explains the likeness," he chuckled.

Pat looked at the cunning face and then to Fred. "They give him too much credit," she argued.

Fred frowned and tapped the bottom portion. "What does that it say?" Fred asked his literate companions.

Ned cleared his throat. "This is to inform the citizenry that a dreadful attempted murderer is loose on the city. He wears an aviator's uniform, but is actually a rogue castor. If you happen to see him please alert a guard or twinner. There is a five-hundred gold coin reward for information that leads to his arrest or death."

Fred cringed. "Or death?" he squeaked.

"Let's not ponder that choice, but they do seem adamant in capturing you however they can," Ned commented.

Pat glanced at Ti. "Where did you get this?"

"A group of guards came by earlier and gave this to be put up in the inn. I hid it from Hugh in case he should recognize the-um, young man here, and get greedy," Ti told her.

Pat scoffed. "That's a certainty," she muttered.

"We're very grateful for your kind help," Ned told Ti as he recoiled the poster. "Is there any way we can repay you?"

Ti frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. "You can tell me where the real Crash is."

The group slowly turned their heads toward the sheet in the corner. Ti strode over and ripped off the sheet to reveal the sleeping and tied Crash. She knelt in front of him and looked him over. "Crash? Crash?" She glanced over her shoulder at the companions. "What's wrong with him?"

"Merely a small dosage of valum and a few knocks on the head. Nothing that will hurt him," Ned assured her. She frowned. "Permanently," he added.

"So he'll wake up?" she wondered.

"In a few hours, yes, but can't free him just yet. He needs to win the tournament," Ned replied.

Ti nodded at Fred. "He'll be Crash?" she guessed.