6th Day of Fireseek, 565 CY
The Brass Dragon, Furyondy
A low rumble of thunder rolled across the plains. It was carried on a strong southerly wind that promised rain, but as yet had not delivered. Patches of ragged, black clouds slid quickly along underneath a dull gray afternoon sky like great sailing ships, their sails being torn to tatters by a wind that never stopped blowing; never stopped raging.
Caroline Bigfellow, standing in front of the entrance to the Brass Dragon Inn, stared into that sky, as if hoping that the solution to all their troubles might emerge from the clouds, perhaps in the form of Hermes himself, a smile on his deific face as he flew down towards them, all the answers written on the scroll he held in his hand.
The scroll...
Caroline shook her head to clear out those useless hopes. Her black, shoulder-length hair, turned into a mess from the humidity, plastered itself against her cheeks, stray strands falling over her eyes. She angrily brushed them aside. Before her marriage, Caroline had never worn her hair this long, but she knew Argo liked it this way so she had been glad to let it grow. Today though, everything seemed to be irritating her. She felt like a bystander at a chariot race wreck, unable to do anything to help. For some reason, in the last year, Argo was slowly growing more and more overprotective of her, and she found herself, more often than not, staying behind at the inn, watching the children while the rest of the party rushed off to deal heroically with the crises at hand. She wasn't an advocate of needless violence, but she could swing a sword with the best of them, at least in her opinion. Sometimes, she just wanted to-
Stop it, she told herself. She was working herself into a foul mood without reason. If she had a grievance with Argo, she could just talk to him about it. He had made her promise that before they had been joined, told her he wasn't an easy person to live with, and that her happiness would be his foremost concern, now and forever.
The anger wouldn't go away, though. They had left her home again yesterday and look what had happened. Thorin was gone. No one blamed her of course, not even Cygnus, but she had apologized tearfully to him, twice in fact. The first time he had said nothing. The second, he had simply looked dully at her and whispered, "I know. It's not your fault". Some part of her thought that he didn't really mean that, that he was just trying to get rid of her. He did blame her. They all did, that was the real reason they kept her at home, she couldn't be trusted to-
That's enough!
Caroline practically had to scream it to herself, and actually looked around in case anyone had managed to hear her thoughts. She saw the last of the party disappear into the Tall Tales Room. She hurried to catch up, taking deep breaths to try and clear her head once again. Stop pouting like a child, Caroline. You won't be of any use to anyone if you can't think clearly.
The Tall Tales Room was fairly crowded. It had not been designed with expansion in mind and could comfortably fit only two couches and two chairs, all currently arranged so that they were facing the back wall, and the unseeing gaze of a dead dragon.
Elrohir and Talass were seated on one couch, Talass holding Barahir on her lap. Aslan and Tadoa were seated in the chairs. Tojo, who honestly seemed to dislike chairs, stood in the near right corner of the room, as still as a statue. Argo sat on the other couch. He looked over his left shoulder as Caroline came in, smiled at her and patted the couch next to him. Fighting back that tiny but insistent surge of irritation, she sat down next to her husband and stared straight ahead. She could sense Argo's puzzled look without actually seeing it, but he made no overture.
Caroline noticed that Elrohir, Talass, Aslan and Tadoa kept shooting quick glances around the room. She was puzzled for a moment, until the realization hit her.
Almighty Zeus, they're looking for flies! Is this what we've been reduced to?
Cygnus stood at the far wall. To his right was Sandcats' mounted head. His right hand gripped the dragon's horn tightly.
In his left hand, he held the scroll. The scroll of a single spell.
The magic-user cleared his throat and began. "Thank you all for coming. I'll make this brief." He glanced down at the rolled-up parchment in his hand. "As you know, this is an arcane spell, and since I am now this party's sole wizard," his features tightened, "the disposition of this item is my responsibility." He looked up into the eyes of his friends, seeking confirmation of what he already knew. Apparently finding it, he continued.
"I know I've been less than an ideal father. I also know that's no one's fault but my own." His grip on both the dragon's horn and the scroll tightened. Caroline caught her breath, afraid for a moment that Cygnus might accidentally destroy the parchment. The mage must have had the same idea, because his left hand loosened his grip, and a sheepish smile appeared on his face. It was not a common expression for him.
"But I'll be damned if I'm going to stop trying. Nothing is more important than my son," he said, looking at Argo now. Caroline glanced at her husband, but his face was impassive, waiting.
"I'm going to give Nodyath the scroll. No tricks."
The words hung in the room. A faint rumble of thunder outside was felt more than heard. Caroline glanced around. Elrohir was looking like he wanted to say something but wasn't quite able to put it into a coherent thought, so he dropped it. Talass' expression was neutral, but she hugged her son closer to her chest. Barahir, of course, was totally engrossed by one of Sequester's feathers he held in his hand. Tadoa had a faint smile on his face. Caroline didn't need to turn her head to know that Tojo would have absolutely no expression on his face at all. Next to her, Argo squeezed her hand very gently, in his gauntleted hand. He looked at her and smiled.
"Someone must have been telling him what a gift having a child truly is," he said innocently. "I wonder who it must have been."
Caroline felt her irritation pass away like a cool breeze. She put her right hand behind his helm and gently pulled him forward. Their foreheads touched, and they held the position for a moment before sitting back up.
"Ahem." Aslan stood up, crossing his arms in front of his chest, and glared at the wizard. "I'm sorry, Cygnus. I can't agree to this in good conscience."
Argo sighed and gave Aslan his trademark pained smile. "Do they actually teach you how to be a stubborn jackass in paladin school, Aslan?"
"No," he replied, looking grim. "But they did teach us that capitulating to murderers and kidnappers is stupid!" Aslan's voice rose, a rare occurrence for him.
"Look Cygnus," the paladin turned to the mage, "On what basis do we have to believe that Nodyath is honorable, and will keep his word? His own? For the love of Valhalla, Iuz himself would say he was honorable if it suited his purposes! That doesn't make it so!"
Cygnus seemed to waver. "That's a low blow, Aslan," he said shakily. "Besides, Mendoleer said he was honorable."
"Mendoleer? And he sounded trustworthy to you, as opposed to a lying, conniving wretch?"
"Hey!" came a shout from Elrohir. He leaned forward and shot an angry look at the paladin. "And what exactly does a lying, conniving wretch sound like anyway, Aslan?" he questioned. "Me?"
"By the Eye of the All-Father, Elrohir, stop being so sensitive! Your counterpart has nothing to do with you. Nothing!"
The ranger sat back up straight, glowering. "Tell that to the Neutral Forces."
"You're missing the point," the paladin continued. "Haven't we made a point of defending the innocent? The people of this land, to whose king we have sworn fealty?" He looked around at everyone. "I don't want anything to happen to Thorin, either. You know that, Cygnus. But evil is not honorable, people. It never is! How many of our other foes would you trust if they had made a statement like Nodyath's? Atlanter? Scurvy John? Valente? Would any of them have kept their word? "
Aslan looked at everyone in turn. He knew he had the floor, so he continued, now at his normal voice level. "What about Kar-Vermin?"
The room went silent. Aslan continued, even more softly.
"Was he honorable?"
Still, no one spoke. Aslan walked slowly over to Cygnus and laid his right hand on the mage's shoulder. "Cygnus," he said. "What will you tell your son about the nature of evil, when he is grown to manhood?"
The wizard was silent, his face downcast, defeated.
"And what about Hyzenthlay?" Aslan asked.
Cygnus's glance shot up.
The paladin continued. "What would she have-"
"Shut up!" Cygnus suddenly screamed and shoved Aslan back.
Caught unawares, the paladin stumbled back against his chair, but managed to keep his footing. Argo and Elrohir shot to their feet, both yelling at Aslan and Cygnus. In a second, the room was filled with angry voices.
Caroline stood up, drew her longsword and brought it down on the end table next to her couch. The crash of wood splintering brought an immediate end to the shouting. She looked around. Everyone was now staring at her.
"Well, now," she began nervously, slowly sheathing her sword. "Pardon me for interrupting," she said with a shaky smile. She looked over at the magic-user. "Cygnus, that spell on the scroll- what's it called again?"
Cygnus was breathing heavily but seemed to have regained his composure. "Gate," he replied.
"I've known you've talked about how hard it is to travel among the Three Worlds. Is it possible that Nodyath just wants that gate spell to get home?"
Cygnus looked thoughtful, if a bit doubtful. "Yes, it's possible."
Caroline turned to look at everyone else. "You said earlier that the scroll was Cygnus' responsibility. We don't know whether Nodyath is honorable or not. But this is our chance to show Cygnus whether we are. Whatever he decides, stand by him." She sat down, trembling. Argo gently put his left arm on her shoulder.
"Thank you, Caroline," said Cygnus, taking a deep breath. "I will give the scroll to Nodyath as planned. Listen to me now, people. I am going up to my room now. In a few hours, I will give the scroll to you, Aslan." He looked at the paladin, who looked puzzled, but nodded. "After that, I am going to put an alarm spell in my room. It will go off if anyone or anything enters but me, be that a fly, a mouse, or any one of you."
"Why?" asked Tadoa. The question was not belligerent, the elven child truly looked confused.
Cygnus smiled at him.
"Because Tad," he replied, using the elf's nickname, "Nodyath could be disguised as any one of you. If any of you want similar protection, please let me know at that time. Once I return to my room, I will not come out again until my son has been returned."
"Why not?" asked Elrohir, frowning at him.
"Because I can't bear to see the consequences if I'm wrong," replied the wizard, sweeping quickly past them all and out of the room.
The others stared after him.
"That was strange," said Elrohir.
"That was the sound of a man who's not sure of himself," said Aslan.
Talass shook her head. "No. That was a bald-faced lie."
Cygnus entered his upstairs bedroom, closed the door and sat down on his bed. He sat where his wife Hyzenthlay had sat the last moments of her life and had stared out the window that Cygnus was staring out now- and had seen the face of a god.
"Forgive me, my love," Cygnus whispered, tears starting to flow for the first time. "Forgive me, my son."