“Blade?” Gheevy said tightly, still holding the orb stiffly out in front of him. “Do we have time for this?”
“I think so,” Pryce replied. ‘You see, they are my guards. Fullmer, or anyone else, I imagine, couldn’t get close to the workshop with them on duty.”
“They protected my father?” Dearlyn asked hopefully.
Pryce felt a pang of guilt. “I don’t truthfully know, Miss Ambersong. We will have to see. But what I can tell you,” he said, and he felt relief to finally get some of the truth off his chest, “is that Cunningham the jackalwere was lured here by the broken one, who is a prime example of magic gone wrong. Once here, the jackalwere was asked in turn by a magical communication to lure a mongrelman who was well versed in concealment.”
Dearlyn looked at the trio in confusion. “But why? To conceal what?”
‘Your father’s workshop, I’m afraid.”
She looked at Pryce, her eyes accusatory. “Are you saying my father did this?”
“I don’t know,” Pryce said quickly.
“You don’t know!” she flared. “If not you, who?”
“Dearlyn!” he interrupted sharply. ‘This isn’t easy for any of us, least of all them.” He pointed purposefully at the cursed trio. “We have to get into the workshop,” he stressed, “and then maybe we’ll discover the truth.”
The proud woman stiffened. “Are you telling me you cannot gain entrance by yourself?”
“Yes,” he admitted without shame. “That’s exactly what I’m telling you. Now you tell me. Is it possible that your father would simply give me the keys to his workshop… or give a key to us both… that can only be used if we work together?”
Her rising anger suddenly stilled. The realization of her father’s true naturethe one she always knew was there and desperately wanted to believe inoverwhelmed her ire and started to bring tears to her eyes.
Pryce turned away from her and gave the mongrelman a simple instruction.
“Lead us to the workshop.”
Soon the six of them stood before the concealing wall. To Gheevy and Dearlyn’s eyes, it looked like any other section of the cave, but the others knew of the hidden tube through the rock.
Pryce turned to the misshapen ones. “We’re going to open the compartment now,” he told them. “Hide yourselves. If anything bad happens, I wish you a peaceful, long life.”
Dearlyn and Gheevy looked at each other with concern and a little confusion. The mongrelman babbled incoherently, and the broken one pushed his head over the other’s shoulder. “Weeeee willll protect you, Blade!” he whistled and burbled. “Weeeee don’t wish… to looooose you.”
“You cannotyou must nottry to protect me,” Pryce told them with honest appreciation. His Covington side felt a pang of missed opportunity, but his Blade side knew it had to be this way. Besides, any revelation of his Covington nature would put his absolutely vital impersonation at risk. He might gain protection for a few moments, but if any of them even suspected that he wasn’t who they said he was, he would be dissected almost immediately. “This road I must walk alone, with only the Ambersong daughter and the primary mage’s friend by my side. Our road together wherever it leadsmust take a different route.”
The mongrelman made crying sounds and shook, but eventually he shambled away, taking the crestfallen broken one with him. Only Cunningham remained. Pryce stared bravely at him until he realized the jackalwere’s expression was not one of respect or admiration, but of hope and hunger.
“Cunningham…” he said warningly.
The jackalwere looked suddenly wounded. “Sir, I assure you… how could you think…?”
“Cunningham!” Pryce snapped. Then he leaned in and spoke carefully. “No… after… assault… snacks. You hear me?”
“Quite distinctly, sir.” He drew himself up, and Pryce could see that he was essentially dusting off his pride. “Shall I go see to it that the others are safe and well hidden?”
‘You shall,” Pryce commanded flatly.
“Very good, sir.” He leaned to one side and called to the others. “Best of luck, diminutive sir. You too, milady. Enjoy the opening!”
“Get out of here!” But by the time the last word was out of Pryce’s mouth, the jackalwere had disappeared into the darkness.
Only then did Gheevy lower the illumination orb from in front of his face. “So,” he said with relief. “Where is it?”
“There,” said Pryce, motioning with his head toward the wall. He swung his cloak off and started examining how the clasp was attached. “I’ll need the clasp from your cloak as well, Dearlyn.”
She looked puzzled and began fingering the circular clasp at her neck.
“The clasps serve as individual keys to the Ambersong lodging. I think they are also the keys to the workshop as well, but only if they are used in combination.” He looked at her, his expression revealing no chagrin or regret. “When your father left you, he left me as well. I don’t know where he is, but I believe that he wanted us to cooperate.” At that moment, as if on cue, the clasp popped off into his hand.
“Yes,” Dearlyn said quietly, nodding. “That makes sense. It sounds like something Father would do.” Then she started to pull off her cloak. Soon Pryce held both clasps in his hand.
“I saw a grating of some sort a couple of feet down the entry tube,” Pryce explained. “It had specific markings on it, like a rune or a code of some sort.” He turned the clasps this way and that in his palm. “Looking directly at it, it seemed to be four esoterically designed letters, one on top of the other: U, V, 0, and W.”
“Use Virtue Open Wall?” Dearlyn said immediately. Both men stared at her. Then they looked at the wall in anticipation. Nothing happened.
“We could play that game all day,” Gheevy commented. “Useless Violence Obscures Wonder. Ultimate Victory Or Woe. Untold Victims Obviously Worried”
Pryce interrupted, making it clear that this game was at an end. “I think it’s some kind of a special lock that needs an aligning key.” He took Dearlyn’s clasp, which had her initials outlined in flower petals, and turned it sideways to the left. The A was now on top, and when it was tipped slightly, an extra flower petal seemed to lengthen the Crosshatch of the A. The D looked like a J7with a line across the top.
“You-vee,” Gheevy formed the sound. “But what about the W?”
“I’ll give you the ‘ow’ in a second if you don’t keep quiet,” Pryce warned, the tension beginning to make him giddy. He held up Darlington Blade’s clasp, turned it sideways and to the left, then all the way around. The D and B created from the thorns became a half oval and a rounded W. “Put them both together” which he did”and they spell” “You-vow,” Gheevy said admiringly.
Dearlyn nodded proudly. “Of course my father would want us to work together. It’s just like him!”
Pryce looked at her with concern before continuing. “Now to put my theory to the test.” He stepped toward the wall, then stopped and turned back. “No one with a thinner arm, I suppose, would be interested?… No, I had better do this myself.”
He put the two clasps side by side in his hand, surprised by how naturally they seemed to fit together. The flower petals and the thorns seemed to link together in position, maintaining the oddly designed U-V-O-W’m place. With his other hand, Pryce gripped the lip of the hole he knew was there and started to pull himself up. “Gheevy,” he grunted. “I need a solid surface to stand on to position the clasps just right.”
The halfling rolled his eyes. It had been an eventful night already, and he was weary… not to mention irritable. “And I suppose you want my back as that solid surface?”
Dearlyn looked down at him with reproach. “Don’t be petty,” she admonished. “If you won’t do it, I will!” She was already on one knee when the halfling stopped her.
“All right, all right. I’ll do it. Just wait a moment, would you?” Gheevy got down on all fours and placed his side against the rock wall. “Very well, Blade. Go ahead.”