My stomach did a little barrel roll. “I must have missed that one.”
She waved a dismissive hand. “You were face-to-face with a Volghul. You had more important things to do. Laurian always said that these little ones were bound and could do him no harm.”
Yeah, where had I heard that one before?
“If we’re all still alive next week, I’m sending these things back where they came from,” Sora told me.
Berel’s pets compared to what would be coming through that Hellgate were like house cats compared to lions-giant lions that were damned near impossible to kill. I looked down at the now chittering demon in the cage. I’d take Green Teeth here anytime.
I didn’t feel comfortable turning my back on the late Professor Berel’s pets, but I couldn’t exactly search the office while staring at a lidless mini-demon.
From the looks of things, Berel had been department chairman and had occupied this office for a long time. You just couldn’t get that kind of clutter overnight. There wasn’t room for one more book on Berel’s shelves. When he’d run out of horizontal space, he started stacking books vertically on top of other books. The shelves were floor to ceiling with a ladder on rollers that could slide down the entire length of the wall. That told me the shelves weren’t likely to fall on me, but I didn’t want to push my luck. Besides, I wasn’t looking for a book.
“Do you mind if I search?” I asked Sora. “I promise not to trash the place.”
“Search away. Anything I can do to help?”
“I know he hated daggers, but if he had kept one that he’d been given, where would he have put it? Did he have a safe, strongbox-”
Sora was shaking her head. Not the response I’d hoped for.
“Not that I’m aware of,” she said, “but I’ll look.”
“Thanks.”
“What can I do, ma’am?” Vegard asked me.
I nodded toward a row of file cabinets next to the table with the mini-demons. I smiled apologetically. “Check those, please.”
He gave me a flat look. “Professor Niabi?”
“Yes?”
“Permission to stab anything that escapes and jumps on me?”
“Feel free, Vegard.”
Before I started knocking on the walls to check for hidden compartments, I thought I’d eliminate the obvious. Berel’s desk. It was old and massive. I’d seen mages’ desks that had more hidden drawers than real ones.
The second drawer I searched had more of the usual desk contents-and a pair of small leather boxes, trimmed in gilt filigree, about the size of a man’s hand. I froze. My present problem didn’t start by my finding the Saghred or the amulet; my problem had started as a result of a thief friend of mine finding said amulet in a pretty little box much like these. That one had been closed with a black wax seal; these boxes were closed with latches. Still, there was no way I was touching them without asking a few questions first.
I took one step back. “Sora?”
“Yes?”
I leaned forward just enough to pull the drawer open wider.
“Any idea what’s in these?”
“These what?” She came over and looked. “The boxes?”
“Yep.”
“I don’t know. Feel free to open them.”
I swore. “Gee, thanks.”
“What’s wrong?”
I told her.
Sora whistled. “I wouldn’t want to open any more boxes, either.”
Vegard came over. “Ma’am, maybe I should-”
I held up a hand. “I found them.” I sighed. “I’ll open them.”
“I’ll stand here,” he said, his hands now faintly glowing.
Vegard had a spell ready to launch; I muttered a shielding spell into place. Not that either would do any good if there was something truly nasty in those boxes, but events of the past couple of weeks had made me cautious, if not downright paranoid. I picked up the first box; it was covered in midnight blue leather. I held it at arm’s length and gave it a little shake. It didn’t sound like there was anything in there. Only one way to find out. I put it on the desk, flipped the latch, and opened it. Inside was a star-shaped medallion; it looked like an award or something.
“The Order of Goulous,” Sora said as if that explained everything. It didn’t.
“Which is?”
“An academic award for excellence in research,” she explained. “Laurian was widely published.”
I took out the other box, flipped the latch, winced, and looked inside. It was empty, but there had been something in there, nestled in the dark velvet lining. Something that had left an indentation like a curved dagger no larger than my father’s hand.
Just an imprint, no dagger.
I made no move to put my hand anywhere near that imprint. “Okay,” I said carefully, never taking my eyes off of that box. “Theoretically the Saghred and I are one. So it would stand to reason that the rock wouldn’t be too fond of the Scythe of Nen-and possibly anything that had held it.”
Vegard didn’t move. “Ma’am, I think you should put the box down.” His voice was tight. “Slowly would be good.”
I kept my eyes on the box. “Vegard, we have to know for sure.”
“Are you feeling anything from just holding it?”
“A little tingle maybe, but that might be my nerves.” Before Vegard could stop me-or before I chickened out-I threw caution to the wind and reached out to touch the velvet indentation with my fingertips.
I really shouldn’t have done that.
The next thing I knew, I was on my ass, and the box was across the room. I’d never been struck by lightning, but this had to be what it felt like. I wanted to say something, my mouth was opening and closing, but words weren’t making it out.
Vegard and Sora were doing my cussing for me.
“I… think that… was it,” I finally managed. I couldn’t imagine the Saghred being that pissed off at any other piece of cutlery. Vegard started to reach for me and got one hell of a shock for his trouble.
“Don’t touch… Wait a… minute.”
“Laurian did have it,” Sora said.
I grabbed the edge of the desk and hauled myself off the floor. The desk didn’t catch fire, so I thought I was safe for contact. Vegard thought so, too. He grabbed my arm and helped me the rest of the way to my feet.
“Who else has access to this office?” I asked Sora.
“Just Laurian’s secretary. But he didn’t take it.”
“How do you know-”
“Daggers didn’t stay in Laurian’s possession long enough for anyone to steal them.”
I was confused. “If he gave it away, why would he keep the box?”
“The mage he gave it to collects daggers.” Sora said it like she knew I wasn’t going to like it. “He has display cases and didn’t need the box. Over the years, Laurian has given him a lot of daggers. He called them gifts; I called them bribes.”
I didn’t move. “Who?”
“Carnades Silvanus.”
That wasn’t the name I wanted to hear.
“Carnades collects exotic daggers,” Sora told me. “Laurian hated the things. Laurian also hated Carnades.”
“Sounds like he was a good judge of character.”
“Carnades is the chairman of the funding committee,” Sora explained. “They decide how much money each department gets. Guess which department Carnades thinks should be eliminated because any moral person wouldn’t want to study demons?”
“No guess needed. I see why you turned that demon loose on him yesterday.”
Sora grinned. “Mychael and I wanted to give Vegard a chance to get you out of there, but I will admit to a more personal reason.”
“Payback’s hell.”
“Literally.”