Xyzzyx's grin exposed hideously deformed teeth. Ghosts fluttered in and out of its sparkling eyes. It was prepared to bargain hard.
7
Master Magician Aleas Dubbing declared, "The tackoo Syathbir Tolis failed to make himself evident in my quarter of the compass. Sources available, however, suggested he might be located by an investigator who turned his eye upon the Dustrake Reach of the Lesser Miasmatic Swamps."
"A suggestion in substantial agreement with my own conclusions," Shredlu said. "Kintrude?"
"I found considerable consternation on all levels Outside. Syathbir Tolis is nowhere amongst the Wastes. Outsider rumor reliably places him within the Lesser Miasmatics."
The tackoo appears to have confused no one. Yarramal? Have you contradictory evidence?"
"None such was to be found within the registers, even of a caste so remote and narrow as the Necromancers."
A caste of one, which consisted of Shredlu's cousin the freelance charlatan Ousted Delf. Shredlu was confident Yarramal had made her own locational inquiries. "Did you find a name that can be attached to this dream-theft villainy?"
"None whatsoever, Senior." She frowned thoughtfully, as though taking a last look at a decision already made. "Perhaps it is irrational or unreliable intuition, Senior, but I have arrived at a conviction this crime germinated inside the Everay domain, probably within this very tower, possibly close to the child."
"Substantially my own assessment. Shubam. I see you have returned. Have you extended the invitations?"
Yes, master."
"And the airmen?"
"They have been alerted; His Lordship expects to launch a spontaneous picnic foray."
"Excellent. You outdo yourself in these times of crisis, Shubam. We shall have to reward you by adding to your duties."
"My gratitude knows no bounds, master."
Shredlu could only suspect that Shubam was being less than honest. "Come, then. Let us be off.... Shubam. You did send to the kitchen for appropriate provisions?"
"I did, master."
Yarramal asked, "We are going out to the Miasmatics?"
"It will make a wonderful afternoon excursion."
"It occurs to me that your plan puts all the domain's Magicians in the same place at the same time."
"It does indeed. And one of us may be the villain of the piece. The blackguard may be hoping for this eventuality. A grave risk. Which of usn should remain behind?" Shredlu chuckled. There was a dirth of volunteers, it being evident that suspicion would surround whoever held back.
It would be an interesting journey as each prepared for the worst while pretending to share a social jaunt. "I think we need not take our apprentices. Come. Time flees." He strode forth, snatching his cloak and staff from Shubam as he passed. He offered the apprentice q sharp look. Winter would be his responsibility in his master's absence. Winter would be a test.
8
The airmen had brought the sky yacht Vangier, there would be no sneaking into the Dustrake Reach. In any event, it would have to do. There was no time to cover its gaudy paintwork. Lesser craft could not transport the entire party. Nor could he keep an eye on everyone if they scattered amongst several smaller vessels. And it was a picnic, after all.
The picnickers assembled upon the airmen's promenade, eighty levels up Everay Prime. Rolo Kintrude and Aleas Dubbing stood together, conversing in low tones. Tuft Yarramal stood apart, introspective, as was her wont. Lord Everay Sloot stood between his mother, Everay Non Ethan, and grandmother, Everay Tak Arone. In the cruel light of afternoon it was difficult to distinguish which woman was the younger. They did not chat. The Everays had little to say to one another, ever.
The airmen cursed one another as they wrestled Vangier into position for boarding. A breeze made the ship difficult to manage. Nevertheless, they performed their task and the picnickers boarded without a festive face among them. Senior Airman Mug Rusale barely waited 'till the boarding steps cleared. Vangier sprang upward; grey towers began to slide away underneath. Mists and smoke concealed the streets way down below.
It was an hour's flight to the Lesser Miasmatics. The picnickers remained disposed as before, a group of three, a pair, two alone. Only Kintrude and Dubbing ad a word to share and that quite seldom, no one attempted to probe Shredlu's intentions. Questions might bestir presumptions of guilt.
Xyzzyx and his family had been of incomplete assistance in determining the identity of the person responsible for the attack on Winter. Reason and information gathered argued that the villain had to be aboard the sky yacht. Shredlu was inclined to suspect Tuft Yarramal but could not fathom a motive.
As the yacht approached the Miasmatics, the sky outside filled with bizarre creatures more colorful than the airboat itself. The largest of these was an orange-bellied, blue-backed pseudopteronodon with a wicked and intelligent eye. "Hemmaus?" Yarramal asked from behind Shredlu. "It fits the deamon's description."
"Hemmaus," Shredlu agreed. "We have done business before. A dangerous entity, Hemmaus. Intelligent, unpredictable and occasionally treacherous. In no sense should you ever show him your back. But he is a powerful ally when it suits his humor."
A score of Hemmaus' lesser cousins larked around like flickering confetti.
The sky yacht descended. Mug Rusale regaled himself with imprecations, critiquing his own performance. The swamp began to impinge upon more than the eye; its odor, then sound, penetrated the cabin of the airship. The odor alone sufficed to convince even the slowest wit that the wetlands were appropriately named.
Shredlu directed Mug Rusale to a particular stretch of Dustrake Reach. Several thousand acres of vegetation were of a uniform green so dark it verged upon the black. That sprawl consisted of a single million-trunked nedereyya tree harboring an ecology all its own.
Rusale excoriated the yacht for its sudden inclination to proceeded in a nose-down attitude.
Dubbing and Kintrude had come forward. Dubbing asked, The tackoo is hiding in the canopy there?"
"So my sources indicate. What of yours?"
Both Master Magicians nodded. Shredlu examined them closely. Neither seemed distressed by the swiftness with which the hunt was closing in on Winter's tormentor, not that either would have given himself away easily. Each was a master.
Mug Rusale found a bit of solid ground convenient to the vast tree, brought Vangier to earth.
Shredlu attended to his host's duties immediately. With the aid of Mug Resale he set up tables and chairs, put out insect repellers on poles at a distance of fifteen feet. There were no protests and no urgings to get on with it. Great stakes were on the board; caution was indicated. Yarramal and Rusale brought out the picnic baskets. Shredlu served a rare wine from his own stock..Lord Everay commented favorably, the first he had spoken since boarding Vangier.
Shredlu cast the occasional glance toward the nedereyya, at hemmaus wheeling high above. Unless he had been anticipated, something would happen soon.
Shadows were long and purple when the swamp suddenly grew raucous with the approach of Hemmaus' smallest cousins. Their reptilian barks and hisses and squalls swept back and forth behind concealing foliage. Shredlu was pleased. Lord Everay's patience had grown lean. Much longer and he would have demanded an end to the outing.
A black butterfly silhouette sprang up against the rosy lilac sky, fluttering in panic. Hemmaus' cousins darted around it. It shifted directions with greater facility than its tormentors, but they had numbers. Where one was outmaneuvered, another flashed in.
With a line of sight established, Shredlu could now bend his own will upon the tackoo. He drew it in, struggling like a fish reluctant to leap into the pan. Shredlu brought it to a perch upon one of the picnic tables. It quivered in terror, surrounded by Real Men. Above Hemmaus' cousins hastened toward their aeries. Night was falling. Darkness would summon forth creatures less condign than they.