carpet, he declared to himself. It costs more, but the extra comfort is
worth it.
The truth of the matter, he admitted to himself, was that he didn’t want
to make a journey like this. Not ever again. Not even the quest was worth
this misery. He would have gladly ordered the griffins to turn around and
take them home if it didn’t mean flying for hours and hours more.
A sudden move by the griffin jerked him out of his misery and sent a new
thrill of terror through him. The griffin had banked and seemed to be
losing altitude. Glandurg’s heart jumped into his throat at the thought of
going down in the ocean.
Then his dwarvishly keen nose caught a new smell mingled with the
iodine-and-salt odor of the ocean. A smell of mud and decay that was like
perfume to him. Land! There was land ahead.
Glandurg fumbled with half-numb fingers for the thong around his throat.
The talisman was glowing brightly and the arrow pointed sharp and clear
straight ahead of them.
“We have got to do something about June,” Wiz told his wife the next
morning over breakfast. “Now she’s taken to sneaking around after Duke
Aelric.”
“I know,” Moira said calmly.
“Huh?”
Moira laid down her slice of bread. “Love, not everyone is as oblivious to
what goes on around them as you are. And more importantly, Duke Aelric
knows as well.”
“He said something?”
“He is an elf. He knows.”
“Great!” Wiz sighed. “All we need to do is insult Aelric.”
“Has he told you he is insulted?”
“No, but you know how touchy he is.”
Moira reached for the jam. “Just so. If he were insulted, you would know
it. I take it he has said nothing?” She cocked her head. “No? Then it does
not concern him and should not concern you.”
Wiz grunted. “Anyway I’m going to send June back to the Capital.”
“Danny will not like that.”
“Then Danny can go back too. Dammit, she’s not supposed to be here in the
first place!”
Moira looked amused. “Perhaps not. But do you seriously think you can keep
her and Danny apart?”
Wiz considered that. “With a moat full of crocodiles, maybe.”
“I would bet on June over the crocodiles. No, love, I am not sure even
death could separate those two.”
“So I send them both back.”
“Wiz, I do not mean to tell you how to mind your business,” his wife said
in a tone indicating she was about to do exactly that, “but I think that
would be unwise for two reasons.”
Wiz started to say something, but Moira held up her hand to stop him.
“First, what can Danny accomplish back at the Capital? He needs to be with
you and Jerry to be effective, does he not?”
“Yeah, but . . .”
“And second, do you think anyone at the Capital can control him?”
Wiz thought about that. “Right. He doesn’t listen to anyone except Jerry
and me and half the time he doesn’t listen to us.” He sighed. “Okay, he
stays and that means June stays. But for Pete’s sake will you use whatever
influence you have with her to get her to lay off Aelric?”
“I have already spoken to her and I will do so again. But I fear she is
even more resistant to direction than Danny. Besides, in this case she has
a very strong motive for following Aelric.”
“Danny says it’s because she doesn’t trust him.”
“I am sure that is true. But I think there is more to it. She spies on him
because she fears him.”
“And that’s why she doesn’t trust him.”
Moira shook her head. “Again, I think that is true in part. But mostly I
think she follows him because it is a way to rise above her fear. She
somewhat controls the thing she fears, you see.”
“Not exactly, no.”
“Nevertheless it is so.”
“Sheesh! I dunno. This whole thing used to be so simple. There were good
guys and bad guys and it was easy to tell the difference. Now . . .” He
shrugged.
Moira reached out and took his hand. “You have managed well enough so