Page 49 of The Last Slayer
We left the hall together. I could hear the dragons rising politely from their tables behind me. It was positively Victorian. When we were in my room, I went to the desk and scribbled a short message for Jack.
Valerie’s been poisoned. I will find an antidote and bring her home.
Short and stark, but that was how Jack liked things. I hadn’t been able to tell him on the phone, partly because I was afraid of what he might’ve said, especially after his strange comment about ripples. You never knew what was going to come out when he got all divinerish. Last time it happened things didn’t go so well, mostly because I couldn’t get his Delphic remarks out of my head. Any time a job was involved it was usually better when I just did what I needed to do, even if some part of me longed for a guarantee. I signed my name and handed the note to Toshi. “Can you send this to Valerie’s father?”
“Yes, milady.”
I noticed he didn’t ask me for Jack’s address or anything…which was interesting. Maybe Ramiel and his dragons were watching Jack because of me. I filed that away in my mind, but there was something else I wanted to know.
“What did Ramiel say to the wind?”
Toshi’s tiny eyes nictitated for an instant. “I…I beg your pardon, milady?”
“Ramiel spoke in a dialect I don’t know.”
“Er…he said something about not failing again.”
Hmmm. “Failing at what?”
Toshi bared his teeth in a wide grin that didn’t fully hide his nervousness. “Forgive me, milady. I’m just a lowly servant and wouldn’t know such things.”
Yeah right. I bet it had something to do with the “vow” Ramiel had supposedly made, and it was getting really annoying that nobody wanted to tell me exactly what this stupid vow was, because obviously it entitled him to order me around. And I knew Toshi would never tell me even if I squeezed all the breath out of him. Damn it. So I asked about something else I wanted to know. “That wind wasn’t natural.”
“You’re correct, milady,” he said, displaying much more eagerness for this new topic. “That was Supäi of the North, hailing from Windgar, Lord Nathanael’s dragonhold. Lord Ramiel was upset because the guards weren’t supposed to let her through.”
I didn’t know much about the Four Winds except that they’d betrayed the slayers. But why would Nathanael send something that couldn’t even scratch me? Surely his plan hadn’t been to freeze me to death.
Then I remembered something I’d read. “The Four Winds can drive one mad with their moaning.” I almost laughed. If Nathanael had wanted to drive me crazy, he shouldn’t have bothered. Ramiel was doing a fine job all on his own.
“Yes, milady, but this isn’t their hold so they must leave if Lord Ramiel insists upon it.”
“So what was he saying to Supäi?”
“Uh…” Toshi shook his scales out. “He ordered her to leave.”
“You’re a terrible liar.”
“Milady!”
Fine. I changed the subject. “Why does Nathanael want to kill me?”
“Did Lord Ramiel not inform you already…?”
“I want to hear it from you. Is it the Advisors’ words and nothing more?”
“Well…you’re half-slayer.” Toshi frowned. “I don’t think there ever has been a half-slayer dragonlady.” He scrunched up his face. “I don’t mean to offend, milady, but I’m not overly fond of slayers.”
I smiled. It would be ludicrous to expect Toshi to like them. Slayers and dragons had been mortal enemies forever. “Do you know anything about…my mother?”
“She was a slayer and a Harmonia Singer at Windgar. But I don’t know much beyond that.” His voice dropped. “History and current affairs are my two worst subjects.”
Oh, I doubted that. “What’s a Harmonia Singer?”
“An honored position only a few have held. Have you ever heard the howling of the Four Winds?”
“No.”
He shuddered. “You’re very lucky, milady. As the old books say, it will drive you mad. The Dragonlords of Windgar have employed singers with the finest voices to drown out the noise. But of course no one can do so forever. The Four Winds have always menaced Windgar, over some ancient g
