Page 60 of Tusks, Tails & Teacakes
Lira and her crew had only run into one enforcer—an old man who must have gotten the job when he was young and didn’t have the eyesight remaining to tell a mage from a monkey—and he hadn’t given Malek a second glance. Not that their crew’s spell caster had looked thepart, since he’d dressed more like a roaming ranger than Pirrin. But Malek also hadn’t carried a spell book.
As much as the lairds of the Ageless Lands had wanted to eliminate magic from their realms, the fact remained that, even without books, spells were still passed down from mage to mage. There might not be guilds, but that didn’t mean that druids didn’t still harness elemental magic from the earth and seas, or that elves were any less powerful.
Not that Lira possessed any elven magic, she thought darkly, as much as she’d wished for it over the years.
The disbanding of the guilds had been intended to stop the dark magic that had been spreading throughout the lands so many years ago, and it had worked for the most part. But magic—especially the darkest versions of it—could never be wiped out entirely. Not when it held such power and possibility.
Lira took a breath. “It was still a risk to keep the book.”
“Just because she was your gran doesn’t mean she wasn’t one bold, brash biddy.”
Lira snorted a laugh at this. “I guess more than I ever knew.”
Iris rested a hand on Lira’s arm. “She always planned to tell you about the book. Time slipped away from her, that’s all.”
Lira’s throat became unexpectedly thick.
“So, this means I can’t tell anyone about the book?”
“That’s up to you, love. I have no problem trusting your friends. If they haven’t spilled the truth about all our enchanted creatures, I doubt they would tell tales about a book.”
Lira thought about this as Iris poured her a fresh cup of tea. She wanted to tell Sass, and she would—as soon as she wrapped her head fully around everything she’d learned. Because she couldn’t tell Sass about the spell book without telling her about her gran and about Iris. How much would unravel once she tugged at that single loose thread? But as long as secrets were being unspooled, she might as well tell Iris everything.
“Then I suppose I should tell you that it’s not only the book buried behind the wall.”
Iris’s eyes widened over the rim of her teacup.
“There’s some gold,” Lira continued. “Not a lot, but some that I stashed here after a particularly successful quest. It’s what Rygor’s been smelling.”
Iris twirled a lock of hair around one finger. “So that’s why the reeve has been so sure Durn is holding out on him. You don’t want the tavernkeeper finding out you’re the reason for that.”
No, Lira didn’t.
“So, I guess we don’t ask Durn if we can knock down his wall,” she said.
“Not unless you’re ready to run again.”
Lira wasn’t. She sighed, disappointed that she was back to square one.
A tinkle of the bell over the door reminded both of them that it was a market day, which meant that there could be patrons wandering in to buy a poultice for their sore back or a tonic for their cough.
Iris poked her head between the curtains covering the door and then straightened, holding back one side of the velvet that pooled on the floor. “It’s your friend.”
Lira expected to see Sass enter the back room, but it wasn’t the dwarf.
“Cali?”
The Tabaxi grinned, her gray-striped tail twitching as she glanced at the fluttering bookwyrms. “I didn’t know you’d be here. I thought you’d be baking at the tavern.”
“Not this early.” Lira cocked her head. “So, you’re not here looking for me?”
“She’s my guest,” Iris said.
Then Lira noticed the book that Cali held in one paw.
Iris took it from her with a smile. “What did you think?”
“It was a good read, although the damsel was in a bit too much distress for me.”
