Broken Roads by Carrie Vaughn

Author:Carrie Vaughn [Vaughn, Carrie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Carrie Vaughn, LLC
Published: 2024-01-18T00:00:00+00:00

On the other side of the room, Reynard pushed back a curtain to reveal a doorway framed with more dark, heavy timbers. It led to a small, cozy parlor, with a worn rug on the floor and a couple of armchairs pulled up to a fireplace where coals were glowing. Reynard, who must have been the designated servant, added a couple of sticks and poked.

It’s strangely comforting, to think that Englishmen have been sitting in parlors like this for centuries.

It was just an upscale version of the campfire, Cormac thought. Folks had been sitting in front of fires, talking and eating, for tens of thousands of years. Even the Land Otter People had brought him to their fire. The English just made it complicated.

Teakwell gestured to one of the chairs; Cormac settled into it, and Teakwell sat in the other. Marcellus leaned against the wall by the fireplace. Cormac guessed this chair was usually his, but he didn’t seem bothered by being displaced. Sig, the burly vampire, stood planted at the doorway, hands folded. A guard. Reynard brought over mugs full of some murky drink and a platter with half a loaf of a coarse-looking, dark-colored bread and some crumbly cheese. It all looked a bit dried out, and Cormac wondered if that was normal or if Teakwell didn’t have much in the way of fine food.

Cormac studied the drink skeptically. It smelled like wine, but with a sour edge to it. Teakwell tossed back his mug, taking a long drink. Cormac sipped, winced. It was wine, but sweet and watery. Felt warm going down, though. After Teakwell tore a chunk of the loaf, Cormac did likewise. The bread would soak up the dodgy wine, if nothing else.

They were watching him, and it made him nervous. He prompted Amelia: What do you want to ask them?

I don’t want to talk to them, I want to use them.

Every now and then, this ruthless edge came out of her. This was probably why they got along so well. Nothing either one did ever really shocked the other.

“I’m not sure yet what you want,” Teakwell said. “But perhaps we can help one another.”

Cormac let Amelia carry the conversation. “Perhaps. And you want…well, based on the pages of John Dee’s book you left open, you seem to be interested in the prime question, the alchemist’s question: immortality. If I’m not mistaken, you have decided to summon some…spirit you think can help you.”

Summoned, and here Cormac was. He wondered if maybe this wasn’t a coincidence after all.

“It’s true,” Marcellus said. “Master Teakwell seeks immortality. The eternal question, as it were.”

Amelia said, “You already have the secret to that, don’t you, sir?”

Teakwell set his mug aside. “Marcellus’s kind can still perish if they are not clever enough. He said you had the means to destroy him. If I may ask, how many vampires have you slain?”

Cormac had to think about it a minute and still couldn’t answer. “I’ve lost track.”

Teakwell smiled a little. Marcellus’s eyes glimmered in the firelight.

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