Fanuilh by Daniel Hood

Author:Daniel Hood [Hood, Daniel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, General, Fantasy
ISBN: 9780441000555
Google: gTDjAAAACAAJ
Amazon: 044100055X
Publisher: Ace
Published: 1994-05-02T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

ONCE AGAIN THE house was lit before he arrived, and the warm yellow light spilling from its windows helped him find his way down the narrow path in the moonless night. The surf was unseen but loud, crashing in the blackness like the shouting of giants. He tethered Diamond in the small shed, apologizing for the cramped quarters. He thought about bringing out a blanket to keep the chill off, but noticed that the air of the shed had already grown warmer. Tarquin planned for everything, he thought, and patted the restive horse soothingly before going back to the house.

You are home earl, Fanuilh thought at him as soon as he had closed the door. Liam bit off a retort and waited until he went into the workroom.

"Yes, I'm home early," he said pleasantly when he could see the tiny dragon's face. "I decided that even murderers must sleep, and that if they'd been avoiding me with as much energy as I've been searching for them, they must be tired."

That is not why.

"No, of course not. Why would I bother lying to you, when you can read my mind? I'm joking, though that seems to be as useless as lying, since you don't have a sense of humor."

I find different things funny.

"I'm sure you do." There was a long pause. Liam frowned, wondering what Fanuilh would find funny, and the dragon simply leveled its yellow cat's eyes at him. Dragon humor was beyond him, he finally decided, and thought back to his meal at the Uncommon Player. "Are you hungry?"

Yes.

"I'll get you something."

The dragon's head snaked in a sinuous nod, and Liam went to the kitchen and desired raw meat as hard as he could, discovering with a mixture of satisfaction and disgust that it was no longer so difficult.

Fanuilh tore into the meat with its usual gusto, and Liam watched for a few minutes before beginning to wander absently around the workroom. The empty crystal bottle still lay alone on the empty middle table. He picked it up.

'Virgin's blood.' It no longer held the same repulsion for him; it had become simply a relic, devoid of meaning, a jumble of letters that he should have been able to decipher.

He wondered why it was empty, and why the label was crossed out.

What is important about the beaker? It is empty. What can be important about—

"I don't know, but I might if you'd let me think," he said, and though he could not hear the words over the silent block of Fanuilh's thought, the dragon accepted it, and the block lifted. Liam crossed his arms and tipped· the beaker at the dragon.

"The vanishing spell does not require virgin's blood, correct? It's not mentioned in the text of the spell. But he had it out on his table, and he never left things lying around; you said so yourself. This must be important."

The number of spells that require virgin's blood is enormous. Tarquin must have over a hundred of them in his catalogues.

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