Honor Bound Read Online Free PDF Page B

when
Honor killed Muldonny. We brought her into his stronghold. I'd say
we had something to do with it."
    "I was not speaking of
Muldonny."
    Avidan pointed to the keep, and the
black banners unfurling from the observatory windows.
    Fox's shoulders slumped in defeat.
"The first man to reach the keep! He must have gotten past the
guards, finished what his clockwork assassin started."
    He fisted one hand and slammed it
against the side of the boat. "This isn't right. This isn't the way
it was supposed to happen."
    "Rebellions seldom follow straight
lines," Avidan observed. "If that is indeed what transpired
here."
    "Here it comes," muttered
Delgar.
    The alchemist held up the metal
disk. "Given the complexity of this device, it was almost certainly
built by one of your adepts. Rhendish, I would assume, since he and
Muldonny were the most skilled clockwork artisans in Sevrin.
Rhendish may be eliminating rivals under the guise of a popular
uprising. It has also occurred to me that he might have arranged
for the Thorn to be 'stolen' and sold to Muldonny, in order that
Honor might have reason to retrieve it."
    Delgar gave his oars a particularly
vicious tug. "The only way Rhendish would do that is if he had no
idea what the Thorn was. And I doubt he's that stupid."
    "I knew nothing of this dagger
before Honor asked for our assistance in retrieving it, and no man
has ever accused me of stupidity," Avidan said.
    "Just insanity."
    The alchemist shrugged, not denying
the charge but not particularly impressed by it.
    "But why did Honor kill Muldonny?"
The question burst from Fox like a cry of grief. "The man just
stood there, looking at her like she was the answer to every
question, and she stabbed him in the heart."
    "If you were in a position to see
Muldonny's face, you could not have seen Honor's," Avidan said.
"You didn't see her eyes when she killed him, or when she caught
him in her arms and lowered him to the floor. Nor when she saw the
ring Rhendish gave Muldonny the day you and I entered Muldonny's
stronghold."
    Delgar's head came up. "A ring? What
ring?"
    The alchemist's lips pursed and his
eyes grew slightly unfocused as he flipped the pages of memory. "A
smooth pink stone set in delicate silver filigree. It resembled
elfin craft closely enough to fool someone with a superficial
knowledge. A few runes had been carved into the band. That is all I
recall. I was somewhat occupied at the time, lobbing acid grenades
at clockwork warriors."
    "Globes of acid!" Vishni wriggled on
her seat like a happy child. "Wonderful! That's just what the story
needed."
    Avidan raised a forefinger, a simple
but peremptory gesture that silenced the fairy in
mid-rapture.
    "That's a good trick," Delgar
said.
    The alchemist ignored him, as well.
"Even if I'd had the leisure to reflect upon these runes, I lack
the knowledge needed to read them. But if you will loan me paper
and pen, I believe I can reproduce them."
    "Oh, that's good," Vishni breathed.
"That's definitely going into the story."
    She handed over her book and
produced a quill and ink bottle from a pocket in her cloak. Avidan
dipped the quill and formed several runes with deft, certain
strokes. He blew on the ink to dry it, then handed back the
book.
    "These are elfish runes! I know some
of them." The fairy studied the page for a long moment. "Uh-oh,"
she murmured.
    Delgar bolted to his feet. For a
moment Fox thought he meant to leap over the side of the
boat.
    The dwarf cleared his throat and sat
down. "Basic survival rule: When a fairy says 'uh-oh,'
run."
    "Good to know," Vishni said."Because
that would have been a lot more fun if I'd done it on
purpose."
    Fox snapped his fingers in front of
her face to get her attention and then tapped the runes on the
page. "What does it say?"
    " Minue took
her ."
    Vishni looked from one man to
another, her face expectant. They all shrugged. "Minue? The
dryad?"
    "Explain the significance," Avidan
said.
    "Trees are like fairy portals to
dryads. They can move