it?" he asked. "Who would have?"
While Wulfgar's look was one of confusion and curiosity, Catti-brie's expression was much more grave. For she understood the power of the sentient sword, and she knew that the person who pulled Khazid'hea free of its scabbard had gotten more than he'd bargained for.
Much more.
"We have to find it, and we have to find it quickly," she said.
* * * * *
It is not for you, came the voice in Delly's head as she moved toward the waiting ferry. All around her dwarves worked the stone, smoothing the path from the door to the river and building their defenses up on the mountain spur. Most of the human refugees were already aboard the ferry, though the dwarf pilot had made it quite clear that the raft wouldn't put out for another few minutes.
Delly didn't know how to answer that voice in her head, a voice she thought her own.
"Not for me?" she asked aloud, quietly enough to not draw too much attention. She masked the ridiculous conversation even more by turning to Colson and acting as if she was speaking to the toddler.
Are ye daft enough to think ye should go back into the mines and live yer life with the dwarfs, then? Delly asked herself.
The world is wider than Mithral Hall and the lands across the Surbrin, came an unexpected answer.
Delly moved off to the side, behind the screen of a lean-to one of the dwarves had put together for the workers to take breaks out of the cold wind. She set Colson on a chair and started to set her pack down - when she realized that the second voice wasn't coming from in her head at all, but from the pack. Gingerly, Delly unwrapped Khazid'hea and once the bare metal of the hilt was in her hand that voice rang all the more clearly.
We are not crossing the river. We go north.
"So the sword's got a mind of its own, does it?" Delly asked, seeming more amused than concerned. "Oh, but ye'll bring me a pretty bit o' coin in Silverymoon, won't ye?"
Her smile went away as her arm came out, drifting slowly and inexorably forward so that Khazid'hea's tip slid toward Colson.
Delly tried to scream, but found that she could not, found that her throat had suddenly constricted. Her horror melted almost immediately, however, and she began to see the beauty of it all. Yes, with a flick of her hand she could take the life from Colson. With a mere movement, she could play as a god might.
A wicked smile crossed Delly's face. Colson looked at her curiously, then reached up for the blade.
The girl nicked her finger on that wickedly sharp tip, and began to cry, but Delly hardly heard her.
Neither did Delly strike, though she had more than a little notion to do just that. But an image before her, the bit of Colson's bright red blood on the sword, on her sword, held her in place.
It would be so easy to kill the girl. You cannot deny me.
"Cursed blade," Delly breathed.
Speak aloud again and the girl loses her throat, the sentient sword promised. We go north.
"You - " Delly started to say, but she bit the word off in horror. You would have me try to get out of here to the north with a child in tow? she silently asked. We'd not get past the perimeter.
Leave the child.
Delly gasped.
Move! the sword demanded, and never in all her life had Delly Curtie heard such a dominating command. Rationally, she knew that she could just throw the sword to the ground and run away, and yet, she couldn't do it. She didn't know why, she just could not do it.
She found her breathing hard to come by. A multitude of pleas swirled through her thoughts, but they wound in on themselves, for she had no real answer to the commands of Khazid'hea. She was shaking her head in denial, but she was indeed stepping away from Colson.
A nearby voice broke her from her torment momentarily, and Delly surely recognized that particular wail. She spun to see Cottie Cooperson moving toward the ferry, where the pilot was barking for everyone to hurry aboard.
We cannot leave her, Delly pleaded with the sword.
Her throat... so tender... Khazid'hea teased.
They will find the child and come for us. They will know that I did not cross the Surbrin.
When no rebuttal came back at her, Delly knew she had the evil sword's attention. She