Oberon's Dreams - By Aaron Pogue Page 0,77
see you. Just…take care. And do come quickly once you have the sword.”
“Of course! Of course!” the gentleman stammered. “Thank you, Corin Hugh. You have a noble heart.”
Corin couldn’t answer that. He left Kellen’s fate to fortune and the dwarves, and went off in search of Ogden Strunk. He found him not ten paces off, pretending not to listen. Corin forced a grin. “Avery is staying. I go to see the king. Can you find someone—”
“Aye. And someone’s me. You seem to be a man worth talking to, and there’ll be time while we walk.”
Corin watched while Ogden bustled over to his fellow dwarves. The chieftain spoke with them a while, then came back with a bundle tucked beneath his arm. He said nothing of it, merely headed off into the cavern’s depths, but the pirate’s curiosity wouldn’t stand for that. Ten paces in, Corin asked, “What’s in the rags?”
“A gift to make amends,” Ogden said. “You could call it a reward.”
They walked in silence for a while, the dwarf offering nothing more. Corin grunted. “I hope it’s something edible. I’m half-starved.”
Ogden didn’t laugh. “You’re talking to the wrong folks for that.”
“Oh. Aye. I suppose I am.” Corin licked his lips. “I’m sorry. I can speak to Oberon about that, too.”
Ogden cocked his head. “Can you really? Are you such good friends as that?”
“I can’t make any promises, but the king owes me a favor.” Corin looked back over his shoulder, toward the injured yeoman and the gentleman thief sitting anxious by his side. “The king owes a lot of favors.”
The chieftain snorted his agreement, but he said no more. For some time they walked beneath the city’s streets, until they left the sounds of voices and the workers’ lights all far behind. Ogden’s lantern was their only light, an eldritch thing that glowed without a flame.
While they walked, Corin made his plans. He would carry a warning to the king and beg transportation back to his own time and place. If the sword was really needed for that magic, Avery would bring it soon enough. But Corin suspected it was no such thing. Oberon had used him as a pawn against the lord protector. He had sent the four of them to find a lord of war.
Corin frowned. The four of them. Avery, his lifelong hero. Maurelle, the sister of his hero, whom Corin had chanced upon within a crowded plaza. The coward Kellen, an enemy of the House of Violets and yet a noble man, and one they’d needed to confront Lord Ephitel. There was too much of chance in all of that. If he considered this a plot, just how far did it reach?
Ogden interrupted his musing, though he never looked Corin’s way. “What can you tell me of Benjamin?”
“What?” Corin asked, caught off guard. “Ben—”
“My son.” Ogden kicked a stone, which skittered off with a hollow rattle that hung in the still air. The chieftain cleared his throat. “You said before that you knew my son. You come here from another time. What can you tell me of my son?”
Corin had no wish for small talk. Enormous things weighed on his mind, and this idle question only made it worse. What chance was it that he had stumbled across Ben Strunk’s father? But Ogden was yet an uneasy ally, and such things needed care. The pirate licked his lips. “I don’t…the druids said it isn’t wise—”
“Friya take the druids. I care little for their games. Just tell me what you know about my boy.”
“Ben Strunk. In my time, he is…an honest man,” Corin said, fabricating wildly. “Rich in valor. Honored for his handiwork. Everyone in Aepoli knows his name.” That much, at least, was true.
The chieftain wrinkled his nose. “A city dweller, then? Ah, I suppose it’s not so bad if he’s found fame.”
Infamy, more like, the pirate thought, though he kept that to himself. He’d never known a dwarf more desperate for drink or worse at playing cards. Between the two, he was a useful man to know. But Corin wanted done with this discussion, and a generous fiction would serve them both. “I rarely go a week without paying him a visit,” Corin said. “And I always regret it when I do.”
The chieftain took the lies with all the naive pride of a new parent. “It warms my heart. It’s good to know he has a future, despite the things I’ve done.”
That struck a spark of guilt in Corin’s breast, and he could find