A Plague of Giants (Seven Kennings #1) - Kevin Hearne Page 0,134

had long hair coiled in snakelike ropes and queued in back with a blue band.

“Hello,” I said. “What’s all this?”

“Master Dervan,” Kindin said, eyes flicking briefly to me. “I’m sorry to wake you. Do you know this man? He claims to be your friend.”

“I’ve never seen him before.”

“I thought that might be the case. He broke in and had a knife.”

“He had?”

“It’s on the floor near the kitchen now,” the priest said. I took a few steps that way, candle held out far in front of me, and found it lying there, a nasty serrated piece. It appeared I needed a bodyguard after all.

Kindin questioned the man as to why he was really there, but he stubbornly refused to answer. In fact, he tried kicking himself free, and the priest found that amusing. He rolled off, let the man get to his feet, and stood in front of the door. I snatched up the knife to warn him against coming at me, but he didn’t care about me anymore. He just wanted to get out, and the priest was in the way. The intruder had at least a foot of height and probably thirty pounds on the Kaurian, and it didn’t look like a fair fight to me.

“No ambush this time,” he snarled. “Let’s see how you do when you’re not attacking me from behind!”

“Yes, let’s,” Kindin said, perfectly bright and pleasant, as if the intruder had suggested that they go pick wild raspberries or something else delightful instead of engaging in hand-to-hand combat. The fish head lunged at him, throwing a punch, which Kindin ducked while snatching his arm and pulling him forward to slam face-first into the door. He hammered the man’s ribs and midsection with his fists while he was stunned, and once he managed to turn around to attempt a counterattack, Kindin planted a leg and straight kicked him once in the stomach with the other, which caused a reflexive doubling over, and then recocked his leg and lashed out again, this time to the man’s jaw. Blood and teeth sprayed from his mouth, and he dropped. Kindin settled himself down on top of the man as he had before, knee in the back and arms pinned.

“A nice stretch of the legs can be invigorating,” he said in soothing tones as the man groaned. “I thought you might be laboring under the illusion you could defeat me if given a fair chance, and I hope we’ve settled that question now. But so many questions remain. And you will remain on this floor until you’ve answered them, sir.”

I fetched another couple of candles to provide some more light while the priest told the intruder he regretted the violence and pain deeply and hoped we could fetch him a hygienist soon. “And in truth, sir, you’ve done absolutely no harm to anyone tonight apart from depriving Master Dervan of some sleep. But I imagine he’ll forgive you. Won’t you, Master Dervan?”

“Already forgiven.” I pulled up a chair and eased myself onto it.

“There, you see? There’s no reason why we can’t simply let you go. But let’s talk in peace first. Are you ready to answer a few questions truthfully now?”

“Uhh,” the fish head moaned. The priest interpreted that as a yes.

“Excellent. Let’s begin with why you really came here tonight.”

“Man. Nentian man. Said he’d pay for the bard.”

“And you thought the bard was here?”

“No. This guy knows. Was going to ask him.”

I spoke up. “I don’t know where he is. Why do you think I’d know something like that?”

“Heard you work with him.” That wasn’t exactly a secret at the Wellspring, but this fellow didn’t look like he had acquaintances there.

“Who told you that?”

“Friend of mine. Elynea.”

I frowned. “Elynea is a friend of yours? What’s your name?”

He was slow to answer and Kindin did something to make him cry out. “Apologies, good sir! It pains me to trouble you when all I wish for is peace. I do wish I could apologize to you by name, however. What is your name?”

The man answered quickly now. “Garst du Wöllyr.”

My eyebrows shot up in recognition. “So you’re her employer? A furniture maker?”

“Not anymore.”

“No longer her employer or no longer making furniture?”

“She’s gone. Left a couple of days ago.”

“What?” I rose from my chair and demanded, “Where is she?”

“I don’t know, man; she didn’t leave a note.”

“Well, why did she leave?”

“Don’t know that either. Maybe if she’d left a note I’d have a clue, but like I said, she just took