Tymora's Luck Read online

  Emilo tilted his head back and looked straight up. “It’s good to see the stars again,” the kender said, “even if I don’t recognize any of them.”

  “Yes,” Jas agreed. Suddenly she laughed and launched herself into the air.

  Joel looked up at the sparkling lights in the black sky. Their pattern was completely unfamiliar, but they were lovely to look at. As he watched, a few of them shot across the sky and vanished. The moon was only a sliver, but bright and silvery as an elven blade.

  Jas soared out over the river and arched back. In the peaceful stillness, the bard and the kender watched the winged woman in companionable silence. Jas landed beside them.

  “Sorry about that. I just suddenly had to fly. I don’t know what came over me.”

  “Perhaps it was simply the beauty of the place,” Emilo suggested.

  Jas looked around and shrugged. “Maybe,” she said. She changed the subject, as she often did, to avoid discussing her feelings. “So. Where’s Finder?” she asked Joel.

  “His realm is between here and the town of Brightwater.”

  “I thought you said the portal led to his realm,” Jas said.

  “Well, near his realm,” Joel said. “It’s a nice evening for walking. We should be there before the moon sets.”

  “We’d better be,” Jas said. “We don’t have Holly with us anymore to help us live off the land.”

  “I’m good at that,” Emilo said. “I can bring down a bird with a stone. Once I brought down two birds with one stone. And I can fish. I love to fish. And I can trap rabbits. That’s almost too easy. If you want to know what berries are good to eat, you can’t always rely on the birds because birds can eat poisonous berries, but people can usually eat what the bears eat. Bears also know how to dig for roots. If you’re not sure about eating something, you should find a bear. But be sure the bear doesn’t find you.”

  Jas laughed. “Well, we’re lucky to have your wisdom because Joel and I are both city folk and haven’t a clue about trapping or what berries are safe to eat. And I certainly don’t want to find any bears.”

  “I can create food with a spell,” Joel reminded her.

  “Bread. You can create bread with a spell,” Jas corrected.

  “It’s good bread,” Joel countered.

  “When you can create stew and custard and berry pie, then you’ll be creating food,” Jas retorted.

  Joel harrumphed.

  “I like bread,” Emilo said. “Especially herb bread. Though I’m also very fond of sweet rolls with raisins. Herb bread is good with little bits of cheese baked into it. Though not necessarily with stew. With stew, you want a plain bread you can use to sop up the gravy. One with a lot of bite to the crust, but soft inside. Of course, berry pie is always good. I know some people who won’t eat raspberries because of the little seeds, but that’s as silly as not eating fish because of the bones. The really good foods always have little annoying things like seeds and bones. Like life, I guess. Of course, bread doesn’t have seeds or bones. But I do like bread.”

  “Well, it won’t really matter if we reach Finder’s for breakfast,” Jas said. “Which way?”

  “There should be a road leading from the Gilded Hall to the town of Brightwater. There’s a path that heads away from the road that leads to Fermata.”

  “Fermata?” Jas asked.

  “That’s the name of Finder’s realm,” Joel said. “It’s a musical term for a hold over a note or a rest.”

  “So which is it?” Jas asked. “A hold over a note or a rest?”

  “Well, either one … both, really,” Joel explained. “Finder’s life and his music are sustained in his realm, and it’s also a place where he can rest.”

  “There’s a road leading off in that direction,” Jas said, pointing along the ridge above the river valley. “I saw it from the air.”

  They made their way along the ridge until they reached a hard-packed dirt road. In one direction, it wound down into the valley to a bridge supported by seven graceful stone arches, then wound back up the valley toward the Gilded Hall. In the opposite direction, it led along the ridgeline into a dark forest.

  “How about a light?” Emilo asked.

  “I don’t have the power to cast another one tonight,” Joel said.

  “Not to worry,” the kender said. He pulled a small torch from his backpack and flint and steel from one of the pockets of his vest. With expert ease, he lit the torch from sparks in a matter of moments. Jas applauded his skill. Emilo bowed and handed the torch to the winged woman.

  They plunged into the forest, moving at a quick pace down the road. The ground was dry, but not dusty. The canopy of leaves overhead blocked their view of the stars and moon, but the forest itself twinkled with fireflies.

  They’d traveled for some time when Emilo reported he heard someone coming toward them from up ahead. A few minutes later, they saw lights and heard shouts and laughter. Despite Joel’s protests that there could be no harm in greeting the natives, Jas was loath to encounter strangers. She insisted they put out their torch in the dirt and take cover. Once Emilo smothered the torch in the dirt, Jas flew the kender and the bard to a branch high overhead, then settled beside them.

  The strangers, dozens of them, moved as one, not like a troop of soldiers but more like a mob of revelers. Occasionally one stumbled but was kept from falling by a companion. There were both men and women in the group, all shabbily dressed and dirty. They passed about wineskins from which they drank as if they were dying of thirst. Arguments broke out whenever one failed to pass a wineskin quickly enough to suit his or her companions. One of the women carried an enormous rat in her arms, which she stroked as if it were a pet cat. As the mob passed below the trees where Joel, Jas, and Emilo hid, the stench of wine and unwashed human bodies assaulted the adventurers’ noses.

  When the last of the strangers’ torches had disappeared behind a bend in the road, Jas turned to Joel. “Not the sort of natives we really needed to greet, were they?” she asked with an air of the worldly wise.

  “I take my hat off to your superior distrust,” Joel replied.

  Jas harrumphed. When they’d relit their torch and were once again safely on the ground, they continued through the forest more warily. Emilo traveled in the front since he had the best hearing of the three.

  By the time they finally came out of the forest, the moon had set. Some distance ahead of them, the sky was noticeably lighter, as if from a well-lit city. The road now passed through meadows and fields planted with grain and grapes.

  The road led through a grove of ancient oaks, and Jas tripped over a huge tree root.

  “That’s it,” the winged woman said. “Time to make camp.”

  “But it can’t be far now,” Joel protested.

  “Joel, I’m dead on my feet, and I’m willing to bet you’ve been overly optimistic about the distance we have to travel. Besides, in the dark we might miss the path to Fermata. I think we should rest here until dawn.”

  “I think she’s right,” Emilo said. “I’m beginning to feel stretched a bit thin.”

  Joel sighed. He was eager to see Finder again and excited about the prospect of visiting Fermata, but he knew Jas and the kender were right. It was too late to continue. He nodded in agreement.

  Nestled between the roots of the largest oak tree in the grove and wrapped in their capes, Jas and Emilo were soon asleep. Joel, less tired than the others, sat up and kept watch. A trio of raccoons, a mother and her young, trundled past and climbed into their lair in a hole in a nearby tree, but otherwise the grove was peaceful save for Emilo’s soft snoring.

  As the sky began to lighten, Joel softly hummed a song to greet the dawn. Songbirds began to stir and chirp in the trees. Teasingly Joel began whistling back replies. He felt a gentle hand touch his shoulder.

  “Good morning,” he said, turning about, expecting to see Jas.

  The hand did not belong to Jas, however, but to another woman. An elf maiden was Joel’s fi
rst guess, until he saw that her curly hair was as deep green as the leaves on the oak trees that surrounded them. Still, she was very, very lovely, slender and graceful, with dark amber-colored eyes and skin as smooth as satin. She wore a gown pieced together of light, shimmering bits of fabric in a variety of colors, but mostly green, gray, brown, and pink.

  “Greetings,” the woman said in Elvish. Her voice was soft and deep, but there was a slight hint of disapproval in her tone.

  “Soft light, sweet lady,” Joel replied in the same tongue.

  The woman drew back a step and giggled.

  Joel stood and bowed. “My name is Joel. These are my companions, Jas and Emilo. If you make your home here, lady, please forgive our intrusion,” he said. His words came slowly, since he was taxing his knowledge of the elves’ language to its limit.

  “I am Ada,” the woman said. “Your Elvish is not very good,” she chided.

  “I have very little practice,” Joel admitted. “But so sweet a voice as yours could teach me well.”

  Ada giggled again, lowering her eyes to the compliment. Then she slipped behind the tree and disappeared from view.

  Joel circled about the tree, but the woman had vanished.

  “Ada?” Joel called softly.

  Jas moaned and rolled over in her sleep. Emilo snored on.

  Something tugged away the strip of leather that held back his hair. The bard spun about. Ada stood behind him, appearing as if out of nowhere. Joel grinned. “How did you do that?” he asked.

  Ada stepped closer to the bard. A sweet scent rose from her skin. She stroked Joel’s long hair and smiled with pleasure.

  Without thinking, Joel reached out and ran his hand through the green curls that crowned Ada’s head. They were soft and warm.

  Ada brushed her lips against the bard’s, then quickly drew back. Giggling, she disappeared behind the tree again.

  “Ada, come back,” the bard called softly, circling the tree once more.

  Ada appeared suddenly before him and wrapped her arms about his neck. Joel embraced her about the waist. As if in a dream, he felt no embarrassment whatsoever about kissing this perfect stranger. Her mouth was as sweet as her laughter, and her caresses made his heart pound. Joel couldn’t understand why he should suddenly feel so enamored of this woman, unless he was indeed dreaming.

  That was it, he decided. He was more tired than he thought, and he’d fallen asleep. He really should stir himself awake, he thought, but he had no desire to do so.

  From the edge of the grove, a familiar voice called out in Elvish, “Hold, sprite! Release him.”

  Ada and Joel turned to the speaker. Finder stepped into the grove. The god wore the form he had possessed when he’d been mortal, that of an older man, but one still in his prime. His bearing was strong and regal, and his dark brown hair and beard held only the slightest streaks of gray. Joel found himself unable to speak but wishing he could tell his god that he didn’t wish for Ada to release him, ever.

  “I’m sorry, Ada,” Finder said, “but you cannot keep him. He is mine, and I have far more important things for him to do than fetch you honeycombs and weave clover crowns for your hair.”

  “You should have to ransom one so fair and sweet,” Ada said, tossing her head saucily.

  Finder held out his hand. In his palm rested a large golden acorn carved from an amber so dark it seemed to have blood mixed into it. “To match your eyes,” the god said.

  Ada kissed Joel once more on the lips and stroked his stubbly cheek. Then she ran to Finder’s side and snatched the acorn gem from his hand. With a laugh as thick as honey, she ran back toward the largest oak and disappeared like a ghost into the tree’s trunk.

  Finder moved toward Joel and set his right hand on the bard’s chest, just over his heart.

  Joel felt a sudden shock, as if someone had splashed cold water on him. Although the attraction to Ada remained, the enchantment he’d felt for her dissolved. “Finder,” he gasped. He bowed formally, embarrassed at his behavior.

  Finder chuckled. “Somehow I suspect that was the first dryad you’ve ever met.”

  “A dryad? That’s some sort of tree sprite, right?” Joel asked.

  The god nodded. “In my youth, you could always find a tree sprite in the Realms if you knew where to look … and were fool enough to do so. These days they are far more rare in the Realms. The ladies of the oaks wield one of the most powerful enchantments known to men. They like to use it on men they find to their liking. And here in Arborea, where passions tend to run strong, it’s even easier for their enchantments to succeed. Sorry, but I had to rescue you.”

  Joel blushed. “Thanks … I think,” he said with a sheepish grin.

  “Fermata is less than a mile off,” Finder said. “Wake your companions and bring them along. I’ll see that breakfast is waiting.” The god winked, then disappeared.

  Cautiously Joel approached the large oak.

  “La,” Ada called out from above. The dryad sat in the crook of a branch, smiling down on the bard.

  “Sorry, but I have to leave,” Joel said.

  “Come back sometime,” Ada invited.

  Joel took a deep breath. The memory of her caress was like a flickering shadow in his mind. “I will,” he promised.

  Ada giggled again and disappeared, melding into the oak branch.

  Joel gave Jas and Emilo a gentle shake and called out their names. Emilo smiled cheerily upon rising. Jas was as grumpy when she awoke as Joel had always known her to be. When he told her that Finder had been there and promised them breakfast, her mood improved. Joel did not mention Ada.

  They traveled through fields of oats and wheat and meadows of grass and wildflowers. Golden-fleeced herd animals somewhat larger than sheep dotted the meadows and viewed their passing without any apparent fear. They spotted a shepherd on a hilltop playing a flute. It was a tune Joel recognized, something from the Realms, but in a strange key. Several of the herd animals flocked about the hilltop as if they were an audience to their tender’s performance.

  Cedar trees began lining the road to their left. Then, between two especially large cedars, there appeared a road paved with cut gray stone. On either side of the road stood a man-sized pillar constructed of similar stone. Both pillars were marked with two symbols, Finder’s white harp and the bird’s-eye shape of the symbol for a fermata.

  “Finally,” Jas murmured.

  They turned onto the road, which was lined on both sides with more cedar trees, forming a tunnel of green. A hundred paces beyond, the tunnel opened out onto a vast green blanket of short grass, at the end of which stood Finder’s home. Joel stopped to admire it. The other two halted behind him.

  In the nation of Cormyr, where Finder had grown up, the building would have been referred to as simply a manor house. Finder had built his new home, however, on a scale far larger than any manor house that Joel had ever seen, larger even than many castles. Two massive square towers flanked the central hall. The towers were four stories high, the hall only three, and built of the same gray stone as the road and the pillars, but the stone was merely a framework for the dozens of great glass-paned windows that sparkled in the early morning sunshine. Joel counted twelve chimneys beyond the ornate stone parapet surrounding the roof.

  “If it weren’t for the sunlight, that place would look a bit forbidding,” Emilo noted.

  “If it weren’t for the invitation to breakfast, I don’t think I’d go near it,” Jas declared. “But it does remind one of Finder, I’ve got to admit.”

  “How so?” Emilo asked.

  “It’s very showy and, as you said, a trifle forbidding.”

  “Finder’s not forbidding,” Joel argued. For his own part, he found the building much to his liking. It was grand, magnificent, inspiring. But then, that was how he felt about Finder.

  “Just what is Finder a god of?” Emilo asked in a whisper.

  “God of reckless fools,” Jas declared.

  Joel shot Jas an annoyed
glare. While Finder had at one time called himself that, it had been a joke. “Finder is the patron to all those who seek to change and transform art, to renew art. He also has some limited power over the decay and rebirth of living things.”

  “An eclectic sort of fellow,” Emilo noted.

  “Yes,” Joel agreed. It was one of the things that he admired about Finder.

  Joel strode up to the manor, with Jas and Emilo following a pace behind him. The doors to the front hall stood wide open. Joel stepped inside. The grandeur of the front hall was breathtaking. The floor was of polished marble, in hues of white, black, and gray. In the center of the room, Finder’s harp symbol was inset into the marble floor. The walls and ceiling were painted with intricate floral designs that created an illusion of movement when anyone looked at them for very long. Two huge curved staircases of marble climbed up to the next floor; pairs of closed doors on either side of the hall undoubtedly led to the rest of the manor. The only furnishings in the room were two carved marble benches.

  The bard called out, “Hello!” His words echoed throughout the building. For several moments there was no reply. Then, from somewhere behind the staircase, a young woman appeared. She wore a simple short-sleeved smock of pink covered with a thin film of white-gray dust and several black smudges. She had blue eyes and long, thick, light brown hair, which she wore pulled back in a blue ribbon. She was small and slender.

  There was something vaguely familiar about the woman, but for the life of him, Joel couldn’t recall ever having met her.

  “Welcome to Fermata,” the woman said. “I’m Rina. Lord Finder has asked me to bring you right in to the morning room.” Her voice was soft and husky.

  They followed Rina through the doors on the right. She led them through several large empty rooms until they arrived in a room with windows on three sides. Chairs and settees covered with cushioning and pale yellow fabric were grouped about the room. In its center, on a small round table covered with a quilted cloth of shades of green and yellow, someone had laid out a breakfast worthy of a king. Ham and sausages, fish and fowl, bread and muffins, strawberries and raspberries, milk and cream, butter and cheese, tea and wine, custard and pies filled the table. Three places had been set with shiny white dishes, cups, and saucers decorated with tiny blue flowers, silver tableware, linen napkins and shiny blue bowls filled with water and rose petals.