"Good," Sariana murmured. "In some ways you're a lot smarter than a human. You know how to tell the real from the false, don't you?"
Lucky tasted Sariana's thumb with a tiny forked tongue. She placed the little lizard down on the mirrored floor and settled the edge of her cloak over it.
"I want you to stay right here, Lucky. Don't move. Do you understand?" Sariana swallowed a groan. "Of course you don't understand. How could you? But you're accustomed to my cloak so you shouldn't mind spending a few minutes under it."
The lizard moved its head back and forth a few times and hissed questioningly as the edge of the cloak was draped over it, but it stayed put, as if it understood.
"Good Lucky," Sariana murmured as she edged to the far side of the room. She stretched out the fabric of the cloak, keeping a grasp on one comer but leaving the opposite end over the scarlet-toe. She had barely positioned herself when she heard the excited voices of the boys.
"I'll bet she went this way. Come on, hurry. This is going to be fun."
There was another burst of nervous laughter and then a thousand teenage males filled the corridor that led into the distortion chamber. Sariana could see three distinct versions of the countless images. Three young toughs reflected into an army. They raced toward the room in which she crouched.
All three charged gleefully through the doorway. It was a tight fit.
Sariana yanked the cloak off of the scarlet-toe. The little lizard raised its head to see what all the commotion was about and then it opened its tiny mouth.
There were loud screams from the doorway as the young toughs confronted a giant image of Lucky Break. Sariana had a good idea of what the boys were seeing. The small, needle-sharp teeth of the lizard probably appeared as long as a man's arm under the effects of the distorting mirrors. The mouth was big enough to swallow that same man. Giant claws and a nasty, whipping tail would complete the image. And the shock of it all would be reinforced by huge crimson eyes.
The entire production was sufficient to send three already nervous and overly excited boys into a wild stampede back down the mirrored hall.
Sariana didn't hesitate. Given a few minutes to reconsider, all three were likely to come to the conclusion that they'd been had. She didn't want to be trapped in the mirrored room when that happened. Sariana scooped up Lucky and her cloak and headed down the same mirrored corridor the boys had just used. She could hear their boots on the floor as they raced for an exit.
"They seem to know their way out of here," Sariana told the scarlet-toe. "We'll try to follow them." Some of the crazy landscape was slightly familiar, she realized as she started to retrace her steps. She recognized certain distortions and optical effects that she had seen when she had been trying to flee from the boys.
Sariana was several meters down the corridor, feeling her way carefully so as not to run headlong into a sheet of mirrored glass, when she heard a new chorus of frightened teenage yells.
Wondering what had further alarmed her would-be stalkers, she slowed her pace and nearly stumbled over three huddled, jabbering youths as she rounded a mirrored curve and emerged into a large hall of brilliant lights and endless reflections.
It was easy to see what had reduced the teens to a state of abject terror. Under the circumstances, this set of images was probably even more intimidating than the giant version of Lucky.
The boys were confronting a thousand Shields, all of them ready for battle and all of them coldly, grimly angry.
Sariana took one look at the cascading images and nearly shouted her relief.
" Gryph."
Gryph had arrived at Delek's home on the outskirts of Little Chance soon after leaving the windrigger. He knew the way because he had visited the older man several times in the past. Delek was one of the men who had trained Gryph in the ways of prisma as well as the arts of bandit hunting. At the time Delek had lived in the same small frontier town as Gryph's family and had been married to a Shieldmate named Penela. There had been no sons.
Gryph had been young when Penela had died and remembered her only vaguely. What he did recall quite vividly was Delek's quiet acceptance of his wife's death. It had surprised Gryph at the time. He had assumed that the loss of a Shieldmate would be a devastating experience, especially when there had been no sons.
He had been as startled as everyone else when Delek, still a man in his prime, had made no effort to find another Shieldmate. Instead he had moved to Little Chance and found Alana, the daughter of a small textile design clan. There had been no marriage. Alana could not be accepted as a Shieldmate, and Delek was too proud to give up his own heritage in exchange for adoption into his lady's clan. The two had been living together so long that everyone had quietly accepted the situation.
Delek received his unexpected guest in a garden that was in full bloom. Gryph admired it as he sank
into a carved wooden chair.
"It looks as though your hobby has turned into a full-time job, Delek."
The older man grinned in satisfaction and put aside the cane he used. "I keep busy. And I keep food on the table."
Gryph arched a brow. "Is there money in gardening?"
"Theoretically no, not unless you're a member of a horticulture clan," Delek admitted. "You know that as well as I do. But I've been doing some deals on the side with the Westelyn Clan. They grow flowers for the wholesale market, They've been paying good prices for some of my hybrid seeds. Between that and what Alana earns with her weaving designs we do all right. Fortunately. Since I took that bandit's blade in my knee two years ago, I haven't been fit for hunting or anything else. Amazing how hard it is to get along with a bad knee."
Alana emerged from the house, a good-looking, middle-aged woman with a stately carriage and soft eyes. She was carrying a tray of ale and crackers. "If I have anything to say about it, Delek won't ever accept another mercenary job or go back to fighting frontier bandits. I much prefer him working with flowers. This way the only thing I have to worry about is having him get stuck with a thorn or two."
Gryph smiled at her as he accepted the ale. "I can see there are some definite benefits to gardening." Alana set the tray down, casting a shrewd glance at Gryph. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I get the
feeling this is not a routine visit to an old friend."
Gryph shrugged, unwilling to be rude, but anxious to get on with what he had come for. "I came to ask Delek's advice about certain matters."
"Ah, Shield business," Alana said knowingly. "I will leave you two to discuss it in private."