"You made the choice a long time ago?"
Agad exhaled sharply. "Thousands of years ago."
"So you age slowly?"
"Almost as gradually as a dragon." He sipped from his goblet. "But we digress. I meant to talk with you about Patton."
"It sounded like you hate him."
"I must present that facade. It is true that he was unpopular among the dragons here, even before he snatched an egg. But I know the truth. The egg he took belonged to a dragon named Nafia who had fallen into a pattern of eating her young. Dragons breed infrequently, and I wanted her most recent offspring to survive. Patton smuggled the egg to a safe location. To appease the dragons, I feigned outrage, invented a ruse that Patton had perished, and pretended to inter his remains in our churchyard."
"Do you know where he hid the key?"
Agad shook his head. "He did not trust that secret even to me--although, if you dig, you will find peculiar markings on the portion of his headstone below the ground. I take it you can decipher the secret fairy language."
"Yes. Can you help us retrieve the key?"
"Sadly, I can offer almost no assistance. The dragons have no love for me. Potent magical defenses reinforced by an ancient truce protect me while I remain at Blackwell Keep. Should I stray beyond these walls, the dragons would devour me and my assistants. Same if I broke our truce by letting you lodge here longer than is allowed."
"How can you be caretaker if you never leave?"
"My assistants venture beyond these walls as my eyes and ears. Not an enviable job. And I can discern much by magical means." The wizard settled back in his chair. "I was not lying to your companions when I told them they would fail."
"We have to try," Kendra said. "Our enemies are resourceful."
"Even if you somehow manage to remove the key, can you guard it better than dragons?"
"Now that they know it's here, our enemies will find a way to get it. We have to move it."
"They have the Oculus. They'll find it again."
Kendra stared at him. "How do you know they have the Oculus?"
"I could feel when they spied here. I could not identify the watcher, but I felt the gazing. I have been studied through the Oculus before."
"Could one of your assistants help us?" Kendra tried.
"I can't risk any of my personnel assisting you. Dragons are unforgiving. Beyond this castle, you are trespassers, and I cannot let your mission upset our fragile truce. Besides, none of my aides are very trustworthy. I know some of them spy on me for certain dragons. I do not think my assistants would harm you against my orders within these walls, but I harbor doubts even about that. It takes a hard sort to survive in a place like this."
Kendra crossed her arms on the table. "Okay. When should I check out the gravestone?"
"I'll instruct Simrin to show you the churchyard. Later tonight, steal down there with a comrade or two. Try not to let my assistants see. Cover your tracks when you leave." Pushing off the armrests of his chair, the old wizard stood.
"Do not reveal my friendship with Patton to anyone, including your friends. Blame my candor on my interest in your status as fairykind. I will supply counsel to you and three companions of your choosing on the morrow. At this juncture, the best help I can offer will be advice."
"We'll appreciate anything you can do."
The wizard patted her arm. "I wish I could say I thought it would be enough."
Chapter 18 Blackwell Keep
Covering the plastic cup with his hand, Seth felt the dice tickling his palm. "Come on, sixes," he murmured, uncovering the cup and dumping five dice into the lid of the Yahtzee box.
"Three fives," Bubda announced.
"No sixes." Seth studied his score sheet. "I already have my fives. I still need four of a kind. Fives will do." He scooped up the dice and rolled a three and a four. Then he rolled a one and a six.
"No four of a kind," Bubda said. "You claiming the six?"
"I'd miss my bonus for sure. And I already used my chance slot. I better take a zero for Yahtzee."
Bubda scooped the dice into the cup and grinned as he rattled them briskly. The hermit troll had already recorded a Yahtzee this round, and had assured his upper section bonus. Boredom had driven Seth to comb through the junk in the storeroom. The Yahtzee box had an old-fashioned design, as if it came from the fifties or sixties. Some of the score cards had been used, but plenty remained blank, and there were two little golf pencils as well. Seth had started playing by himself, and the troll eventually came to watch over his shoulder. Bubda's reluctant curiosity had mushroomed into a Yahtzee marathon.
The troll tossed the dice into the box lid.
"Four ones," Seth announced. "You already have your ones. You have four of a kind,, and that would be a really low three of a kind. You can try for a full house."
Bubda shook his head and picked up a single die, leaving the four ones. "Yahtzee bonus is a hundred points."
He rolled a six. Grumbling, he snatched it up and rolled a one.
"Yahtzee!" Bubda crowed, raising both fists.
Seth could only shake his head. "You're the luckiest guy in the world." Bubda had already won nine of thirteen rounds.
Bubda capered in a circle, slapping one hip while twirling a finger over his head. Seth regretted having shown the troll that every Yahtzee deserved a victory dance.
Above and behind him, Seth heard the flap of the knapsack open. Bubda dove over to a pyramid of crates. Tucking his head and scrunching up his limbs, he suddenly looked uncannily like a wooden trunk. As feet started down the ladder, Seth backed into a corner, hoping his shade walking abilities would keep him out of sight. How had he let a game of Yahtzee become a security risk?
When the figure descending the rungs came into view, Seth breathed easier. "I'm alone," Warren called in a hushed voice. Seth liked how his questing eyes swept over him without any recognition.
"Here I am," Seth said, coming forward.
"Not bad," Warren approved. "You appeared out of nowhere."
"What's the latest?"
"Sorry I haven't been able to get down here until now. I didn't want the others to get wise to you yet." Warren glanced at the floor. "Were you playing Yahtzee?"
"I don't cope well with boredom. It's nighttime, right?"
Warren nodded. "We're inside a keep. Sort of a little castle."
"I know what a keep is."