Page 47 of Leviathan's Song
Now, as she dropped me off at the rail into Upper Golden Laurel, where I was supposed to meet Levi, I felt incredibly guilty about how visibly tired she was.
“Promise me you’ll sleep this week and only do the absolute minimum at the shop,” I said as we entered the station.
“I’ll sleep,” she said, “but I’m also gonna do some scouting to figure out where those guys are working out of and what can be done about them.”
We met Levi inside the station, and Sidney seemed edgy about leaving me with him. He shouldered his pack easily, while I’d brought a pack and a duffel that probably weighed as much as me. He laughed when he realized both bags we carried were mine.
“Give me that,” he said, taking the duffle Sidney carried and setting the strap on his shoulder.
She squished me against her again, extracting a promise from Levi that he’d keep me safe before leaving. I thought I’d done pretty well with the wasps, if I said so myself, but I didn’t ever want to be in that position again if I could help it.
“Did you pack your whole house?” Levi teased, balancing the bag Sidney had given him.
“Supplies,” I said, rifling through my pockets. “I probably should have hired a porter,” I muttered.
“No need, I’ve got it,” he said with a small grin, watching me dig in my coat with curious eyes. He still seemed wary, but relieved to be getting started on our trip.
Found it!I pulled a small glass vial from among the assorted stones and amulets that usually made a home in my pocket, and presented it to Levi. “A gift.”
He reached out and plucked it from my fingers. “What’s this?” he asked, studying the iridescent, mauve-toned liquid inside.
“It’s for your cheek.” My neighbor, Bette, had stopped by last night after Sidney and I arrived to let me know she’d finally made some small progress on the bond-breaking potion I’d asked her to create for Levi’s father. She was more confident it was going to be possible to make but ended up needing some drahk up front to secure some rare ingredients.
She smelled faintly of burnt hair and cinnamon, but I wasn’t sure if it was related to the potion or not, so I didn’t ask. While we were negotiating a final (and very high) price for the new potion, I’d arranged for the purchase of some healing draughts for the trip and a balm for his bruise. All the purchases together had been costly enough that I would be feeling the pinch for a while.
Healing draughts, in general, tended to be expensive because they had a very short shelf-life and very few alchemists or apothecaries had what it took to get them right. Most people didn’t trust them because the majority of the ones in the markets were forgeries or expired products. Bette didn’t personally make these, but she had a contact who did, and I trusted her to supply me properly.
Levi pulled the stopper on the bottle and gave it a hesitant sniff. “Is this going to turn me into a frog?”
“I thought you said you didn’t have an aquatic form,” I said with a smile. “No, it’s not—Wait, stop.” I snatched it from him as he raised it to his mouth and poured some into his palm. “You don’t drink it. It’s a balm. Rub it into your bruise, you goof.”
“How am I supposed to know? Aren’t these things usually expensive?” he asked, wrinkling his nose slightly at the smell. It just smelled slightly warm and nutty to me.
“Usually, yes.” This one wasn’t an exception, but he didn’t need to know that. “I can get them from my neighbor sometimes when she has them in stock.” I hefted my pack higher onto my shoulders while he cautiously raised his hand to his face and rubbed the liquid in.
I had to roll my eyes. “It’s safe. I promise.” People were so dramatic about medicine sometimes. Our train rolled in, so I followed him on and settled in for the short stretch to my parent’s side of town. By the time we arrived, his bruise was a mere shadow of what it had been. Probably felt a lot better too.
My mother had arranged for her porter to meet us at the station, only instead of being a hired hand like most people used, this one was a small, personal golem. By small, I meant that he was just shorter than me, though still rather wide. He was made of stone and had no head, but rather, a crescent-shaped carving where a man’s shoulders might be and a larger than necessary heartstone that levitated in the middle.
“Hello Ryo,” I greeted the stone sculpture as I approached it, for no other reason than it made me happy. I pressed some of my magic into his heartstone and felt my father’s familiar magic answer mine.
“Is it a person?” Levi asked as I took my duffle bag from him and slung the strap over one of the points of the crescent moon shape in Ryo’s “shoulders”.
I blinked at him, confused by his question.
“Does it think?” he tried again.
“Oh. No. He’s just a construct. My father made him and named him. He’s kind of our butler.” I’d said ‘kind of’ because he had many uses throughout our home. His heartstone was large enough to power not only him but many other things as well, so he lent his magic to other purposes as needed throughout the day.
Levi’s eyes were narrowed in suspicion at my father’s creation, but he raised his hand as if to touch the heartstone suspended in the crescent.
“Don’t touch that,” I warned, grabbing his hand and pulling it back.
“Why?”
“He will defend himself.” I led the way to the street where our transportation would be waiting.
Chapter 18
