“Of course I marked them with a red circle and feather. A simple glance at my Wikipedia page would have told you I carry men between kingdoms.”
“The feather,” Bathin said, “represents carrying the weapons between kingdoms. From god realm to here.”
Goap inclined his head once.
“And the circle?” Bathin asked.
“One of the three primes. You should know this,” Goap said.
“I do,” Bathin rumbled. “The circle represents salt, or the body. But you didn’t use your body to deliver the weapons, did you, brother? You used someone else.”
“Wasn’t that obvious?”
“Who carried the weapons for you?” Bathin asked.
“A friend.”
“A ghoul?”
Goap hesitated, and then pressed his lips together.
I was going to take that as ayes.
“Why didn’t we see the weapons in the trunk of the car?” I asked.
“My brother’s greatest trick is making people and things invisible,” Bathin said. “He must have made the god weapons invisible for a short time.”
“My greatest trick is breaking locks and stealing from powerful beings,” Goap said.
“With the torn page of the god spell book?” I asked.
That got his attention. He turned that glass-green gaze on me. “What do you know of the god spells?”
“I know you have it. I know you must have used it to break into the gods’ realms.”
“I don’t have the page,” he said. “I didn’t need it.”
“Then how did you get into their realms?”
Bathin kicked at his leg again.
“I have seen it. Once. I committed it to memory.”
I glanced over at Bathin to see if that was true. Bathin nodded. “He’s always had a quick mind. Makes terrible decisions—”
“My decisions are flawless.”
“—but I believe he could memorize a spell with one glance.”
“Okay,” I said. “Why bring the weapons to Ordinary?”
“Did you not hear me say there is a war coming to your border?”
“I heard. Why would you give us weapons? Why would you even risk sending the god weapons here?”
He paused. “It was a favor.” He glared up at Bathin. “You’re welcome.”
“I never asked you for a favor. Nor is it like you to give one, little brother.”
