“Maybe it’s for smashing in the skull of the person who interrupts your reading.”
“What a handy tool. It’s a wonder all libraries aren’t equipped with them.”
Sylin selected a couple of books and handed one to Rylana.Ogres, Orcs, Trolls: Favorite Recipes from the Sea.
“I wonder if there’s one with recipes from the lake,” Rylanasaid. “That’s what would have more likely been sourced for ingredients around here.”
“I’ll see ifFifty Ways to Feed Your Troll Loverhas a section on freshwater fish.”
A tremor went through the building, probably the whole city, and items on shelves and in crates rattled. A faint moan came from beyond the back window.
Rylana took the tome that Sylin had given her and crawled over to unfasten the shutter and look out. The narrow alley was empty. Soft music wafted from the building on the other side, a tavern that faced the waterfront street and the docks, but she couldn’t hear any moaning mixed in with the drumbeats. From the attic perch, she could see past its roof and out to the lake. The water was still dark.
“I hope Vormalt didn’t do something to permanently get rid of the glowing fish and plankton,” she murmured. “They’ve been a part of the lake for my whole life. Supposedly, the whole time the city has been here and before. What would Luminous Lake be without its glowing water life?”
“JustLake.” Sylin flipped through pages, though she probably didn’t have any more idea what they were looking for than Rylana.
Unless they stumbled across a recipe calledOffering for the Troll Gods, how would they know if they’d found the right thing? Rylana and Jildarin were only guessing that an offering was what the gods wanted, that the proper item left on one of their pedestals would appease them.
Two hooded figures in dark clothing walked through the alley below, and Rylana leaned back from the window. Elves? They hadn’t looked up, so she didn’t know, but that captain had implied his people would keep looking for Sylin.
“You really need to get out of here,” Rylana said quietly after closing the shutter.
“Didn’t you invite me up here to help you?”
“Yeah, but I shouldn’t have. Your people are still after you.” As she opened the cookbook to peruse recipes, Rylana summed up her trip to the enclave and what she’d learned from the elder. “Oh, here’s a recipe for frying luminescent perch. You scale, clean, and fillet them in the typical manner but reserve some of the skin—that’s the luminescent part—for a butter sauce.”
“If I were a troll god, I know I would enjoy fish fried in glowing butter,” Sylin said.
“Thebutterisn’t what glows. There aren’t any luminescent cows meandering in the pastures around the lake.”
“Stir some of that glowing plankton into the butter, and it might have a sheen.”
“That does make me wonder…” Rylana opened the shutter to again look past the tavern and toward the dark lake, one of the towers of Avandar Castle visible. “If there reallywasan ancient and important troll temple on the land where my family’s estate now is, maybe it’s because the trolls valued the lake and the bounty it offered.”
“The glowing bounty?”
“Maybe. I’ve seen Jildarin pay a premium for luminescent eels. Some people say the magic in the fish out there not only makes them taste good but has health benefits.”
“I’ve seen the idols of the troll gods.” Sylin held out her arms, as if resting them on a rotund belly. “I don’t think healthy diets were of paramount importance to them.”
“They are always depicted as being on the stout side, but it’s also hard to chisel a svelte figure out of stone without cracking your medium.”
Rylana’s instincts twanged, and she leaned back to the window to peer out. Someone new was walking through the alley and looking toward the back of the coffee shop next door. This person wasn’t cloaked, and there was enough moonlight for her to make out short pale hair. No,silverhair and pointed ears. When themale elf tilted his face up to look toward the rooftop of the coffee shop, Rylana sucked in a breath. It was the captain from the enclave. Tassani.
Even though Sylin was flipping pages and not talking, Rylana waved for her to be quiet. She started to close the shutter, but her movement must have drawn the captain’s attention. He turned his head and looked straight at her.
Aware of Sylin not ten feet away, Rylana froze, and her heart hammered against her ribcage. What if there was a squadron of elves out front, waiting for Sylin to come out?
“Sergeant Falcon,” Tassani said, proving he’d done his research on her and dug up her mercenary name and rank.
“You can call me Rylana,” she said. “The war’s over, and I’ve retired from military life.”
“To become a baker?”
“I’m researching the troll curse.”
“In the attic of a dwarf baker?”
