The Emerald Dragon (The Lost Ancients Book 3) by Marie Andreas

finally stopped. Probably one of Garbage’s slaps hit with a bit too much force. The faeries were far stronger than they looked.
    Garbage looked up at me, happily licking dribbles of tea off her lips. “Is better. They okay. Tell me.”
    Harlan and Covey looked surprised at that so I gathered she hadn’t made this known earlier.
    “How did they tell you? Can you find out where they are?” I felt better that she wasn’t so upset, but I still was worried they could be in danger. The faeries were almost indestructible and sometimes they forgot they weren’t.
    “In head. High thing rustled the peoples. They dropped things. I hear them.” Her scowl came back. “They still be hidden.” She seemed satisfied and dipped herself back into the teacup.
    I looked to the other two, but they both looked as lost as me. High thing was most likely Alric; the girls had an ongoing refusal to call people by their names. “What did Alric do last night? And where is he now?”
    Harlan got up and poured me some tea. “He came back briefly about an hour ago. He said that more was going on at the cliffs than we thought, grabbed the bag he had left, and took off again.”
    “Damn it. I should have known. Whatever he took from Qianru was most likely in that bag. Plus whatever scrolls he borrowed from you.” Last night I figured I couldn’t get into the bag; this morning I was more optimistic. I wanted a crack at it. Whatever he stole he needed to return to Qianru, but not before I saw what it was and why he took it. I wouldn’t have stolen anything from her, but since the deed was already done, might as well get some answers.
    Covey finished off her coffee, then poured herself another before speaking. “I can’t say what he took from your patroness, he had a lot of things in there. It’s magically enhanced, by the way.” She waved her hand at me and I noticed two of her fingers had bandages. Obviously not only was it enhanced, that bag was armed.
    She reached under the table and pulled out a scroll. “But it wasn’t fast enough to stop me. I spent a few hours making a dummy that should fool him for a bit.” She looked down at the original scroll with a smile.
    Good to know we were back to her not trusting Alric.
    I wandered over to the larder and pulled out some nuts and seeds. I’d found in my time at Covey’s place they were the safest breakfast option. “So do we know why he was looking at that one? Oh, did he tell you some jerks tried to rob us last night? Just a few houses down the street from here.”
    “Alric mentioned it. He said it had to do with your collapse?” Harlan’s words indicated he knew what caused the collapse, but as usual he hoped for more details from me.
    “Guess so, he’d be the one who knew.”
    Covey finished her coffee, and then nodded. “I’ve heard talk around the university about more robberies. Word of the recent high-end magical artifacts have reached the criminal element.”
    That made me feel a bit better. Run-of-the-mill thieves were one thing; magical beasties after us was something I wanted to be done with. “That explains a bit. They didn’t recognize Alric, even when he showed his ears.” Another thought struck me. “Did either of you see his sword on him? Either when we came in or when he came back?”
    They both shook their heads.
    “I haven’t seen that blade in months. I was afraid to ask since I thought maybe it was taken when he lost his magic.” Harlan shook his head in regret at not asking. He always regretted not asking things, which was why it rarely happened.
    I simply nodded, but didn’t elaborate. There was something about our fair-haired elven lad and his sword. Something he wasn’t telling us.
    We had enough other problems going around. We didn’t need one about a disappearing and reappearing sword. I shook my head, sipped some more tea, and tried to focus.
    “Did you guys find out anything from the sceanra anam’s body?” I tried to sound innocent, but