Read Online Warden (Book 2: Lure of the Lamia) by Kevin Hardman - Free Book Online

dagger, then picked up three of the knives himself and flung them at the targets. Each sank into the hilt of one of the knives that Baro had thrown. The eyes of both Miabi and her son went wide with surprise.
    “As I was saying,” Errol stated, “there are people around here who know their way around a knife. They can throw an unbalanced knife just as well as a balanced one. So again, I’m doing you a favor by shutting this down. That way I won’t have residents angry about a rigged game, and you won’t get cleaned out by one of our knife experts.”
    Baro had merely nodded as Miabi and Errol moved on. She then brought him to the last item for inspection: the troupe’s sideshow of oddities and curiosities.
    According to their barker, the sideshow had a number of unique subjects, including a wood nymph and a mermaid. It only took two seconds of inspection to realize that almost everything on display was fake (for example, the nymph was just a girl painted green), but this wasn’t a real concern to Errol because everyone knew they were fake to begin with. However, he let the troupe keep its dignity by saying that he was impressed. Miabi had laughed out loud at that.
    “You are quite generous in your praise,” she said, “and fair in your assessments.”
    “Thank you,” Errol replied.
    “That said…” She looked at him oddly, seemingly pondering something.
    “What is it?” he asked, sensing that something unusual was afoot.
    “In truth, we do have one valuable and unique item. It’s exceptionally rare, so we seldom display it anywhere. Yet, for some reason, I think we’d like to do so here.”
    With that, she guided him to a tent on the edge of the troupe’s camp. It was clearly special, because an over-muscled young man (from all appearances, another of Anru and Miabi’s sons) stood guard outside. He nodded to Miabi as she and Errol entered.
    Inside, a large table occupied the center of the tent. Two girls – obviously daughters of Miabi – were hovering over something there. They turned as Miabi and Errol entered.
    “He’s refusing to eat,” said the younger one said.
    “Not that it matters,” replied the other one, “since he doesn’t need to eat anyway.”
    Miabi sighed. “Warden, may I present my daughters Tilbi” – the younger daughter did a small curtsy – “and Sharn.” The older daughter, a younger version of her mother, gave Errol an inviting wink. He would later learn that she was excellent with a bow and arrow, and had her own act which involved a lot of trick shots.
    “And this,” Miabi continued, as her daughters stepped away from the table, “is Berry.”
    Sitting in the center of the table, previously obscured by Miabi’s daughters, was what appeared to be a large birdcage. However, instead of containing a perch, swing, or the usual accessories one might expect to find in such a habitat, it contained miniature furniture. A tiny table, tiny chairs, a tiny bed – basically a full complement of dollhouse furniture. And there, seated at the tiny little table in a tiny little chair, and playing with a tiny little deck of cards, sat a tiny little man.
    Errol was unsure of what he was seeing. He had at first thought the little fellow – “Berry,” as Miabi had called him, who was about six inches tall – was some sort of pixie or sprite (or the like), but aesthetically Berry didn’t fit the mold of any of the wee folk Errol was familiar with: no pointed ears, no wings, etc. In essence, he just looked like a tiny human being – albeit one who seemed to ignore everything around him.
    Overcome with curiosity, Errol was about to ask exactly what type of creature the troupe had caged when the truth quietly dawned on him: Berry was a homunculus.

 
    Chapter 9
     
    Miabi seemed more than a little surprised when Errol suddenly turned to her and asked how a homunculus came to be part of their show.
    “You continue to surprise me, Warden,” she said, raising an eyebrow. “First