The Binding

Chapter Five

Leif had already opened his door before Ezra had finished climbing the steps. The rain had saturated his coat. He shook it off before walking into the house.

"That was a fast trip. Didn't Wu keep you up reminiscing about old battles every night?"

"No, he wasn't there, just Ása. But she was only there for a couple weeks. They're back in Bali," Ezra replied off-handedly. Leif raised his eyebrows. Ezra didn't often volunteer so much information on the doings of other people, mostly Leif suspected because he didn't care.

"Was the trip fruitful?"

Ezra nodded once and then frowned. "I'm not sure yet, mostly vague descriptions of immortals that steal thoughts from humans and one about children who hide from the dead. I brought a few books back with me to translate. It will take some time to sort through it all."

"You brought some back with you?" Leif snorted. "How did you manage to get Ása to agree to that?"

Ezra frowned slightly, "It cost me my bottle of 1811 Chateau d'Yquem."

Leif laughed loudly. "That was your last bottle too."

Ezra ground his teeth. "There was a Greek translation about the Lord of Shadows trapping gods to hide their powers. But the translation was so badly done, I need to get my hands on the original... if it still exists."

"What language is the original?"

"Sumerian."

"Ah..." Leif sighed. "So you're off to Tunisia next?"

"No, that would be difficult right now."

Leif made a noise in the back of his throat. "And does this difficulty have blue eyes and spend a lot of time in cafés?" Ezra glowered. "I'm just saying," Leif replied.

"Well, I can't go for you, Ezra. Mathas and I had a bit of a run in the last time I was in Tunisia. He wouldn't be pleased to see me return."

"What did you do?"

"Why do you assume it was me?"

"What did you do?" he repeated.

"It was completely innocent. Besides, I had no way of knowing she was his daughter. How could I?"

"His daughter? What do you mean?" Ezra wrinkled his forehead in confusion.

"You know how Mathas is about his family. She was a descendant of one of his sons, or daughters, or something. Her parents died, and he took her in and raised her as his own... in typical Mathas fashion." Leif strolled into the kitchen and poured himself a Scotch. "Lovely girl she was too, with skin like silk."

"You seduced his daughter, and now you're banned from Tunisia?"

"North Africa actually, or anywhere close to any of his homes. Most of his family is still in Morocco," he answered. "I would have married her." Ezra turned a hard look on him. "I would have! She was enchanting. But Mathas said if I came near anyone in his family again, he'd kill me on the spot."

"Leif, you're making my ass twitch."

Leif just grinned at him. Ezra had to restrain himself from rolling his eyes. He couldn't count the number of times Leif's romps in the bedroom had caused problems.

"Regardless of anything I've done, if you're looking for a Sumerian text, you need to go to Mathas, and you're not going to get him to come to you. He hasn't left North Africa in centuries."