Dagger's Point (Shadow series) (3 page)

“He’s no shot with a bow,” Jael admitted. “But he can set snares and lines well enough.
I
can set snares and lines, if it comes to that, and get far away before the animal’s caught so I won’t have to feel it die. We should be able to get by. Please, Father. You’re starting to sound like Mother.”

“Well, we won’t be badgering you too much longer, so try to bear with us.” Argent smiled and hesitated a moment. “Jaellyn, I truly hope you are successful in finding your—your father. I want you to know that.”

“I never doubted it.” Jael closed the distance between them in one step, let him fold her in his arms, taking comfort in his warm embrace and familiar scent as she had always done. “And I hope you know that no matter what I find, you’ll always be my father, really—in every way that matters.”

“I never doubted it,” he said quietly, and Jael could hear the smile in his voice. “Now, listen to me for a moment, please.”

Jael stepped back a little, surprised by the sudden tension in his voice.

“Your mother and I have come to a decision,” Argent said, and the look in his eyes told Jael that she was speaking to the High Lord of Allanmere, not her father. “After you’ve left, we’ll wait a few days to make sure you’re safely off. Then we’re going to officially announce our selection of Markus as Heir.”

Jael gaped for a moment, then let out her breath in an explosive sigh of relief.

“Thank the gods,” she grinned. “You waited so long, I thought you and Mother were going to stick me with it after all.”

Argent chuckled.

“I thought the news would please you,” he said. “But we weren’t sure you would be happy that we were doing it in conjunction with your leaving, as if—”

“What, as if you were giving me up for dead?” Jael returned. In fact, that was, she realized, likely what her parents were doing. It was a fair strategic move. Her thirteen-year-old brother Markus— half-brother, really, although the citizens of Allanmere would never know that—was far more elven in appearance and by nature than his twin sister Mera, although both twins had the same half-human blood. The elves would be pleased that the more elven of the twins was chosen, and the remaining anti-elven faction in Allanmere, dwindling but still vocal, would be pleased that firstborn Jael, so extremely elven in appearance and a subject of great controversy throughout the city, had been bypassed.

“Well, nobody really knows Tanis and I are leaving,” Jael said thoughtfully. “We were planning to go at dawn day after tomorrow, but we can easily sneak off a few hours earlier. That should help make it look less planned.”

“That’s a good suggestion,” Argent agreed. “Yes, it would make things easier. I wonder that your mother didn’t think of it. After all, it’s exactly what she would have done herself. Well, why don’t you work it out with Tanis, and see if he can stay to sup with us tonight? In fact, he may want to stay here at the palace until you’re ready to leave.”

“That’s a good idea, too,” Jael agreed, an idea forming in her own mind. Why not sneak away in truth? It would save her the obligatory final lectures and warnings, and even better, the next day’s sword practice. Much as she loved Shadow, too, she resented the elf seeing them off like a pair of children on their first stroll in the forest. She already had most of her belongings packed, and the horses were ready—Donya had checked them four times. Trail food had already been packed and was waiting in the cellar storerooms. A little quiet preparation that night, and they could easily slip away before dawn.

Argent squeezed Jael’s shoulder.

“Don’t let your mother’s worries bother you,” he said. “She’s thinking back to her days on the road with Shadow. She claims Shadow was forever dragging her into one scrape or another, although Shadow tells it somewhat differently. I doubt myself that you’ll get into such chilling escapades as Shadow likes to tell about, and if you do, I believe you’re capable of dealing with them. There’s more to you than Donya knows—likely more to you than you know yourself, and I think this time and this journey is exactly what you need.”

“I can hardly wait,” Jael admitted.

Argent chuckled.

“I think you have a little of Shadow’s wandering itch,” he said gently. “I hope the open road proves as sweet a wine to you as it is to her. But, Jaellyn—” He laid both hands on her shoulders, turning her to face him. “Don’t become drunk on that wine. Remember where your home and your family is, and remember that we’ll be waiting and wondering every day while you’re gone.”

Jael smiled and let him embrace her again.

“How could I ever forget?” she said, chuckling. “The bruises alone will last for weeks. Don’t worry, Father, I’ll be back, safe and sound and likely with stories even Shadow can’t best.”

Argent smiled. “Frankly, I hope you come back to us with nothing more interesting to tell us than how bad the weather was and how sick you became of dried meat and hard bread.”

“Well, I never could tell a story like Aunt Shadow anyway,” Jael said wryly. “Likely there’ll be nothing to tell.”

But I hope not,
she thought.

II

Jael found Tanis in her rooms, perusing a map. From the markings on the hide, Jael supposed that Tanis and Shadow had gleaned whatever information they could from all the other maps and transferred it to this one sheet of leather.

“Hello,” Tanis said, looking up from the map. “Shadow suggested I come to supper when we get back from the market. I didn’t know where else to wait for you.”

Jael glanced outside her door, looking up and down the corridor. There was no one in sight. Closing the door, she sat down next to Tanis on the bed. “Listen, how much have you got left to put together?”

“Not much,” Tanis said after a moment’s thought. “I don’t
have
all that much anymore. Just a few things at the inn where I stay. Why?”

“Could you just bundle it together and stay here tonight? There’s plenty of rooms,” Jael said.

“I could,” Tanis said slowly. “I meant to say goodbye to Guildmaster Aubry and do a few errands in the market, but nothing I couldn’t manage this afternoon. But why?”

“Everything’s ready, or nearly,” Jael told him. “Why don’t we slip away late tonight? That way we can avoid hearing all the last-minute warnings for the fourth time, and get away without Aunt Shadow, too.”

Tanis raised his eyebrows, then grinned.

“I could easily finish packing and be back here before supper,” he said. “But we’ll have to carry all the gear down to the stables. And how will we get out past the guards at the gate?”

“The secret door at the back, the one I showed you,” Jael said. “It’ll be a little tight getting the horses through, but we can make it. We’ll have to ride all the way around the city to take the south

ferry across the Brightwater, but if we went the shorter way around north and west to the Docks, I’m afraid the wall guards would recognize the horses.”

“What about the ferrymen?” Tanis asked. “Won’t they recognize you?”

“I’ve got new clothes, and I’ll wear my cap,” Jael said. “I haven’t gone across the ferry often enough for them to know me too well by face. Besides, what if they do recognize me? Unlike the guards, the ferrymen won’t have any authority to stop me. Mother and Father aren’t going to send guards after us to drag me back.”

“Not unless they know about it beforehand,” a voice interrupted, and Jael and Tanis whirled around to see Markus’s and Mera’s faces peering in through the now cracked-open door.

Jael ground her teeth. Sometimes the benefit of being an only child seemed worth the price of Heirship. The twins were thirteen years old now, and while Jael had finally managed to surpass even sturdy Mera at swordplay and unarmed combat, so that the two had gradually stopped ambushing her, they still delighted in spying on Jael and teasing her exhaustively about her every failing.

“Mother would be furious if you and Tanis sneaked away before you were supposed to go,” Mera said saucily, tossing her black braid.

“If she knew
we
knew and kept silent about it, she’d be furious at
us,”
Markus added slyly. “We wouldn’t want that.”

“Besides, it’s dishonest,” Mera said somberly. “After all the supplies Mother and Father are giving you—”

“—to just sneak away without even saying goodbye,” Markus finished. “And when we tell Mother what you tried to do, she may not even let you go at all.”

Jael almost laughed at the threat. Markus and Mera had been told only that Jael was leaving for the summer, and the twins assumed, of course, that Jael was simply fostering in the Heart-wood as usual. The extra supplies that Jael was taking could be explained this year by the presence of city-bred Tanis and the possibility that finally Mist might let Jael try to take care of herself in the forest. The twins, therefore, had little material for blackmail this time. Their tattling might earn Jael a lengthy lecture and possibly even a guard outside her door to make sure she didn’t leave before the appointed time, but Donya had promised Jael could go, and the High Lady’s word was solid as stone. Still, better to negotiate with the twins now than to suffer through another trouncing on the practice field tomorrow.

“Oh, don’t stand in the doorway like that,” Jael said crossly. “Come in and shut the door.”

The twins quickly ducked inside. They were rarely allowed within the sanctuary of Jael’s room, a boundary Jael would defend with naked blade, if necessary, and the mere fact that Jael invited them inside meant that serious bargaining was about to take place.

“If you two will keep your mouths shut,” Jael said, “I’ll tell you a secret, something that nobody else but Mother, Father, and Aunt Shadow know. An important secret.”

“How important?” Mera asked suspiciously.

“Important to the whole city,” Jael said mysteriously. “And it’s partly the reason why I’m leaving early this year.” That was true, in its own way.

“If it’s really important, a really
good
secret, we’ll keep quiet,” Markus promised.

“You may as well,” Jael said casually. “Because if you tell tales on me, Mother will want to know how you learned, and when she finds out it was because you were listening at my door, you’ll be in bigger trouble than me.”

The twins exchanged calculating glances. Jael’s statement was proven fact.

“All right,” Mera said. “Tell us the secret.”

“Sometime not long after I leave,” Jael said, “Mother and Father are going to announce their choice of Heir to the city, and it isn’t me.”

Markus and Mera gaped for a moment, then glanced at each other, eyes sparkling.

“Which of us is it?” Mera asked eagerly.

“I don’t know,” Jael lied. “And they won’t announce it until I’ve been gone for a bit, so the sooner I leave, the sooner you’ll know. Of course, if you tell them Tanis and I were planning to sneak away, they won’t let me leave at all, and as I’m firstborn, if I don’t leave the city, they may think it’ll cause too much trouble to proclaim one of you Heir anyway. So it’s up to you.”

“All right,” Markus said quickly. “We won’t say anything. And we’ll help you carry your things down to the stable tonight, if you want.”

Tanis exchanged a grin with Jael. The twins were young and annoying, but one thing they could do adequately was slip quietly through the palace—the mere fact that they’d been able to surprise Jael, with her keen hearing, was proof of that.

“Then you and I can visit the market and pick up the rest of my belongings,” Tanis said. “Maybe the twins can put the rest of it together here.” His blue eyes twinkled at her.

“I don’t know,” Jael said doubtfully. “I still need our food from the cellar, and I’ll need a few other supplies, lamps and oil and the like. If Mother and Father—even any of the servants— figure out what’s going on, the whole plan’s off.”

“Markus can stand guard at the door while I get your supplies,” Mera said defensively. “If any of the servants come, Markus can warn me, and keep the servants busy long enough for me to hide until they’re gone. And Markus and I can carry things out to the stables, and nobody will notice—we take food and toys into the hayloft and play hide-and-find in there anytime we like.”

“I suppose we’ll have to trust them,” Tanis said with resignation, although his eyes still gleamed with amusement. “They seem to have this planned better than we do.”

The unexpected change in Markus’s and Mera’s status from obstacles into allies made preparations much simpler. Jael could have summoned one of the carriages to take her and Tanis to the market, but it might be a good many months before she’d see the city again, and she was content to walk through the dusty streets with Tanis, memorizing the city’s sights, sounds, and scents.

To Jael’s delight, Tanis had been right—a warrior was indeed selling dragon on the west side of the market. Jael treated for thick slabs of the tough, strong-flavored meat dipped in a fiery sauce, and they walked through the market, sauce smearing their cheeks. The closing of the Temple of Baaros and a year of relative peace in the city had somewhat diminished the number of humans in the city still hostile to elves; Jael thought to herself that Markus’s selection as Heir would likely quiet the rest of that faction. Meanwhile, elven businesses were once more flourishing in the market, and Jael was glad to see some humans conspicuously avoiding those few establishments still refusing elven patronage.

Most of the older thieves in the market had known Jael almost from infancy, and many of the newer thieves were Tanis’s friends; Jael and Tanis quickly found it almost impossible to make their way through the market without being greeted, slapped on the back, or offered sweets, meat pies or other pilferage. The two were glad to finally reach the Copper Cup, where Tanis had been staying.

After gathering Tanis’s extra clothes and few belongings, they considered returning to the palace by way of Rivertown’s back alleys, which led into the Noble District, but eventually decided to pass through the market again. While there were no demons prowling the alleys of Rivertown anymore, it was still a dangerous place even by day, and besides, between them Jael and Tanis had just enough coin left for another helping of dragon. Once more they ate as they walked, but when Tanis noticed Jael admiring a handsome set of low black boots, the leather soft enough to accommodate the small extra toe on Jael’s left foot, he guided Jael to a quiet corner behind an unused stall where she could sit.

“Just finish your dragon,” he said, grinning. “I’ll have the boots by the time you’re done.”

Jael sat down and nibbled at the meat rather dubiously. Tanis had far more confidence in his fledgling thieving skill than Jael did; from years of watching Shadow, Jael knew a successful snatch was far more difficult than it looked, and she’d have been more comfortable if Tanis did not attempt anything so risky. And sometimes Tanis’s judgment was clouded by his feelings for Jael, feelings that she, with almost a child’s body and a soul that was not whole, could not return, and that made her more uncomfortable still.

Jael craned her neck around the stall, but there was no sign of Tanis, and if she ventured out and he saw her, she might distract him at a critical moment. Jael was just considering making her way in a wide circle to approach the tanner from the opposite side when searing pain wrenched through her throat, closing off her breathing and sending her almost into unconsciousness. Jael gasped desperately for breath, tumbling backward off the overturned bucket she’d been using for a seat, and the remainder of her dragon rolled out of her numb fingers to drop into the dirt. A moment later the horrible choking pain faded, and Jael gulped air gratefully, pushing herself up from the ground.

A quick glance around her revealed the source of her discomfort: she was sitting only a short distance from a stall selling roast fowl, and the proprietor had just wrung the neck of a fresh bird. Jael shuddered, no longer interested in the dragon or any other food; then her stomach heaved and she barely managed to turn her head aside in time to vomit behind the abandoned stall. She shuddered, spat again and again to clear her mouth, then stood, gazing around her for Tanis. She no longer cared about the boots, but maybe Tanis could steal a cup of something to drink, since they had not so much as a copper left between them. Unfortunately, Tanis was nowhere in sight.

Jael crept away from the puddle of vomit and sat down again, shivering. It had been a long time since her uncontrolled, intermittent beast-speaking sensitivity had caught her unaware in the market, but then she always took good care to stay away from slaughterhouses, poultry pens, and the like when she left the palace. Since Jael’s childhood, it had been a firm rule that no animals could be slaughtered or even kicked on palace grounds lest Jael take another of her “fits.” Jael would gladly have given the last drop of her elven blood to be rid of her miserable remnant of beast-speaking ability—often she could sense animals’ sensations, especially strong pain or death, but she had no control over what she felt; she couldn’t
stop
feeling those pains, nor could she truly sense the thoughts of animals, or communicate her own thoughts to them as true elven beast-speakers could.

Tanis appeared, ginning widely as he held up the black boots.

“Not a bit of trouble,” he said proudly. “As neat a job as ever I’ve—” Then he stopped, his grin fading as he noticed Jael’s pale face and shaking hands. “What’s happened? Are you all right?”

“Uh-huh.” Jael stood a little awkwardly, taking a deep breath to force herself to stop shaking. “Let’s go back now, Tanis. Right now. All right?”

“All right.” Tanis hurriedly stuffed the boots into the bundle of his clothes and slid one arm around Jael’s waist, guiding her quickly through the worst of the crowd. “What happened? Did somebody hurt you?”

“Not me,” Jael mumbled. “Just a chicken.”

“Oh. Oh!” Tanis raised one eyebrow in realization. “Sorry, Jael. I shouldn’t have left you alone there without checking around. I was just thinking about our journey, how comfortable those boots would be on your feet.” He hesitated. “Jael, are you going to be all right? I mean, traveling with merchant trains, somebody whips a horse or shoots a deer for supper—”

Jael shrugged. She’d given that problem some thought herself.

“What else can I do?” she said quietly. “It’d be no better if we were on our own, with you having to hunt every meal. And if I don’t go, I might be this way forever. Anyway, it doesn’t happen all that often.”

Tanis nodded silently. There was really no reply he could make. He quickly changed the subject, and they talked of trivial matters during their walk back to the palace.

They were cheered, however, to find how the twins had passed the time since they’d left. Jael and Tanis had hardly been out the front gates before the twins had made their way to the cellars—a somewhat risky endeavor, as preparations for supper were already underway and servants would be in and out of the cellars fetching foodstuffs and wine. However, it was as likely as not that the High Lord and Lady would spend the evening entertaining some dignitary. If that were so, the servants would be up late, and the increased risk of discovery would continue far into the evening. Markus and Mera’s team strategy had proved invaluable, for whispered warnings from Markus had sent Mera scurrying behind boxes and barrels five times before filling the bags, waxed skins, and jars Jael had gathered for their supplies. In the end, Markus and Mera had not dared to attempt carrying up the bulging parcels, but hid them as best they could in one of the less-used storage rooms. By the time they had finished their task, Jael and Tanis had returned, and the four had barely time to reach the dining hall before supper.