Dagger's Point (Shadow series) (9 page)

The horses, confused and frightened, had bolted straight north, but as their panic faded, they had gradually turned back toward the camp and Jael. As soon as Jael could see them, she whistled, the cheerful, coaxing whistle she used to call them to the fence when she had a treat for them. The horses turned toward her with gratifying eagerness, and when Jael was close enough, she easily collected the reins.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get your treat,” Jael laughed as the horses snuffled at her hands, “but it’ll have to wait until I can get into the saddlebags. Tanis, can you ride alone? We’ll make better time if we don’t tire your horse out with the weight of both of us.”

“I’m all right,” Tanis assured her. “I haven’t bled enough to weaken me. I’m depending on you to find someplace where we can find shelter.”

Jael’s heart fell. Find shelter? Find
safe
shelter? She’d have difficulty enough finding the road again!

“What about the bandits?” Jael asked carefully. “Do you think we should go back to the road?”

“We’d better not head straight back to the road,” Tanis agreed after a moment’s thought. “If the bandits come back west, they might see us. We’re probably a couple miles north of the road now; let’s turn straight west, and we can meet back up with the road tomorrow.”

West? Gods, which way was west? Jael scanned the sky, but the moon and stars were well hidden behind the clouds. All right, they’d ridden north after the horses, and then a little east, so west must be—yes, that way. Jael pulled two lengths of rope from her saddlebag.

“I’ll lead your horse and the pack horse,” she offered. “If you can get a little sleep in the saddle, so much the better.”

Although they were far from the road, this was open plain, not farmland, and the ground was reasonably firm and level. Despite Jael’s keen night vision and the good ground, however, Jael did not press the horses beyond a comfortably slow, steady pace. The gods alone knew how far they’d have to ride in the dark before finding shelter, and the horses did not share her night vision; if one of the horses lamed itself, Jael and Tanis could be in serious trouble.

Tanis drowsed, and Jael led the horses across the wet, grassy plain that seemed to go on forever. Was she still heading west? There was no knowing. There was no tracking their trail back, either, in the tall grass. For all she could tell, they might be heading in a large circle that led right back to the bandits. At last, however, Jael sighted a line of trees and bushes, likely growing at the edge of a stream or small river. At least the foliage would provide enough shelter for them, and perhaps the bushes would be tall enough to hide the horses.

When Jael reached the trees, she found that they bordered a good-sized stream, rather swollen with the spring rains but still well below its banks. A little exploration revealed a promisingly thick clump of bushes, large enough to hide the horses and allow them to forage, and a thicket where Jael could make a passable shelter from the rain.

Tanis was delighted with the discovery, and insisted on helping Jael arrange their cloaks as a ground cloth and stretch their oiled tent hide over the bushes. As soon as the camp was arranged, however, Jael insisted on lighting one of their lanterns and tending his injury. The cut was not as deep as Jael had feared, but Tanis made so much fuss while she cleaned and carefully stitched it that Jael would have thought the wound mortal.

“Sit still,” Jael said irritably when Tanis jerked his arm for the tenth time. “You didn’t give the healers this much trouble when that demon almost took your arm off.”

“They gave me a potion and put something on the scratches for pain, too,” Tanis retorted. “Can’t you make larger stitches and less of them?”

“Not unless you want a lovely big scar to show the ladies in the brothels and a crippled hand to ruin your career as a thief,” Jael snapped. “I’m sorry I’m not a healer with a hundred potions in my bag for every possible ailment. You’re lucky the knife wasn’t poisoned, or you’d be dead now. How did you get this cut, anyway?”

Tanis was silent for a long moment, and Jael looked up to see a very sheepish expression on his face.

“What?” Jael demanded. “You didn’t stop to tumble one of the merchants’ whores, did you?”

“No, but—” Tanis reached into the front of his tunic and pulled out a heavy pouch. “I did grab a few of these.”

“I was fighting for my life, and you stopped to cut purse strings?” Jael asked indignantly. “Who did you rob, the brigands or the merchants?”

“A bit of both,” Tanis admitted, grinning embarrassedly. “I got trapped at the other end of the camp when the brigands attacked—my warning gave the guards time to wake everyone there—so I had to fight my way out of an awful tangle of robbers and merchants and guards. There were people lying on the ground dead by the time I got through to the clearing in the middle, their purses just hanging there and fairly begging me to take them, so how could I resist? But while I was taking a dead brigand’s purse, one of his friends managed to creep up behind me, and I’m lucky I took his knife in my arm instead of my back.” He reached into his tunic again and dropped five more purses, one at a time, on his lap.

“I can’t fathom why you’d be fool enough to bother over purses,” Jael said, scowling, although she was inwardly awed by the pile of money in Tanis’s lap. “Mother and Father gave us plenty of money. That was nothing but greed.”

“Well, I’m a thief now,” Tanis said, shrugging a little uncomfortably. “Greed’s part of my profession. Besides, I didn’t know but we’d have to abandon some or all of our gear to get away quickly. I thought the extra money would help us replace our things in Westenvale, if we needed to.” He grinned engagingly. “Besides, it’s the best haul I’ve ever made.”

Jael sighed as she knotted the last stitch and cut the sinew off cleanly with her dagger.

“Well, you paid dear for it,” she said, shaking her head. “And we may yet have to spend some of that coin on a healer when we reach Westenvale if the muscle draws up.” She clasped his hand. “Squeeze my fingers if you can.”

Tanis complied, although he grimaced with pain as he tightened his fingers.

“Well, that’s good,” Jael said relievedly. “I’ll have to change the bandages often in this wet weather or it’ll fester, but the wound’s clean enough. It’ll probably heal all right. Tomorrow morning I’ll pack one of those pouches with small pebbles, and you should squeeze it often while the cut heals, and bend your wrist all around, too.”

Jael glanced around their small shelter and slowly tucked the needle, sinew, bandages, and salve back into her pack, not meeting Tanis’s eyes.

“There’s not much room here,” she said slowly. “Is it all right if—”

Tanis laid his good hand over hers, and when Jael looked up, his smile was warm.

“I’m sorry I left you alone,” he said humbly. “I acted like a brain-blighted idiot. I promised you I’d be patient and I wasn’t, and that makes me a scoundrel as well as a fool. It was just that Baaros-cursed merchant right over our heads—”

“I know.” Jael sighed and squeezed Tanis’s hand. “I’m sorry, too. I shouldn’t have complained about staying with the horses and being ready to leave in a hurry. You were right to be careful. I’ll listen from now on.” She hesitated. “You know nobody wishes more than me that—well, that things were different.”

“I know.” Tanis sighed, then half-smiled apologetically. “Have I abused our friendship too much, or can we still share the blankets?”

“We pretty much have to,” Jael admitted. “Some of them got muddy when I had to drop them on the ground to fight.”

Tanis laughed and reached out to hug Jael.

“Best apology speech I ever made,” he chuckled, “and it was all unnecessary because of wet blankets. Come on, friend, and let’s keep warm, and let the rain pour down all night if it likes.”

IV

Jael drew her horse to a halt, staring at the front gate of Westenvale and sighing disappointedly.

“I thought it would be larger,” she said. Tanis pulled his horse to a stop beside hers. “What are you complaining about?” he asked her. “It’s almost as large as Allanmere. It’s large enough to have merchant caravans heading west from it, and some comfortable inns, so what else do you need?”

“I don’t know.” Jael shrugged. “It’s just the first city I’ve ever seen besides Allanmere. I suppose I was expecting—”

“Gates of solid gold and paving stones of silver?” Tanis teased gently. “Nobles standing on the wall and flinging jewels to the crowds below?”

“All right, all right,” Jael said embarrassedly. “I can’t help it
if you’ve been to dozens and dozens of cities and I’ve never
been farther than the Heartwood. At least
I
can hit my mark with
a bow.”

“What good does hitting your mark do, if you can’t point your bow at anything we can eat?” Tanis asked practically.

Jael signed again and did not reply, urging her horse forward toward the gate. Tanis was a wonderful friend, but after nearly a week in his constant company, all she wanted in the world was a hot bath, a fresh meal, and a few hours without hearing the sound of Tanis’s voice.

“Name and business,” a bored gate guard demanded, and a wrinkled scribe sitting at a table looked up at them, her pen poised expectantly.

“My name is Caden, and my friend is Acorn,” Tanis answered. “We’ve come from Allanmere. We’re looking to join a merchant caravan heading west.”

The scribe scribbled quickly on her sheet, but the guard squinted suspiciously at Jael and Tanis.

“Two younglings like you, riding alone all the way from Allanmere?” he said dubiously.

“We were with a caravan,” Tanis told him. “Nezed was the wagonmaster. But they were set on by brigands, and Acorn and I got away as fast as we could. I don’t know what became of the rest of them. I wish we’d have gotten away a little faster.” He held up his bandaged arm. “We’ve been following the sunset since then, avoiding the road until we started seeing farms again.”

The guard raised an eyebrow, his bored expression vanishing.

“How many brigands, and where?” he asked, gesturing to the scribe. The ancient woman handed him a rolled sheet, which, when unrolled, turned out to be a large map.

Tanis dismounted and surveyed the map.

“I’d be guessing,” he said apologetically. “It was raining pretty heavily a good part of the way, and I couldn’t keep good track of the road. But I’d say here.” He indicated a spot on the map. “There were at least twelve or fifteen of the brigands, probably more, but I didn’t get much of a look at them, either. None of them used bows, but that might have been because they attacked well after dark. Oh, and they may have had a mage working with them,” he added. “The caravan’s horses had been hinder-spelled, maybe back in Allanmere.”

The guard nodded and rolled the map back into a neat cylinder.

“You’ve been a help,” he admitted grudgingly. “When you’re in the market, ask for Merchant Karina. She’s taking a load of cheeses west, or so I hear, and you can tell her I sent you. My name’s Everd. And if you’re looking for an inn, the Horn of Plenty’s clean and cheap, and you won’t get knifed in the night. He raised a hand and lazily waved them through the gate.

The road was muddy from the recent rains and thick with dung, so Tanis mounted his horse again and rode at Jael’s side.

“Are we going to stay at the Horn of Plenty?” Jael asked him.

Tanis grimaced.

“I’d choose not to, but we’d likely best stay there,” he said. “If Wagonmaster Nezed’s people turn up here, they may be looking for us, thinking we were in league with the brigands. But if that guardsman is suspicious, too, and checks at the Horn, he’ll wonder why we didn’t take his recommendation. Maybe we’ll be lucky and it’ll be full.”

To Tanis’s disgust, however, the Horn of Plenty was only half-full, and the innkeeper, a cheerful ex-guardswoman with one leg missing just above the knee, lowered her price for the room to half a Moon when Tanis mentioned Everd’s name.

“Supper’s at sunset if you’re eating here, and that’s three coppers,” she told them. “Two coppers stabling and food for each horse, and five for a bath with soap and towels.”

Jael grimaced at the prices, but Tanis counted out the coins resignedly. The room was plain but clean, as Everd had promised, the bed linens and straw mattress fresh-smelling, and the water in the jug on a table in the room was clear and sweet. Jael sighed contentedly and flopped back on the bed, luxuriating in the softness under her.

“I think I could sleep from this moment until the same time tomorrow,” Jael declared.

“Well, you’d best not,” Tanis said practically. “We’ve got to find Merchant Karina and bargain for a place in her caravan, and we’ve got to buy more supplies. Besides, I want supper, don’t you?”

“I’d kill for a hot meat pie and a bowl of dumplings,” Jael said wistfully.

“I want to drink a whole skin of the best wine I can buy,” Tanis said, sighing. He glanced sideways at Jael. “Why don’t we each take some money? You can buy the supplies, and I’ll find the merchant, and we can each do as we please for supper.”

A moment before, Jael would have rejoiced in spending some time away from Tanis; realizing, however, that she was in a strange city trying to buy supplies for their survival, the prospect suddenly frightened her.

“Don’t you think it’d be wise to stay together? Jael asked hesitantly.

“Oh, I think it’s safe enough,” Tanis said, rather too quickly. “Just keep your money in your tunic and only take out a few small coins at a time. You know trail supplies as well as I do— maybe better—and you’ve been through the market in Allanmere hundreds of times. A market’s a market, only this one won’t be quite as big.”

“Well, we could meet back here for supper,” Jael suggested.

“That still leaves part of the afternoon to run our errands.”

“Well—” Tanis hesitated. “I have some errands I want to do, and I—I may not be back till late. Better just do what you like for supper.” Unaccountably, he blushed.

Suddenly, seeing the blush, Jael realized why he wanted to be alone, and what sort of errand he had in mind.

“Gods, Tanis, if you want to go brothel-hopping, why didn’t you just say so?” Jael said, chuckling. “I’ll wager the innkeeper could direct you to a good place where you won’t catch whore’s-rot. And if the brothel has a healer—I hear some of the good ones do—maybe he’ll look at your arm, too.”

“Baaros have mercy, Jaellyn, just shut up, will you?” Tanis’s face was flaming now. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“All right.” Jael shrugged. “I’ll go to a money changer and get some small coin in exchange for some of the money Mother and Father gave us, and you can take all that money you stole and have a grand tumble with a hundred whores if that’s what you want. Just find out about the caravan first, will you, and if you’re going to be out all night long, leave me a message.” She dug into her pack until she found the pouch Shadow had given her. She pulled out a few small gems and a handful of Suns and tucked them into her sleeve, then stuffed the rest of the pouch into a pocket inside her shirt.

Tanis watched these preparations unhappily, but without comment. At last he stood and left without another word.

Jael waited a little while before leaving, to give Tanis time to talk to the innkeeper if he wanted. After a fair interval, she found the innkeeper herself and asked for and got directions to the market. On the street, however, she found that in Westenvale, as in Allanmere, all she really needed to do was follow her nose.

It was late afternoon, and Westenvale’s market was still busy. As Tanis had told her, it was a little smaller than the market in Allanmere, but the strangeness made it seem larger. Still, as Tanis had said, a market was a market, and Allanmere’s market had always been Jael’s second home. Here were the same smells, the same noises, the same crowds, even the same urchins and thieves and beggars populating the spaces between stalls and carts. Among all that clutter and clamor, it was possible for Jael to almost ignore the growling belly of a dog searching for scraps in the alley or the pain of a horse as its noble rider dug spurs into its sides.

After several passersby stopped and stared, however, Jael discovered that Westenvale was, in fact, very different from Allanmere in one way. There were elves in the market, both buying and selling, although not as many as might be seen in Allanmere, but these weren’t the familiar elves of the Heart-wood, laughing and arguing and no two alike. These were elves from the eastern elven cities, every one of them tall, slender and pale, graceful as swans on a lake, their conversation punctuated by flowing gestures so elaborate that the elves seemed to move in a never-ceasing dance. A few of them paused to gaze at Jael with gently surprised curiosity.

Jael changed her Suns and gems at four different money changers’ shops for Moons and coppers. After that the market was hers, and she roamed among the shops and stalls nibbling blissfully on a too-hot meat pie, buying some sweets here, a dried-berry tart there, all the while watching the haggling at the stalls where journey food was sold. When she had a fair idea of who sold good-quality merchandise and what she could expect to pay for it, she made her purchases. She would rather have bought the food later than make an extra trip back to the inn to stow the food, but what if they had to leave soon? Better an extra walk now than an empty belly on the road.

After Jael had deposited the sacks of supplies in her room, however, it was suppertime, and she decided reluctantly that it was easier to sup at the inn than make another trip back to the market. Besides, she wanted her bath.

Because of the poor soil and vast plains surrounding Westenvale and the whimsical drought-or-flood weather, many farmers preferred to herd livestock for meat or milk instead of depending on uncertain grain or vegetable crops. Consequently, meat was cheap and good, and even simple inns like the Horn of Plenty could serve all the rich roast spring lamb its patrons could eat for a three-copper supper. Jael stuffed herself to drowsy repletion and then ordered her bath.

Unlike Allanmere, Westenvale had no magically drilled taps to subterranean hot springs, and bathing water had to be laboriously heated in the kitchen; that, of course, was why a bath in an inn in Westenvale cost five times what it would in Allanmere. To Jael’s surprise and dismay, however, the price of the bath included the services of a bathboy to scrub her back and rinse Jael’s soapy body with fresh water. When Jael stepped out of the tub and thanked him, however, the bathboy hesitated.

“Will there be”—the young man’s eyes swept over Jael’s towel-wrapped body—”anything else?”

“Huh? Oh! Uh—no, no, thank you,” Jael said hurriedly, scrabbling for her purse to press a few coppers into his hand. “Just empty the tub and take it away.”

When the bathboy was gone, Jael latched the door and curled up on the bed, luxuriating in its softness and the cleanliness of her skin. Despite the noise from outside and the strange surroundings, she was soon asleep; it seemed only a few moments later, however, when she was roused by Tanis calling through the door. When Jael raised the latch, Tanis stumbled in, smelling strongly of wine, perfume, and musky incense. He mumbled something incoherent. Jael, still half-asleep herself, only caught the word “tomorrow” before Tanis sagged limply onto the bed. Jael shook her head, irritated, and pulled Tanis’s boots and tunic off before she crawled back under the covers. Whatever it was, it could wait.

“Jaellyn. Wake up.”

Jael bolted upright, and Tanis winced, shading his eyes from the morning sunlight.

“What is it?” Jael mumbled, trying to shake the sleep-fog from her head.

“Get dressed. We’ve got to go.” Tanis’s face was gray and his eyes were shot heavily with red, but he stepped away rather gingerly and reached for his clothes.

“Huh?” Jael rubbed her eyes. “What do you mean?”

“The caravan.” Tanis peered out the window and winced again. “It leaves this morning. I’ve already paid for us to join it.”

Jael poured herself a goblet of water, glanced into the goblet, and poured the water over her head instead of drinking it.

“Why didn’t you tell me that last night?” she said annoyedly. “You could’ve left a message.”

“I’m sorry.” Tanis also poured water into a goblet, but settled for splashing his face. “In case you didn’t notice last night, I was drunk. I don’t even remember coming back here.”

“I suppose you won’t have time for your bath, then,” Jael said, sighing. “And you need it worse than I did.”

“Sorry. Believe me, I’d much rather lie in bed for another half-day and soak in a bath for hours more.” Tanis tied the top of his pack and slung it over his shoulder. “Come on, let’s get the horses loaded. There won’t be another caravan traveling west for days. It’s a good thing you got the food last night.”

Jael was tempted to make a retort about the relative value of his and her evening’s activities, but seeing Tanis’s pasty face and shaking hands, she decided that a little mercy wouldn’t be wasted on her friend. Instead, she quickly pulled a potion out of her kit, poured a few drops into a goblet of water, and offered it to Tanis.

“Try that,” she said. “Father makes it for my rainy-season headaches, but Aunt Shadow says it’s good for bad mornings, too.”

Tanis gulped down the water without replying, but by the time they had carried their belongings down to the stable and loaded the horses, he was already less pale and no longer winced every time Jael spoke too loudly. Just as well, for they rode out of the inn directly into the morning going-to-market crowd, and only their height on horseback kept them from being swallowed in the press of peasants and nobles hurrying to buy and farmers and craftsmen hurrying to sell.

It would have been quicker to ride back through the city gates and around to the west side, but there was no question of trying to fight the inexorable tide of bodies pushing toward the market. They were forced to ride amidst the crush of people, carefully keeping the pack horse between them so that nobody could cut its reins or rob the packs, and Jael was already weary by the time they made their way to the west gate of the city, where the caravan was almost ready to depart. Jael was relieved to see that the train of wagons fairly bristled with well-armed guards; obviously there were more valuables on this caravan than simply cheeses!