The Exile and the Sorcerer (10 page)

“I think you’ll find every inn in Torhafn has a barrel outside as its symbol,” Tevi said dryly.

“Really?”

“Yes.”

Derry took a mouthful of stew and grinned. “I’m not being much help, am I?”

Tevi tried a different approach. “After leaving the market, did you cross over the river?”

“Yes. And we climbed up the hill beyond, but not quite to the top.”

This was only as Tevi expected. The west side of the river Tor was the richer part of town, where the better class of inn was found. It was the place one would expect wealthy traders to stay, but the confirmation of her guess gave her somewhere to start the search.

“Do you think you’d recognise the inn if you saw it again?” Tevi asked.

“Probably.”

“Well, then, if you’ve finished your stew, we might as well be off.”

Instead of moving, Derry became unaccountably dejected. “Do you think Mama and Papa will be angry with me?” he mumbled.

“You know your parents better than me.”

“I’m going to be in big trouble.”

Tevi was about to assure him that no one would be too hard on a boy, but stopped. Maybe on the mainland, a misbehaving boy might be punished no less severely than a girl. Her face softened, and she tousled his hair. “Even if they are angry, you can’t stay here forever,” Tevi said sympathetically, reaching for his hand. “Come on, let’s go.”

Tevi led the way into the maze of houses behind the docks. The sinking moon lit the wider roads but did not penetrate the small alleys. Fewer street gangs were about than earlier, although they were more blatantly ill willed. They watched the pair with hostile eyes but made no move to intercept them. Angry shouts told of fighting a few streets away; then a scream cut above the clamour. Tevi was glad to be heading away from the brawl.

The marketplace was deserted as they skirted its edge on their way to the main bridge. The shop fronts and warehouses were blank and lightless. Even the gangs seemed to have melted into the dark, leaving only a threatening silence. Derry was jittery.

Tevi put her arm around the boy’s shoulder. “It will be better once we cross over the bridge.”

However, they did not get that far. The narrow passageway from the market opened onto a riverside wharf for unloading barges. The open area was about ten yards wide and five times as long. The moon lit the water’s edge, but the shadows of warehouses covered the other side in darkness.

Derry suddenly grabbed her arm and pointed. “There they are.” Despite his excitement, the oppressive, darkened town had affected him, and his voice was barely a whisper.

Tevi followed the direction of Derry’s outstretched arm and saw his parents at the far end of the wharf. That was not all she saw. The well-cut clothes and obvious wealth of Derry’s parents had not gone unnoticed. Silently emerging from a dark passage, halfway down the wharf, were two stocky figures. The thugs crept furtively through the shadows, cudgels in hand.

Tevi propelled the boy into a darkened doorway. “Stay here, and don’t make a sound,” she whispered.

The knife felt reassuring as Tevi pulled it from her jerkin and slipped it into her belt. Then she, too, began to edge around the walls, keeping to shadows.

The traders were deep in conversation and obviously unaware of the danger until a third figure stepped into the moonlight.

“Well, well, well. What have we here?” A woman’s light voice delivered the mocking phrase with real menace.

Derry’s parents jerked around and then backed away, unknowingly retreating towards the two thugs. The other footpad stood her ground, hand on hip in jaunty belligerence, then snapped her fingers. At the signal, the two accomplices stepped from the shadows, swinging their clubs. The sound of footsteps behind them rooted the pair of traders to the ground as they realised they were trapped. The leader of the gang began a slow advance towards her victims, clearly enjoying the game.

“Now why don’t you behave yourselves, and hand over all your money and anything else that you think I might like?”

The gang’s attention was fixed on the traders. No one noticed Tevi’s stealthy approach. As the leader got within a few steps of Derry’s parents, Tevi made her move. The nearest thug was hoisted into the air and hurled against the other, sending the pair of them smashing into a brick wall. They collapsed to the ground in a mound of arms and legs.

Tevi did not wait to see if the thugs would offer further resistance. Maybe Derry’s parents would have the presence of mind to claim the dropped cudgels for themselves. She charged past the traders, bearing down on the third thief, only to be confronted by a drawn sword.

The years of training took over. Before Tevi realised it, her knife was in her hand and outstretched before her. She dropped to a defensive stance and met the gang leader’s angry eyes. The pair of them glared at each other.

Tevi broke the silence. “Why don’t you go and find someone else to play with?”

“Why don’t you get out of my way?” The woman sounded rattled by the unexpected interruption, but she was not ready to back down. The two adversaries began to circle, watching for an opening.

In icy calm, Tevi reviewed Blaze’s advice on how to fight when your weapon was outmatched.
Let your opponent make the moves. She’ll be overconfident. Take no risks. Watch what she does. Wait for the mistake
. It was the style of combat in which Tevi was at her worst. The memory of countless defeats in practice assailed her, but this time, her life was at stake.

The thief’s sword flicked out in a few feints to test Tevi’s defence; amateurish efforts, easily blocked, and the sureness of Tevi’s response drew a frown. Clearly, Tevi was not an untrained novice making free with someone’s kitchen utensil.

For her part, Tevi was surprised at how easy it was. It was as if she could hear Blaze’s voice, offering advice.

“
She’s going for your throat!
” Blaze screamed, even as the woman made a more ambitious high thrust. In reflex, Tevi ducked and knocked the blade aside. She swung across sharply in riposte and felt the knife make contact. The footpad gasped and lurched a few steps backwards. They both knew it was merely a flesh wound, but the woman was unnerved, and her eyes flicked anxiously around the square.

The traders had been frozen in paralysis, but now they began to shout loudly.

“Help!”

“Call the watch!”

Tevi grimaced. Like all Torhafn residents, she knew the town watch were unlikely to come to anyone’s aid. However, the sound further alarmed her opponent.

“Shut them up,” the gang leader snapped to her accomplices, but a glance showed that she could expect no support. The thugs had barely managed to clamber to their feet. One appeared to have a broken arm. The other, with a blood-smeared face, was still braced against the wall. The cudgels lay where they had fallen. The leader’s bravado had completely gone when the new sound of running feet reverberated around the walls.

The circling meant Tevi’s opponent now had her back to the square. Over the woman’s shoulder, Tevi could see that the approaching footsteps belonged to Derry. He was running down the wharf, wildly swinging a wooden stake. Fortunately, the thief did not want to hang around. She jabbed with her sword. Tevi parried easily but was forced to step aside. This was what the gang leader had intended—clearing her escape route. After one last swipe, she rushed past Tevi and disappeared down the dark alley.

Tevi watched her go and then turned to the two thugs. She gestured with her knife. “You can clear off as well.”

No second bidding was needed. The pair hobbled in pursuit of their leader with what speed they could manage. The sound of their uneven footsteps faded away.

Tevi’s gaze was caught by the dark smearing of blood on her knife. She looked at it thoughtfully before wiping the blade clean. Over by the water’s edge, Marith had caught hold of Derry and was simultaneously hugging him while wresting the stake from his hand. Verron’s face was pale in the moonlight, and his upper lip was beaded with sweat, but a relieved smile was spreading over his features.

Tevi slipped her knife into her belt and walked towards him. Suddenly, into her head came Blaze’s voice, hammering out her favourite lesson: “
No matter how defeated she seems, never, never, never turn your back on an enemy
.”

Tevi spun around just in time to see a dark figure swinging its arm down in an arc. Without time to think, Tevi pitched backward, deliberately colliding with Verron and knocking him down. The knife flew overhead, passing through the space Verron had been occupying and went on to skitter harmlessly across the cobbles. Tevi let her momentum roll her over her shoulder and up onto her feet in a fluid motion, but the figure was already gone.

Tevi took a long step back to steady herself, only for her heel to hit a mooring ring anchored into the flagstones. The evasive roll had taken her a lot closer to the river than she intended or realised. The ring wedged between her sandal and foot, twisting her ankle. Her arms flailed in a desperate bid for balance, but no paving was beneath her second foot as it came down. Helplessly, Tevi tumbled backwards into the river.

The traders rushed to the embankment and threw a line to help her climb onto the quay, where she knelt, wiping water from her eyes and trying desperately not to think about how filthy the river looked in daylight. In response to the barrage of concerned questions, Tevi simply shook her head. It was exactly the sort of ending her mother would have predicted for her first serious duel.

*

The traders’ lodgings were small but comfortable, easily the most luxurious place Tevi had ever seen. She stretched her feet towards the fire and sank into the cushions on her chair. The room was currently empty apart from her. Her clothes were hanging on a rack by the fire and appeared to be drying nicely in the warm air. Amber light from the burning logs danced cheerfully over an array of tapestries and furniture. Tevi’s toes dug into the thick sheepskin rug. A fresh awareness struck her of how austere life on the islands was; even the Queen’s hall could not match the display of wealth about her. Yet she knew that, by the standards of the mainland, Verron and Marith were well off but not rich.

The door to the boys’ bedroom opened and Verron emerged. He sank into a chair with a sigh.

“Are they asleep?” Tevi asked.

“Pretending to be. I think they just wanted me to go so they could talk.”

“Have you sorted out how Derry got lost?”

Verron shook his head. “I doubt we’ll ever get the full story. I don’t think he’s too certain himself. I’m just so relieved to have him back safe.” Contrary to fears about his parents’ anger, Derry’s only ordeal had lain in being smothered by repeated hugs.

“You’ll be wanting to sleep soon as well. Once my things are dry, I’ll leave. You can have these back.” Tevi indicated the borrowed clothes she had on.

“Please, you’re welcome to keep them. They’re only some old garments we had lying around. They were due to be thrown away.”

“They may be cast-offs to you, but if I walk around Torhafn wearing these, I’ll attract the same sort of attention you did.”

Tevi suspected she would attract attention anyway. By the time she had escorted the family to their lodgings, she had been shaking from the twin effects of the cold dunking and ebbing adrenaline. On the other hand, the traders had regained their self-assurance. They insisted that she come inside and had badgered the innkeeper into providing food, drink, and a hot bath. The last of these had been a new experience for Tevi and she was still trying to evaluate whether she liked it. Whatever her final decision, it was certain that the effect would make her stand out from the other market workers for at least a week.

From the corridor outside, Marith’s voice called indistinctly; then the handle turned and she entered, bringing a bottle of sweet brandy and three round glasses.

“Is the innkeeper calm now?” Verron asked.

“Reasonably,” Marith said while pouring three generous measures of the brandy.

“And you didn’t pay him double for the late meal?”

“Of course not.” Marith pouted at the idea. She distributed the drinks and sat down.

“I could have warned him that separating you and money is like getting a limpet off a rock,”

“That’s not true. For example, I’m going to try again to get Tevi to accept a reward.”

Marith’s indignant tone made Tevi grin. However, she still shook her head. “I don’t want paying.”

“But I insist.”

“I don’t particularly like money.”

The answer left Marith nonplussed. In the resulting silence, Verron asked, “We were told that the people on your home island make a potion that gives you your strength. Do you think they might trade for it?”

“Never.” Tevi had no doubt of her answer.

“We’d pay well. You might mention it when you return. Do you have any idea when that might be?”

“Never.”

At first, Verron must have assumed that Tevi was merely repeating her previous assertion. His surprise showed when he realised what she meant. “But surely your family will miss you, and...”

Tevi fought to keep the pain from her face. From the way Verron’s voice trailed off, she knew she had failed.