Without Rhythm (The Lament) (16 page)

The Captain sighed.

"Don't let my Apprentice get killed. Here... Wait a moment..." She went to a large desk across the room, away from the area that had the ship controls and pulled out a small purse, removing several large silver coins.

"Try to get some supplies. It's what Roy would be doing anyway. If you need more than this I'll authorize it, but place a hold on it so that Paul or I can go and look at the goods later. Roy will know what kind of things to look for."

Then there was waving from the woman, as if telling Pran to leave, so she did, since the Captain was in charge of her own ship, but she just waited outside the door, since she really had no clue what she was supposed to be doing at all. Go into town, she got that part, but the rest of it? Was she supposed to spy or collect data or was it just about getting Clark back? It seemed useless to her, but a few minutes later Mara and Claire walked out, leaving Paul and Mina in the main control section.

Claire nodded to her, as if something significant was happening.

"It should be safe enough, but if anything looks out of place, leave instantly. Other than that, just go into town and pretend to be a young apprentice that doesn't know what she's doing." There was a concerned air to what she said, like she got that sending Pran might just be less than a perfect idea.

"Hey, great. I can play that role. I really have no clue what's going on here at all which will make it really easy to sell. Is the town... I don't know, why would the Mayor warn you like that? I don't get it."

Mara shrugged.

"We don't either. The fact is that it's nearly impossible to control an entire town, but once every ten years or so someone will try to take one over. That we basically have two of them back to back... No. We don't know what's going on. The code used is an old one, which most people know. You have to assume that you'll be watched the whole time, so don't do anything that's out of place. Don't try to watch them back, just go and act naturally. The hard part is that Roy needs to call you Daria now. Can you get him to do that, do you think?" Her short hair bobbed a little as she turned to walk away, Claire following, even though it was incredibly abrupt.

"Yes. Roy seems smart enough. I think he's in engineering... I..." Pran stopped, the young man jogging along the hallway at them, smiling.

"Liberty! The First Mate called back and said we were allowed to go into town for a supply run? Is that right Pran?"

Mara looked a little blank and Claire didn't make eye contact at all. Pran just shrugged.

"That's right. Say... you should call me Daria, instead of my last name. We have to hurry, or I'll get in trouble with Clark. I have some kind of exercises in the afternoon and if I'm late for them, who knows what he'll do to me."

That statement got a laugh from Mara.

"That's true. Clark gets grumpy when the new apprentices don't do everything perfectly, but you should be alright, if you don't take more than a few hours. Go. I'll let him know where you are if he asks."

They scurried away easily enough, moving out of the craft, its white form hidden a few minutes later by the trees. Pran felt her legs shooting with pain, at first, jogging along normally if a bit slow. It took a while for her body to warm up and she still hurt a lot, but Roy was gasping a lot more than she was by the time they closed on the town.

"Hey... Let's walk to the market from here?" He sounded half dead, breathing heavily and looking a little ill like he was.

"Fine." She controlled her breathing, so it wouldn't look like she was gasping nearly as much as Roy was. It was acting, but she was supposed to be a highly trained Guardian, not some Bard. The role had to be consistent or people would notice the errors. It meant having to move like she wasn't horribly stiff too.

The town was more or less deserted, the dirt and stone streets empty until they got to the market, which was a lot smaller than she thought it would be, looking to have about a dozen different stalls.

Roy understood that part and shared the information easily, like he would with any new apprentice anything in a similar situation.

"This is largely a farmers market in the summer and fall. Produce and that kind of thing. These are the people selling finished goods and non-perishable things. Preserves, flour and some things that will keep. Cloth and probably some metal things, if they have a smith in town."

They were near the first stall in the row, which had an older man sitting under an awning, wrapped in a heavy looking cloak. It was an off blue shade and looked to have seen better days, having some smudges and dirt stains. The hair on the top of his head was gone, and his smile didn't seem genuine at all. He looked hard and had a face that seemed off somehow.

"You kids looking for something in particular?"

That got an answering smile from Roy, who wasn't being nearly as suspicious as she felt for some reason. Probably because he was a good person, not sent to see if there was a problem.

"Yes sir. We have orders to check on all non-perishable goods and to see if there are any novelties that might sell well in other places? Do you know if there is anything like that here?" The man stared at them for a few seconds, then nodded.

"About halfway down on the right there are some interesting things. I have cloth, mainly homespun, but some of the women around here do a good job with it." He pointed out what he was talking about, which actually got Roy to pay close attention for a while, especially when he heard the prices.

"A silver a bolt for the fine green? I... How much coin do we have?" He glanced at Pran, who didn't take anything out of her pocket. She knew the answer and leaned in to whisper, not wanting to advertise to the whole market.

"Ten."

Roy clapped once, getting way more attention than he should have. Most of the other merchants were staring. They all looked oddly hard too and had strange bulges on their belts, hidden under cloth that indicated something wasn't right. She couldn't tell what it was, but they held themselves straight and looked strong.

"Perfect! I'd like to purchase four of the fine green then. Can we pick it up later? We may have some other things and carrying it all back ourselves might not be the most efficient way."

The man nodded, smiling again and seeming a little more happy about them being there then. All merchants liked to have sales after all.

"We can do that. Do you think that you'll be back this evening? I heard that there was a Bard coming to perform for us. Everyone will be there."

That got a grin from Roy that couldn't be faked.

"I don't know, but it sounds like that might be. Especially after a find like this cloth. Captain should be happy with me... Pr... Daria?"

She shook her head slowly.

"I have watch tonight. We need to hurry before Clark comes and drags me off." She looked at the hard man and saw that others were watching her too.

"I mean, I have permission to be here, but he can get cranky. You know how it is with masters and all that."

They were able to move down a ways to find the curiosities that had been mentioned, as well as buy nearly fifty kilos of coffee beans. They were pre-roasted, but it was, Roy assured her, a good price.

"We can always sell it in the cities." They didn't have enough silver for it, the price being nearly three gold, but the merchant was willing to hold it for them, if they could have it picked up that night.

Roy seemed pretty pleased with himself and guided her over to the table of things being guarded by a hard looking woman with unnaturally curly hair. Pran nearly ran away then.

The table didn't just have metal works or art on it, it had electrical devices. Lights, which would have been hard enough to find in most places, but also other machines that did work, if a charge was applied. The woman also had large batteries and small generators to build the charge.

It was a fortune in materials sitting there and wasn't something that should have been on a table for the public to buy at all. This kind of thing would have been made by one of the very rare craftsmen that dealt in such things, Bards and artisans. It took High Council documents to be allowed to own things like that too and no person was allowed to just
purchase
them... You had to show they were needed for some reason.

She grinned.

"How much for this beam light?" She pointed as Roy finally started to look around, a little shocked. The Guardians had beam lights, after all, so he knew what it was.

"Half silver." The woman fairly grunted the words, then picked it up, showing a small fold out handle on it.

"You turn this crank to charge it. The case is durable metal, so it won't wear out soon. High quality construction. The glass is extra thick, so you could beat a man to death with it and still have a workable light." She didn't bother smiling, but Pran did.

"Three for a silver and a half? How about three for a silver?" No one had haggled yet, but this was, clearly, forbidden technology. Or at least it shouldn't be sold to the likes of her and Roy. That meant she wanted one, but also that the seller had to be a little flexible too. It was what she would have done if she had the means and found something like this in a market on her own after all.

The woman shook her head and spoke darkly.

"Can't do it. I might be able to come down a bit, for someone as young as you, but not down to one silver. One and a tenth?" She held her hand out to shake, as if the deal was finalized. Pran took it, and felt the hard calluses there. Her hand had some too, but on the fingertips, not the palms. If the woman noticed that she didn't let it show.

"Deal. These are very good quality. If you can get more I think we can sell them in other places." Not that anyone would have the documents for them.

Nor did the woman try to show hers or get them to sign anything. It was fantastically strange. So much so that she jumped when the large hand closed on her shoulder.

"Apprentice. There you are. Trying to skip out on work?" Clark didn't actually sound mad, just bemused as if she wasn't really in trouble, just needed elsewhere.

"No sir. Roy came to see to some purchases and I found these." She showed him the beam lights, cranking one of the handles happily for a minute then showing him the light that wasn't that bright, but enough to have a cold white glow.

"Oh? You bought these with what funds? I don't recall paying you yet."

That got her to sigh.

"The Captain's. It's a good purchase though, I hope. Roy didn't tell me not to at least." She looked at the other apprentice as if hoping for back-up from him, but Clark interrupted with a laugh.

"Alright, alright. I'll let you tell her what you did with her coin. We need to get back. A lot of work to do, if we aren't expected to see to any court cases here. Come along." The hand on her arm gave a single soft tug and then they were walking, Roy explaining hurriedly about how the other things could be picked up later.

The large man just looked considering and shrugged.

"We'll get Paul out with the wagon then. You can ride in later then. We should hurry. I'll carry the lights, you can do the walking guard for us, to practice." This got directed at her, which nearly got a groan, since she was already so sore.

It was harder now than the night before too, because Clark expected her to be on a real guard, no doubt, and was also watching her to make sure she did it right. Her movements were still way too regular, and even Roy watched her easily most of the time. No one called her on it, not until they were back to the ship.

"Not
bad
work, considering. Not good enough either, but a credible start. Get a shower and into something clean for later." He spoke to both of them but tugged Pran's arm as she walked past him, Roy pulling ahead.

"You have a plan for this evening?" He sounded a bit skeptical for some reason.

"That part I actually have training for. It's the first thing I'm doing that isn't totally outside my depth." She needed to get with Ben, if he was going to play the role of her master.

It took longer than it should have, getting to his quarters, the Bard having been setting up for the evening's work for hours. He didn't wait for her to say anything when she came in, just handing her two small cases.

"Reed flute and Tampan. I don't have a wide selection of things for you to play I'm afraid. I do have a nice yellow cloak for you to wear. Can you borrow a dress? Claire has some nice ones..." It would normally be hugely inappropriate to ask her for the lend, but this seemed a little bit special. Even Benjamin got that, though it was clear he hadn't been told everything either. She nodded and tried to figure out how to ask.

"I'll try. I need some make-up too... and a different look." That, it turned out, Ben had a lot of. So it was just about the clothing and hiding her hair. There was one way to do that fast, except it would keep her from playing Guardian Daria again.

Shave it off. It was what she'd do if she were really totally committed, wasn't it?

A week before she would have manufactured an elaborate head dress instead, or a skull cap of wax and paint, but now she just didn't care enough to let vanity rule her. Bards did eccentric things like that after all. It helped them stand out and made people feel they were seeing something exotic and unusual. The truth was though that she didn't have enough time to hide herself properly and needed to go with something obvious and big that most wouldn't be willing to do for a simple disguise. She'd look pretty bad for a while, but it was worth it, if these people were selling illegal technology like it seemed.