Shadow Magic, page 13
“Yes. In fact, you can have them now. Use them however you like. I warn you though, they will obey no order to harm me or help Vilos. Do you agree?”
Kent nodded, apparently not trusting himself to speak.
“Good.” Daktari snapped his fingers. “You will find the golems in your warehouse. When you find the girl tell one of the golems. Good day.”
Daktari wrapped a shield of invisibility around himself. It would appear to Kent that he had teleported away. He glided to the corner of the room. Now he’d see what Kent really planned to do. The former prince showed some patience. Daktari guessed he waited fifteen minutes before calling a wizard and a stunning woman into the room.
“He’s gone,” Kent said. “The meeting went as expected.”
The wizard looked nervous. He cast a spell meant to detect magical eavesdropping. Daktari smiled. That spell would ignore him as he stood right in the room.
When he finished the spell he relaxed. “All clear,” he said.
Kent said, “The sorcerer offered me the golems just as Vilos said he would.”
Daktari’s smile vanished. So, Kent had spoken to his brother. That was a surprise, considering their past.
“I agreed to look for Shara in exchange since we’re doing that anyway,” Kent said. “As for the golems, we can use them to guard our caravans but not help Vilos. With the nomads on the rampage they should come in handy. Yaway, make certain each caravan has three golems assigned to it.”
The woman nodded and walked out.
“I’m not certain you understand the danger you face,” the wizard said.
“Enough, Raven,” Kent said. “I understand the risks. Your nagging won’t change my mind.”
Raven nodded. “As you wish. Just try not to get the rest of us killed along with you.” The wizard left Kent alone in his office.
It appeared that Kent’s pet wizard wasn’t as keen on his plans as he might be. That could be useful. Perhaps a conversation with this Raven character would prove fruitful. Daktari teleported away with a thought, already weaving another layer into his plot.
Chapter 20
Four days had passed since the battle in the forest and Robert said they were nearing the edge of the Vale. Shara wouldn’t be sad to leave the trees behind. While she did enjoy listening to the birds, the many shadows made her feel surrounded. After living in the desert all her life, being unable to see more than fifty feet ahead set her teeth on edge.
On the plus side, a week of walking nonstop for ten hours a day had strengthened her muscles. She now only ached a little when they stopped each night. Her shoes and dress were little more than rags and she feared they might simply fall off, leaving her naked and barefoot.
As usual, this morning found her trudging along behind the mute giant, Morden. He held the rope and she followed like a puppy. Rather undignified for a princess, but no one seemed to care.
“Hey, kid.” Robert came walking back toward her. He seemed to be in a better mood than usual.
“You look happy.”
“I am. This afternoon we reach Reaper’s Crossing.”
“Reaper’s Crossing?”
“It’s a little town on the edge of the Vale. All the bandit groups go there to sell plunder and buy supplies. It’s neutral ground, so we shouldn’t have to worry. It’s also where we planned to sell you before we got ambitious.”
“Wonderful,” Shara said, visions of a hot bath and decent food dancing through her head. “Civilization at last.”
“It might be a stretch to call Reaper’s Crossing civilization. It’s more like a suburb of hell. On the plus side, they have more whorehouses per acre than any town I’ve visited.”
“How would you know that?” Shara asked, not certain she wanted to know.
Robert grinned and she felt certain she didn’t want to know. “Before I met Blade, I used to take a census at every town I passed through. Father was never thrilled with my habits.”
“I can imagine,” Shara said.
“Don’t misunderstand. It wasn’t the whoring that bothered him. Father liked the ladies himself. He just thought I should be more subtle. I often thought my mother was a working girl. I try and imagine my father’s reaction when he came back to see her after a year at sea and she showed me to him.”
Surprised, Shara asked, “Doesn’t it bother you that your mother might have been a whore?”
Robert shrugged then laughed. “Plenty of things in this life you can control, kid. Who your parents are isn’t one of them. Anyway, what I came to tell you was that when we get to Reaper’s Crossing stay close to one of us. We’ll only be staying a day or two and we wouldn’t want the locals getting any ideas.”
“This town doesn’t sound like the sort of place a lady should go unescorted anyway.”
He laughed again. “Can’t get anything past you, Princess.”
They left the forest behind around noon. The trees gradually gave way to bushes, and then finally they came to an open field. A well-worn path ran through it. Calling it a road would have been too generous. It was just a place where the high grass had been trod down and turned to mud that later hardened to dirt. It seemed to extend a good way in both directions.
They turned east and picked up the pace. Everyone seemed anxious to get a hot meal. Shara’s stomach grumbled in agreement.
They hadn’t gone far when Shara smelled smoke. At the bottom of a steep incline sat a small town. There were perhaps a hundred buildings divided by three streets. A three-foot wall of spikes surrounded the town except for an opening at each end of the main road. A bar at each opening prevented passage. Three people stood around leaning on spears; none of them looked the least interested in guarding the gate. Robert must have been exaggerating when described the place as a suburb of hell. It didn’t look so bad to her.
They walked down the hill heading straight for the gate. The whole group paused about twenty paces from the guards. Shara worked her way toward the front of the crowd just in time to see Robert heading over to the gate alone.
“What’s going on?” she asked no one in particular. The only reply she got was a shrug from Morden.
She watched as Robert talked with one of the guards who trotted off a moment later. After a short wait he returned with another man dressed in slightly less horrible leather armor and armed with a sword.
Robert spoke to the new man for a minute then he waved them over. As soon as they arrived the guards raised the bar and everyone walked through. Robert and the newcomer shook hands and they left the gate behind.
Now that she got closer, Reaper’s Crossing didn’t look quite as bad. The muddy streets were the worst part, the buildings looked okay. Most were two stories and sported balconies. The sole purpose of those balconies seemed to be to give half-naked women a place to get a man’s attention. The whores whistled and waved as their little procession passed. The men waved back and drooled.
Mud sucked at Shara’s shoes as they walked down the street toward the center of town, some of it finding splits in the seams and oozing between her toes. She grimaced but kept quiet. No one was going to care about her muddy toes.
They entered an open-air market like the bazaars of the High Kingdom. Shara sighed and closed her eyes. If the air had been hotter and dryer, she could almost be standing in the market at Sultan’s Oasis.
“Kind of like home, hey kid?”
Robert’s voice shook her out of her reverie. She nodded. “What was the deal at the gate?”
“A fee is required to enter the town. They collect it to pay for the guards. That guy I talked to, he’s the head guard. He owed me a favor so we got in free.”
“What did you do for him?” she asked.
“Last time we were in town he got a little over friendly with Blade. I convinced her not to cut his throat.”
“Nice of you.”
“I thought so. Besides, it’s nice to have people owe you. I collect favors like a miser collects gold.”
“So what now? Are we just going to wander around all day?”
Robert grinned. “You got a lot of lip for a prisoner.”
She shrugged. “You shouldn’t have told me how valuable I was. So what are we going to do?”
“You got nerve, kid. I like that.” He wandered off without telling her anything.
They left the market behind and finally stopped at a rundown three-story building. Outside hung a placard with a sickle carved in it. Underneath it said Final Rest Inn.
Inside, the common room was ill lit and empty. A dozen tables and about three times as many chairs seemed scattered around the room at random. Shara and the others clustered around a pair of tables in the back corner.
They had just gotten seated when a humpbacked old man with a cockeyed smile came hobbling out from the kitchen. He wore a grease-spattered apron and smelled like roasting meat.
“Hey, Grin,” Robert said.
“What can I get you?” Grin asked.
“A bowl of whatever you have on the fire and beer, old man.” Shale seemed to be in a worse mood than usual.
“Water for me, please,” Shara said.
“Wine for the lady,” Robert said.
Shara glanced at him but before she could say anything Blade said, “Two wines.”
Shara leaned over to Robert and whispered, “I don’t want wine.”
“Unless you want the worst case of the watery shits you ever had, I recommend you avoid the water here.”
Shara swallowed. She didn’t know what the watery shits were but they sounded awful. “Wine will be fine.”
The old man hobbled away.
“Listen up,” Shale said. “I don’t want to spend long in town. Bobby will fence our merchandise and buy supplies then we’re out of here. Two days, tops. This is going to be our last brush with civilization for a while, so I suggest the rest of you enjoy it.”
Everybody smiled.
“One last thing,” Shale said. “I don’t want to leave the same way we did last time.” He glared at one of the men Shara didn’t know.
The man got a pained expression, “I didn’t know she was married, Shale, honest.”
Grin came hobbling back with a tray so laden with steaming bowls, mugs, and small round loaves of bread it was all he could do to carry it.
“Just try not to make too much of a scene, all right?” Shale asked.
They all nodded.
After the meal the group broke up. Everyone but Blade, Scratch, and Robert left the inn. Scratch walked over to the cold fireplace and pointed. A roaring fire sprang up. He pulled over a chair and sat down with his cat in his lap.
“Can someone take these ropes off? My wrists are getting raw.”
“Hey, Scratch,” Robert said.
The wizard glanced over. “Yes?”
“I want to take her ropes off. You got something to keep her from wandering off?”
“I can mark her with a spell that will allow me to locate her or cause great pain. How’s that?”
Robert glanced at Blade who nodded. “Sounds good.”
Scratch got up and walked over to her. He traced a rune in front of her face. Each gesture caused a new line to glow in the air. When he finished he held his hand palm out and the rune struck her in the forehead. She flinched more from surprise than anything. She couldn’t feel anything different.
“That’s it?” Robert asked.
“That’s it.” Scratch returned to his seat by the fire.
Shara held out her hands and Robert untied them. “Well, kid, I got some work to do, so I’ll leave you in Blade’s hands.” He kissed Blade goodbye and left.
Shara massaged her wrists where the rope had rubbed them red. With nothing to do she found a seat to her liking and sat down to wait. She hadn’t been there long when Blade sauntered over and sat down across from her.
“Bobby’s become quite fond of you,” she said.
Uh-oh. Hopefully she’s not the jealous type.
Her thoughts must have shown because Blade laughed and said, “Not that way. More like a little sister.”
“Oh, I’m flattered, I guess.”
“He says you’ve got nerve. I respect that.”
Blade seemed sincere. Shara decided to press her luck. “How does a beautiful woman like you become an outlaw?”
Blade leaned back and put her feet up on the table. “I was born to it, kid. My father led a crew like this. My mother was an archer in the group. I was raised around men like Shale and worse. I started learning the sword when I was four. I killed a man when I was ten.”
“Heaven’s mercy.” Shara couldn’t imagine. When she was ten all she wanted was to talk the cook out of some extra baklava.
“Don’t feel too bad. The guy was trying to rape me at the time. I cut his dick off, dried it, and wore it on a thong around my neck. The others got the idea. Kind of killed my faith in men though.”
“What about Robert?”
Blade sighed and Shara thought she saw the ghost of a smile playing around the woman’s lips. “What about Robert? Bobby is unique. We met right here, in this room. He was on the run from some nobles and attached himself to me. Turned out he’s very good at fencing things. We made a lot more gold when he took over the job. I don’t have much of a knack for it.”
“He doesn’t seem suited to this sort of life,” Shara said.
Blade smiled for real. “He isn’t. Bobby hates living like this. He never complains but I can see it in his eyes. He isn’t ruthless enough for the work. He tries, capturing you for example. Still, anyone else would have knocked you over the head and dragged you back to camp. What’s Bobby do? He talks you into coming willingly. I don’t think the man has a truly vicious bone in his body.”
Shara relaxed a little. It seemed her captors weren’t as bad as she thought. “Robert told me you saved him. He said before he met you he didn’t care if he lived or died.”
“That’s partly true. What he didn’t mention was that I needed him as much as he needed me. I needed someone I could trust. Being on guard all the time was wearing me out. Each of us gave the other what they needed. We couldn’t have timed it better if we’d planned that meeting.”
“Why are you telling me all this, Blade?”
“It’s Bobby’s fault. He hasn’t stopped yammering about what a nice kid you are. I decided to see for myself. I’ll be damned, but he’s right.”
“So why not let me go?”
Blade laughed. “You ain’t that nice, kid. Besides, even if I wanted to I wouldn’t be doing you much of a favor. There’s bound to be plenty of others looking for you. Some worse than us.”
Their conversation ceased when Robert came flying through the front door. He headed straight for Blade. “We’ve got trouble.”
Blade frowned. “We’ve been here for an hour, how much trouble could we be in? Even those idiots couldn’t get into a mess this fast.”
“I spotted a hunter in the market.”
Blade went dead serious. “You sure?”
“I saw his wolf medallion.”
“What rank?” Blade asked.
“Silver.”
“Do you think he’s after the girl?”
“I doubt it. No one knew she’d be here. Still, if he knows about the bounty and sees her…”
“Good point. He won’t try anything in town, though, not after last time.” Blade stood up. “Time to go upstairs, kid.”
“I’ve got some more stuff to get rid of.” Robert turned toward the door. “I won’t be long.”
“Be careful, Bobby,” Blade said.
He grinned and took his leave.
Blade led Shara upstairs. They were sharing a room with Robert and Scratch. When they were inside and had the door locked behind them Shara asked, “What was that all about?”
“Bobby spotted a bounty hunter.”
“After me?” Shara shivered. Would everyone in the world be after her?
“Not likely. Don’t forget the rest of us have bounties on our heads too.”
Shara relaxed again. “Will Robert be all right?”
“Yeah, the hunter won’t try anything in town.”
“You said that before. Why not?”
Blade unbuckled her sword belt and lay down on the bed. “Last time a hunter tried to grab someone in town he was lynched.”
“Lynched?”
“Everybody in town got together and subdued the hunter. They took him outside the wall and tied him down. When he woke up they split his belly open. The guy lived a day and a half. The crows started feeding way before that.”
Shara shuddered. “Why did they do that?”
“The various groups of bandits may not agree on much, but we all agree that anything resembling the law is unwelcome.”
Shara nodded, trying to absorb the information. While she sat thinking someone knocked. First three, then a pause. Two. One.
Blade sat up as Robert entered. “Hello, ladies.”
“Bobby. What news?”
Robert went over and sat on the edge of the bed. “Could be worse. Someone stuck a knife in the hunter. Guards were dragging him out of the market when I left.”
Blade slid over closer to Robert. “I guess someone decided not to wait for him to misbehave.”
“Looks like. On the down side, I didn’t get as much for our stuff as I’d hoped. After I buy supplies tomorrow, we’ll be just about broke.” Robert dropped his arm around Blade.
“We’ll just have to build on it as we travel.” They started kissing.
Robert paused for a moment. “Why don’t you go keep Scratch company. You should be safe enough with the hunter dead.”
She didn’t have to be asked twice. Before Shara had left the room Robert and Blade had forgotten all about her.
Chapter 21
The hot season was having a last hurrah and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky to help. Vilos and his men marched towards Dahan’s Oasis, the first town north of Sultan’s Oasis. His army stretched a quarter mile down the dirt road. Vilos still wasn’t sure how his quartermaster had managed it, but in the middle of the column were a dozen wagons filled with huge water barrels. Actually, only eight were filled, the other four had been drained already. They were three days out from the capital and two more from the oasis.
