Once the women had gotten their sweets, they turned away from the counter. As they did so, Kiri’s eyes came to rest on Daussie. She looked puzzled for a moment, then stepped closer. Linni frowned, then her eyes widened and she followed. Kiri had a beatific smile. Linni was the one who spoke. “Daussie! We’ve been so worried about you. What happened?”
Not sure what they were asking, Daussie said, “Um, what do you mean?”
“You just disappeared!” Linni leaned closer and whispered, “Since the night you vanished, the baron’s been…” she shook her head, “so much nicer.” She glanced around almost furtively. “I know you didn’t want to be one of his wives back then, but if I were you I’d come back. Things are… pleasant now.”
Daussie shook her head, “I’m very happy where I am. I miss you wives though.”
Linni’s eyes widened with sudden realization. She glanced at Kiri, then back at Daussie. “Do you know, until I saw you today… It’s as if I’d completely forgotten you were ever there with us!” She glanced at Kiri again.
The other wife nodded calmly, still pleasantly smiling.
Linni asked, “Do you think the baron’s forgotten her, just like you and I did?”
Daussie put a hand on her arm, “Just in case he has, please don’t say anything about me. I’m much happier back in my old life.”
Linni frowned, then asked distastefully, “Didn’t you work at a tavern?”
Daussie nodded, “Yes, I did. I’m back there again. I like it.”
Linni gave a little mock shudder while saying, “Good for you. But, when you change your mind, just get word to us.”
The women moved off with their guards. Before selecting one, Daussie quickly looked over all the treats and wondered how they might make some similar items at the tavern. Norman wanted to pay for hers, but she insisted on paying for it herself.
While they hurried back to the tavern, Norman continued talking at her. The only thing she remembered later was his dislike of the baron’s “uppity” wives for their bizarre insistence that they’d forgotten all about Daussie.
For her part, Daussie kept thinking about the power Kazy wielded, and the changes it’d made in the baron. It’d been weeks now, and he was apparently still a pleasant person. People in Clancy Vail were talking about how he’d changed recently. He’d rescinded some of his recent rent increases and cut back on some of his extravagant expenditures. He’d resumed repairs on the town’s aqueduct.
Daussie did agree with Norman that the wives were a little hard to take. She couldn’t help wishing Kazy or Eva had massaged their personalities as well. Well, Eva did massage Kiri’s. But she was just aiming at reducing her anxiety. That part certainly worked.
After walking another block, she thought, We certainly shouldn’t be thinking about changing them just because they didn’t turn out to be the kind of people we like! She snorted, Next thing you know we’d be having Kazy work on everybody we met…
***
Keller climbed the stairs behind Mr. Hyllis. This new flight was right over the flight from the dining room up to the clinic—which was above the stairs Keller had helped Tarc dig down into the immense cellar. At present they were climbing up into the little shack Blackstone’s construction crew had been building on top of the roof. During his nighttime guard duties Keller had looked it over when the moonlight was good, but he hadn’t really been able to figure it out. It was certainly a lot bigger than he’d need, just to sit up there at night while keeping watch.
Mr. Hyllis opened a hatch in the roof and Keller followed him through it and up into the watch shack. Once the hatch was closed again, the floor in the shack was big enough for six or eight people to stand. There was a pivoting stool with a short back for him to sit on. A stout wall came up to waist height. Its structure resembled the new heavy-duty shutters that’d been put on the windows down below. A pull rope rang a bell down in the Hyllises’ quarters.
Strange boxes stuck out through the wall. Keller tapped on one, asking curiously, “What’re these?”
Mr. Hyllis pulled a snug cover off one of the two sticking through the north wall.
To Keller’s astonishment, he saw the box was nearly full of arrows. Like a big stationary quiver. A divider separated a bow from the arrows. With a wince, Keller said, “Um, I don’t know how to shoot a bow and arrow.”
Daum clapped his shoulder, “We’ll just have to teach you then.”
“You will?”
Hyllis nodded, “Or Tarc. We’re both pretty good archers.”
Keller nodded, even though he doubted the claim, knowing archery was a difficult skill to master. He’d never seen the Hyllises practice, so even if they’d been good at some point in their lives, he doubted they still had the skill. Well, and then there’s Tarc. He isn’t even old enough to have been good at some point in the past. I suppose they’ve got to be better than I am, but they can’t be skilled enough to reliably hit a man from up here. He wondered whether just shooting arrows into their vicinity would be enough to drive brigands away.
Hyllis was pulling out the bow. He strung it and pulled out an arrow, making Keller realize the position of the boxes made it easy to pull out arrows and nock them on the bow with little wasted motion. Hyllis motioned with his chin, “See that target?”
Keller nodded, surprised to realize a target had been mounted on bales of hay—over on the side of the tavern away from the town.
Hyllis demonstrated how to grip the bow, nock the arrow and draw it. A moment later the arrow was on its way, sinking into the bulls-eye. Not perfectly centered, but pretty close. Certainly, if the target had been a man, he’d have been badly injured if not dead.
Sarno thought, I guess he is an archer.
Hyllis held the bow out to Keller.
“Shouldn’t I practice with it down on the ground first?”
Hyllis shrugged, “Shooting at a down angle from up here will be a lot different from shooting on the ground. You’ll need to practice that as well, in case we need to shoot out the windows from down on the ground floor someday, but right now our target’s set up for shooting from up here. You’d just as well start from this angle.”
Keller’s first shot entirely missed the target, making him glad there was a big clear area behind it. Mr. Hyllis had him shoot twenty practice arrows, giving him feedback on each one. His respect for the man’s skills went up and up as he realized how difficult it was to make a shot like Hyllis had. By the end, he was hitting the target regularly, but not the bull’s-eye. He knew it’d take a lot of work before a man down there would be in much danger from him. He turned to Hyllis, “Even if I get good enough to hit bandits from up here, once they get under the eaves they’ll be safe.”
Hyllis gave him an enigmatic look, “Don’t worry about it. They may be safe from the archers up here, but they’ll be close enough to be in danger from the people inside the building.”
Keller stared for a moment, wondering how they’d be in danger from people inside the building. Even if there were arrow slits in the new heavy shutters—which there weren’t—you wouldn’t be able to get an angle that’d let you shoot anyone except a guy standing right in front of the window. However, Hyllis seemed so confident Keller didn’t question him.
As they went down the stairs, Hyllis asked him to collect the arrows and repair any damage he could, then restock the quivers when he went back up to stand guard that night. Keller readily agreed.
It wasn’t until he was out searching for his arrows that’d completely missed the target that he realized that Hyllis had only shot the one arrow. I would’ve quit too after I’d hit the bulls-eye on the first shot, he thought. If that was just luck like I think it was, we’ll just have to hope a few close shots will be enough to scare bandits away.
And hope they don’t shoot any fire arrows back at us… and the building.
***
Yuri Soh walked out through Clancy Vail’s gate, looking first toward the caravan grounds to be sure the carava
n was still there, then turning toward the Hyllis Tavern. After not seeing her for weeks, he’d run into Grace again two days ago. He’d been as charming as he knew how and she’d agreed to go check out the new caravan at noon today.
He thought she was pretty and fun to talk to. After missing her for so long, he reminded himself to be sure to set another date for them to get together before he left the caravan today.
Yuri’d only gone a short distance when he realized that Grace was one of the three people walking toward him from the tavern. He waved and waited for them to reach him. “Hey Grace,” he said eyes flashing over to the other two. He recognized Nylin, who’d been with Grace the day he’d encountered her having a dizzy spell on the street. The third person was a young man, tall, with dirty blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and broad shoulders. Chick magnet, Yuri thought unhappily, wondering what they were doing there.
Grace said, “Hi Yuri. I invited Nylin and Tarc to come with us. I’m sure you remember Nylin, but I don’t think you’ve met Tarc. He’s one of the Hyllises.”
Oh, no, Yuri thought. At least it seemed likely Tarc was with Nylin rather than blowing up his chances with Grace. He smiled and extended his hand for a shake. “Good to meet you.”
They’d only taken a few steps toward the caravan when Grace took Yuri’s hand. That seemed like a good sign. She asked, “How’s the jewelry business going?”
“Good,” Yuri said. He glanced back over his shoulder at Tarc, “My dad’s got me making wire frames for those lenses your mother’s been dispensing.”
Tarc nodded, “You guys do nice work. I know my mom really appreciates you giving a good deal to the people who can barely afford frames.”
Yuri laughed, “We’re still making a profit.” He lifted his hands, “Really cheap labor, you know?” The other three laughed, making him feel good. He looked back at Tarc again noticing with some relief that Tarc and Nylin were holding hands too. He said, “It’s going to be a sad day when you guys run out of those lenses.”
Tarc rendered him speechless by calmly saying, “Don’t worry. We’re not going to run out.”
Yuri frowned and turned to walk backwards so he could watch Hyllis’s face. “Not going to run out? What, did you find an entire mountain full of lenses somewhere?”
Tarc shrugged, “Something like that.”
Yuri studied his face. It seemed completely calm and confident. Suddenly he realized what was going on. “You know someone who can make them!” he breathed.
Tarc nodded. “If you don’t mind we’d rather that didn’t get around?”
Yuri nodded, then stared at him, thinking just how impossible it seemed that someone somewhere could make such perfect lenses. Then he realized Soh jewelers’ business would be better if people thought the supply of lenses was due to run out someday. “Okay,” he said, turning back to the front. I’ll have to tell my father though, he thought. Father’ll be ecstatic.
They arrived at the caravan and started walking amongst the stalls. Since they hadn’t had lunch yet, one of their first stops was for tacos. Yuri thought they were fine, but Grace and Nylin launched into an enthusiastic discussion of how the meat was dry and the lettuce wilted. How they could be improved with some sauce and some tomato. They decided Eva should start selling tacos at the Hyllis Tavern. “Why?” he interjected. “These aren’t nearly as good as Eva’s sandwiches.”
Grace smiled at him, patting his arm as if he were a cute but unintelligent child, “That’s true, but then, these aren’t nearly as good as Eva’s tacos would be either.”
Yuri’s eyebrows rose as he pondered tacos that were as much better than the one in his hand as Eva’s sandwiches were compared to the sandwiches you got at other taverns. He grinned, “Maybe you have a point.”
They didn’t find much else that seemed interesting. Eventually, they came to an area dedicated to games of skill and chance. Though the other three were going to walk on by, Yuri said, “Let’s just watch a while.” The other three were reluctant, but they stopped when he did. His own father said these places cheated, but Yuri’d often wondered how they could do it.
Besides, he felt sure he could figure out their tricks.
They were in front of a game that involved tossing rings onto pegs. Since it wasn’t busy, the proprietor offered to show Yuri how it was done. Yuri shrugged, not wanting to get taken in by a line of patter.
The man pulled some rings out of his pocket and stepped up to the line. He quickly tossed five of them, one after the other. All but one plunked neatly down onto pegs. “See there,” the man said, picking up his rings, “you would’ve turned your five coppers into eight.” He eyed Yuri discerningly, “You look like a well-coordinated young man. You should give it a try.”
Yuri glanced at Grace, but the man said, “Unless you’re not as coordinated as I think?”
Yuri knew the man was only trying to get his goat. Nonetheless, thinking, It’s only five coppers, Yuri dug in his pocket.
Taking Yuri’s five coppers, the man waved at the bin full of rings, “Choose your weapons.”
Yuri sorted through the rings, wondering if any actually were any better than the others. Unable to detect a significant difference between them, he picked five at random. Stepping up to the line, he carefully studied the pegs, then threw his first ring.
Instead of sailing smoothly like the ones the man had tossed, it wobbled. It hit the peg but caromed off. The second one did the same.
Hyllis stepped up next to him as he nervously got ready to throw his third one. Speaking softly Tarc said, “The game’s rigged. The rings in the bin are off balance and have a larger outer diameter that hits the neighboring peg.”
Yuri gave him a wide-eyed look, remembering Tarc had traveled with a caravan himself. He also thought of how the proprietor had played with rings he’d pulled out of his pocket, not the ones in the bin. Losing five coppers wouldn’t be a disaster, but it was almost two hours’ wages and he already regretted ignoring the advice he’d been given.
He sent an angry look at the proprietor.
The man gave him a greasy smile and said, “I guess you’re not as coordinated as I thought.”
Yuri turned back to Tarc, speaking quietly in his turn, “Should I challenge him as a cheat?”
Tarc glanced around, so Yuri did too, seeing burly guards stationed here and there. Tarc shook his head, “Just throw your last three rings and consider this a valuable lesson. But don’t try to spin them.”
Gritting his teeth, Yuri stepped back up to the line. Thinking about it, he realized that though spinning should make a well-balanced ring more stable in flight, the unbalanced rings wobbled because he was spinning them. He threw his third ring. It bounced off a peg, then turned neatly before it settled onto the peg next to it. Grace and Nylin gave a little cheer while Yuri pumped his fist and thought about how his maximum loss would only be three coppers.
He glanced at the proprietor who looked irritated. He threw the next one. Once again, it clanged off one peg, then flipped once to come down perfectly on a second one. I’ve won four coppers now, he thought almost triumphantly. The most I can lose is one.
The proprietor was watching with narrowed eyes. Yuri threw his last ring. Again, it bounced off of one peg but landed on another. He turned to the proprietor and extended his hand for his six coppers.
Looking furious, the man said, “You cheated!”
Astonished, Yuri said, “How can you say that? Just a few minutes ago you were telling me how easy this game is!”
The man shook his head, “You’re doing something. The rings are bouncing funny.” He pointed imperiously back toward Clancy Vail, “Get out of here before I have you arrested.”
Yuri’s heart was in his throat, but he didn’t want to back down in front of Grace. “Give me my six coppers and I’ll be on my way.”
“Guards!” the man called.
Quietly, Tarc said, “Just ask him for the five coppers you gave him.”
Yuri didn’t wa
nt to do that, but he glanced at the big man striding his way and felt a tremor run over him. He turned back to the gamesman and said, “Just give me back the five coppers I paid to play.”
“After you cheated me?! Absolutely not! Go, and I won’t have the guards thrash you.”
By then, the two big guardsmen were standing right there beside him. One of them growled, “What’s it gonna be, Sonny?”
To Yuri’s astonishment, Tarc diffidently lifted his hand as if volunteering to answer a question in primary school. He said, “I should tell you fellows that I’ve been trained in the ancient fighting arts. I won’t be happy if you touch my friend here.”
One of the guards snorted while the other merely grinned. He looked at the proprietor of the games who nodded.
When the big man reached for him, Yuri was wishing he’d just walked away. Just as the man grabbed the front of Yuri’s shirt, Tarc reached up and slapped him lightly on the side of the head. The big man’s eyes twisted to the side and he pitched violently to the ground as if someone had clubbed him.
The other man stepped toward them, but Tarc moved so he was between the big man and Yuri. He spoke conversationally, “Now, that was an ancient fighting strike called a ‘Eustachian blow.’” He shrugged apologetically, “There’re worse things I could do to you.”
The guard on the ground chose this moment to regurgitate his lunch—violently.
Tarc regarded him a second, then said, “Pity.”
Amazed as he was by what Tarc had done, Yuri touched his shoulder and said, “Let’s get out of here. There’s more of them coming.”
Tarc looked around at the three additional guards who were approaching. He said, “Good idea,” but instead of running, he stepped to the game’s proprietor and said, “You owe my friend six coppers.” When the man began to bluster, Tarc pointed at his game and said, “See that peg in the center?”
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