“Yeah,” Edeard admitted with a malign grin.
“They won’t forget today,” Kanseen said. “Heavens, Edeard, you must have frightened the life out of them.”
“Let’s hope, eh.” He smiled at his friends, very content with the way they had bonded that little bit more from the shared event. A frilly parasol hit the side of his arm. “Ow!”
It belonged to the old woman they had pushed past. “In future, young man, you will display the correct courtesy due to your elders and betters,” she snapped at him. “You could have knocked me over the way you were charging about with complete disregard for anyone else. At my age, too; I would never have gotten up again.”
“Er, yes, madam. Sorry.”
“Mistress Florell!” she said, her wavery voice rising an octave with indignation. “Don’t you pretend you don’t know who I am.”
Edeard could hear Macsen chortling behind him. It was muffled as if a hand were over his mouth. “Yes, Mistress Florell.”
Her eyes narrowed with suspicion. Edeard thought she looked at least as old as Master Solarin. “I shall be reporting you to my nephew,” she said. “There was a time in this city when the constabulary had decent people in its ranks. That time is clearly over. Now get out of my way.”
He wasn’t actually in her way, but he took a step back, anyway. She brushed past with a swirl of her tentlike skirt to descend the steps to the mooring platform. Her entourage followed with immaculately shielded minds. A couple of the handmaids flashed him amused grins. They all settled in the gondola.
“See,” Macsen said, sliding his arm around Edeard’s shoulders. “That’s our true reward, the respect of a grateful populace.”
“Who is that?” Edeard whined.
That set Macsen to laughing again.
“You really don’t know, do you?” Kanseen said incredulously.
“No.”
“Among other family connections, Mistress Florell is the Mayor’s aunt.”
“Oh. I suppose that’s not good, then.”
“No. Every Mayor for the last century is some relative or other to her. She basically decides who the Grand Council will elect.”
Edeard shook his head and checked the gondola below. Mistress Florell had vanished under the awning. The gondolier gave him a wink and cast off.
“Let’s get back,” Edeard said.
A cheerful Macsen bent over to pick up the box. He shot Edeard another look as he felt the weight. “I can sense a whole load of necklace chains in here. Must be gold.”
“I hope he’s all right,” Edeard said.
“Chae?” Kanseen asked. She sounded slightly nervous.
“No. The stall holder.”
“Oh, yeah. Right.”
High above the Grand Major Canal, the ge-eagle soared lazily on a thermal, keeping the shabby gondola in sight as it hastened toward Sampalok.
Most of the crowd had gone when Edeard and his companions returned to the scene of the crime. Several stall holders in their distinctive dark green aprons were fussing around the stalls they had righted, restoring the display of goods. Boyd and Dinlay were helping fix the awning directly overhead, which had ripped free when the stalls had been shoved over.
The wounded stall holder was still on the ground. A woman was tending to him, a doctor’s satchel open at her feet as she knelt beside her patient. Two young apprentices were aiding her. Between them they had bandaged the stall holder’s chest. Now the doctor was holding herself perfectly still, eyes closed, her hands pressed gently on the bandages as her telekinesis operated on the torn flesh underneath, manipulating blood vessels and tissue. Her distinguished face was puckered with intense concentration. Every now and then she would murmur some instruction to her apprentices, who would apply their telekinesis as she directed.
Edeard watched intently, trying to sense with his farsight as well. Old Doc Seneo never had used her third hand to operate with, though Fahin had always said the technique was in the Doctor’s Guild’s tuition books.
“You three okay?” Boyd’s longtalk asked.
“Of course,” Macsen retorted.
Boyd glanced over to where Sergeant Chae was talking to a group of stall holders. “Careful,” he mouthed.
Chae marched over, his face set in a furious mask. Edeard thought his boots were going to leave imprints in the gray-brown market pavement, he was stamping them down so heavily. By some process Edeard did not quite understand, he was now standing ahead of Macsen and Kanseen.
“I believe I gave you a direct order,” Chae said in a menacingly level tone.
All Edeard’s good humor at recovering the box faded; he’d never thought Chae would be quite this angry. For once the sergeant was making no attempt to shield his feelings. “But Sergeant—”
“Did I or did I not tell you to stop?”
“Well … yes. But—”
“So you heard me?”
Edeard hung his head. “Yes, Sergeant.”
“So you disobeyed me. Not only that but you put the safety of yourself and your colleagues in danger. Those men were gang members and armed. Suppose they had pistols.”
“We got it,” Macsen announced defiantly.
“What?”
“We got it back from the bastards,” Macsen said loudly. He turned slightly so that he was facing the gaggle of stall holders and held up the box.
The burst of amazement emanating from the market folk surprised Edeard. It also silenced Sergeant Chae, though he continued to glare at the constables. Macsen walked over to the people closest to the wounded man. “Here,” he said, and proffered the box.
One of the younger men in a green apron stepped forward. “I am Monrol; Kavine is my uncle. This is what they stole from him.” He turned the lock dial with several precise twists, and the lid popped open. “It’s all here,” he said with a smile. He showed the open box to the market. “All of it. They brought it back. The constables brought it back.”
Someone started clapping and soon was joined by the onlookers. Whistles of approval split the air, and then the three constables abruptly were surrounded by the men and woman in green aprons. Their hands were shaken; their backs were pummeled. A beaming Monrol gave Macsen a hug, then moved on to Kanseen. Edeard, too, was swept up in his embrace. “Thank you, thank you.”
“Sergeant Chae,” a deep voice boomed.
The stall holders fell quiet as Setersis came forward. Edeard had seen him a couple of times before, normally when he was complaining to Chae about the infrequency of constable patrols in the market. Setersis was the head of the Silvarum stall holders association and through that had a seat on the city traders council; he had almost as much political influence as a Guild Council Master.
“Did I hear right?” Setersis asked. “Did the constables finally come to our aid?”
For once Chae looked uncertain. “We were able to assist.” He stopped glaring at Edeard and produced an almost sympathetic expression. “I was about to ask the more reckless members of my patrol to report what happened on the chase.”
“Reckless members, eh?” Setersis grinned at the three probationary constables. “Yes, you are young, aren’t you? Good for you. If we had more constables with balls, we wouldn’t be in the sorry state we are. Your pardon, my girl.”
“Granted,” Kanseen said graciously.
“Come, then; tell me what happened on the chase. Did you manage to accidentally drop the scum into the canal?”
“No, sir,” Edeard said. “I’m afraid they got away on a gondola. They headed down toward the port.” Something made him hold back from mentioning that his ge-eagle was showing him that the thieves already had passed through Forest Pool and were approaching Sampalok.
“None of the gondoliers would help us,” Macsen blurted. “We asked them.”
“Ha! Fil-rats in human guise,” Setersis grunted. “Still, you did a good job. I can’t remember the last time a constable returned stolen goods.” He gave Chae a meaningful glance, and the sergeant’s
lips tightened. “You have my thanks. I’m sure my fellow stall holders will show their appreciation next time your patrol ventures into the market.”
Edeard knew he was grinning like a fool. It didn’t matter; so were Macsen and Kanseen. Then he finally caught sight of Dinlay, who looked like his closest family had just died.
Once the doctor announced that Kavine would be all right, Chae declared that the patrol was over and they were going back to Jeavons station. He led them out of the market without another word. Edeard couldn’t work out if they were in serious trouble; the sergeant’s mind was perfectly shielded.
Macsen shot Boyd a direct longtalk query, which he shared with Edeard and Kanseen: “What did Chae say?”
“Nothing much,” Boyd replied, equally furtive. “He was yelling for you to stop. When none of you came back, he just concentrated on helping the stall holder. I had to hold the flesh together to slow the bleeding. Lady! I thought I was going to faint, there was so much blood. Monrol said they hacked him a couple of times with those blades to make him let go of the box. I wish I’d gone with you instead, but I just hesitated for that first second. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Edeard said. “The more I think about it, the more stupid I was. Chae was right.”
“What!” Macsen exclaimed out loud. He glanced at Chae, but the sergeant did not seem to notice.
“There was four of them, and they had blades; six if you count the gondoliers. We could have been killed, and it would be my fault.”
“We got the box back.”
“Luck. That’s all. Pure luck. The Lady smiled on us today. She won’t tomorrow. We have to act like proper constables—stay together, work as a team.”
Macsen shook his head in dismay. Edeard gave Kanseen an apologetic shrug.
“I went with you,” she told him quietly. “I got just as carried away. Don’t try to claim this is all your fault.”
He nodded. Up ahead, Chae was marching on, not looking around, his back rigid. Beside him, Dinlay was avoiding any communication with his friends. When they had walked back to the market from the Great Major Canal, the three of them had been triumphant; now that whole mood was badly inverted. Right there, Edeard felt like turning around and heading out of the city. It was going to be awful back at the station; he just knew it.
“That’s not the kind of attitude the returning hero is supposed to wear,” Salrana told him. Her longtalk conveyed a lot of concern.
Edeard tipped his head up to give the sky a sheepish smile. “I’m sorry. We did it, though. We actually chased off some thugs from a gang.”
“I know! I farsighted you the whole time. You were terrific, Edeard. I wish I’d chosen to be a constable.”
“Our sergeant doesn’t share your opinion. And what’s worse, he’s right. We didn’t behave properly.”
“Have you told the stall holder that?”
“That’s not the point.”
“Yes, it is, Edeard. You did a good thing today. It doesn’t matter how you did it. You helped someone. The Lady saw that, and she’ll be pleased.”
“Sometimes you have to do the wrong thing,” he mouthed silently. Some good cheer returned as he tried to imagine what Akeem would have to say about all Chae’s rules and procedures. It would be short and very succinct, he knew.
“What?” Salrana asked.
“Nothing. But thank you. I’m going to go back to the station now and do whatever it takes to put things right with my sergeant.”
“I’m always so proud of you, Edeard. Talk to me tonight; tell me what happens.”
“I will. Promise.”
When they got back to the station, Chae’s temper seemed to have vanished. Edeard was expecting to be shouted at as soon as they passed through the big gates. Instead, Chae stood there with a genuinely weary expression on his worn face; for once his shielding had slipped enough for Edeard to sense just how tired his thoughts were. “Small hall,” he told the squad.
The others dutifully trooped into the building. Edeard waited until they were through the doorway.
“It was my fault,” he told Chae. “I encouraged the others to follow me. I didn’t listen to you, and I ignored procedure.”
Chae studied him, his mind becoming inscrutable again. “I know. Now would you like to guess what will happen if Setersis hears I gave you all a chewing out?”
“Er, he’d probably take our side?”
“He would. Now grow up fast, lad; learn how things balance in this city. Come on, I need to talk to all of you.”
The other constables rose to their feet when Chae came into the small hall. Dinlay saluted smartly.
“Pack that in,” Chae said. His third hand shut the hall doors. “Sit down.”
The squad exchanged mildly perplexed looks, except for Dinlay, who was still keeping himself apart.
“So how do you think we did?” Chae said.
“Wrong procedure,” Kanseen ventured.
“Yeah, wrong procedure. But we saved a stall holder’s life. Some gang scum got a nasty surprise. And we recovered the stolen merchandise. Those are all the plus points. The constables will be popular in Silvarum’s markets for a couple of weeks. That’s good; there’s nothing wrong with that. I’d even go so far as to say the rule of law was upheld. Edeard?”
“Sir?”
“Did your eagle follow them back home?”
“Er, yes, sir. I watched them go into Sampalok. It’s a building not far from the Grand Major Canal. They haven’t come out yet.”
“So we know which building they probably live in. What do we do about that? Do we put together a big squad and go in and arrest them?”
“Probably not.”
“Why, they’ve broken the law. Shouldn’t they be brought before a court?”
“Too much effort for a minor crime,” Macsen said.
“That’s right. So bring the eagle back, please.”
“Sir.” He sent a command through the sky above Makkathran and felt the eagle turn around, dipping one wing vertically back to the ground. It began to flash back over the big canal.
Chae was giving him an odd smile. “And you really can longtalk that far, can’t you?”
“Sir?”
“All right. Now, I’m not mad at you, any of you. So just relax, and for the Lady’s sake, try to listen to what I’m about to tell you. What you did today was what you joined up for: preventing criminal activity and protecting the people of this city. That’s good; it shows you have a sense of duty and loyalty to each other. Technically, it’s my duty to get you all through the next two months; then you’re on your own, and I start with the next batch of hopeless youths. My responsibility to you ends then. But what I have got to try and instill in you before you go out by yourselves is a sense of proportion and maybe even some political awareness. Let’s think about this. Those gang members are going to be a little shaken by Edeard’s strength and furious that they came back empty-handed after taking so much risk. Next time they go out, they’ll want to make sure their crime produces some results. So they’ll go the extra mile to make sure. Boyd, what would you do in their shoes? How would you make certain?”
“Take a pistol?”
“Very likely. So whatever constable patrol tackles them is going to get shot at.”
“Hold on,” Edeard said. “We can’t let that stop us. If we become so afraid of cracking down on the gangs that we do nothing, they’ve won.”
“Correct. So?”
“Next time we chase them out, but that’s it,” Macsen said.
“Good option. Though actually your response was about right. I didn’t behave too well out there, myself, mainly because I was worried about you guys running off like that. There’s an old natural law that says for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. If those gang members come into a market in broad daylight and use a blade on a stall holder, then they must expect a reaction from the constables. They were the ones who overstepped the mark on this occasion. But that sti
ll doesn’t mean three of you can go chasing off after four of them. With or without blades and pistols, you were outnumbered. That has tragedy written all over it. So that was wrong. It was also wrong to leave a member of the public injured and unattended. You didn’t stop to assess, which is the most critical thing to do; you also let raw instinct override my orders, which is the greater crime no matter how much you thought yourselves in the right. I’m supposed to be training you to respond to situations in a professional manner, and I clearly haven’t drilled it in hard enough. Now I’m quite prepared to write today’s lapses off to first-time excitement and the general confusion. You need experience more than you do theory, so nobody’s getting disciplined and there’ll be no recriminations. But understand this: It must not happen again. Next time we encounter a criminal act in progress, you follow procedure to the letter. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, Sergeant,” they chorused.
“Then we understand each other. So take tonight off, get yourselves down to the Olovan’s Eagle for a drink or ten, and be back in this hall for another dose of theory first thing tomorrow morning. I’ll also go against my own policy to tell you something: Unless you completely screw up your graduation exams, you will all pass your probation.”
“I was useless,” Dinlay complained. “I just froze. I was just so useless.” He gulped down more of his beer.
Edeard looked over at Macsen, who simply shrugged. They had been in the Olovan’s Eagle for an hour, and Dinlay had said very little else. It was a small miracle they’d gotten him to join them in the first place. He had not said ten words since Chae had dismissed them from the small hall.
“You froze for a couple of seconds, that’s all,” Kanseen said. “That means you were close to Chae when he ordered us all to stop and help the stall keeper. You couldn’t do anything else.”
“I should have ignored him like you did. I didn’t. I failed.”
“Oh, sweet Lady,” Kanseen grumbled, and sat back in her chair. She was wearing a blue and white dress with orange flowers. It was not the most stylish garment Edeard had seen in Makkathran or the newest, but she looked good in it. Her short hair still set her apart from all the other girls, who wore theirs fashionably long. But he rather liked it this way; it suited her, setting off a flattish nose and dark green eyes. Now that he’d known her for a few months, she was not quite as intimidating as she had been at the start, not that he thought of her as anything other than a colleague and friend.
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