Bloodhound

by Tamora Pierce

  Then she removed her other glove and held it before Achoo's nose. "Seek," she ordered.

  Achoo looked at Ahuda as if she had no more understanding of the command than a flea.

  "Seek," Ahuda told her again.

  Achoo sneezed. She had the scent, all right. She just wasn't going to follow it.

  I reached down and undid the lead from Achoo's collar. "Menean," I said.

  Achoo stood and cast about, her nose in the air. Then she raced across the training yard. She returned almost instantly to drop the glove at my feet. I bent, dusted it off, and returned it to Ahuda.

  "Sit," Ahuda told Achoo.

  Achoo yawned.

  "You've been in the Guards longer than Cooper," Ahuda said. Her voice was dry, but I saw a tiny curl of a smile at the corner of her mouth. "You ought to know to obey a sergeant." To me she said, "You might actually be good for poor Achoo. And since neither one of you's fit to train out here today, you may as well go in and wait for muster."

  I wasn't the only Dog she excused from training. Ersken was inside, and five more of us that had been caught up in the Bread Riot. We all looked as if we'd been stuck in a barrel with a lot of rocks and rolled down Palace Way to the river. At least I escaped black eyes. Ersken had a beauty.

  Goodwin was one of the first of the rest of the watch to arrive. She looked worse than I did, and I knew she spent well on healers' creams and potions. I went to her, wanting her details for the report of last night's watch. I wrote them down as she told them to me.

  "My report can stand for Tunstall's," Goodwin said when she'd finished.

  "Have you seen him yet?" I asked her. "I didn't wake till nearabout noon, and then I was writing, and training Achoo."

  "I visited a bit. We'll take his supper to him later," Goodwin promised me. "The Daughters of the Goddess were keeping him asleep most of the day. Even with the healing, his legs hurt him enough he'd just annoy us if he was awake." She tugged my braid. "Thanks to that big cove Hanse, he's alive to grouse."

  "Meeting him and his friend Dale was the gods' own luck," I said. "'Twas a pleasure to watch them fight."

  "A pity we didn't talk to them more about Port Caynn," Goodwin said. "I heard them say they'd come from there on the riverboat."

  I cursed under my breath. Here I'd gone to sleep when I could have questioned them or Steen.

  Goodwin nudged me with her arm, like she sometimes did, then winced. So did I. I guess neither of us smeared enough healing balm on those arms. "Don't gnaw on yourself, Cooper. I was too worn out myself to think of it. If we were on duty every second, we'd be dead husks like some of the older ones, not fit for human company. I'll stay human, thanks all the same."

  I still hated missing the chance to get information out of the Port Caynn travelers.

  Day Watch was filling up their muster ranks. They were worn out from being called in early to help clean up the rest of the riot. Our lot greeted them with more friendliness than usual. They'd worked for their pay this time. They returned the respect. A quarter of us were missing, laid up either at home or at the temple hospital like Tunstall.

  Ersken tugged my braid, carefully, on account of the spikes in it. "I never thought I'd say it, but I'm glad the army's in the streets. We need the help. Not that I'll be telling them."

  Jewel, who heard, snorted. "Catch the army around the Court of the Rogue, or workin' the Cesspool. It'll be normal duty for us there, certain enough. And the Cesspool folk will be worked up, what with bread prices goin' higher."

  I nodded. I'd brought my gorget, saps, arm guards, and new stiffened leather breastplate, heat or no. I also meant to draw one of the broad-brimmed leather and metal hats before we left the kennel. It would protect my head from any rain of muck that might come from above when we reached the worst parts of the Lower City. I know the Cesspool folk. I was born there, after all. Their children cried from hunger already. Knowing bread prices have doubled will make their parents crazy enough to chew off their own arms.

  "Day Watch, you served well," Ahuda told them. I saw the Dogs of the Day Watch bow their heads, startled. Ahuda rarely praised anyone, let alone an entire watch. Our Evening Dogs decide to add their bit. Nyler Jewel started it, stamping his foot, hard and regular. Yoav and Goodwin picked it up, then those of us closest to them. As the Evening Watch stamped their approval, the Day Watch Dogs stared at us.

  "It's good for them," Birch muttered to Ersken and me. "Keeps them off balance."

  "Dismissed!" roared Ahuda. We ended our stamping. Day Watch filed out, thanking us with a hand to the shoulder here, a wrist clasp there. That was enough. We didn't want them thinking that a show of respect for a day well worked meant we liked them or wanted to marry their brothers.

  "Form ranks!" Ahuda cried.

  I took my place near the back, with the first years, Achoo plopping herself comfortably at my right side.

  "Those of you assigned to duty in the Nightmarket and on Stuvek Street last night, step forward," Ahuda said. "All of you, line up in front of me."

  We stared at her as the pairs she'd summoned limped up. Why did she want the Stuvek Street pairs? I wondered. They would have been the closest, the ones best able to respond to market whistle calls.

  Ahuda leaned over the top of her tall desk to look down at the line. "What is wrong with what I see?" she asked. Frost formed on her words. "Turn and face the watch."

  The line reversed so we could all look at their faces. Corporal Greengage wasn't there, nor was his partner. I'd heard someone say they were both in beds next to Tunstall's. Every mot and cove of that line sported bruises and bandages, save two. One was a ten-year Dog named Tillyard, the other a seven-year veteran named Marks. They were as unmarked as when they went on duty last night. Someone in the ranks started to growl. Others took it up.

  Achoo was shivering. I rubbed. "It's all right," I whispered to her. "Easy, sweetheart. You're not the one that's in trouble." She leaned against me, her head tucked into my knee.

  "Tillyard and Marks. You had Stuvek Street near the Nightmarket. Yet here you are, looking like you spent your watch very agreeably," Ahuda told them. "If last night was any sign, we're in for a bad winter. We don't need curs that won't carry the load. Drop your gear where you stand." She looked around. "Senior Corporal Nyler Jewel, cut away their insignia."

  Jewel stepped forward, his dagger at the ready, and got to work. I felt for my own Dog badges, carefully sewn on my tunic. I check them every laundry day to make sure no stitch had come unraveled. I couldn't watch as Jewel cut Marks's and Till-yard's badges off and passed them up to Ahuda. Then he stripped away their leather thongs that carried the pendant with the Provost's arms. Mine is leather. Marks's was brass, Tillyard's silver, practically new.

  I couldn't see their faces. They both stared at the floor. Tillyard's hands were behind his back. Marks kept his clasped white-knuckled on his belt. They had to be afraid to speak. Even their friends wouldn't protect them in that room of growling Dogs. How could they have done that? How could they have turned away from other Dogs in trouble? I was scared green, but not so green that I'd ignore my partners, or the city-folk who needed help.

  "Don't think of collecting pay for the week," Ahuda told Marks and Tillyard when Jewel was done and back in the ranks. "Get out. Don't let any Dogs see you for a while. And don't think we'll give you scuts a reference for guard work."

  They walked out fast. I glimpsed their faces then. Tillyard was crimson with rage, or shame, while his partner was ashen. Both men's faces ran with sweat. It was amazing they didn't skid out of the room, so many people spat at them.

  Ahuda waited for the door to close before she looked at us again. "Any of you think you're not up to more like last night, now's your time to go, or don't report for duty next week," she said. "We can't handle cityfolk in a bad winter and worry if we can count on our fellows. If bad times are coming, all we have is each other. If you're not up to that, go now, and we'll understand." She looked us over slow. "It's been, wha
t, eight year since the last hungry winter?"

  I shivered. My family was in my Lord Provost's house by then, fed and warm. The Lower City was cold and hungry. My lord gave us permission to take extra food and fuel to Granny Fern and some of our other Lower City kinfolk. We had to do it in a cart, with a couple of strong menservants to guard us. Folk still tried to jump in and steal what we carried.

  "Those tarses at Two for One got an early start to jumping the prices, curse them for leeches, but the other bakers are following their lead," Ahuda went on. "They won't pass up the chance to make extra coin. The real shortages will come, and then we'll have our work set. Keep your tempers. Remember that we live here. And prepare. Now, as for tonight. The army's in the streets. Nightmarket is closed. The pairs assigned to Nightmarket tonight, see me for re-assignment. The rest of you have your patrols. Take extra care in the Cesspool. They gave Day Watch some trouble. Gods bless you all."

  "So mote it be," we replied quietly.

  "Dismissed for watch!" Ahuda ordered.

  "Tumit," I told Achoo, and stepped out to meet Goodwin. We walked out into the steamy, sickly hot courtyard. It was empty of people come to the kennel with their complaints. Thunder boomed overhead, low and sullen. Goodwin looked up. "We're going to hate all this extra gear in just a little while," she said.

  By the time we reached the end of the silent Nightmarket, the rain was pouring down so warm and heavy we could scarce see. Our leather was turning into a soaked burden on our aching shoulders and backs. Our hats were good for keeping the rain off our faces, at least.

  Achoo actually enjoyed being drenched. She trotted along, tail in the air, smelling every doorway. She'd even grin at us now and then as if to say, "Isn't this fun?"

  I hope there was little crime done, because the rain continued so hard we couldn't have seen or heard it. In that way we were wrong about the Cesspool and the Lower City. Only we Dogs, the army, and a few running folk were out and about in that. For the whole night, save for supper in a Charry Street eating house, we saw mayhap sixty people. Ten of them were in the eating house.

  Thus passed our watch. Now here I sit, all of me wrinkled like my granny from the wet. I own no piece of leather gear that is not soaked through. I have soaked three cloths in trying to dry Achoo, and she has soaked half my room, shaking off. I shiver despite the fire in the brazier next to me, the blanket wrapped about my shoulders, and even the small cup of mead I am allowing myself to warm the chill. Achoo, now well dry, and Pounce are in bed, plainly wondering why I am still up. I am going to join them.

  For the first night in weeks, it is cool in my attic room.

  Monday, September 10, 247

  Tuesday, September 11, 247

  Pounce was not home Sunday night when Achoo and I came back from watch. Achoo sniffed for him, whining, but he was nowhere in my rooms nor in my lodging house. I think she is so new to life with us that she takes any change ill.

  I wrote up the watch fast, in cipher, and went to the half of a bed that Achoo allows me. Monday was Court Day. I had to be awake at dawn.

  So I was. Pounce had yet to return. Once I'd cleaned up and dressed myself for court, I fed Achoo, telling her we would be outside very soon. I left food for Pounce and for the pigeons on my windowsill. Then I put Achoo's leash in my tunic and told her, "Tumit." I would wait until we were at court to leash her. She is doing far better at staying beside me without one.

  Down the stairs we went. There is no light in the stairwell, but I know the way by heart.

  I do not remember what happened after that. Goodwin says that I must have gone through the front door. From the footprints in the mud, two coves of good size were waiting for me on each side of it.

  My hero was Achoo. Her screaming barks as she attacked the coves were loud enough to wake Kora. Ersken was not there to help. Kora always makes him sleep at his parents' house on Monday so he won't disturb her as he prepares for Magistrate's Court. She roused to Achoo's odd, loud barking and came at the run. Seeing her with the light of her magical Gift blazing in her hands while they were fighting off Achoo, the coves fled. Achoo did not give chase, Kora says, but stayed by me as Kora got Aniki and Rosto.

  I wish she had not woken Rosto.

  Aniki went for a kennel healer, and then to court, to tell Goodwin why I had not come. Rosto would have taken me to his room, but Kora would not let him move me until the healer said it was safe.

  I know none of this. I did not even come fully to my senses until near midnight on Monday. I woke to Goodwin dozing in a chair beside my bed. Achoo slept at her feet. Pounce sat beside my hip, staring.

  How does it feel to be a fool? he asked me.

  I tried to sit up. Lightning went through my head, making my tripes leap. Somehow I turned to the side of the bed opposite Goodwin to vomit, though very little came up. Puking, though, made my head bang more, so that my gut heaved and heaved. My head hurt, my neck hurt, my shoulders hurt. My ribs were shot through with pain. I thought I was dying.

  A hand lit by Gifted fire in deep blue pressed against my forehead. Coolness like cold water spread through my poor skull, making the throbbing go away. Down through my body that wonderful chill went, settling my sore muscles, my painful bones, and my miserable belly all together. When the person who owned the hand pulled me back, I obeyed, stretching out flat on the bed once more. Now I noticed my ribs under my nightdress were wrapped, I had a splint on one arm, and there was a bandage on my head.

  There was also Achoo, who had jumped onto the foot of the bed. She was scrabbling at the blanket over my feet, whining frantically, staring at me with eyes that looked like they might weep at any moment.

  "Achoo," I croaked. "I'm all right. Easy – umm – " For a moment I searched my brain and found every memory sliding away from me. What had happened? I rubbed my head.

  "Achoo, be still or I will tie you up in the courtyard again." Goodwin said it in that way she has, the one that is very convincing. Achoo gave Goodwin a guilty look and only pawed me twice, silently.

  I saw the paper on which Achoo's commands were written in my mind's eye. I felt better instantly. "Achoo, mudah," I said. "Mudah, girl, mudah."

  "And what does that mean?" asked the stranger with the blue Gift.

  I looked up into the healer's face. "I'm telling her to be easy, Master Healer. As you have made me easier."

  He smiled at me. "It's a joy to work with someone so young. Your bones heal up right away, without the resistance of the older Dogs. That knock on the head would have been serious for someone like your partner, here."

  I put my hand on my head and felt the bandage. "Did you cut my hair?"

  "No, Guardswoman Cooper. But you had a bloody wound to bandage once we'd put ointments on it." He smiled at me, the smile crinkling his whole face.

  "Cooper, this is Master Sholto," Goodwin said. "Sir Tullus sent him to tend you. We're in the infirmary at Jane Street."

  "Sir Tullus's healer!" I grabbed Goodwin's arm and pulled her close. At least, I tried to. She leaned toward me, because I didn't really have the strength to tug on her. "Goodwin, I can't afford a healer who tends knights!" I whispered, very soft. My heart was beating fast in panic, and I knew I blushed with shame.

  Master Sholto rested a hand on my shoulder. Calm settled over me like a veil. "Sir Tullus pays my fee in these cases, young Cooper," he told me.

  "He does it whenever something happens to a Dog on their way to his court," Goodwin said. "That's why nobody ever dares claim they got sick and couldn't attend. They'd best really be sick when Master Sholto arrives."

  I looked around. I'd been tucked into the corner of the infirmary, but I knew enough from my visits to recognize the place. "How did I come here?" I asked. "Why don't I remember?"

  "You had a very nasty blow to the head, Cooper," Master Sholto said kindly. "You may come to remember what happened, or you may not. Blows to the head have that effect."

  "And I say you took sick with stupidity," Goodwin snapped.


  "Guardswoman, a little kindness is in order," Master Sholto told her.

  "With respect, sir, not in this instance," Goodwin replied.

  Master Sholto threw up his hands and went to the far side of the room, where a handful of other patients waited for him.

  Goodwin looked at me. "Cooper, how many exits does your lodging house have?"

  I rubbed my eyes, that itched me some. "Three. Four, if I go through Aniki's rooms and onto the neighbors' roof."

  "And what is a Dog supposed to do when she leaves her home?" Goodwin demanded.

  I was beginning to have a bad feeling I knew what had happened. If I was right, then so was Pounce, and I am a fool. "Choose different ways to come and go. Listen first and go carefully, in case enemies lay in wait," I muttered.

  "And why do Dogs act so?" Goodwin asked.

  "Dogs make enemies," I said, quiet-like.

  "Which is why two coves were waiting for you when you danced out your door yesterday morning." Goodwin said it cold. I could nearabout see clouds form around her words, though the air was not that chill. "Did you even stop to peek out through those spy holes Rosto had put in?"

  "I don't remember." Now I was grateful for my loss of memory.

  Achoo says she did not, Pounce told us. Achoo apologizes. She says the wind was against her. That is why she didn't smell them.

  "Achoo's excuse, at least, is a good one," Goodwin said, rubbing Achoo's ears. "Cooper has nothing to excuse her. She made a habit out of leaving her lodgings every day through her front door. Plainly these men, just as any Dog's enemies, learned it, and they nearly killed her yesterday."

  Master Sholto had returned. He frowned at Goodwin. "You've scolded enough, Guardswoman. You're upsetting my patient. She must be calm, or my spells will not take."

  "She needs to remember her Dog work," Goodwin told him while looking at me. "I lost one partner for a time, two nights ago. Yesterday morning I almost lost the other for good. I would like her not to be such a looby again!"

  She got to her feet and left, her back stiff with anger. Master Sholto watched her go, shaking his head.