The Hidden Mask (Wizard's Helper Book 6)

by Guy Antibes

  They bowed, and Penny stepped forward to give Willet a hug. “I won’t disappoint you.”

  “You haven’t so far, so why change?” Willet said.

  Chapter Seven

  ~

  J ack rode beside Lorton Reedbrook, both of them on very nice horses, as they trotted behind the carriage carrying the three women in their group. The final surprise was Oscar, Lin’s butler, holding the reins in the driver’s box.

  “I heard about your adventure two nights ago. It is the talk of the police station. So much for a discreet departure from Dorkansee,” Lorton said. “I didn’t realize the Major boy sold Penny to the Lajian Black Fingers.”

  Jack nodded. “You should know Penny well enough to know she isn’t a very good liar?” he asked.

  “I don’t know her that well, but from what I have observed, I would agree with that assessment.” Lorton smiled. “The way I heard it, she pulled the officer, who I know well, by the ear all the way to Willet’s office.”

  “The ear part is an embellishment, but she walked faster than them all, so they had to follow her to Willet Barton’s basement.”

  “An astute move. I didn’t think she was capable of doing that kind of thing. I won’t have to worry about her freezing in a crisis,” Lorton said.

  “I hate to disagree, but all of us can freeze under the right circumstances. This wasn’t one of them,” Jack said.

  Lorton nodded. “Perhaps you are right. I’ve seen it among my comrades often enough. You didn’t freeze.”

  “Not this time,” Jack said. “I’ve learned when to be cautious and when to barge in. I’m partial to barging in, but I have had to pause before.”

  That got a snort out of Lorton. “Keep it up. We didn’t get a chance to go through our itinerary on the way to Antibeaux. We will be staying in towns all the way to Bristone. The final Corandian one will be Boxwood.”

  Jack smiled. “I’m sure Penny and Sera are going to want to visit Penny’s roommate, who lives there. We can do that without compromising our identities. Deera Young knows about Penny’s first incident with the king and a bit about me.”

  Lorton nodded. “Lin told me much the same. Unless we are delayed, there is a ball that Lin knows about in Boxwood. She said it would be fun to attend.”

  “Are you a dancer?” Jack asked.

  The policeman laughed. “Not at all. I will exercise my position as a guard and defend Lady Marker’s possessions. You, on the other hand, will be required to attend social gatherings.”

  “What if Lin needs a bodyguard at a meeting or a ball?” Jack asked.

  “Then I will attend as her bodyguard,” Lorton said. “I’m not much for dancing, are you?”

  “I will crush toes if I have to dance, but I can always employ the nightingale technique to save the feet of the ladies of Boxwood.”

  Lorton laughed at that. “You aren’t serious, are you?”

  Jack shrugged. “Why not? It will be good practice. Are you sure you don’t want to do the same?”

  “Not at all,” Lorton said.

  They rode on until they were in the Fifth Ring approaching the northeast gate when they were surrounded by ten mounted men. One of them was older, blond, and very well dressed. Jack suspected he was Peer Major’s father.

  “Stop!” the man said. “I demand satisfaction!”

  “For what may I satisfy you?” Jack said, riding toward the man. “You are Peer Major’s father?” His hand was on the stub of a wand that came up just above his boot.

  “I am,” Major said. “You killed my boy.”

  “Who was trying to kill me,” Jack said. “Was I supposed to let him murder my friend who rides in the carriage ahead of me?”

  “You are nothing compared to Peer,” Major said. “You have stolen my son’s life, so I should steal yours!”

  “And you will certainly join him in his grave if you do,” Lorton said. “You have nine men surrounding this carriage. We are on a mission condoned by King Jordan. We have four nobles among us. You expect to emerge from even a successful set of murders unscathed? What of your patients and the many other sick people who you will treat in the future? Are you going to give up on them as well?”

  Major’s eyes bored into Lorton. They became red rimmed. “I loved my son.”

  “Penny liked him as a friend until he arranged to have her fall into Lazigar Porres’s clutches. He shipped Penny off to Lajia. Did he tell you that?” Jack said.

  “I heard an ugly rumor regarding that from the police. What has that to do with me?”

  “Your son sold a woman to someone else. Is that what a noble healer does? Penny met Peer on the square and didn’t seek the kind of satisfaction you are pursuing,” Lorton Reedbrook said.

  “She did?” Major asked, his anger was fading.

  “We did,” Jack said. “But that wasn’t good enough. You know the rest. He hired three thugs, thinking they would be able to stop us. I am a trained warrior. I wouldn’t have killed him if he hadn’t have drawn a wand.”

  “He wasn’t very good at such things. He was going to be a healer,” Major said.

  “It is a tragic situation,” Lorton said.

  Jack could see the man’s anger dissipate. “I can’t bring your son back,” Jack said, “but don’t ruin your life over him. I didn’t want to kill him.”

  “Love him for the good he did and the joy he gave you as he learned to be a healer,” Lorton said. “Don’t do something rash that will forever stain your family. Jack won’t spread the tale around Dorkansee. Penneta Ephram isn’t one to do that either. Go home and grieve for your son properly.”

  Major hung his head and sobbed. “Go! Go before I reconsider.” He waved his hand to pull back the men who accompanied him.

  They trundled through the gate.

  “What was that all about?” Lin said, sticking her head out of the carriage window, looking back at them. “We were about to jump out of the carriage and fight.”

  “I practiced a little-known talent we policemen try to cultivate: convincing an emotionally distraught person to calm down. It doesn’t always work, but this time we were lucky,” Lorton said.

  Jack nodded. Lorton had been the one to get through to Peer’s father. The man had been so angry, he didn’t know if the surgeon would have succeeded, but that was behind them. Jack smiled. He learned something that he felt was important. Where Jack might have been tempted to draw his blade, Lorton drew his tongue and saved ten or more lives.

  ~

  Lorton didn’t want to talk about it when they stopped in a village for some refreshment.

  “I’m glad they let us go. People will forget the argument, but they wouldn’t have forgotten the blood,” Lin said. “The police in the Fifth Ring would have most certainly kept us in custody. Willet’s influence is great, but it loses its power the farther out from the First Ring you go.”

  Sera nodded in agreement.

  “You were right not to let me walk through the hospital. I can only hope I don’t ever need medical help from Peer’s father,” Penny said.

  “I have to feel sorry for the man,” Jack said. “I doubt if he knows what other things Peer Major might have done. He didn’t look as if he believed me about the abduction.”

  Penny sighed. “I suppose you are right, something that I had a hard time accepting some time ago.” She reached out and patted Jack’s hand.

  “Keep your hand off, my boy,” Lin said with a smile. “He is my pet Knight Errant, Sir Jack.”

  “Am I a sir or a lord?” Jack asked.

  “Both,” Lorton said. “Either one is a curse as far as I’m concerned. They keep you from being an honorable working man. Plain Jack Winder does things, Sir Jack only pretends to do things.”

  “Jack hasn’t pretended to do anything,” Penny said. “Unless it was a prank and I get the impression he is mostly past pranking. Anyway, he is my pet, not Lin’s.”

  “Whatever that is, I suppose I am,” Jack said. “I guess I’m a part-time p
rankster now.”

  At least Jack’s comment elicited a giggle from Sera. Jack got a little bump from Penny, and that was enough for him.

  Penny pulled out her bone seer and closed her eyes. “Dee with an older woman. Must be her mother,” Penny said. “We will be there in two days?”

  Lin nodded. “We will spend the night in Boxwood the day after tomorrow. Enjoy the trees as they begin to color up for fall. Boxwood is a pretty enough town and nearly a city in size. I think we will all like it.”

  Lorton grunted his assent.

  They pulled into the town of Evershine. It sat in the middle of a wide valley filled with a patchwork of farms. Jack guessed the name came from its location. It was about the size of Underhill, a town in the south of Corand where Jack’s swordmaker worked.

  There were warehouses and silos to the north and the south, probably filled with produce and grain from the valley. Jack wished he was in the carriage so he could hear Lin talk about the town since Lorton had never been on their route before.

  They rolled into a very nice part of the town and entered the stable attached to a four-story inn that was better than Jack had expected.

  “I’m thrilled to be along for the ride,” Sera said with half a smile.

  “It is a very long one,” Lin said. “Are you all ready?”

  “I’ve always been ready,” Lorton said.

  Jack smiled. “I’m not sure I can keep my common roots totally covered,” he said.

  “You are a first-generation lord who earned your title. That will lower any expectations,” Lin said.

  “I’m a second-generation lady,” Penny said.

  Jack had expected her to stick her tongue out at him, but Penny wouldn’t do such a thing anymore. He was fine with that. The ladies went ahead while Lorton; Oscar, and he unloaded the bags. Servants gathered the bags on the ground to take them into the inn.

  “I don’t know if I’ll get used to that,” Jack said.

  “Lin’s domineering behavior?” Lorton asked.

  “No, being waited on hand and foot.”

  “Good! Keep it that way.” He walked ahead of Jack into the inn.

  Jack smiled as he strolled through the stable by himself. He looked up at the tall inn and took a deep breath of air and realized that even nice stables smelled the same as common ones.

  ~

  Boxwood suddenly appeared as the forest that ringed the town’s valley gave way to a wide border of farmland. Lin was right, Boxwood was indeed close to city sized as they proceeded on the cobbled road, while Oscar threaded the carriage through slower-moving carts and foot traffic.

  Jack helped Oscar with the horses and the carriage as the others walked into the inn. It looked every bit as nice as their first one.

  “Do you mind driving the carriage?” Jack asked Lin’s butler.

  “I can think of better things to do, but the weather is superb, and I am getting to see parts of Corand that have escaped me.”

  “Shall I ride with you when we leave Boxwood?” Jack asked.

  “As you wish, Lord Jack,” Oscar said.

  “Between us, it is Jack. I’ve been a lord for less than a week, and I’m far from being used to it.”

  “Not to denigrate Lady Kanlinn's efforts for the past two weeks, but perhaps I can apply a different perspective to what is expected of a gentleman lord,” Oscar said.

  “I would appreciate that. Have you met Lorton Reedbrook before?”

  “Once or twice, but only in connection with police work. Lord Reedbrook has an unconventional point of view for a noble.”

  Jack still had more challenges regarding Lorton. He thought learning more about what was expected of a lord would give him a better idea of how to deal with Lorton. He would learn what might be expected of Tanner Simple and what might happen in Bartonsee if Tanner had to succeed his half brother.

  The stable boys finally converged on the carriage, and Jack was released to go into the inn. Oscar would play the part of a carriage driver on the trip, and Jack thought that was an excellent move on Lin’s part. He could approach a different kind of servant than Sera could. He had never really spent much time thinking of roles people played in an operation of any kind. He was sure that Fasher did when he invited Grigar to accompany him to Masukai.

  Everything he had done before this journey had been instinctive. Already, Jack had counted on Lorton’s experience in dealing with hostile people and that Willet Barton’s inclusion of the policeman into their group had allowed them to pass an early barrier to their success. He recalled Penny being used to mollify Lord Dumpling, as Penny liked to call him. She played her own role, and that was successful, as well.

  Rather than reacting, Jack decided to observe others as well. He hoped to learn a lot on this errand. That would commence again once he opened the door in front of him into the inn. His role as Lord Jack Winder was about to really begin.

  It wasn’t time for the evening meal, so Jack had the opportunity to unpack his traveling bags. The trunks for Antibeaux were chained to the top of the carriage. Lin had told him to prepare to stay in Boxwood for three days.

  He found his room, his bags already delivered. Jack checked them to make sure everything was there. He drifted to the washstand, where he washed off the dust of traveling from his face before heading to the washroom for a more thorough job.

  Jack pulled out fancy clothes he had only tried on once before. He preferred wearing something more comfortable, but those clothes were now for the road. Boxwood was close enough to the Antibeaux border that there could be observers of their party in town.

  He walked down into the dining room. It looked very cozy with rugs on the floors and uniformed servants. He thought he had left that kind of opulence behind in the First Ring, but this was about the same as the inn in Dorkansee. The difference this time was they assembled to play their parts.

  Jack was the first, sitting at an empty table for six, but was soon joined by Lorton, who looked much the same as when they traveled, except he had cleaned up, as well. His role was different than Jack’s, and as he plucked at his sleeves, he wished the roles were reversed.

  “Do I look too young for a bodyguard?” Jack asked.

  Lorton grunted. “Yes. Even in your Masukaian costume, you don’t look as capable as you are. I wouldn’t fret about it since having people underestimate you is a distinct advantage.”

  Jack had to agree. Tanner generally played the role of the world-weary leader. He wasn’t so world-weary as a new father. Would Fasher have sent them along if Jackie hadn’t been born? He would probably never ask his master, for in Jack’s heart with all his capabilities and title, Fasher was his leader and the person he looked up to the most in the world.

  “What do we do now?” Jack asked. “Has Lady Kanlinn sent out messages?”

  Lorton nodded. “That was her intention.” His eyes drifted from Jack. “Here she is, so get on your feet. You can ask her yourself.” He stood, and Jack followed.

  It wasn’t just Lin, but Penny and Sera followed. Jack’s eyes were glued to Penny. Her dress was very nice, and someone had done something special with her white hair. Sera wore a much plainer dress as befitted a servant.

  “I suppose we all look better after a few hours rest from our tedious journey?” Lin said.

  Jack smiled. “I believe you are right, except for Lorton here.”

  That brought out a rise from Lorton, but his lips were curled up. Jack’s comment must have amused him.

  Chapter Eight

  ~

  D inner was almost surreal, with everyone acting out their part. Even Penny had caught on to the spirit of the conversation.

  When they were about done, a young blonde woman rushed to their table. “Penny with white hair! It looks darling,” the newcomer said.

  “Hello, Dee,” Sera said.

  The girl’s face beamed. “All three of us, together again. You are staying long enough to attend the ball?”

  Lorton stood, and Jack foll
owed.

  “We are. Perhaps it might be nice to be properly introduced,” Lin said. “Lady Penneta, would you do the honors?”

  “Certainly,” Penny said. “Why don’t you sit down with us, Dee?”

  “Lady Penneta?”

  Penny ignored the comment. “Our visitor is Deera Young. She lives in Boxwood and recently spent two years with Sera and me at the Dorkansee Healing Institute. May I present the Lady Kanlinn Marker of Dorkansee, First Ring, of course. Sera, you know. Lady Kanlinn’s bodyguard is Lorton Reedbrook on loan from the Dorkansee police, and this is Lord Jack Winder.”

  “The Jack Winder?” Dee asked.

  “The very one. He rescued me in Lajia when Lazy abducted me. King Jordan decided to elevate my father to the peerage, and I became Lady Penneta. Jack won the title of knight errant for his service to the crown on behalf of my former master and for his work in helping to save the Empress of Masukai from assassination and for his assistance in stabilizing the kingdom of Lajia.”

  Jack felt his face heat up. She embellished just a bit, but they both helped save King Eduardo. Lorton sat, so Jack followed his lead. Deera Young flashed a smile at Jack. It wasn’t a particularly innocent smile, Jack noticed. Deera wasn’t a novice with men, he figured.

  “Tell us what Boxwood is all about?” Lin asked Deera. “And what about this marvelous ball. I did manage to hear of it before I left Dorkansee.”

  “It is the pinnacle of the end of summer!” Dee said. “You will make it even better!”

  The women began to talk about the social event, and Jack quickly lost interest.

  “If you will excuse us,” Lorton said. “I believe we will see if our driver has been properly treated.”

  Lin waved her hand. “Of course, of course. You are free from now until tomorrow morning. We shall be going out after lunch.”

  Jack followed Lorton out of the dining room, and after asking a few servants, they found Oscar’s tiny room. The butler was finishing his dinner at his small desk.

  “Care for a stroll in the town?” Lorton asked.

  “I was hoping you would find a chance to seek me out. I don’t mind the room, but the menu consists of warmed up scraps. Perhaps we can find a suitable place to wash it down,” Oscar said with a smile. He looked at Jack. “I hope you don’t mind, Lord Jack.”