The Elf and the Amulet

by Chris Africa

  "We have to talk about what we’re going to do next," Chassy pulled his tunic over his head. "We might not have to pay for these rooms, but sooner or later we will need coin."

  "We're less than half way to Death’s End, and we haven't even found that blasted elf," Andrev said.

  There was a knock at the door, and they threw on the last of their clothing. Nita poked her head in.

  "Let's go now," she whispered, slipping in and closing the door behind her.

  "What?" Chassy frowned. "I thought we had to stay for the festival."

  Nita grimaced. "We need to get back to tracking Lyear. Besides, Yasmina just told me I have to dance with the guard's son. Can you just imagine?"

  "We can’t leave, you said so yourself," Chassy said. "Next time don’t be so bullheaded and you won't get into these predicaments." That earned him looks from both Andrev and Nita.

  "We could just sneak out while everyone else is going off to the festival," Andrev said.

  "William and his company might be in danger if Nita doesn't go," Chassy said. "Haven't you figured out yet that William is into something dangerous? And if William is in trouble, you know they'll be right behind us."

  "I'm not the one who made the stupid promise, it was Yasmina," Nita started, but Chassy held up his hand.

  "Besides, we still owe William something for seeing us through the Blackwood. Do you think they would ever actually let us go if they knew what we were planning? Or that they wouldn’t catch up to us and make us pay later?"

  "Maybe they'll be thrown into the dungeon and we'll be rid of them," Andrev said casually.

  "Andrev!" Nita stared like she had never seen him before. "You can’t possibly want that."

  Andrev snorted. "I don’t care a bit about anyone in that company, especially that William. I don’t trust him at all, and I don’t like the way he looks at you."

  "Andrev, I don’t trust William any more than you do," Chassy reasoned. "But there are many more reasons to stay than there are to go. Did you ever think that the guards might be on the lookout to make sure that none of William’s company leaves, including us? We can’t risk trouble now. I’m sorry, Nita."

  Nita glared at him. "Fine. I'll dance tonight. But you two better keep an eye on that guard's son. If he tries anything—well, I might just have to do something that would get us in trouble."

  Chassy figured Andrev was at least as likely as Nita to get them in trouble, especially if someone started messing with his sister.

  "Okay, then, we'll leave first thing in the morning," Chassy said. "So what about this debt we owe William?"

  "I don’t think we owe him anything more," Andrev said.

  "He did provide protection all the way through the Blackwood," Nita said. "Without all those armed men we would never have been able to fight off bandits even once."

  "They also taught us to fight, and they shared their provisions with us," Chassy added.

  "They also ate from our provisions and took all of our torches! We don’t have a single one left for own at use after this," Andrev complained.

  Chassy hefted his pack. "My pack is nearly as full as when I left Orchard Vale. They didn’t ask us to share our provisions, we just offered. And the torches were part of our payment. Now that we're out of the Blackwood, we may not even need torches any more."

  "We have nothing left to give them except our wizard’s gifts and our provisions. And we need those or we'll never get to Death’s End," Andrev argued.

  They were interrupted by another knock at the door, and a stern-faced Yosef poked his head in.

  "It’s time to move on to the festival." He nodded to Nita. "If you don’t mind my saying so, I don’t know many boys as would turn down a dance from you. Can’t say as I blame the guard for the bargain he struck."

  Chassy looked at Nita—really looked at her this time—and noticed that she had pulled her auburn hair back in a blue ribbon. And she was wearing a light blue wool dress, which she must have gotten from Yasmina. It had little flowers embroidered all over it, and tassels at the wrist. Someone had to have held her down and dressed her by force, because she would never have voluntarily put a dress back on. Whatever effect Yosef’s compliments had on her, they appeared to roll right off.

  The muscles in her jaws worked as Nita gritted her teeth. "This bargain was Yasmina's doing, not the guard's. He would have let us go for a kiss on the cheek, I daresay!"

  "Yasmina also looks beautiful this evening," Yosef went on, as though Nita had never talked. "What a pair the two of you will make!"

  Nita made a disgusted sound in her throat and pushed past him out the door.

  Dark had fallen slowly as they sat in the inn talking, and by the time they stepped outside, an entirely different city greeted them. The sky was clear of clouds, and the stars were so bright they did not need help finding their way through the streets. Only a few people darted here and there, most going in one direction. Otherwise, the streets were deserted, common rooms and taverns closed.

  "Are we late? Where is everyone?" asked Chassy. Maybe Andrev and Nita were right. Now might be a good time to slip away and leave the city. He sighed. No, they had to go to the festival. He might not like William, but he didn't want to see the guy thrown in the dungeon.

  William laughed. "The locals started celebrating early. All the young children’s activities are over well before the dance, so that the entire family can participate."

  "Children’s activities?" Nita asked.

  "The three-leg race, toss the Tom, the egg scoop. Don’t you have children’s games where you come from?" he joked.

  "Of course. We play—played—all those," Nita said.

  She might have been blushing, Chassy knew he felt a little silly. Sure, they played all three of the games William had named, just last summer. But they had never considered them children’s games. It was just good fun. In fact, last summer Nita had beat all the adults at the egg scoop.

  "What do the adults do? During the children’s activities, I mean," Chassy asked.

  "They’re busy preparing the feast and rolling out the logs for the bonfire." William looked at Chassy like he was crazy.

  In Waet, even very young children helped with preparations during the harvest festival. Chassy shook his head. The world outside of Waet was a strange place.

  Streets close to the river were lined with torches. As they followed the lighted path, they began to hear sounds of people laughing, musicians playing fiddles or drums, hawkers calling out their wares. Banners and enormous torches edged the river, dispelling shadows. Along the bank floated gaily decorated barges, some offering a romantic ride under the stars. Smells of exotic foods drifted to greet them, making Chassy's mouth water. Everywhere, people were laughing and shouting, eating and drinking. Not a long face showed in the crowds. Children chased each other gleefully through the mob of bodies.

  William, who seemed to know the city well, led them to the center of activities and pushed to the front of the crowd. A bonfire bigger than the Mother Tree lit up the night, sending off sparks. On one side of the fire, celebrants were partaking freely from a table of pastries and other sweetmeats. Rough logs were positioned around the fire for sitting, but most people stood.

  "You should have something, if you’re hungry," William said. "But it is considered bad manners to take anything you won’t eat here. No stuffing your pouch."

  As if he would even think of doing such a thing! Chassy grabbed a pastry and settled onto one end of a log to watch the activity. Someone stepped in front of him, blocking his view. A blond boy held out his hand out to Nita, who shook her head vigorously, shouting something he couldn't hear.

  "It’s only the first dance," the boy yelled over the din. "You can save the rest for the guard's son."

  Andrev leaned close, and Chassy heard him say, "Nita, don’t be an unmannered fool. It is considered very poor taste to reject a dance offered at the Queen's festival."

  Nita looked at him as if to ask, "How you know
that?" but there was no point challenging his knowledge. She gathered her skirts and took the boy’s hand. He bowed and smiled at Andrev, who glared back.

  In a moment, they were out in front of the fire whirling and bobbing to the tune of one of the musical groups, though it was hard to tell which. Nita even began to look as though she was enjoying herself. By the end of the dance, a small crowd of folks had gathered in front of the couple, clapping with their steps. The dance ended with a bow and curtsy, and then—mother of all surprises!—Nita accepted another dance.

  After three or four of these dances, Nita and her partner collapsed beside Chassy, laughing and sweating. Nita's face fell when Yasmina and the guard approached.

  "Well, Samuel, I see you found a dance partner," the guard said. "I’m Lon Heike." He nudged Samuel and said something too quiet to hear.

  "Yes, she is quite good, actually. Much better than I had expected," the blond boy answered.

  It took Chassy a minute to realize what they were talking about. Nita's dance partner was the guard's son! He saw looks of surprise, then anger, flood Nita's face and Andrev's. Suddenly, Nita started laughing.

  "It’s a good thing you turned out to be who you are. It would have been a shame to give up such a good dance partner!" she said.

  Lon threw back his head and laughed. "Your little sister," he said to Yasmina, "is more gracious than my son deserves for the joke he has played."

  "Do you have any sisters?" Chassy asked. "I think Andrev could use a bit of dancing."

  Andrev scowled, but Samuel nodded to the side, where a round-faced, freckled girl in braids stood smiling shyly at Andrev. Her voice was so soft it couldn’t be heard over the roar of the crowd, but Andrev understood well enough and took her hand, tossing another scowl back over his shoulder at them.

  "Your sister?" Chassy asked.

  "No, that's Edina, my second cousin," he laughed. "If he is the polite sort, she will keep him dancing for hours."

  Chassy laughed, trying to imagine Andrev either polite or dancing. By the end of the night everyone had danced a little—all but Yosef and William, who stood watching and telling jokes. Yosef was taking the situation pretty well, Chassy thought.

  "If my wife spent the night dancing with some guard while I watched, I think I would want to show him my knuckles," Chassy confided to Yosef during a break.

  But Yosef only grinned. "It’s all to the good, boy. It’s only a dance, and it’s out in the open for all to see. Under the covers, she is all mine, and that’s all as counts."

  That was more than Chassy had wanted to know about either Yosef or Yasmina.

  17: What Jared Learned

  In the morning, Nita rushed to the common room, where most of the crew was already gathered, eating bread and sausages. Andrev sat separately and waved Nita over when he saw her. In truth, she was a little relieved. She didn't want to be around William right now. He hadn't asked her to dance a single time, despite all the hints she'd dropped throughout the night.

  "Why are you sitting over there?" Chassy slid in beside them. "Don’t you think it looks a little suspicious?"

  "We have things to discuss privately. They already know we’re keeping secrets," Nita said.

  "I think we’re the ones who should be wondering what they’re up to, with their secret wagon cargo," Andrev muttered.

  There were interrupted by the arrival of rolls, sausages and tea, brought by Captain Longboat himself.

  "Oh, no worries," the captain said, when Chassy started to protest. "Meals come with the room."

  "Captain—" Chassy started.

  "Something else, young sir?"

  "If we were looking for someone, a stranger traveling through the city, or perhaps staying in the city, how might we find him?"

  There was just no way to be clever about that sort of inquiry. Nita wondered if the captain would tell anyone.

  "Now, that’s a very good question," the captain’s eyes crinkled when he smiled. "If I knew how to do that, I’d be working for the Queen’s guard, jailing criminals. But I suppose you mean someone traveling openly?"

  Chassy nodded.

  "In that case, you have a couple of options. You could approach the captain of the city guard. He is a good friend of mine and would likely answer your questions, but he would also probably have a few questions of his own," the captain smoothed his moustaches. "Or… you could spend time in the common rooms and taverns. But you might be looking at several days of searching."

  Nita groaned. "This is going to take forever."

  "Or. . . I could have Jared make some discreet inquiries," the captain offered.

  "Out of the question!" Andrev said almost before the words were out of the innkeeper’s mouth.

  "Thank you, Captain," Chassy said, "but this is a task we really must do ourselves."

  "Well, then, perhaps I could help you narrow your search," the innkeeper said. "Is the person you’re seeking a cultured person?"

  "He’s an elf," Nita said. This whole secrecy thing was too much. Why should it be such a secret that they were looking for an elf? They didn't have to say anything about wizards and amulets.

  "Nita! What are you doing?" Andrev's voice was harsh and low.

  "And we would be grateful for the Jared's help," Nita continued. Andrev was only making things worse, acting like it was such a big secret. Eventually, they were going to have to tell someone something.

  "Nita—" Chassy's voice was surprised.

  "What’s wrong with both of you?" Nita scolded. "How are we ever going to find him in the city by ourselves? Even making the inquiries on our own we would need a guide!"

  The captain seemed amused and Chassy blushed. Well, she hoped he felt at least a little embarrassed. She had to be the one to stand up to Andrev and take all the initiative.

  "There is a fee for Jared's services. Normally, I would not charge you, but I would have to find another boy to serve in Jared’s absence." The captain spread his hands regretfully.

  "We can serve in his absence," Nita said. "Our parents own an inn, and Chassy has strong arms and a way with horses." Chassy was giving her an annoyed look, but at least she hadn't volunteered him as a serving girl!

  "Are you certain?" the innkeeper seemed surprised. "I don’t know that William would approve his crew working for me."

  "We will clear it with William first," Nita assured him.

  As if he had been summoned, William appeared at the captain’s side. Nita felt herself blushing again as she looked at him. Where Chassy and Andrev looked like… well, boys, with their disheveled clothes and ratty hair, William was a true gentleman, his clothes freshly pressed and hair neatly combed.

  "What do you need to clear with me?" he asked.

  "These three members of your crew require the special assistance of my boy Jared, and they have offered to work in his place as payment," the captain said.

  William's eyes seemed to consider for a moment, and Nita prayed he would agree without questions. Not that he had any right to tell them what they could do. But they did owe him.

  "You have earned plenty of coin on my crew. Why don’t you just pay for the boy’s services?"

  "We’ve—we’ve earned coin?" Nita stuttered.

  Chassy did seem to not know what to say either, and his mouth opened a couple of times, with no words coming out.

  "We have a long trip ahead of us," Andrev said. There was a strange sound in his voice that Nita had rarely heard. Respect, maybe? "We need to preserve our coin as much as possible."

  "In that case, you could consider the boy's services my gift for your companionship. Nita alone brought enough enjoyment to the crew with her cooking and singing to earn you double the coin my crew is typically paid," William said.

  Nita felt her face go red. Why hadn't he danced with her?

  "That won’t be necessary." Andrev stiffened.

  "Captain, would you excuse us for a moment?" William asked. The innkeeper slipped away, and William took a seat between Andrev and
Nita.

  "We don’t need your help," Andrev began, but William held up a hand.

  "Just wait. When I originally took you on, I told you I would request the rest of my payment at the end of our journey," William said. "I am ready to make that request."

  Nita's breath was stuck in her throat. Clearly, he did not mean for them to pay him in coin, if he was planning to give them coin. What else could he want? She recalled the way he had looked at her when they made their original deal.

  "What is your request?" Chassy asked.

  "I would like for you to accompany me to Fort True, as members of my guard. We would, of course, stop at your own destination, if it is along the way."

  Chassy laughed out loud. "Us? You want us to work as guards? We know nothing about being guards."

  William sighed heavily and leaned forward. "You're improving all the time. You are brave, and you can keep secrets. This is one that must be kept, at the risk of your death. Would you keep it, if I tell you?"

  So, he was finally going to tell them something about himself!

  "The goods that I am carrying are valuable, so valuable that I originally sought twelve guards. But I could only get nine. The Blackwood is too much even for most experienced guards, you see. But the three of you have shown great bravery, more than I initially expected and more than some guards I have used who were far more experienced.

  "You told me before that you have a long journey ahead of you. Well, so do I. And I could use natural fighters like yourselves."

  Natural fighters? Nita laughed. She supposed she did have a knack with the rapier, and her hand-to-hand was nothing to scoff at.

  William smiled at her. "And I suspect you could use the security of a larger group in your own troubles."

  "You’re right," Chassy said at last. "I am in favor of continuing our travels together."

  "So am I," Nita added.

  "But we aren't going to tell you anymore about ourselves just because we're traveling together. What we do is still our own business." The brusqueness had returned to Andrev’s voice, but at least he was agreeing.

  "Well, then!" William rubbed his hands together, as though eager to begin. "Let’s see what Jared can do for you."