It took several hours to complete the three letters of ownership, and they ended up spending the night aboard the ship. Although he and Seregil took advantage of what might be their last night of privacy for some time, Alec had trouble sleeping afterward, and he drifted in and out of nightmares that he couldn’t remember, except that they had to do with getting captured again. A few hours before dawn he gave up and went above.
A cold fog hung over the water, masking the shore. He heard a loud splash, followed by the harsh croak of a heron.
He wasn’t scared—risk and danger were as much a part of his life as eating—but the stakes were very high. There might well be another alchemist who could use him as a magical winepress. His hand stole to the center of his chest, where the scar of the blood tap would have been if not for Sebrahn’s healing.
He didn’t hear Seregil until he was right beside him.
“Are you well, talí?” Seregil looked a little hollow-eyed himself.
“I’m fine. I just didn’t sleep very well.”
“Me, either.” He gave Alec that crooked grin of his and rubbed his hands together happily. “It’s going to be very nice, going back in there like this, instead of bound. And not half killed with their stinking slaver magic, either.”
Alec grinned back, dreams discarded and the old spark of excitement in his belly. “Yes, it will.”
They lingered there as the crew began to appear, and it wasn’t long before the smell of porridge and salt fish drifted out from the galley. Micum and Rieser came up to join them and they ate on the deck, watching the mist swirl away with the morning breeze.
At last there was nothing left to do but say farewell.
Rhal clasped hands with all of them, even a startled Rieser, as they stood at the head of the ladder and the sailors lowered their gear to the longboat below. “Good luck to you. The striped sails should keep us safe enough if anyone happens by.”
“Just show them the guest cabin,” Seregil said with a grin. “Only a Plenimaran would decorate like that.”
“Micum, are you sure you can walk all the way to Riga?” Seregil asked as they were being rowed ashore, noticing how Micum was absently rubbing his thigh.
“I may have to rest a bit now and then, but I’ll make it. Sebrahn did a pretty good job on my leg.”
“We’ll buy horses as soon as we find some.”
“Buy?” Micum raised an eyebrow at that. “You?”
Seregil grinned. “We have plenty of money, and it will attract less attention. I didn’t come all this way to be hanged for a horse thief.”
Rhal’s coffers had provided them with as much gold and silver as a successful trader was likely to get caught with, all in Plenimaran coin. Each of them had a money purse hidden away in his pack.
They reached shore safely and pulled the boat up onto the rocky shingle to unload their meager belongings, then shook hands with the boatman and waved him off.
“Well, it’s time to complete our disguise.” Seregil took the linen veils from his pocket and showed Rieser how to tie his over his face, just under his eyes.
“I feel ridiculous,” the Hâzad muttered. “And what about him?” he asked, looking at Alec. “Even with his hair dark, it’s obvious to anyone with eyes that he’s a ya’shel.”
“Slavers aren’t that particular,” Alec said. “Ya’shel are common, though they’re not as valuable. Yhakobin didn’t own any, except for me, and that was just for my blood.”
“If anyone asks about you, I’ll just tell them I got you cheap,” said Micum with a wink.
Seregil chuckled. “See, Alec? I told you he was going to enjoy this. Come on, let’s go.”
“Wait.” Alec dug in his pack for a moment, at last producing the little pouch with his flint and steel, and a handful of striped owl feathers. “I brought them from the mountains. I think we can use all the luck we can get.”
Turning his back to the breeze, he kindled a little fire with twigs and dry bits of driftwood. When the flames licked up strongly enough, he carefully laid the feathers on. Smoke rose at once, and each of them quickly bathed his hands and face in it.
“Aura Elustri málreil,” Rieser said, solemnly invoking the Lightbringer’s protection for them all.
“Even me, Hâzad?” Micum asked dryly, recognizing the prayer.
“I assume you have some Immortal of your own to look after you,” Rieser replied, and walked away.
Micum laughed, refusing to be insulted. “Come on, you lazy lot. We’re wasting daylight.”
They shouldered packs and started up the rocky beach.
Rieser scanned the empty countryside ahead. “I still think it was a mistake to come unarmed.”
“All we have to do is play our parts and stay out of trouble,” said Seregil.
“That’s right,” said Micum, carrying Alec’s bow in his free hand. “So behave while we find some horses. I got my fill of being chased by your lot, Rieser. I say we try for a nice, easy journey this time.”
They walked to the head of the beach and headed inland until they struck a forked road: the left fork was a rutted dirt track that led down to the water; the right, a proper highroad heading north toward Riga. One lonely cottage stood on the seaward side, but it looked deserted.
With nothing to hide, they took the highroad. Spring was more advanced here and the day soon grew too warm for cloaks, but they kept them ready in case they met anyone on the road.
“This is a dry land,” Rieser observed. Dust rose around their shoes with every step.
“It’s said it was forested here before the Plenimarans came. It still is in parts of the north,” Seregil told him. “But they’ve been here a good long time and cut it all down for their ships.”
“They have to trade in the north for mast timber now,” Micum added. “Even where they have forests, there aren’t enough old trees large enough to make a mast.”
Rieser shook his head. “It’s a large, strange world you live in. I miss my valley already.”
“What’s it like?” asked Alec.
Seregil listened with half an ear as the Hâzad extolled the beauties of his mountain fai’thast. It sounded a lot like Bôkthersa. He was more interested in the interplay between the two. Alec had been hostile to Rieser in the beginning, and with good reason. But that had been somewhat tempered during the time they’d spent in each other’s company.
For his part, Seregil had considerable respect for the tall, grim man. He was made of stern stuff, and brave to a fault. How else could he have offered to go with them like this, strangers sailing to the most dangerous place a Hâzadriëlfaie could possibly go?
Rhal waited until Seregil and the others were gone from sight, then set sail for open water. They’d left the coastline far behind when Nettles emerged from below, dragging Morthage by the arm.
“What’s this?” asked Rhal.
“I found a traitor, Captain,” Nettles told him as more of the crew gathered around. He held out his free hand, showing them a painted stick that had been broken in two. Rhal had seen enough message sticks since he’d met Seregil to know what this was.
“And just who are you sending word to?” he demanded.
Morthage was pale and trembling, but said nothing.
“Caught the last of what he said,” the mate told him. “He said, ‘to Riga, my lord.’”
“A lord, eh? A Plenimaran?” Rhal growled.
“No! I swear!” Morthage cried, finding his voice.
“Who then?”
Morthage went down on one knee. “Please, Captain. It’s only the Virésse lord, Ulan í Sathil! I meant no harm.”
“Bilairy’s Balls, you didn’t. By the Old Sailor, man, what were you thinking? Don’t I pay you well enough? And it’s Lord Seregil’s money!”
The knave was thoroughly cowed now. “I—I beg your forgiveness, Captain.”
Rhal wasn’t in any mood to forgive, and hanged the blackguard with the full approval of the crew, but it was already too late to ge
t word to Seregil. He and the others were long gone.
Just beyond the beach Seregil and the others struck a rutted road and followed it. They soon reached a crossroads, with a marker that told them they were twenty miles out from Riga and only six from a town called Rizard.
“I hope they have a horse market there,” Micum said, sitting down heavily on a large stone.
Seregil knew Micum would ask for help if he really needed it, and that pride would keep him from need as long as possible. Despite the grey in his hair, Micum was still tough as an oak bole.
Not long after that they came upon a prosperous-looking farm with a corral full of fine-looking horses.
“Even better,” said Micum. “It will be easier convincing people that I’m a horse trader if I have some horses.”
They approached the house cautiously, but there were no dogs about, though they could hear barking from one of the outbuildings.
Micum went to the door and knocked.
A servant girl answered and looked him up and down. “What do you want here, sir?”
“I want to buy some good horses. Will your master sell a few, do you think?”
She left them there and went to inquire. The master of the house, a plump clean-shaven man, soon appeared.
“Good morning, sir,” said Micum. “My name is Lornis of Nanta.”
“And I’m Digus Orthan. So you like my horses, do you?” the man replied, smiling as he clasped hands with him.
“That’s a nice-looking herd you have. Would you part with any of them? I can pay you a good price.”
“That’s my trade, sir. Let’s go have a look, though you flatter my stock. The best have all been taken by the army.”
The man spoke the truth, but the horses he had left were good enough. In short order Micum picked out a spirited piebald mare for himself, a pair of chestnut geldings, and three cheaper mounts for the slaves. He paid in silver.
“You’ll be needing a saddle, too,” Digus noted. “I have one that might do for you, if you don’t mind it being used.”
“Not at all. Do you have just the one, though?”
“You put your slaves on horseback?” Digus asked, surprised.
“I’m a trader myself, sir, and travel long distances. These three are good, loyal slaves and I work them hard. They need steady beasts for that.”
“Well, I don’t have any saddles for them, but I can spare a few blankets and bridles.”
The bargain was struck, and Micum parted on good terms with the man.
“Always good to make a friend here and there,” Seregil told Rieser as they rode on. “You never know when they’ll prove useful.”
At the next crossroads, they overtook a drayman with a load of turnips, heading in the same direction they were going.
Seregil and the others pulled up the hoods of their cloaks. Between that and the veils, only their eyes were visible. The sharp, dangerous look in Rieser’s was enough to warn Seregil that the Hâzad might find the role of slave harder to play than he’d bargained for.
“Lower your eyes!” Seregil whispered in Aurënfaie. “And stop looking like you’re about to kill him.”
They rode forward until Micum came abreast of the man.
“Where are you headed, friend?” Micum asked as the farmer reined in his dray horse.
“Rizard market, if it’s any of your business,” the man replied.
“Why, so am I!” Micum exclaimed. “I don’t suppose you’d mind us riding along with you?”
The man scowled up at him, taking in the long sword at Micum’s hip. “I might, or I might not. You speak my tongue well enough, but with that red beard I don’t think you’re a countryman.”
“No, but I’ve been a trader here nigh onto twenty years now.”
The man turned to look at Seregil and the others. “Are you heading in to sell these?”
“Are you looking to buy?”
Seregil was glad that Rieser didn’t speak the language.
“They any good for field work? I got no use for any fancy house slaves.”
“Ah, you’re right. You’d be throwing your money away on this lot for field work,” he scoffed good-naturedly. “But Sakor’s Flame, I wish I had three more just like ’em. They’re loyal as hounds. I hardly ever have to beat them.”
The farmer was still sizing Micum up. “What is it you do?”
“I trade in horses, friend. I’ve sold most of my string, as you can see. I’m here for more, and then sailing north. Can you recommend an honest trader?”
“There’s a man in Rizard, but his stock is nothing to speak of. You’ll have better luck among the rogues in Riga, if you want better.”
“Riga it is, then.”
“So, you’ve been up north? What news of the war?”
Seregil rode behind the wagon with the others, leaving Micum to trade lies for gossip with the drayman. In no time they were laughing together like old friends.
“He’s good at this,” Seregil whispered to Rieser.
“So I see. A useful skill.”
They were nearly to Rizard when they were met by half a dozen riders in brown coats, all carrying whips and cudgels as well as long swords.
“The damn slave takers!” the farmer muttered under his breath. “They’ll be stopping us on your account. I want to be off the road before sundown.”
“Halt in the name of the Overlord!” their leader ordered. “What’s a dirt farmer like you doing with slaves?”
Meanwhile his riders had surrounded Seregil and the others.
“They’re nothing to do with me,” the drayman told them. “This red-bearded fellow’s the one you want for that.”
“Lornis of Nanta,” Micum replied, extending his hand.
The slave taker ignored it. Turning instead to Seregil and the others, he ordered sharply, “Take off those hoods, all of you.”
When they quickly complied, the one closest to Alec grabbed him by the hair. “Look at that, will you? Soft as a girl’s! You a girl?”
“He’s pretty enough. Look at those eyes!”
“What does it matter what he is?” another said with a crude laugh. “‘When whores are few, a boy will do,’ right, Zarmas?”
Alec kept his gaze averted, but his hands were curled into fists on the reins. He might not understand much Plenimaran, but he clearly got the gist of it and none of his experiences with Plenimarans had been good ones. If nothing else, he wouldn’t like strangers manhandling him.
Rieser’s eyes gave nothing away, but Seregil suspected he understood well enough, too.
“You’re a northlander, aren’t you?” their captain asked Micum. “We don’t see many of you this far south these days.”
“I’m a horse trader, and these three slaves are mine,” Micum replied, relaxed and friendly. “I have their warrants.”
“I need to see them.”
Micum took the packet of documents from inside his coat and gave it to him. As the man read through them, Micum turned and locked eyes with Seregil for an instant. He was ready for trouble if it came.
But the captain just handed the documents back. “Sorry to trouble you. We’ve had a lot of runaways this past winter and I’ve got my hands full trying to find them. There was one slave in particular, a blue-eyed one like this one of yours, but he was a blond.”
“Can’t be this boy,” Micum said. “I’ve owned him since he was just a little thing. The dates are there in the warrant.”
“So I see. I’ll just check their brands and you can be on your way.”
“Show him,” Micum ordered. Seregil was the only one who understood the words, but Rieser and Alec both pushed back their sleeves as he did and showed the fake brands. This satisfied the captain. He waved them on and continued on his way.
When they were gone, Micum heaved a deep sigh of relief. “That always takes a few months off my life, getting stopped like that!” he told the drayman. “Sorry if I’ve caused you any trouble.”
“No trouble for
me, friend. This happens all the time. Sakor help the man who forgets to carry his warrants. The markets are full of seized slaves these days.”
“More than usual?”
“So I hear. Seems some escaped from a nobleman in Riga, and when he went after them they killed him. The widow has offered a good bounty for them, but it will be the Riga Master Slaver who gets them in the end.”
“I almost pity the ones who end up like that.” Micum was fishing for information.
“I don’t, sir. Slaves who kill their masters deserve to be tortured to death in the market square.”
“I’ve never seen it myself.”
“Oh, I have! Their hands and feet are cut off, and their guts are pulled out and burned in front of them while they’re still attached. And then their eyes are gouged out and their head cut off. But even that’s too good for murdering slaves, if you ask me.”
Seregil was very glad Alec and Rieser didn’t understand any of that. He and Micum and Alec had courted grisly deaths before, but not one like this.
They reached Riga late that afternoon and were stopped and searched again at the city gate. Once again, Seregil’s forgeries stood up under scrutiny.
The harbor was thick with warships sporting the striped sails. There were Virésse vessels moored there, as well.
Seregil shaded his eyes, brow furrowed above his veil. “I suppose that’s not unusual, given the trade agreements. Still—Oh, no.”
“What?” asked Rieser.
“See that Virésse ship flying the red-and-black pennant? That little flag isn’t flown unless the khirnari is aboard.”
“Ulan í Sathil is here?” Alec exclaimed softly. “He might know about the book, too, if he was in league with Yhakobin.”
“Who is Ulan í Sathil?” asked Rieser.
“The khirnari of that clan,” Seregil replied.
“A khirnari that treats with makers of tayan’gils?” The man looked truly shocked.
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