“Only knew she-Jeka-was in trade ... somewhere on Crafters’ Lane.” “Why was Egen after you? It wasn’t just because you told him no, was it?”
“... told him no ... two things ... he was askin’ about a girl dressin’ as a boy . .. told me I was lyin’ when I said I didn’t know.” “Why would he care about that?”
“The old fellow ... the beggar .. . once was a cooper, they say ... killed one of Egen’s killers and got clean away ... Folks talk about it... guess it curdled him .. . folks saw ‘em together ...” Kharl swallowed. Then he straightened. “You’ll still be safer here. Don’t go anywhere. We’ll talk later.” Kharl turned. “Demyst! Alynar! Cevor! Erdyl!”
“Lord Kharl?” asked Khelaya.
“We’ve got-I’ve got-another problem. You and Fundal and Mantar-make sure Enelya stays here. Tie her up of you have to, but she leaves here ... they’ll get her, too.” “Who’ll get her?”
Kharl decided to ignore the question. He wasn’t certain he knew, except that they worked for Egen. Or maybe Egen himself had killed Selda. He’d always liked to hurt people. “I don’t have time to explain now.”
Leaving Khelaya standing in the back hall, Kharl hurried up the stairs to reclaim the sabrelike truncheon and sword belt. He was still belting it in place as he hurried back down the front staircase.
Demyst was standing in the corridor. “Ser?”
“We’ll need the mounts. As soon as possible, and one extra.” Kharl winced at those words. The last time he’d brought an extra mount had been for Warrl. He’d only been three seasons too late.
“Yes, ser.”
Kharl followed the undercaptain out to the stable. He chafed at every moment it took to saddle the mounts, and at his own slowness in saddling the gentle gelding he’d ridden south. The drizzle had turned to mist, then lifted into low clouds that still suggested rain, but none was falling as he led the gelding from the stable and mounted.
Once they were away from the residence, and headed westward toward Crafters’ Lane, higher on the harbor side of the hill, Kharl turned in the saddle to the undercaptain. “We’re headed to the weaver’s-Gharan’s. Egen’s after.. .” He paused. He’d never mentioned Jeka. “... someone there who helped me a lot. I need to get her out of there and warn Gharan.”
“Yes, ser.”
Kharl studied both sides of the street as they rode down from Sixth Cross. He didn’t see any sign of patrollers nearby. For that he was glad as he reined up outside Gharan’s shop. “Wait here,” he told Demyst as he dismounted, and handed the gelding’s reins to the undercaptain. “Let me know if any patrollers are headed this way.”
Demyst nodded. “Erdyl can come get you.”
Kharl hurried into the shop.
Gharan looked up from his loom. “Kharl? I mean, Lord Kharl. What is it?”
“Where’s Jeka?”
“She’s upstairs with Amyla and the children. Why?”
“She’s got to leave. Right now.”
“You wanted me to take her, and now that-“
“Egen’s after her. She stays here, and he’ll find her.” Kharl fumbled through his wallet, and finally extracted five golds. “Here. I don’t think Egen is after anyone else. If he asks about your weaver girl, you tell him that she left and didn’t say where she was going. If it looks like trouble, just come to the envoy’s residence. If you can’t find me there, or I’ve had to leave Nordla, the golds should be enough for passage to Valmurl. If it comes to that, I’ll take care of all of you at Cantyl.”
Gharan’s mouth opened. Then he closed it. “We ... Brysta is our home.”
“If you don’t have trouble, then you can keep the golds. Call them payment for my upsetting your life.” Kharl saw a flash of sandy blonde hair. “Jeka!”
“What are you doing here?”
“Coming to get you.”
“Just like that? Like a fancy lord?”
Kharl forced himself to take a deep breath. “It’s not like that. I told you that Enelya was working for me? Well... you know Selda, at the White Pony?”
Jeka’s face froze for a moment.
“Egen or his men cut her throat. That was after they broke her fingers. They wanted to know something. Egen was after Enelya, and Selda knew about you and that you’d been the one who’d told Enelya where she could hide from Egen. She knew some other things, too.”
“Doesn’t mean he’s after me.”
For a moment, Kharl didn’t know what to say.
“Well?” asked Jeka, green eyes flashing.
“He is after you. He only knows you’re somewhere on Crafters’ Lane. Didn’t I know when that wizard-“
Jeka’s jaw tightened. “Doesn’t change anything if I go with you.”
“Not that way,” Kharl agreed. “Just grab everything you can. I’ve got a horse outside for you.”
“Can’t ride.”
“You’ll learn, and if you can’t, you can hang on to me.”
“I’ll learn. Right now.”
“Just get your things. Don’t leave anything. Otherwise, they might think that Gharan is hiding you somewhere.”
“Already figured that out.” Jeka turned and hurried toward the narrow rear steps to the upper level.
Kharl turned back to the weaver. “Egen might not ever come here. But he or his men might be here this afternoon. I can’t risk losing Jeka. Not... after everything.” He swallowed. “I didn’t mean to cause you trouble. If you want to leave right now ... you can. You can stay at the envoy’s residence ...”
Gharan shook his head. “Weaver girls come and go. Everyone knows that. I’ll just let it be known that she said she had a chance to go home.” “You’re sure?”
“I’m sure ... Lord Kharl.” Gharan flashed a smile. “If we see trouble, we’ll be at your door. I’m not a fool. Don’t think it will come to that, though.”
Jeka reappeared, carrying a burlap bag and wearing a shapeless jacket over her blue shirt, as well as a cap, under which she’d swept up her hair. She looked boyish once more. “I’m ready.” Abruptly, she turned to Gharan and hugged him. “Be thankin’ you, always.”
After a moment, Gharan bent down and murmured in Jeka’s ear, low enough that Kharl wasn’t supposed to hear it. “You did good work, better ‘n almost all. But I wouldn’t a’ given you the chance, weren’t for Kharl. Don’t forget it.” He straightened.
Kharl didn’t say anything, appreciating Gharan’s words.
“You two goin’ to keep jawing? We stay here, just cause trouble for the weaver,” Jeka said.
“Thank you,” Kharl said to Gharan, inclining his head before turning.
“It was my gain,” Gharan said. “I’ll send to the residence when the cloth is ready.”
“If I have to leave Brysta,” Kharl said, “I’ll have one of the merchanters pay for it and pick it up.”
“Your word’s always been good.” Gharan grinned. “ ‘Sides, you left a good deposit.”
Kharl hurried out of the shop.
“No sign of patrollers, not even a street Watch,” Demyst told Kharl.
That was a troublesome thought as well. Where were the patrollers?
Kharl turned to Jeka. “This horse.”
She looked at the saddle dubiously. Her face was pale.
Kharl reached out and lifted her, mostly by her arms and shoulders, and set her in the saddle. “Hang on to the reins with one hand, the saddle rim with the other. I’ll take your bag until we get there.”
He remounted the gelding and turned his mount back toward Sixth Cross. He glanced back at Jeka, riding beside Alynar. She grimaced at him. He gave an exaggerated shrug, then lurched in the saddle. He still wasn’t that good a rider. He could sense her smothered laughter.
“Street’s real quiet, ser,” observed Demyst. “Could be trouble.”
“Likely in the next few days. How are you doing on finding guards?”
“One’s coming round this afternoon. Maybe two.”
“Let’s hope they�
��re good.”
“One might be. The others . .. who knows?”
Kharl keep watching the roads, both with eyes and senses, but he saw no patrollers, nor did he sense any unusual amount of chaos. Even so, he was relieved when they finally reined up in the open space before the residence stable. He dismounted and turned the gelding to Mantar, before walking over to Jeka’s mount.
Kharl held out a hand. Jeka took it, but only long enough to scramble down. He took the mount’s reins with one hand and gave her the burlap bag with the other before she could request it.
“Now what?” asked Jeka.
“You can take one of the empty rooms on the third level.”
“Where’s Enelya?”
“In the retainer quarters there.” Kharl gestured.
“Why not put me out where she is?”
“Because you’re not a retainer here. You’re a guest.”
“A guest in a lord’s house? What kind of guest?” Jeka glared.
Kharl could feel Demyst and Erdyl edging away, leading their mounts into the stable with relief. Mantar stood by the open stable door, holding the reins to Kharl’s gelding, waiting.
“You can have one of the large bedrooms on the second level, then.”
“That where your room is?”
Kharl nodded.
“Third level’s better. Door better have a bar.”
“It has a latchplate. It’s very solid.”
“Good.”
Kharl led the mount over to Mantar. “Thank you.”
“Not at all, ser.” The driver, who was also the groom, did not look directly at Kharl, but Kharl could sense his amusement.
The mage and envoy turned back to Jeka. “This way.”
Fundal and Khelaya were waiting inside the rear hallway. Kharl could sense Enelya in the rear pantry. “Enelya, you might as well come greet Jeka.” Kharl waited, ignoring the impatience of the steward and cook, until the serving girl appeared. “Fundal, Khelaya, this is Jeka. She’ll be staying with us for a while. Up on the third level. Enelya already knows Jeka.”
Fundal glanced at Jeka.
The small woman looked hard back at the steward.
Fundal edged back.
“Captain Egen is after her as well. Not a word,” Kharl ordered.
“Yes, ser.”
Kharl could sense Fundal’s puzzlement, but he wasn’t about to explain. He wasn’t sure that he could. He turned to Enelya. “If you would take Jeka up to the third level? She can have any chamber she wishes-except the ones being used by the guards and Undercaptain Demyst.”
“Yes, ser.”
“I’m going to my chamber for a bit. Then I’ll be in the library.” Kharl left the four in the rear hall and made his way to the front staircase.
Once he was halfway up and out of sight, he called up a sight shield and hurried up and then along the corridor past his chamber and to the door to the rear staircase. There he waited until the two women passed the landing before opening the door just enough to slip inside.
“... look!”
“Look where?” asked Jeka.
“Thought someone comin’ from there. Maybe Lord Kharl just shut the door,” replied Enelya. “He’s really a lord?”
“He is. Erdyl-he’s sorta nice-he was telling me that Lord Kharl has lands with a vineyard and forests and a sawmill. And you know what he did? He built a cooperage with his own hands. A lord who wants to be a cooper. Doesn’t that beat all.”
Kharl listened, wondering what Jeka would say.
“Takes all kinds,” the weaver replied. “He found you back of Werwal’s? That right?”
“Didn’t know where else to go.”
The two reached the top of the stairs and turned toward the front of the residence.
“Best room left is in the front, west side. Sun doesn’t wake you.”
“Good enough.” Jeka cleared her throat. “Lord Kharl... he ... interested in you?”
Enelya laughed. “He’s interested in you. He found out that Selda knew where you were . .. look on his face ... think he woulda shaken me like a rat... he was runnin’ for the stable.” There was a moment of silence. “Good-looking fellow. Older, but not that old. Wouldn’t mind someone like that...”
“No! Not even for a lord.”
“Pretty choosy, you are. Especially for someone who was hiding as a boy. You ever-“
Kharl moved slightly closer as Enelya opened the door.
“Oh...” The involuntary exclamation from Jeka tore at Kharl. “Never.. .”
“He likes you,” said Enelya. ,
“Leave me ‘lone.”
“All right.” Another silence followed. “He’s good to people. You don’t bed him, fine. Leastwise be nice to him. Don’t spoil it for the rest of us.” Enelya slipped out of the front chamber, closing the door softly.
Kharl flattened himself against the wall, remaining silent while the serving girl passed him. Then he eased forward. Was Jeka humming? Singing?
He stopped. She was sobbing.
He swallowed, then turned and made his way back to his own chamber. Not until he was certain that he was alone did he release the sight shield. He stood at the window, looking down at the side garden. Jeka ... sobbing?
He stood at the window for a long time.
At around the second glass of the afternoon, he finally went downstairs to the library.
For all his worry about Jeka, he still had to consider what he might do when Brysta erupted into fighting. The clouds had lifted more, and hazy sunlight bathed Brysta. Still, it would not be that long before the summer-end rains arrived.
He settled behind the desk and took out a markstick. He couldn’t think of what to write. Or what he could do. Killing Egen made the most sense, and if there had been an Egen in Austra . . .
Kharl laughed, ironically. Ilteron had been much like Egen, except he’d been Ghrant’s older brother, and Kharl had killed him with magery. But that had been in a battle. No, Kharl had killed when necessary, but was it something that he should do as an envoy?
Being an envoy made matters harder, not easier. As just a mage and cooper, and not an envoy, for what Egen had done to Kharl and those he loved, Kharl could have killed the captain without a qualm. But.. . would that be the best thing to do? For that matter, where was Egen? Kharl didn’t dare try to travel south again. He frowned. Egen might well be at Werwal’s trial the next day. Kharl could get a sense then. If Egen was not, he might be able to ask the others where the captain was. That would be far quicker than searching blindly.
He nodded, then began to sketch out a rough map of Brysta, using an older map in one of the histories as a rough guide, but updating it from what he knew. He needed to know how long it might take to get from the two barracks to the Quadrancy Keep-or to the harbor piers and other places.
Before Kharl knew it, Khelaya was standing in the doorway.
“Supper is served, Lord Kharl... the others ...”
“Oh... I’m sorry.” Kharl rose quickly and hurried to the dining chamber.
His place at the end of the table was empty, of course. The others stood behind their chairs, Erdyl was to his right, and Demyst to his left. Jeka stood to the left of the undercaptain. She still wore the weaver’s blue, but it became her, especially in the soft lamplight of the evening.
“Please...” Kharl gestured for them to sit. “I was working on some maps.”
“You missed the midday meal, too,” Erdyl said.
Kharl hadn’t even thought about eating then. That might have been why his stomach decided to growl. After he seated himself, he filled his beaker with lager and handed the pitcher to Demyst, knowing that Erdyl would have wine, as the secretary always did.
Khelaya set three platters in the middle of the table, the main dish, something like flankaar, closest to Kharl. He served himself and handed the platter to Erdyl.
“Ah ... ser,” Erdyl began.
“Yes?”
“Just a while ago, there were two war
ships standing off the breakwater.”
“Sarronnese, I’d wager,” Kharl said, taking a helping of some cooked and wilted greenery he did not recognize. “Did you find out?”
“Cevor said they looked Sarronnese. Oh, and the Gallosian envoy has decided to go hunting somewhere north of Sagana.”
“Not much to hunt there,” observed Jeka.
“He’s not really hunting,” Kharl said, “unless it’s for a place to hide from what’s coming.”
The faintest look of puzzlement crossed Jeka’s face, then vanished.
“We think that Captain Egen may decide he should be the next Lord West,” Kharl said blandly.
“Won’t stay lord long.” “Because he’s too mean?”
“Likes to hurt people,” Jeka said. “More people find that out, fewer folks’ll support him, or fight for him.”
Kharl laughed, softly. “You’re right about that, but a lot of people could get hurt before people find out. Lord West-the present one-isn’t too kind, either.” He took a sip of the lager. It tasted flat, but that wasn’t the lager, he suspected.
They ate in silence for a time. Kharl studied Jeka, trying not to be too obvious. One thing was clear. She watched the others, and copied their manners and how they used cutlery and how they drank. Finally, as he finished the last of the mutton flankaar, Kharl turned to her.
“Is your room all right?”
“It’s fine.”
Fundal appeared in the archway. “Undercaptain ... I hate to intrude, but...”
“Sestalt is here?”
“Yes, ser.”
Demyst looked to Kharl. “If you would excuse me, ser?”
“Go ahead.”
Erdyl glanced at Kharl. “Ser?”
Kharl nodded.
After the two men had left, Jeka looked at Kharl. “You managed that nice.”
“I didn’t manage it. Undercaptain Demyst is trying to hire more guards. He told me that they would be coming this afternoon or evening.”
“Don’t want your assistant around me, either.”
Kharl wanted to sigh. Instead, he laughed. “You’re right. He said you were pretty. You are. But it bothered me.”
“Never said that to me before.”
“I shouldn’t now,” he said. “You told me nothing had changed.”
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