Late afternoon sun glimmered pale through thin, high clouds,and a chill breeze gusted fitfully. At the base of the Keep road, four horses stood close together with their heads down and tails to the wind. One rider sat his mount in the middle of the east road, keeping watch all around them. Two men-a graying man clad in a priest’s robes and a black-haired youth in noviceyellow-stayed in comparative shelter with the horses, a little apart from theothers. The novice spoke now and again. The priest occasionally nodded his head or signed for silence. The elder man was composed, his face serene. The youth tugged at his garments or shoved hair from his face, his fingers never still. He started as a strong gust moaned through the rocks.
A short distance away, the remaining two members of the small company drank from their water bottles and shared a wafer of crisp travel bread. One was a medium-sized, dark-skinned man who wore foreign-seeming armor of woven, hardened leather, reinforced in places with metal, the whole painted in dark red and black. His companion, a slender woman, topped him by half a head. She wore dark, serviceable leathers and a plain cuirass under a thick, black cloak. Both were extremely watchful, in their own ways. The man used little but his eyes, now and again easing partway around on one heel, his movements sparing and graceful. The woman paced, her head moving sharply as she gazed around, a long, pale braid whipping across her shoulders. She brushed crumbs from her cloak with impatient fingers.
“We will go soon, I think,” the man said. His common speechwas soft, slightly accented, his voice low and resonant. His cheekbones were high, his eyes golden-brown and tipped up at the corners. He looked young and vigorous from a distance, and only at close range could one make out fine lines around his eyes and a few gray hairs in the neat beard. “The horses do notrequire much more rest, since we did not push them hard today. Not even the packhorse of the priests, laden as it is. Even your horse-” He ducked hishead politely as the woman rounded on him. “Your pardon, Eddis.”
The woman’s mouth quirked. Her eyes were deep blue, and asshe looked at him, some of the fire went from them. She was still visibly nervy.
“All right, M’Baddah. Apology accepted, my friend. I know.You’re doing your best to get me over that stupid horse of mine. Feather! Whatfool would name a foul brute like that?”
“His previous owner, who wished to find a buyer for thebrute, as you call him? A buyer like his current owner, who chose for pretty and for price, rather than testing him thoroughly first, as I suggested at the time. The horse is an attractive fellow, and when he wishes, he does indeed move smoothly as a feather.”
“Hah.”
That was just like M’Baddah, Eddis thought. Trying to talkher out of a foul mood. It upset the clients, he reminded her. It took her attention and her energy from things that mattered-such as keeping the clientssafe. Hah, she told herself. Not one client so much as scratched in my care! And as for my moods-well, my clients know what they’re getting. By now, they shouldknow. I’ve got a reputation, after all. A corner of her mind was uncomfortablyaware he was probably right, but she was too cold and stiff and-yes-nervy, to besoothed just now.
“Sure. Until it decides to balk at something like a leaf or arabbit, and I’m flat on my back in the middle of the road!”
“My Eddis, please. This just now was not a leaf, was it?”
“I-all right, it wasn’t.”
It had raised the hair on her neck: A pale slash of road suddenly darkened and sticky with blood, and a dead pony in the ditch, just around a bend in the road, where it would startle anyone, never mind an idiot horse.
“I, myself, was caught by surprise,” M’Baddah admitted. “Somuch blood, still fresh-an ugly riddle.”
“Hardly that, M’Baddah. I’ve always thought that stretch ofroad looked like a good spot for an ambush.”
“I agree. Likely the caravan that has stayed half a day aheadof us since the pass. I would say from the signs that those who laid the trap lost the battle.”
“No broken, burned-out wagons, anyway. Whoever they are, theymight have shoveled some loose dirt over the mess they left.” She shivered as agust of wind billowed her cloak. “I thought our novice there was going tofaint.” She sighed angrily. “Wretched horse. I could’ve broken my neck!”
“It takes time to bury such a mess, my Eddis. You know that.Perhaps those folk had no choice but to flee the area at once. I think we will learn what happened at the Keep.”
“No doubt,” the woman said dryly. “In other words, we shouldget moving, right?”
M’Baddah shrugged, a wide and graceful gesture of his hands.She glanced over at the priests. The novice stood with his head bent as the elder held out a cloth-wrapped bundle and murmured a prayer over it or to it-shecouldn’t tell which. Each day at this hour, he’d broken the thing out forprayers, and it took time. Just now, she was cold and cross and ready to reach the gates up there and be done with riding for the time being.
“I’m ready. How much longer is he gonna take?” shegrowled.
“He is paying us extra to make stops for his rites,” M’Baddahreminded her quietly.
The priest lowered the bundle, checked its wrappings, and handed it to the novice to restore to the box on the packhorse’s back. The youthbrought all three mounts back with him.
“There. An hour or less, and we deliver the clients safely,and all is well. I sell Feather for you, or we trade him-”
“Blessed right we do,” she replied shortly. “In case youforget, M’Baddah, the brute has thrown me the last two mornings in arow.”
The foreigner smiled. His eyes glinted. “Then, I shall killand cook him for you, as payment for his crimes. And, how does my Eddis like her roast horse-hot through only, or dark and dry?”
Eddis turned to stare at him, her jaw slack. He raised an eyebrow and waited.
Her lips twisted. She finally laughed, and the tension went from her body and her eyes. “All right, M’Baddah, you win! They’re ready. Let’sget these two safely inside the Keep.”
He patted her shoulder and moved onto the road to signal the guard in.
“Anything, M’Whan?” he asked as the rider drew close.
“No, Father.”
He also wore red and black painted armor and carried a shortbow at the ready. M’Baddah’s son, M’Whan, was a paler, younger copy of hisfather, at least physically. He had only joined them two journeys before, and to Eddis he still seemed shy or unsure whether he belonged with them. For a while, she hadn’t been sure of that either, but it was a small enough favor to grantM’Baddah. The older man had traveled with her from the first and had provenhimself invaluable. M’Whan was still quiet, but he was an accurate archer, askilled swordsman, a good hunter, and nearly as keen-eyed a tracker as his father.
The priest and his novice were waiting quietly where the Keep road branched. Eddis and M’Baddah mounted and got the company on the move onceagain. At her gesture, M’Whan took the lead, and she and the older guard droppedback behind the clients. The swordswoman chuckled quietly.
“Thank you, M’Baddah.”
He smiled and sketched a bow.
“You know,” she added thoughtfully, “when I first hired you,I knew I was getting a good tracker and fighter-and, I hoped, an all-right cook.I didn’t realize how useful you’d be at breaking bad moods. Mine especially.”
He raised one eyebrow-a trick Eddis found mildly annoyingsince she couldn’t do it. “Bad-? Oh, I see. This temper, you mean. But, youcould easily learn to do a shift-mood yourself, if you chose, my Eddis. You breathe deeply, from the gut, and with each breath, the four words-”
“No,” she said firmly. “Thank you, but I am not readyfor your religion, M’Baddah-or whatever it is. Not yours, not theirs, notanyone’s.”
They were quiet for some moments. Eddis laid a hand on his forearm. “Sorry,my friend. Everything I’ve said to you today has been rude or angry or both. I’mgrateful you’ve stayed with me.”
“It pleases me to stay with you.” M’Baddah loosened his gripon the reins as the road began to climb.
M’Whan slowed the pace to a walk, partly for the comfort ofthe clients, but mostly so he could keep a sharp eye out as the rock walls closed in and the road began to twist its way up the steep cliff. A few turns on, there wasn’t much chance of an ambush because the Keep guards could see justabout everything, though Eddis made sure her guards stayed alert all the way to the gates. Including herself. I haven’t gained my reputation as a goodcaravan guard by taking fool’s chances, she reminded herself.
The way was narrow here, just wide enough for a cart and a rider, and there were massive boulders and rock piles everywhere. She shoved her boots deeper into the stirrups and drew back on the reins as the wretched Feather began easing to the right-and the drop-off. The road was at its steepesthere, and she didn’t like it much at the best of times.
“We are nearly out of this,” M’Baddah reminded her. “Thisswitchback and the next, and then it is nothing. And I will switch sides with you now, if you like.”
She nodded and drew a relieved breath when he and his placid mare settled in next to her again. Heights weren’t the problem, but the horse…
She ducked and threw up an arm to shield her head as a hail of small stones clattered down the slope, bouncing off the road, her head, and her forearm. Startled, Feather plunged sideways and tried to rear, but M’Baddahhauled him down before turning his own mount and urging it a few paces downhill where he could look for the source of the slide. M’Whan’s startled, wordless crybrought him back around and stopped him cold.
Two large men had come from between piles of stone and stood mid-road a few paces ahead of him, effectively cutting off their progress. One held a crossbow, the other a heavy, two-handed battle-axe. The young guard froze as the crossbow veered his way. The priest and novice eased left, against the cliff face, dragging the packhorse with them.
From somewhere above Eddis, a third man called down, “That’sright, all of ye! Stay nice and still-and quiet! — and no one’ll die! No tricks,any of you, or y’all die!”
M’Baddah held out a warning hand as Eddis glanced his way andfelt for her sword.
“You! Skinny lad in the rear, I see that! Hand away from theblade, mow.”
Eddis scowled, hand still hovering, but M’Baddah said, “He isalmost straight above you, my Eddis, and he has a stone in his hands-a largeone.”
She spread one hand across her leg, signaling “Stay ready.”The brute high above her rumbled a threat, and Eddis spread her hands as wide as she dared without letting go the reins. The horse was acting up, tight as she held him.
“You settle that horse down there, boy!” the man overheadsnapped. “No tricks, I said!”
“Come steady him yourself!” Eddis snarled and looked up.Three man-lengths above her, a bear of a man in rusty armor straddled a slab of rock, easily hefting a boulder that would crush her, if he dropped it. His eyes went wide.
“You’re no lad!”
“Bright man,” Eddis replied steadily. “Except you’ve pickedthe wrong place to rob people.”
“Would be,” the man with the crossbow said, “if we planned ontaking our time.” He stepped forward, eyes shifting to the priest. “We won’t.You-priest. Just hand over that box and your pouch, and we’ll be gone.”
The priest eyed him coldly.
“Or we’ll kill you all and take it anyway.”
The bandit gasped in pain, one of M’Whan’s hidden daggersdeep in his forearm. The crossbow twanged loudly. Eddis tightened her grip on the reins and threw herself flat on Feather’s neck as the quarrel sang throughthe air unnervingly close.
M’Baddah caught his breath sharply, came up behind Eddis, andslapped her horse on the rump, sending it jerking forward. The crossbowman’sweapon fell from suddenly limp hands, as he staggered back, M’Whan’s seconddagger buried to the hilt in his throat.
Eddis spurred up the road, drawing her sword. She and M’Baddah veered around the huddle of priests. Feather leaped again, nearlyunseating Eddis as the boulder shattered on the road just behind them. M’Whanhad already turned partway around in the saddle, a word steadying his well-trained horse as he drew his bow down on the man high on the ledge. M’Baddah and Eddis rode straight for the axeman, who stared blankly at hisfallen companion.
She sliced at his head as she rode past, and he winced back from her-into M’Baddah’s wickedly sharp, curved sword.
It took her a moment to get Feather under control and turned. The crossbow wielder lay still, and M’Baddah was dismounting rather stiffly toretrieve his sword from the dying axeman. Up on the rocks, the brute clutched his shoulder, where one of M’Whan’s yellow-fletched arrows wobbled between hisfingers, a dagger’s worth of the shaft in his arm. He turned and staggered outof sight.
Eddis rode down to where the clients still huddled against the cliff “It’s all right, you’re safe and so is your bundle. Let’s go, now.”
The novice clutched his saddlebow and closed his eyes. He looked sick. The priest merely nodded and tugged at the youth’s reins to get allthree animals moving. She let them pass, caught up to M’Baddah and his son.M’Whan was off his horse staring at his father.
“Father, you’re wounded!” When he reached out, M’Baddahpushed his hands aside.
“It is nothing much, my son. Leave it. You can tend it for meonce we reach the Keep walls and the inn.”
It was Eddis’ turn to stare. A trickle of blood ran downM’Baddah’s leg. He held a short, pale quarrel in one hand, but the tip and afinger’s worth of shaft were dark with his blood. “You broke the man’s aim. Whatmight have been painful is merely a scrape.” Before M’Whan could protestfurther, the older man mounted. “Let us get these priests safely inside thegates.”
“These men-” M’Whan began. He sounded dazed, and his face waswhite.
Eddis shook her head. “Leave the bodies. Your father isright. The priests are our concern now.” And your father, she thought.
The younger man pulled himself together, nodded, remounted, and dropped back to take rearguard behind the priest, his novice, and the packhorse.
Fortunately, the last of the steep part was nearly behind them. The next loop of road seemed to jut over open air before turning back along the cliff face, and from that point on, the way was fairly easy. M’Baddah,despite his wound, set a quick pace, and now Eddis could see the thick, featureless south wall and the first glimpse of turrets. After another turn, more of the walls, and finally she could make out movement up there: guards and others, perhaps.
After that final climb, the road snaked east along the black stone ledge, hugging the walls before making the final plunge to the main gate. Now she could see men in polished helms gazing over the walls, and the glinting points of their tall pikes. The drawbridge spanning the dry gully was down and the portcullis up, but the heavy gates were closed. She was aware of men watching from the high, square towers, ready to launch an attack if need be. From here, she couldn’t see the ballistae and catapults.
It was always daunting, riding up to this gate. M’Baddah,aware how she felt, laid a hand on her shoulder. He looked pale, and his lips were set in a tight line, but as she worriedly touched his shoulder, he managed a smile.
“We are safe. They know us, my Eddis.”
“I know. It’s just that…”
She let that go and took the lead, pulling the cap from her very recognizable hair as she dismounted at the gate. It was quiet, suddenly, leaving her all too aware of the narrow slits and round openings in the walls.
One gate opened as she stepped forward, enough to let out two men armed with pikes. One came a pace closer, smiling as he recognized her. She managed a smile in reply.
“Eddis of Caffer, and my men,” she said. “You know M’Baddahand his son, M’Whan. We’ve brought the priest Xyneg and his novice to meet withyour curate. But first-we were attacked just now, on the Keep road.”
At a gesture from the near guard, the one just behind him turned and strode back into shadow. He returned a moment later with a tall officer, who listened as she quickly explained.
“Get four bowmen out here at once, mounted,” he told theguard. “I’ll go with them. Eddis,” he added, “we’ll talk of this later. Gofreely inside, settle your clients and your horses and goods, get yourselves lodging and a meal. You’re known here.”
“Thank you,” she replied. “Known” meant they were trusted-notkept in the barracks and watched until they were deemed safe, which was almost as good as known. “We three will be at the inn. The clients are to be guests ofthe curate and are expected.”
The officer nodded as he and his fellows mounted and rode out.
Eddis felt suddenly very tired indeed. The pikeman smiled at her. “As the captain says, ma’am-”
“That’s Eddis. Ma’am is my mother.”
“Eddis.” The smile became a grin. “You’re known here, Eddis.Captain’ll find you when he needs you. I’ll get someone to escort the priests tothe chapel.”
Eddis shook her head. “Thank you, but it’s a contract. We’llmanage.” She made certain to shove her cloak behind her shoulders as the gateopened. Let the guard see I’m armed but that the weapons are properly stowed,she thought.
An hour later, washed and clad in fresh cloth breeches andtunic from her saddlebags, pale, damp hair trailing down her back, Eddis sat cross-legged on a narrow cot in one of the inn’s few private rooms, counting outstacks of coins on three squares of soft brown suede. Six extra silver to share out this time. Nice of that priest to add it. Still, we did deliver them safe, even after the surprise practically at the gates. Two extra silver went to M’Baddah as her lieutenant; one for his son, as apprentice. Still better cointhan a two-season youth could expect in most companies. All in all, very good money, this trip. She folded the sides of the leather around the coins and set the packets on the low chest that held her personal things. Aside from the chest and the bed, there was no other furniture-wasn’t room for anything else, exceptthe small wooden tub they’d brought in for her bath and taken away once she wasdone.
M’Baddah and M’Whan stayed close by, in the large commonroom. Eddis stretched hard and leaned forward to squeeze water from her hair onto the stone floor. Now and again she stayed in the common room herself, but the chance of a bath and clean hair had been too much to resist.
“Getting soft in your old age, Eddis,” she mumbled. “A roomall to yourself with a bar for the door, and a real window.” True, the windowwasn’t much more than a narrow slit-deliberately made too narrow for anyone toclimb through, though only a madman would try something that lawless inside the Keep-unlike some places she’d stayed.
She dismissed that, gazed around the tiny room with real pleasure. Everything about it was plain, strictly functional, but neat and very clean It was much nicer than what she’d had as a girl-a corner of the main room,near the hearth, and a damp straw mattress to share with three sisters.
All the rest of her siblings-the ones who’d survivedchildhood-still lived in that village. Most of them, especially her oldersisters, had thought her an odd child for actually enjoying the bow lessons all the village children had to take. Even the villages near the heart of the realm weren’t always safe from human predators or other, worse things, but many boysand most of the girls found ways to avoid the demanding work. Not Eddis. She had shown a talent for the bow, and later for the spear, and eventually had been allowed to join the village hunters-mostly older men like her uncles.
It had taken a lot of convincing to get yet another uncle who’d been a soldier to teach her basic sword moves. She’d managed, and she’dmastered them, which was all that counted.
At the time, she hadn’t been certain what she would do withsuch skills. A grown village woman wasn’t expected to use weapons. By the timeEddis had reached her seventeenth summer, she knew that whatever else she wanted out of life, being a villager wasn’t any part of it.
Her family hadn’t understood. “They probably still don’t,”she sighed faintly. At times, she missed them very much. “But not that way oflife.”
Her oldest sister had wed at sixteen, was a mother at seventeen, and had never been beyond the most distant of Caffer’s hay fields. Ithadn’t been easy for Eddis, breaking with the only way she’d ever seen or known,moving from Caffer to the nearest market town, finding enough work here and there to keep herself fed, currying horses in exchange for a corner of the stable where she could sleep, hoarding her money a copper at a time so she could haggle for that first used sword.
“Forget all that,” she told herself. “It’s done, and itwasn’t easy, and sometimes it was frightening, and some bad things happened, butit’s over. You won, and you got what you wanted, Eddis-your own company ofguards, the chance to travel and be paid for it, to see new lands and meet new people. Sometimes, you get to fight. And you still enjoy all of it.”
She got to her feet, shoved the men’s pay packets in herbelt, stuffed all but three coins of hers in her purse, and snugged the ties down. The loose money went into the pocket sewn inside her tunic. That should cover food and drink.
She shook still-damp hair back over her shoulders where it lay cool between her shoulder blades. M’Baddah and his son must be at the tavernby now. No matter. Her stomach was reminding her it had been too long since that bit of travel bread at the base of the cliff.
The tavern door was at an angle across the courtyard from the inn, just a few long strides away. Now she could smell fresh-baked bread and hear laughter. The small courtyard was cool, the air definitely damp, and the sun nowhere in sight, though it was barely two hours from midday. She crossed the area quickly, slipped through the open doorway, and paused there, letting her eyes adjust to the interior gloom.
The deep walls and strong shutters kept the place warm this time of year. The interior was one large room with plenty of long trestles and benches. There were smaller tables here and there that could accommodate six, if people sat close.
M’Baddah had taken one of the tables against the far wall,and as she started across the room, he got to his feet and pulled out a four-legged stool for her. He and M’Whan had shed their lightweight armor andnow wore loose, sleeveless red tunics over black shirts and loose black pants. Both had thick pottery mugs before them. M’Badda’s small knife was stuck in adark loaf of bread. Eddis drew her stool in close to the table and handed over the folds of leather.
“A small bonus, thanks to that little disagreement on theroad,” she said, her voice low, and her movements unobtrusive. The Keep had themost law-abiding citizenry she’d seen anywhere, and the taverner was known tokeep a close eye on his customers, as did the guards who came here. Still… nopoint in tempting anyone. The men slid the packets out of sight. M’Baddah camepartway to his feet again, but M’Whan pressed him back down.
“You said you would rest, Father. A cup of pressed fruit anda small ale for you, isn’t it, Eddis?”
She nodded, and he went off to the counter. M’Baddah cut athick slice of bread and handed it to her, his face expressionless.
“Your leg is all right?” she asked.
He nodded. He didn’t like being fussed over, she knew, andshe kept her voice neutral.
“It is fine, and I am fine. M’Whan thinks it his fault.”
Eddis shook her head. “We were in a bad spot, and he disabledand killed the one man with a distance weapon, and it’s his fault?M’Baddah-!”
“You know his problem, my Eddis. He thinks however much hetrains, and however skilled he becomes, he will let me down. I cannot persuade him this is not so.”
He went abruptly quiet as M’Whan returned with two woodencups. She tore off a bit of the dark brown, pungent bread, then washed it down with a swallow of fruit juice before topping off the cup with some ale.
“Apricots-oh, that’s nice.”
There was silence around the small table for some time, as they finished the bread. Eddis poured the last of the ale into the apricot juice and drained the cup.
“I think I’ll last until nightfall, now.”
“I asked the taverner for you,” M’Baddah said. “The same stewas last time: venison in a thick broth, and plenty of tubers and carrots. And the taverner’s wife still makes one pot with and one without the onions.”
“Good.” Onions made her ill, which had been another goodreason to leave her home village. She leaned forward on her elbows. “Now. Haveyou heard anything yet about customers leaving here?”
M’Whan shook his head. “I asked in the stables, Eddis. Theysaid some hide merchants came in earlier, but they won’t leave until everythingthey brought sells-two carts of goods and another of weapons and metals.”
“Weapons? Interesting. Most tanners stick to their hides.Still, they’ll be fighting snow over the passes if they delay too long,” Eddissaid. “Not our concern. What escort?”
“I did not learn that yet,” M’Baddah put in. “But I hearthere is an ore-monger who wants a guard for himself and his purse in the next day or so.”
“Too soon for me,” Eddis replied.
Too soon for M’Baddah, she thought. Whatever special potionshe carried, he’d still taken a quarrel in the thigh, and she wasn’t about tohead out with her lieutenant wounded. If all else failed, she’d claim exhaustionherself to keep them here until he was all right. She glanced around the room. There weren’t many people around at this hour; a few men sharing a jug of wineat a nearby trestle might be either off-duty guards or armsmen. No one she recognized.
“My Eddis,” M’Baddah said, “I agree there is no hurry for us.You look tired, and this season has been good to us. We can afford to wait for a client or even return north without one. Also,” he added with a sly smile, “Iwill need time to sell that horse of yours.”
She smiled back. “I know. Still, if we can find a client, afew days from now, I’d rather not-”
“I understand,” he said. “You have been poor and hungry, andyou choose not to be these things again.” He shrugged. “It will not be aproblem, my Eddis. You have a good reputation.”
“We have,” she corrected him.
“We, then. What?” he asked as M’Whan’s gaze went beyond them,toward the door. Eddis turned to look.
Two tall, ruddy men stood just inside the open doorway, and one of them was laughing cheerfully and loudly, drawing everyone’s attention.
Eddis groaned. “Oh, gods, it’s Jerdren. I should have known.”
“But I thought you liked Jerdren?” M’Whan asked ratheranxiously.
“I do. Sort of. Sometimes. But he’s… impetuous. Trouble.Remember the fight he started last time we met up with him?”
“I remember.” The youth cast up his eyes. “Because we sleptin the stable that night after getting kicked out of the inn.”
“Well, that’s Jerdren for you,” Eddis said resignedly. “Youjust never know what he’ll do, but you do know it’ll be loud and probablyinvolve fists. That’s fine for some village where the worst that happens is thepeople around him get shoved into the stable for the night. The Keep-they’llshove you into the dungeon and leave you there.”
M’Whan shook his head. “He knows that too, doesn’t he?”
“I think so. Gods, I hope so. Still, why would that stop-”
A cheerful, carrying voice filled the room, silencing her and briefly quieting most of the chatter around them.
“By my father’s white beard, it’s never Eddis, is it?”Jerdren strode over to clap her on the shoulder. “I haven’t seen you since…” He considered this and shrugged it aside.
“Since the ale house in Lower Vale,” Eddis said, mildlyenough. “The one where you and those two village louts got in a fight over thebarmaid and got all of us tossed out.”
“Why-so it was.” He seemed surprised by this, then grinnedagain. “But I didn’t get you tossed out, Eddis! Hey, no, youpunched that red-faced brother of hers in the-”
“I didn’t punch him until he grabbed my-never mind.” Eddisscowled up at him. “Damn all, Jers, why is it that every other time we run intoeach other, you’ve either been in a fight or are about to pick one? Not justLower Vale, but Hillside, Rivers-Edge and Bally?”
She slapped the table, lowered her voice as M’Baddah touchedthe back of her near hand. “Sorry, M’Baddah. All the same, you’re a curse,Jerdren, that’s what you are. And frankly, if you plan on starting a fight here,or even if you don’t plan one…” She drew a deep breath and let it out in ahard gust. “Well, you’d better find someplace else to sit, or I swear I’ll-”
“Ouch,” Blorys put in wryly and offered her a shy grin.
Eddis glanced at him and fought a sudden smile. Poor man, shackled to a crazy brother like Jers.
“Fights?” Jerdren’s sandy red eyebrows went up. “Why would Istart a fight in the Keep? There are rules, right? Only a fool would do that, right?”
Blorys cast his eyes up. Jerdren shrugged and smiled cheerfully.
“So, that’s settled. Eddis, you look gorgeous as always, andI’m tame today, I promise you, so is there room enough here for Blor and me tojoin you? We haven’t talked in a while, you know.”
Eddis edged over toward M’Baddah. Jerdren grabbed two emptystools, while his brother went for a jug of wine and cups. “How long’ve you beenhere?”
“An hour or so,” she said. “You?”
“Got in around midday.”
Eddis sighed heavily. “I should’ve known that was you. Had alittle trouble on the way, did you?” she said sourly. “And left a nasty messbehind?”
“Huh?” He stared blankly. “Oh. Were the bodies still there?”
“One dead horse count? Also, lots of blood?”
“Not my fault,” Jerdren said dryly. “You cut ’em to keep fromgetting cut by ’em, and they bleed. Fact of life.”
He took a cup of wine from Blorys, drank deeply, wiped his mouth on the back of his hand, and gave her a cheerful grin. “Just trying toleave a clear road for you, Eddis.”
“Yah,” she scoffed. “Hello, Blorys. How’s the road?”
Blorys smiled. “Same as always. This last caravan waspleasant enough. One before that, seems we fought someone or something off every single day. One before that, up on the Holderin foothills, river flooded and took half our camp downstream.”
“Old business,” Jerdren said, impatiently. “Same as always,same as last year, and same as the next, probably.” He seemed to come to somedecision, drank quickly, and set the cup aside. “Listen, Eddis,” he saidcrisply. “You’re just the person I wanted to talk to.”
“Me? Why?”
“Why not?”
She held up a hand for silence and began turning down digits. “Back up north, just before that fight over the barmaid, there was somethingabout hidden gold. About half a year before that, something about cleaning bandits out of a village. Then there was Inner Dell and the-oh, never mind!”Eyes narrowed, she leaned on her elbows and glared at him. “I know that look,Jerdren. It means you’ve come up with something complicated, possibly dangerous,and probably unlawful. Well, not me, not anywhere, but definitely not here in the Keep!”
“But-!”
“Jerdren, they’ll lock you up here and toss the key over thewalls if you steal from a shop. One of your schemes would probably get us all tossed over the walls!”
Blorys gave Eddis a tired look. “Sorry. I knew he was up tosomething, but he wouldn’t tell me.”
“Told you I would, soon as we found someone-well, like Eddis.Didn’t I? Just wanted to tell it once, that’s all.” He turned back to Eddis andsmiled.
She edged back on her stool and eyed him sidelong. “Save thecharm, Jerdren. You aren’t luring me into one of your schemes.”
“Scheme? But Eddis, this is official business!”
“Sure. Look, just tell me, I’ll say no, and we can go ourseparate ways.”
“She’s got a good point, Brother,” Blorys said pointedly.“Tell us, all right?”
The older man grinned widely. “Okay. We got in a while back,and I settled with the clients, then went to unsaddle while Blor got us cots. So, I’m coming out and ran right into Mebros. Remember, Blor? Used to be on thegates, short man, pale beard. Watch captain these days-so, anyway, I told himabout our little fight out there on the road.”
“I thought,” Blorys broke in, “that we were leaving thatuntil after we’d had a chance to clean up.”
“Well, he was there, and I know him. Anyway, Lhodis and hispeople weren’t going to keep quiet about the fight, were they? And Mebros wasn’tsurprised. Seems there’s a band of robbers holed up somewhere close by. Ofcourse,” Jerdren shrugged, “there’s always been a few men here and there, butsince midsummer, they’ve attacked when and wherever they feel like it. Ten daysago, they took a gem merchant’s wife hostage, took all his money, then forcedhim to come here to collect the stones as her ransom.”
M’Baddah stirred. “What did they do?”
“The Keep men? What could they do, not knowing where thewoman was? The merchant lost his money and his gems both, but at least he got his woman back.” Jerdren shook his head. “They know the guard here can’t chase’em down, whatever dirty tricks they pull. These days, there are barely enoughsoldiers here to man the walls. The castellan runs what patrols he can, but-”
Eddis leaned forward. “You’re telling me they’re just goingto get away with it?” she demanded. “Because if they do, then what’s next?”
Jerdren’s eyes were very bright. “Well, you know, that was mythought exactly, Eddis. It seems the castellan is going to put out the word for volunteers-heroes, Mebros says-to find that bandit camp and destroy it!”