There was no way I could sleep.
“Where were you?”
Meran affected not to know what I meant.
“When Sapphire dropped by for a visit.”
“Watching him.” He pointed to the floor of the tent. “Saw him come this way when I came back from arranging dinner. He slipped in that way and I stayed there and watched.
“Until he left?”
“Until he left.”
“I never asked what tribe you were, Meran. No sense doing it now, is there?”
He grinned. “Thank you for not insulting my mind. No, no sense at all. But for what it's worth I was Alendi.”
“Was?”
“I like civilization. Warmed floors, hot baths regularly, raised bread, books, beds, roofs that never leak, not having to…”
I held up my hand, “Enough, I get the idea.”
“I would rather be a free man but…”
“You know the law. Freedman, your children can be free.”
“I would still serve you if I were free.”
“I'd have to pay you.”
He grinned wickedly. “Owe me!”
“And have my ex-slave be my creditor? I'd never live it down.”
I was joking but I could see that partly he had not been and that he was disappointed. Dammit, everyone wants something and now here I was hoping the spirit of a murdered man was not going to point the finger at me and concerned that my slave was unhappy that I wouldn't free him.
“How come you didn't see the murder?”
“I had to see about dinner.” He winked and dropped his voice. “But don't worry, I saw another earlier.”
“What?!”
“Him again. Sapphire. A slave. I would guess that the slave was the contact or go between for someone else. The slave spoke to the crossbowman and that one left. Sapphire killed the slave, then split. I lost him. He moves sneaky.”
I swore. There didn't seem anything else to say on the subject so I left it.
“Meran.”
He turned at the doorway. He had some dirty clothes in a bag. I was going to say that if I freed him my reputation would suffer, but that seemed insufficient. My reputation was in tatters and ultimately meant nothing to me and he knew it, or guessed confidently enough to be said to know. “You're free.”
He froze in place. It was a long time before I realized he was in fact on the verge of tears. “Don't joke.”
“I'll draw up the paper now,” I moved to the desk. “It's normal that you become part of my clientele In fact you will be my first client.”
“An ex-slave that you freed yourself? The stuff mighty legends are made of!”
Then we both laughed. And I'm not sure, but I think we both shed a tear. It really was very funny.