corson was nowhere in sight when Steifann came back, just past dawn, looking tired and a little tipsy. Walden had gone to market for the day’s supplies-usually Steifann’s chore-leaving Trask and his other underlings to finish the baking. Annin was already bustling around the kitchen.
“A most charming woman,” Steifann reported. “But not very encouraging, about Destiver.”
“What did she say?” Annin asked anxiously. “Can she do anything to help?”
“Oh, she sympathized, said she quite understood-old shipmates and all that-”
“But…?”
“But there’s nothing to be done at least till the Maritime Alliance meets, and she doubts that much can be expected then. She very kindly explained that this matter does not concern Chiastelm alone, but the whole enterprise of coastal shipping. The Guild means to raise its standing in the Alliance by showing the rest what Chiastelm has done to fight smuggling, and Destiver’s their prize.”
“She’s safe till late in the spring, then, that’s something gained. They won’t hold such an important council until the thaw’s well past, and the roads dry.”
Steifann pushed the hair out of his eyes and stretched wearily. “Maybe before then we’ll find a way. Where’s Corson?”
“Still abed,” said Trask.
“Lazy wench. I’ll join her for a while. I could do with some sleep.” He winked.
“Being persuasive is hard work.”
But he found Corson not only awake, but dressed and waiting for him. “Good,” he said, “since you’re up you can go help Annin. I’ll be out when I’ve had some rest. I didn’t get much sleep last night,” he teased, throwing himself across the bed beside her.
“Neither did I,” said Corson smugly.
Steifann sat up again, “Eh? Why not?”
“If you think I spent the night here alone, missing you, you’re sadly mistaken, my friend, I was out looking for another man. I found him too.”
“I don’t believe that. You’re just jealous.”
“Ask Annin, then. She knows, Annin!” she called, “come in here, will you?”
Annin looked in. “What is it, pet?” She no longer seemed at all angry with Corson.
“Was I here last night?” Corson demanded.
“Why, of course you were. You were with me all night, if anyone asks. You never went out at all.”
Steifann looked from one woman to the other in confusion. Corson laughed.
“That’s right, so I was, if anyone asks. But I shan’t be here tonight, that’s certain. One of the ’Vathid soldiers told me that the Border Guard of Tiereion is hiring people to train new recruits, and they pay well in the Gemlands. I’ll bring back diamond buckles for you all.” She stood and shouldered her pack.
Steifann hastily got up. “But you don’t have to go now,” he protested. “Wait a few days, why don’t you?”
“No sense in delaying. It will take a good while to get that far north, with the roads shin-deep in mud. I want to get an early start. I was only waiting to tell you good-bye, love.”
A hard hug and a hearty kiss were all of Corson’s farewells. She had never been one for prolonged partings.
Steifann held her back for a moment. “Corson, you’re not going just because I-”
“No, no, it’s not that. If I were jealous of your tryst with Eslace av Ondra-that scheming crone-I’d stay right here and see that you didn’t make a habit of it. And you’d better not,” she added, on her way out.
Steifann looked after her, angry and uncertain. “Then why in the Hlann’s name-!”
“Let her go,” Annin advised him. “It’s almost spring, and you know Corson can’t stay still with the spring fever in her blood. She’ll be back before long, I’ll warrant,” She pointed imperiously to the bed. “Sleep while you can, before the house is full of folk.”
Steifann sat on the bed and pulled off his boots, grumbling to himself. “Thinks she’s the only woman in the world, does she? Goes off for months at a time, never a thought for me… Well, one day…”
Annin shut the door before remarking, “Oh, I almost forgot-you were so busy all night, you haven’t heard the news, have you? Someone cut Hrawn brenn Thespaon’s throat last night, in the alley behind The Crow’s Nest.”
Steifann looked up sharply. “Is that so?”
“Yes, it seems he’d come by a good bit of money somehow, and of course the fool got roaring drunk with it. The talk is that he started bragging how he’d sold a pack of smugglers to the Guild for a pretty penny.”
“And does the talk say who killed him?”
“Not that I’ve heard. But they don’t take kindly to informers in that quarter, you know. It could have been anyone. And I don’t think the authorities will try very hard to find out, either. Hrawn was nothing but a troublemaker. The city guard will think themselves well rid of him.”
Steifann sighed. “And now Corson’s suddenly heard of a job in the far north.
Well, I hope you’re satisfied.”
“She’d have gone soon anyway. She left you this in the meantime.” Annin took a well-filled purse from her pocket and tossed it to him. “She says you’re to hire someone to help with the heavy work here till she comes back. She suggested that someone ugly and unpleasant would be best.” Annin grinned. “And preferably bald.”