The Brazen Gambit Part 8

"Don't wander off," he whispered when the gate loomed before them. "Stay where I can see you."

The boy nodded solemnly. Pavek dug into his belt pouch again, drawing out the last two ceramic bits and dribbling them into the boy's hand.

"You believe in anything, Zvain?"

Immortal King Hamanu was Urik's tutelary deity. His t.i.tles and powers were part of the daily harangue; his name was an integral part of countless blessings... and curses. But belief was another matter entirely. To ask the question was an invasion of privacy; to answer it honestly, a declaration of trust.

"Sometimes. You?"

"The round wheel of fate-after a good day, not before. We need a good day, Zvain."

"I'll pray for you, Pavek." Zvain folded his fingers around the sharp-edged, irregularly shaped coins. "I know a place."

"Better you stay here. Remember what I said: no wandering off."

A shout went up from the line of merchants and farmers already waiting at the gatehouse: the templars-due at sunrise but always at least an hour late-could be seen approaching. Pavek hurried toward the inspection stand-pausing once to see if Zvain had settled in. The boy had found a patch of shade behind a heap of rock and bone left behind after the most recent refurbishing and repainting of King Hamanu's portraits on the walls. They exchanged a fleeting wave.

Modekan sent artisans as well as farmers to the weekly market. Pavek worked up a rapid sweat emptying four cart-loads of red-glazed bricks destined for some n.o.ble's town-house. An inspector-not Bukke-judged several dozen: defective, levied a substantial fine, then called Pavek aside once the carts had been reloaded and the unhappy artisan sent along his way.

"You know your way through the templar quarter, rabble?"

"Not well, great one," Pavek lied. So much for prayer or the round wheels of fate.

The inspector offered an uncut ceramic coin if Pavek would haul the pirated bricks to a High Templar's residence. "She's building a fountain," he confided unnecessarily. "With day labor."

"I'm a poor man, great one, ill-clothed and dirty-not fit to cross such a threshold."

The inspector doubled his offer and Pavek, knowing that no man in his right mind would refuse the opportunity, conceded defeat gracefully by falling to his knees. He listened attentively as the inspector described a precise path through the deliberately mazelike quarter.

It could have been worse: at least he wasn't headed for House Escrissar. With the promise of two coins awaiting on his return, no one was surprised that he loaded the handcart quickly and set off at a trot. He tried to catch Zvain's eye, but the boy was napping.

And gone altogether when he returned. He asked as many questions as he dared among his fellow laborers, but no one had seen a slight, dark-haired boy leave his patch of shade, even when Pavek offered three bits of his new-found wealth for the information. The bribe drew unwanted attention from laborers and templars alike.

Mindful that everyone was already whispering about him and that his true name with its a.s.sociated 40-gold-piece reward had not yet faded from the gatehouse walls, he was reluctant to ask anyone if an old dwarf, a testy half-elf, and an uncommonly beautiful human woman had dragged a cart of amphorae past the templars' greedy eyes.

Not long after he returned to the gate, the ground shuddered and, moments later, a plume of ash-colored cloud began to rise far to the north of the city: Smoking Crown was living up to its name. Those folk near the gate who venerated the elements of air or fire made the appropriate obeisance. Everyone else asked luck or fortune to keep the wind blowing from the south-to no avail. The southern wind faded almost at once and the cloud tower curled toward Urik long before it peaked. By noon the air was foul with sulphur and Pavek's jaw was aching the way it did whenever the wind came across the Crown.

There'd been no sign of Zvain or the druid. He told himself there was nothing to worry about. It had been midafternoon when the zarneeka arrived last time. Zvain had" wandered off yesterday and the day before; he'd been back well before sunset both times.

"Nothing to worry about."

"What's that?" another laborer asked. He was a lanky veteran with a stubbly gray beard and a close-fitting leather cap to protect his bald scalp. His lips curled over toothless gums and though he kept pace with the younger men, Pavek swiftly judged him the least dangerous of this day's companions.

"Looking for someone," he admitted.

"Woman?"

Pavek nodded. A man could always blame a woman for his edginess. He offered an honest description of the druid, omitting her two companions.

"Not inspected, that's for sure. Not pa.s.sed along, either, I think. I'd've remembered her. Traveling by herself or with a group?" When Pavek hesitated, the veteran drew his own conclusions. "Found someone better, eh? and left you with that boy on the hill?"

"Close enough." It was the simplest explanation and far more believable than the truth.

"I'll keep my eyes open." The veteran gave Pavek a good-natured clap on the shoulder. "You're young yet, and that boy's near full-grown. There's plenty of time left. No need to be worrying 'bout a woman who won't come home, son."

Pavek muttered vague appreciation while trying to remember if anyone had ever called him 'son' before and-whether he liked the sound, considering its source.

Then Bukke shouted "Oelus-get your b.u.t.t over here," and the conversation was over.

The acrid breeze that made Pavek's jaw ache soured everyone's disposition. As soon as he was in range, Bukke chastised him for dawdling and struck him across the shoulder with a leather-wrapped prod. A prod with expensive iron beneath its leather, judging by the bruising weight and sting, suitable for the slave-pits but illegal here at the gate where free men worked for pittance wages.

With a painful gulp, regulator Pavek resisted giving inspector Bukke a taste of his own weapon.

"Unload it, now, now, sc.u.m," Bukke snarled, striking Pavek a second time before pointing the prod at a hitherto unsuspecting farmer dragging a cart loaded with firewood. sc.u.m," Bukke snarled, striking Pavek a second time before pointing the prod at a hitherto unsuspecting farmer dragging a cart loaded with firewood.

"As you will, great one," Pavek replied and with will alone he wrestled the entire cartload onto the sand.

A smart, sane man would have groveled loudly. When he'd been a templar, he'd been smart enough, sane enough to grovel; now that he was an outcast wage-laborer he spread the kindling in silence. His arm was numb, the rest of him throbbed with pain and rage, but he wouldn't give a yellow-sc.u.m templar like Bukke the satisfaction of seeing any emotion on his face.

The Crown's eruption-belch ended with another ground-swell. Its towering plume of ash tapered off, transforming itself into a creeping stain across the sky. In a matter of hours it might swallow the sun and bring its acrid shadow to the inspection sand. Templars and freemen alike bent their fingers into luck-signs, hoping the sun would continue to beat down on their sweating heads.

Not so long ago, every person in this comer of the Tablelands had known what to expect when the Crown belched: three days of misery with stale air, foul winds, and a layer of soot that turned Urik a dingy, charcoal gray, then thirty days of conscript scrubbing until Hamanu's city shone yellow in the sun again.

Urik still got three days' misery and thirty days' scrubbing, but twice since the Dragon's death Smoking Crown's eruptions had heralded fierce water-storms in between.

Some blamed the storms on t.i.thian, the lost tyrant of Tyr. Others blamed them on forces far more ancient and evil. Either way, Urik, built to endure heat and blinding sunlight, took a beating from the gritty, wind-driven rain. And the scrubbing lasted forty days or more. So the people prayed, as they had never prayed before. But not even King Hamanu could say when or whether an eruption would breed a storm.

Uncertainty, in a city where change was forbidden, was the heaviest burden of all.

Bukke cast judgment on the kindling without giving the sticks a second glance. "Put it all back in his d.a.m.ned cart." He swiped Pavek's shoulder again, but his aim was off: his fingers were still twisted into the luck-sign of fire.

Pavek prayed silently to the wheel. With that cloud wandering the sky and the memory of the previous storms etched deeply into his mind, he was having second thoughts about leaving the walled city for the empty unknown. It was no surprise, then, that moments after he started thinking he could survive another sixty days-or forever-the leather-capped veteran was tugging at his sleeve.

"I'll spell you here," he offered. "Get yourself a swallow or two of water, and ease your eyes down the line. I think I spotted your woman."

"Is she-is she alone?"

The veteran shook his head sadly. "Two men. Can't see why she'd throw you over for either of them: the dwarf's as old as the hills, and the half-elf's a scrawny lad. Maybe it's best to leave things where they lie-?"

"No-" This time the hesitation was real. "I've got to speak with her."

"Your decision, son, but have a care. Everyone's gone skittish on account of that cloud, even an old man like me,"

Pavek got the hint and unknotted his pouch. He dug out three bits then, after glancing at the pile of broken stone and seeing the empty shade around it, he dug out three more. "Tell the boy-"

Tell the boy what? he asked himself, raking his hair and staring at the cloud.

"Tell him he should have listened, he should have stayed close. Tell him I'm sorry, that's all."

Spinning on his heel, he caught sight of the half-elf's coppery hair, then-already ignoring the veteran-he started toward them, moving with slow purpose, so if he drew the attention of the templars each would think another had given him an order.

The trio stiffened as he approached. The half-elf moved his hands nervously over the smooth wood of his staff and the dwarf lowering the cart traces, flexing the stone-solid forearms typical of his kind.

The druid-he realized, with some dismay, that he had no notion of her name-stood at arm's length between her companions.

"Woman," he said when he was close enough for whispering. "Hire me to haul your cart through the city. Your zarneeka's being turned to poison, and you need my help."

Her eyes widened. She seemed about to say something, then Pavek felt myriad fiery needles pierce through his skin, and his mind was engulfed in blazing light. His world became timeless until, with a nauseating thump, his heart began beating again. By the time his sputtering mind had reconstructed itself, Bukke had joined them.

"What's going on here, sc.u.m?" the inspector demanded, flourishing his prod for effect.

Bukke glowered at each of them in turn, lingering longest on Pavek's bearded face, giving him enough time to wonder if, with all of them together in the same place, the younger templar would remember what had happened exactly sixty days earlier.

"No dishonesty, great one," the druid replied without a hint of deceit or indecision. "I was hoping to hire a man to haul our cart through the city.

Bukke scowled skeptically: even an old, leather-faced dwarf was stronger than a day-laboring human. The druid deflected Bukke's suspicion with lowered eyes and a fleeting smile.

"We were delayed, great one," she explained. "Poor Yohan exhausted himself getting this far-"

Poor Yohan had gotten the message. He was rubbing his muscles now, not flexing them. His shoulders sagged, and he'd developed a remarkably weary demeanor-all of which confirmed Pavek's original supposition: the woman was the one he had to deal with.

"Ah-you're all worthless sc.u.m anyway," Bukke decreed. He swung the prod to emphasize his judgment, striking Pavek's still-aching shoulder. "But he's more worthless than you. Choose another and begone."

A silent scream swelled in Pavek's throat. He'd placed all his hopes and faith in this moment, only to see them disappear.

"I see none better, great one," the druid said, scanning the other laborers with disdain worthy of a templar taskmaster. Then she focused her attention firmly on Bukke. "This sc.u.m will suffice."

"As you wish, Lady," Bukke conceded, his voice slower and softer than it usually was. "Will you be looking for an overnight inn?"

"No, great one. I'll be done with him by sundown."

"Your name, Lady-for the records?"

"Akashia, great one. These are my servants. Their names are not important. I won't be trading in any market; my goods are already promised to their new owner, taxes paid and receipts recorded. There is no need for you to remember us at all, great one. Just send us on our way, great one."

"Yes." Bukke spoke like a man in the midst of a pleasant dream. "Yes. Go on your way."

Pavek risked a tiny sigh of relief as he took the dwarf's place between the traces. She had believed him-surely that burst of pain had been the product of druid spellcraft as had Bukke's uncharacteristically mild and cooperative manner. She would not have risked a second display of spellcraft if she had not been satisfied with the first. Unlike the mages of the Veil, druids were not outlawed in Urik, but any magic that the king did not personally control was risky in Urik.

He glanced at the debris. The shade was empty, and he was still thinking about Zvain when the dwarf's jagged fingernails pressed between the nerves and bones of his wrist.

"Whatever happens," Yohan hissed-grim hazel eyes meeting and breaking Pavek's determined stare-"your life belongs to me."

With his arm already weak from Bukke's prod, Pavek didn't doubt the old dwarf could finish him off, but if, by some remote chance, he survived Yohan, the half-elf's scowl promised another battle. He turned weary eyes to the dwarf.

"We're all meat if we don't get moving," be said, not loudly enough for Bukke to overhear.

Yohan released his wrist, and though Pavek would have preferred a moment to shake blood back down to his fingertips, he hooked numbed fingers around the traces instead.

"Are you ready?" the druid asked, a hint of maternal impatience in her voice, for all that she looked several years younger than Pavek himself.

With Bukke still blinking in the dappled light, Pavek and his new companions walked past the gatehouse and the inspection sand. There were countless reasons to keep his head down as he pulled the light and well-balanced cart up the shallow slope to the open west gate of Urik. He rejected them all and stole glances in every direction, hoping to catch sight of Zvain. They were almost at the man-high feet of mighty King Hamanu when Pavek saw a dark, lithe shadow in the tail of his right eye. He turned his head toward it.

"Something following you, city-sc.u.m?" the half-elf snarled-the first words he had spoken and full of a familiar adolescent whine.

"No, nothing."

The stones and scrub where the shadow had appeared were empty now. Maybe there'd be another chance before sundown. Maybe-but no sane man would waste spit on those dice. The cart rolled from the packed dirt of the outside to the smooth, patterned cobblestones of Urik's streets. They reached the first plaza. He veered left, toward the wide, well-traveled avenue that led directly to the customhouse. The dwarf continued straight ahead toward the tangled stalls and alleys where weavers, dyers, and cloth merchants plied their trade. They collided with each other and the cart.

"Where you think you're going?" the dwarf demanded. "The customhouse."

Yohan retreated a pace, giving him another measuring sweep with his eyes. The customhouse had not not been mentioned since he'd joined them. been mentioned since he'd joined them.

"Is there a problem?" the druid asked.

"He headed for the customhouse."

She laid a rea.s.suring hand on Yohan's shoulder before turning to Pavek. He lowered the cart traces and, belatedly, worked on the cramps in his shoulder and arm.

"Follow Yohan, and don't cause trouble. We must attend other matters first."

He soon discovered the substance of those 'other matters.' Once he'd dragged the cart deep into a thicket of uncut cloth and bright-dyed skeins of wool and linen-where they were screened off from prying eyes and a man's shouts for help would be absorbed by the cloth or lost in the general din of bargaining-he was pummeled by the dwarf until he lay face-up on the cobblestones, with the tapered, metal-wrapped ferrule of the half-elfs staff resting in the hollow of his throat.

"Search him," the druid commanded, and the dwarf did so-efficiently.

"Well now, what have we here? An interesting bit of crockery for a wage-sc.u.m to have tucked beneath his belt..."

Yohan held up the glazed medallion.

"A templar! Yellow-robed blood-sucker," the copper-haired youth sneered, and the pressure on Pavek's throat increased.

"Not a a templar, Ruari," the druid corrected, taking the medallion from Yohan's hand. "But templar, Ruari," the druid corrected, taking the medallion from Yohan's hand. "But the the templar who gave us so much trouble last time we were here." She dangled the yellow ceramic above Pavek's face. "I am correct in that, am I not? You are templar who gave us so much trouble last time we were here." She dangled the yellow ceramic above Pavek's face. "I am correct in that, am I not? You are that that templar...? What happened to your bright yellow robe, templar-sc.u.m?" templar...? What happened to your bright yellow robe, templar-sc.u.m?"

Pavek was not fool enough to deny the accusation. "The zarneeka-that yellow powder you bring to the customhouse-it gets made into a poison called Laq-"

The half-elf leaned on his staff, and Pavek groaned.

"Ease off, Ru. Let him finish."

Between coughs and gasps, Pavek had a heartbeat to wonder if he hadn't made the biggest mistake in his soon-to-be-ended life. "Ral's Breath was sold freely and cheaply everywhere in the city. Folk who couldn't afford a healer's touch thought it eased their pain. Now your zarneeka gets simmered into a poison that rots a man's mind and turns him into a raving beast before it kills him. I thought you would want to know. I thought a druid-"

Pressure returned with a vicious twist- "Ruari!"

-And eased again.

"I thought a druid would care." care."