Dragon's Bluff

9

His first inclination was to burst into the courtyard and start laying about with his sword until Lucy was free and all those who dared touch her were dead. Fortunately, his common sense prevailed.

He snatched the kender’s tunic and hauled him into the concealing shadows of the side door. “How many Knights are there? What did they arrest her for? Where is Challie?”

Pease, trembling, tried to answer all the questions at once with a tangle of words. Ulin had to shake him again to rattle some sense back into his head.

“There are two Knights holding Lucy in the courtyard. The other three threw everyone out of the common room and are searching the inn.” Pease’s words tumbled out. “Challie’s with Lucy in the yard. I was sent to look for you.”

“But what did they arrest her for?” Ulin demanded to know.

“Horse stealing. They found her horse in the stable, and that snitch of a groom told them whose it was.”

Ulin muttered a few words that caused Pease to gape at him. “Is there another way into the courtyard besides the gate?” he asked.

In reply Pease took his sleeve and led him around the inn. Ulin caught a glimpse through a window into the empty common room and saw two of the Knights kicking over tables and passing a jug back and forth. He ducked down behind Pease and followed the kender through a shrubby patch of gardenias into an alley behind the stable.

It was nearly dark by that time. Dense shadows filled the alley, hiding the refuse piles and the rats that scattered among the trash and old debris. The kender cautiously picked his way along the alley to a postern gate set in the wall that surrounded the stable yard.

“Master Aylesworthy likes to keep this locked,” Pease whispered, “but I haul manure out here, and I often forget to lock it up again.”

From the powerful smell and the feel of the ground beneath his boots, Ulin could easily believe the part about the manure. He held his breath as Pease tried the door handle. It turned quietly, and the postern opened.

The kender stuck out his arm to stop Ulin from hurrying in. Wordlessly, he put his finger to his lips then pointed to his right and waved a hand.

Together they slipped into the courtyard and, moving right, slid unseen behind a pile of straw bales under an old, sagging plank roof. They peered around the bales and saw Lucy, Challie, and two guards standing in a pool of light that poured out of the open inn door. A very nervous and embarrassed groom held the halter of the big bay draft horse.

Ulin’s stomach muscles twisted into knots. Lucy appeared unhurt, but she stood between the two Knights as rigid as a lance, her face flushed with outrage. Her clothes had been mussed, and her hair fell unbound over her shoulders.

The Knights wore dented breastplates marked with the death lily of Takhisis and a strange red emblem Ulin could not identify in the dim light. Scraps of armor covered their arms and legs. He noticed their trappings looked worn and battered, and he thought if they were truly attached to Malys’s unit, then she did not keep them well attired. They were, however, well armed. Each Knight bore a short sword, an axe, and a dagger, and one had a crossbow slung across his back.

Ulin’s hand tightened around his sword hilt. For once, he was at a loss about what to do. He had no armor or reinforcements and only one sword. If he could even approach the two Knights without endangering Lucy, the first clash of weapons in the courtyard would bring the other three running, and Ulin was not fool enough to believe he could successfully take on five highly trained soldiers. He understood, too, the danger he could bring on the townspeople of Flotsam. The Dark Knights and their mistress would not overlook a deliberate attack made on one of their patrols, and their retaliation could be deadly.

Ulin shifted nervously. He needed an idea, and he needed one now.

Something moved to his right. He eased back from the straw bales and saw several forms slide through the postern gate and position themselves in shadowed hiding places.

Pease put his mouth close to Ulin’s ear. “Cosmo went for help. Wait and see what happens. Do you think she’ll use her magic?”

“I doubt it,” Ulin breathed. He knew the Knights would kill her in an instant if they thought she was trying to cast a spell.

Several minutes dragged by, and no one moved or said a word. The Knights continued to stand close to Lucy while the silent watchers waited in breathless suspense.

A burst of raucous laughter inside the inn shattered the quiet. It was followed by the innkeeper’s voice raised in frightened protest. The other three Knights stamped out of the inn, shoving Master Aylesworthy before them. The portly man tripped over a loose stone and fell to his knees.

The leader of the patrol, a stocky, black-haired woman, put her fists on her hips. “An appropriate gesture, Innkeeper,” she sneered. “Stay there until I tell you to rise.” She pushed close to Lucy and glared at her like a cat eyes its prey. They were nearly the same height, and their eyes met and locked. Lucy did not blink or look away, but regarded the officer with cool disdain.

“Knight Officer,” Challie began, “I demand to know why my client—”

The woman cut her off with a sharp jerk of her hand. “I am Knight Officer Jesic Venturin of the Third Talon. You have been caught in the possession of a stolen horse.” Her gaze nailed on Lucy’s face.

“Who said it was stolen?” asked Lucy.

The Knight Officer’s hand cracked across Lucy’s bruised cheek. “You will take care to watch your tone.”

Lucy’s choked cry of pain brought Ulin’s anger to a boil. He would have surged out of his hiding place if Pease hadn’t caught his sleeve.

“Not yet!” hissed the kender. “Not unless there is no choice.”

Ulin subsided. He was beginning to see why this kender rode with the Silver Fox. He forced his attention away from his anger and concentrated on what the Dark Knight was saying to Lucy.

“This brand says the horse is stolen. In the rare instances that the Knights of Neraka sell a horse, we alter the brand.”

Ulin bit back a groan. No wonder Akkar-bin had been so willing to part with the animal.

Lucy bowed her head to look contrite. “Knight Officer, I know nothing about the horse’s past or its brand. It was given to me as part of my wages for a job.”

“What job?” Venturin demanded.

“Well, I—”

“She accepted the position of sheriff for our little town.”

Two people stood silhouetted in the doorway of the inn. Together they shuffled in, frail and bent over their walking sticks, their white hair ghostly in the torchlight.

The five Knights made no move toward the two, in fact they relaxed their tense positions and moved slightly apart. Aylesworthy shifted cautiously out of the way.

“Mayor Efrim.” Knight Officer Venturin curled her lip.

The old man and his companion stopped by the Dark Knights and made ridiculously low bows. Shuffling their feet and swaying, they managed to stand upright again.

Behind the straw bales, Ulin watched the scene with interest. He recognized the other person as Saorsha, but he had not seen the councilwoman look so elderly and bent before.

“Knight Officer Venturin, what a delight to see you again,” the mayor’s voice quavered across the stableyard. “I apologize for any difficulty you are having. What may we do to help?”

Venturin twisted on her heel to glower at the mayor. “Explain your earlier comment, old man, and do it quickly.”

The mayor flinched under the crack of her voice. “This woman agreed to be our sheriff, for a few weeks only.” He lifted his trembling hands as if to ward off a blow. “Just to help keep the peace during the Visiting Day Festival.”

Venturin snorted. Her black, cold eyes turned to Lucy. “This? This soft piece of gutter trash is your new sheriff? She looks better suited for one of the pleasure houses—one of the cheaper ones.”

The other Knights snickered. Lucy did not move. Only her last reserves of self-control held her still and silent.

Saorsha spoke for the first time in a voice soft and compliant. “We like her, Knight Officer, and she gets along well with the townspeople—especially the kender. Our agreement is for such a short time.” She smiled a hopeful smile, her gaze and posture totally inoffensive.

“Like the previous sheriff,” Venturin commented dryly. She snapped back to Lucy. “You are new here. When did you arrive?”

Lucy had been watching Saorsha carefully. Now that the Knight Officer’s attention was back to her, she adopted the elder’s submissive behavior by dropping her gaze to the ground and relaxing her stiff posture. “I was with Akkar-bin’s caravan. I was his cook’s assistant. When he left here, I stayed. Their”—Lucy had trouble getting the words out—“offer was hard to refuse.”

“An offer including the horse?”

Saorsha answered, “Yes, your honor. We bought it from the Khur for her to ride around town.”

“Hmm. Very official looking. Very stupid.” The Knight walked around the big bay horse, running her hand along his flank. “Did it not occur to you to check the brand?” Her voice lost its rough edge and became silky smooth.

Saorsha and Efrim glanced at one another. “The Khur gave us a bill of sale, Knight Officer,” Efrim explained, “and this brand is different from yours. We never thought—”

“Of course you didn’t,” Venturin interrupted, her voice full of false resignation. “And now I am forced to arrest your new sheriff. Too bad. Horse stealing is a hanging offense.”

Mayor Efrim kept his eyes lowered as he reached for a bag of coins tucked into the script that dangled from his belt. “Your honor, perhaps we can reach an agreement that will save you the inconvenience of hauling a prisoner to your base, trying her, and finally burying her. You are a Dark Knight. Could we buy the horse from you?”

The Talon leader paused to go through the pretense of considering the offer. She pursed her thin lips and studied the horse from tail to chunky muzzle before she finally shrugged. “It could be done. Do you have the original bill of sale?”

Ulin tensed behind his straw bale—the Khur had left no bill of sale—but Mayor Efrim drew a piece of coarse paper from his script and held it out. Venturin snatched it from his fingers.

“Hmm. Akkar-bin again. He travels to and from Sanction for that oily Garzan the rug maker. He should know better,” she growled, perusing the paper. “You paid ten silver pieces for this horse to that Khurish thief. Consider that a fine. Pay me ten silver pieces, and I will alter the brand and validate your bill of sale.”

Validate it she might, but Ulin knew those ten pieces of silver would never see the coffers of the Knights of Neraka. That much was evident in the way the Knight held out her hand for Efrim’s coins.

“Sheriff,” she snorted derisively, “enjoy your stay in this flea-trap.” Drawing her dagger, she strode to the horse, and before anyone could stop her, she slashed her blade twice across the brand in an X-shape. The horse squealed in pain and jumped sideways into the groom. With a jerk of her head toward the door, Knight Officer Venturin walked out of the stableyard, followed by her Talon of Knights.

The people left behind remained still. No one made a sound or moved. They listened to the clump of boots on the inn floor, the loud voice shouting commands, and finally the thud of hooves in front of the inn. Challie followed quietly behind to be certain they were truly gone.

At last she stuck her head out the door. “They’ve left,” she announced.

The silence in the stableyard turned into an uproar. Ulin burst from his hiding place and rushed to Lucy. She was so relieved to see him safe and unharmed that she threw her arms around him and buried her head in his shoulder. Pease dashed into the kitchen and came out with Bridget, both talking at once in high, excited voices. Innkeeper Aylesworthy climbed to his feet and leveled a ferocious glare at his groom.

Saorsha slowly straightened to her full, erect height. “That viscous brat of an ogre’s offspring,” she muttered as she examined the bleeding wound on the horse’s hip.

The silent bystanders in the stable spoke a few words to Pease then melted back into the darkness of the postern gate. Only Cosmo stayed to see the fun.

Lucy recovered from the shock of the moment and thrust herself away from Ulin. “Where have you been all day? I was worried sick!” she shouted at him over the hubbub in the inn yard. In a blink she switched her anger to the old mayor and added, “And you! What possessed you to tell that harpy I was your new sheriff? If she comes back here, she’ll expect me to be fulfilling my duties. I didn’t accept your offer!”

“We know that, dear,” Mayor Efrim replied. “I was simply trying to give you an official capacity that would allow me to offer her a bribe. We do it all the time.” His rheumy eyes glinted with a humorous twinkle. “The trick to dealing with those Dark Knights is to act as harmless and ineffectual as possible, then they don’t bother us very much.” He chuckled. “That’s why the council made me mayor.”

Lucy drew back and put her hands on her hips. “And is that why you want me to be sheriff? Because I look harmless and ineffectual?”

Aylesworthy tucked his hands in his belt and shook his head. “That was part of it. That Knight Officer you just met is one of the most arrogant and condescending harpies you will ever meet. If she hates men, she hates women more and considers any woman out of the Knighthood to be little more than trash.”

“But we know better,” Saorsha told her. “This town believes you to be fair-minded, courageous, and best of all, a sorceress. And this town is all that matters.”

Ulin crossed his arms and asked, “Where did you get that bill of sale?”

Mayor Efrim grasped the paper between thumb and forefinger and gently waved it in the air. “The convenience of living in a town that collects many talents: false coiners, herbalists, con-men, pick-pockets, and forgerers. There is a talented young man, part elf I think, who can copy anything. He did this for us yesterday. We were going to give it to you for that horse as soon as it was convenient.”

“You mean as soon as I said yes,” Lucy remarked. “I feel like I’m being herded into a pen.”

Saorsha wiped her hands on the coarse apron tied around her waist and patted Lucy on the arm. Her smile was genuine when she offered it to the girl. “You have every right to refuse. We cannot force your hand, nor do we want to. A reluctant, resentful sheriff is no good to us. But please, Lucy, we need you. Just for a little while. Even if we can’t find your father or the money, there are still so many ways you could help.”

“To make amends, you mean,” Lucy grumbled.

Challie stamped out of the inn into the yard to join the conversation. “To be honest, Lucy, we did not think about the sheriff’s position at the time I left to find you. That idea came after the ambush on the caravan. When you handled the draconians and then the brigands so easily, we jumped at the chance to make you the offer.” She made a soft sound like a derisive snort. “In this town we take what we can get when we can get it. Even for a few weeks.”

Lucy looked at Ulin, her round face filled with confusion, but he did not know what to tell her. As much as he wanted to protect her, she was a grown woman and not yet married to him. Ultimately the decision was hers.

Lucy dropped her gaze to Challie, who merely shrugged, then she looked at the three town councilors and the kender who watched her hopefully. The whole idea seemed preposterous. What did she know about being a sheriff? She had come to this town to identify her father’s body, not capture brigands, settle fist fights, and face dragons. Yet hadn’t she already killed two draconians and been responsible for the capture of four brigands? She hadn’t been looking for trouble, but it had still found her. What if she could use her reputation to help these people, even for just a few weeks? How hard could it be? Her rational mind told her: Don’t be absurd. You’re not a law officer or a trained knight or anyone else truly capable of handling this job. True, her heart replied, but what a challenge!

Most of what she had said to Ulin that stormy night on the freighter had been a joke, but she had to admit to herself that the sentiments were drawn from the truth in her heart. She did miss the excitement and challenge of her studies in magic. Teaching children by day and serving beer at night did not compare to the fascinating and sometimes dangerous art of wielding magic. There was, too, a small and persistent part of her mind that trembled at the thought of marrying a Majere. What if she wasn’t worthy? How could she, a mere student and babysitter, hope to compare with someone like Ulin? She wanted to do something important, something that would prove to herself, if no one else, that she could be capable and strong enough to hold her head up among Caramon, Tika, Palin, Usha, Linsha, and most of all, Ulin. Perhaps this unlikely offer from the Flotsam City Council was what she needed.

As for her father, she was honorable enough to do her best to alleviate the consequences of his crime, but in the end, if circumstances came down to a final confrontation with Fyremantle or Malys, she would not endanger herself or Ulin. She owed him that much.

“I have several conditions,” she said at last.

Ulin swallowed a groan.

“Name them,” Aylesworthy assented.

“I want the authority to punish offenders as I see fit. I want the authority to hire deputies. I want your complete support and that substantial fee you mentioned. Last, if you are going to keep me busy here, I want you to make every effort to find my father. He deserves to be hanged.”

The councilmembers looked relieved. “That’s fair,” Mayor Efrim agreed.

Ulin drew a deep breath and resigned himself to Lucy’s decision. In his head he knew she was right, but his heart quailed at the danger she could be putting herself into. He put his hands on Lucy’s shoulder and drew her close. “I have a condition of my own to add,” he said, staring into her beautiful green eyes. “If you’re sure you want to do this, I will do everything I can to find your father, but I want your promise that we will leave for home after the festival whether I have found him or not.”

Lucy spit in her palm and held out her hand to him. “Deal.”

They shook on the solemn promise then turned to the trio of elders. The offer was accepted and the terms agreed upon.

Much to Lucy’s droll amazement, she was now the Sheriff of Flotsam.