by C. Litka
01
A shouted command and a sudden, skidding stop tipped me against Naylea's feet and startled me awake. I'd been resting my eyes after breakfast at a tey house in Kanderee Narrows where we had stopped for a long rest. Muffled curses from all. I straightened up and looked around. We were in the fissure hills on the Dajara Empire side of the Kanderee Chasm. The mist had lifted by the time we set out after our long layover, so the canvas canopy was rolled up. Long Street was now just a narrow lane through the green shadows of the fragrant pines - close at hand alongside the carriage.
'Friends of yours, Tey Pot,' said CarVori quietly from his platform.
Ahead, three men were standing in a line across the road, casually, hands in pockets, grinning, which I hoped was a good sign. They were dressed in leather, from their boots to their close-fitting hats. They were, however, sporting short swords at their sides, and a cross-bow slung on their backs - so despite their easy smiles, they weren't harmless. From the variety of their clothing, they didn't look to be soldiers, which left one likely possibility. I slipped my hand into my jacket pocket, and then, into the inner one where I kept my sissy, while I peered into the forest before me. I doubted that we were seeing all of them.
A figure stepped out from behind a tree trunk to deliberately show himself - with his cross-bow in hand. There looked to be four or five more, standing, half hidden behind the massive boles of the great pines behind him.
'Half a dozen on my side,' I whispered to Naylea across from me.
'Same here,' she replied looking past my shoulder.
Tey Pot stared at them from his seat at the rear of the carriage, and cursed under his breath in a very non-Laezan manner. 'Kandivarians. Barbarians up from the Shadow Lands. Let me handle this, I know them,' he growled. 'They're usually pretty reasonable.'
Then, gathering himself, he threw open the carriage door and jumped to the ground.
Tey Pot's three "friends" all gave him a quick, sketchy, and very ironic greeting, which Tey Pot didn't bother to return.
'Krac, Zori, Dinte- if I'd been awake I'd have told CarVori just to run the riffraft over. Don't you have anything better to do than stand about in the road grinning?'
The fellow, who turned out to be Krac, grinned wider. 'Not at the moment.'
'Then get out of the road and let us pass. Since when do you stoop to stopping Laezans?'
Krac shrugged mock-apologetically and sadly shook his head no. 'We're here to invite you and your friends to our camp.'
'Sorry, not this trip.'
Kroc shrugged, and pointed to the woods around us. 'I think you will.'
Tey Pot glared at him and then looked around. Not seeing who he was looking for, he took a deep, theatrical breath, and bellowed, 'I can smell that sweet scented water you douse yourself with from here, PisDore! Come out and show yourself! Since when are you so shy? Couldn't be you're frightened of a few Laezans these days?'
There was a rustling in the pine boughs above and behind us. PisDore, along with two others, emerged from the pine limbs arching over the road. PisDore stepped off and lightly dropped to the road. He proved to be something of a character. Like the others, he was dressed in an eclectic collection of leather vests, but with several belts, two bright bandanas around his neck and a scarf tying up his ruddy feathers - all arranged in an almost studied, haphazard manner. As he reached the ground, a breath of breeze brought us the scent of the cologne he doused himself with.
'I blame you for this, Litang,' whispered Naylea.
I shook my head "no" and nodded to Py. 'This is Py's doing. He's the one who conjures up bandits.'
Py grinned, shrugged, and whispered, 'Only when I travel with Wilitang.'
'Should we be doing something?' whispered the ever-practical Trin.
'We'll let Tey Pot handle this for now. But if the rockets go up, just duck,' I replied softly. 'Naylea and I can deal with them.'
Trin gave me a doubtful look, but said nothing.
'My, that was a fine, theatrical entry, my friend,' exclaimed Tey Pot, who had turned, and stood, hands on hips, waiting for him to land. 'What's the meaning of this performance. Am I so missed in Kandivar that you are forced to waylay me and my friends?'
PisDore, on landing, greeted Tey Pot with a low bow and cupped hands with something between reverence and irony, which Tey Pot returned in kind.
'You are always missed in Kandivar, Teacher. Your reed playing is, anyway. But we must endure what we must endure. This time, however, the Chief has need of your services, so we've been sent to collect you - and your travel companions - and bring you to him at our mountain camp.'
'Why?'
'The Chief will tell you when you see him.'
'I'll go nowhere without an explanation. And we'll keep my companions out of this.'
'I'm sorry, but?'
'PisDore, you'll save yourself a lot of trouble, if you do as I say. You don't like trouble, do you? Remember who you're dealing with. Now, what does your master want with me?'
I don't suppose you can wander the length of Long Street for tens of thousands of rounds with nothing but a reed to play, and stories to tell without having the inner steel that Tey Pot was now displaying.
PisDore looked around at this men and then stepped closer. 'Be reasonable, Teacher. The Chief will tell you all. Our camp is not far, you'll know soon enough,' he said in a low voice.
'I'll know now.'
PisDore, shrugged. 'The Chief needs you to act as an envoy in a matter of some importance.'
'How important?'
'Two thousand gold coins important.'
Tey Pot laughed. 'Two thousand gold coins, you say! I think he's gotten a bit out of his league. Two gold coins is more his style. No wonder he needs my help.'
PisDore rolled his eyes. 'It's a matter of honor. His bride-to-be's honor.'
'His bride-to-be! Oh - ho! You mean to say that the young chief has kidnapped some unfortunate wench and now wants me to collect his 2,000 gold coins in ransom. What was he thinking? What is he thinking now? Who could pay that much?'
'Who could?' replied PisDore, with a sly grin.
Tey Pot starred at him. 'Some merchant? No, he couldn't expect 2,000 gold coins from any merchant. Why only... You don't mean to tell me he up and kidnapped MossRose?'
PisDore smiled. 'So it seems. He claims he didn't know who she was. It came as a surprise that he'd snatched up the Province Governor's only daughter.'
'Ah-ha! And knowing DrisDae, he's not willing to pay the ransom.'
'It's not a ransom, it's her dowry. She claims those coins are hers by right and custom, not his.'
'Ha!'chuckled Tey Pot again. 'Separating 2,000 gold coins from DrisDae under any pretense is an impossible feat. There is not a man in all of Windvera more in love with gold than Governor DrisDae.'
'So it would seem. Which is why we're collecting you and your companions.'
'I don't see how I can be any use to MossRose or TreyMor in this matter. I've known DrisDae, man and boy, and he'll not pay.'
'MossRose claims otherwise. She says that you are her only hope of being married with honor.'
'She actually wants to marry the young TreyMor?'
PisDore rolled his eyes, and let his tongue hang out, 'They're in love.'
Tey Pot sighed, a few curses.
'Yes,' agreed PisDore, with a sigh of his own. 'Now, if you and your companions will dismount and follow me, we'll take you to camp. There you hear for yourself how matters stand.'
Tey Pot turned back to us and sighed. 'I've spent time with these Kandivarians. They can be trusted to keep their word - up to a point. I will go. You can decide if you care to or not.' And in a louder voice, added, 'If you choose not to, you'd probably have to kill only a couple of them before the rest run.'
PisDore, behind him, grinned, and shrugged apologetically.
'We can deal with them,' I said. 'But you'll be in the cross-fire...'
'Oh, I can deal with them myself, if I car
ed to,' he replied still in a loud voice. 'Once they were feared barbarians from the shadows. Now they're mostly Rider Dragon herders, and, when let off the leash, petty bandits. Why PisDore here is one of my triumphs. He's supposed to be a follower of the Way.'
PisDore nodded, 'I am, Teacher. But the Way is narrow,' and holding out his arm and waving his hand, continued, 'Sometimes I fall off - a little. Herding Rider dragons can grow wearisome. But in this case, Teacher, I am merely following orders. And those orders are to collect you and your companions. I trust that you will see that here and now is not the time to be stubborn. The Chief has instructed me to assure all of you that his intentions are honorable. Really, it is MossRose who begs Tey Pot Wanderer's help in this matter of honor, and that the reason the rest of you are invited to accompany him is to assure his safety. For her sake, the Chief will not take "no" for an answer.'
'It may be my duty to go?'
There was a whirl of movement, a flash of metal.
'But I think my companions can make up their own minds?' Tey Pot added with a nod to us, as he held PisDore's left arm pinned to his back shoulder and had PisDore's own knife at his throat.
PisDore winced a bit and grinned. 'Not so tight, Teacher. And careful with my knife. You wouldn't want to cut the throat of the only Laezan in all of Kandivar.'
'That would, indeed, be a shame. However, we will let my companions decide for themselves. Be sure to instruct your men not to put bolt holes in you in the crossfire should they decide to continue on their way.'
PisDore glanced back at us. 'You see now why I follow the Way. Still, if I were you, I would accept the offer. It will avoid much trouble, and I, as a follower of the Way, truly see no harm to you if you chose to accompany my Teacher to our camp. You will be treated as guests, not prisoners. And your presence may indeed keep my Teacher safe in his mission.'
I looked to my companions. Py, of course, ever the boy, looked eager - bandits! Naylea looked amused and Trin, well, she glanced at Py and seeing his eager face, nodded. And I, sissy in hand, was confident that we could deal with any contingency, so what the Neb. 'Hissi, Siss?' I asked them for form's sake. They seemed to have been still asleep.
They yawned and stood up and stared around - sending the three who'd been blocking the road a step or two back. They growled no objection, so it was unanimous.
'I guess we'll go. Let us gather our kits?'
'I'm afraid we haven't room on our dragons for your gear. CarVori will look after them until you rejoin him in Zandival,' said PisDore with a shrug as Tey Pot released him. 'Our camp is quite comfortable - a home away from home. You'll be well looked after. MossRose will see to that.'
Having committed ourselves, there was no point making a fuss over our gear. Py and Naylea collected their iron-vine staffs while I gave CarVori some coins to pay for his wait in Zandival.
'We stay at the Joy Spring Tey House on Round Hill Street,' he said quietly to me. And with a sigh and rather wistful nod, ordered his pedal-men into action.
