by LeRoy Clary
A cluster of faded wooden buildings stood ahead, perhaps twenty in all. They gave the town a grayish appearance in the morning sun. There were only a few people in sight, two women hoeing a garden and a man chopping firewood. The sounds of his ax rang in the still, foggy air.
Kendra and Elizabeth now rode side by side, with the pack horse trailing behind Kendra. Tater was in front, but if the advanced swaying of his body was any indication, he needed to stop and rest soon.
We assumed the store was in the village ahead, but it might be in the next. We attracted no undue attention as we entered the edge of the village. A faded and paint-worn sign of a fat cow gently swayed over a door. A plaque said simply, Inn. A narrow alley beside the inn went to a stable where a boy of ten greeted us.
He agreed to feed and water our horses but to keep them saddled while we went inside. The rear door took us into the main room where long tables and mismatched chairs held no patrons. A small fire burned. We sat and waited. Finally, Tater called out, “Hey, you got customers out here.”
A short chubby man with hair to his shoulders but a clean face appeared. His cheeks were red, his smile quick. “Help you?”
Elizabeth spoke for all of us. “We’ll see. If an inn has no customers, I wonder why? Is the fare so poor people go elsewhere?”
He shrugged. “If the town has no travelers passing through, the best inn in the kingdom goes empty. That is what you have found.”
Rebuked, in a friendly manner, Elizabeth said, “Have you food enough for the four of us?”
The innkeeper maintained his smile and replied, “Well, since nobody else has eaten it, there is more than enough.”
She said, “What do you have, is it any good, and how long must we wait?”
As for me, who had not eaten a full meal in two days, I’d have gnawed on an old corncob if he slathered a little butter on it. Turning to the kitchen door, he said, “Let me see what I can do.”
He returned with a platter of small bread rolls, each with a hard crust and soft inside. On the tray were butter and honey. He spun again and returned instantly with four mugs and a pitcher of milk that was still warm. He said, “Eggs and slices of ham will be here quick enough, but I sensed you might like the bread and milk while waiting.”
“I like this place,” I said between mouthfuls.
Tater’s eyes were drooping despite the bread he shoveled into his mouth. When the innkeeper returned with the eggs and ham, Elizabeth motioned for him to sit with us. He tentatively did, obviously thinking something was wrong. It was a position I’d found myself in many times with her.
“Where is the nearest store?”
His cheerful look faltered. “It didn’t come from me if you please but pass on the nearest and go to another.”
“Where is it?” she persisted.
“Dayton. Down the road. Not far.”
“And why should we shop at another?”
“The owner will cheat you. There are stories of people traveling who shop there and are soon attacked by highwaymen. They might be connected, I wouldn’t know or say.”
Elizabeth said, “How much do you charge for a night’s lodging?”
“Quarter copper per person. Includes one meal, morning or evening, your choice.”
She held up a single silver coin, a hundred times as much. The color faded from his face as he shook his head, refusing to deal with a coin of such great value. She said, “We will sleep after eating, but only until midday. We will not be disturbed. Our horses will be well cared for, and you will have the noon meal ready for us when you wake us. There will be no other customers until we depart.”
She placed the coin on the table and used a single finger to push it to him. He used his whole hand to push it back as if it was hot. He muttered, “Too much.”
She didn’t touch the coin. I calculated quickly. At a quarter copper per person to stay at the inn, the silver coin paid for about two-hundred-fifty nights. She said, “No other patron until we depart, and keep it quiet down here. No banging of pans and such. Now, please show us to the rooms.”
They were tiny, wide enough to touch either wall and barely long enough to lie down. But there was fresh straw and the bedding clean. I was asleep instantly, but not before hearing snores from another room. I hoped it was Tater and not one of the women.
The innkeeper touched my foot with his toe. I climbed to my feet, still tired, but also smelling food more wonderful than in the king’s own kitchens. We gathered at the same table where a pot of stew bubbled, fresh loaves of bread waited, and more warm milk. He offered ale or wine, and we all refused. Milk was what we wanted.
The innkeeper came to our table and asked if there was any other need. After we assured him we were content, he said, “Yer going to that store in Dayton?”
“We are,” Elizabeth told him.
“You will naturally want to be wary of the big one, but it’s the little one that really runs the place. Be careful of him and don’t turn your back. He’s a killer.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
A fter our rest and meals, we were ready to ride. The road to Dayton was empty of horses or people walking, but most people rarely, if ever, travel. There were serfs and freemen in the palace who had never been outside the stone walls, birth to death. The travel that most experienced was from a farm to a market to sell their produce, and back.
The sun had burned off the morning fog, our horses had spring in their step, and we sat tall in our saddles. We had not discussed what would happen when we reached the store, but I assumed Elizabeth would inform us before reaching it. From the description the innkeeper provided, the ride was short.
It came as no surprise when the smoke from a hundred chimneys spread a pall over the buildings in the distance. Elizabeth continued riding without pause. Her back was almost as stiff as Tater’s.
As we passed a man repairing a fencepost, she pulled up and asked directions. The question seemed to upset the farmer, but he answered briefly and quickly went back to his repairs as if we had ridden on past without stopping.
My impression was the farmer was intimidated, not by Elizabeth but by the store owner in some unknown manner. However, what I knew, and the farmer didn’t, was that Elizabeth was a princess. She wielded immense power when she chose. If we survived the coming encounter, I suspected she had already made up her mind to use those powers to punish the owner of the store who accepted stolen goods in trade and threatened the locals.
I waited for her to slow and express her wishes and explain our course of action. She continued riding. Dayton was large enough to have several cross streets, paved roads, and an intersection where two large roads intersected. On one corner of that intersection stood a two-story building, the lower half constructed of tan, almost brown colored stone. It gave the appearance of solidity.
The few windows were high up on the walls, the front door massive. At one time the store must have had another purpose, but now a pair of roughly dressed men lounged near the door, their eyes on anything that moved. Intuitively, we all knew they were employees of the strong-arm variety.
Their unfriendly eyes rested on us as we approached. Just because it felt right, I suggested to the nearer one with a bit of magic that a mosquito was biting the back of his neck. As he swatted it, I grinned.
However, it was not simply a game I played. My magic might be required to help us, and that had been my test to ensure it worked on them. It also told me they were not magical beings like Stata. We pulled to a stop in front of the door.
Elizabeth climbed down and pointed to one of the pair watching her. “You there. Be a good boy and hold our horses while we go inside.”
Her tone held utter contempt and superiority. The rest of us dismounted, too. I wished for my sword or crossbow, or both.
He finally gathered enough wits about himself to growl, “I don’t hold no horses for nobody.”
“Then, what do you do? Stand there all day with your finger up your nose looking stupid?” She
said it loud enough for all of us to hear, as well as two local women hurrying by. Both giggled. The guard took a step closer to Elizabeth while puffing out his chest.
A burst of small magic pushed his left foot aside his step, so it caught behind his right calf. He tripped, stumbled forward a few steps and recovered. By then she had her hand on the door and called to us, “Come quickly, we have business inside.”
We left the horses standing in the street. I wished for a spell that would keep them there but only knew how to send them into a panicked run. We’d each tied our reins to another horse, so wherever one would go, so would the others.
The inside of the store was dim, cluttered, and smelled like the underside of an old boot, combined with a damp and musty undertone. A new wagon wheel blocked the access to a pile of furs, and barrels were stacked, each clearly branded with the king’s crest for the Royal Army. I doubted if the army had sold them—or what they had once contained.
In one corner were coils of hemp string, rope, cable, and braids of leather. Nearby were pots, buckets, plates, and farm tools, not all new. Shelves held hinges, clasps, nails, and other ironwork, so there was a method and organization to the storage other than general use. A stairway near the center led to a balcony with what appeared to be offices and perhaps sleeping quarters.
At the top of the balcony stood a huge man. He was as big around as he was tall yet didn’t give the impression of being fat. He faked a smile and lumbered down the stairs as he called, “What can I sell you today, or are you doing the selling?”
Another man, a small weasel of a character stood behind a counter and observed. The innkeeper had said to watch him, not the big one.
Elizabeth moved in front of us. She extended her hand to shake and waited until he accepted it before speaking, a ploy Kendra and I knew well. She was establishing who was in charge. “Good afternoon, good sir.”
“And to you,” he smiled, trying to be gracious to the beautiful woman.
She said, “I have a small problem you can help us resolve.”
His amused smile slipped into one for bargaining. “Tell me.”
“Two days ago, we were set upon by thieves in the mountains. They stole from us and brought those things here, where you purchased them. We want them back.”
He threw his arms wide, and the smile became amused again. “It seems to me that you have a problem with your thieves, not me. Take it up with them.”
Elizabeth waited, which is usually best before cutting the knees from under an opponent. In a calm, sweet voice, she said, “We did take it up with the twelve of them. They are all dead.”
His smile slipped. “Who killed them?” His eyes swept the other three of us as if seeing us for the first time. Tater and his broken arm and bruises covering his face, Kendra looking intentionally girlish, and me without a weapon.
“You?”
“Sir, we will leave here with our belongings. You should make sure your sellers are also owners.”
It was made as a statement of fact, and concern showed in his confused expression. He stood a head taller than me, weighed twice what I did, and he had two men outside ready to rush in and join any fight. I casually turned and lowered the bar across the door. His help could enter through another door, but that would take time.
“Hey, there. You can’t do that.”
I didn’t respond.
The small man hadn’t said a word but watched all.
Elizabeth said, “There are now four of us and only one of you. Yes, your men will arrive here sooner or later when you shout for them, but if that happens, you will not be alive to see that, sir.”
His eyes swept past us. “You have no weapons.”
“And you are betting your life on what you do not see. You will lose, as did the twelve who stole from us. Do you have a list of what you purchased from two men early yesterday morning?”
He reached for a knife with a blade so long it was almost a short sword. I pulled heat from his sweating body and concentrated it on the handle. As he raised it to threaten us, his fingers reflexively opened at the intense heat, and the knife fell to the floor in a clatter of iron on wood.
He shouted, “What the hell?”
“You dropped your knife, sir,” Elizabeth said. “Now, do you have a list of our belongings, or shall we decide what to take?”
I watched the smaller man.
He’d had enough of her insolent talk. He charged her. I kicked an empty keg in front of him. He leaped over it, arms extended to grab Elizabeth, but she had already dived to one side. He spun, quick as a cat. He faced her again, in a crouch, ready to grab her before she darted away again. In his anger, he’d forgotten about us three because he stood directly in front of Tater. But faced Elizabeth and ignored him. Tater’s hand held an iron hinge suitable for a large gate, a hinge as long as my forearm.
He didn’t hesitate. Tater slashed it across the back of the storekeeper’s head. The big man crumpled. Elizabeth looked at me briefly. “Tie him up, please.”
The small man behind the counter rang a bell. The front door clattered. The man glanced to his left, and there was another door. A swing-bar was in the vertical position. With a nudge, it moved and fell into the iron straps. His attention went to the far side of the room where a carriage door was closed.
I walked there as the second door rattled. An iron stave locked that one.
The pile of rope coils had provided all we needed and more to tie the giant of a man. We didn’t need him waking and getting free, and there was plenty of rope, so we tied his wrists and feet. Then his knees and elbows, a few loops around his neck and a convenient stanchion, and then one smaller rope tossed over a ceiling beam and around his waist.
The small man watched, his bell now on the counter. He didn’t ring it again.
Kendra went to the counter. She leaned across and asked the small man as calmly as if nothing had happened, “We’re also looking for a dog with one ear missing.”
“Out back,” he snorted as if that was funny.
“Thank you.” She backed away, as calmly as if she was in Crestfallen Palace.
Tater headed for the rear door, and I followed. I allowed the door to open a crack and we returned with Springer in his arms. Fresh blood covered his front leg. I may have felt sorry for the storekeeper until seeing the new injury on the dog. It looked like another dog had attacked him. There was also the look Elizabeth gave to the unconscious man. He was better off comatose and bleeding from the wound on his head than conscious and facing her.
She turned to the smaller man, who was no longer smiling. “That will cost you.”
“You don’t know what you’ve done. I’ll have all four of you hung on those rafters above you before the day is over.”
Elizabeth smiled wanly. “You are almost right. There will be a hanging from those rafters. Damon, tie him and put him with the other one.”
She made no more threats. We discovered most of our things still together, in a room at the top of the stairs. I strapped on my sword and knife and felt safer. Then reconsidered. Tater was owed a good knife since his was still in the bag of skin that had been Stata. Expecting he would refuse, I was surprised when he accepted my offer to give him mine. His grin was thanks enough. A cache of knives lay on a nearby table, and I helped myself to the best there was, not nearly as good as mine, but worth the trade no matter how I looked at the deal.
Elizabeth located our silver and gold in the rear of a drawer. She went right to it as if she could smell it. She never hesitated in taking it all, which was far more than we’d had. My crossbows were near a target made in the shape of a man. From the locations of the holes, someone had either been very good or stood very close. I suspected the later.
In a short time, we had taken what we believed ours, what we wanted and stood at the door, knowing those waiting outside would wonder and probably rush inside to find their boss tied on the floor—then they would be after us. Elizabeth said, “Damon, can you take care of this?�
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My eyes closed, and feelings of tiredness and sleep washed over them. Both moved to the chairs and sat down. Their snores came easily as they were completely relaxed. Their dreams were filled with the sounds of cabinet doors closing, high winds shrieking, and trees falling. Neither would hear us and wake if we shouted at each other.
That was the sort of magic a mage might use, and the drain on me would cost fatigue. Giving Elizabeth a nod, she opened the front door and strolled out. Our horses were still where we’d left them. After one quick look at the guards to make sure they hadn’t awoken, we put our things on the packhorse, and Tater carried Springer in his arms. As we rode out of town, I placed the thoughts in the guard’s minds that they had a clear vision of us returning the way we entered the city. I did the same for the few people on the street as we rode in the opposite direction. Still, I’d keep a close watch on our backs. No doubt, a unit of the King’s Army would soon find themselves relocated to Dayton, along with their explicit orders from Elizabeth to arrest and close the store, and the men would hang. The army would probably try to return what they could to the rightful owners, and the entire population of Dayton would be better off and happier.
The road ahead followed the contours of the rolling hills. Despite the beauty of the area, my eyes were turned inward, thinking only about the confrontation behind us, and the private time I needed to speak with Kendra. She didn’t yet know she couldn’t go to Mercia—our destination, and I was too tired to ride.
Tater rode with the dog. Each time he spat, I tried to direct it to whatever target was within range. He left his mark on stumps, fence posts, rocks, and a cow’s head. I felt sorry for the cow and used a little more of the essence of the world to rid it from the cow, although a good question for me to follow up on would be to find where it had gone after leaving the cow. I’d hate to think there was some other innocent animal somewhere that got splattered.
