by Pam Uphoff
"Loss? At least be honest and admit to your actions. Pay me for killing her out of spite. A thousand royals should do."
He choked.
"What? Exceeds your allowance? Afraid your daddy will find out about his son's petty little cruelties? Or do you do this regularly?"
"Shut up!"
"Why? I'm really pissed. I've owned Sombrero for eleven years. That stallion I rode last year is her first foal. You think the Lord in front of your name gives you privileges above other people? That the laws don't apply to you? Maybe you should check the Charter, it says otherwise. I'm giving you a chance to not be charged with a crime. You don't have the money? Then take the other option. Find a knacker who will come and haul her away." Damien turned away and unhitched the harness from the wagon. He backed Blackie up, so he could roll the body and finish getting the harness off.
In the background, Nicole gave an account of the incident, backed up by the two ladies, both of whom had saluted the captain. The young lords, given the officer's strong suggestion, slunk off. Shy, with his two escorts was reduced to asking people where to find a knacker. There were two watching, and with a shared glance, started quoting their prices for removing dead horses from the public street.
A distressed looking Code rode Solstice through the crowd. "Gilly came and told us. Did you really beat up ten of them?"
"Six. They were idiots, without a bit of experience."
Nicole heard that, and looked over. "Every single one of them has a swordmaster."
"There's a difference between fencing and brawling. This was my kind of fight, not theirs." Damien started putting Sombrero's harness on the stallion. The horse whickered faintly at his dam. Damien leaned his head on the horse. "Sorry, Buddy."
"They were trying to ride you down." She walked over and patted Solstice.
"Just as well they couldn't do that and wave those swords around at the same time."
"Will you stop being so calm! I thought they were going to kill you!" She shot a glare at the two female guards. "And some people weren't about to do anything sensible, like stop the fight before it began."
One knacker departed, and returned with a team, and strong rope to drag Sombrero away. Sly departed quietly. Code poked Damien and got him up in the wagon, and Nicole turned and walked to the carriage the guards had summoned.
The Captain and the guards mounted up and followed them off.
"You know, you just have to swear allegiance to the King and Charter to be a citizen, and you could easily get on the City Council. Everyone in the Docks knows you." Code turned the team down an alley and halted at their first delivery.
Damien jumped down, knocked at the door, then fetched the right crate. "Yeah. Sounds real easy. Fun too. Laws and meetings. Oh boy."
"Or start buying and selling on your own. You could be one of those merchants with a fancy office and warehouse, you know."
"Code. No matter what I do, I will not be the sort of person who marries a princess. Even a former princess." He shook his head. "You don't understand."
"Well, not if you don't explain."
"Could you marry a princess?"
"I'm already married."
"You know what I mean. I'm no more hoity-toity than you are, and no more inclined to make myself miserable trying to make myself into something I'm not."
He tried hard to ignore the message waiting for him on the sideboard.
"You and your damned princesses!" Andrai shook her head at him, and watched with a tapping foot as he opened a request to come see her. Tonight.
"Only one princess, and now she's a duchess. I think I didn't receive this." He dropped it into the stove's firebox and sat down to eat.
He even tried to sleep, before giving up and dressing in his nice suit. He walked a dozen blocks before finding a cab, heading back for the swank part of town empty, was happy to carry him to the Duchess's door.
"I heard all about you beating up them nobles. Gonna get your reward, eh?"
"I hope not." The reward for stupid moles generally being death for them and their compatriots. I could even get Code and Vani killed. And Jeinah. The kids will probably just die of starvation, or freeze in the winter.
The cab turned up the driveway of a nice older mansion. Moderately ostentatious, with larger grounds than most. A larger stable. The divorce settlement must have been impressive.
A rather fit older man opened the door and ushered him in. Welcome to my parlor, little fly!
"I will inform her ladyship that you have arrived."
The spider's web was a nicely appointed little salon. Nicole came in immediately.
"Are you all right?"
He shook his head. "Apart from being a complete idiot? My toes hurt; those viciously trained war horses stepped on them."
"I hope you realize how completely satisfying that was. Apart from your poor horse. In retrospect, I'm enjoying those . . . boys getting thrashed. And you managed to impress me all over again. Do you really regret that?"
"Oh yes. This is so dangerous. Not just to me, but to everyone I've adopted as camouflage."
"Oh. Are we going to be sensible?"
"I wasn't planning on it."
***
"This really is dangerous, isn't it?"
"Oh yes. Governments tend to run all over individuals. Yours could decide I'm a danger to Staven. Mine could order me to influence him. Yours could take Staven away from you, or kill me, and arrest everyone associated with me. Mine? Well, they've demonstrated their stupidity and arrogance several times. We've got a sensible president right now, but we vote every six years whether to keep him or replace him."
She shifted in his arms. "I read everything I could on Earth. Their, your, attitude toward other worlds is Shy's attitude write large."
He nodded, or maybe he was just rubbing his cheek on her hair. "Very much so. The 'Natives' of other worlds aren't quite real humans to some people. It's very strange. Very nasty. I've always considered myself fortunate that I was in intel, collecting information, mainly about other cultures. I . . . would have had to become someone else, if I'd been in one of the enforcement brigades."
"Are we a very strange culture?"
"No. Very familiar, actually. Our main job here is watching the One Worlders. Did you read up on them? The whole situation is absurd. We're both watching for signs that your kingdom will start diplomatic relations with the other, and let yourselves be exploited by them instead of us."
She shook her head. "Old Gods, isn't that a bit . . . boring?"
He snickered. "A sizable minority of our intelligence apparatus hopes the One World will swallow you whole, with us attached. Then we could spy on them, sort of second hand from inside."
She sat up and looked at him indignantly. "Damien! You don't hope for that, do you?"
"Hell no. I'm stuck on hoping the comet in four and a half years misses."
"Ugg. That, I'm afraid, I know about. At least next winter none of the big ones will be near."
"Near enough to maybe change their orbits. I hope." He nuzzled into her hair.
"Is there anything your government can do?"
"There are things they could try, but we've never faced a situation like this. I don't know if we'd be able to deflect it. Not that I've heard of any willingness to try. Damn their stupid . . . " He sighed into her hair. "Sorry. I need to stop babbling. And stop seeing you. Not that I've had any luck making myself do that, so far."
She tightened the arm around his ribcage, but nodded at the same time. "I . . . will miss you horribly, and always hope your resolve slips."
He nodded. "I should have run away, the first time I saw you."
"Most men do."
"Most men are trained to desire those half starved waifs. But they still flock around you, even as they wonder why." He ran a finger from her neck over warm curving muscles of shoulder and arm. "God, you're gorgeous."
"And you are exactly what I need tonight, to get me through the mess tomorrow."
&n
bsp; "Eh? Umm, don't tell me if I shouldn't know."
"Oh, nothing world shaking. Just . . . The king will be announcing Rolo's engagement to Lady Amilie Newry. I am expected to be present for the announcement. Smiling my approval."
"Oww! Not nice."
Her arm tightened. "But instead of being miserable, I'll probably fall asleep and start snoring."
"Oh, yes, that's much better."
She snickered into his shoulder.
"Nicole, if I ever tell you to hit me, haul back and really slap me and loudly denounce me as a low class bumpkin and tell me that I should return to the docks where I belong."
"Because something has become dangerous?"
"Most likely orders from my superiors, involving Staven."
"Right."
He dragged home in the pre-dawn, and managed to stay awake all day. Apart from napping in the Sooty Duck when he ought to have been eating. He didn't hear any rumors about Nicole yawning through the ceremony.
By the time summer turned into an early fall, Staven was calling him Uncle Day.
Chapter Nine
Fall 1372, local
The line of the Farmer's Comets was showing clear and bright in the evening sky.
And after a frantic half day of trying to control Code's panicked gibbering, Vani gave birth to a little girl they named Mihaela after her mother.
Damien stuffed his barns with over priced hay, and sent most of the horses to the country. Eddie took Trickster down, and stayed to help the boy down there cope with the overload. The kids, to his surprise, volunteered to go as well. Andrai snorted. "They're farm kids, it's what they know."
The winter was as cold as he'd expected, and the thaw was delayed until late into a miserable spring. Damien tried to not end up in Nicole's warm bed too often, and rode out twice to check on the farm, and found everything running smoothly.
"Two stallions here. I'll bet every mare is pregnant again." Damien muttered. But looking at Blackie and Macy, he realized that his old mares really were old, and that he was going to need all those young horses, probably sooner than they were ready for work. Blueberry was old enough to team with one of the three other young mares, once her filly was weaned, and he could work both older stallions. If he bought two geldings and split the stallions up, he could run four wagons all spring and summer. The yearlings that had both Midnight and Solstice in their backgrounds were a spectacular trio of fillies. To his surprise, only four mares were in foal, and he took the stallions away to avoid another foal explosion next year.
Chapter Ten
Spring 1373, local
The Recovery Team members were all nicely bronzed from the sun. "There's no sign of Rior, but the Islands are thick with magically talented teenagers. The rumors are odd, all about wizards and magical goats, and the return of the Sea King."
"Return? The man has been king since the death of his brother almost twenty-six years ago." Usse sighed. "Restrain your imaginations, and stick to finding the princess. I have given some thought," to getting you out from underfoot. "To finding Auchel Ibrahm. If you wish to explore the possibility of the princess assisting the Gold Gang, you should get a wagon and four horses and hire out hauling gold up from Farofo."
Owco snorted. "Trying to get us killed? I admit that making targets of ourselves is a possibility I've considered. Perhaps we should try a trip or two, but by ourselves, not with a wagon train and guards."
Usse nodded. "Take a load of things they'll probably need. Flour, oats, canned vegetables and fruits. Wine."
The young man across the alley was happy to give the Team some driving lessons, and help them buy a wagon. He sold them two geldings, nice sober brown ones, not the pinto creatures they preferred themselves. They drove off and Usse figured he'd have nearly six months to himself.
He stared into the mirror. His hair was still thin on top, but a long way from the completely bald he'd been just a year and a half ago. He needed to report in to the Directorate. He had procrastinated as long as he could about the Seal . . . But he hated leaving the Recovery Team alone here. Better that he send a report to the Directorate, requesting a replacement. Then, with Karista covered he'd be free to return and confess. When the Team returned, perhaps he could send them home, with his letter. Yes. That would work best.
Chapter Eleven
Fall 1373, local
It was Max and Jeinah's turn to have a baby, a boy they named Tony after a departed fellow spy. Eddie finally admitted that Trickster was too old to keep racing, and with his accumulated savings he bought two squares a couple miles from their farm. He also bought Spice Island, and to Damien's surprise, both Buckette's and Figgy's Solstice daughters as well. Damien wouldn't sell him Blueberry's filly, agreeing with Eddie that she was the best of a damn fine bunch.
Damien declared it a successful year. "Fewer horses than I had in the spring." Andrai rolled her eyes.
The Oners returned crestfallen and empty handed. Apparently they'd been robbed by half the bandits in the kingdom without finding their princess.
Damien sighed and said he was running out of places to send them, and why weren't they sick and tired of endlessly hunting a princess yet?
He packed Code off with most of the horses for the winter, and did not listen to rumors of who Duchess Nicole seemed to favor at the Winter Ball.
Chapter Twelve
Late Winter 1374, local
"Stop listening for rumors." Usse snapped. "You're leaving in another month." And I ought to go with you. Confess my sins.
"But this sounded really interesting." Owco said. "I had one of the local witches read my palm, down in Havwee."
Usse put his newspaper down and frowned. "You what!"
"I thought we might be able to plug into the local collective." Owco sounded defensive—as well he ought. "She said she saw a horse in my future, a very strange horse, pale gold, nearly white, with a single horn growing from her forehead. A mare, she said, that would be on one of the River Barges on the Karista River between Wallenton and here."
Usse frowned. "However much I dislike any sort of fortune telling, I must admit that I've never heard of a Unicorn Myth here." He blinked slowly. The princess, or my seal, with a unicorn on it? Could I actually recover the seal? "So I suppose you'd best chase it down, like you have all the other rumors. At least this one won't take you far, although given how many barges there are . . . you will be busy. Just remember, the ship is coming, and it won't linger for long. If you are going to return this year, you'd best not miss it." Them finding it would be worse than my losing it in the first place. "I myself will probably be out of the city. I want to check some Army movements to the north."
They moved immediately to Wallenton, to survey the barges while they were still ice locked. Usse followed on the next stage, concealing his aura under a mental shield, and his looks under a wig and false whiskers. His Priest's training allowed him to track the five Oners without their knowing. And to scan the barge people himself. He hated getting into so many Native brains, and drank too much to get the dirty feeling out of his brain.
The team's discovery sent a spike of excitement through his sixth-morning-in-a-row hangover, and brought him cringing to the window of his rented room. The team was sending a stooge out to talk to the suspect. Usse picked up a clear picture from the young Abce. "It's her. The blonde witch." Usse scrambled to pack, flung a hundred royal note to the innkeeper and bolted down the docks. The ice was clearly breaking, floating in chunks, and all the barges were casting off as quickly as possible. He had to let the Team get on, and out of sight before he asked for passage.
"Only got deck space." The gruff hand said, working around him, loosening the last rope.
"Good enough." Usse jumped off the plank as the man reached for it.
He also wanted what Usse suspected was too much money for a spot on some crates, but Usse paid up and made himself comfortable. What was the team doing? He sank into meditation, and nearly recoiled in horror. The damned witch was using
his backpack, and had all of his money in it, and they'd already found the seal. Owco packed it all up and removed it, while his friends drained the witch the old way. He was a bit aghast at the risk they were taking. One misstep and she'd kill them. He hardened his heart, they were grown men, trained agents. Before they developed any sort of routine or security, he watched Owco leave his cabin and climb the short ladder to the barge's raised aft deck.
He eased over to the cabin. Ijde and Efte put their heads down and slept, the door wasn't even locked. He slipped the seal out of the backpack, stepped back out the door and slipped back to his crate. He had it. All was right with the World.
With the river high, it was a fast four days to Karista. He disembarked quickly; after everyone and everything was gone the barge master would shift down to meet the One vessel and take the woman and Recovery Team away.
Usse walked back to the warehouse, divested himself of wig and beard and breathed a sigh of relief. Now he could be left in peace. He replaced the fake seal with the real, and crushed the fake in an explosion of overjoyed mental manipulation.
"Ah. All this and I'm finally alone." He grinned, and headed for the Sooty Duck for dinner and entertainment.
Chapter Thirteen
Spring 1374, local
"Hey, it sounds like the Recovery Team isn't coming back. I thought they picked up a rumor about a unicorn on a barge."
Damien raised his eyebrows. "You don't suppose they actually found their princess, do you?"
Andrai shook her head reprovingly. "I was rather hoping you'd finally run out of places to send those poor creatures to."
"I didn’t make this one up, they heard it in Havwee. And I refuse to feel sorry for them. It's not my fault they didn't realize what Rock Coast was like in the winter."
