Bloodhound

  It seems to me that a cove who is that afraid ought not to be a Deputy Provost.

  The runner came back. "This way, Guardswoman," she told me. I followed her to Sir Lionel's office. He was seated behind his great desk. I stood at attention, waiting for him to give me the nod, as the runner left, closing the door behind her. Sir Lionel took his own time about going through his papers, signing a few, making notes on others, until he'd reached the end of the pile. Then he set down his pen, leaned back in his chair, and looked at me.

  "This had better be worth my time, Guardswoman Cooper," he said. "I'm a busy man. Where is Guardswoman Goodwin?"

  "She is unavailable, Sir Knight. This matter would not wait." I spoke carefully, trying to be as correct in my manners and speech as I'd been taught. Everything depended on me making the right impression. "Sir Knight, one of our informants has been falsely arrested on charges of colemongering. I come to you asking for your help in the matter. Master Isanz Finer and many members of his family, all silversmiths, were taken up this morning and brought to the Tradesmen's District kennel. Coles were found in the house, but these are coles set aside by the family. They have kept them out of the money-stream until the Silversmith's Guild answered their report of coles in trade throughout the city. The Finers made their report over a week ago. They also made this complaint together with other silversmiths in the guild. Master Isanz Finer also informed Goodwin and me of this the day after our arrival here." My mouth had gone as dry as paper. I licked my lips, but I dared not stop. "Moreover, Sir Knight, Master Isanz Finer was known in the past for his ability to identify the origins of different kinds of silver. That is why Corporal Guardswoman Goodwin and I visited him. He undertook for us to learn the origins of the silver in the coles. We now know where it comes from, thanks to his hard work. We also have a likely suspect in our eye. It is someone with no connections whatsoever to the Finers. An innocent family is being caged right now, Sir Knight. You must trust our word that these people are not involved."

  I bit my lip to shut myself up. I waited, eyeing the floor. I'd already noticed Sir Lionel would not look at me. I felt a sinking in my gut.

  "Have you documents from the Silversmith's Guild testifying that these silversmiths told them of false coins?" he asked, pouring himself a drink from a pitcher at hand.

  "Sir Knight, we are trying to get those now, but my hopes are not good. The guild told the smiths there was no problem of coles," I replied. "You, with your greater understanding of such persons, would know better than I why they would say such a thing. To a lowly Dog like me, it looks as if they are trying to cover up the problem."

  "I don't want the opinions of a lowly Dog like you," Sir Lionel said, his voice icy.

  I looked at the floor again. "Of course not, Sir Knight."

  "Have you documents from the other silversmiths who reported to the guild?" he asked.

  "We are trying to get some, Sir Knight," I replied.

  "You say you have a suspect?" he asked very softly.

  I looked him in the face. His mouth was unsteady. His hands were shaking. Where was Goodwin when I needed her? I didn't know how to talk to someone of his position. He was the chief law officer here, even if we thought him tainted by his fear of the Rogue. Surely if he knew he could bring Pearl down, he would do his duty.

  I thought of something. "My lord, today or tomorrow a caravan guarded by Hanse Remy will be coming here with smuggled silver. Isanz Finer told us where the silver comes from. We know that Remy went there. You can set a trap at the north gates to the city. If your people find smuggled silver in Remy's keeping, you will know that Isanz has served the Crown. He will have proved his innocence."

  "What if he simply gave up his cohorts in crime, knowing that you and Goodwin were closing in?" Sir Lionel asked.

  "We went to Master Finer for help, Sir Knight," I replied. "He could have had us looking up our own bums for the smuggled silver. Instead he told us where it came from. All I ask is that you send a writ to Tradesmen's kennel to spare the Finers until you learn if his information is good."

  Sir Lionel was blinking too much. I never trust anyone who blinks too much. "Who is your suspect, Cooper?" His voice was sharp.

  "Sir, I should not tell." I said it flat out.

  "Answer me, you guttersnipe." He gripped the edge of his desk with white-knuckled hands.

  I was on the very edges of my nerves, my whole body aquiver, or I might never have spoken as I did then. Writing it now, in cold blood, I can't believe I was such a fool. "You know curst well who it is, Sir Knight. If you'd been using your head instead of shrinking at every shadow, you'd have seen it for yourself. And if you hadn't let her run fast and far beyond all control, it might never have come to this."

  "You dare." He whispered it. His skin had gone the color of ash.

  "There's yet time," I said like he was a fellow Dog and I his equal. "Pick her up. Put her to mage spells and she will talk. Better yet, question Hanse Remy. He'll name her in trade for his own life. She's at the heart of a rot that's spreading all down the river. Without her it will stop. You'll have the credit for hobbling her – "

  He raised a hand. Purple fire flew at me from his fingers. I didn't even have the chance to dodge before it coated me, freezing my arms to my sides and clamping my lips fast together.

  He put a magic on me. Gods curse him and his ancestors, he put a magic on me without my consent. I will have my vengeance for that, nobleman or no. I've been touched with other magics before. They never felt like this, but then, they were magics I'd agreed to, like healing spells, or Kora darkening my lashes and brows for a night's fun.

  I'll have revenge for Lionel of Trebond's stinking trick. I don't care who he is. I have rights under the law.

  "You ignorant, feckless piece of common get," he whispered, leaning toward me. "You're like a child playing with death spells. Did you stop to think of the lives you will destroy if your mindless accusations come to light? Of course not. You want the glory of arresting a Rogue. Mithros save me, you would see this city at war with itself! Well, not on my watch, girl. Not on my watch. Is that other one, what was her name – Goodwin – is she in this with you? Does she know of your insane idea? You may nod or shake your head. I am tired of your mouthings."

  I only stared at him. He is as mad as a privy snake, I understand that now. He must be, to think he can cover it all up. I was horrified to know the city's law was in the hands of an out-and-out cracknob, but I was also enraged. He had to fumble for Goodwin's name – Goodwin, with all her reputation and honors! What had this Gift-lazy noble sop ever done with his life, save bring the whole country near to disaster by doing nothing?

  Sir Lionel glared at me. He gave another twitch of his fingers. That purple Gift came swimming my way again. This time it made me feel as if a thousand burning needles thrust deep into my skin. I'd never felt such all-over pain. My eyes teared up and ran over. I ground my teeth. Then the magic on my mouth came off. I spat on his desk. He ignored it.

  "Goodwin. Does she know of your ideas about the source of the false coin?" he asked me again. "The next time will hurt more, wench."

  I swallowed. He wouldn't believe an answer I gave him too easily. I'd have to let him hurt me a second time. Don't take me wrongly. I hate pain. But guaranteed Sir Lionel had magic ways to talk to folk in Corus. I had to make certain there would be no killers going after Goodwin there. He'd have to hit me afresh before he'd believe anything I'd tell him about Goodwin, I knew.

  The purple Gift came at me again. I felt like my skin was on fire. If the other magic hadn't been holding me up, I would have dropped to the floor. I shuddered, terrified that he'd do it again.

  When I could, after the pain stopped, I started to spit blood from my bitten lip onto his desk and caught his eye just for a moment. He was giving me what I'm sure he thought was a frightening glare. I blinked a couple of times and looked away without spitting on his desk a second time.

  "Does Goodwin believe you?" he asked.
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  "Di'n't even tell her," I mumbled. That part was easy. My lip was swelling.

  "Speak up, slut," he ordered. "Be quick about it."

  I closed my eyes and counted to nine, three times three for the Goddess, before I cooled off enough to answer safely. "She doesn't know." I said it slow and louder. "I never told her who I thought it was. She always gets the glory for the hobbling. I wanted it for a change."

  He flicked another bit of magic at me. My lips froze together. "I can't have you stirring folk up with your wild talk." He spoke to himself. He'd made it clear I meant nothing to him. "Great Mithros, all I need is for you to spread rumors, and for the Rogue to hold me accountable. No, you must be safely out of the way."

  He yanked a bellpull beside his desk. I closed my eyes, pretending the pull was a snake that dropped to wrap around his throat. Imagining that kept me from panicking. Whatever he meant to do with me, I was helpless. If Nestor even thought to inquire for me here, what could Axman say?

  The door opened. A Dog came in, not one I recognized. Had he been listening at the door? He'd come fast if the other end of that bellpull was in some room far off. He was one of those rawboned, redheaded northerners who looked as if he never smiled – much like Sir Lionel, actually.

  "Ives, this wench has committed a crime against the realm. I want you and Dogs you trust, Dogs who will speak to no one, to bind and gag her, and escort her to Rattery Prison," Sir Lionel ordered. He could as well have been asking this Ives cove to carry out the trash. "I want her in a Coffin cell, understand me?"

  Ives bowed. "It will be exactly as you say, Sir Knight." He looked me over. "Enno and I can manage this ourselves. No need to involve anyone else."

  "Very good," Sir Lionel said. "You will find me grateful. She must be gagged and bound at all times, understand? Do it immediately. The spell will not hold once you take her more than one hundred feet from me."

  Ives bowed. From his belt purse he fetched the rawhide thongs every Dog carried. He bound my ankles so I could make short strides only. My hands he tied behind me, with very good knots. I'd be hard put to get at my weapons. I was certain he was waiting only until I was out of Sir Lionel's presence before he searched me for them.

  The gag was harder – he had none. He left the room. Sir Lionel poured himself a cup of wine and began to write something. He was trying to show he was calm and in control. He would have been much more believable if he didn't keep blotting the page.

  Ives returned with a length of bandage and a muscled hill-man who was near as wide as he was tall. I guessed this was Enno. Most of his girth at chest and arms was muscle. Mayhap I could fight my way past Ives, but not this tree trunk of a cove. He was the one that gagged me.

  Ives gave me a shove. I only rocked on my feet, which stuck fast to the floor. "Sir Knight," said Ives.

  Sir Lionel raised his hand and beckoned. I felt the magic drop away, and I stumbled. Enno grabbed me and hauled me up with one hand clamped hard around my arm.

  They half walked, half dragged me from Sir Lionel's presence. I spent no time worrying about my destination. I'd soon have the leisure to appreciate my Coffin, a tiny, dark room with no light and a door only in the ceiling. Instead I tried to work at the knots around my wrists without Enno catching me at it.

  They marched me down a different corridor from the one I'd used to reach the Deputy Provost's office. We'd gone but fifty feet when Enno clamped his hand around my wrists and squeezed until my bones ground together. "None o' that, Duchess," he told me. "Swive with the ties and I'll break one o' your elbows, Mithros strike me if I lie."

  They shoved me into a small room. There were logbooks on the desk, a bottle and two cups on a small table, chairs and a handful of cards that showed me Sir Lionel had interrupted a game. A bell hung on a rope that dangled from a hole in the wall. That would be the way Sir Lionel summoned Ives. Trays were stacked in a corner, I supposed for serving Sir Lionel. Another door led to the outside.

  Pounce! I thought, calling to him. It was useless. He was in Corus, or among the stars. Of all times for him to be away! I stopped calling and tipped my head back. I would not cry in front of these two tarses. I would not. Somehow, between here and the Rattery, I would find a way to escape.

  Then I bethought myself of my eyes. Many folk did not like them, especially when I was angry, and I stared. I turned my eyes on Enno, letting all of my rage fill them. When I'd done the same to Rosto, and I was not nearly so angry, he said he'd seen friendlier headsmen waiting to start their day's work.

  "I'd best see if she left any gear with Sarge Axman," Ives told Enno. "It'll look bad if anyone comes hunting her and sees her weapons. Don't search her till I get back."

  "You can have her," Enno said, backing away. "I don't want to tangle with this one. She's puttin' a curse on me."

  "Hill barbarian," Ives said, putting his hand on the door latch. "They're just eyes. Mages have to speak to curse." He pulled the door open and shut up. Someone outside had placed a dagger right under one of Ives's own eyes.

  Sergeant Axman shoved Ives into the room and came in, still keeping his dagger on Ives's face. Five other Dogs entered behind Axman.

  "Shut the door," the sergeant ordered. One of the other Dogs obeyed. "Ives, what's Sir Lionel got planned for Cooper, here?"

  Ives shook his head. He wouldn't betray his master's plans. The sergeant gave him a cuff that knocked him against the wall. Another Dog hauled him to his feet. The woman among them came at me, her dagger in her hand. With quick, hard strokes she cut the gag and the ties off of me.

  "They were to take me to the Rattery and dump me in a Coffin," I said, rubbing my wrists. "Sir Lionel wants me silenced. He thinks if he can do that, his problems will disappear."

  "He's got more of 'em instead," Sergeant Axman told me as two of the other Dogs set about tying up Enno and Ives. "Bread went up two coppers this mornin', and there's a Crown ban on rye. Seemingly part of the crop's gone bad, and they want to see what part. It's not sittin' well in the marketplaces." The Dog who kept watch from the door handed my weapons belt and my pack to me. He stood aside as Achoo leaped in. I dropped to my knees to hug her.

  "I thought I told you to stay," I said quietly. I was trying to act like a proper Dog, when I wanted to cry into Achoo's fur. I looked at the Dog who'd let her in. He wore a padded leather coat and gloves that showed fresh scratches. He must have taken my gear from Achoo.

  He grinned at me. "Yon's a fine hound," he said. "Hadda hold her up inna air afore we could get your things."

  "Cooper, you need to get out of here and go to ground," the sergeant told me. He turned me away from the others and bent down to whisper in my ear. "We can't hold Ives forever. He's Sir Lionel's man. There'd be all Chaos caperin' in the halls if we killed 'im. Best we can hope for is, he'll be too scared to tell Sir Lionel that you escaped 'im an' Enno."

  I nodded. That made sense. "Won't you and your people be in trouble?" I asked.

  Axman showed me a wolf's grin. "We'll make us a bargain. He'll keep 'is gob corked an' we'll let 'im keep 'is sack. Now, you get movin'. You know who's safe to contact and who's not."

  Ives shouted under the gag they'd put on him. I could tell he'd cried, "Traitor!"

  The mot who'd cut me free kicked him. "You need to learn a bit of what's goin' on, laddie," she said coldly. "What's goin' on ain't as simple as you."

  Axman hauled me to my feet and towed me through the door. He pointed down the corridor. "First left, down the stairs, through the door, second right down that hall, and out the door," he said. "It puts you two blocks downhill of here. Go."

  "Won't they come after you for mutiny, Sarge?" I asked him. "You and them in there?"

  "I ain't mutinyin'!" he said, his eyes wide and innocent. "I'm gettin' rid of a cracked gixie as has been makin' trouble in my waitin' room, screamin' mad lies about the Deputy Provost! Gave her the sole o' my boot, didn't I? Dunno how she got runnin' loose here in Guards House!"

  I stood on tiptoe and kis
sed his cheek. "You're a wicked one. Gods all bless, Sarge. Help is coming," I said. Then Achoo and I took off.

  Sergeant Axman's directions led me through a door in a small alleyway that opened onto a street lined with small houses. I was on the north side of the ridge, the ocean harbor side. Coming outside with Achoo, stopping to catch my breath, I felt very strange. Only a few moments ago I'd been bound for a cell that was rightly called a Coffin. Instead, thanks to Nestor's friends, I was free, but to what purpose? Once Sir Lionel discovered I had not reached the Rattery, he would go to Serenity's house first. Meraud would have to get help without me, at least for the moment.

  I knelt before a small shrine to the Wavewalker and put a copper in the jar. Anyone who saw me would think I was offering prayers. Truly I was buying time and peace to think. Nestor's would be the next place Sir Lionel would look. I could try to make contact with Okha at the Waterlily, but that had to wait until tonight. Dale would be at the Goldsmith's Bank. Besides, I didn't know if I could trust him for this. It was one thing to believe he was no part of Pearl's game, quite another to ask him to hide me from the Crown's law master in the city.

  The idea struck me then. It was completely mad-brained, but what did I have to lose? I took off my pack and slipped Okha's maps from the hidden pocket. Pearl's Gauntlet court was closest to me. I reminded the Trickster that I deserved a little good luck just now and memorized the map before I tucked it away once more.

  "We're going to have an adventure," I told Achoo, putting her leash on her collar. "And it's a very good thing Pounce isn't here, because he might try to stop us. But you, you're game for nearabout anything, aren't you?" Achoo pranced, wagging her tail. She was excited. "Well, then," I said, "I'll be Goodwin, and you'll be Tunstall, only fuzzier. And mayhap we'll live to tell this tale."

  My body was filled with a strange quivering as we set out, a slight tremble that did not stop. Was it nerves? Kora and Aniki swore I had none. I only knew I was doubly awake and aware, balanced on a razor's edge. I took note of almost everything, even the soft thump of Achoo's pads in the street dirt as we walked. Since she kept looking at me with such lively interest, I kept my voice quiet and continued to explain as if she were Pounce. "The Court of the Rogue is where fugitives may find a welcome, isn't it? Well, we are fugitives, and we are looking for a welcome. It's the last place Sir Lionel will seek us. Mayhap I'll learn sommat into the bargain."