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“Gershom of Haryse is an original, for certain,” one of the others said. “And I wouldn’t let that mage hear you. Even hedgewitches can bite.”
“But why bring Gershom and his Dogs?” a third demanded. “Why not get the Ferrets? At least they know how to treat royalty, and nobility. They keep a proper distance.”
“Haven’t you noticed he doesn’t get along with the master of Ferrets any longer?” replied the one who’d called my lord an original, whatever that meant. “Not to mention the Lord of the Exchequer and the Lord High Magistrate. With what happened here, the murder of the Lord Chancellor and perhaps even His Highness, I wouldn’t trust anyone at court.”
“He’s also made the lords and the mages furious with the new taxes,” said the one who wanted our job turned over to the Ferrets. “I wouldn’t pay a copper cole for His Majesty’s life these days.”
“You talk treason,” the first speaker said harshly.
“I didn’t say I wanted it,” the Ferret-lover replied. “But do you think half of us would be greeting the Black God right now if His Majesty was still his old, lazy self?”
The voices moved out of my hearing, headed back toward the river. I crouched for a moment longer, clenching my fists over and over. Mayhap the split-tongued canker bums would stop for a drink from the water, below the pile that was melted corpses.
I stood finally and snapped my fingers for Achoo. Everyone knew His Majesty was at odds with his nobles as well as his mages. I found it very hard to feel sorry for the nobles or the wealthy great mages. The king had nearabout beggared the treasury to feed the poor over the winter of 247. What was unreasonable about asking those that had the coin to build the kingdom up again? They made enough riches off of us.
Today wasn’t the first treasonous bit of speaking I’d heard, either. Every time someone had a complaint about the realm, they whined about the “good old days,” when King Roger sported high and low and his younger brother Baird ruled the Privy Council and the Council of Nobles. Prince Baird was happy to oblige the nobility and tax the merchant class and the poor folk. I know what I think of their precious “good old days.” The number of them living in the Lower City had doubled as farmers lost their land to taxes and came to the cities for work that wasn’t there.
Talk of treason made my belly roll. The hungry winter of 247 and the food and wood riots of those days had given me all the taste of rebellion I could want. The only good thing that had come from it was the night I met Holborn at the Mantel and Pullet.
I stopped near the picketed horses. There. Mourning. For the first time in hours I had remembered Holborn. I wished passionately that I’d get to remain on this Hunt even when my lord Gershom did send the Ferrets out to hunt down the prince. Worrying about trails and tripping over bodies, meeting Their Majesties, I hadn’t once thought of my loss.
I went over to a tree and leaned there until I could breathe proper again. Only when I was sure of myself did I go on down to the water. I’d thought for a moment that hurt like a dagger’s stab that Holborn would have wanted to know what I had seen, what I had heard, and what Lord Gershom had said.
I spotted Master Farmer, Tunstall, and Lord Gershom. Tunstall nodded, and my lord turned so he could see me. “Cooper, why don’t you, Tunstall, and Achoo catch some rest? The lads will wrap what you and Tunstall salvaged from the remains while Farmer takes care of that pile of rot. They can get their hands dirty. You two have done enough.”
I wasn’t about to argue. No more was Tunstall. Still, I had questions I didn’t want “the lads” to overhear. I beckoned the three coves aside, away from the remains. “My lord, might this be some plot by the king’s own nobles?” I asked. I’d made sure we stood in the open by the river, with the water’s sound to cover what we said, and no nearby brush to hide any eavesdroppers like I had been. “Is that why you’re keeping this close to your chest?”
Tunstall groaned. “Not politics, Cooper,” he said quietly. “We’re Dogs, not useless natterers.”
Lord Gershom looked at me for so long that I began to fear I had angered him. Finally he said, “That is the problem with encouraging a promising young one to learn all she can of Dog work. There will come a time when she learns the things you would prefer stayed hidden. Cooper, His Majesty has enemies, some of whom think they are more fit to govern than he is. It may be that they have chosen this way to attack him.”
“Wouldn’t it be simpler to do away with Their Majesties?” I asked.
“Not if you want to make certain His Majesty does as he is told,” Master Farmer said, his voice soft. “Think how much easier it would be, Cooper, to have a pet king.”
“But His Majesty doesn’t do whatever he likes,” I pointed out. “The Council of Nobles and the Council of Mages make it curst hard for him.”
“Us worrying over such matters won’t get our evidence packed up or the prince found,” my lord said. “The political problems are mine, Cooper. Don’t forget, this kidnapping could be the work of someone else entirely, using a rough time at court to set us on another trail. Keep your mind open.”
“Yes, my lord,” I whispered.
“Of course, my lord,” Tunstall said, giving me a gentle elbow in the ribs.
“Now rest,” my lord ordered. “I’ll rouse you when you’re needed. Nond!” he called to one of the men. “Let’s have two of the blankets for Tunstall and Cooper here!”
Master Farmer saluted us. “Enjoy your nap,” he said.
Tunstall looked at him. “My lord said you went over the things we found on the beach. Did you find anything besides whatever led you to us?”
Master Farmer shook his head. “All of them had been washed by the tide. I found nothing but your traces.”
Tunstall cursed under his breath as one of the Own’s men trotted off toward the horse lines. The soldier returned with a pair of saddle blankets in his arms. My lord Gershom had gone by then. I could see him a few yards up the bank, near the mess, talking with other men. They’d brought oiled cloth to gather up the pieces we thought we could identify. Master Farmer stood over the mess. If he was using his Gift, I couldn’t see it.
“Here you are,” the soldier called Nond said as he gave Tunstall and me each a blanket. “Gods all be thanked for the two of you,” he whispered. “I know we wouldn’t be out here if you hadn’t found his trail. You needn’t say anything,” he said hurriedly when Tunstall opened his mouth to deny it. “I know it’s all secret. I’m just grateful for the bit of hope, you see. I’ve been giving young Gareth rides on my horse for a year. I don’t know what I’d—well, never mind. I’ll make sacrifice to Great Mithros in your names, in hopes he’ll keep guiding you.” He left us, his head bowed.
“Here I thought it was Achoo guiding us,” Tunstall whispered when Nond was well out of earshot.
I punched Tunstall’s arm. “Don’t blaspheme,” I said. “You know very well what he meant.” Tunstall worshipped the hill gods, Keirnun and his two wives, Morni and Danya. He liked to poke fun at the gods of the rest of Tortall, though he did so only lightly, and never at quiet Death.
Tunstall shrugged. “I think the god would say Achoo has earned her praise this night.”
I couldn’t argue with that, so I found one of the trees with a broad spread of limbs and leaves. I wrapped myself in my blanket. “Achoo, turun,” I said quietly. She was still pacing to and fro along the riverbank, trying to get the scent back. She looked at me. I pointed to the ground at my side. “Turun. We can’t do any more just now, so get some sleep, girl.”
She walked over to me and together we lay down, Achoo grumbling in her throat. She wanted to be on the Hunt again.
“I don’t like it, either,” I told her, “but when we have a boat, mayhap we can pick the lad’s scent up. We just need to cast around for a bit. I’m betting upstream. Downstream takes them straight to Blue Harbor. They have to think the Deputy Provost has been alerted.”
Achoo sighed.
“I know,” I said, scratching
her ears. “Sometimes we just have to wait.” I nodded to Tunstall as he found a spot under our tree. I think I was asleep before he’d spread his blanket.
The boom of distant thunder roused me. At first I thought I’d been dreaming. As it came closer, I prayed Master Farmer could send the storm off. Then I heard him bellow, “I can’t work with weather, all right, Tunstall? Some things I do, and plenty of things I can’t!”
I got up, not wanting to get soaked where I lay. Achoo was not beside me. I found her sitting with Master Farmer, who stood on the riverbank, hands dug deep in his pockets. Tunstall was walking away from him as I approached. “Aren’t you the one forever telling me not to tweak a mage’s tail?” I whispered to my partner.
He grinned at me. “How could I know he’s sensitive, Cooper?”
“If we’re to Hunt together, you’d best find a way to get along with him,” I replied.
“Oh, he’s all right,” Tunstall assured me. “We had a talk, and now I know he’s not one of those poxy mages who will treat us like scummer. Not once did he threaten me with magicking, and I wasn’t sweet to him.”
“Have you done that with the other mages we’ve dealt with?” I asked, my arms going all over goose bumps. The thought that he’d risked his hide, or mine, testing some of the mages we’ve had to deal with was a chilling thing.
He patted me on the shoulder. “Some mages are easier to read than others,” he murmured. “This one took a little more work.” He walked over to where the men of the Own were preparing the horses so we could leave.
I joined Master Farmer by the water. There was no point in trying to find shelter. I’d be soaked by the time we reached the road. “Can you at least conjure hats, Master Farmer?” I asked. “I have a good one, but it’s at home.”
He smiled at me. “I can weave hats, with my own two hands. I can’t conjure them.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “Besides, don’t you women like to wash your hair in the sweet summer rain?”
“I don’t have time, usually,” I said.
But he was gone again, vanished into a world of mage vexation. “They think, because you can do some big things, you can do all manner of big things,” he grumbled. “I killed the molten remains before too much got into the river, didn’t I?” He glanced at me. “You were asleep.”
I took a deep breath, relieved beyond saying. I had not liked that stuff. “You’re sure?” I asked.
“Not a trace of it left,” Master Farmer said. “And I cleaned what you and Tunstall took from it, so we’ll have evidence to look at when we get back.”
Another burst of thunder struck so near I felt my teeth rattle. “Was it supposed to rain tonight?” I asked when it died away.
“Not for the rest of the week,” Master Farmer replied. “A lot of weather-seers will have some fast talking in the morning. No, I’d say whoever’s working on this plot brought the storm down on us. Look.”
He raised his left hand palm up to the sky. Almost instantly I saw lines like bluish-purple fire ripple across the clouds like dozens of thread-width lightning branches. “That’s magic in the clouds, stirring up the rain,” Master Farmer told me. “Whoever did it must have pulled the storm down from the north. That’s why it’s getting so cold. How much rain must fall before your pup loses the scent?”
“It varies,” I told him. “Part of it’s the strength of the scent to start, and then how much rain there is. What worries me is that Achoo’s been following a scent in the air. These Rats are carrying the lad. If he’s not touching anything, it makes it harder to track him. We need him to be on the ground.” The first spits of rain struck my face. “Oh, pox,” I said, and sighed.
The clouds opened up and soaked us all three. I whistled for Achoo to come as we raced for the horses and the shelter of the trees. After we collected our mounts, we found Lord Gershom. Pounce sat on his saddle before him.
Finally, my cat greeted us. He glared up at the shelter of trees they had found. Rain was starting to drip through the leaves. A few drops fell onto Pounce’s face. I only waited to tell you that I will meet you at the palace, he said, his mind voice grouchy. Just because Achoo likes to be wet does not mean I have to endure this. You are on your own.
He vanished. Lord Gershom looked at the spot where Pounce had been. “If I weren’t tired to the bone, that would have startled me,” he commented. “Anything new, Farmer?”
“We’re at a standstill,” Master Farmer grumbled as Tunstall rode over to join us.
“We are not,” I said. “We know there are mages at work who are powerful enough to call up a rainstorm, sink two ships whilst holding those who are in them down, and kill the Chancellor of Mages, all in a bit over one day. Their Majesties’ mages ought to be able to guess who is most likely to combine for work like this. And those two have to give us something, or they should be clever enough to know that if they don’t, my lord might be inclined to suspect them.”
Master Farmer watched me, his eyebrows raised. “Very true.”
Tunstall raised his voice to be heard over the rain. “What foreigners could have gotten so close to the Mage Chancellor, or gotten their paws on Their Majesties’ schedule? It’s our own folk, Tortallans, who know the court, and who know our tides and beaches on this coastline, and can make their way through the forest after dark.”
“Moreover, there’s all manner of upset among the nobles and mages, as I understand it,” I said as Lord Gershom made the sign for our group to ride out. This time the men of the King’s Own went first, to make sure the road was safe. Keeping a distance behind them, I went on talking to my lord and Master Farmer. “The bigger the gang, the more tongues to tattle,” I said. “I think these Rats are home bred, murrain take them and their ratlings.”
The rain came down harder as we left the shelter of the trees. “Well thought out, both of you,” Lord Gershom shouted as we reached the road. The rain immediately doused our torches. Master Farmer instantly cast a bright globe of light that revealed everything for a hundred yards before and after us. “What do you say, Farmer?” my lord asked.
“She makes a good case,” Master Farmer called. “You’re going to need more Hunters.”
After that we fell silent, in part because the rain made it curst hard to talk, and in part because we didn’t want our guards to hear. Instead we kept our heads down and prayed each time the sky turned white with lightning. I soon noticed Achoo was miserable, so I whistled her up into the saddle before me. The soldiers cheered her leap and the horse was steady as Achoo landed in my lap. The hound poked her head over my shoulder so she could thank the men with a short bark. Then she let me cuddle her close, for her warmth and mine.
Tired as I was, I still had it in me to feel sorry for the men my lord left to guard the gaping hole the kidnappers had blown in the wall. True, someone had to keep folk from entering the palace grounds that way, but it was a scummer detail. The rain showed no sign of letting up as we reached the palace, gave our horses over to the men who would stable them, and went inside.
Master Farmer went straight to the room prepared for him, saying he had to examine the cloth-wrapped metal remains we had brought in Tunstall’s basket. Tunstall insisted that we tell Their Majesties the prince was yet alive. I wanted naught to do with it, soaked as I was. Achoo had to be dried off and fed. I wanted to let my lord speak to Their Majesties, as he offered to do, but the look in Tunstall’s eyes was such that I agreed. Unhappily. I felt bad about our state. Our clothes were drenched, even our boots, belts, and packs. At least Their Majesties would know we had not lazed about.
Achoo looked far worse than me. With every curl flat against her skin, she looked like she’d lost a third of her weight. One of Her Majesty’s ladies offered to take her to the room that was set up for me and see to it she was dried and fed. I ordered Achoo to go with the mot. She had no reason to curry favor with royalty, or to help a friend do it. My hound refused at first. In the end I had to quickly lead her to the room. Pounce was already inside, loo
king dry and smug.
“Tell Achoo to let this lady help her,” I told Pounce. “No arguments.” As the lady gawped at me I raced back to join Lord Gershom and Tunstall outside Their Majesties’ chambers. The moment I reached my companions, a manservant opened the door to the royal sitting room.
Their Majesties were dressed for sleep, I think, in jewel-colored robes over silk and lace, but they did not have the look of people who’d been roused from their beds. They waited in wide-bottomed chairs on either side of a table where a flagon and wine cups sat.
Lord Gershom, Tunstall, and I bowed. Their Majesties nodded in welcome and the king said something gracious. I barely remember what it was. My lord replied while I studied the mud splotches on my boots and the beautiful tiles on the floor.
My lord poked me in the arm. “Cooper.” To Their Majesties he said, “They are exhausted. They found everything on foot.”
