In Which I Find Some Companionship
on and for the Road
Waiting around isn't an annoyance; in the right hands, it's an art form.
Walter Slovotsky
I always have a fallback position, whenever I take a risk: if all else fails, I'll die horribly, at great length, in great pain. Mind you, it's not a good fallback position . . .
Walter Slovotsky
For me, I guess it all started one summer at Lake Bemidji. Neat placea lake large enough to be interesting, but not like one of the Great Lakes or the Cirric; you didn't have to be afraid of it, usually. We rented a cabin there one summer; I was maybe five, my brother Steve a couple of years older.
I don't remember much about it, except fragments: the statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox by the shore; the way that the water on the dock outside our cabin seemed absolutely full of tiny sunfish, so eager to be hooked that you could snag them with a fistful of line, a hook, and a few pieces of raw bacon.
And the day it hailed.
EmmaMomwas never much for fish, be it catching, cleaning, or eating, but Big Mike and Stash had gotten tired of catching sunfish from the dock, so they rented a little boat, about the size of a rowboat, and took it and my brother Steve and me out into the middle of the lake.
We rode out on a little boat with a little motor until we were far, far away from shore, and started fishing. Stash got himself a pickerel, I think, and I know Big Mike got his first muskie because we heard about it for years, and Steve and I each had landed some decent-sized perch.
We were having such a good time catching fish that we didn't notice that it was getting dark, and not because it was late, but because a storm was coming up out of the west.
It started raining, and Stashhe was still Daddy to meand Big Mike took a look at each other and Big Mike tilted back his Mets cap and gave a shrug that said, If it was you and me, I'd say to hell with it, let's get wet, but we got the kids with us, and Daddy nodded once, just once.
So Big Mike started the tiny little outboard motor and we headed back to shore.
It was about then that the hail started. The first one hit near the boat with a loud plop that carried even over the hissing of the rain. And then there was another and another and then they started hitting the boat.
Not just tiny little hailstones either, but big ones, some the size of big marbles. It was like being in a rock fight with God.
Well, Stash took his shirt off and wrapped it around me, and Big Mike took his cap off and put it on Steve, and the two of them told us to lie down in the bottom of the boat, and while hail drummed down out of the sky, Dad and Big Mike huddled over us, sometimes grunting when a bigger hailstone hit them.
Big Mike ran the boat right up on shore, and he grabbed Steve while Stash grabbed me, and the two of them ran up to the covered porch of the cabin, where the hail still slammed down, like a box of marbles emptied onto a wooden board.
Emma had the light on. I still remember how bright it seemed, even during the day, and how strange it seemed to me that she'd have it on in the afternoon like that.
God, they were battered. Stash had sort of folded his hands over his head, but when Mom gently stripped off his shirt, his back was bruised in dozens of places, already purpling in spots; and Big Mike's bald head was cut open, blood running down the side of his face, mixing with the water.
And Mom was just this side of hysterical, not that I blamed her.
Stash ended up comforting her. "Everything's just fine, Emma," he said, taking her face gently in his hands and making her look at Steve and me.
"Everything's okay, Em," Big Mike said, smiling like he'd won a prize.
Funny thing is, with Stash bruised and Big Mike bloody, they both meant it. What they meant was the kids are okay.
The situation called for lightning reflexes, either to come up with a snappy response to the hissed whisper or to whip out an edged or blunt object.
"Huh?" I said.
Bren Adahan stepped out onto the road, a smile on his face that I would have been happy to have the occasion to wipe offsay, with some coarse sand and a brick.
"I thought we had an agreement," he said.
I'd seen that expression before, although it had been many years, and not on his face. It had been on a big screen, and the line had been, "I'm shocked, Rick, shocked that there's gambling going on here."
His evening finery had been exchanged for dark jacket and trousers and heavy boots, suitable for the road, and a well-used rucksack was on his back. "Something about our working together, the next time you went out on the road?"
All too damn clever. Somebody had worked out what I was up to, and I didn't think that Bren was up to following the machinations of my mind. If he was, I had seriously underestimated him, and that was bad.
I shrugged. "Sure: we agreed that when I took Andy out for a little jaunt, you'd come along and keep us company. I don't see her here."
He tsked as he shook his head. "I wouldn't have thought you'd violate even the spirit of our agreement, Walter Slovotsky." He took a few steps down the road, then turned and waited. "Well, I can hardly come along with you if you don't come along with me, eh?"
"If you know so much, where are we headed?"
He snorted. "Well, I guess we could be headed toward the cobblerbut I'd rather go to the stables."
Well, somebody had to be the straight man. "Eh? The cobbler?"
"Me, I'd rather wear out a horse than my shoes, but it's your call, Walter. You're in charge."
I won't say I'm equipped to enjoy the inevitable, but I am equipped to recognize it. "Let's go.Just one thing?"
"Aeia," he said.
"Eh?"
His smile was just one inch shy of overt insult. "Aeia told me that you'd be leaving tonight, and I've got to congratulate her for that when we get back, even if she did overreach."
Well, she had promised to trust me, but she hadn't promised not to think about what I'd do and act appropriately. Which suggested that she thought that Adahan really would be of use on the road.
But did I trust her judgment? It was my neck, not hers, and I've always liked making my own decisions where my neck is concerned.
Bren Adahan hefted a bag that clinked. "I come with funds; I just had the chamberlain cash a draft."
Idiot. And so much for Aeia's judgment. The last thing I needed was for the baron to announce that some of us were leaving "And what did you tell him?"
He shrugged. "Just that I was going to be buying some breeding stock while I was in the capital, and that we all know that Biemish stallions are the most valued and fecund in the Middle Landshe suggested I double the draft." Adahan chuckled. "You wouldn't believe what Aeia said you'd do to finance the trip."
I made a private deal with myself: one more time, and if he demanded a straight line after that, I'd get to kill him. "In what way?"
"Oh, she said something about how you'd have pilfered some valuables from the castle."
I'm not sure whether I felt clever or stupid when I pulled the gold candelabra out of my bag and tossed it to him.
His mouth opened, then closed. "We'd better get going," he said.
"Well, yeah," I said. I held out the mouth of my bag for the candelabra. "Trick or treat," I said.
"Eh?"
"Sorry." I switched back to Erendra. "That was English for 'give me the candelabra right this moment.' "
"Compact language, this English of yours. I should learn more sometime."
Reclaiming our four horseswe took Aeia's and Andy's, as well as our ownwas easy, and so was the decision to take the southern fork road away from Biemestren, toward Kiar, at least for the first few miles.
Telegraph wire was strung all along the northern road, and it soon wouldor at least couldbe chattering with instructions to arrest me for various offenses, real and imagined.
The road was a long, twisting gray band in the starlight, laid out along the crest of the gently rolling hills, punctuated every now and then by a sharp twist or intersecting road. The nearest of the Prince's Inns was a full day's ride away from the capital, of course, but by switching mounts we could probably make it well before morning, grab a quick meal and head on out, skipping one night's sleep, just in case there was somebody on our trail.
Just a matter of staying a few steps ahead of the law.
Eventually, of course, Thomen would think better of it. No matter how irritated he was with me, in the long run he wasn't going to either risk a real breach with Home by pushing it too hard or publish the story of how after being imperiously (or imperially) summoned to the Presence, I'd absconded with the silverware. The first would be politically dangerous; the second would make him a laughingstock.
I chuckled to myself. For once, I was grateful to his mother. Hating me though she did, she was devoted to her son, and would keep his welfare in mind, and starting up with the likes of, well, me didn't fit with looking out for him. I mean, I may not have earned it, but I do have a reputation.
Ahead, the road forked off, one fork toward Kiar, another back toward Barony Cullinane.
Adahan was a bit slow; when I took the fork back toward the barony, it took him a full second before he shouted, "Hey! Wait!" and another minute to kick his horse into a canter, leading the two spare horses behind him.
I hadn't thought he'd work it out. Just as well.
He caught up with me.
"Well?"
"Well, what?"
"Well, Walter Slovotsky, this is the road to Barony Cullinane, not toward Kiar."
I would have said that he had a keen eye for the obvious, but I've said that too much and try to repeat myself only when it amuses somebody.
Then again, I'm somebody. "You, Baron, have a keen eye for the obvious."
He didn't like that.
"I thought about it," I said. "You try. We can either ride off in the general direction we think Ahira and Jason are going, and spend more time in the saddle than I care to think about before we cross what's likely to be a cold trailmeanwhile, by the way, ducking whoever it is that Thomen has out looking for us, because you just know that if he sends anybody after us, it's going to be along the road out of the Empire. Or"
"Or?"
"Or we can head back to the barony, where in about five days, Ellegon's due on his regular route. We can stop by Home, pick up a team of trackers, and when we cross either Mikyn's or Jason's trail, spread out, with Ellegon running interference and communication. Which makes more sense to you?"
His headshake was both rueful and admiring.
"Let's ride," I said. I spurred the horse into a canter before he worked out that this option meant he was going to spend the nights with Kirah and his smile turned self-satisfied enough to make me want to punch it away.
The wind brought the sound of hoofbeats of two horses at a fast canter from behind usfar behind us, but none too nearin the dark; I spurred my horse into a faster canter. I was leading Aeia's ruddy brown mare, and it protested for a moment, holding back until I gave the hackamore a good pull. I mean, if my horse could canter with me on its back, the least the brown one could do was keep up.
Adahan kept up with me easily; the mottled gelding he was leading trotted along so obediently I suspected he had gone ahead and done what I should have done with my spare horse: put a bit in his mouth and led it by the reins to make it, a er, bit more cooperative.
Problem: what the hell to do? That depended, of course, on what they intended to do about us. Had they been sent off to catch us on our way to Castle Cullinane? Or were they messengers with instructions for Doria to have us arrested? Or . . .
Think of a recon patrol as a guard: you never want to jump them until you're sure you can deal with the consequences.
Ahead, the road forked again: the left would take us toward Barony Cullinane, the right toward Tyrnael. When in doubt, give them the wrong answer: I kicked my horse into a fast canter for a few hundred yards, and led Bren down the road toward Tyrnael, before letting the animal drop down into a trot, and then a walk.
Adahan was shaking his head as he caught up with me. The hoofbeats behind us were quieter, more distant than before, but all that meant was that we had put some distance between us and them.
A wheatfield, the grain chest high, spread out on our right. In the daytime it would have been all warm and golden, but it was night, and under the flickering stars and pulsing faerie lights it looked all white and gray and spooky. To the left, a wedge of woods rose to block out the night sky. A fine place for hiding.
Adahan smiled, then whispered, "Follow me," and spurred his horse into the field, tromping down the grain for at least twenty, thirty yards while I just sat there for a moment.
Idiot. The beaten-down wheat would mark his passing for anybody who bothered to look, even if he made it to and over the slight rise before our pursuers rode by. He likely would, but it wouldn't do us any good.
On the other hand, neither would me ducking into the woods by myself, forgetting for a moment that trying to ride through wooded land in the dark is a terrific way to get scratched at least, get clotheslined by some dark branch quite probably, and/or lose an eye. So, cursing the highborn idiot under my breath, I tugged hard on the rope of the horse I was leading, and kicked my horse after him.
By the time the two horsemen rode by, we were over the rise, our horses hitched to a marker post in the depression beyond, and back just at the rise, the tops of the wheat tickling my nose and ears. Any idiot pursuing us would have seen the path through the grass, but the horsemen, both of them in what appeared even from this distance to be black and silver Imperial livery, barely even gave it a glance.
And then they were gone, and we were left in the dark, the breeze cool, the night insects chittering in their mild amusement.
Ooops. If they'd been looking for usfor anyonethey would have noticed the path. The fact that they didn't meant that they weren't, that it was just a couple of couriers being sent to Barony Tyrnael, not anybody in hot pursuit, that my original notion that I could be long gone before Thomen could decide to send somebody after me still made sense, and that I'd just, well, if not panicked, overreacted.
I could have jumped up and down and shouted to the skies, I never, ever overreact, and then stabbed my horse in frustration, but I don't think that would have made the point.
Switching horses made more sense, so we did.
"Not everybody is after you, Walter Slovotsky," Adahan said, as he loosened the rear cinch of his saddle and moved it to his spare horse. "Even if you do try to make things happen that way."
"One point for you, Baron."
He snickered. "One question?"
"Yes?"
"Can we get going now, or do you just want to stand there?"
That wasn't a question I wanted to answer with words; I just set the bit squarely in the mouth of the horse I was going to leadwho says I can't learntightened the cinch around the belly of Aeia's stocky horse, and then swung to its back and kicked it into a fast walk.
Night riding goes well with wondering. I wondered when Bren would ask why, if I was going to Castle Cullinane from the first, I'd needed to supply myself with money by ripping off Thomen.
And I wondered what I'd answer, if I'd say that Thomen had needed a lesson about not screwing around with us, and that it had been both my duty and my pleasure to administer it; I wondered if I'd say that if I hadn't ripped him off, he might have wondered what I was going to do for money and could well have sent somebody to Castle Cullinane to find out if that destination was the answer.
I wondered if I'd tell him the truth: that it hadn't occurred to me until we were safely on the road and an idle thought had reminded me that the dragon was due in, and that a side trip to the barony would save weeks of traveling, and bring Ellegon in on everything.
But he never did ask, and we made the trip to Castle Cullinane in record time.
I was stretched out on a cot in the courtyard behind the Castle Cullinane residence tower, the early morning sun warming me, while a bedewed glass of chilled herb tea sat on the stones near my elbow. I'd had the pleasure of the company of Doria and my daughters for breakfast, and the somewhat mixed pleasure of Bren Adahan and Kirah having slept in, or at least having kept to their rooms for the morning, which kept the room temperature comfortable.
The girls had gone off on their various plans for the dayhaving Daddy around was no big treat for them, not after the first dayand Doria had some things to oversee at the farm, and I was practicing the art of waiting patiently, an art that is best practiced horizontal, with refreshments nearby.
Off in the distance, leathery wings beat the air, triggering a chorus of shouts over by the barracks. If I'd opened my eyes, I would have seen people waving to Ellegon as he banked in for a landing.
I heard a familiar roar, felt the ground shudder to a familiar thunk, and then a familiar voice in my head.
*Good morning, Walter.*
I opened my eyes and rolled to my feet to see Ellegon settling down onto the stones of the courtyard, while a team of burly men from the house guard set up the ladder against his broad side, emptying his load of packages.
Ellegon: a bus-length of gray-green dragon, huge vaguely saurian head eyeing me with an expression that would have looked disapproving even if he hadn't meant it, which he probably did. Truth to tell, I would have left him chained in that Pandathaway sewer; Karl letting him loose almost got the lot of us killed, and I wouldn't want to deprive the universe of Stash and Emma's baby boy.
"Anything interesting?" I asked.
*A couple of letters for Doria, a new saddle for Andrea and a doll for Doranne. Various and sundry.*
"No emergencies pending?"
He snorted. *I predict interesting times. There are emergencies pending all over the Eren regionsin case you hadn't noticed, there's been an epidemic of strange things coming out of Faerie.*
I let that pass. Not only had I noticed, but I'd been at least peripherally useful in stopping the flow, as the dragon knew damn well.
"You mind running a couple of errands with me?"
*I guess that would depend on what they are.*
"Well, for one thing, I'm about to become awfully unpopular around here"
*Who is she?*
Well, there were some honest answers to thatlike Andrea, in one sense. She wasn't going to be thrilled with me ducking out instead of bringing her along. But not for this; this could get sticky, and no matter how impressive she was in the gym, the real world's much messier.
Aeia, of course, in another sense.
But there was no need to go into that now. Shh, I thought at the dragon. Nothing like thatand for another, I think Jason and Ahira might be able to use a hand. Never mind that I needed to chase the nightmares away; put it in terms that the dragon would likely understand and accept.
*Then again, maybe I can understand nightmares, and just possibly you should not be quite so condescending.*
Hey, it's my head. What I think to myself between my very own ears is something you should have the decency to pretend you don't hear.
Flame roared. *True enough.*
So?
*So what?*
So, are you in on this?
*Well, the next stop on my route is supposed to be Biemestren.*
That was easy to handle; he could unload his cargo for Biemestren here
*I could do any number of things. The question is whether or not I should.*
You like being the mailman?
*Well, yes, I do. We each contribute in our own way, and with everybody and his brother cultivating dragonbane these days, I'd just as soon stay out of unfriendly territory, lest before asking 'Are you a good witch or a bad witch,' somebody sends another dragonbaned bolt into my otherwise none-too-tender hide.*
Fair enough. He had a point. What with the various things that had been leaking out of Faerie, and the fact that dragonbane was a poison not only to dragons but to most magical metabolisms, the cultivation of dragonbane was becoming awfully common, after many yearsthere just hadn't been any use for the stuff until recently. But now, all over the Eren regions, people had dragonbaned bolts and arrows ready to fly. It made sense for Ellegon to give this one a bye.
*True enough. But if I was sensible, I wouldn't be doing this. I take it you're ready to leave?*
I didn't bother to open my eyes as I smiled. "Better call Adahan, and let's go." Maybe the dragon could pull him out of bed with Kirah.
Ellegon just looked at me, and had the grace to say nothing about the hypocrisy inherent in that thought.
*Where?* is all he asked.
"First Home, and then Pandathaway."
*Let's fly.*