Someone banged a fist on the door to her quarters.
Kara hid Theodore’s letter back in her satchel before answering.
“Kara-Meir,” said a hard man with an angry face. “I have some property that belongs to you, by order of the King. Two items. Each of poor quality.”
The man stepped aside to reveal Pia and Jack. The boy gazed at her hopefully. Pia looked sullenly to the floor.
“I have also added up your bounty,” the man declared. “It will pay adequately for the money these two took off the people yesterday. That was, after all, your offer to the King?”
Kara nodded.
“That is correct. See to it that it gets to the right people… Captain?” She paused.
“Captain Rovin, Kara-Meir,” the angry man said, seeing her expression. Then he bowed stiffly. “These people are your servants now. It would not do for them to be caught stealing again.” He turned and exited. “Good evening.”
Kara ushered the two inside.
“So neither of you can read?” she asked. They both nodded their heads. “Can you cook? Can you sew?”
Jack nodded and smiled.
“I can sew. Look.”
He tore a false front from his shirt. It was stitched on only one side, like a door with a hinge. Behind it, upon his body, was a board of some sort with thick padding behind that ran from his chest to his belly.
“What is that for?” Kara asked.
“Show him, Pia. Come on!”
“I don’t have my knife any more, Jack,” Pia sighed. “Straven took it.”
“I still have the duplicate,” Jack replied.
The girl stood angrily as the boy handed her a thin blade with a weighted hilt.
Pia walked to the far end of the centre room, leaving Jack still in the antechamber, his cork board displayed. She spun and with a grunt drew her arm back and hurled the knife. It spun, end over end, and landed straight in the cork. At the same instant, Jack folded his false front across, hiding it beneath.
The boy was smiling.
“I’m not sure I understand,” Kara said tentatively.
Pia tutted angrily.
“I pretended to be you. Therefore I needed to demonstrate my skill with a weapon. We rehearsed this often. Jack would play as an urchin, and with a duplicate knife he would stab an apple a few minutes before we performed. I would then throw my knife into his board and he would hide it, holding the apple up. In a crowded room, with him at the front, it worked perfectly.”
Kara laughed.
“That’s very resourceful. Perhaps we can learn from each other-”
Her words ended as another fist banged on the door. She moved to open it.
It was a young man with dark hair and a trimmed beard and moustache, expensively attired in a black cloak trimmed with otter fur and pinned at his shoulder with a silver brooch. He wore black gloves and underneath the cloak he wore a black velvet shirt. Unlike many nobles she had seen, he had no sword strapped to his side. The brooch, she noted, was in the shape of a leaping fox.
Behind him stood a much older man in blue and red finery.
The first man bowed.
“My lady Kara-Meir,” he said. “My name is Lord William de Adlard. I am a friend of Theodore’s-or Sir Theodore, as it is now, of course. Ah!” His eyes fell on Pia and Jack. “I see Captain Rovin arrived ahead of me. He does so enjoy spoiling everyones’ fun.” She gestured and he stepped into the room. “I have been tasked with looking after you and your… friends, and to see that you have everything you need to make yourselves comfortable.” He looked warily at Pia and Jack, then turned to her and continued.
“But there is another matter I need to speak of.” He motioned to his companion. “Come, ambassador.”
The second man entered, wheezing. He was old and overweight.
“Let me introduce Sir Cecil. He is the ambassador to West Ardougne.”
Behind her, Kara heard Pia gasp. The fat man’s eyes fell on her immediately, and he spoke sternly.
“There is no easy way of saying this, Kara-Meir, but these two are wanted in my city. I recognised Pia’s accent when she cried out at the festival this afternoon, and knew that only very few people would undertake such a long journey unless they had to. And I am afraid your journey was one of necessity, was it not, Pia? For you will hang if you ever return to Kandarin. Hang for murder.”
Pia gasped and fell to her knees.
Jack ran to her and placed his arms around her.
“It’s not true! It’s not!” he shouted bitterly. “Pia didn’t kill anybody!”
“I have a description of both of you and a warrant for your arrest. You must be sent back to Ardougne to face trial. Justice must be done.”
“Justice? King Lathas’s justice?” Pia wept. “There is no justice there.”
“Speak ill of your King again and I will have you flogged!”
“Not here you won’t,” Kara said suddenly. “How dare you come here and make demands? These people are my property now, given to me by the King of
“But they were never his to give, Kara-Meir. They are King Lathas’s serfs. And one of them is a murderess, the other an accomplice.” The ambassador turned. “I didn’t believe you had so little respect for justice, Kara-Meir. But mark my words, we will talk of this again. And soon.”
Lord William pursed his lips as the ambassador turned on his heel and vanished down the hallway.
“This has been badly handled,” he admitted. “Sir Cecil can be prickly but I fear he may also be right. I do not think you can protect them, Lady Kara.”
“I am no lady, Lord William. Kindly stop referring to me as such. My name is Kara.”
She ran her hand over her face and growled in anger. Pia had told her at the barn that she had never killed anybody before.
“Jack, you and Pia can sleep in my room tonight, on the floor,” she said as gently as she could. “Go now, and try and find rest. But remember, both of you-I will help you if I can.”
Lord William shook his head doubtfully and made to leave.
“Wait a moment, Lord William,” she said. “I would like a private word with you.” She closed the door behind the noble and waited until Pia and Jack had disappeared into the bedroom. “Can you tell me, honestly, what Theodore’s relationship is with Lady Anne?”
The young man stretched his face into an apologetic smile, and then back, perhaps believing it wasn’t at all appropriate.
“She wants him, Kara-Meir,” he admitted. “That’s the truth of it I fear, and what she wants, she usually gets.”
“Wants him? Or has already had him?”
Lord William blushed.
“I couldn’t be sure, Kara. They had a meeting in the galleries, a traditional place where people wish to meet unseen. But that was only this morning. And I don’t think… no… I really don’t think that’s what happened.”
The young nobleman backed toward the door, his face a deepening red.
“I should go now. Things to do.”
Kara watched him retreat, and a slight smile played upon her face.
