Keep on the Borderlands

“Look, this isn’t like running into each other some placelike Lower Vale. This would be a job. We’d plan it, like a regular campaign.What could go wrong?” The gleam was back in his eyes. “You know, when Mebrostold me, all I could think was, ‘Why not us?’ Then, when I heard you hadjust ridden in, Eddis, it all- came together. It’s a chance for…”

“Fame, wealth and glory?” Blorys asked sourly as the olderman hesitated.

“What’s wrong with fame and glory, Blor?”

“What’s wrong with living to a ripe old age?” Eddis asked asshe pushed to her feet. “Look, M’Baddah’s right. Why sit here arguing over whatmight be wild rumor? I want to know what’s involved. What we’d have toaccomplish, how much help we’d get from the Keep, what size of a reward….”

Blorys laid a hand on his brother’s arm. “Wait, Jers. You’vehad your say. I agree with M’Baddah and Eddis. Let’s go learn what we can. Wecould meet back here later, if there’s more than rumor to go on.”

“One more thing, Jerdren,” Eddis said. “If your rumorproves true, and we decide to go in with you, and if the castellan decides we’rewhat he wants-or what he’s willing to settle for, you and I are equals inthis. Got me?”

“Equals-well, sure! But-?”

“That means I get equal say with you on who’s chosen to gowith us, how things are planned, and who sits in on the planning sessions-all ofit, all the way. I am not joining you, Jerdren. We two are working together, or you can start looking elsewhere for your fighting force, got it?”

The man nodded. She glanced at his younger brother, who gave her an apologetic smile. “Blorys, you’ll be back here maybe an hour aftersundown?”

He smiled faintly and nodded. “We’ll be here.”

The wind had died away, and afternoon sun cast long shadows,warming the stone walls and paving. Eddis strode across the square and over to the fountain, M’Baddah at her elbow and M’Whan close behind. Water burbled froma central pillar, falling back into the shallow stone bowl. It was much cooler here, and quiet. Private, for the moment. Most of the local people she could see were dismantling the morning market stalls across the courtyard, while a few customers haggled over the last fruits and baskets of tubers. Eddis settled her elbows and the small of her back against the stone lip and looked at her companions.

“You hadn’t heard about this mad venture?” she asked.

M’Baddah shrugged.

M’Whan shook his head.

“This Mebros could be pulling a joke on Jerdren. He’d havefriends like that. Still, say it’s true. Say the castellan would pick peoplelike us to clean up these bandits, give us what aid we needed, and reward us if we succeeded. Say even that between you two, Blorys, and me, we can keep Jerdren in check. Are we interested?”

Silence, which she broke. “For myself-I don’t know. I’veworked hard to build this business and a good reputation. It’s good coin,steady work. Why trade that for an unknown?”

Her lieutenant raised an eyebrow. “Because a good warrioralways seeks challenge, but we could return to the road, once the task is done. For the challenge alone, I say we should go.”

M’Whan merely nodded.

“All right.” Eddis sighed faintly. “I just wish Jerdrenwasn’t involved. I hardly feel comfortable sharing a table with him in thetavern, but if he went off on some wild scheme of his own out there, it could get us killed.”

“No,” M’Baddah said. “We know he is… excitable. We planfor that. As his brother no doubt must, all the time.”

Eddis looked back toward the inn and laughed. “Poor Blorys,he probably does.” She turned to her two confidants. “So then, we’re in. Let’ssplit up and go learn what we can.”

She returned to the tavern just as the sun was setting. Ruddylight moved quickly off the highest towers, and a chill wind swept across the courtyard, blowing dust and fine spray from the fountain. Eddis shivered and lengthened her stride.

It was warm inside the tavern and much busier than it had been earlier. People crowded the near trestles. She waited just inside the doorway for her eyes to adjust, her mind full of useless bits of information gathered over the past hour. The innkeeper claimed to be too busy to know about anything outside his own walls, but the man’s son had heard there was to be ascouting party to look for the bandit camp. Following his suggestion, she’dtalked to Khalidd the trader, but Khalidd was no help. He’d merely had the talefrom Mebros. Ghor the smith was busy shoeing horses, so Eddis had had no opportunity to ask him anything.

She’d picked up a dozen or more odd rumors here and there.Someone had said there were lizardmen out in the wetlands east of the Keep, and another supposedly had proof of magic armor in a cave-which was of coursedistant enough that its exact location was hidden. Others spoke of an enchanted mountain cat living deep in the woods and of a frail-looking hermit who turned men into logs. Two different girls told her about a maiden held by men who’dkilled her family, leaving no one to ransom her, but Eddis had heard a similar tale back in her own village. There seemed to be endless speculation about the bandits, outrage over the merchant’s wife, and plenty of new tales about theattack on Jerdren’s party this morning. She’d heard that three of the banditshad since been seen here in the Keep, disguised as peddlers, and that a small invading party had tried to scale the western wall of the inner bailey and would have succeeded except for the racket they’d made falling into the terracedgarden beds.

There’d been a long hour then, while the guard captainlistened to her story about the battle on the road and got her to identify the two dead men. The third had vanished, only a thin trail of blood to show which way he’d gone. Fortunately, they’d already talked to her clients and seemedwilling to accept what she said as truth.

The aroma of fresh loaves brought her back to the moment, and now she could see M’Whan threading his way between tables, coming her direction.Off to her right, the taverner’s wife was stoking a fire in the massivefireplace and two servants were moving around lighting candles and lanterns. Three half-grown boys came from the direction of the outside kitchens bearing steaming pots of stew. Serving girls followed with covered baskets of bread, and behind his long counter, the taverner turned up his lanterns and began setting out fresh cups and pitchers. Eddis drew a deep breath, sighed happily, and followed M’Whan across the room.

They’d shoved two small tables together in front of a cornerbench built into the southeast wall. Blorys watched as Jerdren spread out a map, securing corners with filled wine cups and two fat candles. Light from these fluttered and cast odd shadows as Eddis took a stool. M’Baddah settled down nextto her and passed her a cup.

If Jerdren had been excited earlier in the day, he was almost vibrating with energy now. But he merely glanced up and smiled a welcome before returning to his map. It was upside down from her viewpoint, but Eddis recognized the Keep and lands to the east, north, and south of it. The map properly flattened out, Jerdren jumped to his feet and began pouring a dark red wine into cups and handing them around.

“To our new company,” he announced, “to Fortune’s Five-and tofame, wealth, and glory!”

Eddis eyed Blorys sidelong. He cast up his eyes. “It’s allhe’s told me since he got here.”

“Said I’d wait until everyone was here, didn’t I?” Jerdrendemanded. He was grinning broadly. “Ask the lady- we’re equals in this. Anyway, Iwent off to the barracks to find Mebros, but he’s normally on the innergatehouse, they told me. None of us would normally be let inside those gates, of course, but I thought, why not see if he’ll come out? One of theguards sent word in for me, and while I waited, he and I talked- he’d heard aboutour ambush this morning, and he told me a tally sheet went up in the mess hall late today. Said it asked for volunteers-trackers and hunters, men who know thewoods east of the Keep.

“Mebros wasn’t to be found, but another guardsman came outwith word that some parchment pusher wanted to talk to me if I was the Jerdren who came in this morning with hide merchant Lhodis.”

Jerdren’s eyebrows went up. “You wouldn’t believe the size ofthat end of the Keep. Stone training grounds for two full companies to drill at the same time-not that there’s so many men, these days. Terraced crop beds onall sides, up against the walls so’s a company can still drill there, andthey can eat once they’re through drilling. Seems to me there’s a clever man incharge here. Practical.

“Left alone, I’d’ve got lost at once inside the north towers,but my guide led me up a flight of stairs and inside