The Foragers were not billeted among palaces but in an older part of the city, the ancient part that predated the construction of the Imperial capital. It had been built when humans still ruled the world and by-passed by the slum clearances that had made way for the new mansions of the Terrarch aristocracy. The tenements surrounding Rik were high, the streets narrow. The whole area was squalid and crowded and full of uniformed men, and those who could always be counted on to appear in their wake: camp followers, whores, moneylenders, merchants of the sleazier sorts, card-sharps, pawnbrokers, beggars and minstrels.
The smell was the familiar one of Rik's childhood, a mixture of human and animal dung, unwashed bodies, food cooking on street braziers, cheap perfume, incense and wood-smoke. The raucous calls of vendors and bar- girls cut through the hubbub of barter and chatter. He smiled. He felt like he was coming home. No one paid him the slightest attention for he had changed out of his Terrarch finery and back into his old green tunic and a set of patched brown britches. He did not want to attract the attention of every pick-pocket and street-robber in the quarter. He carried only enough money for the evening's entertainment. He had left his sword behind, relying on the bayonet thrust in his belt and the knife in a hidden sheath in his sleeve for protection.
He paused occasionally to haggle with a street vendor for outrageously over-priced skewers of food that tasted like cat when he bit into it. It wasn't the food he was interested in. He talked mostly just to get a feel for the area and directions to the Foragers’ billet. This turned out to be a massive old mansion that had probably belonged to some merchant. Sardec, or whoever had picked it, had chosen it with an eye to defence. The place was walled and built round a courtyard. Its single arched entranceway could be barred shut and easily defended, always an important consideration when rioting was a strong possibility.
As he approached it, he saw a woman and his mouth went dry. It was Rena, the girl who he had gone with in Redtower what felt like a lifetime ago, and who had betrayed him to go off with Sardec. She was better dressed these days, but her lush beauty still affected him as strongly as ever. He fought down the urge to duck into a side alley and kept moving. He was damned if he was going to hide from her.
She carried a woven shopping basket and the same two girls who had accompanied her to the camp at Morven were with her now. No woman would walk these streets alone at this time of day. He noticed that Toadface and Handsome Jan were with them, chatting with the girls. Either they had been assigned to watch them, or were interested in the lasses, or both. Toadface looked over at Rik. Surprise showed on his ugly pock- marked face and he strolled over with the girls in tow.
'I didn't expect to see you here,' he said. 'Or dressed like that. Decided that you've had enough of hob- nobbing with high born and run off to be a soldier?'
'Something like that. I've come to see Weasel and the Barbarian.'
Handsome Jan admired his own profile in a fragment of mirror, pointing out the fineness of his cheek to one of the girls. She seemed to agree with him.
'Hello, Rik,' said Rena. Her voice was low and husky. She watched him cautiously. Their last meeting had been none too friendly. He looked at her and cursed himself mentally. Why did his mouth feel dry? Why was his heart hammering loudly against his ribs? She should not have this power over him, but she did.
'Hello,' he said.
'You're looking well.' Banality seemed to be the only basis of conversation here.
'So are you.'
The two other girls looked at him with something like wonder. They had not shown anything like it the last time he had encountered them. 'We heard that you rescued the Queen and destroyed the Serpent Tower,' one of them said. Her voice sounded quite squeaky. Her eyes were wide. She seemed to be expecting him to perform another of these prodigies at any moment.
'We heard you are going to be knighted by the Queen or made a Duke or something.'
Handsome Jan glared at him. He never liked not being the centre of attention. Rena did not say anything.
'That would be up to Her Serenity,' he said, and cursed himself for sounding like a pompous ass. He felt suddenly unbalanced surrounded by these people from his old life, having just come from the new.
'We are honoured that you still choose to slum with us,' said Handsome Jan. Yes, definitely jealous.
'Don't be a wanker,' said Rik.
'I'm not the one who is a wanker,' said Handsome Jan. Rik wondered if he wanted to start a fight. He had not been prepared for this sort of reception. 'I'm not the one who is the fancy boy of a Terrarch noblewoman either.'
'You're just jealous because I've achieved your highest ambition in life.' Rik could see that the shaft had hit home from Jan's expression. Was that really it?
He noticed that Rena was glaring at them both now. What was she jealous about? She was hardly in a position to judge Rik. She was the one who had taken up with a Terrarch noble first. Then he noticed that most of her glare was aimed at Jan. His remarks had offended her as well. Not surprisingly, when he considered her circumstances. He guessed she must be living with Sardec.
'I heard you got an invitation to the coronation,' said Toadface. He licked his lips, long tongue flickering out almost to his nose.
'I have,' he said, because he knew it would annoy Handsome Jan, and he was pissed off with him. 'I'll be seated right beside the Lady Asea.'
Rena gave him an appraising look, a cold one. Perhaps he had been boasting to annoy her too. He was not the penniless soldier boy he had been when they first met. He was someone in the world. That was the theory at least. At moments like this, he felt just as much an impostor as he did when confronting the Terrarch nobility. He wondered if he was ever going to be at ease in this world and decided it was unlikely.
'I'm off to see Weasel and the big man,' he said. Just to be flashy he gave them the most courtly bow Asea's Master of Protocol had taught him, directing it mainly at Rena. A moment later he was striding down the street to the Forager's new barracks. He badly needed a drink.
'My kind of place,' said the Barbarian, surveying the Nag's Head with a proprietorial air. He rubbed his huge hands together and then scratched the bald crown of his head. It certainly was his kind of place, Rik thought. He doubted he had ever seen uglier whores or tasted rougher vodka, but at least the beer was strong and the music not too loud. Over in the corner a sad faced woman played Wanderlander tunes on a violin while a waif who might have been her daughter sang soft words. It was not like back home in Talorea. She would have been booted out of a tavern like this in Sorrow. The Kharadreans seemed to have a melancholy streak to their temperament. Rik supposed that they had a lot to be melancholy about.
Weasel nodded. 'Good game going on in the back. They're keeping a seat warm for me.'
'I hope that big girl over there will keep her seat warm for me, if you know what I mean,' said the Barbarian, elbowing Rik in the ribs, just in case he had not spotted the innuendo.
'How is life at the Palace?' Weasel asked.
'Getting enough?' The Barbarian leered. Rik ignored him.
'It's fine but a bit dull.'
'That why you decided to give the Nag's Head your custom?' Weasel asked. Rik was getting a bit sick of his old comrades being suspicious of him.
'No, I thought I would find out what was going on with you.'
'We're honoured,' said the Barbarian.
'Don't you start! I got enough of the sarcasm from Handsome Jan.'
'What do you expect, Halfbreed,' said Weasel. He looked serious for a moment. He was capable of seriousness when he wanted to be, and was far smarter than the Barbarian. There were times when Rik suspected that Weasel was smarter than he was. 'You're a Terrarch now.'
'You think so?'
'As far as most of the lads are concerned, yes. They hear all these stories — breaking into the Serpent Tower, rescuing Princesses, shagging witches, and it makes them nervous.'
'How about you?'
'The only thing that makes me nervous is when the Barbarian here starts thinking.'
'I'm glad to hear it. We've cut a few throats together.'
