asked, 'It go all right?'
'Tied him to a tree. Left him his horse. He'll be home tomorrow night. If the boogies don't get him.'
'We might be sorry. If they got balls enough to come after us on somebody else's turf. But I'm glad you didn't do the hard thing.'
'He was a worker bee. He didn't even know why were chasing us. Did you get us in here?' The Knight of Wands was a sprawling derelict of a building, mostly story high, that had been added to a dozen times. The old parts looked like they would just fall down and be abandoned once they did. When Hecht arrived a boy younger than Pella was outside plugging holes leaking smoke using the contents of a bucket of mud. The smoke came from a fireplace in common room that needed its chimney cleaned. The upside of the smoke was that it helped quell the stench of the place.
'Sure. Room and board. Fleas, lice, and bedbugs on the house.'
'Only because they don't have the imagination to charge. Where are the kids?'
'Out running around. They get along. Vali has problems, Pipe. I'm wondering if maybe somebody didn't rape her. Pella's trying to show her how to be a kid.'
'Why doesn't she run away?'
'Not in her nature. If she was raised in a castle somewhere, with somebody doing everything for her but shit, it wouldn't occur to her to run. Biggest thing she ever did on her own was latch on to us, probably. Which took some major guts.'
'Or absolute certainty that going with us couldn't possibly be more horrible than staying where she was. How long you figure it'll be before your cousins show up?'
'I'm not gonna argue about that no more. You want them to be my family, so be it.' Ghort pretended to count on his fingers. 'We had good winds. We probably made twice as many miles a day as them. But they came almost straight in north while we went the long way around.'
'How about a straight answer?' Ghort sometimes created drama where there was none.
'They could turn up tomorrow. If they ran all the way. Which would depend on whether they think you got killed or not.'
How does that make a difference?'
'Just brainstorming. If they got you, a shitload of people would be pissed off and looking for somebody to burn at the stake. If they didn't, they'd figure us to be a little more relaxed. Here come the kids. Must be getting scary dark out.'
Pella and Vali dodged a scruffy one-eyed man who tried to keep them out because they were obvious refugee trash. They zipped to the table, seated themselves. Vali did not appear particularly remote or frightened. Pella announced, 'We're hungry.'
Hecht said, 'I'm not surprised. It's been a long day.'
The one-eyed man arrived. 'These yer brats?'
'Right. And they'll be in and out for the next several days. Till the rest of our people get here.'
Ghort told the children, 'Let's see what they've got in the pot.'
'Just checking. We got problems with thieves, anymore.'
'Of course.' Hecht told the children, 'You two be on your best behavior while we're here.'
'Yes, sir, Uncle Matt,' Pella said, struggling to keep a straight face. Vali managed a nod. It took an effort.
'They're good kids,' Hecht told the one-eyed man. 'But they are kids. Full of energy. Hey. Where can we go to church?'
Later, with the children in bed, Hecht and Ghort relocated to a shadowed corner, unoccupied because it was so far from the fire. They observed the clientele, watching for anyone who might be waiting to meet their quarry.
'Cold back here,' Ghort muttered.
'Lonely, too. And so dark hardly anybody… Well. Look here. Master Hamil figured out my knots.'
The Durandanti rider had stumbled into the Knight of Wands, paler than ever, deeply frightened. With a big bruise on his forehead. Ghort observed, 'That's a man what ain't used to being out in the country after dark.'
'Sshh. Let's don't make him stop thinking we're headed for Plemenza.'
The one-eyed man braced Hamil. Hamil could not show him coin or anything else of value.
'You robbed him?' Ghort asked.
'Sure did. Didn't want him thinking we're honest folks on a mission.'
'Good for you. There he goes.'
With help from the one-eyed man, who shoved the pallid Sonsan back into the darkness. Hamil protested all the way, invoking Don Alsano Durandanti.
'Think One-eye just made a booboo?' Ghort asked.
'Depends on how much the Don backs his troops. Uh-oh. Here's real trouble.'
'What?'
'That dark corner over there. There's a guy in there. He wasn't there when we moved over here. I didn't see him slide in. He's wearing a pilgrim's robe. Catch him when the scullery boy throws the next load of wood on the fire.'
Silent minutes passed. The boy who had been caulking earlier brought firewood to beat back the chill of the night. The fire flared briefly.
'Well,' Ghort murmured, 'was I a betting man, an' I been known to lay one down now an' then, I'd put money on that fellow being Ferris Renfrow's ugly twin.'
'Maybe his evil twin?'
'I'd say Renfrow is the evil twin. Interesting, though. You think he's involved?'
'My guess? Only obliquely, if at all.' Ferris Renfrow and his masters in the Grail Empire had no cause to murder the Patriarch's Captain-General. 'I'd guess it's coincidental. This would be a natural gathering place for conspirators.'
Ferris Renfrow did as they did. Sat in the shadows and watched. Hecht and Ghort picked out three men they felt deserved closer scrutiny.
Time rolled on. And on. Ghort muttered, 'I wish that asshole would give up and go to bed. It was a long fuckin' day. I need some shut-eye.'
'Uhm.' Renfrow seemed to be paying them no heed. Hecht did not believe he was unaware of them. Their shadows were deeper than his, though.
Hecht began to feel the weariness, too.
'What're you doing, Pipe?'
'Going to see what he does when he recognizes me.'
'Is that smart?'
Hecht shrugged. He crossed the room, stepping over and around sleeping men and men who had enjoyed too much of the heavy, dark, foul beer brewed by the Knight of Wands. Renfrow appeared disinterested at first, then started and swore, 'Eis's bloody ass boils! What the hell are you doing here?'
Hecht settled beside the Imperial. 'The very question I asked myself about you.'
'I'm here on my lord's business.'
'And I as well. With an added touch of the personal.'
Renfrow contained his shock. 'You're outside your home territories.'
'Outside the Emperor's, too. Might be Sonsan.'
'The Counts of Aloya, theoretically. But they haven't been seen since you and I were pups. Nobody's moved in because that would be more trouble than leaving the territory to rot.'
Which would lead to banditry and chaos, eventually. Of course.
'I've had a long day. I just wanted you to know I'm here.' Hecht headed for his quarters before Renfrow could respond. Ghort stayed where he was.
'He left right after you did,' Ghort reported. 'He looked like he'd had a major shock. I don't think he recognized me.'
'I wouldn't count on it. Who's always around when I'm somewhere?'
'Go teach granny to suck eggs. Put the kids on him. He won't expect them.'
