Bloodhound (30 page)

"Truth to tell, Pearl needn't have bothered," Goodwin went on. Now she was playing the part of the loose Dog for all she was worth. She sounded like other mot Dogs her age, bawdy and loud, not the daughter of respectable tradesmen. "Oh, Cooper here forgot her orders this morning. She's supposed to be resting while we're in town. We'll not meddle in Rogue business, not away from Corus. Never intended to. I put a word in Cooper's ear. She'll mind me now."

I looked down at my hands as if I were Achoo and I'd been scolded for sneaking food off the table. I was pretty good at guessing Goodwin's cues.

"You be talkin' riddles," Steen told Goodwin. He waved to a barmaid and signaled for drinks. "Ale's all right with you?"

"I'm happy with it, but don't expect Cooper to drink much. She's got some little bit of bird magic that makes her sick if she overdoes."

"Some mages is like that," Hanse said with a nod. "Others you could pour a trough full of mead and they'd drink it, then turn the trough into a horse and ride it away."

"Two pitchers of ale, and what manner of twilseys and waters have you?" Steen asked the mot.

She looked at him as if he'd turned into a winged horse, but said, "Raspberry and apple cider twilsey, and coriander water, sir."

"I'll have the apple cider twilsey," I said quietly. I would thank Goodwin later for making sure I'd do little drinking.

Hanse turned back to Goodwin as the serving maid left us. "You said you won't interfere in Rogue's business here? But what else is a Dog to do?"

Goodwin scowled. "Do her interfering at home, where she may make a profit at it, by Mithros!" She smacked the table. "My lord wants Beka away from some nasty Rats, with me to watch her, so off we go to Port Caynn to see how your Dogs work. That means we're assigned to
no
watch, with no share of a Happy Bag or the normal coin we'd get for doing good service. That's two-thirds of our income gone, by all the gods! No, I'll not stick my neck out getting up your Rogue's nose for one-third pay. No more is Cooper. We'll keep our skins in one piece and enjoy our holiday."

"Then you've run into the right fellows for that, haven't they, lads?" Dale Rowan had come up while Goodwin was talking. I near jumped when he spoke, then smiled up at him. He looked even better than he had on the boat, decked out in a blue wool tunic that brightened his gray eyes. His blue cape was fixed at the shoulder with a gold owl. He wore a broad gold hoop in one ear only, and a sparkling blue gem in the other. He grinned at Goodwin and said, "Between the three of us we can give your holiday a good launch, Mistress Goodwin."

"Clary, if you will," she replied. "It's hard to tell how good it will be with the ale not even here."

Luckily, since all three coves turned to yell for the serving maid, she was right there with the tray of ale and twilsey. And somehow, in the bustle of the drink service and our ordering food, Steen moved to the outside of the table and Dale sat next to me.

"To new friends met in riots," Hanse toasted when Dale had a tankard. We all laughed and drank to that. When Hanse praised the ale as a proper way to start the night, Goodwin said he was used to watery seaside ale. She, Hanse, and Steen started to compare ales of different towns from up and down the river.

Dale turned to me. "I heard you made Pearl Skinner unhappy today."

I followed Goodwin's lead. "So has all the town, seemingly. It was a mistake," I said tiredly. "I forgot I'm not at home and I'm not supposed to nab folk while I'm here. Why is everyone making a fuss? The gixie escaped."

"That
surprises me," said Dale. "I don't see many filches getting out of your grip, Beka Cooper." He was leaning closer so I could hear him speak quietly. His breath stirred the hair around my ear.

Suddenly the cloth over my peaches felt over-tight, and I was finding it a little hard to breathe. I dared to meet his eyes for a moment, even though they were closer than a cove's eyes have been to mine in a long time. I forced myself to make a face and look away.

"She
wouldn't
have gotten away, Dale Rowan, if some big rusher hadn't rammed me in the back and sent me facedown in the street," I told him. "Nice work your filches have, if they all have bodyguards."

He ran his finger down the curve of my ear. How is a mot supposed to think? "Mayhap
you
should have the bodyguard."

"Dale," Steen interrupted, "tell Clary what Pearl said when you won that ruby necklace off her!"

Dale grinned at Goodwin, as if he hadn't been halfway down the side of my neck. "Oh, I won't repeat language like that when I'm having a good time," he said. "I did think of having a metal barrel made to wear around myself, to protect anything... valuable, though."

There, I thought, sipping my twilsey. He was playing with me, that's all. He's a playful fellow.
Very
playful.

Under the tabletop, I felt his hand brush my free arm.

"What's this?" The newly arrived mot was about twenty-five, all curves in orange silk, with tumbles of black curls and bright black eyes to match. She had a cat's pointed chin and draped herself across Dale's left shoulder and Hanse's right with a cat's boneless grace. "You lads havin' a party without Fair Flory?" Her voice dripped honey for the men, but her eyes darted murder at Goodwin and me. Goodwin simply grinned. I met the doxie's eyes with mine, widening my gaze until she looked away. I had to play Goodwin's shy young partner, but that didn't mean I should take sauce from a double-dimpled port mot.

"Flory, you've no call to ownership, you know that," Hanse said, giving her a slap on the bum that made her squeal and smack him back. "This here is Clary Goodwin – Corporal Guardswoman Clary Goodwin, so you mind your manners – from Corus. And this is Guardswoman Beka Cooper, her partner and strong right arm.
They're
our guests tonight, so unless they say you're welcome, you can shake that pretty round rump of yours elsewhere." To me and Goodwin, Hanse said, "Flory here is mistress of the Port flower sellers and orange girls. Flory knows how to have a good time, don't ye, wench?"

Flory sniffed at him and put both arms around Steen's neck. "I like coves as aren't cruel to me," she said, with a little girl pout.

"I say welcome, Flory," Goodwin said cheerfully. "The more the merrier! I never knew a flower seller who couldn't tell a mot where the best sparkles are sold, and where a cove wouldn't cheat her out of a week's pay for a length of silk!"

Flory laughed as she settled on Steen's lap. "Oh, if it's shoppin' you want, I can help you there!" she said, waving for a serving girl. "These lads have done me favors enough, and I'll do the same for any friend of theirs. On the sly, though, bein's how you vexed my Rogue this day."

"You're afraid she'll frown on you, being with us?" Goodwin asked.

Fair Flory's smile was thin and cruel. "They's lots of flower sellers and orange girls in Port Caynn, Mistress Clary," she replied. "We don't defy Pearl outright, and she leaves us well alone. There's peace in the Court of the Rogue!"

"We'll all drink to that!" Dale said, hoisting his tankard. The maid passed one to Flory, and we drank.

While I did not lose track of new arrivals, I do not precisely recall the order in which they came or exactly what was said after that. It was all laced with loud talk and joking, Goodwin's flirtations with Hanse, and the arrival of all kinds of food.

The great stew of sea creatures unnerved me, I am sad to say. As the maidservant placed our trenchers before us, I tried to peer into the large soup bowl without anyone noticing.

"What's wrong, Beka?" Steen asked. "Have ye never seen a great net stew afore?"

"No, nor even most of what's in it," I said, prodding a strange orange something with the tip of my belt knife.

"Here," Dale said, grabbing the ladle. He dumped a large serving into my trencher and gave himself another before he passed the ladle to Hanse. Then he speared one of the orange things on the point of his eating knife and offered it to me. The orange stuff wobbled on its own. "Try a mussel. You won't be the same thereafter."

"It's safe enough, lass," Hanse jested as he served Goodwin and himself. "If it were oysters, now, you'd be in trouble!"

I ducked my head. Everyone knows the reputation oysters have for putting folk in the mood for canoodling.

"Just open that pretty mouth," Dale wheedled.

I did, to tell him not to cozen me, and he popped the mussel in. My lady always forbade us to talk with food in our gobs, so I chewed. My mouth filled with sommat that tasted the way the sea smelled. The mussel was tender, with just enough garlic to make me happy.

Dale had popped two mussels into his mouth whilst I managed the one. He'd also managed to slide even closer to me, so our legs pressed tight against each other from hip bone to foot. "Now, see? That was good, wasn't it?" he asked when I swallowed.

I nodded. He had another tidbit on his knifepoint for me. "Ever try skate?" he asked as he brought it to my lips.

He fed me a number of things, including the skate. I did not care for the clams, which were harder to chew than mussels, the too-salty sardines, or the squid, but the different fishes were nice. We had the eel pie that had so tempted me, a roast onion salad, a mixed green tart, and stuffed eggs. Whenever I showed I'd not tried something, he insisted on putting it into my mouth with his eating knife or, in the case of the sweetmeats, with his fingers. I let him do it, enjoying his play.

I have never been courted this way, all flirting, jokes, and quick touches. Rosto half insults me as he tries to tumble me. In matters of wooing, men are confusing. I'm far more comfortable when coves treat me as an ally, or a friend, or a student.

There were thirteen of us by the time we had gotten to the sweetmeats. Dale had teased me into trying his wine, a pale golden sort that was crisp and tingly on my tongue. I sipped it carefully, sensing it was the sort of drink that might knock a mot on her rump were she not careful.

"What do you say, then, Clary, Beka, Flory?" Hanse asked us. "D'you feel like a visit to the Waterlily? There's Gambler's Chance, dicing, music, backgammon, chess." He grinned at Dale, who laughed. "How about it? You can bring us luck, play a game yourselves... ?"

Flory rose from Steen's lap, where she'd been sharing his cup. "You'll never have to ask
me
twice!" she said, keeping an arm around Steen's neck as he stood. Most of the others were getting to their feet as well.

Goodwin laughed that unfamiliar laugh and swung her legs over the bench where she sat. "I never pass a chance to rattle the bones, do I, Cooper?" she asked me. "Cooper's not much for play, but she loves the music and the watching. And maybe some kind soul will teach me this new Gambler's Chance game."

"You don't gamble?" Dale asked me, getting up from his seat.

I looked at him. "I have younger sisters, and our parents are dead," I told him. "Their only dowries come from me." Building dowries for my sisters was hard to fault as an excuse, but it was a lie. Lady Teodorie had already provided for them.

"Then you must bring me luck, and keep me from being sad should my luck turn," Dale told me. With that he wrapped his arms around my waist and lifted me bodily from my seat. I yelped and wriggled, then stopped as he set me down, laughing.

I couldn't help it. I laughed, too, but I gave him a small shove. "I manage on my own, Master Rowan!" I said. Goddess, for a slender man he has muscles like steel!

"I've no doubt, but isn't it agreeable to let someone else do it, now and then?" he asked me, helping me to wrap my cape about my shoulders.

"It is not," I said, adjusting his shoulder cape for him.

"Pretty liar," he teased.

"Saucebox," I retorted.

"Will you two flirt all night, or will ye come oan?" roared Steen from the door. We followed the others to the little room where the coves traded brass tokens for their swords and long daggers. Once they had settled their weapons around their sashes and belts again, the coves and Flory led the way out into the street.

"Dale, what's this Hanse tells me?" Goodwin asked. "Here I've been nattering about learning Gambler's Chance in front of the cove that
invented
the game? I'd take it as a kindness if you'd teach me."

"But teaching means I lose the chance to make coin of my own," Dale complained.

Goodwin showed him a gold noble, making it walk through her fingers. "Will this change your mind?"

I'm not sure buying lessons in Gambler's Chance was what my lord meant when he gave us that fat purse, but who am I to question Goodwin? At least in this company word would get about fast that the older Corus Dog was flashing gold. They'd be certain she was crooked. I eased to the outside of the group while Hanse and Dale started talking about the new game, one that was played with numbered cards and portrait ones.

I was happy to look at the crowds. Folk were out for their night's pleasures, and those who lived by shearing them were out, too. When most of the city ends its workday, the part I understand best begins its hours of labor. Twice I heard the cry of, "Thief!" in the distance. I saw a Dog pair breaking up a robbery in an alley and felt downright homesick.

Hanse told Goodwin, "There's the Waterlily." I looked up and noted the brightly painted sign just four doors down the street. Then I saw a familiar face in the crowd. It was the scared maidservant from the Court of the Rogue, the one who had served Pearl her drinks. She wound her way into a thick knot of folk watching a lad juggle flaming torches.

I wouldn't get lost, not with the Waterlily so near. I strolled over to the gawpers. The maid had worked her way to the front. She watched the juggler, mouth agape, as he added the fresh torches given to him by his helper. She gasped when he set them to twirling yet still managed to catch each one without burning himself. And when he finished, she picked through her scant handful of coins and set one in the hat that his helper passed around. The juggler smiled at her, and blew her a kiss, even though others had probably given him a bigger tip. The maid covered her blushes with her hands and fled, giggling, while the juggler turned to flirt with another girl.