Guardian of Honor (18 page)

"Feycoocu...fey-coooooo-coooooo." The lilt in Partis's
voice plucked a chord inside Alexa.

She watched him from the corner of her eye as she hurried. A bead
of sweat ran down his temple, but his round face glowed with good humor. He
clanked beside her, and her own lips widened into a smile as she picked up her
pace. The Marshalls following her ran in metallic armor under their tunics.
She'd give them a workout.

Partis continued to croon to Sinafin, modulating his tones until
the range made Alexa shiver. The man had a magic voice, for sure.

Sinafin twitched an ear, then stopped and let Partis scoop her up
as they ran. Sinafin barked, and Partis laughed with the same note of pleasure.

"Mari..."Partis panted.

Husband,
Sinafin said to Alexa.

Alexa stumbled, windmilled, but caught herself before she hit the
muddy ground. "What?"

"You are going to Town to meet your husband?" Partis's
eyes twinkled at her.

It was impossible to be irritated with this man. Reynardus could
annoy her by just edging into her vision—but Partis? No. A premonition that
between Sinafin and the boy and Partis and Thealia, they'd talk her around,
descended on Alexa. They had a lot going for them. She was a stranger in a
strange land, didn't know the language or the customs, had no money. What she
did
have was magic she couldn't really control.

Still, she was outside the Castle now, not completely in their
territory, and had an ally in Sinafin. She should be able to negotiate good
terms. She was alone and ready to fight with words. That had happened often in
her life. Just one more time. Frame it in a
situation
that she understood so the unknown couldn't freak her out.. .and she could win.

They were coming up on the Town wall and gate, the wall much lower
and the gate much less impressive than the Castle's, but made of the same gray
stone blocks.

Alexa slowed to a walk on the path that was packed hard enough
that even the recent rain hadn't stirred up much mud. A slurping sound caught
her attention. Sinafin was licking Partis's perspiring face.

Four guards in blue and green, the colors of the shield over the
arch of the Town gate, drew aside as she and Partis came near. They seemed torn
between staring at her, the Exotique, Sinafin or Partis. They didn't even seem
to notice the boy.

Then they looked up the wide path. As one, the four seemed to melt
into the shadows of the gate. Obviously they would be no help against even
three Marshalls.

Squaring her shoulders, Alexa pinned the boy with a look.
"Mayr," she enunciated, hoping it was right this time.

The boy chewed at his lower lip. Alexa sucked in a breath, ready
to demand, when Sinafin barked and sent a mental command that rang in Alexa's
ears.
Nom de Nom!

The teenager nodded hastily and turned to lead again.

Sinafin broadcasted,
The Exotique has left the Castle. Those
wishing to meet her, including the Mayr, may join us in the back room of the
Nom de Nom for consultation.

From the reverberation in Alexa's head, she thought everyone in
the whole Town had heard Sinafin. The shapeshifter hopped down from Partis's
arms, and Alexa skipped to keep up with the youth and the dog. As she passed
through the gate the road widened into a small, cobblestone square. She heard
the
clomp
of many boots following her and saw two of the guards separate
from the shadows to join the little parade.

Heat crept up Alexa's face. All she needed was a baton to lead
this—Suddenly her Jade Baton hovered before her.

She heard gasps. Sinafin made a sound like a gleeful doggy gurgle.
Alexa set her teeth and gestured to the young man to continue on.

All the streets opened into squares. The way she followed was a
street large enough for two carts, though sometimes narrow passages branched
off. The buildings against the city walls were usually three stories high and made
of stone. As they went deeper into the Town, the buildings became two or three
stories, and were sometimes of plaster. The plaster ones were multihued,
showing the Lladranan love for color. The more elegant, newer buildings
flaunted bow windows.

There was no shade of purple in sight. Must be reserved for
Exotiques. Too bad.

Finally they came to a three-story stone building that leaned a
little. Alexa blinked. Something creaked overhead, and she looked up to see a
square sign with a black-and-white circle. As she watched, the circle spun and
changed colors. First it was white lettering on black, then black lettering on
white.
Nom de Nom. Nom de Nom.
She blinked, but felt a little dizzy. She
couldn't figure out how the sign worked. Must be magic.

Reynardus's snicker broke into her thoughts. No doubt she looked
like a perfect fool, staring at something they all knew was simple and standard
in their world. She wished she could turn the man into a toad.

Finally the press of the stares prodded her to enter the inn. Not
only had the three Marshalls come down from the Castle, but others had too.
Reynardus's son Luthan, Marwey's soldier, even some fliers. They all watched
her and waited.

Straightening her shoulders and lifting her chin, Alexa strode
in as if it were the diner where all the law students hung
out and she was about to announce she'd been named valedictorian.

It was smokey, but from open fireplaces, not cigarettes. The light
was as dim as the Temple, but the inn exuded a totally different ambience. Pretty
different from the diner hangout too, except... Except the conversations held
the same note of exhaustion after trials, of conviviality, of desperate living
before more Testing. The similarity stopped her for a second before she moved
on in.

The inn reminded her of her undergraduate years—scarred wooden
booths with worn cushions, a long bar—Then she saw the heads on the walls. Her
mouth turned down. She supposed now she should be grateful that there had been
no heads gracing her suite of rooms in the Castle.

There have never been heads in that room. This is where the
Chevaliers gather,
Sinafin said.
Of course there will be trophies.

Alexa grimaced. She
greatly
preferred diplomas. Sinafin
snickered, jumped from her arms and trotted through the room, taking a right at
the end of the bar and scratching a demand that the closed door be opened.

The boy that had led them there looked at the bar man, lifted his
shoulders as high as his chin in a shrug, and hurried to do the greyhound's
bidding.

Keeping her steps and expression steady, Alexa walked into the
room. Serving women and the barkeep followed, opening indoor shutters to the
fading afternoon light, whisking dustcovers off deep chairs, and wiping down
the large round table that dominated the room.

As they bustled, lights came on from faceted crystals that looked
like huge hunks of quartz set in the walls.

Send energy to one,
Sinafin said.

Narrowing her eyes, Alexa concentrated on the nearest quartz.

A brighter spark appeared within it, then it glowed white, while
the others in the room showed yellow.

Silence.

Alexa looked around to find everyone staring at her again. She
smiled. The inn people rushed from the chamber. The Marshalls and the man
Sinafin had named Luthan marched in, along with an older woman in gear that
looked like the fighting clothes that the riders of the flying horses wore.

Sinafin whined and Alexa picked her up.

Go to the biggest chair,
she advised.

Alexa frowned. It was wise strategy, but the chair would dwarf
her. She sighed and went to the chair, drew it close to the table. Then she
laid her baton down on the table, discreetly climbed on the chair, scooted
until her butt hit the back and crossed her legs. Who from Lladrana would know
that she didn't usually sit in a chair like this? It sure beat sitting on the
very edge and letting her feet dangle.

Sinafin curled on Alexa's lap.
No heads here. See the banners?
They are those of the Chevaliers fallen to the Invaders in the past two years.

The banners crowded the rafters; most were tattered. Some showed
stains that were probably mud. Some had huge swaths of a dark red-brown—dried
blood? Some had holes that looked like they'd been made from claws—or worse,
acid. The scariest ones had lots of blotches: red-brown blood, greenish
old-slime stuff, thick black ichor blobs. There were even a few puckered
tentacle marks like those that had shown on the body of the man she'd saved
from the pool. Pretty evident that would be from a soul-sucker.

See how many there are? You can't see the ceiling. We need you!

"I get it already," Alexa grumbled as the Marshalls
scraped back chairs to sit around the table.

Reynardus sat opposite her at the round table, his usual sneer on
his face. Thealia sat to his right at ten o'clock in relation to Alexa. Partis
was between Thealia and Alexa, on her left.

That sneer really got on Alexa's nerves, setting her temper
simmering again. She leaned back in her chair, back straight, composed her
expression and petted the shape-changing dog. Tension and anticipation coiled
in her. This discussion would be all about her future. She wasn't going to be
manipulated or steamrollered. She was going to play it cautious, and canny—and
win.
What concessions she could get, she didn't know. But Sinafin would be able
to keep score and tell her.

She did know that the first one who dickered would lose, and she
was ready to sit silent until the inn closed and the bartender threw her out.

The inn does not close,
Sinafin said.
It is open
all day and night, every day.

"Twenty-four, seven," Alexa murmured.

What does that mean?
The little dog pushed a
warm, curious nose into Alexa's palm.

"Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week." Alexa
wondered if the days were the same.

Yes,
answered Sinafin.
But we go by moon-months.

Before she could say more, the older woman clomped forward and
bowed to Alexa.

Lady Hallard, a major landowner, now the Representative of the
Chevaliers to the Castle. And Luthan
—Sinafin pointed her nose at
the man sitting at three o'clock in relation to Alexa—
was the Chevalier
Representative before you came and now represents the Singer. He offered the
Chevalier position to his brother, Bastien, the man you saved from drowning in
the jerir. He refused.

Alexa had heard this before in her dreams, but Sinafin's
recitation helped ground her, get her mind around the players again and put
names to faces. Reynardus and his sons, one of whom was a flawed
black-and-white. The Marshalls...

"On behalf of the Chevaliers, we thank you for healing our
members, Farentha and Dema. Here is our offering for your
fee," Lady Hallard said, placing a worn leather drawstring pouch on the
table before Alexa.

Money! Alexa exulted. Oh, she was better off now. She didn't have
to depend on the Marshalls for everything.

Enough money, "zhiv" to house you in Town for two years.
Little enough
Jot
two lives, but
the two you helped heal are independents, and all the Chevaliers took up a pool
for them.

Alexa had contributed to enough pools, and been the recipient of
one or two when she'd been down on her luck, to understand how they worked. She
frowned. She couldn't possibly take it all.

"Tell me, what is enough for one year of middle-class
living?" she asked Sinafin.

Inside there is a large diamond. It is enough.

Opening the bag, Alexa gently sent a stream of jewels, silver and
gold coins pouring onto the table. She caught her breath. Jewels. She was sunk.
She had a weakness for even the cheapest costume jewelry. It would make her
greedy, for sure.

Gemstones glittered. Alexa's fingers itched. Oh, the large
sapphire and the little square emerald were lovely. She could
not
stop
herself from scooping up the bloodred spinel. It looked a lot like one in
England's crown jewels.

She took the diamond, which was the largest and dirty white, to
pay her way in Town, and the spinel, just for herself. The rest she slid back
into the pouch and shoved into Lady Hallard's hands before her avaricious
streak got the better of her.

Setting her hands firmly on Sinafin for translation, Alexa met the
weathered woman's eyes. "This is enough. Divide the rest amongst the
Chevaliers who contributed."

First Hallard looked surprised and pleased, then she stiffened,
and ruffled pride showed in her expression.

Alexa lifted a hand to forestall Hallard's protest. "My needs
are few.
This is enough."

Again they matched gazes, then Hallard nodded and went back to her
chair next to Luthan.