The Pillars of Creation (30 page)

“You able to sell horses?” Sebastian asked a man watching over them.

The man, his arms folded, was leaning against a post. “No. I’ve none to sell.”

Sebastian nodded. “Thanks anyway.”

The man caught Sebastian’s cloak before they moved on. He leaned closer. “You be leaving the area?”

Sebastian shrugged. “Going back south. Thought we’d like to pick up a horse while we were visiting the palace.”

The man leaned out a little and checked both ways. “After dark, come see me. Plan on being around that long? I may be able to help you.”

Sebastian nodded. “I have some business that will keep me here the day. I’ll be back after it’s dark.”

He took Jennsen’s arm and moved her down the crowded street. They had to step out of the way of two sisters fawning over necklaces they’d bought as the father walked behind with a load of goods they had purchased. The mother watched her girls as she pulled a couple of sheep along behind. It gave Jennsen a pang of heartache for Betty.

“Are you crazy?” she whispered at Sebastian, confused as to why he would tell the man that they would be back after dark. “We can’t stay here all day.”

“Of course we can’t. The man is a cutthroat. Since I had to ask if he was selling horses, he knows I have the money to buy one and would like to relieve me of it. If we go back there after dark he’ll likely have friends hiding in the shadows waiting to do us in.”

“He’s a thief? Are you serious?”

“This place is full of thieves.” Sebastian leaned in with a stern look. “This is D’Hara—a land where the greedy and perverse prey on the weak, where people care nothing about the welfare of their fellow man, and even less about the future of mankind.”

Jennsen understood what he meant. On their way to the People’s Palace, Sebastian had told her about Brother Narev and his teachings, his hope for a future where mankind’s lot was not suffering, a future where there was no starvation or sickness or cruelty. Where every man cared for his fellow man. Sebastian said that, along with the help of Jagang the Just and the will of good and decent people, the Fellowship of Order would help to bring it about. Jennsen had trouble imagining such a wonderful world, a world away from Lord Rahl.

“But, if that man was a thief, why would you tell him that you’ll come back?”

“Because if I didn’t, if I told him I couldn’t wait, then he might signal his partners. We wouldn’t know who they are but they would know us and likely find a spot they could surprise us.”

“You really think so?”

“Like I said, the place is full of thieves. Watch yourself or you might get your purse cut right off your belt without even knowing it.”

She was just about to confess that that very thing had already happened when she heard her name being called.

“Jennsen! Jennsen!”

It was Tom. Big as he was, he stood out like a mountain among foothills, yet he was holding up his hand, waving for her, as if he feared she would have trouble spotting him.

Sebastian leaned closer. “You know him?”

“He helped me get you out.”

Jennsen had no time to explain any more than that before smiling her acknowledgment to the big man waving his arm at her. Tom, happy as a puppy at seeing her, rushed out to meet her in the middle of the street. She saw his brothers back at their table.

Tom wore a wide grin. “I knew you’d come, just like you promised. Joe and Clayton said I was nuts to think you would, but I told them you would keep your promise to stop before you left.”

“I…I just came from the palace, just now.” She patted her cloak where it concealed the knife. “I’m afraid that we’re in a rush and need to be on our way.”

Tom nodded knowingly. He seized Sebastian’s hand and pumped it as if they were friends long separated.

“I’m Tom. You must be the friend Jennsen was helping.”

“That’s right. I’m Sebastian.”

Tom tilted his head in gesture toward Jennsen. “She’s something, isn’t she?”

“I’ve never seen anyone like her,” Sebastian assured him.

“A man couldn’t want for more than a woman like this on his side,” Tom said. He stepped between them, putting an arm around their shoulders, preventing any escape, and guided them back to his stand. “I’ve got something for you both.”

“What do you mean?” Jennsen asked.

They didn’t have time for any delay. They needed to get away before the wizard came out looking for them—or sent troops after them. Now that Nathan Rahl had seen her, he could describe her to guards. Everyone would know what they looked like.

“Oh, something,” Tom said, cryptically.

She smiled up at the big blond man. “What do you have?”

Tom reached into his pocket and came up with a purse. He held it out to her. “Well, first off, I got this back for you.”

“My money?”

Tom grinned as he watched the astonishment in her eyes as her fingers touched her familiar worn leather purse. “You’ll be pleased to know that the gentleman who had it was reluctant to part with it, but since it wasn’t his, in the end he saw the light of reason, along with a few stars.”

Tom nudged her shoulder as if to say she could figure out what more he meant by that.

Sebastian’s gaze followed as she pulled back her cloak and tied the purse around her belt. His expression said that he had no trouble figuring out what had happened to it.

“But how did you find him?” Jennsen asked.

Tom shrugged. “The place looks big to those visiting, but when you’re here often, you learn who the regulars are and know what their business is. I recognized your description of the cutpurse. Early this morning he breezed by, talking his line, trying to gull a woman out of her money. About the time he passed, I saw his hand below her packages, slipping into her shawl, so I snatched him by the collar. My brothers and I had a long talk with the fellow about returning things he’d ‘found’ that didn’t belong to him.”

“This place is full of thieves,” Jennsen said.

Tom shook his head. “Don’t judge a place by one man. Don’t get me wrong—they’re around. But most folks here are honest enough. The way I see it, wherever you go there will always be thieves. Always has been, always will be. The man I fear most is the one who preaches virtue and a better life while using people’s good intentions to shade their eyes from the light of truth.”

“I guess so,” she said.

“Maybe virtue and a better life is a goal worthy of such means,” Sebastian said.

“From what I’ve seen in life, a man who preaches a better way at the cost of the truth is a man who wants nothing more than for himself to be the master and you the slave.”

“I see what you mean,” Sebastian conceded. “I guess I’m fortunate not to have had dealings with such people.”

“Count your blessings,” Tom said.

At his table, Jennsen took the hand of both Joe and Clayton. “Thank you for helping. I can’t believe you got my purse back.”

Their grins had much in common with Tom’s.

“Most fun we’ve had in a while,” Joe said.

“Not only that,” Clayton added, “but we can’t thank you enough for keeping Tom busy so we could spend a couple days visiting the palace. About time Tom gave us a break.”

Tom put a hand against Jennsen’s back, urging her around the table, to his wagon beyond. Sebastian followed the two of them between the wine barrels and the stand beside them selling leather goods, where, before, Irma had sold her sausages.

Behind Tom’s wagon, Jennsen saw his big horses. Then, beyond them, she saw the others.

“Our horses!” Jennsen’s jaw dropped. “You got us our horses?”

“Sure did,” Tom said, beaming with pride. “Found Irma this morning when she came to the market with another load of sausages. She had the horses with her. I told her you’d promised to come see me today before you left, so she was glad to have a chance to get them back to you. All your supplies are there with them.”

“That’s good luck,” Sebastian said. “We can’t thank you enough. We’re in a hurry to get going.”

Tom gestured to Jennsen’s waist, where she kept the knife under her cloak. “I figured.”

Jennsen looked around, feeling a rising flood of dismay. “Where’s Betty?”

Tom frowned. “Betty?”

Jennsen swallowed. “My goat, Betty.” It was a mighty effort to keep her voice steady. “Where’s Betty?”

“I’m sorry, Jennsen. I don’t know anything about a goat. Irma only had the horses.” Tom’s face sagged. “I never thought to ask about anything else.”

“Do you know where Irma lives?”

Tom’s head hung. “Sorry, no. She showed up this morning and she had your horses and things. She sold her sausages and waited around for a while before she said she had to get on home.”

Jennsen seized his sleeve. “How long ago?”

Tom shrugged. “I don’t know. Couple hours ago?” He glanced over his shoulder at his brothers. They both nodded.

Jennsen’s jaw trembled. She feared to test her voice again. She knew that she and Sebastian couldn’t hang around waiting. With the wizard so close, trying to stop her, she knew they would be lucky to get away with their lives. Returning would be out of the question.

A glance to Sebastian’s face confirmed it.

Tears stung her eyes. “But…didn’t you find out where she lived?”

Tom’s gaze sank as he shook his head.

“Didn’t you ask if she had anything else belonging to us?”

He shook his head again.

Jennsen wanted to scream and pound her fists against his chest. “Did you even think to ask when she would be back?”

Tom shook his head.

“But we promised her money for watching our horses,” Jennsen said. “She would say when she would be back so she could be paid.”

Still looking at his feet, Tom said, “She told me she was owed money for watching the horses. I paid her.”

Sebastian pulled out money, counted out silver coins, and held them out to Tom. Tom refused it, but Sebastian insisted, finally tossing the money on the table to settle the debt.

Jennsen choked back her desperation. Betty was gone.

Tom looked heartbroken. “I’m sorry.”

Jennsen could only nod. She wiped her nose as she watched Joe and Clayton saddling their horses for them. The sounds of the market seemed distant. In a numb state, she hardly felt the cold. When she saw the horses she had thought…

Now, she could think only of Betty bleating in distress. If Betty was even still alive.

“We can’t stay,” Sebastian answered softly to the pleading look she gave him. “You know that as well as I. We have to be on our way.”

She looked back to Tom. “But I told you before, about Betty.” Desperation drove into her voice. “I told you that Irma had our horses and my goat, Betty. I told you—I know I did.”

Tom couldn’t meet her eyes. “You did, ma’am. I’m sorry, but I just forgot to ask her. I can’t lie to you and tell you anything else or make an excuse. You told me. I forgot.”

Jennsen nodded and put a hand on his arm. “Thank you for getting our horses, and all the other help. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

“We have to get going,” Sebastian said, checking his saddlebags and securing the flaps. “It’s going to take time to work our way through the crowds and out of here.”

“We’ll give you an escort,” Joe said.

“People get out of the way of our big draft horses,” Clayton explained. “Come on. We know the quickest way out. Follow us and we’ll get you through the crowds.”

Both men pulled a horse over so they could step up on a barrel and mount up bareback. They deftly guided the huge horses out of the narrow way between the stands and barrels without so much as jostling anything. Sebastian stood waiting for her, holding the reins to their horses, Rusty and Pete.

On her way past, Jennsen paused and gazed up into Tom’s eyes, sharing with him a private, wordless moment among all the people around. She stretched up and kissed his cheek, then held her own cheek against his for a moment. His fingertips just touched her shoulder. As she drew away, his wistful gaze stayed on her face.

“Thank you for helping me,” she whispered. “I’d have been lost without you.”

Tom smiled then. “My pleasure, ma’am.”

“Jennsen,” she said.

He nodded. “Jennsen.” He cleared his throat. “Jennsen, I’m sorry—”

Jennsen, holding back her tears, touched her fingers to his lips to silence him. “You helped me save Sebastian’s life. You were a hero for me when I needed one. Thank you from the depths of my heart.”

He stuffed his hands in his pockets as his gaze sank to the ground once more. “Safe journey to you, Jennsen, wherever you may go in your life. Thank you for letting me join you for a small part of it.”

“Steel against steel,” she said, not even understanding why, but it somehow sounded right. “You helped me in that.”

Tom smiled then, with a look of intense pride and gratitude.

“That he may be the magic against magic. Thank you, Jennsen.”

She patted Rusty’s muscular neck before putting a boot into a stirrup and boosting herself up onto the saddle. She cast the big man a last look over her shoulder. Staying with his things, Tom watched as Jennsen and Sebastian followed Joe and Clayton out into the sea of people. Their two big escorts, yelling and whistling, moved people out of the way, creating a clear path ahead. People stopped and looked when they heard the commotion coming, then stepped aside at the sight of the huge horses.

Sebastian, flashing a heated scowl, leaned toward her. “What was the big ox babbling about magic?” he whispered over at her.

“I don’t know,” she said in a low voice. She let out a sigh. “But he helped me get you out.”

She wanted to tell him that Tom might be big, but he was no ox. She didn’t though. For some reason, she didn’t want to talk about Tom to Sebastian. Even though Tom had been helping her to rescue Sebastian, what they had done together for some reason felt very private to her.

When they finally reached the edge of the marketplace, Joe and Clayton waved them a farewell as Jennsen and Sebastian urged their horses ahead at a gallop, out onto the cold, empty Azrith Plains.

Jennsen and Sebastian rode north and west, across the Azrith Plains, not far from where only that morning she had ridden back with Tom in his wagon from the swamp around Althea’s place. Her visit to Althea only the day before, along with the treacherous journey through the swamp, seemed remote to her, now. She had spent most of the day getting up into the palace, talking her way past guards and officials, getting Sebastian released, bluffing the Mord-Sith, Nyda, into helping them, and getting down and out of the plateau with Wizard Rahl at their heels. With so much of the day already gone, they weren’t able to travel a great distance before darkness descended and they had to make camp out in the open plain.

“With those cutthroats not all that far away, we don’t dare make a fire,” Sebastian said when he saw her shivering. “They could spot us from miles away and if we’re night-blinded by a fire we would never know they were sneaking up on us.”

Overhead, the moonless sky was a vast glittering mantle of stars. Jennsen thought about what Althea said, that a bird could be seen on a moonless night by noting the stars it blocked out as it passed overhead. She said that was how she could see one who was a hole in the world. Jennsen saw no bird, just three coyotes in the distance, trotting along on a night patrol of their territory. In the flat, empty land, they were easy enough to spot by starlight alone as they went on their hunt for small nocturnal animals.

With numb fingers, Jennsen untied her bedroll from the back of the saddle and pulled it down. “And where would you propose we get the wood to make a fire, anyway?”

Sebastian turned and stared at her. A smile stole onto his face. “I never thought of that. I guess we couldn’t have a fire even if we wanted one.”

She scrutinized the empty plain as she dragged the saddle off of Rusty’s back and laid it on the ground near Sebastian. Even with only the cold starlight, she could make out things well enough. “If anyone approached, we could see them coming. Do you think one of us should keep watch through the night?”

“No. Without a campfire and not moving, they’d never find us out in this great dark expanse. I think it would be better to get some sleep so we can make good time tomorrow.”

With the horses picketed, she used her saddle for a seat. As she unfurled her bedroll, Jennsen found two white cloth bundles inside. She knew she hadn’t put any such things in her bedroll. She undid the knot at the top of one bundle and discovered a meat pie inside. She saw, then, Sebastian making the same discovery.

“Looks like the Creator has provided for us,” he said.

Jennsen smiled as she stared down at the meat pie in her lap. “Tom left these.”

Sebastian didn’t ask how she knew. “The Creator has provided for us through Tom. Brother Narev says that even when we think someone has provided for us, it is actually the Creator working through them. We in the Old World believe that when we give to someone in need, we are really doing the Creator’s good works. That’s why the welfare of others is our sacred duty.”

Jennsen said nothing, fearing that if she did, he might think she was criticizing Brother Narev, or even the Creator. She couldn’t dispute the word of a great man like Brother Narev. She had never done any good works like Brother Narev had. She had never even left anyone meat pies or done anything else helpful. It seemed to her that she brought only trouble and suffering to people—her mother, Lathea, Althea, Friedrich, and who knew how many others. If any force worked through her, it certainly wasn’t the Creator.

Sebastian, perhaps seeing something of her thoughts in her expression, spoke softly. “That’s why I’m helping you—I believe it’s what the Creator would want me to do. That’s how I know Brother Narev and Emperor Jagang would approve of me helping you. This is the very thing we’re fighting for—to have people care about others by sharing their burdens.”

She smiled not just her appreciation, but also at the notion of such noble intentions. Noble intentions, though, which, for reasons she didn’t even fully understand, felt to her like a knife in the back.

Jennsen looked up from the meat pie in her lap. “So, that’s why you’re helping me, then.” Her smile was forced. “Because it’s your duty.”

Sebastian looked almost as if he’d been slapped. “No.” He came closer, going down on one knee. “No. I…in the beginning, of course, but…it’s not just duty.”

“You make it sound like I’m a leper you think you have to—”

“No—that’s not it at all.” As he searched for words, that radiant smile of his came to his face, that smile that made her heart ache. “I’ve never met anyone like you, Jennsen. I swear, I’ve never laid my eyes on a woman as beautiful as you, or as smart. You make me feel like I’m…like I’m a nobody. But then when you smile at me, I feel like I’m someone important. I’ve never met anyone who made me feel this way. At first it was duty, but now, I swear…”

Jennsen sat in shock at hearing him say such things, at hearing the tender sincerity, the earnest pleading, in his voice.

“I never knew.”

“I should never have kissed you. I know it was wrong. I’m a soldier in the army against oppression. My life is devoted to the cause of helping my people—all people. I don’t have anything to offer a woman like you.”

She couldn’t imagine why he would think he had to offer her something. He had saved her life. “Then, why did you kiss me?”

He gazed into her eyes, looking as if he had to pull words up from some great painful depth. “I couldn’t help myself. I’m sorry. I tried not to. I knew it was wrong, but when we were that close, and I was looking into your beautiful eyes, and your arms were holding me, and I was holding you…I’d never wanted anything so much in my life…I just couldn’t help myself. I had to. I’m sorry.”

Jennsen’s gaze fell away. She stared down at the meat pie. Sebastian pulled the familiar mask of composure around himself and sat back down on his saddle.

“Don’t feel sorry,” she whispered without looking up. “I liked the kiss.”

He sat forward expectantly. “You did?”

Jennsen nodded. “I’m glad to hear that it wasn’t done out of duty.”

That made him smile and eased the tension.

“No duty ever felt that good,” he said.

Together, they laughed—something she couldn’t even remember doing. It felt good to laugh.

As Jennsen devoured one of the meat pies, relishing the flavorful spices and savory chunks of meat, she felt good again. She hoped she hadn’t been too hard on Tom for forgetting about Betty. She had let her frustrations, fear, and anger come out at him. He was a good man. He had helped her when she needed it most.

Her thoughts lingered on Tom, on how good she had felt when she was around him. He made her feel important, feel confident in herself, whereas Sebastian often made her feel humble. Tom had a handsome smile—a different kind of handsome than Sebastian’s smile. Tom had a hearty smile. Sebastian had an inscrutable smile. Tom’s smile made her feel secure and strong. Sebastian’s smile made her feel defenseless and weak.

After she had eaten every crumb of the meat pie, Jennsen wrapped herself in blankets over the top of her cloak. Still shivering, she remembered how Betty had kept them warm at night. In the silence, her sense of gloom returned to haunt her, refusing to allow her to fall asleep, despite her exhaustion from everything she had been through the last couple of days.

She didn’t look forward to the forlorn prospect of what the future might hold for her. She could foresee only an endless hunt until Lord Rahl’s men finally caught her. She felt empty without her mother, without Betty. She realized that she didn’t have any idea where she would go, now, other than to keep running. She had been intent on Althea’s help, but even that had proved to be an empty dream. In some distant corner of her mind, Jennsen had held out a spark of irrational hope that going to her childhood home of the People’s Palace might somehow hold a favorable resolution.

She shivered not only with the cold, but with the bleak prospect of what the future held.

Sebastian inched his back up close to her, protecting her from the wind. The idea of it being more than duty to him was a comfort. She thought about what it felt like to have his body pressed against the length of her. She thought about the intoxicating feel of his mouth against hers.

His words that had so surprised her, “I’ve never laid my eyes on a woman as beautiful as you,” still echoed around in her head. She wasn’t sure that she believed him. Maybe she was afraid to believe him.

The first day she had met him he made several complimentary remarks, the first about how people might say the dead soldier saw a beautiful young woman strutting along and thus tripped and fell to his death, and then “Sebastian’s rule,” as he called it, giving her the dead soldier’s ornate knife, saying beauty belonged with beauty. She had never trusted words offered so effortlessly.

She thought again about the sincerity in his eyes, this time, and how surprisingly tongue-tied and awkward he’d seemed. Insincerity was often smoothly delivered, but matters of the heart were more difficult to express because so much was at stake.

It surprised her to hear that her smile made him feel important. She hadn’t suspected that he might feel the same kinds of emotions she felt. She hadn’t suspected how good it would feel to have a man like Sebastian, a man of the world, an important man, think she was beautiful. Jennsen always felt graceless and plain compared with her mother. She liked knowing that someone thought she was beautiful.

She wondered what it would be like if he rolled over, right there, and embraced her again, kissed her again, this time with no one around. She could feel her heart pounding at the very prospect.

“I’m sorry about your goat,” he whispered in the silence, his back still to her.

“I know.”

“But with Wizard Rahl after us and still this close, the goat would only slow us down.”

As much as she loved Betty, Jennsen knew she had to put other things first. Still, she would give almost anything to hear that singular bleat of Betty’s voice, or see her little upright tail wagging in a blur as her whole body wiggled with the excitement of Jennsen’s greeting. Jennsen could feel the lumps of carrots under her head in the pack she was using as a pillow.

She knew they couldn’t stay and search for Betty, but that didn’t make it any easier to know they were leaving her for good. It broke her heart.

Jennsen looked back over her shoulder in the darkness. “Did they hurt you? I was so worried that they would hurt you.”

“That Mord-Sith would have. You came just in time.”

“What did it feel like when she touched you with the Agiel?”

Sebastian thought a moment. “Like being hit by lightning, I suppose.”

Jennsen laid her head back down on the pack. She wondered why she had felt nothing from the power of Mord-Sith’s weapon. He had to be wondering that same thing, but if he was, he didn’t ask. She would have had no answer for him, anyway. Nyda had been astonished, too, and said that her Agiel worked on everyone.

Nyda was wrong.

For some reason, Jennsen found that strangely worrisome.