The Thief's Gamble (Einarinn 1) (46 page)

'Archmage, Cloud-Master.' Darni made the deepest and most sincere bows Allin had seen him perform yet. 'You are very welcome.'

'What have you done about a ship?' Otrick scowled at him.

Darni scowled right back. 'No one's prepared to risk the currents, the storms, the sea-monsters, you name it.'

'Messire D'Olbriot is going to see if he can negotiate something for us,' Casuel added hastily.

'I'm sure someone would change his tune if Messire started issuing a few direct orders,' Darni grumbled.

'That's not how things are done in Tormalin,' Casuel snapped, before he remembered himself and looked nervously at Planir. 'Pardon me, Archmage.'

Darni ignored him and turned to Otrick. 'Who else is with you? How many swords?'

'At present, it is just the two of us. We thought we should come on ahead,' Planir answered with a glimpse of authority which stifled the waiting questions on Darni's lips. 'I was concerned about the potential problems of acquiring a ship at this time of year.'

'I'm sure we'll manage, I mean, Messire D'Olbriot has offered us every co-operation and I'm sure he'll get permission for us to approach other sailors,' Casuel insisted.

'If D'Olbriot's mariners won't sail in this season, I can't see any others agreeing.' Planir's tone was gentle enough but Casuel still looked as if he'd been kicked in the shins.

'Right, then we'd better try someone else.' Otrick rubbed his hands together gleefully.

'Who else is there?' Darni was clearly puzzled.

'Pirates!' Otrick said with relish.

The door opened before anyone could respond and the maid looked curiously round.

'Wine, please,' Allin said faintly. 'And more coal,'

'May I ask how your discussion involves pirates?' Esquire Camarl stepped around the maid and took his time hanging his wet cloak over a chair.

'Oh, Esquire, that is, well, my, that is…' Casuel looked from Otrick to the young noble in an agony of indecision.

'Esquire Camarl D'Olbriot,' Darni stepped forward, 'may I introduce Planir, Archmage of Hadrumal, and Otrick, Cloud-Master of the New Hall.'

Camarl swept a low bow which Planir returned while Otrick contented himself with a curt nod.

'I was saying that the only way to get a ship at this season is to ask a pirate.' Otrick's eyes shone with a challenge.

'That is an interesting proposition,' Camarl said cautiously.

The wine arrived and Camarl took his time adding warm water and honey; Planir joined him, which effectively silenced Darni.

'It is certainly possible that a pirate would agree to put to sea when a regular mariner will not.' The Esquire sipped his drink. 'However, we should have to pay an extortionate price for that rather dubious privilege.'

'Coin's not a concern,' Darni said robustly, refusing water for his wine and tossing it down.

'I confess I would not know how to contact a pirate.' Camarl shook his head with a slight smile. 'My acquaintance has been limited to watching them swing on dockside gibbets.'

'Oh, I can take care of that. I've sailed with half the rigging-slashers in these waters.' Otrick grinned with relish at the shocked expressions all around him.

'I can see that you find this a startling proposal,' Planir said smoothly as he looked around the room. 'However, unless any of you have new thoughts, I fear it is our only remaining option.'

There was a glum moment while everyone exchanged enquiring glances and rueful shakes of their heads.

'But what's to stop some pirate just taking us out of sight of land, cutting our throats and dumping us overboard?' Casuel burst out suddenly.

'Me, for a start,' Darni snarled. 'Saedrin's stones, Cas, what kind of a wizard are you?'

'Caution is all very well, Casuel.' Planir moved swiftly to fill the awkward silence. 'However, your colleagues are in some considerable peril and we must act swiftly to have any chance of saving them.'

'What do you mean?' Darni looked-at the Archmage in consternation before rounding on Casuel. 'Haven't you been scrying them?'

'They've been captured, you oaf.' Otrick was barely Casuel's height but he still shrank away from the old mage's contempt.

'I've been, that is, I meant to, but there's been so little time…' Casuel's voice rose to a despairing bleat.

'It does seem to have happened rather suddenly.' Planir moved to sit at the table, breaking the circle which was closing in on the hapless Casuel. 'That's why we've come on ahead.'

'That, and so you could avoid all sorts of awkward questions in Council!' Otrick sniggered as he refilled his cup.

Casuel looked horrified as Darni and Camarl laughed with him.

'Sadly, that is also true.' Planir winked at Allin, who was watching the whole conversation wide-eyed. She giggled, caught by surprise, and clapped her hands to her mouth, mortified.

'Right, if you've quite finished flirting with the new talent, oh revered Archmage, let's go.' Otrick drained his goblet. 'You'd better stay behind, blossom. If I take a pretty girl like you to the places we're going, I'd like as not have to pay to get you back!'

Otrick caught up his cloak and marched out. Planir swept Allin a florid bow and sauntered after Darni and Camarl, leaving Casuel hovering in the doorway like a badly trained footman. He lifted his chin and tried unsuccessfully for a look of quelling disapproval.

'Don't you get yourself into any foolishness,' he snapped.

Allin managed to wait until he was out of earshot before she laughed.

Casuel looked wildly round until he saw the valiant green of Esquire Camarl's cloak heading down the hill. He made after them hastily, nearly slipping over on the wet cobbles of the steep street.

'This way.' They followed Otrick down a narrow alley where the houses looked like heaps of boulders that had unaccountably sprouted chimneys. The ordure underfoot grew more and more acrid, while heaps of refuse whispered with the rustle of rats. Inn-signs were clearly out of fashion in this neighbourhood but the doorpost formed into a crudely carved woman holding a flagon between her naked breasts conveyed her message clearly enough.

'Here we are.' Otrick gave the whore a familiar slap on her smooth wooden buttocks.

The others followed, Darni scowling blackly, Camarl's expression a well-schooled blank, Planir smiling as if he were enjoying some private joke and Casuel patently horrified.

The buzz of conversation stopped dead. Casuel trod on Darni's heel as the bigger man stopped, folded his arms and glowered at the assembled company.

'Stop looking as if you're daring someone to spit in your eye, Darni,' Otrick said acidly. 'If I wanted to start a dog-fight, I'd have brought a mastiff.'

Darni transferred his gaze to the assorted women hovering around the rickety stairs and his look became more of a leer. One came over, her bodice sporting a frill of dirty lace which patently failed to conceal the rosy jut of her nipples.

'Hello, old man. Haven't seen you here for a good few seasons.' Closer, the daylight betrayed the wrinkles beneath her whore's rouge.

'I've been busy, sweetheart.' Otrick waved an expansive hand.

Darni sat stiff-backed on a settle against the wall; the Esquire and the Archmage took stools, conveying an impression of being completely at ease, although Camarl did betray a certain loss of poise when he turned in response to a tap on his shoulder to find himself looking straight down the cleavage of a rumpled blonde, bending down to offer him a cup of wine.

'Thank you.' He took the cup and offered the girl a copper which she dropped between her grubby breasts with a slow wink.

'This is certainly a side of Bremilayne I haven't seen before,' Camarl murmured to Casuel who was sitting, knees together and cloak clutched round him. Casuel nodded and sipped absently at the wine, astonishment replacing his expression of distaste.

'What did you expect, Cas?' Otrick laughed. 'Free trade is all about getting the best goods without paying coin to all the middlemen!'

The harlot in Otrick's lap giggled like a girl and stroked his beard. 'We certainly offer the best here.'

'Our time is limited, Otrick,' Planir reminded the old wizard, with a touch of steel in the velvet smoothness of his manner.

'Now then, sweetheart, I'm looking for Sanderling.' Otrick clasped the trollop round the waist.

The whore's eyes were wary. 'He was in here a few nights ago but I haven't seen him since.'

Otrick squeezed her thigh with a knowing grin. 'Just tell him Greylag was looking for him.'

'If I see him, I'll tell him.' The woman nodded.

Planir rose and bowed. 'Thank you for the wine, madam.'

He handed her a discreet handful of silver which caused a rustle of petticoats round the stairs. Otrick slid the whore off his lap and stood for a farewell squeeze of her buttocks and a lengthy kiss. The others made their way outside and waited for a moment, blinking in the daylight.

'Fancy coming back later, Darni?' Otrick wiped his beard, eyes bright blue with mischief.

'I'm a married man, Cloud-Master,' Darni laughed. 'I don't think Strell would thank me for the sort of gift I could get for her in there.'

They soon regained the wider streets of the more savoury quarter of the town and were able to walk abreast.

'I'm curious, Cloud-Master Otrick,' Camarl began hesitantly. 'Sanderling and Greylag are birds' names, aren't they?'

'Would you use your real name if you took to free-trading?' Otrick's eyes flashed at the young noble.

There was another silence.

'What exactly was your involvement with these pirates?' Planir asked delicately. 'Everyone's curious but I'm the only one with the rank to ask and I feel it may not be a tale fit for young Allin's ears.'

Otrick chuckled with an evil grin. 'You don't get to be called Cloud-Master by sitting under trees and throwing handfuls of leaves into the breezes. Out there on the deep ocean I've learned more about the winds than any mage alive. How else do you expect we're going to go after Shiv and your men?'

Camarl looked at Planir. 'I've been meaning to ask you about that. I really can't see how we can hope to arrive at these islands in time to be of any assistance.' The Esquire's face was serious, the unconscious authority of rank in his words. 'I can't see how we can hope to make such a crossing in under twenty-five days.'

Planir looked casually around before answering. 'Trust me, Esquire, if need be we can cross that ocean in as many chimes.'

His voice carried absolute authority.

Camarl nodded. 'So, what do we do next?'

'We hope Otrick's old shipmate makes contact and all prepare for a sea voyage,' Planir replied crisply. 'In the meantime, I contact Kalion and a few others in the Council and we hope they find this minstrel's tale sufficiently intriguing to come and join in the fun.'

The Ice-man's Keep, Islands of the Elietimm,

3rd of For-Winter

We might have gone on talking round the chimes but Shiv began to stir and groan. Aiten had been sitting silently by him after borrowing his breeches, checking his breathing and heartbeat from time to time and squeezing water into his mouth from a scrap of linen.

'How is he?' I held Shiv's hand, feeling useless once more.

Aiten shook his head. 'We won't know till he wakes, that's the problem with head injuries.' His calm tone reassured me. 'Still, I can't feel a skull fracture and, to be honest, if he were going to die, I reckon we'd be seeing him sinking, not stirring.'

It still seemed like half a day before Shiv finally opened his eyes and they were blurred and lazy when he did. His pupils were different sizes and when he tried to sit up he began retching helplessly. Some water helped and we managed to make him more comfortable but it was a while before he could talk.

'Just relax, go with it,' Aiten said firmly. 'Your wits have been knocked halfway to Saedrin and it'll take a while for them to get straight again.'

I could see the helpless frustration on Shiv's face so I gripped his hand. 'We're not going anywhere.' I hoped no Elietimm soldiers would turn up to make a liar of me.

He coughed. 'I take it we're in some dungeon?' he said with a weak flash of his old humour.

I shrugged. 'Compared to some of the lock-ups I've been in? I've stayed in worse inns but yes, we're locked in.'

Shiv focused on Aiten with obvious difficulty. 'Either you've fallen under a herd of pigs or they've been trying to get information.'

'They are keen with their questions, I'm afraid.' Ryshad hesitated. 'They've got ways of getting inside your head too.'

Shiv groaned and not from pain. 'So they're users of aetheric magic? We were right?'

'Sorry.'

'So what do we do now?' Ryshad looked around at all of us questioningly.

I held up a hand. 'Should we talk? I'm sure the Ice-man, that white-haired bastard, was somehow listening in to my mind.'

Aiten and Ryshad looked at each other and at me uncertainly.

'It's well past midnight,' Shiv said weakly, eyes closed. 'I can't find a wakeful mind anywhere close. Anyway, what choice do we have? I don't fancy sitting here in silence until they come for us again.'

'Can we get out of here?' Aiten stared dubiously at the grating, now just a pattern of paler shapes against the darkness as the torches above had been quenched. 'Where do we go if we can?'

I went to examine the door and found another lock, well secure by local standards but only a challenge to me since I'd be working without tools. I looked thoughtfully at the bone beakers and wondered how much effort and noise smashing one would take.

Shiv shifted himself with an effort and grimaced. 'If we can get out of this room we need to find a hole to hide up in until I can contact Planir. Once I've made the link he can get the Council to meld power through him so I can get our warning across at very least.'

'Could they get us home?' I tried not to sound too beseeching.

Shiv sighed. 'Perhaps, but it's unlikely. I can't lie to you.'

Aiten and Ryshad covered their disappointment well but I actually felt my spirits rise. Some chance is better than none and I'm a gambler. As long as I didn't ask Shiv the odds, I could kid myself they were worth the throw; after all, it's only the long runes that get you the heavy coin.