“Most of the staff in a place like this is, ah, available,” he told Teer. “She won’t bed you for free, but she might think you’re attractive enough for a discount.”
Teer flushed, grateful that his coloring didn’t show that easily.
“I see,” he said. “I…I’ll be good.”
“Doka wore you out, did she?” the other man asked. “Fair enough. You finished your shopping here?”
“Yeah,” Teer confirmed. “Picked ever’ing up yesterday. Waiting on you now.”
He’d bought new clothes to supplement the clothes he’d left home with. His mother and her husband had forced a lot of things on him when he’d left, but more clothes were always useful.
And he’d had no choice about leaving. His initial encounter with Kard had involved him shooting the man in a fit of rage, thinking he was Spehari. To spare him the penalty of attacking a Spehari, Kard had magically bound Teer to him.
A brand on Teer’s shoulder marked him as Kard’s property, not that the El-Spehari treated him that way. And it wasn’t like the Spehari didn’t regard everyone in the Unity as property.
Teer stared morosely into the plate of food, almost unconsciously slathering the bacon and its grease over the fresh bread. The days in Carlon had helped drive home just how strange his situation was.
He had just started eating when the tone of the shouting outside changed. He paused, chewing and swallowing as the chaos grew louder.
“Someone in trouble,” he said softly. “I hear…murder.”
“Murder?” Kard asked. Both of them knew Teer’s senses were sharper, though Kard could hear better than anyone else Teer knew.
“Lot of shouting,” Teer confirmed. “Should we…”
“Unless you hear shooting, finish your breakfast,” Kard ordered. “It sounds like we might have some real work to do.”
2
“Hunter Kard?”
The hard-bitten woman in gray leathers walked right up to Teer and Kard’s table, just as Teer was shoveling the last of his breakfast into his mouth.
“Wardwatch Jenny, yes?” Kard asked as he met the woman’s gaze.
Teer vaguely recognized the woman as well. She was one of the Wardwatches, the deputies who supported a Wardkeeper in a larger town like Carlon. Even if he hadn’t recognized her, she carried a lever-operated repeater slung over one shoulder, and Carlon discouraged carrying long guns inside the ward dome.
“Yes,” Jenny confirmed. “Wardkeeper wants you and yer apprentice. At the tower, candlemark ago!”
“I know the type,” Kard agreed. He swept the Writs back into the leather pouch he carried them in and turned his gaze on Teer.
“Shall we, my apprentice?” he asked.
They both knew Teer would. Teer wasn’t even sure the brand that marked him as Kard’s Bondsman would let him disobey the older man—he hadn’t tried since getting it. Certainly, the magic that let him know where Kard was at all times worked well enough!
“We heard commotion,” Kard continued as Teer rose. “What’s going on?”
“Most o’ that is the Wardkeeper’s place to say,” Jenny told them, leading the way out into the street.
Hard-packed dirt covered Carlon’s roads, carefully cleared and flattened where needed. There were almost as many horses out as people, but Jenny had come on foot. The tower wasn’t far—most of the town’s inns were near to the central clock tower next to the wardstone.
Now he was outside, Teer could see the massive transparent dome of the town’s ward. Translucent green to his eyes, its magic protected the town from most inclement weather and could even, he was told, be strengthened to guard against real attack.
He’d only recently learned that no one else could see the dome of the ward.
“You can tell us some, can’t you?” Kard asked as they set off along the street.
“Man beat near to death,” Jenny said bluntly. “Attacker stole his coin and a horse, fled town. Should be easy for Hunters.”
Teer kept his peace as he heard Kard grunt. It would be easier, he suspected, with Doka, but Kard could track and he was learning. His superior senses only helped so much.
Jenny delivered them to the clock tower a few moments later, where several other Wardwatches were being visibly present with repeaters in their hands. Most of the days they’d spent in Carlon, there’d only been a single Watch guarding the building and the wardstone in front of it.
“Wardkeeper Ashan is waitin’ for you,” Jenny told them. “Ride well, Hunters.”
Kard gave her a nod and pushed the door open with Teer in his wake. The room on the other side was large enough, with several currently empty desks arrayed in a pattern that funneled any visitor toward the back of the room.
A single weathered Merik woman in a black vest over gray leathers was waiting for them. She had a golden snowflake on her vest that marked her as the keeper of the Spehari’s law in Carlon.
“You called us, Wardkeeper,” Kard said calmly.
“That I did,” Ashan told them. “Bad business, Hunter, but bad business is your business.”
“It is. You’ve riders enough here, though. Why us?” Kard asked.
“I’ve a thousand tasks for my Watches,” the Wardkeeper replied. “That’s why.”
“I meant the fort,” Kard said quietly.
Teer probably didn’t manage to conceal his shiver. Carlon was a semi-fortified town, with walls running from the river up to a man-made hill that held a Unity fort. Teer didn’t know how many of the Unity’s soldiers, men like his long-dead father, occupied that fort—but Kard was right. With a fort nearby, why was the Keeper hiring Hunters to pursue a runaway?
“If I send Unity after a runaway, I get back a body,” Ashan said bluntly. “I send you after a runaway, I get someone to stand trial. You want the work or no, Hunter?”
“We’ll take the work,” Kard agreed. “Just curious, Wardkeeper.”
Ashan grabbed a freshly inked paper Writ from the desk and handed it to him.
“Girl’s name is Lora,” she snapped. “Beat a man called Carind to the edge o’ death, took his money and a horse and fled.”
“Any idea what happened?” Kard asked.
“He’d paid for the night. Guess she decided he didn’t pay enough,” the Wardkeeper said. “Three Horses Inn; you can check it out to start.”
“Two stone?” Kard passed the Writ to Teer, who slid it into their pouch of documents.
“Just assault and she ain’t makin’ it far,” Ashan said. “Easy money.”
“True. We’ll bring her back,” Kard promised. “Alive.”
“No reward for a corpse this time, Hunter,” the Wardkeeper said.
“What happens if we bring this one in?” Teer asked as he followed Kard along the street.
“Trial,” Kard said grimly. “It’ll be fair enough. Probably sent to a work gang. Mines or dragon lines; unpleasant work but survivable.”
Lora hadn’t attacked a Spehari, Teer remembered. Attacking a Spehari was an instant death sentence, though he figured he’d been supposed to have a trial first.