City of Jade (45 page)
Authors: Dennis McKiernan
“Pipper Willowbank at your service,” said Pipper, leaping to his feet and bowing, “but everyone calls me Pip. And that one over there is Binkton Windrow; but you can call him Bink.”
Binkton, too, got to his feet and bowed, and Lissa curtseyed in return.
As Pipper and Binkton resumed their seats, Lissa clambered up the ladder to the foredeck and sat down as well, Vex curling up beside her. “A scout, you say,” said Pipper. “Oh, I’ve always wanted to be a scout aboard the Elvenship. I mean, legend has it that way back when, Warrows were known to do such.”
Aravan nodded. “Aye, ’tis true. Betimes in the High King’s First Era, I did sail with Waerlinga as scouts, for none can move quieter than they.”
“Hmph,” snorted Lissa. “Not even Pysks?”
Aravan held a hand out level and waggled it. “Wert thou afoot, mayhap so, but afox, I think not.”
Lissa cast a skeptical eye, but said nought.
Aravan turned a speculative look upon the buccen. “Ye didst say ye performed as Fire and Iron. And thou, Binkton, canst pick locks?”
“Haven’t come across one yet that I couldn’t open,” said Binkton proudly.
Pipper nodded in agreement and said, “It was all part of our act. Why, as a challenge, Bink even broke out of the gaol cell they have in Raudhöll. Opened the Dwarven shackles, too.”
“Thou didst pick the locks in Redhall?”
Binkton grinned and nodded.
“Hai!” said Aravan, casting the buccan a salute.
“Is that a difficult thing to do?” asked Aylis.
“Well,” said Binkton, “I don’t like to brag, but—”
“It took him four candlemarks,” blurted Pipper, all agog at the skill of his cousin. “Whereas, in the Human gaols”—Pipper snapped his fingers—“it took but mere moments.”
As Aylis covered her smile with her fingers, her eyes dancing in merriment, Binkton sighed and said, “Pip’s right. It took a while, but I finally did get loose.”
“To open Dwarven fetters and one of their gaol doors in but four candlemarks is quite remarkable,” said Aravan.
“Well, I would have done it sooner,” said Binkton, “but all I had left after the Dwarves searched me was but a piece of bent wire.”
Aravan rocked back in amazement, while Aylis and Lissa and Pipper clapped in applause.
Even as Binkton blushed in response, Aravan now turned his gaze upon Pipper. “And thou art an acrobat?”
Now Binkton bubbled over and said, “Pip can tumble and juggle and he walks tightropes and swings from trapezes and makes incredible flying leaps from one to another at heights that take your breath away and all without a net, too. And he’s the one who figured out how to get into places where we retrieved the stolen coin, and some of those were quite tricky.—Oh, and he thinks up these clever illusions, to make it seem we’ve done something impossible.”
“Ar, but you are the master of the sleight of hand, and can pick pockets and juggle, too, though not at the same time,” said Pipper, “to say nothing of managing to get out of the tightest bindings, as well as chains and locks.” He turned to Aravan and said, “We were taught by our Uncle Arley.”
Aravan cocked an eyebrow. “Was his name Arley Willowbank? And didst thine uncle spend some time in Caer Pendwyr?”
Pipper nodded and said, “Lots of other places, too.”
Aravan smiled. “If I be not mistaken, thine Uncle Arley was an agent of the High King.”
Both Binkton’s and Pipper’s mouths dropped agape. “He was?” asked Pipper, while Binkton said, “Of the High King?”
Aravan nodded. “He was oft sent on missions where places needed to be gotten into and locks picked and items found or retrieved.”
Aylis turned to Aravan. “He was a King’s thief?”
“Indeed,” said Aravan. “His public performances were merely his way of allaying suspicion as to his real endeavors.”
“But we just thought he was . . .” said Pipper, his words falling to a whisper. But then a puzzled look filled his face and he looked at Aravan and asked, “Well, why wouldn’t he tell us so?”
“Because, my friends,” said Aravan, “the High King isn’t supposed to condone thievery, much less have one or more of his own thieves at his beck and call. Your uncle was one of these.”
“See, Pip?” said Binkton. “What we did in Rivers End wasn’t so bad after all. I mean, like uncle, like nephews.”
“Yes,” said Pipper, “but he was working for the King.”
“And who’s to say we weren’t?”
Aylis grinned and said, “For all practical purposes you were . . . at least, in your own way.”
“What were they doing in Rivers End?” asked Liss.
“Taking ill-gotten gains from thieves and returning them to those who had been wronged.”
“Good!” declared Lissa.
“Speaking of those Rûck-loving, rat-eating thieves,” said Binkton, “I can’t wait to get back to Rivers End and deal with Rackburn and Tark and Queeker and the others.”
“And get our stuff back, too,” said Pipper.
“Stuff?” asked Lissa.
“The gear for our act,” said Pipper.
“All but the chain and lock and shackles now lying at the bottom of the Avagon,” gritted Binkton. “Just get me a bow and Pip a sling and we’ll make ’em pay for that.”
“Ho, now, wait but a moment,” said Aravan. “Stealing from thieves is one thing, but mayhap ye should think ere killing without a warrant. —Not that I haven’t done the same, yet—”
“Yet, nothing!” spat Binkton. “Those that deserve death will—”
Aravan threw out a hand to stay Binkton’s words and asked, “Have ye twain e’er slain brigands?”
Binkton looked at Pipper, each one paling. Finally, Binkton said, “Three on the road in Gûnar. I slew two, Pipper one. Five of them tried to rob the Red Coach we were on. None of them survived.”
“It was awful,” said Pipper, his face yet ashen, his gaze lost in remembrance.
“Aye, ’tis. Taking a life in self-defense be one thing, but to murder be another thing entirely.”
“What about killing someone or something that needs killing?” asked Binkton. “I mean, surely someone like Rackburn should be laid by the heels, even without a warrant.”
“Mayhap. I admit that I have done so on occasion. Of recent when two of thy Kind had been poisoned by a wicked emir across the Karoo. Yet it is not a decision to be made lightly.”
“Well, I want Tark and Queeker to meet their just ends,” said Binkton. “I mean, they would have murdered Pipper and me had I not been quick with a piece of wire. We almost drowned as it was, but for you.”
Aravan fell into thought and after a moment said, “Let me propose this, my friends: we are on a mission that might be perilous; make no mistake about that. Yet we are not certain that the danger ever was or, if it was, yet exists; on that, we cannot say. Regardless, our mission might call for someone who can open the unopenable, and might require someone who can breach the unbreachable. Ye twain were trained by the best for doing so, and we can use such skills.”
Bink started to protest, but Aravan said, “I would have ye consider doing this: write down all ye know as to Rackburn’s illicit activities. We will then give the record to King Ryon’s agent in Port Arbalin as to the doings in Rivers End, and let him call for the High King to intervene.”
“Won’t King Ryon need witnesses?” asked Aylis. “In addition to any documents Bink and Pip might provide, I think he would ask for some people in Rivers End to speak to these vile deeds. And if the merchants and landlords and such are sufficiently cowed, then—”
“The urchins!” blurted Pipper. “Tope and Weasel and Cricket and Squirrel and the others. They’ll tell what’s going on.—Oh, and Lady Jane, too.”
“Urchins?” asked Lissa.
“Children living by their wits on the streets of Rivers End,” said Pipper. “They were our allies against the ruffians: they followed the ‘collectors’ on their rounds and found out where they lived, so that Bink and I could regain the stolen coin. The merchants were kind enough to reward us for doing so, and we in turn passed most of that compensation to the urchins for food and drink and clothes and other needs. I’m certain that they will be glad to bear witness against Rackburn and his ilk.”
Binkton let out a burst of air and said, “But, Pip, I’d rather personally see Rackburn and the others get what’s coming to them, instead of putting the burden on our friends.”
“What about the city watch?” asked Aylis. “Where were they when these ruffians were afoot?”
“Ar, the watch was deep into the pockets of Rackburn and company,” growled Binkton.
“Oh, it’ll take the Kingsmen to set things right,” said Pipper. “I mean, we had decided to go to High King Ryon straightaway after we finished with Rackburn, but his henchmen caught us in the act.” Pipper turned to Binkton and said, “Oh, don’t you see, Bink, we were going to get the High King to clean up the city anyway, and Captain Aravan’s plan will do the very same thing.”
“Yeah, but we won’t be there to see it, to see Rackburn and the others get what they deserve, especially Tark and Queeker.”
Pipper frowned and then brightened. “Tell you what, Bink: let’s sail with the
Eroean
on this mission. I mean, Captain Aravan says he can use someone of our skills, and who better than the nephews of a King’s thief? And when we get back, well, we’ll just go and visit Tark and Queeker in the High King’s gaol and show them that they failed to kill us, and tell them what we did to bring about their downfall.”
Eroean
on this mission. I mean, Captain Aravan says he can use someone of our skills, and who better than the nephews of a King’s thief? And when we get back, well, we’ll just go and visit Tark and Queeker in the High King’s gaol and show them that they failed to kill us, and tell them what we did to bring about their downfall.”
Binkton smiled. “Oh, that would be sweet. I can just imagine the surprise on their faces.”
“If they haven’t been hanged,” said Aravan.
“Oh,” said Binkton. “I hadn’t thought of them being hanged.”
Aylis’s heart reached out to these Warrows as she looked at the buccen’s faces, gone ashen at the thought of anyone being hanged, even the two who deserved it.
Finally, Binkton looked at Pipper and nodded, and Pipper turned to Aravan and said, “Well, Captain, it seems you have two more crew to feed.”
“Welcome aboard,” said Aravan, smiling.
And even as the buccen grinned and Lissa clapped her hands, the foremast lookout called, “Land ho, Cap’n. Port Arbalin be dead ahead.”
41
Fair Warning
ELVENSHIP
EARLY SUMMER, 6E9
EARLY SUMMER, 6E9
When the Isle of Arbalin hove into view, Aravan called for the
Eroean
to heave to and, as the ship glided to a halt, he ordered a general muster. After the crew entire had assembled, warband and sailors alike, Aravan stepped to the forerail of the aftdeck and said, “I remind ye of the oaths ye have taken. Do ye affirm?”
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