Jalia At Bay (Book 4) (14 page)

“Is it worth your life?”

Hadon thought about it. There were things in those packs that he couldn’t afford to sacrifice. It was the sight of Wilf Denger scurrying forward with Jalia’s knife lying across his open palm that decided it. No one was going to help him.

“Very well, the donkeys are yours. Is there anything else you want? My trousers perhaps?”

“No.” Daniel sheathed his sword in a motion as smooth as the one with which he drew it. “Come on, Ferd. What have these nasty people done to you?” He walked past the traders to his donkeys.

Daniel judged these men as the kind of men who are true to their word. Of course, a much more suspicious Jalia had his back covered and her throwing knives close to hand.

Ferd glowered as Daniel approached and turned his back on him. As Daniel came within striking range, Ferd kicked him in the stomach, knocking him to the ground. As he writhed on the ground, Ferd walked over to him and began licking him on the face.

“That’s your donkey, all right,” Jalia said with satisfaction. Hala giggled quietly from the top of Blaze and tension evaporated, as the group dissolved into laughter.

18.
       
Making Friends

Jalia and Hala walked slowly back to the camp at Pegars Ford, Jalia with a look of grim determination on her face and Hala sobbing and wiping at the tears flowing down her face.

“Thank you,” Hala said when she got her sobbing under control. Jalia wheeled around on her, suspecting sarcasm, but the look on Hala’s face told Jalia she was speaking the truth.

“For what?”

“For taking me deep enough into the forest so that the men wouldn’t hear my screams.”

“It was none of their business. I trust you have learned your lesson.”

If suffering excruciating pain in your backside taught you lessons, Hala was sure she had learnt something. She certainly didn’t plan on repeating the experience if she could avoid it. Nevertheless, Hala felt compelled to ask one more question, however foolish it might be.

“Did you learn your lesson? When you were publically whipped by the alchemists?”

Jalia’s face went through a number of emotions before finally settling on a smile.

“You do like to push your luck, Hala. One day it will get you killed,” Jalia

gave a short barking laugh as she framed her answer.

“They never got the chance to whip me again,” she said finally. “Your point is well taken. If you can get what you want without disobeying us, you will receive no punishment from me.”

Hala stepped closer to Jalia and put her hand on Jalia’s arm. “I won’t let you down again, I promise. Can we look for mushroom and onions as we walk? Nobody will wonder why we left if we come back with food.”

Jalia looked at the darkening sky. It would be too dark for such activities in less than an hour and they might get lost in the dark if they strayed too far. It would be much safer to go straight back to the camp.

“I don’t see why not. We passed a small pond on our way out and I thought I heard a duck or two in the underbrush. I’ll hunt for game and you search for vegetables, but don’t get out of earshot. I don’t want to have to spend the night looking for you.”

“Will Daniel worry about us if we are late returning?” Hala didn’t want to receive a whipping from Daniel for encouraging Jalia to stay in the forest.

“Daniel won’t notice we are gone for hours yet,” Jalia stated confidently. “He has the horses and his donkeys to water, feed and groom. He’ll be busy doing that for ages. Especially looking after his donkeys, you have no idea how much time he spends checking their hooves for the slightest crack.”

“He is very domesticated,” Hala said cheekily.

“When he traveled with his brother, Yousef, he was made to do everything.” Jalia explained with a grin on her face. “Sort out the donkeys, set up camp, catch the dinner, light the fire, cook the food and then wash up afterward. Yousef made him do every chore. He got into the habit of doing the domestic chores and has never got out of it.”

Jalia leaned forward to whisper in Hala’s ear. “I sometimes do things badly, just so he will tell me not to bother doing them again.”

Hala giggled with delight at being let into Jalia and Daniel’s private world. “What happened to Yousef?” she asked.

Jalia’s face clouded for a second. “He was badly injured long before I met him. He should have died from those injuries and when he recovered, it left him unable to work. Daniel and I met, and then we took much longer getting back than we should have. Yousef made a deal to sell Daniel as a slave in exchange for keeping a roof over his head.”

“That’s horrible,” Hala said, sickened at the thought of someone selling his brother as a slave.

“Desperate people do desperate things.” Jalia shrugged. “If I thought that Yousef was a truly bad man, I would have killed him when I had the chance.”

Jalia grinned. “I stole the special cushion he had made. Sitting down without it is agony for him.”

Hala touched her own bottom through her dress and winced at the pain that the slightest touch brought. “You can be a cruel, cruel woman, Jalia al’Dare,” she murmured, but she had a smile on her face as she spoke.

Daniel picked up Ferd’s front right leg and inspected the donkey’s hoof critically. “Nobody has been looking after you, have they old fellow?” he said rhetorically as he carefully pried a small stone from the hoof. “No real damage done though.”

“May we talk?” Grilt asked as he walked over and Daniel nodded.

“I’m from Baltar. My family fled Ranwin when the King went mad and I was brought up there,” Grilt said. “I gather you two are from Bagdor, though neither of you look dark of skin enough to come from there.”

“Jalia’s from Bagdor, her mother was born in the west. I was born in Delbon, though it hasn’t been my home for many years. Ranwin’s king is dead and the city is looking to grow. You could go back if you wanted.”

“I have no skills in glassmaking.” Grilt gave a weary sigh. “I came east up the Magician’s Road, following the lure of gold. By the time I reached Brinan it was clear that all the prospectors ended up as slaves, so I told the Association I had been a guard and was looking for a job. My father taught me how to use a sword and eventually I ended up as a captain with a dozen men under me.”

Daniel nodded. He had seen many prospectors who became slaves. He had killed quite a few of the slavers that did such things.

“Your woman is right. The Association turned the people of Brinan into enemies by treating them like dirt, raping their women and stealing their children for the mines. I was glad when it ended.”

“So were the people,” Daniel muttered.

“They say that you killed Marcus al’Tren?”

“Then they say wrong,” Daniel replied. “A local girl killed him and saved us the trouble.”

Grilt nodded, though he had no idea who Daniel was referring too.

“Tell me more,” Daniel when the conversation lulled, “About this woman, Gally Sorn.”

“I moved to Telmar with my squad after Brinan fell,” Grilt replied. “It was obvious the Association was going to self-destruct, so when Hadon Mallow offered me the job of guarding him and his friends on this journey I jumped at the chance. I took Hal and Tel along as well, though it hasn’t proved a good choice for Hal. Gally Sorn was one of the people Hadon told me was coming with him.”

“She’s a trader?”

“Not in a million years.” Grilt gave a laugh of derision. “All airs and graces and endlessly washing herself, sometimes as often as three times a day. She’s a good looking woman, about your age I would say.” Daniel took this to mean about twenty five, as Daniel looked older than he actually was. “She’s from Slarn. I think she and Hadon have some kind of deal going on, though I don’t know what it is.”

“Slarn is hundreds of miles away. Why did she leave to travel alone?”

“Boathaven is only two days ride at most, with a horse like hers. She went ahead because we were traveling so slowly. Boathaven has things like warm baths and beds and she missed them. The way things are going, we shall be lucky to get there before the boat sails in ten days’ time.”

“I’ve never heard of Boathaven,” Daniel confessed, “And what boat is that?”

“I’d never heard of them either until Hadon told me,” Grilt admitted. “The River Jalon is navigable to Slarn. There are three boats that traverse it, made in the old days, the days of the Magician Kings.”

Daniel laughed at the absurdity of that statement. “No boat could last for over a thousand years.”

“Don’t laugh at me. Take it up with Hadon if you don’t believe me. These boats run on burning wood. The wood heats water and steam somehow drives the boat forward, even upstream. At least that is what Hadon and Lady Gally told us. She traveled on one of those boats to Boathaven from Slarn, and she will be waiting for us when we get to Boathaven to travel back. Assuming we get there before it leaves.”

“Why does it stop at Boathaven? Why doesn’t this boat travel all the way to Telmar?”

“According to Hadon, it used to go to Telmar. But when the city was seized by the Association, the boats owners decided to cut the journey short at Boathaven. They were scared of the boats being seized by the Association. They had good reason to be scared, to my mind.”

“Is Boathaven a big place?” Daniel asked.

“According to Hadon, it is only a small town, but I don’t think he has ever seen it.”

“And you are certain that this is where Gally Sorn went?”

“You seem very anxious to get back an old dagger and a ring,” Grilt queried. “Is there something special about them?”

“The dagger was a gift from my mother before she died,” Daniel said without a moment’s hesitation. “The ring was a gift from Jalia’s mother to her in similar circumstances. They have sentimental value. However, you have to add to that the fact that neither of us likes being robbed. It is a matter of principle with us to recover them.”

“As I have already noticed,” Grilt acknowledged. “You might find the Lady Sorn more trouble to deal with than Hadon Mallow.”

“Jalia has her own way of dealing with women,” Daniel said with a grin on his face. “And she loves trouble.”

“Will you be joining us on the road to Boathaven?” Grilt asked. “We could use the extra people for mutual protection, and this journey has already proven costly.” Grilt looked over to where Tel was burying his brother. The traders were also burying their fallen a short distance away.

“Perhaps.” Daniel nodded to where the robbers’ crossbows were piled. “You and Tel are welcome to take a crossbow each, along with the bolts. If you want more bolts, I’m sure you will find some more scattered among the rocks.”

“That is generous of you,” Grilt said appreciatively, “and very trusting.”

“Should I have reason not to trust you?” Daniel asked, staring into Grilt’s eyes.

“You have no reason not to trust me. I owe you my life and I take my debts seriously.”

Grilt offered his hand out to Daniel and the men gripped each other firmly.

“Then you shall have no reason to fear me… or Jalia,”

19.
       
Making Camp

Daniel took off the bags on Ferd and grunted as he felt their weight. Though the bags were long, there did not appear to be much in them, so their heaviness was surprising. A quick feel cloth of the bag confirmed Daniel’s suspicions of what lay within. This raised an important question, why?

“I will take those bags,” Hadon said self-importantly from behind Daniel, surprising him. For all his size and weight, Hadon Mallow could be light on his feet when he wanted. Daniel was annoyed by his own lack of attention in letting him get so close. It was becoming a habit.

“You are more than welcome to them.” Daniel dropped the bags to the ground causing a metallic clink. “If you don’t mind me saying so, you are a very unusual party of traders to be traveling these lands.”

Hadon looked taken aback at Daniel comment. He looked around at his fellow travelers seeing nothing unusual about them. “Why would you think that?”

Daniel patted Ferd on the back causing his donkey to turn and bare his teeth in friendly warning. Daniel grinned and pushed the donkey’s head back, rubbing his ears as he did so.

“These three donkeys have been in my possession from the first day my brother and I took to the road. Three donkeys were all we could afford in those days, and I have built up trains of nine or ten in the years since. I left all but these in Modan because we wanted to travel light. I left them with a young woman I would trust with my life,” Daniel paused as if he had just answered Hadon’s question.

“I don’t see your point,” Hadon confessed.

“There were nine of you in this party and alive this morning, twelve of you, if you were to count your guards. You have the look of those who have become wealthy. Yet you only have thirteen donkeys with you, and that’s counting my three. What you carry with you certainly has value enough to make it worthwhile for one or two of you to risk a journey to Slarn, but hardly so many.”

“Have you looked in our bags?” The contents of those bags were supposed to be a closely guarded secret.

“I have no need. They all have the same look, and one feel of Ferd’s bag was enough to tell me what you carry. You are carrying sword blanks.”

Sword blanks were half-finished blades of swords. A craftsman would bind the blade to a hilt, grind its edges sharp and then adjust it until a finger placed on the blade just beyond the hilt would balance the sword. Jobbing blacksmiths produced blanks, having the skill for that, but not the skills to finish the blades.

Hadon smiled as though he had just won a point. “Not blanks, they are finished blades. All they need is binding to a hilt and minimal balancing. They have already been worked by craftsmen. Since you are so knowledgeable, would you hazard a guess as to just how many we carry?”

Daniel shrugged, “At a guess, I would say three hundred, perhaps a few more or less.”

Hadon was surprised at the accuracy of Daniel’s guess. “You are only slightly out in your estimate. We carry three hundred and sixty blades with us.”

“No wonder you needed to buy my donkeys at Sweetwater. I’m surprised that yours did not end up lame under the weight.”

“The dealer in Telmar assured us that ten donkeys would be enough, and we only discovered the problem at the end of our first day on the road” Hadon complained. “Why would he lie to us like that?”

“I expect that he only had ten donkeys to sell,” Daniel shrugged of shoulders.

“As you suspect, being a trader between the cities is not my profession. I would like to lease your donkeys as far as Boathaven. I will not need them beyond that point.”

“You think we are going to Boathaven with you?”

“If you want to meet up with Lady Sorn to recover your remaining possessions, you will have to. You might as well travel with us and earn coin for your trouble.”

“Tell me why you are taking these blades to Slarn, and I might consider it,” Daniel replied.

“I will answer your questions if you will answer mine.”

Daniel noted the resolution in Hadon’s eyes. His son, Tonas had wandered over and was listening with interest. Daniel shrugged and Hadon took this as a sign of agreement.

“Rumors say that you and your woman staged the revolution in Brinan and stole all the Associations gold. Are those rumors true?”

Daniel laughed. “There was no revolution in Brinan. The rightful rulers simply took their city from the brigands who had seized it. Jalia and I helped them, that much is true. As for the gold…”

Daniel paused and saw Hadon and Tonas lean forward as though they were about to learn some great secret. “I understand that the Association had so much gold that it would require five hundred donkeys to move it. Jalia has deep pockets when it comes to treasure, but they aren’t that deep.”

Both men sighed in disappointment. ‘
Such is the lure of gold’
, Daniel thought.

“You are correct in assuming that this shipment wouldn’t pay our way,” Hadon admitted reluctantly. “We are a group of speculators who are taking a much bigger order of blades to Slarn. It was all supposed to go by sailing boat to Boathaven, as were we. When the cargo was loaded, it turned out that the vessel could not carry all the weight. Therefore we are traveling overland with the remainder of our cargo.”

“Surely, even a city as big as Slarn has no need of so many swords?”

“Slarn is in the middle of a civil war,” Hadon said without adding further explanation. “Your woman apparently has a lot of gold on her. How did she come by it?”

“Have you looked at the coins she gave to your guards?” Hadon and Tonas both nodded. “Then you know they are from different parts of Jalon. If any of you gentlemen play cards, I’m sure that Jalia will show you how she acquires her money.”

“Are you suggesting we shouldn’t play against her?” Tonas asked, surprising his father who had not noticed that he had been listening in.

“Fade is a game as much about skill as it is about luck,” Daniel answered. “Do you regard yourself as skillful players?”

“We are good enough,” Hadon said, gesturing towards the other members of his party. “No slip of a girl is good enough to win against all of us.”

Daniel lowered his head in a bow of apparent agreement.
‘That’s what they all say.’
It was wisest to say no more, as Jalia would be furious if he ended up scaring these men.

“Is Lady Sorn your customer?” Daniel asked.

“She would like to think so,” Tonas blurted out. His father scowled at his indiscretion, but said nothing to modify it.

“Jalia has been in the forest a long time and it’s practically dark,” Tonas continued. “Aren’t you worried that she and the girl are lost?”

As that this was outside the game of questions and answers Daniel had been playing with Tonas’s father, Daniel grinned as he answered him. “In Jalia’s eyes, if she can’t find her way back, it is because we have got ourselves lost, not her. She will return when she is ready.”

“But why did they go in the first place?” Tonas continued. “Are they looking for more thieves?”

“Why don’t you ask her yourself.” Daniel pointed to the edge of the camp where Jalia and Hala had appeared. He began to walk towards them.

“We have not agreed the lease of your donkeys,” Hadon pointed out.

“I will discuss it with Jalia and let you know,” Daniel said without turning around.

Jalia’s pale face was split in two by a wide smile and gleaming teeth. The campfire’s light lit her complexion. Her blue eyes looked black as coals in the firelight as did her long dark brown hair. She held high her catch from the forest in her left hand. Typically for Jalia, her right hand rested gently against the hilt of her throwing knife, just in case.

“It looks like we are having duck tonight,” Daniel said as he identified the birds Jalia held by their broken necks.

“I have brought mushrooms and other vegetables,” Hala said loudly, just so everyone in the camp would know what she had been doing. She had the crop cupped in the front of her skirt. Daniel saw Hala walked very carefully and drew his own conclusion as to why they had been in the forest.

“Well then, we have enough food to share with the camp,” Daniel announced as loudly as Hala. “If you men like the idea of duck stew tonight, that is.”

There were murmurs of approval from the traders. They were still subdued after the death of their three friends.

“I shall do the cooking for all,” Daniel announced and nobody objected. “Can you lend me your pots and pans? I am a bit short of them to cater for so many.” Grilt and Wilf Denger started rummaging in their bags for their pots.

Once the birds and vegetables were prepared and the stew was cooking in various pots arranged around the fire, Daniel walked over to where Hala stood stiffly by the donkeys.

“I have a lotion that will ease the pain,” he said so quietly that no one else would hear.

“Is it that obvious?” Hala asked. In the firelight, it was impossible to see her face blush red, but Daniel guessed that it had.

“No, you have masked your pain well. I doubt any of our traveling companions’ suspect what has happened.”

“I thank you then,” Hala said softly, “For your thoughtfulness and kindness.”

“I understand why you followed us with the horses. I would have done the same at your age.”

Hala gave a bitter laugh, “You could have explained that to Jalia.”

“Jalia knows it too. But she wants you to stay alive. You have to learn to do the hard things because being with us is probably the most dangerous place you could ever be. We attract trouble the way honey attracts bears.”

Daniel woke to the sounds of Jalia sneaking stealthily towards him. Several of their new traveling companions walked past Daniel during the night and he only half awoke, becoming just wakeful enough to ensure they were not coming too close. However, the slight crack of pebble sliding against pebble brought him to instant wakefulness.

The sun had already risen above the trees and Daniel was surprised that he hadn’t woken earlier. Jalia had obviously been up for some time, because she was wearing her boots and was, in fact, just pulling back her foot in preparation to giving him a good kick. As Jalia kicked, Daniel rolled. Jalia staggered, caught off balance as her foot shot into the air unimpeded by the body she had anticipated.

“And good morning to you, my love,” Daniel said with satisfaction.

“So you are two-timing your donkey already,” Jalia retorted as she narrowly avoided the embarrassment of falling on to her exquisitely shaped posterior. “Typical of a man; if you were to ask me. You have overslept. Hala is up and ready to go.”

“I take it that you have saddled your horse and packed your bags then?” Daniel asked, knowing full well that Jalia always waited for him to saddle her horse.

“Packed my bags,” Jalia said, sticking her tongue out at Daniel. “I have a groom to get my horse ready, though he is getting lazy of late.” Jalia turned away, heading back towards where her pack awaited her. She stopped and turned towards Daniel as she remembered something.

“Hadon Mallow offered me a good price to use our donkeys until we get to Boathaven and I have accepted,” Jalia told Daniel airily. “So don’t forget to load their packs. Can’t have his grace missing a few swords can we?”

“He told you about the swords?” Daniel asked in astonishment. Hadon appeared horrified when Daniel had deduced what was hidden in the bags.

Jalia faced Daniel, standing with legs apart, hands on hips and frowned at him. “All those mysterious heavy bags, did you honestly think that I wouldn’t look?”

Daniel grinned as his world slotted back into focus with a thump. There were some things could guarantee about Jalia. “Why do some of the people call Hadon ‘his grace’?”

“He was the elected leader of Fir before the Association took over.” Fir was one of the seven islands that made up the city of Telmar. The city practiced a peculiar custom called democracy before the Association came. “It’s some kind of courtesy title apparently. It didn’t make him any better a card player.”

Daniel had gone to sleep long before the others finished their card game the night before. Jalia had been playing unusually cautiously when he last looked, only slightly up on her initial pot.

“Do we still have any friends in camp?” Daniel asked and Jalia rewarded him with a broad smile.