Return to Alastair (7 page)

“No,” Tahn told him casually. “I’ve got business in Alastair.”

Burle laughed. “There’s a lot of hot pots on the fire in that town, Tahn. Wouldn’t get too close if I were you.”

Lorne glanced over at Tahn, but he wasn’t fazed by the bandit’s cruel taunt. “About two minutes now,” Tahn said calmly.

Burle scowled at him. “I hate to disappoint your pompous tail, but I’m not moving for you. The boys and I, we’re going to rob you. You’ve not but one with you, and you know he’s no match for none of us.”

Tahn’s expression did not change. “Lorne was a boy when you saw him last. He’s a man now.”

“He been with you all this time?” one of the others asked.

“Yes,” Tahn told the tall man to his right. “He’s been with me.”

“There’s not but two of them,” Burle pointed out again.

“Give us your bags, Tahn, and we’ll have no cause to hurt you.”

Tahn looked to all the men around him. “See my path clear in another minute, and I’ll not hurt any of you.”

“Blast you, Tahn!” Burle exclaimed. “I wasn’t wanting to do this the hard way!”

“I’d consider your options, then, if I were you.”

Lorne could see the anxiety in the men around them. Tahn had been the first man to defy Samis’s orders and live through it. He had survived against terrible odds and instilled in all the other warriors a depth of respect for his stamina and skill. He’d been feared, even, and it was still working to his benefit.

“We got no quarrel with them, Burle,” a younger man named Judson said. “They’ve got swords. It’d slow us down to be tending wounded.”

Several of the men were already backing up, but Burle hadn’t moved. “I reckon we know you can fight, Tahn,” he admitted. “We’ve got you with numbers, but you’d have some blood before we took you down.” He shook his head and sighed. “There’s no use working so hard for whatever you’ve got. Jud’s right that we’ve got no quarrel.” He turned to his men. “We’ll be going to get us some easier meat.”

But he turned back to Tahn. “I’m not afraid of you, though. If you give me cause for a quarrel, I’ll cut your throat myself, and anyone with you, no matter how charmed they say you are.” He started to turn his horse.

“You were boys once!” Tahn suddenly shouted to all the men. “You were hungry and afraid once! Do you really want to live this way, terrorizing the innocent? Don’t you remember what it was like? You’re strong men now. Why would you be bandits?”

But the men had turned their horses and were riding away. “Remember Samis!” Tahn shouted after them. “You could find an honorable path! Would you rather be hated as he was? And die unmourned?”

Burle’s band fled at a gallop. And when they were gone, Lorne turned to Tahn with a satisfied smile. It was a pleasure to see those warrior-bandits back down. Lorne expected Tahn to share his satisfaction, and he was surprised to see him bow his head.

“Why can’t they see it, Lorne?” he asked. “They could be free. They could do what you have done, what I have done, in choosing not to hurt anyone anymore. But they let us go because we’re strong. Who is to help the weak?”

Lorne looked at him a long time. “You’ll meet up with them again. I know you. You’ll not let it be this way.” He gazed up at the clouds and sighed.

“Do I worry you, Lorne?”

“You didn’t. Not until now, sir. But whatever we find in Alastair, there’ll be this to face.”

They rode on toward the town, stopping to drink and water the horses at the stream. When the first houses came into view, Tahn stopped again.

“What is it?” Lorne asked.

“Someone in this town might know better than I do who I am,” Tahn told him with a sigh. “I wonder that I didn’t come asking before.”

“You couldn’t. Some things wait till we’re ready. Like the rest of us should have left Samis before we did. But we couldn’t. Not till the old man was as good as dead. And this place was just as bad as him to you, I reckon.”

Tahn nodded. So clearly he remembered someone rushing through the angry mob to douse him with the contents of their steaming pot. And he’d thought he might spend eternity with his own searing screams.

“The city’s quiet this evening,” Lorne said slowly.

“Supper time,” Tahn replied. “Are you hungry?”

“No.”

“Good. Let’s go on, then.”

In the depths of the little city, Tiarra was feeling better. The strange man from St. Thomas’s had stayed all of that night, and in the morning Mikal had come to tell her that Vale Sade had changed his mind. Martica was feeling better too, and had actually gotten up for the first time in weeks. The money Lucas had given her had been enough to replace what was lost and buy more food besides. And now Tiarra was back to work. There would be pay, after all.

But it was never pleasant work, and now it was busy, which made it all the worse. Outside were the sound of horses and the raucous voices of many men. It made Tiarra groan. She hated to see patrons come in already rowdy. They were more likely to grow foul that way. She was glad she worked the day this time and would not have to stay so long into the night.

The coarse voices continued outside for a while, and then six men burst through the door and took up the big table in the corner. She’d seen all but one of them before, and she knew they were trouble. They always had plenty of money. But they were vile and untrustworthy men.

This evening, though, they didn’t yell for their drinks with the impatience they usually displayed. Instead, they seemed more intent upon whatever they’d come in discussing.

“What if he stays around for a while?” one of them was saying. “What will we do about it?”

“We’ll do nothing if he leaves us alone,” said the biggest. “If he doesn’t leave us alone, we draw swords.”

“It’s not like Tahn to give us advantage,” another man said. “He’ll not let himself get surrounded again if he knows he’s got to fight it to the end. He knew we’d move. No doubt of that.”

“You heard what he said,” Burle answered impatiently. “He’s not here to fight us. You act like idiots.”

Tiarra managed to get to their table as quickly as she could with six full mugs. The name Tahn had stuck out to her ears like bristlegrass in a barley field.

“Keep ’em full over here, girl,” Burle commanded her.

“Yes, sir.”

“And when you get a minute,” one of the others added, patting his knee, “come and sit right here.”

Tiarra turned from them to the next table with an angry heart. These men were selfish, filthy beasts, and she would rather spit on them than sit in their company.

But she was glad they did not bother to talk quietly.

“I think you’re wrong about Tahn, Morrey,” one of the men was saying. “I can’t say that he’d care who had the advantage. He just does what he’s about, even when it’ll cost him. You saw that last year when he took arrows for that girl we caught.”

“The Dorn has a way of surviving, that’s for sure,” another man added.

Tiarra’s stomach knotted. They were talking about her brother. When did they see him? Where?

“I still think we were lied to about Samis,” one of them declared. “I think Tahn killed him. You all know Samis wasn’t the kind to do himself in.”

“Why don’t you just ask him about it next time we see him, Kert?” a tall man taunted. “You got backbone for that?”

“Shut up,” Burle barked.

“What kind of business you suppose he’s got in Alastair?” someone asked.

“I haven’t got the slightest care,” Burle growled. “And I’m not wanting to hear any more about it, neither. Shut up and let me drink in peace!”

The big man must be their leader,
Tiarra decided, because no one wanted him mad. The conversation turned to other things. And the time crawled by slowly for Tiarra, who was now itching to get out of that tavern and run home to warn Martica. Tahn Dorn in Alastair? After seventeen years? What could he want, indeed?

It was long past dark when finally Vale let her go. She burst out the tavern door and almost ran into someone just standing there waiting in the shadows. She jumped back from the man with a cry, but it was Mikal.

“What are you doing here?” she demanded of him.

“I wanted to walk you home. I thought it would ease things for you a mite, considering what happened yesterday. No moon tonight, and you get some rough sorts around here.”

“Does your father know you’ve come?”

“No.”

“Well, he wouldn’t like it. You know that as well as I do! You’re supposed to be developing a fine reputation, Mikal, not carousing about at night.”

“Don’t you like me anymore, Ti?”

She started walking. “I do and I don’t, depending on what you’re about at the time.”

“Thanks,” he said as he followed. “That’s better than a straight no.”

She glanced at him for a moment without stopping. “I wish you’d tell me just why it matters. Do you suppose Mary Stumping would care at all what I think of you?”

“Well, yes,” Mikal declared. “I think she would. In fact, I know she does.”

“I like you a lot. I always did.” He reached for her arm. “It bothered me what happened. I didn’t like seeing you hurt that way.”

“Thank you for talking to Vale,” she said simply and started to turn away.

But he pulled her closer and touched her cheek. “Don’t you think we can still be friends? That doesn’t have to change, even when I’m married. Mary doesn’t have to know.” He leaned his face nearer to hers. “I aim to help you, Ti. I want to protect you.”

But she pushed him away. “Who will protect me from
you
? You’re still trying to buy my kisses! With protection this time!”

“I can’t buy them,” he said sadly. “I don’t want to insult you again. I just wish you’d see clear to give them up willing.”

“You’re a dog, do you know that?”

“Aren’t you even a little glad I still care about you? Why are you angry?”

“That you don’t understand makes you all the more a dog, Mikal! Leave me alone. I’ll get home fine.”

“But you seemed scared when you came out of the tavern. Did you think I was one of those cutthroats?”

She was quiet a long time. “No,” she finally said. “I thought you might be my brother.”

“Your brother?”

“He’s in Alastair, Mikal. That’s what I heard tonight.”

“Will he look for you?”

She didn’t know how to answer. She wasn’t even sure what she wanted the answer to be. She just started walking again.

Mikal followed her. “Tell me about it. Are you true afraid?”

She stopped. “Martica said once that I haven’t the sense to be true afraid of anything. And I suppose it’s so. But she says he’s a murderer, and one of those men said it too. My father was the same way, Mikal. They killed my mother. Stabbed her full of holes and left her lay.” She looked up at him. “I don’t know why I ever wondered if he’d come seeking me. Why would he ever come back here?”

“Let me take you home.”

“I’m not afraid, Mikal. And you’re still a dog. What do you suppose your father would say if the neighbors told him you were here with me?”

“I’d have to answer for it. But I’d explain it. That’s not hard.”

“What if
I
told him?” Tiarra challenged.

“You wouldn’t do that.”

But Tiarra was fuming. “You’d bed me and Mary both if you could get by with it!”

“Kings have done it, Ti! People do all kinds of things for love. We could be happy. And I meant what I said about protecting you.”

Tiarra met his words with an icy glare. “I ought to kill you and my brother both.”

He stared at her, stunned. “Maybe you’re right,” he said.

“Maybe I should go on home.”

She didn’t say anything. She just walked off into the darkness toward Vermeel Street, wondering what Martica would say. The old woman had been her mother’s friend. Tiarra might have died an infant had it not been for Martica’s willingness to take her in.

It didn’t matter about Mikal. As soon as she was out of his sight, she quickened her pace, despite her soreness. The streets seemed especially quiet, as though everyone knew there was something strange afoot.

Then coming around the corner by the potter’s home, she saw them. Two horses and their riders in front of Martica’s old painted house. And the ancient woman, wonder of wonders, was standing outside with her oil lamp in her hands.

Tiarra’s heart pounded. Neither man was very big. One had short light hair. The other had hair of long dark waves like hers.

“Go away!” Martica suddenly shouted. “I have nothing to say to you! Go!”

One of the men said something, but Tiarra could not make it out. Martica was screaming at them again to leave, and the one with the long black locks turned to his horse and mounted without another word. His friend followed, and they were soon riding away, leaving Martica standing alone.

Tiarra ran to her, the tension leaping into her throat.

“Get in the house, child, before they see you,” Martica ordered. But she was leaning down weakly, and Tiarra wouldn’t go without helping her in first.

“It was Tahn Dorn, wasn’t it?” she asked immediately, taking the lamp from Martica’s hands.

“Ah, child. You know too much. Don’t ask me more.”

“Why, Martica? What would they do if they saw me?”