The Unwilling Ambassador (Book 3) (16 page)

Fred and Fluffy hurried up as Ned dismounted and knelt down beside their fallen friend. Hywel's light was weak and there were indentations indicating peck marks all over his body. Ned reached into his cloak and pulled out a vial of brownish water. He popped off the cork and tipped the mouth over the Star. A small drop slipped out of the opening and onto Hywel's round body. Rather than slide off, the water was absorbed into the indentations and his light regained some of its strength. The wings shuddered as Hywel awoke and tried to move.

Ned gently put his hand on Hywel's body and pinned him to the ground. "Easy there, old friend. Hold still for a moment longer until your body fully absorbs the marsh water."

"Marsh water?" Fred repeated.

Ned nodded and slipped the vial back into his cloak. "It heals the Stars. That's one of the reasons they live there."

Hywel's voice was weak and hoarse. "Where did the crows go?" he asked Ned.

Ned looked up at the murder that flew in circles above them. "Still around. Someone must have set them on you to fell you from the skies." Ned glanced back at his friend and shook his head. "It seems it wasn't a good idea to bring you along."

Hywel let out a coughing laugh. "Too late for regrets. I'm up to my wings in this trouble and I'm not going to let a bunch of idiot birds get the best of a Star captain."

Ned pursed his lips together and scouted the area. Fred, too, looked around, and his eyes picked up on footsteps hurrying their way. "Those birds may be idiots, but the trainer behind them might be more intelligent. We can't stay here any longer. Can you fly?"

Hywel fluttered his wings and lifted off the ground a few inches. "Argh!" His cry of pain was followed by his descent back to earth.

"It seems not," Ned mused. He caught up his friend and stuffed him into his cloak. "Have Fluffy follow my lead," he instructed Fred.

"All right," replied the young man.

The pair mounted and turned in the opposite direction of the footsteps. They sprinted away just as a group of dwarves in armor rounded a nearby corner. "Stop!" yelled the lead dwarf.

Stop meant go, and the pair went. They raced through the winding, narrow streets, but their trail was followed. The lead dwarf blew a whistle, and the crows swooped down and followed the companions. The prey and the predators dodged and ducked houses, shop signs, and dwarves. Ned looked to Fred. "Split up!" he yelled.

Fred pulled Fluffy down a side street and the murder followed him. He looked over his shoulder and saw the crows closing in on him. Fred whipped his head forward and was just in time to read the sign before he ate it. It read
Shilo's Shop of Murder
. The sign nearly fulfilled its promise when his face smashed into it and he was thrown from Fluffy. His head made the acquaintance of the shop's doorstep and he blacked out.

CHAPTER 18

Fred didn't remember much after that. Just far off voices and blurry faces. There was also this annoying cawing sound. He was awoken from his stupor by a sharp pain in his temple, and his eyes fluttered open. A small, dark shadow with beady yellow eyes stood over him. He yelped and sat up, and the creature fluttered off. It was a crow. Fred whipped his head around and saw he was in a small, mud-baked house with a friendly, crackling fire in a hearth nearby. He lay on a bed of straw and blankets, and when he moved a sharp pain swept over his head. He reached up and found a cloth wrapped tightly around his forehead.

"Ya hit yerself pretty well," a voice spoke up. He snapped his head to the side and noticed a woman dwarf who stood close by the bed with that crow on her shoulder. The snap sent another shot of pain through his brain, and he winced and clutched at the bandage. The woman dwarf strode over to him and grabbed his chin between her small but powerful fingers. She looked him over and released him. "It's a nice crack, and yer lucky I got those crows off ya before they pecked yer eyes out. Now ya need to stop moving so much or you'll make yerself sick," she advised him.

"Where am I?" he murmured.

"In ma shop, and don't go poking around. You'll make 'em mad," she warned.

"Make 'em mad?" Fred repeated.

"Aye. My pets." The dwarf gestured to the wall opposite his bed, and Fred saw it was covered with stacked cages. Inside each cage was a crow, and their beady eyes watched him with unsettling interest. The mention of pets brought about a forgotten memory.

"My cantankus, where is he?" Fred asked her.

"Yer steed's out beside the shop." She turned to the entrance opposite the hearth, and Fred saw the beams on both sides of the doorway were bent outward. "He tried to fit inside, but his shoulders were no match for the doorway."

Fred nervously smiled. "Sorry about that."

She held out her hand. "Don't be sorry, be paying me for the trouble of getting that fixed," she demanded.

"B-but I don't have any money," Fred told her.

The dwarf sighed and dropped her hand. "Just me luck to be rescuing someone as poor as Ah am, and a human, to boot. What's yer name and business here, boy?"

"My name's Fred, and I'm not a boy. I'm a castor," he corrected her.

The woman looked him over and laughed. "Haven't heard that one in years, but be serious, boy. What are ya doing here?"

"I came with some friends to-well, to see the sights," he replied. He thought their mission too important to be telling the whole world about it.

"Then yer a little lost on the touring circuit. Dirth isn't exactly a place of beauty, though it has its pretty things." She walked over to the cages and cooed at the crows. "Such as these beauties here. None better in the world than my pets."

"I, um, I don't think I caught your name," Fred pointed out.

"I'm Shilo, and the owner of this murder shop," she told him. Shilo turned and watched Fred's face drain of its color. She laughed and shook her head. "A murder is a flock of crows, and my pets here are used to carry messages as far as the borders of Dirth."

"So they don't attack people or Stars?" Fred asked her.

Shilo frowned and took a few steps toward him. "No. They asked me if Ah could spare some for the patrols, but Ah wouldn't do it. Ah don't have any love for Helpers, but these beautiful birds are for beautiful messages, not for some stupid hunt."

"Why are they patrolling with crows?" he wondered.

"The crows aren't fond of Helpers, so they use 'em for hunting the loose ones at night," she explained to him. "Those Helpers cause nothing but trouble, but hunting 'em with crows just isn't right."

"I-I think I need to go," Fred told her. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and clutched onto the side when a dizzy spell struck him.

Shilo hurried over to him and blocked him from hopping down. "Ah don't think ya need to be going anywhere, at least not until my husband's had a look at ya again. He should be in from caring for yer cantankus," she insisted. At that moment the door opened and a dwarf man stepped inside.

"It's a beastly night out there, and not just because of that cantankus," the dwarf commented. He noticed Fred sitting up and nodded his head at the young man. "So yer awake. How are ya feeling?"

"He's not feeling fine at all and in his condition he's trying to leave," Shilo told her husband.

The man shook his head. "Ah wouldn't try going out, not with all those patrols. Danto's got extra guards looking for that missing stranger from Canto's party."

"Canto! Where is he? Can you take me to him?" Fred pleaded.

The couple glanced at each other with raised eyebrows, and then back at their guest. "What do ya know about Canto?" the man asked Fred.

Fred shrank back and shrugged. "O-oh, nothing. I just, um, just was kind of with him-"

"Are ya the missing man from his party? The one they're looking for in the city?" the dwarf questioned.

Fred quickly shook his head. "No, we separated before we got to the city, and Ned and I-" He realized he was saying too much and snapped his mouth shut, but the damage was done.

"Ned? Ned the Castor?" Shilo guessed. Fred cringed, but slowly nodded his head. Shilo whipped her head to her husband, who's eyes were wide in awe. "Thino, ya think Canto was telling the truth when he said the stone was dangerous? Why else would Ned be here except for trouble?"

Thino shook his head. "Ah don't know, but Canto's always one to be bringing trouble, and this sounds like the best trouble he's brought."

"So you saw him?" Fred asked the pair.

"Aye, but ya won't be seeing him for a while. Danto, the captain of the king's guard, took him away to the castle a few hours ago," Thino told him.

Fred slid off the bed and nearly tumbled when shaking legs buckled. He gripped the bed and Thino jumped forward to catch him under one arm. "Easy there, boy. Yer not fit to do more riding on yer cantankus, and ya won't help yer friends by collapsing in a street somewhere between here and the castle."

"But I have to see if they're all right," Fred insisted.

"Ah'll go see if Ah can find anything about 'em. Ah know some of the serving wenches in the kitchen, and they can tell me something," Thino offered.

"You'll do no such thing, Thino," Shilo protested. "There's trouble brewing in the streets, there's that stone sitting up there with nary a scratch on it even after all yer hammering, and the king's all-fired suspicious and having the crows fly patrols looking for someone like you sneaking around the streets."

"Stone? You know where the stone is?" Fred spoke up. This pair was a veritable gold mine of information.

"Aye, but we're not taking ya there, either, so jist get up on that bed and rest a while," Shilo ordered him.

Their conversation was interrupted by the screech of dozens of crows and the shouting of many voices. Thino tossed Fred onto the bed and hurried to the door while Shilo held Fred to the bed. The dwarven man cracked open the entrance and peeked his head out. He just as quickly shut the door and whipped his head over to the pair. His face was ashen and his hands trembled on the door and frame. "They've got Ned," he told them.

"What!" Fred fought off Shilo's hands and stumbled to the door. Thino pulled him aside and pushed him against the wall between the entrance and a window. He shoved his face into Fred's and lowered his voice to a whisper.

"Yer wanting to get yerself stuck with him?" he hissed.

"I have to do something!" Fred protested.

Thino grabbed the young man's collar and pulled him to the window. He brushed aside the curtain of heavy cloth and Fred glimpsed the street. A block down a contingency of armored dwarves surrounded Ned, who stood passively by his horse with staff in hand and a smile on his lips. They were too far for the conversation to be overheard, but Ned's calm demeanor contrasted sharply with the dwarves who had the points of their axes pointed at him. One of them gestured to the left while another grabbed the reins of his horse. They took his staff and led him off down a street out of sight, but before he disappeared Ned cast a glance down the road at the little shop. Inside the shop Fred's hand tightly gripped the window frame and what little color remained in his face drained out.

"Damn it," he cursed.

"Ya can't do anything for him now, not by yerself at least," Thino told him.

"I can't just let them take him away," Fred argued.

"That's Danto's men. Ya won't get anywhere with talking to 'em, and less with fightin' 'em," Thino countered. "Besides, ya haven't even got a sword on ya."

Fred still had his stick stuck in his waist. "I don't need a sword, but I need help saving him. I don't know my way around here, or where they took him," the young man agreed. He turned from the window and looked to the pair. "You said something about one of the other group escaped. Do you know who it is?"

Shilo shook her head. "Yer friends wouldn't tell Danto when he caught them."

"Can you show me the best road to the castle?" he pleaded.

"Not to get ya killed," Shilo refused.

"Quiet!" Thino hissed. He ducked away from the window as three shadows passed by the curtain. In a moment there was a knock on the door.

"Yes?" Thino asked the visitor.

"Shilo? Are you in there?" a female voice whispered.

Fred's eyes widened, and he jumped to the door and swung it open. Pat, Percy, and Sins stood on the other side, and the first two were glad to see Fred. Sins was indifferent. "Fred!" Pat exclaimed. She barreled into him and sent him reeling a few feet backward before he dug his feet into the floor. Fred blushed until Pat sniffed the air and pushed him away from her into the wall. She plugged her nose and glared at him. "What in the world have you been doing?" she exclaimed.

"Playing in the marshes, by the smells of it, and losing," Percy teased as he patted Fred on the shoulder. "So you made it out of the swamp, but where's Ned?" he asked the other young man.

"Danto has him," Thino spoke up.

Pat whipped her head between the young man and the dwarves in shock. "What? How? When?"

"A few minutes ago, and I don't know how," Fred replied. "They just took his horse and led him away."