A Sellsword's Resolve Page 3

  “Oh?” Aster said, rising, “Well, Beth, I’d say that’s up to you. Are you going to give me what I want?”

  “I told you,” Beth said, “I don’t have anything. I’m just an old woman doin’ her best to look after her grandson, okay? The boy’s got nothin’ to do with you and neither do I.”

  “Is that so?” Aster said, his fingers tracing the scar on his face. He stared at Beth for several moments, and she forced herself to meet his eyes, to face the madness there. Finally, the thin man sighed and shrugged, “Well, guess we got the wrong place. Suppose we’ll just be getting out of your hair now.”

  He turned and started toward his horse, and Beth let go of the breath she’d been holding, feeling a flicker of hope. “Just one more thing,” Aster said, turning back, a cold, wooden smile on his face like the ones she’d seen in shop windows when she’d been a girl, “I don’t believe you.” He turned and motioned to the soldiers holding her grandson, “Kill the boy.”

  One of the men reached for his sword, but before his hand could so much as clasp the handle of the blade, something blurred across the yard and fallen leaves flew into the air as if carried on an aberrant wind. The guard didn’t have time to make a sound before Beth’s knife took him in the throat. Blood poured over his armor, staining it crimson, and he crumpled to the ground, dead.

  Beth stood in front of him, panting, staring at the bloody knife she held in shock, gasping, her face pale with what looked to be pain. “Impressive,” Aster said. He motioned with his hand and the remaining five soldiers drew crossbows from their backs, aiming them at Michael. “Truly, a marvel. I wonder, Beth, just how fast are you? Fast enough to stop five crossbow bolts, would you say? I only ask because you look as if something pains you. Old age, perhaps? Well.” He shrugged, “I suppose there’s only one way to find out.”

  “Wait,” Beth said, holding up her hands, “Please. Leave him be. I’ll do whatever you want.”

  Aster nodded, “I know. Now, drop the knife.”

  She hesitated, a look of anguish on her face then, finally, she let the blade fall to the ground. Aster nodded, “Take her.” Something struck Beth in the back of the head, and her vision exploded in a brief flash of light before darkness settled into her thoughts. She fell, heard her body hit the ground as if from some great distance, and didn’t feel it at all.

  “What of the boy?” She heard one of the men ask as unconsciousness crept over her.

  And the last thing she heard before the darkness took her was Aster’s voice, cold and pleased. “Bring him.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  Leomin grabbed his mug off the bar’s counter and drank the last of the ale. “Thanks,” he said to the tavern keeper, a man with the unfortunate name of Destrian, a name that made Leomin think of a horse. Although, to be fair, he supposed that might have had something to do with the fact that the man’s front teeth were considerably bigger than was strictly necessary. The tavern keeper smiled, and Leomin only just managed to hold back a shudder. You’d think he’d have learned not to smile a long time ago, Leomin thought. “Another ale, if you would, Darren.”

  The man laughed, “It’s Destrian, sir. Remember?”

  I try not to, “Of course, Darren, of course.” The thin man only shook his head, a grin still on his face as he and his teeth turned and poured another ale.

  He set the mug down in front of Leomin before going off to see to another customer, and the Parnen was just about to take a drink when something brushed against the side of his face. He turned in surprise at the unexpected touch to see a woman sitting down beside him. “Well, hello there,” she said, and Leomin found his eyes wandering down to the woman’s chest. If the job of dresses, he thought, is to keep things covered, then this one is very close to failing in its duties. He forced his eyes back to her face to see her giving him a smile that said his attention had not gone unnoticed, “My name is Emma.”

  “Good evening, Emma,” he said, clearing his throat, “I am Leomin, but you may call me … well, Leomin.”

  She laughed as if he’d said the funniest thing in the world and suddenly her hand was on his thigh. “So,” she said, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen your handsome face in here before.”

  “I would be worried, if you had, dear Emma,” he said, “for I can say with some confidence that the rest of me has never been to this particular establishment.”

  She cocked her head at him, a confused smile on her face, “You’re funny,” she said, “I like you.”

  Her hand traveled further up his thigh, and Leomin swallowed. “Yes, well,” he said, “I like me too, so thank you.”

  Gods, but these women have no decorum whatsoever, Aliandra said into his mind, her voice prim and proper and full of disapproval.

  Not decorum perhaps, my dear, Leomin thought back, but I must admit that there is something about these western women that I find most … distracting.

  Yes, the Virtue of Charisma answered, I suspect it’s their breasts.

  Leomin cleared his throat, forcing his eyes back up to the woman’s face once more. “And, if I may ask,” he said, “what brings you to this particular establishment?”

  The woman smiled, leaning forward, the motion doing considerable things to improve the already pleasant view, “Oh, I just thought I might get out for a bit. Have some fun. Do you have any ideas where I might find some?”

  Overgrown hussy, Aliandra thought, it’s a wonder she doesn’t tip over. What good are those udders, anyway? It’s not as if she can fit into any dress correctly.

  Yes, yes, Leomin thought back, that was my concern as well. “Forgive me, Miss Emma,” he said, reluctantly, “on a normal night, I’m sure that I could find something to interest you.”

  “I’m sure you could,” she said, her hand moving further.

  Leomin’s eyes went wide, “Yes, well,” he said, “the thing is, you see, I have some business to be about, just now.”

  “Business, is it?” The woman said. “Are you sure?”

  Leomin opened his mouth and, for a second, no words came out. Then he took a breath and tried again, “Yes, I’m afraid,” he said, “I am quite sure. This business, you see, is not the sort of business a man can forget about.”

  “Oh?” Emma said, “and just what business is it?”

  “Ah, that,” Leomin said, “Right. Well, suppose I would say it is the business of being married.”

  The woman’s expression turned into a pout. “Married? And just how married are you?”

  “Quite,” Leomin said hurriedly, catching her hand before it could travel any further—not that it could travel much further. “Yes, yes, and a lovely lady she is too. As you yourself are.”

  She met his eyes, studying him, “You’re sure?”

  Leomin sighed, “Alas, I must be. For I am many things, my dear Emma, but unfaithful is, unfortunately, not one of them.”

  The woman nodded, and rose, “Well,” she said, “if you change your mind.”

  It’s already changed, Leomin said, as her impressive breasts came to sit inches away from his face.

  “Wait, Emma, I—”

  Leomin, Aliandra interrupted.

  He forced back a sigh, The things I do for the good of the world. “That is, I wanted to say goodnight,” Leomin said.

  The woman shrugged as if to say it was his loss—and with the dress she wore, that shrug communicated the fact clearly enough—then turned and walked away. Sauntered really. It was much more of a saunter. Perhaps, Aliandra said once the woman was gone, you should turn it down a little. This is getting ridiculous. Go much further, and they’ll have you on stage, auctioning off pieces of you to the crowd.

  I have in mind the piece that our dear Emma could make use of, he thought back.

  Leomin, Aliandra scolded, honestly. We’re here for a reason or have you forgotten? And that’s the third woman in less than an hour.

  Leomin sighed and was just about to get up and take matters into his own hands when the person he’d bee
n waiting for came up and sat beside him. A young woman, slim but in a very appealing way, and he couldn’t help but notice several men glancing away from their women of the evening to admire her. Not that he blamed them as the dress she wore contrived to be thin and tight enough so as to leave very little to the imagination. “An ale, please,” she said.

  Destrian—gods but it was a horrible name—turned and nodded, smiling wide so that his teeth nodded along with him. “Ale it is, ma’am, coming right up.”

  Leomin took a drink from his own glass and waited. “Nice night, isn’t it?” The woman asked.

  He turned and nodded his head, “So it is. I’m Leomin.”

  The woman smiled offering her slim hand, “Bella.”

  “Ah,” Leomin took the offered hand, kissing it, “and have you been in Perennia long, Mrs. Bella?”

  She laughed, a warm, pleasant laugh which, coupled with her appearance, made it clear enough why she had been chosen. “Oh, not so very long, Leomin. And please, just Bella. I have come to visit this fine city and hope that I might be lucky enough to steal a look at the queen. I wonder, is she really as beautiful as they say?”

  “Ah, queen Isabelle,” Leomin said, “her beauty, yes. It is … quite … bountiful. That is to say there is very much of it … her beauty.” He paused, frowning and shaking his head, “Anyway, is that the only reason? For your visit, I mean?”

  She ran a hand through his long dark hair, paused to jingle one of the bells hung from it, a small smile on her face and, in that smile, a promise. “No, not only that. Let’s call it business, and I do hate to talk of business—it has such a way of spoiling things.”

  “As you wish,” Leomin said.

  “The queen … I wonder, Leomin, if you wouldn’t think me too bold if I asked—is she as beautiful as me?”

  “Oh, not so beautiful as that, I’m afraid, and I think few are, if you don’t mind me saying so. Still, she is quite … riveting, in her own way.”

  The woman nodded slowly, her smile still in place, “And yourself?”

  He shrugged, “Less riveting, I’m afraid.”

  She gave that throaty laugh again, “No, I meant what is your own reason for visiting Perennia? It’s not often you see a Parnen so far north. Have you been here long?”

  “Not so long,” Leomin said, meeting her eyes and calling on the powers of the bond. “I came much for the same reasons as you yourself, I suppose. To see the queen.”

  The woman’s eyes grew wider, and she let out a quiet, nearly breathless moan. At the same time, several of the women in the tavern turned in their chairs to stare at Leomin with a hungry look in their eyes.

  Easy, Leomin, Aliandra warned. Unless you want to spend the week here.

  Leomin was about to answer when the woman leaned in, her slim-fingered hand resting on his leg. “Tell me, Leomin,” she said, her voice near a whisper, “what are your plans for this evening?”

  “I must confess that I hadn’t had any,” he said, “thought that perhaps I would have a drink or two then go to my room.”

  She nodded slowly, “And you’ve a room in this inn?”

  “Yes,” Leomin said, “I find that it is the wisest course, of course, to do my sleeping in the same place in which I do my drinking.”

  “A clever thought,” she said, “so, you were going to get a drink and then go to your room. Well,” she glanced at his nearly empty glass, “it would appear, to me, that you’ve had your drink. That only leaves one thing left to do, doesn’t it?”

  Leomin smiled, rising and offering her his arm, “So it would, my lady, so it would.” He tossed a coin on the counter, and Destrian walked over and grabbed it, shaking his head in something like wonder. Leomin turned and began leading her toward the stairs. “And what of your friends?” He said, as if it was of no matter, “surely, they will be upset that I have absconded with you and left them alone?”

  “Friends?” The woman said, and there was the slightest narrowing of her eyes.

  Leomin called on the power of his bond and smiled, “Yes, for I doubt a woman such as yourself would ever spend an evening unaccompanied. If it is a man, well, perhaps I’d best know him, so that I can avoid his company in the near future and if it is a woman … well, it really is quite a large bed.”

  She laughed, her eyes dancing, “Oh, but you are wicked, aren’t you? Anyway,” she said, nodding her head at a man sitting at the bar, two empty stools separating him from the next closest patron, “that is my friend there, and you’ve nothing to worry about from him, I assure you. He cares for little besides his ale, at any rate.”

  Leomin glanced where she’d indicated at a man of average size sitting at the bar, his back to them. “The blonde one, then?” Leomin said, “well,” he turned back to her and grinned, “he doesn’t look particularly fast.”

  She smiled, “Let’s hope that you’re not. Now, lead on before I pick you up and carry you.”

  “Very well,” Leomin said, bowing his head, “as my lady commands, so it shall be.”

  He turned and led her up the stairs. The door to his room had only just swung shut when she was on him, kissing him, her hand dropping below his waistline. “Out of curiosity,” he gasped, finding it hard to concentrate, but focusing so that the power of his bond colored his words, making her want to tell him the truth, “from where did you come?”

  “Baresh,” she said in between kissing his neck and pushing him back toward the bed, somehow contriving to pull off his shirt as she did.

  Leomin’s knees struck the bed, and suddenly he was sitting. “Baresh, I see,” he managed, “um … that is … you’re really quite good at that. Anyway, that is a far way to travel, isn’t it, for only one man and woman?”

  She pulled back and smiled at him then as she slid the straps of her dress down over her shoulders, “Oh, I can take care of myself as can my companion, I assure you.”

  “That,” Leomin said, “I do not doubt. Still, it seems—”

  “Enough talk,” she said, her voice a low growl as she threw him back on the bed and straddled him. “Now, it’s my tur—” she cut off, as suddenly the door swung open, slamming against the inner wall. She spun and jumped to her feet as four soldiers in the queen’s white uniforms filed in, their blades held in their hands. “What is the meaning—”

  “By order of Queen Isabelle,” one of the guards said, “we are here to place you under arrest for suspicion of being a spy of Prince Belgarin.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” the woman said, glancing nervously between the guards and Leomin.

  Leomin sighed heavily, “It really is ridiculous. Surely,” he said, glancing at the soldiers, “you four men wouldn’t mind coming back later? Say … twenty minutes?”

  The soldier who’d spoken glanced at Leomin, raising an eyebrow, “Is she a spy or not, Parnen?”

  Leomin winced, “Well, the thing is … we would want to be sure of such a thing, wouldn’t we? I really think that some short time for me and the lady to … talk would be exactly what is needed for us to determine with a certainty that she is, in fact, working for the prince.”

  The soldiers glanced at each other before looking back to him, “Is she or isn’t she?”

  Leomin sighed, “Yes, fine. She is. Her companion is downstairs—blonde man, sitting at the bar, three stools from the left.”

  The soldier nodded and in another minute the woman’s hands and ankles were manacled and the soldiers were leading her out of the door. The one who’d spoken hesitated, glancing back at Leomin, “Good job, Leomin. That’s one more criminal to fill the dungeon.”

  The Parnen captain shook his head sadly, “Spying is not the only crime that has been committed tonight, of that I assure you.”

  “Oh?” The soldier asked, raising an eyebrow.

  Leomin frowned, glancing at the empty doorway, “It really was a nice dress.”

  The man grunted, “So it was. But relax, Parnen. Most folks have to get dressed to go to their jobs. You’re the only one
I know gets to take his clothes off.”

  “Yes,” Leomin said, unable to keep the bitterness from his voice, “Dress and undress, yet what I seek now is redress, soldier. And that dress. “Still,” he mumbled, “a job well done all around, I suppose.”

  The man grinned, “See you around, Leomin.”

  In another moment, he was gone and Leomin sighed, laying back in the bed and closing his eyes. Why not? After all, he’d paid for the room, and he was already undressed.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Aaron showed the summons to the two guards posted outside the queen’s audience chamber, and they read through it before bowing and opening the door.

  Walking in, Aaron saw Leomin, Captain Brandon Gant, Adina and, of course, the queen herself were already seated. “Sorry about the wait,” he said, “I was out working with the troops when I received the summons.”

  “Well,” the queen said, favoring him with a smile, “considering that you saved my life, I suppose I can accept you being a few minutes late to a meeting. And how are the troops anyway, General Envelar?”

  Aaron grunted, “Another few months, I might trust them to butter a piece of bread without cutting themselves.”

  Isabelle laughed at that, a rich, genuine laugh that was completely at odds with the childish giggles she’d shown when he’d first met her. He had to admit that since the attempt on her life, the queen had been a lot easier to deal with. But, then, he supposed that having a few thousand years old wizard break into your quarters with murder on his mind had a tendency to make a person reprioritize. “Charming as always, general,” she said, motioning to one of the empty chairs, “please, have a seat.”