#
As the day wore on slowly, they picked at their food – save Kavyn, who cleaned up several mugs and now sat drawing designs in the foam spilled across the table. The tavern stayed busy, and at the tables around them the people ate and drank as if the food were the best in the world. Perhaps they were indeed so poor that this was a feast to them. Yet many stank of magic, wizards come from far places. What could they want here if the place had been raided down to poverty?
Still, there was no sign of wealth anywhere. Most of the women were buried in dark robes, save the serving maids with the scarred, twisted faces. The men were dressed simply, without the rings and necklaces that they usually wore in abundance. Even the beggars seemed to have given up here, for there was only one old man slowly making his way from table to table.
When it was their turn, Calias picked up the platter of pastries and dumped it all in the man's bowl. "Here. As much as you can eat."
The old man simply nodded and turned away, perhaps saving his bounty for later.
There were customers visiting Anju's shop, Calias noted, both plainly robed townspeople and an occasional foreigner. Unless Anju was giving his wares away, Calias thought as he ground his fist into his chin, he could certainly afford more than he had offered them. Marking the position of the sun, now halfway to the western cliff, he mused on the words he might have to say to the wizard. But they would have to be said carefully, if he did not wish to crawl out of Santas Harbor with a green tail dragging behind his legs.
But even if he could get a portion of the money for the cargo, would it be enough? Or might Captain Quantas have to cut some of the swordmen loose in this foul town? There was only one, Calias thought with a dark eye toward Kavyn, who could survive in this place – but he was the one they'd most eagerly leave behind.
Except that it would cost them Dynnis and Silver as well. One had to accept the worthless to keep the good.
"Girls," Glyver said suddenly, his fingers rubbing the edge of his silk scarf. "Where are the girls?"
"There's two by the fruit," said Kavyn.
They all looked toward the pair of drab creatures draped in shapeless robes, their features hidden behind dark veils. A man, presumably the shopkeeper, was showing one a mango, and she examined it intently.
"Not women," Glyver said disdainfully. "Girls. To pass an hour or two."
"The pirates took them all," Siron muttered, running his hand through his white-streaked hair.
"And wizards prefer boys," Calias added, with a sharp look toward Kavyn. The fool could survive here, and rather nicely, as he still had his smooth features.
Over by the fruit stand, the man and one of the women had disappeared, but the other still picked among the bananas. Calias thought of the serving girl, who dared to show her face, and shuddered at the thought of what was probably hidden beneath the heavy cloth.
#
As soon as the first bit of the sun's rim touched the western cliff, Calias jumped up. "It's time," he said to his men.They all followed him in the same swift manner, save for Kavyn who stumbled to his feet. Weak and sour as the brew was, the fool had still managed to get drunk on it. Calias turned on Dynnis, whose hardened face showed that he already understood what his swordson had done. "Keep him quiet," he ordered. "I don't want him raving while I'm dealing with that thieving wizard."
"I'm walking straight," Kavyn protested, though his accent was heavy and his words slurred.
With a shake of his head Calias led the way across the bridge and into Anju's shop. But he stopped short when he entered the shop, and his men had to crowd in behind him. Anju was not at the counter, and in his place was a plump, oily youth, whose blond hair fell in a mop around his loose face. He wore the green robe of a journeyman wizard, with the signs of protection painted across the front.
"Ah," said the youth, his flaccid eyelids barely rising. "Are you the men that my master wishes me to bargain with?"
"Where is Anju?" Calias demanded. Behind him he heard Kavyn bump into a table, and the rattle of dry bread shifting about.
"My master was called to attend to Prince Anis." The journeyman's fingers flickered nimbly, preparing a spell. "A matter of taxes, you see. Our Prince does not believe that we are too poor to pay what he demands – and his greatness will not give us the protection to keep what little we do make. But my master left me with instructions to offer you whatever you wish of our goods. All the bread you can carry, he says. We've ten baskets of fresh-made loaves in the back."
"We'll carry back our cargo," Calias growled.
"We accept the bread!" Kavyn yelled from the back of the crowd. He waved a dusty loaf as if it were a sword. "We'll take this bread!"
"Shut up, Dream-dust!" Calias snapped, even as Dynnis reached out to slap his drunken fool of a swordson. He turned back to the Journeyman. "Ignore the idiot."
"An offer has been made and accepted," the young man said smoothly. His fingers were moving swiftly now, and several baskets flew from behind the counter as the chest slid into his waiting hands. "Take your payment and go."
"I'll take your head instead!" Calias yelled as his sword flipped out. But the journeyman clapped his hands and the counter disappeared behind a shimmering wall. His sword struck the wall and bounced off, as if it were stone.
Furious, the swordmaster whipped around to face the fool, and found him dropping rolls into a basket. "What are you doing?" he hissed, his hand turning white on the hilt.
Dynnis pulled his own sword, ready to defend his Swordson. But Kavyn merely looked up, a distant half-smile on his foolish face. He brushed a thick layer of dust off the bread and wiped it on his pants. "It's good bread. Sturdy. Won't mold."
"Sewer-wretch," Calias growled. He picked up a dirt-crusted bun, as dense as a stone, and dropped it with a thud into a basket. "Gather every scrap. I want to see the captain force the lot of this down his throat."
#
The skiff rode low in the water with its load of bread packed tightly around the men. The people of Santas Harbor snickered as the Swordmen crept by, and Calias's only thoughts were of how much joy he would have when this mess was presented to Captain Quantas. Kavyn would get his due and the ship might actually be rid of the idiot. The tall man himself sat silently in the center of the boat, his blue eyes focused beyond the horizon.When finally they came to the Wave Singer and called for the ladder to be let down, they were greeted by laughter from the crew. "What's this?" called the captain as he looked over the rails. His face darkened in anger. "Have we been paid in bread?"
"Dry bread," Calias snarled back. He pointed at Kavyn. "Haul us up. This drunken fool will explain!"
Captain Quantas frowned deeper as he signaled for the mate to drop the ladder, and for two sailors to lower the ropes for the boat. No doubt he was thinking about his whip – something which Calias did not normally approve of, but there were times.
When all the men and the boat were up, and the captain had a chance to look over and toss down the worthless loaves, he turned to Kavyn. Dynnis gripped his sword hilt and started to step forward, but Calias drew his own blade and motioned Dynnis back. "Let him explain himself," the swordmaster sneered.
"Well?" said Captain Quantas, turning the force of his black eyes on Kavyn.
The fool gave his half-smile. "It's the mid-winter," he said softly.
Fury scrunched up the captain's face. "What do mean by that?"
"His wits are loose!" Dynnis cried out. "And he's drunk. Anju's journeyman offered us bread to pay for the cargo, and Kavyn said we would take this."
"Aye," Kavyn agreed in his thickest accent. "Every scrap."
The captain's eyes narrowed to slits, and his face reddened. Spit gathered along his lips, and his big hands clenched into fists. Then he grabbed up a large loaf and thrust it into Kavyn's chest. "This one's yours. We'll watch you eat it – and then the fun will began."
With a swiftness that belied his drunkenness, Kavyn whipped out his hand and caught the end of the loaf. It shattered in his grip, and the crumbs flowed through his fingers like sand. Then, turning over his fist and opening it, he showed two gold coins and a ruby ring within, still crusted by the dry webs of the dough.
Two more coins thrust out from the broken end, and there were more shadows deeper in.
"Dry bread is not heavy," Kavyn said simply, and completely sober. "But the pirates would not waste their time taking it."
Calias, along with the other swordmen and the ship's crew, looked at the pile of heavy bread which had been dragged up in the boat, and imagined what was hidden within it. Then he looked back over the harbor to the town now washed in the bloody light of sunset, and thought how Anju would take the news as his journeyman told him how the swordmen were tricked into taking the worthless bread.
Captain Quantas seemed to be thinking the same thing. "There's still time to catch the tide," he said aloud. "Raise the sails. Calias, have your men move this bread to the storeroom." He paused, looked at the broken loaf in his hand, then pushed the rest of it toward Kavyn. "But stay away from the dreamdust, or you'll not live to spend a bit of this."
"Aye," Kavyn replied softly, then turned to hand the loaf over to his swordfather.
Calias watched the two men walk off, with Silver trailing warily behind. Perhaps Dynnis was right about the fool, after all.
THE END
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Helen E. Davis