At that moment, Trisha returned with a small girl of around three years old in her arms. The child caught sight of Edzel and threw her own arms out, nearly hurling herself from Trisha’s in the process.
“Ganther!”
The smith’s entire demeanor changed. His wrinkled face split into a huge grin, and he snatched her up at once, twisting her around until she sat precariously perched upon one bent shoulder. “Here, now, what’s all this then, my little Zo- zo bird?” he chortled, his recent ill temper completely forgotten. “Thort you was at your granny’s for your afternoon nap?
“My grandbaby, Zoe,” he explained almost pleasantly in answer to the watchmen’s questioning expressions. “Now, where was I? Oh, yeah.” He waved a warning finger at Hektor. “You do sommat about this thievin’, or I’ll be up to your own granther’s myself. Retired or no, he’ll light a fire under your . . .” he paused as the child began to bounce up and down on his shoulder. “Well, you just mind you do,” he finished.
He glanced over at Aiden with a withering expression. “An’ you’ve got a buckle there what needs mendin’. What’s the Watch comin’ to? It wouldn’t a been allowed in Thomar’s day.” He turned, the child still on his shoulder. “Tay, you’ve a moment to fix yon buckle?”
“Sure, Da.”
As his son came forward, Aiden shook his head. “It’s nothin’. It can wait.”
“No need to wait,” Edzel said, waving a dismissive hand at him. “The boy can manage that kinda work at least. It’s not like it’s fine work. You have that off an’ he’ll fix it up a twinklin’.”
“But . . .”
Tay just gave him a strained smile. “S’all right Aiden, just come on in the back. I’ll be naught but a moment.”
They all made for the workroom. As Aiden struggled to remove the buckle, Zoe threw her hands out toward an ornate iron cage on a shelf beside the worktable.
“Lillbit!”
Edzel chuckled. “Lillbit’s right there, all safe an’ sound, jus’ like you left him earlier,” he assured her. Reaching over, he unlocked the door, and a small, gray creature dove from the cage and clambered up the old man’s arm towards her.
Aiden started in surprise. “That’s a rat!”
Both Edzel and Zoe turned equally indignant expressions on him as the child caught the creature up, cupping it protectively in her hands.
“My Lillbit!” she shouted.
“Lillbit’s her pet!” Edzel snarled. “Zo-zo tamed him up her own self just this summer, an’ he’s still a little himself, so don’t you dare think about doin’ him any mischief, Aiden Dann!”
“A rat? You let your granddaughter play with a rat?” Aiden looked so horrified that Zoe immediately began to cry.
“Yes, a rat!” Edzel shouted. “Not that it’s any of your business!” As Zoe continued to cry, he caught up a leaf hammer, brandishing it at Aiden with one hand while he frantically patted Zoe’s hair with the other. “Now get out, you’re upsettin’ my grandbaby. Get out, get out, get out!”
“Out, out, out!” Zoe echoed.
As Aiden retreated, shaking his head, Edzel whirled on Hektor. “An’ you find that thief, you hear me!” he shouted, his earlier rage returning. “I pay my guild fees, an’ I have the right to protection. If I don’t get it, I’ll call the Guard! I’ll call the Heralds! They’ve a proper court, an’ that truth spell of theirs’ll sort you all out good an’ proper!”
He almost slammed the shop door on them both as they left.
Across the Close, Judee gave them an ironic salute with a ceramic tea cup before disappearing into her own shop as well.
“You want us to guard Edzel Smith’s iron shop all night?”
Hektor’s two middle brothers, Jakon, nineteen, and Raik, seventeen, had served as night watchmen since being taken on as full constables. It worked well for the Danns since they could use the smallest of the family’s bedrooms during the day, and Hektor and Padreic could use it at night. But it also meant that neither of them were used to taking orders from their new sergeant. Now, they both just stared at him.
“You’re joking,” Jakon protested.
“No, I’m not.”
“What does the captain say about it?”
Hektor’s expression hardened. “The captain’s left it up to me. I’m the Sergeant.”
“You’re the Day Sergeant, Hek,” Raik replied.
“Yeah, an’ the Day Sergeant posts the shifts,” Hektor reminded him. “So here’s your shifts: one at the entrance to Anvil’s Close, one at Edzel’s shop door. Take it in turns if you like, but you’re takin’ it.”
“For how long?”
“A few nights likely.”
“How many’s a few?”
“As many as I say it is. Get seen, let any possible thieves know we’re on the job. There’ll be a couple posted durin’ the day too.”
Jakon shook his head in disgust. “You don’t really think someone’s been thievin’ off Edzel, do you, Hek? I mean, he’s always been a suspicious old bugger, glarin’ at everyone who comes near his place. It’s a wonder he has any customers at all.”
“He’s off his head,” Raik agreed.
“Maybe, but it makes no matter. He’s paid his guild fees like he said, so you’re for Edzel’s shop until I say different. Get used to it, Constables.”
“Yes, Sergeant.”
Hektor chose to ignore both the tone of voice and the sarcastic salutes of his younger brothers, merely turning and stalking away.
The next morning, they made their report with equally sour expressions. It had rained all night, and they’d spent a cold, wet, and uneventful shift guarding nothing. No one had come near the Close, never mind the shop. As far as they were concerned no one was going to.
Padreic, however, had a different report to make.
“An’ you’re sure the settin’s were right here, moonstones an’ all?”
“No, the moonstones weren’t here; moonstones are rare,” Edzel said angrily, thumping his fist on his work table behind the main shop. “The moonstones got locked up good and proper when I was finished with ’em. The iron settin’s were fine work twenty year ago, but they ain’t so rare they have to be locked up too. They was right here on this very table, and now two of ’em’s gone!”
Hektor peered down at the three clawed bits of metal, used, Edzel had told him stiffly, to affix gems to sword and dagger hilts, then turned to Trisha, standing just inside the door. “Did you see ’em?” he asked hopefully.
She shook her head. “Sorry, Hek. Edzel was bent over ’em till long past when Tay an’ me went to bed,” she answered. “I didn’t see how many he had then nor later.”
“I had five,” Edzel sputtered. “I already told you, five!” Only the presence of Zoe, playing happily in the corner with Lillbit, kept his voice down to a dull roar, but Hektor could see a vein in his forehead throbbing dangerously.
“Could someone have come in the back way, through the forge,” he asked. “Or through one of the windows above, maybe?”
“The forge is closed up tighter’n a drum at night, an’ my window locks are the best in Haven; I cast ’em myself!”
“The roof?”
“Paw! My granther build that roof, an’ it’s a sound as the day it went up! ’Sides, this one’s a right light sleeper,” Edzel said, jerking a thumb at Trisha, “She’s up half the night. She’d have heard if anyone was creepin’ about up there.”