"At least I did," Brenden continued, "when I came in." His gaze shifted to Ellinwood with an accusing glare.
"Well, that should cover it then, eh, Constable?" Leesil added, leaning against the door with his arms crossed.
The constable stared back at them, as if considering some weighty decision. Then he turned around and picked up a small chest on the floor. Fiddling out a set of keys from under his tunic, he unlocked the chest and took from it a small, char-stained coin pouch. He walked over, unlocked the cell door, and handed the pouch to the blacksmith.
Brenden poured a small assortment of coins from the pouch into Leesil's slender hand, who in turn sifted through the contents until he came up with enough copper coins to make up the difference. Leesil then emptied his own purse to complete the fee.
"Here," the half-elf said, holding out the coins in his fist. He dropped them into Ellinwood's open palm.
The constable returned to his desk, counting out the amount carefully. He put the coins into the chest, closed and locked it, and then went back to scanning the documents on his table without a word.
Leesil shrugged with disgust and motioned for Brenden to follow him out into the street. People bustled by, heading for the market or off to some other business of the day. A small boy hawked smoke-dried fish biscuits by the near corner. The sun beat down through a sparsely clouded sky.
"I… I'll pay you back," Brenden said under his breath, "as soon as I can."
"Oh, that's all right. I don't spend money I can't afford." Leesil shrugged again. He had food, shelter, and an endless supply of wine. There was nothing more that he needed and little more that he wanted at the moment. "I'm sorry about last night," he added.
"Sorry?" Brenden looked away. "Now you shame me. I heard what you said for me, and you could have set that wolf on me. From the way you put me down, you could have done… I guessed you could have done more."
Leesil began walking, and Brenden fell into step beside him. This blacksmith was a man with a strong sense of fair play. It was odd company for Leesil, after years of less-than-scrupulous ventures with Magiere, or on his own before that. He found it difficult to say anything more now that he'd gone to all this trouble for a stranger.
"What you said to Ellinwood was justified," Leesil said finally. "He's done nothing to catch your sister's murderer."
"I'm not sure he can," Brenden answered, kicking at some dust. "I'm not sure anyone can but your partner, and she refuses to help."
"What are you talking about?" Leesil feigned ignorance, hoping to dismiss what he knew was next on the smith's mind.
"Your partner-hunter of the dead."
Leesil's stomach growled, but not from hunger. He was beginning to understand Magiere's restless irritation of late.
"You've been listening to too many rumors," he added.
"Maybe, but too many is always the catch," Brenden countered. "When it's the same rumor over and over, wherever you go, it's got something of truth behind it."
"And I find people just like to use their mouths," Leesil snapped. "They'll talk up just about anything, including… especially what they don't know a whit about."
"Then why did you come to pay my fines?" Brenden barked back at him.
Leesil had no answer, or at least not one he could put into words. Perhaps Magiere's generosity to Caleb and Beth-rae was contagious. Perhaps, like his partner, he was examining his own past and realizing for the first time how much harm they must have caused swindling village after village. But what possible good could this sudden attack of conscience bring? How could he make amends, any amends? And for all this rather new self-examination, Leesil still considered most people to be mindless cattle who deserved to be cheated by the more intelligent, or wolves who preyed on others through power or wealth. Helping any of them seemed pointless… but this blacksmith?
The man had walked into a public tavern and confronted a worthless town constable and demanded justice. Although Leesil tended to circumnavigate problems instead of facing them straight on, he could appreciate bravery when he saw it, and he could respect loyalty to the dead, to those who had no voice.
And for his bravery, Brenden had been called a criminal and locked up in a cell. It wasn't right. Leesil was well aware that his own sense of right and wrong was tenuous at best, but helping Brenden seemed the proper course of action.
The two of them continued walking in silence until they reached the end of the street, where Leesil had to turn down through the middle of town toward the tavern. They both stopped in another uncomfortable pause.
"Don't judge Magiere. You don't know anything about us," Leesil said more gently. "Come to The Sea Lion anytime. I'll tell Magiere you're my friend."
"Am I your friend?" Brenden asked, his tone somewhere between puzzlement and suspicion.
"Why not? I only have two, and one of them is a dog, by the by, not a wolf." Leesil made a mock face of great seriousness. "I'm a very particular fellow."
Brenden slightly smiled, but with a hint of sadness. "I may stop by… more quietly next time."
They parted. In the empty space between them, a light, brighter than the midday sun, flashed once. A few passersby blinked, turning their heads as if something had been there, then went on their way.
"He was with the blacksmith," Edwan said in the small sitting room beneath the warehouse. "I saw him."
Rashed approached Edwan's visage, not certain why the ghost was so troubled. One minute, he and Teesha had been going over import accounts, and the next, Edwan appeared, rambling about the hunter's half-elf and a blacksmith.
"Slowly," Rashed ordered. "What is this about?"
"You need to kill that hunter now," Edwan said, with emphasized precision in his voice.
"No." Rashed turned away. Rash actions on top of Ratboy's foolishness would only make them more vulnerable to discovery. "It's too soon. We will wait until she has lost some of her apprehension."
"You're wrong. She visited the death place of the girl Ratboy destroyed. I saw her."
"Why didn't you tell me this earlier?" Rashed asked angrily.
"And today the half-elf, her partner, paid for Brenden's release. They talked together."
Rashed shook his head and turned to Teesha with a questioning expression.
"Brenden is the dead girl's brother, and the blacksmith in this town," Teesha said from the couch.
"What?" Rashed turned back on Edwan as if the agitated spirit had suddenly become the source-rather than messenger-of misfortune. He began pacing again in silence, eyes shifting about without focus as his thoughts worked on themselves.
"She's preparing to hunt, isn't she?" Teesha asked. "Why else would she be searching for a trail, sending the half-breed to befriend the victim's remaining family?"
Yes, why else would she? Rashed asked himself. Moving this quickly after one murder was dangerous, but that damned Ratboy had left them little choice. If she investigated too far and some connection led back to any of them or the warehouse, there would be little time to prepare. Ratboy had been reckless, and there hadn't been enough time to even clean up after him. It was impossible to guess what clues might have been left at the site of the girl's slaughter.
"We'll have to move against her first," he said. 'Teesha, stay here, but prepare us to leave if it comes to the worst. Ratboy will come with me." He raised a hand calmly to her coming objection. "No, I'll do it quietly myself, and no one will find a body. She'll simply disappear. But I need someone to watch the others, the half-elf and the dog."
"Then you should take me. I could do better for you than Ratboy."
"I know you would, but"-he walked over to the couch-"just stay here."
"A noble gesture," Edwan said from the center of the room, "but I agree. Do be careful, Rashed. It's been a long time since you fought anything stronger than an accounting error. Something unfortunate might happen."