“Sometimes the fishermen deliver to the inn,” she told them, “but why pay extra when I have willing hands to help?” She gave Ulin a bright smile.
They wended their way back through the market toward the inn and nearly reached the street when a horn blared a long, strident warning from the Rock.
Every person in town froze. Sounds immediately died into a silence, tense and wary.
Ulin and Lucy looked about in surprise. Lucy saw with alarm that Bridget was shaking.
“What-?” asked Ulin.
“Not yet!” Bridget hissed. “Wait. Listen for it.” She clutched her basket so hard that her knuckles turned white.
The sickening fear struck them all at the same time, like a wave washing over the town. People cried out and fell to the ground as a huge shadow swept over the sun. Lucy and the kender cowered, but Ulin had experienced the hideous terror that emanated from evil dragons, and although his knees quaked and every instinct screamed at him to hide, he remained on his feet. He forced his eyes to the sky and saw a monstrous red shape flying high and fast toward the southeast. The dragon was returning to her lair in the Desolation.
“Malystryx,” he spat the name.
Bridget whimpered.
As quickly as it overwhelmed them, the dragonfear faded from their hearts, and the shadow vanished south. From the Rock came a second horn call, signaling the all-clear. In a heartbeat the noise and activity resumed throughout Flotsam as if nothing had happened.
“Shards of the Gem!” Lucy exclaimed. “Does that happen often?” She dusted off her own skirts and moved to help Bridget to her feet.
“Too many times,” Bridget replied, her voice shaky. “That’s why the Vigilance Committee keeps a watch on the Rock.”
Pease nodded vigorously. “Yup. Even a little warning is better than none. So if you hear two quick blasts. Run for it.”
Ulin glanced dubiously at the rickety buildings around him. He had fought Malys once from the back of the dragon Sunrise and would have died were it not for the speed and courage of the gold. Malys was a monster who stretched over four hundred feet from cruel snout to tip of tail. The titanic beast’s weight would flatten the shoddy little buildings without the use of her scorching breath, sharp claws, or scything tail. In Flotsam, there was nowhere safe to run.
“I hope she doesn’t come here any time soon,” Lucy breathed, putting a voice to Ulin’s heartfelt sentiment.
There were no more alarms that day, and life went on in the port town. As evening approached, the activities in the taverns and gaming houses became rowdier and the streets grew more crowded with the rougher elements. The farmers, shopkeepers, and families quietly withdrew to their own hearths and bolted their doors. By sunset the market was deserted and the taverns overflowing.
The Jetties seemed to draw a better behaved crowd, yet even it filled to capacity with noisy people eating Bridget’s food and drinking ale as fast as Aylesworthy could tap it. A pair of musicians passing through agreed to play for an evening in exchange for a room and a meal. Their tunes on pipe and drum kept the common room lively late into the night. Ulin and Lucy stayed for a while, hoping to talk to someone on the council or the Vigilance Committee, but Aylesworthy made himself too busy to talk and no word came from the Silver Fox or the elders. Eventually, Lucy retired, leaving Ulin to his ale and his shuttered thoughts.
Their third day in Flotsam began much like the first. Pease brought their meal on a tray and stayed to join them. As soon as the dishes were washed and the morning’s chores finished, the kender offered to take the travelers up to the Rock to see the observation post. Only Ulin decided to go. Lucy wanted a bridle for her horse, and since Challie had several errands to do, she offered to accompany Lucy to the marketplace.
Lucy and Challie walked north on the wooden sidewalks along a street that seemed to have no name. Challie told Lucy the road bore the original title of Market Street, due to the street’s eventual destination. They stopped at the blacksmith’s shop to deliver a deed written in Challie’s careful hand and picked up a packet of papers from an older couple living in a tiny hut tucked between two brothels. Eventually, wending their way through the busy morning traffic, they soon spotted the crowded marketplace. Wains, booths, and stalls stood in rows between beaten dirt paths on the market grounds while jugglers, minstrels, and other entertainers played for coins and attention along the perimeter. Hawkers carried trays laden with food or trinkets and wandered among the customers.
Lucy and Challie browsed for a while among the stalls, admiring the handiwork of local craftspeople. They soon found a leather worker, and Lucy bought a simple bridle with a snaffle bit for the bay horse. She thought about purchasing a saddle, then changed her mind. They might need the money for a wagon, if her agreement with the council was successful.
“What do you think I should call him?” Lucy asked Challie while they walked back through the market. She had the bridle slung over her shoulder and her purse tucked firmly in her sash belt.
“I don’t know. Why do you bother to name a horse?”
Lucy rolled her eyes. “He’s just a plain draft horse, but he deserves a name.”
Challie’s face screwed up with good humor. “Call him Akkar-bin.”
“No, the horse has more personality. How about …” Lucy looked back and saw Challie stopped in place, staring between two small booths at something in the next aisle. She took a step back to see what the dwarf was looking at. Shouting erupted close by and several large crashes rattled the booths. Lucy saw a huge, muscular man with blond hair burst into view. He joined a second, smaller man who stood close to the stall in front of Challie. Lucy realized he was scooping bracelets and rings and small gems into his bag. The proprietor lay on the ground unmoving.
With a nasty laugh, the big blond man kicked the unconscious jeweler and pulled the booth apart with his bare hands. Two more laughing men ran into sight, their arms full of stolen goods. Booth owners and customers scattered in all directions.
The blond man suddenly saw the two women. “What are you staring at?” he roared, and in one abrupt movement, he leaped straight through the gap and pounced on the dwarf. He snatched her arm in one huge hand and backhanded Lucy.
The force of the blow sent her reeling into the cart of a vegetable vendor. The cart tipped over, spilling vegetables everywhere. Pain exploded in her head. She heard Challie scream, but she could not force her body to respond. Desperately, she struggled to her feet and staggered over the vegetables. Her vision swam, and for a moment Lucy thought she would vomit. Somehow, she managed to stay upright in spite of the blood that ran from her nose and forehead. One eye was already swelling shut.
She heard Challie scream again, and fury as white-hot as dragon rage erupted within her. It burned away her dizziness and fired the embers of her strength until she could stand upright and see what was happening around her.
The blond man held Challie upside down by one foot and was shaking her violently. The other thugs were snatching everything of value they could carry, and no one seemed to be doing anything to stop them.
The smaller man caught sight of Lucy on her feet. Gloating, he snatched her sleeve and hauled her close. “Give us a kiss, girlie. Then maybe we’ll have some real fun.”
Lucy felt her fingers tighten around the leather straps of the bridle still clutched in her hand. She wrenched away from him and whipped the bridle around. The metal bit slammed into his mouth, cutting the flesh and breaking teeth. He fell to his knees, and before he could recover she snatched a clay bowl and smashed it over his head. He sagged to the ground without a sound.
“Hist!” someone cried. “Sorceress! Here, take these!”