“Lucy, I want to be your deputy,” he said in an enthusiastic voice.
Her weight had not even settled into the seat before he asked her. She didn’t answer right away but cast a look at the innkeeper to judge his reaction.
Aylesworthy gave him an emphatic shake of his head. “You already have enough to do. Your mother needs your help and-”
Pease’s noisy protest drowned him out.
“And,” Challie’s voice cut him off abruptly. “She already has a deputy. Me.”
Aylesworthy, Lucy, and Ulin turned to the dwarf in surprise. Her manner was usually quiet and reserved, yet she met their questioning eyes with a determined stare. “My duties as magistrate often coincide with that of sheriff. I can manage both, and I feel I owe you the help.”
“Thank you,” Lucy said. “I would like that.”
“But what about me?” insisted Pease. “I want to help, too!”
Lucy laughed. “You might be helpful with the festival. How about a compromise, if Master Aylesworthy is agreeable? You may be a deputy, but you’ll work only on the days your mother and the captain approve.”
The kender grinned winningly at the innkeeper. Aylesworthy paused for a long moment, and when he shrugged his acquiescence, his face was vaguely troubled.
Challie rolled her eyes while the kender cheered.
Well-fed by Bridget’s good cooking, the group left the Jetties at midmorning and made the long walk to the city hall. Townspeople, seeing their city councilors and the new lady sheriff, joined in until the small party became a noisy procession of kender on foot and donkeys, women of various professions, barbarians in their flowing robes, card players, fishermen, farmers, shopkeepers, and sprinkled through the crowd walked several half-ogres, some elves, and a few dwarves-a fair representation of Flotsam’s population. Gossiping, laughing, and filled with curiosity, the spectators followed Lucy and her entourage to the old crumbling barracks where they stopped on the worn, stone steps.
Mayor Efrim raised his hand for silence. “My friends, if you can be patient, we will have the swearing-in ceremony at noon, and the Sheriff will begin her duties at that time.”
Numerous rowdy calls and shouts met his pronouncement, but the Mayor turned his back on the crowd and ushered Lucy, Challie, and Ulin inside.
Ulin hung back a little. This was Lucy’s day, and while he wanted to be with her, he did not want to get in the way. The last one through the door, he glanced back over his shoulder, wondering if the crowd would follow them into the building. He caught a glimpse of a tall man in faded robes speaking to the two half-ogres who had trailed the procession through town. Both rocklike faces nodded a quick assent, then the two figures climbed the stairs and took their places on either side of the door. Ulin’s gaze caught the eye of the man in the robes, and they nodded briefly to each other before Lysandros blended back into the crowd.
The mage turned back indoors, satisfied. Half-ogres were powerful and ferocious fighters. Most people would think twice about trying to force their way past them. The presence of the half-ogres satisfied Ulin on another level, too. While he didn’t entirely trust or like this resistance leader, he had a grudging respect for the half-elf’s courage, daring, and abilities. If the Silver Fox was going to be in the background, ready to lend his aid to Lucy, Ulin would feel easier about leaving her for the time it took to find Kethril Torkay. Reassured, he hurried to catch up with the group.
Once inside the big barracks, Mayor Efrim showed Lucy and her companions the courtyard in back, the old prison, and the ruined treasury.
Ulin stamped a roach into the dirt and asked a question he had thought of only now. “Where are those four brigands Lucy stopped the other day?”
“Lysandros’s men lashed them and left them in the desert to fend for themselves.” Mayor Efrim replied quietly. “He helps us when he can.”
“What happened to your previous sheriff?” Lucy asked, looking around the empty courtyard.
Saorsha, Aylesworthy, and Mayor Efrim avoided each other’s eyes. “He died a few months ago,” Saorsha said sadly. “Natural causes.”
“Yeah, he just naturally-” Pease started to say. His words abruptly cut off as Master Aylesworthy took an unfortunate trip over a stone and crashed into him. By the time Saorsha and Lucy picked up the kender, set him on his feet, and dusted him off, the conversation had been smoothly changed and the group moved toward the Sheriff’s Office.
Located near the front doors, the office was little more than a large room with a battered wooden desk that had seen many better days, one brass oil lamp, two chairs, and a barred holding cell built into the far corner. There were no personal items possibly belonging to the previous sheriff-no decorations, not even a rug on the bare wooden floors.
“It’s rather plain,” Saorsha admitted, “but it’s functional.”
“Boring is more to the point,” Challie said under her breath.
Lucy tore her eyes away from the bleak, impersonal room and stifled a shudder. “It’s close to noon, let’s get this over with.”
They went back outside into the hot noon sunlight. The crowd had grown larger, giving the impression that half the population of Flotsam had turned out for the brief ceremony to welcome the new sheriff. People pressed in close to the foot of the stairs and gathered in the roadway to watch.
Mayor Efrim held up his hands for silence. The onlookers, curious, obeyed until only the cry of seagulls broke the silence. “Raise your right hand and repeat after me,” he said to Lucy. “I give my oath to serve the city of Flotsam, to uphold the city laws, to keep the peace, and preserve the unity of its inhabitants. I will not abuse my power or authority beyond the law, nor will I break my oath. I solemnly swear.”
Lucy lifted her eyebrows as if to say, “That’s it?” and loudly repeated the oath so all could hear. Cheers and shouts burst out from the watching crowd.
“Good luck, Sheriff!” she heard one voice yell. “You’re going to need it!” Others laughed and made more comments she could not hear clearly over the hubbub.
Saorsha, Ulin, and Pease gave her hugs. She was about to ask Mayor Efrim to give the oath to her two deputies, when she became aware of an odd thudding noise. People in the crowd heard it, too, and immediately turned around to look at the harbor.
A strange small craft was moving across the water toward the small dock that served the city hall. The boat had a wide hull, a single flat deck, and a small cabin that was smoking profusely. There were no sails or masts or oars, only the strangest contraption in the stern that turned like a mill wheel and appeared to be driving the boat forward. Notwen leaned out of a cabin window and waved at the crowd.
A pale glitter of interest flickered in Ulin’s eyes. Spurred by curiosity, he walked down the stairs and pushed his way through the people until he reached the rocky edge of the harbor and the dock. He clambered onto the dock just as the odd craft pulled along side. He heard a whoosh of steam and the knocking sound stopped just as the boat bumped into the wooden piling. Notwen ran out of the cabin and threw Ulin a rope. The gnome grinned his thanks as Ulin snugged the boat close to the dock and tied the rope to a stanchion.
The gnome ducked back inside and came out trailing a long dirty-looking rag. His blue eyes shining, he took Ulin’s proffered hand and clambered onto the dock.
Ulin wanted to ask him questions about the boat, the steam, and the odd wheel in the back, but Notwen jogged off the dock toward the group on the stairs of the city hall. The onlookers parted for him, their expressions a collection of awe, respect, tolerant humor, and some suspicious dislike.
The gnome paid no heed. Breathlessly, he climbed the stairs, Ulin close behind him, and stopped in front of Lucy. His small face was red with exertion and excitement, and his white hair stuck out everywhere.