One of the women called something rude after him, and was rewarded with a low wave of laughter. He hurried on, trying not to look as if he hurried. Ki was probably halfway to the gate by now. He'd checked it out earlier; it was a proper gate in the crumbling remains of the city wall of the inevitable mud brick. Manned by Brurjan troops, too. They'd best all be on the wagon with their proper papers to present when they went through.
The next tavern was of better quality, but no more welcoming. The innman regarded Vandien suspiciously despite the small piece of silver he rolled up and down the table. A boy? Yes, there had been a strange boy in here, telling lies about riding with the Romni and facing down a whole patrol of Brurjan troops. They needed none of that kind of talk around here. This was a peaceful tavern, and folk left their troubles outside the door. No, he didn't know where the boy had gone, and didn't care, either. Strangers were nothing but trouble, what with half of them being thieves and the other half rebel spies a man could get hung just for talking to. Less this innman saw of strangers, the better he liked it. He liked his local trade, yes he did, and the Brurjan troops who dropped in for blood and milk at the turn of theirshifts, which was pretty soon, yes, and he'd be glad to see them as he always was ...
Vandien took the hint, but let the coin fall flat and stay. He didn't like the way the local patrons gazed after him as he left. They were burly working men, with one small group of wiry-locked Callistri in one corner. None of them lifted their gazes from the drink-ringed tables, but there wouldn't be one of them who wouldn't be able to describe him to anyone who asked.
Clear of the tavern, he turned the corner and hastened through the yard of a livery stable. The next tavern was only a few blocks away, if he remembered correctly, and ...
A bray of laughter, followed by a girl's giggle, stopped him in his tracks. He turned slowly, but saw nothing. Yet that laugh, he was sure, was Goat's. The stable was an open affair, not much more than a thatched roof held up by dark beams. A pair of oxen chewed their cuds and regarded him with calm brown eyes. In the next stall an old mule dozed, its muzzle nearly touching the ground. Beyond him was a rick of bleached yellow straw, straw that suddenly shifted with another giggle.
'Goat!' Vandien barked with sudden certainty.
The boy's head popped up from the straw. His checks were very red, and his mouth was wet. The girl's head appeared more slowly. Her eyes were round and wide. As she met Vandien's stare, a blush rosed her cheeks. But Goat grinned delightedly as if an audience had been all that had been lacking to complete his pleasure. 'Pretty little poppet, isn't she?' he asked Vandien roguishly as he emerged from the straw, dragging his conquest with him. He began to refasten his loosened clothing. 'I'll bet you wish you had done as well today.'
Vandien looked aside, disappointment so sharp in him it made him feel sick. Goat shamed him. He'd believed better of him. There was an innocent eagerness in the girl's eyes. She was pretty only with the fleeting beauty every girl has on the brink of womanhood. Her narrow nose and chin would seem sharp when lines came into her face, and the generous young breasts she was now struggling to hide would soon hang like pouches on her chest. Vandien had seen thousands like her; it struck him as tragic that she had spent the brief wonder of her virginity on Goat.
'It's time to leave,' he told Goat in a tight-lipped voice. 'I've been looking for you. Ki's waiting on us.'
But Goat was still strutting too high to hear the anger in Vandien's voice. He gave a theatrical sigh. 'So, my little love, then it must be over. Remember me well.' He gave a dirty little laugh. 'I'll certainly remember you!'
Vandien glanced up in time to see the girl's face shatter. In that one brief instant her prettiness popped like a fragile bubble. 'But ...' she stammered. 'But I'm going with you. I dreamed it, last night. First this, and then how we would ride out of the city together, on the tall white mares ...' She saw the truth in Vandien's agonized embarrassment. 'You came in my dreams,' she whispered in horror. 'It has to be true!'
'Ah, well!' Goat's voice was bluff and hearty as a tavern boaster's. 'That's the way it is, missy. A man has to have what a man must have. And certainly you seemed willing to give it! Vandien, old man, you've never had a gallop like that! It's a thing no man could resist! I'm sorry if you were deceived, little love, but a man can scarcely refuse ...'
'Not a man.' Vandien's voice was cold. A goat. I'm sorry, miss.' He fumbled an instant at his belt, then saw her eyes and stopped. A gift of coin could only make it worse. He had nothing else to give her,except a look of sympathy.
'There, there, let this brighten your face, then,' Goat said in a masterful way. Vandien glimpsed the handful of coppers he was ready to scatter, and something in him broke. He backhanded the boy, heard the coppers ring on the wooden planked floor at the same instant that Goat struck it with a thud.
Vandien hauled the dazed boy to his feet. As he dragged him from the stable, Goat came to life. His eyes flashed with green glints of anger. He jerked free of Vandien's grip and stood independent. A thin trickle of blood was starting at the corner of his mouth. 'Who do you think you are?' he demanded shrilly. 'You can't treat me this way! You're nothing but a hired carter, paid to take me where I want to go! And I'll say when we leave! Me! I'm the one who paid for this trip! And if you ever treat me so again, you'll be very sorry. Very, very sorry! Think what could happen to you and your precious Ki if I told the Brurjan guards what I know! You'd be very sorry, but it would be too late! So watch your step, man, or ...'
Vandien had his weight behind it, and it was his fist this time, not his open hand. Goat dropped solidly. The boy was heavy, but there was a lot of satisfaction in dragging him by his collar. He only wished his ribs didn't ache so. And that his heart didn't ache for the sobbing girl.
EIGHT
The stars were very bright and more numerous than Vandien had ever seen. His head was pillowed on a bundled quilt and the earth beneath him was warm. Satisfaction flowed through him as comfortingly as his own blood. He listened to the crackling of the fire and the horses' teeth grinding the rough dry grass. Laundry draped on the low-growing bushes made friendly ghosts in the night.
Ki's silhouette came between him and the firelight. 'It was stupid,' she informed him. Her knees cracked as she squatted down beside him. He took her mug of tea and stole a sip from it.
'Necessary.' He felt too lazy to even make complete sentences. The long tension of the day had taken its toll. Now that it was finally eased, he felt both incredibly sleepy and very smug. Too smug to trade words with Ki. Besides, the argument was already old.
'Stupid. If I hadn't stopped and pretended to be taking a stone out of Sigmund's hoof, you would never have caught up with us. Dragging him like a sack of potatoes. You couldn't have attracted more attention if you'd been blowing a horn.'
'A diversion,' he said lazily. 'Carefully planned. The Brurjans at the gate were too busy asking me why the boy was unconscious to wonder what might be inside the wagon. No smuggler in his right mind would go out of the gate like that.'
'Hmm.' Ki sipped at her mug. 'I put a poultice of cold tea leaves on it, but his face is going to be purple. We'll be lucky if the bruises fade before we get to Villena.'
'I'm truly distressed to hear that,' Vandien said laconically. 'You should be. What if he had come to at the gate and made good on his threats? Or what if a patrol stops us again? He's still furious. He's full of low names for you. He must have told me two dozens times that you were going to be very sorry you'd treated him that way. I was glad to get out of the wagon and leave him there. You should see his jaw. It's a wonder he can talk at all.'