“Huh. If it’s as costly as you say, and we’re this far down, I might be better going the extra two days’ distance north and taking the shorter run. I’ve taken that one before.”
“Wouldn’t recommend it,” he responded. “Not much government authority up in that area, and a lot of nasties lurking around. Still got those damned zombies about, you know.”
That got Joe’s attention fast. “Zombies? You mean the Master of the Dead is still going?”
“Sure. Where have you been? His advance stopped about six months ago, and he actually withdrew a bit, consolidating his gains, but he’s still powerful and nobody’s been able to take anything back yet. It’s a miracle he stopped his advance at all, but he’s sure to start up again sooner or later. Rumor has it he reached the limit of how many of the walking dead he could control or maybe how big an area of “em he could control. Sooner or later he’ll make a deal with some principalities or others and get what he needs, though, mark my words! I sure wouldn’t be going north right now!”
They pressed on, but Irving wanted to know the details.
“His name is Sugasto, and sooner or later I’ve got a score to settle with him,” Joe told the boy. “I met the dirty weasel on our first quest here. An oilier traitor I don’t think I’ve ever met. Even the old Dark Baron was a gentleman compared to this guy. Ruling over corpses is only one of his tricks, but a good one. Hard as hell to kill somebody who’s already dead. His other little trick of snatching your soul from your body and putting it in a jar is one reason why Tiana’s in the body she’s in and caused us all sorts of problems. That was a trick he even taught the Baron. If you get close to him, your soul will wind up in one of his wine cellars and he’ll be free to play games with your body. Funny. Old Ruddygore said he would be easy to take care of with the Baron out of the way. I don’t like the sound of it.”
“Why not?”
“Well, that second ferry’s just below Castle Terindell on the Marquewood side. If Sugasto’s got control down about to the other side there, that means he’s only stuck because of Ruddy-gore, and that means that he’s pretty much got our old patron in a stalemate and he’s trying to figure a way to break it before going further. I don’t want to run into him just yet. The last time I was but for the count in a bottle, and when Marge found the bottles of all of us, they didn’t have any labels on them. We wound up being poured back into the wrong bodies, and the one I drew was one I don’t want to have to detail.”
He worried about Tiana being out of sight ahead, but just before sunset she came back to them down the trail, breathing hard but not looking out of sorts at all. They took the next turnout to the river, and set up camp for the night. While doing so, Joe gave Tiana the news from the traveler.
“Well, then, we must take this ferry,” she told them. “We don’t dare get near his territory right now, particularly if somebody recognizes us, and we must assume he’s got a pretty good intelligence service.”
Joe sighed. “Well, converting the silver and the copper, we’ve got maybe four gold pieces. We’re two short, and if those traders at the landing are the kind that usually are at places like that, we’ll get no more than one for a horse, bur pay three on the other side to get somebody else’s horse, and it’s another sixty or seventy miles easy to Terindell once we get over.”
She thought about it. “Well, if we sell them one of the horses, and with the silver converted, we should make it. I can run part way and double up with Irving, here, for the distance. Of course, there’s usually a bar or cafe at these landings, too. Maybe I could dance.”
“Uh-uh. Not on this side, anyway,” Joe responded quickly. “No chance of a getaway if things get wild. We might take our chances over there, but not here.”
She shrugged. “Well, we’ll see what the situation is when we get there.”
They built a small fire and had some of the provisions, and Joe was already yawning. “Damn! Too big a night last night and not enough sleep after. I’m ready to fall over right now!”
“You go ahead, then,” she told him. “I want to wind down a little more yet, then I’ll join you.”
By this time the entire region was in pitch darkness; there was no moon, and the stars provided very little decent illumination.
Joe was soon snoring away as usual, but Irving was having problems getting to sleep. He was just starting to drift off when he heard something and came awake. Dimly, by the thin light the dying fire gave, he could see Tiana putting a bridle on her horse. He got up and went over to her.
“What’s up?”
“Shhh… Don’t wake Joe. If I’m lucky he’ll never know I’ve gone and I’ll be back long before he wakes up.”
“But where are you going?” he whispered.
“Up to the landing. It’s only about a half-hour by horse. I know—I saw the boat leave before I came back from the bluff just ahead.”
“You want me to come with you?”
“No. Stay here. Get some rest, and watch over the provisions.”
“But—what you gonna do?”
“Never mind. I’11 make a deal with you. I didn’t go anywhere but to sleep tonight, and you came straight back to camp last night. Period. Okay?”
She had him there.
“But—”
“No buts. I want to get a move on. I’ve just been waiting until he was out. Don’t worry. This is my turf, as you say.”
Irving watched her ride off, not quite knowing what to do. The fact was, this wasn’t her turf; she didn’t know that place ahead, but he knew the kind of people most likely to be around there at night. They’d run from them last night. She was off doin’ some fool thing with nobody to protect her at all.
It felt, well, dishonest, somehow. Sure, he’d had his little thing last night, but it wasn’t the same. He was a guy, and she was, well, married.
Now he had three choices: follow her on the quiet and see what was what and be there to bail her out if she needed it, do as she said, or wake Dad and betray her—and himself. He’d rather not face his father on that, even if he was an adult by Husaquahrian standards at thirteen, so the last one was out. Besides, he might be pissed off at her, too. But he couldn’t just, well, sit here, even if he didn’t like the idea of riding this road in the dark.
He got his horse, put on a bridle and blanket, and headed off in the direction of the landing as quietly as possible.
She beat him by a fair amount of time, of course; he was very cautious, knowing he didn’t have much experience in riding and yet wouldn’t be much good to her if he fell off the road and in the river and killed his horse or maybe broke his own neck. Her horse was tied up at the landing when he approached it.
It wasn’t all that much. A few small buildings, hardly a big deal. The biggest of them was apparently the pawn shop or whatever the equivalent was here; it probably also sold souvenirs. The other place was lit up, though, and from the sounds it appeared to be some kind of bar or nightclub. He tethered his horse away from the landing and crept down to it, then peered inside.
It was a bar, or, rather, what they called an inn here—a small bar and restaurant area, with a few rooms for rent either in back or upstairs. She was in there all right, and she was having a good old time with three or four guys, both doing some playful dancing and getting real suggestive with them. She was lying there at one point, real suggestive and seductive on this table, and one guy was feeding her grapes and stuff!
He knew now exactly what her Majesty was doing, and he didn’t know what to do about it. If Mama could be believed, which was always a question, she’d broken up with Dad after finding out he had a whole string of girls on the road. Of course, she wasn’t no slouch in that department, either, but the only memories of her like that was after the split. Dad had kind of admitted some of it, but claimed Mama was never a one-guy woman and they both knew it straight out at the start and that she’d taken up with this guy who was superjealous and she’d taken the new guy’s side in things and that led to the split. He wasn’t sure, but he sure never liked it the way it was while he was growing up.