The Thief's Gamble

'It's all right.' I wriggled free of the cloak's folds. 'I can sit up front.'

Shiv smiled at me. 'Are you sure?'

I yawned. 'I can doze as we go, I've done it before. Ow!' The hard edge of a book dug me in the ribs and I yelped.

'What is it?' Geris looked around wildly.

'These.' I reached into my tunic and pulled out the books. 'I must have been tired to sleep on this lot!'

Shiv's eyes brightened as he saw the titles of the volumes but Darni reappeared as he was about to open the first one. He tucked them inside a linen sack and put them in this saddlebag.

'I've paid the reckoning, so let's be on our way. No one's seen Livak so let's keep it that way and leave everyone thinking we're the dyestuff traders we claim to be.'

That made sense of the locked coffers and setting a guard. I looked at Darni with the faint stirrings of respect; maybe he had hidden talents.

Geris drove off and I dozed. I can sleep anywhere as long as I feel safe, with the possible exception of the top of a carriers' coach, but this was no trouble since Geris was driving as if he had a cargo of eggs and the road was in good repair. By the time we stopped to rest the horses at noon, I was well refreshed and interested to see what the next stop on this deranged trip would be. I did not have long to wait.

We were not far short of the Eyhorne border when Darni led us off down a side road. We crested a rise to see a small knot of buildings beside a tree-fringed lake. The squat bulbous chimneys of kilns rose above the roofs of workshops and trailed plumes of dirty smoke into the blue sky.

'Darni!' A heavily built man in clay-stained shirt and breeches emerged from a low shed and waved to us. He turned and yelled across the water to a lad fishing from a low bough.

'Seyn, come here! My son will see to your horses,' he explained. 'Come on inside.'

He registered my presence and acknowledged me with a courteous nod. 'I'm Travor, welcome to my home.'

He helped Darni with the first coffer while Geris and Shiv took the second into the solid brick-built house at the centre of the cluster. I trailed on behind into a large kitchen where a pink-faced woman about my own age was kneading bread at a well-scrubbed table while a bevy of equally well-scrubbed children played around her feet on the tiled floor.

'Shiv!' Her pleasure at seeing him was obvious as she kissed him on the cheek, carefully holding her floury hands to one side. 'Hello Darni, and Geris, how are you?'

'Very well, thank you.'

'Geris!' The children swarmed round him and I saw there were five of them, ranging from a slender blonde miss who reached his waist to a determined crawler who seemed certain he could walk despite evidence to the contrary. One a year by the look of things, and from our hostess's thick waist I'd bet the potter had a firing in her kiln again. She wiped her hands on her apron.

'I'm Harna, you're very welcome.'

'Livak.' I offered my hand and she shook it.

'So, how long are you stopping?' She put the dough aside to rise under a clean cloth and turned to Darni.

'Tonight, then we'll be on our way.'

Shiv interrupted. 'We could do with a little longer, I think, Harna. Livak acquired us some books as well as the item, Darni. They could be very useful and I'd like Conall's opinion.'

Darni shot me the first sour look of the day. 'I see. We'll discuss it later,' he said in a tone which promised unpleasantness. He paused for a moment then stalked out into the yard.

Harna ignored him and looked at me more closely. 'You look tired, let me show you to your room. How about a bath?'

'That would be wonderful.' I followed her eagerly, leaving Geris sharing sugar-fruits out among the children and Shiv busying himself with bread and cold meat from the pantry.

'Everyone seems at home here,' I commented as we went up the narrow stairs.

Harna laughed. 'I've seen more of Darni in the last two seasons than I have in the last six years. I don't mind, it's for a good cause.'

I resisted the temptation to probe further.

'What are you doing with them?' She clearly had no such qualms.

'Oh, this and that.'

She nodded and let the matter drop.

'Here's your room.' Harna opened a low door into a small chamber tucked under the eaves. I breathed in the lavender scent of the spotless linen and nearly fell asleep on the spot.

'It's lovely, thank you.' It was too. The washstand had a jug and bowl of lustre ware that would have commanded top coin in Vanam, the walls were lime-washed a subtle pink and the small casement was framed by neat linen curtains.

'The bath's this way.' Harna showed me down another stair to a tiled room with a huge tub and a drain cunningly set into the floor.

'This is very fine,' I observed. She smiled.

'Travor likes to make things efficient. When you're bathing seven children, it can be like a ford on the Dalas in here.'

Seven? Drianon save me!

Travor entered with a huge kettle of steaming water. 'I'd say more like a storm on the Caladhrian Gulf myself.'

He poured the water into the tub and I looked at it greedily. 'Thank you. Are you sure I'm not taking too much hot water?'

Travor shook his head. 'The are kilns working today and I

built coppers beside them to use the heat. We can bathe you all and still have plenty over.'

He left and Harna reappeared with soft towels. 'Enjoy yourself,' she said as she closed the door.

I certainly did. There were bottles of scented oils on a shelf and I found some essence of Grassgild, one of my favourites. Soaking in the fragrant water and being able to wash my hair improved life enormously. When the water grew cool I dragged myself out reluctantly and dashed in a towel back to my chamber, where clean shirt and linen completed my transformation.

The house was quiet. I could hear the children playing somewhere off in the distance and a cart rumbled out of the yard. I stretched out on the goose-feather bed and reached into my scrip for the book I'd held back from Shiv. On the Lost Arts of Tormalin. Sounded promising, I thought.

I opened it and began to pick my way through the narrow script; it was not easy going. We all speak Tormalin in Ensaimin but it's the common tongue. This text was in the Old High dialect, the language that had held the Empire together. I frowned over the oddly accented words, trying to decipher the intonation marks over and above the lines. I yawned and rubbed my eyes. This was too hard so I contented myself with looking at the section headings: On Astronomy, On Mathematics, On Refining Ore, On Oculism, On Pharmacopoeia, On Oratory.

Not exactly intriguing. I'm not sure how soon I fell asleep but when I woke to a gentle knock on the door the sky outside the window was soft with the pink and orange of dusk.

'Livak? It's Harna. I'm just going to call them all in for dinner. Are you coming down?'

'Yes, thanks. I'll be with you in a moment.'

As I went down the stairs, I could hear Shiv and Darni in the kitchen. I waited to hear what they were saying.

'I don't like her making decisions on her own like that,' Darni was grumbling.

'Well she could hardly come and get our approval, could she? That old man was going to notice the thing had gone, wasn't he? Taking some of the books might just make the

Watch think it was a chance robbery, someone trying their luck. Recluses like that always get the reputation of being misers; I bet half the town reckon he sits on secret chests of Empire Marks. With any luck, they'll decide someone broke in and just grabbed the nearest things that might be valuable.'

'You think she thought that far ahead? Anyway, how many people in Drede would know the value of books like these?' Darni's tone was scornful.