Gerik sighed. Serafina's coming meant having her husband hard on her heels, and Gerik would not thereafter be truly master in his own father's house until Grimsoar and Serafina returned to the village. That was one reason why he was glad his father had not asked Grimsoar to resume his office during Pirvan's absence; the old sailor and thief would have been as firmly in command as any sworn knight.
Before Gerik could choose a messenger, he heard a band of horsemen approaching at a canter. He turned to sec his guards also hastily turning their mounts to stand between their chief and the newcomers. They did it with a precision and order that spoke well for their discipline, which had plainly returned now that the novelty of visiting kender had worn off.
The approaching riders also numbered five, all with breastplates, helmets, and swords. One carried what was either a lance or a banner, and all wore red and green armbands.
Those colors did nothing to ease Gerik's mind. They were the colors of House Dirivan, who held extensive lands in the area. They had also been well to the lead in fortifying their estates, and had been notoriously friendly to the kingpriests for three generations.
Gerik was prepared to order the riders off his father's land on sight. He reined in his temper, however, so that he thought his first words came out with an air of reason about them. "Greetings, men of House Dirivan," Gerik said steadily. "What grave matter brings you here in such haste, on a day when a fair sky has not yet dried the roads?"
One of the men started to reply, but another made a chopping gesture that silenced him.
"We come for Ellysta," the second man said. "Hand her over, and there's no trouble for you, or for the kender."
Gerik thought the first might be the truth, but that the second reeked of lies. It was hard to tell what the kender thought, because they suddenly started scurrying around as if all of them had been taken with the purple itch, or a bad case of fleas.
Gerik saw neither plan nor purpose in their movements, until he suddenly realized that they were spreading out, so that they all had good shots but were a bad target themselves. Definitely these five were a trained war band, pretending to be the usual foolish, even witless kender that small minds expected. Proof of that: the five House Dirivan men were laughing aloud, one so hard that he could hardly stay in his saddle.
Gerik drew everyone's attention by drawing his dagger and rapping it against his sword scabbard. "Have you proof of your right to take Lady Ellysta?" he asked.
"We are House Dirivan, and one under our protection has been injured by her," the leader said.
"I should say that all the injuries were not on one side," Gerik replied. "Unless she was the one under your protection. If so, I think you need some help with the task."
Among the men passed looks that made Gerik raise his hand to keep his own men from drawing swords and nocking, arrows. He decided to try one last time at settling the matter with words.
"If you have proof of that right," Gerik said, "I will not land up for a criminal. My father holds land under the laws of Istar, and both as landholder and knight he obeys them. But if you lack-"
Five sets of spurs dug into five flanks. Then two kender began whirling their hoopaks, and five horses suddenly began dancing about at the weird howling from the kender instruments. Some of the Tirabot mounts also pecked and tossed their heads, but they had been trained to endure weirder sounds than hoopaks, at least with riders on their backs.
Meanwhile, the other three kender seemed to have vanished.
Before Gerik could wonder where they had gone, two of them reappeared, behind and in front of the leader's horse. The one behind prodded the horse in the haunches with his spear. The horse shrieked and reared. Its rider parted company with his mount and landed with a crash.
Before he could regain his wind or his feet, the other kender-the woman, Gerik saw-had the point of her spear at his throat. Her eyes were on the four House Dirivan men who were still mounted. Her voice would have made icicles drip from a knight's mustache. "Ellysta is in the hands of someone who promises justice," the kender woman said. "We know justice. He knows justice. You do not. Go away, now, or take this one with a hole in his throat when you go."
At a signal from Gerik, his own mounted men rode forward to disarm the House Dirivan riders. It was as well to do this before folly, pride, or mere disbelief that a human would fight for kender led them to try riding the kender down.
Swiftness prevented bloodshed; Gerik had often heard his father say this could happen, but it was the first time he had seen it happen by his own orders.
Once the men were disarmed and their leader remounted, Gerik faced them. "We do know justice here at Tirabot," he said, "and I will not stand in its path. You may know it too, but if so, then come with proof next time. Your deeds today have made me wonder.
"You will have your weapons back when you reach the borders of Tirabot land. As soon as I speak with Lady Ellysta, I shall write to your master, likewise to my father."
"That's right," gasped the leader. "Spread her lies across-"
He stopped, because the kender woman was looking at him again. She said something in her own speech, which made all the kender laugh-rather grimly, Gerik thought-then translated: "It seems you have so many holes in your head already that all the sense drained out, so I couldn't have hurt you by making one more. I'll remember that next time."
Gerik led the escort as far as the road. By the time he returned to Ellysta, she had fainted, but Serafina had arrived and she and the kender woman were busily applying salves and dressings.
"I don't suppose there's such a thing as a horse litter about," Serafina said. Her tone made it plain that it was too much to expect such a thing of mere men, and warriors at that.
"There is, and I will send for it," Gerik said.
"Good," Serafina said. "Oh, and for a few days at least, I advise keeping men away from Ellysta. Those rogues-or some like them-gave her reason to fear men."
Horimpsot Elderdrake reached Tirabot Manor long after dark and completely covered with mud. He had fallen into a bog making his final escape from his pursuers, and had first thought to find a stream and wash. After all, Shumeen seemed to look on him with some favor that might turn into more. She would not be happy if he returned black as the dregs of tarberry tea.
Then he realized that he would be reaching the manor well after dark. The blacker he was, the harder he would be to see, even for alert sentries. The guards were keeping a close watch, but not close enough to spy out a kender clad in mud and dark clothing. As soon as he was safely within the guarded area, Elderdrake washed himself roughly at the handiest well. Now his earthy disguise would be more trouble than help, whereas if he appeared to be just another roughly-clad kender, the humans would take him for one of Ellysta's companions. Elderdrake had discovered that a good many humans could barely tell one kender from another.
Shumeen looked as happy to see him as he had hoped, but they had no time for words alone. Elderdrake was supplied with cold sausage and warmed-over soup, while the other kender took turns telling him of their day.
"So Gerik believes Ellysta?" he asked, finally.
Shumeen spread her hands and said, "He believes what Serafina tells him Ellysta said. He does not speak with her himself, because he and the other men are staying out of her chambers for a while.
"Why shouldn't they believe her, anyway?" Shumeen added "It's true. It wouldn't seem true if you didn't know how strange humans are about possessions, but kender are born knowing that."
Elderdrake nodded. Ellysta's situation had come about because a widowed friend of hers had fallen afoul of friends of the kingpriest. The widow had been taken away, and her flocks were supposed to have gone to one of those friends of the kingpriest.