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He cocked one questioning eyebrow, and the baron nodded in confirmation.
“Excellent! And while they’re doing that, my associates and I will be doing our bit to help. And if anything occurs to us which might help to distract or otherwise occupy Bahzell and Kaeritha, I assure you that we’ll act upon it. With your agreement, I’ll drop back by for another visit in about a week, unless something comes up in the meantime. If something should happen to come to your attention, or if any small way in which we might be of service should occur to you, you know how to get word to me.”
The baron nodded just short of curtly, and the nondescript man rose from his chair.
“In that case, Milord, I’ll bid you good evening,” he said cheerfully, and stepped out of a windowed door onto the rain-swept terrace beyond. One of the baron’s most trusted armsmen was responsible for guarding that door, but no shout of alarm or challenge was raised. Not that the baron thought for a moment that any lack of alertness on his armsman’s part was to blame for that silence.
He watched his visitor disappear, then snorted in irritation, stood, and crossed the study to close the door behind him. Then he continued his interrupted trip towards his bedchamber, considering the conversation which had just ended.
As the other man had said, he reflected, he had a great deal to chew upon before he dropped off to sleep.
Chapter Eight
“Now remember, Soumeta. We need access to Herian and his outlets.”
“I understand that, Theretha.”
“Well, if things are as bad as Jolha
“Theretha,” Soumeta said with exaggerated patience, “I was there when Mayor Yalith discussed the entire trip with you. I know why we’re here, all right?”
Theretha Maglahnfressa bit her tongue. She knew it was only her own anxiety which made her so insistent. But still—
“Maybe I should come along,” she said nervously. “I have met Master Manuar before. Maybe I could—”
“Theretha—!” Soumeta began, then visibly made herself stop and draw a deep breath.
“Look,” she said, in the tone of someone hanging onto her own composure with both hands, “the mayor discussed all of this with us before she sent us out here. She and the Town Council made it abundantly clear that the situation’s gotten so bad that it’s time we took an official position. And I, Theretha, as an officer in the City Guard, have official standing which you do not. As such, I will make the initial contact with the market master, and you won’t. And I promise that I won’t snatch him across the desk and cut his throat, no matter how he provokes me.”
Theretha started to say something more, then closed her mouth with an almost audible snap as Soumeta glared at her. The older woman wasn’t particularly fond of men, especially those in positions of power, in the first place, and her frustration was only too apparent. But Theretha never doubted that it—like the anger which accompanied it—was directed at the situation which had prompted this trip in the first place, and not at her.
Which didn’t make her feel a whole lot better as she nodded acceptance of Soumeta’s orders.
“Good,” Soumeta growled, and Theretha stood huddled in her cloak, tense and unhappy beside the cart, and watched Soumeta stalk into the market master’s office. A couple of townsfolk saw Soumeta coming and got out of her way—promptly. Unlike Theretha, Soumeta wore the war maids’ chari and yathu with no cloak or poncho, despite the drizzly chill. She also wore a grimly determined expression … along with her swords, garrotte, and bandolier of throwing stars. No one was going to mistake her for anything but what she was—a dangerous individual in an unhappy mood—and Theretha wished she could convince herself that that was a good thing.
Her powers of self persuasion didn’t seem to be up to the task, and she didn’t much care for the older war maid’s expression herself, either. Nor did the fact that Soumeta had been nominated for this by Saretha Keralinfressa, the leader of the Council faction most in favor of taking a hard line with Trisu of Lorham, make her feel any better. She knew Mayor Yalith herself had wanted to be sure Kalatha sent someone who would stand up to any attempt at intimidation, but Theretha was worried by the politics of the choice. She couldn’t escape the feeling that the real reason Yalith had put Soumeta in charge had been to blunt the increasingly vocal criticism of her own, less confrontational policies by Saretha’s faction. Theretha was firmly in agreement with the mayor in this instance, and it worried her that Soumeta wasn’t. Then again, she knew she’d never liked any sort of confrontation, whether it was physical or purely verbal, so perhaps she was overreacting.
She folded her delicate, skilled hands under the cloak, rubbing them lightly together for warmth. The spring day had been chilly enough at noon, with the sun directly overhead. Now that late afternoon was shading into evening and the omnipresent clouds of this torrential spring were blowing up once again out of the west, Theretha’s breath was begi
Not for the first time, Theretha wished she’d shown at least some aptitude for the weapons and self-defense training every war maid candidate was required to undergo. Unfortunately, she hadn’t. Her instructors had done their best, but Theretha was a mouse at heart, not a direcat. As Darha
Actually, Theretha agreed with Darha
It was the evidence of the botched, two-day-old miscarriage which had turned the mayor’s suspicious resistance into angry acceptance. To her credit, the mayor hadn’t even suggested that it might be Barthon’s place to “avenge” Theretha. No doubt a good part of that restraint stemmed from the fact that war maids, like their patron Lillinara, believed it was a woman’s own responsibility to seek redress for wrongs done to her. But the horrible, crippling burns Barthon had suffered in the furnace explosion which had killed their father would have prevented him from taking any sort of personal, direct action against their stepfather, and the mayor had recognized that. In fact, she’d offered Barthon a place in Kalatha, and Theretha still wished her brother had accepted the offer.