Arrows Of Change (Book 1) (19 page)

With a cautious look to either side, he leaned in and asked
in a confidential tone, “A pretty lass ye be.”

“My thanks for the compliment. Ashlynn Fallbright.” She introduced
herself before extending a hand to indicate Broden. “My partner, Broden
Ravenscroft.”

The man bobbed his head at Broden in greeting, which the
archer amicably returned. “Jeri. Nice to meet both of you. Was it rough,
getting here?”

Ashlynn gave him an unamused look. “Does it look like I had
a pleasant trip?”

Jeri eyed what he could see of them before his smile went
lopsided. “Apparently not. Still, you all got here in one piece? Well, that’s a
blessing all by itself, then.”

“Aye, lad, it be that.” Broden sat on one of the open
barstools, wincing slightly as his sore posterior met with a hard, unyielding
surface. Gods above and below, but the trip here be hard enough to age a man
ten years. He did not want to think about what the return trip would be like.

Blinking at his accent, Jeri asked slowly, “I’m sorry, where
are you from?”

“Cloud’s Rest,” Broden supplied.

“Ohhh. Now I know why you talk more like a Trenenian. The
people in Cloud’s Rest were originally from here, right?”

“Right,” Broden agreed readily.

Ashlynn tapped her knuckles against the wooden bar. “Jeri,
enough pleasantries. I’ve ridden hard for two weeks to know.
Where are my
sisters?
”

“As to that,” Jeri rubbed at the back of his neck and looked
more than a mite sheepish, “I’m not entirely sure where all three of them are.”

Ashlynn’s voice turned menacingly flat. “What do you mean,
you’re not sure where all three of them are?”

Jeri shrugged, hands splayed in a helpless gesture. “That’s
why my note said that all three of them are in
Lorand
. I can confirm
that all three were brought in through the gates, and none of them left the
city, but I don’t know where they were all put. I found Bria, at least. Two
witnesses put her in the old abbey. But it’s nothing more than an assumption
that they put the other two in there with her. I can’t prove it.”

Now that was a problem. Broden rubbed his jaw thoughtfully.
“If no’ there, where else would the girls be?”

“That’s the problem,” Jeri groused. “This city is riddled
with places to stash hostages where no one would think it odd. The only reason
the abbey stuck in anyone’s mind is because she was obviously not Terenian.
Lugh isn’t exactly a popular god with Ishyians.”

“So if they took in the other two under cover of darkness…”
Broden trailed off.

“Then no one would have noticed,” Jeri finished sourly.
“Hence, no witnesses or trail for me to follow. I can tell you this—while
waiting for you to arrive, I’ve searched every other likely place that I can
think of, and I can’t find them elsewhere in the city. Now, that could be
because they have some hidey hole that I don’t know about, which wouldn’t
surprise me. But I still put the odds of all three of them being in the abbey.”

Broden could accept that it was likely; aye, he had no
problem with that. But he did not believe in betting people’s lives with a
likely
.
He eyed Ashlynn from the corner of his eye, and saw her jaw set in a grim line.
Ah, the lass apparently shared his view on the matter. “Still and all, man, we
need to be sure afore we move.”

“Oh, I agree,” Jeri responded, hands held up in a placating
manner. “I did my best to figure it out before you got here, but I could only
ask so many questions before people became suspicious of me. At a certain
point, I had to stop. I can’t give you any idea what the abbey’s like inside,
or what the guard schedules is like, unfortunately. I do know where they
regularly have dinner when they get off shift, though. If you go there, you
should be able to get a headcount of how many they are and when shifts change.”

Ashlynn looked frustrated to the point of murder. Broden put
a hand on her shoulder in a steadying gesture before he encouraged Jeri with a
wave of the head. “Give us the names of those places then, lad. But I think it
best we all take a breather.”

Jerking in her seat, Ashlynn whipped around, mouth open to
launch a protest.

He held up a hand, forestalling her. “Lass, our stomachs be
growling, our clothes worn from travel, and we stink of horse. Now I ask ye,
what sort of man would be willing to speak to a stranger that looks as we do? A
clean, respectable man be the sort to confide in, not traveling vagabonds.”

From that mulish expression on her face, she really wanted
to argue. But she must have seen the logic in it, and clamped her mouth shut
instead. With a tight, mutinous nod she finally acquiesced. “Fine. One hour. I
won’t wait longer than that, so people had best move quickly.”

“I’ll get you some rooms,” Jeri volunteered. “How many?”

“There be seven of us altogether, lad. Three women.”

“Right. We’ve got room enough to spare, then. I’ll fetch you
some room keys. Bath’s down this hallway and to your left.” Jeri skedaddled before
Ashlynn’s temper blew.

The rest of the group joined them at this point. Keeping a
wary eye on his partner, Broden filled them in. None of them looked
particularly overjoyed by this lack of news, but they weren’t particularly
surprised either. They’d known from the beginning that if their spy had known
more, surely he would have said more, no matter how expensive it was to send by
magical post. Aye, the price of each word was dear, but it wasn’t that dear,
that the man couldn’t spare another sentence or two.

The team took it better than Ashlynn, and made up plans on
how they would try to find more information. Jeri came back with the keys; they
divided up eight rooms amongst them, and then went about getting baths and meals.
Broden had a private word with Jeri, asking for a bottle of ligament, which the
lad silently supplied with a sympathetic smile. Bless him for his
understanding.

Broden was not a man to dawdle when it came to washing up.
This was one of the few times in his life, however, when he had a proper tub
and steaming hot water to wash in, instead of a chilly stream. He might have
sat there a minute or five and enjoyed the heat on his sore muscles. When he
finally did drag himself free, he applied the ligament liberally before pulling
on a clean set of clothes. He pulled his hair back in a low ponytail, then
trimmed his beard to where it outlined his face. The mirror showed a
respectable looking man, and he gave the reflection a wink before exiting the
steamy room.

Everyone seemed to be more or less on the same schedule, as
he saw others coming out of the bathing chambers and heading for the main room.
They chose a table by default, as it was the only empty one large enough to
hold them all, and sank into the chairs. Broden called out, “A pretty lass with
hot food be a welcome sight!”

One of the serving girls waved a hand in acknowledgement and
called back, “A pleasure it be to serve a fine, handsome man like yerself. A
moment, I’ll be.”

Tant leaned in closer and said, “That has to be the
strangest way to request food I’ve ever heard.”

Oh? Had he forgotten to explain this earlier in his quick
cultural lessons? Belike he had, as Ashlynn had barely given him ten minutes to
teach them. “Aye, lad, Estolians do no’ do this. But lend me yer ear. When ye
request things, even a simple thing such as the time of day, ye pay a
compliment. It no’ be a question at all, y’see, but a statement of yer own
preference, and a compliment to the person ye be speaking to.”

Amber leaned across the table to hear him better. “So, give
us an example of how you’d ask for information.”

Broden pondered for a moment before offering, “It be a
pleasure to meet a fine, observant woman such as yerself. I’ve come in search
of me sisters, rumored to be in this city, but I’ve no notion if what I heard be
truth or not.”

She nodded, obviously making a mental note on that. “So,
compliment first, then the request.”

“Eh, more or less. As long as the compliment be wedged in
there somewhere, ye will be fine.” Broden considered the matter, trying to
think if he’d forgotten anything else important, before adding, “One more
thing. If ye see a way to help them, no matter how small, do it without asking.
Just pitch in, as if ye be in yer own home. Trenenians do no’ think highly of
people that ask something for nothing. Ye be more likely to gain their trust if
ye exchange favor for favor.”

“Ask the storekeepers first,” Konrath added quietly. “They
hear more gossip than anyone else, and are more likely to know something.”

Broden nodded in support of this. “Aye, that be fine
advice.”

Platters of steaming food, most of it varieties of meats and
breads, arrived and were set on the table. Broden’s mouth started watering.
Having a hot meal was a luxury none of them had enjoyed for near two weeks now.
“Ah, lass, ye bring joy to a man’s heart, ye do.”

The serving girl, a young woman with reddish hair and
freckles, gave him a wink. “If ye run short, ye call me and I’ll bring ye more.
If ye do no’ mind me saying so, ye have seen quite a bit of road the past few
days.”

“Aye,” he acknowledged with a grim smile. He might as well
start gathering information now. “Lass, it be a kindness if ye be bringing us
more of that chilled cider.”

The girl blinked, not expecting to hear something like this
from a foreigner, then gave her a bright smile. “Not kindness at all. I’ll
bring it straight out.”

“A fine lass ye be, and thankful we be,” Broden praised her.

Blushing, she waved this away before bouncing off, going to
the next table and topping off their pints.

In the time that Ashlynn had taken to clean up and change
clothes, she must have cooled down enough to realize that searching on an empty
stomach was not the best of plans. She came and sat down in the chair next to
Broden without a word, filling up her plate with a heaping spoonful from each
platter.

With some food in her stomach, he dared to ask the obvious
question. “Now, lass, how should we split up so as to start the search?”

Some of Ashlynn’s usual good humor flashed across her face.
“You know, Broden, I
can
find them without asking the whole city first.”

He blinked at her. “Ye can?”

“Aye.” She smirked, enjoying mimicking his speech. “It no’
be a difficult matter for a wizard such as meself.”

“Be that right,” he deadpanned. “So how does a woman of such
talent as yerself go about such a thing?”

“I have a locator spell that I use in situations like this.”

Marissa, clearly familiar with this, asked uncertainly, “I
thought you had to have something that belonged to that person, or an object of
affinity, like their blood or hair. You have something like that for all three
of them?”

Ashlynn’s mouth was full so she simply nodded confirmation.

“Really? What?”

Swallowing, the wizard replied simply, “A vial of Edvard’s
blood.”

“Ohhh,” the whole table chorused in understanding. Broden
would have joined them, if he’d known that Ashlynn could do such a thing.

“Lass, if you can search them out like this, then why no’ do
it afore?”

“I can’t search a large distance,” she explained succinctly,
still eating as quickly as she could manage. “About fifty miles is my limit.”

So finding them in a foreign country would have been
impossible for her. He nodded understanding. She must have foreseen, though,
that once she was here she might need to pinpoint their exact location since
she took the trouble to draw some of Edvard’s blood and bring it with her.

“I’ll focus on confirming where my sisters are,” she
informed the table. “What I need you to do is get the rest of the information
that we need.”

“How many guards are on schedule, when they change shifts,
the layout of the abbey, and the quickest escape route from the city once we
have them,” Konrath half-guessed, half-stated.

“Exactly.” Ashlynn frowned. “I don’t know that we can get
the layout of the abbey from just speaking to people, though. We might need to
send someone in and have them take a look.”

Tant, finished with his food, sat back with a squeak of
wood. “Which god or goddess is that abbey for?”

“Lugh,” Broden supplied.

“Huh. They normally take anyone willing to serve, I
understand. Lugh is not really that popular a god. If we say that one of us is
interested, and wants to take a tour to see what being a servant of Lugh is
like, wouldn’t they at least let us in through the main door?”

“I’d think so.” Konrath frowned thoughtfully, brows drawing
together in concentration. “If nothing else, it’ll give us a clear picture of
the main part of the abbey.”

Broden rubbed at his jaw. “Better than walking in blind, I
grant ye that.”

Ashlynn scraped up the last bit of her food as she ordered,
“Go talk to Jeri. He knows the guards’ favorite haunts. Start there, get
whatever information you can, then report back by dinner. I’ll have a firm
location on my sisters by then. Broden, I need you to stay with me.”

He quirked an eyebrow at her, somewhat surprised by this.
Ashlynn was fiercely independent by nature, so unless it was dangerous, she
normally didn’t keep him so close to her. “Aye, that I will.”

Scrapping back her chair, she stood and made shooing motions
to everyone still seated. They obediently scattered at her direction. Broden
got up as well and followed her down the hallway to her room.

Ashlynn had been the odd one out, the only one to not share
a room. With her foul mood, no one had really wanted to share an enclosed space
with her. She had not argued the point with them either, simply taken the key
before separating. This room was not anything more than the others. It had a
four poster bed, thick rug on the floor, a narrow window, and a chest at the
baseboard.

She went directly to the saddlebags draped over the bed and
dug out a small glass vial that easily fit inside her hand. When she turned,
she motioned with a wave of her hand that he close and lock the door, which he
did without question.

“You’re wondering why I insisted you stay with me during
this, aren’t you?”

“Aye, lass,” he admitted.

“This goes no further,” she warned him somberly. “Promise me
that.”

He raised a hand. “If I speak a word, may the gods strike me
where I stand.”

“Thank you.” Ashlynn looked uneasy still as she started to
explain. “Scrying for a wizard is…dangerous. Not in the way you probably think,
though. The spell is harmless in and of itself. In fact, it’s one of the first
we use because it’s so simple. But when we do it, we are completely blind to
our surroundings. We can hear, of course, and feel what we touch, but anyone
can sneak up on us easily.”

A chill ran up his spine. Even a poor assassin could kill
her while she did this? No wonder she insisted he stay with her. “I’ll keep a
sharp lookout.”

She flashed him a quick, tight smile. “Good man. Usually Ash
or Edvard looks out for me when I do this, but I’m just as relieved it’s you
this time. Now, this won’t take me long, since it’s not that big of an area to
search. Don’t touch me as I work, and don’t step inside the circle I draw,
otherwise you become part of the spell.”

And become as blind to their surroundings as she was?
Warning taken. He put his back against the door and planted himself there, not
willing to risk moving at all.