Fortune and Fate (Twelve Houses) (6 page)
Read Fortune and Fate (Twelve Houses) Online
Authors: Sharon Shinn
Jasper Paladar’s eyebrows drew together. “Karryn hasn’t told me the entire story yet, but it’s clear she put herself at risk, telling her mother she was heading to one destination and setting out for an entirely different destination in stealth. Even the sloppiest soldiers can be excused for not protecting her when she was not where she was supposed to be.”
“Can they?” Wen said. “I don’t think so.”
Now his brows rose in an expression of surprise. “What do you mean?”
Wen gestured toward the soldiers. “Properly trained guards follow their master wherever the master goes. Do you think Queen Amalie ever sets foot outside the palace in Ghosenhall without at least two Riders at her back? She doesn’t need to ask them to attend her. Some number of them are assigned to watch her at every hour of the day, and that is all they do.”
“Still, Amalie is the queen,” he replied. “There is reason to suppose she might always be in danger.”
Wen shrugged. “There is reason to suppose your niece is always at risk. I don’t know what kind of politics are at work here in Fortunalt, but it seems
some
of the nobles are feeling discontented. You should assume this was not a lone assault. You should plan accordingly.” She looked at Karryn but she was still addressing Jasper Paladar. “You should install a well-trained and highly focused unit that follows your niece wherever she goes—whether it is to the market to buy roses or to the garden to meet a clandestine lover. And every other place in between.”
some
of the nobles are feeling discontented. You should assume this was not a lone assault. You should plan accordingly.” She looked at Karryn but she was still addressing Jasper Paladar. “You should install a well-trained and highly focused unit that follows your niece wherever she goes—whether it is to the market to buy roses or to the garden to meet a clandestine lover. And every other place in between.”
“I wasn’t going to meet a
lover
!” Karryn exclaimed.
lover
!” Karryn exclaimed.
Jasper Paladar’s eyes had narrowed thoughtfully. “That is not an attitude that has governed Fortune since I’ve been there.”
At first she was surprised by his use of the word, but then she remembered a stray fact she must have learned a long time ago: The principal estate owned by the marlords of Fortunalt was situated in the heart of Forten City and called by the name of Fortune. She had no idea why. Most everywhere else in Gillengaria, the marlords’ estates carried names that were also used to denote the surrounding cities. It was hard to believe Rayson Fortunalt had been whimsical enough to have dreamed up this convention on his own.
She replied coolly to the lord’s observation. “It’s an attitude that could save her life. It’s the only one, in fact, that will—if something like this happens again.”
“I don’t think I want a House guard that follows me everywhere I go,” Karryn said with a pout. “Do you mean, everywhere? To balls? When I go to visit Lindy?”
“Everywhere,” Wen said.
“How many?” Karryn’s guardian asked. He gestured behind him to the Fortunalt soldiers patiently waiting in the road. “I emptied the barracks to muster this force.”
Wen swept a glance over the mounted men. Hard to tell from a cursory inspection, of course, but they didn’t seem like a particularly impressive group. Some too young, some too old, some too paunchy, some too slack. The best men of Fortunalt had probably been lost in the war. “The absolute minimum would be twelve,” she said. “Four for each eight-hour shift around the clock. You’d be better off with sixteen or twenty. And you don’t just need the soldiers. You need a captain to lead them and facilities for them to train in and equipment for them to carry. Are their swords any good? What about their horses?” Wen shook her head. “You can’t just say, ‘I want a strong guard.’ You have to put some thought and resources into it.”
Jasper Paladar let his breath out in a long sigh. “I’ve put most of my thought and resources into other enterprises that seemed just as important at the time,” he said. “But all of that counts for nothing if the serramarra goes missing. I take your point.”
Wen nodded. “Good. Then this whole misadventure had some value after all.”
“Will you return to Fortune with us?” he asked abruptly. “And lead the guard?”
Wen stared at him, completely nonplussed. Karryn gave a little squeal and said, “Oh yes!” but Wen ignored her.
“No,” she said shortly.
“Why not?” was the cool reply.
“You don’t even know me,” Wen said. “You have no reason to believe I am as good as I say—or as loyal as I would have to be.”
“I think I do know both of those things,” he said seriously.
“Please come back with us, Willa,” Karryn begged. “I’ll feel so much safer if you’re there.”
“No,” Wen said again. “I have other—obligations.”
“What obligations?” Jasper Paladar asked. “If they will not take too much of your time, we could wait for you.”
She gave him a frosty look. “Obligations I am not at liberty to discuss.”
Karryn spoke artlessly. “She has to make it up to somebody who died a long time ago.”
That made Jasper raise his eyebrows again. Wen was furious. “My reasons are my own,” she snapped. “I do not need to explain them to you. Thank you for your offer, but I am not free to accept.”
“If you change your mind,” he said, “do you know your way to Fortune?”
“I’ve never been there,” she said. “But I’m sure I could find it.”
Jasper gave her a small bow. “Then we shall hope you reconsider and that we see you again soon. Come, Karryn, it’s time we were getting you home. Your mother is so anxious.”
He put an arm around Karryn’s shoulder to herd her back to her waiting horse, but Karryn broke free and flung her arms around Wen. It was wholly unexpected, and Wen froze in place, enduring the hug for the moment it lasted. “I do hope you’ll come to Fortune,” the girl said when she pulled back, her eyes brimming with tears. “You can’t think how much we need you there.”
“Karryn,” Jasper called, and the girl dragged herself over to her uncle, turning back twice to give Wen a forlorn wave. Though it seemed to take forever, they were all finally mounted and on their way again. Jasper had paused long enough to count a few coins into Wen’s hand—the price of the mare, and the only reward she did not decline—and then finally he was on horseback as well. Wen returned Karryn’s last wave before the whole party cantered out of sight around the bend of the road.
Well. That would teach her to go rescuing serramarra. Now she felt all ruffled and peculiar, as if she’d actually seen a friend ride away.
And Karryn Fortunalt was nowhere near a friend.
Wen shook her head to clear away the confusion and swung herself onto the gelding’s back. Then she just sat in the saddle a moment, not sure which direction to go.
“Well, then,” she said softly. “Where was I going before I encountered the serramarra this morning?”
Ah, but that was the problem, of course. She had been headed nowhere in particular. She had no destination, no goal, no driving purpose. Nowhere to be, no one to look for. Just strangers in trouble. People who might need her for a short time, and then ride on.
Chapter 4
WEN SPENT TWO DAYS BACK AT THE LITTLE MARKET
town she and Karryn had visited, roaming the few streets and looking for work. Her funds were lower than she liked, and, as Jasper Paladar had pointed out, heroism could be expensive.
town she and Karryn had visited, roaming the few streets and looking for work. Her funds were lower than she liked, and, as Jasper Paladar had pointed out, heroism could be expensive.
She found a job with a small freighting company that needed extra soldiers to guard a shipment to Forten City. The pay was so good for the short stretch of work that, once she made her way from the tidy business office to the chaotic loading yard to introduce herself to the captain of the guard, she couldn’t resist asking what they’d be protecting.
He sized her up before answering. She guessed him to be in his late thirties, maybe eight years older than she was, and well-muscled under his worn uniform. He had short blond-brown hair, brown eyes, massive hands, and a wicked smile that he unexpectedly turned on her.
“Maybe I shouldn’t discuss our cargo until I find out if you’re good enough to keep it safe,” he drawled.
She returned a smile that was more a smirk. She was used to proving herself to other soldiers, particularly men, and bonding over a battlefield was what she understood best about friendship. “Maybe you shouldn’t,” she replied. “You got any space here for a demonstration? You want to take me on or you want to turn me over to someone else?”
“Oh, I think I can handle you,” he said and jerked his head to indicate the back of the yard. They made their way through a welter of carts and drivers to a relatively clear space of trampled grass and dried mud.
The captain was buttoning up his vest and pulling on his gloves. Wen settled her own clothes and slid her sword out of its sheath. She saw him give it a quick sideways appraisal, noting its superb condition. He pulled his own weapon with one fluid motion.
No one had suggested practice blades for this little encounter.
“What’s your name?” the captain asked her. “I ought to know that before I slaughter you.”
“Willa,” she replied. “You?”
“Orson.”
As if magically drawn by the promise of bloodshed, two young men drifted over, also wearing dark, serviceable clothes and sashes bearing the insignia of the freighting company. Her fellow guards, Wen presumed.
“Any particular rules?” she asked.
He grinned again. Sweet gods, he reminded her of Justin, with that lazy, cocky smile, that fair coloring, that eagerness to fight.
She would not think of Justin. She would not think of any part of that life she had so completely left behind.
“Well, neither of us will be of much use if we’re disabled,” he said. “Obviously, no killing blows. First blood, but I won’t cut you too bad.”
“Deal,” she said, and lunged forward.
Her attack caught him off guard, but not for long. He was fast and aggressive, and within seconds he was on the attack and she was falling back. She let him set the pace for a while as she tried to get a sense of his reach and power. Size was in his favor, and he was strong; she felt the force of his blows against her sword all the way up to her shoulders. But he was a little too sure of himself, a little too flashy. She was careful and she was patient, and when he feinted for her heart she skipped to the side and raked her point down his sword arm.
He loosed a grunt of surprise and hauled back, staring down at his arm. She heard the watching men laugh. “Fooled you, Orson,” one of them called. Orson pulled a cloth from his pocket and swiftly bound it around the wound, tightening it with his teeth.
Then he met her eyes, respect in his own. “Better than you look,” he said, appraising her the way he had appraised her sword. “Where’d you learn to fight like that?”
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