Death and Honor: Book 1 of 2 (13 page)

Amanda moved to the next stall which held a variety of leather goods. A heavy black sword belt with silver studs caught his eye. He ran his thumb down the fine grain. The craftsmanship was exquisite.

“Do you like it?” Amanda asked.

“It’s very nice, but far too extravagant.”

Amanda smiled and they moved on. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted movement. He looked back and a man at the spice stall looked away when Gabriel caught his eye. Frowning, he followed Amanda through the market. Once in a while he’d look back and there was the stranger one or two stalls away.

“You seem a little distracted,” Amanda said.

“Sorry, could we head to the restaurant?”

“All right,” she led them out of the market and down the street. They’d gone a block when Gabriel smelled a bakery. He spotted it three doors down.

“That smells good. Let’s take a look, perhaps we can stop on our way back.” He guided her over to the bakery window. In the reflection the familiar man walked a little ways behind them. Gabriel whispered. “Someone’s following us. Don’t look back, just go inside. I have an idea.”

They went inside and a woman behind a glass fronted counter said, “Can I help you?”

“My name is Gabriel Kane, lieutenant of the Watch. Does this building have a back door?”

“Yes, sir, through the kitchen. Is there a problem?”

“I’m not sure. Amanda, please wait here and act like you’re interested in buying something.”

“Okay, everything looks so good.” there was a tremor in her voice.

“Don’t worry, I won’t be long.”

Amanda nodded and he ducked out through the kitchen, past a huge brick oven, and out the back door. A quick glance revealed no one in the alley between the bakery and the next building. Good, hopefully the man didn’t have an accomplice.

Gabriel crept down the alley which was remarkably free of litter. At the end he poked his head out and there he was, standing at the bakery window looking like a customer hungry for a bite to eat.

Gabriel darted out of the alley and pounced on him before he could react. He wrenched the man’s arm around behind him in a hammerlock. “See here,” the man said. “Release me this instant or I’ll call the watch.”

“Good idea,” Gabriel didn’t let up the pressure in the least. “You can explain to them why you’ve been following me and the lady around all morning.”

The man sputtered but said nothing coherent. Amanda came out of the bakery and her eyes widened. “Harn!”

“Do you know this fellow?” Gabriel asked.

“Harn’s one of my father’s servants. What’s he doing here?”

“He’s been following us all morning.” Gabriel released the servant.

Amanda crossed her arms and scowled at Harn. “Daddy sent you, didn’t he?”

The servant stared at his shoes. “Yes, lady, your father asked me to keep an eye on you to be sure nothing happened.”

Gabriel’s fist clenched, he didn’t need some overfed house boy telling him he couldn’t protect Amanda. “What would you do if there was trouble? I took you down easy enough.”

“You caught me by surprise.”

“That’s true,” Gabriel said. “If I’d meant to kill you I’d have announced it first.”

“That’s enough from both of you,” Amanda said. “Harn, go tell my father I don’t need a chaperone.”

“Lady,” he said. “I’d rather kiss a silver adder.”

Gabriel smiled; a silver adder bite would kill you in about six seconds. He suspected the duke’s displeasure would do it even faster.

“We can’t have you following us around all day,” Amanda said.

“Those were your father’s orders. If I return now he’ll dismiss me and I have a family to feed after all.”

“Here’s a thought,” Gabriel said. “How about you head over to the Dancing Bull, have a drink and relax. When we’re ready to head back we’ll stop in and get you. You can resume sneaking along behind us and what the duke doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”

“That sounds good,” Harn said.

“Great. You head on over, we’ll be along in a few hours.”

Harn bowed to Amanda and offered Gabriel a nod before departing. They watched him until he was out of sight. “That mystery is solved.” Gabriel said.

“Is he what had you so distracted?” Amanda asked as they started toward the Golden Boar.

“Yeah, I was afraid it might be a friend of the man that escaped last night thinking about sticking a knife in one of us.”

Amanda swallowed hard. “I can understand how that would distract you.”

It was a short walk to the Golden Boar. The tavern was much simpler than he’d expected, a large fire pit filled the center of the room, a whole pig roasting over it. If heaven had a scent Gabriel expected it resembled the dining room of the Golden Boar. A couple dozen tables surrounded the pit, about a third of them occupied. They’d barely got through the door when a slim, dark haired girl about sixteen ran up and hugged Amanda.

“So nice to see you, Amanda,” she said. “Would you like your usual table?”

Amanda glanced at Gabriel who nodded. “Yes, Chloe, thank you.”

They followed Chloe over to a table in the far corner. Gabriel removed his sword from his baldric and leaned it against one of the empty chairs then sat down facing into the room where he could see anyone approaching. Amanda sat across from him.

“The usual, Amanda?” Chloe asked.

“Yes, thank you.”

She turned to Gabriel. “For you, sir?”

“The same, thank you.”

Chloe nodded and went to fetch their food. He noticed Amanda smiling at him. “What?”

“You have no idea what I usually get here yet you agreed to eat a plate of it. I find that strange.”

Gabriel shrugged. “You said the food here was good. Besides they could bring almost anything and it would taste better than what I ate every day at the academy.”

She laughed. “I’ve never had a bad meal. I’ve had some I didn’t like, but none that were poorly prepared.”

Chloe brought their meal, a plate of shredded pork in a red sauce, fried potatoes, and bread. She also brought two mugs of heated cider. While they ate Gabriel listened to Amanda talk about growing up the daughter of a duke, she seemed happy except for the part about every nobleman in the country asking her to marry them.

When they finished eating Amanda said, “Listen to me, I’ve talked nonstop. You’ve hardly been able to get a word in edgewise.”

“That’s all right.” Gabriel whipped juice from the meat off his chin. “I’ve never been a talker; Xander usually did the talking when were together.”

Gabriel’s throat tightened, three and a half years and the mere mention his brother made him want to cry. It must have shown because Amanda said, “Tell me about him.”

“Xander? He was two years younger than me and resembled Mother more than Father.” Gabriel smiled when he remembered. “Xander wasn’t very interested in honor and that drove Father crazy. I remember not long before the fire we were sparing and Xander refused to use the proper blocks. He said he wasn’t strong enough to fight the way Father wanted and if he did he’d lose. Whatever else you could say about Xander, he hated to lose.”

“You miss him.”

“I miss them all, every day. Sometimes the pain fades after I’ve been awake a few minutes and other times it’s with me all day. I don’t think it’ll ever go away completely and I don’t want it to that would mean I’d forgotten them.”

Amanda laid her hand over his and he smiled. They talked of lighter things and after an hour left to collect their spy and head back to Amanda’s inn. When they reached the Dancing Bull they found Harn half drunk at the bar.

The bartender looked up at them; studied Amanda a moment then looked at Gabriel, and winked. Gabriel managed not to smile at the man’s approval.

“Harn!” Amanda said when his condition became clear.

“Hello, miss, didn’t expect you so soon.” Harn slurred his words together and Gabriel realized he was in worse shape than he’d first thought.

“Do you think you can manage to follow us back?” The disgust was clear in Amanda’s voice.

“Sure I can.”

“Then let’s go,” Gabriel said.

Harn staggered to his feet and followed them out of the tavern. Gabriel set a slow pace to make sure the inebriated servant didn’t lose them. When they reached the inn Gabriel stopped outside. “Lunch was wonderful.”

“I had a great time too,” Amanda said. “When can get together again?”

“I’m not sure. I report for duty tomorrow so I’ll probably find out my days off then. Whatever they are, I’d like to spend them with you.”

“I’d like that too. I’m starting at Madam Clara’s Finishing School next week so I’ll be in the city for the foreseeable future.”

“My first day off I’ll stop by. Of course you’re welcome to visit Uncle Duncan’s anytime.”

Amanda frowned a little at his suggestion. “I prefer to avoid Morgrin if possible. No offense.”

“None taken. I prefer to avoid him when possible as well.”

She laughed, leaned in, and a kissed him. Her lips carried a hint of cider. Amanda stepped back and said, “Remember that, when you hurt. I hope it will take some of the pain away.”

Gabriel’s head spun. He wasn’t sure he could feel pain just then.

Amanda smiled. “Good evening.”

Gabriel managed a nod.

T
he imposing gray
edifice of Watch Headquarters loomed over Gabriel. He felt nervous the whole walk over but now his hands shook. A short flight of stairs led to a set of double doors. He took a breath and climbed up. Inside was an entryway with a row of benches on either side. Both rows were full of people, some hung their heads and others muttered to themselves. At the end of the entryway a short wall divided by into three sections separated the people from the main portion of headquarters. A watch sergeant manning each slot dealt with each citizen’s complaint. Those complaints seemed to involve a great deal of shouting and swearing.

Gabriel went to the right most sergeant and shouted, “Where’s the duty officer?”

The sergeant left the grumbling woman at his station and came over to Gabriel. “Lieutenant Kane?”

“That’s right.”

The sergeant saluted. “Welcome to the watch, sir. Didn’t expect you so early, you being noble and all.”

Gabriel frowned. “I’m surprised you know enough to think at all, you being common and all.”

The older man winced. “I deserved that, didn’t I?”

“Damn right, you did. Call me Gabriel.”

That brought a smile to the sergeant’s face. “Derik.”

They shook hand over the wall. “The duty officer’s in back.” Derik released a catch and the door built into the wall opened. “Third office on the right, name of the door’s Lincoln. He’s expecting you so go on in.”

Gabriel nodded his thanks and went toward the back of the building. He found Commander Lincoln’s office with the door open. A gray haired man of middle years sat hunched over behind a desk covered in a foot tall stack of parchment. Gabriel knocked on the open door. Commander Lincoln looked up. “What?”

“Lieutenant Kane reporting for duty, sir.”

The commander shuffled through his papers until he found what he was looking for. “Here we are, Kane. Jeremiah’s boy, right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Shame about your father. I served with him for five years, hell of a good man.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Let’s get to it.” At the top of his lungs the commander yelled, “Griff!”

Gabriel winced at the yell. A moment later a tall broad shouldered man with long hair and a full beard ambled in. He wore an ill used, dirty uniform, but the hilt of his sword looked well cared for if worn form years of use.

“You called, John?” Griff’s voice was a deep base rumble.

“Yeah, your new partner’s here. Gabriel Kane, he’s Jeremiah’s boy. Gabriel this is Griffin Loren, he’ll be your partner for a while.”

“Pleasure,” Gabriel said.

Griffin offered a noncommittal grunt.

“Well that takes care of introductions,” Commander Lincoln said. “Your first assignment is to track down the man that escaped after attempting to murder High Priest Solan. I wouldn’t ordinarily start you out with such a difficult case on your first day but other than the priest you’re the only witness.”

“That’s fine, sir,” Gabriel said. “I’ll feel better when the man’s in custody. I still can’t believe I let him escape.”

“No sense worrying about it. Off you go.”

Gabriel saluted and started back toward the front of the building.

“Wrong way,” Griffin said.

“Excuse me?”

“Front entrance if for the public, Watchmen use the back door.”

He followed Griffin down the central corridor toward the back of the building. They went out an unmarked wooden door into an alley behind the building. “Now what, sir?” Griffin asked.

“What do you suggest, Mr. Loren?”

“Sir?”

“How do you recommend we proceed?” Gabriel spoke each word distinctly in case Griffin had trouble hearing.

“You’re the ranking officer; I assumed you’d take the lead on this investigation.”

Gabriel ground his teeth. “I’d love to take the lead, but I’ve never hunted a fugitive before, I assumed the commander assigned you as my partner because you have experience at this sort of thing.”

“Yes, sir, I have plenty of experience, it’s just most new lieutenants don’t have much use for advice, they just like giving orders.”

“If you want I can give you some orders later, right now I want to find the man that tried to kill my friend. You can either tell me how we’re going to do that or we can go back in and I’ll see about getting a new partner because, frankly, I’ve wasted about all the time I care to this morning.”

Griffin laughed. “John told me you were a different kind of rookie then I usually get stuck with. I told him I’d believe it when I saw it. Well I’ve seen it. You and I will get along fine.”

“I’ll believe that when I see it,” Gabriel said.

Griffin laughed again. “Come on, kid. Let’s go find your killer. And call me Griff.”

Griff took off at a brisk pace bearing east. They’d gone two blocks when Gabriel asked, “Where are we going?”

“Lesson number one,” Griff said. “You want to find a crook, ask another crook. There’s an information broker who works this side of the warehouse district, she’ll have an idea where we can start.”

“Can you trust a criminal to tell the truth?”

“You can trust this one; she sells information for a living so if she lied to her customers she’d soon be out of business. As for others you get a feel for it after a while. I can most always tell when someone’s lying.”

“What about this woman, won’t she be in danger if criminals find out she’s selling information to the Watch?”

“Lucy sells to everyone. She has the most extensive network in the city. It’s cheaper for the Watch to pay her rather than maintain our own network. As to other criminals, they use her services more than we do. If they want something kept secret they need to be subtle enough that she doesn’t find out. That or pay her to keep quiet.”

The warehouse district was in sight when Griff pointed to a rundown tavern that appeared to be in the process of collapsing in on itself. If this was where the information broker worked she must not be doing too well. Gabriel wasn’t at all certain he wanted to go in for fear of the place falling in on him, but Griff pushed through the cockeyed door without a care so Gabriel followed him inside.

The inside was so dim he could just make out tables, a scowling bartender and two drunks passed out on the floor. Griff led him to a booth at the back of the room. A candle guttered on the table shedding a feeble glow on the figure seated there. Griff as usual seemed unconcerned.

“Lucy?” Griff asked.

“Hi, Griff, been awhile.” the voice was husky but female.

“Too long,” he said. “Unfortunately I’m here for business not pleasure.”

The dark figure sighed. “Pity. Let’s go back to my office.”

She got up and led them through a hidden door built into the back wall. Four lanterns burned in the office forcing Gabriel to squint. When he could see he found a well appointed office with a tiger maple desk, several padded chairs, and four loaded bookcases. He also got a good look at their host. Lucy was a tall woman, around forty, with thick black hair and a nice figure. She no doubt kept in shape running for her life.

“Gabriel, let me introduce you to Lucy, the finest information broker in the city.”

Gabriel bowed. “A pleasure, my lady.”

Lucy laughed as she sat down behind the desk. “Save the my lady business for your fancy girlfriend. I’m just plain Lucy.”

Gabriel smiled. “Amanda doesn’t like the formal greeting either.”

She waved them into the chairs opposite her desk. “Have a seat fella’s and let’s get down to business.”

When Gabriel sat he noticed the chair didn’t have arms to get tangled with his sword. Considering her clientele he figured most of them came armed and no doubted appreciated the convenience. “We’re looking for the man that escaped after attempting to kill High Priest Solan the night before last.”

“I heard about that, nasty business. Solan’s a sweet old man.”

“You know him?” Gabriel couldn’t imagine Solan and Lucy had much in common or how they might have met.

“He prays for me.” Lucy offered a fond smile.

Griff cleared his throat. “About the thug that tried to kill him.”

“Right, they call him Lucky, though the gods alone know why. You don’t need to worry about him. Someone put a bounty on him. Far as I know, no one’s collected yet. I doubt Lucky’s stayed in one place for more than a few hours since they put the contract out on him.”

“Any thoughts on where we might look?” Griff asked.

Lucy shrugged. “Anyone that might have information won’t tell you, they’d go after the bounty themselves.”

Griff got up and Gabriel followed suit. “Thanks, Lucy,” Griff said.

Lucy shot him a lecherous grin. “Come again when you can stay longer.”

Griff smiled back. “Count on it. Let’s go kid.”

Gabriel nodded to Lucy and followed Griff out of the small office. When they were outside Gabriel said, “So you two…”

Griff shrugged. “Off and on, nothing serious. Come on, if we’re going to find Lucky we’re just going to have to look.”

Griff walked deeper into the warehouse district. Dozens of wagons were getting unloaded at as many warehouses. Every so often a crash rang out followed by a string of curses that would impress the most jaded listener

“Where are we going?” Gabriel asked.

“The nearest tavern. If we ask enough people someone’s bound to have seen him. We should keep it quiet or he might get on to us then we’ll never find him.”

“You know,” Gabriel said after a moment’s thought. “Maybe we don’t want to keep it quiet. If he’s desperate enough prison might look good compared to death at the hands of some bounty hunter. If we broadcast it loud enough he might come to us.”

“That isn’t a bad idea, save us a lot of time too. Let’s try it.”

They reached their first tavern after a five minute walk. The place was a little less dilapidated than Lucy’s. The sign over the door had a carving of a half-man half-fish holding a frothing mug of ale. For the lettered patrons it read, The Tipsy Triton.

“You do the talking, kid. It’ll sound better coming from someone with less experience.”

Gabriel nodded and they went inside. About twenty people, mostly men and a couple women, occupied the common room. It was a rough crew sporting a mixture of scars, burns, and bad attitudes. Add to the fact that they were at a tavern at midday instead of at work and they fell right into the group that might know where Lucky could be found.

He took a deep breath and cleaned his throat. “May I have your attention?”

The patrons greeted his announcement with yawns. Gabriel glanced at Griff who shrugged.

Frowning, Gabriel said, “Anyone that doesn’t want to spend the night in the lockup better shut up and pay attention.”

Everyone fell silent and looked at him. That was much better though if were honest it appeared most of them would rather cut his throat than listen. “I’m looking for a man named Lucky. He’s wanted for attempted murder.”

When no one spoke Gabriel said, “Well?”

“Well why don’t you shut up and run home,” A man seated a few feet to his right said.

Griff took two steps over to the man and kicked him square in the face. The drunk fell over backwards, unconscious. Impressive, Gabriel wouldn’t have imagined Griff could lift his leg that high.

“Anyone else have anything to say?” Gabriel asked. When no one spoke he said, “My name is Gabriel Kane and if anyone has information you can leave a message for me at Watch headquarters. Thank you.”

They left the Tipsy Triton and headed toward the next tavern. “That went pretty well,” Gabriel said.

“Yeah, no one even tried to kill us.”

They repeated their show at another ten taverns and at all ten they received varying levels of hostility and no information. When they left the eleventh tavern Gabriel felt like someone had encased his feet in lead. Dinner and a nap would hit the spot. It was almost sunset and Griff asked, “You want to try one more?”

“Let’s get something to eat first.”

“Yes, sir.” Griff grinned.

They had gone no distance when someone called out them from a dark alley on their left. They veered toward the voice and when they got closer a shadowy, cloaked figure spoke from the shadows. “I hear you been looking for me?”

“Lucky?” Gabriel said.

“That’s right,” the man said.

“Step out where we can see you.”

“Wait a minute. Before I give myself up I want to get a few things straight. I need your word I’ll be protected and that I won’t be executed if I cooperate.”

“You have it,” Gabriel said. “Now step out here.”

Lucky stepped out of the alley and threw back his hood revealing a long thin nose and a pockmarked face. Gabriel nodded. “That’s him; let’s get him back to headquarters before someone else spots him.”

“I’m all for that,” Griff said.

“Wait a minute,” Lucky gave Gabriel a hard look. “Haven’t I seen you before?”

Gabriel glared at him. “I you hadn’t run off the other night you would have saved me the trouble of hunting you down.”

“Son of bitch, you’re that kid that killed Buster. This is all your fault. If you hadn’t stopped us we could have gutted that old priest and I wouldn’t have every bounty hunter in the city after me.”

“If you’d killed Solan I would have hunted you down myself and seen you broken on the rack before I beheaded you with my own sword. Now march, before I take up bounty hunting.”

Griff started toward headquarters with Lucky behind him and Gabriel bringing up the rear. They went about two blocks before Lucky asked, “Why’d they give a kid like you such an important case?”

“You will address me as Lieutenant Kane and to answer your question other than Solan I’m the only other person who knew what you looked like. Now shut up.”

They were halfway back, Lucky hadn’t spoken again, and Gabriel was feeling good about things, when five men armed with swords stepped out from between two buildings and blocked their path. One of the men stepped forward. “You’re a hard man to find, Lucky.”

“Damn it all to hell, I never should have thrown in with you two,” Lucky said.

Gabriel stepped up beside Griff and drew his sword. Griff did the same. “You any good with that?” Griff asked.