Tarah Woodblade (29 page)

Djeri noticed the tears of frustration on her cheeks. “Hey, Tarah, I know this is hard. Those paralyzing spells are the worst, especially for someone like you who’s so headstrong and used to moving free. Just know it’s temporary. You’ll make it through it.”

A shadow passed over Djeri’s face and Tarah saw the driver lean over the seat to look back at them. He had a glass eye and Tarah noticed a few missing teeth as he smiled. “I thought so. Hey boys! This dwarf’s talkin’ back here!”

Djeri sighed. “I told you this would be uncomfortable. Just hold tight until we can find a way to get free.”

The cart stopped for a brief moment and Mel pulled his horse up alongside them. The dwarf jumped from his saddle into the back. He froze Djeri with another spell and sat on his chest. Mel grinned as he slowly took off his boot. Then he stripped off a foul smelling sock and shoved it into Djeri’s mouth.

The dwarf tied a new gag in place. “Now pipe down. Next time you’ll get my small clothes, see?”

  He put his sockless foot back into the boot and jumped back on his horse. The wagon started up again and the dwarves laughed at Mel’s humiliating joke. A few minutes later, Djeri broke through the spell and turned to look at Tarah again. She expected to see disgust on his face, but instead the look he gave her was steadfast. He nodded calmly and laid back.

The rest of the journey didn’t take long. Perhaps a half hour later they stopped again. A horse thundered up to the side of the wagon, a proud black stallion, and the man astride it wore a long gray cloak with the hood up. He peered over the side. A scarf covered the bottom half of his face, but Tarah caught a glimpse of his eyes, cold and calculating.

It was Shade. He had dressed in a similar fashion when she had met with him in Razbeck, keeping his face partially hidden. Why hadn’t his behavior tipped her off back then? Perhaps the truth was that she had been looking for an excuse to return to Dremaldria anyway. Of course the coin upfront hadn’t hurt.

What would he do now that he had seen her? Her armor was unique. Surely he would remember hiring her.

He rode away and spoke with Donjon in a low voice. Moments later dwarves came into the cart and tossed Djeri over the side. He was dragged away and Tarah heard the crash of his armor several times as the dwarves hooted and hollered. They must have arrived at the smuggler camp.

Mel climbed into the cart next to her and removed her papa’s bow and her quiver. He took her belt knife and opened her coin pouch, whistling softly as he checked the contents inside. Then he gave her a thorough once over, looking for hidden weapons and binding her hands and feet. For one that said he didn’t like humans, he was pretty handsy while he was at it. Tarah wished she could strangle him.

When he was finished, he pulled out a strip of cloth and gagged her, then leaned in and whispered, “Sorry ‘bout this, girlie, but the spell’s gonna end soon and we don’t want you hollerin’. Dunno what Shade’s gonna want to do with you, but just between you and me, I think yer a fine filly.” He slapped her rump and left.

Mel shouted something and she heard the dwarves unloading their supplies from Neddy’s back. There were a couple of curses as the mule tried to bite them. A scuffle ensued, but another sharp pop rang out and the animal quieted. A few moments later, Leroy shouted at the discovery of the pepperbean wine and they fought over it for awhile. Tarah held on to hope that they would kill one another, but Donjon calmed things down.

 The sunlight faded to darkness. As the minutes crawled by Tarah felt the paralyzing spell fade. As soon as she was able, she rolled to her knees and peered over the side of the wagon. It was a disorderly camp. Tents were scattered haphazardly along the ravine and they had several cook fires going in various places.

She couldn’t identify their exact location right away, but she had an idea from the length of their journey. They were somewhere close to the river, but a ways north of the board bridge. It seemed that they had camped at the bottom of a dry streambed.

Tarah counted fifteen dwarves and from her position she could see just as many horses picketed around the edges. There was one large tent in the center of the camp and she could see a light emanating from the inside. Two shadows played on the tent wall, one tall and one much shorter; likely Shade and Donjon.

A tall tree stood next to the tent. A large animal had been hung up from one thick branch and was being butchered. Its head was missing and they had already skinned it, but it looked to be a horse. Why did they kill one of their horses? They hadn’t seemed to be starving. Were they that bad at hunting?

In the shadows on the far side of the tree another figure was hanging from a long rope. Tarah’s heart skipped. It was Djeri. He was still in full platemail and was hanging limp with his arms pulled behind his back, his legs splayed.

She worried that he was dead, but then his body rotated slightly and she realized that the rope wasn’t tied around his neck. He squirmed a little and she saw that they had strung him up by his elbows. Tarah grimaced. That had to be painful.

“Hey, Boss Donjon!” shouted a gruff voice and Tarah saw a dwarf looking her way. “That lady’s spell broke!”

There was movement in the large tent and the shorter figure ducked out. Donjon was clutching his hat in his hands, but he quickly placed it back on his head and headed Tarah’s way. While he walked, he put a half-burned cigar in his mouth and lit it again with his fire cylinder.

A couple of the other dwarves followed him. One of them was Leroy. The other one had a full head of gray hair and a silvery mustache.

“I see yer up,” Donjon said to her. He took a puff on his cigar and gave Tarah a calculating stare. “Shade wants to see you, so here’s what’s gonna happen. We’re gonna untie yer legs and yer gag, but if you start makin’ a ruckus, we’ll freeze you again. You hear me?”

Tarah nodded. He gestured to the two other dwarves and they pulled her out of the wagon. While they did so, Tarah weighed how to act. She couldn’t fight her way out. Even if she ran and escaped, she’d be leaving Djeri and Neddy in their hands. She thought quickly as her legs were untied and the gag removed from her mouth.

Be in charge
, said her grampa.
Tarah Woodblade don’t let nothing mess her cool
.

“This was all unnecessary, Donjon,” Tarah said calmly. “All you had to do was say you were working with Shade and we’d have come with you.”

“Yeah right,” the dwarf said and spat, his eyes darting to Djeri as he hung from the tree.

“We’re on the same side after all,” she added.

The dwarf snorted and Tarah saw that he was not at all convinced. “Then why was you destroyin’ the tracks?”

She shrugged. “Yeah, well I gotta admit that we heard Shade had hired other folks. I wanted to be the only one to find the beast.”

“Just follow me and we’ll see what Shade thinks,” he replied.

Donjon strolled towards the tent. Tarah walked behind him, followed by the other two dwarves. They passed a few cookfires along the way where smugglers were roasting pieces of that butchered horse. Tarah recognized one of them immediately.

“Just a second, Donjon,” Tarah said, moving before he could object.

She strode over to the fire where Mel sat with his back to her, busy laughing with two other dwarves while he roasted a spit of horseflesh. Their conversation stopped as other dwarves looked up at her in surprise. Mel turned to look behind him just in time for the side of his face to meet Tarah’s boot.

Tarah’s arms were still bound behind her, but she put all her weight into the kick. The force of it sent the heavy dwarf sprawling into the fire head first. The dwarf rolled away from the fire, cursing and hollering as he brushed at the burning coals on his face and chest.

Two pairs of rough hands grabbed Tarah from behind. She was thrown to the ground and Donjon stood over her, his black rod pointed at her head. The lit ember on his cigar illuminated an unpleased face.

With a roar of anger, Mel charged at her and had to be held back by two other dwarves. His face was blackened with soot and large chunks of his mustache and eyebrows were singed off. “Blazin’ hellfire, woman! What was that fer?”

“That was for taking liberties while you were tying me up, you mangy dog!” Tarah shouted back. She looked back up at Donjon. “I’m ready to see Shade now.”

The gray-headed dwarf burst out with a guffaw and several of the other dwarves joined in the laughter. Donjon’s expression changed only slightly, though there was a hint of amusement in his eyes. “Listen, girl. You try somethin’ like that again and I don’t care what Shade thinks, I’ll slit yer ugly throat. Hear me?”

Tarah could tell he was sincere. “I do.”

They pulled her back to her feet and shoved her towards the tent. Mel complained all the while, cursing his burns and proclaiming his innocence, all the while being ridiculed by the others.

As Tarah neared the tent, she looked up at Djeri’s hanging form. The bindings seemed even more painful up close as she saw the two ropes that suspended all his weight by the elbows tied behind his back. But there was no discomfort in his face. His gaze rested on her, his eyes filled with firm determination.

A wave of guilt threatened to rush over her. There he was being so brave and yet he had no idea what was going on. How would he feel when he found out? Tarah pushed the feeling aside. Guilt was a useless emotion right now. There would be plenty of time for that later. She tried to think of something to give him encouragement.

The dwarves stopped at the tent and Donjon gestured for her to go inside. She paused and looked back up at the hanging dwarf.

“Hey, Djeri. Why are turds tapered on one end?” she asked. Djeri’s eyes were confused. “‘Cause if they weren’t, your butt would slam shut.”

 It was a terrible joke Tarah had heard in a tavern somewhere, but it had the reaction she had hoped. His body shook and she could hear the sound of his muffled laughter. The gray-haired dwarf standing behind her chuckled, but Donjon wasn’t amused.

“Shut up and get in!” he said and Tarah gave him a brief nod before walking through the tent flap.

The tent reminded Tarah of a military commander’s. The wooden table that sat in the center of the tent was a jumble of maps and pieces of parchment. In contrast, the rest of the space was neat and tidy. The small cot at the back was covered by neatly folded blankets and a set of closed saddlebags was hung over a weathered wooden chest. The whole area was lit by glowing orbs set at each of the tent’s corners.

The man she had recognized earlier as Shade sat in a chair next to the table. He still wore the cloak she had seen him in earlier, but his hood had been pulled back. His scarf had been tugged away from his face and hung loose around his neck.

His face surprised her. Shade had seemed so intimidating when she first met him. Now she saw only a mild-looking man maybe in his mid 30's. He had a shock of curly brown hair and was clean shaven. If not for his trail-worn garb and the thin sword at his waist, she would have thought him a tailor of perhaps shopkeeper of some kind. The red sash that he wore across his chest didn’t help to break that illusion.

“Good evening,” he said, his voice a pleasant baritone. He gestured to another chair that sat facing him. “I must admit I was surprised when the dwarves brought you down from the foothills. Please, sit.”

His mildness emboldened her. Tarah grunted and plopped down into the chair. She was Tarah Woodblade, after all. “You know, Shade, no one likes a client that's always hovering over you while you're trying to work."

Shade gave her a disarming smile. "I apologize for that, Tarah, I hope you don't mind me calling you that. My other hirelings weren't aware that you were . . . on the team, so to speak. Your method of capture was terribly unfortunate."

"Right. Terribly unfortunate indeed," she said, returning his smile with one of her own. "Tarah Woodblade does not like being rough handled. There’s a dwarf outside with a burnt face that can attest to that. And the way they beat on my bodyguard don’t make me happy either.”

Shade leaned back in his chair and cocked his head at her slightly. The pleasantness left his eyes. “As I said. I apologize for your rough treatment. As for your academy friend, I really don’t care. The question is what do I do with you now?”

Tarah pressed on. “Before you get started, you should know that this little incident is going to increase my fee. If you're still interested in my services, you'll double what you promised to pay and you’ll release the dwarf you got hanging from the tree outside. In addition-."

"I'm sorry, there must be some sort of misunderstanding,” Shade interrupted, the smile leaving his face completely. “I didn’t bring you in here for a contract renegotiation. This is merely an apology for your rough treatment.”

Tarah frowned. This wasn’t going as she’d hoped. Her grampa urged her to press on. “Sorry, Shade. If you want my help, and believe me you do, you’re gonna have to do better than an apology at this point.”

 Shade cleared his throat. “I wouldn’t mind having your help in tracking down the beast we are seeking, but if you wish to be paid nothing and hung in the tree with your associate, I can oblige you. Otherwise, the contract will go on as previously negotiated." A steely tone entered his voice next and his eyes hardened. "Am I understood, Tarah?"

The tone in his voice raised warning bells in her mind. Grampa Rolf now suggested she ease back, but Tarah’s rage rose. How dare he? How dare all of them after what she’d been through the last couple of days?

She couldn’t keep the glare out of her eyes. "You can quit the tough guy game, Shade. Yeah, fine, put me in the tree, but you'll never find that beast on your own. These dwarfs of yours are idiots. They wouldn’t know what to do with a creature like that even if they could find their arses with their own two hands. For nature’s sake, they’re out there eating one of their own horses right now.” She folded her arms. “If you want that rogue horse, you’re gonna need Tarah Woodblade."

Mentioning that she knew the beast was a rogue horse was a gamble, but she wanted Shade to know she knew her business. The cool look he gave her told Tarah that she was onto something. Yes, he was frustrated with the efforts of the dwarves all right. He wanted her help or he wouldn't have brought her in.