Mastiff (3 page)

I will ensure that we sleep
, Pounce told us. The sailors did not seem to hear.
I don’t enjoy travel like this, either
.

Thank you, I thought to him. I didn’t want these sea folk to think any Dogs were cracked in the nob because I spoke when no one had spoken to me.

“ ’Twill be a curst uncomfortable ride,” Tunstall remarked as the youngest sailor tucked a flat pillow beneath his head.

The mot who had spoken first grinned at him. “You won’t notice, my lad. Once we tell the passengers’ mage you’re all snug, he’ll be putting you and them of the crew that ain’t needed right off to sleep. You can dream of me, if y’like.” She patted Tunstall’s cheek and left us, her cackling laugh trailing behind. The other two followed her, their grins wide enough to show what teeth they were missing.

“You don’t know my woman!” Tunstall called after her. “She don’t let me stray!”

I blinked my filling eyes. Holborn didn’t stray, either. I wish he had. It would have been easier to explain to my friends than he thought me a nag and a cold fish who was forever worrying about the future.

Happily, the spell took us all before I could sink too far into my regrets.

When I opened my eyes, the youngest of the three sailors was undoing my straps. I looked for the leather bracelet, and the cove grinned. “Took that off to end the sleep first thing, mistress,” he told me. “We’ve wake-up tea on deck. Your hound and cat is already out there with your captain. We’ll be at dock soon.”

I blinked at him saying
captain
, until I realized he meant Lord Gershom. What could be so secret that my lord would not even use his proper rank?

As the sailor turned to free Tunstall, I asked, “What hour is it? Where are we?”

“ ’Tis nearabout noon,” the sailor replied, helping my partner to sit up. “We be in Blue Harbor.”

“Blue Harbor near noon on
Friday
?” I asked. I still hadn’t quite put together all that had happened to me since my lord had knocked on my door.

“Naw,” he said, undoing the straps on our baggage. “ ’Tis Thursday. Wouldn’t be worth our salt as a peregrine ship was we to be taking a whole day to get from Corus to Blue Harbor! Mind, we could’ve been here three hours afore this—we’ve done the trip in that time—but there was a nasty storm at Port Caynn. Threw us off. The mage lady were spittin’ like a cat.”

I noticed that he didn’t use her name, or give his own. “How do you sailors manage?” I asked. “If we’re buckled down in here—”

“Oh, we tie up to the mast,” the cove told me. “Each of us has one, see, and she eases off if we need to trim the sails. It’s narsty work, but we’re paid in gold, and swapped back to the reg’lar navy every three months. Out you go, now, both of yez. They’ll be needin’ me to dock.”

Tunstall and I walked onto the deck. The sails were puffed out with a steady wind that was carrying us between the twin lighthouses of Blue Harbor.

Tunstall leaned down to mutter in my ear, “I feel like I’ve been hammered, Cooper.”

I had to admit, I was stiff and sore all over. Achoo was running up and down the deck, her plumed tail wagging. If she was sore, she hid it well. Pounce sat at Lord Gershom’s feet while he drank from a heavy mug of tea. One of the sailors brought a mug each for Tunstall and me before he got back to work on the sails. The ship was turning, the obedient wind following the changing sails as the vessel angled for the docks on the northwestern side of the harbor.

From curiosity, I set my tea on the deck between my feet and reached into my belt purse for my mirror, the one that shows me when there’s magic in use. I angled the mirror so I would see our former shelter and the wheel over my shoulder. When I looked at the surface, the blaze of light from the magic nearabout blinded me. It had not occurred to me that not only would the magic be extremely strong, but it would be worked through every splinter and fiber of the ship.

I hurriedly thrust the mirror into my purse and waited for my poor eyes to recover. I reminded myself that the blessing of the mirror was that it seemed to show me all manner of magics, whatever they were for and no matter what their strength. That was scant comfort when my eyes were watering fiercely.

“I always swear I’ll never take one of these ships again,” I heard Lord Gershom say. “This is my third peregrine trip this year. I’m bruised all over.”

“It could be worse, my lord,” Tunstall replied. “You could be one of these sailors.”

My eyes were clear enough that I could see that Pounce was seated by my feet. I bent down and picked up my mug of tea. “Did you enjoy
your
nap?” I asked him sourly before I took a swallow of my tea. It was well enough, but I prefer more spices, and less of whatever the bitter herb in it was.

Pounce looked up at me and blinked.
I went to the Realms of the Gods once Achoo was under the sleep spell
, he informed me.
Why should I remain for such an abysmal voyage if I don’t have to?

Tunstall and Lord Gershom both heard, because they choked on their tea. I drank my tea down to hide my own smile. I was glad that Pounce had come along.

The sails were going slack over our heads. We glided smoothly in toward the last of the docks, one that was isolated from the others by a wooden fence in the water. Seeing that we’d be going ashore soon, I went back to the cabin for my belongings. Tunstall followed. We strapped our rain things to our own packs and gathered up Lord Gershom’s things while we were at it. I was shocked when he took one bag from my hand and another from Tunstall, but he shook his head when we would have protested. Both of us took his warning and said nothing.

All this secrecy was starting to give me the itch. Never had I been on a Hunt when we kept our names from those who conveyed us. Never had I been on a Hunt when we had no notion of the manner of crime at issue, the Dog Districts involved, or the local nobles. Lord Gershom had mentioned the king, but surely we were here as a favor to someone the king wished to help. The king had better Hunters than the likes of us. There were the royal spies, the Ferrets, to seek out any offenders against the king’s majesty or that of the royal family. The most powerful mages in the realm served the Crown, as did knights who were sworn to bring anyone singled out by the Ferrets to justice. The king himself would have no need for a Dog pair and a scent hound. Why then the silence, and the expensive night journey all the way to Blue Harbor?

The ship eased between the fence and the dock. Two sailors jumped down to secure the ship to cleats. My lord went to the prow, plainly looking for someone. Then he nodded. He’d seen whoever he was looking for.

“Have you ever been on a Hunt like this?” I murmured to Tunstall.

“Never. But, do you know, Beka, I wish already that we were not,” he replied. “Once folk start to fool with a good, plain Hunt, it never goes well in the long run.”

“We can sacrifice some flowers to your luck god, first chance we get,” I promised him. “That might turn it about for us.”

He was shaking his head. “It will have to be fruit. Flowers won’t be enough, I can tell already.”

The sailors were placing the gangplank so that we might leave the ship. My lord nodded to them, then motioned for us to follow. Achoo and Pounce beat Tunstall and me, but then, they weren’t carrying bags. I felt like I brought up the end of a somberly clad parade, with Tunstall and me in uniform and my lord in black.

Three coves waited for us at the end of the dock. Two of them were from the king’s personal bodyguard, the King’s Own, marked out by their silvery chain mail and their bright blue tunics. They had horses with them, six with saddles and three for packs. Without a word they came and took our things. They strapped our belongings on the packhorses, which already had some baggage. The oldest stopped only for a moment to talk with Lord Gershom, a moment that left my lord white-faced and staring out to sea.

The third man was not from the King’s Own. He was a big cove, six feet and three inches tall, clean-shaven, with brown hair cut short, just over his ears. His eyes were large, set a little shallow in their sockets, and their color was hard to name, partway between pale green and pale blue. He had an easy smile on a mouth that looked as if it smiled often. He dressed in a Dog’s uniform with the silver hem and sleeve trim of a Provost’s mage.

Tunstall and I followed Lord Gershom as my lord walked up to the brown-haired cove. My thoughts raced. I’ve done five Hunts with a mage as part of our group. They are a very mixed lot. The one that was a graduate of the university in Carthak was impossible to manage—Achoo even bit her. The one from the City of the Gods barely spoke to us, but he saved all of our lives when we came under attack. The one lent to us by the Duke of Naxen was a kind fellow but of little use, while the two wander mages were decent sorts. This one, at least, dressed like a normal Dog, without strange bits and pieces clanking from his neck and belt, and he bore himself like a normal cove, without any airs.

My lord and the mage clasped hands. “Well met, Farmer,” my lord said. “There was no problem in getting your release from your district commander?”

Master Farmer, if that was his true name, smiled. It gave him the look of a boy. I guessed him to be twenty-five. “She was quite pleased to let me go,” he replied. “She has a mage nephew she has been wanting to use in my place to see how he manages. Have you more information since you sent your orders? All I had was to meet you here today and tell no one.” He nodded to Tunstall and me.

I sucked on the inside of my cheek. So he was a kennel mage? Those weren’t the cream of the crop.

“I’ve little information myself,” my lord said. “Master Farmer Cape, meet Matthias Tunstall and Rebakah Cooper, from Corus.” Achoo whimpered, indignant at being overlooked, and Lord Gershom laughed. “And Achoo, the very fine scent hound who works with them. You will be working together. For now, we’re not wasting any time. Cooper, Achoo will have to ride. We’re leaving at the gallop.”

He was serious about that. The older guardsman gave my lord, Master Farmer, and Tunstall horses while the younger guardsman helped me to place Achoo atop a packhorse. At my direction we settled her between bags and secured her with the straps I carried for those times we both had to go on horseback. That done, Pounce tucked into my shoulder pack, I mounted the horse set aside for me.

Without another word Lord Gershom led the way at the trot through the gate at the end of the dock enclosure and past the naval guards outside. The older of the two men of the King’s Own rode beside him, while Master Farmer rode with Tunstall. Each of them led a packhorse. The other guardsman and I shared the rear while I led Achoo and her mount.

The older guardsman led us down a private route through the naval yards, one that quickly brought us to the city gates. There he showed the guards a medallion he took from his pocket. It had to be official, because the guardsmen let us go as if we’d been Their Majesties themselves.

Our path soon joined a broad road that led south. There was plenty of traffic to slow us down for ten miles or so, until we came to a wall and gate at a side road. Gate and road were manned by fully armored men of the King’s Own. They opened the gate without even stopping us for questions. By then I was sure of our destination. The Summer Palace was close by, set on the peninsula southeast of Blue Harbor and west of the Ware River. Only nine days ago Their Majesties had left the capital for the seaside palace. Whatever we were there for, it had been commanded by the king, I was sure of it. My tripes were one solid knot. I’m no good with nobles.

Once the gate was closed behind us, my lord opened up our speed and we began to gallop for true. We kept to my lord’s pace, resting briefly in between gallops and trots.

I have been in many woods since partnering with Achoo, and this was the strangest I had seen. The trees were spaced wide apart and much of the ground cover seemed to be moss, not grass. The streams had bridges that were as much ornament as structure needed for water crossing. They even had gilding for decoration, which was plain wasteful. Folk in the Lower City starve every day, yet out here where few can see it, the very bridges have gilding. It vexed me.

After our third stop for water, the road turned to follow a smooth white limestone wall. Men guarded the height, the sun glinting off their helms and crossbows. The older guardsman took out a whistle much like the ones carried by street Dogs and blew a series of notes as a signal. The wall guards aimed their crossbows at us and I took a deep breath of air. There is nothing so discomforting as the sight of crossbows aimed at your company. Then we heard another set of whistles. The guards lowered their bows.

On we rode. The guards farther down must have heard the whistled signal, for no more weapons were pointed our way. Now, behind the soldiers, I could see green land planted with trees rising well above the height of the wall.

“It’s a summer palace, Cooper,” Tunstall reminded me. “They have to catch the breezes.”

“How close is it to the ocean?” I asked him.

Tunstall knew I worried that someone might attack the palace on the other side. These walls looked too pretty to hold off a real attack. “There’s a wall all the way round, you Fretting Franza,” he teased. “And all sorts of mage work you’re not seeing. You think they’d let Their Majesties and His Highness anywhere near a place that wasn’t protected, ground to crown?”

I wanted to ask him that, if this was true, why were we here, but we had come to another gate, guarded again by men of the King’s Own. My skin was starting to itch. I was no expert on palace matters, unlike my brother Nilo. He was a palace courier and knew all sorts of things about royalty. Still, as I remembered it, the Palace Guard was supposed to protect the monarchs’ homes, the King’s Own their persons. If that was so, why did I see no red-and-tan uniforms on the walls? Everyone who stood up there wore blue and silver.

This time our guards from the King’s Own had to come forward, and Lord Gershom had to show his signet ring. I did not like the look of these guards at all. Even the darkest-skinned of them was ashen. Some of them had sweat marks on their pretty tunics. Some of them had hands that shook as they held their weapons.