The Luck Of The Wheels Read online

  'Something wrong?' he asked, and she gestured.

  Down the road, two wagons and a man leading three camels were queued up in the road. Their way was blocked by a flimsy wooden barricade. Behind the barricade were five Brurjans. One was perched sideways on his horse overseeing the other four as they burrowed through the contents of a wagon. The man who held the horses' reins was very still, his head bowed. He did not watch the Brurjans rifling through his possessions.

  'Smuggling check!' Goat announced, bouncing on the seat.

  'For what kind of contraband?' Vandien asked uneasily.

  Goat shrugged. 'Perfume, gems, weapons, writings of the Seven False Prophets. Anything the Duke has forbidden to the common people. Some goods require a special permit and an extra tax to carry.'

  'And some goods the Brurjans want for themselves. Some traders carry a few knives with fancy hilts for the Brurjans to confiscate so they won't look too closely at anything else. And they'll be checking travel permits.' Willow's voice shook.

  'We'll get you through,' Vandien assured her, but his voice was less confident than usual.

  'I don't have a damn thing to bribe them with,' Ki muttered to herself.

  Vandien opened his mouth to remind her of the Windsinger's gold, then shut it. No use arguing that cause. Another worry struck him. 'What about my rapier? Will they try to take that?'

  Goat shook his head. 'Too old and plain. Just wear it and they probably won't even mention it. The Duke doesn't mind a person having one knife or a sword. But a wagonload of weapons might be going to the rebels. That he wouldn't like.'

  'Besides, if you hide it, they'd just think there was something more to look for,' Ki pointed out. Her voice held the weariness of long experience with petty border officials. 'They'll know we wouldn't travel far without a weapon of some kind. Wear it so they can see it, or they'll wonder where it is and what's with it.' Unconsciously she touched her belt knife. 'Besides, that's not the problem ...' Her voice trailed off.

  Abruptly she shoved the reins into Vandien's hands and clambered awkwardly back into the cuddy. She pushed Vandien's rapier in its worn sheath out to him. He had scarcely buckled its belt around himself before she was pushing their travelling papers into his hands. She dug Goat's paper's from his bag, tossed them to him. Vandien twisted around to watch her rummaging through the cupboards.

  Ki churned strong cheese and vinegar in a bowl, then added a handful of grain and a corner off a block of bean paste. She ordered Willow to creep into the cupboard where they usually stored potatoes and other tubers. She closed the door firmly and turned the catch, muffling the girl's complaints. Then Ki heaped a couple of quilts in front of the cupboard. A quick slosh splashed the mixture over the two quilts and down the cupboard door. Vandien turned away, wrinkling his nose in distaste.

  'Think it'll work?' he asked as Ki resumed her seat.

  She shrugged.

  The Brurjan guards were searching the second wagon, tossing bales of something to the dusty road to see what lay beneath them. The driver sat stiff on the wagon seat, staring straight ahead. 'Could we go around Algona?' Vandien suggested softly.

  Ki shook her head. 'Road doesn't go that way. The second we pulled off the road, they'd know we're hiding something. They already noticed our stopping. They'll have questions, but I've got answers.' She turned to Goat. 'Remember that, Gotheris. I've got the answers. If they ask you anything, just shake your head and look sick. Let me handle everything else. In fact, start looking sick right now.'

  Sudden comprehension dawned on Goat's face. He slid the cuddy door shut and leaned back against it, his arms crossed over his belly. He stared down at his feet, a puckered look on his face, as Ki put the wagon into motion.

  'The boy's a natural,' Vandien observed in approval. Goat flashed him a brief smile, then curled over his belly again.

  Ki pulled up well back of the camels, but the team still snorted their disapproval. She took a firm grip on the reins to keep them steady while Vandien climbed down and threw open the side door of the wagon. He stood casually beside the open door, waiting, while the Brurjans finished their inspection of the camels. He watched them surreptitiously and was relieved when he didn't recognize any of them. He had feared they might be part of the group who had killed the Tamshin. He didn't think Ki's control could stand up to a chance meeting with them. He was sweating. He wished they'd had more of a chance to rehearse with Goat. One false move on the boy's part, and Willow was finished.

  The Brurjans approached, their incongruously small boots making puffs of dust with every step. They moved with feline ease, yet resembled great cats no more than they did Humans. They were Brurjan, of a kind to themselves with their great toothy maws and soft pelts, their muscular bodies and black clawed hands. Vandien looked up into cold black eyes. He tried not to think of how easily this creature could rip his arms from his body. Instead he nodded casually.

  'Papers!' the one on horseback demanded. Vandien heard Ki's polite mutter as she turned them over. 'We're taking the boy to be apprenticed to his uncle in Villena,' Ki volunteered. 'He's to be a healer. Can you believe that of so sickly a boy?' Her voice carried clearly to Vandien, and he nodded to himself. So they were going to play it almost truthful. Well, it was a surprise, coming from Ki, but it might be easier.

  'Hmm.' The black clawed hands rifled quickly through the papers. He glanced at Ki, his black eyes hard and evaluating. 'The boy's papers are okay. Yours don't even mention Villena. This is just a general travel permit. See, this stamp is only good within three days of Keddi.'

  'That's not what we were told,' Ki replied, wondering if he were fishing for a bribe.

  'Well, it's what I'm telling you now. See the clerk in the Ducal Office. Hauling anything else?' The voice was hard with no effort at politeness. Liar, it called Ki, and expected no truthful answer to its questions.

  'Nothing but our travelling supplies,' Ki replied.

  The Brurjan by Vandien wrinkled his tawny nose as he leaned into the cuddy. 'Goddam stinking Humans,' he muttered as he mounted the step. The wagon creaked dangerously under his weight. Vandien let him get well within, said nothing as he opened the bedding cabinet and tumbled the quilts to the floor to search behind them. He dragged his clawed hand through the bins of flour and grain, searching for hidden trinkets or weapons. Ki's clothing and then Vandien's joined the heap on the floor. Vandien kept his lips sealed as the Brurjan filched an enameled brass bracelet, slipping it into his pouch. He remembered the street girl he had bought it from, choosing it from her tray of bracelets and feathered earrings as Ki stood by his shoulder, protesting and laughing as he insisted on trying every bracelet against her browned wrist. He looked away as the bracelet vanished forever, along with a handful of coppers he had forgotten in his other vest.

  It was only when the Brurjan stooped by the tuber cupboard that Vandien spoke. 'Sorry about the vomit. The boy was sick all over in here. Mind you, don't get any on you. I hope Algona has a public well, so we can clean things up in here.'

  The Brurjan dropped the quilt and straightened abruptly, knocking his head against the cuddy ceiling. He glared at Vandien, sniffed his dripping fingers, and then growled his outrage. As he left the cuddy, he slapped his hand clean down the front of Vandien's shirt. Vandien grunted with the impact, but forced himself to stand still and accept it. Willow, he reminded himself firmly. Willow.

  'They clean?' the Brurjan on the horse demanded.

  'No,' snarled the searcher. 'But there's nothing worth taking, either.'

  'Go on, then,' the leader ordered, and turned aside from the wagon. Goat belched loudly and spit a mouthful of saliva into the road dust, earning him a glare from the searcher. But a shepherd with some ratty sheep was approaching, and the leader was gesturing for him to perform his search.

  Ki shook the reins and the wagon lurched forward. Vandien caught the doorframe, swung himself up inside the caravan and pulled the door closed behind him. He crouched by the potato cupboard. 'Just a l
ittle longer,' he muttered. 'We're past the guards, but stay hidden until Ki tells you to come out.' He straightened slowly, and began unbuttoning his soiled shirt.

  Algona was a dusty little town, built of mud bricks, paved with mud bricks, a place constructed from its own dust and the infrequent rains. The water well seemed to be the sole reason for the town's existence. All the caravans stopped here for water and a day of rest, so the Ducal Offices were here to collect fees and issue papers, and the Brurjan troops were quartered here to enforce the Duke's will. There was very little else for Brurjans to do in Algona, which accounted for their unusually sullen temperaments, and their sour outlook on the drab little town accounted for the beaten and furtive attitudes of the folk they encountered. Or so Ki reasoned as she pulled a sopping shirt from the wooden bucket. She wrung it carefully over the bucket, conserving water out of long habit. The shoulder seam was torn out of this one. Ki clicked her tongue. Vandien would mutter over mending it. His own fault, though. Why couldn't the damn man practice his fencing without a shirt on, instead of tearing out shoulder seams with extended lunges?

  'When is he going to get back?'

  Goat's whine was so in tune with Ki's own thoughts that it didn't even annoy her.

  'Soon. I hope. As soon as he gets our papers fixed.' Ki rocked back on her heels and looked around. The public well was no more than a wide depression in the earth, paved with stone blocks. The water welled up somewhere in the center of the depression and filled it before the overflow was channeled away to the gardens surrounding the Ducal Offices. Surrounding the well was a great open courtyard. In it, children played while women bent over tubs and garments. No one spoke to Ki, but the bright wagon and the big horses were objects of curiosity. Mothers repeatedly called children away from them, while studiously ignoring both Goat and Ki. Ki wrung out the last garment and tossed it into a basket beside her.

  'Maybe he went to a tavern and got drunk and forgot all about us,' Goat suggested sourly.

  'I doubt it.' Ki looked at the basket of wet laundry, wondering how to dry it. The bricks of the courtyard were coated with dust. Senseless to spread clean wet clothes out on them. Maybe tonight they'd camp by trees, or at least near clean grass. She hoped the clothes wouldn't sour before then. And she hoped Vandien had enough coin to pay for the papers they'd need to get out of this town. Goat's papers were good all the way to Villena. Damn this Duke and his rules. She suspected they were being overcharged for their travel permits by officials who sensed they were strangers to the routine. Well, there was little she could do about that. Except to get out of this Duke's territory as swiftly as she could ... after she had dropped off Goat, of course.

  'Want me to go look for him?' Goat offered hopefully.

  'No. Just stay where you are. As soon as Vandien's back, we're leaving. I don't like the feel of this town; we're too obviously strangers, and the Brurjans are too bored.'

  'They can't be any more bored than I am,' Goat grumbled. 'Can't I just get down and walk around a little? What's the harm in that? There are so many people here, so different from people I've known before. I want to see everything.'

  'Look around. This is it.' Ki tapped, then opened the side door of the wagon, and pushed the basket of laundry in before her. It was stifling inside the cuddy, but she shut the door behind her. The door of the potato bin swung open. Willow peeked out, then crawled out. Her red hair clung damply to her face and neck. 'Are we leaving?' she asked hopefully.

  'Talk softly. No. Vandien isn't back yet. You must be patient. And try to be more still. Twice I heard the wagon creak behind me while I was doing the laundry. Luckily Goat was up on the bench fidgeting, or anyone could have guessed someone was inside. We have to be careful, Willow. This whole town feels like a storm cloud. The townfolk would like a chance to peck instead of being pecked; the Brurjans would love a new kind of prey. So. Be still, be silent, and as soon as Vandien gets back with the papers, we'll be on our way. Do you understand?'

  Willow was poking through the laundry. 'Did the tea stain come out of my red skirt?' she asked anxiously. 'It's Kellich's favorite.'

  Ki drew the skirt out of the basket and shook it out for Willow's inspection. The girl studied it, then nodded and smiled. 'I want to wear that, the day after tomorrow when he meets me. I want to walk into the Two Ducks with that skirt swirling around my legs and my hair loose on my shoulders.'

  There was something in the girl's wistful voice that no woman could have denied. Ki found herself answering her smile. 'The Two Ducks? Is that an inn?'

  Willow nodded happily. 'It's on the edge of Tekum, not far from the land and house of the man Kellich works for. He said he would meet me there.'

  'He did?' Something seemed slightly odd to Ki, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Ki refolded the red skirt and set it atop the basket of laundry. 'Be still and be silent, then, and we'll get to the Two Ducks by the day after tomorrow. Are you hungry?'

  Willow shook her head. 'Two hot to eat anything.'

  'Then sleep if you're bored. No, in the cupboard, Willow, I'm afraid. Just in case anyone peeks in the window.'

  The girl gave Ki a martyred look, but obediently crawled into the cupboard and drew the door almost closed. With a sigh for the heat, Ki tugged the cuddy door open onto the seat.

  'Any sign of Vandien?' she asked Goat.

  There was no reply. There was no Goat, not on the seat, nor in the shade of the wagon, nor anywhere in the plaza that Ki could see. She filled her lungs for a shout, then expelled it silently. No use calling. He'd known she didn't want him to leave. Her calling wouldn't bring him back. Damn boy! Didn't he realize how serious the situation was, how important it was to get back on the road and out of this fortified town? No, he must have known. And either not cared or ... well, she hoped he had gone to find Vandien. He'd latch onto Goat and drag him back.

  Nothing to do but sit on the seat and wait, and be both bored and edgy. She dared not leave the wagon to look for him. She'd seen how curiously the children watched the wagon. The instant she was gone, they'd be into it. And with the catch broken on the cuddy door, there was no way to prevent it. She settled back on the plank seat, squinting her eyes against the brightness of the sun. The wide blankness of the plaza seemed to double its dazzle and throw it all in her eyes.

  That dazzle had died and afternoon edged toward evening before she saw Vandien coming. His rapier swung with his stride and he looked jauntier than he had in many days. The stiffness was gone from his body, and as soon as he caught her eye she saw the white flash of his smile. Full of himself, and satisfied too, she'd wager. While she did the scrubbing and minded Willow. And lost Goat, she added angrily to herself.

  'Pull their noses up and let's be gone,' he suggested as soon as he was within range. From his shirt he pulled a rolled paper tied with a scrap of orange ribbon. 'We're clear all the way to Villena,' he added smugly.

  'Took you long enough,' she grumbled. 'Vandien, I've ...

  'I know, hot and waiting and nervous, but it takes a bit of talk to get a petty official in a backwater town to relax. I knew I was in luck when I saw he was Human, not Brurjan. At least this Duke has that much sense. So we swapped a few tales, and I listened to him lie about how pleasant his job was and how fiercely he'd competed to get it. And then we rolled, double or nothing, for papers to Tekum. And I lost ...'

  Ki's jaw dropped and her face lost color.

  'So then I got angry, and said, let's do it again, for papers as far as Rivercross. And again I lost.'

  Ki's mouth closed slowly. She looked ill.

  And then I said, "Well, by the Moon, let's make it papers as far as Villena," and we rolled again, double or nothing. And I won.'

  'How could you?' she asked faintly.

  'Easy. The bones love me, child. Fortune's favorite child, that's me, though she sometimes takes a while to remember it. I did have to fluster and fuss between rolls, and complain how someone with such gorgeous robes and such a richly appointed room and a serving m
aid like a young goddess could take advantage of a poor peddler like me. When he lost at last, Ki, that man was positively gracious about it. I don't think anyone has ever flattered him so much in one afternoon.' His excited voice paused, waiting for her amazement.

  'Goat's gone.' She spoke into the pause, watched his dark eyes widen as the news sank in.

  'How long?' His eyes were hard black now, all business. It boded no good for Goat when he was found.

  Ki hated to shrug. 'Hours. I took the wash into the wagon, and came out. He was gone. He'd been restless all morning, complaining about all the people he'd never get to meet ... typical village boy come to town, so sure it's going to be different from where he grew up.'

  'Damn.' Vandien put an infinity of meaning into the one brief word. 'Any idea where he'd go?'

  'No. Well, he did mention that perhaps you'd gone into a tavern and forgotten us, and that maybe he could find you. So.'

  'So that's quickly checked. There aren't more than six in this town, and all within a quick walk of the Ducal Offices.' His eyes went far; his tongue ran hastily over his upper lip. 'None of them looked like a place that would welcome a stranger's trade, let alone a mouthy boy like Goat. Perhaps ...'

  'Go ahead,' Ki urged him as he hesitated.

  'You go ahead. Take the wagon and team and go at a walk, as if they're exhausted or sick. Very slowly. Head toward the gates, but don't go out of them. I'll be along with Goat as swiftly as I can. I have a notion that it will be better if we're already on our way when I catch up with that boy.'

  Ki nodded tersely. It was as good a plan as any. Vandien gave her a quick nod and a flash of teeth that wasn't really a smile but was reassuring anyway. He set off at a trot across the plaza, one steadying hand resting on the hilt of his rapier as he ran. She watched until he was out of sight, then gathered up the team's water bucket and grain trough. Putting their bits in and checking the harness took but a few moments more. Then she climbed up on the seat, and with a few muttered words that could have been a prayer or a curse, set the team in motion.