The Phoenix Thief

Chapter 15

Following the innkeeper's instructions, they found the trapper's camp in an orchard some distance from town. Cren insisted they abandon the wagon to approach it, climbing over a cracked wooden stile towards the light of a fire twinkling in the distance. The sweet-scent of the developing fruit seemed little reward for Joakim's nerves twanging like an untuned violin. The fruit trees, small though they were, seemed positively menacing, the foliage hissing in the low wind, as though each leaf whispered a curse just for them. Careful to avoid brushing against them as he passed, Joakim tried to put all thoughts of monsters out of his mind.

If Cren had put her knife away just once in the intervening time, he might have asked to stay behind, but she'd kept it out and ready the whole way from the inn, her face even more furious than usual.

She moved like a ghost between the trees, but Erstas made so much noise that Joakim wished they'd left him with the wagon. Cren seemed much more equipped to scout ahead than either of them, but again, he dared not suggest it. The cold fury with which she regarded him scared him far more than the darkness around them.

After a few minutes, they passed about a dozen horses picketed under the apple trees. Some had the broad shoulders and thick hoofs of carthorses, but others stood barely waist high, like the miner's ponies Joakim had seen at the Queen's Mines in Jenna. None of them looked particularly well cared for, their furry noses digging for grass with relish. A few of the taller ones stretched up for early apples hanging on their branches, but the way they were linked made that impossible. The horses paid them no attention as they passed.

A few feet beyond the horses, they reached a clearing at the end of a narrow track. A small fire fluttered in a ring of stones. A single pot bubbled over it. Compared to the delicious food served at the inn, it didn't smell appetising.

Cren nudged Joakim.

"There," she said, nodding towards a large rectangular shape covered in leather sheets which stood at the top of the track. Huge wagon wheels were attached to either side of the object, their axles a few inches deep in mud, as something heavy sat upon them.

Hoi-Yan, hands bound, sat tied up next to it, her strange blue hair shining in the fire-light. Joakim would have expected tears on her cheeks, but instead she stared around with some interest, a scowl on her normally expressionless face.

SIx figures surrounded the fire. Tak, and the man he'd been with at the bar were on their feet, arguing face to face. The other four were seated, sharing tankards and looking on with interest. From the way they held the coins in their hands, Joakim was prepared to bet they had money riding on the outcome of the argument.

"I can't believe you, Shrew," Tak was saying. "We agreed to do it my way. Buying the girl will bring us far less problems than stealing her."

"Buying her? Here? This damn duchy hates slavery almost as much as Mez's kin love it," Shrew replied, running his hands down his naked chest to rest on the sword belt he had around his waist. It had two vicious-looking blades attached to it, more daggers than swords. "We'd be lucky not to get the law down on us."

"She's worth enough money that we can buy off anyone," Tak said. "And Innkeeper Edwina would keep our names out of it. She's still convinced we saved her son. That was the best con you ever pulled."

"No," said Shrew. "This is. While ya were bumbling around at the card table I went and got the bitch. They probably don't even know she's gone."

"And when they do? Because of you we'll have to leave now. Cherwin's charm won't cover all of us."

"You don't know that," Shrew said. "It covered me fine. He was right to give it to me!"

One of the men seated at the fire gave a short barking laugh. "Give it to yer," he chortled, leaning backwards so far he nearly fell over, his long, greasy black hair sweeping the ground behind him. "Yer went and took it! Yer lucky you found this girl or yer peeping ways would gotten yer hung."