Breaking the Sword

The Rose Witch (IV)

Mistress Allen, seeing the warrior approach from the doorway, beckoned Tigraine over.

"The colonel from the fort himself has taken over my private dining room," the innkeeper whispered urgently. "His aides are asking all sorts of strange questions about the inn: why it's named this, and who works here..."

Despite her apparent support of the regiment and its policing of the region before, there was fear in Mistress Allen's eyes as she spoke. It was a fear of confiscation, arrests, and bloodshed.

"I'll find out what this is about," Tigraine assured her, taking one of the hands the innkeeper was wringing in her apron and pressing it gently. "It's probably just a misunderstanding." This did not seem to comfort the other woman, but until she knew more, it was the best Tigraine could offer.

Tristram trailed her to the door of The Rose Witch's private dining room and managed to slip by unchallenged. Tigraine heard him there without turning and drew no attention to him: if he wished to walk invisible amongst meathead soldiers, that was his business.

The man at the center of the flurry of military aides and soldiers was a lieutenant –rather than full– colonel. That was all to the better, for Tigraine had found that there was often no reasoning with Larentines once they caught a whiff of generalcy. The lieutenant colonel was a tall man with classic Larentine looks and strangely pale eyes that passed right over her, until she presented her official seal right under his nose.

"What seems to be the trouble, colonel?" she asked coolly as he inspected the slip of paper with the wax and ribbon that was her authorization as a Phoenix. He seemed to expect it to be a forgery.

After a few moments, the lieutenant colonel passed the seal to one of his aides and turned his examination to her person. Tigraine was glad she had brought her sword with her as she shifted her cloak to make the hilt and sheath visible.

"You are Tigraine Alsarra," he said, almost a question despite having read her name off of the official document. Tigraine rather wished they could skip the disbelief over her sex and get right to the business of the work this covey of soldiers obviously had for her. "Where did you receive Phoenix training?"

"Salria. As I believe the seal states."

The aide who had been handed that very seal hurriedly moved to whisper in the lieutenant colonel's ear. When the mousey-haired man paused, his commander turned his unusually pale eyes on Tigraine.

"The Wildcat of Holmkin? You, a woman?"

"I have the Berser axe upstairs to prove it, if you require additional authentication."

"That will not be necessary," the colonel said, handing her seal back. "Of course, I'd heard of the Wildcat's skill in tracking and the like, but I hadn't realized... Very well. What I am about to tell you is information sensitive to our current operations in the region."

"I never discuss the particulars of a contract with anyone but the client or the client's representative," Tigraine replied. "It's guild law."

"Yes, of course. We are still very much an occupying force in Adal, however, so your assurance of secrecy–"

"Is yours," she said evenly, cutting him short.

The colonel was evidently unaccustomed to being dealt with in this way, either by a woman or by a fellow warrior. Tigraine was pleased to have thrown him off balance. "Yes. Well. Over the past six months, five soldiers from the fort in this area have disappeared."

"There's no chance of desertion?"

"It's unlikely," the mousey-haired aide-de-camp answered for the colonel. Unlike his superior, he looked Tigraine in the eye when he addressed her. "All five were young, zealous soldiers, eager to win glory and victory for the fatherland."