Read Online Dragon Thief by S. Andrew Swann - Free Book Online

Fearless Leader climbed up into the wagon and started tossing aside random bits of broken wood, canvas, and hay. I could hear her muttering, “Nothing? They left nothing?”
    â€œSo,” I said to Laya, “arranged marriage?”
    â€œFather couldn’t pay his taxes,” Laya said. “Gave me to the tax collector.”
    â€œThat’s rough.”
    She frowned, causing the scar on her face to crease and become more prominent. “Others had it worse.”
    I heard Grace cursing from above us, inside the wagon.
    â€œShe doesn’t sound happy.”
    â€œIt’s how she is. She worries. Worry makes her angry.”
    In the wagon, I heard Grace say something like, “Bastards could have left some damn food!”
    â€œHow long have you been out here?” I asked.
    Laya shrugged and nodded toward the wagon. “She was the first, then Mary. They’ve been out here two years, three maybe. I found them last fall.”
    If I really was as oblivious as I acted sometimes, I might have asked why she stayed. But I knew why she stayed, why all of them stayed even though it was clear that they were going hungry in the depths of winter. I understood the choice they’d made. In their case, the choice was much starker because of their age and their sex, but it was still the same choice I had faced long ago when I’d chosen life as an outlaw.
    Die free, or live as a slave.
    For some people, a full belly can never compensate for being someone’s property.
    â€œShe’s a good leader?”
    â€œShe knows what to do.”
    It was quiet, but I thought I heard a sob of frustration from the wagon. If Laya heard, she didn’t give any sign of it. A few moments later, Grace climbed out of the remains of the wagon. I saw the instant before she realized I saw her, and her expression was wrenching.
    By the time she jumped down to the ground and faced us, the pain was gone, replaced by the half-bored sardonic look she’d been giving me ever since I’d given up my dagger. Only I now had a sense of how brittle that hardness was.
    â€œSo,” I said, “I guess you’re going to want me to find you transportation to Lendowyn?”
    Her expression didn’t soften, but the way she narrowed her eyes slightly and cocked her head told me that she understood I was making an offer, and wasn’t quite sure what it meant.
    â€œYeah,” she said. “Something like that.”
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    We returned to the campsite, and they packed everything up in a matter of minutes. We spent the rest of the day following the mute girl, Rabbit, who tracked the assassins from the ambush. I had my own reservations about that, but it did take us in the right direction, south. It was a pretty good assumption that those guys had some form of transportation since they were pretty far afield themselves.
    Apparently no one had any doubt that the great master thief Snake could easily liberate whatever he wanted from a bunch of professional assassins.
    For what it was worth, I agreed.
    I just wished he was here.
    We caught up with them before nightfall. There were seven or eight tents, at least a dozen horses, a carriage, and a pair of large covered wagons, all more than up to the task of transporting Grace’s small band.
    The campsite seemed larger and more opulent than I’d credit for a bunch of mercenary killers. I had a brief hope that we had come across a bunch of merchants who had coincidentally camped out in our path. I was able to believe that until I saw one of the sentries in the same elaborate patterned armor I’d seen on the Sanhom Assassins who had ambushed Weasel and company, down to the mask covering the lower half of his face.
    We watched from the woods as the sun dropped and Grace whispered, “We can take care of the guard, you take a wagon.”
    I shook my head.
    â€œThe master thief having second