Read Online Fairs' Point by Melissa Scott - Free Book Online Page B

heels in protest before Eslingen got them settled. Once settled, though, he did have a nice gait, and decent manners; he answered willingly enough to the pressure of knee and rein and someone had taught him a few of the showier paces. E slingen persuaded him to change leads, and back again, achieved a respectable half-pass despite the way King of Thieves shook his head against the bridle, but that seemed to be about as far as his training had gone. Still, it was better than Eslingen had expected. He’d need to learn to stand pistol shot—well, perhaps that was not so important, given that locks were illegal in the city, but he’d certainly need to learn to behave in a crowd. And how to crowd a man afoot, how to break a riot.
    And this was not a thing he should be considering. Not until he knew exactly where the guard would stand vis- à-vis the points, and not until he was sure it wouldn’t cost him Rathe’s lemanry. He should never have permitted himself to try it, to remember what he had given up. He hadn’t known until then just how much he had missed soldiering. He brought King of Thieves back to the gate and the wary-looking groom, swung himself down with a smile and a pat for the horse. King of Thieves snatched again at his sleeve, but in a desultory fashion, and let himself be led away.
    “ He suits you,” Estradere said.
    “ He needs training.”
    “ Certainly.” Estradere smiled. “The offer stands, Philip.”
    “ I know,” Eslingen said, and made himself walk away.
     
    The notes came just as the clock struck six, one a grubby slip of paper, folded in careful thirds and sealed with a cheap pink wafer, the other a neat demi-sheet closed with string and wax that bore Estel’s thumbprint. Rathe opened them both, scanned the wildly varying hands, but the gist of the message was the same: the Quentiers would meet to decide the current question at half past seven at the ’Serry, and Rathe should be there. He scribbled a note for Estel, and handed it and a seilling to the waiting runner.
    “ And tell the woman who gave you the other one that I’ll be there,” he added, and saw the runner’s eyes widen. “And on your way back, fetch me a pie from Wicked’s.”
    The runner scurried off and Rathe dug his hands into his hair. It had been a beast of a day, with the new licensing reg ulations to enforce and the first stack of complaints from Solveert about improper horoscopes. Even now, he could hear a woman’s voice raised in outrage as one of the juniors tried to explain about the bond, and Rathe rose to his feet, starting reluctantly for the door, before he heard Sohier get the matter in hand. Trijn had come to the door of her workroom as well, and she shook her head slowly.
    “ A fine mess they’ve left us. I’m inclined to begin enforcing the daylight rule just to give the juniors some peace.”
    By statute, the city’s smallholders were supposed to do non-emergency business with the points during daylight hours, but no points station ever held strictly to the rule. Rathe gave her a startled look, and she sighed.
    “I know, it would only make things worse.”
    “ Yeah.” Rathe paused. “I’ve some business tonight, Chief.”
    Trijn gave him a narrow look. “That sounds ominous.”
    “ I hope not,” Rathe said. “A few years back, I stood patron to one of the Quentier cousin-daughters—one of the ones who’s left the trade—and she’s asked me to speak for her again.
    “ Do I want to know the details?”
    “ Probably not,” Rathe admitted. “But I’d like you to know where to look if I don’t come back tonight.”
    “ If it’s likely to come to that, I don’t want you going,” Trijn said.
    “ It’s not,” Rathe said. “I just like to be careful.”
    Trijn nodded. “If you’re not back betimes, I’ll send your black dog after you.”
    “ Couldn’t hurt,” Rathe answered, and retreated to his workroom.
    When the runner returned with the pie, he wolfed it down along