Read Online Songreaver by Andrew Hunter - Free Book Online Page B

Garrett a crushing handshake. "Always
good to meet another Freelander!" he said, "We gotta stick together
these days."
    Garrett smiled and nodded, a bit overwhelmed
by his sudden popularity.
    "What brings you down here this mornin'?" the
teamster asked, "If you're lookin' for some new recruits, I've got
a few layabouts on my crew that could be mistaken for dead men most
times there's any work needs doin'."
    A dozen or so drivers and porters nearby
laughed in response.
    Garrett pulled the paper tag from his satchel
and handed it to the man. "I'm looking for this auction house," he
said, "Do you know where it is?"
    The teamster squinted at the paper and
nodded. "That’s the Pikestat, just up the lane there," he said,
pointing, "You lookin' to spend some o' your spoils o' war?"
    "No," Garrett answered, "These guys took all
our stuff while we were off fighting, and I'm going to get it
back."
    The teamster's face went suddenly cold.
"You're serious?" he demanded.
    Garrett nodded. "They said the army had
gotten killed, and they took all our houses and stuff to sell at
auction."
    "Those filthy..." the teamster looked to his
men, his voice trailing off in a stream of curses. He jabbed a
thick finger at the youngest member of his crew. "Watch the
horses," he said, "We'll be back in a few."
    He motioned for the rest to follow him, and,
looking to Garrett, said, "Don't worry, friend, we'll take care of
this."
    The other men fell in behind their boss, some
of them pulling axe handles and chains from the wagons. Garrett was
shaking a little at the sight of the group of men suddenly ready to
do violence on his behalf.
    Ghausse fell into step beside the crew boss
as people scattered out of the street before them. Garrett looked
down at the fuming, hulking man who looked like he could wrestle
the wolf if he had to.
    "My name's Garrett," he said, "Thanks for
helping me."
    The teamster looked up at him with a smirk.
"Dannen," he said, "and don't worry about it. Everybody here owes
you a debt. Most of us started lookin' for a new place to run when
we heard that lie about you folks bein' killed. Let me tell you,
there ain't many places left to run. We're just glad you
stopped the redjacks. It's good to know they can be
beat!"
    They burst through the great double doors of
the Pikestat Auction House, startling the few men inside who were
busy dividing goods into various lots on the open floor of the
large, dimly lit warehouse. Dust swirled in the light of the open
doors as a thin man in a brown suit coat jumped up from his desk to
exclaim, "We're closed!"
    "Well you're open now!" Dannen yelled. His
men fanned out inside the warehouse, backing the auction house
employees into corners and against the huge wooden pillars that
supported the rafters above. Dannen walked straight toward the man
in the brown suit as Garrett rode his wolf through the warehouse
doors.
    "I'll call the guard!" the man in the suit
shouted, his eyes wide with fear.
    Dannen rolled his thick fingers into a fist
the size of a small ham, and the auctioneer fell silent.
    "Whatta they got that's yours, Deathlord?"
Dannen called back to Garrett.
    "Where did you put all the stuff that you
stole from the necromancers?" Garrett asked, trying to make his
voice sound like Max's did when he made a speech.
    The man in the suit blinked. "Wait," he said,
"we didn't steal anything! All those items were seized by the
church. We only facilitated the sale."
    Garrett's heart sunk. "You sold them
already?" he asked.
    Dannen stepped in close, taking the
auctioneer's lapel in his free hand, his raised fist
tightening.
    "No!" the auctioneer sputtered, "Not
everything! We... we sold mostly chattel in the first auction. The
bulk of the remainder is still here."
    "You sold what?" Garrett asked.
    "The servants... pets, whatever they were,"
the man said, "We couldn't store those here, so they were sold
outright... most of the rest is still being catalogued and sorted
for inspection by the authorities