fast. Else you are going to have a difficult time running this sorry inn—because I am going to cut out your tongue and shove it down your throat. And if I’m still feeling edgy, I’ll chop off your dick as well.”
Rapidly, the innkeeper said, “M’ boy saw ‘er loadin’ the boy up w’ the caravan that was outside t’ wall las’ night. Right happy, the boy looked.” His face was pale, save for two spots of color high on his cheeks. “The Wildlings have him now. And I did not lay a hand on t’ boy. Gave ‘er a good price, I did.”
“There is no price on a life,” Aryn said in disgust. He dropped him abruptly and shoved. “Perhaps I should take your boy and let the Wildlings have him as well. And you could buy him back, for a price. But then, he would know true happiness, and he would never want to leave them for you.”
Gaping at him, the innkeeper said, “You can’t do that! He’s my boy! My son!”
“That child you sold to the elf is also somebody’s boy, somebody’s son. Didn’t keep you from buying him like he was a shirt or a pair of shoes, did it?”
Disgusted, Aryn left, grabbing his pack and hitting the streets. His contract to the wagon train was up and he was free. If he didn’t get away from this blasted city, he would go mad.
Chapter 3
“Eh, thas jes’ a bloody girl.”
Oh, isn’t he a bright one?
With some amusement, Tyriel watched as he scratched his head and eyed her dubiously. Putting down her gear kit, she rose to her full height and studied the big man.
Fighter, she decided, but nothing more than a muscled grunt. A guard who relied on his brawn and not much else—likely because he had little else to rely on.
Gerome, the man who’d hired her for a rather princely sum, gave the big man a dark look. “Benjin. Be silent.”
But, no. Benjin would not be silent. Tyriel decided she’d be amused rather than insulted, though. Her gear kit, a rolled-up piece of leather that held the tools she used for polishing and cleaning her weapons, and sharpening her blades, lay in plain view on the stone she’d used as a work surface, and anybody with sense would have noted that, or the sword at her back, the knife at her waist. Not Benjin, though.
So, his next comment didn’t even surprise her.
“Y’ takin’ to bringing whores along?” the dunce asked, too stupid to recognize the warning in his boss’s eyes.
Whore, am I?
She had no ill will to those who sold themselves—assuming it was a choice. Tyriel sold herself as well, although what she sold was skill with a blade and magic.
So she kept her voice mild as she said, “I’m not here to whore for anybody.”
“I’ve not seen many her equal when it comes to a sword,” Gerome said, stepping forward and meeting Benjin’s eyes with a sharp look. “Since Dheo is no longer traveling with me, we’re short—and all my guards could use with some sharpening of their skills. Tyriel can help with that and keep the wagon train safe. I don’t care if she’s one of the exiled if she can handle you lot and keep my people safe.”
“I don’t need no handlin’.” Benjin’s face folded into surly lines and he gave Tyriel a dismissive look. Crossing his arms over his massive chest, the surly fellow looked Tyriel over with derisive eyes. “I ain’t workin’ alongside no bloody girl. Unless’n I kin be putting her under me.”
Gerome eyed the fellow with pursed lips, then shrugged his shoulders. “All right. Aldy, get Benjin’s wages together. He gave me three days of work.”
“Huh?”
Aldy, the spry little man who had brought Tyriel the work contract the previous night, scurried over to the hulking idiot who stood staring at Gerome as if he had grown a second head.
“Wages? I thought we got paid at the night before each stopover.” The dunce reached up to scratch his straw-colored hair a second time.
“The trip is done for you. You won’t work beside a…girl.” A glint of amusement lit the wagonmaster’s eyes as he looked at Tyriel and she knew then he hadn’t made the mistake many humans did, assuming her youthful face meant she was young. “Since I have no intention of passing by an excellent swordsman and mage in favor of you, you are done here.”
Effectively dismissing Benjin, Gerome gestured to the other two guards who’d come along with