she was back at her lessons in the temple. ‘Hope that don’t apply to me,’ he said with a grin that didn’t reach his white eyes. ‘Ain’t taking fucking orders from any o’ them.’
King Emin gave the man an indulgent smile. ‘Then it is fortunate that I’m putting you in charge of part of the unit.’
‘Hah! You’ll be making me nobility next!’ the white-eye said with a laugh.
Half the men in the room realised the king hadn’t been joking and began to object, but Emin hushed his troops and waited for the mercenaries to quieten down.
‘Enough of the bravado,’ he said. ‘If there’s any man among you who wants to test himself against Daken you can take it out into the courtyard now - no, that’s excepting you, Coran!’ he snapped as his bodyguard hefted his mace. ‘Daken leads one half of the unit, Coran the other. You each will be responsible for getting them to the Circle City by whatever unobtrusive method is necessary — ’
‘That means secret-like,’ Daken interjected, looking directly at the rogue mage, Wentersorn, ‘for the dumbshits among you.’
‘Yes, Daken, yes it does,’ Emin said with exaggerated patience. ‘For preference it would also include not starting a fight with your own men too. Once in Byora you will liaise with my man in the quarter, who will give you your final orders.’
‘What about him?’ Wentersorn demanded in a whining voice, pointing at the vagrant standing all alone. ‘You can’t expect any of us to travel with Shim the Bastard!’
Considering Daken’s naked hostility towards him, Ardela guessed Wentersorn had to be genuinely afraid to speak up again and she turned her attention to Shim. The man kept his eyes low.
‘Several of the Brotherhood will be part of your group. Some will be filling you in on necessary details of how they work, and two will be escorting Shim separately.’
Shim said something in response that Ardela couldn’t understand, but the mage did. He shrank back for a moment, then found his courage and replied in the Narkang dialect, drawing his knife. It was quite clear what he meant, whatever language.
‘Curious,’ Legana said, ‘it seems he’s a mage-killer of some sort. Not a mystery I want to investigate too closely, I think.’
‘What are we doing here?’ Ardela whispered back.
‘Waiting for our turn,’ Legana replied. ‘King Emin may be the patron we’re looking for - his agents and officials may be able to find our sisters faster than we ever could alone.’
‘You’re going to ask him outright?’
‘He’s a politician; when have you ever heard a politician say something plainly? But look at who we’re sharing a room with - this is part of an ongoing campaign and the man is having to recruit Raylin mercenaries to bolster his numbers.’
‘So he might need us more than we need him?’
‘Luck’s a chance taken.’ Legana repeated. ‘Let’s wait and see what chances the King of Narkang has to offer us.’
While they spoke, Daken had stirred himself to take control of his new troops. He wasn’t as tall as the king’s bodyguard, Coran, but he was nonetheless a white-eye, and not even the battle-mage looked keen to face him down. Once all was quiet again King Emin wound the briefing up.
‘If you’ve quite finished, I suggest you eat and drink your fill and be ready for an early start. Daken, I want them ready to leave at dawn so hangovers are your problem. Veil, make yourself and the other four known to your unit commander. Gentlemen, ladies, you’ve all been offered a good price for your services and continuing allegiance afterwards.’ King Emin paused, then his voice hardened. ‘Don’t test my patience by trying to renegotiate now.’
With that he disappeared from view. The room was silent for a moment before one of the King’s Men rose and headed for Daken, which became the cue for the rest to start their conversations again. For a moment Ardela thought they had been forgotten, but then she realised Coran was staring at her. Once he realised he had her attention he indicated up the stairs with a twitch of his head.
Ardela whispered to Legana, who scribbled something on her slate and climbed to her feet.
There were fewer eyes on them than Ardela had expected. The odd couple of mages were watching Legana with puzzled expressions, but the others were more concerned with Shim the Bastard, whoever he was. The normal troops were sizing up their new comrades, trying to keep an eye on the more obvious threats