Count Scar - SA by C. Dale Brittain, Robert A. Bouchard Page B
Authors: C. Dale Brittain, Robert A. Bouchard
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that showed in the tracks."
"Madame, is this fellow one of your household?" the duke asked the dark lady, who was standing in the doorway looking with pitiless interest at the dagger in the dead man's chest and his staring eyes.
"Of course not, my lord Duke. I let the chambers on this floor out to any who can pay. This man and another fellow simply, appeared two days ago and hired a room. They paid through tomorrow."
"His friend was a smaller man?"
"Yes, and with just a hint of the gentleman about him which this poor fellow definitely lacked. They kept entirely to the house until tonight, then suddenly appeared downstairs, took a couple of quick drinks with the gamblers, and left. I didn't even know this one had returned until now."
"And can you tell us their names or anything else about them, madame?"
She gave a short laugh. "If a man should ever happen to give a name here, the one thing of which I would be quite certain was that it was not his own, my lord Duke! I can tell you that they had one visitor: today. He came and went wrapped to his eyes in a long cloak. But I knew from his voice and manner that he was a courtly gentleman."
"Might he have been this lord?" asked Argave, motioning the guards to nudge Thierri forward. She shook her head.
"No chance of it, my lord Duke. I'd certainly have remembered that red hair! This lordling was taller and had dark brows. Besides, he spoke with a touch of the Nabarrese in his tongue."
"Ah—so Alfonso is behind this!" cried the captain, and the duke nodded thoughtfully. "It could well be so."
"I know nothing of that, my lord Duke," the lady said. She pointed to the dagger in the dead man's chest, then at the one on my cord. "But those are both Nabarrese daggers. I saw the smaller man slip one into his sleeve as he and this fellow were leaving tonight, though he'd carried only a soldier's dirk before. It may well be their visitor presented it to him earlier." An ironic smile pulled the corners of her bitter mouth. "Then he came back tonight, met this fellow upon his return, and remedied an earlier oversight by giving him one also."
Prior Belthesar put his arm under mine as we followed the others down the steep stairs and back out to the street, murmuring, "That work was well done, my son." I was grateful for the aid, as my body had been seized with the quivering weakness that inevitably follows any major piece of magic-working. But after we'd gone a little way I summoned enough energy to whisper, "A question, my father."
"Yes, my son?"
"Duke Argave treated the keeper of that house with a great deal more forbearance than I would have expected, and spoke to her as if to a lady of rank. Does he know her?"
The prior gave a low chuckle and checked to make sure the duke was walking well ahead of us before answering. "Ah, yes, that would have been a good ten years or more ago, long before the period when you were attached to our priory. Yes, that fine lady was a glittering ornament in the duke's assemblies at one time. A great courtesan, and for several years Argave's principal mistress."
2
2
"Tell me something, Father Melchior," Count Caloran said, turning in his saddle to face me. "Was all that business with the copper and the cord and the canting in the ancient language necessary for what you did, or is it just for show, like the passes of a street conjurer?"
We'd remained in the city through the day after the attempt on his life. This had been a good thing for me, as I would have found it difficult indeed to ride any distance immediately after doing so much magic. I'd spent the whole of the time at the priory either resting, eating, or praying, awakening this second morning refreshed and ready if not wholly eager for the journey back to Peyrefixade.
"May I assume you don't think what you saw was mere illusion such as a street conjurer's tricks?"
"Oh no, I'm convinced enough that you Magians can do real magic now! But if I'm to have you as my capellanus, and
"Madame, is this fellow one of your household?" the duke asked the dark lady, who was standing in the doorway looking with pitiless interest at the dagger in the dead man's chest and his staring eyes.
"Of course not, my lord Duke. I let the chambers on this floor out to any who can pay. This man and another fellow simply, appeared two days ago and hired a room. They paid through tomorrow."
"His friend was a smaller man?"
"Yes, and with just a hint of the gentleman about him which this poor fellow definitely lacked. They kept entirely to the house until tonight, then suddenly appeared downstairs, took a couple of quick drinks with the gamblers, and left. I didn't even know this one had returned until now."
"And can you tell us their names or anything else about them, madame?"
She gave a short laugh. "If a man should ever happen to give a name here, the one thing of which I would be quite certain was that it was not his own, my lord Duke! I can tell you that they had one visitor: today. He came and went wrapped to his eyes in a long cloak. But I knew from his voice and manner that he was a courtly gentleman."
"Might he have been this lord?" asked Argave, motioning the guards to nudge Thierri forward. She shook her head.
"No chance of it, my lord Duke. I'd certainly have remembered that red hair! This lordling was taller and had dark brows. Besides, he spoke with a touch of the Nabarrese in his tongue."
"Ah—so Alfonso is behind this!" cried the captain, and the duke nodded thoughtfully. "It could well be so."
"I know nothing of that, my lord Duke," the lady said. She pointed to the dagger in the dead man's chest, then at the one on my cord. "But those are both Nabarrese daggers. I saw the smaller man slip one into his sleeve as he and this fellow were leaving tonight, though he'd carried only a soldier's dirk before. It may well be their visitor presented it to him earlier." An ironic smile pulled the corners of her bitter mouth. "Then he came back tonight, met this fellow upon his return, and remedied an earlier oversight by giving him one also."
Prior Belthesar put his arm under mine as we followed the others down the steep stairs and back out to the street, murmuring, "That work was well done, my son." I was grateful for the aid, as my body had been seized with the quivering weakness that inevitably follows any major piece of magic-working. But after we'd gone a little way I summoned enough energy to whisper, "A question, my father."
"Yes, my son?"
"Duke Argave treated the keeper of that house with a great deal more forbearance than I would have expected, and spoke to her as if to a lady of rank. Does he know her?"
The prior gave a low chuckle and checked to make sure the duke was walking well ahead of us before answering. "Ah, yes, that would have been a good ten years or more ago, long before the period when you were attached to our priory. Yes, that fine lady was a glittering ornament in the duke's assemblies at one time. A great courtesan, and for several years Argave's principal mistress."
2
2
"Tell me something, Father Melchior," Count Caloran said, turning in his saddle to face me. "Was all that business with the copper and the cord and the canting in the ancient language necessary for what you did, or is it just for show, like the passes of a street conjurer?"
We'd remained in the city through the day after the attempt on his life. This had been a good thing for me, as I would have found it difficult indeed to ride any distance immediately after doing so much magic. I'd spent the whole of the time at the priory either resting, eating, or praying, awakening this second morning refreshed and ready if not wholly eager for the journey back to Peyrefixade.
"May I assume you don't think what you saw was mere illusion such as a street conjurer's tricks?"
"Oh no, I'm convinced enough that you Magians can do real magic now! But if I'm to have you as my capellanus, and
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