“Who knows until we try.” She kicked her heels to her horse as if shutting off more conversation. She swerved to avoid a hand-truck laden high with cabbages, forcing the small man to turn aside and a few cabbages rolled off and down the road. Despite his curses, I pulled a small coin and tossed it to him as I rode past to catch up with her.
She slowed two streets away and jutted her chin at a building. It was two stories high, as were most in the area, made of gray stone, and above the door hung a swinging sign of a dancing bear. It was an inn. A short alley with a similar sign, however with a horse led the way to the stable.
Kendra never hesitated. Once in the stable, she paid a boy, and we entered the great room of the inn from the rear door. Without a pause to look around, or at the dozen people inside, she walked confidently to an unoccupied table and sat. Our bows were with the horses, but my sword was at my side.
My sister sat with her back to the wall, in the corner where the massive fireplace stood. A dour woman of thirty swept crumbs from our table with a dirty cloth quickly wiped at most of the accumulated surface grime. “Ale,” I said, not waiting for the question to be asked, and needing time for my sister to examine everyone in the room. She looked past me, her eyes pausing on each until she found a plump man with piggish eyes. Instead of sitting behind me where I couldn’t see him, he sat only two tables off to one side.
“Is that him?”
She nodded, turning her head slightly away from him to prevent drawing his attention if he should look. He appeared average, as tall or short as most, brown hair, wide features. His age was perhaps forty, but if he was truly a mage, any of his outward appearances might be a creation of his imagination and magic. He talked with another man, one that caused me more worry.
The second man was taller, thin, and younger. He sat stiffly, like the military officers in the palace. His eyes continually scanned the other patrons. Once, as he shifted, the butt of a long knife hidden under his coat was exposed briefly. He was a fighter, at the very least. However, he was probably hired for protection.
The mugs arrived, and I declined food. The meat pies would hold us for a while. I tasted the sour ale and regretted not ordering wine. Meanwhile, the mage finished his mug and ordered another as the same dour woman walked near.
“He’ll need the outhouse, soon,” Kendra said. “Without his magic, it should be easy for you to take him captive and escort him into the barn.”
“The other one is there to protect him. They are not friends.”
“I can see that. You get the mage into the barn, and I’ll be along right after, but I will keep the soldier away, too.” She reached into the jacket she wore, and her fingers searched one of the small buttoned pockets sewn inside. Her hand returned to the table and inside was a bit of paper folded into a small envelope.
There were several small pockets inside that jacket, and each contained something of value. One was a slow poison, another a quick-acting one. Sometimes she might need time to get away before someone fell ill, and others might want it to react before he could harm her. There was a powder that put one to sleep when absorbed through the skin, and others. Each packet was colored to prevent mistakes.
The one she held was pink and white striped—the sleeping powder. Her hand brushing a bare arm would transfer enough of the sleeping powder to have a man sound asleep in a dozen moments, but better yet, he would grow drowsy instantly. Her other hand opened a green packet, which when mixed with liquid would prevent the action of the first packet from affecting her.
She dipped her fingers into her ale and splashed enough to wet her entire hand. The green packet contained a white powder. My eyes roamed the rest of the people as Kendra readied herself. There were no suspicious characters if you disregarded a few petty thieves, a gambler who obviously cheated, and a man who simply had the appearance of one not to trust.
No sooner had her hand dried than the mage she’d identified shouted for another ale. The maid delivered it almost before the words were out of his mouth, and as his hand reached for her backside, she slipped away untouched. Laughing his disappointment away, he downed half his ale, and his eyes went to his lap, a sure sign of what was to come.
I beat him to it. Following him would be a giveaway to his bodyguard. So, I stood and headed for the rear door and the outhouse I’d noticed on the way inside. Three steps took me to the edge of the building and around the corner to a thick shrub taller than me. After a quick glance to ensure the back was devoid of other patrons, and that I was out of sight for anyone who might live nearby, my knife filled my hand.
My imagination worked out the details inside the great room. As the mage stood to use the outhouse, so would Kendra. She would step up to the warrior and place her hand in his as she introduced herself, making sure to move her hand so as to spread the powder around for quicker results. As she continued to prattle about nothing, he would grow sleepy, and she would excuse herself and join us in the barn.
The rear door opened and banged closed. The mage staggered past the corner where I waited, and a few steps beyond before my arm went around his neck, the blade in my other hand pressed firmly to his neck. I turned him to the barn, and we entered.
The stable boy mucked a stall and froze in fear when we entered. I asked, “Are our horses ready?”
He nodded vigorously.
“Good. Now, I want you to go to the last stall way down at the end and don’t make a sound. I’ll leave you a full copper coin on this railing.”
His eyes got big at the offer, and his feet scrambled to obey. Kendra strode inside.
The mage said, “I have to piss.”
Kendra said, “How long did you help keep that dragon in the cave?”
“H-how?”
She slapped him across his face so suddenly and so hard my knife almost sliced his neck open. “Never mind. How many mages are you working with?”
He shook his head. He was not going to talk, even while drunk. Kendra reached out and placed her palm on his bare cheek, allowing it to linger and transfer the sleeping powder. The stable boy had released our horses, and Alexis stood only a step away. When the mage’s knees went weak, I knew better than to lift him right away. As expected, he peed enough to fill an ale pitcher.
Kendra helped me heft his limp body up and over the horse. I climbed on behind him, after placing the copper coin promised to the boy on the railing. Kendra rode ahead, leading the way out of town the same what we’d entered.
A constable motioned for me to stop. I did, blinding him with my best smile as I explained the mage was a distant uncle who often downed too much ale and his wife had sent me to retrieve him again. As if to help my story, the mage burped loudly, and the constable waved us on. A believable lie told by an impish scamp was far better than fighting our way out of town.
Once beyond the houses at the edge of Andover, we turned off the road and followed a winding path to a stand of bare rocks the size of outbuildings. At the base was a campsite, unused for some time, but it met our needs.
We lowered the mage to the ground, and I asked. “How long will he sleep?”
“Until dark, at least. Tie him, and we will go back.”
That was an answer I didn’t expect. “How did you know it was him? That blip you told me about?”
“Sort of. Once we entered the inn, there was a sort of radiance about him. Something like the Blue Woman, but thinner, wispy.”
“So, now you think you can find a mage in a crowd?”
“Maybe. If they are all like him. But if we capture another we can pit them against each other and confirm their stories.”
Kendra, and most women, in general, are far more ruthless than men. However, for now, this was her show. The mage was secured with a good rope, not that I expected him to try and escape. He might not even wake up before we returned. My sister took care not to touch me so the man we left might wouldn’t be the only one sleeping by the end of the day.