DragonKnight - Donita K. Paul [65]
He turned and walked back to Holt. The marione’s face took on a wary look. Without a word, the squire grabbed him by the front of his shirt and the back of his pants, lifted him into the air, and hurled him off the dock. The splash as he hit arced upward, and the water fell on the boards at Bardon’s feet. He put his hands on his hips and watched the churning water.
N’Rae ran to peer over the edge. “Oh, Bardon, what if there are still quiss swimming around down there?”
His head jerked up, and he looked at her.
Didn’t think of that. That’s what I get for acting on impulse.
Holt’s head broke the surface of the water. “Help! I can’t swim.” He sputtered.
“Bother!” exclaimed Bardon and picked up the bludgeon on a rope Holt had dropped. He slung the weapon over the edge of the dock. “Grab hold. I’m certainly not coming in after you.”
Up and down the wharf, men stopped what they were doing and came to watch. Holt latched on to the lifeline, and Bardon hauled him to the side. The marione climbed the rough pilings and cross timbers. Those above could hear him coughing and making guttural noises, snorting and cackling. Two men grabbed his arms and helped him over the edge. He lay on the wooden planks and laughed. He rolled and held his sides and roared. He wiped water out of his eyes, part from the sea and part his own tears.
Without knowing the source of his mirth, the men laughed as well. Bardon remembered one of Kale’s little dragons, Dibl. Dibl used humor to strengthen the questers. A shared joke brought men closer together. A laugh helped to heal both body and spirit. Seeing the funny side of a situation made the situation easier to bear. Bardon grinned at the memory.
“Coarse humor corrupts, but light laughter elevates.” Principle twenty-six.
He watched Holt try to control his laugher, and fail. N’Rae giggled beside him. Bardon laughed. He reached his hand down to Holt and helped the marione to his feet.
“We’re going to rescue Granny Kye,” he said. “Do you want to come with us?”
“Delighted to join you,” Holt answered with a bow. “I’m sorry I missed the hullabaloo this morning when she escaped their tidy little jail.”
“How did you know they have a tidy jail?”
“Oh, I’ve visited Ianna before.”
“And the jail?”
He nodded and winked. “And the jail.”
He offered N’Rae his arm at the same time Bardon did from the other side. She giggled, transferred the minneken’s basket to hang between Bardon and herself, and took both arms.
“I see now why Grandmother and Jue don’t trust you.”
“Jue?” Holt cocked his head at her.
“You,” she answered, coloring. “You as in Bardon. I see now why Grandmother and Bardon don’t trust you. But I still like you.”
“Thank you.”
“But now I don’t trust you either.”
He nodded his head. “Very wise of you, young lady. Never trust a scoundrel.”
Harbormaster Mayfil did not have time to go with them on their errand, but he assured them Magistrate Inkleen would still accommodate them. The magistrate’s secretary said he would not be available until after the day’s court session, which would be several hours.
“I want dry clothes,” said N’Rae after the clerk to the secretary showed them out the door. “And you two smell disgusting and look worse. We should have gone to the inn first.”
Bardon guided them past a group of businessmen crowded around a town crier reporting the attack of the quiss. “The idea was to get your grandmother and the children out of jail as quickly as possible.”
Holt chortled. “I somehow get the impression that Granny Kye is comfortable no matter where she is.”
N’Rae nodded. “She is, you know.”
Back at the inn, the mistress of the establishment firmly refused to launder the men’s blood-splattered clothes.
“I’ll have the stable hands burn them for you, but I won’t make my washermaids put their hands in a tub with the likes of that.”
Bardon felt better in a clean set of garments but decided he had better shop for something to replace the lost clothing before they boarded the Tobit Grander. Holt apparently had no problem producing something else to wear. N’Rae wore the second gown