Murder in Cormyr - Chet Williamson [14]
"A smith!" insisted Dovo.
"A smith's assistant!" cried the first voice.
"Then," said Kendra with a voice that would have frosted over Anauroch, "I'll know who to come to when I want my horse's spit licked off its bridle."
It wasn't the most eloquent insult I'd ever heard, but it got under Dovo's skin. "Watch yourself, missy!" he said loud enough for everyone to hear. "There's more to me than you might think-much more."
Kendra glanced down, then looked away disinterestedly. "I doubt it."
He grabbed her arm then and started to whirl her about, but as quick as a snake she pulled out a dagger and pressed it against his throat. "I don't like being touched," she said. "Especially not by a smith's assistant. Barkeep!" she said to
Shortshanks. "Why don't you toss this bat's dropping out of your establishment?"
Shortshanks had already come up with that idea on his own. He laid a smart rap behind Dovo's knee with his mallet, and the man nearly fell. "Out!" the dwarf bellowed, and Kendra added to the command by flinging Dovo toward the door.
Dovo went, but with no good grace. He spat on Shortshanks's floor (another cleanup job for poor Sunfirth, thought I) and snarled at Kendra. "No woman treats me like that! I'll show you yet, you-" I shan't say what word he used, but it had Kendra off her stool with a savageness that spurred Dovo to a fast sprint through the door and away into the darkness. The adventuress looked after him for a moment, then returned to the bar without another word.
One would think that such a strong reaction to Dovo's faux pas would have taught a lesson to the other men in the Bold Bard. But such was not the case. Mayor Tobald left shortly after the contretemps, with many a yawn and a belch, but Grodoveth remained behind, with a predator's eye on Kendra, who continued to nurse a single mug of Old One Eye.
At last the king's envoy got up and walked over to the beautiful adventuress. Everyone in the tavern suddenly quieted and paid attention, but Grodoveth was using the technique he had used with Mayella-soft and subtle, though not subtle enough for Barthelm's tastes. Not enough for Kendra's either, for she looked at Grodoveth as though he had just fouled her beer, and placed a hand on her sword hilt.
I saw Grodoveth's shoulders shake with a chuckle, and Kendra's expression change from sneer to snarl, showing pearly, perfect teeth. Grodoveth shrugged, said something else that infuriated the woman, then slowly stood up and bowed deeply.
Kendra knew better than to attack an envoy of the king of the land in which she was a guest, and Grodoveth knew she knew it. I can only guess at what he said to her, and those who were close enough to hear would not repeat the words. "Nay," said Tim Butterworth later, "that language I'd not use before the foulest drab in Huddagh."
Grodoveth spoke again, and this rime Kendra turned her back on him, wishing, no doubt, that he would grab her as Dovo did, so that she could split his head to the gullet legally. But Grodoveth didn't touch her, just laughed and walked out of the tavern. No one talked to the woman after that but Shortshanks, who apologized for the crude behavior of his customers.
In another half hour I decided to leave as well and return to Benelaius's cottage. He would still be awake. Indeed, I hardly ever saw my master sleeping, in spite of his physical indolence. Perhaps, I thought, his lack of motion made it unnecessary for sleep to refresh him, since he never really expended any energy other than mental.
I retrieved the cask of clarry from behind the bar, settled my account with Shortshanks, and strapped the cask behind the saddle. Then I mounted Jenkus and headed southeast toward the Vast Swamp. And the ghost.
*****
I had not had very much to drink, so it was difficult to forget about the stories of Fastred's ghost. I tried to occupy my mind by recalling as best I could everything that had been said and done tonight at the Bold Bard, for I knew Benelaius would want to hear every detail.
He reveled in the stories I brought back from town, and I often