Murder in Cormyr - Chet Williamson [35]
Now I dug my heels into Jenkus's flanks, and he responded wonderfully. I think he was even more frightened than I. He whinnied frantically and put on a burst of speed that ruffled my cloak and blew my hair straight back. I clung to the reins with one hand and the saddlebag with the other, not wanting to lose my ill-gotten evidence.
If we outdistanced the party behind, we would be safe at
Benelaius's house, thanks to that spell of protection, one of the few spells he had cast since his retirement. It would keep out anything evil unless it were specifically invited, and I certainly didn't intend to invite whatever was behind me.
Whatever it was, it was falling behind, giving me the leisure to think about what it could be. A band of brigands, the same ones who might have killed Dovo the night before? No, there weren't enough footprints for a band. Then maybe a posse mistaking me for the killer? Hardly- I'd surely have known about any posse that had formed.
Or was it even, I thought with a chill that shivered me from neck to seat, the ghost of Fastred, tired of such foolishness in his name, galumphing along on hands and feet of razor-sharp axe blades?
Well, whatever it had been, it was gone now. I heard those thunderous, ratcheting footfalls no more. Jenkus and I were making thunderous footfalls of our own. I tried to pull him back to a trot as we neared the safety of the cottage, but he would have none of it, continuing to gallop until I pulled him up hard right by the stable door.
"Well done, Jenkus!" I said as I dismounted. "I didn't know you had it in you!"
Neither did Jenkus, apparently, for he was quite exhausted, just like his rider. Before I was even done unsaddling him, Benelaius and Lindavar came rushing out of the house toward me. Well, Lindavar was rushing, lantern held high. I couldn't see my master's feet, so he seemed to follow in Lindavar's wake like a large leather ball bobbing after a swimmer.
"We heard you galloping in," said Lindavar breathlessly. "Is aught amiss?"
"No, everything's fine-now."
"My boy," said Benelaius, "such haste is unseemly. It alarms young men"-he nodded at Lindavar-"and makes old ones come out in the night damps."
"Well, you see, master, something was-"
"Pursuing you," Benelaius interrupted. "Yes, that much seemed clear." Then he looked about at the night. "I take it, however, that the pursuer was unable to breach the protective spell."
"Frankly," I said, "I don't think it even got this far." I patted Jenkus affectionately, but he only snorted in annoyance. "Jenkus outran it."
"Imagine that," said the old mage. "I didn't think dear Jenkus was capable of outrunning anything, except perhaps a sailor with two wooden legs. Rheumatic ones at that." He turned and started to walk back toward the house. "Get your equine savior rubbed down, Jasper. Then come in for something warm, and you can report to us what you've learned from your day in town"-he turned back-"and at the Swamp Rat, I see."
"Wha… but how did you…?"
He gave no answer but went inside, arm in arm with Lindavar.
After getting Jenkus fed and settled in for the night, I went inside. Benelaius and Lindavar were sitting with large earthen mugs of raspberry tea, among the cats in front of the fire. I filled my own mug, gently jostled a few felines aside, and joined them.
"So tell us," said Benelaius, stroking a tabby, "precisely everything you did, heard, and saw. In detail."
And I did, almost exactly as I have set it down here. Its telling took longer to Benelaius, for he interrupted frequently to ask questions, most of which, though I answered, I could not see as being of any import.
It was after two o'clock by the time the tale was told, concluding with my narrow escape on the swamp road.
Benelaius nodded, glanced again at the account book and garments I had brought back, and at the list I had made in the Bold Bard. "It is late," he said, "and we should not attempt