The Dream Spheres - Elaine Cunningham [84]
The false smile dropped from her face like a discarded cloak. "Your greed and carelessness could have brought this back to my door. Do not cross me again-ever. I hope you realize you can never speak of what we did without condemning yourself to hang from the city walls."
Lilly nodded her head emphatically, though this threat was far less potent than the grim demonstration the tren monsters had given.
"Good. We understand each other. I'll contact you when I need you again." She turned to her henchman. "You can let her out at the next alley."
The bandit reached for the door of the carriage. Without waiting for it to stop, he wrenched it open and hurled Lilly through the door.
She hit the cobblestones and rolled, coming to a painful stop against a pile of wooden crates. The carriage moved smoothly down the street, its passage covering the brutal exit.
Lilly's head throbbed from the impact with the stone, and the world spun madly as she rose to her feet. She collapsed with a cry of pain-her ankle had been wrenched in the fall. Even without this injury, she doubted she could have stood for long. Quickly she took inventory of the damage. A long, raw scrape marked her arm, and one cheek stung. Her ears rang, and sharp sparkles of color popped and exploded through her vision. Her dress was torn, in addition to the rips Isabeau's knife had made. She had no money to ride, and her first tentative step sent bright shards of pain exploding through her battered body.
She had no choice, though. She told herself that as she struggled to rise, trying to beat back the waves of darkness. But her body would not obey her. She was only dimly aware of the approach of heavy boots, the smell of leather armor as two men crouched over her.
"What have we here?" one of them said. He twined a lock of pale red-gold between his fingers. "A strawberry tart, you might say, but a bit far from the bakery."
The other man slapped his hand aside. "You stupid sod! Look at that face. This is one of the Thann brood, or I'm a three-legged ogre. If Lady Cassandra hears you offered insult to one of hers, she'll have our stones set in silver and wear them in a tiara."
His companion grunted. "Best get her home, then. You got the price of a carriage hire on you?"
"Not bloody likely! The Watch doesn't pay that well. Wait-I've got three silver. You?"
As the men pooled their coins, Lilly tried to protest. The best she could manage was a little mewling sound as one of the men hauled her into his arms, hailed a carriage, and set a brisk pace toward the North Ward and the Thann estate. The thing she had wished for all her life was before her. She was about to meet her father, and the prospect filled her with terror.
Her father.
She had never really thought to meet him, much less ever once considered going to him for help. She fully expected him to reject her-if indeed she managed to find her way into his presence. Lilly would far rather be lying in that alley than faced with the disdain she anticipated. That thought followed her into the darkness, and haunted her dreams.
* * * * *
Lord Rhammas Thann turned the wooden device over in his hands, running his fingers over the raised carving of a raven perched on a horse's head. It was well crafted, but not a precious piece. A man might throw such a thing aside on any number of whims. "This is indeed my family crest, and I seem to remember this pendant. How did you come by it?"
Lilly put a hand to her throbbing temples and took a deep, steadying breath. "My mother passed it on, sir, along with her story."
"Which, I can only assume, you intend to share with me. My time is limited, so please get on with it."
Lilly was hard pressed to understand the nature of these limitations. The room to which she had been brought was a gentleman's study of sorts, but she saw no evidence that it had witnessed any serious study. A few books lay on a shelf, but their leather bindings were not creased and seamed by reading. A dusty quill tilted out of a glass inkwell that