The Spirit Stone - Katharine Kerr [42]
‘Stealing?’ Nevyn said.
‘Worse.’ Wffyn hesitated briefly. ‘He’s somewhat of a loricart, if you take my meaning.’
‘I don’t,’ Nevyn said. ‘Cerrmor cant-words are beyond me.’
‘Well, now, I’ve heard this sort of man called hedge creepers in other parts of the kingdom, or lobcocks.’
‘I’ve heard those, too.’ Gwairyc cleared his throat and spat into the straw on the floor. ‘He means men who fancy little children.’
‘That,’ Nevyn said slowly, ‘is truly disgusting.’
‘It is all of that,’ Wffyn said. ‘There was a lass name of Mella, a pretty little thing but not more than six summers old, and Tirro got a fair bit too friendly with her, if you take my meaning. Her father and her uncles were going to beat the cursed wretched young cub to a bloody pulp, but fortunately they saw reason when I said I’d take him away on caravan.’
‘I gather there was no doubt that the lad was guilty.’
‘None. On top of everything else, he gave the poor child his ringworm.’
Nevyn made a profoundly sour face. ‘But you’ll take him with you?’
‘Well, now, I wouldn’t have lifted a finger to help him, but I owed his da a fair bit of money, if you take my meaning.’
‘I see. So he’s erased the debt now?’ Nevyn said.
‘He has,’ Wffyn glanced at Gwairyc. ‘But if you see Tirro hanging around some little lass during our travels, tell me, will you? I can’t be everywhere at once.’
‘Gladly,’ Gwairyc said. ‘Have no fear of that.’
Wffyn raised his tankard in salute and smiled his thanks. ‘What’s going to happen when you get back to Cerrmor?’ Nevyn asked.
‘Tirro will be shipping out for Bardek,’ Wffyn said. ‘His father has a friend with a ship, you see, but he’d left harbour before this thing happened—the ship’s captain I mean, not the father. He’ll come back late in the summer and then make the last run over to winter in Bardek. Tirro will be going with him, and good riddance.’
‘I see,’ Nevyn said. ‘Exactly where is the ship going, do you know?’
‘Myleton.’
Nevyn nodded, as if merely acknowledging the information, but by then Gwairyc knew him well enough to see that something had troubled him. Later, when they were alone, he asked the old man about it.
‘Bardek is a very strange place,’ Nevyn said. ‘There are men there who share Tirro’s particular vice, and some of them are rich and even powerful. They pursue their prey in the shadows, because most Bardekians are decent folk, but at the same time, in the larger towns, there are brothels where they can satisfy their wretched cravings in safety.’
‘That’s loathsome!’
‘Indeed. So I was wondering if I could send a message to some friends of mine there, to suggest they tell the archons to keep an eye on this unfortunate cub. Alas, they live on Orystinna, nowhere near Myleton.’
‘A pity. This Orys-whatzit—it’s another island?’
‘It is. Most likely Tirro will alert the archons to his presence on his own, by doing some wretched thing too openly. He strikes me as more than a little dim-witted. I wish I could prevent it, but alas, like our good merchant, I can’t be everywhere at once.’
‘Indeed.’ Gwairyc shook his head in disgust. ‘Ye gods, if the lad was as hard up as all that, he could have gone after a sheep. It would have been cleaner.’
‘True spoken.’ Nevyn managed a twisted smile at the jest.
Gwairyc realized that for this moment at least he and his master, as he always thought of Nevyn, had found a common bond of sorts in their disgust. It would be a good time to bring up a matter very much on his mind.
‘There was somewhat else I wanted to ask you,’ Gwairyc said. ‘About these bandits, my lord. I can’t defend the caravan with my bare hands.’
‘Ah. You want your sword back, do you?’ Nevyn considered, but only briefly. ‘Very well. I’ll give it to you. Just don’t go drawing it on anyone but the bandits.’
‘I won’t, I swear it.’
The return of his sword raised Gwairyc’s spirits more than anything else could have, except perhaps the chance to kill a bandit