The Yellow Silk - Don Bassingthwaite [26]
Down at the end of the entry hall, there was a loud hammering on the house's great doors. Tycho closed his mouth and palmed the tube, deftly slipping it up his sleeve as a servant came rushing past to answer the door. He gave Jacerryl a curt nod and the two men separated, Jacerryl turning to go deeper into the house, Tycho back to the library and Laera. He was reaching for the door handle when he heard the servant at the door sniff in distaste and say coldly, "Beggars are considered at the kitchen door." It was the heavily accented response, however, that made Tycho freeze and turn in disbelief.
***
"I'm not a beggar. I want to see Mard Dantakain." Li stared at the servant, a delicate, long-nosed man. "Is this his house?"
The man hesitated. "Yes."
"Is he at home?"
The servant's gaze slid down the length of his nose. "Is he expecting you?" "No, but-"
"Then he is not at home." The servant began to swing the door shut.
Li ground his teeth and stepped forward, hitting the door with his full weight, knocking it wide once more, and sending the servant reeling. "I have important business," he roared. "Is Mard Dantakain not the captain of your city guard? / want to see hint!"
It had not been a good morning. His stolen clothes smelled extremely bad and were very possibly infested with vermin. The boots were too small and one had a substantial hole in the sole. His stomach was empty and growling with hunger. He had spent considerable time skulking about the snowy streets hunting for a guard station or a member of the city guard while avoiding the notice of people as best he could. After his encounter with Lander last night, how could he know who was or was not associated with Brin?
The peak of his humiliation had been turning a corner and literally running into Steth, the captain who had brought him from Telflamm. To the captain's credit, he had managed to keep a straight face when he recognized Li in his stinking, stolen clothes. "Run of bad luck?" he had asked.
Li had not risen to the bait. "I'm looking for a guard station," he had said simply.
Steth had directed him around the corner and down two blocks. "I'm in port for a few days until I go back to Telflamm," the captain had called after him. "I still have room on the return voyage if you need passage." Li had not responded to that at all.
The guards at the station had been no help. A dishev-eled-looking guard had glanced at him as he entered, then had simply looked away. Li had stepped up and informed him that he was in need of assistance-only to have the man ignore him entirely. He had been in the middle of repeating his request, slowly and with great care, when the guard had finally looked up. "I heard you the first time, elf-blood," he had grunted.
Li had very nearly lost his temper. It had taken great restraint to explain politely that he had no elf blood, that he was Shou, and that he had been attacked in the night. The guard had listened with disinterest. He had only perked up when Li said he knew the name of the man who had attacked him. "Who?" he had asked.
"His name is Lander. He works for a halfling named Brin."
He hadn't even gotten a chance to explain that he was looking for Brin before the guard had burst out laughing. The guard had then shouted something to his colleagues, who had also burst out laughing.
Then they all threw Li out of the station and left him to flounder in the snow. When he tried to storm back inside, the guard had very seriously threatened him with arrest.
He had left the vicinity of the docks. If Brin had such a hold on the area that even the guards seemed to be on his side, maybe he needed to look elsewhere to find help. Li had headed inland, away from the water and toward the taller buildings he had seen from Steth's ship. He felt more confident here approaching people-though many of them now avoided him-and inquiries had directed him to a much larger guard station. This time the guard hadn't