The Yellow Silk - Don Bassingthwaite [67]
"No."
"So how do we find the Hooded?"
Tycho sighed again. "That's not so simple. Brin is easy to find-unless you're a complete stranger to Spandeliyon, of course. But the Hooded… " He rubbed his eyes. "Nobody goes looking for the Hooded. Usually the Hooded finds you." He leaned back, hands behind his head, and frowned in thought. "Jacerryl Dantakain might know something, though. We know he's done business with the Hooded once or twice. After last night, we're not likely going to be able to talk to him anytime soon,' though."
Li's eyes went wide as he watched a tall figure with carefully groomed hair and two very full packs creep out of an alley across the way and turn down the street. "I wouldn't be so sure!" he said sharply, pushing himself away from the wall and leaping for the shed door. He wrenched it open and charged across the street.
Jacerryl Dantakain barely had time to look up and yelp. He tried to run, but Li had his hands on him before he managed to take a step. Quick as a wet cat, Li hustled him back into the alley and snapped a fist across his jaw. Jacerryl spun around. One of the packs that he carried slipped off, falling to the ground with the jingling rattle of many coins. Li kicked it aside and pinned Jacerryl against the wall. "Going somewhere?" he asked him. He punched him sharply in the belly.
"Li!" Tycho skidded to a stop inside the alley. For a moment, his mouth dropped open at the sight of Li's captive. Only for a moment, though, then it turned up into a crooked smile. "Olore, Jacerryl," he said pleasantly. Jacerryl groaned. Li wrenched him upright and held him there.
"Look in his bag," he told Tycho. The bard knelt and opened the fallen pack. His hands dug through hastily crumpled clothes and emerged with a heavy pouch. Two heavy pouches. Tycho caught his breath and stood up. He held the pouches out in front of Jacerryl.
"You walking, talking bucket of chum." His smile didn't waver. "You were running."
Jacerryl spat out a mouthful of blood. He didn't do a very good job of it, though. Bloody spittle streaked his chin and the front of his coat. "Why shouldn't I?" he gasped. "There's a ship in the harbor. You think I'm going to wait for Brin to come and get me? You'd do the same if you could. I know it!" He flicked his head at the pouches. "Keep one and let me go." Li tightened his grasp on him. Jacerryl's eyes shrank in pain. "Keep both!"
"Both? That's a generous offer. What would you use to buy passage? " Tycho stepped in close and pulled Jacerryl's coat open. Another pouch hung at his belt. Tycho ripped it free. "How much is in your other pack?" Jacerryl closed his mouth tight.
Li opened it for him with a slap across his face.
"Bastards!" snarled Jacerryl.
Li slapped him again before Tycho caught his arm. The bard gave Jacerryl a hard glare. "I don't care if you run, Jacerryl. There's nothing I'd like better than to see you squirming in the muck of Brin's pigsty, but you tell me one little thing and I'll let you go." Jacerryl blinked and Tycho's smile crooked higher. "How do I find the Hooded?"
Jacerryl stared at him, looked to Li, and looked back again. "That's it? That's it and you'll let me go?" He stood a little straighten "Go to Crown Alley on the east side of middle town. There's a cellar entrance to a leatherworker's shop. Knock and say you've come about a saddle."
"A saddle?" growled Li. Suspicion was sharp in his mind. He twisted the hand that held Jacerryl and the man gasped. Tycho elbowed him.
"Easy," he said. "I think he's telling the truth. Spandeliyon is a port town. There are only a few horses anywhere. No one would normally ask for a saddle around here." Tycho looked back at Jacerryl. "One other thing-what about Laera?"
Jacerryl groaned but raised his head. "Laera? She's run away. Mard's in a fury. He thinks you had something to do with it."
"Of course he does." Tycho stepped back. He dropped the three pouches at Jacerryl's feet and nodded to Li. "All right," he said, "let