All Wise Men Fear

I STOPPED BY THE EOLIAN where Threpe was waiting for me, practically dancing with impatience. He had, he told me, found a boat heading downriver in less than an hour. What’s more, he had already paid my way as far as Tarbean, where I should easily be able to find passage east.

The two of us hurried to the docks, arriving just as the ship was going through its final preparations. Threpe, red-faced and puffing from our brisk walk, hurried to give me a lifetime’s worth of advice in the space of three minutes.

“The Maer is old, old blood,” he said. “Not like most of the little nobility around these parts who can’t tell you who their great-grandfathers are. So treat him with respect.”

I rolled my eyes. Why did everyone always expect me to behave so poorly?

“And remember,” he said. “If you look like you’re chasing money, they’ll see you as provincial. As soon as that happens no one will take you seriously. You’re there to curry favor. That’s the high-stakes game. Besides, fortune follows favor, as they say. If you get one, you’ll have the other. It’s like what Teccam wrote, ‘The cost of a loaf is a simple thing, and so a loaf is often sought . . .’ ”

“ ‘... but some things are past valuing: laughter, land, and love are never bought.’” I finished. It was actually a quote from Gregan the Lesser, but I didn’t bother correcting him.

“Hoy there!” a tan, bearded man shouted to us from the deck of the ship. “We got one straggler we’re waitin’ on, and Captain’s angry as an ugly whore. He swears he’ll leave if he ain’t here in two minutes. You’d do well to be aboard by then.” He wandered off without waiting for a reply.

“Address him as your grace,” Threpe continued as if we hadn’t been interrupted. “And remember: speak least if you would be most often heard. Oh!” He drew a sealed letter from his breast pocket. “Here’s your letter of introduction. I may send another copy by post, just so he knows to expect you.”

I gave him a broad smile and gripped his arm. “Thank you, Denn,” I said earnestly. “For everything. I appreciate all of this more than you know.”

Threpe waved the comment aside. “I know you’ll do splendidly. You’re a clever boy. Mind that you find a good tailor when you get there. The fashions will be different. As they say: know a lady by her manner, a man by his cloth.”

I knelt and opened up my lute case. Moving the lute aside, I pressed the lid of the secret compartment and twisted it open. I slid Threpe’s sealed letter inside, where it joined the hollow horn with Nina’s drawing and a small sack of dried apple I had stowed there. There was nothing special about the dried apple, but in my opinion if you have a secret compartment in your lute case and don’t use it to hide things, there is something terribly, terribly wrong with you.

I snapped the clasps closed, refastening the lid, then stood and gathered up my belongings, ready to board the ship.

Threpe gripped my shoulder suddenly. “I almost forgot! Alveron mentioned in one of his letters that the young people in his court gamble. He thinks it’s a deplorable habit, so stay clear of it. And remember, small thaws make great floods, so be twice wary of a slowly changing season.”

I saw someone running down the dock toward us. It was the pinch-faced man who had passed Elodin and me on Stonebridge earlier. He carried a cloth-wrapped package close under one arm.

“I’m guessing that’s their missing sailor,” I said quickly. “I’d better get aboard.” I gave Threpe a quick embrace and tried to get away before he could give me any more advice.

But he caught my sleeve as I turned. “Be careful on your way there,” he said, his expression anxious. “Remember: There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.”

The sailor passed us and hit the gangplank running, unmindful of how the board jounced and clattered under his feet. I gave Threpe a reassuring smile and followed close on his heels. Two leathery men hauled up the plank, and I returned Threpe’s final wave.

Orders were shouted, men scrambled, and the ship began to move. I turned to face downriver, toward Tarbean, toward the sea.

Date: 2015-02-03; view: 970