Queen of Sorcery

swords.
    "We've got to do something," Garion said, sick with outrage and horror.
    "No," Silk said bluntly. "What we have to do is mind our own business. We're not here to get involved in local politics."
    "Politics?" Garion objected. "That was deliberate murder. Shouldn't we at least see if he's still alive?"
    "Not too likely," Barak said. "Six men with swords can usually do a pretty thorough job."
    A dozen other soldiers, as shabby-looking as the first group, ran into the square with drawn swords.
    "Too late, Rabbas." The scar-faced soldier laughed harshly to the leader of the newcomers. "Lembor doesn't need you anymore. He just came down with a bad case of dead. It looks like you're out of work."
    The one called Rabbas stopped, his expression dark. Then a look of brutal cunning spread across his face. "Maybe you're right, Kragger." His voice was also harsh. "But then again we might be able to create a few vacancies in Elgon's garrison. I'm sure he'd be happy to hire good replacements." He began to move forward again, his short sword swinging in a low, dangerous arc.
    Then there came the sound of a jingling trot, and twenty legionnaires in a double column came into the square, their feet striking the cobblestones in unison. They carried short lances, and they stopped between the two groups of soldiers. Each column turned to face one group, their lances leveled. The breastplates of the legionnaires were brightly burnished, and their equipment was spotless.
    "All right, Rabbas, Kragger, that's enough," the sergeant in charge said sharply. "I want both of you off the street immediately."
    "These swine killed Lembor, Sergeant," Rabbas protested.
    "That's too bad," the sergeant said without much sympathy. "Now clear the street. There's not going to be any brawling while I'm on duty."
    "Aren't you going to do something?" Rabbas demanded.
    "I am," the legionnaire said. "I'm clearing the street. Now get out of here."
    Sullenly, Rabbas turned and led his men out of the square.
    "That goes for you too, Kragger," the sergeant ordered.
    "Of course, Sergeant," Kragger said with an oily smirk. "We were just leaving anyway."
    A crowd had gathered, and there were several boos as the legionnaires herded the sloppy-looking soldiers out of the square.
    The sergeant looked around, his face dangerous, and the boos died immediately.
    Durnik hissed sharply. "Over there on the far side of the square," he said to Wolf in a hoarse whisper. "Isn't that Brill?"
    "Again?" Wolf's voice held exasperation. "How does he keep getting ahead of us like this?"
    "Let's find out what he's up to," Silk suggested, his eyes bright.
    "He'd recognize any of us if we tried to follow him," Barak warned.
    "Leave that to me," Silk said, sliding out of his saddle.
    "Did he see us?" Garion asked.
    "I don't think so," Durnik said. "He's talking to those men over there. He isn't looking this way."
    "There's an inn near the south end of town," Silk said quickly, pulling off his vest and tying it to his saddle. "I'll meet you there in an hour or so." Then the little man turned and disappeared into the crowd.
    "Get down off your horses," Mister Wolf ordered tersely. "We'll lead them."
    They all dismounted and led their mounts slowly around the edge of the square, staying close to the buildings and keeping the animals between them and Brill as much as possible.
    Garion glanced once up the narrow alleyway where Kragger and his men had dragged the protesting Lembor. He shuddered and looked away quickly. A green-mantled heap lay in a grimy corner, and there was blood splashed thickly on the walls and the filthy cobblestones in the alley.
    After they had moved out of the square, they found the entire town seething with excitement and in some cases consternation. "Lembor, you say?" an ashen-faced merchant in a blue mantle exclaimed to another shaken man. "Impossible."
    "My brother just talked to a man who was there," the second merchant said. "Forty of Elgon's soldiers attacked him in the street and cut him down right in front of the crowd."
    "What's going to happen to us?" the first man asked in a shaking voice.
    "I don't know about you, but I'm going to hide. Now that Lembor's dead, Elgon's soldiers are probably going to try to kill us all."
    "They wouldn't dare."
    "Who's going to stop them? I'm going home."
    "Why did we listen to Lembor?" the first merchant wailed. "We could have stayed out of the whole business."
    "It's too late now," the second man said. "I'm going to go