The Tyrant's Law (Dagger and the Coin)

Marcus got stuck in the chair with its back to the door. A moment later the keep poked his head in.
    “Cider all around,” Cary said. “Captain’s paying.”
    “Pleased someone is,” the keep said, and a minute later three earthenware cups of cider sat on the table before them, steaming and filling the air with the scent of apples. Marcus took a sip and was a little surprised by both the sweetness and the bite.
    “Good,” he said.
    “They get it from an orchard in Asterilhold,” Cary said. “The stuff they had before wasn’t as good. So. Leaving Camnipol, then?”
    “Seems that way,” Marcus said. “But the shape of it’s not clear. We were hoping to find someone who could give us information about some expeditions that the Lord Regent sent out into the world. What they were looking for, say. And where they were looking. Only that hasn’t worked. I think we’ve put in as much time as we can.”
    “All right,” Cary said. Master Kit looked pained. To leave so soon after finding his family again was hard. Marcus knew that from recent experience. It was why he’d made the decision he had.
    “I’m going north. The man leading the group in Hallskar’s named Dar Cinlama. Cithrin’s dealt with him before, and she thought he was the true gold. My guess is that whatever it is he’s looking for, he kept the best prospects for himself.”
    “Seems wise,” Cary said.
    “I will be going with him,” Kit said at the same moment that Marcus said, “I’m leaving Kit behind.”
    Kit’s eyes went wide with surprise and Marcus leaned in toward the table, speaking quickly to take the floor before Kit wholly recovered.
    “If you’re willing, Cary, you can take the company to the holdings of the nobility. You can follow the King’s Hunt. Kit knows how to sniff out the man we’re looking for. I’ll head for Hallskar by myself and try to find Cinlama and his people along the coast. It gives us two chances where we only have one otherwise.”
    “I think that would also double the risk,” Kit said. “Traveling through Hallskar alone in winter, any number of things might go wrong.”
    “Makes it a larger problem if I get a fever or break a bone,” Marcus said. “Also makes it less likely I’ll draw attention. I figure that makes it about even either way.”
    “No,” Kit said. “You don’t.”
    “You know, that’s really annoying.”
    Cary slapped the table with an open palm. The report made both men jump. A strand of her hair had come loose from its braid and she pushed it back over her ear like a carpenter holding chalk.
    “You know what I’m not hearing?” she said.
    “Ah. I suppose I don’t,” Marcus said.
    “I’m not hearing anyone say, ‘What do you think, Cary?’”
    Marcus glanced at Kit.
    “What do you think, Cary?” Marcus said.
    She nodded curtly. “I think whatever this thing is you’re trying to find and being so closemouthed about—”
    “Well, we don’t know what it is, and—” Marcus began, then Cary lifted her eyebrows. “Sorry.”
    “I think whatever this thing is, a bad storm in Hallskar in the winter wouldn’t be good no matter how many people were on the road with you. The captain here knows it and wants us out of harm’s way. Add that he knows”—Cary turned toward Kit—“which apparently you don’t, that the company goes where Master Kit does.” Kit started to object and then stopped himself. “So all of this lip-flapping and masculine self-sacrifice will play just fine on the stage, and the stage is going to Hallskar. I’ll tell the others, send Hornet to buy some horses, and get the rest packing up. It’s about damn time we left this city anyway.”
    Cary stood up from her chair, drank down her cider in one swallow, and marched out toward the main rooms of the house and, beyond them, the yard. Kit sipped his own cider more slowly and looked over at Marcus.
    “You did give her control of the company,” Marcus said.
    “I did. That’s true.”
    “I’m thinking she has a taste for it.”
    T he journey was long, and they didn’t wait for the end of the court season to begin it. The company spent the last of its money on a team of horses to pull the cart and a couple more for the people to rest on when they got tired of walking. Even with the long stay in Camnipol, years of wandering made the company a model of efficiency. Aided by good weather, the journey to Sevenpol took hardly more than a week; they arrived just about the same time