The Lady And the Order [Sunsinger Chronicles Book 4] Read online

  “Kin,” Bain interrupted. He had a sudden vision of the little old man carrying on like this for half an hour, giving all the reasons why ‘his’ Lin would have invited him to important ceremonies and events. “Distant cousins, and crew."

  “Of course. Now, you run back to Sunsinger and tell Lin I demand she bring you to dinner with me tonight. She will know how to find me. I won't tell you, no. Lin will have to hunt. That's her penalty for playing games with an old man's heart, yes it is.” Chuckling, he plucked two gisreg and tossed them to Bain.

  “I'll tell her.” Bain scrambled to catch the gisreg before they hit the dusty, gravel-pocked ground. He almost choked when he heard the plastic sheets crinkle in the packet of sheet music. He didn't think the sheets had wrinkled. He hoped not. “Thank you,” he gasped, and clutched the fruit close.

  They were chilly and solid and smelled faintly of honey and over-ripe peaches.

  “Go on with you, now. Not much daylight left to the day.” Mogran chuckled and ducked down behind his counter.

  * * *

  Chapter Two

  For five seconds, Bain just stood there and stared at the spot where the odd little man had been. Then he grinned, stuffed the two gisreg into his pockets, and turned to leave.

  At the point where the aisle met the main aisle of the food vendors’ area, Bain slowed down and took care to look around the corner before stepping out into the traffic of shoppers. He looked in all directions, even behind himself, and didn't see the four brothers. That was good.

  Mogran had been right—the day was coming to a close. Bain was surprised to see how many people had been shopping in the marketplace. The flow of traffic thickened and slowed with every stall and aisle Bain passed, heading for the main thoroughfare out of the district. Everyone was heading home for dinner or finishing up their day's work, he supposed.

  Bain slowed his pace and let himself enjoy just watching the people. He never got tired of the variety; the contrasts of skin colors and hair; the brightness of jewelry or the total lack of ornamentation.

  A man walked down the path just a few steps ahead of Bain, the cloth of his loose pants so thin it was barely opaque. He wore only a skimpy vest with pockets to hold a few items. Walking next to him was a woman—or it could have been a man—swathed in a heavy cloak and hood that covered the face and dragged on the ground, and even covered the hands so only the fingertips showed.

  Four people to the right, a man strode down the pathway, waving his hands in the air as he spoke. All his fingers were covered in rings, his wrists jangled with bracelets and he had little studs in his ears and nose of every color of the rainbow. His companion had long, straight white hair held in place with a blue beaded band, and no other ornamentation. Neither one seemed to think the other looked odd, though they obviously came from different cultures. Bain just looked at them and grinned. He winced a little when he thought of getting his own nose or ears pierced. Lin didn't wear earrings. Bain wondered if she had just never bothered, or didn't want the fuss of taking care of jewelry.

  Up ahead, just stepping out of the next aisle, a slim lady wrapped in a loose green cape stepped out into traffic. Her hood barely hung onto the back of her head, revealing her narrow, elfin face and golden-red hair hanging in soft curls down to her waist. She smiled and looked around as she walked. Her cloak hung open, revealing a long tunic in the same shade of vibrant green, black trousers and black boots, and a heavy pouch hanging from her belt. It didn't look to Bain like she carried any packages, and he wondered if she hadn't found what she wanted or she just liked looking at people as he did.

  The four brothers stepped out into traffic directly behind the lady. Bain almost stopped short. He stepped to the left, putting two more people between him and the brothers, and prayed they hadn't seen him. He watched them and it only took a few seconds to realize they weren't looking for him—or for anyone else. They watched the lady in the green cloak.

  Four against one. The lady wasn't even as tall as the second oldest brother. They were dirty and bruised and looked strong. Bain suspected they liked fighting, and liked hurting smaller people even more. The lady didn't look rich, but she didn't look poor, either. Her clothes were bright and new and pretty. She didn't look like she worried about anything, judging by her easy smile and lazy stride. The brothers wouldn't be able to do anything with her debit card, but there were other things they could steal from her. That heavy belt pouch could be full of whatever she had bought, or enough coins to feed the brothers for months.

  When the flow of people reached the main thoroughfare, the traffic thinned and the shoppers and merchants split into multiple directions. Some headed into the residential section, others into the government district. Some headed toward the spaceport's gate. The lady went that way. The brothers followed.

  Now Bain knew for certain they were following the lady. Those brothers couldn't be crew of any decent ship—they were too dirty, and dressed like the natives. They couldn't have enough coin or debits to buy passage on any of the ships waiting on Nofac's landing field.

  Up ahead loomed the gate for the spaceport. People didn't stand guard there; only a scanner that checked pass cards and searched for weapons being smuggled through. Bain didn't know who in the crowd he could ask for help, and there were no spaceport security guards in their silver-gray uniforms within his sight. If no one with authority saw the brothers trying to get through the gate, no one would stop them.

  Bain glanced around at the thinning pedestrian traffic. There was a tall, black-skinned man walking maybe twenty paces behind, glancing at the stalls, ambling along as if he had nowhere to go and nothing to do. He looked strong. Bain wondered what the man would do if he said he thought the lady in the green cape was in danger. Then two seconds later, the man looked around, swung his dull crimson cape around his shoulders, and stepped through a doorway. Bain sighed and kept walking, watching the lady and the four brothers.

  The sunlight faded as more people left the flow of traffic and stopped at buildings and courtyards between the marketplace and the spaceport gate. Shadows stretched out from the buildings. There were four large gaps of dangerous darkness between the lady and the gate now. Bain imagined how easily the four brothers could catch up with her, grab her and drag her into one of those alleyways before anyone could stop them.

  He had to stop them—he had to warn her—but how? Bain did stop short when he realized there was no one between him and the brothers now, and no one between them and the lady. As if they had just realized it too, they picked up their pace, closing the gap in a few steps.

  “Mistress!” Bain ran. His legs shook and he almost dropped the paper-wrapped parcel of Lin's music. “Mistress, wait!” He crossed the pathway, moving around the brothers as he hurried to catch up with the lady.

  “Hello.” She smiled at him. Her gray-green eyes sparkled. “What can I do for you?"

  “Mistress—” Bain choked for a second. Then he had an idea and almost laughed aloud with relief. “Master Haeffer sent me to give you this.” He dug in his pocket and brought out one of the gisreg.

  From the corner of his eye, Bain saw the brothers stop short and glare at him. He didn't dare turn his head and actually look.

  “Oh, my. I haven't tasted a gisreg in ... it seems like centuries.” She laughed as she held out her hand. “Thank you, and thank Master Haeffer. What's your name?"

  “Bain Kern, Mistress.” He stepped as close as he dared as he handed the gisreg to her. “Be careful, Mistress,” he whispered. “Behind you."

  The laughter left her eyes and the lady nodded slowly. She still smiled and she tugged back her cloak to reveal her belt pouch. Bain stared for two seconds when he saw the neat little pellet gun hanging from her belt. A chill knifed through him, and he nearly laughed aloud when he realized it was relief. He looked away.

  “How many?” the lady asked so softly Bain almost didn't hear her.

  “Four of them."

  “Thank you, Bain Kern. This is
a very nice surprise on a long, boring day.” She slid the gisreg into her belt pouch.

  Bain saw movement from the corner of his eye and turned in time to see the oldest brother leap at the lady, as if he would jump on her back. He gasped. She twisted to the side, ducked, and turned a backwards somersault. The toe of one black boot hit the brother in the soft part of his chin. He let out a choked shout that turned into a groan, and collapsed to the pavement. Blood poured from his mouth and he didn't move after he landed.

  The three remaining brothers attacked. One carried a short length of chain and he swung it around from his fist until it whistled. The shortest one brought out a knife and grinned as he slashed it through empty air. The last threw himself on Bain, fists flying.

  Bain twisted sideways, out of the path of those fists. He let himself fall and reached up, grabbing his assailant by the front of his shirt. The two fell. Bain rolled out of the way before the other boy landed on top of him. With a kick of his legs he was back on his feet. His attacker was still on the ground, face down, stunned by the fall.

  A laugh burst out of Bain. Lin was right, all those exercises in free-fall did come in handy! Even though it was harder to move in full gravity, he could still do all those flips and turns and twists Lin made him practice. She always maintained it wasn't strength, but skill and dexterity that would do him the most good. She was right—as always.

  He turned and saw the boy with the chain walk in a wide circle around the lady. She turned, keeping herself facing him. The one with the knife kept trying to come up behind her but she always managed to keep both boys in her sights.

  “Mistress!” Bain shouted, and ran at the one with the chain. He lowered his head and spread his arms wide and hit the other boy low in the back with his head. They fell. Bain heard a dull thud that reverberated through his whole body. The other boy let out a yelp that went low and ended with a gasp as all the air jetted from his lungs.

  They rolled. Bain struggled to get to his feet. He thrashed and scrabbled with his arms, trying to feel for the chain and yank it away.

  Someone grabbed him and lifted him high. Bain jerked hard to the right, trying to break the hold. Strong arms grabbed him around the middle, hard and fast, knocking the breath from his lungs. Bain kicked anyway, even though he couldn't breathe. His panic gave strength to his legs.

  “Stop! Jax, put him down!” the lady shouted.

  Half a second later, Bain sat on the ground. The hands held his arms now, but they didn't grip so hard he thought his arms would come off. He leaned back to get a look at the man who held him, and stared.

  Jax was the man in the scarlet cloak. He was also the tallest, thinnest, darkest man Bain had ever seen. His skin was a glossy, jet black, and he had absolutely no hair on his head except for eyelashes. He grinned down at Bain.

  “If I let go of you, will you stop fighting?"

  Bain glanced around and saw all four brothers were either being held or watched by big men in the silver-gray spaceport security uniforms. He looked at the man towering over him and nodded.

  “That's better,” Jax said, chuckling. He let go of Bain and straightened up—a long way up.

  “He'd better be all right,” the lady said, hurrying over to join them. She knelt next to Bain. “That walking tree didn't hurt you, did he?"

  “No, Mistress,” Bain said, shaking his head.

  “Sister,” Jax corrected.

  “Huh?"

  “This is Sister High Scholar Marnya—"

  “Of the Order,” Bain whispered, finishing the man's sentence for him. His eyes grew wide and round and his mouth dropped open as he stared at Sister Marnya.

  “What's wrong?” Sister Marnya chuckled. “Do I have spots on my face or did I turn a different color? Goodness, Bain, haven't you ever seen a member of the Order before?"

  “Yes—but not one who could fight like you do.” His face got hot when he realized a second too late that was the wrong thing to say.

  Jax burst out laughing. Sister Marnya glared at him for two seconds, before her eyes started to sparkle and then she giggled.

  “Bain!” Lin raced through the spaceport gates and skidded to a halt in front of them. “What happened? Are you all right?"

  “He's fine, Captain.” Sister Marnya stood and held out a hand. “Your son saw four hoodlums preparing to attack me and he stepped in to help.” The two women shook hands.

  “I'm glad he was here,” she said softly. “But what happened?"

  “He went hand-to-hand with some nasty, arrogant dirt-siders and he would have come out on top if my bodyguard hadn't interfered."

  “How much hand-to-hand?” Lin said, turning to look at Bain. Her mouth trembled and her eyes sparkled with mischief and Bain didn't know if she was worried or amused or proud. At least she wasn't angry with him—at least he hadn't been hurt.

  “He's good, but he still needs some training,” Jax drawled.

  “Everyone needs training, compared to you,” Sister Marnya said.

  “Bodyguard?” That word broke through the stunned silence in Bain's head. “Then you didn't need my help at all."

  “The warning was more than welcome, I assure you.” Then a tiny frown twitched across her lips and she sighed. “I did look forward to eating that gisreg, though. I dropped it and someone smashed it to a pulp. Where did you find them?"

  “Mogran Haeffer brings them in straight from Aramar about this time every year,” Lin said. She squeezed Bain's shoulder and didn't take her hand away. He was glad. “You can take us back there, can't you?"

  “Won't he be closed by now?” Bain protested.

  “He won't close up his stall until you and I show up to eat with him."

  “Oh. All right.” He started to shove his hands into his pockets, then felt something wet and squashy in one pocket. “Oh, no!"

  Bain brought out the crushed gisreg, golden pulp and shreds of gold and purple rind sliding through his fingers. He watched it drip onto the pavement. Lin snorted. She tried to muffle her laughter, but she couldn't. Then a squeak escaped Sister Marnya. She pressed a hand over her mouth, trying not to laugh. Jax burst out in a loud guffaw that reverberated in Bain's chest. The boy thought for a few seconds, then decided he might as well laugh too. He took a deep breath and started to laugh—then he remembered.

  “My package!” He pushed between the adults and ran back to the spot where the brothers had first ambushed Sister Marnya. His paper-wrapped packet of music lay only a few steps away. Footprints marred the blue paper. One corner was torn. Bain fought angry tears as he tugged open the glued flap to check the flimsies inside. If any of Lin's music was torn or ruined, he would beat up on all four brothers and no one would stop him—not even Jax.

  “Everything all right?” the big man asked. It only took him a few long-legged steps to cross over to where Bain stood, leaving the women behind.

  “I think so."

  “Music, huh?” Jax bent down and watched over Bain's shoulder as the boy inspected the plastic sheets. “You play?"

  “I have a harp. This is flute music, for Lin. It's her birthday."

  “Ah.” He nodded and waited until Bain closed the paper package again so the music didn't show.

  As they walked back over to join Lin and Sister Marnya, Bain thought of something else.

  “How did you know Master Haeffer wanted us to eat with him?” he asked Lin.

  “Oh.” She shrugged. “After that odd message from you, Ganfer kept an open channel in your collar link. As soon as you warned Sister Marnya to be careful, I came running and Ganfer called the spaceport guards."

  “Good thing you did, too,” Jax said. “It's been a long time since I practiced on anyone. I might have hurt one of those young fools without meaning to."

  “Incorrigible,” Sister Marnya said. But she smiled. “If you could take me to Master Haeffer's stall, I would be even more grateful."

  “Not quite yet,” Master Sergeant Sharkin of the spaceport guards said, stepping up to their
group. “I will need statements from all of you.” He glowered at Lin, Bain, Sister Marnya and Jax as if they were the cause of the trouble, and not the four brothers.

  Lin identified herself as captain of the ship that called in the alert. The sergeant wanted to know why. When she explained that she had been listening in through Bain's collar link, the man turned his hard gaze on the boy.

  “Getting into trouble, were you?"

  “No sir!” Bain swallowed hard. “They were following me and then they blocked the aisle so I called Ganfer and talked to him."

  “Why? Who's Ganfer?” the man almost barked.

  “My ship's brain,” Lin said with a half-smile.

  “Ship's brain? You're a Spacer?” The sergeant nodded and didn't seem quite as angry. “Why'd you talk to the ship-brain, boy?"

  “I guess to let them know I wasn't alone. Lots of people are scared of ship-brains. They did leave me alone after I talked to Ganfer, so I guess it worked."

  “Guess it did.” He nodded. “So, how did you know they were going to try to hurt Mistress—” He nodded to Sister Marnya, clearly asking her to fill in her name.

  “Sister High Scholar Marnya of the Order,” Jax said with a little bow. “I am her bodyguard, Jax of Mierheen."

  “Bodyguard, huh? Why weren't you guarding her? Not doing your job, if a boy has to step in and take a couple punches for you."

  “He was only ten steps behind us, Sergeant,” Sister Marnya said. “I kicked the one who attacked me, and then Jax was there to take care of the problem. I was in no danger at all."

  “Seems to me a bodyguard works best if he's right next to you, guarding your body."

  “Perhaps.” She nodded, sharing a smile with Lin. “I've found, though, that people pay far less attention to me if I don't appear to have a bodyguard. Then no one wonders why I need one. Wondering usually leads people to speculate that I have something to protect—or steal."