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

  “That's amazing,” Lin said.

  Bain nearly turned around to see her, but the soft brushing of the painting sponge down his back reminded him of what Jax was doing.

  “You approve?” the bodyguard said.

  “Well, I don't know if I'd want him to stay that way ... but it's an interesting change.” She chuckled. “Wait until you see yourself in the mirror, Bain. You won't know yourself."

  “That's generally the idea,” Sister Marnya said. “Ready?"

  “As ready as I'll ever be."

  “Jax?"

  “In another moment, Sister.” Jax stopped painting. “All right, Bain. You can turn around now. Hold your arms out from your sides for a few minutes until everything is thoroughly dry."

  Bain turned around and obeyed. He managed a half-hearted grin for Lin and Sister Marnya. They looked more like sisters now, dressed alike; just two Spacer women ready to enjoy themselves on a warm, clear summer day in the spaceport and surrounding market.

  Jax brought out a hip-length vest for Bain that was a little too large for him. It kept wanting to slide off his shoulders. The three loops of braided cord across the front held the vest together. Dark green, embroidered with gold and silver and sparkling blue chips of semi-precious stone, it was a smaller version of the same vest the tall man wore.

  “Amazing,” Lin muttered, after Bain had put on his new costume and stepped up next to Jax. “Much as I admire the Order, I have to tell you right now, you're not taking Bain with you when you finish this trip."

  “What makes you think we'd try to take him with us?” Jax spluttered.

  “It's not you taking him that worries me.” She pointed at Bain and muffled her laughter into a snort. “He's having entirely too much fun and I have this vision of him trying to hide in your luggage."

  “Lin!” Bain felt his face start to burn underneath the paint on his face.

  “That's enough teasing, you two.” Sister Marnya shook her head. One corner of her mouth twitched as she tried to keep a stern expression. “How can Bain play his part if you make him self-conscious?"

  “What is my part?” the boy asked plaintively.

  “Besides being my son?” Jax rested a hand on his shoulder and squeezed, just like Bain's father used to do when they were planning something important. “We'll pretend to be shopping, having a good time with nowhere to go and nothing important to do."

  “But?” he prompted.

  “But we'll be keeping an eye on Sister Marnya and Captain Lin, to make sure nobody tries to hurt them. That's our job. Think you can do it?"

  “I'll try.” Bain felt a proud warmth steal through his body at Jax's use of the word ‘we.'

  “One more thing.” Lin tapped her collar link. “I don't want Bain to take his off—but wearing it will mark him as a Spacer to anyone who knows what it means."

  “True.” Jax nodded and chewed on the side of his thumb as he thought. “It would be a help with security, if we get separated.... “He nodded again and grinned. “I have it.” He strode across the bridge to his cubicle and came out less than thirty seconds later with what looked like a tangle of beads and strings, all black and gold and green. The tangle separated into two neck bands, which he strung around his and Bain's necks. It effectively hid the collar link and marked them even more as father and son.

  Bain touched his necklace, feeling for the collar link hidden under the multiple strands of string and beads, and shivered a little. It was a good kind of shiver; eager and a little scared and excited all mixed together.

  * * *

  Chapter Eight

  Jax and Bain left the ship first and sauntered across the misty landing field. They stayed in the shadows as much as they could and detoured around more ships than they actually needed to. That way, if anyone was watching them, they couldn't really tell which ship the father-son team had emerged from.

  Lin and Sister Marnya left Sunsinger a few moments later and walked a completely different path. They hurried to the perimeter wall of the landing field and then followed it to the main gate of the spaceport. They reached it nearly thirty seconds ahead of Jax and Bain. No one found it strange when father and son strolled through the gate a short while after the Spacers did, and took exactly the same path toward the marketplace and down the main thoroughfare. After all, everyone went to the marketplace in the morning.

  Bain tried to watch Jax and Sister Marnya and Lin at the same time and earned himself a headache for his troubles. Every time Jax stopped to look in a booth or pointed out something interesting across the thoroughfare, Bain wanted to open his mouth and shout for him to keep moving, to keep watching Sister Marnya. After all, weren't these disguises and traveling on Sunsinger to protect her from the Shadows? What if they hadn't lost the Shadows at all? What if the Order's enemies were angry at this feeble attempt to fool them, and they attacked Sister Marnya more publicly now?

  Yet an hour passed and the two pairs of shoppers moved slowly through the marketplace. Sister Marnya stopped and bought a net bag at one booth, grapes at another, a loaf of bread at another, a collapsible canteen at another—and had it filled with sparkling green fruit juice at a food vendor's stall. Jax bought Bain a handful of hard-baked dough nuggets filled with fruit spread at one stall, then spent nearly ten minutes looking at a display of daggers at another.

  At the end of that hour, Jax and Bain had moved up ahead of Lin and Marnya three times and fallen back behind them three times—Bain had kept count. He had also learned to watch Jax instead of trying to watch for Lin or Sister Marnya. Bain still couldn't figure out how the bodyguard could keep watch over his charge without seeming to look at her, but every time Jax changed direction, the boy would look in a straight line from the man's chin and he would find the two women somewhere along that line.

  Bain had hundreds of questions to ask when they returned to Sunsinger at the end of the day. He wished he had brought his data pad so he could write them all down.

  “Excuse me, sir.” Jax smiled at a young merchant only a few years older than Bain.

  His words made the young man stand up a little straighter and hold his shoulders back. Bain almost laughed. He had to bite his lip to keep from grinning.

  “Can you tell me where the Healers’ Guild hall is?” Jax held up his datalink wristband. On the bio-monitor section of the tiny screen, a pinprick of purple light indicated a medical warning that needed to be investigated.

  “Are you ill, sir?” the merchant blurted. His mouth fell open and he stared at the light as if mesmerized.

  “No. It's just nearing time to replace my immunity implant. You can't be too careful with all the traveling we do. It's probably time to replace yours too, son,” he said, grinning down at Bain.

  “I don't want to,” Bain grumbled. He jerked his own wristband down out of sight. Not only didn't it resemble the model Jax wore, but he knew the medical warning light hadn't lit, because he didn't have one. Why depend on that hardware when Ganfer monitored his health all the time?

  “It won't hurt.” Jax sighed and grinned and wrapped an arm around Bain's shoulders. “Can you tell us where to find it?” he said, turning back to the young merchant.

  In a few moments, they turned and headed down the thoroughfare. From the corner of his eye, Bain caught a glimpse of Sister Marnya and Lin waiting for them. He and Jax passed the two women and kept going.

  Ten minutes later, they reached the steps of the Healers’ Guild hall. Every hall on every colony world looked just like the others on all the other worlds. The color of stone might vary, and the depth of the building, but they were all wide, tall buildings, and they all had high steps to climb and a doorway that hung open day and night.

  Bain expected them to stop, but Jax led him up the steps and into the receiving hall. A green-robed apprentice healer met them; a woman with silver streaks in her black hair but no wrinkles in her round face.

  “Renewal time,” Jax said, holding up his wrist with the band, and smiling. “How are you
today, Apprentice?"

  “Very well, thank you.” She smiled and looked back and forth between Jax and Bain a moment. “Both of you?"

  “No. That's the interesting thing. Our immunity implants should be running out at the same time, but his is fine.” He nodded his thanks when the woman opened the gate and led them down the hall.

  She led them into the first workroom off the receiving hall. It took only a few moments for her to check out Jax's wristband and discover his immunity implant still had six months left to it. The fault lay with a short circuit in the power cell for the level detector. Five minutes later, the faulty piece of equipment was replaced and Jax and Bain left the Healers’ Guild hall.

  “She did too good a job,” Jax muttered. He paused on the top step and looked up and down the thoroughfare, frowning a little as if he didn't know where to go.

  “You set it up to short circuit, didn't you?” Bain asked, grinning.

  “Of course. Make things as believable as possible, lie as little as possible, and always support the stories you are forced to tell people. It's going to take me twice as long to set up the next problem.” He frowned, but his eyes sparkled with repressed laughter. “She cleaned out dust and tightened a few loose connections I've been nurturing for months. No one will believe mechanical problems now."

  Bain laughed. He had to. Jax's words were simply so ridiculous.

  “Good day to you,” Lin said. She and Marnya approached the steps.

  Jax bowed to her. He lightly slapped Bain's shoulder as the boy opened his mouth to respond. Bain bowed and stepped back, letting Lin and Sister Marnya walk past them into the Healers’ Guild hall.

  “Now,” Jax whispered without moving his lips, “we settle down somewhere and wait."

  There were benches scattered up and down the length of the thoroughfare, in the middle section, where grass and a few trees had been encouraged to grow. Not far from the Healers’ Guild hall, a small fountain spattered water when the wind grew strong enough to turn its bubbling geyser into an arch. Bain and Jax settled onto one of the benches, partially facing the doorway to the Healer's Guild hall, and munched on the nuggets Jax had bought earlier.

  “Always think ahead,” he said, and held out the bag for Bain to take a handful.

  “You knew we'd have to wait and have something to do, didn't you?” Bain crunched through the crisp outer shell of the nugget. He bit through the doughy sweet layer into the juicy fruit center. It tasted of strawberries, but not quite as sweet. He decided he liked it.

  “It's become a routine—and that's dangerous, too.” Jax grinned and popped a nugget into his mouth.

  “Don't you get tired of thinking about danger all the time?"

  “Sometimes.” He waited, but Bain didn't say anything. The big man grinned. “This is what I was born for. The constant vigilance, always trying to out-think the enemy—my mind is made for this challenge. I learned a long, long time ago, Bain, if we do what Fi'in designed us to do, we'll be content. A bodyguard is certainly never bored."

  “I just thought being a member of the Order...."

  “You thought since they were all good people, dedicated to helping the Commonwealth be strong and healthy, their lives would be quiet and a little boring?"

  “I didn't think people would hate them so much they'd try to kill them."

  “Ah. Then consider this: who would evil tyrants hate the most? The people who keep to themselves and don't get involved in their neighbors’ problems, or the people who help everyone? To steal sheep, don't you have to attack the shepherd?"

  “I wouldn't steal sheep,” Bain grumbled. He dug his hand into the bag again and took out four more nuggets. “Sheep are smelly and stupid."

  “That they are.” Jax burst out laughing. He slapped Bain on the back and nearly choked when he popped three nuggets into his mouth at once.

  Lin stepped out into the sunshine. Bain saw her and nudged Jax's knee. The big man nodded, still laughing, and stood.

  “Come on, son. I want to register you for your next test before we go back to the inn."

  Bain knew better than to ask ‘what test?’ or ‘what inn?’ He pretended reluctance, though, and didn't stand right away. Jax kept laughing and took a handful of the back of Bain's vest to drag him to his feet. He kept his grip as they headed down the street, passing the door of the Healers’ Guild hall. Lin saw them and barely gave them a passing glance. Sister Marnya stepped through the doorway and started down the steps.

  “Sir?” she called, and hurried a few steps to catch up with Jax and Bain. “Could you help me? I'm a stranger here and I think my sister and I are lost."

  “Unfortunately, we're strangers here, too.” Jax finally let go of Bain's vest. “My son and I are on our way to register at the Scholastica for his next level of tests. We spend most of our lives traveling, so he has to grab his schooling everywhere he can.” He sighed, and Bain actually believed for a few seconds that Jax couldn't understand what all the fuss was over education.

  “We're heading to the Scholastica too,” Lin said. “At least, I think that's where we're supposed to go."

  “It is. Could we walk with you?” Sister Marnya rubbed at her forehead, then shaded her eyes against the near-noon sunshine. “It isn't far from here, is it?"

  “Not that I know of. I'd be glad to show you the way.” Jax bowed and gestured for the two women to join them.

  Bain walked behind the three, after Jax loudly admonished him to keep up and not get sidetracked at a booth. He rather suspected Jax said that for the benefit of anyone who happened to be listening a little too closely. It could also be directions for how he was supposed to act.

  If that was the case, Bain knew exactly what to do. He immediately slowed his pace so he lagged nearly two meters behind the adults. He looked in every direction as he straggled down the thoroughfare, even turning around a few times as he walked, so he could keep looking at a few particularly interesting booths.

  Pretending to look everywhere while keeping track of Jax and Lin and Marnya turned out to be hard work. Bain wondered how the big man managed it. Maybe it took practice. All Bain knew was that after only fifteen minutes, he had run into a tree and five strangers and nearly tripped over his own feet once. He panicked when he thought he had lost sight of the adults—until he saw Jax towering over the rest of the thickening crowd.

  Bain grinned and wiped the sweat from his forehead and turned to look back down the thoroughfare at the booth he had just passed. It genuinely was interesting. The craftsman in the triple-wide booth sat on a tall stool, holding a long metal pipe against his mouth. A glowing blob of glass hung on the end of the pipe and the man alternately blew through the pipe and turned it so the blob of glass hung over a flame and stayed molten as he worked it. The shelves of the booth were filled with sparking glass sculptures and bowls and cups and plates of every color, sometimes two or three shades mixed together.

  “You going to buy something, or just keep staring all day?” a woman asked as she stepped up behind Bain.

  “I can't.” He grinned and looked up at her. “My father has all our coins and debit cards.” The words spilled out of his mouth without having to think about them. Jax had drilled him in what to say if anyone asked him any kind of question regarding buying or money.

  His smile faded a little. Something about her long, iron-gray hair and faded black dress made him feel uncomfortable. Bain didn't know why, but Lin had warned him to always listen to his instincts.

  “That's too bad.” She turned away and started walking almost before she finished speaking.

  Bain watched her for a few seconds, then realized she was walking toward Jax and Lin and Sister Marnya—and he was standing still. He picked up his heels and ran, dodging around the half dozen people between him and the adults. Where had they all come from? Only twenty or thirty minutes ago, the thoroughfare had felt half-deserted. Now a rainbow of people in light, hot weather clothes surged down the thoroughfare, stepping down the aisles to rea
ch different branches of the marketplace, or stepping out of the aisles and joining the flow of pedestrians.

  “Where have you been?” Jax said, after glancing over his shoulder when Bain rejoined them. The boy just grinned and shrugged.

  Then Bain saw that same gray-haired woman sidling through the crowd, headed toward Sister Marnya. The woman looked all around, everywhere but at Sister Marnya. That felt wrong.

  “Ja—” Bain choked, barely managing to stop from saying his name. “Father?” He grabbed hold of Jax's hand and stopped him. Marnya and Lin stopped a few steps later and came back. The gray-haired woman changed her path and wove her way through the crowd that continued to stream past the four.

  Bain stepped around Jax so the woman couldn't see him. He tugged on the man's arm, so he had to bend down. In the noise of the talking, laughing, shouting people all around them, Bain didn't have to whisper.

  “There's a woman coming up behind Sister Marnya. She feels wrong. She asked me if I had any money—"

  Bain never got to finish. Jax straightened and turned, then seemed to collapse on top of Sister Marnya. She caught hold of his arm and shoved her shoulder under his, holding him upright. They both turned, seemingly knocked off balance by the impact, and faced the gray-haired woman. She froze, her hand stretched out, and stared at them for five long heartbeats.

  “Thank you, Captain,” Jax said, and struggled to regain his balance. “I don't know what happened. Maybe the heat is more than I anticipated."

  “That's quite all right,” Sister Marnya returned. She smiled at the woman. “Can I help you?"

  “No—no help needed.” The woman wiped her hands on her faded black dress and edged backwards, vanishing into the flow of the crowd in a few steps.

  “Pickpocket?” Lin muttered.

  “Probably. Bain spotted her.” Jax winked at him. They started walking again.

  “You told me what to look for,” the boy said.

  “Telling is one thing; knowing how to look and recognizing trouble is another. You did a good job."

  * * * *