Shadow Hunted Read online

  “Good? Good doesn’t even start to describe it. It smells…” He searched for the word. “Heavenly.”

  “You’re not going to start drooling, are you?” Karliss asked, wrinkling his nose.

  “I might. I’m not sure.”

  Karliss looked around. Though the sun had gone down, the square was pretty crowded. There were people all around, but none of them seemed to be paying attention to him and his friends. “If you want one that badly, I can—”

  He cut off as Hulagu grabbed his arm and yanked on it. “Don’t,” he growled.

  “But you don’t know what—”

  “Yes, I do. You’re not stealing from her.”

  “Only one piece.”

  “No.”

  “Think about poor Batu.”

  “There is no ‘poor Batu’. There is greedy Batu. There is chubby Batu. But no ‘poor Batu’.”

  “When did you get so heartless?” Batu asked.

  “Since I gave the constable my word we wouldn’t cause any problems.”

  “I don’t know. Karliss is pretty good with the wind. I’m sure he could get us a few pieces without any problems.”

  Hulagu grabbed the front of Batu’s coat and pulled him close. “No. Stealing.” He turned on Karliss. “That goes for you too.”

  “All right, all right,” Karliss said. “I hear you.”

  “If only I had some coins,” Batu said, staring wistfully at the chicken.

  “Let’s move along,” Hulagu said. “There must be something else to look at.”

  “That stand over there is selling pastries,” Batu said, starting that way.

  Hulagu stopped him. “Don’t do it. You’re only torturing yourself.”

  Under Hulagu’s watchful eye, they roamed the market for a while without incident. They passed stalls filled with fruits and vegetables in quantities and varieties none of the boys had ever seen or even imagined. Another stall was filled with breads and rolls. One of the shops had racks of glassware, everything from delicate wine glasses to tiny figurines. Hulagu didn’t let Batu get within ten paces of that one.

  It was while Batu was exclaiming over a candlemaker’s wares that Karliss saw the man. He was skinny, with a patchy beard and a threadbare coat, wearing gloves with the fingers cut off. He was standing on a corner, a wooden crate upended in front of him. On top of the crate he had three wooden cups turned upside down. He was sliding the cups back and forth, keeping up a steady patter as he did so.

  “Step right up, good people!” he called out. “Find the bead and win easy money. Nothing to it. Even a child could do it.”

  “Hey,” Karliss said, plucking at Batu’s elbow. “I know how you can get some coins.”

  The other two followed him as he headed toward the man, Hulagu already shaking his head. “This is a bad idea,” he said.

  “You think everything is a bad idea,” Karliss retorted.

  “No, I think leaving here would be a good idea. A great idea, really.”

  “What is it?” Batu asked the man.

  “It’s a game, friend,” the man boomed. “A simple game.” He got a glint in his eye. “But it’s better than most games, because this one you can win money at.”

  “What do you do?” Batu asked.

  “All you have to do is find the bead.” The man flipped one of the cups over to reveal a glass bead. He flipped the cup back over, slid the cups around a few times, then stopped. “Which one is it under?” Batu pointed. The man flipped the cup over, and there was the bead. “See how easy it is?”

  “And I can win money if I pick the right one?”

  The man smiled, showing a lot of missing teeth. “That is the point, friend.”

  “I want to play,” Batu said.

  “No,” Hulagu said firmly. “Absolutely not.”

  “Is he your dad?” the man asked Batu.

  “No. He’s my annoying friend.”

  “Everyone has friends like that. Don’t listen to him. You can trust me. They don’t call me Honest Ernie for nothing.”

  Hulagu snorted.

  “What?” Batu said. “They call him Honest Ernie.”

  “Or he calls himself that. I wouldn’t trust anyone who was named that.”

  The man looked Batu over. “I’m going to make a stretch here and say you don’t have any money to play with, do you?”

  “No,” Batu said, crestfallen. “I don’t have any at all.” He started to turn away.

  “Not so fast, friend. How about that knife on your belt?”

  Batu put his hand on his belt knife. He’d traded with Firehair for the blade. The handle was made from elk horn, carved and sanded by him over the last winter. “I don’t know,” he said.

  “You don’t want to win?” the man said. He reached into a pouch hanging from his belt and pulled out a handful of silver and copper coins, which he began pouring from one hand to the other. “Think what you could buy with this,” he crooned.

  Batu looked at his friends.

  “You can’t be that dumb,” Hulagu said.

  “Why not give it a try?” Karliss said.

  “You’re not helping,” Hulagu said to Karliss.

  “Come on. We’re young, and we’re out seeing the world for the first time. How is Batu going to experience any of it if he doesn’t take any chances?”

  “Batu…” Hulagu said.

  But Batu had already decided. He drew the knife and laid it on the crate.

  “Excellent,” the man said. He stacked three silver coins and four copper ones next to it, then laid his hands on the cups.

  “No,” Hulagu said, putting one big hand over his wrist. “That’s not enough. I saw someone at a stall over there pay twice as many coins for a knife that wasn’t as good as his.”

  The man gritted his teeth for a moment, then his smile returned. “They don’t call me Honest Ernie for nothing.”

  “You already said that,” Hulagu said.

  The man added more coins to the stacks. “There. Now let us begin.”

  He held up the glass bead for Batu to see, then put it under one of the cups. He began sliding the cups around, his hands moving faster and faster. The whole time he kept up a steady patter, his words nearly as mesmerizing as the movements of his hands.

  Even though he’d encouraged Batu to play, Karliss didn’t trust the man. Because of that, he was watching closely, and he saw the man palm the bead instead of putting it under the cup.

  The man stopped. “Which one is it under?”

  Batu smiled. “I can already taste that chicken.” He pointed. “That one.”

  Ernie grinned and flipped the cup over. There was no bead. “Sorry, friend,” he said, reaching for the knife.

  “Not so fast,” Karliss said. “You’re cheating. I saw you.”

  Ernie’s smile disappeared instantly, and he got an ugly glint in his eye. “Are you impugning my word?”

  “If that means I’m calling you a cheater, then I am,” Karliss shot back. “I saw you. You never put the bead under the cup. It’s in your sleeve or something.”

  “This doesn’t have to happen,” Hulagu said hastily. “You take your coins back, Batu takes his knife back, and we move along. We don’t have to have a problem.”

  “I won the knife,” Ernie said. “Don’t do anything stupid.”

  “You’re the one who’s about to do something stupid,” Batu said. “Do you have any idea who my friend here is? What he can do to—ouch!” He turned a frown on Hulagu. “Why’d you kick me?”

  Ernie turned his head. “Farel, we got a problem over here.”

  A big man, his leather shirt straining across the muscles of his chest and shoulders, stood up from where he was sitting on the steps of a building and started toward them.

  Hulagu put his hands up. “We don’t want any trouble.”

  “But I do,” the big man said, cracking his knuckles, a dark smile on his face.

  “They’re trying to steal my knife,” Ernie said. “Explain to them
why that’s a bad idea, will you?” He gave the boys a triumphant look. “Farel will teach you what happens when you try to steal from an honest businessman like me.”

  “I don’t see anyone honest here,” Batu said, his voice rising. “I see a cheater. You cheated me!”

  Drawn by the commotion, people were turning toward them. A few drifted closer to catch the excitement.

  “Get out of here,” Farel rumbled, “and I won’t hurt you. You won’t get another chance.”

  “We’re not leaving without the knife,” Karliss said. “And the money he owes us.”

  Farel’s smile grew broader. “Good. I like it when they struggle.” He lunged at Batu, one big fist swinging for his head—

  But Hulagu was quicker. He got between them and blocked the punch, knocking it downwards. Then he grabbed Farel’s wrist, pivoted, and threw him. The big man landed on his back with a loud thud and an explosive hiss as the air was knocked from his lungs. Hulagu jumped on him and started punching him in the head.

  “No. One. Punches. My. Friend,” he said, accenting each word with another blow.

  Karliss and Batu were staring at the two in surprise. Neither had ever seen Hulagu truly angry before. Seeing his chance, Ernie snatched up the crate and smashed it over Karliss’ head. Karliss crumpled to his knees. Ernie followed up by kicking him in the ribs.

  With a howl, Batu threw himself at the man, knocking him backwards. He landed two punches before Ernie recovered enough to fight back. Batu had righteous anger and surprise on his side, but Ernie was bigger and more experienced. He ducked the third punch and landed a hard right to Batu’s ribs. Batu staggered backward, a look of pain and surprise on his face.

  On his knees, Karliss tried to summon the wind to help him, but his head was still spinning, and he couldn’t manage much beyond a weak blast of air.

  Meanwhile, Farel managed to pull a sap from his belt, and with it he clubbed Hulagu on the side of the head. Hulagu tilted to the side, giving the big man the opportunity to throw him off. Hulagu kicked at him, but Farel slapped the kick aside and hit him hard with his left hand on the side of the head. Blood flew from Hulagu’s mouth.

  “Karliss!” Batu yelled as Ernie advanced on him.

  Karliss tried to get to his feet, but the world was still swaying madly, and he fell down again. He reached again for the wind, felt it respond, but couldn’t gather his will enough to direct it. It didn’t help that his vision was still blurred.

  Ernie lunged at Batu, who tripped and fell down when he tried to run. Ernie tried to hit him again, but Batu kicked out frantically with his legs and kept him back.

  There were shouts, and the sound of someone blowing a horn. Ernie stopped trying to hit Batu and turned to Farel. “Time to go!” he yelled. He ran away. Farel punched Hulagu one last time, then ran after him.

  This time Karliss was able to get to his feet. A moment later Hulagu staggered over to him. “Are you okay?” Hulagu asked. He had blood running down his chin.

  “Just a little dizzy.”

  Batu joined them. He was holding his side. “We have to go after them. He has my knife.”

  Before Karliss could reply, he felt a heavy hand fall on the back of his neck. “You boys aren’t going anywhere.”

  ╬ ╬ ╬

  It was Constable Willus. “Why am I not surprised to find you three in the middle of all this?” he said.

  “You have to stop those men,” Batu cried. “They’re getting away. They stole my knife.”

  Willus looked after the two fleeing men. They were a couple of blocks away, running hard. They turned and went down a side street. “I know where to find them. I’ll catch up to them.”

  “That man cheated my friend,” Karliss said. His vision was starting to settle down, and now the pain was setting in.

  “Didn’t I tell you boys to stay out of trouble?” Willus asked.

  “We didn’t do anything,” Batu protested.

  “I see blood on two of you,” Willus observed. “You were rolling around in the street fighting. I don’t see how that means nothing.”

  “He was cheating,” Batu said.

  “Of course he was. You’re not that dumb, are you, boy? You can’t realize that when something is that easy there has to be a catch?”

  “I…uh…” Batu’s words dwindled away.

  “You’re lucky things didn’t get a whole lot worse.”

  “I don’t feel lucky,” Karliss said. His headache was getting a lot worse quickly.

  “You are. He could have stabbed you. That would have been a whole lot worse.”

  “We’re sorry, constable,” Hulagu said. “We won’t cause any more problems.”

  “I know you won’t. You want to know why?”

  From the look on his face, Karliss was pretty sure he didn’t want to know why.

  “Because you boys are going to spend the night locked up.”

  “No,” Karliss said. “We’ll leave.”

  “When I let you out, you will. Not till then.”

  “No,” Karliss repeated. He wanted to say more, but he was still having trouble stringing his thoughts together.

  “We’ll come with you,” Hulagu said.

  Willus looked at him. “I knew you were the sensible one when I saw you. How’d you get mixed up with these two?”

  Hulagu gave him a wan smile. “I kind of grew up with them.”

  “Bad friends lead to bad problems, that’s what my ma always said.” He looked at Karliss and Batu. “Are you boys going to come along peacefully?”

  “They will,” Hulagu said. “I’ll make sure of it.”

  “Wait a moment,” Batu said. “We’re not the ones who did something. They tried to cheat us. They did cheat us.”

  Willus raised an eyebrow at Hulagu.

  Hulagu turned on Batu. “Don’t say anything else. Not another word.”

  Batu picked up his spear, which he’d dropped during the melee, and they followed the constable out of the square. As they walked down a quiet street, Willus talked, more to himself than to them. “Last year when the village council told me they were going to build a jail, I told them they were damned fools. Why waste good coin building a jail? And then waste more coin feeding prisoners? Kick your average troublemakers out of town, I told them. Whip or hang the worst ones, then kick them out. Why complicate things? But they didn’t listen to me, which is why Hafin now has its own jail.”

  He paused then, enough for Batu to get some words in. “What’s a jail?”

  Willus gave him an amused look. “You boys are far from home, aren’t you?” He grunted. “It’s a place to lock up those who don’t have the good sense to do what they’re told.”

  “I don’t want to be locked up,” Karliss said, alarmed. He didn’t like the sound of that at all.

  “Only for overnight. To make sure you don’t get into any more trouble. I’ll let you out in the morning, see you all the way to the exit. And then watch while you leave and never come back,” he said calmly. “There it is,” he said, pointing.

  The jail wasn’t too far from the palisade that surrounded the village, standing by itself at the edge of a garden. It was a small, log building, stoutly built. There were no windows.

  “It looks awfully small,” Karliss said.

  “It ain’t meant to be spacious,” Willus agreed. “That would be counter to the purpose, don’t you think?”

  He opened the door and ushered them inside. There was a small outer room, big enough for a tiny desk and a chair and not much else. Standing partway open was the solid oak door of the cell itself.

  “Drop your gear over there in the corner,” Willus said. “Don’t worry. No one will bother it. You’ll get it back in the morning with everything still there.”

  Batu and Hulagu entered the cell, but Karliss paused at the door. “No.”

  Willus raised one eyebrow. “No?”

  “We’ll leave town right now,” Karliss said. “You’ll never see us again.”

&nbs
p; “You got the second part right. The first part is out of your hands. Go on in, son. I don’t want to hurt you. It’s going to take you a bit to get over that knock on the head you took as it is. You don’t need other injuries to go with it.”

  “Come on, Karliss,” Hulagu said. He took Karliss’ arm and pulled him into the cell.

  Willus stood in the doorway. “I’ll be back in a bit with some chow. You boys hold tight.”

  Karliss’ head hurt terribly and stepping into the cell had made it worse. “This isn’t right,” he said. “We didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “Said every prisoner ever,” Willus replied. “Settle down. It’s only one night.” He turned and left the cell, locking the heavy door behind him.

  Hulagu sat down in the corner and leaned against the wall. “I’m never listening to either of you ever again.”

  “You’re blaming us?” Batu exclaimed. “How is this our fault?”

  Hulagu held up one hand and ticked the points off on his fingers. “I said, ‘Let’s not go into that village.’ I said, ‘Don’t play that game.’ Did I miss anything?”

  “How was I supposed to know that man would cheat me?” Batu asked.

  “Because no one just gives money away!” Hulagu said.

  Batu looked at Karliss. “Can you believe him?”

  But Karliss wasn’t listening. As soon as the door slammed closed, his headache grew worse. He put his hands on the door.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Batu asked.

  “This room…it’s so small.”

  “It’s no smaller than a yurt,” Hulagu said.

  “It feels a lot smaller.”

  “On the bright side—” Batu began, but Hulagu interrupted him.

  “I don’t want to hear it.”

  “On the bright side, we can now say we’ve been to a village. No one else in the clan can say that. Wasn’t that market amazing? I’ve never seen so many different things. Who would have thought?” Batu shook his head, still awed by it all.

  “Also on the bright side,” Hulagu added sarcastically, “I can now say I know what the inside of a jail looks like. I want to thank you two for this. It’s definitely something I didn’t want to miss. It’s so beautiful. Who would have thought?”

  “Don’t,” Batu said. “You don’t do sarcasm well.”