They entered the relative darkness of the common room of the inn and stood blinking for a moment as their eyes adjusted to the darkness. Then with an inarticulate shout of rage, Talon drew the sword at his side and charged straight at a man who was standing at the bar.
• CHAPTER SEVEN • (#ulink_7bf7711a-d707-5157-82b1-15d7ba727d62)
Education (#ulink_7bf7711a-d707-5157-82b1-15d7ba727d62)
CALEB MOVED SWIFTLY.
He saw Talon draw his sword, shout in rage and charge at a man standing at the bar. The man – a mercenary, judging by his garb and weapons, was a seasoned veteran who reacted with shock only for a moment before recognizing a threat. But as his hand moved to his sword, Caleb reached out with his left leg and caught Talon’s right ankle, tripping him.
A second later Caleb had his own sword in his hand and had moved to stand between Talon, who was scrambling to his feet, and the man at the bar. He lowered his swordpoint in the general direction of the stranger and with his left hand pushed Talon back to his knees as he attempted to rise.
‘Hold on!’ Caleb shouted. ‘Wait a minute!’
The mercenary assumed a defensive position rather than attacking either of the two men he faced. ‘I’m holding,’ he replied. ‘But not for long.’
Talon attempted to get up again and Caleb grabbed his tunic by the fabric at the shoulder and hauled at him. Instead of the resistance he had anticipated, Talon found his upward motion aided so that suddenly he was standing upright on his toes. Caleb let him hang there for a moment before releasing him. Talon crashed to the floor, landing on his backside.
‘Wait, damnit!’ shouted Caleb.
Talon waited.
‘What is this about?’ yelled the mercenary.
‘He’s a murderer!’ Talon shouted, trying to rise once more, his face full of rage. In his anger, he had reverted to his native language.
Caleb let him get halfway to his feet, then kicked his left heel, sending him back to the floor again. In the language of the Orosini, Caleb said, ‘No one here but me understood what you just said. Who do you think this man is?’
‘One of the men who killed my people!’
Caleb did not take his eyes off the mercenary for more than a second. ‘Your name?’ he asked the man in Roldemish.
‘Who wants to know?’
‘Someone trying to keep the bloodshed to a minimum,’ answered Caleb.
‘My name is John Creed, from Inaska.’
Glancing at Talon, to make sure he was still behaving, Caleb asked, ‘Have you ever served with Raven?’
Creed nearly spat. ‘I wouldn’t piss on Raven if his arse was on fire. I’m a mercenary, not a child killer.’
Caleb said to Talon, ‘Slowly,’ and let him rise.
Sensing the crisis had past, the mercenary asked, ‘Who’s your hot tempered friend?’
‘This is Talon, and I’m Caleb.’
Putting his sword away, John Creed said, ‘If that lad’s looking for Raven’s bunch and he acts like that you’d better make sure he has enough silver on him to pay for his funeral pyre. They’ll cut him up for dog meat without spilling a drop of ale and laugh while they’re doing it.’
Turning to Talon, Caleb said, ‘What were you thinking?’
Talon slowly put his sword away, not taking his eyes from Creed. ‘He looks …’
‘He looks like someone else, so you just go witless and forget everything you’ve been taught, is that it?’
Talon studied the man, attempting to fit him into the images that still were vivid in his memory and gradually realized how foolish he had been. Creed was a brawny man with black hair which hung to his shoulders. His nose had obviously been broken more than once and was little more than a distorted lump in the centre of his face. His mouth was topped by a drooping moustache. His face was unremarkable, except for his eyes, which were narrowed as he studied his erstwhile attacker. Talon recognized his eyes; they were like Caleb’s, dark and intense, and they didn’t miss a detail of what they saw. This man resembled one of the men who had destroyed his village, one of the men Talon had surprised before he was shot with the crossbow bolt, but he wasn’t the same man.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said to Caleb.
‘Don’t tell me. Tell him.’
Talon moved past Caleb and stood before John Creed. ‘I was wrong. I am sorry.’ He looked the mercenary straight in the eyes.
Creed was silent for a moment, then the left corner of his mouth moved upward and with a crooked smile he said, ‘No harm done, lad. A hot temper is a sign of youth. You’ll outgrow it … if you’re lucky to live long enough.’
Talon nodded. ‘I acted rashly.’
Creed continued to appraise the boy. Finally he said, ‘Raven’s men must have done you quite an injury for you to go flying off the handle like some loose axe-head.’
‘They did,’ was all Talon said.
‘Well, if you’re looking for Raven and his bunch, word is he’s been working for the Duke of Olasko for the last few years. Young Kaspar has them involved in some difficulty down in the Disputed Lands, bumping heads with the Duke of Maladon and Simrik’s men. So you’re in the wrong end of the world if you’re trying to find Raven.’
Caleb said, ‘Let us buy you a drink, to make amends.’
‘Thanks,’ said Creed.
Caleb looked around the crowded inn, which was returning to a semblance of normalcy now that the potential confrontation was halted. Caleb instructed the innkeeper to provide Creed with a drink, then took Talon by the elbow and moved him through the crowd. At a corner table he half-pushed the lad down into a chair. He looked at the boy for a long while. After a few minutes of silence between them, Caleb said, ‘For someone who is normally thoughtful and reflective before acting, you were as rash as a man can be.’
Struggling with the frustration and rage that were bringing him to the edge of tears, Talon nodded. ‘I saw that man … and something inside just rose up and overwhelmed me. I was certain he was … one of the men I fought when my village was destroyed.’
Caleb signalled for a serving girl to bring them drink and food, then removed his gauntlets, and threw them on the table. ‘You’re young. As Creed said, you’ll outgrow the rashness if you live long enough.’
Talon remained silent. The drinks and food appeared and they ate without discussion. Talon brooded upon what had occurred and as they finished eating, he said, ‘Caleb, why didn’t you tell me?’
Caleb said, ‘What?’
‘That you knew who it was that raided my village?’
Caleb’s eyes flickered only for an instant, but Talon knew he had caught him out. ‘You told me about the raid, many times,’ he replied.
‘But you never told me their leader was called Raven. You knew who they were!’
Caleb let out a long sigh. ‘Very well, Raven and his company are well enough known. I guess it never occurred to me that you needed his name.’
‘There’s something else. What is it?’
‘Nothing.’ Caleb spoke softly, but his eyes warned Talon not to press the matter.
