The Company: The Sorcerer (26)

The story so far.

“He hasn’t paid me yet,” Beri pointed out.

“Job’s not done yet,” I told her.

“Aye, and I wasn’t given much choice about signing on for it, either,” she said.

“So that’s what this is about. You wereasked if you wanted to join up, you know. Just because you were too drunk to remember answering the question the next morning doesn’t mean you weren’t asked.”

For a moment there I thought she was going to throw her drink in my face, but she downed it instead.

“Laszlo’s not so bad,” I added. “And he does pay well.”

The Company: The Sorcerer (25)

The story so far.

“But he definitely took on a sorcerer,” Beri said.

I gave her a sharp look. “What of it?”

“I thought they didn’t look too kindly on those in Rojan.”

“They don’t.” I signaled for another drink. “You ought to know that better than I.” Most accusations of sorcery settled on the Ashadin. With, let it be said, excellent reason.

“Does the lady of Sopron know what she’s let within her walls?”

“Are you proposing to tell her?” The whisky arrived and I regarded the swordplayer over the edge of the cup. “Laszlo can’t pay you if they hang him.”

The Company: The Sorcerer (24)

The story so far.

Beri looked startled and set down her cup. “Is he? Sopron in the habit of hiring outlaws?”

“You’ve not been in this country long, have you.” I sipped at my own. “Outlaw’s largely a matter of opinion. For instance, Sopron’s hired Laszlo to rid the town of a nest of them that’s laid up in the hills to the north. But that lot’d no doubt tell you they’re a band of freeriders fallen on hard times. So which ones’re the outlaws?”

Beri looked confused. It was entirely possible that she didn’t know my language well enough to follow all that. Lots of Ashadin didn’t.

The Company: The Sorcerer (23)

The story so far.

I’d settled in nicely with my drink when Beri Maya-Din appeared next to me. “So. What’s with that sorcerer Laszlo’s hired?”

I cast a quick glance at the bartender, who’d wandered down toward the other end to see if the fellow propping it up needed anything. Neither of them appeared to have heard.

“Couldn’t say,” I said, downing the whisky. It burned all the way down. “He’s always wanted one, though.” There were sorcerers among the Ashadin as well, but in this country, they didn’t advertise themselves.

“Even though it’d be worth his skin?”

“He’s already an outlaw.”

The Company: The Sorcerer (22)

The story so far.

Still, Laszlo would remember, if this worked out.

Of course, he’d remember if it didn’t, too.

I ambled off down the street and into the first tavern I saw.

“Hey! Ivan?” The greeting was robust, but the followup didn’t sound quite sure.

It was dark in the tavern. I squinted. “Who wants to know?”

“Beri. Beri Maya-Din.”

One of the Ashadin we’d picked up in Shemsu. From the roughness in her voice, she’d been drinking ever since. I flipped her a gesture of greeting and went to the bar. “Whisky. And some beer to wash it down.”

The Company: The Sorcerer (21)

The story so far.

I watched the sorcerer and his tall friend walk down from the wall together. Laszlo had left them awhile ago. Well, if he thought they weren’t going to run, they probably wouldn’t. Myself, I’d have kept a closer eye on them. On all of them. The line between mercenary and outlaw is blade-thin, sometimes.

And I wondered what they were talking about, in their language that I didn’t understand.

I felt uneasy, like maybe I’d made a mistake. Finding a sorcerer had seemed such a lucky strike, back in Shemsu; but it had gone wrong almost immediately.

The Company: The Warrior (13)

The story so far.

Olemilekan rested his fingers on the wall’s crenellations and looked at me. “And yet you counsel me to do sorcery for this mercenary captain. I do not understand.”

Where to begin. Especially since I didn’t really understand it myself. “They’ll string you up for it if they catch you. But I swear some of the healers of this country have it in their hands, and there are villages with wise women and cunning men who I’d wager do more about the weather than predict it.”

“But battlefield sorcery–”

“Not that, no.”

“And yet this Laszlo–”

“Clearly doesn’t have a problem with it.”

“Then what do you suggest?”

“Don’t get caught.”

The Company: The Warrior (12)

The story so far.

“I haven’t got anything to lose,” he said at length.

“Except your life,” I pointed out.

“Do you think I value that so highly? Look where we are.”

“And yet you fled, rather than face justice.”

“I said that I did not value my life highly. I did not say that I do not value it at all.”

I had to laugh at this. “Fair enough, sorcerer. Fair enough. By the way, there’s an Ashadin swordplayer interested in us. Well, I think he’s interested in you. You’ll want to watch yourself.”

“Why?” he asked curiously.

Desert lords, he was a lamb. “Because in this country, sorcery is against the king’s law.”

The Company: The Warrior (11)

The story so far.

Olemilekan stood there, his gaze darting between me and the landscape before us, until Laszlo was gone. Then, quietly, and in our own language: “Thank you.”

“Don’t be thanking me just yet,” I retorted. “I just told him you’ll kill on the battlefield on his behalf. If you’re not prepared to do that, then I’ve done neither of us any favors.”

He was quiet for a long time. Then he said, “I’ll do what I have to.”

I sighed and leaned on the wall. The rough stone was cool and almost felt damp to the touch. Not at all like the sun-heated stone of the desert.

“Spoken like one with nothing left to lose,” I said, and he turned to look at me again.

The Company: The Warrior (10)

The story so far.

“He’ll do it,” I told Laszlo immediately. All right, Olemilekan hadn’t actually said he would, but what other choice did he have?

Laszlo gave both of us a searching look. “Good,” he said. “Right now, that’s all I need to know. But you tell him he’d best be thinking about what he can do, and what he’s willing to do, before we’ve got to go out there and deal with these outlaws. Because if he changes his mind, or hecan’t do it, he’ll be wishing Ivan had left him in Shemsu.” He turned and stalked away along the wall.

I thought that Olemilekan was likely regretting that, and our resulting acquaintance, already.