“Zu luffa dra gashmo,”hissed Zyll, snapping her teeth. She crouched atop the wrecked wagon, studying Staysha like a raptor eyeing a rodent.
“Thatwouldmake it hard to sit down,” agreed Fern.
Staysha gave the goblin a sullen and wary frown.
Astryx finished unhitching a miserable Persimmon from her traces and led her carefully over to stake her beside Bucket.
“We’ll take Persimmon,” said Astryx, looming over the bard. “And leave you your things. I’m sure someone will be along. Otherwise, you might have a long walk ahead of you.”
Sneering, the bard retorted, “Go on. But expect everyone to know that Astryx One-Ear stole a poor woman’s horse and left her to die. How’s that sound for an immortal legacy?”
“To be honest,” said Astryx, already turning to leave, “I’ve never paid much attention to that sort of thing. The songs are never very accurate.”
“Plus, you’d have to have a lute,” observed Breadlee.
Fern approached Staysha, dripping and cold. She didn’t so much as twitch the knife in her hand, but still, trepidation crept into the dwarf’s expression at something in Fern’s gaze.
“Hey,” said Fern, “I couldn’t help but overhear you working on your lyrics back before you clobbered me in the face, and I just thought you should know that ‘avenge’ and ‘scavenge’ don’t rhyme, you feculent sack of shitweasels.”
Somebody snorted laughter that was quickly stifled, and Fern saw Astryx’s shoulders shaking slightly as she strode toward the horses.
“I’ll accept that as a stabbing,” said Breadlee. “That’s one! Onward and upward!”
37
“I’m thinkingBardsbanemight be a good name. It’s maybe a little more subtle than Bridgewrecker, but . . . bane.Bane.” Breadlee’s voice was wistful. “Do you think I could have two titles?”
“I’ll just point out that bards might not look kindly on it,” said Fern. “I mean, if you want your legend to spread.”
“You make a fair point, but also, Idohate music. I’m conflicted.”
“It’s not the role of the blade to be thesubjectof the tales—merely the instrument of their creation,” declared Nigel. Astryx had given him a bare inch of steel so that he could say his piece about the Staysha affair, which had taken a solid half hour.
While he’d rambled, Fern had been thinking about the many pages it would take to cover the last few days. An idea was forming in the back of her mind.
She rode on Persimmon with Zyll napping against her back. Since the pony had no saddle, Astryx led her by halter and knotted lead from astride Bucket. Persimmon was a well-behaved mare and seemed relieved that nothing interesting was happening anymore, placidly clopping beside the larger horse.
Night had stolen across the prairie, but a waxing moon glowed high on the rumpled black velvet of the sky like a clipped silver coin. Grassy hillocks and streams gleamed beneath it, preternaturally bright. Fall crickets trilled endlessly in unearthly chorus.
Astryx had insisted they ride farther after nightfall so that there’d be no chance of an unexpected visit from Staysha on foot while they slept.
Neither of them had brought up the argument that sparked the day’s events. In fact, both were at great pains to pretend nothing had happened. To Fern, it felt like they were balancing a rotten egg on a plate. Nobody wanted to be the one to let it roll off and break.
Instead, Fern completed her abridged narration ofTen Links in the Chain. There wasn’t much left to tell.
“‘. . . and with a last look at the port all in flames, Madger sailed mournfully into the west, less a sword hand and the finest partner she’d ever known.’”
Cricket-song joined the hoofbeats to fill the space left behind by her narration.
“It was a good story,” said Astryx after several moments, with great solemnity. “Thank you.”
Fern thought that would be it for the evening, then. She was certainly all talked out.
Astryx wasn’t, though.
“Your old friend, Viv. When you told us the tale of meeting her in Murk, and everything that happened after, you said she saved you in more than one way. What was the other way?”
The question was so unexpected that Fern had no defense and could only answer immediately. “She made me see what it was that I cared about. The thing I forgot when I was only going through the motions.”
