“Of course, nura.”
We pondered the man in the cage.
“I have never sold a human before,” the beastmaster said.
“I have never bought one before.”
“What would be a fair price . . .”
“How long have you kept him?”
“Since last night.”
“He looks to be about the size of the oruke bull in that stall over there. Should we say the cost of the bull and enough money to pay for a dinner and green wine for the guards who captured him and for his keeper?”
The beastmaster tilted his head side to side, thinking. “Seems fair. That will come to thirty dens.”
I switched to Rellasian. “Lute, please hand the man thirty dens.”
Lute extracted his purse and counted off the money. Best thirty dens we would ever spend.
“Prepare him,” the beastmaster told the guard. The younger man bowed his head and jogged off.
“Come with me, small foreigner,” the beastmaster said. “The mordoks are kept just beyond here, in the gardens. Let me introduce you to your new best friend.”
CHAPTER26
Iwalked out of Clan Harzi’s gates with a mordok on my shoulder and a chain in my hands. The chain was attached to a collar around the man’s neck. They’d also tied his feet so he could walk but not run, and his wrists, and they’d gagged him with a strip of cloth. For people who didn’t trade in humans, they were remarkably thorough.
We walked down the street without saying a word, as fast as we could without the man tripping. I was leading a human being on a chain. I wanted to end this ASAP.
The street was deserted.Please stay deserted. Please don’t let anyone see me.
The streets of Fifth Hill didn’t have corners or intersections. It was all a single road, and it wound around the hill in a spiral. As soon as we made it around the first curve, I stopped. The mordok riding on the leather pauldron on my shoulder decided that would be an appropriate time for shrieking into my ear.
“Cut his ropes, please,” I told Lute.
Lute gave me a cautious look, crouched slowly, and sliced through the tether on the man’s legs. His arm restraints were next. I stepped closer and unlocked his collar.
The man from the Garden pulled the gag out of his mouth, stretched, and kicked the restraints to the side of the road. The metal collar made a screeching sound as it slid over the cobbles.
“Much better. We meet again, my lady. As I said we would.”
That voice was like the auditory equivalent of chocolate. I should’ve mentioned that to Everard and Gort.
He gave me a wolfish smile.
Lute was right next to me, with his hand on his sword, and this guy didn’t have any weapons, but I didn’t feel safe. Something about him communicated danger. I needed to move this conversation to a place where we were not alone on a deserted street. It would take at least ten minutes to get off the hill.
I started down the sloping road. He joined in, walking next to me. Lute’s face behind him was sending all sorts of danger signals.
The mordok on my shoulder growled. At first glance, she looked a little like a slender white cat that had somehow sprouted large feathery wings. The wings reminded me of a seagull, her feet with their long non-retractable claws could have belonged to a racoon, and her face looked just like a mongoose. She was tiny and very light, barely two pounds, and only eighteen inches from the tip of her little black nose to the end of her long fluffy tail.
She looked cute, but her claws were wicked, and she was using them to try to shred the reinforced pauldron to which she was attached by a long, thin chain.
“You still haven’t told me your name,” he said.
“You haven’t told me yours, my lord.”
