The Escapement by K. J. Parker
Author:K. J. Parker
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2011-07-22T21:00:00+00:00
10
The man in the common room of the Sincerity and Trust at Darrhaep was telling a strange story. He claimed to be the last survivor of a company of free rangers patrolling (the men listening to him knew what he meant by that word) the Vadani border. They'd intercepted a Vadani messenger, he said, carrying a letter in the duke's own handwriting, in which he wrote that he was on his way back to the capital and that he'd be taking the border road. The company sergeant, being a great patriot, had realised that here was a chance to capture a prize of incalculable value and win the war for the Mezentines at a stroke. The man paused just long enough for his fascinated listeners to buy him more beer, and went on to tell how they'd set a carefully planned ambush for the duke, and how he'd obligingly ridden straight into it. But… (He paused again. More beer arrived.)
But the duke, he told them, wasn't alone. He was accompanied by a twenty-man escort, crack troops from the household cavalry. Instead of a simple ambush, the rangers faced a desperate battle against the finest mounted soldiers in the world. Did that deter them? Of course not. They knew their duty, and so forth.
As the rangers locked in desperate hand-to-hand combat with the dragoons (a moment ago they were household, a voice at the back interrupted, now they're dragoons; make your mind up, will you?), the duke spurred on like a madman, riding headlong into the rangers' cunning snare. That should have been the end of it.
Unfortunately, things didn't go quite as planned. The sergeant, watching the duke hurrying towards the concealed net over the sights of his crossbow, accidentally squeezed too hard on the sear, tripping the tumbler and loosing a shot. The arrow hit the duke in the head. Running in to see if the duke was still alive, the sergeant came a trifle too close, and the duke, barely alive, cut him down before himself dropping dead. At that moment, the surviving members of the escort broke through the rangers' cordon, killing all but one of them, recovered the duke's body and carried it off, heading for Civitas Vadanis.
It was a fine tale and the survivor told it well. When he'd finished, a carter who'd been sitting at the back got up quietly and left the room. He went upstairs to the best bedroom and knocked on the door. A short, thin woman in a red dress scowled at him and asked him what the matter was.
The thin woman left the inn at first light the next morning, although she was supposed to meet a consortium of grain merchants there at noon to close a substantial deal. Instead, she drove her chaise rather too fast along the narrow back lanes of the Ashbrook valley, taking the dogleg route through the border country that was now the only safe way to Mezentia. When it grew dark she lit her lanterns and carried on, much to the distress of her driver and two porters.
Download
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.
In Control (The City Series) by Crystal Serowka(35785)
The Wolf Sea (The Oathsworn Series, Book 2) by Low Robert(34698)
We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry(34000)
Crowbone (The Oathsworn Series, Book 5) by Low Robert(33052)
The Book of Dreams (Saxon Series) by Severin Tim(32913)
The Daughters of Foxcote Manor by Eve Chase(23045)
Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh(21021)
Call Me by Your Name by André Aciman(19902)
Shot Through The Heart (Supernature Book 1) by Edwin James(18425)
The Secret History by Donna Tartt(18159)
The Girl from the Opera House by Nancy Carson(15380)
American King (New Camelot #3) by Sierra Simone(14863)
All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda(14726)
Sad Girls by Lang Leav(13907)
Pimp by Iceberg Slim(13777)
The Betrayed by Graham Heather(12300)
The Betrayed by David Hosp(12202)
4 3 2 1: A Novel by Paul Auster(11788)
Still Me by Jojo Moyes(10785)
