Eddie LaCrosse #03 - Dark Jenny by Alex Bledsoe

Author:Alex Bledsoe [Bledsoe, Alex]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780765327437
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates
Published: 2011-04-26T14:00:00+00:00

chapter

SEVENTEEN

I assumed Elliot Spears, the greatest knight in the world, would have a palace to rival that of his best friend, Marcus Drake. When I saw it, though, I realized I was off the mark about the house, and possibly the man.

Blithe Ward was a palace, but it was nothing like a castle. There were no outer defensive walls, no moat, no drawbridge or watchtowers. There was just a big stone manor house on a hill, surrounded by gardens and orchards, apparently unguarded. I guess when you have Spears’s reputation, you don’t need a lot of peacetime security.

I arrived as the sun hung low in the sky behind me, illuminating Blithe Ward with a palette of vivid colors. A pair of servants lowered the flag bearing Spears’s crest, and one of the chimneys smoked as cooks prepared the evening’s dinner. A feminine figure stood at the rail on the widow’s walk, but I could make out no details. She had gone by the time I passed through the stone archway at the gate.

I rode up the sweeping drive and dismounted the fifth and last of my messenger horses. I hadn’t spent an entire day in the saddle in a long time. My back had passed through pain to numb acceptance, but I knew as soon as I stopped moving, it would express its displeasure. I was starving; except for some apples bought off a passing wagon (and, yes, I checked them for poison), I’d eaten nothing all day. Encountering Ted Medraft had made me want to keep moving.

A breathless stableboy ran up to me and said something in a language I didn’t know. He tied a small tile marked 3 to one of the stirrups, then pressed a matching one into my palm. He took my horse’s reins and led her toward the stables.

I faced the big double door. Both halves bore Spears’s standard, a shield with three red stripes, above huge metal rings. I lifted one and let it slam down under its own considerable weight. It made a sound like a distant clap of thunder.

After a moment a rough-looking man in formal attire opened one side of the door. Although I knew he wasn’t, I asked, “Spears?”

He scowled harder. “You said what?”

“Spears, Elliot Spears, the fellow with the shining armor.”

“I don’t know anybody by that name.”

“You’re standing in his house, and you don’t know him. That’s pretty funny.”

“So you’ve got a funny sense of humor. Take it away and play on it somewhere else.”

He tried to close the door but I blocked him. I produced the message from Drake and waved the official seal under his nose. “You know where to find Spears, and I’ve got a message from the king for him. Don’t you think we should at least talk about it?”

He looked at the seal, at me, then shrugged as if it were a mere inconvenience. “Sure, if you think you’ve got something.”

He stepped aside and I entered. When he closed the door, he produced a small, light sword of the kind designed for use indoors.

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