Secret Murder: Who Shall Judge? by Ellen Kuhfeld

Author:Ellen Kuhfeld [Kuhfeld, Ellen]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: (¯`'•.¸//(*_*)\\¸.•'´¯)
Publisher: FTL Publications
Published: 2011-09-07T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

Tuesday: The Rune-Staff

Ragnar Forkbeard was sipping his morning broth—Gunnar had made it from yesterday’s leftover stew—when he heard a commotion by the tavern. It was louder, even, than the wind and the falls. He moved to the front of his booth in time to watch the bailiff and his troopers riding out in a great hurry. Another rider was straggling behind. Ragnar stood there, bowl in one hand and bread in the other. “Ari! Get over to the tavern and find out what’s happening!” Ari hustled off.

“That strange rider was wounded. He had blood on his boot and breeches,” Atli noted.

Ari came back. “Highwaymen wounded a rider on the lake road, near where Thorolf was killed, but he managed to escape them. The bailiff and his men rode to catch the bandits. He left his deputy here to investigate you. He’s buying cider for the merchants to get them to talk.”

“Is he, then? You and Atli visit the tavern and see what people are talking about. Watch over each other like the brothers you are. And—” Ragnar tossed a small pouch to Ari, “—use this silver to buy drinks for merchants yourself.”

“Ah,” Ari said. “Atli and I are rising in the world of merchants. We need to make friends.”

“With that much silver, I wouldn’t be surprised if Tony over at the tavern became your friend.” Olaf Far-traveler grinned. He’d wandered over to see what the fuss was.

“Today will probably be interesting,” Ragnar told Olaf. “Those highwaymen might keep the bailiff busy all day long. Like as not, Otkel and his crew will be here well before the bailiff returns.”

“You think they’re Otkel’s men now?”

“Atli was at the sacred grove much of yesterday. It looked that way to him.”

Olaf looked at the sky, smelled the wind, listened to the leaves rattling. “And we’re going to have a storm, too. We’d better all stay around the booths and the boats, and batten down for weather before it comes.”

“You have the right of it. Remember, we may get foul weather from Otkel and the bailiff, as well as the sky. I hope they decide those highwaymen are the ones who killed Thorolf, but we can’t count on that.”

“Thorolf is even more trouble dead than he was alive,” Olaf said sourly.

“It’s often that way. Snorri Crow gave Thorolf a lot of trouble after he was dead.”

“Well, Thorolf shouldn’t have killed him, then.”

“Sometimes a killing is worth the trouble. If I had a good shot at Thorolf, I might have been tempted to kill him myself, even here in the lands of the English. I could go trading to Miklagard with you, if the English made a fuss.”

“We may end up doing that anyway, unless somebody sorts out this Thorolf mess. But Lakesend has the Miklagard trade in bulk iron firmly in their grasp.” Olaf shrugged his shoulders. “You might do better with finished goods in the Algonquin towns along the way. They’re an eager market for kettles, knives, hatchets, and arrowheads. You can get nice furs from them, also beadwork and tobacco.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
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.