Blackstone (Book 2) (10 page)

Siobhan was interested in sightseeing, now that she was free
to do so, but didn’t wish to do so alone. The question was, who would be
available to go with her? She didn’t for one second believe that any of her
guild had just sat around their lodgings waiting on her for the past three
hours. No, they all had found something to get into by now, surely. The trick would
be finding them.

Determined, she set off.

Wandering from street to street, she just took in the sights
and kept her ears open, hoping to catch sound of a familiar voice. This was
easier than usual as only her people would be speaking in Robargese. Everyone
else here naturally used their native tongue when conversing.

The first person she found was Sylvie, who was in full
trader mode. She could recognize that look in just a glance. Sylvie stood in
front of a table that had a mound of fabric on it, hands akimbo on her hips,
torso leaning forward. She had that quirk to her mouth that suggested she was
haggling just for the enjoyment of it. Seeing the bags at her feet (both of
them filled to bursting) Siobhan guessed that her trader was in the process of finding
goods to bring back home with them.

She was not foolish enough to interfere with Sylvie in that
mood. No, better to keep looking. Turning, she went left instead and wandered
into an area that looked strangely familiar. She’d been here before, in the
past few days. But why…in a flash it struck her. Of course, the martial field
was near here. She, Sylvie, and Denney had come here to watch the boys do that
mock battle. Maybe some of her men were over here today as well?

With more perk in her step, she went to the road she
half-remembered taking before and followed it down to the field. Yes, there
they were. She could see Wolf’s blond hair glistening amongst all of those dark
brunettes. They were all gathered together near the side of the field, their backs
to her, and for a moment she couldn’t see anything about what they were doing.

Then a few men shifted directions, creating a gap, and she
had a direct line of vision.

Siobhan had seen Wolf and Tran do many stupid and strange
things in the years that she had known them, but this…this ranked in the top
ten.

Standing in a circle were about a dozen men, all of them
intensely interested in the display that her enforcers were doing. Braced on
top of a pile of blocks were thick stretches of wood, several boards stacked
together. As she watched, Tran squared himself off to one stack. Rearing his
head back, he let out a roar of effort before throwing his entire body weight
forward, forehead slamming directly into the stack of boards. With a crack, the
boards snapped in half under the force of it, splintering and falling to the
ground.

There was a chorus of male approval from the group. Siobhan
could admit that breaking seven, eight boards like that all at once was
impressive. It was using the head that she was puzzled by. Too curious to let
it go, she pushed her way through the ring. “Tran?”

He looked up and around, finding her in the crowd, and gave
her a brilliant smile. “Did you see?”

“I did,” she acknowledged, not able to keep a baffled
expression off her face. “Is this some sort of competition?”

“They do breaking contests here,” Tran explained.

“Although they usually do it with their hands and feet,”
Wolf added.

That did seem the more sensible approach. “So how did it
become head-breaking instead?”

Wolf and Tran exchanged glances and, for once, seemed
perfectly in tune with each other. “It was too easy,” Wolf said.

“Right,” Tran agreed.

Well, if you ask a stupid question, you do get a stupid
answer. Shaking her head, she wrote off all possibility of sightseeing with
them and waved them back to their positions. “Carry on.”

They happily did so, already betting that the other person
couldn’t break ten boards. The crowds of men were egging them on, some even
finding boards to stack up.

As she walked away, Siobhan said aloud, “I will never
understand men. Never.” Especially those two. On the plus side, at least they
were getting along with everyone and had found a safe outlet for their
destructive urges. She wouldn’t have to worry about paying restitution fees
here.

Humming to herself, she went back to the main road and tried
to decide which way to go. People were going about their daily business, giving
her polite bows of greeting as they passed her. She bowed back, smiling and
exchanging waves of hello to the few children she’d hired on earlier. None of
them stopped to talk though. Siobhan had found after the first day she was here
that not everyone was fluent in different languages. Only the scholars really
kept track of the different dialects of the world. The common man in Saoleord
spoke his native tongue—and that was it. They probably were nervous trying to
strike up a conversation with her.

Or maybe it was a cultural thing, and stopping to speak with
a complete stranger was just unheard of.

Either way, it didn’t bother her. Shrugging, she decided to
head north along the main road and see what she could.

Several hundred paces down, she heard a familiar voice
chuckling. Beirly? She followed her ears and went off the beaten path into a
corner…smithy, it looked like. Sticking her head around the corner, she found
Beirly in front of a table, a drafting pencil in one hand and a large stretch
of paper in front of him. Two men were leaning in close from either side and
she didn’t recognize either of them.

Glancing up, he spotted her in the doorway and greeted,
“Siobhan. Done with the meeting?”

“For the rest of the day, at least.” She drifted closer to
the table and saw a very familiar design sketched out. “Wolf’s hand?”

The man to Beirly’s right said with careful pronunciation,
“His hand new to us. Well crafted. We wish to make likeness.”

Siobhan found his speech odd but perfectly understandable,
so she gave him a nod and smile. “Yes, many people find his hand unique. They
often ask Beirly how it’s designed. You know of people that need iron limbs?”

“Yes,” he said simply.

“In turn, they’re teaching me a metal forging technique that
blends different ores together,” Beirly informed her. He looked like a giddy
child with a new toy while saying this. “Their swords are amazingly tough and
slim here. I studied Fei’s many times but could never quite figure out how it
was forged. Now I know.”

Siobhan let out a low whistle. “That’s quite the trade
secret that they handed you.”

“I know it. When we get back, I’ll make a fortune off of
it.”

Wise man to make friends where he did. He was right, he
really would make a killing by making durable weapons. Fei had almost had his
sword stolen several times because of its high quality. “Well, gentleman, you
seem to be making good progress. I won’t stop you. Carry on.” With a bow to
both men, she turned and left the shop.

So Beirly had found an in with the master smiths here. Good,
anything that they could learn and take home with them offered them more
opportunities in the future, and that was never a bad thing. She had a feeling
she wouldn’t be seeing Beirly for the rest of their stay. He’d be too busy
soaking up every bit of knowledge he could.

Gaining the main street again, she kept going in the
direction she had been traveling. So far, she’d found several of her people,
which made sense—they didn’t really know the area either, so they’d be close to
the near road, just to avoid being lost. This was obviously a good path for her
to travel if she wanted to see what her people were up to.

The road narrowed abruptly, trees hugging the sides of it in
a tight grip, the branches overhead almost intertwined. Siobhan had to slip
sideways to get past a cart heading the other direction, and when she did, a
sweet scent filled her head. Stopping, she leaned in closer to a bush that grew
next to the tree. It had small white blossoms and a smell almost like honey.
Denney had mentioned the night before that the locals had shown her a flower
that could be eaten called honeysuckle. Was this it?

She bent to pick off a section but snatched her hand back at
the last second as a small head poked out of the bush. Finger monkey! They’d
had the devil of a time keeping these creatures out of their bags. Did they
like honeysuckle? Looking closer, she spied several dozen in the bush alone.
Looked like they did.

Well, she wasn’t curious enough about the flower to risk
tangling with those little pests. Shaking her head, she went back to walking.
But she didn’t get far before she spied a familiar set of blondes up ahead, in
a little clearing off to the side of the road.

Rune and Denney? Well, she had wondered why Rune wasn’t at
the field doing the head-breaking contest. Now she knew.

Denney was half-crouched, both of her hands firmly grasping the
collars of the dogs. Their tails were wagging furiously, tongues lolling out of
their mouths, and if she had let go they certainly would have been jumping on
Rune. Siobhan knew what they were trying to really get at, though, and it
wasn’t him.

From head to toe, Rune seemed covered in finger monkeys.
They were scrambling all around him, or clinging to his clothes, and if he
pulled one off, two seemed to come back in its place. He didn’t seem to mind
this, though. In fact, he was laughing.

Siobhan slowed to a stop, captivated by the sight. She’d
seen the occasional smile from Rune, but never before a full out laugh. My me
my and didn’t he look beautiful in that moment—eyes shining, without a wary or
cautious line in his face, body relaxed. He radiated happiness like sunlight.

“What did ya do ta me?” His complaint was not to be taken
seriously, as he was laughing so hard he could barely get the words out.

Denney didn’t take it seriously either, just laughed at him.
“I told you that particular flower attracts them! Honeysuckle is dangerous to
have on you in this area of the world.”

“Then why did ya smother me with it?” he retorted, still
trying to get himself free of the monkeys. They raced around his torso and
shoulders, chittering and pulling at his clothes. If they were any larger,
they’d probably succeed in stripping him. They seemed determined to do just
that.

Giving him a mischievous smile, she just shrugged as if to
say,
Don’t know.

The scene was such a mix of innocence and joy that Siobhan
couldn’t bring herself to interrupt it. Quietly, she eased back the way she had
come. A smile on her face, she retreated to the main fork in the road and took
a different branch instead.

Well, it looked as if she had found almost everyone. Conli,
Grae, and Markl were likely neck deep in a stack of books somewhere, knowing
them. Fei, of course, was spending every possible moment with his family. That
left her on her own. Shrugging, she determined to hire the next child she found
as a guide and spend the rest of the day enjoying this strange and delightful
city.

While Siobhan understood that meetings were a necessary
evil, must she always be the one sacrificed?

She had spent the past two weeks, sometimes with Markl and
Sylvie at her side, explaining the exact situation they were facing, the
economies of each city and continent involved, and what she knew of the major
players. In that time, her listeners had taken extensive notes and asked many
questions, usually ones she didn’t have an answer to. But of course, at some
point, the tide had to turn so that she was the one listening and not speaking.

Only she didn’t
really
need to listen.

The same council that had met with her on the first day was now
convened, all of them sitting around the table in their customary spots, two
pots of tea on the table. Siobhan had drunk who-knew-how-many cups of that tea
and was absolutely positive that when she tried to walk out of here, she would
make sloshing noises. In an effort to not burst, she refused to drink even one
more drop.

Hyun Woo said something serious and thoughtful. Siobhan
really, truly did try to focus on the words, but only heard his voice floating
past her ears. The problem lay in that they were all discussing people she
didn’t know, from different divisions and offices that she had never heard of
before, and while they all understood who the other person was referring to,
she hadn’t a clue. Forget a foothold, she didn’t even have a toehold in this
conversation.

But very occasionally they had a question for her, something
only she could answer, which forced her to keep sitting there with a polite
smile of interest pasted on her face.

“I believe I should go,” Hyun Woo announced solemnly.

Siobhan’s wandering attention abruptly snapped back. He
wanted to go?

“Did you not say that Ryu Jin Ho would be a good choice to
send?” Bo Sei Jin objected.

“I did, and I do not retract my words.” Hyun Woo tapped a
finger against the surface of the table. “Everything we have been told leads me
to believe that simply one strategist will not be enough. We have too many
people to teach, possibly multiple cities to protect. The men of Deepwoods have
been learning quickly, but I cannot possibly teach them everything they need to
know in mere weeks.”

Ki Do Ri grunted, expression contemplative. “You make a good
point.”

“And I wish to finish what I started,” Hyun Woo added to the
table in general. “These new students of mine are adept at strategy. I wish to
teach them everything I can.”

His glance in her direction invited a response so Siobhan
told him honestly, “They’d be delighted if you came. All I hear from them is
how much fun it is learning all of these different strategies.” In fact, if
they got home and her men didn’t organize war games in Goldschmidt, she’d be
very surprised.

Satisfied, he inclined his head toward her as if she had
validated the point he was making.

“Well, certainly, if you wish to go,” Kim Ra Im said with a
funny quirk to his head, “none of us can stop you, Hyun Woo-zhi.”

“Then we have our strategists chosen.” Bo Sei Jin nodded,
satisfied. “Who else?”

Oh Jae Pyo cleared his throat slightly before offering, “I
believe that Cha Ji An should go.”

The table seemed somewhat surprised by this although of
course Siobhan had no idea why. Cha Ji An…sounded like a woman’s name?

When he didn’t get an instant reply, Oh Jae Pyo forged
ahead. “She is skilled with negotiations. In our department, she is the one we
send when a compromise between two stubborn parties must be reached. She also
understands the economics of business and trade very well. Would she not be the
most suitable choice?”

“She is certainly a good choice,” Sei Ja Na agreed slowly,
eyes studying every nuance in his expression. “But we were all under the
impression that you would choose to go.”

“My daughter is expecting her first child in a week,” Oh Jae
Pyo reminded her.

“Ah, of course. My apologies, that had slipped my mind. Of
course you would choose to stay for that.”

Accepting this, he looked around the table at his fellow
councilors. Siobhan held her breath, waiting to see if this suggestion would be
accepted. If it was, she might very well have her designated party, which meant
she would finally be free of meetings.

“I have no objection,” Kim Ra Im said, looking around him to
see if anyone else did.

“I also have no objection,” Bo Sei Jin concurred although he
focused on Hyun Woo as he spoke. “I am not the one that will travel with her or
depend on her skills, however. Hyun Woo-zhi? Is Cha Ji An acceptable to you?”

Hyun Woo relaxed into the first smile Siobhan had ever seen
him from. “I once saw that woman negotiate a compromise between Kil Bo Shin and
Tae Gong Ri, two of the most stubborn men I’ve ever met. And that was
after
Kil Bo Shin broke Tae Gong Ri’s favorite dagger. Her skills are formidable. I
will be pleased to have her.”

That sounded like a general consent to her. Siobhan dared to
ask, “Then do we have an agreement? Hyun Woo-zhi, Ryu Jin Ho-zhi, and Cha Ji
An-jae will be the ones that go?”

Bo Sei Jin paused just long enough to pan the table, looking
for any hints of disagreement, before he relaxed and assured her, “Yes. These
will be the ones that we will send.”

Thank all mercy for that! Siobhan let out the first genuine
smile for the first time that day. “Then let’s set a date for departure.”

ӜӜӜ

With the delegation settled, Siobhan set their departure
date for two days later.

When the meeting was over, Hyun Woo escorted Siobhan out to
the war field and introduced her to Ryu Jin Ho. Ryu Jin Ho seemed to be the
Saoleord version of Wolf or Tran. He was as large as mountain, but very slim,
black hair thinning on top. Siobhan couldn’t tell by looking at him if he was
thirty or fifty, but she guessed somewhere in the middle, based on the quiet
confidence that he radiated. Even Wolf and Tran approached the man with
respect, which spoke volumes to her.

With that introduction done, she was then whisked away by Ki
Do Ri and taken to the Commerce Division Office so that she could meet their
ambassador and negotiations expert, Cha Ji An. Siobhan liked Cha Ji An—she
reminded her strongly of Markl, just a female version. Not beautiful, not
plain, she possessed that unique charm that drew all people to her. She loved
to speak to everyone, and had that knack for putting others at ease so that
everyone was comfortable speaking their minds. Most of the women here dressed
in several layers of light robes, with a decorative sash around the waist, hair
pinned tightly up. Cha Ji An was similar to that, but her hair seemed to rebel
at being that tightly contained—wisps escaped in every possible directly.
Instead of making her look frumpy, it instead made her seem more approachable.

Now knowing who it was she was escorting down, and satisfied
they understood what it meant to travel to Robarge, Siobhan turned instead and
went to find her own guild to alert them that they needed to get ready. After
watching the mock battle and seeing with her own eyes what her enforcers were
doing on a daily basis, Siobhan knew precisely where to go to find them. It was
everyone else that took a bit more time in hunting down. But then, after her
explorations, she had a fair idea of where to find the rest.

Conli had somehow tapped into a medical society that was
more than happy to exchange techniques and medicines with him. He was bringing
home samples of herbs and reams of notes every night. At the rate he was going,
they would need a caravan on the way back. Beirly of course had a similar
relationship with the craftsmen up here. Siobhan found that she could find either
one of them in either a clinic or a smithy; she just had to find the right one.

Markl, of course, was immediately stuck to Sei Ja Na’s side,
soaking up knowledge from her like a sponge in the middle of an ocean. She
hadn’t expected anything different. What did surprise her was that Grae was
often in the woman’s presence as well. The City Librarian seemed intensely
interested in pathmaking. Apparently, it was beyond rare to have a Pathmaker
here in Saoleord. Grae was asked so many questions about it that he came back
drained every day. Still, he seemed to enjoy this benign interrogation.

Denney was hardest to pin down. For the first time, she was
in a place that was perfectly safe—not even Robarge offered this kind of
freedom for the girl. She roamed wherever she wished to, played with the finger
monkeys, the dogs, and whoever was interested in joining her. Siobhan was
laying bets with herself that at least a few of those finger monkeys would be
coming home with them.

When the guild had first decided to come, they had felt that
staying in Saoleord for a week would be more than enough time. But before
Siobhan had realized it, the week had come and gone without notice and no one
was remotely interested in returning home. Granted, in part that had something to
do with the fact that Saoleord’s delegation wasn’t ready to leave yet, but only
in part. Siobhan was fairly sure she would have to drag most of her guild out
of these mountains kicking and screaming.

Regardless, they had two days to sort things out. She felt
giving them two days would be the best way to handle leaving. It gave everyone
a chance to wrap up what they were doing, and another day to pack and whine at
her about staying longer, and then actually get ready to leave. It also gave
them time to figure out how to cart all their new-found toys off the mountain.
Heaven knew the cart wouldn’t contain it all.

Regardless, it wasn’t her problem.

ӜӜӜ

“Siobhan—”

“No,” she said calmly, not looking up from the list in her
hands.

“I haven’t even asked the question yet!” Denney protested.

Siobhan lifted her eyes just enough to pin the girl in
place. “No, you may not take any of the finger monkeys home.”

Rune, sitting at Denney’s back, chuckled. He had four or
five of the little creatures, all of them wrapped around his hands, and
nibbling on his skin. How he managed to keep them tame and entertained doing
that, she couldn’t see, but suspected a liberal amount of honeysuckle had been
drizzled over his hands.

Denney stuck her tongue out before going back to playing
with the monkeys.

Seeing their position, Siobhan realized that Conli’s
concerns and Denney’s observations earlier were dead on. At some point, Rune
had stopped shadowing her every footstep and was instead choosing to be in
Denney’s company more and more. This relieved her in many ways. It meant he
felt secure enough now to not constantly cling to her. It also meant that
Denney had a guaranteed protector if she wanted to go out anywhere.

Sitting across the table from her, Conli was compiling the
notes that he had taken during this trip. But he paused what he was doing to
watch this exchange, eyes lingering on the two, observing how comfortably they
leaned up against each other, perfectly content to be in the other’s space. His
eyes tightened in worry.

Siobhan caught his attention and gave him a reassuring wink.
Two weeks ago, she would have shared his worry, but Rune had experienced a
remarkable growth spurt in maturity while here in Saoleord. The way he was
sitting there, in an non-defensive posture, with his hands covered in finger
monkeys was a good example of it. Never before had he deliberately put himself
into a situation where he couldn’t explode into action in a split second, not
even while sleeping. Seeing him openly relaxed was amazing to her.

According to Wolf, Hyun Woo had a great deal to do with
Rune’s changes. Siobhan was ever so glad they had made this trip into Saoleord,
for Rune and Fei’s sakes if nothing else. Although really, this trip had seemed
to benefit everyone. Twisting on her cushion, she looked about the common area,
taking it all in.

As usual, people were having a packing party of sorts,
getting ready to leave the next day. Fei was the sole exception to this, as he
was spending every moment possible with his family before leaving. He had
sensibly packed, though, and it was his bags she was using as an impromptu
chair to lean against. Satchels and suitcases were strewn all over the floor,
with stacks of clothing, trinkets, and goodies sitting in random piles, waiting
on people to magically fit all of it in. After a decade of traveling all over
the world, Siobhan recognized an impossible task when she saw one. The volume
of things that needed to be packed did not match the space available in those
bags. Especially where Beirly’s new special tools were concerned.

But people seemed determined to prove her wrong. Even as she
watched, Beirly sat on the lid of his trunk and commanded Sylvie, “Latch it,
quick!”

“You can’t latch it, there’s too much of a gap,” Sylvie protested.
“Lean against it harder.”

“Tran, help!” Beirly called.