Free Thief's War: A Knight and Rogue Novel by Hilari Bell Page A

nephew from Huckstable might be able to do it. And his best friend. Since they came to give the chandelling trade a try, to see if it suited them.”
    The chandler stared at me blankly.
    “Me, you nitwit!”
    His face came alive under the spreading bruise, suspicion warring with hope. “Why would you be willing to do that? And why should I trust a stranger t’ pay me?”
    “As if we’ve a better choice?” his wife asked tartly. “No one we know would dare take the place. Indeed, sir, you don’t understand what you’d be risking.”
    “Then I’ll charge a larger fee,” I said. “And you might not be able to trust me, but you can trust my friend.” I expected Michael to return soon. Him, or the enforcers. “He’s too crazy to care about the risk, anyway.”
    I did care, but if we paid up promptly, with interest and plenty of groveling, Roseman should consider a cowed shop owner who paid him regularly more profitable than a burned-out building and couple of corpses.
    Chasing the chandler and his family out of town was enough to make his point.
    “But you’ve got to leave now,” I added, as the daughters came down, laden with bundles. “Can you buy horses and still leave me enough for the payments? The horses don’t have to be good ones.”
    I preferred not to tax Michael’s and my purse more than was necessary.
    “Yes,” said the wife. “I’ll show you where. We’re trusting you, sir.”
    “What about me?” The apprentice spoke up for the first time.
    “Why…why, I suppose you’ll come with us.” But the chandler, perhaps thinking of the price of even a not-so-good horse, sounded dubious.
    “It’s the least we can do, to reward you for not running off like the rest,” the wife added. “We’ll be able to use you, I’m sure. Or Lionel will.”
    So this boy would go from apprentice chandler to servant. And no one had spoken of pay, either. I saw the boy’s expression change as he realized this.
    “Or you can stay here,” I said. “And teach my friend and me what we’re supposed to be doing. You’d be the lead apprentice, and paid…well, more than the other apprentices. When we have other apprentices.”
    * * *
    The chandler and his family departed, promising to send me an address where I could send the money from the sale of their business, and I had a chance to talk with our new employee.
    We began picking up and tallying the damages—him doing the tallying, and me tossing broken racks into the alley and scraping wax off the floor.
    I was beginning to wonder what had happened to Michael, who should have been back by now. Him or the thugs.
    The boy’s name was Hannibas, and he’d been apprenticed first to another master who, he said succinctly, was a right bastard. The chandler had been a better one—but he’d probably have run off with the others, if he’d had anywhere to go.
    Michael showed up almost half an hour later, just before I had to go looking for him. He didn’t even appear ruffled, much less in the dire straits I’d begun to imagine. He was also surprised that the thugs hadn’t returned to finish the job.
    “If they’re not back by now, they probably won’t come till tomorrow,” he said.
    I was too busy restraining my irritation about how long Michael had been gone to worry what he’d been doing all this time. And I should have.
    But Hannibas told us that the other apprentices’ contracts had been with the chandler, and they were scared enough of this Roseman that they probably wouldn’t return at all. And when Michael said, “Don’t worry. I think I can find us some workers,” I didn’t think twice about it.

The thugs returned next morning. Hannibas and I crouched upstairs, listening while Fisk “handled them.”
    I had great faith in Fisk’s ability. But I’d also gone back to our lodging house last night to pick up a few things we might need—including my sword. My hand rested on the hilt, as I listened to Fisk ply his trade. If things went awry,