DAVID COE - Seeds of Betrayal

“Get to your-!”

Before he could finish, Dario threw his elbow back with all the force he could muster, catching the man fully in the groin. This time the man did let go, grunting in agony and falling against the corridor wall. The lutenist scrambled to his feet and sprinted toward the door, throwing it open and racing out into the byway, just as the bearded man would expect. He had no intention of running far, however, not so long as the brigand had his lute. He pressed himself against the outside wall of the tavern, just to the left of the door, praying to all the gods he could name in that moment that the bearded brigand was better with his right hand.

It seemed the gods were with him.

The man burst through the door, Dario’s lute in his left hand and a blade in his right. Immediately the lutenist grabbed the arm and hand that held the lute, using the man’s own forward motion to swing him in a swift arc into the wall, his head hitting the wood with a dull thud.

The brigand staggered back for an instant, just long enough for Dario to grab his other hand-the one with the blade-and hammer it into the man’s gut, steel first. The bearded man gasped, his eyes widening and holding Dario’s gaze for a moment before rolling back into his head as he collapsed to the ground.

Dario retrieved his lute and examined it closely. There were a few new scratches on the underside, but otherwise it appeared to be fine. He placed it carefully on an empty ale barrel that stood nearby. Then he returned to the corridor and dragged the other man into the byway.

“Your friend’s dead,” he said, kicking the man in the stomach. “If you ever come near me again, I’ll kill you, too. Understand?”

The brigand looked up at him and nodded weakly.

Dario took his pipe and daggers from the dead man, picked up his lute, and went back into the Red Boar.

Another man had taken his seat at his table, so Dario chose one near it and started to sit.

“You handled that well,” the stranger said, watching him, a mild smile on his face. He was lean and tall, but broad in the chest and shoulders, like a warrior. He wore a beard and his long dark hair was tied back. But it was his pale blue eyes, the color of the sky on a frigid day, that held the lutenist’s attention. Dario had never seen eyes so cold.

“Thank you,” he said after a moment.

“I take it both men are dead?”

“Only one of them. I let the other go. I doubt he’ll bother me again.”

The dark-haired man frowned. “I’m sorry to hear that. I had hoped to retrieve my gold, but I can only assume that the one who survived has already taken it and fled.”

Dario narrowed his eyes, feeling his body grow tense. “You’re Crebin?”

“It’s a name I use. Some know me as Corbin. My friends call me Cadel.”

The lutenist nodded, though it struck him that a man with such eyes couldn’t have many friends. He stepped free of the table and pulled out his dagger once more. “Why did you send them for me?”

Cadel looked at the dagger and shook his head, his face hardening. “Don’t be a fool. I’d kill you even more easily than you killed the man in the alley.”

From another a man it might have seemed an idle boast. But something in Cadel’s tone and expression convinced Dario that in this case it was true. After a moment he slid the blade back into its sheath.

“Answer me,” he said. “Why did you send them?”

Cadel opened a hand, indicating the chair across from him, the chair in which Dario had been sitting before all this began. The lutemst took a slow breath and sat.

“Forgive me,” Cadel said, smiling once more. “I sent those men as a test.”

“A test?”

“Yes. I’ve heard you play, and you’re very good, just as your reputation said you would be. Your reputation as a hired blade is a bit less sure. I wanted to see for myself how you’d handle such a situation.”

“A test,” Dario said again, shaking his head. “Who in Bian’s name are your

“Someone who can make you very wealthy very quickly.”

Dario knew he should have been suspicious-a man who would send murderers after him and then call it a test was not to be trusted. But his pockets were empty, and he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life playing lute in the Red Boar.

“You have a job for me?”

“I might have several, though not as you’re thinking of it. I’m not looking to hire you. I’m looking for a partner, someone to guard my back and help me with more difficult tasks.”

“So you’re a blade yourself.”

“Yes, I am.”

“And you’re making enough to make me wealthy?”

“I’ve made over four hundred qinde in the last five turns,” he said in a low voice. “I expect I’ll make nearly as much in the next five. My partner’s share of that would be somewhere around one hundred and fifty.”

Dario gaped at him. One hundred and fifty qinde! That was more gold than he had made in the last four years. And here Cadel was offering him the chance to make that much by the plantings.

“I’d say you’ve found yourself a partner,” he said with a grin.

Cadel smiled thinly. “Not yet, I haven’t.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Well, for one thing, I still haven’t decided that you’re the man I want.”

Dario sat forward. “But your test! I bested both men without so much as a scratch from either of them.”

“And then you let one of them go.”

“You wanted me to kill them both?”

“Not necessarily. But I want to know that you didn’t kill the second man for the right reasons. I agree with you that this man posed no threat to you. Seeing what you did to his friend, he’ll probably be happy never to meet up with you again. But another man, a more accomplished killer perhaps, would almost certainly come after you again, either to finish the job he’d been hired to do, or to avenge his companion. By letting him live you could have been endangering your own life. And if you did something similar as my partner, you’d be endangering my life as well.” He watched Dario for several moments, then raised an eyebrow. “So? Why did you do it?”

It would have been easy to lie to him, but for some reason, Dario decided against it. Maybe he didn’t want to cast his lot with this man, even if it did mean wealth beyond his imaginings. Or maybe he just sensed that Cadel would know if he lied.

“I didn’t want to kill him,” he admitted. “So I let him live. I was confident that he wouldn’t attack me again tonight, but I can’t say that I gave much thought to tomorrow or the next day.”

Cadel nodded. “I see. That’s not really the answer I wanted to hear, but neither is it the lie I might have expected from a man hungry for gold. And when it comes to choosing a partner, I’ll trade ruthlessness for honesty any day.”

“Does that mean we’re partners now?”

“It means I’m convinced that I could trust you. But before you agree to join me, there are a few things you should know.”

“Like what?”

“Well, to start, I travel the land as a musician, joining festivals, including the one in Sanbira and the Revel in Eibithar. I know that you play alone, but I don’t know if you’ve performed with a singer before, or if you’re inclined to do so now.”

“You sing?” Dario asked.

“A little bit, yes,” Cadel said, smiling in a way that made Dario think he must be quite good.

Dario gave a small shrug. “I have no objection to performing with you. What else?”

“You should know that my last partner was killed trying to protect me. That’s why I’m looking for someone new.”

“I assumed as much, just as I assume that the partner before him died the same way.”