The Jack of Souls (Multi-award winner!)

Chapter 3d - Trickery

Harric stood in the market in the back of his grain cart, bag of tricks at his feet, as the first emigrant train poured through the south gate of Gallows Ferry. Its herd of peasants led the procession, staring and stunned from the terrifying journey up the Hanging Road across the face of the cliffs. Plainly they found Gallows Ferry no more comforting than the road had been; it must have seemed to them a mere hanging village crowded onto a wide ledge on the road.

A family at the front of the procession halted when the road plunged into the morning gloom of the Crack behind the inn. It must have reminded them of the treacherous canyons they had traversed in the scablands, only this one was artificial, made by the back of the inn on one side and the cliff face on the other. By the expressions on this family's faces, however, it was clear they'd prefer the dangers of sand cats and scorpions in the scablands to what they saw ahead in the Crack: an alley lined with frontier hucksters and peddlers in a kind of hawker's gauntlet.

A bolder family shouldered past the bewildered family, faces set, to be swallowed by the gloom, and as they trudged between the first stalls, the gauntlet of hawkers erupted.

"Fresh butter! Queen's prices!"

"Mend your shoes! Hard roads ahead!"

"Witches on the road! Protect your children! Get your witch glass here!"

To that Harric added his cry of, "Feed grain! Buy now! No grazing left on the road!"

His cart stood right in the middle of the market, with its nose tucked under the back porch of the inn. The rest of the merchants had been so delighted to see him alive that morning that they'd given him the prime spot, at the foot of the inn's back porch. Not only did the porch jut into the road, pinching the traffic and forcing passersby to slow in front of his cart, but the porch also made it the most entertaining place in the Crack. By midday, revelers crowded the porch to watch the drama of passing emigrants like hecklers at a stage play. Best of all, he was safe from Lyla's former master there, as the lord couldn't act against him in such a public place.

Harric studied the mass of peasants as they slid by, a stinking brown river, ripe with unwashed bodies and last night's garlic. Dozens of families trudged in this caravan. Likely a whole village being transplanted to the Free Lands. But these were not free-peasants. Each bore a blot of orange paint in their hair, marking them the property of a West Isle lord.

Harric's jaw tightened. Among the families walked a giant and giantess who were clearly the product of some ancient Westie breeding project. He'd seen the sort before: pinched skulls with unnaturally huge mouths and tiny eyes too close together. The giant's eyes stayed fixed on the mud, as if ashamed to meet a gaze; the giantess held his hand staunchly and glared at everyone she passed.

"Welcome to the Not-so-Free Lands," Harric muttered. He understood the reasons why the Queen had welcomed Westies to settle the north, but he hated that political necessity. If he could achieve his Proof that day at the expense of every Westie lord that passed, it would bring an added sweetness to the day.

Soon a mounted lord emerged through the gate, attended by two retainers. Orange accents in their clothing and trappings declared the lord to be a gentleman of low rank and master of the orange-marked slaves. At the sight of him, Harric felt a spark of anxiety in his belly. His death might come with any such lord. "Flesh and blood from the court," she had pronounced in her latest doom. Though few actual courtiers came through, many visited the court for one reason or another, so that left a lot of possibilities. His death could come in the form of an unwanted duel from a drunken lord or from a simple fall on his neck when a courtier's carriage jostled his cart. How could he defend against that?

He closed his eyes and concentrated on slowing his breathing to calm his heart. Block out the fear, or you'll make a mistake and fulfill her stupid doom for her. Just relax and enjoy the game of cons.