Well, Macyn said. Farewell, Jill.
Farewell. All at once she wanted to cry. And my thanks for being so good to me.
Macyn waved, somewhat teary-eyed. Jill turned on her uneasy perch to wave back as the horse started off.
On the downhill side of the village stood the holy oaks, sacred to Bel, god of the sun and the king of all the gods. Scattered among them were the village burials. Although Seryan had no stone to mark her grave as the richer people did, Jill knew that she would never forget where it lay. As soon as she led her father there, Cullyn began to keen, throwing himself down full-length on it, as if he were trying to hold his beloved through the earth. Jill trembled until at last he fell silent and sat up.
I brought your mama a present this trip, Cullyn said. And by the gods, shes going to have it.
Cullyn pulled his silver dagger and cut out a piece of sod, then dug a shallow hole. He took a bracelet out of his shirt and held it up for Jill to see: a thin rod of bronze, twisted round and round to look like rope. He put it into the hole, smoothed the dirt down, and put the chunk of sod back.
Farewell, my love, he whispered. For all my wandering, I never loved a woman but you, and I pray to every god you believed me when I told you that. He stood up and wiped the dagger blade clean on the side of his brigga. Thats all the mourning youll ever see me do, Jill, but remember how I loved your mother.
I will, Da. Promise.
All afternoon, they rode down the east-running road, a narrow dirt track through sharp-peaked hills and pine forests. Every now and then they passed fields where the grain stood green and young. The farmers would turn to stare at the strange sight of a warrior with a child behind his saddle. Jill was soon stiff and sore on her uncomfortable perch, but Cullyn rode so wrapped in a dark brooding that she was afraid to speak to him.
Just at twilight, they crossed a shallow river and reached the walled town of Averby. Cullyn dismounted and led the horse along narrow twisting streets while Jill clung to the saddle and looked round wide-eyed. She had never seen so many houses in her lifeeasily two hundred of them. On the far side they reached a shabby inn with a big stable out in back, where the innkeep greeted Cullyn by name and gave him a friendly slap on the shoulder. Jill was too tired to eat dinner. Cullyn carried her upstairs to a dusty wedge-shaped chamber and made her a bed out of his cloak on a straw mattress. She fell asleep before hed blown the candle out.
When she woke, the room was full of sunlight, and Cullyn was gone. Jill sat up in a panic, trying to remember why she was in this strange chamber with nothing but a pile of gear. It wasnt long before Cullyn came back, with a brass bowl of steaming water in one hand and a large chunk of bread in the other.
Eat this, my sweet, he said.
Gladly Jill started in on the bread, which was studded with nuts and currants. Cullyn set the bowl down, rummaged in his saddlebags for soap and a fragment of mirror, then knelt on the floor to shave. He always shaved with his silver dagger. As he took it out, Jill could see the device engraved on the blade, a striking falcon, which was Cullyns mark, graved or stamped on everything he owned.
That dagger looks awfully sharp, Da.
It is. Cullyn began lathering his face. Its not pure silver, you see, but some sort of alloy. It doesnt tarnish as easily as real silver, and it holds an edge better than any steel. Only a few silversmiths in the kingdom know the secret, and they wont tell anyone else.
Why not?
And how should I know? A suspicious lot, the smiths who serve the silver dagger. I tell you, not just any exile or dishonored man can buy one of these blades. You have to find yourself another silver dagger and ride with him awhileprove yourself, likeand then hell pledge you to the band.
Do you have to show him you can fight good?
Fight well. Cullyn began to shave in neat, precise strokes. Thats somewhat of it, truly, but only a part. Here, silver daggers have an honor of our own. Were scum, all of us, but we dont steal or murder. The noble lords know we dont, and so they trust us enough to give us our hires. If a couple of the wrong kind of lads got into the band, gave us a bad name, like, well, then, wed all starve.
Da, why did you want to be a silver dagger?
Dont talk with your mouth full. I didnt want to. It was the only choice I had, thats all. Ive never heard of a man being so big a fool as to join up just because he wanted to.
I dont understand.
Cullyn considered, wiping the last bit of lather off his upper lip with the back of his hand.
Well, he said at last. No fighting man joins the daggers if he has a chance at a decent life in a lords dun. Sometimes men are fools, and we do things that mean no lord would let us ride in his warband ever again. When that happens, well, carrying the dagger is a fair sight better than sweeping out a stable or suchlike. At least you get to fight for your hire, like a man.
I dont understand.
Cullyn considered, wiping the last bit of lather off his upper lip with the back of his hand.
Well, he said at last. No fighting man joins the daggers if he has a chance at a decent life in a lords dun. Sometimes men are fools, and we do things that mean no lord would let us ride in his warband ever again. When that happens, well, carrying the dagger is a fair sight better than sweeping out a stable or suchlike. At least you get to fight for your hire, like a man.
You never could have been a fool!
Cullyns lips twitched in a brief smile.
But I was, truly. A long time ago your old Da here was a rider in a warband in Cerrmor, and he got himself into a good bit of trouble. Never dishonor yourself, Jill. You listen to me. Dishonor sticks closer to you than blood on your hands. So my lord kicked me out, as he had every right to do, and there was nothing left for me but the long road.
The what?
The long road. Thats what silver daggers call our life.
But Da, what did you do?
Cullyn turned to look at her with eyes so cold that Jill was afraid he was going to slap her.
When youre done eating, he said instead, were going to the market fair and buy you some lads clothes. Dresses arent any good for riding and camping by the road.
And Jill realized that she would never have the courage to ask him that question again.
Cullyn was as good as his word about the new clothes. In fact, he bought her so many things, boots, brigga, shirts, a good wool cloak and a small ring brooch to clasp it with, that Jill realized shed never seen him with so much money before, real coins, all of them bright-minted silver. When she asked him about it, Cullyn told her that hed captured a great lords son on the field of battle, and that this money was the ransom the lords family had to pay him to get their son back.
That was honorable, Da. Not killing him, I mean, and then letting him go home.
Honorable? Ill tell you, my sweet, its every silver daggers dream to capture a lord single-handedly. Its the coin you want, not the glory. And by the hells, many a poor lordling has made himself a rich lord doing the same thing.
Jill was honestly shocked. Taking someone prisoner for profit was one of those things that never got mentioned in the bard songs and the glorious tales of war. She was glad enough of the coin, however, especially when Cullyn bought her a pony, a slender gray that she named Gwindyc after the great hero of ancient times. When they returned to the inn, Cullyn took Jill up to their chamber, made her change her clothes, then unceremoniously cropped off her hair like a lads with his silver dagger.
That long hairs too messy for the road. May the gods blast me if I spend my time combing it for you like a nursemaid!
Jill supposed that he was right, but when she looked at herself in his bit of mirror, she felt that she no longer really knew who she was. The feeling persisted when they went down to the tavern room of the inn for the noon meal. She wanted to get up and help Blaer the innkeep serve, not sit there and eat stew with the other customers. Because it was market day, the tavern was crowded with merchants, who all wore checked brigga as a sign of their station. They looked Cullyn over with a shudder for the silver dagger in his belt and gave him as wide a berth as possible. Jill was just finishing her stew when three young riders from a warband swaggered in and demanded ale. Jill knew they were a lords riders because their shirts had embroidered blazons, running stags in this case, on the yokes. They stood right in the way near the door and kept Blaer so busy that when Cullyn wanted more ale, he had to get up and fetch it himself. As he was coming back with the full tankard, he passed the three riders. One of them stepped forward and deliberately jogged Cullyns arm, making him spill the ale.
Watch your step, the rider sneered. Silver dagger.
Cullyn set the tankard down and turned to face him. Jill climbed up on the table so she could see. Grinning, the other two riders moved back to the wall.
Are you looking for a fight? Cullyn said.
Just looking to make a lout of a silver dagger mind his manners. Whats your name, scum?
Cullyn of Cerrmor. And whats it to you?
The room went dead silent as every man in it turned to stare. The other two riders laid urgent hands on their friends shoulders.
Come along, Gruffidd. Just drink your wretched ale. Youre a bit young to die.
Get away, Gruffidd snarled. Are you calling me a coward?
Calling you a fool. The rider glanced at Cullyn. Here, our apologies.
Dont you apologize for me, Gruffidd said. I dont give a pigs fart if hes the Lord of Hell! Listen, silver dagger, not half of those tales about you can be true.
Indeed? Cullyn laid his hand on his sword hilt.
It seemed that the whole room gasped, even the walls. Jill clasped her hands over her mouth to keep from screaming. Frightened men leapt back.
Here! Blaer yelped. Not in my inn!
Too lateGruffidd drew his sword. With a sour smile, Cullyn drew his own, but he let the blade trail lazily in his hand with the point near the floor. The room was so quiet that Jill heard her heart pounding. Gruffidd moved and struckhis sword went flying. Across the room men yelped and dodged as the sword fell clattering to the floor. Cullyn had his blade raised, but casually, as if he were only using it to point out something. There was a smear of blood on it. Cursing under his breath, Gruffidd clutched his right wrist with his left hand. Blood welled between his fingers.