Part 8 (1/2)

This was not the way he'd expected things to be tonight. Someone, many someones, should be buying him an ale and dinner besides, and singing his praises, and thumping his back until it hurt. Instead he couldn't go near Mocker's Rest or even the sewers: he had to be out of town, and soon. Even lingering this long was a bit of a risk.

Instead of being a hero, he was all alone in this working man's tavern, facing exile.

Well, all right, I'm not alone, but for all the attention Flora's paying me I might as well be. I'm a hero, G.o.ds take it. Girls, plural, should be all over me I'm a hero, G.o.ds take it. Girls, plural, should be all over me.

Now she was giving him a considering look. He knew that look. It was the look a woman gives you when she's going to ask for something. Jimmy raised a single brow, waiting for the shoe to drop.

Suddenly she gave him a brilliant smile. 'I know where we can go,' she said.

'We?' That was unexpected. 'What do you mean, we?'

'My mother told me that I have a grandfather and an aunt in Land's End. She said my grandfather didn't approve of my father.' Flora's eyes took on the far-away look of someone remembering. 'Not that my parents ever said so, but they'd look at one another and they'd have these odd smiles...sad like...Anyway,' she continued, 'we could go to Land's End and see if I still have family there. It would be like a quest! What d'ye think?'

Jimmy blinked. It was an idea, he supposed. Or a direction at least.

'Where is Land's End?' he asked. He'd heard of it, of course, but that didn't mean he knew where it was or anything else about it.

'I dunno. I never went there. But we can find out. What d'ye say? Shall we?'

He widened his eyes and tipped his head, shrugging. 'Why not? I've got to go somewhere, but...would we be welcome, just dropping in with no warning? I mean, if your grandfather didn't approve of your father...' He trailed off awkwardly.

Flora's lips thinned. 'Well, the way my Pa turned out after my mother died I could hardly blame him for that, now could I?'

Jimmy sidestepped the issue of how her father had become a brawling drunk by asking, 'Is that why you didn't go to Land's End after he died?'

With a grimace Flora shook her head. 'I was only nine years old, Jimmy. I had no money and no idea how to get there.' She shrugged, giving him a wry smile. 'And the only people I ever knew were here.'

'So you know how I feel,' he said.

Flora smiled at him. 'I know.' Then she put her hand over his and squeezed it. 'Maybe after supper I can make you feel better.'

Smiling wryly he raised his brows and sighed. At least someone was getting a free supper tonight.

Well, I do feel better, he thought, a few hours later, stretching and smiling smugly as his eyes opened again; the candle was guttering near its finish, casting patterns of shadow on the ceiling. A lot better. A lot better.

He'd brought her to his best place; a half-ruined house with one very good room that he'd done up. Jimmy opened his eyes all the way, stretched again, yawned, and turnedonly to find her gone. His sense of well-being undiminished, he crossed his arms beneath his head and remembered.

Just before they went to sleep she had thanked him.

He grinned. I'm a hero and no mistake, by the G.o.ds I'm a hero and no mistake, by the G.o.ds, he thought.

Suddenly the door opened and he jumped up, clutching the sheets.

'Good morning!' Flora sang.

'I thought you'd gone,' Jimmy said, one hand over his galloping heart and the other slipping a dagger back under the pillow.

'You're not going to get rid of me that easily,' she said, laughing.

She pulled off her shawl. Hidden within its folds was a loaf of raisin-studded bread. Saliva rushed into his mouth at the smell of it, sweet and yeasty at the same time. She extracted a pot of honey out of one pocket and a slab of b.u.t.ter, wrapped in a handkerchief, from the other.

'Where did you buy that?' Jimmy asked; there wasn't a market near this place, or a bakery.

'Buy?' she asked in astonishment. 'I'm not as good as you are, Jimmy the Hand, but I made my name stealing baked goods, I'll remind you!'

True, he thought.

Jimmy rose from the bed, wrapping a sheet around himself, smiling when Flora laughed at his sudden modesty. She sliced the bread while he poured out the rest of the wine they'd brought home the night before and they sat down to the important business of filling their stomachs.

After they'd eaten breakfast, things began to happen with the honey and the b.u.t.ter and they soon ended up in bed again.

As they lay quietly in one another's arms Flora said, 'I found out where Land's End is.'

Her words cut through him like a knot of buzzing insects briefly invading his middle. He suddenly knew this wasn't going to turn out well.

'It's south,' she went on when he said nothing. 'Near the Vale of Dreams.'

Thank you, he thought a little sourly. Here I'd just managed to pleasantly forget I'm leaving Krondor an exile, and you went and reminded me Here I'd just managed to pleasantly forget I'm leaving Krondor an exile, and you went and reminded me.

When Flora spoke her voice held a little irritation; Jimmy felt a brief stab of guilt. She's only trying to help, after all She's only trying to help, after all, he thought.

'It takes five days to sail there,' she said, looking across at him. When he didn't answer and wouldn't meet her eyes she went on, 'The fare is four silvers, apiece, to go by s.h.i.+p if we sleep in the hold. They got cabins, but they're all full of people sailing past Land's End, on to Great Kesh.'

After a prolonged silence, during which he could feel her eyes giving him sunburn, Jimmy looked at her sidelong. 'How much by coach?' he mumbled grudgingly.

'There's a s.h.i.+p that sails today at high tide.'

'Four silvers is pretty steep,' he snarled. 'Didn't it occur to you to bargain?'

Flora turned a scalding glare on him. 'Yes, Jimmy, it did occur to me. That's why it's not six. All right?'

The way she was looking at him, it had better be all right. He changed the subject.

'When's high tide?' he asked. He should know: he'd lived in a seaport town all his life, but had only the vaguest notion, since the knowledge was of no great use to a thief who didn't work the docks.

Flora stretched luxuriously before answeringthe sight of which improved his mood somewhat. 'In about three or four hours, I'd say,' she answered.

'Well if we're supposed to be on this s.h.i.+p we'd better get ourselves organized,' Jimmy said.

'I know you don't want to go,' Flora said suddenly, her eyes sympathetic.

He smiled at her, appreciating her understanding, and leaned over to give her a kiss. 'But I have to,' he said. 'Thank you for doing what I probably wouldn't have got around to until tomorrow.' He considered her. 'We should probably get you some new clothes, don't you think?'

She frowned. 'Why? Most of my things are spanking new.'