Assassin's Quest

She was right. She had trimmed out most of the white hair, and pulled forward black hair to fall over the stubble. My beard now hugged my face as well. I nodded a grudging approval. There was a knock at the door. "Leave it outside!" Starling called through the door. She waited a few moments, then fetched in her breakfast and the hot water. She washed, then suggested I put a good edge on my knife while she ate. I did so, wondering as I honed the blade if I felt flattered or irritated at her refashioning of me. She was beginning to remind me of Patience. She was still chewing as she came to take the knife from my hand. She swallowed, then spoke.

"I'm going to give your beard a bit more shape. You'll have to keep it up, though, I'm not going to shave you every day," she warned me. "Now damp your face down well."

I was substantially more nervous as she brandished the knife, especially as she worked near my throat. But when she was finished and I took up the looking glass, I was amazed at the changes she had wrought. She had defined my beard, confining it to my jaw and cheek. The square-cut hair hanging over my brow made my eyes look deeper. The scar on my cheek was still visible, but it followed the line of my mustache and was less noticeable. I ran my hand lightly over my beard, pleased with how much less of it there was. "It's quite a change," I told her.

"It's a vast improvement," she informed me. "I doubt that Creece or Dell would recognize you now. Let's just be rid of this." She gathered up the hair cuttings and opened the window to fling them out onto the wind. Then she shut it and brushed off her hands.

"Thank you," I said awkwardly.

"You're welcome," she told me. She glanced about the room, and breathed a small sigh. "I'm going to miss that bed," she told me. She set to packing with a swift efficiency. She caught me watching her and grinned. "When you're a minstrel who wanders, you learn to do this quickly and well." She tossed in the last items, then laced her pack shut. She swung it to one shoulder. "Wait for me at the bottom of the back stairs," she commanded. "While I go settle my bill."

I did as she bade me, but waited substantially longer in the cold and wind than I had expected. Eventually she emerged, rosycheeked and ready for the day. She stretched herself like a little cat. "This way," she directed me.

I had expected to shorten my stride to accommodate her, but found that we matched pace easily. She glanced across at me as we strode away from the merchants' sector of town, and headed to the northern outskirts. "You look different today," she informed me. "And it's not just the haircut. You've made up your mind about something."

"I have," I agreed with her.

"Good," she said warmly, as she took my arm companionably. "I hope it's to trust me."

I glanced at her and said nothing. She laughed, but did not release my arm.

The wooden walkways of the merchants' section of Blue Lake soon disappeared and we walked in the street past houses that huddled against each other as if seeking shelter from the cold.

The wind was a constant chill push against us as we strode along cobbled streets that gave way eventually to roads of packed earth that ran past small farmsteads. The road was rutted and muddy from the rains of the last few days. This day at least was fair, even if the blustery wind was cold. "Is there much farther to go?" I finally asked of her.

"I'm not certain. I'm simply following directions. Watch for three stacked rocks at the side of the road."

"What do you really know of these smugglers?" I demanded.

She shrugged a bit too casually. "I know they are going to the Mountains, when no one else is. And I know they are taking the pilgrims with them."

"Pilgrims?"

"Or whatever you wish to call them. They go to honor Eda's shrine in the Mountain Kingdom. They had bought passage on a barge earlier in the summer. But then the King's Guard claimed all the barges for their own use and shut down the borders to the Mountain Kingdom. The pilgrims have been stuck in Blue Lake since then, trying to find a way to continue their journey."