Page 1 of Winter's Echo
Chapter 1
“Watch out!”
The shout cut across the market square just as I stuffed my spare blanket into my satchel. I looked up in time to see an overloaded cart tip onto two wheels, wobble like it might recover, then spill its crates across the cracked paving stones in a cascade of wood and curses.
I straightened from my crouch and watched the merchant rush forward, his scowl twisting into a mix of fury and helplessness. Anger at the driver for loading the wagon poorly, but powerless as his goods shattered against frozen stone.
Street rats and merchants descended on the spill in equal measure. Some helped. Some helped themselves. I watched with mild interest to see who pretended otherwise.
Two members of the Town Watch stood nearby, their gazes drifting lazily over the chaos. I scowled at them without meaning to. They wouldn’t intervene unless there was coin in it for them.
Silence was always for sale. Justice never was.
“He’ll be lucky if he sees any of that again.”
I glanced at the old merchant whose wagon I’d ridden in on. “He may be surprised.” I stood and shouldered my pack. “Three silver.”
He looked me over slowly, the suggestive linger of his gaze far too familiar. I’d endured it for days while guiding his half-empty wagon through back trails and narrow passes. His horse wheezed behind me the entire way.
I rubbed my nose with the back of my hand, then let my fingers settle deliberately at my hip. My sword wasn’t impressive, but it didn’t need to be. “You forget how to count to three?”
With a huff, he flicked two silver coins in my direction. When he tucked his pouch back beneath his filthy tunic, he grinned, revealing a mouthful of brown teeth. “You didn’t earn the third.”
I swallowed my temper. Drawing attention here was a bad idea, and the Watch had already noticed us. I’d spent too many nights in their barracks over imagined offenses to invite another.
Not one of them could cook a decent pot of soup.
“The bargain was three silver for safe travel to Eirhollow,” I said evenly, “and arrival before dawn and market starts.” I gestured toward the bell tower clock. “We arrived before the sun broke, and the market hasn’t opened. As agreed. My part’s done, I delivered.”
“The contract was for safe, warm travel.” He exaggerated a look around him. “Market’s started.”
“Pigshit.” I stepped closer, lowering my voice. “You were safe. You stayed hidden under those furs the entire way. You didn’t take one foot off that wagon bed… not even to piss.”
The image of his scrawny ass hanging over the wagon edge in the bright white morning was one I’d rather forget.
“I wasn’t warm.”
I blinked. “It’s Crystallese. The land of winter. No one is warm.”
“You could have kept me warm.” He picked his nose, inspected it, then flicked it away. When he looked back at me, that look was there again. “Still time to earn that coin, lass.”
There were too many people around to stab him through the eyes, tempting as it was. “There’s not enough silver in that purse forthat, you old lecherous thief.” I stooped for my walking staff and patted the horse’s hindquarters. “I hope you sell nothing.”
His cackle followed me as he climbed down to set up his wares.
A young boy sprinted past me, chasing a three-legged dog, and I leaped aside on instinct, my staff jutting back as I twisted to avoid them both.
Crack.
The sound of the wooden spoke snapping was deeply satisfying.
The merchant’s howl of outrage made me turn back with a smirk. “Oh no,” I called out as I walked away. “I did warn you that wheel might not survive the journey back.”
I walked past the Town Watch with a spring in my step. They said nothing. They’d seen me move aside to avoid a child. That was all they’d care to remember.
I headed for the Old Inne with the two silver coins nestled in my pocket. I’d hide them properly once I was inside, after I’d had something hot in my stomach. Preferably porridge. Preferably a lot of it.
Breaking the old man’s wagon wheel hadn’t replaced the missing coin. I’d earned that silver. But while the Watch had passed without comment today, they wouldn’t stay idle if the merchant accused me outright of sabotage. Not when I was lowborn, and it was convenient for them to earn a few coins in their purse to apprehend me on a flimsy excuse.
