Courage Of The Conquered (Book 3) by Robert Ryan Read Free Book Online

breakfast, and the sudden smell of food made him hungry, but they were
still in danger and he ignored it.
    Erlissa led him along a little further,
and in moments they were in front of a small shop. The entrance was narrow, but
inside many clothes hung from pegs in the wall or lay heaped in neat piles. It
was exactly what they needed.
    A black-haired woman with a bright smile
approached.
    “Can I help you?” she asked.
    “Just looking,” Erlissa answered
noncommittally.
    It was the beginning of a long session of
haggling. Lanrik hated the custom, at least normally. He did not doubt that he
often overpaid for the things that he bought, but he would rather that, and get
what he wanted quickly, than play a game of words. But it served them well now,
for a group of Royal Guards was riding slowly down the street. They looked
carefully at everybody as they went, but though they tried, they could not see
far inside the shops to either side.
    He did not realize it for a moment, but
the black-haired woman had come to stand close beside him.
    “What’s that noise?” she asked.
    Lanrik only noticed it when she spoke, for
it was in the distance. He tilted his head to hear better, and caught the sound
of a long and winding note from a horn. No doubt the Royal Guard were calling
for reinforcements. That might mean the City Watch as well as more of their
own, but he was not going to tell her that.
    “I’m not sure,” he said.
    Erlissa frowned. “Soldiers, I think.
Probably the Royal Guard.”
    The woman hissed. “They’re always looking
for somebody these days.” She looked as though she was about to say more, but
then clamped her mouth shut.
    Lanrik had the feeling that few people
spoke freely in Esgallien anymore. It was dangerous, and to speak ill of the
Royal Guard might be especially so.
    The woman changed the subject. She was
back to business now, as though the conversation had never started.
    “Well, I think this one suits you.” She
held up a green dress, slim and elegant. It was perhaps one of the most
expensive items in the shop, and he could see from Erlissa’s expression that
she liked it, although it was doubtful if the woman noticed the same subtle
signs. 
    He relaxed. The haggling would continue a
long time before the price of such a dress came down enough to do a deal, and
they needed a rest.
    Out in the street he saw more guards. This
group was on foot, and he was worried that they would start a search of each
shop. But it soon became apparent that they would not. They had no reason to
believe that he and Erlissa were here, and they did not have enough men to
search each street in this part of the city, house by house and shop by shop. Not
yet, at any rate.
    Erlissa finally settled on a price, and
money changed hands. Lanrik, with his customary speed, picked out a green
cloak. It would serve to hide his tunic.
    As an afterthought, he also bought a
wide-brimmed hat that caught his fancy. He was not used to wearing hats,
preferring a Raithlin hood, but it would change his appearance nicely.
    There were no guards in the street at the
moment, and it was a good time to leave. He paid for his items swiftly,
ignoring Erlissa’s frown and the black-haired woman’s faint smile, and they
moved back out onto the portico.
    “We need another alley,” he said. “We have
to change clothes as quickly as possible. We’re still in the search area.”
    “I’ve seen several groups,” she said.
    “They’re everywhere,” he agreed.
    They found an alley and moved down it.
    Tenement houses rose up all around them,
steep and dark and grim. It was filthy here, as it often was away from the main
streets. Lanrik did not like it, as he did not like much of the city, and yet
there was a kind of splendor and humanity to most of Esgallien that attracted
him in a way that the wild lands that he loved could not.
    Washing hung over low ropes, cheap and
coarse clothes that seemed little improved by the cleaning process, and