Return to Kinthaldith

Return to Kinthaldith, Chapter 11

"No!" said Jesh, his heart beat a little faster, thinking of his oath to Risser. He'd narrowly escaped his last mistake. Would the Heir use this against him?

"That's the Skyman," said a boy, about eleven years of age. He smiled in awe.

That brought a hush.

"Tie him up!" said someone. "Before he gets away!"

Someone grabbed a rope, and they set about tying Jesh's hands. "I'm here with Lujen, the Hasson Arbitrator. He's in the marketplace somewhere. Ask him. I'm not on the run," insisted Jesh. They had to listen. He didn't want this report going back to Risser.

The people discussed this among themselves, looking somewhat frightened as to what to do.

"Take him to the jail," said someone.

Vainly Jesh searched the thick, boisterous crowd for Lujen. More and more people came to gape at him--the Skyman. Finally, Lujen pressed his way into the group.

"What is going on?" demanded Lujen.

"We caught this man stealing a pistol," said the thin man. At this, Lujen looked surprised. The crowd withdrew a little so he could make his way over to Jesh.

"Is this true?" he asked.

"No," said Jesh. "I wasn't. I was looking for you--to show it to you."

"He left the table and had it in his hand," said the man.

"Why are you interested in a gun?" asked Lujen.

"I..." Looking at the crowd, Jesh hesitated. There were so many people, and all he had were suspicions. On top of it, Risser had put him under oath not to speak of the Prent. This would certainly be a breach of that.

"I think you'd better answer that," said Lujen. His voice was stern.

"I can't," Jesh said at last.

"Arrest him!" someone shouted.

"There are laws, Jesh, and you are violating them," said Lujen.

"I'm under an oath to Lord Risser'toranth," said Jesh. "I can only speak to him or Lady Tirethdarra about this."

Lujen stared at him for a moment, and Jesh hoped he understood his meaning. Lujen looked thoughtfully at the pistol. At that moment, the Captain of the guard arrived.

"Arbitrator Lujen," said the Captain. "What's all this?"

Quietly, they conferred together for a few moments. Jesh looked about nervously, feeling like quite a spectacle in his black tunic. He should have been more careful.

Finally, the Captain nodded. "All right," he said to Lujen. "Break it up," shouted the Captain. "It was all a misunderstanding. Everything's in hand. Go on," he told the crowd.

Lujen came over and untied Jesh. "Can't let you out of my sight for five minutes without that you get into trouble," muttered Lujen, shaking his head, his thick eyebrows looking particularly angry. "Thank you," Lujen said to the Captain, who went off to talk to the owner of the gun.

"I'm sorry," said Jesh. "I wasn't thinking."

Lujen held up the gun. "So, tell me then, what about this gun?"

Jesh hesitated. Technically, he should only tell Risser or Tireth, but Lujen had been in on their discussion of Prenth, and he had spoken of other things to him since then. "I think it was made on Prent," he said quietly so no one else could hear.

Lujen stared at him. "Why?"

"Just a suspicion. Maybe they want to start a war. But if the Prenth are interfering with us, then they've broken interstellar law. We could catch them on this, and it would stop the initiative Prent proposed to make Kinthaldith their territory. We could stall them at least."

Lujen considered this a moment, then turned and went back into the crowd toward the gun table. "Wait here," Lujen said sternly. "And after this, you stick with me."

People stared at Jesh, and he ignored them. Women stood a ways off, whispering and laughing at him, and children pointed at him.

Finally, Lujen came back with a small wooden box. He smiled grimly. "A present for you," he said, opening the box to show the gun. "I bought it. That should calm them down about this. And it will give us a chance to study it."

"Thank you, Lujen." Jesh took a deep breath, relaxing a little.

"Next time, be more careful," muttered Lujen, putting the gun in his own satchel. He led Jesh away from the gun table. "The penalties for stealing can be serious and we don't need to give Lord Risser'toranth another opportunity to torment you." 

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