Bard's Oath Read Free Page A

spank us?”
    But well before he reached them, one of the men pointed past Raven and cried out. The line broke and they raced off, heading for the crossroads and the road south that led to Kelneth.
    Of course; they’d seen the Beast Healer’s tunic of brown and green. No, they wouldn’t want a witness such as Gunnis testifying against them, the cowards.
    Swearing in frustration, Raven pulled Stormwind to a stop by the two children. “Are you hurt?” he asked as he jumped down from the saddle. “Let me see.”
    Teasel, a thin trickle of blood running down her cheek, shook her head. “Never mind! Get them! Get them before they get into Kelneth!”
    Gunnis rode up. “That was Lord Tirael, wasn’t it?” he asked in the tired voice of one who already knew the answer.
    “It was,” Speedwell sniffled as Bouncer nosed him, whining anxiously. “He’s a rotter, he is.”
    Raven turned to Gunnis. “You know him?”
    “Unfortunately, yes. Tirael Barans, son of Lord Portis of Cassori and a cousin of Lord Lenslee from just over the border. And he is, as young Speedwell says, a rotter,” said Gunnis as he dismounted. “As are his friends.”
    “They scared off our ponies,” Speedwell added as if this was the ultimate proof of villainy.
    Raven thought Gunnis was about to say more, but with a look at the shaken children, the Beast Healer pressed his lips together. He knelt in the dusty road before Teasel.
    “This,” he scolded as he examined the thin cut on Teasel’s face, “is what happens when you give your tutors the slip and go riding by yourselves.”
    “Yes, sir,” they said with downcast eyes; Speedwell asked, “How did you know?”
    “Hmph!” was the Beast Healer’s only answer. He opened his scrip of medicines. Taking a clean cloth and a small flask of herbal wash, he bathed Teasel’s cheek. She grimaced against the sting but held still.
    When he was done tending to the children, Raven beckoned him aside. “Will Reed seek justice, do you think? I got a fairly good look at most of them. I think I’d be able to recognize them if they were brought before the Shire Mote.”
    Gunnis shook his head. “They’ll be long over the border before anything can be done—they’re all Kelnethi or Cassorin. Reed may be the shire reeve but his arm doesn’t stretch beyond Yerrih’s border.
    “Yet if that bunch have half the wits of a sausage amongst the lot of ’em, they’ll find somewhere else to play their foul little games for a good long while. Reed won’t forget—or forgive—this.”
    Raven rubbed the back of his neck. “Hmm, yes. Reed has a long memory. But even he can’t keep up that kind of watch forever.”
    “And in time the outrage will fade like Teasel’s bruises because it was no worse than that,” Gunnis said with a heavy sigh. “Thank the gods,” he hastened to add.
    Raven didn’t want to think about what might have happened if he and Gunnis hadn’t come along. “So they’ve done something like this before?”
    “Gods, yes! And worse. How do you think I know so much about them? A bunch of bullies—and pretty Lord Tirael is the worst of ’em all.”
    And nothing could be done about it. That rankled. Raven caught up Stormwind’s reins. “I’ll go round up the ponies.”
    He stood a moment before mounting, looking down the road, remembering the blood trickling down Teasel’s cheek. Done this before, have you? May I be there the day this all catches up with you. Then he swung back into the saddle and set off pony hunting.
    *   *   *
    Dunric of Appington urged his horse up alongside Tirael’s. “Do you think there’ll be trouble over this, Tir?”
    “From who?” Tirael scoffed, brushing the hair back from his brow. “Who’d take the word of two brats against ours?”
    “What about the Beast Healer? Think he got a good enough look at us?” Dunric persisted uneasily.
    Tirael shook his head. “I doubt it; I think that Ulris saw him in time. Besides, the plowboy was