The Yellow silk

CHAPTER 4

Tycho had been thrown in jail-briefly-many times during his life. He had seen the inside of Spandeli-yon's dockside guard station fairly frequently during his later childhood. After Veseene had taken him as her apprentice, he had seen the inside of many similar jails, from east to west around the Sea of Fallen Stars. It was something of a hazard of the itinerant lifestyle. He had seen jails that were kept fastidiously clean. He had seen jails that made stables look pleasant. He had seen jails that were run with efficient cruelty and those run with casual disorder. In Tantras, he had passed a night in a jail that put each prisoner into their own bare little cell, almost like monks in a monastery. In Raven's Bluff, just down the coast, he had been flung into a prison that was little more than a vast building with one lock on the outer door and prisoners swarming loose within; he had been forgotten there for almost a tenday before Veseene managed to find him.

He had never before, however, been thrown into a jail cell normally reserved for traitors, assassins, and other dangerous, desperate types. Spandeliyon's middle town guard station had precisely one very highly secured cell. Among the folk of dockside-and even the middle town-it was a thing of rumor and speculation, mockingly referred to as "the King's Chamber." If Tycho had been in a better mood, he might have taken greater note of the place, maybe with an eye to embellishing on its rather ordinary appearance and using the experience to earn himself a few extra pennies at the Wench's Ease.

But he wasn't and he didn't.

"— acting like a horse that's been turned into an ore and made even more stupid', Tycho ranted for the seventh or eighth time. The words came out slurred. His lower lip was split and swollen where Li Chien had hit him. He rattled the manacles that chained him to the wall of the cell and held his arms suspended like a marionette. "Locked up for what? Because you apparently don't have the sense to be civil. Idiot!"

He glared across the cell, a matter of only about ten feet, at Li Chien. The King's Chamber was solid stone, with no features to it other than a heavy, steel-bound door and an assortment of chains hammered into the stark walls with stout pins. It was dark, the only light coming from a lantern on the other side of a small, barred window in the door. There was nothing between Tycho's behind and the winter-cold floor except the fabric of his breeches. Li Chien was in no better situation. Somehow, though, he managed to look as if imprisonment bothered him not a bit. His smooth face was calm, his posture relaxed. He said nothing. His eyes were even closed. Tycho might almost have thought that he was asleep except that every so often his ears twitched slightly at a particularly vile insult.

It was the most reaction Tycho had managed to get out of him since they had been bundled out of the Dantakain house, bags over their heads and their arms bound, and marched through the snow. Tycho had caught the sound of Laera pleading and screaming with her father and of Jac-erryl trying to argue with Mard. The only words to escape the captain of the guard's lips, however, had been a few terse commands for the captives to be searched and for Tycho's strilling and other effects to be collected and sent to the guard station. Unseen hands had taken everything from him-even the tube of beljurils. He had struggled at that, but Jacerryl's voice had been in his ear. "Don't worry. Mard might be furious, but he sticks to the law like honey. They'll be safe."

The trip through the snowbound streets had been remarkably short. They had been in the King's Chamber before the daze of having his head cracked against Li Chien's had even worn off.

His anger at Li Chien, however, had yet to fade. "I mean, going up to hightown in clothes that smell like beer and fish guts, walking right up to Mard Dantakain's house, and demanding to see him-just what did you think, that he was going to welcome you with open arms?" Through the shadows, Tycho caught a tightening of the muscles along Li Chien's jaw. He growled. "I know you can hear me, Li Chien." He switched to Shou. "Maybe you've just been having trouble understanding me-I said that you've got the brains of a horse, the grace of an ore, and the gratitude of a rabid weasel!"

Li Chien's eyes popped open and he sucked in air. His entire body seemed to clench at once "And you," he seethed in an explosion of rage, "are a liar with all the morals of a rutting goat! You were sleeping with the man's daughter!"

The venom in his voice was wasted. "I never even kissed Laera!" Tycho shot back.

"It looked like she was ready for more than a kiss."

"That wasn't my doing! If I'd gone into that library on my own, I wouldn't have let anything happen." A tiny whisper of doubt tickled Tycho's mind but he thrust it away. He would have rebuffed Laera's advances. "This is your fault," he said. "You attacked me, remember?"

"You lied to Mard Dantakain!" spat Li Chien. "You knew I was telling the truth and you lied. All you had to do was tell him what happened last night and-"

Tycho leaned forward sharply. If the chains hadn't held him back, he might have lunged at Li Chien. "What happened last night? You mean how you insulted me, ignored every attempt I made at warning you, and then, when I saved your life, how you snuck away like a thief without even saying 'thank you'?" He wrenched fruitlessly on his chains. "You're right, I should have supported you-О Emissary of Imperial Shou Lung! You want to talk about lies, how about that one? If you're an ambassador, I'm the Witch-Queen of Aglarond!"

Li Chien started to snap a reply but stopped. His face fell and he looked away. "That lie is between Mard Dantakain and me," he said stubbornly. "But for walking away from you this morning-" He glanced up again and Tycho was startled to see that anger was actually fading from his face and a look of shame taking its place. "-I apologize. What I did was no way to repay your kindness. I'm very sorry. You are right to be angry."

For the first time in a very long while, Tycho found his mouth opening and closing in speechless astonishment. "Well," he managed finally. "All right then;"

He sat back against the cold wall and just looked at Li Chien. The Shou looked back. Neither of them said anything. Uncomfortable silence hung in the air-until Li Chien's stomach broke it with a loud, hollow growl that echoed off the stone walls. He flushed. "Excuse me. I haven't eaten."

"It might be a while before you do. I don't know if they'll bring us anything before dinner." He turned his gaze up to the ceiling of the cell, almost lost in the darkness. It was hard to tell what time it was. His own stomach was empty, though. He'd guess that it was at least well into the afternoon now. "Are you an ambassador, Li Chien?" he asked.

"Just Li, Tycho. Li Chien is what my mother calls me." The Shou sighed. "I'm no ambassador. I'm just a clerk in the imperial bureaucracy."

Tycho raised his eyebrows. "You fight well for just a clerk."

"You healed me, didn't you? Are you just a singer?"

"True enough." Tycho shifted and his chains rattled again. "So what brings an imperial clerk all the way from Shou Lung to Altumbel?" Li said nothing. Tycho looked at him. The Shou had his head down and was staring at the floor between his knees. "Not the sort of thing you can talk about?" Tycho shrugged. Li shook his head. "That's fair."

"Tycho," said Li without looking up, "tell me about Brin. Is there anyone in Spandeliyon who isn't afraid of him?"

"Mard Dantakain. Crazy old Riverhand the Sage out on the edge of town. A few people in the middle and high-towns who haven't actually heard of him, maybe. Anyone with any sense is afraid of Brin. He came to Spandeliyon just about a year ago and set himself up by finding the biggest gang boss in dockside and burning his house down. With him inside. Then he just moved in and took over. He's slick. When he doesn't want to be linked to something, he'll trick someone into doing his dirty business, but when he wants to make a point, he makes it in a very big way. A lot of people in dockside and middle town who cross him have problems with knives. Or pigs."

"Pigs?"

"Brin passes himself off as a swineherd. He even likes to do his business in a sty. I don't know who he's trying to fool, but it sure gives him a crazy edge. People aren't just scared of him because he's mean. They're scared of him because there's a very good chance he might be insane, too."

"What about you? Are you scared of him?"

"Witless. It's the only smart way." Tycho considered Li for a moment. "You know, for someone who's looking for Brin, you don't seem to know a lot about him."

"I don't. I only heard about him in Telflamm-rumors that said he was here in Spandeliyon." He hesitated then added. "Brin isn't actually the reason I came west from Shou Lung. He's just a link."

Tycho had to stop himself from leaning forward too eagerly. "Oh?" he asked. "A link to what?" He tried to dredge up everything he had heard about Brin's career as a pirate before the one-eyed halfling had come to Spandeliyon. There were always tales linking pirates to fantastic treasure hordes… and what had Li said back in Mard Dan-takain's entrance hall? That he served the bureaucracy of Shou Lung in the Department of Lost Treasures? Li was biting his lip in uncertainty. Tycho waited, giving him his time, not wanting to pressure him and lose this tale.

It wasn't to be. Just as Li swallowed, drew breath, and opened his mouth, there was noise out in the corridor. Footsteps. The rattle of keys in locks. Li's mouth closed firmly. Tycho ground his teeth in frustration. Patience, he told himself, patience.

The door opened and three figures stepped into the cell. With the lantern in the corridor behind them they were nothing but silhouettes for a moment. "Magistrate will see you now," said one as the other two moved forward with more keys. Light splashed across guard uniforms marked with the crest of the city. "On your feet."

Li, however, was already leaping up with a clatter of chains and a sharp storm of Shou curses. The guards, two men and a woman, jumped back, hands reaching for weapons. Tycho came to his feet as well. "Li!" he said in Shou. "Calm down! They're just here to-"

"I know her, Tycho! I saw her last night." Li pointed an arm at the woman guard. "She's in Lander's pay!"

A woman's face emerging from shadows and falling snow, torchlight showing a uniform-a guard uniform, Li realized now. "She came past last night while Lander and his men were robbing me," he spat at Tycho, "and just left when Lander told her it was Brin's business and paid her off!"

Blood was pounding in his head. He tried to reach forward with both hands, but the chains binding him made it impossible. "She's corrupt! She's-"

Tycho looked startled but also shook his head sharply. "Li, it's all right! They're taking us before a magistrate, that's all. Be quiet or you'll just make things worse. If we're lucky we could be out of here soon." He twisted around to face the guard who had stayed by the door, clearly the leader of the trio. "The Shou is confused," the singer said quickly in the common tongue of the west. "I'm trying to calm him down."

"You speak his language? You tell him we don't want any trouble, but we're ready for it." The guard pulled out a club and held it up where Li could see it. "No trouble," he said loudly. "You understand?"

"Got that?" Tycho asked in Shou.

Li clenched his teeth and nodded. Chained and helpless, there was little he could do anyway. He did not, however, take his eyes off the woman guard. "I don't trust her," he growled.

"You don't have to. Just stay calm. Let me do the talking and I'll get us both out of this."

There didn't seem to be any other choice. Li swallowed his anger and stood still as one of the guards, a thick-necked man approached him warily. His arms were freed from the chains, and bound together in front of him. The corrupt woman guard treated Tycho the same way, though perhaps with a little less fear. When both of them were ready, the third guard led the way out of the cell, down an ugly, damp hallway, and up a flight of narrow stairs.

Li was marched along in the middle of the group. As they ascended the stairs, he heard the woman's voice murmuring behind him. "Hey Tycho, they say you were carrying on with Dantakain's daughter. 'S true?"

"I wouldn't call it carrying on, Desmada. The young lady was just an enthusiastic student."

Li twisted around for a second to look over his shoulder at Tycho and the guard. "You know her?" he asked in Shou.

"Hush!" Tycho said sharply. "I know a lot of people. Now be quiet!"

The exchange earned them both a hard glance from the leading guard and Li a rough jerk on the arm by the guard at his side. Li did, however, manage to lock eyes with the woman guard-Desmada-just briefly.

There was nothing in her gaze except vague curiosity.

Li turned back around and kept shuffling along under his guard's guidance. His mind, though, was on Desmada. She didn't recognize him. How was that possible? It had been dim last night, he supposed, and she had only caught a brief glimpse of him before Lander had run her off. He had probably looked rather different, too, beaten and bruised. Still, there was something disconcerting in her lack of recognition. Could she really care so little as to pay no attention to a man being beaten on her watch?

And Tycho treated her as if nothing were out of the ordinary. The more he saw of the ways of Spandeliyon, the less he liked the town.

The stairs led into another short corridor, from which a door let them all into a large room filled with the dazzle of sunlight. After so long in the dim shadows of the cell, the light was almost blinding. They were marched a short distance and stopped. "Prisoners Tychoben Arisaenn and Kangli Shen, magistrate," said the lead guard, completely mangling Li's name.

"Blessed Tyr," came a wheezing voice out of the glare, "nobody said he was elf-blood."

Li squinted against the light and looked around. They were in a vaulted chamber dominated by tall windows in one wall and an imposing raised dais on another. On the dais was a very large and heavy chair. Seated in it was a very tall and thin old man in severe robes. Li fixed him with a frustrated glare. "I am not an elf!"

In the shadow of the great chair, another man rapped a heavy rod against the floor. "Respect for the magistrate!" Li immediately received two hard pokes in the side, one from the guard who stood on his left and one from Tycho on his right. The singer also gave him a scowl and a short hiss for silence.

Up on the dais, the old man winced at the banging. "Thank you, Dorth. Why have they been arrested?"

The man with the rod glanced at a parchment. "For brawling, sir. Assault on the Captain of the Guard. Kuang Li Chien-" He pronounced the name carefully and with a haughty glance at the lead guard. "-is also arrested for forcibly entering a private residence and for impersonating an official of a foreign government. Tychoben Arisaenn also for moral corruption of Laera Dantakain."

"Moral corruption?" The magistrate sat up a little. "I haven't heard that one in a while."

There was a slight snicker from the guards present. Bang! went the rod. "Respect for the magistrate! Captain of the Guard Mard Dantakain will present his case!"

Mard Dantakain stepped up from behind them. He was dressed in a full and ornate guard uniform, immaculately clean. He related the events of the morning in a blunt, matter-of-fact tone, leaving nothing out and neither exaggerating nor diminishing anything. Li felt his heart sink.

Considered in hindsight and with a cooler head, what he had done was nothing short of stupid. Barging into Mard Dantakain's house wearing clothes stolen from a drunk, trying to pass himself off as an ambassador of Shou Lung when half the population of Spandeliyon apparently couldn't distinguish a Shou from an elf it was, he realized, lucky they were getting any kind of trial at all. If Li had been in the magistrate's place, he probably would have left them down in the darkness of their cell!

By the time Mard had finished speaking, he felt sick.

"Prisoners Tychoben Arisaenn and Kuang Li Chien will respond!"

Li swallowed and stepped forward, ready to confess to everything. Tycho, however, was faster. He took two steps forward, poking Li again on the way past, and made a graceful bow that hardly seemed hampered at all by his bonds. "Magistrate Vanyan," he said in a very grand voice.

The magistrate gave a thin, slightly confused smile. "Have we met before?"

"Your name precedes you, sir. Your wisdom is well known in dockside. If it please you, I will speak for both myself and this esteemed gentleman of Shou." He gestured toward Li. "During our imprisonment, we discovered that we share a common tongue and I was able to discuss the situation with him. This is all really a terrible mistake stemming from his imperfect understanding of our language."

"Wait," protested Mard Dantakain, "he understood Common perfectly well when I spoke to him. He spoke it back to me!" Tycho glanced at him and raised his eyebrows.

"Did he, Captain Dantakain? Your testimony to the esteemed magistrate was remarkable in its precision. Did you rehearse it?"

"Yes."

"Master Kuang did the same with the appeal he presented to you this morning. If I asked you to tell me right now in the same detail what happened to you yesterday morning, could you?" Li saw Mard look to Vanyan in confusion, but Tycho gave neither of them time to reply. "I didn't think so." He looked to the magistrate as well. "The same thing happened with Master Kuang, sir. He perfected a limited speech, but was flustered when Captain Dantakain began to challenge his appeal for help. Please, sir, I'm afraid Captain Dantakain has overestimated Master Kuang's comprehension."

The magistrate's eyes narrowed. "Indeed." He turned to Li. "Master Kuang, have you understood what is happening here?"

Both TVcho and Mard turned to look at him as well. Li swallowed again and cursed silently. Tycho's mouth was twitching just slightly. Was that supposed to mean yes or no? It seemed as if TVcho wanted him to play dumb. "No," he said, guessing.

Tycho winced. Vanyan sat back. "The elf-blood understands enough to know that he does not understand. It seems to me his exchange with the captain this morning was less complex than what takes place in this chamber. Lack of comprehension does not strike me as sufficient excuse for his behavior."

"Sir, he was also confused," Tycho replied quickly. "He had by his own admission just been savagely robbed and was also, I have learned, desperately hungry. In that state, he was focused on only one thing and would say anything to obtain it. I believe if you test him further, you'll find that even the basic comprehension you assume is lacking." The magistrate frowned and look at Li again.

"What is my name?" he said slowly and with emphasis. Tycho turned as well. This time his eyes flicked over his shoulder and toward the dais. His right hand made a tight shaking motion. No, a rapping motion.

Li put on a pleasant smile and bowed. "Your name is Respect," he said in an accent so thick it made him cringe. "Respect the Magistrate!"

The guards chuckled immediately. On the dais, Dorth slammed his rod down. "Respect for the magistrate!" he said automatically and flushed. In response, Li folded his arms and bent in an even deeper bow.

"Respect the Magistrate!" he repeated.

"No, respect/or him!" Dorth pointed desperately at Vanyan. "Respect hinil

"Yes," Li agreed. "He is Respect. Respect the Magistrate!"

Dorth was practically shaking with frustration. Mard was red. The guards were desperately trying to hold in laughter. Even the magistrate seemed amused. Tycho was suppressing a smile. "That's enough," he told Li in Shou. "They got the point."

"If we get out of this," replied Li in a pleasant tone, "I'm going to beat you senseless."

"I'll worry about that later. Pretend I'm telling you Vanyan's real name now."

Li changed his smile to an expression of surprise and horror, bent into the deepest bow yet, and switched back to Common. "I am very sorry, honored sir. Your name is Vanyan. Vanyan the Magistrate. I am very sorry."

"You see, sir?" Tycho told the magistrate. "And this morning he didn't properly understand what Captain Dantakain was saying to him either. When the captain asked him if he was an ambassador from Shou, he completely misunderstood. He is in fact a member of the Shou imperial bureaucracy and so it could be said that he does represent Shou Lung. He called on Captain Dantakain because it seemed proper at the time to go to the most senior member of the Guard. And in his confused state, he mistook me for someone else. When I replied that I didn't know him, he took my words for an insult and was justifiably very angry. It was all just a misunderstanding. Indeed, we have already made our peace." Tycho clapped an arm amiably around Li's shoulder's.

Mard Dantakain practically exploded. "Now hold on," he sputtered. "That's not right!" He thrust a finger at Li. "Magistrate, I swear to you that when I talked to this man this morning, he absolutely understood everything I said. Everything! And now you expect me to believe that it was all just a clever imitation like… like a talking parrot!" He spun to glare at Vanyan. "I demand you put an end to this!"

The magistrate just tilted his head. Dorth, on the other hand, drew a shocked breath and raised his rod, ready to rap it again. Vanyan reached out and caught his arm. "I think we've had enough of that, Dorth." He looked down at Mard. "Very well, captain. I will end it." He pushed himself to his feet in front of the heavy chair of his office. "I have heard the testimony of both parties," he said formally, "and I am satisfied by what I have heard. It seems to me that no harm was intended and no damage inflicted that has not been resolved. Under the laws of Altumbel and Spandeliyon, I find no reason to hold Tychoben Arisaenn on the charges of brawling and assault nor Kuang Li Chien on the same as well as forcible entry and impersonation."

Mard howled in protest even as Dorth finally brought his staff down again and proclaimed "The magistrate has ruled!" At Li's side, Tycho let out a whoop of triumph. Li, however, grabbed his arm out of the air.

"You're forgetting something!" he hissed in Shou, nodding toward the magistrate's dais. Vanyan was still standing and he was looking back at them again.

"There is," the magistrate said somberly, "the matter of the additional charge against Tychoben Arisaenn: moral corruption of Laera Dantakain." He seated himself once more. "I have not heard your testimony on that charge, Master Arisaenn. It does seem to me that Captain Dantakain has a legitimate complaint against you."

Mard swung around to glare at Tycho, vicious victory on his face. Tycho blinked, but swept into another grace ful bow without hesitation. Li found himself holding his breath as the singer smiled and began, "Honored sir, Cap tain Dantakain has simply never before seen the famous 'vigorous harp' technique of Waterdeep

"Tycho, is that really how ladies of quality play the harp in Waterdeep?" asked Li as they walked out of the guard station and into afternoon sunlight.

"If they don't, they should learn. It sounds like an interesting technique. If I ever get to Waterdeep, maybe I'll teach them." Tycho drew a deep breath of cold, fresh air. It smelled very good. He hitched his coat around himself and adjusted his strilling under its leather flap. True to Jacerryl's word, everything that had been taken from them-or rather from Tycho since Li had nothing to take-had been waiting for them when they walked out of Magistrate Vanyan's chamber. The little tin tube of beljurils included.

Tycho had sighed with relief, given it a quick shake, and sighed again at the sound of muffled rattling within. It had been hard enough worrying about getting himself and Li out of jail without worrying about the gems and their now belated delivery as well!

Li was looking back at the jail with a certain amount of frustration. Tycho stopped. "What?" he asked.

"That guard-Desmada. It doesn't seem right to walk away without revealing her corruption. She took Lander's coin to look the other way. In Shou Lung, she wouldn't get away with that!"

"You're telling me that there isn't one guard in Shou Lung who accepts bribes?" Tycho shook his head. "Desmada works for Brin, Li. If you had tried to bring up her corruption, we'd still be sitting in that cell."

"Does everyone in Spandeliyon work for Brin?"

Tycho grimaced. "A lot of people do," he said. "But only a few people do it willingly." He slapped Li's shoulder. "Don't worry. Some people work for his rivals!"

"That's very comforting."

"Tycho!" Mard Dantakain's voice echoed on the street and Tycho flinched. He turned slowly. Mard was stalking down the steps of the guard station, each pace tightly controlled as though he might fly to pieces if he let his guard down. That probably wasn't far from the truth. Tycho took a deep breath and stood his ground.

"What is it, Mard?"

"I owe you pay for this morning's lesson." He reached out and took Tycho's hand, turning it over and slapping coins into his palm with such force that the bard winced. TVcho looked down. Two gold coins stamped with circled dragons. He glanced up at Mard.

"Coins from Waterdeep." "Indeed," replied Mard coldly. "It seemed appropriate. They'll also be your final payment. Laera's lessons are now finished. I don't want to see you at my house again." His eyes glittered and he leaned close. "In fact," he said, "I'd recommend you take care that I don't see you again at all." He glared at Li as well. "Either of you."

He turned sharply and marched away. Tycho glowered after him, but slipped the coins into his pouch anyway and sighed. Li looked at him. "I cost you your job."

Tycho shrugged. "Waves roll in; waves roll out." If he had still been traveling, he might simply have boarded the next ship to leave port and moved on to richer pickings in another town. He might have lost the pay from tutoring Laera Dantakain, but there was still the Wench's Ease and-if he could find another discrete way of meeting Jacerryl-he'd still have his delivery runs. The little tube of beljurils wouldn't be the last thing Mard's brother would bring into Spandeliyon. It would all work out. "Waves will roll in again."

Li looked glum. His stomach growled audibly again. This time Tycho's grumbled in response as well. He rubbed his stomach and smiled at Li. The beljurils were already late-they could wait just a little while longer. "Come on, let me buy you something to eat. There's a place close to here." He began leading the way through the snow.

The place was a pie shop, not especially good, but cheap and friendly. Usually friendly. The shopkeeper's face clouded as Li follow Tycho inside. "No elves," he grunted, pointing at the Shou. "Get out."

Li flushed. "He's not an elf," said Tycho. He reached up and grabbed Li's head, twisting it around and pulling his hair back to the man could see his ears. "Do those look pointed to you? " He let Li go and scowled at the shopkeeper. "Two fish pies-no, three. With two mugs of hot soup. And this man deserves more than just an apology, so that soup had better be on the house!"

The shopkeeper muttered something indistinct and busied himself behind the counter. Tycho led Li to a table, the Shou rubbing at his scalp. "What is it with you people and elves?" he demanded.

"Altumbel was founded by humans who left Aglarond when the coastal settlements stopped fighting the elves of the inland forests and made peace with them. A lot of people in Altumbel still don't like elves."

"How long ago was this?"

Tycho stretched out. "About three hundred years. People around here are stubborn. Most have never even seen anyone with elf blood unless they happen to be former pirates and have traveled. They just have this vague idea of what elves are supposed to look like." He looked Li over. "Unfortunately…"

"Shou look that way, too." Li sighed and pressed his lips together as the shopkeeper came over with a platter bearing three fat pies, each a handspan wide, and two big mugs. The man plunked them down and got away again with unseemly haste. Li reached for one of the mugs and raised it to Tycho. "I'm sorry we began badly, Tycho. You're the only person in Spandeliyon who has given me any help at all." He hesitated and added. "Would you be willing to help me some more?"

Tycho paused with his mug lifted halfway to his lips. "After all this, you still want to find Brin?"

"No, not Brin."

"Right." Tycho nodded and blew across the steaming surface of his soup. He remembered what Li had hinted at back in the King's Chamber. "Brin's just a link. You're after his treasure."

"Treasure?" Li blinked. "I'm looking for my brother."