Mayorsbroke teemed with people when the harvests had been successful. It teemed with people even when the crops shriveled to dust in the heat or washed away with flooding rains. The only difference were the thieves. Feast allowed the sloppier pick pocket better chances while famine required finesse and agility.
As Marsh cleared the old wood and iron gates astride Dandelion with Tess in tow, he was happy it was feast. Clumsy thieves were easy to catch in the act.
Tess waded out into the open courtyard, lured by the vendor carts that lined its walls. Marsh saw her head of red hair — loose and wispy from travel — start to disappear into the crowd. He opened his mouth to yell at her but gave a sharp whistle instead. Dandelion flattened his ears at the noise and half the crowd turned to stare at him, but it got Tess’ attention.
“No.” He shook his head as he raised his voice to be heard. “Come here.”
“What’s wrong?” She backtracked and came to stand next to Dandelion.
“The stable is this way,” he said as he dismounted and pulled the reins over the gelding’s head. “He gets settled first then we take care of business.”
The open-faced building that served as the stable sat towards the far wall of the courtyard. Attached was the blacksmith’s shop but the bellows and forge were separate and further out into the courtyard. It had been redesigned after a particularly disastrous fire years prior that decimated the stables and all of the boarded horses.
Marsh followed the sound of rhythmic pounding of iron on iron at the anvil. Its timing had been perfected over decades of practice. The woman worked both sides of the shaft of glowing metal in her gloved hand.
“Mina.” He called out to her back.
“Be right with you.” She replied without turning around, her hands still working in concert to flatten the metal. When satisfied with its progress, she dropped it in the trough of water near her leg to quench.
“What can I do—” Mina spoke as she turned. A wide smile stretched her lips when she recognized the man before her. “Marsh, how you been?”
“Fine. Can’t complain.” He matched her smile. “How about you?”
“The same.” Setting her hammer and the glove on the anvil, she came towards them. She curiously glanced at Tess but gave her a friendly nod.
“He treating you okay?” Mina softly addressed Dandelion as she rubbed her fingers in a circle on his forehead before smoothing them down his muzzle.
“He’ll be better with a trim and a reset.” Marsh pointed at the shoes on the horse’s front hooves.
She nodded her head in the direction of the stable. “Put him in an open stall.”
The other horses in the barn stuck their heads out over their stall doors at the approaching footsteps. Dandelion huffed a low greeting and he was answered with similar chuffs and nickers.
“I can take your horse, sir,” a boy said as he came out from a stall with a pitchfork in hand.
“Just point me to an open stall, Tom.”
“This one here.” He hitched a thumb over his shoulder. “I just finished cleaning and bedding it.”
“And a fine job you did, too.” Marsh smiled as he inspected the straw lined box. He dug a coin out of a pouch on his belt and pressed it into the boy’s hand. “There’ll be more if you make sure Dandelion is comfortable, but don’t over feed him.”
Tom smiled wide and nodded. “I won’t!”
****
“I’m beginning to think I need to attach a bell to you,” Marsh said as he gripped Tess’ elbow. He pulled her away from the vendor stall. “I turn my head for one minute and you’ve vanished.”
“How can I vanish when I’m right here?” She set down the small bauble she had been studying.
“Would you follow?” He impatiently pulled on her.
Tess winced at his grip on her arm. Her fingers worried at his and tried to pry them away.
“I am following.”
“Follow faster,” he said, fixing her with an icy stare.
“Alright — you don’t have to yell!”
“Who says I’m yelling?”
“You’re yelling!”
Exasperated, Marsh came to a stop. Taking a deep breath, he slowly released it before continuing.
“I have a bounty to collect. The sheriff is at the north side of town.”
“So? Go pick up your bounty.” Tess shook her head and held out her arms. “I don’t see what that has to do with me.”
Marsh bit his lip to keep from swearing. “Tess, you’re what folks call an easy mark. If I leave you here for five seconds, you will be bereft of every valuable you carry! Whatever the vendors don’t weasel out of you will be stripped by thieves!”
She gaped at him, her cheeks flushing pink at his admonishment.
“Come with me now.”
“You don’t have to be so rude,” she mumbled, looking away from him.
“I’m not being rude,” he said, his voice level. “I’m trying to keep you alive.”
“Please.” Marsh sighed and looked to the sky as if it could give him help. “Will you come with me? I promise I will let you look at whatever you’d like on the way back through, but I have business to finish first.”
When she didn’t answer, he bowed his head to catch her eye. “Tess?”
Her hazel eyes were rimmed with red but she finally met his gaze. “Okay.”
“Thank you,” he said and managed a small smile.
She kept up with him. Occasionally he glanced back over his shoulder to make sure she was still there. He thought that her eye might be captured by the glint of some trinket, but she was always there, her gaze fixed on his.
At one point she called out to him as she got caught in the cross traffic. Her hands gripped at his scabbard to stay behind him and not get swept away in the throng of bodies.
“I’ve never seen so many people,” she said loudly, her eyes wide. When they finally made it to the sheriff’s office and closed the door to the street noise, he heard her give a relieved exhale.
A burley man lounged behind a desk towards the corner of the room. His booted feet were crossed at the ankles and they rested on the desktop. A soft snore rose from the back of his throat as he happily dozed.
“Irv.” Marsh called out. When Irv didn’t rouse, Marsh moved towards him and swept the man’s feet off the desk with a push. They landed on the floor with a loud thump and startled the man awake.
“What kind of operation are you running around here, Irv?” He asked with a smirk as the man in the chair blinked up at him.
“Must be awfully shoddy if I keep hiring you.” He held out a hand and Marsh took it in a strong shake. “Did you clear those thieves out of Rabbit Creek?”
“Thief, singular, and yes.”
Irv finally realized someone else was in the room with them. He leaned sideways to see around Marsh. Leveling a smile at Tess, he glanced back and forth between her and the man standing before him.
“Who’s the pretty little lady, Marsh?”
Sighing, he stepped to the side then waved his hand between them. “Tess, this is Irving. Irving, this is Tess.”
“Hello, Mister Irving.”
“Mister Irving.” Irv repeated and smiled wide at Marsh. He pulled a key from a small pocket on the front of his vest. “Do you hear that, Marsh? She called me Mister Irving.”
Marsh matched his smile. “She doesn’t know any better.”
Irv burst into thunderous laughter. He stood and motioned for him to follow.
Marsh glanced back at Tess. When he caught her eye, he pointed at the chair Irv had occupied. She complied and sat.
“Do I even want to know?” Irv asked as he led the way towards the back room and the safe.
“Is she even legal?” He added with a chuckle.
Marsh shook his head at the man’s poor taste in jokes. “Rewarded by the Law of Surprise. I saved her uncle from that thief at Rabbit Creek.”
Irv’s eyebrow arched. “You lucky man.”
“If you say so.” Marsh watched as Irv unlocked the large chest chained to the floor and pulled out a small pouch of coins from one of the interior compartments. The man placed it into his outstretched palm.
“I seem to remember you lucking out about four years ago with the Law of Surprise and that horse of yours.”
Marsh snorted a laugh. “And he nearly killed me before we came to an understanding.”
“Well,” Irv said with a shrug. “Maybe you’ll come to an understanding with this one too.”
****
True to his word, Marsh kept watch over Tess as she browsed through the market stalls.
Much to his surprise, Tess’ trick with the rabbit snares worked well. She caught two that first morning and another one at their second camp. Marsh couldn’t complain at the fresh meat roasting over the fire. It was better than the rough travel rations he typically packed.
“Are you sure he didn’t over pay me?” She asked Marsh in surprise as she showed him the coin the furrier had given her. “I never got this much when Uncle sold my pelts.”
Diplomatically, Marsh shrugged and kept his tongue. He didn’t hold the uncle in high regard but had no desire to deflate her mood.
Their stay in town would have to be short. Irv gave him information on a couple of livestock thieves holed up around an abandoned keep towards the southern border of the county. If it was him alone, it would be a three day ride, but with Tess in tow, it would take him longer.
“As much as I like rabbit, I could use a decent meal,” Marsh said after watching her pick up a set of wooden spoons to tumble in her hands. He had no idea what Tess saw in half the stuff she touched.
“Sure.” She replied as she flashed the vendor a smile and set the spoons down. The man deflated after realizing she wasn’t going to buy them.
“This way.”
Marsh led her from the crowds towards the back streets and alleys. The buildings that lined the cobble road were more rough and worn. Tess raised a hand and politely blocked some of the odor from her nostrils. Marsh smirked. With as many people that called Mayorsbroke home, the stench of life was part of its charm.
He pushed open a door beneath a sign that read The Red Stag and guided Tess into the inn. The room was dark, barely lit by a few lanterns that hung from the ceiling and the fireplace along the adjacent wall. Tables and an odd assortment of chairs took up the floor space.
Marsh made his way to the bar and flagged down the tender. A very tall black man smiled wide behind an impressive beard. It came to a point near the middle of his chest.
“Marsh, you are a sight! But you are late, my friend. I thought perhaps something had happened to you.”
From the pouch on his belt, Marsh pulled a small cloth bundle and slid it across the bar to the man on the other side. “I’m sorry, Jere. I was detained.”
“Then it’s a good thing I don’t need it for a few days yet.” Jere untied and unraveled it. Inside was a plain ring of gold. He smoothed his long fingers over it before tying the band back up and slipping the bundle into his coin pouch.
Jere glanced at Tess and smiled. “Who is your friend?”
“Jere — Tess, Tess — Jere,” Marsh said as he made the introductions with a wave of his hand. “Does our deal still stand?”
Jere nodded enthusiastically and his smile turned wry. “The services of my humble inn are yours, however I only have one room free tonight.”
Marsh studied Tess as he rubbed a hand over his chin, fingernails itching at it’s stubble. Her wide eyes shot back and forth between the two men and he enjoyed the resulting blush that came to her face.
“Let’s just start with supper for two and a couple pints of ale.”
“Find yourself a spot and I will bring it out when done.”
“Is there anyone you don’t know in this town?” Tess teased as she slid into the chair opposite of his. He picked a table near the fire.
“One or two.” He smiled and gave a shrug as he leaned back in the chair. “I go where the jobs take me. Meeting people is one of its hazards.”
Once the food arrived, he waited for the perfect moment to watch Tess sputter and cough when he happily announced “it's time to discuss our sleeping arrangement.”