Chapter 2

“Of course you can come ashore with me, Aleyn.” He smiled at Aleyn, removed his cape, and flung it over Aleyn’s shoulders. “Who else will carry back the items I might find to purchase?”

Aleyn snuggled gratefully into the tall, fur-lined collar, his eyes mirroring the grin hidden behind fabric. “Step quickly,” Emmett told him. “Let’s see if we can’t beat the rats to the sand shall we?”

* * * *

The port was surprisingly quiet. Most sane men were tucked away in the arms of someone warm, not scowling through air cold enough to chill the lungs by mere breath. Only the ships remained, tilting and clunking along with the swaying water, frigid skeletons waiting patiently for the return of man and product.

“Is it always so cold?” Aleyn asked.

“No. Sometimes it rains. And sometimes there’s so much fog that you can’t see your hand in front of your face.” Emmett chuckled and set his brown broad-rimmed hat that much tighter on his head. It had been gifted to him in Spain, and though it didn’t fit with the trends on their current shores, Emmett didn’t mind. The wide brim kept the sun and the wind off his face but more so, it helped keep his shoulder-length black hair from stealing across his face in greasy tendrils, like the clinging tentacles of sea life.

“But when does the sun shine?”

Emmett stomped his feet in an effort to both shake clean the tall leather boots, tops turned-over in the requisite fashionable manner, and to restore feeling to his numbing toes. “Never. This is England. The sun refuses to dock.”

Aleyn walk-ran to keep up as Emmett strode quickly over sand and rock, seeking a more hospitable environment. He needed a bath, if he could secure one—a bowl of hot water at the very least. Something warm to eat would be nice too, and maybe somewhere comfortable to sleep. “That is your sarcasm again, yes?” Aleyn’s eyes searched him out and Emmett merely smiled.

“Who, me?” Emmett hopped over deadened grass and brush and reached back to help Aleyn do the same. “Sarcastic? Surely I don’t know what you’re talking about, boy.”

“Ah, ha,” Aleyn grinned. “And there again. See? I am learning.” They walked in silence, pausing only once to look back at the ship as the rest of the crew began to disembark.

Emmett winked down at Aleyn and spun past him into a jog. “Quick now, Aleyn. Over the bridge. If we get to the Public House first we can get the best rooms.”

Aleyn grasped the cape around him and ran alongside Emmett’s jog. “Emmett?” he panted.

“Aye?”

“Can I get a room for a coin?”

Emmett blew out a breath. “No. But don’t worry about it.”

“Why? Will I stay with you?”

Breath became a snort. “No. But I said don’t worry about it.”

There was only a moment’s pause while Aleyn thought but Emmett heard the change in Aleyn’s voice. “Will I have to stay with one of the others?”

The bridge to the city loomed in front of them and they slowed to a walk when their heels touched the stone pathway. “No,” Emmett said. “Now hush for a moment and let me talk to the guards.”

Words exchanged and tithes were passed as, somehow, Emmett mused, the acquisition of un-posted fares always seemed to manifest at gated cities. His dagger was examined for length and width, a necessity that both amused and annoyed Emmett to no end. As though it was, somehow, the King’s right to choose his weapon; but Emmett held his tongue and saw the safe and quick passage of both his and Aleyn’s way in the sacrifice.

“Through here, Aleyn,” Emmett called, stopping short when he didn’t hear Aleyn’s footfalls. Aleyn stood, gaping in open-mouthed fascination and Emmett was unable to check his grin at Aleyn’s expression. He stepped back the four paces required and secured Aleyn by the collar of the cape. “This is only the bridge. Just wait until you see the city.”

Where there had been no life along the shore, activity had sprung up around them in a matter of moments. Stalls and carts, both with and without horse, displayed meats and fowl, fish and fabric, beckoning to travellers and locals alike. “Buy nothing here,” Emmett advised Aleyn under his breath. “Wait until you are off the bridge. This passage is a cesspool of thieves and pickpockets. Besides, you will find the barter far more reasonable once we’re inside the walls.”

The streets of the city were as lively as promised. The walls helped keep some of the cold at bay, the proximity of structure and bodies assisted too, and Emmett granted Aleyn the leave to gaze as they made their way to the city’s core. “So many people,” Aleyn said again and again, repeating it so often that Emmett was about to reprimand Aleyn for no other reason than ordering him to find something original to say, when Aleyn gasped and pointed. “What is that place?”

Emmett didn’t need to trace Aleyn’s fingers to know what it was Aleyn asked of. “The castle.” Emmett drew Aleyn from the street to avoid a carriage. “It’s a renowned structure here in England. One of the most stately in Europe, or so the royal family tells it.”

“It’s—” Aleyn held his arms open wide, struggling for the correct word.