My Royal Pain Quest (The Lakeland Knight series, #2) Read Online Free Page B

she had him turning tight circles I knew she had won, and so did the stallion.
    Suddenly, the horse just stopped. He stood there, breathing hard, frothing at the mouth, still mad but willing to obey. The crowd applauded.
    Make it five.
    The young lady gracefully dismounted, stepped up to the stallion’s owner and held out her hand.
    “My money please.”
    The fellow frowned as he counted off the coins, he clearly didn’t plan on losing this much, but he wisely decided not to go back on his word. It was very likely that the pirate girl was just as skilled with her blade as she was with horses.
    Well, this was some good entertainment, but I was on business. Wasting no more time, I went into the tavern and asked the tavern-keeper, a big stocky man, whether he could find me a guide to the hermit’s house.
    “Bergel can take you there,” he replied after some thought, “if he is sober. I’ll send someone for him if you’d like.”
    “How about someone who isn’t a drunk?”
    “Well, there’s Panamack, the shepherd, he knows the way, but he’s old. And he can’t leave the herd.”
    It didn’t look like there was much of a choice.
    “Find someone to watch the herd for him, I will pay.”
    “Very well. I’ll send a boy first to ask whether he’s up to it. Would you like to have a meal while you are waiting? I’ve got excellent fried fish, caught today!”
    I ordered a plate. The fish was decent, but far from excellent. I ate and waited. And waited. And waited some more.
    “Where is that boy of yours?”
    “Still hasn’t returned. He should be back any minute though. Would you like anything else? My beer is the best, it’s a secret family recipe, you’ve got to try it!”
    I figured that the crook was trying to sell me more food and drink while the boy either never left or was instructed not to hurry back. For a moment or two, I toyed with the idea of leveling the place to the ground, but decided against it: Triar might find out and refuse to help me.
    I rose from the table.
    “I’ll go to the shepherd myself. Where can I find him?”
    The tavern-keeper reluctantly gave directions. I paid for the meal and headed to the door.
    It was not smart of me to wear the king’s golden medallion out in the open, I should have kept it in my pocket. I realized it the moment someone’s quick hand snatched it off my neck.
    I dashed after the thief, but two more men blocked my way, one of them with a knife, the other with a sword.
    So much for deciding to leave the tavern intact.
    I wasn’t sure whether using the sparkling’s sword for this would be justified, so I limited myself to my fists, tableware, and furniture. Having knocked the knife out of the first guy’s hand, I relieved the second one from a couple of teeth and went after the thief again. As I grabbed him, he tossed the medallion to someone else.
    Oh, great. How many of them are here?
    It wasn’t easy to count, but there were more thugs than chairs. I can tell you that, because when I broke the last one, I still had men coming at me.
    Between dodging and giving blows, watching my back and searching for anything usable in the fight, I lost sight of the medallion. Whoever had it could have already sneaked out, leaving the rest of the gang to distract me, and it did not look like I was going to be done with them any time soon.
    WHACK!
    A large fellow toppled over—a fellow I didn’t hit. The pirate girl stepped on his chest, holding the blade to his throat.
    “Give it here.”
    Yes, he had the medallion—and he handed it up.
    “Good boy.”
    She took the medallion, tucked it away, and joined the fight. She was just as skilled with the sword as she was with horses. Her curved blade flashed and whirled, never missing, parrying blows, hitting back, bringing thugs down left and right. Before long, the few who remained gave up the fight and fled.
    I looked over the battlefield… Let’s just say cleaning the place up was going to be quite a chore. That must