City Guardsman
Copyright© 2026 by Ka Hmnd
Chapter 4
The city was just returning to normal. It had been two months since the king had come to the city. He stayed for two weeks, and the city celebrated for two months. I glanced at Sam crossing the square to join me for a lunchtime tea. Adelia and Tim had taken a huge group of children to Baroness Terness to spend the day.
I smiled as Sam sat down with a weary sigh. “Want to visit the court baths?”
She grinned. “Yes, but I don’t want to walk that far.”
I grinned back at her, and my eyes scanned the square before stopping as they met a small man’s. I froze as he glanced at Sam, and I shifted. “Sam, go inside now.”
She looked at me and then started to look around. I touched her hand. “Inside. Don’t let anyone touch you or get near your food or drink. Go.”
She stood and started for the door as I stood and started for the man. He waited calmly and bowed when I stood in front of him. “Armsmaster, I did not know you were here when I accepted the contract. The guild has been paid a very large amount to remove the current Duke. Since you are here, I will withdraw. I hope this balances our account?”
I nodded. “If you withdraw, it does.”
He bowed again and smiled. “I was surprised to see you had married. She is very spirited. I watched her with Bloody Mona, a very deceptive young woman.”
He gestured toward the eastern gate. “My horse is at the gate. Would you walk with me?”
I bowed slightly, and we started walking. He sighed. “I too am getting old. I think this was a sign by the goddess. I think I will go home. I haven’t been there in many years.”
I smiled slightly. “Perhaps you need a woman.”
He nodded. “I thought of that.”
We were silent the rest of the way. When we reached the gate, his horse was hitched to a post. He gathered the reins and turned. “The guild has others coming. Watch your back, Charles.”
He swung up and headed out the gate. I turned and started running, when I shouldered the door open into the inn. Sam, Peter, Chris, Dett, and Edward spun with hands on daggers. I looked at Peter, “Get to the Duke, tell him someone has paid the assassins’ guild for his death.”
Peter nodded as he headed towards the door behind me. I looked at Chris, “Check all the servants.”
He nodded and started to follow Peter as I looked at Edward, “I want you to find someplace that overlooks the roofs in front of the Keep.”
As he started leaving, I looked at Dett, “Apothecaries. I don’t care if it is an old woman that buys something poisonous, have it checked.”
He nodded and I turned to Sam, “You’re grounded.”
She sighed, “Again.”
I smiled, “At least you can have Tess over now that she is pregnant and her mother is giving her time off.”
Sam grinned, “And Mona is spending the night too.”
I smiled and took her hand to lead her across to the house, “Make sure Tim knows to put his weapons on when he gets home.”
I closed the door behind her and turned to walk towards the Keep, stopping a guard to let Captain Able know to put guards around the house. I was checking everything as I went towards the Keep, alley roofs, doorways ... I walked into the Keep and headed for Henry’s cubby hole. He turned from the fire as I entered and grinned.
When I didn’t smile, he straightened, “What is it?”
I looked around the weapon-littered room, “Someone paid the assassins’ guild to kill the Duke.”
Henry frowned, “Why?”
I shrugged, “Revenge, money, power, or a woman.”
He snorted, “You can scratch a woman off the list.”
I nodded, “So revenge, money, or power.”
Henry shook his head, “James is the only one to benefit, and from the looks between him and Ali, I would say he would rather wait.”
I grinned, “Ali and James do seem to enjoy being out of the line of fire.”
Henry nodded, “That leaves money or revenge.”
I nodded, “Either someone will make a lot of money or the Duke has cost someone powerful a lot of money.”
Henry nodded, “Or it’s the Temple or Shermerez.”
I shook my head, “Shermerez is in enough trouble. Besides losing half their country to Deliqure and almost all their treasury, they have debts from their cousins to the south.”
I thought about it and shook my head, “The Temple of Kirsh has enough trouble with the King now that he is scouring the kingdom to ferret them out.”
Henry nodded and sighed, “I hate to agree.”
I smiled and glanced at the door as it opened and the Duke stepped in with Peter at his shoulder. He smiled, “I heard you were here.”
I nodded, “I was comparing notes with Henry.”
The Duke nodded, “And what did you come up with?”
Henry cleared his throat, “We think it’s about money.”
Peter straightened and I looked at him, “What?”
He glanced at the Duke, “Mona told me that the Duke’s customs officers seized three of the Merchant Simson’s ships. Something about slave crews and hemp grass.”
The Duke nodded, “They were caught around the point, smuggling the hemp grass.”
I looked at Henry, “I’ve never met Merchant Simson.”
He snorted along with the Duke. Peter cleared his throat, “He only spends the summer season here.”
I glanced at him and he shrugged, “He’s one of those, I’ll do what I want because I can afford to.”
I nodded and turned to the Duke, “You seized the ships and crew? Did you fine him?”
He shook his head, “Not yet.”
I smiled and glanced at Peter, “Would you be so kind as to escort the merchant to the Guard headquarters?”
He grinned and turned to the door. I looked at the Duke, “Would you mind me taking the case away from customs?”
He grinned and shook his head, “Not at all. I hate dealing with the man.”
I nodded to Henry and left, heading back to the Guard headquarters, but Amanda, Sam’s older sister, stopped me, “Charles?”
I turned as she crossed to me with a bright smile. “Do you know a merchant named Simson?”
I stopped smiling. “Why?”
She looked at me in surprise. “He sent me a gift and...”
I took her arm and turned her towards Henry’s room. I opened the door, and the Duke and Henry looked at me as I led Amanda in. “The merchant Simson sent Amanda a gift.”
The Duke’s face darkened, but I held up my hand. “Chris is here checking the servants. Have the gift checked by him and set any other gifts aside and let me deal with the merchant.”
The Duke nodded angrily and held his arm out to his daughter. I left and headed back to the Guard headquarters. I walked into the Guard room to hear loud blustering and four large private guards facing Peter. I walked towards them and looked at Captain Able, who was on duty. “If these private guards are here for another minute, lock them up.”
The merchant turned at my voice and snarled, “You have no...”
I slugged him in the mouth, knocking him to the ground. His guards started to move, and the whole room of city Guards growled and started forward. They froze suddenly, and I ignored them to kick the merchant in the face. “Listen close, dead man. Before you, only lost the ships and drugs. Now that you have tried to kill the Duke, it gets much worse. When I get the evidence, your death will be a slow, painful one. For now, I sentence you to ten years at hard labor for smuggling and slavery.”
I nodded to him, whimpering on the floor. “Lock him up!”
I turned to see his guards still there. “Still here? Fine... Captain Able, these men are conspiring to smuggle hemp grass into your city. I will also be questioning them on matters of treason. Please have them confined separately in the plague cells.”
They jerked at that as the room of guards around them closed in and reached for them. The merchant pleaded and cried as city guards roughly pulled him to his feet and shoved him towards the back doorway and the waiting cells. The four private guards were quickly disarmed and secured before the guards put on plague masks.
They started begging right then before they reached the side door into the separate cells. I nodded, and Peter had three of them thrown against the wall, and the fourth brought back. Captain Able and Lieutenant Belet stood behind my shoulder. I nodded to the man and began questioning him quietly.
Able and Belet both jerked at the mention of the assassins’ guild. When I finished getting the information, I looked at Able, “Have him taken to the city gates. Have his name and description posted, and if he returns, kill him.”
Able nodded and gestured to the two guards holding him. They growled and jerked him up before marching him out. Peter went to the next man and pulled him towards me. I questioned all four men and confirmed the merchant’s guilt each time. As the last one was being marched out, I turned to Able and Belet, “Have a death pole struck.”
I left, and Peter fell in beside me, “The guild won’t stop because he’s dead.”
I glanced at Peter, “I know, but it will let them know that I know what they plan.”
He grinned when we came in the house. Sam, Tess, and a newly pregnant Mona turned to look at us from the fireplace. I smiled as I crossed to Sam, “If you promise to behave, I will tell you what we found so far.”
She smiled, “I can always make you sleep alone.”
I grinned, “Then you wouldn’t have a bed warmer.”
She laughed with Tess and Mona and then stuck out her tongue. I sat down with Peter sitting in another chair. Mona actually sat in his lap as Sam sat on the arm of the chair and listened while I told her what I had found out.
Mona grinned, “Remember that funny Baron we had to protect from the guild?”
I nodded, “We killed a dozen before they decided it cost too much.”
Peter snorted, “The hard part is going to be catching them this time.”
I nodded, “Once Chris finishes with the servants, I am closing the Keep to anyone except those with an audience.”
Sam cleared her throat, “The court won’t like that.”
I shrugged, “They are going to hate what else I do.”
Mona laughed, “Body searches and militia escorts.”
I nodded, “And the servants will be quartered separately, and the cooks will be escorted when shopping.”
Tess looked back and forth, “The guards need to know what the cooks are supposed to buy.”
I glanced from her to Sam, and she grinned, “She’s right. You could have her go with the guards.”
I shook my head, “No, Able wouldn’t allow it, and I wouldn’t want to put her at risk.”
I sat back and looked up, and Peter laughed, “Remember the fight we broke up with the market wives?”
Sam laughed as Mona and Tess looked at him, and I smiled, “You’re thinking of getting them to help us?”
He nodded and looked at Mona, “Last week, there was a fight between a dozen market wives over what they thought was each other stealing from each other. It turns out it was an orphan waif that was hiding under their tables.”
Sam grinned because she remembered me telling her. Tess frowned, “What did you do with the waif?”
Peter laughed, “When they found out, we would have to turn him over to the orphans’ retreat. They all wanted him. Each day, he goes to a different family.”
Mona smiled and looked into Peter’s face. I sighed and patted Sam, “Time to gather the troops and make plans.”
She grinned, “You could always have William and Sarah stay with Dad.”
Peter and Mona laughed, and Tess grinned, “He would have a mini dragon army protecting him.”
I smiled, “The assassins’ guild would try to take them first.”
I stood as Sam moved off me and looked at Tess, “Would you and your husband join us for dinner?”
She smiled, “Well, Momma told me to get lost for a couple of days while she worked with the other girls, so sure.”
I grinned and nodded to Mona as Peter stood to join me. “Maybe you can get Tim to finish the boiler for the bath.”
She grinned as she looked at Sam. “Yeah, someone likes spending a lot of time in her baths.”
Sam grinned. “Wait until you’re as big as me.”
They laughed as Peter and I headed towards the door. On the way to the Keep, I nodded to people and glanced at Peter. “We need to get a watch going. Melec just left and said they would send others. If they aren’t here yet, we may be able to have some of these servants report a stranger.”
Edward appeared to walk beside us. “I think someone is watching the Keep.”
I glanced at him and then nodded to Peter. “Take him; it will be a spotter.”
Peter gestured, and Edward joined him as I went on to the keep. I pulled the Militia captain inspecting his soldiers aside. I explained the new rules to him with Henry and the Duke there. He wasn’t happy but understood. Chris came in a few minutes later and nodded to me. “Everyone is clean.”
I told him what I had sent Peter and Edward to do. He nodded. “Spotter. They’ll have someone watching to see if poison will work.”
I nodded, and he sighed. “They will try long range first.”
I smiled. “I’ll have Dett and Edward start watching the nearby homes in shifts. I want you and Peter to take turns being with the Duke.”
He nodded and sighed again. “I had dinner plans tonight.”
I grinned. “Your farmer’s daughter?”
He grinned and nodded. “She wants me to meet her parents.”
I gripped his shoulder. “Bring them to the guard tavern. I’ll tell Maria to find a good table for you and have the meal put on my bill.”
He laughed. “Well, since you’re paying...”
The Duke and Henry laughed with him, and I smiled as I looked at the Duke. “I’m sure you won’t mind a private dinner tonight, my lord.”
He grinned and shook his head as Henry snorted. I left and headed back to the guard headquarters. When I walked in, Captain Able nodded to the cells, and I continued through the room. I found Peter and Edward in a cell with a narrow-faced man protesting his innocence.
I stopped in the doorway to the cell. “Don’t waste any more time. If he won’t talk, strike a death pole and be done with it.”
The man gasped. “Wait!”
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