Pard fumbles the light stick in his hand and gives Miles a goofy grin, then holds it up, clicks it on, and swings the light around the room in a circle along with his body. Pard circles and circles and circles until he tangles his feet, and he collapses onto his bed on his stomach with a bounce. Drool leaks out of his mouth as his tongue, like a dog, licks the wool of his blanket. Pard laughs uncontrollably bouncing his body up and down on his bed. His insides float and sing and laugh.
Miles focuses on a blurry Pard as he bounces up and down on the mattress. Miles shakes his head and snaps out of his crossbones induced state for a second, doing the best he can to focus. Miles talks slow, concentrating on his every word. “Get up, pro’, we need to get to Yitz and see mum’s locket.”
Pard stops laughing, flips over, and he wobbles on his back flat on the bed. Pard sniffs, his nose runny, then he burps.
Miles grips Pard by the ankles and yanks him off the bed.
“Whoa!” Pard says, then laughs as he flies for a split second until his tailbone smacks hard on the wooden floor. “‘Iles, what in hell? Ouch!”
“Get up, pro’. It’s Yitz time.”
“Yitz?”
“‘Peration ‘Aximus and the ‘Ue thing.”
“Right,” Pard says, nodding and then transitioning to shaking his head no.
“Yes, up, pro’, it’s a go.” Miles lifts Pard to his feet, and they stand face to face staring at each other.
“‘Ilses, stop ‘oving, making me ‘izy.”
“I’m not ‘oving, you’re ‘oving. You stop.”
“I feel sick.”
“No ‘ussing out, pro’, we a go, come on.” Miles violently shakes his head, attempting to dislodge the crossbones and fog from his own mind.
“What you doing?” Pard says, watching Miles’s head blur.
Miles clinches his teeth and smacks Pard’s shoulder. “Best not talk to no one.”
Pard licks his lips. “No talk.”
They slip out the door and stagger through the fourth floor hallway. At the stairs leading down from the fourth to the third floor, Pard grips the large golden knob with both hands and undulates and pulsates his body against the bannister.
Miles, already descending the stairs, angles back and snatches Pard’s sweater sleeve and pulls him. “No humping the staircase, pro’.”
“‘Umping,” Pard slurs back to Miles.
After much work, they make their way to the third floor and round the corner.
Even though it’s almost midnight, the occasional boy still roams the halls returning to their room from study.
“Stay cool, pro’, let me talk,” Miles says as he eyes Sully walking toward them with a book in hand.
“No talk—no ‘umping,” Pard slurs back.
“Well looky here,” Sully says with a cocky, twisted face. “Still slumming it, I see, Miles.”
Pard and Miles, about to pass by Sully, are within arms length.
Miles opens his mouth about to lash into Sully but Pard reacts before Miles can do anything.
Pard snarls like a ravenous dog, and spit flies out of his mouth and sprays Sully’s face. A flash of aqua light flashes over Pard’s dilated pupils.
Sully winces and wipes the saliva out of his eyes. “What the heck?”
Pard lunges forward with outstretched arms and clinching hands. “‘Umping, ‘umping, ‘umping!”
“Ah!” Sully yells, waving and swatting Pard’s arms away. With no crossbones in his system and taken with fright, Sully easily scrambles and stumbles away from Pard, who moves like a mix between a crazed horn-dog and a half-comatose zombie.
Miles yanks Pard upright and spins Pard around to face him.
Pard wobbles and his eyes spin. He chews like a cow with a cud in its mouth while looking through Miles as if he’s not there.
“You need to pull it together, pro’. Yitz and ‘asty rat ‘og.”
“Together,” Pard repeats to Miles. “‘Umping.”
Miles contorts his face then slaps Pard across the cheek.
Pard barely budges.
Miles winds back and slaps Pard again.
Pard blinks hard twice. “Yes, Hiney—C plus ‘umping and no cat story.”
Miles slaps Pard again.
Pard tilts his head to the side as he recognizes a blurry Miles. “‘Ilses, why you hit me?”
“‘Peration ‘Aximus, pro’. Yitz and ‘asty rat ‘og. Re-ember? You wit’ me?”
Pard fixes his gaze on Miles’s lips, and he is somewhat in the moment.
They make it to Miles’s room, and within seconds of slamming the door shut, Miles plunges Pard’s head into a full copper bucket of water, followed by his own head when Pard’s isn’t submerged.
Two hours pass, both of them dripping wet and stupefied, sitting up and leaning against the wall next two each other, shoulder to shoulder with legs splayed, and staring at the fireplace and up at the bearinef head judging them. They slowly come out of their haze.
Pard rubs his throbbing head, and then his sore jaw. “My head is pounding. And my jaw hurts too. Did you hit me?”
Miles shakes his head with his skull still pressed against the wall. “I’d never hit you, you’re my friend.”
“Well, something hit me.”
“Maybe you hit yourself.”
“Yeah, maybe.”
Miles rubs his eyes and stands. “You ready to try for Yitch’s office?”
“Might as well, we’re here, and I can finally put two rational words and thoughts together. Except I can’t seem to get the image of Maximus humping Sully’s leg out of my mind.” Pard shakes his head and follows Miles to his feet. “Disturbing—though the look on Sully’s face was priceless.”
Miles, vaguely remembering Pard actually trying to hump Sully’s leg, doesn’t mention it. “Umm, right, so anyway, let’s do this.”
They slip into the Marlow Tunnel, Pard in the lead with his light stick illuminating the black corridor. It’s late now, past 2 A.M., and the halls are quiet, only the most dedicated still up studying in their rooms.
Pard sweeps away a cobweb that glistens from the shine of his light. He rounds a corner and ascends a few stone stairs then rounds another corner, navigating the labyrinth much easier now with such a bright light to show them the way.
Miles whispers, “This is it, the long corridor that leads to Yitch’s office.”
Pard nods and continues forward.
Their every foot registers a faint crunching noise as it touches the sandy stone floor.
“I don’t like dealing with this type,” a woman’s elevated voice says on the other side of the corridor.
Pard clicks off the light and they both freeze.
Miles scans the wall and points to a few small pinpricks where glimmers of lantern light is seeping through the ancient stone. Miles taps Pard on the shoulder and creeps toward the wall.
Pard picks a crack and presses his forehead tight against the coarse stone.
“He can’t be trusted,” Eeva says to Alexa, face to face and both standing abnormally close to each other.
“Just let me handle him, Eve. I know how to deal with this type.”
Eeva scowls. “He has no honor, he would sell out his own mother for a gold coin.” She spits to the ground. “Maybe even a silver. I think we put far too much faith in him to deliver the boy.”
Alexa lets out a hushed chuckle. “I think a silver is a little low for his highness’s loyalty—obviously.”
“This is no time to joke,” Eeva says, looking away from Alexa. “I’m not in the mood.”
Alexa rests her hand tenderly on Eeva’s shoulder. “I know, I know. I couldn’t help myself, you’re so cute when you’re angry about honor.”
“Don’t play with me right now. I’m pissed. This sleezy lord with title and no lands is waffling back and forth, and his lies. Who does he think he is raising the price—a hundred gold—is he serious?”
“He is serious,” Alexa says, “and we will pay it and the Acue will ba
ck us. A hundred gold for a seeros is more than a fair price. Matter of fact, we’re getting a good deal. Iinia would pay hundreds of gold more for the boy if need be. You know this.”
Eeva shakes her head in disgust. “But he agreed to fifty and future favor. I don’t like it when a scoundrel in rich robes who wears stinky, flowery perfume changes the terms of the deal. If he changes it again, I swear, I’m going to give him my own special deal, and we’ll just remove the boy from this wretched place for free. He’d be better off well away from the likes of this headmaster and all these pompous brats anyway. He’s better than all of them combined, they just don’t know it yet.”
“But you know we can’t do that,” Alexa says, “the mandate, my love.”
“Yeah, yeah, the stupid bloody mandate.”
Alexa brushes her fingers gently over Eeva’s cheek. “You know it’s delicate. I really don’t want this situation to spiral out of control into another Waighton, and it will if we’re not careful. The boy is to high profile and known in this school and town. The easiest way to get this done is through the headmaster and paying the lech his hundred gold to be quiet about it. Besides, the boss has been cleaning up Brenton for over a year.”
“But can you blame him?” Eeva says. “First Vae and then Nelek? Of course he took the actions he did, mandate or not, you or I would’ve done the same thing if we were in his shoes. You have a kind heart, Alexa, but not every seeros can be saved, especially after what the boy and girl did to Vae and the others.”
Alexa gives Eeva a loving smile. “Let’s just talk to the headmaster and make it clear one last time what failure means. Now give me a kiss.”
Eeva denies Alexa and turns her head away.
Alexa moves in closer, chest to chest with Eeva. “Come on, don’t be like that.”
“Make it clear to him that if he fails, he’s mine to deal with.”
“Kiss.”
“Promise me.”
“All right,” Alexa says.
“Say it,” Eeva says.
“He’s yours to deal with if he fails.”
“Good.”
Eeva leans forward and presses her lips against Alexa’s. They embrace.
Pard’s eyes widen, and he scuffs his foot against the dirty floor.
Eeva snaps away from Alexa’s lips, and her attention shifts to the wall and Pard.
Pard and Miles both back away from the wall, moving deeper into the dark corridor.
“What is it?” Alexa says.
“I heard something in the wall.”
“Just a rat, this place is full of them. And speaking of rat, here he comes now.”
Yitch stops in front of the women, and he gives Alexa a slight bow. With a pompous twirling flourish, Yitch extends his hand. “Ladies, if you please, follow me to my office to discuss our business.”
DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR
“Did you see those two women?” Miles says. “Did they really kiss? I’m not sure if I should trust my own eyes—that was amazing.”
“Yeah, I never expected to see that within the walls of Fairstone.”
“That was so cool, Fergie and his butt cheeks would be impressed.”
Though Pard is more amazed with Alexa’s and Eeva’s conversation than the affection. “What do you make of what they said—that I’m worth hundreds of gold?”
Miles forcefully pokes Pard in his sternum with his finger. “It means you’re a badass and they want you and will pay a lot. You’re popular with the ladies, get it?”
“I get it, and it’s not funny. But why do they want me? And what about Waighton? What do you think they were referring to?”
“I’ve never even heard of the place,” Miles says.
Pard clicks on his light stick and shines it on Miles. “It’s a small town on the southeast coast of Brenton.”
Miles snorts. “Well, that’s why I’ve never heard of it. Who the hell knows anything about the southeast of Brenton other than fishermen?”
“I do.”
“Okay, and you too, so is there anything interesting I need to know about Waighton?”
“Only that it burned down last year, supposedly attacked by pirates hired by Erden. At least that’s the rumor I overheard from a boy who’s father is a diplomat in Iinia. But after listening to Alexa and Eeva, it sounds like they’re from Iinia and whoever they work for is responsible for the town’s destruction.”
Miles’s face contorts. “So Iinia destroyed a town under Iinian control—for a seeros?”
“That’s what it sounds like,” Pard says.
“This is totally crazy. You know what? This will be epic once we unravel this sinister collusion and expose Yitch and his partners. The history books and teachers like Professor Ames will retell our tale for a hundred years or more, at least. The tale of how Lord Marlow and the seeros Pard Wenerly unmasked the mighty plot that threatened the world as we know it.”
Pard’s jaw drops as he stares at Miles full of his delusions of grandeur.
“What?” Miles says. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Threatened the world as we know it? Really?”
“Umm, yeah. Look, Iinia is here in Greysin—why? Yitch is a murderer working with them—why? The school is under threat from all sides, an innocent boy, ahem, you, are on trial and they had your parents killed. So yeah, once we unmask the villains—we’ll be the heroes of Greysin, heck, maybe even all of Bastin. I bet I can even get my father to arrange interviews and good publicity.”
“I don’t know about that,” Pard says, “but I do want to know more about what they’re up too.”
“You read my mind, professor—to Yitch’s office it is.”
They rush through the Marlow Corridor toward the end and stop near the entrance to Yitch’s office.
At the door, the muffled conversation of Alexa and Eeva and Yitch seeps through the stone, though it is so muted that only the occasional word with inflection is audible.
Pard clicks off the light and whispers, “I can’t hear anything.”
Miles reaches for the door lever. “Let’s crack the door and see if it helps.”
Pard shoves Miles’s shoulder. “Are you mad? What if they see us?”
“They won’t, just a tiny crack is all.” Miles nudges Pard to the side and grips the latch. The door creaks open.
Pard sighs and backs away. I hope he knows what he’s doing.
A faint ray of linear light floods into the dark Marlow Corridor. Miles lies on the floor on his side with his stomach pressed tight against the wall. He inches forward until his head pokes out the bottom of the crack and into Yitch’s office.
Pard creeps forward and hovers over top of Miles’s head and body as he also sticks his head through the door to listen to the conversation.
The room in front of them is dimly lit, and no one is in sight. Suddenly, Eeva strolls into view and stops in the far doorway directly across the office which leads to an adjacent sitting room. She points her finger at Yitch though Pard can only make out his red slippers and red robe. “I want to make it thoroughly clear, I don’t like you, Headmaster Yitch. If you were teaching my kids, I would have them immediately removed from your school.”
“That would be a mistake, Eeva,” Yitch says in a condescending tone. “This is one of the finest schools in all of Vetlinue. Besides, that would never be a worry for you, your children would never be admitted to this school.”
Eeva flings open her duster coat exposing her silver whip.
Alexa steps into the doorway and grabs Eeva’s arm.
Eeva scowls.
“Don’t take it personally, Eeva,” Yitch says, a slight elation in his voice. “Only the finest are admitted into Fairstone, so it’s hardly anything to get upset about. I’m sure your progeny would fit in very well elsewhere, under a headmaster you would approve of and one you could afford.”
Eeva flinches toward Yitch but stops herself.
“Hold,” Alexa says, whispering into Eeva’s ear.
Yitch chuckles. “So, on to the boy. Since I secured the trial and have all but delivered him into Iinia’s hands with no issue. I’ve confirmed with my contacts in the region, and they say that the going rate for a seeros is at least three hundred gold.”
Eeva’s arm shoots forward, and she points at Yitch. “The deal was for one hundred gold.”
“And deals change, Eeva my dear.”
“Don’t call me dear, I am no one’s dear.”
“All right, Eeva, nonetheless, deals change as the circumstances are fluid and are an ongoing matter.”
Alexa steps in front of Eeva to cut her partner out of the conversation. “The deal was for one hundred gold, headmaster, the Acue won’t be pleased with your noncommittal. If we walk away from this deal, you can expect your so called contacts and favor to disappear.”
Yitch calls Alexa’s bluff. “But you won’t walk away from the boy, Alexa. He is too rare, too valuable. What if Erden or Lasteane were to find the boy’s presence here? What would they pay for the seeros?”
Eeva shoves Alexa to the side. “They would likely send in assassins and slice your snake-tongued holding throat and take the boy and not give you shit.”
“I know what he is and what he’s worth to you and Iinia. To become one of your allies you need him to go with you freely. Taking him by force would likely negate that small issue.”
Eeva’s upper lip quivers. “Ally or not, we will remove him from this school and use him one way or another.”
Alexa nudges Eeva to the side again and resumes the negotiation. “Three hundred is unacceptable.”
“Ever been to Brenton, Alexa?” Yitch’s voice probing and prodding. “I hear it’s lovely in the fall. I even heard a tale last year, bizarre really, about a quaint coastal town named Waighton. Ever hear of it?”
Alexa raises her chin in contempt as she listens.
“I hear the Iinian Council on Foreign Affairs has a real interest on the tragedy that befell the quaint town of Waighton. I even heard your superior is under investigation for the matter. But that’s me talking, what would I know, I’m just a nobody in Bastin, besides, that would never happen here in Greysin over a silly little thing like three hundred gold now, would it?”
The Ruens of Fairstone (Aeon of Light Book 2) Page 15