“…did you not see that?” Alathaya sounded exasperated with Trissa.
I could not blame her, I often felt that way when it came to dealing with Trissa.
“I am certain you are reading too much into this.” Trissa said dismissively.
Alathaya snorted. “I have seen her type often enough. The innocent, but oh so expressive looks, the big eyes and pouty mouth. Then she is looking at him and then she is looking past him. Urgh, it makes my stomach crawl.”
Trissa’s voice was low, as if she was weighing her words carefully. “Have you not considered that there may be something else going on here?”
“What do you mean?” Alathaya’s words sounded stiff.
A smile crept into Trissa’s voice. “I have seen the way you look at him. And for that matter, the way that he looks at you. You like him. You like him and now you are jealous.” I could almost see her accusatory finger stabbing at Alathaya.
“Excuse me?” She answered incredulously. Her tone rose in pitch. “I am no such thing. It is just that I do not like the way she pretends; the way she leads one on and then the other. That is all there is to it.”
“Are you certain?” Her voice was close to laughter.
“Yes, of course. Good night Trissa.” She spoke in clipped tones and a moment later the light that had filtered in through the crack winked out and silence fell.
I slowly stood up from my knees. Part of me felt guilty for eavesdropping on a private conversation, the rest of me was utterly confused about what they had said.
I lay in bed that night, tossing and turning, staring up at the ceiling for a good long while before finally falling asleep.
Arriving for breakfast the next morning, I found Trissa, Alathaya, Aliana and Breen already at the table. On the surface things looked friendly enough with the women talking of small things and smiling politely. Look a hair underneath the surface though, and a torrent of tension was raging.
They all fell silent for a moment when I sat down. Aliana looked down at her plate and Alathaya shot her a glare while she was not looking. Breen, clearly, had noticed the strained atmosphere for he looked like a rabbit in a snare. I was relieved when their conversation resumed.
Aliana turned to me. “I was thinking of what you said of this fellow who might want to travel around with you. I think I may know him. I met him a few days ago. When he heard I had travelled here with only one attendant, he nearly fainted. He kept warning me of travelling alone. He said that if he were able to leave now, he would travel with me to keep me safe from the twisted bandits. I thought such talk a bit exaggerated.”
My ears had perked up at the phrase. Keeping my tone casual, I asked, “Is that the term he used; ‘twisted’?”
She thought for a moment. “Well, yes, but then what else could it be. Of course they are just some cruel bandits.”
It may be a simple coincidence, but I thought it worth looking into. “Whether this is Malion’s friend or no, he sounds like a real gentleman. I think I should buy him a drink to thank him for his concern over you. Does he stay here at the Queen Larissa?”
She shook her head. “No, I was under the impression that he is friends with the inn keeper though. His name is Roscien.”
I inclined my head to her. “Thank you. I will ask Malion if that is his friend’s name.”
She smiled secretively. “Oh, yes, you said he was an acquaintance of his.”
I wondered what she meant by that, but thankfully, Brant, and the rest turned up at that moment and the conversation started flowing in other directions. Alathaya bodily turned her back on Aliana and sat talking with Tas.
I looked at her, the gracious curve of her lips moved as if dancing when she spoke. Her glittering laugh lit the room. Could it be that she liked me? She had never given me any reason to believe she liked me in any way other than to be friends. I realised I had been staring at her and with a start saw she was looking back at me with a raised eyebrow. My first instinct was to look away quickly, but thinking that that would make me look embarrassed, I shifted my eyes a touch to look at her cheek and squinted. I gestured to her cheek and wiped my own. She flushed red and discreetly used a napkin to dab at her cheek. She looked at me questioningly, and I nodded. She smiled at me gratefully.
“I shall have to go. Mistress Freida would have the skin off my back if she so much as heard a whisper that I let the silk merchant wait. I presume you will still be here tonight?” Her voice tilted at the end making it a question. She and Breen rose as she spoke.
“I believe we will be. We shall see you then.” I answered and wished her good luck for her meeting.
As soon as they were gone, Malion turned to me. “Where do we find this person?”
I was glad to have an answer. “I am going to ask the inn keeper about his friend Roscien. It seems it may be easier to find him than we could have dared hope for.” We decided to split into three groups. Malion and I would make enquiries about Roscien and the others would go about town and see what they can find out that may be relevant to us. It was surprising what you could learn of a town or city from its market place.
We found the innkeeper, Ghais, at the entrance of the inn. We started off by complimenting him on the inn and the rooms and thanking him for his hospitality. “Our friend Aliana tells us she has met a very interesting man. Roscien. You may perhaps know him? Well, she is quite taken with him and she is rather afraid that she may not see him again before she has to leave. Would you be able to tell us where we can find him for her?” I would not want to imagine what she would say if she knew I had said that, but I had to get him to tell us where Roscien was.
Ghais squinted suspiciously. “I have seen them talking. Did not look to me like she was all too interested in him.” He paused looking from me to Malion and back. I tried to make my face look as innocent as possible. “But I suppose, if you say so. Would not want him angry with me. He lives a few minutes down the road. You will see the house with the red door with an ornate door frame, but do not ask me what is on it.”
Excitement started to build in my stomach. Could he have the Alliance symbol on his door? I thanked him hurriedly and walked down the road.
We found the red door easily enough and it was in fact the Alliance symbol that was carved into the doorframe. I knocked several times, but there was no answer. Across the road from the house was a small green area with trees. We walked over to it and sat with our backs against a tree trunk.
We sat talking and laughing for several hours. Suddenly Malion’s eyes stretched and he stared past me, his mouth gaping. I jumped up, reached for Navitas, swung around and had Sunder unsheathed before I saw what we were facing. An apparition appeared in front of me. It looked like a spirit for I could see right through it. I held Sunder ready, yet I did not think it would be of any use against this thing. Perhaps I could use fire against it as I did against the Haze? Markai appeared snarling.
Calm as the day before the storm, he folded his arms and laughed. “My, my… you are jumpy. What do you want? You come here armed and apparently ready to fight.”
Reasoning that he would have attacked already if he had been planning to, I lowered Sunder. “Are you Roscien?”
He held up a finger and flicked it side to side while clicking his tongue several times. “It is bad manners to answer a question with another question; especially when you look so… intimidating.”
I burst out laughing. It was a bit too ironic. This spirit appears to us and he thought we looked intimidating? Seeing his stern look, I most unsuccessfully tried to disguise my laugh as a cough. I cleared my throat. “Pardon me. We cannot share our information with anyone but Roscien. We have travelled far to find him. We have some things in common.”
Malion chimed in with, “We have our history and some Knowledge in common.” He put extra weight behind ‘history’ and the capital in Knowledge was clear.
Roscien seemed to understand the meaning and grudgingly answered. “I am Roscien, but who are you?”
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And so began our lengthy explanation of who we were and why we were looking for him. After a few minutes of this though, he disappeared and an altogether more substantial Roscien opened the red door and motioned for us to follow him in. He was a very tall man of middle years. I guessed he was at least a foot taller than Brant. His hair was pure white and tied in a short tail. As we sat down in his kitchen around a stout wooden table, I realised that I had not felt the heat in my chest. I put this down to the fact that he had appeared to me in his spirit form and acknowledged me immediately when he appeared in the flesh. In the centre of the table was another elegant carving of the Alliance symbol. I traced it with my finger musingly. I wondered at this open display of it; did he not worry that the wrong person might take an interest in it? He busied himself brewing tea for us and motioned for me to continue telling the tale. He listened carefully, his sharp eyes showing little surprise at any of what we were saying.
When I finished speaking, he nodded. “I cannot say that I was not expecting something of the like to happen. When I received my Talent, I knew that Rakadamon must have been stirring. Only the evil that radiates from his being would put such things in motion.”
He looked at Malion. “So, you could make us believe we are anywhere you chose? That could be an interesting battle technique, to confuse your enemy with such games. How quick can you change from one place to the next?”
In answer, we were suddenly sitting on some flat stones at the edge of a lake. I had only a moment to take the scene in before we were at the top of a great mountain, an icy wind blowing over us. I shivered, but a moment later we were standing in a desert with the intense sun beating down us making sweat trickle down my brow within moments and then with another blink of an eye we were back in Roscien’s kitchen. I mopped the sweat from my brow.
Roscien was laughing a deep belly laugh. He clapped his hands together. “Impressive, my friend. Very impressive!” It may have been impressive, but it still made my head spin.
“I have some information which I am sure you could use. You said there is only one more Alliance member you need to find?” I nodded, and he continued, “It just so happens that our families have kept in careful… not exactly contact, but awareness of each other. They are in Asueit, a town to the west of here. We used messengers every now and again, just to keep in touch. We never sent them directly to the other family, but via several delivery and collection points. We felt some comfort in knowing there was at least one more Alliance family out there. Your news that seven families in all remain is incredible.”
I could not believe our luck. This simplified things greatly. “So, Roscien, you have not explained all that much about your own Talent. How does it actually work?”
He smiled. “Essentially it is a form of meditation. I literally just project my being, my spirit, to another place. As my spirit-self, I can walk through walls, hold conversations, and go anywhere I like. I cannot however, interact physically with the world around me. The other drawback is that while I am Travelling, my body is completely vulnerable. I can vaguely hear what is going on around my body, but even that I lose on occasion. So, if someone was to attack me at that time, I would be easy prey.”
“Have you heard of any attacks on villages recently?” I needed to know how far their touch had spread.
He nodded gravely. “Several. Some as close to Sinsai as three days’ travel. Rumours of monsters as well. Of course, they are talking of Twisted Ones and Dark Children, that much is clear, but they do not know that.”
“I fear these things are only the start of what could come. I believe our time is short. We need to move as quickly as possible. With that in view, when can we meet this Alliance member that you know of?”
He shrugged. “May take a few days. As I said, we are not in direct contact and the message must reach them first.”
I nodded. Any delay was frustrating, but I knew this was the best way.
Roscien agreed to send his message and meet us at the Queen Larissa the following night to sup with us and meet the rest of the members. I left his house feeling buoyant. As it was still early, we decided to have a stroll through the market place.
I was astounded to find three weapon traders. One of them even offered lessons with the sword, spear and bow ‘to protect one’s own’. I knew it for a sign of the times, but it was still unsettling to see, especially since each of the merchants had their hands full with patrons. We were walking by them when I heard a familiar voice. He was calling out his wares as well as saying that he had some people looking for employ.
Without looking, I knew who he was. I looked at Malion. “There is something I need to do. Follow my lead.”
I plastered a smile on my face and walked over to Nassarit, the man who had sold Trissa and her brother into slavery. Laughing I walked up to him and slapped him on the shoulder. “Nassarit! Imagine meeting you here! Working as a merchant now? Did things as a gleeman not work out then?”
A grimy smile spread on his oily face in return. “A man does what he has to in order to survive. Kalid, right?”
“Kadin.”
He was still smiling, but it did not come anywhere near his eyes. “Kadin, that was it. How have you been?”
I shrugged. “Not bad, not bad. Listen, we never did get a chance to have that drink together. What time do you finish here today, we can meet up once you are done?”
He nodded vigorously. “Yes that sounds good. Where are you staying, I will meet you there.”
I shook my head. “It is not a very nice place. Tell you what, I will meet you here and you can take me to a good tavern. Man like you knows his way around a town, am I right?” We agreed to meet at sunset.
We walked off and Malion started heading towards our inn. I followed until we were out of sight of Nassarit and then pulled him by the arm around the side of a house we were passing. There was a narrow alley running between the two houses and I ran down to the other end with Malion following behind. I crouched, and peered around the corner. As I expected, Nassarit was hurriedly packing up his stall. Without taking my eyes from him, I explained to Malion what this man did and what I planned.
We followed Nassarit as he hurried away from the market. I waited until he was well away from the bustle of town before I crept a bit closer. It was not long before he reached his house. He stretched out a hand to open the door and gave a panicked yelp when I grabbed him by his coat collar and dragged him around to the back of his house.
I called Markai and she appeared in a heartbeat. She sat down next to me calmly looking down at the squirming man. I shoved him against the wall. “You lied to me, Nassarit. You are not a gleeman at all.”
He started talking, trying to defend himself, but I lifted my voice to drown out his protests. “You collect vulnerable people and you sell them like sheep to the highest bidder. You make them slaves.”
He was shaking and cowering. “No, you have misunderstood completely. These people I take, they have nothing left. They need help and I help them. I find them employment and a way to support themselves that is all.” His eyes stretched wide and he was clearly putting on a mask of innocence.
“Trissa and Dhillion.”
He looked at me with confusion. “I do not know them.”
I gave him a shake. “Yes you do. You took them from their village in the west and you first sold Dhillion and then Trissa. Her you sold to Rose of the Rose Inn in Medirea.”
He shook his head, pulling his brows up in a deep frown. “I honestly do not know what you are talking of!”
A snarling growl ripped from deep within Markai’s throat and she stood up threateningly, pinning him with an ice blue stare that could freeze his soul – if he still had one. A scream erupted from Nassarit and he scrambled back into the corner of the little garden, trying to get as far away from her as possible. She had revealed herself to him at exactly the right moment. He looked so scared that I thought he must have soiled himself.
I stalked closer, and w
ith Markai shadowing every one of my steps, I said, “Now, I am going to give you one more chance. If I were you, I would think very carefully before I spoke. Trissa and Dhillion, do you remember them now?”
He was still feebly trying to scurry back as if he could go through the wall behind him, if only he tried hard enough. “Yes, yes, it is coming back to me. You know I meet so many wonderful people, that sometimes I lose track of all of them. Yes, it is as you say, Trissa was employed by Rose.” He stopped and I heard my fury echoed in the half bark-half growl from Markai.
He whimpered. “Dhill… Dhill… Dhillion… he… he was aaa…. adopted. Lovely couple.”
I unsheathed Sunder and lifted his chin up with the tip. “You will, this instant, tell me where I can find him. If you are such an imbecile as to give me the wrong information, Markai here,” I gestured with my free hand to her, “will hunt you down and tear you limb from limb. You will not know when she is coming, but every night will be a night spent in fear for it will be one day closer to your slow and painful death. Do you understand me?”
He started to nod until his chin pressed into my blade. “You will find Dhillion with Thopher and Raminda Windle in the village of Warrendil. Here, I will sketch you a map.” He took out some parchment and charcoal and sketched a rough map with shaking hands.
“One last thing, if I ever find out that you have been trading in people again, I will make you wish that your father never even met your mother.” I whispered dangerously and Markai snapped her jaws an inch from his face before we turned on our heels and strode away.
It was an exhilarating feeling. Not only had I put a man – not worthy of that name – in his place, but I now knew where to find Dhillion!
As we walked away, Malion was laughing. “You actually scared me a bit back there. You seemed like you really meant what you said.” I gave him a flat stare and his laughter faded. “Oh, you really did.”
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
We reached the inn just after sunset and met Roscien as he was arriving at the door. “You seem very happy?” His voice turned up on the last word making it a question.
Book of Remembrance: The Forgotten Gods: Book One Page 28