Hunt for Justice

by Vernon, James R.

  Nolan let out a loud cough.

  Ezzy gave him an apologetic look.

  "Of course that also includes the knife sticking out of your shoulder. I thought that went without saying." She turned back to Ben while pointing a thumb in Nolan's direction. "I'm going to have to get a Healer or Saniteal to look at his wound now. And that will cost money."

  Ben smirked at her...until she began going through his pockets.

  "Oh you can't be serious," Ben growled down at her. "You're robbing me?"

  "Not robbing. You are just paying for my friend's medical bill."

  "If you think for one second I'll give you a single co--"

  Ben was cut off as Paz began to violently shake him in the air.

  "Sorry," Ezzy cupped a hand to her ear, "what was that? I didn't quite hear what you said."

  Paz gave the man a few more shakes before it stopped.

  "Fine, fine." Reaching into the back of his pants, Ben pulled out a small pouch and started working at the drawstrings holding it closed.

  "I'm sure whatever you have will be more than enough."

  Ezzy snatched the pouch out of his hands. He tried to grab it from her, but Paz lifted him higher into the air.

  "Now wait just a minute, if you think I'm going to let you just walk off with all of my money, you're mistaken."

  "Oh, I know you weren't going to just let us walk off either way. That's why I got your coins first."

  "Wha--"

  Whatever else Ben was going to say, it changed to a surprised yell as Paz threw the man over the side of the bridge.

  "Ezzy!" Nolan yelled as he struggled to his feet. It was difficult to do with a throbbing knee and favoring his left shoulder. "What did you do?"

  "I made sure he didn't follow us, that's what I did. The river will hopefully take him out of the city before he can make it to shore. I doubt he will come right after us, soaking wet and tired from swimming against the current."

  "He might since you robbed him of all of his money."

  "Oh, I doubt it's all of his money. No one is stupid enough to travel with all of their money on them. Plus, I don't know how you could feel bad for the man with his knife still sticking out of your shoulder."

  He decided not to argue with that.

  "Yes well, pull this thing out of me and let's get going. I'll wrap it as we walk. We'll have to wait until we get to Shade to find someone to patch this up. Let's get off this bridge before anyone else shows up."

  "Oh, I can patch you up. We can't leave that wound unattended for the thirteen or so days it will take to walk to Shade. It could get infected or something."

  "We can't go looking for a Healer now. It's too late. Plus, that's the first place Ben will look."

  "Yes, I realize that obviously. Once he is out of the river, he'll probably have the other fellow that went for a swim round up their men so they can watch the eastern gate and road tonight. They won't expect us to just hole up for the night. I say we stay at the Lost Souls Inn on the east side of the river and then head east out of the city early in the morning. We can travel all the way to the Unyielding Wall and then follow it south to Shade, avoiding the road altogether."

  "That might actually be a good idea." Or a horrible one, but with his injury, the thought of traveling without even getting it stitched up made him agree with her.

  "Don't act so surprised. I can come up with good ideas when given the chance."

  "Yes, except nowhere in your plan did you describe how I'm going to fix up my shoulder."

  "Oh, that part's easy."

  Walking over, she grinned at him. In a flash, she grabbed the handle of the knife and yanked it out of his shoulder. Nolan couldn't help the yelp of pain that escaped his mouth. The knife hurt more coming out than it did going in. And the girl could have been gentler about it. Placing a hand over the wound, he put as much pressure on it as he could.

  "Great," he grunted, "now it's out. But what about the wound that you made worse with your oh-so-gentle hands?"

  "Simple. We get a room, I break out my sewing supplies, and I patch you up like I would a pair of pants. And here I thought all of those sewing lessons my mother taught me were a waste of time. Well, I'll have to tell her she was right when we come back to the city. Now let's go before you bleed out all over the bridge."

  Ezzy took his hand and began pulling him along. As they finished crossing the bridge and moved into the less developed east bank of the river, all Nolan could think about were all of Ezzy's badly patched clothes.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Cuts and Breaks

  "See, that wasn't so horrible."

  Nolan glared at her, but Ezzy just returned the look with a smile.

  "I think I did a good job for my first time working with skin instead of cloth."

  He continued to glare. Ezzy's smile waned slightly.

  "You might have a bigger scar than what a healer might leave, but it stopped bleeding and it will heal...I think."

  That earned her a roll of the eyes before Nolan rose from the bed.

  The rooms at the Lost Souls Inn were as plain and unadorned as an empty crypt. A single lantern hung against the back wall opposite the door and did little to light up the room this late at night. Two beds took up one side of the room, two sitting chairs and a small table the other. Other than the lantern, nothing adorned the walls, and the wooden floor was bare. All of the rooms on the upper floors of the inn were arranged the same way. The inn was mainly used by those wanting to visit their deceased relatives in the Endless Tombs, and the barren rooms fit in with the mood of those that used them.

  Except Ezzy and Nolan were not visiting the Endless Tombs. At the moment, they were trying to keep from becoming new residents of the temple's dark and maze-like halls.

  "I suppose it's acceptable," Nolan replied as he paced about the room. "Some people say that scars are attractive on men."

  Ezzy raised an eyebrow. "Oh? I didn't even know you cared about attracting the opposite sex."

  "Well, no, I don't care about--"

  "I'm just teasing. I don't want to hear about what kind of women you like or anything like that."

  "Maybe YOU should try looking for someone to settle down with--"

  "That's none of your concern." Ezzy stood up and glared at him as anger flushed her face. Nolan let out a laugh, which of course made her scowl deepen. "We have more important things to worry about right now."

  "True, no point in thinking about a social life when you have a bounty on your head."

  "Oh, I don't care about that," Ezzy laughed as she waved his comment and her anger away. "I meant getting to Shade. It's going to take us longer to get to Shade if we avoid the road. We're going to need more rations."

  "We'll just buy them from the inn."

  "Oh. I didn't realize that an inn also provided supplies."

  "Yes, Ezzy. Now knowing how bare bones this inn is, I'm sure the rations won't be very appetizing, but they will get us the rest of the way there."

  "Good. Then if you are feeling up to it, why don't you go and get our supplies so we can get going."

  "Fine."

  Grabbing his walking stick, Nolan was half-way out the door when he turned back around.

  "Stay here."

  Ezzy just smiled and batted her eyelashes at him. That earned her a huff from the man before he left, slamming the door behind him.

  Ezzy let out a laugh. It was so easy to mess with him. She knew all of the right topics that would bother him. Of course, he knew the same about her. And he knew the difference between topics that annoyed her to no end and topics that could cut her deeply. He never touched the latter. Just like she never mentioned the toll that bonding Vithalos had on his mind.

  He should retire. Even when she was young, the toll of being a Thaljori had started showing on him. The last new bond he had done for Ezzy's father had put him out for almost two dozen days. Even a re-bond was hard on him. With her last re-bond with Paz, Nolan hadn't been able to speak proper
ly for two days. And that had been five or six years ago. Who knows how it would affect him now.

  The thought made her nervous, and she focused on her bond. Paz was there on the other end of the connection, sitting exactly where she had sent him. There weren't many places you could hide a Vilathos in the city, especially one like hers, but thankfully there were a few places people seldom went.

  Ezzy focused harder and an image started to form in her mind. Through Paz's jewelled eyes, she could see the worn cobble road, the lake to the west, and the huge dilapidated building where Paz hid. She had placed him behind a large vine-covered column with the grass tall enough to almost cover his waist. People feared that place. Said it was haunted. Ezzy didn't believe in such things. Everyone knew a person's soul was released by the Soulbearers and sent to Kaz'ren.

  The abandoned temple of Ze'an did give her the creeps though.

  She had Paz take a look around, curious to see how the fallen temple looked. She hadn't been there since she was a kid, and it had been a mess back then. The dozen or so years surprisingly hadn't done that much more damage to the building. It even looked like--

  The image started to blur for a moment, and Ezzy blinked her eyes reflexively even though they had nothing to do with what she was seeing. Shaking her head with chagrin, she instead focused harder on her connection to Paz. He wasn't that far away. It shouldn't be this hard to see through his--

  Oh no.

  The realization hit her just as the image blurred and then vanished.

  It had been less than two years! NO!

  Ezzy grasped at the bond. Clawed at it. Felt it slip through her mental fingers, felt its strength wane.

  No, no, no, no, no...

  She could do nothing as the bond shrunk to thread thin and then was gone. There was nothing there.

  Ezzy braced herself.

  The whiplash of the bond dissolving hit her mind stronger than any physical blow she had ever felt. Her body convulsed and she lost all control. She blacked out before she could feel the impact of her crumpling body hit the floor.

  ***

  "Thank you," Nolan said, swinging the pack of rations over his uninjured shoulder. The pack was light enough that it didn't much irritate his bad knee. The inn-keeper's wife just nodded in reply. The owners really were not a friendly bunch. It kept with their reputation though and fit in with their location close to the Endless Tombs.

  He made his way back through the common room. Not a single person sat at the tables. As infrequently as he had visited inns and taverns throughout most of his life, he was used to at least some signs of life, regardless of the time of day. Here, it felt like a funeral procession had just left. He moved back through the room as quickly as he could, up the stairs, and into the room he and Ezzy would share for the night.

  The bag slid from his shoulder as he saw Ezzy convulsing on the floor. In a few quick and painful steps he was by her side, lifting her head with one hand as he grabbed a pillow from the bed with his other hand and slid it underneath. Her eyes were closed, her breathing ragged, and drool ran out of both corners of her mouth. This was the first time Nolan had actually been present when Ezzy's bond had dissolved. The sight of her in this condition broke his heart.

  "Ezzy," he whispered, "Ezzy, I need you to wake up."

  Her body stopped twitching but she remained unresponsive.

  "Ezzy, I need to know where you hid Paz."

  Giving her a shake, he gently pulled one of her eyelids open. Her eye was rolled back. Not good.

  "Come on, Ezzy. You're stronger than this." That was a lie, no one was strong enough to just shrug it off when a bond broke. "We need to get you to Paz so I can fix this."

  Still nothing. Rising, he looked around the room until he spotted the pitcher of water provided by the inn. Grabbing it off the floor, he stood over her and hesitated for a moment to brace himself for her indignant screams. It couldn't be helped. Their situation was too dangerous at the moment for her to be out of it for a few days and for Paz to be who-knows-where, standing as useless as a statue.

  With a sigh only he could hear, he dumped the entire contents of the pitcher onto her face.

  As soon as the water hit her, she spluttered and sat up. Her eyes looked around, although they were glazed and unfocused.

  "What...I...where am I?"

  "Ezzy," he leaned down so she could see him better, "are you alright? You need to tell me--"

  She struck him once in the chest and sent another punch directly towards his face. Nolan barely dodged it, if falling backwards in pain could be considered dodging a blow.

  "Ezzy, what--"

  "Who are you? Where am I? Have I been kidnapped?"

  Wonderful.

  "Ezzy, it's me, Nolan. I know it's difficult, but you need to try and focus. Collect your thoughts. Remember what is going on."

  "Nolan? Are you here to bond me with one of my dolls again?" Her voice had taken on a higher pitch and her gaze was still empty. This was bad.

  "Ezzy, I haven't bonded you to a doll in a long time. You're an adult now. You have a Vilathos of your own, and I need to know where you hid it."

  "A Vilathos of my own? Father would never let me do that."

  "Esmerelda, your father is dead. He abandoned you."

  A harsh statement, and mostly untrue, but he didn't have time to spare her feelings. With bounty hunters on their tail, and his injured shoulder, Ezzy's broken link couldn't have come at a worse time. He would shake the girl silly if it came to it.

  Thankfully, his words struck home. Her eyes started to water as her lip began to tremble. That only lasted a moment, and then that cold steel that seemed to have taken root since her father's death returned to her eyes. The cold gaze she directed his way seemed to drink up the tears that had started to form. When she finally spoke, it was with a whisper, but the force of her words put a shiver down his spine.

  "Get away from me."

  "I'm sorry, Ezzy, I needed you to focus."

  "You don't know anything about my father or what he did for my family. You only graced us with your presence when you wanted to make some money."

  The words hurt more than he expected, mostly from the initial surprise at hearing them. Was that what she actually thought?

  No, she thinks more of me than that, and she knows I respected her father a great deal. She is just lashing out.

  At least, that's what he hoped. He extended a hand to help her up and pulled it right back with the look she gave him. Well, maybe she would just need a little more time to get her bearings.

  "Ezzy, you know I didn't really mean--"

  "Not another word. You're lucky I can barely see straight, otherwise I'd make sure you felt worse than I do now. Knife wound or not. Now what do you want?"

  "Uh..." Not sure whether to keep quiet like she said or answer her question, Nolan shuffled about in place.

  Ezzy rolled her eyes and then immediately brought a hand up to rub at them. After a few moments, she finally spoke.

  "Right. Paz. You want to know where Paz is hiding. I put him by the temple to Ze'an. No one ever goes near there, especially at night."

  "Good. I'll start getting our things together, and we can go fix your bond. Do you want me to get your things?"

  "I can handle that myself, thank you very much." Ezzy tried to rise but immediately fell forward. She was barely able to keep her face from smacking into the ground. "Alright. You can get my things ready as well. I'm going to examine this section of the floor boards."

  "Of course. Of course. Right away."

  He busied himself with gathering their things. They had kept most of their possessions packed in case they had to make a quick exit, but there were still a few odds and ends that needed to be put away or better organized. As Nolan moved about the room, he constantly checked on Ezzy. The most she did while he moved about was roll onto her back and stare at the ceiling. Her eyes did seem clearer though. The bigger the Vilathos, the more painful a severed bond, but Ezzy's resilien
ce was amazing. She truly was a strong woman.

  "All set."

  He dropped the last of their packs by the door and turned to find Ezzy climbing one of the beds. He took a step forward to help then stopped as she shot him another look. Instead, he stood there and watched as she clawed her way back to her feet. She stood there looking stronger than he expected, although she did keep a hand on the bed. Again, Nolan couldn't help but be amazed and feel a little proud of her.

  "Alright," she grunted, giving him a withering stare, "you can help me now."

  Nolan raised an eyebrow, which of course was the wrong thing to do.

  "I'm not a fool, Nolan." Her voice could have frozen the lake. "Despite the fact that you are an insensitive moron, I'm not so full of pride that I would think I could make it out of here on my own. My legs feel about as stable as a wet noodle, all I can see of you is an annoying blur, and I'm alternating between feeling like I'm going to get sick or pass out. I know I need your help."

  "Good, because I can't imagine how--"

  "Helping me to walk does not involve talking to me right now."

  "Understood."

  Nolan grabbed two of the lighter bags and gently strapped it to Ezzy's shoulders. Then, after grabbing the last remaining pack and his walking stick, he hooked his arm around her and got them moving. It was awkward at first, between his limp, his staff, and the packs moving around on their backs, but it became much smoother by the time they made it to the stairs. When they were out the front door and into the cold night air, he had things under control.

  This close to morning and at this time of year, the streets were empty. Behind the inn, the temple to Kaz'ren peaked over the roof while the Endless Tombs towered over everything else. Nolan took a moment to catch his breath and adjust the packs before he got them moving up the street. The temple to Ze'an was north of them on the southeast side of the lake, at the end of this road. Fields of untended grass sat between the last buildings of the city and the temple. After all, who would be foolish enough to build anywhere near the temple of the god of the Abyss?