From under the table, the creature had a waist-level view of most of the tavern. Between feedings from his master, his tiny head darted about, watching the activity under the tables. Some food had fallen beneath a stool, and a small broom rested in the corner of the room. Other than that, there was nothing exceptional to draw his attention.
Then something caught his eye—a flash of gold.
Across the way, on the far side of the dining area in an enclosed booth, two men were engaged in a deep, private discussion. The men were of entirely different statures. The smaller man was a bent, twisted figure. His pale skin stretched tightly over his gaunt face, and his large eyes bulged from under his gray hooded cloak. The larger of them, a tall man with a short, dark goatee, was dressed in a fine scarlet robe with a black lining and gold thread. He had just paid the steward for their drinks of flavored blend and rum. He paid in gold, then reattached his purse to his belt. This was all done beneath the table so that no one saw the exchange—no one except the two steel eyes of the young thief’s ferret.
The small animal dropped to the floor.
“Uh-oh,” said Kalo as he tried to look under the table inconspicuously.
“What’s wrong?” asked Ty quietly.
“Nikki’s loose.”
Chapter 4
“Oh, no, Kalo. You’ve got to bring him in!” Ty hissed through his teeth as he, too, began to look about. “Is he on the hunt?” whispered Ty. “You didn’t send him, did you?”
“Of course I didn’t send him,” replied Kalo.
“Can’t you call him back?”
“I don’t know where he is!” Instantly, Kalo reached out with his mind, trying to link with the ferret. He could sense the small creature inside the tavern, hunting for something shiny.
The young thief had taught his ferret well. Nikki had darted silently beneath the tavern tables and reached the booth of the two men without being seen by anyone. He then positioned himself under the large man’s bench and began to reach up through the scarlet garments.
A second tiny hand began to work its way up inside the cloak. The large man moved slightly, and the tiny hands froze. Nikki waited a moment, then busily untied the purse from its belt. The leather straps came undone and the purse fell into the waiting hands of the ferret. A single clang of coins rang.
Unbeknownst to the ferret, the large man stiffened as if he heard the sound. He stopped talking and looked hard at his associate across the table, asking without words whether he, too, had heard the jingling of coins. He then slowly looked down to check his own purse beneath his cloak. By then, the rock ferret was skittering across the floor toward his master with the purse dangling from his mouth.
Suddenly, Nikki leapt into Kalo’s lap and delivered the prize. Shocked and confused, Kalo grabbed the purse and immediately scrutinized the inn. At that very moment, the large man turned and looked about the room as well. Their eyes met. Kalo’s expression was enough for the man to rise from his booth, eyes fixed on him.
“We’re found!” cried Kalo as he jerked back from the table and secured the rock ferret and stolen purse in his shirt.
Ty stood too and whirled about to see the man in the scarlet cloak coming their way. The man snapped a command to the two big men dressed in scarlet and black and pointed at Kalo. They rose awkwardly, almost as though they had been startled from a deep sleep. The two moved mechanically toward Kalo. Ty stepped aside and deftly worked his way out of danger and toward the exit.
Kalo was on his own now. He looked frantically for a way out, but the large man and his two henchmen positioned themselves so that he could not escape through the inn’s entrance. They were steadily moving toward him and there was no way out. One of the guards slowly pulled his broadsword from its sheath.
Kalo turned and darted through the double doors behind him toward the kitchen. The corridor was narrow and cluttered, with small barrels and containers of food stacked against the walls. At every turn, Kalo threw down a box or tipped over a barrel. He passed a tray of soups and, with a quick flip, sent the dishes crashing to the floor behind him, creating a thin sea of oily liquid. He gained a few seconds on his pursuers, just enough to turn the next corner and escape from sight. He passed two doors that looked like linen closets and then bolted through another set of double doors. He stood helplessly in the kitchen as the cooks and the help ignored him. He scanned the room; there was no escape route. He returned to the hallway.
“Where now?” he thought desperately. A hand suddenly reached around his face from behind and pulled him backward into a small room.
He had been drawn into a dimly lit toilet closet. The odor was unmistakable. Someone was pressed up against him from behind. He felt young, soft fingers covering his mouth to silence him. Slowly, the fingers lifted from his lips. He turned cautiously and faced the dark-haired girl. They stood motionless. Shouts and calls echoed outside in the hall. His eyes beheld her fairness only inches in front of him as her pale skin flickered in the flame of a small oil lamp hanging on the wall. He smelled her clean hair and heard her soft breath. They waited for what seemed so long that for a moment Kalo lost his fear. The stirring in his gut that he had felt when she first touched him had returned. Suddenly, someone tried to turn the locked doorknob. Then a heavy fist struck the closet door.
“Who’s in there?” a voice bellowed.
“It is me, sir,” said the girl without hesitating.
“Open up!”
“But, sir . . .”
“Open up!” A fist smashed against the door.
“Yes, sir. Let me put my clothes back on.”
There was no reply.
The girl began instead to undress, motioning to the hole in the toilet bench seat. This was Kalo’s only remaining escape route. She knew it, and now, so did he.
Kalo reached into his shirt and pulled out the wiry ferret. He held him up in the soft light of the lamp and gazed into the animal’s huge black eyes, quickly linking one more time. He stroked the ferret’s soft fur and then clutched him to his chest. “Here, take Nikki,” he whispered. The small ferret ran down his arm to the girl and was instantly lost in her clothing, piled on the floor. Quickly, Kalo squeezed through the hole and lowered his body, holding himself up by only his elbows.
“Hurry up in there!” the voice bellowed again from outside.
“Coming, sir,” answered the girl. Her dress was now down to her ankles.
Kalo stared at her. She stood a few feet away, wearing only her white underclothes. With a playful smirk at the young thief, she put her hand on his head and pressed down. He smiled and dropped into the unknown below.
He plunged deep into the green water beneath the pier. His fall drove him to the bottom of the river and up to his knees in accumulated dregs. Kicking furiously, he broke free from the thick deposits and launched himself upward. He burst through the surface, coughing and gasping for air. The foul stench of the sediment he’d brought up from the depths filled his nostrils and lungs, making breathing difficult. He pushed himself toward the nearest support column and grasped the pillar with both arms.
Above him spanned the bottom of the pier and the underside of the Kingfisher’s floor. Only faint, thin streaks of light filtered through the planks from the tavern above, piercing the darkness. As the water settled and the air cleared, his breathing became less labored, the river water drained from his ears, and his sense of hearing returned. The sounds of men pouring out of the inn thundered above him.
“Find him! A reward of one thousand in gold to the man who finds the thief! I want him alive!” The command repeated and echoed through the streets of Riverlok, spreading from the Kingfisher.
A thousand in gold! thought the young thief as he clung to the pillar. He had never heard such a large sum. Could a man earn a thousand in gold in a lifetime?
He slowly and quietly pulled himself from the river into the supporting rafters of the pier. He climbed through the timbers toward the street and up closer to the flooring planks
. Finding a broad support beam, he stretched his legs and leaned back. The flooring flexed overhead with each heavy step of men moving about as they called to one another.
Kalo tried to lie still, but his body trembled from the chill of the breeze rushing over his drenched clothes. He felt a blunt object digging into his side. He reached into his pocket, removed the purse the ferret had stolen, and set it beside him. The light streaking through the planks gave enough reflective radiance for him to see his surroundings. He peeled off his water-soaked clothes and wrung them out. Each twist of his tunic yielded less and less water until only a few trickles fell into the river below. Then he took each leg of his trousers and did the same. By this time, he had twisted the garment enough that the cloth had given back most of the river’s water. He awkwardly redressed and pulled the wet garments about him, lying on his back. The sudden chill brought uncontrollable shaking. He fought to lie still as he listened to the men above.
Kalo shook his head in disbelief at the anger in their voices. How had all of this happened? One moment they were eating at the Kingfisher, and the next instant they were on the run. Thoughts raced through his mind as he remembered how the events of the night had unfolded.
He’d been hesitant about going into the inn in the first place. It had been Ty’s idea. They had sold the fancy copper buckle for a good price, and it was their only compensation for a day of thievery. It was enough to last them two, maybe three days. That would have granted them a couple of days of not having to steal. Those were the best days, he thought. But Ty had declared they needed to celebrate their good fortune, so into the Kingfisher they had gone.
He still remembered most of the patrons. He and Ty were accustomed to being observant about their surroundings. Then there was Nikki’s unplanned theft. Nikki was just learning the trade, as Ty called it. Without his command, the little ferret had jumped down from his lap, raced across the floor of the inn, and snatched a trophy from a tall, dark man in black and scarlet. After that, everything was a blur until he ended up here in the arms of the beams holding up the Kingfisher Inn. And he then remembered something else, something that seemed to matter more than all the rest—the touch and smell of the dark-haired girl. For the time being, fear of his perilous past, thoughts of what might come to be, and thoughts of fantasy filled him. Hours passed before he broke from his self-induced trance. The trembling stopped, but he remained rigid.
Kalo turned his head and stared at the purse resting by his side. What was once a fine deerskin purse now sat waterlogged and ruined. Mostly as a distraction from the chill, Kalo picked it up. He untied the neck and, sitting up on the wide beam, he reached inside. His hand brought up more gold and silver coins than he had ever seen at one time. His throat went dry.
He plunged his hand in again, and this time, he pulled out a silver tube the length of a man’s hand. He tied the purse to his belt, then held the tube under the light streaming from a crack in the flooring above. The piece glimmered with a pleasing radiance as he turned and twisted it about. Strangely, it felt very cold to the touch, like a slender piece of ice. As he moved it about in his hands, it unexpectedly opened into two halves. Inside he found a rolled document. He removed the paper and held it up to the light. Like his friend Ty, Kalo could not read. Still, he could not help noticing the mark of a dagger at the bottom of the parchment. He studied the paper for a time, intrigued by the characters of the writing, then carefully rolled it up and gently placed it back into its container. He shoved the tube down into his boot alongside his concealed knife. Again, he felt its chill.
He stretched his small, narrow frame across a sloping support beam, his feet pressed up against the junction into a main support pillar. Despite the awkwardness of his position, he experienced an unexpected sense of comfort. He felt relaxed, and the need to rest came over him. He closed his eyes and drifted into a period of light sleep. The thoughts of the evening left him.
He awakened gently, slowly, regaining a sense of his surroundings so he would not tumble from his perch. The sounds of men on the streets of Riverlok had dissipated by this time, and Kalo had stopped shivering; his clothing no longer stuck to his body. Crawling through the rafters, he edged his way to the side of the pier and slowly raised himself up to look over the side. The light of a nearly full moon blanketed the city and he could see that the streets lay deserted.
He swung his lean frame up onto the landing, and as he began to rise, a voice spoke to him: “It’s about time.” Kalo tried to roll back over the side of the pier, but a firm foot planted on his spine rendered him immobile. “Easy, boy. I have waited a long time for you. It would be rude if you slipped back over the side.”
Chapter 5
The foot gently lifted from Kalo’s back.
Kalo rolled over and looked up. Above him stood the gava from the Kingfisher. The handsome young soldier with the wide leather strap about his neck looked down at him. “It was a mistake, sir. My ferret found the purse and brought it to me,” Kalo said, hastily unfastening it from his belt. He handed the purse to the stranger. “Here it is.”
The gava said nothing as he took the purse and untied it.
Kalo looked about the pier. “Where’s your companion?”
“You are observant,” said the gava as he opened the bag. “You no doubt noticed my companion was a royal guard.” The gava went on. “The man who owns this,” he said, lifting the purse, “pressed him into service to search for you.”
“But he couldn’t give you orders because you’re a king’s messenger.”
The gava looked away from the purse and smiled for the first time, amused by the young Riverman’s perception of politics in the realm. “Sit up, boy, and do not think about leaving,” he said. He walked a few steps to stand under a lamp hanging from the side of the building.
“There’s more gold in there than I’ve ever seen,” said the young thief as he lifted himself from the pier. He could most likely make a run for it, he thought, though the confidence in the gava’s voice held him fast. The king’s messenger raised the coins from the bag and let them fall from his hand back into the sack. He turned and studied the boy. Kalo spoke again. “I’m truly sorry, sir. I want to return the coins.”
“He is not after the money,” said the gava. “I do not know why he so desperately wants you. He hired every man he could find to join the search. And he is paying far more than what is in this sack.”
“Where are they?” said Kalo as he looked about the pier.
“They are all over the city by now. They thought you leapt from the window into the river, so many went downstream. Some, I am sure, are gathered about the city gates, thinking you will cross over.”
“How did you find me?” asked the young thief.
“I simply asked the girl,” said the gava. Then he extended his hand to the boy. “I am Hasdel.”
“I’m Kalo,” said the young thief as he hesitantly shook the gava’s hand. “Are you going to get one thousand in gold for me?”
“Do not tempt me, boy.”
At that moment, Kalo felt a chill in his leg. He abruptly reached down and drew the silver tube from his boot. Slowly, he handed it to the king’s messenger without speaking. The gava had not surrendered him yet; perhaps there was still hope, he thought.
Hasdel looked at the piece he held in his hand. Without looking at the young thief, he asked, “It opens, does it not?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Did you open it?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And what is inside?” The gava spoke, still studying the silver tube. “Let me guess. A message?”
“Yes.”
Without opening the tube, the gava handed it back to Kalo. “Come with me.”
“Where are we going?” Kalo put the silver tube back into his boot.
“The Compound. You know where that is, do you not?”
Kalo pointed northeast, for the King’s Retreat Compound lay several blocks north and east of the Kingfisher, well toward th
e edge of the city. The gava motioned for Kalo to lead the way, and the young thief of Riverlok started into the night.
The light of the moon and the soft glow of street lanterns on each corner lit their way through the darkened city. The two did not speak. Kalo walked slightly ahead, with the gava shadowing to his left. They moved quickly away from the Kingfisher, down the stone street fronting the piers, heading north. The waterfront was deserted now. Four blocks north and on the inland side of the street rose the Merchant’s Hall. The ancient tavern was busy despite the late hour, and smoke caught in the moonlight floated drowsily from its chimney. The thought of a warm fire came to Kalo as he fought the dampness of his clothing. He had never been in the Hall, but he could easily imagine its warmth.
Kalo and Hasdel turned at the corner and headed east, inland from the river. They had not gone far when they saw a small band of men approaching from the south with torchlights. Hasdel grasped Kalo about the neck. “In that alley, boy. Make yourself as small as you can. I will come back for you.”
Hasdel continued toward the men. He greeted them while still some paces away. The light from their torches prevented them from seeing too deeply into the dark.
“Greetings, men!” called out the gava.
As he drew within range of their light, he could make out four of them. He spoke again. “Let me guess your mission!” The men stopped before him. “I, too, was at the Kingfisher tonight,” said Hasdel. “I have given up on the hunt. I am calling it a night.”
The men did not reply.
Hasdel spoke again. “I will give you this: I saw a figure in an alley . . .” His voice trailed off when he turned his head to point across the street and back toward the river. “I confess I lacked the courage to go hunting in a dark passage.”
The four men took the challenge and the bait and quickly, all four tightly together, crossed the street without a word.
Hasdel watched the men go. He turned, looked behind him, and called softly, “Lad?” Kalo was at the gava’s side in a moment. “Good,” said Hasdel.
The Ruins of Melda Page 3