Talia and Jawen looked at each other, their eyes widening. Iibala was talking about a man recovering? Did Sisila say ‘her father’, Sir Nickleby?
“What has he said about Basha and Oaka?”
“Basha and Oaka?” Iibala sighed and said, “My father is a little close-lipped these days, even by his standards, depressed about everything that has happened, but what he has said confirmed my suspicions. He and the boys were traveling along fairly for the first few days, but when they reached the boundary between Coe Baba and Coe Anji, some Black Wolves started chasing them.”
“Black Wolves?” Sisila asked.
Talia and Jawen covered their mouths, unable to let out even a gasp, as they contemplated the possibilities. Black Wolves, Basha and Oaka, Coe Anji, Sir Nickleby, what was going on here? Was this real? Were Iibala and Sisila really keeping such a secret from the town? And what had happened to Basha and Oaka?
“That’s right, Black Wolves. He stayed behind to fight off the Black Wolves while the boys went on ahead without him. The only reason why he is still alive is because Nisa was there to help him.”
“No, no, I won’t believe it.” Sisila shook her head and sighed. “Iibala, why can’t you ever reassure me that everything is going to be all right?” She asked.
Suddenly, pounding horse hooves could be heard in the distance from the direction of the main road coming this way, and people looked up, turning their heads in astonishment as almost everybody in town was gathered here in the town square to hear the mayoral candidates speak. No one would come here this late, and on horseback, if they intended to listen. Lapo and Geda stopped arguing, turning their heads as well to watch seven men in black and green uniform ride their horses to the edge of the crowd before halting.
Talia clutched Jawen’s arm tightly. “I want to go home.” She whispered.
“Me, too, Talia,” Jawen said, patting her sister’s arm as she contemplated the soldiers arrayed before them. She didn’t know where they had come from, but they certainly didn’t belong here. She hoped that they would vanish just as quickly as they had come, back to wherever they had come from, hopefully faraway from here. She noticed Iibala turning her head around, and caught her eyes as the other woman studied her. It didn’t matter anymore, as she didn’t want to pretend. Let Iibala know what she had found out, it wasn’t much of a guess. At least this way, there would be no more secrets or lies.
“Sisila, we’re not alone!” Iibala hissed, pointing back at Talia and Jawen.
Sisila gasped. “Do you think they might have heard?”
“Doubtful,” Iibala said, though she was worried. It would not take much, just a couple of attentive ears from Talia and Jawen, combined with her and Sisila’s loud voices, and her father’s injury and return to Coe Baba would be exposed, as well as the fact that Basha and Oaka had faced Black Wolves on the forest path, not far away from here. That would be bleak. None of the townspeople could handle such a revelation, she thought, one that would upset their sense of security, in what hope they might have gained with Sir Nickleby accompanying the boys, and the Black Wolves…none of it was right, it was too dark.
“Who is that?” Rajar asked, pointing as he noticed the strangers’ arrival.
“I have no idea,” Hastin said, though his grip tightened on the wooden practice sword. He glanced towards the end of the alleyway that led out to the Daneuve River and Mila Forest, wondering if there were any more soldiers in that direction. It seemed clear. Perhaps it would be safer in that direction. “Fence, Rajar, I want you two to stay here,” Hastin told Jawen’s younger brothers as he watched the proceedings. “If something happens, a fight perhaps, I want you two to get away from here.” He said, leaving the alleyway, heading towards the town square.
“What?” Fence cried, following after him, with Rajar just behind. “You want us to abandon…” Fence started to say.
“Fence, that’s an order, and a good soldier obeys orders.” Hastin said, turning back to him. “If something happens here, then I…if everything turns out all right here,” Hastin corrected himself to avoid scaring Fence and Rajar, “then I want you two to know that I am going to talk with my father, and request that a new head of the militia is elected, someone who will train 12-year-olds like you, Fence.” Hastin smiled. “You got that, Fence? Rajar?”
“Right, Hastin,” Fence said, nodding as Hastin departed into the crowd.
“Good luck, Hastin!” Rajar called out to him before Fence pulled him back into the alleyway. “Let me go, Fence.” Rajar muttered.
Hastin began to circulate through the crowd, suggesting that women and children should perhaps evacuate the area, heading towards the alleyways off to the sides, or down the side road, if anything bad should happen here. A few considered following his suggestions, and did so. Hastin turned his head, wondering where Sisila and Jawen were.
“What is going on here?” The oldest man in uniform said, facing the crowd of townspeople.
“We are having a mayoral election soon, and this is a debate,” Lapo said. “Could you kindly speak to us about your business and then depart?” His wife Mawen stood up and squeezed Lapos’s shoulder, murmuring softly to him as their two youngest children clutched Mawen’s legs. Talia and Jawen stared up at the stage, noticing their parents’ familiar unity, and wished that they could be up with them.
“Very well then,” The oldest man in uniform said before pulling out a piece of paper. “I have a warrant here from my Lord Fobata, Duke of Coe Aela, to search for and arrest some fugitives who have escaped my lord’s justice. They are a trio of youths, two boys and a girl approximately 16 or 17 years of age, with a falcon accompanying them who claims to be a royal messenger bird.”
“Royal messenger bird?” Some people exclaimed, confused by the fact that a falcon was able to claim anything. A few people screamed from the direction of the side road heading for the river neighborhoods and factories, as they were forced back by seven more soldiers blocking that direction.
“Something is wrong here,” Iibala muttered to Sisila, shaking her head. “I can feel it. I don’t like this at all.”
“I get a funny feeling, too,” Sisila said, looking down.
“Maybe we should get out of here.” Talia hissed to her sister.
“No, not yet,” Jawen said, pushing forward. “I need to speak with them, before it is too late!” She said, glaring at Sisila and Iibala. However, it already was.
“That’s right, a royal messenger bird,” The oldest man in uniform said before continuing, “They are Basha, a young man with brown hair, and Oaka…”
“Get them!” Geda cried, interrupting the soldier reading out the arrest warrant, as other people milled about in confusion, mumbling over the familiar names. “Arrest the soldiers!” He insisted. Habala remained in her seat for a moment, stunned by what she was hearing, but hopeful as well. Her sons were alive, or at least they had been for long enough to make it to Coe Aela, even if…what had they done to deserve an arrest warrant?
“It can’t be true, it just can’t be true,” Jawen said, stunned by the revelation. Basha was alive? Was this possible? She had thought that very few people could survive the trip outside of Coe Baba, especially Basha and Oaka, but now here she was, hearing these impossible words.
“Jawen! I’m getting out of here, come with me!” Talia cried, pulling on her older sister. Jawen followed after Talia for now, though she strained her neck back to keep her eyes on Sisila and Iibala. They knew something, and she was bound and determined to find out what exactly, though maybe later on after the soldiers had left.
Iibala laughed. At last, something exciting was happening here that was unexpected, and it was all because of Basha and Oaka, she assumed; mostly Basha. Plus, it appeared that Jawen and her younger sister Talia were leaving, which was an added bonus for her when they had been close enough to eavesdrop before. She wouldn’t have to worry about them right now. “I’m getting into the action!” Iibala told Sisila, leaving her alone as she j
oined some people in the crowd turning and advancing toward the soldiers on horseback, a significant mass of them in fact, most of them family and friends of Geda and Habala, as well as a few frequent patrons of The Smiling Stallion inn.
“Iibala! Wait!” Sisila cried, but her voice was droned out by others. Sisila lifted her head, hoping to spot Iibala in the crowd whipped up into a frenzy, but finally, she decided to take the plunge, and go after Iibala.
“What is the meaning of this?” The oldest soldier cried as his fellow soldiers slowly withdrew their swords, ready to defend themselves if necessary, as they were slowly confronted by townspeople.
Habala slowly lifted her head and stared at the swords held by the guards from Coe Aela, bare blades against the defenseless, unarmed civilians of Coe Baba she recognized as her friends and family members. “No.” She whispered, clenching her fists.
“Geda, what are you doing?” Lapo hissed at the innkeeper, frowning as he glanced back and forth between the innkeeper and the two confrontations. “Are you trying to get us all killed here? These soldiers are trained professionals, in service of the Duke of Coe Aela. They probably have some authority here and…”
“Authority? This is our town, our home, our land, not the Duke’s of Coe Aela.” Geda said, staring at Lapo, as his mind raced to come up with a logical excuse for his own actions, which were mostly based on primal, impulsive anger and fear. How had things gotten so out of control? “And what rights have they? It is my boys that they are talking about arresting,” Geda muttered before he shouted at the soldiers, “I want to know why you want to arrest them, Basha and Oaka! What have they done to deserve it?”
Perhaps he should have thought this matter out more clearly before he ordered the arrest of these soldiers, but he couldn’t abide the idea of changing his mind now, especially as he thought that his actions might be justifiable, and he didn’t want to shame the memory of his boys by cordially welcoming their potential captors to their hometown. Besides, though his actions in the last few moments might be reprehensible, he couldn’t change them now, especially since the soldiers had already gotten a taste of his malice. Though he might try to apologize and take back his words to the soldiers, they would not forgive him, and they would not forget his ill treatment of them. It was better to continue, as it were, until he had a better idea of what to do.
“That’s right,” Habala whispered, slowly standing up. “That’s right.” She said, slowly inhaling. She had to do this.
The other part of the crowd moved away, towards the alleyways as Hastin had suggested, with Talia and Jawen now caught up in the retreating swarm. “Jawen!” Hastin cried, spotting her, accompanied by her younger sister, in the distance.
“Hastin?” Jawen said, looking up as the young man headed her way.
“Jawen, am I glad to see you!” Hastin cried, reaching his former girlfriend. “Have you seen my sister?” He asked.
“She was back in that direction,” Jawen pointed behind her, before she was forced to push on, with Talia’s insistence, towards the alleyway near the post office. Hastin managed to move forward, away from Jawen and towards Sisila’s direction.
“They are…they were disturbing the peace at Coe Aela,” The oldest man in uniform said to Geda, nervously withdrawing his own sword as several people tried to grab his horse, which threatened to bolt. “They disturbed my master Lord Fobata! They deserve to be arrested!” The soldier frowned. “And if you are harboring them…”
“That’s not a good enough excuse.” Geda said. “We want to know more.”
“Let us go, or you will regret your actions!” The soldier cried, flailing his sword at the unarmed civilians again. “We will be forced to fight!”
Geda hesitated as he heard the words of the oldest soldier, probably the one in command, especially as the soldier’s sword gleamed in his hand, and he did not seem unsteady in wielding it right above the heads of the townspeople trying to hold onto his horse so that he would not run away. The townspeople were also holding onto the horses of nine other soldiers, with five more they were trying to wrangle and hold down, but all of these soldiers were also armed and prepared to fight back. Geda wondered again if this was such a good idea, standing up to the soldiers from Coe Aela, especially when so many lives would be at risk.
“No!” Habala cried, hurling a ball of fire at the soldiers, one of whom was ignited. His horse reared and the burning man was flung off onto the ground. He rolled slightly, which extinguished some of the flames, but then he stopped moving and continued to smolder. The townspeople surrounding him and the others ran, screaming.
The soldiers and the townspeople all stared up in horror at Habala, standing above them on the platform beside her husband. “Leave them alone! Leave my fellow townspeople alone!” She cried. “You do not deserve to be here! This is not your town, this is not your home! Coe Baba is for good, kind, deserving people, who are trying their hardest to make a living for themselves! You are just here to spread trouble and cause mischief, threatening my sons! They are not here, in case you want to know, but they should be! Now leave, before I burn you all!” Habala cried.
The soldiers hesitated, a few of them considering her advice, when something terrible happened.
A few minutes ago, Fence and Rajar had been listening and watching the escalation of chaos, not quite understanding everything that was going on here, but they feared that there might indeed be a fight soon, the kind that Hastin had warned them about. “Let’s get out of here, Rajar,” Fence said, turning away from the town square. “Head to the river and the forest,” He muttered to himself, walking off towards the end of the alleyway.
“What about mother and father and Jawen and wait for me, Fence!” Rajar cried, following after his older brother.
Fence had emerged from the alleyway, and started to cross the open stretch of land towards the Danueve River, and Mila Forest beyond, when suddenly he stopped, peering towards the shadows moving beneath the trees. He thought he saw something moving under there.
Urie, a guard from Coe Aela, squatted in the underbrush just outside the outskirts of Coe Baba, searching for any signs of movement from the town’s direction that might suggest that one of the fugitives they were searching for was trying to escape and avoid capture by the other guards. The ground felt wet beneath his shoes, the leaves slippery and muddy as he trod upon them. An arrow was notched to his bowstring, but currently his bow was lowered to the ground, along with about half a dozen others beside him.
Urie was nervous and tired of waiting, especially since he did not really know what was going on out here. A few years ago, he had been recruited from the servants’ quarter, and had joined the guards because it was an opportunity for advancement that was better by far than what he might have received in the servant class. Urie had been given a sword, some armor, the Coe Aela uniform and this bow along with a collection of arrows. He had been trained in some basic maneuvers, mostly when it came to marching and patrolling, but at least he had gotten in some practice at hitting a target, so that he could stand in good stead, and hopefully defend himself if he ever got into a fight.
Urie slept in the barracks, ate with the other guards, and never once did he glance in the direction of the servants that served them. He was a guard now, and he was glad of that. For the most part, Urie did whatever his commanding officers told him to do, and he hardly ever complained about his duties, although he did partake in some salty, brash conversation with his fellow privates whenever the officers weren’t listening, just to be a part of the company he had joined.
However, for the past week or so, as they had traveled farther away from Coe Aela than he had ever gone before in pursuit of the fugitives, Urie had gotten worried about his chances out here, especially as the forest surrounding them grew steadily thicker. He did not know what they might encounter out here, what hardships or what obstacles they might have to deal with, and he was worried that he was not up to the challenge, that he might fall behind, and get los
t in the forest, and that they would desert him as a hopeless cause not worth searching for, because he was not a real guard of Coe Aela, just a mere servant that they did not really care about.
Frightened of being left behind, Urie wanted to prove that he could be a real guard, and so tried to stay alert, watching the town of Coe Baba, especially the alleyways leading out of the town square, as intently as he could, difficult as it was to see anything beyond the forest through the tall underbrush. Apparently, there was some meeting going on there, and the other contingent of Coe Aela guards had set off in that direction. From where he was, Urie and the other Coe Aela guards could hear some noise swelling from that direction, apparently there were a lot of people gathered there, and it was disturbing to them, unable to do anything but sit and wait here while their friends rode into such danger in the midst of a large crowd. Because it seemed to them that something had gone wrong, as they could hear panic and anger rising from that direction, not to mention see the smoke cloud.
Suddenly, a figure appeared at the mouth of one of the alleyways leading out of the town square, and Urie raised his bow, along with about half a dozen others, prepared to fire. A leaf on a stick brushed up against his pant leg, but he ignored it. Then they paused, and lowered their bows slightly, as it was such a small figure, surely smaller than the fugitives that they had been chasing from where they were? And they couldn’t see this person very well from where they were. Still, if this person posed a threat…
Before they knew what was happening, Urie and the rest of the guards from Coe Aela felt something tighten around their pants legs, a stick of some kind, only it wasn’t a stick, it was a branch, twining around them. Before they could fire their arrows at the person in the meadow, they were wrenched onto the ground and pulled back by the branches towards the darkness of the forest. Bows and arrows fell from their hands, as they were startled by the movement. They scrambled at the ground, trying to find a purchase for themselves to stop their abduction, but the force was too great on them and the clutch of the branches too tight, and they were pulled away, screaming at the top of their lungs before they were abruptly silenced.
Servants and Followers (The Legends of Arria, Volume 2) Page 37