“Rheen,” she said, accepting an enthusiastic handshake.
“And how did you get mixed up with these troublemakers?” Lassa asked. “I wouldn’t have pinned you as the fightin’ type. You look like you’re smaller than Farmer Benson’s newborn calf!”
“It was a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Rheen answered.
Lassa howled with laughter. “That’s what it would take. I couldn’t see anyone pairin’ up with the likes of them on purpose! Hah! So what brings you here this time, Bierno?” Her attention was now divided between the conversation and gathering a stack of dirty dishes off of a nearby table. “Keep talking, I’m listening!” she called over her shoulder as she carried them off to the kitchen.
Bierno waited until she got back. “We’re not sure yet, so we’re also not sure how long we’ll be staying. We’ll have to get rooms by the night again if that’s alright.”
“Oh, it's no trouble at all. I have some reservations for tomorrow night, but I’ll put you down for some of the rooms I have left, just so you’re not without a place to sleep if you’re still around then.”
“Thank you very much,” said Bierno.
Lassa proceeded to ask Bierno about his family, Gillio about his job at the farm, and Aenin about how everything was going ‘up there.’
“And what have you been up to, Jekka?” Lassa asked finally.
“Not much,” she answered, standing. “Are the rooms open now? I’d like to go get dry.”
Lassa laughed again. “Never can get this one to talk much,” she said to Rheen. “Yes, the rooms are open; you’ll have number thirteen I imagine. I put you all down for twelve and thirteen, and I’m guessing the girls will take the smaller one.”
Jekka was already halfway across the room with her dripping bag slung over her shoulder.
After a little more conversation and second helpings of soup, the others made their way up the stairs and into their respective rooms. Rheen found Jekka already settled in on the top bunk and writing by the light of a candle which was standing on a little shelf built into the wall. She looked up as Rheen walked in but then immediately went back to writing. Rheen sat on the bed underneath her and looked around.
“Lassa seems nice,” she said.
No response.
“There’s still a big crowd down there.”
“I can tell by the noise,” Jekka said.
After a moment, Rheen tried again. “What are you writing?”
“Words.”
“What kind of words?”
Jekka’s quill pen paused over the script as her train of thought derailed. “I’m journaling. It helps keep my thoughts straight.”
“That’s a good idea, I’ve never thought of that before,” said Rheen. “I don’t really come across writing tools very often now that I think about it, so I guess that makes sense.”
“I have a spare pen and ink if you want to use them. I think I still have our shopping list from back in the city if you wanted to write on the back of it.”
“Sure,” said Rheen.
Jekka jumped down from her bunk and gathered the things for Rheen, then climbed back up to continue her own writing.
“…I’ve given her something to do,” Jekka wrote. ”Maybe now I’ll get some peace and quiet. Unlikely with all of the ruckus going on downstairs. I hate inns. I’d take the danger of camping out over the constant noise of people any day.
“We were attacked by ten sniws two nights ago, and then Rheen and Aenin saw one last night. I think we killed six or seven in the first fight. I know I personally killed three. I shot the first in the head, the second in the side, and the third got its windpipe severed. Besides that, Aenin shot two, and Bierno decapitated one or two. I don’t know what Gillio was doing. I saw a lot of running and shouting, but I’m not sure he accomplished anything. Rheen apparently fell down a hill and lost her sword. I saw a sniw flying towards her at one point, but when it got close it seemed to change its mind about chasing her and took off. That’s one of the three or four that got away, and I have to wonder if it’s the one that Aenin saw with her last night. Maybe it sensed she wasn’t a warrior and wanted to talk to her. At any rate, there’s still at least a couple of sniws unaccounted for that are now probably out spreading the news that we’re here.”
“I can’t remember the last time I used a pen,” Rheen was writing underneath her. “School? Or was there another time before I left Vree? I know I haven’t the few years since then.”
She’d kept up on reading enough to have an easy time of forming words and spelling, but using the pen was difficult. The ink kept blotting and the lines were uneven and messy.
“This is difficult,” she wrote. “Everything is. I don’t mind the travelling so much, but it just feels like everything has gotten complicated. I don’t know if Aenin heard what the sniw said about Vree. Does he know now that I came from up here? Did he tell anyone else? I suppose as long as we don’t go there…”
She ran out of space on the back of the paper, so she turned it over and started writing on the blank spaces around Jekka’s list. She used a smaller script to fit more in.
“…it doesn’t matter. But if they find out, it’s only a matter of time before everything goes sour. Like it always does. They’ll either POTATOS try to change me or kick FLAT BREAD me out. Surely they don’t want a DRIED BEEF northerner on their team. I don’t know why ROLLED OATS they’re keeping me around anyway. I’m not ONIONS very useful to them. I think if I could understand their LEATHER STRIPS motives, I would feel more comfortable around them. I guess WHET STONES I’ll just hope for the best and stick around JEKKA’S SENSE OF HUMOR…”
Rheen paused and laughed to herself. The last addition to the shopping list was in someone else’s penmanship. It had to have been Gillio.
“…as long as I can. I’ll just figure out what comes next when I have to. That’s what I’ve always done, and it’s what I do well.”
She waited a few minutes for the ink to dry and then stuffed the note way down to the bottom of her pack. Jekka, who was able to write much faster, had filled several pages of her journal and was just finishing up as well.
“…the conclusion to all of this would be that I am mostly fine with how everything is going, but the encounters with the sniws and the fact that we don’t know much about her in general makes me uneasy. It’s intriguing, but it could also interfere with our mission if she double crosses us, robs us, or does something else of that nature. There’s nothing I can do about that though, as Bierno and Aenin seem set on carrying out what they are certain are the King’s orders, so I’ll just keep an eye on her as best as I can.”
She could hear Rheen breathing heavily beneath her now. She left her journal open on the shelf to dry, blew out the candle, and fell asleep on top of her blankets with one arm dangling off the side of the bed.
Chapter 5
It was mid-morning by the time Bierno, Aenin, Gillio, and Jekka had all gathered for breakfast. Lassa was ready for them and served out a common breakfast dish which was called Baker’s Breakfast and consisted of cubed bread mixed with tomato preserves, cheese curds, and fresh herbs. Each bowl of the mixture was topped with a fried egg.
“Where’s Rheen?” asked Gillio when Jekka joined them.
“Sleeping,” said Jekka, “despite you thundering around in the next room when you got up twenty minutes ago.”
“I was not thundering,” said Gillio. “Besides, it’s so late in the morning, anyone who isn’t up already should be. Except Rheen. She’s been through a lot these past few days; she can rest as long as she wants to.”
“Did she talk with you at all last night, Jekka?” asked Bierno.
“Not much. I mean, she did, but it was just about the weather or something insignificant. I told you before, she’s not just going to open up and tell us everything about herself.”
“Maybe not to you,” said Gillio.
“Oh, really? How much has she told you?”
“That’s been obvious since the second day of this trip,” said Jekka. “Do you know what else is obvious? That she’s keeping information from us and skirted around telling you the other night by saying she was just worn out from riding.”
Gillio looked surprised.
“Anyway,” said Bierno, “hopefully she’ll come around to trusting us eventually. In the meantime, we have work to do to prepare for the next leg of our journey. When we’re finished here, Aenin, would you go get some updated maps of Northern Eilin? Gillio and Jekka can replenish supplies. I’ll wait until Rheen is up to get her started on drying out our gear and then go catch up with some of our contacts in town to see if they have any leads on the girl from our vision.”
“Can I just point out how disastrous it turned out last time you sent Gillio and me to pick up supplies?” asked Jekka.
“Yes, but maybe I’m just giving you a chance to redeem yourselves,” said Bierno.
Jekka started to protest further, but Aenin cut in.
“I wouldn’t mind going with Gillio instead, Jekka, if you want to pick up the maps. I think we can give them a break for an afternoon, Bierno.”
“That would be wonderful,” said Jekka.
“It’s settled, then,” said Bierno. “Jekka gets the maps, and Aenin and Gillio replenish supplies.”
With that, they left the table and split up to go do their separate tasks.
**********
“Oh, I can’t give you those,” said a little secretary with little glasses sitting behind a little desk.
Jekka waited for an explanation, but the woman just stared at her with a smug, triumphant expression on her face.
Jekka sighed. “I suppose you’re just dying for me to ask why.”
The woman looked confused.
“Okay – why can’t you give me the maps?” Jekka asked bluntly, amused when she predicted the return of the woman’s smug expression and authoritative tone.
“That’s not my department, but I doubt you could get them anyway.”
“And why is that?”
“Because, even if the person from the map department was here, he doesn’t like to give them out to strangers, and you’re obviously not from around here.”
“Oh.”
“And you need proper identification to be allowed behind the counter, and it is not customary for him to leave his office when he’s working.”
“Oh.”
Jekka waited to be sure the woman had finished. She tried again.
“Should I wait here?” she asked, motioning to some chairs set up in the corner. Again she received a confused, blank stare.
She tried again more slowly. “Should I sit…over there…in one of those chairs?”
Silence.
“That is what the chairs are for, isn’t it?”
The woman responded with a nervous laugh. “Of course, but…why would you do that?”
“To wait for the man from the map department to return. I’m assuming he’s out eating lunch?”
“Oh, yes, but he won’t be back for another hour at least.”
“Alright, thank you,” said Jekka with exaggerated civility as she walked over to sit in one of the chairs in the corner. She found herself wishing that she’d gone with Gillio to get supplies instead.
While she was waiting, she watched as the secretary pretended to be busy for a while and then spent some time talking to another woman who came from a back room. They spoke in low voices with quite a few glances in Jekka’s direction, then the other woman left. After about half an hour, a man with thick glasses and a disheveled appearance walked through the door. He held up a badge to the secretary and was allowed past the desk where he proceeded to walk down a hallway. Jekka hurried back up to the counter where the secretary made a point of not noticing her until she spoke.
“Was that the man from the map department?” she asked quickly. The man was still in view and about to enter his office.
“Yes, but you need to make an appointment and he’s booked until…”
Jekka cut her off by yelling out to the man. “Excuse me, sir?”
He turned.
“I need an updated map of Northern Eilin. The size doesn’t matter; I just need all of the town names and the main roads.”
“Oh yes, certainly. Just a moment,” he said and disappeared into his office.
The secretary suddenly had a million very important things to do and busied herself at the far end of the desk. The man soon reappeared holding a few different maps.
“Here we are,” he said. “I’ve brought three options for you; we’ll see if we can find out which will suit you best.”
“Thank you,” said Jekka as she helped him spread each out across a table.
“You will see the smallest has very limited information, but its convenience is in its size and it also gives a good general idea of the layout of the land. The next largest shows about 90% of the settlements and all of the named roads, and the last and largest is very detailed, showing all of the roads and the cities, towns, and villages that we are aware of. The roads and paths that are not named are indicated by the lines like these here.”
“I believe the second should work well for us,” said Jekka. “We have a star as our guide; we just need to be able to connect names of settlements with what he can see.”
“Ah, yes,” said the man. “That version is popular with the intergalactic folk, and I worked with some of them to create it. It should suit you well.”
“Thank you very much for your help,” said Jekka.
“Don’t mention it,” said the man. “When it is a matter of sharing my life’s work with others, I am happy to oblige.”
Jekka made her way outside of the building and spent a little time sitting on the front steps with the map spread out in front of her, seeing what changes she could pick out from the previous version they had from a few years earlier. Some small village names had changed, a few roads had been added, and one had been moved farther out from a swamp which had swelled. She finally rolled it up and started walking back towards the inn.
After a few streets she recognized someone up ahead who was walking in the same direction that she was: it was the secretary. The woman turned down the very street Jekka planned to take. Jekka rounded the corner and immediately side-stepped over to the far wall and disappeared into the narrow path of shadows created on that side of the street by the tall buildings and afternoon sun. It was a very remote street in a rough part of town. Five shabby-looking men had just come into view. They surrounded the secretary who was thirty yards ahead of Jekka. Jekka crept soundlessly down the street towards them.
“You leave me alone or I’ll tell the authorities,” she heard the secretary saying in a distressed tone.
“Go ahead,” said the gang leader with a laugh, “but if you want to make it to their headquarters in one piece, you can hand over your money.”
“And that pretty necklace you’re wearing,” added another.
Jekka was now only a couple of dozen strides away and now stepped out of the shadows. “And if you want to make it anywhere ever again, you can turn around right now and head back to whatever rat hole you climbed out of.”
She immediately had everyone’s attention, but the person who looked the most surprised to see her was the secretary. Some of the men looked Jekka up and down uneasily, but the leader recovered from the surprise quickly.
“And what are you going to do about it? Tell us it’s wrong?” he sneered. “Well I’m sorry, I didn’t know. We’ll just be on our way then.” His gang laughed. When she didn’t respond in any way, they turned their attention back to the secretary.
“Come on, hand it over. We know you got paid today,” said the leader.
“Please don’t,” the secretary pleaded. “My aunt just moved in with me which makes five mouths to feed by myself now. I can’t find another job, and I’m trying to make ends meet with what I
have.” She had tears in her eyes.
“And why should I care? I’ve got my problems too, you know.” He took a few steps towards her.
“This doesn’t end well for you,” shouted Jekka. “I’m telling you, turn around and leave now while you still have legs to leave on.”
“Boys, take care of her,” said the leader, motioning to Jekka. One of the gang members came over and smacked Jekka across the cheek. A bit of skin-toned cream came off on his hand, revealing a few hints of black markings on her face underneath. Jekka took the blow and ignored the command to ‘be quiet.’ She lifted her head and intently focused on the gang leader who was yelling more threats at the poor secretary and acted as if she hadn’t even noticed.
“If you dare lay a hand on her, I’m not responsible for what happens,” Jekka warned. She promptly received a smack across the other side of her face. Now black smudges were showing through on both cheeks.
The leader turned towards her angrily. “Oh, you mean if I do this?” he asked, grabbing the woman roughly by the arm. Then things happened rather quickly. The woman screamed, and Jekka, who had been waiting for this moment, dodged all the other thugs to get into the middle of the group where she flattened the leader with a well-practiced takedown. He knocked his head hard on the cobblestone and lay limply on the ground. Jekka sprang back to her feet and spun around.
“Run,” she calmly instructed the secretary who took off down the street. One of the thugs ran after her while the other three turned to Jekka. Jekka dodged the first hit, and then she was grabbed around the shoulders and lifted from behind. She used the opportunity to kick out with both of her feet and send one of the men stumbling backwards. She then dropped her center of gravity and tossed the man holding her over her shoulder. She leapt forward and rolled just as the third tried to grab her arm. She was now out of the middle of them and came out of her roll running in the direction of the secretary and thug who were a hundred yards down the street. The man was closing the gap. The secretary was surprisingly fast, but she was getting tired.
Eilinland- Through the Wall Page 5