“Oh,” said Rheen. That was exactly what she didn’t want to hear.
“It’s a tough decision,” said Jekka. “I kind of figured you’d be trying to find your way out of it. Maybe you have what it takes. I wouldn’t count on it though.”
With that she left the window and situated herself on one of the top bunks. Rheen spent a little more time looking down into the partially lit street and then climbed into a bed and went to sleep.
Chapter 7
Rheen woke up early the next morning. At first she just lay in bed staring at the ceiling wondering what would happen if she actually told Jekka that she sometimes snored in her sleep. When she decided the amusement wouldn’t be worth the risk, she began to think about going for a walk. She wasn’t set on leaving the warriors permanently just yet; her resolve to do that had disintegrated at the sight of Vree yesterday and with Jekka’s response to her questions last night. But she figured going out would help clear her head, and she also wouldn’t mind running into her old friends again. As quietly as she could, she dressed and then slipped out of the door and down the hallway and stairs. The lower room of the inn was almost empty with only the innkeeper busying himself behind the counter and a handful of guests scattered around the room eating breakfast. She walked up to the counter.
“Excuse me,” she said.
The innkeeper looked up. He was an old and tired looking man. “Yes, can I help you?”
“If my friends ask where I am, can you tell them I went out for a walk? I’ll be back later in the day.”
“Certainly,” he said.
She thanked him and walked out of the door. This area of the city looked worse in the daylight than it did at night. Boarded windows, alleyways full of garbage, and evidence of vandalism that had been hidden away in the darkness were now exposed. At first, Rheen felt jumpy and kept watching the skies for sniws, but as she wove her way through the streets, her confidence grew and she started to relax. She hadn’t realized how much she missed being on her own without anyone else keeping track of her. She found herself walking up towards the northwest side of town where there was a market going on. When she was getting close, it struck her how strange it felt to be walking into market just like all of the upstanding citizens there to do business. In her travelling clothes and generally well-kept appearance, no one gave her a suspicious glance or shoved their hands in their pockets to protect their belongings as they passed her. She saw one or two familiar faces, and they didn’t even recognize her.
As she walked along, the memories came flooding back to her. She had not thought of her life in Vree very much at all for the two and a half years she was away, and the strange feeling of being here again was overwhelming. A street here, a fountain and sitting area there: every sight seemed to come through her eyes and then drop right onto her heart. Some of it made her smile, some of it made her look away and try to think of something else, but a lot of it just left her staring at the road in front of her as she walked with a puzzled expression on her face.
It was the middle of the morning now, and she was beginning to feel faint from hunger, the humidity, and the sun climbing to a high point in the sky. She still wasn’t ready to go back yet though. She walked over to some of the food stands and started talking with the people running them. When they asked if they could help her with something, she replied:
“Yes, I don’t have anything to pay you with right now, but I was wondering…” and this is where most people cut her off, either turning away and yelling to the crowd passing by, or saying something like “I’m sorry, but I have to make a living same as everyone else,” or “I can’t afford to take any more losses this month.”
After trying a few different stands, she sat on the curb, frustrated. She had sat near a fruit stand and could see the apples and pears gleaming in the sunlight. They were bright colors and perfectly shaped. She walked over to the stand and crouched to look at some apples that were stacked near the ground. She had no bag or anything to hide the fruit in, and she couldn’t very well walk away from the stand carrying one. Rheen quickly concealed one in the folds of her skirt just as the stand owner finished helping a customer and turned towards her.
“What can I do for you?” asked the woman.
“I was just looking at your apples. What is the price?”
“Five coins for three of the ones you’re looking at down there.”
“Five? What about the ones up there?”
As the woman followed Rheen’s nod to another bushel of apples at the back of the stand, Rheen stood, and the apple rolled, unnoticed, into the street. The street had been designed to drain water down the street and around the corner, so that is where the apple rolled.
“Those are even finer. I’m asking seven for three of those.”
“Alright. I’m going to look around some more. I may be back,” Rheen said, and with that she walked off casually down the sidewalk and around the corner where she snatched the rolling apple up off of the ground.
She followed that street for another block and then turned onto a side street which would take her to an area of the city where she’d spent most of her time growing up. The street looked empty, but as she came to a corner, three people stepped out in front of her.
“Finally,” said Rove. “We thought you would never get something to eat and you would faint from hunger. There was no way we were letting you out of our sight, little girl.”
“Oh,” she said. “Well, I’m glad you found me. I was hoping to see you and get the chance to catch up with you when I’m not supposed to be hunting you down in the woods.”
“We were shocked at your behavior, Rheen,” said Jess. “We followed you all the way from Wickham Street and you never saw us. And then you were asking for handouts at market and we started to wonder if it was really you. You pulled a nice one on the fruit seller though.”
“You’ve…changed,” said Kenn looking her up and down, his gaze lingering on her sword. She’d brought it along in hopes that it would help scare off any sniws Rundyl sent after her. “Where have you been all these years? And who were the people with you the other day?”
“Well, I caught a ride in a wagon going south about two and a half years ago…” she started.
“Ah, living off of the King’s men,” said Rove.
“Well yes, that was my plan, but…”
“And where did you pick up this?” asked Rove, pulling her sword out of its sheath and studying it.
“They gave it to me,” Rheen said, snatching it back and feeling annoyed at all of the questions and the fact that they kept interrupting her answers. “In case you didn’t hear earlier, I was hoping to catch up with you all. You know, hear what you have been doing and everything?”
“We’ve been busy,” said Rove. “We’ve missed having your skills though. Some of us can hardly walk across the room without tripping over our own feet,” here he shot a glance at Kenn, “but we’ve been getting by. You wouldn’t believe some of the stuff we’ve done. Now that you’re back, the sky’s the limit!”
“Well, actually…”
Rove cut her off. “Here, sit down and eat. You’re almost starved to death,” he sat next to her on the curb. “Don’t they feed you? Southerners are supposed to be really good about giving handouts and taking care of people. From what I see, I’m not impressed. You look even tinier than you were when you left.”
“Maybe you just got bigger,” said Rheen. He’d grown taller, and his chest and arms were more filled out than she remembered.
“What was it like down south?” asked Kenn. Kenn had grown taller than Rove but still hadn’t filled in at all.
She chewed slowly to allow more time to think about the question before she was required to answer. She had been hungry, bored, and lonely while she was in the City of Eilin, but she didn’t want to say so and have them assume she had come back to stay. She still wasn’t sure what she was going to do.
“It wasn’t very different from here,” she said fin
ally. “It was greener and lighter and cleaner, but the law enforcement was more rigid.”
“That’s what I’ve heard about them,” said Kenn with wide eyes. “I heard that if they catch somebody breaking the law, they either banish them or kill them on the spot.”
“Well, that’s not entirely…”
“Pretty consistent with how your ‘friends’ treated us yesterday,” said Jess. “I was scared for my life. It got really awkward when we found out you were with them.”
“Yeah, you still haven’t answered the question, Rheen,” said Rove. “Who are they, exactly?”
“They’re just some people I met a week ago. They were travelling up to Vree and I decided to come with them,” she said, not wanting to disclose too much.
Rove smiled. “Well, it’s nice to have you back.”
Rheen groaned inwardly. “It’s not like that. I’m not sure if I’m back for good yet.”
“Why?” demanded Rove.
“Because…” she trailed off. She didn’t know how to answer. The idea of Rundyl sending sniws after her would sound ridiculous to them. Telling them she felt safer with the warriors would offend them.
“Look,” said Rove. “I’m not sure what’s going on, but you don’t have to make a decision about it now, right? We were actually just making plans to go steal another horse or two after your ‘friends’ gave ours to that washed up farmer yesterday. Why don’t you come with us? You can go back later if you really need to.”
“We could use your help,” said Jess.
“Why do you need horses?” asked Rheen.
They all looked at her blankly.
“Since when do you ask questions like that?” asked Rove in an irritated and confrontational tone. “For fun, for money: it’s what we do, Rheen, in case you’ve forgotten.”
She hadn’t forgotten why they stole things. She had forgotten that the issues she used to have with Rove were a big part of the reason she’d left Vree in the first place. She shrank back a little and hurried to smooth things over.
“If it’s fun and money you’re after, I can just think of a lot more interesting and valuable things to go for,” she said.
Jess laughed. “That’s the Rheen I know! So what should we get?”
Rheen hesitated for a second then couldn’t help but tell them what came into her head next.
**********
Meanwhile, when Jekka woke up and found that Rheen was missing, she checked her luggage. Finding that nothing had been stolen, she dressed and walked downstairs to find that Aenin and Bierno were already awake and eating breakfast.
“Good morning,” said Bierno.
“Where’s Rheen?” asked Jekka.
Aenin looked up sharply and they both stared at her.
“She’s not in your room?” asked Bierno.
“No, I thought she might be down here with you, but she did talk like she was thinking of taking off last night.”
Gillio came into the room at about the same time that Davick walked through the front door.
“Rheen’s missing, have you seen her?” Jekka asked them both.
“She’s what?!” exclaimed Gillio.
“No, I haven’t,” said Davick, scrunching up his eyebrows. “How long has she been gone?”
“She wasn’t in our room when I woke up this morning,” said Jekka. “She might have just decided to leave. She’s probably fine.”
“We’ve been down here for about a half hour,” said Bierno, “so it’s been longer than that. Excuse me!” He waved over the innkeeper. “We had another young woman travelling with us; you didn’t happen to see her leave this morning, did you?”
“Yes,” he answered. “She said she was going out for a walk and would be back later today.”
Most of them breathed a sigh of relief, but Bierno and Aenin looked at each other, still a little concerned.
“Davick,” said Bierno, “I would like to meet the family of the girl that disappeared and talk with them. Jekka, you’ll come with me. Gillio and Aenin, see if you can find Rheen.”
Gillio elbowed Jekka who rolled her eyes. “So you’re not sticking me with Gillio this time?” she asked.
“Why would I do that?” asked Bierno with a smile. “That’s a terrible idea.”
**********
“It looks so weird,” said Kenn. He was crouched with Rheen, Jess, and Rove in an alley uptown and watching a servant taking her mistress’s pet for a walk. Its huge ears flopped around a set of antlers that looked quite strange on its head indeed. Although its lean body was built for speed, it hopped along at a leisurely pace next to its caretaker. Besides the antlers, it looked exactly like a huge rabbit. The tips of its antlers and ears came about to the woman’s mid-thigh.
“She takes him out to walk at this time every day,” said Jess.
“I’m glad you knew about this,” said Rheen. “I knew there were a few people on this side of town who own them, but I thought we’d have a much harder time of finding one.”
“How much do you think we’ll get for it?” asked Rove.
“I don’t know,” said Rheen. “But they’re really rare. I’d say twice as much as you’d get for a sound horse, maybe even more.”
“And don’t you think people will be suspicious if one goes missing and then we’re going around trying to sell it?” asked Rove.
“What was your plan for the horses?” asked Rheen. “How is this any different?”
“There’s a guy my uncle knows who deals in horses,” said Rove. “He takes the horses we get and sells them for us in other towns where they won’t be recognized.”
“Well, he can take this thing, too,” said Rheen.
“Yeah, that’ll work,” said Rove. “So, what’s the plan for getting it?”
Rheen thought for a second. “You all distract her; I’ll take care of getting the jackalope. Kenn, I’ll need your belt.”
“Why don’t you use your own belt?” he whined.
“It’s holding my sword. And it’s not really mine; I’m borrowing it.”
“Well, mine is holding up my pants,” he said.
“You’ll manage,” she said. “I’ll get it back to you later.”
“Just give her the belt, Kenn!” said Jess.
“Fine,” he said. He took it off and handed it to Rheen begrudgingly.
After a quick conversation to plan what they were going to say, they all went up to talk to the woman walking the jackalope. Rheen half listened as she bent down to pet the jackalope while Rove and Kenn asked the woman about directions to a house number they knew was a few blocks over. When the woman turned to motion up the street and to the right in the direction they needed to go, Rheen quickly unsnapped the leash from the animal’s harness and buckled Kenn’s belt through the ring. Feeling movement, the woman gripped the leash tightly and glanced down. Rheen had concealed her handiwork by reaching over the animal’s back and petting it on the opposite side, and in her fleeting glance, the servant didn’t notice anything was amiss. She finished giving directions and they thanked her. They walked down the street with Rheen pulling the jackalope along by her side. Jackalopes weren’t known for being very intelligent animals, so the most they could really learn was to walk nicely along on a leash and to mind their manners in the house. A dog would have noticed something was wrong, but the jackalope hopped happily along next to Rheen. It didn’t take the animal’s caretaker long to notice that she was no longer attached to her ward though, and they were only a few steps away when she looked up at them in surprise.
“Wait!” she screamed. “Stop; I can’t lose him!”
They started to run, and right before they rounded the first corner, Kenn looked back and groaned. They all looked.
“Well that’s unfortunate,” said Jess.
An officer had been within earshot and had run up to talk to the woman who was motioning in their direction.
“Come on!” said Rove and they all dashed to the next street.
The jackalope w
as excited to be running and pulled Rheen along faster and faster. They had started to think that they had lost their pursuer when they rounded a corner and Rheen ran directly into a tall, solid figure in front of her. She bounced off of him and almost fell, but Jess and Kenn caught her. She looked up. It was Aenin. Gillio was there, too. Rheen couldn’t believe her bad luck.
“Rheen!” said Gillio. “We’ve been looking all over for you.”
“Rheen, we’ve gotta keep moving,” said Rove behind her.
“What’s going on?” asked Aenin.
“It’s nothing,” said Rheen.
“That isn’t nothing,” said Gillio, pointing at the jackalope.
“He’s going to catch up,” said Jess.
“We’ll split up,” said Rheen. “You three go that way, we’ll go this way.”
“Sure,” said Rove, “if you hand over the jackalope.”
“Rove,” said Jess, “We don’t have any more time to argue about it.”
They looked to see two officers coming up the street they’d just come from. Rove reached out to take the belt from Rheen’s hand, but Aenin blocked his way while pointing down another street.
“Run,” Aenin commanded.
Rove gave him a nasty look and then took off followed by Kenn and Jess. Rheen, Gillio, and Aenin ran in the other direction. As they ran, Aenin took the belt from Rheen and hooked it on the spoke of a fence as they ran past. The jackalope pulled frantically for a second, trying to keep running with them, and then settled down when the officers reached it. One of them stopped and stayed with the animal while the other continued the pursuit.
They ran towards the center of town and passed more officers on the way that joined the chase. At this point, Rheen kept looking back over her shoulder.
“What is it?” asked Aenin.
She laughed breathlessly. “I recognize one of them and I just remembered why.”
Her comment confirmed for both Aenin and Gillio what they had started to suspect. She was from Vree.
Rheen was running out in front and led them down an alley that was blocked off. The officers came running in after them. Everyone stopped, gasping for air, and waiting for someone to make the first move. Rheen looked straight at one of the officers.
Eilinland- Through the Wall Page 8