Gillio shook his head in bewilderment. “You realize that’s not normal, right?” he asked.
“That’s fine because I’m opposed to doing things for the sake of normalcy.”
“Are you opposed to me?” asked Gillio.
“I haven’t decided yet. Now, which tower are we searching first, the right or the left?”
“Which are you least opposed to?”
“They’re just towers, Gillio,” said Jekka. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
Gillio sighed. “The right. We’ll search the right tower first.”
They didn’t find anything of significance in the right tower or the left or in any of the buildings. They met up with the others at the stables and heard a similar report.
“We did find the dungeons in the basement of one of the buildings,” said Bierno, “but it’s not the one we’re looking for. The cells weren’t laid out right, and there wasn’t an upright door leading into the room: just a trap door at the top of a ladder.”
They mounted their horses and rode back through the city feeling downcast. Davick parted ways with them before they reached the inn and headed off northwards, and the warriors continued on, stabled their horses, and then went into the inn.
It was late enough that the dinner rush had already started, and they knew from a few days of experience that the crowd wouldn’t be gone until the early hours of the morning. They had to break up to find seating and planned to reconvene up in the room Bierno, Aenin, and Gillio shared as soon as they were done eating. Thankfully, there was no sign of Charlemaine.
“Well, does anyone have anything to share?” asked Bierno when they were all gathered. He looked tired. “I’ve gone over everything in my head dozens of times, and either I’m missing something, or we have absolutely nothing to go on.”
Aenin put a hand on Bierno’s shoulder. “You’re doing the best you can. Things will fall into place when the time is right.”
“We’ve all been doing the same as you, Bierno,” said Jekka. “If one of us was missing a clue, someone else would catch it. We must really not have any at this point.”
“Unless Rheen is a clue,” said Gillio.
“You’ve said that before, Gillio,” said Jekka, “and we still don’t have any idea of how to find her, either.”
“Maybe we should all get some rest,” said Aenin. “Things tend to be clearer in the morning.”
No one was very happy about it, but Jekka went back to her room and the others went to bed. As Aenin lay with his eyes closed, he was pleased to see that the skies were clearing, allowing him to see down into some of the city streets again.
Chapter 11
Several miles east of the inn, there was a huge, decrepit mansion. If Rove’s theory about the abandoned part of the city spreading outward was correct, the area that this mansion was located in would be where the ripple effect started. All of the neighboring houses had been abandoned for nearly a hundred years. The mansion itself had been abandoned for only 86 years before some new residents had moved in recently.
On the evening that the warriors got back from looking into the jail and the fort, a man named Filen Elsley and his sniw were sitting on a platform in the basement of the mansion. They were in a huge room that took up the entire middle third of the basement. A large arena lay at their feet, and an angry bull paced inside, blood on its horns, waiting for its next contender. On the far side of the room, the grand staircase led up to the main doors of the ground floor. The room was full of dust, cigar smoke, and a noisy crowd. There were wings of the basement to the right and left, and each wing had three stories. Where the upper levels met the main room, there were balconies so that people could look out over the arena from three different vantage points.
“I’ve heard of mutiny,” Filen’s sniw said nonchalantly.
Filen looked over at him, shocked. “Who would dare challenge our place?” he asked.
“There is one in my legion,” the sniw said, “who grows in strength and cunning. He is almost as old as I. You know who I mean?”
“Davick’s sniw,” said Filen.
“You are clever. Yes. Sniws are jealous creatures. It’s a valuable trait to have, but it makes doing anything as a combined effort difficult. I’ve heard that Davick and his guardian have been plotting to overthrow us. Their plan was quite brilliant. It involved the southerners I told you about.”
“What are Davick and his sniw planning?” asked Filen. “To kill them?”
“Not merely kill them,” the sniw answered. “Not only would that be extremely difficult to do without help, but such a simple, mindless plan would not gain them enough attention to outrank us. You are familiar with the history of this estate, yes?”
“It was built by Able Norville, and he turned it into a commune after the neighborhood was abandoned, right?”
“That’s only half of it,” said the sniw. “Do you know how it ended?”
“No,” said Filen.
“Warriors came up from the south. They had a vision of one of the residents running from Able’s men out in the grounds. You see, it was a requirement for all new members to sell their worldly possessions and donate the profits to be used for the good of the group. The commune, not to mention Able Norville himself, depended financially on this process, so something had to be done to create room for more new residents after the building had reached its capacity. We understood that it was a worthy sacrifice to make, especially because death was an improvement for many of the residents we executed. Their minds were plagued by the experiences they’d been through, and they were finally relieved of it. With our help, most accepted it willingly. This particular man resisted.
“Anyway, it worked well for a while. The commune was thriving with a steady stream of newcomers when the southerners had their vision. They were in Vree a few days later, poking their noses into our business. I’d heard from one in my legion that the southerners had been in a disagreement on the way up. One in their group was beginning to question the faithfulness of his friends and the merit of their mission. We were able to secretly convince him of the truth: that his so-called friends were attempting to shut down a very useful and thriving practice. He then used his connection with them to deliver them into our hands. We should have won. They were taken by surprise because they still trusted the man. But in the end, they overpowered us. The man, Conley, fell in the fight, as did Able Norville himself. The estate soon fell to ruin after that.”
“So, what does this have to do with Davick and his sniw?” asked Filen.
“They were planning to recreate Able Norville’s plan by turning one of the southerners against the others. As you can imagine, the downfall of the commune was devastating to our overlord. It was his own brilliant plan to begin with, and he was furious that it fell. I had to handle the ordeal very carefully, and it’s only through my own cunning that I’m still alive. I was even able to get back in good graces with him over the years which was how I was allowed to attempt a different type of practice here again. Davick’s sniw hates me for it though. He wants my power. He and Davick are grabbing at the opportunity to recreate the same scenario that Able Norville failed at. If they were to succeed, they would certainly get Rundyl’s attention, and I could imagine him rewarding them by handing over our positions to them.”
“Should we get word to Rundyl?” asked Filen.
“Indeed not,” said the sniw. “In our world, mutiny and treason are rewarded. Rundyl can’t know about this.”
“How do we stop them then?”
“We already have the upper hand. We don’t need to prove anything by an elaborate plan. All we need to do is ruin theirs.”
“How do we do that?”
“They’ve picked the Vree girl to be their traitor. It is weak of them I think, because she really isn’t a southerner herself. No doubt she seemed the easiest to influence though. I say we get her out of the way now. With her dead, their plan is ruined. Then the southerners can either go home or come find us and
be destroyed. Either way, we can continue business as usual.”
“I like the sound of that,” said Filen. “Where is the Vree girl?”
“Now we come to the best part,” said the sniw. “Davick and his guardian lost her. She ran off and they both thought that the other was keeping track of her. Of course there are other sniws who have seen her, but those traitors can’t start asking around and raise our suspicions. They’ve been out looking for her for days now, and I discovered her location from one in my legion within a matter of minutes after hearing about the mutiny this afternoon. Just give the word, and I will dispatch two sniws from my legion to go take care of her.”
**********
Rheen and her friends had spent the day going back and forth between walking around the city and relaxing in their hideout. They got back from their last excursion well after dark and were now finishing up some of the food they’d collected.
“Got something on your mind, Rheen?” asked Rove. Rheen had been quiet throughout the day as she continued to weigh her decisions against each other, and Rove had gotten more and more insistent on getting information out of her. This was by far the most direct he’d been though.
“Maybe I don’t want to talk about it,” Rheen snapped. She could feel her pulse start to pound in her head and her muscles tighten, but she was getting tired of him badgering her.
“You just want to think about it some more? Is that it?” he asked. He removed his arm from where it had been resting on the couch back behind her and sat up straight. “You want to think about it and then run off without telling us again?”
“Hey, just like old times,” said Jess halfheartedly. “I forgot how you two used to go at it.”
Rove ignored her and stood as he shouted down at Rheen who was still sitting on the couch. “This used to be fun, remember? Now you just hang back like your mind is somewhere else and make us feel judged whenever we steal something.”
“I have noticed that,” added Jess. Kenn had retreated to the other side of the basement.
“We took care of you for years,” Rove continued. “We had your back in a million situations and now we have to compete with these southerners? What have they done that makes them so special? Why is this such a hard decision?”
“Wait, I thought you were back for good,” said Jess, turning to Rheen.
Rheen looked down at her hands and wished Rove wasn’t so good at reading her thoughts. “No, he’s right,” she said. “I’m not sure if I can stay.”
“I knew it!” said Rove, throwing up his hands and pacing a few steps away. “Let me narrow your decisions down for you: either tell us what’s going on or leave. If you’re going to stay here, you owe us an explanation.”
“I don’t owe you anything!” snapped Rheen, standing and finally looking him in the face. “All you’ve done is control me and manipulate me for years!”
Rove looked back at her in surprise. She’d never stood up to him like this before.
“You want to know what happened?” she shouted, her heart racing. “I found out what it feels like to have people who will really be there for me no matter what. You’ve only ever wanted me around for what I could do for you. That’s why you brought me here in the first place, isn’t it? I was playing that game with my friends and you said…”
“I remember,” shouted Rove, recovering from his shock and taking a few steps towards her. “I remember you were so scared of what was going to happen when you aged out, and I gave you a place to go and somewhere to belong.”
“What if I wasn’t quick on my feet?” asked Rheen, slapping away the hot tears on her cheeks. “What if I was slow and clumsy? Would you still have cared?”
“You think those southerners are any better?” Rove asked. “Everybody’s got their own best interest in mind, I assure you.”
“They don’t though,” said Rheen defensively, taking a step back. “I’ve been nothing but a burden to them since we met and they’ve never made me feel like I owe them anything.”
“You think that’s going to last?” Rove demanded, moving towards her. “You don’t think there’s going to be expectations to live up to and commitments you’re going to have to make if you go back? You don’t think they’re just treating you so well to make themselves look good?”
He’d moved so close that he was now towering over her. It was intimidating, and she couldn’t help but think that Gillio was taller than him and had never made her feel this way.
“I don’t know,” she choked out. “But even if you’re right about them, at least they’re selfishly being kind which is more than you’ve ever done.”
“If that’s what you think of me, why don’t you just leave?” yelled Rove. He grabbed her by the arm and tossed her over towards the door. Rheen fell to her hands and knees and then scrambled towards the door as Rove strode towards her.
“Rove!” snapped Jess, but he ignored her.
Rheen yanked the door open and was just about to step through when she felt Rove’s hands on her back. He shoved her forward, hard, sending her sprawling out on the stone stairs outside, and then he slammed the door shut behind her. Rheen stood slowly, wincing at the pain that shot through all of her limbs where they had been bruised and scraped on the stairs. Limping, she made her way up the stairs and out onto the street. This wasn’t the first time Rove had thrown her out. When this had happened before, she would go for a walk, and then everything would be back to normal by the time she got back. It was different now though. Now she had somewhere else she could go. She kicked a stone along the sidewalk and then sat down, cradling her scratched arm against her stomach. She’d only just put her green travelling dress back on that evening after it had dried out from the rain. Now the sleeve was torn and it was getting stained with blood.
“Toadstools,” she exclaimed.
More tears came as she thought over the argument and wondered for the thousandth time that week what she should do. Rove had iterated her fears perfectly when he’d talked about the warriors having selfish motivations for treating her so well. She’d surprised herself with her own response.
“Even if you’re right about them, at least they’re selfishly being kind which is more than you’ve ever done,” her own voice echoed in her brain.
“But what if they stop?” she asked herself. “Even Rove was a lot nicer to begin with.”
The arguments she’d made muddied as the frenzy of the fight wore off, and she finally gave in to the exhaustion of trying to figure everything out. She leaned back against a cold, stone wall and closed her eyes.
**********
Some of the last clouds had cleared, and now Aenin had a full view of the city. He lay in his bed with his eyes closed, enjoying the view and systematically scanning the streets for any hint of a clue for their mission. Light streamed through the windows of houses and businesses, and the lamps that lit up the street reflected a shimmering light on the river that ran through the center of the city. Every so often he could define shapes milling about the street or a horse and cart roll through a pool of light. Then something caught his eye. With his eyebrows knit in concentration, he focused in on a figure sitting against a wall in the northeast part of the city. The dark green dress looked familiar. He looked over the edge of the bed at Gillio who was sleeping below him.
“Gillio,” he whispered.
Gillio didn’t stir. Aenin jumped down and put his hand over Gillio’s mouth. Gillio jolted awake, but Aenin’s hand kept him from crying out.
When Gillio saw that it was Aenin, he slumped back down onto his pillow.
“What is it?” he groaned when Aenin lifted his hand.
Aenin looked over at Bierno who was sleeping in the bed on the other side of the small room.
“I might have found Rheen,” Aenin whispered.
Gillio’s eyes sprang open. After staring at Aenin for a moment while his brain caught up with him, he leapt out of bed and started getting ready to leave.
“Bierno’s had a ro
ugh few days,” said Aenin in a low voice. “I would hate for this to turn out to be another disappointment if I’m wrong.”
“And Jekka would probably just find some reason to keep us from going,” whispered Gillio.
They tip-toed to the door and swung it open. There were no creaks or groans and they pulled it closed behind them with a faint ‘click’ of the latch. They made their way quietly down the hall and were just about to pass Jekka’s door when Gillio tripped on a fold in the rug that ran from one end of the hall to the other. He stopped his fall with a clamor, and Jekka was at the door a moment later, dagger in hand. Her normally immaculate hair was in every direction, and now that she wasn’t sharing a room with Rheen, she’d cleaned her face and hands which revealed complete, intricate patterns of black stripes. When she saw it was only Gillio and Aenin, she relaxed and gave them a puzzled look.
“I can tell you’re escaping, but I can’t imagine what from,” she said.
“We’re escaping from the comments and obstructions that could come from certain comrades that would discourage us from venturing out to do something chivalrous,” Gillio stated profoundly. “To put it simply, we’re escaping from you.”
Jekka narrowed her eyes and looked up and down the hall.
“And doing a marvelous job of it, I might add,” she said. “What are you planning?”
Aenin and Gillio exchanged a glance which decided to let Jekka in on the secret.
“I think I know where Rheen is,” whispered Aenin. “We decided to let Bierno sleep this one out since he’s had a rough few days.”
“What if Rheen doesn’t want rescuing?” asked Jekka. She whispered now as well and threw a quick glance towards Bierno’s closed door. “She can always come back here herself if she wants to.”
“See?” Gillio said to Aenin. “I figured she’d say something like that.”
Jekka rolled her eyes. She didn’t feel like their expedition was necessary, but she also didn’t like being known for shutting down adventures and hated being predictable.
Eilinland- Through the Wall Page 12