Guardians of Evil

by C. R. Daems

  Tali left her shoulder and fluttered back into place after a moment. “I can repair him enough for him to be able to ride with Emmund, but he will still hurt. I don’t have enough energy left to heal him all the way.”

  “Can you keep him unconscious? Then we can put him in the coach and you can work on him while we travel.”

  “I can do that.” Tali left again and returned only minutes later. “He is asleep and won’t wake until I undo what I did.”

  “He’ll stay asleep,” she told Emmund. “Put him in the coach and the First Ones will heal him. He’ll be well enough to travel.”

  Emmund stood up, wiping back hair that dripped with sweat. “How long will it take?” he asked.

  “A couple of hours.”

  He nodded, lifted Brom over one shoulder with a tired grunt and carried him to the coach. They laid Brom on the one seat, partially curled up while Emmund got into the driver seat and steered them back onto the road. Tali and her circle worked on Brom for the next two hours.

  “That is all I can do, Liada. I’m nearly out of energy. He will be well enough to walk although he will still be in some pain. He will heal on his own within a week or so.”

  “Thank you, Tali. Rest now,” Liada said as she tied a knot in her tunic and laid Tali in the pocket it made. Then she leaned her head against Zeph and dropped off.

  When Emmund opened the door, he had a mask on. He lifted Brom and carried him part way in the trees then returned.

  “Can one of your friends wake him?” Emmund asked. Liada nodded. “Good, Zeph take the coach up the road a mile or so and wait for me.” Zeph got into the driver’s seat and Liada in the coach.

  “Are you well enough to wake Brom?” she asked Tali.

  “Yes, I have enough energy to do that. The rest has helped.” Tali left her hand.

  Zeph and she waited for what seemed like hours, but she knew it had been much less. Emmund stepped out of the trees without the mask.

  “What happened to Brom,” Zeph asked.

  She gave Emmund an anxious look. Tali had spent a lot of energy repairing Brom. Emmund had a tendency to eliminate problems, and Brom was a potential problem.

  “I left him at a safe house. Once he’s strong enough, they’ll take him up into the mountains to one of the tribes who live there. They hate the priests. Sechael and the priests will look for him in Llunris or Hawks Point. He’ll be safe until the problem with the priests is solved. He said to thank whoever had tended to his injuries.” With that, Emmund climbed back into the driver seat, and they continued their trip into Llunris.

  A halfday later, the forest ended and the town of Llunris came into view. It was a coastal town like Hawks Point but much smaller and spread out in a line along the sparkling coast. They clattered onto Market Street and to Liada’s joy, Emmund stopped at the entrance to the market. He hopped down off the coach and opened the door.

  “Wander the market for a few hours. I’ll be back for you after I’ve made arrangements.”

  “You’ve made Liada a very happy girl,” Zeph said and smiled at her.

  “Yes, take your time. Zeph and I are in no rush.” It was her turn to smile. “Roll up your sleeves, Zeph. Gorlacks love to show off their tatts.” The Llunris market wasn’t as big as the one in Osshaft and Breeze Point and seemed to be part of the port and fishing operation. The shoppers were all Gorlacks and more informally dressed than in Hawks Point.

  Liada wandered around with Zeph following. She was listening to people talk with Aliy giving a running translation. She knew many of the words and was learning new ones that she whispered to Zeph. The real advantage was that she got to hear the way sentences were constructed. The words were in a different order than she was used to. Sometimes the noun was part of the verb’s ending. After several hours of listening, she felt better about being able to carry on a simple conversation. Zeph just stood around pretending to look at the merchandise and gave short one and two word responses to questions directed at him. When that didn’t work, he lapsed into Butash saying it was for practice as he was going to Sporish in a month.

  Emmund found them several hours later.

  “I have you rooms at the Blue Sail Inn. Zeph, I’ve gotten you a job as an assistant delivering fish for Wilmor’s fish house. Liada, I’ve gotten you a job with Mistress Cammlo, helping her cook fish at her stand in the market. You don’t start work until tomorrow, but you should go over and introduce yourselves now.”

  Chapter 15

  Gorlack: Llunris

  The market was busy but small compared to the other markets she knew, and she’d been able to see most of it in the three hours they’d wandered around.

  “It would be nice to know when he arrives in Llunris,” Emmund said.

  Liada knew he was talking about Sechael and wanted one of the First Ones to keep watch on the road from Hawks Point. He was being careful since there were shoppers strolling close to them.

  “Yes, I’m sure Kaim would like to know,” Liada said. No matter who was listening, it wouldn’t be of interest.

  “I will keep watch,” Kaim said and Liada felt his wings brush her cheek as he left. Emmund had already slipped away into the crowd.

  It took only a few minutes to find the wooden stand shaded by a bright yellow canvas awning. Pots of hot grease smoked over lit braziers. The woman had no customers, although two men were standing in front of the counter, looking.

  “Mistress Cammlo, I’m Jatia. I understand I’m to be your helper for a while,” she said in Gorlack. Aliy didn’t correct her so she thought it was probably pretty good.

  “Can you fillet fish?” the woman asked without looking up. “I have no time to teach you. I need a helper, not an apprentice.” She didn’t turn as she spoke. The men pointed to the fish they decided on, and she wrapped it up.

  “Yes, Mam.” Linda was glad for her experience in Sporish and Breeze Point.

  “Be here before noon tomorrow, and we’ll see,” she said, dismissing her.

  Liada wandered around the market some more before making her way back to the Inn. The dining room was old and longer than wide, and its chairs and table rustic and sturdy. Zeph was already sitting at a little table in the corner. They ate a leisurely dinner and decided to retire early. Liada could hardly keep her eyes open.

  * * * *

  The next morning, Liada met Zeph in the dining room for an early breakfast.

  “Not very exciting work,” Zeph said between bites of cheese and bread.

  “No. But somehow I doubt we’ll be in Llunris very long.”

  They finished and walked together to the market. Liada wandered as Zeph headed to the dock area. She watched the shoppers and listened in on every conversation she could. She felt sure she could carry on a reasonable conversation even without Aliy’s help. Before noon, she made her way to Cammlo’s stand. The smell of fish and hot oil made Liada want to hold her nose, but she knew in a few minutes she wouldn’t notice it any more.

  “Morning, Mistress.”

  Cammlo picked up a large fish and flopped it on the table behind her as she continued getting the stand ready for business. Liada picked up a long thin knife and proceeded to cut off the head, tail, and fins, run the blade through its stomach to remove the innards. That done, she scraped the knife from tail to head, removing the scales before cutting into its back and filleting the fish meat from the bones. When she was done, two large pieces of meat lay on the table. Liada knew Cammlo had been watching her while she was getting the stand ready to open.

  “Good,” she said, picking up the filleted meat, dipped it into a bowl with some kind of batter, and placed it into a pot of hot grease. The grease popped and spattered. Several minutes later, she removed the meat and placed it on the table ready for sale.

  “As the table begins to get empty, fillet another fish, dip in the batter, and cook,” Cammlo said. Her first customer arrived and she turned away. Linda spent the next few hours filleting and cooking fish. When Cammlo closed that night, she
gave Liada four coppers.

  “You’ll do. Better than I expected,” she said as she closed the stand for the day. “See you tomorrow around noon.”

  Not big on talking to the help.

  Liada chuckled to herself as she watched the woman walk away. She’d had a piece of the fried fish while working, and somewhat to her surprise, it tasted delicious.

  It was a short walk back to the Inn, which was located at the intersection of Moor and Edgewater Streets. Liada would have liked to spend more time at the market, but it seemed everyone was closing up for the night. At the Inn, she found Zeph alone in the empty dining room, eating.

  “How did it go?” she asked as she took a seat opposite him. Zeph took a sip of redberry juice before he answered.

  “Boring, but I got a good look at the town. There are seven Inns and about fifty fancy homes along Temple Way near to the Roganista Temple. And, I smell of fish. So do you.” Zeph laughed while holding his nose.

  Liada grinned. She felt Kaim land on her shoulder.

  “I wonder where Emmund is?” Liada said.

  “Probably sitting in one of our rooms waiting for us.”

  “You’re finished, so let’s go see.”

  Sure enough, Emmund was in Liada’s room. He was sitting in the only chair, his legs stretched out in front of him and his eyes half-closed.

  “Do we know anything about Sechael yet?”

  “Kaim?” Liada asked.

  Kaim spoke up so they could all hear his bubbly voice. “Sechael arrived early this morning. He didn’t have his Quag with him so I followed. He went straight to the Temple. I waited. He left with a young priest about an hour later and went to a house. He talked to the owner, a woman named Erisbeth. She had gold and yet another list ready. He was furious that he lost Brom and his Quag.”

  “How did he lose his Quag,” Liada asked. “I thought it had just exhausted its energy. You said it would only take a day or so to regain it.”

  “When we exhaust all of our energy, we are visible and vulnerable. Sometimes we can’t recover. We have our circles to help. The Quag doesn’t.”

  “Did you learn anything else?” Emmund said.

  “Yes. Sechael told the temple that there are First Ones in the city, and he wants a search until they are found. Sechael gave the young priest half the bag of gold and left. Later, a man showed up. Sechael gave him gold, the list, and told him to be prepared to start at a moments notice when he heard the code word Firequag. I followed the man to Short Street—a poor neighborhood.” Kaim’s wings tickled her ear as he talked.

  “I guess that means that the First Ones aren’t going to be able to do anything while the search is on,” Emmund said. “That they have a list shows that people in Llunris are being targeted just like in Ostono and Sporish. They’ll be murdered and somehow it’ll be blamed on the First Ones. That’ll allow the priests to seize power.”

  “Scary?” Zeph said. “What would they do—to the people who resist? And to Liada and me? Our families?”

  Emmund looked worried for a change, his brow wrinkled with thought. “What’s scary is we don’t know how to stop it. We can’t prove their plans and can’t openly attack them.” He clicked his tongue on his teeth. “I’ll see what I can find about this man on Short Street.” He slipped out without another word.

  “Goodbye to you, too,” Liada said to the closed door.

  “I guess it’s better for your friends to stay hidden until the search is over.” Zeph said, rising to leave. “I’ve got to get up early. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “For now I need to figure out how to protect our friends,” Liada said to the empty room. “How do I do that?”

  “We can reduce the trace we leave but not totally eliminate it. If they start searching the houses...” Tali said. Liada could feel Tali sitting on her lap and Aliy and Kaim on her shoulders. She was scared and her mind raced as she tried to think of a plan. Liada shook her head.

  “I don’t know. Must be some way.” She frowned. The thought of losing one or all of her friends made her heart beat faster, sweat formed on her forehead, and she had to resist the impulse to run away—but where? Run? Running took energy. No movement, no energy, no trail.

  “What if you didn’t move?” Liada asked.

  “If we didn’t move, we would emit no trail; however, we could be seen if someone looked where we were hiding,” Aliy said. The other two agreed.

  “What if I made a sling to carry you, and you didn’t move?”

  “That would make it very difficult to find us, unless someone searched you with a Quag watching.”

  “Then if you’re willing, that’s what we’ll do.”

  Liada spent the next hour making a sling that went over one shoulder between her small breasts, under the other arm, and back to the shoulder. The three First Ones each found a place in the front. Initially she could feel them moving around, each finding a comfortable position. When all movement stopped, Liada almost panicked until she realized they had ceased all activity to minimize emitting energy. With a sigh of relief, she soon fell asleep.

  * * * *

  Liada was up early and put on her loosest clothes. Even though the First Ones were invisible, they did make her clothes bulge, and she looked rather fat. Liada had to laugh.

  All she could manage to do was nibble on a piece of bread before wandering to her favorite place. The First Ones didn’t move as she strolled into Market Street. The priests were everywhere. Both senior priests with their Quag and junior priests knocked on doors demanding access for the Quag. She gulped hard and forced herself not to run. That would just call attention to her.

  “Good morn, Honorable One,” she said as she passed a senior priest. His Quag flew into a house as she curtsied. He ignored her after a cursory look. She hid a smile. The priests had no reason to suspect her, and her trick to hide the energy trails was working.

  Even at the market, the priests were stopping at every vendor as she made her way to Cammlo’s stand.

  “Good morn, Mam,” Liada said as she walked behind the counter and put on her apron, ready to begin work. She decided to keep it loosely tied to help hide her rather bulgy shape.

  “Damn priests. They’ll scare away customers from the market with all their nonsense. I’ll bet the First Ones don’t even exist.” She scowled, her brows forming a bar across her forehead. “If they do, they don’t want anything to do with humans.” Cammlo slammed her fist on the counter. “If it weren’t for their Quag, we’d have thrown them in the sea long ago. We may just do that, Quag or no Quag.”

  Liada decided to keep quiet. Cammlo wasn’t talking to her, just letting off steam.

  As Cammlo had predicted, the day was slow. It seemed like the only people at the market had to come for something or other. Priests and Quags were everywhere. Cammlo decided to close up early. Because there were few people in the market, Liada decided to return to the Inn. As she walked up Market Street, streams of people passed her headed towards the Temple.

  After she watched them for a minute, she followed along out of curiosity. It seemed like a good idea to find out what was going on. A few people were coming out but most were going in along with priests. She couldn’t really turn around without drawing attention to herself so she paid her two coppers to the priest at the entrance and went in.

  The Temple was similar to the one in Osshaft except smaller. There was a decent-sized crowd in the temple, all seated in the middle. Liada joined them, working her way into the middle behind a tall man who would keep her out of sight of the priests. Priests kept coming and going, each reporting to Sechael who had a senior Priest’s robe on. Even the senior priests bowed to him. Then she saw why.

  Sechael had gold trim on his robe—not silver. He was the High Priest of the Roganista.

  She was sitting with three First Ones in the temple with the High Priest and senior priests with their Quags running in and out, and they were all looking for her and her friends. She strained to hear what they wer
e saying over the low murmur of the crowd. Ironically, they didn’t appear to be trying to hide what they were saying. She managed to catch snatches of what they said.

  “No, High Priest… We haven’t found them yet… We searched Market Street and are starting… No one has refused us… Some are complaining…” After a while, Sechael moved closer to the muttering crowd and raised a hand for silence.

  “Today you see the need for the Roganista Priests. The Quag have informed us that there are First Ones scouting the town. If we don’t find them, the rest will descend upon us and destroy our homes, friends, sons, and daughters. You and your friends must cooperate with the priests. You must be on alert for suspicious behavior because someone is supporting the First Ones.” He paused and pointed in her direction. “You.”

  She turned her head like everyone else, looking for whomever he was pointing to even though it had to be her. Sechael strode towards her and the crowd split into two halves to let him pass. She looked around and was getting ready to step to the side like everyone else when he grabbed her upper arm. Another priest had accompanied Sechael and stood next to him.

  “I know you,” Sechael said.

  “Da Sasah Et Ha Laeela,” she replied and bowed her head.

  “What did she say,” he asked the other priest.

  “Honorable One, how may I serve you,” the priest answered.

  “Is she really a Gorlack?” he asked. “She looks like a young woman I saw in Ostono.”

  The priest picked up her arm and bent to look closely at the tatts. “Her name is Jatia and she is from a mountain tribe. She is unmarried.”

  Sechael spat on his hand, and rubbed the tatts hard. He left a red mark on her arm but when they stayed, he quit.

  “They are real, High One. And they are well done. No one could fake them.”

  Sechael gave her a hard look, his lips pressed into a thin line. “Can you speak Butash?”

  “Maas Hien Lhah?”

  “What did she say?”

  “She said she only knew a little.”

  “Who are you?” Sechael asked. He was staring at her hard and his grip tightened on her arm so it hurt.