Escana

by J. R. Karlsson

  'What are you?' Solomon asked, he was breathing heavily and had a fist full of his shirt.

  Jakob looked him directly in the eyes, he felt no fear in doing so. 'The cart needed lifted, so I lifted it.'

  This matter-of-fact statement only seemed to enrage Solomon more. 'You come in here from the city and you lift the whole fucking cart by yourself? Seven men couldn't move that thing but you do it on your own. Are you going to give me some shit about all city men being as strong as you?'

  Jakob shook his head, his head too dazed to manage anger. 'You're right, no city man I've ever seen can do that. I just saw that the cart had tipped over and that it needed to be moved.'

  Solomon shoved him up against it now, he thought he felt a splinter prick his back. 'What makes you so strong in the first place?'

  Another voice cut in nervously. 'Maybe we shouldn't be antagonising him, after all if he's as strong as he looks...'

  Solomon glared at the other man. 'Shut up you, I'll do the talking here.'

  Jakob responded in what he hoped was his most calming tone. 'I honestly don't know, this has never happened to me before. Can you please let me go now?'

  The grip on his shirt didn't loosen any, he saw Ella to Solomon's right, staring at him in quiet contemplation.

  'Why should I let the likes of you go? What if you're some kind of demon?'

  It was Harvester who finally broke it up. 'Fucking hell boy, don't act so spooked. If it were a demon it'd be doing nastier things than saving my legs, don't you think?'

  Solomon finally loosened his grip, all the while he kept a distrustful eye on Jakob, as if expecting him to burst into flames and smoke. 'I'm watching you, you hear me?'

  Harvester beckoned him over to the cart where he was now sat, waving away the ministrations of a makeshift physician. Solomon stalked off with a silent Ella in tow, Jakob watched her leave with some regret.

  'Don't mind him boy, he's a superstitious sort. You have him spooked is all, he didn't mean to get angry with you.'

  Jakob found that hard to believe.

  The big farmer tested his leg experimentally and winced. 'Well, it was fucked before and it's just as fucked now, seems like you saved me an amputation anyway.'

  He nodded, not knowing what to say to the man.

  'I was going to wait until tomorrow to see what a city boy could do out in the fields but it seems you've proved your worth to me already. I see you found the place easily enough anyway, you can come back tomorrow morning and the job's as good as yours.'

  Jakob felt a surge in his chest that he couldn't quite explain, it certainly wasn't the prospect of doing slave labour for a pittance. He had nowhere to live either so the stability he'd been craving wasn't there either. Was this another guiding post leading him along a predestined path?

  He found himself at a loss then, picking his way through the fields, eventually sitting on what looked like an abandoned wooden wheel.

  He puzzled over his new-found strength for a time, yet finding no answers from his own musings brought nothing but frustration. The day crept onward at a monotonous pace, he had nowhere to go and nothing to do but wait. The temptation to seek out Ella and divine her place in the proceedings was one that he stifled with less guilt than before. He spent a long time with those thoughts, watching the sun start to sink into the evening sky.

  7

  Jakob

  He finally decided to make his way back to the inn, trying his best to avoid both the dogs and his father in the process. The light was fading in earnest when he made it to the Chipped Flagon. The noise pouring out of the open door indicated that it was much busier than the morning.

  It was probably as close to the bustle of the city that Jakob had seen since arriving at Escana, a multitude of sweaty bodies milling about and an endless buzzing of conversation that stole the air from the room. He didn't recognise anyone at the bar and stopped in his tracks, uncertain of where to find Jimmy.

  'Jakob my boy!' Garth called from one of the tables. 'You look like a lost lamb, what's the matter?'

  He made his way over to the smith and declined the seat that was pushed over to him by the man's leg. 'I'm looking for Jimmy, have you seen him?'

  Garth nodded. 'He's upstairs in the Golden Rat, why don't you take a seat and wait for him?'

  Given that Jakob had no idea what a Golden Rat was or where it was located, he was hard pressed to excuse himself and begrudgingly sunk into the chair. He knew he should start making small talk with the man but he couldn't bring himself to find any words, the big smith didn't seem too put-off by this.

  'Business is bad,' Garth finally muttered into his drink.

  Jakob didn't know if he was expecting a response or not. 'What's wrong with your business? Are there no customers?'

  He gave a wheezy chuckle to that, eyes still firmly fixed on his flagon. 'Nothing wrong with the number of folks in Escana, it's elsewhere that's the problem.'

  Jakob opened his mouth to ask why but found Garth waving his hand at him.

  'It doesn't matter, it's just me complaining to myself.' The smith leaned forward then, taking a good look at him. 'You look just like your Dad, you know that?'

  Thom. The Warden. Not Dad. 'I've been told that, yes.' Jakob looked over his shoulder. 'He's not here, is he?'

  Garth shook his head, mistaking Jakob's apprehension. 'Nah, he'll be back tomorrow, nasty little border dispute he's gone to settle overnight.'

  Jakob sighed in relief, not caring if Garth noticed.

  'You alright kid? You seem a little on edge.'

  Jakob waved it away in what he hoped was a fine imitation of the smith's own gesture. 'I'm fine, I've just had a long day.'

  It seemed to be enough to stop him asking any more questions, he had very little to say to the man and even less inclination to do so given his friendship with the Warden.

  He declined Garth's offer to buy him a drink and they sat in silence for some time, occasionally he would spot Garth taking a look at him as if trying to see through him. It was clear the man knew nothing about the estrangement of his father.

  It was an unexpected relief when he spotted Jimmy coming down the stairs. Trying to hide any signs of it, he quickly bid farewell to Garth and walked over to greet the boy.

  He was wearing what must have been considered finery for someone of his position and earnings, some kind of red jacket that was of a style unfamiliar to him that matched his freshly cleaned shirt and trousers.

  'Well we can't have you looking like that, can we?' Jimmy said, staring up and down at him and making Jakob painfully aware that he was coated in dust and mud from the days exertions.

  'I'm just back from Harvester's plantation, I didn't have time to change.' Jakob decided to omit mentioning that he'd only been left with the shirt on his back.

  Jimmy shrugged. 'You look about my size, I'm sure I could lend you spares if you take care of them.' He pointed at a bit of hedge that had stubbornly clung on to Jakob's trousers.

  The memory hit Jakob and with equal speed it receded. He had been running through hedges and had snagged some of it on his trousers. No, not these trousers. Jeans. The word seemed alien to his own mind.

  Much like his time at the waterfall, he came out of his own thoughts to find that his feet had autonomously guided him to where he needed to be. Jimmy was rummaging through a pile of clothes, tossing a series of shirts and trousers aside in disdain. He finally seemed to settle and Jakob had to admit that his taste in clothing was acceptable.

  Now that he had been suitably attired for the party, they made their way back down to the main floor of the inn. Picking his way through the crowd, Jakob followed Jimmy to a door behind the bar that led out to the exterior.

  Jimmy eased himself onto a small bench, clasping his hands behind his head and letting out a contented sigh. Jakob joined him unprompted, waiting for the inevitable chatter.

  'So why were you out at Harvester's so early today?'

  Jakob shrugged. 'Your father refuse
d to give me work so Harvester offered some instead, you could say I was out on business.'

  Jimmy turned his head to him, somewhat confused. 'He didn't offer you the job then? He said you were a certainty to Thom, what changed his mind?'

  Jakob tried not to wince at the mention of his father, focusing instead on the question. 'I believe that Ella told him about my rather poor joke.'

  This brought a sigh from the young man. 'You still never told me what it was you said to her.'

  He stared off into middle distance, reluctance building in him. 'It's not important.'

  Jimmy chuckled, it was an unexpected sound considering the uncharacteristic seriousness of his question. 'You're a terrible liar. You realise that, don't you?'

  A twinge of annoyance shot through Jakob, he didn't like derision of any sort, even in this jocular tone. 'I just don't see what business it is of yours what I said to her, maybe you should ask her.'

  The smile faded from Jimmy's face as he met Jakob's eyes. 'I'm asking you. I hoped I'd been accommodating enough to merit an answer.'

  Jakob took in a deep breath. 'Fine. I told her that if she wanted to wake up with her clothes on she should try going to sleep in them more often.'

  He expected Jimmy to burst into a gale of laughter, it sounded so ridiculous and petty when he finally spelt out her reasons for sabotaging his potential job at the Chipped Flagon.

  Jimmy wasn't laughing, he sat in thoughtful silence as if Jakob had given him a conundrum to puzzle over.

  'It's harder for you I guess,' Jimmy finally said, rising from the bench. 'You're the new boy from the city and you don't know the people here. Ella doesn't make friends easily, you have to be very careful with what you say around her.'

  Jakob shrugged. 'She didn't need to take the issue up with Gooseman.' His temper started to rise as he spoke the man's name.

  Jimmy raised his hands, clearly seeing the look on Jakob's face and not wanting any conflict. 'Just hear me out before you rant and rave at me, okay? If you had got the position, Ella would have resigned. If Ella resigned, Harvester would take it up with Gooseman which would be very bad for business indeed. My father was just doing what was best for the inn.'

  Jakob frowned, unconvinced by the explanation. 'What does Harvester have to do with all this?'

  Jimmy cocked an eyebrow at him, that wasn't the question he was expecting. 'Ella's father would think she had been mistreated if she were to stop working at the Flagon.'

  It dawned on him, Harvester was Ella's father.

  'You didn't know,' Jimmy said. It was more a statement than a question.

  Jakob shook his head.

  'You're going to go to work for a man fiercely protective over his only daughter and you've managed to upset her before you've even started.'

  He rebounded at that, he wasn't going to let Jimmy lecture him like this. 'How was I meant to know that she was his daughter? How was I meant to know any of this? I'm the new boy from the city, remember?' His head began to ache at the various implications. He was supposed to be saving an Empire, not dabbling in gossip, for some inexplicable reason the gossip felt important.

  Jimmy sighed. 'I'll speak to her, see if I can make her understand your side. No promises.'

  He really shouldn't have cared at that point, this Ella girl was nothing to him. Yet he felt oddly drawn toward her, was he mistaking attraction for one of the threads that the stranger spoke of? He needed more time to separate the feeling of potential prophecy from that of his own reactions.

  He found Jimmy's hand on his shoulder, patting him in a comradely gesture. 'Let's not worry about that tonight, you and I shall go out and have fun and get you acquainted with the locals. We can't have you being the city boy forever.'

  Jakob didn't feel enthused about it but he didn't see any other direction he could be headed. He followed Jimmy back through the inn in the direction of Harvester's plantation again.

  It was an uneventful walk, Jimmy explained that he had tried to wrangle a carriage out of Gooseman but that he wasn't biting. He then detailed how his previous attempts to steal the carriage may have influenced the decision.

  Jakob listened to him chatter on about Escana and various people that would probably be at the plantation and how it was the biggest event at the hamlet each year. None of the names or places evoked anything within Jakob and he found himself tuning Jimmy out into a lively if irritating buzz.

  The previous distrust that Harvester had shown during the day seemed to have disappeared with the setting of the sun, probably due to the safety in numbers approach to such a gathering. The large gate had been flung open and the dogs were conspicuous in their absence, not that Jakob minded at all.

  Large, expensive-looking lamps mounted on wooden stakes planted in the soil lit the way up the path towards the homestead and bathed the surrounding fields in a warm glow. As they grew closer the familiar signs of life filtered through the air to greet them. It almost felt like they had come full circle somehow and were returning to the Chipped Flagon again.

  As they entered the large converted barn Jakob could already notice the difference in the atmosphere. There was a great joviality in the air, all of the days labours were completed and everyone was welcoming the spectacle and diversion.

  A large barn door that had previously comprised the far wall of the room he had breakfast in had been opened up to a field behind it, beyond it stood a pavilion that must have been erected after Jakob's departure. Harvester sat at a long table with a tankard of ale in his hand, chatting to a grizzled looking farmer about local matters in a loud voice. He was surrounded by farmhands and what Jakob assumed was his extended family, all of them tucking into a fine spread on the table.

  The entire pavilion was full of provender and people chatting and laughing between mouthfuls, others were crowded around open kegs making even more noise.

  Jakob wasn't a big fan of noise or social gatherings, people were unpredictable at best and large crowds made him nervous. Still, he was here to mingle, or at least that's what he'd been forced into at the behest of Jimmy. It was another case of feeling like this was the right thing to do without knowing why.

  The night dragged on from that point, it was a dull repetition of meeting and greeting various people that Jimmy knew. This was punctuated by bouts of eating, which Jakob certainly didn't mind as it broke up conversation and gave him a brief respite. He had to take meals where he could given his circumstances and the fare on display proved to be excellent.

  He gradually settled into the routine as the hours rolled in, he wasn't sure if it was Jimmy's expert navigation or his own instincts but he managed to avoid both Ella and Solomon. Unfortunately he failed to escape the attentions of another unwanted guest.

  Gooseman strode up to them with a smile on his face, entirely unconcerned and acting as if the morning hadn't happened. 'Why hello there lads, enjoying the kegs are we?' He patted the side of the barrel, his cheeks flushed with drink.

  Jimmy groaned audibly, clearly this wasn't an isolated incident. Jakob felt the same feeling of hatred mingled with disgust at having to deal with this ugly little man again.

  'Are you sure you haven't had enough to drink, father?' Jimmy said, though from the sounds of things it was an entirely fruitless question.

  'Enough to drink?' Gooseman shoved his flagon under the tap with a grin. 'Of course I haven't had enough boy, I can still remember where I've been!' he belted out the last bit so that everyone could hear and received a round of cheers.

  It had happened so quickly that Jakob barely caught it, he wasn't sure if it had happened at all. For the briefest moment Gooseman's face seemed to flicker from jest to something else. He wasn't entirely sure what but his anger spiked wildly at having seen it. He felt a sharp pain in the palm of his hands and found that his nails were digging into his skin, he looked at them for a moment, anything to take his mind off this repulsive creature.

  Jimmy's remonstrations with his father seemed distant, whatever he was suppos
ed to do, Gooseman was connected to it. A wave of pain hit him at the same time as a hand slamming down on his back. No, pain was the wrong word to describe it, it was some kind of sickening mental jolt.

  'You have yourself a good night!' Gooseman drawled at him, staggering off toward the opposite end of the pavilion.

  He fought down the reflex to swing his clenched fists at the man and felt his knees go weak. Whatever Gooseman had to with his finding The Six, it wasn't positive.

  Jimmy was at his side then, his face transformed from embarrassment to concern. 'Jakob, what's wrong with you?'

  Jakob waved him off and staggered toward a field, he doubled over and started dry heaving. The other guests paid him no heed, assuming the young lad had simply had too much to drink. Jimmy knew better and refused to leave him alone.

  'Was it the meat? You should have told me you weren't feeling well.'

  He turned round to face Jimmy then and must have been unable to conceal the murderous look in his eyes. He found his feet and ran off across the fields, away from the pavilion and the people and the man who brought this one sickeningly clear thought into his head. Harold Gooseman had to die.

  8

  Jakob

  His head ached as the red mist started to recede from his vision. The insistence of his own mind that he needed to end the innkeeper's life was so graphic, yet without any rational motive Jakob found himself incapable of carrying it out.

  He was running over fields once again, head pounding with faint recollection, trying to escape from a land he didn't belong in. He needed to find some way out, yet everywhere he looked there was nowhere to go. He had thought his task was going to be slaying powerful creatures or villainous rogues. The idea of murdering a drunken innkeeper in cold blood didn't strike him as overly heroic.

  A barn came looming out of the darkness, he knew at best that Jimmy would be searching for him and at worst that he'd have company. This seemed as good a place as any to hide and reflect on what he'd just felt.