Lira's hands moved, one gripping Aeley's waist while the other glided up to her chest, pressing on her hardened nipples. Her fingers continued their travel upwards to curl around Aeley's neck. Holding her close, she massaged Aeley's skin with gentle pressure.
On instinct, Aeley took Lira's head between her hands. She knew the image of them together matched her dreams, except the dreams had never felt as good.
"Aeley! Aeley!"
Aeley stopped, her lips on Lira's. She sucked in a breath and kept still. Boots pounded the floor in the hallway and she prayed Haydin would not yell for her again.
"Aeley! Where are you?" he called.
With a grunt, she leaned her forehead against Lira's.
"Go on," Lira whispered. "It sounds urgent. We can do this later."
"Fine," Aeley grumbled. She rocked on her heel before kissing Lira again.
"Aeley!" He sounded further away.
"By the Four!" Aeley cursed. She rushed into the hallway. "I'm here!"
Haydin appeared from around the corner at the end of the hall, his old body ambling around the corner and up the hall. "Thank the Goddesses—you're needed!" He pointed towards the entrance hall, the panic splashed across his face unsettling her.
"I'm here now. We'll go together." Aeley ushered him ahead, seeing Lira creep through the dark corridor. Mouthing her apology, she rushed after Haydin.
The messenger, a young man no older than sixteen, stood in the foyer, rolling his hat between his hands and gaping when Aeley approached him. He bowed and straightened awkwardly.
"Go on," Aeley told him.
"There's been a problem, between our village and the next," he said, hesitating as if trying to decide what to call her. "An attack on the road, with casualties. Dreca sent me to fetch you. He needs to talk to you about it right away, but he can't leave."
"All right."
"He says as Tract Steward, you have to be there," he insisted.
"I know, and I said I would." Aeley ran one hand across her belt to the hilt of her knife. "We'll take horses to get there faster. You go and I'll follow."
He pulled on his cap and raced out of the estate, headed for the stables.
Of course. Just when something good happens, it all goes again.
Spinning on her heel, Aeley peered past Haydin to Lira, waiting in the middle of the hall. She intended to tell Lira to stay, so they could continue their conversation afterwards.
They were not the words that left her mouth. "Coming?" she called instead.
She did not have to ask twice.
*~*~*
Blood dried around the wound in the man's head, his face pressed to the red dirt as he stared into the distance.
Aeley reached to his neck. No pulse. She looked at the overturned wooden cart and then the boy standing on the side of the road, his traveling clothes torn under a layer of dust. When his gaze caught hers, she turned away. There was no point in telling him his father was dead. He already knew.
Pulling herself away from the corpse, she flicked a hand at two of her guards. "Take him to the healer in Dreca's village. He's the closest. He'll see to it everything is handled."
As the men carried the body away, Aeley returned to the ditch where Dreca and Lira waited with the boy. His name was Hano and he was only twelve. He was also from another tract, making him her responsibility. If only she could look him in the eye for longer than a moment. The sadness he displayed openly reminded her of losing her father, of watching him slip away to something she could not scare away or fight. Hano had witnessed his father's death and those images would haunt him for the rest of his life. Nothing she could say would take that away or resurrect the dead. She could not fix it. The best she could offer Hano was to keep him safe and find the people responsible. In some ways, she felt as powerless as he did.
She stopped before Hano and hunched forward with her hands on her knees, her eyes on the same level as his. "Hano, I know you've told Dreca what happened, but now I need you to tell me. I know it's not easy. I know it hurts to talk about it. But it's important that I know everything just as you saw it. We want to help you." She gave him a small smile when Dreca squeezed Hano's shoulder in encouragement.
Hano hesitated, twisting a worn cap in his hands. "We were riding through, going home. Da thought cutting through here would be faster. Safer." He looked to the ground, his hands still. "We've done it before. Nothing ever happened, not ever."
Lira wrapped a hand around his shoulder and leaned into him, whispering in his ear.
Hano nodded and wiped his face with the back of his hand. "We were just talking and laughing and then he saw the cart in middle of the road and we stopped. We couldn't go around it—it took up the whole thing. There was no one in it and the horse had run off. It wouldn't move itself, so Da got out to do something about it. Told me to stay where I was."
He raised his head, the fear obvious in his widened eyes. "That's when they jumped out at him. Hiding the cart under blankets. Hiding behind the trees. They weren't there and then suddenly, they were."
"Who? How many?" Aeley asked.
"I don't know. Just… people. Men, I guess, all in black and black cloaks. Maybe five. Six. I don't know. I couldn't see their faces and it was too fast to count," Hano muttered, lowering his head again. "I couldn't really see anything at all. I was too…"
And there it is: the guilt. The burden that shouldn't be his to bear. Aeley hugged him close. "We understand. Your father would understand. It isn't your fault." She eased him back gently and squeezed his other shoulder. "We'll focus on something else. What did these people do? They ambushed your father, then what?"
"They called him names. Made fun of him. Then they hit him." Hano sniffled and continued. "But I don't know what else. They started coming for me and then the next thing I know, the horse was unhitched and the cart was tipping. They were laughing. I jumped out and ran. I thought they'd follow me, but they didn't. They just yelled and laughed and I heard my father yell at me to just keep running. He didn't want me to stop," he murmured, wiping his face.
Dreca moved closer to Hano. "And then you found me. And we came out here together." He glanced at Aeley, almost as if he was angry that she had upset Hano. "And then I sent for you. Now we have to do something about it—and that's your job."
I can't do much without knowing more, Aeley wanted to argue, and I can't get what I need without talking to him. Stop looking at me like I'm doing something wrong!
"Hano, think very carefully. Did you hear anything, like a name? Or notice if any of these people had something particular about them, a funny voice, a hobbled walk, anything?" When Hano shook his head, Aeley took a breath and considered her options. There was not much to work with. For his sake, she could not tell him that.
She gestured to Dreca and walked away, listening to him follow her. They stopped at the cart, glancing at Hano as they spoke.
"I'll do what I can, but there isn't much here." Aeley flicked her wrist towards the road. "He can't think of anything specific. He didn't see their faces. The other cart's gone. Horse is gone. There's nothing that says who did this. All we know is a group that thought it was fun to attack an innocent man and his son."
"And they killed him."
"Yes, but it could've been an accident. Something struck his head, but we don't know what. Maybe it was a robbery—"
"Hano swears everything's still here," Dreca corrected. "Can't be a robbery if they left with nothing."
"Fine, maybe it's something else. My point is that it's not the first time this sort of thing has happened. This isn't unheard of. It's random, but not unusual. In order to fix it, we need something to go on. I need something to go on. I'll happily arrest people, but we have to find them first."
Aeley sighed. "It's my duty to make sure he gets to where he's supposed to be. I'll return him back to his mother. While I'm there, I'll apologize to their Steward and make sure he knows we'll do something about it. In the meantime, see if you can't find some
thing we can use. Maybe you'll have more luck, being Magistrate. Perhaps one of the other magistrates knows something. I wouldn't mind the better news."
When she walked away, she heard Dreca utter her father's name. She could imagine the rest of the complaint. Part of her wanted to spin him around and dare him to say it to her face; the other part of her told her to keep walking. Her father could have done no better. No comparison would change the fact that a man was dead, a family was ruined, and she was who they had to make sense of it. If she had to keep proving herself, she would.
*~*~*
"How much should I bet that Dreca has nothing?"
Aeley made a face at Mayr and shifted in her saddle. She gazed at the road ahead, comforted by the silhouette of the village in the morning light. After four days away from home, she wanted to curl up in her bed and see no one, save Lira.
"That's not even a worthy bet," she said. "If you're going to be smart, you need to come up with something that isn't so stupid."
Mayr snorted and loosened the reins around his gloved hands. "And here we go again. You've been a pleasure to deal with this entire trip. What? Left your girlfriend at home and you're taking it out on me?"
"No." Though I suppose we could've brought her. She would've made it more bearable. "I just hate doing these things. I feel bad for the kid and his mother, but I don't do the crying, weepy stuff. Couldn't get out of there fast enough," Aeley muttered. "And Kayte, by the Goddesses, Kayte. He wanted to skewer me like the boar on the table."
"I'll give you that much. For a Steward, he's all steel and nothing else." Mayr drew his black stallion closer to hers. "Good apology, though. He might just allow you back into his region. Maybe even under his roof."
"Oh, the excitement."
"Could be worse—could be him your father set you up with."
Aeley slouched. Distracted by the dead miller and his family, she had forgotten about Emon and Ryler. When not focused on how to track down the men in charge of the ambush, her thoughts had strayed to Lira. Returning home meant facing the rest of her life and entertaining men who meant nothing.
"You had to ruin my morning, didn't you? Just couldn't keep it to yourself." Aeley scowled. "I'd say you owe me a drink, but you still won't confess and tell me where you hid the stuff to begin with."
Mayr held up one hand. "I told you: it wasn't me."
She would have believed him more if he looked her in the eye. "Have it your way."
"And you're welcome."
"What?"
"In answer to the gratitude you're so kindly not expressing out loud. You're welcome for the time I've taken to escort you and the meetings I've sat in, including hugging one very distraught woman and carrying an exhausted kid to bed. Oh, and you're welcome for talking Kayte down when he was yelling. You know, I only could've been relaxing with the other guys and—"
"Thank you, Mayr, really. Especially since I've been sleeping so well and love dealing with dead people and laws. Because it makes being a Steward so easy."
"And since when have you ever opted for easy?" Mayr smirked. "You knew this came with it. Told me you were prepared. Even when I tried talking you out of it, you went ahead anyway, just like you always have. Don't tell me you're ready to run. Don't tell me you're a liar. I'd hate to think I don't know you. And if you're going to waste everything because it's not easy, I can't be held responsible for what I may do. You, me, stuck in a locked room for days and I won't shut up. Or I'll sing. Loudly. After drinking until I giggle. Then bang on some pots and pans. Nothing says 'get back to work' like a finely-tuned headache."
Aeley laughed softly and stared at her fists. She could see the image in her mind, even more absurd than he made it sound. It was almost as ridiculous as taking things out on him that were none of his doing. His words left her feeling like he had slapped her, forcing her into clarity. How was it she could lose herself and he always found her? "I don't know how you do it."
"What? Devise really terrible torture techniques?"
"No. Put up with me."
"Oh. That." He tilted his head to the side. "Because I'm talented. Or maybe it's just because I'm too perfect for my own good."
"Mayr," Aeley scolded gently.
"Ah, we were being serious. Here, let me try again." Mayr gave a small smile, his gaze softening. "I get it, Ae, I do. I've known you longer than we've really known ourselves. Shared more than just training and reckless decisions. I've seen you at your worst, and I'd love to see you at your best, which isn't now, but it'll come. You gave me a second look when others wouldn't have bothered. You didn't let status and politics tell you how it should be." He shrugged. "So you're having a rough time. So you need to get angry. It's better to be blunt with me than say the wrong things to someone who could make being Steward that much harder."
"I could make it easier, though." Aeley sucked in a breath. "I don't thank you half as much as I should, and that's on me, like so many other things. I'm getting so caught up in trying to do the right thing that everything else suffers." She looked pointedly at Mayr. "And I'm sorry for that. You're getting stuck in the middle."
"And I suspect that's where I should be. I've never had any delusions about what being Head of the Guard meant, just like I've never had any delusions about what Steward really is. Just don't forget I'm on your side. And don't listen to me when I try to be smart. Half of it is just my lips moving with one foot in my mouth. The rest is trying to remind you that not everything's as bad as it seems."
Always the optimist in the secret. "Thanks," she murmured.
Mayr shifted his weight and leaned away when she patted his arm. "You're welcome, though we can find something else to talk about now. I've used up all the seriousness I've got left after putting up with Kayte. Next to him, you're almost as sweet as that girl you're wishing you were laying flat on her back and—"
"How does it always come back to this?" Aeley interrupted. Her cheeks warmed. From the gleam in Mayr's eyes and his throaty laugh, she could guess at how red her face was. More than once, he had tried to find out more about what had happened between her and Lira since the ball. Some things were not for him to know. She needed to have secrets of her own. "We're not talking about this again!"
Mayr continued laughing, but said nothing more. She tried not to think about it as they neared the village. Home was on the other side, close and far at the same time. We'll just ride through. No stopping.
The smell of burning wood made her question her decision. When they entered the village and tired, soot-smattered faces stared back at them, she knew returning home would wait.
Aeley hurried her horse through the narrow streets. They stopped in the middle of the village. She slid from the saddle and spun slowly. Villagers passed by, some gaping at her, but saying nothing, as if she should already know what happened. Others rushed past, carrying buckets filled with water. Her gaze followed until they disappeared into a dark alley across the square. Without a word, she followed, leaving Mayr behind.
She stopped at the end of the alley, a waft of smoke catching her by surprise. What had once been the village meeting hall lay in a heap of cracked and burnt beams with a portion of one wall still erect. Villagers stomped and poured water on the wreckage.
"Aeley!"
Dreca's broad form jostled towards her, his cheeks streaked with soot. I leave for a few days and this happens?
"What's going on?" she asked when he stopped.
"Went up before dawn," he answered between gasps for air. "We got as many able-bodied as we could. Finally got it put out for good." He wiped his mouth and pointed towards the other end of the village. "No different than that falling barn a couple days back. Finally got the support beams back in place."
"Wait—what?" Aeley shook Dreca's shoulders. "What's going on?"
His thick lips drew into a tight line. "You left and we've had problems. Another attack the night you went. The butcher, Naret. Minding his own business, and on the way home from the tavern in the middle of t
he night, someone grabbed him and knocked him out. Dumped him in his own well. Left him for his brother to find him the next day—lucky that he did. No one would've known.
"That night, the barn we use to store the harvest overflow went," he continued, pausing to cough. "Someone took out a few beams and part of it came down. Woke a few people up. The rest of us set to fixing it. Then today, we wake up to this."
"This is…" Aeley stopped, unable to find the words. "Do you have any idea who's doing it?"
"We've nothing, except for the same as that kid," Dreca told her, his voice hardening. "Just some shadowy figures no one can get a hold of. By the time we find out what they've done, they're gone. Naret said they attacked him. One of the villagers said they saw a couple shadows run past their house earlier, but didn't think of it until the fire was dying down."
Aeley kicked at the ground, sending a rock into the rubble. "This doesn't make any sense. There's nothing, no problems, and then suddenly—"
"Aeley!" a woman hollered from behind, her voice echoing in the alley.
Aeley spun on her heel, caught between feeling pleased and confused. "Lira!"
"I came to the village to check on some things and see if you had come home yet. Mayr sent me down here." Lira stopped at Aeley's side and pulled her shawl taut around her shoulders. "What's going on?"
Dreca grunted, his face scrunching with his irritation. He did not want to retell the story.
"I'll tell you when I get home," Aeley murmured. "I don't understand it, but it isn't good news."
"I hate to say it but, it's something your brother would do. You're sure he's stuck where they want him to be?" Dreca asked.
"Absolutely," Aeley answered. "This can't be him. They wouldn't let him out of their sight. No one will."
"Then maybe it's someone he calls friend. Or someone feeling inspired," Dreca suggested. "We need answers. This is your business, even more than mine. I don't think these people are even from here. Probably from some other village, thinking they can harass us into whatever they want."
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