*
Davin waited patiently for the owner of Kilgore’s Fine Jewelry and Exotica to finish with his other customer. Jewelry and pottery in distinctly foreign styles were displayed on shelves and tall tables dispersed throughout the large shop. Normally, a town or village in as remote an area as the Lake Valleys couldn’t support something as lavish as a shop like this, but Lord Joachim’s estate, the Sartor holdings, and dozens of other successful merchants drew a lot of extra commerce to the area. If Davin had to hazard a guess, only cities as large as Kalavere or rivaled the wealth generated by the towns and villages of this region. But still, it would have been nice if he had managed to make it to the silversmith several days ago. Instead, fate had intervened, hadn’t it? And instead of running a simple errand, Davin had . . .
He didn’t know how to explain what he had done.
After talking to the girl’s family, he had walked back to the Pelican Inn. When his father saw the state he was in, he took the moneybag with a sigh and told Davin not to worry about it. They would just have to settle with Kilgore. He could make the necklace for his mother’s birthday. Though it wouldn’t be as nice, it would still be nice.
Davin then stumbled up to his room where he had one of the tavern maids draw him a bath. After cleaning himself, he went to bed and slept. And slept. And slept. And tried to get the day’s events out of his mind. Problem was, it’s didn’t work. Jaela, he reminded himself. Her name is Jaela.
Davin’s stomach churned at the thought of what Borl had done to the little girl and her brother. Yet it t also turned at the idea that he wanted a man brought to death. This was almost as hard to square himself with as anything else. Killing someone was Borl’s business, not his. And even if death was meted out as an act of justice, Davin was uncomfortable with the thought of being the one to do it. But the things he had seen Borl do in his mind! Eleven-years-old. Eleven.
Davin shook his head, trying to clear the cobwebs of unwanted memories from it. But it had felt good…GOOD to do what he had done, hadn’t it? But it also terrified Davin. How had he done that? How had he healed little Jaela? What was the voice? For now, trying to sort through the events of three days ago was like trying to put together a puzzle with half of the connecting pieces missing.
The rope of bells hanging from the shop’s front door tinkled as it opened and closed. Davin, stared into space, allowing his mind to drift. Pottery, with the delicate cursive scripts favored by a number of countries on the continent sat in rows, covered in richly colored patterns. Davin even thought he had seen the copper cooking bowls with the exotic, fluted tops favored by Feythean peoples in the lands across the southern sea.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, Maerillus appeared in front of him. Davin nearly jumped.
“Hi,” he said, “Sorry I’m late.”
“Oh . . . err, sorry Maer. Didn’t see you come in.”
“Get that a lot lately,” his friend said distantly, and Davin guessed that he wasn’t the only one saddled with issues of his own today. Maerillus looked . . . distracted. An uncomfortable silence grew between the two of them.
“It’s just . . .” Davin began.
“ . . .Yeah.” Maerillus finished.
“Stuff” they both said at the same time.
Davin looked around, trying to find something in the shop to comment on to break the strange silence between them. He wondered what it was that had Maerillus’s mind all tied up. Whatever it was, it certainly couldn’t come close to the day Davin had in Kalavere. Of that much, he was sure.
Maerillus was the first to break the silence. “Sorry I was occupied when you called on me at the manor. Why did you want to meet here? Dad imports all of this stuff for Kilgore, anyway.”
“Yeah. Figured.” he said. “It’s Mom’s necklace.”
Maerillus raised an eyebrow. “I thought you were having that done in Kalavere.”
“Never got around to the silversmith,” Davin told him honestly. “Kind of got sick. So how have things been with you?” he asked to the steer the conversation away from uncomfortable matters.
Maerillus looked around for a moment, hesitating, and then, with a note of honesty in his voice looked at Davin; his eyes were heavy. “Strange,” he said.
Now Davin was really curious. “Tell me about it,” was all he could say before Kilgore opened the storefront window so he could see outside.
“What is that boy doing?” he asked. “Hey,” he turned, addressing the two of them, “Isn’t that your friend, the Maldies boy?”
Davin and Maerillus turned their heads at the same time.
Outside, on the other side of the bridge, they watched as Niam stood on the steeply sloped ground just before it dropped off to the water below, clinging to the side of the bridge. He ducked his head beneath and appeared to study the structure below. Then he looked back up, toward the hill beyond the road leading into town before quickly disappearing beneath.
“Oh, this can’t be good—he hates water,” Maerillus observed gravely.
When Davin’s eyes followed to the hilltop, he saw Bode and three of his gang emerge from the woods and begin sliding down the gravelly slope.
Davin looked down and rubbed his eyes. “Why did there have to be four of them today?”
“Is anything ever easy with Niam?” Maerillus asked.
Davin shook his head and looked up at his friend. “You know, they look ready to kill him.”
“Probably deserve it.”
Them…or him?” Davin asked.
Maerillus made a sound that was half-laugh, half-grunt. Davin gave a rueful grin. “Shall we?” he asked.
Maerillus rolled his eyes and gave a mock bow. “After you, my lord.”
As they made their way out of the shop, Davin’s gaze locked on the four bullies milling about at the edge of the bridge. None of them looked up toward town. Before they made it to the bridge, Davin sensed Maerillus grow tense. Ahead of them, Card ducked down at the edge of the bridge, peering into its supporting structure. Meanwhile, the twisted expression on Bode’s face told Davin the bully was holding back rage by a hair. He had never seen him this angry.
What had Niam done?
Davin sensed Maerillus grow even stiffer, and he felt a pang of sympathy for his friend—especially considering the initial reaction he had to Borl and Grav the other day in the alley. He had been terrified. Prior to that, Davin had never been in a situation where he had been forced to fight for his life, but he had been in fights before. He didn’t think Maerillus had ever so much as balled his fist up at someone. And now it looked as if they were going to have to fight. Considering the present situation in front of them, it might even get bloody. Bode’s gang outnumbered them twice over.
Beneath his breath, Davin whispered, “Just watch my back, man. If it looks like a fight, I’ll take Bode out and it will be over. I’m pretty sure the rest of them will run.”
Maerillus slowed. “It’s not that,” he said.
“Look, I can take Bode. I promise.”
Maerillus bent closer, “No… really, it’s not that. I just had to make up my mind to try something.”
“Oh,” Davin said slowly. As they had been walking, he had been holding back from making a decision of his own, too, hadn’t he? The thing he had done in the alley . . . could he do it again? This wasn’t the first time this thought occurred to him.
No.
That thought, that question, really, had been on his mind for the past three days as little what-if scenarios kept popping up in his mind. And now one of those what-ifs was staring him in he face. Someone he cared about was about to be attacked. And now both he and Maerillus were placing themselves in harm’s way. Could he do what he had done in Kalavere again? Like a
n uncapped well, Davin still sensed the same ocean of power somewhere deep down within himself, waiting to be summoned. All he had to do was go to the well, and waters would come.
Beside him, Maerillus gave a quick nod as he made his own decision. They were close to the bridge now. In short order, Bode’s pack of dogs would realize they were coming. If they hadn’t been so intent on their quarry, they would already have been aware of their approach. Maerillus bent close to Davin again and whispered quietly, “I don’t have time to explain, but I need to you to stay close to me. Found out that what I am about to do will work on other people as long as they are right next to me. I need you to pay attention,” he whispered insistently, “To everything. I’ll explain later, okay?”
Davin nodded his head.
Ahead, Salb drew a short, rusty sword from a tattered leather scabbard. Bode hung his head back and laughed gleefully. Davin was so close he heard them now. When Salb unexpectedly drove the sword into a seam separating the tarred planks on the bridge-top, Davin nearly cried out in alarm.
“Great Lord!” Davin gasped. That was too much for him. He leaned his head toward Maerillus. “He’ll kill Niam if he has a chance. Won’t even think it through until the body hits the water below.”
Maerillus nodded. “I need to get around them. I need to get behind Salb, and I can do it. Will you stay here in front of them?”
Davin nodded his head.
“I don’t know how long they won’t be able to see you—may be that it wears off for you immediately.”
As Maerillus said this, both Card and Salb looked up in their direction. Davin calmly waited for one of them to alert the others, but nothing happened. They seemed to look around them, almost as if their existence didn’t register.
With that, Maerillus walked slowly toward the four, keeping almost to the edge of the bridge. As Davin watched in amazement, his friend walked right past them. He might as well have been a ghost or invisible spirit. And then something peculiar happened. The farther his friend got from him, the more Davin’s eyes began to play tricks with his sight. Maerillus became increasingly hard to look at—not hard to see, but hard to look at—almost as if his figure folded into the air around him the way a sheet of paper at a distance nearly disappeared when tuned sideways. To Davin’s eyes, the very sight of Maerillus became… oily.
Suddenly, Jalt looked up at Davin and his eyes widened. “Hey! You don’t need to be here, Hapwell!”
The others turned toward him. Bode was the most surprised, and the flash of fear that crossed his face was unmistakable. He recovered quickly, though. “Get out of here, Hapwell. You don’t want any part of this.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Bode. Can’t a guy cross a bridge?” he asked innocently.
Bode sneered. “Not this one. Not today.”
“Well, we have a problem, then.”
Bode looked up at him and took a threatening step forward. “And what is that, Hapwell?” he asked. “There are four of us and only one of you, in case you’ve forgotten how to count.”
Davin crossed his arms. “I don’t think you understand, Bode. Before your friend there puts a sword through Niam, you need to realize you’re being watched. Kilgore is standing there in his window watching us right now. And unless you can count, the tally for the Pit will be one murderer and three accomplices . . . It’s easy math, really.”
Bode’s eyes grew wide. He looked up and his eyes trailed down the main street of Pirim Village as if he had just considered it for the first time.
Davin grinned inwardly.
But before Bode acknowledged Davin’s point, Salb held his sword point down, aiming it over another gap seam. He looked up at Davin and gave him a malicious grin. His fingers tightened as he wound them around the pommel, and his elbows bunched as he prepared to drive it down into anything that might be hiding below.
In a flash, Maerillus appeared behind Salb. His arm snaked around him and he held a dagger pressed into his neck. The bully’s eyes widened in shock. Jalt and Card let out loud exclamations and leapt back in astonishment.
“Throw it over the edge, Salb” Maerillus snarled. Davin caught a brief glimpse of Maer’s eyes. He barely had enough time to register the fact that they blazed with a violent yellow light.
Davin fought hard to contain his shock. Salb just stood there in astonishment. Maerillus pushed the blade harder against the flesh above his artery. “Now Salb! Before it’s you lying down there in the water!”
“We’ll settle up with this later,” Bode said to him in a simmering voice.
Salb looked around nervously. When none of his friends made a move to come to his aid, he tossed the blade over the side. Moments later a splash followed as it landed in the narrow river.
“You okay down there, Niam?” Davin asked loudly.
From beneath the bridge, Niam made his best attempt at a lighthearted tone, “Bout time. Thought you’d never show up!”
Bode let out an angry hiss. “It’s not over Maldies.”
Davin stepped up to the bully. “Oh, I think it is now.”
Before he took the time to think, to even look squarely at Davin, Bode’s face contorted like a prune and he swung his fist at Davin.
And for the second time in his life, Davin felt time slow to a crawl.
Bode’s fist moved in a slow, smooth arc toward Davin, and as he watched, his vision sharpened. Davin could have counted the wrinkles on Bode’s knuckles if he wanted to. He had all of the time in the world. Bode became stupid and impulsive when angry. Davin used this to his advantage.
Deftly, he stepped back and caught Bode’s fist in his hand. It made a loud thwack as it collided with his open palm.
Davin moved like lightning. Closing his fingers over the bully’s wrist, he bent Bode’s fingers back and with a twist, rolled his forearm around, bringing his own hand down on the tip of the bully’s elbow. Instantly, Bode bent over double. He let out a loud cry of pain as Davin drove him down onto his knees.
“Tell your friends to walk away,” he said in a flat tone. “Tell them to do it now or I might send you and Salb over the edge, Bode. I’m within my rights. Half the town saw Salb try to kill Niam and you try to attack me.”
Wincing in pain Bode spat, “You’re going to pay, all of you are going to pay!”
Davin leaned in, applying a slight amount of pressure to Bode’s elbow. The bully howled in pain. “Alright!” he bellowed. “Alright!”
“Be a good little tyrant and tell your goons to leave.”
“Go!” Bode shouted between clenched teeth.
Without waiting, Card, Salb, and Jalt looked around nervously and began walking away. Davin gave them a moment to gain some distance, and then gave Bode a hard shove. As the bully stood, he looked up to glare at Davin, but as their eyes locked, all of the defiance in Bode fled. “Bloody hell!” he cried out in alarm. Davin pointed them away from the bridge. Bode looked away, and without another word started running and soon was far enough away to sound the all-clear to Niam.
Below them, Niam grunted as he gingerly made his way over the wooden struts and extricated himself from the bridge’s support structure.
“What did you do this time, Niam?” Maerillus asked. “You could have gotten us hurt and nearly got yourself killed.”
“You know they’re probably going to just wait for you to go home, don’t you?” Davin asked.
Niam sat there for a moment letting his feet dangle over the edge, collecting himself. “No, I don’t think so,” he said at last.
Davin and Maerillus walked over to him.
“Oh?”
“Nope. They’ve got bigger things to deal with,” he said. “Heard them talking ab
out it in the ruins of the old abbey. That’s why they were after me.”
“Oh?”
“Well that, and I kind of tricked them into falling into an old privy shaft.”
Maerillus hit his forehead with the flat of his hand. He sighed impatiently. “You’re going to get yourself killed one day,” he said sternly. “And us right along with you.”
Niam turned and lifted himself up. “I’ve got something to tell you,” he said as he stood. When he lifted his head and met their eyes, he said, “Oh! Your eyes too! I’m not going crazy.” Then, he laughed. “Make that two things I’ve got to tell you!”
The Dread Lords Rising Page 9