Before doing anything else, the lot of us bathed, giving our clothing over to the servants to be washed and cleansed of the muck of the sewers. Aella’s leggings had to be chucked. She claimed she didn’t mind. They were the pair with the wonky seat that she had mended before we left Forklahke.
Slowly but surely, the lemony steam of the bath house seared the scent of refuse from my nostrils and purged it from my skin, where it had rested like a cloak the whole ride back. No one else but the other mercenary women were in the pool this time of day, and I found I was less shy than I had been with strangers around.
“I’m so tired. I hate having to get healings,” Aella complained, then she moaned. “And if you keep this up, I may sink beneath the water and never come back up.”
I was rubbing the kinks out of her shoulders, trying not to press too hard on the one that held a sizable bruise—she must have fallen on it. As she spoke, Aella had tilted her head back so she could see me. The scratch on her cheek was a stark red line against the rest of her skin. An impulse to press my lips against it flitted through me.
I giggled nervously “Let’s finish up in here and get some midday into you. We must strengthen you back up.”
The servants had provided us with robes so we wouldn’t go up to our rooms in our filthy clothes. Long and thick, they were more like dresses than anything else. They had intricate embroideries stitched down the lapels and around the cuffs of the sleeves and the bottom hem. Still, it felt scandalous to be out in the hallways in them.
Back at the room I had thought to put Aella to her bed and fetch her whatever she needed. She had other plans. She was half dressed before I had even put together what she was doing.
“Hold up!” I exclaimed, averting my eyes as she shucked the robe and began to pull on a tunic over her breeches. “You were mauled this morning, and you said yourself that you’re exhausted. Don’t you want to lie down?” She didn’t reply, too busy pulling her still damp hair from beneath her tunic’s collar. Moving so she couldn’t avoid looking at me, I growled, “Aella?”
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t you want to do more exploring in the market? You know we won’t be here for very long—don’t you want to see everything you possibly can?”
With gentle hands on her shoulders, I blocked her from her march toward the door and her boots, which had been deposited with mine, nicely cleaned of sewer muck by the staff.
“I can just as well go tomorrow or after the next hunt. I’d rather stay here and tend to you while you rest!”
Though the smile on her lips remained, Aella’s eyes flashed darkly. “I’m not an invalid, I didn’t mess up that badly, and I happen to want to go into town. I’m hungry.”
“If you are so hungry, it would be faster for me to get you food from the inn’s kitchen,” I said, but my was resolve waning.
“Come on, farm bird. We’ve been paid. Don’t you want to spend a little?” Hands on my shoulders, Aella was pushing me backward.
“But your leg…”
“It’s fine. See how fine it is?” She gave the limb a little shake. “Belinda’s a great healer, and I don’t want to hear another word about it.”
With a little more wheedling, Aella convinced me to join her on a jaunt to the market. I resisted as long as I could, but she became downright prickly about her wound toward the end of the battle. I didn’t have the stamina to deny her, and I supposed it was better that I go with her rather than let her go alone.
I dressed in sullen silence as she tossed out places she wanted to show me. I hoped to run into her mother on the way out and have her tell her daughter to stay in, but the commander and her seconds were nowhere to be found.
“This place is old,” Aella informed me as we strolled down the lower streets toward the market. “You know, most places, when they want to expand, they build outward. There’s so little usable land here, Dabsqin chose to build upward instead. You can tell each time an addition got added on, because the stucco shifts in color. The higher up it goes, the lighter it is. More sunlight, less dirt buildup from the streets.” She ran a finger along one of the rough walls, making noticeable tracks in the grime.
Grudgingly, I nodded. “I’ve never seen anything like it. I mean, obviously.” I ducked my head.
Aella smiled at me, wiping her fingers on her breeches. “It’s loud too. I’m sure you’ve noticed. Seems like there’s always some sort of music playing. It’s a city that never sleeps. I think they believe they can keep the dragons outside the city if they make enough racket.”
It would have been nice if that were possible, but it seemed to me that all the noise just let people ignore the monsters. It didn’t keep them from invading. Now that we were on the road, I could see that Aella limped slightly. I offered her my arm, but she refused it with a jerk of her head.
“Was it terrifying?” I couldn’t help but ask. “The drake?”
She didn’t speak for a moment, but then she nodded. “Yes. We thought maybe something could be up the shaft, but we shined a torch in and saw nothing. It must have been curled up at the very top of the ladder.
“So, someone up here might have walked right over top of it without knowing?” I asked, looking for the nearest grated hole that marked a maintenance entrance.
Aella shrugged. “Yeah, but that shouldn’t worry you. They’re smart, so they don’t tend to attack people above ground.”
It was a still a creepy thought, but I nodded. “Then what happened?”
“The da was in the corner; we saw that one and we put all our focus on him…and keeping the babies from scattering. Then the mamma was…on me.” She fell silent.
“But you survived,” I said, resting a hand on her shoulder. “You got in your own hit too, and it’s dead now.”
She shrugged off my touch. Seeing my hurt look, she caught back up that rejected hand in her own. She brought the palm to her lips briefly in apology. My heart stuttered at the gesture.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “You are right. It’s not my first time staring down a dragon. It wasn’t even my first time facing off against one that big.”
“So, what has you in a twist?” I asked, only slightly mollified.
“Do you remember what Belinda said earlier? About how people always think they can pull one over on the mercenaries?”
“Yeah?” I drew the word out slowly, wondering where she was going with it.
“I was wondering how it could be that the earl, or one of his people, really didn’t know there was another brood down there. Or if not them, then one of the normal citizens. We didn’t hear anything about a new hatching when we were in the market yesterday. We should have, even if it was a single stray rumor.”
“But every single person told us that the only drakes down there were young babies,” I finished for her. Furrowing my brows, I asked, “Do you really think it’s not possible that these parents kept themselves that well-hidden?”
She sighed, gustily. “It’s possible. It’s just strange, especially since it looks as though they killed someone. Even if the person was a beggar, someone else would have stumbled across the remains before we did, but all of those human hidey-holes had been cleared out.”
“You think there’s no way the people who lived in those holes decided to stay quiet about the drakes?”
She glanced at me, hazel eyes thoughtful. “Why would they do that?”
“So that we would stumble upon them, maybe, and take care of both of their infestations? We’ve heard from multiple people that the earl isn’t exactly reliable in that regard.”
“I suppose so. The one we came across was on the poorer side of the east district. If they knew there was another warren, maybe people doubted the earl would pay to have us hunt two, unless he was obligated to pay us because we accidentally took care of the wrong one. But that’s a lot of people all in agreement on a plan that relies on guesswork. A lot.”
I could smell garlic and roasting meat on the wind, and my stomach growled. “So, wha
t are you thinking? Some kind of conspiracy? Who even has the power to keep such a thing hushed up, and who does surprising us serve besides the people who are now safe from drake attacks? We’re all fine, the drakes are dead, and we’re getting paid.” I kept my tone light, not thinking much of my own words.
“I guess.” Aella shook her head ruefully. “No. I know you’re right. I don’t know what I’m even thinking. It’s the healing, I think. It makes a person suspicious.”
“Big strong mercenary,” I teased, poking her side gently. “We can’t have you losing your edge.” She laughed and swatted me.
We came through the gate to the market with a bit more ease than the last time. The burly guard recognized us and wasn’t as rough in his handling of us as he had been before. He asked Aella how our business was going and chuckled in appreciation when she told him it was as good as could be expected. Once inside the market itself, I sat Aella at a table near the large fountain. When she had promised to stay where I had put her, I went to fetch the food.
As I walked to the vendor who sold grape leaves, I considered what Aella had said. My eyes barely took in a fraction of all there was to see as I let the natural flow of the crowd guide me.
Was she right? Was it possible that we were dealing with something more than an unexpected clutch of drakes? Had we been set up?
I paused as a press of bodies running counter to the rest of the crowd blocked me from moving forward. Around me a few people grumbled or shoved their way through. I contented myself with waiting until a gap appeared that I could dart through.
No. It was just talk. If anything, it was a good thing we had found them. We had probably saved lives. Admittedly, if Aella had been seriously wounded, then perhaps I would feel a lot differently. I couldn’t imagine how I would feel if anything happened to her, but here in the light of day, the fear I had felt when she screamed was burned away. Aella was so fast and strong that even a full-grown drake leaping from the ceiling couldn’t take her down. She was fine. We were fine. It was only the healing that had caused her to speak in such a way.
Someone pushed past me, jarring me out of my thoughts, and I started to move forward once more, turning from where I’d absently fixed my gaze. Before I could move entirely away, my brain registered what—or rather who—I had been staring at. Down an alley, two robed figures were speaking to a third veiled figure. To my surprise, I found that the robed two were the same people who had caught my eye the day before.
By shifting myself into an idler vein of traffic reserved for browsers, I managed to see at least a little of who they were speaking to. It was a woman, but that was about all I could tell about her identity with her back to me. I slowed my gait further, curiosity making me foolish.
Shorter than the man and woman in front of her, but not by very much, she had arranged her hair underneath a sheer pink scarf. The black locks were piled high in an intricately looped bun that made me think she might be even shorter than I had initially thought. She wore a wrap-style dress, the same color as her scarf, though it was crafted from a heavier silk. I was too far away to see what they amounted to, but flashes of gold embroidery thread shone across it in intricate patterns. From her height and attire, she almost looked like…
The robed man locked eyes with me over the woman’s silk-covered shoulder. His gaze was cold and piercing, even through the people milling between us. It was impossible, I knew, from the distance between us, but as my vision tunneled, I could have sworn that I saw his pupils widen. As they did, the rest of the world faded backward. A feeling like my blood had turned to worms stuttered through the veins in my wrists. I was dizzy. It was as though I had spun myself in circles and then tried to walk a straight line.
Someone shoved me—I had come to a full stop, and that was not allowed. My senses restored, I ducked my head in the opposite direction. Acting on instinct alone, I sped up, weaving amidst the lunch crowd. I did not slow until the alley was a decent distance behind me. Even then, I did not stop completely until I was in the line for the grape leaves. Only when I was there, with a particularly girthy woman behind me, did I risk a look back at where the alley yawned in the walls of the buildings that surrounded the market.
The cloaked man and woman were exiting the alley. They looked to their left and right before stepping into the stream of people with the ease of practice that caused not even a ripple of people shifting to make space for them. Whoever they had been speaking to had obviously gone ahead. She was nowhere to be seen.
I averted my gaze from the strangers as soon as I was sure they were not headed in my direction. There was no reason to draw their attention again with my own. Tugging a braid hard, I set myself toward trying to focus my scattered thoughts.
One strange spell could have been attributed to the heat, but two was too much. Right? There was something strange about that pair.
Although, an insistent voice chimed in, is that fair? This had been another stressful day. Whatever had just happened had been alarming, but for all I knew they were travelers who had been seeking directions. It wasn’t the fault of those strangers that I had seen them both times my mind had played tricks on me.
I snorted. That was a nice thought, but it didn’t seem as though it was likely. I had never experienced any spells like those before coming here. There was the buzzing… but that was different… wasn’t it?
The woman behind me cleared her throat, and I moved up with the rest of the line. Firmly, I reminded myself that either way, it wasn’t my problem. I had not been hired to make it my problem. Even if something in my gut screamed that something about them was dangerously amiss, why should I care? In a week, at most, we would be moving on.
Still… the last time I had said something wasn’t my problem, a girl I had grown up with, Beth, had been badly hurt because I had turned my back. If I had made it my problem, perhaps I could have prevented her attack. That thought stung and stuck with me, though I tried to ignore it.
When I returned to Aella, burdened with tea, and food, she wore a glazed expression. She blinked at the noise of metal flasks on stone table. Wryly, she shook her head free from whatever reverie had gripped her.
“How were the lines?”
“They weren’t too bad. Ordering was less than easy. A lot of gesturing.” I mimed pointing to different things and how I had to use my hands to indicate the portion size I wanted. “The booth man understood Common, but he couldn’t speak it well, and you know I can’t speak any Oshkanese.”
She chuckled. “I know. The different dialects threw me at first too. You’ll pick up on the languages as we go. Most of the tongues have similar bits that you’ll be able to understand soon enough.”
I smiled, but privately I felt embarrassed. There had been books on languages at the school mistress’s home, in Nophgrin—not extensive ones, but basic phrase books. I had just been too lazy to read them. How could I have known I’d ever travel so far south that I would need to know another tongue?
I slumped back in my seat. “I can’t get over how many people there are here. Never in my life have I waited in line for over fifteen minutes for anything.”
Outside the awning of the eating courtyard the white light of sun lit up the tourists and locals alike. Tall, short, fat, thin, poor, rich, young, old—they all milled together. It was as incredible as it was overwhelming. Trying to appear casual, I scanned them for the tall cloaked figures, but they had vanished.
I bit my tongue as I spread the meal out across the table, pushing a few thin pickles toward Aella, who liked them more than me. Did I dare ask Aella what she thought of my episodes?
“It’s wild,” she was saying. “Every time we come here, I try going out at different times, and I always expect that at some point the streets will empty. They don’t though. You’ll find that even at dusk when the market closes, the streets outside are lined with musicians and beggars looking to make a little extra coin before bed.” She took a pickle and bit it, closing her eyes to savor the zesty an
d salty taste.
Trying to firm my resolve while she chewed, I spoke, choosing my words carefully. “Aella, have you ever had a fit from the heat?”
“No.” She cracked one eye at me. “Have you?”
“Sort of. I think,” I hedged. “Maybe?”
“And what does that mean?”
“You’ll think it’s strange.”
She scooped up some hummus from the bread trencher between us with a stuffed grape leave. “Only one way to find out.”
That was true. If my dizzy spells were from the heat, then perhaps she could advise me as to how to prevent them in the future. She might even have some input if they had nothing to do with the heat.
As she ate, I explained what I had experienced on my way to get food, and when we had first arrived. I watched as Aella’s expression slowly smoothed to blankness. By the time I had finished explaining, my fingers had tangled in the hair at the base of the large braid it was confined in.
“You say these fits both happened when you were looking at who you think were the same two people?” she asked, and I nodded. “You’re sure it wasn’t two people who looked very similar?”
I flushed. “I can tell the difference between folks, Aella. I’m not an idiot.”
She smiled thinly, her words carrying the lightest edge of sarcasm. “No, dear, I’m only trying to understand. I have seen men and women who fit your description, in the past. Long cloaks—some initiate mages wear shrouds like that. Or religious folk. People who want extra protection from the sun. It can be hard to tell them apart unless you get a good look at their faces.”
“Well, I could tell,” I said, stubbornly.
She nodded. “I did see a man and woman that fit your description before you got back. I had been sitting here a while; it could be they were the same two who you saw. I didn’t see a third person with them though.”
I nodded, focusing on the stuffed grape leaf that I was swirling in hummus. “I thought that might have been what they were. Religious people…or mages. They were looking at stones the first time, and I thought perhaps they were mages.” I kept my voice light and casual, but Aella was having none of it.
Of Dragon Warrens and Other Traps Page 20