by Bill Albert
***
It was a knock at the door that brought Gallif awake. Thanks to having slept deeply and uninterrupted for so long she was wide awake and on her feet before the second knock. She moved her gear away from the door and opened it to see Blair standing outside. He nodded and grumbled something to her she didn’t understand.
“What is it? What’s up?” she asked.
“Just wondered if you’s still alive,” he said flatly. She couldn’t tell if he was serious or not.
“Yes, I’m just fine, thanks. I was really tired.”
“Ok, jus wanted to makes sure you weren’t dead. Smells up the place awful when they does that and we don’t find them,” he said and wondered off.
Gallif dropped her shoulders after she closed the door and after a few seconds started giggling at what the old man had said. It was sad that he was serious, she decided, but she couldn’t help but laugh at such an odd way to start the day.
“New Day,” she said aloud and lost her smile. Luvin had the habit of giving a special name for each day depending on what was happening at the time. Sometimes his habit was incredibly annoying, but she suddenly realized how much she would miss it.
She had no mirror to check her appearances, but she cleaned and tried to straighten herself out as quickly as she could. She used a shirt to wipe her face clean and tied her hair into a ponytail. She added the beaded necklace from Rosario and the small bracelet from Miki to her outfit, debated briefly about whether she should take her short sword with her, but decided to leave it behind and wear the twelve inch knife high on the outside of her hip to make sure others knew she was armed.
When she got to the main room there were more people scattered at tables having lunch. The bar was now a food bar with various plates of spicy beef, chicken, bread and vegetables from one end to the other. She saw Blance make a note on the register as she took a plate and started helping herself. She sat at a table near the main door and ate heartily.
Even though crowded, the room was strangely quiet. The groups of people eating at the same table said very little to each other and as she finished her first sandwich she started to wonder why. On occasion she’d look up and find someone watching her. They would look away very quickly and, at first, she pretended not to really notice. She figured being so new in such a small inn and having slept so long would get people’s attention. She also knew that many people did find her attractive and she was often looked at, but she still felt something unusual about this. A few more times she’d look up suddenly and find someone looking at her. By the time she finished the meal she was feeling very uncomfortable and she quickly left the building.
She hurried to the stable and was relieved that Snow was doing well. The kobold had given her fresh water and some hay to chew on, so she was fresh and ready to go in a hurry, if it need be. She was trying to decide if she should put the saddle on for a ride when a rider entered the stable and dismounted.
The horse was a filly like Snow, but even though it was a few hands smaller it looked older. The rider was Tavid and he smiled and introduced himself.
“My name is Gallif,” she replied.
“I saw you when you got here yesterday,” he said. “Thought you’d left before sunrise this morning.”
“I slept a lot,” she said guiltily. “I was completely exhausted when I got in here.”
“You did look pretty tired,” he admitted. “You ride straight in from the Rainbow Mountains?” He was unstrapping the saddle from the horse as he spoke.
“No,” she said. She was surprised that he had even noticed her, he had kept it hidden, and she admitted that she was impressed. “I just rode hard and fast to get here. It had been a rough couple of days.”
“I heard,” he said smiling. His face froze as she turned to face him.
“What do you mean, you heard? What did you hear?”
“Well,” he swallowed and paced a few steps before answering. “There’s been a lot of talk about a woman who stopped an attack on the Third Minister on Festival Day.”
“I hadn’t heard anything,” she lied. “Was he hurt?”
“He was, but he’s been healed and is okay now.”
“So, what has this got to do with me?”
“Well, the story has it the person that lead the rescue and saved him was a woman, like you, with red hair, like you, in brown leather armor, like you, and riding a pure white horse, like you.”
She shook her head and asked, “Is this the same one you and your friends were talking about yesterday? With the arrows and the Fire Daimons?”
“Not really,” he smiled. “That part was just the drunken gossip of four bored men.” He pulled the saddle off and walked to a nearby bench. The saddle was worn and scratched, and he dropped it on the bench with a loud thump.
“Good,” she said relieved. “Whoever this rescuer was, it wasn’t me. You should take better care of your saddle than that,” she added.
“It gets me where I want to go,” he said. “If you spend much time in town for a while there are lots of people who will think it’s you. You do fit the description going around. There’s also talk the Giant Lords want to reward you, uh, her, pretty handsomely.” He picked up a rag and lightly brushed off the saddle as they spoke.
“I wish her the best of luck,” Gallif said and pretended to lose interest. “Know any place I can get a good bath around here?”
“There’s plenty of places in Gold and Silver Towns that could help you,” Tavid informed her.
“I was thinking someplace closer.” She joined him at the saddle and wiped some of the dust from the buckles.
“Not as many in Brown Town. There is one only a few blocks down from here that’s not bad.”
“Thanks,” she said after a few moments of work on his saddle. “I’ll check it out.”
“Whoever saved that giant was in the right place at the right time.”
“Sometimes that’s all it takes,” she said.
“Well, too bad the others weren’t so lucky,” Tavid continued.
Gallif’s curiosity couldn’t be hid this time as she spun and looked at him. “What are you talking about?”
“Wow, you haven’t been around here for very long, have you? The Third Minister wasn’t the only giant attacked on Festival Day. Two other giants were attacked from what the militia is reporting.” He was honestly surprised that she hadn’t heard what was going on. She would have had to have been someplace pretty out of the way not to have caught all the reports.
“What happened?”
“The Agricultural Minister was attacked when he was checking out some of the southern fields near the Gerard River. Orcs came swarming out of the fields and sent his carriage over the bank. He drowned inside.”
Gallif gasped and put a hand to her mouth. One attack on a giant was enough of a shock. Three attacks on the same day were incomprehensible. “What about the third?”
“It was an assistant to the Royal Judge in Daktaria.” He had enjoyed teasing her with piecing out the bad news but saw a true look of concern on her face, so he continued freely. “She was ambushed as she left the courtyard. Rumor has it more than thirty arrows were in her before she hit the ground. She’s still alive. At least she was when the last riders left Daktaria before midnight.”
Gallif brushed her hair back as her mind raced. She desperately needed some time to think and decide what to do next. She knew, somehow, that the world had just changed.
She looked at Tavid and said, “Thank you for the information.” With that she went and started to saddle Snow as quickly as she could.
“I thought you were going for a bath?”
“I’m curious about these attacks,” she said as she fastened the buckles. “After having been in the farms where nothing exciting happens for weeks you can’t blame me for being interested.”
“Of course not,” he said. As hard as she tried, he wasn’t totally convinced of the truth of her explanation.
She quickly mount
ed Snow and with a click of her tongue was out of the stable.
***
When she got on the main road, she headed directly for Silver Town. Since that was the busiest area right now she figured she could pick up some information there. There would be official announcements made in the populated areas first and getting the correct news early would prevent the chance of misinformation.
She debated about approaching an officer and asking for information or offering her help but discarded that as too much, too soon. She thought of the man who had followed her at Festival Day and the note that had been left for her. There had been no signs of hobgoblin or any official involvement in either case. If she were going to get involved it should be with someone who worked outside the normal channels.
She brought Snow to a slow trot before entering the area. She now understood the high number of hobgoblin officers patrolling the city. She also figured that there were dozens of other agents, human and non, sprinkled into the crowds looking for suspects.
She came around a corner and immediately stopped. Half a block ahead of her nearly fifty people were standing around a green painted pole. From the top of the pole the Giant Lord’s green and azure banner was lightly shuffling in the breeze. She dismounted and quietly moved forward with Snow’s reins tightly wrapped around her hand.
None of the people surrounding the banner were speaking or moving about. All of them stood with their heads bowed. She came up next to one of the people on the edge of the crowd. It was an older woman dressed in a black and gray dress. Gallif sneaked a peek at her and realized she had been crying.
The woman looked up and saw the concern in Gallif’s eyes. She held a handout in support. Gallif took it and with surprising force the woman held her tight.
“What happened?” Gallif whispered after a respectful pause.
“The Royal Judge of Daktaria has been killed in an ambush.”
“I thought it was an assistant that was attacked.” The woman shook her head no and wiped some tears from her eyes. “Didn’t they have healing casts or potions?”
“No,” the woman patted her on the cheek. “There were so many wounds and so many different poisons and castings being used, there was nothing anyone could do. It was too powerful.”
Gallif put her arm around the woman and hugged her. After a moment the crowd started to quietly disperse. Gallif gave her respects to the woman and lead Snow away from the street. Once she was around the corner she mounted Snow started searching.
She spent most of the next hour just riding from street to street. If she saw a group of people, she would pause briefly to try and pick out interesting bits of information. After a few minutes of listening she would move on just as she was being noticed.
Hoping to find some information inside she went into a merchant’s shop and began looking around hoping that some ideas or connections may come to her.
She was looking at belts and sheaths for daggers when she felt a slight tug on her side. She ignored it at first thinking she had accidently bumped against something, but after a few seconds the tug was repeated more forcefully. She looked down and saw a bright little red-haired girl, maybe five or six years old, waving at her.
“Hello. How are you?” she asked as she bent down on one knee.
“What’s your name?” the little girl asked.
“Gallif. What is yours?”
“I’m Becka.”
“Hello, Becka,” Gallif smiled and shook the little girl’s hand. “How can I help you?”
Becka came close and whispered to her, “I know who you are.”
“Who am I?” Gallif whispered back.
“You’re the one that saved the Minister.”
Gallif cocked her head and asked, “Are you sure?”
Becka nodded her head excitedly. “Mummy told me they were looking for you. You really are her, aren’t you?”
Gallif’s instinct was to it, but when she looked into Becka’s innocent, bright green eyes she just couldn’t bring herself to say it.
“Can you keep a secret, Becka?”
“Yup.”
Gallif leaned close so only her new confidant could hear. “Yes, I was the one. But we can’t tell anyone else. Promise?”
Becka nodded and put her hand over her heart to show that she had promised. A woman’s voice came from the next aisle calling for her and Becka ran off with a proud smile.
Gallif left the shop knowing that she had no choice but to get involved. She had to find some way to offer her services to the investigation, but she was still faced with the daunting challenge of how.
As she mounted Snow, she thought back on what the little girl, Tavid, and the boy had all said when she came into town and realized that she had been missing the obvious all along. She didn’t know them, but they did have some idea of who she was. It was very difficult for her to find the right person to approach but she could, however, make it easy for them to find her.
She stopped being secretive and decided to immediately act just like any other citizen visiting the great city of Atrexia. She found a gallery of local artists that she started to tour, but cut short, after seeing half of the horrible paintings. There was a street musician playing a trumpet that she liked very much and tipped her well. She had a mug of ale in a saloon and turned down the offer to dance with a strikingly handsome man, but she made a mental note to return here before leaving town if she had the opportunity. She stopped at random places and gave the appearance of a happy tourist celebrating the town. Yet, inside, she remembered the faces of everyone she saw and kept a very careful eye open to see if anyone was behind her.
She picked up two apples from a vendor in the street. One she finished off as she walked and the other she saved for Snow. Once she returned to her companion, she offered it and saw it disappear down the horse’s maw in just a few bites.
As she patted Snow’s mane she looked up and saw a man approaching and looking directly at her. At first, she thought she recognized him as the man who had followed her and Luvin at Festival Day. He was dark haired and wore a blue tunic and pants, but this man’s hair was cut much shorter. He also looked a bit taller than the man who had been following them, but she wasn’t completely sure. She was surprised that he wore no obvious weapons.
“Hello,” the man finally spoke when he was just a few steps away. “I have some apples and it looks like you have a hungry friend.” He held the apples out to Snow. The horse sniffed them and then let out large snort and looked away.
“She’s not going to trust you that easy,” Gallif said patting Snow on the nose.
“And I imagine neither will you.” Gallif looked at him and shook her head. “Fair enough. My name is Tome. I saw you at Festival Day in the arena.”
“My stunning loss in the contest,” she said and looked down.
“No one could blame you,” he nodded. “You aren’t the only one who’s reacted that way to an aquilus even if it was just at mannequin.”
“You were also following me after the contest as we were walking through the street,” she accused him.
“No, I wasn’t,” he said flatly. He looked her straight in the eye and did not flinch as he spoke. She knew he wasn’t lying.
“Did you leave a message for me with Snow?” she asked.
“No,” he said again without flinching. “I didn’t start looking for you until after the news of the Third Minister’s rescue was confirmed. I had heard there were several women visiting the city who fit the right description and I tried checking them out.”
“Then you went looking for me?”
“No, I just heard about you a few hours ago.”
His straightforward approach was unexpected, but she was not that willing to trust him so quickly. “Why are you looking for me, anyway?”
“Two giants were killed yesterday and a woman who fits your description prevented a third assassination. That’s very important.”
“That didn’t answer my question,” she challenged him.<
br />
Tome thought for a moment and then realized what she really had been asking. “I’m attached to the militia and I work as special security for the Giant Lords,” he said flatly. “I’m investigating what happened.”
Gallif brushed back her red hair and considered what she had just been told. She had heard stories over the years of undercover security agents working for the Giant Lords and it wasn’t impossible that he could be telling the truth. The events of the past few days would also have made it necessary for them to start moving quickly.
“The woman who led the rescue climbed up the overturned coach and attacked the orcs that were sneaking up behind the Third Minister. She also had a friend who just might have picked some healing potion from the Captain.”
She looked him in the face without saying a word for several seconds. Then she took the apple from his hand and fed it to Snow.
“My name is Gallif,” she said. “I’m the one you’re looking for.”
Tome spent several minutes trying to find out some background information on her, but it became obvious she was not yet ready to give out too many details. He finally told her that there was a very important task he had to finish and asked her to meet him at a deserted building on the northern outskirt of Atrexia. She mounted Snow and set off at a steady pace as he walked into an alley and was out of sight.
***
An hour later Gallif was outside what had once been a two-story limestone building. The windows and doors were boarded up and half of the top story and the roof had collapsed. At first glance the building looked unsafe and had she not been asked to be here she most likely would have passed it and forgotten it. She dismounted Snow a hundred yards away and walked the rest with her companion behind her.
She had made a brief stop at the inn and retrieved her short sword and as she approached, she let her hand rest near the hilt.
Once inside the yard she circled the building from a safe distance. Around the back she found a door slightly ajar. As she approached it Tome came out to meet her.
