I looked at Will and Jarid then threw my bag at him. His startled hands grabbed for it as I slid my small knife out of my waistband, taking a second for a quick prayer to whichever god looked after elves with more courage than brains, and jumped between her and her adversary.
The slaver blinked, a cruel smile spreading across his face as he began to laugh. It was a deep sound, and amused, but it held no warmth.
"Look, another little girl. How many of you must I kill to get the wolves?" He didn't expect or wait for a response. "I don't mind, of course. There's nothing makes a man feel more alive than killing someone before supper."
He chuckled again, but uneasy mutterings rose from the crowd.
It appeared they hadn't signed up to watch him injure more than one person.
However, it was as though his words unleashed a beast in me.
Fight scenes I'd read, watched, and other things I had no way of knowing flashed through my head.
He threw a meaty fist directly at my head, but I ducked, feeling only a whisper of air from the movement as he missed by a wide margin.
His eyes went wide and he blinked, then narrowed them, his lip curling in a sneer.
"Oh, you're going to run, are you? Not a fighter like your friends, hmmm?"
I pulled my lips back, baring my teeth the way I’d seen Gwen do as I flashed the knife.
"Why don't you try me?"
He leapt toward me, with both arms outstretched to grab my throat. His arms up close were even more like tree trunks, his hands the size of dinner plates. It made it easy for me to slip inside his guard.
I threw my knife to the side as I grabbed his wrist with both hands. I moved, twisting as I spun around and used his own weight as leverage. With surprising ease, I flipped him over my back in one smooth movement that took a fraction of a second.
He landed flat on his backside for the second time, a stunned look on his face as the air rushed out of him. Unfortunately, he quickly got back up, springing to his feet in a cat-like fashion I hadn’t expected from someone so large.
Any advantage I’d gained was lost as his amusement at my size and his surprise at my initial rally gave way to rage.
Instead of fear, exhilaration filled me. I let loose with a flurry of movement, bobbing, ducking, and kicking, adding in punches and a few elbows for good measure.
He had size, but couldn’t keep up. I moved around, dodging each punch he threw, avoiding the knife that he’d pulled from his waistband at one point and kicking it out of his hand, sending it spinning into the crowd.
I hardly felt my knuckles contact his face as a spray of blood flew from his nose,
Even as I attacked, beating him down with a strength I hadn’t known I possessed, part of me wondered how I was managing to fight with movements I’d never performed before.
Before I could process what had happened, the slaver was laid out on the ground beside a startled Gwen as Sel stood protectively next to the wolves.
My breath came in short gasps, but I had done it.
Somehow, I had knocked out the slaver.
Chapter 17
I stared at the massive slaver now laying spread out on the ground at my feet, numbly bending to pick up my knife and put it back into its sheath at my waist, not once taking my eyes off my fallen foe.
Once she’d reassured herself the wolves were okay, Gwen approached me hesitantly.
I didn't blame her.
I looked down at my hands, turning them over and flexing them. My knuckles were bruised and bloodied from hitting the slaver, but they didn’t hurt as much as they should have.
I looked at my legs, bending them slightly. They didn’t hurt at all.
Somehow, miraculously, I wasn't injured. And my fighting. It was as though I'd been doing it for years, not just fumbling my way through the basic self-defense moves Loglan and Gwen had walked me through after our fight with the ur’gels.
It was as though I'd suddenly become a warrior.
But surely that was impossible. Wasn't it?
"Rhin…" Gwen paused, looking me over.
Her beautiful eyes sparkled, and she was regarding me as if she’d never seen me before. "What was that? How did you learn to fight?"
"I have no idea. It was like the information was suddenly there. My body just knew." Even as I spoke, a thought dawned.
Was it possible?
I searched for Jarid in the dwindling crowd. Once the slaver had been laid out and no further entertainment was forthcoming, most of the crowd scattered, leaving only a few stragglers behind.
Thankfully, he was still standing there, waiting with my satchel. I walked toward him, looking over my shoulder as I answered her.
"I'm wondering if it was something I learned at the Library. Maybe some of those books are responsible."
I held my hand out for my bag, his wide eyes confirming my suspicion as he handed it over. As I slung it into the comfortable carrying position, his hesitant voice interrupted.
"You mean, you've never been able to fight before?"
I sighed, looking between them.
"If you ask any of my friends, they'll tell you I'm a bit of a princess. So, no. When I jumped into the ring with the slaver, the best I can say is I was a perfect example of sheer stupidity in action. I got lucky. Somewhere between yesterday and today, I apparently learned how to fight, which I didn’t know when I took him on."
Jarid bit his lip as he looked at my bag, causing me to abruptly remember the piece of parchment he'd given me. I fished it out, holding it up.
"What is this? Where did you get it?"
He looked down, kicking the ground with his shoe. "From the book on the pedestal. I told you about it, just before you jumped into the fight. I felt like I had to give it to you. Who knows, maybe it'll come in handy."
I remembered the large, hairy man on the ground, looking at him nervously. "Well, thanks, I guess. I don't know about you guys, but I think we need to leave. We can't stay here if he’s after your wolves, especially not after fighting in the middle of the street. We have to get to one of the other seven cities and lie low for a bit."
"Sounds good to me." A resolute expression on her face, she turned to her wolves.
The faintest flicker of movement from the ground caught my eye. Our time was running out.
"I'll be much happier when my wolves are away from this excuse for garbage human.”
I looked at Sel, who'd been standing back with Swift.
"Is it okay with you if we leave?"
He dipped his head deferentially, but didn't speak.
I turned to Jarid. "What about you? Are you going to be safe here?"
Jarid shrugged and smiled in what I was sure was meant to be a reassuring fashion.
"Yes, most likely I'll be confined to one of those offices where you found me this morning for a while. I technically wasn't doing anything other than what he’d requested, so there isn't anything he can punish me for. What we saw back there was his anger at being, well, outsmarted by a girl." He winced. "I'm sorry, but Luban can be somewhat archaic in his beliefs."
Gwen snorted. "Yeah, the nice dude in the Library I met the first day? He seemed lovely. I’m not surprised he feels he’s better than you if he wouldn't let my wolves inside."
I couldn't help but agree with her assessment, but I was still worried about his reaction and the repercussions for Jarid. "You don't think you're going to be in any danger going back to the Library? Because if you are, you should come with us."
He smiled, looking more certain now. "No, I'll be fine. Like I said, I'll likely be relegated to filing for the next year or two, but I'm not going to be beaten, killed, or let go. Besides, it's far better than where I grew up. It beats the heck out of living on the street. At least in the Library I never have to fight anyone for scraps of bread."
A look of camaraderie passed between them, causing an odd twinge of jealousy to lance through my chest.
"Great. So, if you're sure you're safe at the
Library, are you able to stay there? It may help to have someone on the inside. I'm sure we’ll need information from the Library again, but I don't want you getting hurt just for me."
He tilted his head. "I wouldn't be doing it for you. I'm doing it for my home, for the Library, for all of Lynia. Your mission is one I’m comfortable sacrificing myself for. If there's any way to stop all the death and destruction we fear is coming, I’ll do everything I can."
"Okay. Go back to the Library and we’ll contact you if we can find a way."
He gave an awkward half-bow and took off.
I hoped I wasn’t sending him back to an awful fate.
With Jarid gone, we returned to the room and packed our meager belongings. Luckily, Gwen had already cleaned our belongings before she’d been caught in the middle of a fight with the slaver, so we had something fresh to wear.
I briefly debated the merits of wearing the clothes we were in versus the clean items, reluctantly putting them in my bag instead of changing. If we were traveling again right now, I may as well keep the dirty ones on until we got wherever we were going. No point in having both sets filthy again.
Gwen stopped me as I went to open the door.
I looked at her with surprise. "What is it?"
"What happened to you in the Library? How were you able to fight so well? I mean, I've had a lot more experience fighting, and he was tough." She rubbed her jaw and winced.
I could see a bruise already blooming on the side of her normally smooth, porcelain-colored cheek, but had no answers for her. I was confused as she was.
"I'm not sure. I mean, it was like I’d always known how to do it. I’m sure it's nothing like what you’re thinking."
Her eyes narrowed and a warning tone crept into her voice. "What am I thinking?"
I sighed, certain I’d insulted her. "I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant I didn't read anything specific about fighting. I’m not sure how to explain it, other than maybe it's because of a book I found in the Library. I wasn't supposed to read it apparently, based on Luban's reaction when he found us."
I rolled my eyes, and she snickered.
"It led me through a set of doorways where we were tested. Well, I was tested."
I wondered why I was the only one tested, but I figured it was probably because Jarid and Sel were only along at my bidding. I had been the reason everything had been set in motion.
"We went through three doorways into a room with a whole bunch of books."
"As much as I love listening to you talk about books, maybe skip ahead?"
"Sorry. It's probably like you talking about wolves."
Gwen shrugged.
"I found an amazing room at the end with tablets on one wall which lit up. As I read, I discovered something about Beru, Onen Suun’s first lieutenant. He was after a stone tablet but got trapped with Dag’draath’s firsts after his army was slaughtered. Suun thought he’d turned traitor, but I don’t think he did. He managed to hide the stone before he was cornered by the Dark Army. The last thing I read ended with him fighting everyone off."
Her eyes widened.
"The tablets!" We spoke in unison.
I lightly tapped my palm on my forehead. "Of course! Beru was the best fighter in history, according to legend. Maybe somehow reading about him allowed me to channel his fighting ability?"
"I don't know, but if everything else you did today had nothing to do with fighting, I’d wager good money something about that room was the cause for your new skills."
"That Library was so awe-inspiring, and it gave me an idea. I think I know how to get to the other cities. I took two books and Jarid gave me this piece of parchment in the square out front. I think I need to look for more symbols, like what led me to the room in the Library. I’m hoping we can get out of Sunglen with this. See? It looks a little like a map.”
I held up the paper from Jarid and after squinting at it briefly, she pursed her lips.
"I trust you. Now, let's go. I want to get my wolves as far from the slaver as I can before he wakes up. We should probably go out the back."
We left the room and headed down the hall. We were almost to the door where she’d been feeding the wolves, thanks to Marthe and her high-quality meat castoffs, when Will reappeared.
"What are you doing here?" She sneered, looking him up and down. Her arms were crossed and she glared at him with distrust.
He took a deep breath, touching his nose and wincing before he responded. "You need another sword. And it just so happens I have one. It's not safe here. I'm coming with you."
She opened her mouth for what I was sure would be a blistering rebuttal, but I stopped her, putting my hand on her shoulder.
"No. He's right. I may have randomly developed the ability to fight like a warrior, but we’re up against the darkest forces of evil. If he has an extra sword to spare, unfortunately, I think he's got a fair point. We're going to need all the help we can get."
She gritted her teeth, looking at him with a pinched expression before grudgingly agreeing. "Fine. But remember this—those wolves are every bit as important to me as books are to Rhin, or Rhin is to Sel. You get between me and the wolves, we're going to have a problem."
He put two fingers to his brow and gave her a jaunty salute. "Yes, ma'am. If we’re agreed, let’s take off. A minute ago, the slaver was at the front desk yelling at Marthe, trying to get her to tell him what room you're in."
I gasped, wondering if he would hurt the landlady.
Will gave me a half-smile. "Don't worry, Marthe can handle him. But we don't have much time."
I took one last look around and entered the alley. Things were starting to get interesting.
Chapter 18
A commotion erupted as we rounded the corner of the alley. We couldn't be certain, but based on the noise level and the sound of large objects hitting the wall, the slaver sounded like he’d just entered the alley we’d exited.
It was time to pull out my plan and hope it worked.
Remembering how the symbols had shown me the way in the Library, and based on something I'd read on the parchment Jarid had stolen from the room with the tablets, I was certain a similar method would work in the city of Sunglen itself. Surely, with the Library being as magical as it was with doorways coming and going, the seven cities could be accessed in a similar way.
I looked at the folded paper Jarid had shoved in my hand and used it as my map. Of course, it wouldn’t have looked like a map to anyone else, but I was looking for something specific. A small trident, the same as what I’d found in the dragon book that started the entire adventure in the first place. I’d seen the same symbol on the ripped-out page he’d been compelled to take. I mourned the destruction of the book, but the Library had clearly wanted me to use the paper for something important.
We moved through the alleys, the wolves taking point with Swift in the lead and the other two flanking Gwen. She moved as gracefully as they did, her smooth, long stride making me feel awkward and stiff in comparison until I realized I was also moving in a more agile fashion than I’d ever moved, and I wasn't even out of breath. Maybe reading about Beru had given me some of his abilities.
I stopped, looking down at the page again. I couldn’t quite decipher the geometric figures and blew out my breath, dropping the page against my leg. I looked at our surroundings, and at that exact moment the sun split through one of the tall golden spires in the distance, refracting onto a statue into the open square we’d entered.
As the statue glowed with light, one of the figures on the page lit up. I blinked, wondering if I was seeing it correctly.
"Huh." I didn't know what to tell them, so I pointed at the square. It wasn't glowing anymore, but it had been. It had to mean something. "Okay, I think the statue and this symbol go together. Any ideas?"
I left out the fact I'd seen it glow. I didn't want them to think I was crazy. Sel squinted at the page before looking away with a shrug, but Gwen looked at it more closely.
Pursing her lips, she stared at the symbol I was pointing at, then the statue in the center. It depicted elves frolicking in the forest. The two appeared to have nothing in common.
"Could it be a doorway?"
I looked at the symbol again. It was a rectangle with an X inside. It seemed to be taunting me, so I turned to examine the statue instead. Her idea sounded plausible, and we needed to keep moving.
As far as I knew, we were still being followed.
I glanced at Will, but he wasn't paying attention. Instead he was doing what I was sure he did best: watching our backs, hand resting loosely but competently on the pommel of his sword.
"Maybe. But we have to get closer."
Gwen looked around, then headed closer to check it out.
Sel followed as we approached the statue.
Will seemed to simultaneously keep watch on our backs while staying with us.
It wasn't like there were many people around. The sun was tucked safely behind the buildings and out of our eyes.
Approaching the statue with what I hoped was the normal amount of curiosity of a traveler, I walked all the way around it. Nothing appeared extraordinary until I returned to the spot I’d begun my search and took a step back. This time, I took the statue as a whole and for the first time noticed the elves standing in between two large oak trees.
The branches of the oak trees formed the outline of a rectangle at the top, joining in the middle in a way that was too straight to be natural, or accidental. The way the elves stood together, I could just make out the shape of an X in the alignment of their bodies as they stood with one arm around the other’s waist, each extending an arm and a leg out in joyful celebration.
"That's it!" I pointed to the elves.
Gwen and Will squinted, trying to see what I had seen, while Sel scratched his head. To my surprise, it was Will who agreed with me.
"Yup, it looks exactly like your picture. Now what?"
"I'm not sure. If this is the gateway or doorway, how would one normally access it?"
Soul Goblet Page 17
