I covered my lips with my free fingers as more incoherent noises tried to tumble forth. At first it didn’t appear as though Beth was moving at all, but as I stared in abject horror I saw her chest rise and fall in shallow breaths. Or was my vision playing tricks on me? I rubbed my eyes, but it didn’t help. The edges of the alley wiggled like it was made of worms. My legs shook as though they might give out beneath me, and I tore my gaze away to cast a helpless look towards Aella.
“I’ll go,” she said, squeezing my other hand tightly, and then she let go, running at full speed towards the inn.
I was rooted in place, eyes transfixed on my brother, and my friend. I thought of earlier, seeing her with the mercenary and worrying that Corey would see and become upset. “You didn’t…” My throat felt thick, and my voice refused to work. I tried to think of how to ask if Corey had done this. I attempted to speak again. “Michael, you didn’t…”
Michael seemed to misread my unfinished question. His eyes were desperately wide in his pale face. They flashed with ire and then impatience for a moment, before settling on fear. “No! This wasn’t me. I came upon her like this.”
I took a few stumbling steps forward and sank next to Michael. “Of course not. What happened?”
He shook his head helplessly. “You’re guess is as good as mine. I was having a terrible time in there, so I came out here to track you down and to make sure Aella got your cloak to you.” His eyes never left Beth’s pale face as he spoke. “I got to this point and I heard moaning.”
“She didn’t say anything to you?” I reached out to smooth the hair back from Beth’s forehead but let it drop halfway there.
“She was conscious when I got to her, but I couldn’t make her stay that way, and she couldn’t say anything. I think her jaw is broken. The way it’s sitting…” he trailed off, and I rubbed his shoulder roughly. His shoulder was freezing, and his cheeks were flushed red from the cold.
There was the distant sound of several pairs of boots on the gravel and cobblestone. I stood with difficulty, using the wall to help me up, and moved to peer around the corner of the alley. From that position I saw a whole parade of bodies arrowing towards us with Aella at the lead. Laura, Beth’s mother and stepfather, my mother and father, Aella’s mother, as well as the medics Andrew and David, and another mercenary whom I didn’t know. I flagged them down, and when they caught sight of me their pace quickened further still.
Benjamin and Anne pushed past me without a word to kneel by their daughter. Benjamin pulled her into his lap without minding the sticky blood.
“What is this? Who has done this?” He demanded ferociously of Michael, but softly, as though his daughter was asleep and he feared disturbing her.
“Careful of moving her,” Andrew chided gently, as he came to kneel beside them.
I had moved to press my back against the brick wall behind me, so that Andrew, David, and the mercenary could get by. Michael rose to join me, but not before grabbing his crook off the ground. He seemed almost hesitant to touch it, and I could see why. Beyond the normal muck from laying on stone and earth, the wood had also picked up some of the blood seeping from our friend. The whiskey in my system made it hard to focus, and I forced myself to breath slowly and evenly, willing my stomach not to reject what little it contained. I couldn’t believe Michael hadn’t puked already. He kept switching which hand he held the crook with, and scrubbing the free one along his breeches. They’d have to be thrown out, with how stained they were. No amount of hot water would get them clean.
Andrew took one of Beth’s wrists, and she breathed in a shuddering gasp but her eyes didn’t open. Gently Andrew felt along the fingers. “Pulse is steady, but slow. I think she has a few broken fingers. We’ll need to get her to a lighted area, out of this wind.”
Behind him David sat the large medical bag he carried onto the ground and popped it open. A bit of digging procured a tightly folded length of canvas. Michael and I moved entirely out of the alley to make room. Mother put her arm around me and I nuzzled into her shoulder, but still I couldn’t take my eyes off the scene in front of me.
David and Andrew lay the canvas smoothly and as closely to Beth’s prone form as possible. I squeezed my eyes shut. She looked like a doll that someone had thrown at a wall and then left.
Andrews gaze flicked to the hovering mercenary. His voice was cool. “A third medic isn’t necessary, thank you.”
The woman was silent for a moment, then crouched to speak quietly to both men. With her back to me, I had to strain to hear her. “I’m a healer. If she has a concussion I can reduce the swelling around her brain and prevent any further damage.”
David had struck a match, with his other hand he cracked one of Beth’s eyelids open. He waved the match back and forth in front of her, and without looking up from his inspection he said, “It can’t hurt, Andrew, let—” there was an expectant pause.
“Belinda,” she supplied.
“Let Belinda help. Beth won’t thank us for turning down assistance.”
Andrew looked conscience-stricken at Beth’s prone form. “Fine. But we need to get a move on. This chill isn’t helping her any.”
Consciously, Belinda ducked her head in her own nod. As she tucked her glossy brown hair behind an ear, she glanced backward as though collecting her thoughts. There was relief in her voice when she spoke. “Ito.”
“I’m here,” a soft male voice came from behind me.
I jerked my head around to find the man who spoken. I had not realized he had come upon us. Before I could get a good look at him, his back was to me as he conferred with Belinda.
Glancing at Nophgrin’s medics nervously, she gestured to the new man. “This is Ito. He is not a healer, but he is a mage.” When they didn’t immediately rebuff this, she spoke to Ito again. “Can you move her? I cannot tell yet how deep her injuries go. It would be safer.”
“Of course,” he said simply.
Without preamble, Beth’s body rose evenly from the ground. My eyes bugged out. Her hair and clothes barely brushed across the bloody cobblestones, as what I had to assume was Ito’s magic smoothly shifted her onto the canvas.
My eyes felt dry as I stared, but I didn’t want to blink. To move a girl as though she was as light as a feather was a big deal to me. Of the two medics, only Andrew had magic, and he did not do stuff like this. Andrew had once explained that he simply didn’t have enough of it to waste on anything but healing. If he even moved a few logs across the room, he might not have the strength to burn out a winter cold. He could get a familiar to expand his powers, but here in the mountains we didn’t possess the instructional texts that would teach him the process.
If Andrew was resentful about this show of power, he kept it in check. He and David moved to take opposite ends of the canvas without comment. Ito waved them off, and with the motion of his hand lifted the makeshift stretcher into the air until she floated at waist level.
“To our home?” Anne’s voice was reed-like, as though she couldn’t get enough air into her lungs.
Andrew shook his head. “It’s too far. Even with the help, I want to begin work immediately.”
“We can’t take her back to the inn. It’d be a madhouse,” Laura said shrewdly. She seemed to have taken this show of magic in stride, though her hand was on her sword hilt. “My home is near, and it’s safe. We can take her in there.” She surveyed the crowd. “It’s not a large home though. Medics and family only, if you please.” She fished her keys out of her pocket and handed them off to Andrew, then recited her address to him, though everyone knew where the guards lived. It was one of the thatch roofed, one-story homes that Aella and I had been dancing in front of. Laura did not immediately follow the procession that carried Beth. Instead, she turned to scan the bloody alley. “I need to look at this, and I’ll need torches, if someone will fetch them.”
Michael was staring with unfocused eyes at the ground, so I raised my hand. “I’ll go.”
Mother looke
d sharply up at me. “Not on your life. We don’t know who did this. They’re still out wandering the streets. Your father will go get some.”
“As will I, and while I’m at the pub, I’ll tally up my people and put them to their bedrolls. Aella, you stay here with guardswoman Laura until I come back.” Gone was the jovial Aedith from earlier in the evening. Her face was drawn and tired.
“Yes ma’am,” Aella said in equally formal tones. She stood ramrod straight, her feet shoulder width apart, and her hands stacked loosely in front of her. Aedith and my father sized each other up soberly, and then turned to stride quickly back to the inn in silence.
Mother chafed my shoulder. On her other side, she did the same to Michael, though he stood almost two feet taller than her and she had to reach up to do so. “As soon as your father comes back and Laura clears us, we’ll go home.”
I nodded dully. Beth had been with a mercenary when I left. Had he lured her out into this shadowy alley? What could possibly be the point of beating a girl you only just met? Had Corey come out, and seen them as I had feared? But he was more likely to fight the mercenary than Beth, wasn’t he? Unless he decided he was too outmatched by the mercenary, and went after an easier target. I bit my tongue and hoped desperately that someone else would mention seeing Beth and the mercenary together. Certainly, Maude wouldn’t withhold the information. Then they could come up with their own conclusions.
I snuck a few glances at Aella, but she wasn’t looking at me. In fact, she hadn’t moved from where her mother had left her, and her eyes stayed fixed on the dark stain on the cobblestone, her mouth a grim line. Had she seen her companion and Beth pressed against the wall of the inn when she came to follow me? A worse thought: had she seen them in the alleyway and kept me from returning sooner?
Down towards the housing district, noise began to pool and torches became lit. It seemed someone, my guess was Willy, had diverted those who were leaving the inn to the next road over to get home. This meant that they didn’t pass this scene, although those who lived near the alley craned their necks in curiosity, trying desperately to get a look inside the alley. Laura stood in front of it, her arms crossed and her face a foreboding mask that drove them into their homes with their heads bowed.
Not much later, Father returned. Behind him was Aedith and her troops, in varying states of drunken disrepair. Tess and Harold were weaving slightly as they walked, and Victor moved with painful deliberation, as though he wasn’t certain about his footing. Kaleb and Dai moved more easily, and they also carried torches like my father and Aedith. When they came closer, I could detect a glaze over Dai’s eyes.
Towards the center of the group I recognized the man I had seen with Beth. Probably in his mid-twenties, he had a scruffy beard and long lashes. His face hadn’t been roughened by years of service, and his hair was luminous—it was no wonder Beth had chosen to idle with him rather than pimply Corey. He was the sort of fighter bards loved to write about. At this moment, I imagined those story-tellers would be in raptures. As his gaze darted about at each scrabble of stone or chink of curtains opening, I wondered if his nervousness stemmed from fear of rightful or wrongful retribution. Across the whole group hung a feeling a trepidation, and from the way they occasionally glanced at him, I got the distinct impression that they knew their comrade was the last person to be seen with Beth.
Aella moved to stand to the left of her mother, and Laura finally acknowledged them. “You understand that your lot will be blamed for this.”
Aedith nodded, and I was impressed that her expression didn’t change, though her hand fiddled with something in the pocket of her cloak. “So long as you understand that we’re professionals here to do a job. Though I’m sorry the girl was badly hurt, my people did not do this.”
Laura ran her tongue across her top teeth, and pulled out a pocketbook and a bit of charcoal from her waist pouch. “That remains to be seen. You, and Taryn.” She pointed between Aella and myself. “You came outside a little over an hour ago, I saw you go. Did you see Beth then?”
I started, and Aella flinched at being addressed. She spoke quickly. “No ma’am. There was no one outside when I left.”
“Taryn?” Laura’s voice was stern.
My eyes flicked to Aella, but still she wasn’t looking at me. Mother gave me another encouraging squeeze. Hesitantly, I spoke. “Yes. I saw Maude,” Laura jotted down a note, “And … I saw Beth, with that man.” I lifted a heavy hand and pointed at the nervous mercenary.
“Did either of them seem agitated?”
“No, they were, erhm … talking.” Laura speared me with a look, and I blushed crimson before adding, “Closely.”
Laura turned her glower at the young mercenary. “Well? What were you talking about?”
He gazed wide-eyed at me, and then turned to Laura. “I swear I didn’t harm Miss Beth. You have my word. I came outside to have some fresh air, and she followed me out. We got to talking, yes, but that was it!” The man’s companions wouldn’t look at him, and his voice was strangled coming out.
“What’s your name?” Laura asked, harshly.
“It’s Lucas—Luke ma’am. I swear, she was fine when I went back inside.” His words toppled over each other.
“Lucas you’ll need to come with me this evening. It’s as much for your protection as the town’s. When word gets out about this, I can imagine no few of my neighbors who will be out for blood.”
Finally, one of the mercenaries spoke up. “We can protect him fine.” It was Victor, and Luke looked at him gratefully.
Laura shook her head. “This is not a negotiation. There has been a serious crime committed here, and Lucas was the last person seen with the victim. I have to take him in.”
Aedith’s lips had pressed tightly together during this exchange, and when she did speak her tone was regretful. “Luke, I’m afraid guardswoman Laura is right. This is not the first time someone has capitalized on our presence to commit atrocities.” To Laura she said, “At no cost to you or yours I would add on to my task rooting out who did beat this poor girl.”
Laura met her gaze without backing down. “It all depends on if the town is willing to let you stay. You understand. When that’s decided I’ll tell you whether or not I will accept your help.” Her words were clipped, and I could tell she had taken offense at the mercenary captain’s offer.
Footsteps drew my eyes over the shoulders of the mercenaries. It was Willy, with a sour looking Maude in tow. “Clear a path. Excuse me!” Willy’s voice was good natured, as though he was speaking to friends, not extremely on edge mercenaries. “Ah, Laura, there you are. I’ve scrounged us up a witness.”
“William, Taryn saw Beth with that man, Lucas, before she went on her walk this evening, though mercenary Aella denies it.” Laura gestured to Lucas. I saw Aella bite back an objection with impressive restraint. Lucas opened his mouth as if starting to declare his innocence again.
Willy waved him off. “Maude, is that the mercenary you saw with Beth?”
Maude squinted at Lucas, taking him in from boots to hair, and I almost groaned— it didn’t take that long to identify someone you had stood right next to! She curled her lip in distaste. “Yes, that’s him guardsman.”
Lucas went to protest again, and again Willy forestalled him. “Taryn, you came outside and saw them together, and then you went where?”
I blinked stupidly but was more than willing to aid him in whatever scent he was dogging. His smile had a hard glint to it that I rarely saw from him. “I walked south, towards the mercenary camp. I had planned to circle the block, to get some air.”
Willy turned to Aella. “But they were not there when you came outside?”
Aella shook her head. “I saw Luke right before I left, he was joining a table that was,” she glanced at her mother, then gave Lucas an apologetic look, “throwing dice.” Lucas seemed to try and shrink in place and I saw Aedith’s nostrils flare and her lip curl ever- so- slightly with displeasure.
&nbs
p; “And Beth?”
“I didn’t see her, but I wasn’t looking for her either, sir. I’d never met her before I saw her here tonight.”
Willy nodded. “Laura, from what I gather, sometime in the minutes between Taryn leaving and Aella joining her, Beth vanished.”
“Are we going to trust this girl when she says she saw her friend inside? She knows if he’s found guilty they won’t be paid. Why wouldn’t she’d defend him?” Laura sputtered.
“My daughter is no liar.” Aedith’s words were a low growl.
“Well, young women do not vanish in this town, and turn up with their heads bashed in!” Laura’s face was turning a mottled purple color.
“You can ask the men I was throwing dice with!” Lucas was yelling now.
“You think I won’t?”
“Willy,” my mother’s soft voice carried, and the shouting paused. “I’d like to take my children home.”
“Yes. Just one more thing, before I can conclude here. Luke, will you please step to me?” Lucas looked between Laura and Willy, his distrust clear. Reluctantly he did as he was told, and the other mercenaries parted for him to get through. Willy gave Laura a meaningful stare, and then he beckoned my father closer with the torch and knelt in front of Lucas. To my confusion, he tugged to lift one of Lucas’s boots. Though it surprised him, Lucas obliged. “Do you see his shoes?” He stood, and circled Lucas, pulling at and inspecting his clothes. “Do you see his clothing?”
Laura was beginning to look sullen. “What’s your point?”
“There is no blood on his boots or clothing, no scratches on his skin.”
Michael was glaring at Willy now, his shoulders tight. It seemed he had given up wiping his bloody hands. There was so much blood on his breeches that it did no good. I squinted, and swayed. Would that make Michael a suspect? But of course, that was ludicrous, I was sure. There would have to be some blood on him. He had been cradling her. I shook my head, ruefully. I wasn’t about to let my fear and drunkenness make me suspect my own brother. Resolutely, I returned to attending to the conversation at hand. Willy was asking a question.
Of Gryphons and Other Monsters (Taryn's Journey Book 1) Page 17
