Mothy did so, smiling confidently that he could put his friend at ease. Wolflock stood in front of him and braced himself.
“Now try to push me over.”
“What?”
“Push me over. Go on. Do this and I’ll have the data I need.”
Mothy shrugged, and grinning awkwardly went to shove Wolflock’s shoulders. The tiles were more slippery than Wolflock imagined with the soot on them and his feet slipped out from under him. Mothy came toppling down on him, but Wolflock quickly heaved him off and scrambled to the bench wall.
Mothy’s feet had instinctively slid through the ash. His muscle memory was too good to deny. The person who had made the first marks with this same shoe had stood very still and left a clear enough impression for Wolflock to memorize and sketch.
His shoulders sank in relief.
“Thank goodness.”
“Are you going to tell me what this is all about now? Or do I have to roll you through the soot again?”
Wolflock chuckled and dusted himself down.
“No, no. I’m happy to tell you. Just... not here. Come on outside.”
“Give me a hand up then!”
Wolflock grinned and reached out to Mothy, who gripped him around the forearm.
“What’s that? I didn’t know Veluse had silver paint,” Mothy smirked and wiped some off of Wolflock’s elbow crease.
Wolflock froze.
“He doesn’t have silver paint...”
“Where did this come from then? It’s quite pretty.”
Looking more closely at it as they left the dining hall (Mothy grabbed the sandwich from the table on the way), Wolflock realised that this was very nearly, if not precisely, the exact same paint that had been on the hand Parihaan’s cheek had been slapped by.
No one had been seen wearing any silver make-up or paint though.
He then was struck by an idea. Someone had touched his arm earlier. But no... they had an alibi for where they were.
The boys made their way to their favourite haunt, watching the wake of the water behind the ship.
“Gah!” He growled and wrung his fingers through his black hair, pacing back and forth like a frustrated beast. “Why is this not making sense!?”
“Lockie, you haven’t had any food or sleep for nearly two days! Come on, get to bed and you’ll see more clearly in the morning.”
“I can’t sleep until I finish this!” Wolflock growled and pulled at his hair.
“Well I don’t fancy a night shift so we’d better figure it out quickly! And please eat something. You’re worrying me!”
That was it!
“Mothy! Night shift! You’re brilliant!” He cheered and hugged the skinny blond in insane ecstasy.
Chapter 5, The Truth
“Now I want it to be private but not private. Understand?”
“For the hundredth time, yes!” Mothy laughed exasperatedly. “Do you remember how to play?”
“Of course. Remembering a hand game isn’t really taking priority over confronting a murderer though.”
“You don’t know that yet. It may still have been an accident.”
Wolflock pulled a pained face. “I hope so...”
It had taken a few hours, but they had developed a plan. A delicate plan, but Wolflock was convinced at it would work.
“Just don’t be cruel, Lockie...”
Wolflock shrugged and looked back at him over his shoulder. “What do you take me for? A narcissistic brat with a single goal in mind?”
Mothy laughed, but didn’t say anything.
Veluse was still painting on deck, some of the others were reading or chatting. Mothy corralled Nü’s brothers into the clapping game they were playing earlier that day and brought them over to Wolflock showing their relatively good sense of rhythm.
“Where’s your sister boys?” Wolflock smiled as he joined in with Gege.
“Right here,” she said politely behind him.
Mothy welcomed her into their circle. Two claps to the hands either side of you, cross over, slap your thighs, cross over again and spin around, every second person moving deosil.
“I wanted to apologise for earlier. I haven’t slept well and I was out of sorts,” Wolflock said a little staccatoed as he concentrated on keeping up the game.
“I accept your apology.”
“I want to pull everyone into the circle to lighten up the ship!” He announced as he and Mothy pulled Faleen and Bleen away from reading Fuhji’s palm. Froderyk and her both shrugged and came up too.
“That’s it!” Wolflock laughed and began the clapping again.
He could see his target out of the corner of his eye and he knew in three more rounds he’d be able to initiate his plan. Clap, clap, cross, clap, slap, cross, twirl. Everyone span out and grabbed a new partner, being respectful not to touch Haatji who was clapping along by herself.
Clap, clap, cross, clap, slap, cross, twirl and grab.
He was a few steps closer and everyone was being precisely as loud and jovial as he wanted. One... more... clap... round...
Wolflock twirled and grabbed Haatji’s left arm, making her wince.
She looked horrified and her dark golden eyes were flaming.
“No! Wolflock, no!”
“Come on, Haatji! Everyone is having so much fun!” He tugged harder.
“I said no!”
He had just enough time to look back at her when he felt a small palm sting his cheek.
He let her go and raised his hand to his cheek, feeling a slight wetness from the silver paint she used under her nail tips.
“You realise Parihaan had the same marks?”
He was smiling with triumph as the game continued on without them. No one would be able to hear them over their frivolity.
“I do not know what you are talking about,” she said sternly.
“I found your shoe as well. You saw it. You were the one to go through my room and get rid of my notes. Why did you try and frame Mothy? He’s been nothing but kind to you!”
Haatji couldn’t meet his flaming blue eyes.
“I did not do that... You can’t prove anything...”
“Goden is on night shift. He wasn’t in the crew quarters when you were there. You lied to me. Why?” He demanded quietly.
She didn’t speak.
“Show me your dominant hand. Show me your left hand.”
She turned it over. She didn’t even need to pull up the sleeve for him to see the deep scratches all the way down to her index finger.
Haatji’s big dark eyes filled with tears and she fell into her seat, defeated.
“It was an accident... I saw her go down and I confronted her... She was bringing a bad name to all women, especially women from Uluken. I couldn’t stand for that anymore. I hit the barrel out of her hands and it fell back down the stairs. She pushed me against the wall and started yelling at me. I cannot even remember what she said... So I slapped her and told her to snap out of it. She tried to attack me again but I pushed her shoulders. She nearly fell over the railing but I grabbed her shirt. She gripped my arm and tried to attack me again... I swung her around and her nails dragged down my arm as she fell down the stairs...” Haatji sobbed into her hands, leaving silver marks on her forehead. “It was an accident! I hated her but I could never kill anyone! Oh Mr Felen... Wolflock... I don’t know what I can do to make this right... When I saw your notes and heard you looking into this I knew you would find me. I panicked. I threw the shoes out of Mothy’s window, not to frame him, but it was just the nearest window after I stole your notes. Your window would not open!”
Wolflock sighed. She was either a very good actress, or she was telling the truth.
It was his turn to decide. The fate of Haatji was in his hands. He didn’t feel powerful though. He actually felt... wretched...
Parihaan deserved justice if Haatji’s story was a lie. But what happiness would that bring to anyone?
What happiness would that bring to him an
d Mothy?
Wolflock sighed and his shoulders slumped.
“Why were her words so offensive to you? Why did you want to confront her?”
Haatji sighed heavily, “You may not understand as this is not an issue in Grothener. Anywhere West of Xiayah normally does not have to worry about this. Men and women are equal. But in Xiayah and the Eastern borders of Uluken, women fight hard to stay equal. We are taught that we have a place in the home and that our husbands should own everything because they are smarter than us. My mother and father loved me too much to stop me from studying and enjoying the world. I was quite charming in my youth and my rebellion against what everyone believed was normal was taken endearingly. One day a man came along. He was quite wealthy and so were we, and my parents believed that he was a good man, so they arranged our marriage. I was very excited because my future husband seemed to love my free spirit. Once we were married though... He forced me to wear ugly clothes and began to beat me if I did not do things as quickly as he wanted or as well as he deemed. He began to speak cruelly to me and even tell me things that weren’t true to confuse me. I lived in hell for five years with him. He would not let me contact my parents for help and when they came to visit if I did not pretend everything was fine he would threaten to shave my scalp with a red hot blade. One day a beautiful stranger came to our door. He was a businessman from De’tail in the Shoreline province in Shiriling. He was intelligent and funny, but he was so caring. In the time he spent with us over a month we fell in love as if we were made to be together. He asked me to come with him, but I told him I could not while I was still under oath to my husband. He said that he would always wait for me, though... His name was Mr Yekrid Ollilliam... So after he left I went to the parents of my previous husband and to my own and demanded a divorce due to spousal abuse and lost love. My parents granted it straight away and my previous husband’s parents did as well, although very begrudgingly. My previous husband was insulted and shamed. I have always been seen as a very prized woman throughout Uluken and my previous husband had mistreated me to the point where I had left him. If a woman leaves a man in Uluken it is seen as one of the highest shames that he could not provide enough to maintain her love. But now no one there will have me or do business with me, so I set off to travel and establish special businesses where endangered people can seek refuge. I have several in Xiayah, one in Shellinden, and another in Corl. My next step is setting one up in Mystentine and then finally one in De’tail.”
A slight smile appeared on her lips at the mention of the last place.
“I don’t know what to do, Haatji... I like you a lot. You’re a good woman.”
Haatji looked up with fear in her eyes, waiting for the ‘but’.
“I would gain nothing by telling anyone this. Parihaan would gain no justice by revealing this as an accident.”
An accident? An accident...
The nail from the shoe!
It was an accident!
“I found a shoe nail from Parihaan’s shoe! On the landing in the hull! Haatji! Did she teeter on the stairs?”
Haatji’s eyes were as wide as saucers as he spoke and her tears dried quickly.
“How did you know?” She breathed.
“The pattern of the leather still on it showed that it was slowly wriggled free from the shoe.”
“I tried to grab her but I winced when she dug her nails into my arm again. I jerked free and she fell. I could not even watch as she crashed into the barrel at the bottom of the stairs. I just ran...”
It had been an accident.
Parihaan’s life had hung on her shoes being better made. Her whole life had come down to the moments of this nail coming free.
“Thank you for telling me the truth,” he said after a long silence.
“Are you going to tell the Captain?” She whispered, her bottom lip trembling again.
“No. It was an accident, which is what he believes. Adding your presence to the scene would just cause more stress and suffering. After everything that has been happening lately, I think it would be best to try and alleviate some of that.”
Haatji nodded and smiled weakly.
“Why did you not call out for help? Why didn’t you get someone?”
Haatji sighed heavily, “I did not think anyone would believe me. Back in Uluken, my household would always take my husband’s word over mine. I was so oppressed that I didn’t speak to anyone there for a year. No one knew I had a thought in the world. Then one day I left. I just slipped out and ran to my mother’s house. It took them a month to realise I was gone and by that time my mother had sent me away to ask for the divorce from my husband’s parents. I just thought I could rely on that after Parihaan fell.”
“And then I got on the case,” Wolflock smirked devilishly.
Haatji chuckled and sighed. “You are a terrible person, Mr Felen. Terrible. But good. I’m not sure I have the words in a language you would understand. In my language it is Easifa.”
“What does that mean?” Wolflock asked with his head cocked to the side, matching her increasing smile.
“Firestorm.”
“Firestorm? Why is that?”
It didn’t sound like a particularly good title to have.
“In Uluken there are crops that grow and grow in the desert but only put out their seeds when they go through fire. The easifa wipes everything out to black dust, and reduces it all to only the strongest bones. After this happens the seeds all spring forth from the ground and flourish. If you are not careful it will catch onto the storage sheds or houses though. The easifa also strikes at random. Sometimes it will not come for years. Sometimes it comes in half a year. Sometimes never in some crops. The easifa wields tremendous power recklessly, seemingly destroying everything in its path. But then the fruits of your labour are revealed with new growth and understanding. You, Mr Felen, are an easifa.”
During Haatji’s speech, she had sat herself back upright and regained her nearly regal aura. There were no more tears and she had seen that by teaching him, she had again taken back the power lost from her secret being discovered.
Wolflock looked back to the group of revellers still dancing and clapping on the deck. Geagle had taken up a drum and Hognut had found his guitar, and they were playing merrily along as the sun began to set.
Wolflock stayed with Haatji and spoke about her homeland and the types of food and customs he could expect if he visited. It was light and friendly, but mostly full of relief. It had been very trying few days, but as the ship sailed on, he saw that the mountains were moving further and further away from the sides of the Silver Hair. They were finally coming into Silver Bay.
“Lockie!” Mothy ran up to him and dragged him to the port side of the ship. “Look out there!”
Wolflock regained his composure and looked across the crystal clear blue water. The water seemed to be breaking in odd patterns and small black fins rose and sank like a turning wheel.
“What is it?”
“Dolphins!”
The crew and company heard him and ran to the side to see.
“There’s one! I see it!” Tinni cried out excitedly.
“And there! Another!”
“They’re coming closer!”
Dolphins started to circle the ship and leap out, chasing the waves that came from the sides. Underneath seemed to be streak of silver and grey that would vanish when you tried to determine what they are.
For a few minutes everyone laughed and smiled, watching the wild lake creatures flit around the ship like butterflies around flowers. Some even started doing tricks like somersaults and swimming on their sides to wave their fins. The joy that their mere presence brought was overwhelmingly healing and nourishing to all of their souls.
After the dolphins had departed and the guests retired for dinner, Grogen regaled them with stories of dolphins saving crew from drowning and freezing to death, as well as the mythology of how they were such a good omen.
The evening passed quickl
y as they came into the beautiful view of the stars being mirror against the expansive lake. It was a truly mesmerising sight.
Wolflock and Mothy looked out over the stern of the ship and enjoyed the wind catching their hair.
“It’s so calm...” Wolflock commented.
“It certainly is now that you’ve solved another mystery,” Mothy chuckled.
“Remind me of something when we get to Mystentine,” he said very seriously, his face going cold.
“What?” Mothy responded with a slight concern.
“I need to find the best cobbler in Mystentine.”
Thank you for reading this tale. This was the first story directly inspired by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and there will be many more to come. I love his works and Sherlock Holmes has been a hero of mine for many years.
I’m sorry this one came out late but there is this thing called “life” that seems to tell me when I can and cannot write, no matter how much I want to.
If you liked this story please leave a lovely review on Amazon and Goodreads or email me at [email protected]
See you in the next book!
The Study in Silver (The Wolflock Cases Book 5) Page 4
