Askaro of the Falcon

by Lady Li Andre

  Chapter 18 – Seeing Red

  Askaro looked at the cross street. Both directions were narrow rows of shops with homes above them. The rooftops were too high for even him to make the leap. He looked at the others. “Which way?”

  Blin was staring back the way they’d come. She was shaking. “We can’t go back!”

  Zane pointed to the left. “We have to go towards Red Top. The other way is a dead end.”

  Askaro grabbed Blin. “Let’s go.”

  Marlo led them in the direction Zane had chosen. “This is going to put us out in the open. It’s a considerable distance to Red Tower with no cover. We’re going to need a diversion.”

  Askaro glanced back toward the intersection. Golarin and Bruvano were matching strides with a good number of the trackers trailing them. “There’s no way we’re going to outrun them. What’s the plan?”

  There was a commotion in the street ahead. A large burly man wearing a long coat stepped toward them. “You there, stop!” He grabbed Marlo’s arm.

  Marlo gasped. “Please sir, let us go. That man is trying to grab my little brother. He lost his bracelet while working in the gardens. I got him a replacement but that man wants to take him as a slave.”

  The shopkeeper scowled. “Filthy trackers! Now they’re stalking citizens. It’s bad enough that we have to pay the Regent for our own children.” He let him go and whistled to a man across the street. “Charen, let’s move that load of boards over to my shop now.” He winked and motioned for the group to move on. “This will slow that lot down.”

  Marlo nodded to the man. “Thank you, sir!” He resumed his course down the street.

  Askaro made sure Blin was ahead of him. He glanced back toward Zane and noticed the shopkeepers had blocked the street with a cartload of planks. He could hear Bruvano’s deep roar of anger. “That’s not going to stop them for long.”

  Zane caught up with him. “As long as it gives us time to get to Red Tower. Marlo’s right. There won’t be any cover once we get out of the shop district.”

  Askaro looked ahead. He could see the faint form of a tower rising above the other buildings. The shops ended abruptly. To their right was a vast view of distant clouds on the horizon with more buildings a few hundred units below them. Between the bridge and buildings was a deep chasm. The Starboard Foremast of the Falcon seemed to float in midair above that section of the city. There were no crewmen visible. “If I could get close enough, I could leap right onto the mast.”

  Zane chuckled. “Distance is an illusion. The mast is hundreds of units from anything.”

  As they moved into the open area of the street, the rest of the ship came into view. They were almost level with the bottom of the dirigible. Zane was right. There was no way to make that kind of leap.

  Blin had slowed enough to drop back to Askaro’s side. “I’ve never been to this part of town.”

  “I trust Zane and Marlo. They won’t lead us wrong.” Askaro noticed the group of connected buildings that spread upward on the hillside to their left. “That must be one rich family to have a house that large.”

  Marlo reduced his speed. “That’s not a house, my friend. That’s the University.”

  Blin frowned. “What’s that mean?”

  Zane sighed. “It’s a place the likes of us can’t afford to go.”

  “Actually, that’s not the case.” Marlo readjusted his lute. “I went there for awhile. You can get a pass if you have a certain level of skill in a given field of study.” He looked back then dropped to a walk. “We need to catch a breath. Exhausting ourselves won’t help. I don’t see them behind us.”

  Askaro was studying the collection of buildings. “So you went to this school to study music?”

  Marlo seemed lost in thought for a moment. “No, I was there because my father wanted me to study law. My uncle was a lawyer and it seems I had a knack for understanding his cases. He was the one who got me the pass so I could attend. I turned out to be a big disappointment to my family.”

  Askaro moved up beside him. “Were the classes too hard?”

  “No. But the more I learned about the laws of Rokathalon the more I realized how unfair they were. I didn’t want to serve a system like that. I’d met Arin, the son of Ranulo, in one of my classes and we sang for fun in the evenings. When he learned I was planning to leave the University, he mentioned me to his father and I became a member of the troupe.”

  They were slowly approaching Red Tower. It rose into the sky, beginning narrow at the base, widening for a distance, and becoming narrow again as it reached into the clouds. Askaro couldn’t see the top. “Do people live in this tower like they do in Cloud Tower?”

  Marlo grinned. “That they do. There are too many people in this city for even all the rich folks to have their own home. Only the highest elites have estates. The average person lives in a townhouse. Shopkeepers usually have a home above or next to their shop. Servants sometimes get a room in the place they work.”

  Askaro glanced at Blin. “Like those who work in Cloud Tower.”

  She nodded. “And the stable hands in the livery. Them is who we heard talking last night a’fore the night watch bell.”

  The street led into the base of Red Tower, which was open and contained an intersection of streets. Askaro noticed most people seemed to be moving down the street they were on or the one that turned to the left inside the tower. “Which way do we go?”

  Marlo pulled them into a corner to get out of the heavy traffic. “To the right is North Island. Straight ahead just goes to some town houses. Our only option is to go with the flow and turn toward Steep Street.”

  Zane grinned. “Then let me take the lead. I used to work down at the bottom end.”

  Askaro had been watching the bridge behind them. “They got through. They are on the bridge.”

  Blin motioned to Zane. “Lead on, then.”

  Zane headed out of the tower with the others falling in behind him. The short street curved and disappeared between shops. As they rounded the corner, Askaro caught his breath. The entire street along with the shops that seemed to cling to it, dropped below them in wide steps. “This certainly is quite a city.”

  Zane chuckled. “Now this is one that I’d give my front teeth to know how they did it. This is a bridge street between Red Top and Sunset Isle. That tower over there is Sunset Tower.”

  Askaro looked across the rooftops to the tower that rose into the clouds in the distance. He couldn’t see much of the detail but he was still impressed by the size. “So many amazing things.”

  Blin tugged on his arm. “There are Authority coming our way up the street.”

  Marlo put a hand on Blin’s shoulder from where he walked behind her. “Just make sure the yellow band is visible. Remember what I said about the pendant, Askaro.”

  He felt it with his fingertips and pulled it out in front of his shirt. He looked in various shop windows but also watched the blue uniformed officers making their way up the broad stone stairs. Askaro looked back the way they’d come. His throat tightened. “We have company coming behind us.”

  Blin looked frantically from one side of the narrow street to the other. “There’s no where to go!”

  Marlo stopped. “Keep going. I’ll see what kind of diversion I can create.”

  Askaro’s fingers curled around the pendant. He whirled around. “No. I’m tired of running. Are you sure about this pendant?” Marlo nodded. “Then there is no reason for Golarin to want me. I’m a member of the crew, not a slave.”

  Blin called to him from the doorway of a shop. “What are you doing? Come on!”

  Askaro focused on the group of men quickly advancing. “You should go with them, Marlo. In case things get ugly. Keep Blin safe.”

  Marlo held out his hand and Askaro shook it. The musician grinned. “So the mouse faces off with the cats.” He winked and jogged toward the door of the shop where Zane and Blin both waited.

  Askaro checked the progress of the Authority
in his direction. He was depending on Marlo’s assurance that the pendant was sufficient proof. He turned back to face Bruvano and Golarin, who were now advancing toward him, pushing others out of the way. A stream of leather armored men followed in their wake.

  Bruvano pointed at him. “Stop, slave!” His roar echoed between the narrow buildings. The drone of conversation ended abruptly.

  Askaro stood his ground. “I’m not moving and I’m not a slave. I’m sorry, Golarin, but this man has deceived you.”

  Golarin laughed. “I don’t know who you think you’re fooling. Plenty of people saw the merchant offer coin for you at the Portal.”

  Bruvano was only a few paces away. His face was bright red and curled into a vicious snarl. “I’ve got you now, Ass. There’s no where to run.”

  Askaro held up the pendant. “I’m not running. I don’t need to. I finally found out what my grandfather’s gift meant.”

  Golarin stopped so fast that Otho, who had been only a few steps behind, slammed into him. Both men tumbled to the ground. The slave tracker pushed at his second. “Get off of me, you oaf!”

  Bruvano lunged toward Askaro, reaching for the pendant. Askaro leaped to the side at the last moment. Bruvano couldn’t compensate for his forward motion on the stairs. He hit the paving stones with a thud that shook everything around them. He rolled quickly to his feet and whirled to face him. “I’ve had enough of your games, brat! Your grandfather is a fool but I’m not. You belong to me!”

  Askaro watched the Authority pushing their way through the crowd that had surrounded him and the trackers. He held up the pendant. “This says otherwise.”

  Golarin moved slowly toward Askaro. “May I see that?”

  Askaro held it toward the tracker so he could read the pendant. “This was a gift from my grandfather, Captain Delkaro, for my sixteenth birthday.”

  Bruvano clenched his fists. “Lies! You stole it!”

  Golarin’s face had lost some of its color. He cleared his throat. “I beg your most humble pardon, Sir. There has been a grievous misunderstanding.” He turned to Otho. “This is no slave at all. This is Ensign Askaro of the Falcon.”

  The Authority officers moved forward. One of them grabbed Golarin’s arm. “What’s going on here, tracker?”

  Golarin bowed to Askaro. “I was apologizing to Ensign Askaro. I had been given faulty information and thought he was an escaped slave.”

  The other officer looked over at Bruvano. “And who are you?”

  “I am Bruvano, the Slave Master of the Falcon.” He held up his pendant for inspection.

  The officer examined it and nodded. “So you lost a slave in the city?”

  Bruvano pointed at Askaro. “He is the slave I lost!”

  The officer next to Golarin turned to Askaro. “Can you explain this, Sir?”

  Askaro held up his pendant. “Because of certain issues on the ship, I was assigned to Master Bruvano until I turned sixteen. My grandfather, Captain Delkaro, gave me a ship’s pendant for my birthday.”

  Bruvano snarled. “That’s a lie!”

  The officer closest to the Slave Master put himself between the angry man and Askaro. “That’s quite enough.” He looked over to the other officer. “What say you, Lentran?”

  Officer Lentran examined Askaro’s pendant. “Looks official to me. I guess there’s one way to settle it for sure. We take them both to Captain Delkaro and let him settle it.”

  Askaro sighed. “Thank you. I’ve been trying to get back to the ship for several days now.”

  Bruvano roared and pushed the Authority officer out of the way. “If I’m going down, you’re going first!” He surged toward Askaro.

  A gray shadow landed between them. Askaro was startled by the sudden appearance of the Seeker. The man grabbed Bruvano and held him back. Bruvano screamed. “This isn’t over, you lousy piece of gutter trash!” He pulled free and swung the cloaked man away.

  Askaro was moving toward the shop before he consciously knew it. Bruvano’s heavy footfalls echoed in the narrow street. Blin and the others were all staring. He pointed down the hill. “Run!”

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