by Unknown
“Oh, are they? I’m so sorry.” There’d been an order?
Still frowning, he shifted them about in his hands, putting them into whatever order he wanted, then he started again from the top.
Perhaps because he’d been doing this job for the past hundred years he knew how to read through the forms quickly. He went through that stack with record speed then lightly tapped them against the desktop, knocking them into perfect alignment. “Well, these seem to be in order. I’ll stamp them and bring back the proper documentation.”
I let out a covert breath of relief.
Halfway out of the chair, he paused. “How is it that you have your own documents and passports but not your sister’s?”
Ahhh…cripes, did he have to think of that? I gave him a half-truth. “We were hit by a mother storm about a week back. It basically destroyed most of our traveling gear and such. I had mine in my belt pouch, so that was safe, but her bag was lost.”
His mouth formed an ‘ah’ of understanding. “Poor luck.”
I grimaced in agreement. “We’ve had nothing but bad luck this entire trip.”
“Hopefully that doesn’t continue,” he offered. Was that a smile, however fleeting?
Strangely, I’d felt like I’d made a friend, and I grinned back at him. “Hopefully not.”
He turned and went off to a back room, coming back within minutes with some very official looking papers in his hands. Sitting back down, he filled them in with a quick, neat penmanship, stamped them several times with all sorts of seals, and then handed them to me. “Good journey, Riicshaden.”
“Thank you…I never did catch your name?”
He looked at me with wide eyes, expression touched. “Corsamen.”
“Corsamen, a pleasure to exchange names. And thank you for your help.”
He almost looked on the verge of tears. Seriously, had no one ever thanked the man? Or were they too irritable to do so after wading through all of those obnoxious forms?
“Safe journey,” he wished me again, huskily.
“Thank you.” I gave him a casual salute before gathering up my papers and heading back out of the building.
Both girls were waiting at the café on the corner. They’d clearly been waiting on me for a while, as there were all sorts of dishes stacked up. Well, someone’d been enjoying themselves. Becca spotted me first and waved. “Did you get it?”
“I did,” I assured her, slinging myself into the chair nearby. “How long was I in there?”
“Three hours,” Aletha answered dryly. “How many forms were there?”
“I swear, you can buy a house and do less paperwork.” I waved the passport and boarding pass in the air. “It was tricky, too, as I didn’t know half the things they were asking me.”
“So what’d you do?” Becca asked.
“I lied,” I answered cheerfully. “No one’s going to check to see if I told the truth, not when we’re in a province so far from your hometown.”
“You lied,” Aletha repeated in amusement, “on official paperwork, and got by with it?”
“Hey, my charm is not to be discounted.”
She snorted. “Shad, you’re a bad man.”
“I couldn’t have told the full truth anyway, even if I’d known all of it,” I pointed out to her. “The possibility is remote, but what if someone put the pieces together and connects Becca back to her family? It would put them in danger.”
Her open hand conceded the point. “There really wasn’t another option, I suppose. Well, we have a boarding pass and passport for her. What else?”
“Traveling clothes? What we’ve got on is worn out. Did you buy us tickets?”
“Turns out there’s only one ship leaving for Halliburton this week, and it goes out tomorrow morning,” Aletha answered. “So yes, I got one of the last rooms available.”
“That doesn’t give us a lot of time,” I responnvded with a frown. “Do we have time to get married today?”
A twinkle appeared in Aletha’s eye. “No, but apparently if you tell the ship ahead of time, the captain performs wedding ceremonies. In fact, they even give you a honeymoon discount if you’re married on board.”
I blinked at her. “Now how in the world did you learn about that?”
“It pays to talk to people while you’re standing around in line, it truly does.”
“So is there anything we need to do?” This recent stint of doing paperwork had made me hyperaware of it.
“I’ve already done it. Well, actually, they helped me fill it all in.”
Bless the guardians for small favors. “Excellent. Since the ship doesn’t leave until tomorrow morning, we have time to do some shopping.”
Becca perked up at this idea, as girls normally did when shopping was offered. “Can I buy a pretty blue dress?”
“I insist you do,” I told her in grand, rolling tones.
She hopped out of her chair and into my lap, hugging me around the shoulders. “You’re the best big brother ever.”
“Awww, that’d be sweet if you meant it, but you’re only saying that because I spoil you rotten.”
Pulling back, she blinked at me innocently. “Is that bad?”
“Not for you,” Aletha said dryly. “Alright, shopping it is.”
Movac, as it turned out, was an excellent place to go shopping.
Because of its location, it saw a lot of trading with Bromany, Q’atal, and even Hain. It was the port to send things to if you were shipping things overseas. Once we’d left the more formal, government section of the city and reached the marketplace, it was immediately obvious that we wouldn’t get a second glance here. I’d never seen such a mix of foreigners in my lifetime, not within Chahir’s borders, at least.
Just as obvious, it was rush hour. People were packed into the streets like sewer rats. The signs were way above eye level, no doubt because the merchants realized that you could walk right past their store and not notice it was there during the rush hour. Thankfully we were in a fairly modern and clean city. Otherwise, in this press of bodies, it would have quickly stunk to high heaven.
I kept a watchful eye on a certain small blonde as she and Aletha headed for the first clothing merchant they saw. As they browsed, I went through the store and bought a few things for myself, bundling it all up into a more cartable load. While I’d had my back turned, Becca had somehow managed to find five dresses, three pairs of shoes, and I didn’t know how many hair ribbons that she just loved and can’t I have all of them?
So, of course, I bought everything she wanted. My purse winced when I did, but it didn’t stop me. Seeing the first honest smile on her face more or less bewitched me, and I just gave into her without even trying to argue. If buying her this made her forget—for at least a moment, everything she had lost—then it was well worth it.
Aletha watched me do this and shook her head, resigned. I think she realized at that point I’d be the fun parent and she’d be the disciplinarian.
We went from that store to the next, where Becca insisted we had to buy something for Tail too. The store mostly had pretty, shiny things and baubles, things more suitable for courting gifts. Aletha chose to go to a shop a little further down, as she wanted new traveling bags to put our purchases into.
So I dutifully kept one eye on Becca as I bent over the wares on display, hoping to find a good set of wedding rings for Aletha and me as we shopped. I kept an eye out for something that might suit an evil Jaunten cat too, but nothing spoke to me.
“Becca, I think we need to change stores,” I said at last. “I don’t see anything here that—” Huh? Wait a minute, where did she go? She’d been right at my side a moment ago. “Becca?”
I turned and went outside the store, but still didn’t see her. Growing concerned, I raised my voice. “Becca! Becca, where are you?”
No answer. Or at least I didn’t hear an answer. The marketplace was noisy, but surely not noisy enough to crowd out a screaming child.
Right?
Unless…Aletha and I both had seen signs that this city had mostly accepted magic, so we’d relaxed our guard, but what if there were still priests here? What if they had seen Becca, recognized her for what she was, and kidnapped her?
Frantic now, I started shoving people aside, calling out in the loudest voice I could muster. People dodged me as I roughly went past them, looking at me with either annoyance or pity, but no one offered to help.
“Shad!”
Aletha? I spun about sharply, heading to where I had heard her voice. It took several eternal seconds, but I finally managed to break through to where she stood, resting in the corner of a shop’s awning.
Aletha had her arms crossed over her chest, toe tapping an irritated rhythm, a visible tick at the corner of her mouth. At her side was Becca, who looked entirely innocent, even though she was the one that had disappeared on me and set off a minor heart attack.
“Shad,” Aletha asked me in a warning tone, “where were you?”
“Looking for her,” I defended myself, pointing at Becca. “Where were you, you rascal?”
Becca looked up with sorrowful eyes. “I got lost and couldn’t find you.”
“Shad. Were you holding her hand properly?” Aletha demanded.
It was strange. I’d known and worked with this woman for nigh on two years now. I’d seen her in a variety of moods, from good to bad, but never once had she ever struck me as having a maternal side. But she certainly was in a mothering mood now! I’d somehow struck a chord in her, one of maternal outrage no less, and she was visibly displeased with me.
Wait, what? “Hold hands?”
Aletha let out a breath that was half growl. “Seriously, what were the Gardeners thinking? You might be the perfect man to protect her, but you have no idea how to raise her. Yes, Shad, you have to hold hands with children in big, crowded places like this; otherwise you risk getting separated from them. Like now.”
“Oh.” Whoops. Did they, by chance, write instruction manuals on how to raise kids? I had a feeling I’d need one. On second thought, “How do you know all this, anyway?”
“I have younger siblings.”
So did I! Although, come to think of it, my mother had never trusted me to look after them for any length of time.
Aletha let out a breath that sounded more like a rumble than a sigh. “Alright, soldier, watch and learn. Becca, let’s continue our shopping.” She held out a hand.
Becca took it promptly, like it was the most natural thing in the world. Me? Well, I shouldered our bags and tagged along at their heels, observing Aletha’s parenting skills as ordered. I had to admit, she certainly knew more than I did. Not once did she lose track of Becca, and she even saw things about her that I didn’t, like how her new shoes were giving her blisters.
Maybe Aletha would write me a parenting guide….
After three hours or so, we’d bought everything that needed to be bought and returned to the inn. We were allowed to board our ship tomorrow morning, so we chose to stay at the inn we’d first found. Aletha dumped everything on the bed and went for an early bath before dinner. She’d claimed she’d worked up a sweat while shopping. I think it was more the chance to relax in a hot tub of water and unwind a little after a disastrously stressful trip.
Either way, I didn’t argue, just shooed her along. Becca and I unwrapped all our packages and repacked them into the new traveling bags.
“Shad, I’m hungry, isn’t it time for dinner yet, I know that we just ate a few hours ago, but Tail’s hungry and my stomach is making noises, and I don’t think we want to eat anything here at the inn ’cause the smells coming from the kitchen are a little funny, they make Tail’s nose twitch, not in a good way, and I don’t like them either, so I think we should get something to eat, but I want to go somewhere else, like that place we passed coming here, the one that smelled yummy.”
I listened to this patiently, waiting for her to run down. “Well, kiddo, I don’t see why we can’t go out and grab something.” I had to agree with her assessment of the smells coming from the kitchen. They did not induce any mouthwatering. “That yummy smelling place we passed, you mean the outside street stall selling fried meat pies?”
“No, the other one,” she said impatiently.
Really? That had been the one to grab my attention. I racked my brain a moment, trying to think of some other place we’d passed. “The one selling ham steaks and turkey legs and fresh rolls?”
She nodded vigorously. “That one.”
“Right. Well, let’s dart out real quick and get something to eat, then.” Aletha had just gone down to the bath, and I didn’t expect her to come back up for a good hour, at least. “We’ll pick something up for Gorgeous while we’re at it.”
Pleased to get her way, she skipped out of the room and down the stairs to the sidewalk outside. Then she paused and turned back to me, offering a hand. “It’s dangerous if we don’t hold hands.”
For her or for me? I decided it could go either way. I meekly accepted the hand and held it as we braved the street.
We were in that odd hour of the afternoon that left most restaurants of all sorts dead. It was too late for lunch, almost too early for dinner, so we had the place more or less to ourselves. Becca stood on her toes to see the menu, written in chalk on a blackboard nailed to the wall behind the counter. I leaned against the aged wood of the counter and watched her in amusement as she and Tail had a serious discussion about what the other one wanted to eat.
I think the master behind the counter—who had all the earmarks of being a father himself—found the scene amusing, as he also leaned against the counter and watched the conversation play out. I think he thought it was just a little girl playing pretend with a smart cat.
He had no idea it was a mage-in-training speaking with her familiar.
Finally, Becca and Tail turned to me. “We want a chicken leg, one roll, and the seaweed soup.”
I assumed the chicken leg was mostly for Tail. “Master, if you would? And add another two chicken legs, three rolls, another bowl of the seaweed soup, and one more of the clam chowder.”
“Right-o,” he agreed amiably before turning and hollering the order to the cooks in the back. Then he turned back to me. “Master, it’ll be four coppers in all and a few minutes’ wait.”
I dug out my wallet and rummaged for the right amount of coin. “We don’t mind the wait, as long as it’s fresh.”
“Always is,” he assured me. “I get my supplies straight from the fishermen and farmers outside the city. Most folks from up north, like yourself, usually order the fried fish though.”
I supposed my accent was a dead giveaway to my birthplace. “Well, I’ve had nothing but fish for the past week and a half, you see, so I’m rather ti—”
“SHAD!!!”
My first, instinctive reaction was to look down at my side, where Becca should have been. But of course she wasn’t.
I whirled around, following my ears to figure out where Becca was. She wasn’t far from me, barely ten feet away, her back to a brick wall. Tail was not in her hands, but I couldn’t see enough of her through the crowd of people and the two food stalls between us to figure out what was going on.
In sheer instinct, I ran toward her, pushing people roughly out of the way. I rounded the last stand and was abruptly checked by another person, who met my advance with his own, shoving me back.
“Sir, step back—” the man tried to say.
It didn’t penetrate. I could hear Becca crying, calling to me, and Tail snarling and hissing in warning. The only thing I could focus on was getting to them.
I threw a fist into his stomach, hard, folding him over. His free arm I took and twisted behind his back at such an angle that it threw him, spinning him in the air almost a full circle before he landed face-first on the ground.
Of course, the moment that I showed resistance, two more men came to block me, drawing weapons as they did so. It was only then that I realized these weren�
��t priests—in fact, they wore uniforms that proclaimed them as local city guards.
What?
City guards? Now, that changed the game here. Blinking in confusion, I took a half-step to the side, trying to figure out how many I was up against. Four? No, there was another one trying to get around Tail. Ha! Wished him luck on that.
“Becca,” I called to her in a voice that carried over the street noise. “Stay right there, don’t panic. I don’t think you’re in danger, it’s just a little mix-up.”
She had both arms around her chest, eyes wide with terror. Her hair was starting to swirl around her shoulders a little, despite the fact that there was no wind here. Even without a magician’s eyes, I could tell her magic was starting to rise, reacting to her panic. Her mouth opened, closed, eyes darting to the armored men around her. “B-but—”
I looked at her steadily. “Becca.” She didn’t look at me, too wrapped up in fear, and I sharpened my tone to get her attention. “Becca. Trust me. Don’t move.”
For a long moment, she searched my eyes, but the wind gradually died down. I wasn’t panicked or worried, she saw that, and it gave her the courage to rein in her magic. Giving me a jerky nod, she sank and gathered Tail up in her arms, clutching him with a hold tight enough to leave bruises. The cat didn’t seem to mind, as he was busy spitting and hissing at anyone foolhardy enough to get close.
“Sir,” one of the two facing me said in warning, “you are assaulting Movac City Guardsmen and—”
“You,” I cut him off icily, “are scaring my little sister. Now, what business do you have with us?”
“Sir—” he tried again, “—we are under orders to—”
“Your superior officer,” I cut in again, recognizing from his tone that he was going to give me that official statement garbage. “Where is your superior officer?”
“Right here.” An older man with white hair at his temples and a greying beard stepped around his men. He looked to be in his early fifties or so, hardened with experience, but with the eyes of someone who didn’t just blindly follow orders. “Sir, you might be unaware that your sister is a magician?”
