by Liam Carrack
“If you don’t mind my asking… this fellow you are meeting with… he is the records keeper for your families Guild. Yes?” His voice pulled me from a similar thought. How could I have missed his title. It must have been there. Probably sitting on his desk. Though the symbol of office should have been hanging about his neck…
I stopped dead in my tracks and he had to do some fancy footwork to keep from crashing headlong into me. “How have you heard of him?” I was uncomfortable now. I felt as if I had been caught in some elaborate sham. Was I to be blackmailed now for my involvement in something arcane like sheltering rebels or something. What was going on here? I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself enough to hear Aahurn’s answer.
“…resistance … your brother and I. We haven’t seen each other in a few years, but I have kept tabs on everyone I can. He certainly isn’t a bad ally being that he is in a rather important position in a rich and influential Guild. Are you all right? I meant no disrespect. I can leave you to your meeting. I apologize for any intrusion.”
“No. No, it’s just, well I don’t know. It all feels a little coincidental… too convenient. Does that make sense?”
“I guess, but I can leave you to your meeting all the same.”
“Perhaps you should be there. I was thinking of asking for his collusion in all of this myself, though he is rather powerless even in his present position. He was, in a way, exiled there after returning from his activities in Dynal.” I resumed walking with Aahurn again trailing me. “He broke confidence and protocol when he returned to Phiriel by coming to my family first, and then reporting to the Guild. His family was too important to have him banished in any truly significant way, but I think he is unsatisfied with his present life. I wanted to thank him somehow, or apologize for his present state if I could. That happened before all of this…” I waved my hand about in reference to the goings on of the last few hours. “I had nearly forgotten my invitation to him.”
Gemsman Tobbyrn, Keeper of Records for the Guild of Gem Traders and Cutters
What a night to be out wandering about in town ‘Byrn, what are you thinking?
That a beautiful, powerful, Gifted woman has asked for my company at her family compound, that’s what.
Why.
It’s been driving my mind in circles all day. I nearly filed papers in the wrong places ten times today trying to understand why.
I am disgraced, maybe not publicly, but she KNOWS my disgrace. She can’t possibly mean what she said.
I should just turn back.
No.
No. Turn back around. For good or ill you will face what is ahead. You owe her and her family at least that much.
Well, at least I made good time. With all the things I’ve been hearing I expected some trouble along the way. Didn’t those guards warn me to be on the look out for some armed Dynaly who tried to storm the Guild Council Hall today? What an odd thing to attempt. But they seem to be taking precautions. I have been standing out here waiting for a while now.
Maybe this is the joke. You travel all the way out here, and she is really out at some country estate laughing about it over tea with some cousins.
Before I could slink away again, a small, but somehow awe-inspiring, woman answered the door.
“Yes?” Her tone was imperious and somehow she terrified me as no one but the old head master at Gemzart’s Academy had done. I was twelve, and had just irrevocable scarred a half-carat ruby all over again.
“I” I gulped, and the sound was terrible in my ears. “I came at the request of the Lady Llanalla?” Are you asking a question or making a statement? Get your wits about you Byrn, really. “The late Daddyn’s daughter.” Well, you can at least remember formality. She looks like someone who appreciates good manners.
“And you are?”
Maybe there is hope. She sounded less… imposing this time. “Gemsman Tobbyrn, Keeper of Records for the Gem Traders and Cutters.” My confidence was ebbing back now. She even evinced some shock. Many of the older generation awarded me status and even some respect once they heard my title. She turned on her heel and ushered me in with little fanfare. My heart fell back near its rightful place in my chest. Well, at least I wouldn’t be sent away like some beggar in the street. My own thoughts almost drowned out her next words, and I hope I covered my shock when she sketched a shallow curtsy to me once I was inside the compound, and the door was closed.
She swept past me again, and directed me a short distance down a hall, through a library, and into a large front office. It did not appear to have regular use and the Lady Llanalla was not within. I was so intently studying my surroundings I hardly noticed that the woman who had led me here was at the door leaving me to wait.
“The Lady will attend you here shortly. Please make yourself comfortable.”
My emotions had been bobbing in the wind all evening. First it was whether to come here at all or not, followed by the self doubt and indecision that had plagued me throughout my journey here, and now I was actually seated in Gellisarn Hall itself surrounded by lavish, if slightly outdated, furnishings waiting on who knew what attentions from one of the most eligible maids in all the country, not to mention one of the most beautiful and intelligent ladies you’ve ever met. And I’m here due to my connection with the death of both her betrothed and her brother. Get up and disappear again before she arrives. It’s the only sane thing to do.
I was out of the chair I’d seated myself in, and had taken a stride toward the door when it glided open and she stepped in. There was a crease of worry on her brow, but there was a smile on her face that reached her eyes in a most fantastic way. The servant who entered behind her stayed in the shadows and I gave him no notice at first.
“I am so glad you came. I know it was horrid of me to drop such an impertinent invitation on you without giving you an opportunity to refuse, but I knew you would if I did, so I took what unfair advantage fate threw my way, and made the most of it.”
“I could never refuse a Lady such as yourself anything. I owe you such a debt as it is.”
“Nonsense. It is I who owe you the debt. My Aunt may have been cruel to you upon hearing the news you bore, but I valued your kindness more than I can say. It was the only thing that made any difference for a long while. Knowing that someone cared enough to do what you did.”
She was serious. She meant it. Every word. I had convinced myself that I had imagined the sincerity I had wanted to see in her eyes, and it was there. Plain as day.
“It was harsh news. We tried, really we did, but it was like he just gave up after, all.” I was staring at the floor and had completely forgotten that we were not alone in the room. I was rambling now. Unloading all the guilt and self-loathing I had held pent up for so long. “Your brother suffered terribly from a sword slash to the gut that festered because we couldn’t find decent medical care. It was horrible. He worried for you though, up to the end.”
There was a presumptive cough, then… “You don’t have to go into such detail Byrn. The girl will still miss him just as much if she thinks he died quietly on the battlefield.” I looked up in horror at another of the faces that had haunted my dreams for years.
I was agape. A man I thought long dead stood before me with a comical smile and his same old cocky arrogance. How had he come here? Is this why she wanted to see me? I looked from him to her and back again. She looked just as shaken as I by his words. What game was this?
“Hurn?” I was in shock. This couldn’t be real. “Is that you?” I began speaking frantically. “I came back for you. I dragged the herb woman from some traveling encampment all the way out there only to find it boiling over with soldiers, and not friendly ones. You were supposed to be safe where I left the two of you. I swear I came back, but there was nothing I could do. I didn’t even have bodies to bring back for rights.” I was sobbing into my hands by the time I finished. A soft hand on my shoulder brought my head swinging back up to face my shame. I deserved no soft treatment, bu
t I would face what was coming all the same.
“Gemsman… may I call you Tobbyrn?”
She was so polite, so gentle …
My mouth wouldn’t work, so I nodded my ascent and she continued. My eyes were caught in hers, and somehow I couldn’t believe the depths of kindness, the charity, and the forgiveness she was now showing me. My own parents had not been so compassionate. “Tobbyrn, calm yourself. I saw you when you returned, if only for a brief moment. You were half starved and still bleeding in places. You came to us first. You did your duty. Surely with the wound you describe he could never have survived. You must know that. You have suffered enough.” I stared into those enormous blue eyes and somehow a measure of peace began to reach me. “If only we had been able to speak before now. If I had known how deeply you mourned… we might have done each other some good.”
My attention was suddenly driven to Hurn again. He grasped my other shoulder and we locked eyes for only a moment before I looked down in shame again. He had apology in his eyes, and sorrow too. I could not believe what was before me.
“Byrn. Byrn, I thought you knew. I left you signs. I buried Garvyn, as is our way, after he passed, and left a note for you. A group of refugees had found us and carried me here. I thought you were angry with me for not waiting. I had no idea you thought me dead. I would have come to you sooner. I was worried you thought me a deserter.”
“I was wondering why you had chosen to hide in the shadows. What a strange collection of friends we are proving.” She put her hand under my chin and lifted my eyes to hers. “You are my friend, and I hope you will stay one. I have some very tricky games afoot, and I may be forced to call upon your aide.” With this cryptic message still hanging in the air she pulled a lacey black handkerchief from a hidden pocket and began whipping the tears from my eyes. She was so gentle and the lace so soft that I nearly believed this all some dream when she began speaking to Hurn. “Master Aahurn. You trusted this man with your life once, would you trust him with the goings on of my household now? For myself I would divulge it all, but I cannot speak for other parties involved. What say you?”
“It is for him to decide if he wishes to become entangled. It could make life difficult for him at his Guild.”
“But you would trust him with it wouldn’t you?”
“Yes,” he paused and purposefully caught my eye then continued with gravity and sincerity, “yes I would.”
I looked from one to the other of them, and worried over all the cloak and dagger mystery they were hinting at. Some of my old curious nature sparked, something I had thought crushed like so many rebels I had known, but here in the presence of a survivor my curiosity was piqued once more. “What are you two hinting at,” then something rather more odd hit me “and how did you meet?”
“That is a rather long story, and as I just heard the dinner bell I think it time you decide. In or out?” She didn’t move, just stared quietly at me waiting for my response. She was too quiet, she gave away nothing, my skills at reading people told me nothing other than the fact that she was waiting for my response. Surely, if she could maintain such composure it could not be so big, after all the Dynaly Empire was crumbling and in its death throws.
I looked from her to ‘Hurn. He had his head down and whatever it was we were not discussing was of great importance to him, and he was trying not to influence me. I knew him too well not to see it.
“In then.”
She flashed me a smile that spoke volumes. It imparted relief and joy, and I was nearly knocked over by what that meant. All these years I had chosen to avoid her at all costs not to incur her wrath at my actions only to discover that she could heal me with a look. She whirled in one step and was through the door leading Hurn and myself on.
Aahurn
As I paced alongside Byrn for the first time in years I couldn’t help but look over at him in wonder. He really thought he had left me for dead, or worse, all these years. I wish I hadn’t been such a coward hiding from him all this time. I could have spared him that guilt at least. He was a changed man. The guilt still rode him, regardless of all that had been said moments earlier in that front office. He had become bland and invisible in ways I, a master at the art of hiding and sneaking, could never quite emulate. I wonder if he even knows it? Though I suppose it comes from years of wishing to disappear instead of practicing enigmacy.
“Aahurn, I suppose we should fill him in on my houseguests and how they came to be here before he meets them over the table. I can begin, but I was hoping you would jump in when my information is lacking?” Lanalla’s words snapped me out of my reverie and reminded me just how sticky this could get. I had no idea what politics my old friend now held. This whole thing could get very ugly very easily just when I had begun to see some hope.
“Please proceed.”
“I met Aahurn this afternoon,” she began. Dear God, it had only been this afternoon. I am placing a lot of trust in someone I only met a few hours ago, come to think of it I suppose it is more amazing that she trusts me. Byrn looked over at me with some surprise at this statement, but Llanalla took no notice. “I had made my way to a little shop downtown looking for someone and had found myself in the establishment of a seamstress with whom I had a prior connection. After some shopping I discovered that I had purchased more than I could carry home on my own and I was without a carriage and unaccompanied. The proprietor offered the services of Aahurn in delivering my goods. He and I were making our way to Gellisarn Hall when he divulged that he knew my brother. We then ran into my new houseguests as they were fleeing a melee in the streets.” She stopped here pointedly and left it up to me to explain.
Byrn looked just as he had when we had sat around a campfire and told stories. What a fantastical story we had begun for him, but somehow I didn’t think this one would wrap up so neatly at the end, and I greatly doubted any happily-ever-afters for us. He turned his head toward me, and we kept walking.
“Do you remember hearing of a man named Lord Fistall?” I didn’t catch his eyes as I said it. I made it a bland question as if I would make a connection to someone else or at least not hinting at how important a man he is, was, in Dynal.
“Of course. You used to tell us all about his feats of strength, his prowess on the battlefield. He was King Jeivall’s right hand man. Probably still is.” That last was a throw away comment that dismissed it all as a lost cause. My heart fell. Perhaps his politics had changed, or perhaps the defeat he had known personally had left him unable to hope for Dynal’s resurgence.
Before I could finish these thoughts Llanalla had continued. “He is here. He came to speak with the Guild Council, and was chased through the streets as a beggar. It appears that the Guards disregarded his diplomatic paperwork, his fine mail, and arms without notifying anyone within who he was, and demanded his immediate departure. When he attempted to force the issue they made to attack, and he was forced to flee through our streets. Aahurn recognized Lord Fistall, and I offered them a safe haven. I hope to secure him a hearing at the Guild Council tomorrow.” She left out everything concerning the child or Fistall’s mission. She let him fill in his own reasons for seeking the council. Most amazing of all is that she told the story so that all the blame fell on the Council Guard, which was probably not entirely the case.
“The sooner the better.” Tobbyrn interjected. “The Guild Council was told that beggar refugees had attempted to force their way inside shouting threats. The longer the rumor runs unchecked, the harder things could go for many of the refugees in this city, and in others across Phiriel.”
That was a sobering thought. Dear Gods what would happen to so many if the upper classes felt physically threatened by the poor in their streets? This could prove utterly disastrous. I was angry with the old fool, and with myself for not putting this together. I hoped that Scuf was making a safe and relatively silent journey through the city to Mennia. If he didn’t make it to her…
“When did you hear about this?” I pulled at h
is arm, and whispered this as we were only inches from the door to the dining room. Both Llanalla and I had stopped in our tracks, and paled at the ramifications of what he had just imparted to us.
“I heard about it almost immediately. Runners were sent to all the Guild Halls to keep an eye out for some suspects, and rowdy gangs of Dynaly roaming the streets. I know its ridiculous, but it will give an excuse to haul even more sad, dejected and hungry refugees off to jail, or worse give excuses to those among us who want to take out our own frustrations on any hapless Dynaly bystanders.”
Llanalla
As we left the front office for the formal dining room I was trying to decide how to divulge our little story. It was complicated, and I still wasn’t sure how deep Tobbyrn would want to embroil himself. In the end, I left out the heir completely. If he wasn’t truly interested in getting involved he would only have a little more information a little sooner than the rest of Phiriel. Aahurn obviously didn’t disagree with my presumption as he went along with my tale complacently. I was secretly congratulating myself by the time I finished when my heart nearly stopped of its own accord.
“The sooner the better. The Guild Council was told that beggar refugees had attempted to force their way inside shouting threats. The longer the rumor runs unchecked the harder things could go for many of the refugees in this city and in others across Phiriel.”
I stood dumbfounded by his words, and didn’t truly hear the question Aahurn hoarsely whispered at him. Tobbyrn’s answer came through loud and clear though.
His face evinced worry, and I knew he was in, for all of it. He sympathized. I suppose if he had gone off to war for these people he would be, but people change. He certainly wasn’t the boy I remember playing with as a child.
We were walking though the door into the dining room, and I schooled my face to explain our present situation to the well groomed, and straight backed Lord before me. I was numb. This could be very bad. I may have just doomed this entire household. The Guild Council could strip me of nearly everything. I would have to have some contingency plans to set in motion for tomorrow before we left. I would also need a council meeting of my own tonight, regardless of how tedious this dinner might be, or how frustrating my “illustrious” guest could be. Aahurn and Tobbyrn might hold him in great regard, but I was operating under no such delusions.
