by K.N. Lee
The sound of a hammering drew her distracted gaze to an open window. A man was working with a small round block of wood that had leather stretched over it. The friendly smell of tallow drew her near him until she spotted buckles and lacing hanging on wall hooks, a row of curved blades and awls, along with rags and a blackening pot scattered along a long worktable. A tall shelving unit behind him had sandals, boots and shoes neatly arranged in pairs. A shoemaker.
With his shop this close to the exit he must be familiar with the routine of the guards who manned the gates. “Sir, how soon will the gates close?”
Without looking up, he said, “Sunset.”
“I need to know precisely how much time I have.”
He glanced up then with mild annoyance. After checking the sky, he said, “I’d wager you’ve an hour and a half.”
The tension in her shoulders released. Plenty of time to check the tent and return to Perm. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” She took a few steps into the street when another idea struck her. There was one person she hadn’t searched for yet. Talus had come into Perm to visit with the King’s Warriors. She hurried back to the shoemaker and found him by the window watching her intently. “Sir, apologies for disturbing your work again but where are the . . .”
“Name’s Ned,” he said, with wide eyed curiosity now, his gaze fixed on her feet. “You limp, missus? I can make you shoes that would make your walk easier.”
She warmed at his kind suggestion, and if she had time, she might have taken him up on his offer. “I’m looking for my family. Can you please direct me to the warriors’ encampment?”
His kind gaze narrowed.
Realizing how easily that question could be misconstrued in this city where both the King’s Warriors and the underground Rycan Warriors resided, she added, “I meant the King’s Warriors, of course. No other Warriors. I must speak with the King’s Warriors.”
She was babbling. Her fear for Anna, Marton, the children and Tom had left her thinking fuzzy.
“You’re from Erov, aren’t you?”
Gilly’s pulse shuddered. “What makes you say that?”
“Hagan’s put out the word to keep an eye open for a woman with red hair who limps.”
The news terrified her. Who was Hagan and why was he interested in her? Could he be the local Captain of the King’s Horseman? She was too frightened to ask. “I don’t know anyone in Perm, so no one from here would be looking for me.”
He leaned out the window to check up and down the street. Gilly checked, too, unsure for whom but terrified it was for someone in a green cape.
Ned, the shoemaker then whispered, “Missus, the King’s Warriors aren’t your friends. They will not help you. Hagan will. Best you speak with him.”
“Look, I don’t know this Hagan. I’m seeking the King’s Horsemen.” She shut her mouth in shock. Had she said the King’s Horsemen? This Ned had her so rattled. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves. “I meant to say I’m seeking the King’s Warriors. I’m not looking for the horsemen and they’re not looking for me. And I don’t know any Hagan. Please tell me where the King’s Warriors are?”
With reluctance, he gave instructions – follow the main street on her right until she arrived at a red roof with a door lintel depicting two crossed swords. The minute she turned away from his window, he slammed the shutters closed. That action returned her suspicions. What if he was lying and sending her to this Hagan’s home instead?
There was a way to verify his instructions. Jarrod had given them a map of Perm. She dropped to the ground and rifled through her sack but the scroll wasn’t there. When she packed this bag to come with Anna, she must have left out that map. The better plan would be to return to the tent, ensure no one was there, and then return to Perm.
Hardly anyone was about now. Heeding an instinct to be cautious after hearing this Hagan was looking for her, she stepped behind a tall wagon and quietly chanted a spell to make her movements inconspicuous.
Hide me, save me, keep me out of sight.
Drops of Light sparked around her and then winked out as she hurried back to the tent. She might be panicking for nothing. Anna and her family could have returned to the tent and were at this moment worried about Gilly’s whereabouts. That hopeful thought spurred her steps past the open gates and up the pathway.
The tent was empty.
Gilly died a little as she surveyed the inside in the fading light. Articles scattered about when everyone had been in a rush to leave this morning. Only Cullen’s spot was tidy, his bedroll neatly folded. She spotted her map and rushed to spread it out.
She could hardly see the sketches, so she lit a lantern. She’d need light soon anyway, when she returned to Perm. Once the flickering light shone across the map, her shoulders sank with disappointment and relief. The place the shoemaker gave her directions to was marked here as a private home. That was a close call. He must have been sending her to this Hagan’s home.
It suddenly grew darker and Gilly’s pulse jumped thinking Hagan had found her. A glance outside, however, showed the sun had finally set over the horizon. She was out of time. If she didn’t hurry, Perm’s gates would close. She rushed back, her sack in one hand, lantern in the other, only to see a guard shut the doors on her.
“Wait!” Dropping her hide me shield, she waved to the guard. “I must go back in. My family is inside.”
“Sorry, missus.” The guard’s disembodied voice came from the other side, followed by the metallic sound of the gates being barred. “You’ll have to wait for sun-up.”
“But they don’t belong there,” Gilly said. “They live in a tent out here.”
“Should have left earlier then, shouldn’t they?” His footsteps clomped upward. Once he reached the top, he leaned over the wall and shouted, “Now get on about your business before I tell the horsemen you’re making trouble.”
Stunned by the turn of events, Gilly stood beside the closed gates with the glow of her lantern spilling about her feet. Her sister had specifically asked her to come to Perm to guard her. And what had she done? She’d lost her. The old horror that she was responsible for her family’s destruction returned full force, tightening its grip on her chest and making her tears swell.
I swore I’d never let my family down again and here, I’ve done it a second time!
“Name’s Hagan,” a voice said, “heard you were looking for me.”
Gilly let out a startled yelp and swung around.
A short stout man moved out of the shadows of nearby bushes. The scar running the length of his right cheek chilled Gilly’s blood. Her Hide me spell tingled her tongue but she held it in. A quick check upward showed the guard watching them.
“I’m not looking for you.”
“Ned said you asked about the warriors,” he said in a whisper. “I’m their leader.”
A shiver began deep within her. Why would the leader of the Rycan Warriors be interested in her? An absurd answer related to that rumor about the royal daughter being in Perm popped into her head. She flicked it way like an annoying fly. I am no princess. Anna would laugh at the idea. Anna! Where are you? “I was looking for the King’s Warriors.”
And then she shuddered. Talus was a King’s Warrior and he had helped to decimate the Rycan Warriors. She took a cautious step back, closer to the wall, and prayed that guard was still up there watching them.
Hagan kept his distance, and she breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn’t going to hold her ill-advised statement about seeking the King’s Warriors against her.
“Heard you limped.” His head tilted as his gaze roved over her left leg, turning that knee to mush and forcing her to rely more to her right side. “Thieves sometimes fake such ailments to garner sympathy.”
“I’m no thief!” This was wasting her time. With the gates closed, she was prevented from searching inside Perm. That left searching there from without, which meant using magic. In Nadym, she often cast a hearth spell to check on Anna’s whereabouts. Similar to the one
she used in Erov when she sought Aton’s killer. But this would be safer, for she was only looking for Anna. Still, it required quiet, so she could focus her thoughts. “I have to go.”
Hagan resolutely blocked her way. “If you’re not looking for me, are you perhaps seeking your family?”
The question sent her pulse racing as her fear, already on high alert, spiked. Could he have anything to do with their disappearance? At this point, she didn’t trust anyone. Certainly not a rogue who was so interested in her limp his gaze kept slipping to her lame leg. She defiantly raised her chin. “I have no family.”
“You told the gatekeeper your family was inside.”
“I thought he’d let me in if I said that than if I was separated from friends.”
“Then you’re out of luck.” He stepped aside, leaving her path back to the tent wide open. “So I won’t keep you.”
Her stomach in a tight knot, she wanted to scream in frustration. He knew something about Anna, her family and their friends’ whereabouts. His lips appeared on the verge of smiling as if he enjoyed a private joke at her expense. Had he or one of his men seen the horsemen take Anna? Why didn’t he just tell her then? What payment did he want for that valuable information?
Silence stretched uninterrupted until the guard on top of the wall shuffled away, his footsteps fading into the quiet night.
Gilly’s patience snapped. “Where are they?”
“Who?”
She clenched her fingers until her nails bit her palms. “If Anna or the children are hurt because you refused to help me, I’ll make you sorry.”
“Will you now?” He shifted to again boldly block her path. “For someone who doesn’t have any family, you seem extremely attached to this Anna. As much as to a sister.”
He toyed with her. He suspected she limped and that Anna was likely her sister. If she told him she could cast spells, she half feared he’d say, “I already know.” She was well and truly beaten and if she wanted to discover what he knew, she had to admit that. “What do you want?”
Satisfaction flickered across his craggy face before it slithered under a gleam of innocence. “I want to see you walk.”
What Gilly saw were the flames of fury. Her ears were scorching with the heat of her temper. She had no more time for games. And besides, Hagan wasn’t about to tell her anything she couldn’t find out on her own. What if all he was going to tell her was that Anna and her family were in the horsemen’s custody, or worse, been executed. She gulped past her swollen throat. Better to cast her spell and locate Anna so she could decide how to rescue her.
“You want to see me walk? Fine, then you may see my backside do the deed.”
She marched around him and toward the path that led to the tents, entirely conscious of the distorted rhythm of her stride. At the edge of the clearing, she stopped and looked over her shoulder. Hagan was smiling in triumph.
As much as she wanted to storm away, her legs refused to budge until she asked the question. She had done as he asked, he owed her. “Do you know where they took my family?”
“Where did you get that limp?”
She shouted in frustration and, a fist clenched around her lantern and the other holding up her skirts, she ran limping down the pathway, away from that infuriating man. If necessary, she would blaze the sky with Light to find her sister. And to tarnation with Hagan and the horsemen.
Chapter 11
Once out of his sight, Gilly cast her hide-me spell. Then she took the long route, close to the rushing stream, coming the back way to the blue tent to ensure no one noticed her. She slipped inside and held up her lantern. She was alone. A bittersweet reassurance, for she would have dearly loved to see Anna’s cross face as her sister berated her for being gone so long.
With a flick of her wrist and the command, “Open no more,” she secured the tent flap. She then dropped her hide-me enchantment and shuttered the lantern, drenching herself in darkness. She did not wish anyone to see her shadow and question her odd movements as she went about protecting the confines of this large tent. At least this time Cullen wasn’t around to spook her.
Retrieving her tiny spell stones from her pack, she made her wide circular walk, muttering the warding incantation. When she stumbled across a scattered item that someone had carelessly left behind, she vented her frustration by viciously kicking it out of her path until her toes ached at their abuse.
Each tiny pebble hit the ground and sparked with a release of Light. Once the circle was complete, a faint glow emanated as a much-needed reassurance that her spell held.
She sat in the center of the tent and took several deep breaths to calm her racing thoughts. With eyes closed, she raised her arms to shoulder height, palms facing up. She’d taught herself this seek-her spell after arriving in Nadym - a safe way to keep an eye on Anna without following her.
She sent a string of thought into the darkness outside, searching for her sister’s familiar specter. Bright sparks winked in inky blackness. Like distant night stars, souls of people made themselves visible.
One Light was brighter than the rest, emanating a sense of familiarity. She swooped toward that beacon and as she drew closer. The Light split in two. One large, bright and warm like the sun, the other its moon. Then the moon split again, one bigger than the other. That second Light seemed to recognize her, staring directly at Gilly. Bevan?
Then the largest of the three clustered Lights winked and Gilly received a distinct impression of warm, healing energy. Joy infused her. “Anna!”
“She is safe, for now.”
Gilly stifled a startled cry and snapped open her eyes. The tent was no longer dark. A candle was set directly before her and its light highlighted a pair of legs. Hagan stood inside her protection circle, with arms crossed and wearing a triumphant grin. He saw me work Light.
Fear clamored at her to run. Hide. Yet, Hagan did not seem concerned about her use of magic. Anna said the people of Perm were more accepting of the forbidden craft. Also, the horsemen wanted Hagan almost as much as a magic user. So he wasn’t likely to run and tell on her now, was he?
Her pattering heart slowed and thumped at a steadier pace, as rising anger at this man’s imposition replaced her fear.
“Your wards would work better,” he said, “if you check who is inside your enclosure before sealing the circle
“I did.”
“Ah, well, I snuck in the back way after you shut down the lantern light.”
She scrambled to her feet. “How dare you intrude!”
His gaze flew to her fist and his eyes widened with alarm. He held his hands up. “Hear me before you strike, lady.”
Gilly checked her right hand. Crescents of Light, dazzling as the three harvest moons riding in sync, shone between her clenched fingers. She hefted those fiery balls to shoulder height and drew back.
Hagan’s worried gaze met hers and he dropped to his knees. “Hold, I beseech you. I come with good intentions.”
“You come uninvited.” The power in her fist vibrated through to her bones, stirring molten satisfaction in her core, as if some long-lost part of her had finally returned home.
“Only because I have waited my entire life to meet you, lady.” Tears spilled over his lower eyelids. “I needed to be sure, you see. It is difficult to believe when one’s dream appears to have come true. To see what I’ve fought for, seen my men die for, is actually real and not a delusion born of my desperation.”
Hagan, leader of the Rycan Warriors, then bowed his head and stretched his arms toward her as if in supplication.
His odd reaction confused her. He did not look afraid. Fear she understood. This man acted as if he was in awe at being in her presence. “I ask again, what do you want? And don’t say to see me walk.”
He looked up, wiping his wet face with the back of his sleeves. That hard uncompromising stoniness crept back across his shoulders. “You know what I desire.”
She backed away in rejection, but an unwanted idea r
ose to confront her, along with a remembered exchange from the marketplace.
If you want to hear a good taradiddle, the Rycan Warriors spin a better tale about Prince Keegan’s daughter arriving in Perm.
She lowered her arm and shook out her fingers, using that as an excuse to break eye contact. Droplets of Light flitted around her body until, one by one, each blinked out. A part of her sighed with regret at that power’s passing. Quietly, she said what should have been obvious even to the blind. “I am no princess.”
Hagan rose, all resemblance to abject humility lost with his upward surge. “The legend says you are.”
“What legend? Marton said you were mad and I believe he might be right.”
“I’ve never met Marton.” Hagan sounded offended. Then he seemed to reconsider his assertion. “Okay, once maybe, when I tapped him on the head. Hardly reason to call me mad.”
“You hit Marton?”
“Barely touched him.”
Gilly hissed her frustration. “I am not Prince Keegan’s child.”
“Yet you grasp magic as if you are its master, as he and his beloved Mamosia did. You passed through Erov. No one enters that magical city unless Erov wishes it. And, you carry the mark of your father’s death in your walk.”
“My limp doesn’t mean I’m his offspring. There are countless women who have such deformities all across Ryca.”
“Why deny it?”
“You’re not listening to me.”
“Are you afraid of Ywen? He will not touch you while I draw breath. My warriors will see to it.”
There was no reasoning with this lunatic. She decided on a direct tack. “Do you know where my family is being held?”
“I have them.”
“You?” That answer brought profound relief the horsemen didn’t have her family, followed swiftly by hot burning hope in her belly that she might be able to coax this deluded creature into letting Anna and the others go.
“Hagan.” She softened her voice, aiming for a reasonable tone. “I wish you the best of luck on your quest, but I cannot help you find Keegan’s daughter.”
