“Something for me?” he asked, surprise evident in his raspy voice.
“Yes. I thought of it when we were working with the coins yesterday.” Ebudae took out a silver coin a bit larger than the silver pieces that had paid for their meals, but not as large as gold coins. “Here. This is for you.”
He took the coin and studied it for a moment, examining the tree on the front and the building on the back. He moved it between the fingers of both hands. “It’s very nice.”
Ebudae was a little hurt that he didn’t understand it. “It’s not a normal coin.”
He smiled appreciatively. “Thank you. I don’t remember the last time someone gave me something. I will cherish it.” It was the longest sentence any of them had heard him say, evidenced by the looks of shock on everyone’s faces.
Ebudae sighed and slumped her shoulders. Then she held out her hand. “Give.”
“Well, it seems as though it was a fleeting memory,” Glav said with a smirk.
Juggles put the coin back in her hand reluctantly, confused by her actions. Ebudae felt bad, but she had to show him what the coin did so he could appreciate it. She flipped it through her fingers a couple of times and suddenly two coins appeared in her palm. The gasps of surprise pleased her. She flipped it through both hands and four coins appeared. Then she made two more appear. That was too much for her to handle and one of them dropped to the pillow underneath. Instead of panicking, she dropped another one onto it and the two coins melded into one. Then she dropped the others onto it, making each one meld into the original coin.
“How do you do that?” Juggles asked, hesitantly touching the coin.
“It’s a magical coin of course,” Ebudae explained. She picked it up and tossed it straight up into the air. The coin separated into ten at the height of the throw and then came back together until hitting her palm and merging into one.
“That has to be the best trick coin I’ve ever seen,” Glav stated, leaning forward for a closer look.
“It’s not a trick coin, it’s a magical coin,” Ebudae corrected. She looked at Juggles. “Would you like to know the secret to making it work?”
He nodded slowly, his eyes wide.
“It has to be a key word,” Glav suggested.
“Nope. It’s something entirely different, better than a keyword.” She gave him a sly, secretive work. “And I’m not telling you.” Ebudae grabbed Juggles’ sleeve and led him to the other side of the tent behind the changing room.
To be on the safe side, she cast a spell to prevent anyone from hearing the secret. Juggles’ eyes grew wide when Ebudae’s hair blew softly around her face at the gathering and releasing of energies.
“They can’t hear us now,” she explained. Holding the coin in her hand, she pointed at the building side. “This is the secret entrance. Before you begin, enter it with your mind.” Ebudae flipped the coin to the tree side. “The branches are how many times you can duplicate the coin, fourteen in all. Just break off a branch each time you want a new one. You have to move your mind fast, like when you’re juggling multiple objects.”
Juggles was dumfounded and stared at Ebudae with his jaw open. She took his hand and put it in his palm. “You can do it. I know you can,” she encouraged. He looked at the coin for a moment before getting his concentration. Ebudae knew he understood when surprise lit across his face. “There you go. Now turn it over and start breaking off branches.”
He did so and the coin split into two, causing him to jump. That made it meld back into one, so he focused with renewed determination. By the time he reached the fifth coin, sweat was flowing down his forehead and the muscles strained in his neck. He let it go back to one with a gasp of breath. Then he began to sway. Ebudae steadied him until he was able to focus again. “Shall we go back to the others?”
When he nodded, Ebudae released the spell of silence, causing the magical breeze to ruffle her hair again. They stepped out from behind the screen only to see two frantic newcomers talking to the group.
“He was probably high, but that doesn’t mean that he deserves to die in the streets of Dralin,” a woman complained to the others. Sparkling makeup was painted around her eyes and across her temples like feathers. Red hair trailed down her back across a fake, green wizard’s robe.
The brown-haired man with her also wore a fake wizard’s robe covered by oversized runes sewn with gold colored thread. Heavy makeup accentuated his eyes and lips. “Jovias doesn’t just write our plays, he handles the money. If he doesn’t pay for the loan on the stage before the show tomorrow, we’re all out of jobs.
“It’s not just the money, the stage and the plays. Jovias is a good man and a good friend. What are we going to do, Aphry?” the woman asked. “He’s your brother. I know you don’t get along, but . . .”
“We’ll help,” Glav told the woman, putting his arm around Aphry’s waist. “Regardless of what’s happened between them, Aphry doesn’t want him to suffer.” He saw Juggles and Ebudae coming up. “Ahh, our juggling duo has arrived and they still have their clothes on. Ebudae, this is Karla and Frank, actors who work for Aphry’s brother Jovias.”
“Hello,” Ebudae said, blushing uncomfortably at the suggestion of what might have happened behind the changing curtain. Her stomach knotted in embarrassment and she ducked her head to stare at the ground, missing the dagger glare Pelya shot the man.
“Yeah, hi,” Karla said. She turned back to Glav, dismissing the young woman with hardly a thought. “So what do we do?”
Glav frowned in thought. “You said that Tobias was going to get new costumes, but he never showed up at the costume maker’s shop. That was yesterday.”
“Right. And he didn’t see his dealer. No one else knows where he is either,” Frank said.
“Hmm . . .” Glav rubbed his chin while considering. Everyone else either exchanged glances or stood quietly in deep thought except for Pelya and Ebudae who exchanged glances.
“Are you certain the shopkeeper wasn’t lying?” Pelya asked.
Karla looked at her with a frown. “No. He wouldn’t lie.”
“What about Jovias’ dealer? Perhaps he was lying?”
“I don’t know,” Karla responded testily. “This has nothing to do with you, little girl.”
“If you want our help, don’t talk to our friend like that, Karla,” Aphry warned with narrowed eyes.
The actress took a step back in alarm. “Yeah . . . I’m sorry. I’m just so worried and she . . .” Karla gestured up and down at Pelya.
Pelya crossed her arms. “You don’t know where he is. The first thing you need to do is question the last person he saw, which was you. You wouldn’t be here asking for help if you had harmed him.”
“Me?” Karla interrupted in outrage.
Pelya ignored the reaction. “The next thing you do is ask the person he was going to see. You’ve already done that, but you need to ask him again to see if there are any holes in his story. You also need to find out if he has anything to hide.”
The actors frowned, but they were listening. “Go on,” Glav encouraged from Pelya’s side.
“If everything checks out there, you need to talk to whoever else Jovias might have met with, such as the drug dealer. You’ve already done that, but sometime deals go bad and dealers aren’t known for being honest.”
“So we need to go talk to the costume maker again?” Karla asked.
“Yes. We’ll ask a few extra questions in order to look for inconsistencies.” Pelya headed toward the exit.
“Wait a minute. Where are you going?” Aphry asked.
Pelya turned. “To the costume maker’s. You said it’s Joma’s Costumes in the Carnival Market District. We can be there in a few minutes.”
“You are not going with us, young lady. I won’t put you in danger.” Aphry said. She grabbed a pair of knives from a small chest and put them on her belt. Ebudae felt Juggles move from behind her to go to his own chest. Lizor grabbed a couple of hand weights and put them on hi
s belt. Then he grabbed a long iron bar normally used to put weights on and leaned on it like a staff. Glav just grinned and Ebudae figured he already had his knives hidden.
Pelya didn’t say anything for a moment. She looked at Ebudae who shrugged. They both loved adventure and it sounded interesting, plus they both wanted to help their friends. When the others were ready to go, Pelya stepped to the side and let them out. Aphry and Juggles were the last two to go, motioning for the girls to exit before them.
Once outside and into the courtyard in front of the stage, Aphry hugged them each. “Take care of yourselves and come back anytime.”
“We will,” Pelya assured her. She grabbed Ebudae’s hand and started back toward home.
“We’re just going to leave?” Ebudae whispered in disappointment. “I want to help and I know you do too.”
“Shh. I bet we can get to that shop faster than they can. I know what questions to ask.” Pelya looked back to make sure they were out of sight. “Turn here and follow me. We’re going to run.”
Ebudae grinned in exhilaration. They were going to break some rules, do dangerous things and maybe even rescue someone. When Pelya began running, Ebudae followed behind. Her friend was stronger and faster than she was, but Ebudae was extremely fit. Wizards had to be healthy and physically strong in order to withstand the energies they channeled through their bodies.
She cast a small spell while they ran, being talented enough to do so. It gave them a small boost of endurance so that they would be able to run longer and recover faster. Pelya looked back and grinned. Throughout the journey, she constantly glanced back to see that Ebudae hadn’t fallen behind. They had a developed a system in the ruins below Dralin. The warrior always led the way and paced herself to Ebudae’s speed. Navigating through Carnival was difficult though and Ebudae began to wonder if they would make it before the others.
The tents and stages gave way to food vendors and hawkers in their open stalls. Those gave way to an assortment of different sized buildings, both stone and wood. The Carnival Market District was a small District that catered to Carnies. It ranged from small shops to huge warehouses.
Within five minutes, they were at the costume maker’s. They were breathing heavily, but not unduly so. The heat caused them to sweat profusely though, a feeling that made Ebudae uncomfortable. She would make it a point to take a bath as soon as they got back to the manor.
They walked inside at a normal pace so as not to spook anyone. A guard just inside the door looked them over and then dismissed them as no threat. Customers looked through the rows of costumes, but there were only a few shopping. Pelya went to the main counter, ignored a tattooed woman leaning on the counter and headed toward a fat, balding man in garish clothes. He was brushing lint off a pair of striped leggings.
“Master Joma, I need to speak to you. It’s urgent,” Pelya whispered harshly. She looked behind her as though someone were chasing them. Ebudae played along and looked back fearfully too.
“What? What is it?” The costume maker looked towards the door and then back at the girls with concern written across his face.
“They’re coming to get the information and they’re going to bring a Guard unit if they don’t get answers,” Pelya told him.
Joma became alarmed. “I don’t want to go to jail. They’ll do bad things to me there. I’m too old to survive.”
Ebudae wondered what the man had done that he would instantly think he was going to jail. Pelya hadn’t said who was coming or for what.
“You don’t have to,” Pelya told him. “They know what you did, but they need information about something else instead. They’ll go away if you give it to them.”
“What do they need information about?” He was irritated, but more than that, he was fearful.
It was then that Aphry and the others came walking up the aisle between the clothes. “They want to know what happened to Jovias. Tell them the truth, or . . .”
It was a brilliant bluff, but Ebudae had no idea if it would work or not. It seemed more likely not to, especially when Aphry narrowed her eyes at the sight of the girls. Before she could speak, the costume maker did. Not only did he talk, he gave away all the information, making Ebudae very curious about what the man had to hide.
Joma spoke to Aphry. “I told Jovias that my supplier in the North Market District was holding his costumes. Lothlum, the playwright, paid me good money and threatened my business if I didn’t do it. Lothlum had a couple of new goons with him. I’ve never seen them before. It was probably a trap, but I didn’t ask any questions.”
Aphry leaned over the counter and took Joma by the collar. “Why didn’t you tell Karla this before?” she hissed in fury. Joma’s guard had followed them in, but the presence of Lizor smacking the metal staff in one hand sapped him of courage.
“Because I don’t know what they’ll do to me. There was something about those goons.” The costume maker began to panic. “I didn’t know they were going to do anything bad. I’ll tell you where he is if you promise to leave me alone.”
Aphry put her nose against his. “Tell me why I shouldn’t just kill you?” The words were almost a whisper because she was so far gone into anger.
Pelya put a hand on her arm. “Because you need him to tell you where Jovias is, and then you need to get to Jovias. Killing Joma would take too much time, plus you’d have to explain all that blood to the Guard.”
It worked. Aphry didn’t take her eyes off the costume maker, but she did back away. “Where is he?”
“I told him to go to a warehouse on the corner of Deep Street and Palvaros Place in the North Warehouse District. That’s where Lothlum and his goons told me to tell him. I swear I didn’t know what would happen.”
“Lothlum has been trying to take our stage. It’s a prime location, but he already has ten others. I don’t know what he’s trying to accomplish,” Frank said.
“What can you tell them about the goons?” Pelya asked Loma. Aphry turned to look at her with narrowed eyes.
“They wore yellow tunics with three diagonal black stripes. Their swords were short and curved, which seemed odd to me,” Loma said.
Ebudae opened her mouth to say what house they were, but shut it, not willing to mention it in public. If it was that house, things were very bad indeed.
“So we go to the warehouse at the corner of Deep Street and Palvaros Place,” Glav said. “I have a bad feeling about this.”
Aphry jabbed a finger at Joma. “So help me if you’ve lied.”
“I’ve told you everything I know,” Joma said with hands up defensively. “I swear it.”
Aphry spun on her heel and led the way out.
Chapter 6
Ebudae and Pelya followed Aphry along with the rest of the group. When they reached a nearby park, Aphry took everyone aside to a clear area shaded by trees. The sun was low over the buildings on the western side of the park and its light through the smog cast a dirty tint to everything. Ebudae realized that there was never any smog at the manor and wondered if it was another of the many enchantments on the property.
“You two,” Aphry pointed at the girls, “I told you to go home. Explain yourselves.”
“You’re our friend, not our mother. Just like you help your friends,” Pelya gestured at Frank and Karla, “we help our friends.” Pelya put hands on hips and took a step forward. “I may be young, but I’ve spent my entire life learning the ways of the Guard. That includes investigation skills and questioning techniques.” She looked around at the others. “I’m also a highly-trained fighter with black belts in three styles of hand-to-hand combat and I’m a master swordswoman, second level.”
Pelya never told anyone about her skills. She considered it boasting and also liked to make people underestimate her. She was one of the youngest swordmasters anywhere. Having achieved second level was extraordinary. The fact that she had told Aphry those things showed how much she wanted to join the search.
“How old are you?” Glav ask
ed in awe.
“I’m fifteen,” Pelya answered testily. “I’m young, yes, but I know how to use my strength.” She turned back to Aphry. “I know you don’t want to babysit us, but we’re quite capable of taking care of ourselves and will be of use to you as we’ve already proven at Joma’s Costume Shop.”
Aphry opened her mouth to answer, but Glav interrupted. “I’m willing to accept that you can take care of yourself, but what about Ebudae? She’s hardly capable of handling danger. Although if she throws some of her coin, it might distract the guards for a moment.”
Pelya stepped in front of Ebudae and grabbed a wrist. “I am her guardian and protector. She does not leave my side.” Ebudae realized that Pelya didn’t want her to tell the group she could do magic. “She won’t slow us down at all.”
There was silence for a moment while glances were exchanged. Aphry set her jaw for a moment and studied the two young women. “Alright. You want to be big girls, so be it. As you said, I’m not your mother, so don’t expect me to hold your hand. Is that clear?”
“Crystal clear,” Pelya replied. She squeezed Ebudae’s hand excitedly, but didn’t show it on her face.
“Alright, so we’re going to this warehouse. What do you think we can expect?” Aphry asked the group.
“It belongs to Master Blavoci, a powerful merchant whose business spreads throughout the world,” Ebudae said before anyone else could speak. “He has holdings everywhere from the Kingdom of Grint in the north to Brindlyn in the east.” She had a tutor that made her learn incredibly boring details about the nobility and other people of power in Dralin.
“Exactly how do you know that?” Glav asked with incredulity.
She ignored the question. “He maintains a military force of about three thousand soldiers. They’re scattered throughout the territories where his caravans and ships travel. The soldiers wear yellow colors with three diagonal stripes and are well trained. Not as well as the City Guard, but not to be taken lightly either.”
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