by Philip Blood
Some kind of colorful balls rose above the people's heads in a regular pattern; there was a gasp of pleased surprise from the crowd, followed immediately by light applause. The crowd started to disperse and you could hear the sound of coins being tossed into a cup.
Tocor herded Aerin across the street to avoid the dispersing crowd. Aerin looked back to see what had pleased the spectators and caught a glimpse of Lor picking up a cup and emptying it into his pocket. When he was done Aerin’s friend started juggling the small colorful balls. New spectators started to gather but soon Aerin and Tocor were too far away to see.
There was no sign of the Guardsmen when Darel met Aerin that afternoon in front of the Inn.
Aerin looked up and down the street before speaking to his new friend. "Darel, you didn't go to the Guardsmen, did you?” he asked as soon as Darel drew close.
Darel frowned. "Of course not, we all agreed on our plan, though I still think we should talk about this."
"Then who were those Guardsmen with you earlier?"
Darel's eyes glanced away. "One of my," and here he hesitated, "teachers asked the Guardsmen to look after me, I got in a little trouble for coming in so filthy and late yesterday," he admitted. "But I left them at the Library. I told them I was meeting a friend to do some research and wouldn't need them for at least four hours. I didn't actually lie..."
Aerin was new to the city so Guardsmen guarding wealthy boys didn't seem like such a strange thing.
Darel lowered his voice. "Don't mention the Guardsmen to Dono and Lor, they don't seem too keen on Guardsmen and I don't want to upset them."
Aerin nodded, looking around for the two mentioned boys.
"I wonder if those two rascals will show?" Darel asked.
"I'm sure they will after what we saw..." Aerin trailed off, not wanting to actually say something about a dead man. "You keep an eye out for them; I need to tell someone something real fast." Then Aerin ran back to the Inn courtyard looking for Tocor or Yearl. He nearly ran into the large Quarian who stood leaning on his gray staff just inside the gate.
"Oh!" Aerin said, sliding to a halt when he found the Quarian so close. "I was just looking for you! Mara told me to tell you when I was going somewhere. I'd like to go and play with my new friends, Darel, Lor, and Dono if that is all right?"
Tocor's eyes had not left the gate opening where he was studying the profile of Darel. "All right, just make sure you're back by supper time or Mara might skin you and make a new scabbard out of your hide."
Aerin's eyes widened a bit, but he nodded and then ran back to Darel.
They walked a little ways while looking up and down the cobblestone street for either of the other boys.
There was the soft sound of two feet hitting the ground behind them and the boys spun around to find Lor standing with his arms crossed, with Dono a pace behind. "Think we weren’t gonna show, Ladies?" Lor asked with a grin.
Darel laughed. "I knew you'd be here, you're not the kind of person that runs from a challenge."
"Not much of a challenge; I already have a lead," Lor said proudly.
The other boys instinctively moved in closer.
At Lor’s pause, Darel raised his right eyebrow and spoke in a quieter voice, "Well?"
"Perhaps I'll share it, let me ponder," he said with a sly glint in his eye.
Darel scowled at him but guessed correctly that prodding the other boy would only delay things.
Aerin thought he had better defuse things quickly. "I saw you juggling!"
Lor gave him an overly done innocent look, "Who, me? I couldn't juggle a single rock," but he smiled, "of course, it might depend on the size!" As he said this he was suddenly juggling five colorful balls. Where they had come from none of the other boys had any idea. The balls circulated in an intricate pattern, fooling the eyes of those watching, and then almost as suddenly as they had appeared they were gone.
"Thank you, thank you, and no applause necessary!" Lor laughed.
Aerin grinned, "You're really good at that, you must have taken in quite a haul yesterday! I saw you empty out that cup in your pocket."
Lor suddenly looked a little nervous but hid it quickly. "I made a couple pennies, but nothing to speak of, you must have been mistaken. I sometimes put a few coins in so that the spectators think it's proper to throw more, it is part of the game."
Aerin didn't believe him completely, he had heard the number of coins hitting the cup, but Aerin let it go.
Lor suddenly turned and headed for an alley; over his shoulder he called unnecessarily, "If you want to see what I learned about our friend from the sewers yesterday, follow me!"
Within minutes, Lor had them onto the rooftops again and they quickly fell back into their order of the prior day: Lor, followed by Aerin, then Dono and finally Darel.
They traveled the High Road for a good half-hour, running along the roof edges, parapets, ledges and rain gutters. Aerin's heart still tended to enter his mouth at times, but he had to admit he was getting used to the heights. Eventually, Lor held up his hand and the four boys approached a short wall at the edge of a flat roof. Lor crouched down so as not to be seen and the others followed suit.
All four of them peeked over the edge and looked down on the wide street below. To either side, there were nondescript gray stone structures built up to the typical four stories of Strakhelm buildings. Across the street from them, there was one of the numerous churches, with four tall pointed spires on each of its corners rising high into the sky, and in the center was an ornate peaked roof of the central worship hall. Parishioners were entering the open doors below in small numbers.
They looked for a moment, and finally, Darel broke the silence. "So... it's a CHURCH! There are countless churches in Strakhelm."
Lor held up his hand. "Wait... and watch."
There was a small group of ten parishioners standing on the top landing before the open doors of the church, a moment later the person they were waiting for arrived and the whole group moved into the church.
Darel spoke up again as he started to stand upright from the uncomfortable crouch. "Look, I don't see..."
"Then look closer!" Lor whispered intently and pointed down.
Darel immediately crouched back down when he saw what Lor was pointing out.
The group of people below had moved, revealing the inlaid stonework they had been covering on the landing of the church. It was a large red triangle with a dot in the very center, the very symbol they had last seen drawn in blood by the dying Guardsman.
Lor slipped below the top of the wall, turned his back and sat down. "I did my part, now what's our plan?"
The others sat down as well and they all grew thoughtful for a time.
Aerin finally spoke, "It's the symbol, all right, but that doesn't prove anything. We need to get inside and have a look around."
Dono rolled his eyes and leaned his head back, smacking it slightly on the stone of the wall. He winced and said, "I just knew someone was going to say that. Whoever this is we're after KILLED a Guardsman, they won't even blink about skewering the whole lot of us!"
Lor smiled slyly. "Then we'll just have to make sure we aren't caught. I'll go in, anyone here brave enough to go with me?"
Darel scowled. "I will go anywhere you will go."
Lor raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "I'll remember you said that someday."
Aerin took a quick look over the wall at the large dark gray church. "We'll need someone to stay outside and alert the Guard if something seems to be going wrong."
Dono looked at Aerin with his head tilted to the side. "I suppose you are 'volunteering' to wait?"
Aerin sat back down. "No, actually I was thinking that you would be best for that job. You know the city well and could get to the Guardsman faster than I could. On the other hand, none of us know the inside of that Church, so I will be as good as you in there."
Darel twisted the edge of his tunic nervously. "So what's our plan? Walk up to a priest and say
, "Excuse me, but did you kill a Guardsman yesterday? We were just kinda curious because we might want to join your church."
Lor glanced at Darel with half-lowered eyelids. "Funny boy."
Aerin nodded slowly, he hadn't even heard Lor's reply. "That's not a bad idea..."
Darel swiveled his incredulous expression to face Aerin. "What are you, two hoops short of a full barrel?"
"No… I mean, we won’t talk about the Guardsman, but the part about wishing to join their church is the ticket. We could say we're interested, that way we have a reason for being there and for asking some questions. Other than that we just keep our eyes peeled and look for anything that seems out of the ordinary. If we find something, then we go to the Guardsman. What do you think?"
Lor nodded. "That's a good plan. They're always looking for new converts at these places, but be warned, I don't know about this church, but some of them don't let their hooks out of fresh meat if you know what I mean."
"We'll give them false names and we won't tell them where we live," Aerin improvised.
Dono laughed. "That is easy since Lor and I live all over the city."
"How about you, Darel?" Aerin asked, "Got a good place you can say is your home?"
"I can come up with a story, no problem," Darel agreed.
Lor looked at his fine clothing. "No doubt, you haven't even told us the truth, I'd wager."
Darel's look of chagrin made all three of the other boy’s chuckle.
Aerin patted Darel on the back. "It's ok, Darel; you'll tell us when you're ready." To the other two boys, Aerin added, "He's probably the Guardmaster's own son."
Lor's eyes narrowed a little, but then he laughed. "T'would serve me right if he was for throw'in in with a stranger on something as crazy as this little adventure."
Darel was quiet, the truth was worse than their fanciful idea.
Aerin was considering his plan for sneaking into the church when something his father had warned him about came to mind. "There is another danger we may face if we step into that church."
Darel frowned, "What is worse than being killed and tossed down a sewer?"
Aerin shrugged, "I didn't say worse, just another danger. My father taught me about beliefs, and the power within them to control a person. If we enter that church we may come under the sway of their beliefs, and if we do believe, we give them power."
"They aren't going to convince me of nothing!" Lor said in a scoffing voice.
Dono frowned at Aerin, "Yeah, quit trying to scare us, it's not like they can take over our minds!"
"No, but they might mess with your emotions. Like the Forbidden Zones, you know the stories about them making you feel things."
That quieted the boys for a minute, everybody knew about the Forbidden Zones.
"There is nothing to those, so you feel something, it goes away when you leave," Lor stated, but his voice did not hold true conviction.
Darel shrugged, "It doesn't matter, and that’s different anyway."
Aerin nodded. "Different, yes, but this might even be worse… because it’s insidious, sneaking into your mind.” Then he spoke in oratory fashion, quoting his father, “When convictions are strong and many people believe, a weak mind can be swayed if you’re not careful.”
Dono looked puzzled at Aerin’s strange tone, “Who said that?”
“My father, he was a scholar,” Aerin stated softly.
Dono nodded as if his profession gave his words weight.
Aerin added, “Let's just keep our hearts, as well as our minds, focused when we go in there. We don't want to suddenly start buying into what they are selling."
Lor smirked, "If Aerin here starts preaching at us we just smack him upside of the head and knock some sense back into him."
Darel grinned, "I volunteer for the job."
Lor looked back over the wall at the church entrance. "So when do we go?"
"I can't go tomorrow, but the following day would be all right," Darel explained, his next free day being that far away.
Lor's mouth twisted in mock disgust. "By then they'll have cleaned up everything."
"Oh sure, right now they've probably left a puddle of blood for all to see in front of the altar itself," Darel responded sarcastically.
Lor glowered at him. "You afraid or something?"
Darel looked Lor in the eye. "No, how about you? If we weren't going in there with you I doubt you'd have the nerve to enter the place."
Lor shrugged. "That's your opinion."
Aerin waved a hand between them. "Whoa, we're on the same team here!"
Darel looked a little sheepish. "Sorry, Lor."
Lor's lips were still pulled tight, but he answered, "Forget it."
Aerin looked over the wall one last time at the church and the blood drained out of his face. "No…" he whispered.
Dono noticed his face immediately. "What is it, Aerin?"
"It's... him," he pointed to a rather large man who was just nearing the far right corner of the block. The man was wearing a large billowing brown cloak, though the hood was thrown down and his short-cropped bristly hair could plainly be seen.
The other three boys just caught a short look at his back before he rounded the corner out of sight.
"Who is he?" Lor asked.
"That's the man who led the attack; he ordered the death of my parents," Aerin whispered, anger and loss battling within his heart.
"Quick, we'll follow him!" Lor said, scrambling back from the wall so he could stand without being seen. Dono and Darel followed, but Aerin was still a little glassy eyed.
"Aerin!" Lor hissed, and having gotten his attention he said, "Don't you want to catch that bastard?"
Aerin's eyes hardened. "Yes!"
"Good, then get off your hairy butt, and FOLLOW ME!" Lor growled and then turned to run for the far edge of the roof headed toward the end of the block where the man had gone.
Aerin scrambled up and ran after the others.
They quickly came to a fifteen-foot gap between two buildings over a thin street below. Lor stopped six yards back and grabbed Aerin and Darel's arms. "Are you two up to this jump?"
The landing on the far side was a thin foot wide ledge and then a steep slope upwards to a tall peaked roof.
"Do it," Aerin said. Now that he had made up his mind he did not want to lose track of the murderer.
Lor took a moment longer to look into Aerin's eyes. "Jump as if there was only a foot drop and you were landing on something you didn't want to break, absorb the impact by bending your knees... got it?"
Only when Aerin's eyes cleared and he nodded his assent did Lor turn and run for the wide opening. "Watch," he called as he leaped lithely across the gap. He exaggerated the bending of the knees as he landed, taking out the impact and stopping him short.
"Ok, just like that," he called back.
Dono followed and landed easily beside Lor. Then Aerin leaped, and he landed a little hard, but with Dono and Lor steadying his arms he was ok.
Darel swallowed hard and then ran and jumped. He sailed too far and hit the steep roof. His feet scrambled for purchase and only Aerin and Lor grabbing him kept him from falling.
"Thanks," he said under his breath once he had regained his footing.
"Don't mention it," Lor answered and was off down the edge of the roof. "This should put us ahead of him; he will be coming up that street and there's no other exit from this direction!"
They reached the corner of the building and had their first look at the new street where their quarry should have been walking, but no one was in sight.
Lor crossed his arms and glared at the empty street as if it was the pavement’s fault that they had lost the man. "He must have gone into one of the buildings. We'll have to watch and see if he comes out."
They sat and watched the street for some time, but after two hours had passed, Aerin told them he had to go.
Darel nodded and added, "I, too, must be going soon."
Lor looked at
Dono and asked, "Can you stay? I have an… appointment, which I cannot miss."
Dono looked surprised as he replied, "An appointment?"
Lor's eyes looked away and he said, "It's nothing, I'll stay if you can't, but I think that Aerin would appreciate it if one of us spotted this murderer and discovered his business."
Dono shrugged. "I have nowhere to go, so I can stay until dark, but then I must go as well."
Aerin looked at the other three boys. "Thank you, my friends, this is not your fight, but you were trying to help me anyway."
Lor patted Aerin on the back. "I've found life to have become much more interesting since I met you, Aerin, and I hate being bored, so I guess I'll just have to keep you around."
"All right then," Darel exclaimed after a moment, "we meet at the same time and place two days from now, agreed?"
They all nodded and then Lor led Darel and Aerin back to the area near the Inn, where he bid them goodbye.
Aerin just made it back by dinnertime and Mara noted his arrival at the Inn. "Aerin, come over here."
After a last wave, Darel quickly faded into the crowd and Aerin headed for the waiting Mara. He noted from her expression that she did not seem angry; she was watching the departing Darel. Soon enough her old lined face turned to face Aerin and her piercing gaze studied him.
"You've been gone again for quite some time," she noted.
Aerin glanced toward Tocor, who stood nearby watching the exchange. "I told Tocor where I was going."
"I know; I always know more than you think, just remember that. If you recall my rules you need to be in by dark, even if you did tell Tocor you were playing with your friends. This city is no place for a green young boy to be wandering at night. Things you don't want to meet might be around some dark corner. Besides, Strakhelm is an old city; it's had plenty of time to build its power."
Mara's speech puzzled Aerin, but he just nodded, even though he didn't understand her implication that the city was alive or something.
"Good, now tell me about your friend."
