Jalia At Bay (Book 4)

by John Booth

  “May we approach the camp?” Daniel asked in formal manner. Since he was only a few feet away from the traders the request was at best a formality. Hadon smiled and held out his hand.

  “You have saved us from robbers and we must express our deep gratitude to you, as I expect you will to my son Tonas, who saved your life.” Tonas looked uncomfortable at praise from his father, keeping his eyes down; focused on the ground.

  “My name is Hadon Mallow, the young man with the bow is my son, Tonas. This is Dav, Wilf, Tred, Perder and Balaf,” Hadon said, introducing the men around him. “I expect you will need reminding of their names as there are so many of us. We have two men that we hired to protect us, Grilt Born and Tel Drin. I only hope they will do a better job over the remainder of the journey.”

  Tel looked at Hadon from where he knelt by his brother’s body. “Hal died protecting you. What more could you ask of him?”

  Jalia and Hala joined the group in time to hear the introductions. They sat astride their horses and made no attempt to dismount. Jalia had given strict instructions about that as they approached.

  “Enough, Hal,” Grilt snapped, turning to face Daniel. He stood directly in front of him blocking his way, but making no attempt to reach for his weapon. “I believe we fought on opposite sides in Brinan. Is that going to be a problem?”

  “Not on my part,” Daniel said and put out his hand. “A man is paid to do his job and he does the best he can. I do not hold that against you.” They shook hands.

  “I trust you were not one of those who raped and tortured the local women,” Jalia said quietly. “But that is a matter for the Brinan’s to resolve, not for me. Let bygones be bygones, is what I say.”

  Grilt frowned at Jalia’s words, but there was honesty in them and Grilt had been appalled by much that Marcus allowed his men to do. He understood Jalia’s position.

  “Many things were done that I would wish were not, my lady. I take it that you are Jalia al’Dare and that this is Daniel al’Degar.” Grilt put his hand out towards Jalia, and to his surprise, she shook it.

  “My name is Hala Taldon,” Hala told the assembled audience loudly, much to everyone’s amusement.

  Hadon started frowning the moment Grilt stepped forward. He was only the hired help and he was acting as if he was the leader. There was also the matter of the people who had saved them turning out to be from myth and legend.

  Rumors said Jalia was either Magician or Fairie. People claimed it this girl that spirited away the Association’s many tons of gold from under their noses.

  When the remaining members of the Association ended up killing each other, rumors spread that these two were involved. Hadon considered such rumors to be nonsense, as it was clear they were just young adventurers, barely out of childhood.

  “What brings two such illustrious people to our camp?” Hadon asked, trying to regain the initiative.

  “Hardly illustrious,” Jalia said. She dismounted and handed Swift’s reins to Hala with a meaningful look. Hala got the message; she was to remain mounted and ready to flee at the first sign of trouble.

  “We were robbed and left for dead by a man called Adon Haldon. You met him at Sweetwater where you bought some of our property from him. Adon and most of his clan are dead and we seek the return of our goods.” Jalia paused and looked Hadon in the eyes. “A lot of people died along with Adon because he made the mistake of trying to hold on to what was ours.”

  “Come now,” Hadon said smiling warmly at Daniel and Jalia, though his mind raced as he considered this news. “All things can be negotiated. We should make a camp and brew some tea before we talk on such matters.”

  “That isn’t the way it works,” Daniel stated. While not making anything that might be regarded as an aggressive move, the traders started to back away, while Grilt and Tel moved to stand between them and the traders.

  “What items are you talking about?” Grilt asked. “We bought a lot of things at Sweetwater.”

  “Those donkeys are mine,” Daniel said. He noticed that the traders had another eight donkeys behind the rocks. Ferd probably refused to hide and kept his string with him. Ferd could be stubborn, even by donkey standards, when he wanted to be.

  “There are some knives and a gold ring,” Jalia pointed out. She missed her knives more than the ring. Magic always ran out at the worst possible moment, but you always knew exactly where you were with a good throwing knife in your hand.

  “This one perhaps,” Grilt said, lifting his jacket to reveal a familiar hilt in its equally familiar sheath.

  “That and two others,” Jalia stated. She moved forward a step on seeing her knifes. She found her mouth watering with desire and had to stop herself from assaulting Grilt to get it back.

  “Hal paid a high price for his knife,” Tel said angrily. “Why should we give them back?”

  “Are they worth dying for?” Grilt asked. Grilt undid his belt and removed the knife and its sheath. He threw them at Jalia who caught and slid them into the holder in her left boot. She grinned and tossed a gold coin to him.

  Grilt looked at the coin and bit it. His teeth marks told him all he wanted to know. “I consider myself fully recompensed, my lady.” He gave a small bow. “Hal had the other throwing knife. Though I think he has no need of it now. The other knife is gone. I gave it to Lady Gally Sorn, who was much taken by the keenness of its blade. She left this party two days ago, after becoming annoyed by our slow pace.”

  “And the ring?” Daniel asked.

  “I think she bought such an item,” Grilt replied, “Though she never showed it to me.”

  “Come now, gentlefolk. I am sure we can negotiate the ownership of the donkeys,” Hadon said jovially walking towards Daniel. Daniel drew his sword so smoothly that Hadon didn’t see it until he nearly walked into it. He stopped as he stared his own death in the face.

  “There can be no negotiation,” Daniel said softly. “There are ours and they leave with us.”

  Tel took the throwing knife and sheath from his brother’s body and held them out to Jalia. He had taken Grilt’s point and decided he didn’t want to die over anything as stupid as a knife.

  Jalia grinned as she took her knife from his hands. She stuck it casually into her belt. Jalia felt whole again. She threw a large coin at Tel who looked at it in astonishment. Even in Brinan at the height of the gold rush, that coin would have easily purchased both knives twice over.

  Tonas saw Daniel holding his sword against his father’s throat and feared for his life. He started to raise his bow, pulling on the string. The string bit his fingers as it was cut in two.

  “Would one of you people over there pick up my knife and return it to me?” Jalia asked of the terrified traders behind Tonas; one of her knives having flown between them after severing Tonas’s bow string.

  Grilt smiled ruefully at Jalia. “Perhaps those knives are worth what you paid for them, in the hands of their mistress of course.” Jalia smiled at the compliment and nodded.

  “Grilt, defend me,” Hadon shouted somewhat foolishly. Daniel could easily stab him before Grilt could draw his sword.

  “We are undone, your grace,” Grilt replied. “Perhaps you should consider giving this man his donkeys?”

  “But who will carry their packs?” Hadon blustered. “If we split their packs over the other donkeys they will be overburdened.”

  “Is it worth your life?”

  Hadon thought about it. There were things in those packs that he couldn’t afford to sacrifice. It was the sight of Wilf Denger scurrying forward with Jalia’s knife lying across his open palm that decided it. No one was going to help him.

  “Very well, the donkeys are yours. Is there anything else you want? My trousers perhaps?”

  “No.” Daniel sheathed his sword in a motion as smooth as the one with which he drew it. “Come on, Ferd. What have these nasty people done to you?” He walked past the traders to his donkeys.

  Daniel judged these men as the kind of
men who are true to their word. Of course, a much more suspicious Jalia had his back covered and her throwing knives close to hand.

  Ferd glowered as Daniel approached and turned his back on him. As Daniel came within striking range, Ferd kicked him in the stomach, knocking him to the ground. As he writhed on the ground, Ferd walked over to him and began licking him on the face.

  “That’s your donkey, all right,” Jalia said with satisfaction. Hala giggled quietly from the top of Blaze and tension evaporated, as the group dissolved into laughter.

  18. Making Friends

  Jalia and Hala walked slowly back to the camp at Pegars Ford, Jalia with a look of grim determination on her face and Hala sobbing and wiping at the tears flowing down her face.

  “Thank you,” Hala said when she got her sobbing under control. Jalia wheeled around on her, suspecting sarcasm, but the look on Hala’s face told Jalia she was speaking the truth.

  “For what?”

  “For taking me deep enough into the forest so that the men wouldn’t hear my screams.”

  “It was none of their business. I trust you have learned your lesson.”

  If suffering excruciating pain in your backside taught you lessons, Hala was sure she had learnt something. She certainly didn’t plan on repeating the experience if she could avoid it. Nevertheless, Hala felt compelled to ask one more question, however foolish it might be.

  “Did you learn your lesson? When you were publically whipped by the alchemists?”

  Jalia’s face went through a number of emotions before finally settling on a smile.

  “You do like to push your luck, Hala. One day it will get you killed,” Jalia

  gave a short barking laugh as she framed her answer.

  “They never got the chance to whip me again,” she said finally. “Your point is well taken. If you can get what you want without disobeying us, you will receive no punishment from me.”

  Hala stepped closer to Jalia and put her hand on Jalia’s arm. “I won’t let you down again, I promise. Can we look for mushroom and onions as we walk? Nobody will wonder why we left if we come back with food.”

  Jalia looked at the darkening sky. It would be too dark for such activities in less than an hour and they might get lost in the dark if they strayed too far. It would be much safer to go straight back to the camp.

  “I don’t see why not. We passed a small pond on our way out and I thought I heard a duck or two in the underbrush. I’ll hunt for game and you search for vegetables, but don’t get out of earshot. I don’t want to have to spend the night looking for you.”

  “Will Daniel worry about us if we are late returning?” Hala didn’t want to receive a whipping from Daniel for encouraging Jalia to stay in the forest.

  “Daniel won’t notice we are gone for hours yet,” Jalia stated confidently. “He has the horses and his donkeys to water, feed and groom. He’ll be busy doing that for ages. Especially looking after his donkeys, you have no idea how much time he spends checking their hooves for the slightest crack.”

  “He is very domesticated,” Hala said cheekily.

  “When he traveled with his brother, Yousef, he was made to do everything.” Jalia explained with a grin on her face. “Sort out the donkeys, set up camp, catch the dinner, light the fire, cook the food and then wash up afterward. Yousef made him do every chore. He got into the habit of doing the domestic chores and has never got out of it.”

  Jalia leaned forward to whisper in Hala’s ear. “I sometimes do things badly, just so he will tell me not to bother doing them again.”

  Hala giggled with delight at being let into Jalia and Daniel’s private world. “What happened to Yousef?” she asked.

  Jalia’s face clouded for a second. “He was badly injured long before I met him. He should have died from those injuries and when he recovered, it left him unable to work. Daniel and I met, and then we took much longer getting back than we should have. Yousef made a deal to sell Daniel as a slave in exchange for keeping a roof over his head.”

  “That’s horrible,” Hala said, sickened at the thought of someone selling his brother as a slave.

  “Desperate people do desperate things.” Jalia shrugged. “If I thought that Yousef was a truly bad man, I would have killed him when I had the chance.”

  Jalia grinned. “I stole the special cushion he had made. Sitting down without it is agony for him.”

  Hala touched her own bottom through her dress and winced at the pain that the slightest touch brought. “You can be a cruel, cruel woman, Jalia al’Dare,” she murmured, but she had a smile on her face as she spoke.

  Daniel picked up Ferd’s front right leg and inspected the donkey’s hoof critically. “Nobody has been looking after you, have they old fellow?” he said rhetorically as he carefully pried a small stone from the hoof. “No real damage done though.”

  “May we talk?” Grilt asked as he walked over and Daniel nodded.

  “I’m from Baltar. My family fled Ranwin when the King went mad and I was brought up there,” Grilt said. “I gather you two are from Bagdor, though neither of you look dark of skin enough to come from there.”

  “Jalia’s from Bagdor, her mother was born in the west. I was born in Delbon, though it hasn’t been my home for many years. Ranwin’s king is dead and the city is looking to grow. You could go back if you wanted.”

  “I have no skills in glassmaking.” Grilt gave a weary sigh. “I came east up the Magician’s Road, following the lure of gold. By the time I reached Brinan it was clear that all the prospectors ended up as slaves, so I told the Association I had been a guard and was looking for a job. My father taught me how to use a sword and eventually I ended up as a captain with a dozen men under me.”

  Daniel nodded. He had seen many prospectors who became slaves. He had killed quite a few of the slavers that did such things.

  “Your woman is right. The Association turned the people of Brinan into enemies by treating them like dirt, raping their women and stealing their children for the mines. I was glad when it ended.”

  “So were the people,” Daniel muttered.

  “They say that you killed Marcus al’Tren?”

  “Then they say wrong,” Daniel replied. “A local girl killed him and saved us the trouble.”

  Grilt nodded, though he had no idea who Daniel was referring too.

  “Tell me more,” Daniel when the conversation lulled, “About this woman, Gally Sorn.”

  “I moved to Telmar with my squad after Brinan fell,” Grilt replied. “It was obvious the Association was going to self-destruct, so when Hadon Mallow offered me the job of guarding him and his friends on this journey I jumped at the chance. I took Hal and Tel along as well, though it hasn’t proved a good choice for Hal. Gally Sorn was one of the people Hadon told me was coming with him.”

  “She’s a trader?”

  “Not in a million years.” Grilt gave a laugh of derision. “All airs and graces and endlessly washing herself, sometimes as often as three times a day. She’s a good looking woman, about your age I would say.” Daniel took this to mean about twenty five, as Daniel looked older than he actually was. “She’s from Slarn. I think she and Hadon have some kind of deal going on, though I don’t know what it is.”

  “Slarn is hundreds of miles away. Why did she leave to travel alone?”

  “Boathaven is only two days ride at most, with a horse like hers. She went ahead because we were traveling so slowly. Boathaven has things like warm baths and beds and she missed them. The way things are going, we shall be lucky to get there before the boat sails in ten days’ time.”

  “I’ve never heard of Boathaven,” Daniel confessed, “And what boat is that?”

  “I’d never heard of them either until Hadon told me,” Grilt admitted. “The River Jalon is navigable to Slarn. There are three boats that traverse it, made in the old days, the days of the Magician Kings.”

  Daniel laughed at the absurdity of that statement. “No boat could last for over a t
housand years.”

  “Don’t laugh at me. Take it up with Hadon if you don’t believe me. These boats run on burning wood. The wood heats water and steam somehow drives the boat forward, even upstream. At least that is what Hadon and Lady Gally told us. She traveled on one of those boats to Boathaven from Slarn, and she will be waiting for us when we get to Boathaven to travel back. Assuming we get there before it leaves.”

  “Why does it stop at Boathaven? Why doesn’t this boat travel all the way to Telmar?”

  “According to Hadon, it used to go to Telmar. But when the city was seized by the Association, the boats owners decided to cut the journey short at Boathaven. They were scared of the boats being seized by the Association. They had good reason to be scared, to my mind.”

  “Is Boathaven a big place?” Daniel asked.

  “According to Hadon, it is only a small town, but I don’t think he has ever seen it.”

  “And you are certain that this is where Gally Sorn went?”

  “You seem very anxious to get back an old dagger and a ring,” Grilt queried. “Is there something special about them?”

  “The dagger was a gift from my mother before she died,” Daniel said without a moment’s hesitation. “The ring was a gift from Jalia’s mother to her in similar circumstances. They have sentimental value. However, you have to add to that the fact that neither of us likes being robbed. It is a matter of principle with us to recover them.”

  “As I have already noticed,” Grilt acknowledged. “You might find the Lady Sorn more trouble to deal with than Hadon Mallow.”

  “Jalia has her own way of dealing with women,” Daniel said with a grin on his face. “And she loves trouble.”

  “Will you be joining us on the road to Boathaven?” Grilt asked. “We could use the extra people for mutual protection, and this journey has already proven costly.” Grilt looked over to where Tel was burying his brother. The traders were also burying their fallen a short distance away.

  “Perhaps.” Daniel nodded to where the robbers’ crossbows were piled. “You and Tel are welcome to take a crossbow each, along with the bolts. If you want more bolts, I’m sure you will find some more scattered among the rocks.”