My eyes widened. "A month!" I exclaimed. "If I told Dela I was running off for a month, she'd sneak into my room and slit my throat in my sleep."
Sulana shrugged. "It would take at least a month just to learn the basics. If you decided to continue, it would take a year or more to become proficient. What did you expect?"
I smirked. "Well, that pretty much settles it. There's no way I can abandon my responsibilities for a year or more to learn skills I may never need to use. As Daven said, I've been doing fine without sorcery up to now." Okay, maybe I wasn't doing particularly fine at the moment, but I was working on it.
Sulana looked disappointed, which made me want to reach out and touch her arm, but I had nothing encouraging to say to her. She shrugged again. "Suit yourself. But the work you do for Raven Company isn't that different from what I do for the Archives. I'm certain sorcery would be a big help to you."
She looked over toward the horses and saw that the others were preparing to leave. "Well, we'd better get going," she said, and then she turned and walked away.
I wanted to stop her. To tell her something, anything, that would make her smile at me again. Every step she took away from me was a nail being hammered into the coffin of a possible future that might include her.
A future with Sulana held possibilities. And dangers. And complexity. My heart sank with the recognition that a significant opportunity had just passed, and I'd chosen to let it go.
***
Our return trip to Northshore was a somber procession. As expected, the road had thawed to mud in the morning sun and we had to move carefully. The horses occasionally hit a soft spot and slipped a bit, but overall the footing was not as treacherous as it would have been even a week before.
We all seemed lost in our own thoughts. I was busy wrestling with my conflicting feelings about sorcery and feeling anxious about the idea that Sulana would soon be on her way to finish her quest for the Archives. Sulana occasionally stole a glance over her shoulder in my direction and seemed about to say something, but each time she looked away quickly when she caught my eye. Talon and Barek plodded along and looked bored. Barek trailed the group, leading the horse that carried the dead thief.
Daven was the only one who appeared to be in relatively good spirits. He rode up alongside Sulana and tried to engage her in conversation a few times, but he gave up after getting a few monosyllabic responses from her.
The sun was now high in the sky and the morning had progressed from chilly to warm. We had removed our cloaks, and the sun on my hands and face was relaxing. But the warmth didn't lift my mood as much as it normally would.
We finally arrived at Northshore in the early afternoon. The guards at the west gate watched curiously as we passed, but they didn't try to engage us in conversation. Their job wasn't to inspect traffic as much as it was to watch for good reasons to close the gateway. If a threat appeared outside of town or a manhunt began on the inside, these two seemingly listless men would be swift to slam and bar the heavy gates.
One of the men nodded to me as we passed, mouthing my name. I acknowledged him with a nod of my own and continued on my way. That man had once been under my command, but now I was just another citizen.
We rode carefully through town, slowed by townspeople crossing the roadway and wagons heading to and from the town gate. Heads swiveled to watch us pass every step of the way to the Governor's Complex. Sulana took the lead as we approached the gate to the complex and the guards on station there. One of the guards stepped forward to get a closer look at the mud-splattered corpse draped over the horse that Barek led.
"We need to deliver this thief into custody and question the other man we captured yesterday," Sulana said to the guard who remained at the gate.
The young guard, whose name I knew was Zak, craned his neck to look over at the dead thief. "Doesn't look like we'll get much trouble from him," he said with a grin. "I gather he resisted?"
Sulana responded with clipped words. "It was an accident, actually." Even from behind her, I could see the color rise on her slender neck.
"An accident," nodded Zak with a knowing grin that was starting to annoy me. "I understand completely."
Sulana glared at him, but didn't respond to his needling. "May we pass now?" she asked.
"Be my guest," Zak said, as he stood aside to give our horses clear passage through the narrow gate. "Take the corpse to the infirmary for inspection and the horse to the stable for impound," he ordered in a more serious tone as we passed. He pointed unnecessarily at the infirmary, which was clearly identified by the large red circle above its door.
Sulana nodded her understanding and mumbled a thank you in his direction.
As I went by, he shouted up to me. "Hey Jaylan! How did you get mixed up with this crowd?"
In spite of my serious state of mind, I chuckled at his jocularity. "It's a long story, Zak. Buy me a drink sometime and I'll tell it to you."
"It's a deal. Good luck!" he said with a grin and a wave.
We brought the corpse over to the infirmary. A healer wearing a long grey smock and white skullcap came out to take a look. He asked Talon and Barek to move the body inside.
I waited outside and watched the normal afternoon bustle around the Governor's Complex. Guards crossed the courtyard on their various errands. The clang, clang of a smith's hammer rang out from the open doors to the stable and echoed off the front of the Governor's Residence. A young herald skipped down the steps of the residence, ran across the courtyard, and out through the gates to the town beyond, clutching a message tube in his hand.
I knew better than to think there was any particular urgency to his mission. The heralds were usually older teenage boys who were excited and proud of their chance to serve the Governor. They ran like that everywhere. The Governor encouraged them to treat every task as if it were a matter of life and death. One never knew when it really would be.
Sulana interrupted my musings. "Well, you've completed your bargain with Raleb. Do you want me to break the news to him? There's no sense you hanging around and wasting more time on this."
I looked at her closely, thinking maybe she was either goading me or trying to get rid of me, but she seemed sincere. "No, I should tell him myself. That's the least I can do for the amount of money he paid me, especially considering how it turned out."
She nodded. "I understand. I'll let you go in first and speak to him before I question him. He was apparently the junior partner, so I'm not sure how much I'll get from him anyway."
"Thanks. I think I'll head over there now," I said, turning my horse toward the prison.
"We'll catch up to you after we're done here," she said, gesturing toward the open door of the infirmary.
The guardroom at the prison was occupied by a single guard. The man looked up from his old wooden desk, which was little more than a small table really, as I closed the door behind me. "What can I do for you?" he asked stiffly.
The man knew me, of course. Most of the guards did. But he was apparently one of the crowd who had never forgiven me for getting myself mixed up in the scandal that had cost me my job. Or maybe he just hadn't liked working under me.
"I'm here to see the thief you are holding for Agent Delano. He's also a client of mine, and I need to pass on some information."
"A client?" he asked sharply, "Then perhaps you'd better leave your weapons here." He pointed to an empty weapons rack along the wall next to his desk. "Do you need to enter the cell?"
"No. I don't need to enter the cell. I just need to talk to him." Relieving me of my weapons was unnecessary, particularly since I didn't need to enter the cell, but there wasn't much point arguing about it with him. I unsheathed my sword and dagger and placed them on the rack.
"That it?" he asked.
"Yes," I answered, exasperation evident in my tone.
For a moment I thought he might frisk me, but he seemed to be satisfied with his control over the situation and grabbed a key from a nail on the wall beside
him as he stood. He unlocked the door to the cell block, let me pass, and closed the door behind us. He stayed back at the door and said "third on the left."
I walked down to Raleb's cell, thankful that the guard had chosen to remain behind. The cells had stone walls and heavy, wooden doors with a foot-square, barred grate in the top half. The grate wouldn't make for the most intimate conversation, but I'd be able to impart what I'd learned.
Raleb had heard us enter and came over to the door to see what was happening. His eyes lit up when he saw me, but when he saw my expression, his face fell and he looked down at the floor. "It's bad news then."
"Yes, I'm sorry. We found Donal, but he was wounded in the ambush and didn't make it, in spite of a healer's care."
Raleb turned away from the door. He seemed to curl in on himself, and his shoulders heaved once. Then he straightened and took a few deep breaths. "Well, you earned your payment," he said hoarsely, and wiped his nose with a loud sniff. He turned back to me, his watery eyes giving testimony to his grief.
"Are you sure?" I asked gently. "It barely took a day and you paid me enough for two weeks."
He glared at me and said "Yeah, I'm sure. What would I do with the money in here anyway?" he waved his arms around and looked at the walls of his cell. Then he calmed again. "Sorry...it's not your fault. You did what I asked, so you earned the money."
I moved closer to the door and spoke more quietly so the guard would be less likely to overhear. "He was more than just your partner wasn't he?" I asked Raleb.
Raleb sighed and looked at me through the grate with watery eyes. "Yes, he was. My parents died from an illness when I was little. Donal took me in off the streets and shared his home. I'd have probably been found dead in an alley somewhere if not for him."
"So he was like a father to you," I concluded.
Raleb nodded and looked down. "He may not have set the best example, but he was all I had."
The guard was leaning against the door with his arms folded, watching our exchange. Then he heard noises coming from the guard room and opened the cell block door to see what was going on. He turned back to me and said, "You done? I have more people waiting." The implication was that he wasn't going to leave me in the cell block alone, which was fine. I didn't have anything more to tell Raleb.
"I need to go. I'm sorry about what happened to Donal and I hope things get better for you," I said.
"Yeah, sure. Thanks," he mumbled. I turned and walked back toward the guard.
Back in the guard room, Sulana and her shadow Daven had arrived. As I buckled my sword belt and stowed my dagger, Sulana came over to me. "How'd he take it?" she asked.
"Not well. The two of them were close," I said.
"Well, they chose a dangerous line of work. It was bound to catch up with them eventually," she said a little defensively.
I nodded back at her. "If they had just handed over the ring instead of running, you probably wouldn't even have detained them."
"Probably not," she affirmed.
I wasn't sure what else to say. This was probably the last time I'd see Sulana, but I couldn't think of a good way to say goodbye. The silence stretched between us.
Daven looked back and forth between us a couple of times and then spoke up. "Are we leaving the thief here after questioning? Or do you plan to take him with us?"
I took Daven's words as my cue to leave. They had a job to do, and mine was done. "Well, it was good working with you," I said lamely and held my hand out to Daven with a smile.
He smiled back at me and shook my hand. "You too."
I turned to Sulana and looked deeply into the blue eyes I was certain would haunt my thoughts for some time to come. "Good luck with your mission," I said, and held my hand out to her as well.
She shook my hand slowly. "Thanks for your help. And good luck with the inn and your Raven Company work."
We stopped shaking hands, but left them clasped together for a moment. We slowly let them drop apart. "Thanks," I said, and turned to go.
I opened the door to the courtyard and stopped. I half-turned back to them. "If you are ever in the area again, please come by the inn and look me up." My glance included both of them, but I think Daven knew who I was really inviting.
Sulana just nodded. Daven stepped a little closer to Sulana, waved at me, and said, "Okay, bye."
Chapter 7
Sulana watched Jaylan leave the room and close the door behind him. She wished he would reconsider the idea of exploring his skills with sorcery. It seemed like such a waste for him to let them lie dormant. There were so few sorcerers as it was. She shook her head with a reminder to herself that it was his decision to make.
Sulana turned to the prison guard. "We're here to question the thief we captured yesterday."
The guard looked them both over and nodded. "Right this way."
The guard led them into the cell block and down to Raleb's cell. He shouted through the grate, "Prisoner, back away from the door and get down on your knees." He watched while Raleb complied and then unlocked the heavy cell door. Keeping a close eye on Raleb, the guard let Sulana and Daven into the cell.
Sulana heard the guard close the door behind her, but focused her attention on Raleb. "You can sit," she said to him.
Raleb got off his knees and sat on his sleeping mat. Daven took a position between Raleb and Sulana, but out of their line of conversation. He pulled his dagger and kept it at the ready. Raleb looked up at him sullenly and then glared at Sulana.
"You're the one who killed Donal, aren't you?" he asked.
Sulana grimaced and looked down. "I'm sorry about what happened," she said. "I never meant to kill him. I just needed to get the ring back." She looked into Raleb's eyes. "You shouldn't have run."
Raleb snorted and shook his head. "Of course we ran! We had no idea who you were. You jumped us out of nowhere, and our customers don't appreciate it if we hand over our cargo at the first sign of trouble."
"Watch your tone," said Daven and he took a step toward Raleb. Raleb just raised his chin and sneered at Daven, daring him to do his worst.
Sulana waved Daven back. "Actually, it's your customer I wanted to ask about."
Raleb sighed and looked down at his hands. "Donal handled the negotiations, so there's not much I can tell you."
"Do you know who hired you to steal the ring?"
"I never heard his name. Donal seemed to think he was some kind of sorcerer," Raleb answered.
Sulana's eyes narrowed, and she leaned toward Raleb. "Are you sure of that?"
Raleb looked up at her. "No, I'm not sure. Like I said, Donal handled the negotiations."
"Okay, right." Sulana thought for a moment. "Where were you supposed to deliver it?" she asked.
"Some village near Delta," he answered. "Donal said something about it being on a peninsula, but never said the name."
Daven glanced over at Sulana. "Well, that should narrow things down quite a bit," he said.
Her eyes brightened, and she nodded at him. "I think it does. If memory serves, there's only one peninsula near Delta, and I doubt there's more than one village on it." She turned back to Raleb. "How did you know what to steal and where to find it?"
"Donal had a description of the ring, but he didn't know exactly where it would be hidden. Turns out it wasn't hidden at all. It was in a black lacquered box on a dresser, practically the first place I looked. I was in and out in about two minutes."
Daven chuckled, and Sulana smiled as well. "We'll have to tell the sorcerer who owns it to be more careful with it in the future," she said. "Thank you for cooperating."
Raleb shrugged in response. He looked back and forth between Sulana and Daven, his glance lingering on the drawn dagger with a doubtful frown. "What are you going to do with me now?" he asked.
Sulana's tone became serious. "You caused a lot of trouble, but we recovered the ring. We'll leave you in the hands of the local authorities. What the Governor decides to do with you is up to him. Unless
you have a criminal history here in the Lakewoods Province, I doubt the punishment will be too severe."
Raleb nodded his understanding and shifted uncomfortably on his pallet. He then asked, "I'd like to know something. How did you know where to ambush us? Was it the ring? I know there's sorcery involved."
Sulana hesitated. She wouldn't normally divulge the kind of information he was asking about, but he had already guessed half of it, and she felt bad about what happened to Donal. She finally nodded. "Yes, I have a way to track the ring." Daven looked over at her with raised eyebrows, surprised she had answered honestly.
Raleb waited for her to continue, but shrugged when he saw that was all she was willing to tell him. "Thought it was something like that. I knew that contract would be trouble the day we took it, but the money was too good for Donal to pass up. And he's the one who used to tell me that money was no good if you were too dead to spend it."
Sulana stepped back to the cell door and rapped on it a couple of times to let the guard know they were ready to leave. The guard must have been standing outside the entire time because the door opened almost immediately.
Sulana turned back to Raleb and said, "I'm sorry about your partner and I hope you can find something better to do with your life, once you've served your time."
Raleb looked back at her with a grim expression. "Believe me, I've been trying to do that for a long time."
Sulana and Daven left the room, Daven sheathing his dagger as he did so. The guard stared openly at Sulana when they emerged, then shuddered and locked the cell door behind them. Sulana assumed he had heard the part about her being able to track the ring with sorcery.
Back in the guard room, Sulana turned to the guard as he hung the prison door key back on the wall. "What will his sentence be?" she asked.
The guard shrugged. "Probably a couple months of hard labor, since the merchandise was recovered and he's been cooperative with your investigation."
The Vaetra Chronicles: Book 01 - Vaetra Unveiled Page 7
