“You’re not eating . . .” he observed with concern. She jumped at the words and took a fast bite. The burst of flavor in her mouth overwhelmed her. It had been so long since she had eaten anything substantial that she hardly knew how to handle it. In a moment, she was chewing as rapidly as possible, trying to finish in case it might escape.
Once he was certain Sheela was going to eat, Frath continued speaking between bites of his own draddly. “I’m sorry about what happened in the bazaar. Slavers and kidnappers have been getting bolder lately and more people have been disappearing than usual. I can’t believe one would be so stupid as to try to steal you from my protection though.”
Sheela studied his handsome face, noticing unease in the set of his jaw. A thin scar ran from chin to cheek and she resisted an urge to run her fingers along it. “Are we safe here?” she asked worriedly.
“The City Guard patrols all the parks,” he told her, pointing at a unit of six guards walking between the ponds. “But even the various criminal guilds help protect the parks. They’re safe havens for almost everyone.”
“Almost?” Sheela asked around a mouthful of food. She held a hand underneath her chin to prevent any crumbs from escaping.
“The Deformed aren’t allowed in the parks. They try to sleep here, but their taint would corrupt the parks too.” Frath popped one of the chips in his mouth. They were nearly gone between the two of them.
“What exactly are the Deformed?” Sheela asked. “From what I’ve heard, magic corrupts them or something?”
“Something like that,” Frath confirmed. “What a lot of people don’t realize is that magic leaves residue after it’s cast. There are more wizards in Dralin than anywhere else in the world. There are also potion makers, priests and just about anything else to do with magic.” He frowned, his thick eyebrows lowering over sad eyes. “The residue gathers in streets and sewers. The Deformed are generally homeless people who sleep in polluted alleys. The magical waste corrupts their bodies and minds, twisting them into deformed versions of people. They’re dangerous and nobody knows what to do with them.”
“Why don’t they clean up the magical residue?” Sheela asked. Her draddly was finished and she took the last chip when Frath offered it to her.
“Because the High Council runs the city. They don’t care about the welfare of the people. Dralin is also the richest and most powerful city in the world and they buy off or kill anyone who complains too loudly.” The set of his jaw showed anger at the careless disregard for the safety of the citizens he was sworn to protect.
Sheela put a comforting hand on his thigh, enjoying the feel of his leg through his trousers. “It seems foolish. I heard that this is one of the only cities in the world without a wall surrounding it. Is that because it’s so powerful?
Frath nodded. “That and it would be useless because the city keeps growing. By the time they finished a wall, more houses would be built outside of it. At this point, it would be impossible to defend any wall that surrounded the city anyway.”
“Oh . . . why?” Sheela asked. Her only education had been about taking care of chores on a farm. The concept of defending a city seemed awesome to her.
“It would take all of the soldiers in Altordan’s army to man it. Even then, a concentrated attack in any direction would be too hard to defend against.” Frath sounded as if he knew what he was talking about so she just nodded in agreement. He saw circles of exhaustion under her vulnerable eyes. “Let’s get you to the inn.” Frath took her hand and together they left the park.
A little less than an hour later, they were in a much quieter part of the city where the buildings were larger and older. Lanterns adorned many of the buildings in addition to the streetlights. Sheela looked in awe at the stone buildings with their tiled roofs and green lawns, wondering how many coins it would take to buy one of them.
“This part of the city is hundreds of years old,” Frath said. “A lot of wealthy merchants and some of the old noble families reside here. There’s not a lot of crime and the buildings are beautiful to look at. I like coming here.” He gestured to one on the left that had small cherub statues underneath the eaves. The windows had glass in them, unlike most houses that had window openings covered with leather, furs or wooden shutters.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Sheela admitted, gawking at the ornate etching in one thick wooden door. “It’s more magnificent than I imagined.” An armed guard sitting at the bottom of a stone railing nodded to Frath, acknowledging the presence of a city guardsman. Sheela had noticed that many of the buildings in this part of the city had guards.
“Here we are.” Frath pointed to a large, four-level building just past the next street. The front of it took up the entire block and she could see a tall stone wall extended along the side street for a long distance. The inns along the highway had been more massive, but nowhere near as elegant. Next to the main walkway to the entrance was a large stone sign with a picture of a shining shield and letters that Sheela didn’t understand because she had never learned to read.
Frath led her up the stone steps to a landing with four marble columns. Two sharply uniformed guards appeared very capable to Sheela’s uneducated eye. At the door was a finely dressed man in colorful red leggings that matched the color of the guards’ tabards. He also wore a lacy white shirt and a long red jacket.
The butler gave a sharp nod to Frath, but took in Sheela’s poor dress and dirty appearance with disdain. Frath spoke to him. “I’d like to speak to Albert, please. He’ll see me.” The man didn’t look happy, but he led them inside.
The butler had them wait in a corner just inside the door while Albert finished talking to a customer. Sheela looked around the common room in amazement. It was clean and warm, with wooden walls painted mellow green. Tapestries of magnificent battle scenes covered most of the walls.
The Shining Shield Inn catered to knights visiting Dralin as well as other nobles. A few of the men were dressed in their armor, all polished and well cared for. Others wore elegant clothing unlike anything Sheela had ever seen or even imagined. Most wore fine swords on their belts. Sitting with the men were squires and servants that helped the inn staff to take care of the knights. Noble ladies were at many of the tables, drinking wine and holding dignified conversations.
“Hello, Frath. It’s good to see you.” Albert was a burly man built like a tree. Frath had told her that he was a former knight who lost his sword arm in battle. Upon seeing Sheela, Albert frowned in disapproval. “Why have you brought this vagabond into my establishment?”
“Hello, Albert. This is Sheela and she just arrived in Dralin. I heard that you need a new girl to clean rooms and help out in the kitchen.” Frath spoke quickly with determination. He kept a hand on Sheela’s back for moral support. “I see a lot of people pass by every day and their faces all blur together. I’d like to help a lot of them, but there’s not much a simple guard like me can do.”
“You’re not a simple guard, Frath. You’re a good man with the heart of a knight.” Albert put his lone hand on Frath’s arm in a gesture of respect. Then he looked Sheela up and down. “She’s small and terribly skinny, but I can see spirit in the way she stands straight and looks me in the eye. We’ll have to get her something decent to wear.” He motioned for a pretty, blonde woman, who had just finished delivering food to a table, to come over. “Tonya, this is Sheela. Try to find something for her to wear, get her some food and put her in the room in corner of the basement. She’s small enough to fit in it.”
Frath let out a barely perceptible sigh of relief. “Thank you, Albert. May I come to visit her on occasion?” His arm moved back over her shoulders as though he suddenly didn’t want to let go.
Albert raised an eyebrow, but nodded without saying anything. One of the customers called and he left to take care of him, giving Frath one more clap on the arm. With an encouraging smile, Tonya held out a hand and wiggled her fingers for Sheela to go with her. Frath smiled encouragingly
and gave Sheela a giant hug, which she returned fiercely. As Tonya led her to the basement stairs in the back of the common room, she looked over her shoulder. Frath was watching her with a smile on his face. She smiled back happily as she walked down the steps.
###
About the Author
John H. Carroll was the youngest of seven children and was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1970 where he was kept in a dresser drawer with the clean socks. Luckily, he wasn’t kept with the dirty socks or else he might have grown up to become slightly warped.
As a child, John spent most of his time wandering through the Mojave Desert in an attempt to avoid people. He would stare at the sky, imagining what it would be like to explore different worlds. One of his favorite memories is watching his dad build the fuselage of Evel Kneivel’s skycycle in their garage. One of his least favorite moments was watching that skycycle fall into the Snake River. (Not his dad’s fault and he has documentation to prove it, so nyah)
As a teenager, John spent most of his time driving wherever he could in an attempt to avoid people. He would stare at the road, imagining what it would be like to explore different worlds. He was the captain of the chess team, lettered in golf and band while in high school, and wasn’t beaten up anywhere near as much as one might imagine.
As an adult, John spends most of his time staring at a computer screen in an attempt to avoid people. He stares at the monitor for hours, imagining what it would be like to explore different worlds. He has been married to his wonderful wife for sixteen years and they have three obnoxio . . . wonderful children who always behave . . . when they’re asleep.
Emo bunny minions surround John at most times. He is their imaginary friend and they look to him for guidance. At one point, they took over the world. No one noticed because they left everything exactly as it was. They gave the world back after a week because it was depressing.
The Willden Trilogy is his first endeavor into the field of writing. Other series and standalone works will be forthcoming. In addition, John has written a number of short stories that can be found at most eBook sites. He writes in the evenings and weekends whenever possible. Regrettably, the family mentioned in a previous paragraph desires food and shelter, requiring the author to possess a full time job until his writing makes him rich.
If you would like to be alerted of new releases, you may sign up for his newsletter. Your email will never be shared with anyone else. You may unsubscribe at any time. http://mad.ly/signups/76337/join
You can follow his blog where he discusses writing, emo bunnies, family and various other topics of insanity.
http://www.ryallon.blogspot.com/
Follow him on twitter if you like insane ramblings and random comments.
http://twitter.com/kookoo88
Find him on Facebook where he discusses current projects and writing in general: http://www.facebook.com/John.H.Carroll.Author
His Goodreads Page:
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4479427.John_H_Carroll
Stories for Demented Children:
Odd tales of anti-heroes doing their best to survive odd circumstances.
The Emo Bunny that Should (Illustrated)
Zachary Zombie and the Lost Boy
Drippy the Peg Legged Rainbow
Unholy Cow
Attack of the Sugar Plum Fairies
Naughty Nanoworms
Zachary Zombie and the Wicked Worm
Novels of Ryallon:
My full-length novels are set in the world of Ryallon. They are high fantasy with rogues, knights, dragons and flower children. You can get them at the store where you found this one.
Willden Trilogy (Written first)
Rojuun
Anilyia
Kethril
Dralin Trilogy (Set in time before the Willden trilogy)
Dralin
Ebudae
Pelya
The Wyvern Trilogy (Parallel to the Willden Trilogy, set in time after the Dralin Trilogy)
Wyvern
To Be Announced (Coming 2014)
Cloudswept (Coming 2014)
Stand-alone Novella
Rain Glade
Coming soon:
The Crazed Trilogy (Set in time after the Willden Trilogy)
The Morhain Trilogy (Set in time after the Willden Trilogy)
Kethril Page 36
