The Hag of Calix

by Rod Fisher

  Chapter Eight

  WHEN Felic returned to the Sun-eagle he strapped on Battle Flasher and selected a small buckler that would not impede his movements. The thought of Chessa in the hands of the Dagrans so enraged him that he set off in pursuit with no plan other than to catch up and do battle. He ran all the way to Seaskal, but when he emerged into the fields outside the village there was still no sign of Chessa and her abductors. Felic paused to rest and consider his next move.

  "Why am I doing this?" He asked himself. "It's a stupid diversion from the business at hand." But he had to admit he was becoming fond of the impish would-be princess.

  He hid Battle Flasher and the shield in a hedgerow and walked through a pasture to the town. In the marketplace he lounged about, alert to the conversations around him. Everyone was speculating about the prisoner that had been carried through the streets. The consensus was that she was the temple fugitive advertised in the postings. Felic visited the waterfront and talked to the chandler who had sold him supplies. He learned that there were only twelve swordsmen at the inn. He went directly there and, ignoring the loitering soldiers in the courtyard, approached the innkeeper.

  "A room for the night...how much?" Felic asked.

  "Sorry...there are no rooms."

  "Come now. There is always room for one more. I have traveled hard and I have silver."

  "And I'd like to relieve you of some of its weight," the innkeeper cackled, showing toothless gums, "but I'm filled up." He winked and continued in a mushy, confidential voice. "Very important member of the blessed Arnak family, a Dag no less, has chosen my inn to billet himself and his men. So, young sir, you'll have to sleep elsewhere."

  "But there is no other inn. How about your stable? May I make a bed in the loft?"

  "If you don't mind the rats. It will cost five druacs."

  "Five! You are joking. I'll give you one."

  "Three. No less," the old man haggled. "Rates are higher where important officials stay."

  Felic gave him the three coins and a dirty look and crossed the compound to the stable. The stalls were empty. He climbed a rickety ladder to the loft and positioned himself on the hay, his eyes next to a crack in the loading doors. He could see the entire courtyard. As he watched there was a commotion in a second level room across from the stable. A man's roar of anger was followed by sounds of a struggle. One of the Dagrans rolling amber dice in the courtyard ran up the steps and into the room. In a few moments he came out and rejoined the game. Felic lay back and relaxed. He chewed a piece of hay and devised a plan.

  He decided to wait until dark then set fire to the stable. Thus distracting the soldiers, he could break in and rescue Chessa, hoping to get away amid the confusion. As he waited for the afternoon shadows to lengthen, his attention was again drawn to the courtyard. A portly Arnak priest came out of the room at the top of the stairs and called down from the balcony.

  "Krel, get your men ready to travel. We are leaving!"

  "Leaving, Lordship? We have only a few hours of daylight."

  "Enough to get us to the demi-temple of Magren. I have decided to be married this night." The Dag rubbed his palms together and his face pursed into a lascivious leer. "My tender flower will have the mud scrubbed from her petals, then perfumed with the sacred oils, she will join me in the temple rites. Ha, ha ... the Gods of Dagra will have a romping good spectacle tonight." He threw his left hand up in a salute to the gods while he rubbed his crotch with his right.

  Krel grinned back at him. "We will hurry, honored Dag." He broke up the game and gave orders for the march.

  Felic knew he must create his diversion and attempt the rescue immediately. He fanned a flame from his tinderbox into the dry hay near the loft doors. When the fire took hold he brought greener hay and threw it on the flames. Thick smoke filled the loft. He kicked the doors open and stood in the opening.

  "Help, fire! The stable is on fire! Bring water!" The soldiers paused in their packing to gape at the figure in the loft. The smoke rolled out of the opening in a greasy brown cloud. Felic swung himself down to hang from the opening by his fingers before dropping the short distance to the ground. "Innkeeper! There is a fire! Somebody get water!" He sprinted toward the milling soldiers shouting and waving his arms.

  The innkeeper came out of his quarters and panicked at the sight of the billowing smoke. He pushed and screamed at the soldiers, trying to organize a bucket brigade from the well to the stable.

  Felic moved among them, helping create more confusion, then he slipped unseen up the stairs. He opened the door and came nose to nose with the priest. The expression of surprise on StetArnak's face turned to pop-eyed amazement as Felic's huge fist slammed the breath from his midriff. As he doubled up, gasping, Felic smashed a knee into his face. He slumped sideways into a cane-bottomed chair. The chair collapsed into firewood and rolled the lumpy body onto the planks.

  Felic sprang to the other door and threw off the bar. He pushed but it was secured from the other aide. "Chessa, are you in there?" he shouted. "Open up. It's me, Felic."

  There was no answer. He pounded on the wood. "Chessa, unlock this door. There is no time!" Still there was no response. He heard the priest stirring behind him and he spun about, expecting an attack. But Stet-Arnak lurched out onto the balcony where he called for assistance.

  Felic tried again for Chessa's cooperation, sure that she was in the adjoining room. He slammed his shoulder into the door with a mighty lunge, but it held fast. There was a clatter of arms on the stairs. He had time to swing the table into the path of the first howling Dagran, then he leaped to the outside window, threw it open and gauged the distance to the ground. Without hesitation he jumped, rolling as he struck the side of the slanting ravine that led past the back of the inn and through the village. He found his feet and raced downhill toward the bay, splashing along through a tiny creek that followed the bottom.

  As he got closer to the beach the brush grew thicker and more tangled. It slowed his flight and he could hear the sounds of pursuit growing louder. He pushed ahead and found that the stream emptied into the bay beside a long wharf. He waded into the muddy shallows under the wharf and leaned against a barnacled piling to catch his breach. The iron-shod feet of running swordsmen beat the planking over his head.

  "Felic."

  He started at the whispered sound of his name.

  "Felic...over here. "Quick!"

  He looked in the direction of the whisper and saw a small face peering out from a veil of nets. He paused, wary of a trap, then realized it was Chessa.

  "Chessa, how did you get here?"

  She ignored the question and beckoned him vigorously. He crept through the opening in the nets to join her. They were under the floor of the net mender's building. The salt encrusted planks that hid them were nailed to the pilings of an old dock that formed the foundation for the structure. The nets strung along the side to dry concealed the opening. The place reeked of dead fish and rotted seaweed. They watched the Dagrans search along the beach and under the wharf. Chessa pressed her shaking body against Felic and kissed his jaw line. She spoke to him silently through adoring eyes. He gave her a brusque embrace and kept his attention on the searchers until they moved away.

  "Now then, pigeon, tell me what happened."

  "They put me in a little room, but I pushed the furniture in front off the door so they could not get in. Felic, that priest is so hateful. I pretended to be unconscious and he touched my body ...ugh, like an awful spider crawling on me. It made me feel all dirty inside and I almost threw up!"

  "But how did you get out of the room? I went to get you...the door was barred and you didn't answer."

  Chessa giggled. "I fooled. you, too, Felic." She reveled in his mystified expression. "When I moved the bed there was a heat opening under it. Just a hole in the floor with a grill over it. It went down into the innkeeper's room below. I couldn't use it while he was there, but when all the commotion started o
utside... Did you start that fire, Felic?"

  "Yes...now go on."

  "When all the commotion started, he ran out and I lifted the grill off and dropped through. I went out the back door and came down the gully."

  "You certainly found a good spot to hide."

  "I knew about this from before. But the net mender caught me sleeping on one of his piles and chased me out of town. That's when I went to the boat." She stroked his cheek. "That was before I knew you." She paused and looked at him, puzzled. "Did you go to the inn after me?"

  "Of course I did."

  "Oh Felic, you are so brave and so strong and I love you so much." She kissed him hard on the mouth and refused to let him pull away until she had finished.

  Felic laughed. "Hey, take it easy. Save something for later."

  "What are we going to do now?" she asked.

  "We will wait until dark, steal a boat, and get back to the Sun Eagle by water."

  "Why didn't you kill them all, Felic?"

  He looked at her and sighed. She was serious. "I do not know," he grinned. "Perhaps there weren't enough of them to bother with."