Chapter Fourteen

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In the late afternoon, the ship comes to rest at the dock and Kendrick’s sailors begin transferring cargo. By the time night falls, the cargo for Westerlyn has been transferred off and the cargo they are acquiring brought aboard. Their next stop being far into the Empire, Kendrick allows most of the crew to go ashore, keeping only two on board to watch James. He and his daughter leave for the evening to find an inn and have a good dinner, perhaps listen to a bard.

While the ship was unloading, Illan and the others took Paul and the girls to find a way back to Cardri. They eventually came across a caravan going in that direction and arranged passage for them. Fortunately one of the wagons was only half full and the merchant was more than willing to have them use that space, for a price.

Miko and Paul exchange goodbyes, Daria giving him a hug and a kiss. “Some adventure,” Paul says as they get loaded onto the caravan.

“Yeah,” Miko replies. “At least it all worked out well.”

“You coming back to Cardri?” he asks him.

“Maybe,” Miko tells him. “If I do, I’ll be sure to look you up.”

“You do that,” he says as he takes his place in the back of the wagon.

The caravan master calls for the wagons to begin moving and their wagon starts rolling down the road. Miko watches for a while as they move away, Paul and the girls waving goodbye to him. He waves back until they’ve rolled out of sight.

All afternoon, Illan has been contemplating the words Kendrick said to him. Not just the words but the tone of voice. That, along with the fact he sent most of his crew away on shore leave, seems to indicate he wants them to get James off his ship.

He mentions his observations to Jiron and he readily agrees. “He doesn’t want the Empire against him, he lives there. But at the same time he wishes to please his daughter so is creating a situation for us to get him off without seeming to. He won’t be considered at fault and James will be free.”

“That’s how I see it too,” he adds.

They have Fifer take Dave into town to keep him out of the way while they wait nearby on the docks for everything to become quiet. The two sailors who survived the destruction of the Ambassador’s ship have gone into town with Kendrick’s crew and aren’t expected back until late or maybe not until the following morning.

Illan, Miko, Jiron and Qyrll wait in the deepening shadows of the dock as the crew from a neighboring ship disembarks. Once they’ve passed from the dock area, it grows quiet.

“Now?” Miko asks.

Illan nods his head and they make their way through the dark and to the gangplank leading up to the ship’s deck. The two guards posted outside James’ door sees them come aboard, one of them breaks into a grin. “Can we help you?” he asks.

“You know why we’re here,” Jiron states as he draws one of his knives.

The two guards step aside. As Illan moves to open the door, the other guard says, “You better rough us up. Gotta make this look convincing.”

Jiron nods understanding before lashing out, catching one in the stomach. As the man doubles over, he cracks him in the head with the butt of his knife, dropping him to the floor.

Miko turns to the other guard who says, “You better cut me.” Pulling out his knife, the other guard exposes his side for Miko as he strikes out. A red line forms in the sailor’s side from where Miko’s knife opens a four inch long wound. Then Jiron strikes him in the back of the head and he falls to the deck.

By this time Illan has the door open and James walks out. Upon seeing the guards lying on the deck, his expression darkens.

“We had to,” Jiron assures him. “We didn’t want anyone to believe Meliana’s father allowed you to be taken off his ship. This way, it looks like we came and rescued you.”

“He still may get into trouble,” Illan tells him, “but hopefully not nearly as bad.”

James looks down at the guard who isn’t unconscious and sees him nod agreement to what Jiron had just said.

“Alright,” he says. “Let’s get out of here.”

They move off the ship and cross through the docks. “Just where are we?” he asks.

“A port city called Westerlyn,” Illan explains. “It’s somewhere south of the city of Cardri, but still north of the Empire.”

As they make their way along the avenue through the warehouses bordering the docks, a shadow disengages itself from the darkness. James comes to a stop before he realizes it’s Mr. Bessin.

“Hope you didn’t kill the men standing guard,” he says.

Shaking his head, James replies, “Only roughed them up a little. Had to make it look convincing.”

“Indeed,” he says. He pulls a small sack out of his shirt and hands it to James.

“What’s this?” he asks as he takes the money.

“Something from a friend to help on your journey,” he explains. “Also, this friend said for you to find the horse trader, Ellias. That you should tell him ‘your ship left without you’.”

“Tell this friend we appreciate all he’s done for us,” says James.

Nodding, Mr. Bessin abruptly moves into the avenue and walks back to the ship.

James lightly shakes the sack and hears the coins within clinking together. “That was nice,” he says to Illan.

“Probably doesn’t want us captured anywhere near where he is,” Jiron says.

“Probably,” he agrees.

To Jiron, Illan says, “Go find Fifer and Dave and meet us at this horse trader Ellias’ place.”

“Will do,” he says. Moving away down the street, he is soon out of sight in the darkness.

They move further into town and after asking directions, find themselves at the eastern edge of town. Ellias’ place is one of the largest horse trading establishments James has yet encountered. Dozens of horses stand in the open corral outside the office building. A light shines from within and they enter through the front door.

A short man is there and looks up from where he’s jotting down notations on a piece of parchment. “Yes?” he asks.

James steps forward and says, “Our ship left without us.”

“Did it indeed?” he says. Resting his quill in the inkwell, he gets up and gestures for them to follow him through the back door.

Seven horses are saddled and ready for them. “Which one of you is James?” Ellias asks.

“I am,” James replies.

He pulls out a rolled letter and hands it to him.

Taking the letter, he says, “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” Ellias tells him. “These are yours and already paid for.” Turning around, he leaves them there and returns to within the office.

Having a wait before Jiron returns with the others, he unrolls the letter and moves over to take advantage of light coming through one of the office’s windows to read it.

James,

At first I was so mad at my father that he would hand you over. It wasn’t until we left the ship that he explained to me what was going to happen. I so much wanted to be with you, but understand why that cannot be right now.

I will return home with my father and hope one day to see you again. We will have other voyages to Cardri in the spring, this is to be the last one before the winter storms set in.

I wish you safe journeys and will always hold the memory of you precious. Thank you again for the figurine, it is special to me.

I love you,

Meliana

“I love you too,” he whispers to himself after reading the last word. He didn’t actually think he felt that way until he read this letter.

“Good news?” Miko asks him when he sees he’s finished.

Nodding, James rolls the letter back up and puts it inside his shirt for safe keeping.

Just then, they hear voices coming from the office and soon the back door opens as Jiron and the others join them.

“We got horses,” Miko tells Jiron.

“I see that,” he says.

Mounting, Illan says, “We better get out of here. When it’s discovered we’re gone, a search may develop.”

“I doubt it,” argues James as he gets in the saddle. “By the time the authorities here could be contacted and convinced a search should be implemented, we’ll be gone. They’ll know that. Plus I doubt if any of Kendrick’s crew is likely to go against him. He may not have publicly stated that he supported my release, but I’m sure they know. Woe to any of them who speaks out against me to his daughter.”

At that several of them laugh. Dave gives him a grin.

“What about you my Parvati friend?” Jiron asks Qyrll. “Are you going to return home?”

Shaking his head, he says, “I must stay with you until my debt is repaid.”

Moving away from the horse trader’s establishment, they head through town and take the road to the northwest along the coast.

“Where are we going?” Fifer asks from the rear.

“Home,” James said. “I presented myself as requested and the court did what it had to do. Now I just want to go home.”

Illan reaches into his tunic and pulls out the sealed letter Ellinwyrd had given him when he went to see him about helping James. Handing it over to James, he says, “In all the excitement, I forgot about this.”

Taking it, James sees the wax seal bearing Ellinwyrd’s symbol. “Where did you get this?”

Illan proceeds to relate to him the events leading up to his meeting with the Archive Custodian. “He said it had something to do with your last meeting,” he explains.

His orb suddenly blossoms to life as he breaks the seal and unrolls the letter.

“What does it say?” Dave asks as he pulls up next to him.

“It only has one word,” he says.

“What?” Illan asks.

“Ironhold,” he tells them.

“Ironhold?” Illan asks.

James glances to him and asks, “Ever heard of it?”

Shaking his head Illan turns back to the others and raises his voice, “Any of you heard of a place called Ironhold?” When he gets nothing but negative responses, he turns his attention again to James.

“I told Ellinwyrd of what happened in Saragon and of the cryptic message that I discovered there,” he explains. Holding the letter up, he adds, “This must in some way have to do with that. Just have to figure out what.”

Shortly after leaving town, they come to a crossroads. They can either continue along the coast or head due north, James chooses to go north. “The coast road would lead us back to Cardri, and after all that’s been done there, I think it wise to avoid the place for awhile.”

“Plus this road should lead more directly home too,” adds Miko.

An hour later, they come to a cluster of buildings, one being an inn and they decide to stop for the night. It being so late, the inn is all but deserted. Only two workers are cleaning up and getting the place ready for the morning customers.

James and Illan enter and get rooms for everyone. After stabling their horses around back, they head up to their rooms and go straight to sleep. Dave shares James’ room again.

“Why do we need to find this Ironhold anyway?” he asks as they get ready for bed.

“There are many questions that have arisen since I’ve come here,” he explains. “and I need to find the answers.”

“Why?” he asks.

James opens his mouth to reply when he suddenly realizes he doesn’t have a good answer for that. He doesn’t know why, he just feels he needs to. Turning to Dave, he says, “If I do what I’m here to do, maybe we can go home.”

“You haven’t really explained it all to me yet,” he says. “I’m your best friend and I think you should clue me in as to what is really going on.”

“You’re right Dave, you are my best friend,” he says. He then gives him a general rundown as to what’s going on and the visits by Igor. He makes no mention of the Fire or anything about his experiments. When he’s done, Dave is satisfied and they drift off to sleep.

Early the following morning, a commotion outside wakes them and Dave goes to the window overlooking the rear courtyard. A group of people are congregating near the rear of one of the other buildings. “Something’s going on,” he says.

“We better go check it out,” James says as they begin getting their clothes on.

Before they’re finished getting dressed, there’s a knock at their door.

James hollers, “Come in,” and the door opens. Illan walks in and says, “Some girl was murdered last night.”

“What?” asks Dave and James at the same time.

“It was the younger daughter of the innkeeper,” he says. “She was torn up pretty bad. At first they thought it was an animal attack, she looked like she had been chewed on. But then they found bloody tracks from some man’s boot walking away from the scene.”

“That’s terrible,” James says.

“We better get out of here before anyone starts asking questions,” he says.

Nodding, James gets his pack and stands up. “Yeah. Good idea.”

As they leave the room they begin to hear yelling coming from downstairs and they rush down to find Qyrll encircled by an angry crowd. His hood has fallen back allowing all to see his extensive tattoos.

“Monster!” one woman cries as she breaks down into tears.

“He is not to blame for the death of the young girl!” Jiron shouts to be heard above the noise of the crowd.

He and Qyrll have their backs to the wall as they face the angry people. They haven’t yet pulled their weapons out, but James can see he’s about ready to if they get much closer.

One man draws his sword and says, “He killed my little Elenda!”

“He was with me all night,” responds Jiron.

James can see the situation beginning to blossom out of control. If he doesn’t do something, it’s going to escalate into a flat out riot and all these people are going to get hurt. Jiron and Qyrll could wade through them like a hot knife through butter.

Summoning a little bit of magic to magnify his voice, he yells, “Enough!”

His voice rolls over the crowd and Jiron looks to him in relief. As one, the onlookers turn to face him. Their anger is plain on their faces and he hasn’t long to diffuse this situation.

“This man is not to blame for the death of your daughter,” he says to the innkeeper as he makes his way through the crowd to stand before them. “I have known him to be only a gentle man. Let not his visage frighten you. From where he comes from, these markings are a sign of manhood. His people are not bloodthirsty killers.” Well, they are but not in this way.

“Before you kill an innocent man, make sure of the facts!” he hollers to them. “You say that whoever killed your daughter walked away through blood?”

Several heads in the audience nod in agreement.

Turning to Qyrll, he says, “Remove your boots.”

While he’s removing his boots James turns his attention to the crowd and says, “If he did in fact walk through blood, then there should be some indication on his boots that he did.” He’s thankful to see a couple people nod their heads at his logic.

“Here,” Qyrll says as he hands him his boots.

James examines them and with profound relief finds them completely devoid of any blood. He didn’t know what he would do if there had been any on them. Holding the boots toward the crowd, he says, “See. There is no blood!” He moves them first one way and then another as everyone in the crowd presses forward to see.

Unconvinced, the innkeeper says, “He could’ve cleaned them off!” Several, people grunt their agreement.

Despite the fact that some of the crowd are unconvinced, he begins to notice the overall mood has changed from one of mob violence to restless curiosity. He has to keep this going or that innkeeper will stir them up again.

Pulling an idea from a crime drama on television, he says, “Let’s go and compare this boot with the one which walked away from the scene, to see if he could even have made the tracks.”

“Alright,” the innkeeper says. “But if they’re the same, he dies.”

James isn’t too worried about that, this Parvati is larger than most and it’s unlikely his boot is going to match that of the killer’s. Unless of course he really is the killer. There is a kernel of doubt in his mind, he remembers the deaths back in Cardri that seemed to have occurred around the time they were all there. He knew Parvati’s were not murderers. Killers, yes, but not murderers.

Leading the crowd out to the scene of the crime, he carries the boots. Qyrll and Jiron follow along behind him.

“The tracks are over here,” one person says.

James follows him and they come to three very clear imprints in the dirt. Bending down near the clearest of the three, he says, “Now, let’s see.” Putting the boot on the ground next to the print, he lines up the heel of Qyrll’s boot with that of the bloody imprint. Once aligned, he looks up to the crowd.

A murmur begins running through the onlookers as they see the toe of Qyrll’s boot extends two inches past that of the imprint. One says, “He couldn’t have been the one.”

The innkeeper’s anger toward Qyrll dissipates quickly. Looking to the Parvati, he grudgingly says, “Sorry.”

Qyrll makes no reply as he puts his boots back on.

“But who killed my daughter?” he wails as his wife comes over and embraces him, her sobs adding to his own.

“I don’t know,” James replies, “and we’re all sorry for your loss.” To Fifer, he whispers, “Get the horses ready to leave.”

“Right,” he whispers back and takes Miko with him to get it done.

Many of the onlookers come to the grieving family and offer words of sorrow and encouragement. James glances to Jiron and Qyrll and nods to the stables. As they leave the crowd behind, he says, “Let’s get out of here quickly before something else happens.”

With Dave walking beside him, he and the others make their way to the stables. Those who had left their things in their rooms hurry back to the inn to retrieve them. Before too much longer, they are all in the saddle and making their way down the road.

“That was quick thinking,” Illan tells him after riding several minutes in silence. “I never would’ve thought of that.”

“Where I come from, solving crimes and stories of the same nature are very popular,” he tells him. “Frankly, if his boot had matched the bloody footprint, I don’t think bloodshed could’ve been avoided.”

“I’m glad you were able to avert a conflict,” Qyrll says. “Killing people such as those would bring little honor.”

They ride on for several hours, a few travelers share the road with them, but otherwise it’s empty. A caravan passes them coming from the north and James asks them how far the next town is.

One guard pauses long enough to say, “The next town lies a full day’s ride to the north.”

“What’s it called?” he asks.

The guard replies, “Willimet.”

“Willimet?” James asks. When the guard nods yes, he begins seething inside. He hasn’t forgotten what happened to him the last time he passed through there.

Miko remembers as well and comes to ride next to him. “What are you going to do?” he asks.

Turning to him, he says, “Going to go and talk with her.”

Serenna, that was her name. The fortune teller who had run him out of town. The one who is telling everyone he is possessed by a demon. He intends to get her to stop!