Jalia in the North (Jalia - World of Jalon) (11 page)

Daniel felt foolish at his long speech to a piece of steel, but it was worth a try. He threw the knife into the air and it came down pointing toward the mountains in the distance. “Thank you,” Daniel said quietly.

He took the donkeys and the horses with him, as he had no idea whether he would be coming back. It took a while before he could set off. He wondered yet again, why the fairies had called his dagger a sword when they made it magical, instead of naming it the dagger it undoubtedly was.

Daniel stopped every half hour to ask the dagger for further directions. There was a danger in this, as he well knew the dagger could run out of power at any time. But he didn’t want to have to backtrack either, so he took the risk and hoped he would find Will and Jalia before the magic died.

“I need to go,” Jalia asked Will when he returned to the cave. He had been gone for hours during which Jalia found there was no way she could escape from her bonds.

There were no stones on the ground she could pick up with her toes and throw to her hand. There was nothing she could rub her bonds against. She had to flex her muscles regularly to avoid cramp and even that technique was beginning to fail. She had rubbed the bonds on her left wrist until she bled in the hope that her blood might slacken them enough for her to squeeze out. If she could have, she would have cut off a hand to escape, but she had no way to do it.

All she hoped was that Will would make a mistake and she could get close enough to crush her skull against his. Then she would have the satisfaction of knowing she had killed the bastard as she died.

“Do it where you sit. I’ll throw a bucket of water over you if you get too smelly, but I’m not a fussy man. I’ll clean up the cave when I drug you.”

Jalia was going to protest when she saw the look in his eye. This man regarded her as nothing. When she became too much of a nuisance she would die. She had no choice but to lift her bottom off the floor and relieve herself. As she sat down on the wet stone, she comforted herself with visions of her hands around his throat choking him slowly to death.

Daniel continued to travel in the directions the dagger pointed. He had been on the trail for over four hours. He saw nothing to indicate another human had taken this route before him.

He walked between the horses with the donkeys strung out behind them as the terrain was far too difficult to ride. He made the decision to abandon the animals if they started to slow him down, but so far their presence had made little difference and it gave him something to talk to.

Daniel came upon a steep sided cleft between two hills. The ground rose vertically on both sides. There were signs that when it rained, the small brook that ran through its base would become a raging torrent. Daniel cast his dagger in the air and it stuck firmly, point first, into the soft mud. The dagger’s magic was exhausted.

Daniel wondered what to do next. Should he camp here or continue to the end of the cleft and see what lay beyond?

In a cave, less than a hundred feet above where Daniel stood, Jalia finally reached the end of her patience. It would do her no good, but she would rather die now than endure any more of this. Perhaps it was the unscratchable itch in her crotch that drove her to it, but she looked at Will and screamed as loudly as she could. He picked up the skinning knife on the floor beside him and stepped towards her.

Daniel ran towards the scream, scrambling up the steep slope, dragging himself up on branches and ignoring the pain as pine needles cut deep into his hands.

Jalia looked at Will who was preparing to use his knife. She spat into his right eye. He lurched backwards as her warm spittle blinded him for a few seconds. He growled like a bear and pawed at his face to clear his vision.

“I was just going to cut your throat, but now I’m going to skin you alive. You will scream for days. I know, because I’ve done it before.”

Will cleared his eyes enough to see the girl. Jalia hoped she could get her head butt in before his cutting went too far, but she knew her chances were slim to none.

Daniel found the mouth of the cave and entered silently. He heard what Will said while standing at the entrance. However, it was a big cave and Will was many yards away. Daniel knew with certainty that if Will knew he was present he would kill Jalia instantly. It would give Will an advantage to kill the prize from the start. There was only one option left that he could see as he could never get close without being heard.

Will trailed his skinning knife over Jalia’s right foot. The blade bit into her toe and she suppressed a scream at the agony it brought. Then Will lurched and fell on top of her.

A long way down the cave Daniel began running towards her. His dagger was stuck in Will’s back. It was an almost impossible throw in such a confined space and at such long range, but it had been Jalia’s only chance of survival.

“I thought that magic blade always came back to you once it has done its job?” Jalia said with a smile on her lips as Daniel pulled it from Will’s back so he could cut her bonds.

“It’s out of power, I used it up trying to find you,” Daniel told her as he helped her to her feet and ripped off his scarf to bind the wound in her toe.

“That was an amazing throw without magic,” Jalia said, giving him a strange look, “I’m not sure I could have done it, and I’m a much better knife thrower than you.”

“I was motivated,” Daniel said quietly as he picked her up in his arms and moved her closer to the fire so he could dress her wounds.

The Cave

Daniel washed Jalia using a bowl of water and a cloth, trying to remove all traces of the man who came so close to killing her. The wound to her toe proved superficial, but it would take Jalia time to recover from the bruises Will inflicted while she had been drugged, and for her tortured muscles to recover from being tied in one position for so long.

Daniel made her a warm meat broth which she sipped down before going to sleep besides the fire. She lay down on one of the big fur skins that covered the floor while pulling another one over her.

It was left to Daniel to pull the body of Will from the cave and move it far enough away from the cave mouth so it would not attract predators into the cave. He searched Will’s clothing, finding Jalia’s ring in her coin bag.

Daniel brought the horses and donkeys up to the cave and took off their saddles and bags before feeding and watering them. He heard running water deeper in the cave and found another cavern running off the first through which a stream of water ran before disappearing into the hill. He suspected that it was this water that fed the brook below, but there was no way to be sure.

The cavern opened into a third cave and Daniel went exploring, carrying a lamp he retrieved from his saddle bags. The next cave in was more like a passageway and was hung with animal skins in various stages of preparation, from treated and ready for use to just skinned.

The passageway led to a network of caves. In the one immediately beyond the cave of furs, Daniel found Jalia’s clothes, money belt and weapons. This cave was large and many things lay scattered about it. There was a large amount of women’s clothing lying on the floor along with pots and pans. At one end of the cave, Daniel found a tin bath which was serviceable despite being filled with odds and ends. Daniel emptied it out and placed the largest metal pans in it alongside Jalia’s things.

Leaving the bath for the time being, Daniel went deeper into the caves. There was little evidence of habitation beyond the cave with the bath and he was about to give up and go back when a glint of reflected light caught his eye. He went down through to the next cave and winced at what he found.

There were six corpses in the cave. The dry cold air had preserved their skins as their bodies had dried so though their faces were stretched taut against their skulls and their eyes sunken they were easily identifiable. Six young women with white grinning teeth and a large slit of torn dried flesh where their throats should be, slashed from ear to ear.

One of the women had been partially skinned and Daniel had to fight to avoid vomiting. He couldn’t help but recognize that this was the fate that Jalia had been about to suffer when he ended Will’s life. If ever a man had death coming to him, it was that evil bastard.

Making a mental note to find a place to dig a communal grave, Daniel retraced his steps through the network of caves. He dragged the bath and its contents to the cave of furs and then put the furs on the floor to make a carpet around the bath. He put one of the furs inside the bath at one end to form a headrest. Finally, he brought Jalia’s things and the pans to the main cave.

Daniel put Jalia’s sword and knives alongside her as she slept and, as if by instinct, her hand reached out and she hugged a throwing knife in her sleep. For the first time that night, her faced relaxed at the comfort it gave her.

It took Daniel some time to build the fire up high enough to warm the cave. He slept fitfully for a few hours and then as the first light of dawn showed through the mouth of the cave, he awoke and set to work.

He filled the pans with water, heated them on the fire and relayed them to the bath until the bath was full of steaming water. He knelt a few feet from Jalia and called her name in a low voice. She came instantly awake, the knife in her hand slashing instinctively through the air in his direction before she opened her eyes and smiled. She started to drift back to sleep as Daniel informed her he was going to carry her somewhere.

Daniel took the knife from Jalia’s hand and lifted the furs off her. He picked her up and carried her to the bath before letting her sink into it. Jalia opened her eyes in dreamy pleasure at the feel of warm water enveloping her body.

“Why thank you, Daniel,” she said sleepily, savoring the feel of the grime of the road lifting from her body in the warm water. “Remind me to reward you.”

For the next three hours, Daniel brought a steady stream of hot water to add to the bath. Water flooded over the sides onto the valuable furs, but Daniel didn’t give a damn. As Jalia became fully awake, he brought her tea and a venison broth.

Daniel squatted on the furs looking at Jalia. Even battered and bruised, she was still the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. She smiled as he handed her the magic ring and pointed out where her clothes awaited her.

“One day I may have to marry you,” she mused as she reluctantly climbed out of the bath and dried herself on the furs. Minutes later, she was dressed and the two walked back to the main cave and sat by the fire.

“I found the remains of six girls deeper in the caves. One of them had been skinned. I would guess she was alive when it was done.”

Jalia burst into tears, Daniel hugged her close, but she seemed unable to stop sobbing. This was the first time Daniel had seen Jalia totally vulnerable and he held her close for a long time.

“He was going to use me and kill me in the end, and the only way I could make it stop was to get him to kill me quickly,” Jalia said between sobs. “I have never felt helpless before. I had given up and knew I was going to die.”

Daniel hushed her as she continued to cry, her sobs getting softer and lighter as time progressed. Jalia looked at Daniel and spoke again, “I’ve put you in danger so often and I never knew what it was like to fear death. How can you forgive me?”

“I always have a choice, Jalia. It is my choice to stay by your side and fight with you. There is nothing to forgive.”

“Is it worth it, Daniel? Is it worth it?” Jalia whispered as she hugged him closer.

“That creature is never going to kill another girl. I’ve seen their bodies, Jalia, and his death was long overdue. I’m proud I was the one to deliver it to him.”

Daniel and Jalia stayed in the cave another three days, waiting for a break in the weather as it had rained continuously since Daniel arrived.
 
When the rains stopped the two dug a hole in a beautiful clearing some way beyond the cave and brought the women’s bodies wrapped in Will’s furs. They buried them deep in the earth and piled stones over the grave to keep predators from them.

“Will we let their families know where they are?” Jalia asked as they stood solemnly in front of the grave.

“We should take some of their clothes to identify them. If will tell the story at Taybee and the word will spread. At least we have given them dignity in death.” Daniel gazed out into the forest.

“And vengeance,” Jalia said quietly, “Perhaps they will rest easy now.”

The journey to Taybee took them three weeks. Daniel and Jalia encountered no one on the trail.

Taybee

The trail they followed became a road as they approached Taybee. Ancient ruins, broken walls and piles of shaped stone stretched for miles before they saw the walls of the town. When they reached them, they found their road ended against a defensive wall. Apparently the northern road did not merit a gate.

Jalia and Daniel began the long trek around the walls to the east, looking for a way in. Travel to the west would have required them to cross the River Calda, which passed through the town walls exiting not more than a mile from where they stood.

Daniel wondered when and where he and Jalia had crossed the river. He didn’t remember doing it, but then so much of their journey was hazy in his memory. He wondered if his brain was ill suited to the cold.

Jalia was eager to get into the town. They had encountered nobody on their travels since Will, which may well have been a good thing, as Jalia was no longer in a trusting state of mind. She would certainly have offended any travelers they met.

As they picked their way between squared off stones lying at odd angles, Daniel spared the time to glance at the top of the wall they travelled round. The wall was twenty feet high and made of blocks of stone of random sizes and colors. It appeared its builders ransacked the ancient ruins around them for anything vaguely suitable and used anything that came to hand.

Daniel spotted the flash of sunlight on metal a number of times as they followed the wall and he was sure it was being patrolled by guards. Despite this, no one called down a friendly greeting or a challenge, which was unusual. In the southern trade triangle, nobody would have been able to travel along a city wall for more than a hundred yards before someone called down asking them for news or to exchange a word of greeting.

It took them over an hour to reach a gate. The gate was just big enough for a wagon to pass through and was constructed of thick oak beams held together with black iron nails.
 
Guards looked out at them from the safety of thick vertical iron bars set into the stone from a window cut in the wall. The gate began to open before they reached it and was fully open by the time they went through.

Guards holding pikes stood on either side of them. They wore thick leather clothes with crude breastplates and helmets for armor. Daniel did not regard them as a threat as their armor would hinder them in a fight, and the reach of their pikes would be insufficient advantage against a good swordsman. He regarded the guards on the wall as a threat though, because they carried crossbows and the bows were strung taut with a bolt loaded. The heads of the bolts tracked them as they rode into the outer keep and dismounted.

“There is a tax to enter Taybee,” a tall big muscular guard said as their feet touched the ground.

“A tax for what exactly?” Jalia asked, amused despite herself, “Greeting us with a lot of unnecessary guards?”

“There is also a fine to be levied for insulting the guards of Taybee…” the guard began, but Daniel motioned to the guard to let him speak.

“Perhaps you could explain, simply, to two weary travelers what these taxes are and why they are being levied?”

“The tax is levied for permission to use the Magicians Bridge over the river that is contained within the city walls. We maintain it for travelers as well as guaranteeing you a safe place to rest your heads. The tax is simple, that is, it is the transfer of half your pack animals and horses to the city. You can, if you choose, purchase your animals back from the city for whatever the market rate is at the time.”

“And what might that be for our animals?” Jalia said, having moved in mood from amused to angry at the thought of losing Swift or Jet.

The guard looked at the horse and the four donkeys, “Normally you would be charged less for a horse than a donkey given the need for hardy pack animals in Telmar, but your horses are of such good quality that the price is the same. Fifty pieces of gold for each animal, one hundred and fifty in all, and we would take the lead donkey if you don’t pay, as they are more valuable.”

Gold coins were subdivided by weight into coins known as bits, eighths, quarters, halves and pieces. A piece of gold was a lot of money and would normally buy a good horse. A quarter would buy a donkey. Jalia started to pull her sword in response to the guard’s outrageous demand. The guards on the wall lifted their crossbows and aimed at her.

Daniel stepped between the guard and Jalia and tried to indicate the crossbow positions to Jalia with the movement of his eyes. Jalia got the message and pushed her sword back into its sheath.

“These seem steep prices for simply crossing a bridge,” Daniel said evenly, though even he felt more than a little annoyed. “But we are not subject to them because we are heading east and have just come from the north.”

The guard snorted in disbelief, “No one comes from the north.”

“But we did, and if we do not exit from this very gate you are free to charge your levy on us.”

“That’s not how it works,” the guard said, flustered by Daniel’s argument. “We also protect you from thieves.”

“We have already met the thieves in this city and we can protect ourselves from you,” Jalia said, perhaps a little unwisely.

Daniel put his hand up to stop a fight breaking out. “Do you have a ruler we can speak to and sort this out?”

“Baron Tynes is the city’s elected leader. I am Sergeant Mulna. Take your things and go for now, but we will take your horse and donkeys if you try to leave from any gate in the city without paying your taxes.”

 
“I think we should leave, Daniel,” Jalia said as she prepared to mount her horse. “I’m sick of this town already.”

Sergeant Mulna folded his arms and stood between Jalia and the gate. “The law is the law and once you have entered you cannot leave without paying your taxes.” The sergeant waved an intricate carved stamp at them, “You’ll need a pass stamped with one of these to leave and you won’t get one until you’ve paid.”

“We’ll discuss this with your Baron,” Daniel said calmly and mounted Jet. “Come on, Jalia. Let’s see if there is anything in this town worth what they want to charge us.”

Jalia followed Daniel and his donkeys into the town.

“They’re going to be trouble, I can tell,” Corporal Feta said as he stepped closer the Sergeant.

“Nothing we can’t handle,” Sergeant Mulna replied with a grunt of satisfaction.

The streets of Taybee were narrow and cobbled with small stones. Houses leaned out across the streets so there was little sky to see. Daniel and Jalia made their way to the center of the city. One advantage of the close packed streets and houses was that they were free of ice and seemed to hold the heat from the houses.

They passed taverns filled with drunken people, many of them out on the streets. Some drunks lay where they had fallen. Daniel had never seen a place so undisciplined. In Delbon, a man falling drunk on the street would have found himself in the dungeons and nobody came out of the King’s dungeons alive.

There was also music, laughter, and singing. It appeared that the center of the town was given over to debauchery. Jalia had to pick her way through the street with care and she looked at Daniel with disgust on her face.

“I thought Buran was bad because they didn’t seem to mind the odd man wandering around drunk, but here it seems alcohol is abused by everyone.”

“Perhaps it’s a northern way of doing things. Or perhaps the result of gold fever.” Daniel pulled Jet to a halt as a man fled a tavern, followed closely by a man carrying a knife. Almost without thinking, Daniel drew his sword and knocked the knife out of the man’s hand with the flat of his blade. The man fell to the cobbled street clutching at his bruised wrist. When he saw Daniel was on a horse with a drawn sword, he scuttled off down the street in evident alarm.

A much better dressed man appeared at the end of the street and beckoned them forward. “Would you be interested in a room for the night and shelter for your horses and donkeys? Only four pieces of gold a night and you won’t find cheaper or better accommodation anywhere in Taybee.”

Four pieces of gold would have been an outrageous price for a room for a month, but Daniel had begun to suspect this was what happened where gold was found. He also had a suspicion the trade goods his donkeys were carrying were going to be worth more than enough to barter to a reasonable price.

“And what would a bag of fine black pepper be worth to you?” he asked the man.

The man laughed, “You sound like you’ll soon get the hang of things around here. My name is Mart Windor and I am owner of the Jumping Trout Hostelry just down the road. I’m sure we can reach a mutually beneficial trade for your rooms.”

The Jumping Trout turned out to be a considerable distance away. Following Mart, they found the hostelry was a three story building, whose middle and upper flows extended out over the river.

The River Calda flowed under the bridge only a few hundred yards south of where the hostel stood. The river banks were stone walled on both sides, a major feat of ancient engineering. Whoever undertook this great work had narrowed the width of the river, so it flowed swift and deep, churning against the walls as if trying to escape

Daniel took one look and realized that a fall into the river would mean certain death. The river was ice cold and anybody falling in would be dragged into its center by its currents and carried for miles. They’d be dead from exposure before they had any chance to reach the shore.

There were stables to the south side of the hostelry and Daniel unpacked his trade goods there. He fed and watered the donkeys and horses while Jalia inspected the hostel and their room. When she was satisfied with the room’s security she went in search of Daniel.

They moved the bags with their trade goods up to their room under the watchful eye of Mart who made no offer of help. He did, however, offer them a warming cup of tea when they came down after they finished.

Jalia was mistrustful of the tea after her experience with Will and sipped only the smallest amounts until she saw Daniel drink his cup with no ill effects. Mart took no notice of her wariness and spoke exclusively to Daniel.

“You’re a trader, I can see that. Taybee is awash with gold and consequently it is worth far less here than anywhere else in the world except perhaps for Telmar and Brinan, though I hear Brinan is not really a town anymore as order has failed there.”

“With so much gold around, who is left to do the work?” Daniel asked.

“Nobody much. It became too dangerous to farm over a year ago. The miners sent raiders to steal from the fields, killing those who opposed them. The farmers moved to the city and we elected the Baron to protect us. He makes the miners and travellers pay taxes high enough to pay for the food we have to import.”

“So people like us get fleeced so you can eat?” Jalia growled.

“The option was to starve as we could not grow our own food. Would you have our women and children starve?” Mart asked her accusingly.

“No, but…,” was as far as Jalia got before lapsing into a moody silence. She didn’t think such methods were a good way for people to live. They had become little better than the raiders they feared.

“If you have goods to trade, I can get you a fair price for them,” Mart continued and waited for a response from Daniel.

“For a reasonable commission, on your part?” Daniel enquired with a grin.

“Well, of course,” Mart responded, clapping Daniel on the back.

“There is a minor problem,” Daniel continued, and Mart raised his eyebrows in query, “You will have to do your trades with my business partner.” Daniel indicated Jalia with a nod.

“And the deals she cuts may result in you having to sell your children to pay for them,” Daniel concluded with a wolfish grin.

Jalia looked up and smiled. Mart laughed a little uncomfortably as he wasn’t really sure what the joke was.

Jalia collected a small bag of trade goods from their room. The room had a stout door and a sophisticated lock and the hostelry itself was guarded. All in all, Jalia felt that their goods were reasonably safe from thieves.

When she returned to the common room, Daniel and Mart were deep in conversation about trade in the southern cities. She coughed to get their attention and asked Mart if he had a private room where they could bargain for their room and board.

Mart looked nonplussed and asked why she did not want to include Daniel in their discussions, but Daniel laughed and waved them away. Jalia had picked up the implications behind Daniel’s comment about pepper and she knew that if Taybee had to import all its food, spices would likely command a very high price. Her trading instincts came to the fore and she looked forward to having some fun.