Perilous Travels (The Southern Continent Series Book 2) (10 page)

“Have you seen a girl come through here in the past few minutes?” Grange asked.

“These are the guard quarters,” the man answered.

“But did a girl come through here, a pretty girl in a green dress?” Grange asked again.

“That’s not your business.  This is for the guards only,” the man replied, and he stood straighter, sensing that Grange wasn’t going to be easily turned away.

“All I’m asking is about a girl.  I’m trying to find her,” Grange said, taking a single step forward.

The guard reacted by swiftly lowering the spear he had held, and thrusting it towards Grange’s midsection.

Grange reacted instinctively, using the fighting skills that Lastone had taught him during his stay at Waters End.  He pivoted to turn sideways, pulled his hips backwards and he lifted one hand beneath the spear and simultaneously slapped his other hand down upon it.  He grabbed the wooden handle just behind the metal point, then pulled hard.

As the unprepared guard was suddenly pulled forward, Grange raised his hand immediately, and brought it down on top of the off-balance man’s shoulders, thrusting him violently to the floor, while Grange’s lower hand grabbed the shaft of the spear and held onto it, wrenching it from the possession of the guard.

“Now,” Grange said angrily, not thinking about what was happening, but simply reacting to the situation that was developing, “tell me if there was a girl here.”  He lightly poked the spear in the man’s shoulder.

“What’s that noise out there?” another voice called from behind the door.  “Did you get drunk and fall down Lougee?” someone called.

“Tell them it’s fine,” Grange hissed.  His eyes locked with the eyes of the man he held captive.

“Everything’s good as gold,” the man on the floor said loudly.

There was silence from the other side of the door, and then it popped open and a man looked out.

Grange stared at the new man, as the fallen man he had overcome reached over and grabbed Grange’s leg, then pulled hard on it, throwing Grange off balance.  Grange twisted the spear to use it as a staff, the way Brielle had taught him at the Palmland armory, and he planted it on the floor as he fell, then spun around it and used his momentum to allow him to regain his feet and come to a stop, several feet away from where he had started.

He knew he was in trouble.  If the other side of the doorway truly held the guard quarters, he was likely to face an onslaught of fighters in a matter of moments.

“Nerth mawr, os gwelwch yn dda fy helpu nawr. Gwneud i mi allu gwrthsefyll,” he uttered, asking for help from the power to make him invulnerable.

The energy glowed around him instantly, he saw, then faded, and he looked and felt no different.

The power had reacted, he told himself.

“What in the name of the northern storms is going on here?” the new man asked loudly.

“Lougee’s in trouble – everyone come out!” he shouted.  He pulled back behind the door, then burst through it a moment later, holding a spear like the one that Grange now held.  At the same time Grange’s first victim was getting up off the floor, dripping blood from where his chin had split open after hitting the floor so hard.

“I don’t want any trouble,” Grange said, taking a step back.  “I just asked a question and he tried to attack me.”

“This kid was going to barge into the guard quarters,” Lougee replied in a shrill voice.  “And when I told him no, he ambushed me.”

A pair of new guards came out the door.

“What’s happening?” one of them asked.

“Lougee and this foreigner got into a scuffle, and Lougee got the worst of the deal,” the first man through the door replied, as the three newcomers started to space themselves out, separating as they sought to find lines of attack to approach Grange.

“I just want to know if a girl came this way!” Grange said in exasperation.  “If Lougee would have answered me, we wouldn’t be doing this.”

Another guard looked out the door, then closed it again.

“This girl?” he asked as he opened the door again, and pulled Shaylee out into the hallway.

“Grange?  What are you doing?” she asked as she belatedly recognized him.

Grange was distracted for just a moment as he looked at her, and in that moment of distraction two of the armed guards attacked.  They thrust their spear points at his chest.

“Grange!  No!” Shaylee screamed.

Grange reacted to the attack, but too slowly.  He swept his captured spear to the left, knocking one of the attacks away, and he tried to swing the butt of the shaft upward behind his defensive move, trying to block the second attack as well.

His effort was a fraction of a second too late to strike the critical blow it needed to.   The head of the second attacker’s spear struck him forcefully in the chest, just above the heart, and pressed him backwards, back against the wall.  When his body met the wall and offered resistance to the weapon, the point did not penetrate his flesh, but skidded off to the side, making a skittering, scratching sound as it traced a route atop his skin.  The point of the weapon rounded his ribs without leaving a scratch on him and struck the wall, then slid off to the side.

The guard who was thrusting the spear followed his weapon’s momentum in shock as it slid along the wall, moving away from his target.  Grange gasped for breath in response to the blow as he heard Shaylee scream his name again, then he pressed the butt end of his own spear into the stomach of his attacker, causing the man to fold up as he collapsed to the floor.

Grange stood with his back against the wall, one guard on the floor, another knocked to the side, and a third recovering from his injuries.

“Grange!” Shaylee looked at her from her spot next to the fourth guard, several feet away.  “What are you doing?”

“I came to find you,” Grange said.

Layreen came through the door at that moment.  “Shaylee, what is all the commotion out here?” she asked, then stopped and stared at Grange and the other fighters, as the guards picked themselves up and pointed their weapons at him once again.

“This foreigner attacked me,” Grange’s first opponent said while wiping blood from his chin.

“I did not; he attacked me,” Grange responded instantly.

“Stop it, both of you.  Grange, why are you here?” Layreen asked.

“I saw Shaylee leave the hall, and I was on my way to find her.  This guard wouldn’t tell me if she had come this way,” Grange answered.

“Well, you’ve found her,” Layreen replied.  “She is fine.  We’re both tired, after our long journey today and then this dance, as I’m sure you’re tired too.” She spoke in a kindly voice.  “These guards are going to escort us to the rooms that have been prepared for us in the palace.

“Why don’t you go peacefully back to where the other foreigners are staying, and we will certainly expect to see you back here in the palace soon,” the newly-recognized duchess seemed to wrap up the night’s events.

Grange felt his anger and concerns drain away.  He dropped the spear he held, and listened to it clatter to the floor.

“I’m glad to know you’re okay,” he said.  “Thank you for bringing me to Kilau.  I’ll see you again soon, I’m sure.  Good night everyone,” he ended his comments abruptly, then turned and started walking away, back down the hallway away from the doors.  He turned a corner, and continued to walk away in silence until he returned to the doorway back into the ballroom.  He leaned his forehead against the wall and closed his eyes to hold back tears at the thought of the gap that had suddenly opened up between the two women and him.

After spending a minute to regain his composure, he opened the door and went back to Bartar’s table.

“There you are!” the ambassador said.  “We were afraid that we had lost you.”

“I just went out for some fresh air,” Grange answered.  He took a seat next to Astel.  “Will we be here much longer?” he asked.

“You’ve had a long day of travels, I imagine,” Bartar said.  “Astel, take our intrepid traveler back to the mainland to our lodgings.  Grace and I and the others,” he referred to a pair of silent servants, “will be on our way after a bit more time here.”

Astel stood to go.

“Thank you my lord,” Grange said, standing up as well.

The pair of them left the table, and Astel led the way to a large pair of doors nearby.  The page seemed to know his way around the palace and grounds, for they were soon at a set of docks that were much more ornate and attended by many more ships and guards than the docks that Grange and the others had canoed into.

Astel hailed a water taxi, which took them across the smooth waters of the harbor towards the mainland of the city.

“You must be excited to back with the rest of us from Palmland,” Astel said as they sat in the boat and a pair of rowers began to man their oars.

Grange sat in silence, not sure how to answer.

“We’ve got a cook who’s trained to cook foods the way we like,” Astel added, not aware of the meaning of Grange’s silence.

“There are a couple of extra rooms on the second floor,” Astel told him.  “You can have either one.”

“How many floors are there?” Grange asked.

“Four,” Astel replied.  “The servants are on the third floor, we’re on the second, and the working rooms are on the first.”

“Who’s on the fourth?” Grange asked.

“No one – it’s too hot up there.  It’s pretty warm on the third floor where the servants are, as it is.  Stones, it’s hot everywhere, what am I saying?” Astel slapped his forehead and grinned, making Grange grin in return, putting a hole in his fog of self-pity.

The rowers steered them into the docks along the mainland, and Astel handed them coins, then led Grange into the city, away from the smell of the rotting fish and garbage that collected along the wharves in the harbor.  The pair walked straight into the city, along a street that rose steadily, then leveled off at a large, open square.

“This way,” Astel led Grange along a dim side street with only a few lanterns lit, and they turned into the drive of a large white house.  The front door opened as they approached, and a local butler welcomed Astel into the house.

“This is our new member, Grange, the other wizard; he’s just appeared,” Astel introduced Grange.  “This is Gats, who runs the household,” the boy turned to the other side of the introduction.

“Thank you, young Astel,” Gats said.  He held a candle high to illuminate the hallway.  “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lord Grange, and to know that you’re alive.  The others have told a great many stories about the things you have done.  I look forward to serving you.”

“Thank you Gats,” Grange said.  “I look forward to getting to know you.”

“Will your luggage arrive tonight?” the man asked.

“I may have a small bag delivered tomorrow, if I go back to the palace to get it,” Grange indicated.

“I’m sure you’ll go back to the palace tomorrow or someday soon,” Astel said cheerfully.

“Shall I show you the rooms available, or would you like to visit the kitchen for something to eat?” Gats inquired.

“We just ate everything we wanted at the palace,” Grange answered.

“I’m still a little hungry,” Astel countered.  “I’ll go to the kitchen,” and he headed down the hall.

“He’s still a growing boy,” Gats smiled, with a shake of his head.  “Come with me, my lord,” he said to Grange, still holding the candle high, and he led the way up a broad set of stairs.

“This is the second floor.” He said at the landing at the top.  “We’ve got an empty room at the east end, and a nice room with a balcony at the west end,” he explained.

“Let’s go look at the fourth floor,” Grange answered.

Gats looked at him.  “It’s empty and lonely and warm up there,” he warned.

“I’d like to see it anyway,” Grange pressed.

“As you wish,” Gats complied, and they climbed the next flight of stairs, a smaller, less formal structure, then paused as Gats collected his breath, before going up one more narrow flight of steep stairs up to a dusty hallway at the top of the building.

The air was warm and stale at the top, and the walls were simple, whitewashed spaces interrupted by plain brown doors.

"As you can see my lord, there's little to recommend this area," Gats said casually. 

"Let's just look," Grange resisted the implied invitation to return down the stairs.  After his long hiatus at Waters Edge, he felt distant from the Palmland group, and he wanted to give himself some isolation if possible.   "What does the east end offer?" he asked, and started in that direction, ahead of the candle. 

Gats followed as Grange walked the hall and opened a door to look in the room.  The ceiling slanted under the rooflines on either side, and two sets of windows faced the east, towards the sunrise and the harbor.  There was a hatch in the ceiling. 

"What's that?" Grange asked. 

"A roof access, my lord?" Gats guessed. 

There were only a pair of chairs and a table in one corner of the room, and a layer of dust everywhere. 

"Have you seen enough, my lord?" Gats asked patiently. 

"Yes, Gats, this will do perfectly.  Thank you, you're dismissed," Grange said.