Servants and Followers (The Legends of Arria, Volume 2) (38 page)

“
All right, all
right, I promise you that I will stay away from Iibala, and I
promise you that I’ll listen to you more in the future.” Sisila
said for good measure. She sounded a little grumpy, but Sisila
would soon see reason again.

“
Thank you, Sisila.”
Jawen smiled, letting her go. “You can stay here if you want to
have some breakfast.” She said, motioning towards the interior of
the restaurant.

“
It’s fine, I’m going
home.” Sisila said brusquely, turning towards the door. “I have
some work to do, and it’s a waste of money for me to eat here.
Thank you for listening to me, Jawen.”

“
You’re welcome,
Sisila,” Jawen said, the smile plastered onto her face as she was
about to turn away, feeling better for having helped her
friend.

“
Stay away from
Hastin!” Sisila called back at her before she left.

Jawen frowned and
turned around, but Sisila was already gone, and so Jawen sighed and
shook her head before she headed deeper into the restaurant, back
to Hastin’s table to receive his order. She would remain strong,
even without Sisila’s needless warning.
After Hastin told her what he wanted for breakfast,
Jawen went into the kitchen and faced Smidge. She handed over
Hastin’s order without a word spoken, not wanting to get into any
sort of conversation with Oaka’s disgusting uncle, and left to set
up some more tables as Smidge prepared his ingredients.

Smidge heard a knock at the back door and paused a
moment, wondering if he should answer. He finally did, only to
discover that it was his brother. “Go away.” Smidge said.

“
If I could only just…” Geda
started to say.

“
Go
away!” Smidge shouted, slamming the back door shut and locking it
for good measure. Geda stood there for a moment longer and finally
shook his head, leaving when he felt like there was nothing more
that could be done here. Perhaps he should try again another time,
when things had cooled down a bit more between them. Maybe in a
year or so.

“
Goga, you have gone
too far this time with your violent, unreasonable behavior,” Fobata
said, pacing back and forth before his captain of the guards and
Hava the scribe in the hallway just before the interrogation room.
“Disturbing guests, and me most of all? Why couldn’t you have
waited until morning to begin your search?” He asked.

“
Because it couldn’t
have waited until morning. Malakel it, Fobata, we had to find those
youths before they got away from us,” Goga said, sneering, “And the
woman who helped them escape. But it’s too late now, because they
are no longer here with us. They got away.” He sniffed, and hacked
up some phlegm.

Hava gasped, staring
at Captain Goga. How could the captain of the guards get away with
talking like this to the lord of the castle, the Duke of Coe Aela?
Oh, Captain Goga would be arrested and beheaded, and Hava would
face the noose
!

“
So the whole search
was worthless and pointless?” Fobata asked, shaking his head as he
looked up at Captain Goga. “Malakel it, Goga, you are better than
this. You have got to think before you act, haven’t you ever
listened to me tell you this?”

Hava gasped again. He
hadn’t expected this
.
Lord Fobata did sound disappointed in Captain
Goga, to be sure, but it didn’t sound like he would be ordering the
execution of the captain of the guards or of his secretary. What
was going on here?

“
I have listened to
you, I have heard you speak.” Goga growled. “I had to search the
grounds before I could be certain they were gone. It was the most I
could do at the time as well, when my guards had to be mustered and
armed. Otherwise I would have sent my guards out stumbling into the
dark, unarmed and unprepared for this foray, and then we still
would have lost the group. I was thinking at the time, not just
blundering about.” He muttered, sniffling.

Marlo had said that Captain Goga was no
ordinary captain of the guards, and that he could get away with
practically anything when Lord Fobata had to be careful in handling
him, but insubordination? How could Lord Fobata stand it? What made
Captain Goga so untouchable, how did he get to be like this, and
what did he have against Lord Fobata? What sort of captain was
he?

“
Well, it’s too late
now,” Lord Fobata said, shaking his head. “ You’ve ruined my whole
birthday celebration. All of my guests are bound to leave with more
questions that I can’t answer, questions about why my guards woke
them up in the middle of the night and tossed them out of their
rooms to search through their piles of clothes and what not,
because I can’t tell them that we’re just looking for a couple of
youths who might be
…
”

“
Never mind that.”
Goga said, shaking his head. “This whole thing is pointless. You
should not have let them into Coe Aela in the first place. You
should have left them out there for the Black Wolves to eat.” He
hacked up some more phlegm.

“
I could not do
that.” Lord Fobata said, staring at him. “I had to know my enemy. I
had to know what we were dealing with here. Don’t tell me that you
weren’t curious as well, Goga, about why we were forced to deal
with these children?”

Hava glanced at Goga, curious as well.
He had seen many strange things since coming to Coe Aela, and he
had been a part of these strange affairs by Goga’s side, but the
strangest of all had to be this one.

“
I’ve seen these
children,” Goga coughed. “And the way they act, and the Black Sword
that one of them must have held
…
and I am telling you that these
are no ordinary children.”

“
We knew that, Goga.
We knew that.” Fobata said.

“
Not everybody did.”
Goga smirked. “Or at least they pretended not to know.”

Hava whistled softly. Whoever would be
facing Goga’s wrath would be in trouble.

“
What is the matter
with you, Goga?” Fobata asked as he and Goga turned to walk
away.

“
Just a cold, it’ll
go away.” Goga said, waving Fobata away as Hava followed
them.

“
Are you sure you
didn’t drink too much wine yesterday?” Fobata asked.

“
Maybe a little bit,
but it hasn’t affected my mind yet, nor does it make me suffer with
this cold.” Goga said, and then sneezed. “I can take care of
myself. I don’t need anyone’s help.”

Hava rolled his eyes, thinking that
Goga had not been too proud to ask for the assistance of a scribe
in keeping his records.

“
I’m
just worried, that’s all, thinking about the last time you lost
control of yourself
and your
temper.” Fobata muttered.

“
That was a mistake.” Goga said,
turning to face his brother. “I can assure you, it won’t happen
again. I won’t be so careless next time.”

“
Maybe. Maybe.” Fobata said,
wondering what exactly did Goga mean by that.

“
Marlo, where are we
going?” Janus asked as he and the steward strode through the halls
of Coe Aela, even more empty than usual early in the
morning.

“
To see Goga.” The
steward told him. “He wishes to question us on what you saw
yesterday, regarding the youths who seem to have escaped Coe
Aela.”

“
Really? What
happened?” Janus asked.

“
They escaped. Don’t
play cloy with me, Janus,” Marlo said, turning to him. “I trusted
you. I trusted you on Hava’s word alone.” He looked down. “I should
have been wiser. I should not have listened to the scribe,” He
said, opening the door of a plain room containing nothing except an
examination table, occupied by Lord Fobata, Captain Goga, and Hava
the scribe, with two guards flanking them.

“
Janus, you are
brought forth here to answer questions regarding the testimony you
gave to Marlo yesterday afternoon,” Goga said, trying to sound as
judicial as possible reading a piece of paper Hava had just given
him, and with his nose slightly stuffed up. The two guards went to
close the doors behind Janus and Marlo. “Testimony regarding the
youths who arrived here the day before yesterday, Markee
14
^th
,”
Goga said, already bored with the proceedings. “The report you gave
to Marlo stated that the youths were mostly harmless, and that
there was no need for alarm, but there was a need.”

“
I saw none.” Janus
said, looking up at him. “I saw these children at play.”

“
Playing? What sort
of games?” Goga asked, standing up to face him. “The only game I
saw was the duel I had with the
boy
who had dark hair, and there
was no playing there. He could fight, and he had skills.” He
sniffed. “What makes you think that was mostly
harmless?”

“
He may be skilled at
what he has learned, but can he fight in combat? Can he kill? I
think not.” Janus said.

“
What do you mean by
that?” Goga asked, eying Janus with cold calculation. “What makes
you so sure?” Goga asked again as Hava wrote with a blind, furious
passion, recording the interrogation.

Fobata blinked, slightly startled out
of his own trance by this odd turn of events. Janus was displaying
more intelligence than they had presumed a servant like him would
possess, arguing for why he had assumed the youths were innocent.
Fobata had been gazing off into the distance at the wall, not
really paying attention to these proceedings that Goga had seemed
to control, having been so wound up by the youths’ escape, but now
Janus was upsetting Goga tremendously, and Fobata was amused by
this affair.

“
I’ve heard that,
though a fighter must have skill in handling a weapon, he must also
have the guts, the bravery, and the instinct to kill a man in
battle. Would you say that young man who faced you could have
killed you?” Janus asked.

“
Maybe not.” Captain
Goga said, sitting down as Fobata smiled. “However, that does not
mean the potential to kill isn’t there,” Goga continued, “If it is
cultivated, if it is allowed to grow. And that young man had the
potential, in him and in all of his young friends. They also had a
weapon beyond compare, one that could have caused much damage in
careless hands, and be even deadlier if they were capable of
killing others.” Goga wiped his nose.

“
Maybe you should be
glad then that they are not yet capable of killing others.” Janus
said, sounding almost careless.

“
Not yet anyway,”
Goga said, glaring at him.

“
Gentlemen.” Lord
Fobata said, speaking up for the first time since Janus had entered
the room. “Perhaps we should discuss this philosophical matter
another time, much as we have enjoyed it,” Fobata said, looking
around. “We must proceed with the case at hand to determine if he
had anything to do with the escape of the youths, not the logistics
of whether or not they were capable of wrong-doing.”

They proceeded with Janus defending
himself as he established an alibi for himself of working in the
kitchen around the time the group must have escaped Coe Aela, and
this was confirmed with reports from other servants who were
brought forward. Janus also had to confirm that he had no contact
whatsoever with the group during their stay here, and this led to a
questioning of his appointment as a spy on behalf of Marlo, which
led to Hava’s name being brought up as Hava had first suggested it.
Goga glared at Hava, who shrunk down into his chair, and then the
scribe had to be called forth as a character witness to Janus.

Eventually Goga dismissed Janus with a
cursory wave of his hand as no proof could be found of Janus having
aided the youths, and no charge was filed against Janus when he had
fulfilled his duties to the best of his abilities, however wrong he
might have been. Janus walked out of the interrogation room,
leaving Marlo.

Marlo was also questioned briefly as to
any concern he might have had for Janus performing his duties as a
spy, and also if he had aided the youths somehow. But Marlo
defended Janus to the best of his abilities, and everyone trusted
Marlo, even Goga, so that it was not seriously believed that the
steward could have had a hand in the youths’ escape. Marlo was
dismissed, and walked out of the interrogation room as Goga ordered
that the servant women should be fetched and questioned with a
sneeze.

Marlo walked down the hallway alone for
awhile, and then stopped. “Who are you, Janus?” Marlo asked after a
moment of silence.

Janus sighed, and
slipped out of his hiding place in one of alcoves. “That depends on
what you mean by that.” He said, staring at Marlo. “You know that I
am a servant under your command. If you suspect me of anything in
the first place, it is within your power to inform your
superiors
.
”

“
Don’t tempt me,
Janus, it may be just as you deserve.” Marlo shook his head. “I did
not say anything about you or what I suspected. I must be crazy.”
He said. “Where are you going?”

“
The blacksmith’s
shop.” Janus said.

“
I’m coming with
you.” Marlo said. Janus said nothing, but allowed Marlo to walk
alongside of him.

“
I am not comfortable
with the state of affairs around here, Janus.” Marlo continued as
they turned a corner. “It is not unusual to have unrest, but there
appears to be more force behind it. For me, your very presence is
an act of open rebellion.” Marlo said, turning to face Janus. “You
may be clever, but you are not clever enough to pass yourself off
as subordinate. Or you are losing touch with your subordinate side.
You seem to treat all of this as if it were a game. There are lives
at risk here. None of this can end well.” Marlo said.