Servants and Followers (The Legends of Arria, Volume 2) (52 page)

Smidge
immediately
straightened up
and ran out of the restaurant, knowing that it would be some
strangers come from out of town, with everyone in the vicinity
already forewarned about the mayoral debate taking place in the
town square, and no one would have missed that, or been late to it,
unless they had some important work to do. Smidge had a feeling
that he might know what type of strangers these people were, or at
least he hoped that they would be, since he had been waiting for
any type of news from other Followers of Doomba since Basha and
Oaka had left. He stopped and stared at the twenty or so men riding
into Coe Baba, dressed in uniforms he recognized from descriptions
of them. Soldiers from Coe Aela weren’t quite what he had been
expecting, but they were good enough for him.

“
Ho! I
embrace the darkness!” He called, coming up towards them. He
remembered the last Follower from out of town that he had
encountered about a month ago, the farmer who had
first strode into town singing ‘I
embrace the darkness’, the watchword and greeting for other
Followers of Doomba. Luckily, almost everybody in town had been
gone then, to the militia tryouts, so that Smidge was the only one
who heard him and could reply. The farmer should have been more
careful about what he was singing. No wonder he had disappeared not
that long afterwards, probably killed. In Coe Baba, with the Old
Man watching, or so Smidge suspected, you had to be careful about
what you said or did. Smidge had managed to survive for all of
these years by keeping his head down, while other Followers and
Servants of Doomba had been caught and killed by the Old Man and
his accomplice, or accomplices. He had to have at least
one.

Berevus
had been one of the last standouts, a Follower who had also
followed Smidge’s example, but Smidge could have sworn that
something must have happened that night of the forest fire, and
Berevus must
have gotten
caught in the act, which was unfortunate. Berevus had been one of
his best friends, and one of the few Followers that he had truly
trusted for years, as it was hard to make friends with other
Followers, as prone as they were to mistrusting other people and
occasionally stabbing them in the back to get ahead in the
hierarchy of Followers. Smidge was, at times, unlike and like other
Followers, for he did feel the need to suspect others of
mistreating or misusing him in some form or fashion, and he did
have a ruthless nature that could turn against anyone he felt was
threatening him and his enterprise, but he still wanted to be
trusted, loved, and liked well enough by those who called him a
friend and family member, and so he tried to avoid upsetting or
disturbing them too much.

At
times, Smidge was reluctant to do or say anything that might
jeopardize his position and his life here in Coe Baba, especially
if it should ever come out that he was a Follower of Doomba, or if
Habala could get hurt in any way
by his actions. Of course, every now and again he took a
risk, for the sake of proving that he was still a Follower of
Doomba, and could be trusted to fulfill any task that fell his way.
That meant sending the rats and the crows and the gruelmoff after
Basha, or at least on Basha’s trail, so that it might seem as if he
was helping them find the tiger of light, but nothing substantial
was ever discovered in that regard, especially when the rats and
the crows and the gruelmoff eventually vanished, probably killed by
the Old Man.

Smidge
did his duty, and it didn’t matter to him if nothing came out of
it, because it was better that way for him. Smidge wasn’t even
certain that Basha was the tiger of light, he just thought that it
might be possible, as similar as Basha’s birth was to what he had
heard of
in the Tiger
Prophecy. And with the way the Followers and Servants had been
searching for the tiger for years now, under Doomba’s orders, it
seemed as if the tiger might be coming soon, if it was not here
already.

Smidge
just thought that it was best to be cautious, and allow the
Servants and Followers of Doomba to search here, in case the tiger
was right under his nose, and there was always the chance for a big
reward if he was right. But for now, when it came to his nephews
Basha and Oaka, Smidge just wanted to be known as the good uncle,
who could always be trusted to give his nephews a good, fun time,
quite different from their father Geda, of course, the
disciplinarian. Smidge felt a little guilty at times, when he
thought of how frightened
Basha, and possibly Oaka, might have been, facing those
dangers on their own, but at least the Old Man had protected them,
in his own way.

The Old
Man could be trusted upon
to
be around whenever he was needed, although Smidge did not really
want to let him know that. It was embarrassing to think that a
Follower of Doomba like him was glad that the Old Man foiled his
plans. It wasn’t right, in some ways, especially when he would be
blamed for the Old Man’s interference if Doomba ever found out
about his reluctance. Now that Basha and Oaka were gone, though,
and not in his way anymore, so that he wouldn’t have to feel guilty
about them, Smidge wanted to step out and show that he could be a
true Follower of Doomba without the Old Man getting in his way. He
would crush the Old Man, the next time that he faced him, and if he
were so inclined, he might want to crush Geda, Habala, and Brigga
as well, for ruining his life for all of these years.

“
For the darkness is power in the
night,” The soldier at the head of the troop said, halting his
fellows.

“
Welcome
to Coe Baba, how may I be of service?” Smidge asked with a small
bow.

“
We are
here to find out the whereabouts of a small group who escaped from
Coe Aela, two boys and a girl and a falcon, with the rumor being
that they are Knights of Arria.” The soldier added the last in a
low tone.

“
Knights
of Arria?” Smidge asked, stunned.
Could it be Basha and Oaka, with whoever was accompanying
them? No Sir Nickleby to protect them? That was a relief in some
small way, if it was true, although he was also deeply disturbed.
His own nephews? “Uh, I am not sure, but I do not believe that they
are here, as there have been no travelers to this town recently
matching that description,” Smidge said, nodding slowly, but
thinking fast. “However, if you want to check,” He pointed towards
the town square. “The townspeople of Coe Baba are gathered over
there, for the mayoral debate is taking place right now. Everyone
should be there, a couple hundred people at least, and if you want
a large audience to make inquiries from, that is your best
bet.”

“
Thank you.” The soldier said,
frowning to himself as he glanced in the direction of the town
square. “A couple hundred people?”

“
At
least.” Smidge said. “It is a large, but enclosed space, with
enough space for all of those people, but not much more, with
buildings surrounding the town square. The only ways in and out of
the town square are by this main road, the side road leading to the
rich and poor neighborhoods and factories by the river, and by
alleyways that lead out into the fields and then the
forest.”

“
Thank you,” The soldier said,
turning back to his men as he started issuing orders.

“
You are
very welcome,” Smidge said, heading back into the restaurant. He
had no idea about what might happen next, or at least, not very
much of an idea besides the obvious. Still, he had the notion that
he should avoid the town square at the moment, just in case
something went wrong between the townspeople and the soldiers.
Hopefully, whatever might happen next, Brigga, Geda, and Habala
would all be caught up in the middle of it, which made him feel
very pleased, and no one would suspect him, especially if the
soldiers remained quiet, not wanting to betray their informant. He
whistled as he put away the glasses, ignoring the bald spots on his
head for once.

A short
distance away, as the soldiers started to split up
into three groups, one heading north
into the forest, one heading south to reach the side road, and the
other heading west still to reach the town square, Brigga trembled
in the alleyway next to the Smiling Stalllion inn. She had known
that Smidge was a horrible person with the way he had treated her,
and suspected him of such crimes as a Follower of Doomba, but to
actually see it confirmed frightened her more than she could say.
She had witnessed Smidge coming out of the restaurant and talking
to the soldiers, just as she was about to step out of the alleyway
and head toward the town square, late to the mayoral debate as she
had to finish up a few chores. Now she didn’t know what she should
do. Should she go confront Smidge, alone, for having betrayed the
townspeople of Coe Baba? Or should she go warn the townspeople
about the soldiers, but the soldiers were riding straight there,
how could she get ahead of the soldiers in time to warn them? She
was too late, too helpless, and whatever she did, there was no way
that she could stop any of this from happening.

No,
wait, there was one thing. S
he headed off towards the Old Man’s cottage, wondering if
he was there. If anyone could help her, the Old Man could, although
he should have been here already, keeping an eye on Smidge and
preventing the man from doing what he just did. The Old Man had to
answer for his neglect.

“
This is terrible,”
Talia said to her older sister Jawen, “I’m bored!”

“
Why do you say that,
Talia?” Jawen asked her. “Don’t you think it’s interesting
that
…
”

“
No, no, there is
nothing interesting about this, I’m bored. Father is going to win
no matter what Geda says, so why do we have to come to this stupid
boring debate?” Talia asked.

Jawen sighed. She had
gotten the idea, after trying to convince Hastin to see Sisila, and
then Sisila refused to see Hastin, that perhaps she should try to
reconcile with her own family
,
just a little bit. She would try
to see them more often, even though she had moved out of the house
for good, just in case she might lose them completely.

But then her father
had announced that he was running for mayor, and while she thought
that might be a bad idea in the sense that he could take control of
everything in Coe Baba if he won, gaining new sources of profit for
himself, she decided to support his bid for mayor, as a gesture of
goodwill to support her family. But then Geda was running for mayor
as well, and he was her fiance’s father after
all
.
Basha would not like
it
if she went against his father.
But then again, she really did not like Geda as much as she liked
Basha, for she still thought of Geda as a lout, and technically
Geda was more Oaka’s father than Basha’s father, and she definitely
did not like Oaka. What was she supposed to do?

“
This is really the
only chance that we will get to decide for ourselves who is going
to rule us, Talia, these mayoral elections.” Jawen said.
“Everything else is just up for someone else to decide, or is just
a matter of happenstance and fate. We can’t always make major life
decisions like this on our own.” Jawen said.

Talia rolled her eyes. “Wake me up when
it’s over.” She muttered.

The one bad thing about being reunited
with her family, Jawen thought to herself, was spending more time
with Talia. “Oh, what fun they’ll have together again,” her mother
Mawen had said, “The two oldest girls back together,” and so they
had been paired up. Yay.

“
Why should we do
that?” Lapo asked. “I say we are fine here just the way we are in
terms of citizenship and citizenry. In fact, what we should do here
is expand our factories and mills, and fall more timber further
into the forest. We can become more self-sufficient and
self-governing in that manner. We can extend ties to other
communities, but I suggest that those ties are best mercantile in
nature. We do not need any more ties than that.” He
said.

“
Father does have a
point,” Jawen remarked, “Although I suppose
that just having a trade relationship with other
towns is too limited.
”

“
Snore.” Talia said,
her head tilted to the side with her eyes closed.

“
Pay attention,
Talia!” Jawen said, lightly slapping her younger sister on the arm.
“I missed the militia tryouts this year, I am not missing this!”
She cried.

“
It’s
nothing to get excited about.” Talia remarked.
“It’s just a debate.”

Everything happened
around
Jawen
,
or
it seemed
to her
, and
yet she was not a part of it. She had neglected to participate in
the action, to witness the spectacle, and for that she was left
behind, left without any knowledge of what exactly had happened,
and so she was forced to scramble to understand what was really
happening. She had to understand, or else she would be further left
behind, and she wanted to understand because it made her feel
important to have that knowledge, to feel like she was a part of
everything.
Jawen
wanted to learn more about the world and be a
part of it, even though she had restrained herself in the past and
others had restrained her as well, out of fear of what might happen
if she ventured too far off-course. Now that she had restrained
herself too much, and others had added to her bonds, she felt
restricted by her sense of self and place, and felt that it could
only get worse unless she changed herself. Which was why she was
here, hoping to learn and experience something different with this
debate.