Servants and Followers (The Legends of Arria, Volume 2) (53 page)

The murmuring in the crowd increased as
people debated whether Geda or Lapo were right or wrong. Sisila
stood amongst them, debating whether or not she should leave as she
was starting to feel a little quesy, when suddenly Iibala appeared
next to her. “Iibala!” Sisila gasped, glancing around. “What are
you doing here?” She asked.

“
You have been
avoiding me, haven’t you?” Iibala asked.

“
I haven’t, not
really,” Sisila said, glancing down.

“
It’s because of what
I said about Basha, and how Oaka is involved in that mess, isn’t
it?” Iibala asked.

“
You shouldn’t be
talking about that here,” Sisila said, glancing around. “I don’t
want people to hear that you suspect that
…
it’s not true.” She
said.

“
Yes, it is true,
you’re just too scared to admit it, or believe in it.” Iibala said.
“Sisila, I want to prove it to you, but I haven’t got much
physical, visible proof, and what I have got to show
you
…
you wouldn’t like it. I’m not sure if you’re ready to see
it.”

“
Jawen was right, I
shouldn’t believe you.” Sisila said, turning away from
Iibala.

“
W
hat? D
id you tell Jawen
about what I said?” Iibala asked, furious. “You know that’s not
safe, she could talk!”

“
I didn’t say exactly
what you told me. I just mentioned your name, and Jawen immediately
told me that I shouldn’t trust you. I’m half inclined to believe
her.” Sisila insisted.

“
Jawen doesn’t know
what she is talking about. Jawen doesn’t
even
know what we are dealing
with here!” Iibala cried.

Jawen thought she heard her name being
called several times during her father’s speech, and turned her
head around to search the crowd. “Talia, did you hear that?”

“
What? Taxation?
Please, we don’t
…
did father say we need more or
less taxation?” Talia asked, a little worried.

“
No, I thought I
heard someone say
…
” Jawen gasped. “Iibala is
talking with Sisila!” She cried, spotting the other pair of girls
in the distance. “I told Sisila to stay away from her!”

“
Now look who isn’t
paying attention.” Talia muttered.

“
Come on, Talia,”
Jawen said, tugging on her younger sister’s hand to confront
them.

“
I want to go home.”
Talia muttered.

“
Shh,” Jawen said, as
she and her sister stopped a few feet away behind Iibala and
Sisila. She listened in on their conversation, wondering what they
were talking about.

“
Old
Man? Old Man?” Brigga called, knocking on the door of the Old Man’s
hut before she pulled it open. It was too late, she feared, the
soldiers were already in the town square by now, and she had to
hurry. The hut was small, barely large enough for the room it
contained, and she immediately spotted the Old Man lying asleep on
his cot in the corner, for it seemed that she had not completely
stirred him awake.

“‘
It’s
raining, it’s pouring, the Old Man is snoring,’” Brigga grumbled to
herself as she rushed over towards the Old Man. “‘He went to bed
and bumped his head,’” She sang, slapping him slightly on the back
of his head, “‘And couldn’t get up in the morning.’ Wake up!” She
cried the last. “You’re supposed to be doing your duty.”

The Old Man groaned as he finally woke up all the
way, rubbing the back of his head as he sat up and stared at her.
“What was that for?” He asked. “And where did you hear that song
from?”

“
Our
daughter used to sing that song sometimes, just after she came back
from…” Brigga inhaled deeply, trying to calm herself down and stop
herself from crying. “Never mind that!” She cried. “There are
soldiers heading for the town square, if they are not there
already, led by directions Smidge gave to them.”

“
Smidge?” The Old Man asked,
getting out of bed and pulling on a cloak. “What sort of soldiers
are they? Are they armed?”

“
I don’t
know what sort of soldiers they are,” Brigga said, agitated, “They
were wearing black and green uniforms. They were armed, they’re
definitely armed, that’s all I can say! I am afraid of what’s going
to happen.”

“
Coe Aela!” The Old Man cried.
“This is deathly serious. Stand aside, Brigga, you’re on top of the
trapdoor.”

Brigga moved to the
far side of the hut, as the Old Man removed a rug covering up part
of the floor, and revealed a trapdoor. “Has it been more than seven
minutes since you saw them?” The Old Man asked, pulling up the
trapdoor, and climbing down a ladder.

“
Yes, I was in the alleyway by the
inn when I saw them in front of the restaurant. It took me a few
minutes to get here.” Brigga remarked, staring down into the secret
basement beneath the Old Man’s hut.

Nisa had told her amazing stories of what could be
found down there, a whole building buried beneath the earth with a
series of large, dark, air-tight rooms, some of them full of
arcane, complex machinery. It was where the Old Man kept his ‘base
of operations’, as the term went, for controlling the magical
shield over Coe Baba and watching out for Followers and Servants of
Doomba in the area. Nisa had been down there many times, assisting
her father, but Brigga had never been down there, even after she
had learned of its existence. She was too frightened about what she
might find down there, what sort of secrets even Nisa and the Old
Man had kept from her for all of these years. She did not want to
get trapped in the Old Man’s dungeon, sucked into his well of
secrets.

“
Well, I suppose time travel is
out of the question,” The Old Man muttered down below, “It has a
limited range.”

“
Time travel?” Brigga
asked.

“
I’ll explain later,” The Old Man
said, coming up the ladder with a branch-like whip clutched in one
of his hands, the willow whip as Nisa called it, and it did indeed
look like the branch of such a lithe tree. “I better go and see if
there is anything that can be done to stop them,” The Old Man said
as he closed the trapdoor behind him, “Or capture them if it is too
late.” He muttered the last to himself, covering up the trapdoor
again with the rug.

“
Be careful.” Brigga insisted,
staring at him.

“
I always am,” The Old Man said,
leaning over to kiss her lightly on the lips. “Be careful yourself,
and stay here.” He told her before he left the hut.

Brigga stood there frozen for a moment longer, the
sensation of his lips touching hers lingering for a moment longer
in her mind’s eye, until it vanished completely like the wisp it
was. “Malakel it.” She whispered, shaking her head. It happened too
easily, and it was too hard to bear. She could not fall in love
with him again.

Meanwhile, unseen by Brigga, but perhaps not completely
unnoticed by her, Kala’s ghost sat on the cot in the corner,
singing, “‘It’s raining, it’s pouring, the Old Man is snoring, he
went to bed and he bumped his head and he couldn’t get up in the
morning.’ Morning. If only it were morning already…” Kala
murmured
to herself, staring
up at the other woman. Brigga felt a soft, cold breeze blow across
the room, and shivered.

“
Jawen has been by my
side for years, and I have been by hers. Jawen trusts me just as
much as I trust her, as we’ve earned that trust!” Sisila said. “I
can’t say the same for you.”

“
That’s because I
never got the chance to earn that trust. I might have been flighty
with boys over the years and I might have had loose morals, but I
never hurt you.” Iibala said. “I never hurt anybody that I
considered
to be
my friend. Jawen
had
lost my friendship a long time ago. She had been the first one to
abandon me when I started going wild. She is far too strict for my
tastes,” Iibala said, turning to Sisila. “You know, I still think
we could have remained friends for all these years, were it not for
the simple fact that Jawen influenced you too much. That, and the
simple fact that my father wasn’t exactly friends with either one
of your fathers.” Iibala remarked.

Sisila frowned. “You
may be right about that, but that still does not mean that I
believe that Basha i
s the
tiger.
” Sisila shook her head. “How is
your father?” She asked Iibala in a low voice.

“
Doing well.” Iibala
said. “Recovering. He can sit up in bed, and move about a little
bit with assistance, but I don’t think he can walk on his own.
Mirari said it would be awhile still before he is able to walk or
run on his own. She is treating him right now at home.”

Talia and Jawen looked at each other,
their eyes widening. Iibala was talking about a man recovering? Did
Sisila say ‘her father’, Sir Nickleby?

“
What has he said
about
Basha and
Oaka?
”

“
Basha and Oaka?”
Iibala sighed and said, “My father is a little close-lipped these
days, even by his standards, depressed about everything that has
happened, but what he has said confirmed my suspicions. He and the
boys were traveling along fairly for the first few days, but when
they reached the boundary between Coe Baba and Coe Anji, some Black
Wolves started chasing them.”

“
Black Wolves?”
Sisila asked.

Talia and Jawen covered their mouths,
unable to let out even a gasp, as they contemplated the
possibilities. Black Wolves, Basha and Oaka, Coe Anji, Sir
Nickleby, what was going on here? Was this real? Were Iibala and
Sisila really keeping such a secret from the town? And what had
happened to Basha and Oaka?

“
That’s right, Black
Wolves. He stayed behind to fight off the Black Wolves while the
boys went on ahead without him. The only reason why he is still
alive is because Nisa was there to help him
.
”

“
No, no, I won’t
believe it.” Sisila shook her head and sighed. “Iibala, why can’t
you
ever reassure me that
everything is going to be all right?
”
She asked.

Suddenly, pounding
horse hooves could be heard in the distance
from the direction of the main road
coming this way, and people looked up, turning
their heads in astonishment as almost everybody in town was
gathered here in the town square to hear the mayoral candidates
speak. No one would come here this late, and on horseback, if they
intended to listen. Lapo and Geda stopped arguing, turning their
heads as well to watch
seven
men in black and green
uniform ride their horses to the edge of the crowd before
halting.

Talia clutched Jawen’s arm tightly. “I
want to go home.” She whispered.

“
Me, too, Talia,”
Jawen said, patting her sister’s arm as she contemplated the
soldiers arrayed before them. She didn’t know where they had come
from, but they certainly didn’t belong here. She hoped that they
would vanish just as quickly as they had come, back to wherever
they had come from, hopefully faraway from here. She noticed Iibala
turning her head around, and caught her eyes as the other woman
studied her. It didn’t matter anymore, as she didn’t want to
pretend
. L
et Iibala know what she had found out, it wasn’t much of a
guess. At least this way, there would be no more secrets or
lies.

“
Sisila, we’re not
alone!” Iibala hissed, pointing back at Talia and Jawen.

Sisila gasped. “Do
you think they might have heard
?
”

“
Doubtful,” Iibala
said, though she was worried. It would not take much, just a couple
of attentive ears from Talia and Jawen, combined with her and
Sisila’s loud voices
,
and her father’s injury and return to Coe Baba
would be exposed, as well as the fact that Basha and Oaka had faced
Black Wolves on the forest path, not far away from here. That would
be bleak. None of the townspeople could handle such a revelation,
she thought, one that would upset their sense of security, in what
hope they might have gained with Sir Nickleby accompanying the
boys, and the Black Wolves
…
none of it was right, it was too
dark.

“
Who is that?” Rajar
asked, pointing as he noticed the strangers’ arrival.

“
I have no idea,”
Hastin said, though his grip tightened on the wooden practice
sword. He glanced towards the end of the alleyway that led out to
the Daneuve River and Mila Forest, wondering if there were any more
soldiers in that direction. It seemed clear. Perhaps it would be
safer in that direction. “Fence, Rajar, I want you two to stay
here,” Hastin told Jawen’s younger brothers as he watched the
proceedings. “If something happens, a fight perhaps, I want you two
to get away from here.” He said, leaving the
alleywa
y, heading towards the
town square
.

“
What?” Fence
cried
, following after him,
with Rajar just behind
. “You want us to
abandon
…
”
Fence started to
say.