Soron's Quest (7 page)

“Soron, I would like you to meet Jarret Case, he is a deal of antiquities and jewelry.”

“Hello, nice to meet you,” replied Soron.

“Soron, I have heard so much about your artwork. I am pleased to meet you,” said Jarret.

Ramon pulled the men towards the back of the pub, “come I have reserved a private room so that we can discuss business in a quieter setting.” Ramon then led them to a medium sized room with a table and three chairs set up for them. “The cook here does an excellent baked trout, I would recommend trying that.”

As they sat down at the table a server came into the room, bringing a bottle of wine and three glasses. The server explained their menu options for the evening. “Tonight its rib roast with vegetables, the baked trout or steak and lobster.”

Soron wasn’t here for food, but to keep up appearances he thought aloud over the menu. “The trout sounds good but I have never had lobster. I’ll try that.”

After Ramon and Jarret order the trout the server left the room, leaving the men alone.

“Soron, why don’t you show Jarret what you brought, then after dinner we can haggle over price, if you are willing to part with them. I warned Jarret that my lady friends will want me to bid on the pieces, but I promised Jarret an opportunity to see your work.”

Soron nodded and took out the jewelry he had brought. The first piece was a woman necklace; the design was one of Soron’s hexin pieces. The white steel was crafted into the shape of a butterfly with three small emeralds in the body of the creature. The second piece was a small intricately carved black steel dagger. The small weapon had a combination of the black steel and white woven together in the handle.

Jarret examined the pieces, while Soron and Ramon drank their wine and discussed Marin’s love life. Ramon had a few suitable women in mind and wanted Soron to help him convince the bachelor to at least meet the woman. Soron knew Marin was worried about his father’s plans and would agree to meet them.

Jarret returned the dagger and necklace to Soron, “I must say I thought Ramon was exaggerating when he described the quality of your craftsmanship. I did not know steel could be turned into such delicate designs, and the colors of the steel, so fascinating.”

Suddenly a scream broke out from an adjacent room. “Help”

All three men rushed out to find out what was going on. Soron led the way, carrying the small dagger.

The door to the room was blocked by a large man, “Nothing to see here gentleman, move along.”

Ramon insisted “We heard a scream.”

The man shook his head, “I don’t care what you heard, I said move along.”

Soron waited no longer, driving his fist into the man’s head. The thug hit the floor with a thump. Soron lunged forward putting his shoulder into the door. The light wooden frame broke and the door swung open.

A woman was on the floor, dress torn, with a bleeding lip. She was surrounded by six men. The men seemed shocked by the intrusion. Several pulled out daggers while others reached for nearby swords. Several of the men were half dress.

“Leave now or suffer the consequences,” said one of the men. “This has nothing to do with you.” The man walked towards the door pointing a sword at Soron.

Soron did not reply, he simply walked forward and pushed the man’s sword aside with the dagger before grabbing him and thrusting it into his heart. The move was so quick that the man hadn’t even realized Soron intended to attack him. As the Soron withdrew his dagger from the man, the rest started to attack, five men against one.

The fight was not fair. Not even close. Soron moved like a demon, twisting and turning his way through the men, carving and jabbing with the small dagger. With his free hand he smashed the men that got too close, sending them reeling.  Before long all five men had joined their fallen companion on the floor.

Soron put the dagger away and went to see to the girl, making sure she was okay. While Soron was attending to the injured woman the pub owner and several patrons rushed into the room.

The pub owner demanded to know what had happened.

“We were in the next room waiting for our dinner when we heard a scream. We came to investigate and the man outside the door told us to go away. Soron knocked him out and broke the door down. We came in and saw the woman being assaulted. The men then attacked Soron, you can see for yourself what happened next,” spoke Ramon.

One of the patrols looked at the bodies on the floor, “That is Cale Pearce, and that one is Owen Gordon. You will hang for this friend.”

Another voice rang out, “And the other one is Zac Case, my son. I also witnessed the men attacking this woman. If anyone hangs for this it will only be because one of these men isn’t completely dead yet.” Jarret Case looked at the dead body of his son with disdain and sadness.

The pub owner mumbled “Well I suppose no point calling the constables after all.” He then took the girl to the kitchen to get cleaned up while Soron, Ramon and Jarret left. Soron would have to wait for another day to try lobster.

8

Pair of Thieves

“THERE ARE STILL MORE of them,” said Soron. The statement almost could be a question, but the emphatic way that Soron said it left no doubt that despite tonight’s bloodletting, he intended to see his mission through to its bloody end.

Ramon nodded, “Declan Larson and his small band of thugs still remain. I will not be able to contrive anything to speed up the process this time I am afraid. You will have to keep an eye on them, wait for them to make a mistake. Tomorrow go down to the docks, I have arranged for you to meet a pair of thieves. Do not be fooled by their appearances, they are talented at what they do. The pair will follow Declan and report back to you. It would be impossible for someone your size to be stealthy enough to go unnoticed all the time. Use the thieves to track Declan and his men. When the time is right, and you catch him in an act that justifies action, do what needs to be done. Be warned, Declan’s family is powerful and vindictive, if they find out that you had anything to do with their son being harmed you would have a powerful enemy.”

Soron nodded, he was used to having powerful enemies. He would not back off. He would see Declan Larson and his slimy friends punished. “Thank you Ramon, I don’t know what you did to arrange tonight but I believe it was just.”

Ramon nodded, “Let’s just say many good people have been waiting for an opportunity to bring justice to that group of men, including Jarret Case. It is a sad day when a father must consort against his son, but when the child chooses the way of evil… Your involvement as an outsider to Venecia is what allowed this to happen. No one, myself included, could be the hand that killed the nobles. You are different. You are an outsider. The politics of the families doesn’t apply to you. You were able to do what was needed. No one will say it aloud, but many are grateful you killed them.”

Soron felt tired, all this talk of killing and politics was draining.” I am headed to my room, I need some sleep. Tomorrow I shall head to the docks to meet your thieves. What shall I look for?”

“Don’t worry, they will find you,” replied Ramon as he bid his northern friend goodnight.

…

When morning came, Soron went downstairs for breakfast. Again Howard was serving, but he seemed in brighter spirits this morning. Not his normal cheerful self, but certainly an improvement of the previous time they spoke. “Good morning Howard, how is Mariah today?” asked Soron.

Howard gave Soron a smile, he then left the room. Howard returned with two large plates of breakfast. “I had these made especially for you.” Howard put the large plates of food in front of Soron. As he did this, he whispered into Soron’s ear. “She is better, and thank you for what you have done. Mariah and I both sleep better knowing those bastards will not harm another girl.” Howard stood up, patted Soron on the shoulder and returned to the other inn customers.

Soron looked down at the plate, a large portion of ham and eggs, along with fresh fruit, toast and sausages was certainly not on the normal menu. Soron appreciated Howard’s way of saying thank you.

After eating the large breakfast, Soron headed down towards the docks. He was curious to meet the thieves. He had little experience with such things and wondered what they would look like.

When he arrived at the docks, Soron had no idea what to do, he had no clue what the thieves looked like or when they were supposed to be there. He took up a seat on the side of one of the wharfs and gazed out on the vast expansion of water. The ocean waters were calm, the water like glass. The ships in port sat as if frozen in time.

Soron was interrupted from his gazing when two small hands tugged on his tunic. Soron turned and looked into the eyes of a child. The young boy smiled brightly at Soron, the boys clothes were thrashed and torn, barely better than rags. His skin was dirty but his eyes were big and bright.

“Come on big man, we go now,” said the boy as he pulled on Soron’s tunic.

Soron smiled, and shook his head. “Sorry little one, I am meeting someone and have to stay here.”

“Yes, yes. You are to meet me and my brother. Now let’s go find my brother, he is already watching the bad man,” replied the small child.

Soron looked carefully at the child; surely this was not one of the thieves that Ramon wanted him to meet? But Ramon had said to ignore their appearance, Soron was doubtful but followed anyways. As they walked away from the docks the boy quickly looked around to make sure no ears were in hearing range. “Declan is having breakfast with his father, but my brother heard him mention that he was meeting up with his friends later today. The father seemed not to care, but said don’t get caught. I think the bad man is up to something,” said the boy.

Soron was surprised, the young boy was indeed the thief he was sent to meet. When he thought about it more, it started to make sense. Orphans often became thieves or beggars in cities; a young boy like the one leading him up the street now could go anywhere and follow anyone without being noticed. The poor boys of the street were so common no one would expect it.

The boy stopped at the end of the street, “Wait here I will go find out what is happening.”

Soron watched as the boy disappeared around the corner. Soron leaned against the corner of the building, trying not to look like a man waiting for a thief.

A few minutes passed before the boy returned. “We are in luck boss. The father is gone and one of Declan’s cronies just returned to tell him that the girl is going for a ride outside of the city. Declan told him to gather the men and head out, he would catch them shortly. My brother is following the crony and we will follow Declan. Just stay a ways back and follow me.”

Soron did not know who the girl in question was, but he was already worried for her safety. He looked at the young boy and said “Lead the way.”

The boy made his way through the city, following Declan. Soron made his way through the city following the boy. When they got to the edge of the city Soron could see Declan walking at a fast pace, he was headed north towards the nearby forest. As they followed, a boy dropped out of a nearby tree and joined them.

“Yikes, you are a big one,” said the second boy as he took an appraising look at Soron. “Do you want us to follow them into the forest?”

Soron shook his head. In the forest he would have no problems tracking the men without being seen. “No, you have done your jobs well. Wait here, if the men return, keep an eye on them. Find me at the Dew Drop Inn later if I am not still following them later.” Soron took a couple gold coins out and handed them over to the youths.

The second boy bit the coin, appraising it to make sure it was real. Satisfied that the coin was indeed gold the boy smiled, “you know we already been paid for this job.”

Soron smiled, “that is okay, I am rewarding you for a job well done. Stay here and keep an eye out. I have more coins.”

The first boy shook his head. “No more coins, we know why we are following these jackasses. Mariah is a sweet lady, I would have done the job for free… not that gold doesn’t add a certain value to doing a good dead.” The boy winked and made his coin disappear. Both boys scattered off, leaving Soron to his task.

9

Velaina

VELAINA WAS WALKING her horse through the forest when she came upon a small meadow filled with wild flowers. She stopped, dismounted and was gathering flowers when a small group of men entered the meadow.

Velaina greeted the men with confidence, a smart woman she noted the high quality clothing of the men, and way they were following a deer path through the forest. Nobles out on a hunt she quickly surmised. The men, after seeing her, were probably being courteous. It was a short lived hope. While the men were dressed like nobles Velaina had warning signs going off in her head. She wanted to step back and create some distance herself and the approaching men but could not see a way of doing so without appearing rude. So far the men were acting nice and were friendly as they talked to her about the forest and any signs of deer she may have noticed. One of them, a shifty eyed scarecrow looking fellow, smiled and commented about the fine form of her horse.  His eyes however were not fixed on the horse. She grew nervous.  When he asked where her companions were, she recognized danger and her fear showed in her eyes.  She had read his emotions changing and they were ugly.

While she spoke, one of the men came to look at her horse. Suddenly the man was right beside her with his hands firmly around her horse’s reins. The shifty eyed man who had smiled while talking to her was now smirking. A rather sinister tone to his voice had Velaina preparing to jerk away and flee. ”Relax princess, you are not going anywhere.” 

Velaina was getting ready to make a run into the forest when a voice responded from behind her “Why would she be going anywhere? It is a beautiful day and there still many flowers to be picked.”