Dralin (29 page)

“He shouldn’t have done that,” Rashel
stated. “But no matter, continue.”

“We came from the Tower District into a
plaza with a statue of a wizard surrounded by flowers. There were a
lot of really nice, expensive shops there.”

“I know the place,” Rashel said. Everyone
else nodded as well. “Go on.”

“We walked to a darker place and he took me
into a shop. There was a hand on the placard with green flames
coming from it. The paint was peeling.” Pelya saw that they were
all thoughtful. Apparently there was more than one shop like that.
“The shopkeeper was a short woman named Tibella.”

That did it. “Willam!” Rashel barked. “Carry
Pelya. We move
now
!” A big, red-haired man with thick
muscles picked up Pelya and settled her on his hip. Her weight
didn’t slow him down at all as they charged through the streets.
The squad’s fourth unit had shown up with the corporal who was
running ahead, tweeting his whistle to clear a path. There was
another wizard with him. All squads had two competent wizards who
specialized in battle magic.

People parted to let them through. It was
the law to get out of the way of a Guard unit rushing through the
streets. People made extra effort at the sight of an entire squad.
Within a few minutes, they reached the shop.

Sergeant Rashel came to a skidding halt, as
did the rest of the squad, a few huffing and puffing. “This is the
place?” she asked.

Pelya nodded as Willam set her down.
“Tibella let us through the back door to the alley. We turned
right. I can trace our steps, but there are bad people . . .” It
took all her willpower not to start crying again.

“It’s our job to deal with bad people,
Pelya” Rashel said with a malevolent grin that was mirrored by the
rest of the squad. Pelya was suddenly glad they were on her side.
One of the wizards cast a spell. Suddenly Pelya felt a burst of
strength that also appeared to affect everyone in the squad. “Let’s
go,” the sergeant said, opening the door and leading the way
in.

Tibella stood behind the counter with eyes
wide. When the sergeant demanded to be let out the alleyway door,
she unlocked it immediately. Rashel led the way to the right and
traveled far enough for the squad to join in the alley. It was too
narrow for them to do much more than single file, a severe
disadvantage for any fighting group. However, the Guard trained
specifically for such situations. The boost of strength the wizard
had cast would help them with that. Pelya felt her skin tingle and
gasped. Minda, who was directly in front of her while Willam was
directly behind, reassured her. “A spell to protect all of us
against certain forms of magic was just cast. You felt a tingling,
right?” Pelya nodded.

They came to an intersection and word came
back asking which way. Pelya closed her eyes and remembered the
steps they had taken. “Left, right, right, go a couple hundred feet
and there’s a black iron-bound door with a plate to look out of,”
she said. There were other twists and turns, but those were the
intersections they had to take.

Word was relayed up the line and everyone
moved again, following the directions Pelya had given. A minute
later, she heard shouts. Rashel’s voice rang above the rest. “Halt!
Lay down your weapons in the name of the Dralin City Guard!”

Willam drew his sword and then put Pelya on
his left hip. She held on tightly while her protector stepped aside
to let others through. Minda stood next to them with her sword
drawn so Pelya was in between the two of them. It would be
difficult for anyone to harm her.

The sounds of clashing swords along with
shouts of anger and pain echoed up the alley, but they didn’t last
long. After a moment, the train of Guard members passing by
stopped. The last unit had gone in a different direction in the
hopes of cutting off escape. Guard members were required to
memorize every street and alley in the city. In training, they
would start with the easy districts, but as they learned more, they
would be sent to more difficult ones. The Tower District was by far
the hardest to learn. Wizard’s Mall was one of the worst after
that. Even with that knowledge, there were secret ways to get away
underneath the city in the sewers and above the city on the
rooftops.

It didn’t take long for the squad to move
forward again. Minda and Willam went ahead of the last few in order
to keep Pelya secure. They passed a guard lying on the ground with
a gash in his leg. He was gritting his teeth while his unit mate
applied healing salve to it. They would take him to a healer once
they got to one of the Guard’s auxiliary barracks.

The unit leader that didn’t like Pelya came
back to them, pushing past other guards. “The sergeant wants to see
Pelya right away.” He led them to the black door. Three of the
thugs were dead, their broken, bleeding bodies shoved against the
wall across from the door in gruesome heaps that made her sick to
her stomach. Two more were on the ground down the alley with a few
guards standing over them. Pelya had never seen dead people before
and didn’t like it even though she wasn’t the one who killed
them.

Willam set her down so she could walk on her
own, still between him and Minda. They went down the hallway into
the room. Bobbell wasn’t there, but his blood soaked the carpet.
She wanted to cry again, but resisted with all her might. The unit
leader opened a door on the side and headed down another hall.
After turning down two more halls and going down a set of steps,
they came to a room. Bobbell’s body was lying on a table with his
arms crossed. Two grim faced Guards stood watch over it.

“Pelya,” Rashel said from the left. On the
floor next to a table were the blonde-haired man, the man who
killed Bobbell, the wizard, and another one of the thugs; all dead
from numerous wounds. It was too much for Pelya and she threw up on
the floor.

Minda quickly wrapped an arm around her
waist and pulled her hair back. It took Pelya a minute to finish.
Meanwhile, everyone else gave her plenty of room.

“Sergeant Rashel, report,” a man said,
entering the room. Everyone snapped to attention and thumped fists
to their chests.

“Yes, Captain.” The sergeant gave the report
of everything the squad had discovered. Meanwhile, Pelya stood
trembling and whimpering while tears and snot ran down her face. It
was too much for her and she didn’t care if she wasn’t being brave
or strong anymore. Minda continued wiping the girl’s face as best
she could and they moved to the corner so everyone else could work.
Pelya saw that one of the other guards had also been killed in the
battle, which made everything worse, especially since he had given
her a hug and a copper the day before. She buried her head in
Minda’s stomach finally and shut her eyes to block everything
out.

“Why is Pelya still here? Is there a reason
you’re traumatizing her with the sight of all these bodies,
Sergeant?” the captain asked. Pelya was too miserable to figure out
who it was.

“I wanted her to identify if these are the
people who killed Private Bobbell.”

“I see.” Footsteps came over to her. “Pelya,
I need you to focus just a minute then I’ll let Private Minda take
you back to your father,” the captain said, squatting next to her.
She looked through her teary eyes at Captain Criffon, a man Pelya
hadn’t seen but a few times. She nodded and whimpered some more. He
took her by the arm and guided her to the bodies. “Did one of these
people kill Private Bobbell?”

Pelya pointed at the man who had run the
sword through her uncle. “H . . . he . . . did . . . sword.” She
pointed at the man’s sword that was lying nearby.

“He killed Private Bobbell with that sword?”
the captain asked for verification.

“Y . . . yes.”

“And was he the leader of this group?”

“N . . . no.” It was hard to say anything
between gulps of air. “H . . . he . . . was l . . . leader,” Pelya
said, pointing at the blonde man.

“Did anyone say why Private Bobbell was
killed?” the Captain asked.

Pelya really wanted to leave, but his grip
on her arm was strong. Still pointing at the blonde man, she
answered, “H . . . he said, ‘Did you th . . think you could betray
us and live’.”

“Did he say anything else?” the captain
persisted.

Pelya shook her head. “N . . . no.”

“Do you remember anything else that would
help us, Pelya?” the captain asked.

“N . . . no.” She just wanted to leave.

“Private Minda. See to Pelya. I’ll have a
unit escort you,” Captain Criffon said as he rose. “Get the girl
out of here before she becomes even more traumatized.”

“I’d like to go with them, sir” Willam
said.

“That’s not necessary, Private,” the captain
replied.

“I’m going with Pelya, sir. Reprimand me
later if you must.” Willam picked Pelya up and held her
tightly.

Captain Criffon sighed. “As you will,
Private. There’ll be no reprimand.”

Willam and Minda took Pelya from the room
and the building. They found a different way out that avoided the
alley entirely. A unit quickly joined them and they headed toward
the Guard District. It took a while because they went by the safest
route possible, which meant avoiding the Tower District and a few
other more dangerous areas.

A few minutes before they reached the Guard
District, Frath came running up. “Pelya! Where is she?”

“Daddy!” She twisted in Willam’s arms,
reaching out for him. Willam passed her over effortlessly and Pelya
clung to her daddy’s neck, wrapping her legs around his waist. The
tears flowed all the way back to her room, Frath carrying her as
effortlessly as Willam had.

She finally fell asleep in her father’s
arms. He was there the two times she woke up screaming from
nightmares. There were more questions the next day, but not many.
Captain Criffon had solved the case rather quickly. He quietly told
Pelya that Bobbell had been working undercover between two guilds
that were smuggling illegal wizard artifacts. Through no fault of
his own, he had been discovered. Everyone who had anything to do
with his death was already dead in exchange.

Captain Criffon and others told her that he
died with honor in the line of duty and was to receive a funeral
with full tribute for his service. Then they reassured her that she
had done nothing wrong and that her obedience to Bobbell throughout
the events and her warnings not to continue showed maturity and
wisdom. It didn’t help much, but it helped a little. She spent the
rest of that day in her father’s arms, not saying anything at all
while she tried to come to terms with the vision of her Uncle
Bobbell dying before her eyes.

Chapter
18

Three days after the death of Bobbell, Pelya
was out for the day with Lieutenant Kally Nevala, a strong woman
with curly blonde hair that whipped around in the strong breeze.
Her hazel eyes glittered in the sunlight and a scar ran along her
chin from a battle that went badly the year before. The lieutenant
was the daughter of a successful noble who had made certain Kally
was well educated as a child and gave in when his daughter made the
request to join the City Guard. A high education and wealthy
parents would allow a person to enter any military group as an
officer and the Dralin City Guard was recognized as one of the most
highly-trained and dangerous military groups in the world.

Pelya was dressed in unadorned brown pants
and tan tunic with her longknife back at her side. She wasn’t
allowed to wear the colors of the Guard, black pants and brown
tunic like Kally had on, so that no one would mistake her for a
member.

It was only the second time she had been
out, having gone the day before to Carnival for a short while with
Bava and Herman. While there, she never smiled and only spoke when
absolutely necessary. Bava and Herman spent the day worried about
her, but eventually let her deal with things her own way.

It had been debated whether or not to let
her go with just one guard at a time, but Bobbell had specifically
broken the rules as to where Pelya could be taken. Frath made it
clear that anyone else who did something stupid with his daughter
would die by his hand regardless of their position. It was a threat
everyone took seriously.

Lieutenant Nevala was an extremely capable
warrior and Frath trusted her. They had decided to go to a safe
park in the Noble District where Pelya could feed ducks around a
peaceful lake and sit quietly if that was all she wanted to do.
Kally had a book to read and money for lunch and treats. It sounded
like a nice day to Pelya who just wanted to sit and stare awhile.
The lake would be perfect.

“I need to make a stop on the way, but it
shouldn’t take long,” Kally told her in a pleasant voice that could
split the air when giving orders.

Pelya stopped in her tracks, causing the
lieutenant to jerk in surprise as they were holding hands. “Uncle
Bobbell said he just needed to make a stop and that it wouldn’t
take long,” she said grimly. “That’s when they killed him, Aunt
Kally,”

The woman stared at Pelya for a minute, not
saying anything. She brushed hair back over her ear. Lieutenant
Nevala was a pretty woman even with the scar and the ability to gut
criminals. Occasionally a man would stare at her when walking past.
Kally gave no notice of it most of the time. She resumed walking
and Pelya went along, not knowing if they were going to make the
stop or just go to the park.

Pelya liked the Noble District. It was
quieter than most. Even though there were guards at the doors of
most estates and many of the nobles were a bit stuck up, it had a
pleasant atmosphere. People were dignified and wore the most
beautiful clothes. Everyone moved at a stately pace instead of the
hurried velocity in other districts.