Escana (21 page)

Ella
pictured the chase from the hounds that Jakob had suffered at the
hands of Solomon, all because he had been caught with her. 'I'm
sorry.'

He
stopped walking then. 'What for?'

She
shrugged. 'I could have told him to stop, that you hadn't laid a hand
on me'

Jakob
looked confused. 'Would he have listened?'

Ella
stared at him intently. 'No, probably not, but I should have tried,
like you tried your best to stop him, risking your life to do so for
me.'

Jakob
smiled at that. 'That's the first positive thing I've heard you say.'

Their path came to an abrupt halt
at a vast hedge. Its height stretched upward as if trying to reach
the clouds and its dark bulk seemed to extend for miles in each
direction.

'This
is Shackleton's hedge,' Ella said. 'I had no idea it extended this
far. That or we're horribly off course.'

Jakob
stared up at the vast growth, it cast a deep shadow over them that
cut out any remaining sunlight. 'How do we get past it?'

She
shook her head. 'There's no getting past this thing, we have to go
round it, and there's no way of telling how far it extends if it's
already this far away from the main road.'

Trepidation
crept over Jakob's face. 'Looks like our detour has come to an end.'

If
travelling in secrecy hidden by the trees was bad, walking under the
shade of the hedge towards certain exposure was even more unnerving.
Hours passed and the ominous swaying of the branches cut through all
reason and felt like a hidden enemy tracking their progress. It
started off as a subtle menace, yet its permanence
grew in
their minds the further they continued. They kept looking to their
left, waiting for someone to spring out and seize them. The lack of
any clear cause of the hostile atmosphere beyond the hedge only made
things worse.

The
air grew heavy and suffocating over time until a point where each
hazy step felt leaden, just as Jakob was thinking of calling a break
for the ailing Ella, the ground seemed to oblige him and he went
sprawling over what seemed like an overturned stump.

Ella
leapt backward in shock, acutely alert of what they'd stumbled upon.
'Jakob, it's a body.'

J
immy
didn't recall much of the night after escaping Thom's clutches. He
had run until the aching in his body and the spinning in his head
threatened to overpower him. The night had flashed by him in a blur
of darkened road and aimless flight. Part of him had known that he'd
have to go back to Escana, only to be confronted by Thom. It was
being overridden by a primal terror over what he'd seen in the other
man's eyes. The occasional drunken fight in the inn wasn't uncommon
to him, yet the murderous rage he had witnessed would have been
something entirely new and disturbing had he not seen it in Jakob's
eyes the night before. Those who had warned him against provoking
Thom had been entirely right, was Jakob of the same ilk?

At
some point near dawn he had decided to run from the road, crashing
through undergrowth and feeling his way in the limited visibility.
Something eventually caught his boot and he was plunged into a
darkness far different than the one he had just fled.

He
awoke with a start as hands seized him by the shoulders. 'Come on
you,' a familiar voice spoke to him as if from a great distance.
'Let's see if you can stand.'

He
collapsed into a sitting position
,
his head felt like it was going to split in two. This wasn't
early orders at the Chipped Flagon, he'd have got cold water thrown
over him by now for being so groggy.

'Where
am I?' he muttered to nobody in particular.

'You're
in the woods just west of Shackleton's orchard and we have no idea
how you got here.'

He
looked up. Recognising Jakob and Ella didn't ease his confusion any.
He tried to piece everything together, but none of his memories
seemed to point to his ending up here.

'What
am I doing?' he asked.

Jakob
looked at Ella nervously. 'We don't exactly know, we were hoping you
would be able to tell us.'

He
shrugged comically, his senses starting to come back to him. 'I guess
I must have fallen, there's some pretty tangled roots around here
that someone as clumsy as me could fall afoul of in the dark.'

'That
doesn't explain why you can't remember anything. Do you even know why
we're here?' Ella asked.

Jimmy
frowned in concentration, he knew there was something vital he was
missing but he couldn't think of what. 'Beats me, a bit odd for a
trip to the orchard together at this hour.'

Ella
immediately regretted the question and tried in vain to change the
topic. 'What was the last thing you remember? Perhaps you struck your
head on something as you fell.'

Jimmy
smiled knowingly. 'I'm sure you'd love that, take poor old dazed
Jimmy and lead him down the safest path away from all the important
conversation. You're going to tell me why you're here, then I'm going
to explain why I'm following you.'

He
watched them squirm awkwardly.

'We're
fleeing,' Ella said finally. 'We're wanted by the law for murder.'

Jimmy
got to his unsteady feet, half-expecting a confession. The night with
Thom had come back to him now, there was no doubt that they had
something to do with Solomon's murder. 'Why don't you tell me exactly
what's going on and we'll take it from there.'

In
turns they gave him a rough account of the events after Solomon's
death, Jimmy listened on in horrified attention, questioning every
detail and event.

'I
honestly don't know what to say,' he finally said to them. 'I don't
have much influence outside of the inn, otherwise we could go back
and get this thing straightened out.' He rubbed his chin in thought.
'I sneaked into your Dad's cart and joined the party that was hunting
you down.' Turning to Jakob, he shook his head. 'They'll probably
realise Ella is missing and think whoever it was that killed Solomon
also kidnapped her.'

He
watched realisation eventually dawn on Jakob, he'd been so busy
fleeing that he had never considered the possibility of a hostage
situation. Jimmy glanced over at Ella and she was smirking, had she
planned this, or was this just a further unexpected bonus that
somehow forced him to keep her by his side?

Jimmy
held Jakob's stare, an uncomfortable silence grew. 'There's something
else I need to tell you.'

'Something
else?' Jakob said. He looked at Ella, her expression had slipped into
a frown of worry.

'The
Warden and his party ran into trouble on the road. Some strange
bandit that killed one of the dogs and one of the men. He said they
weren't allowed to follow you and Thom complied.'

Jakob
raised his brows in disbelief. 'Thom let himself be dissuaded by a
common bandit?'

'This
was no common bandit.' Jimmy replied. 'I... I can't describe it. It
was like his words were inside my head. There was something magical
about him.'

Ella
let out an unconvincing laugh. 'Magic? Sounds like the heat of the
moment got to you.'

Jakob
held up a hand, she frowned at his attempt to silence her. 'Magic or
not, nobody ever gets Thom to back off. Did he mention us by name?'

Jimmy
shook his head. 'I think we're being watched.'

They
stared at the forest surrounding them in uncomfortable silence after
that, finally Ella spoke.

'Why
did this bandit let you find us then?'

This
brought an odd smile from Jakob. 'He's meant to be here, otherwise
this bandit would have picked him off after waylaying the search
party. It may be that we have an unexpected ally, though if whatever
is following us is as lethal as you say then I suggest we keep moving
forward.'

'Well
that's a relief,' Jimmy said, cracking a brittle smile. 'We'll head
to Urial and plead our case with Lord Kelgrimm, he'll set things
right.'

'Kelgrimm?'
Jakob and Ella asked in union.

This
brought a chuckle. 'You mean to tell me you were going to go all the
way to Urial to escape a hanging and you don't even know who the
benevolent Lord Kelgrimm is?'

They
both stared at him blankly, he flung his hands up in the air.

'He's
the governor in charge of the entire Urial province, he keeps
everything knitted together, from the outlying farmland to the inner
city ports. All of my father's friends speak very highly of him. Most
importantly, he is Justice.'

Jakob
looked sceptically at his pontificating gestures, he knew he had a
habit of elaborating more with his hands than his words. 'So this
Kelgrimm has the power to proclaim us innocent?'

He
nodded. 'He's a regional Justice, technically he's in control of the
Wardens, you plead your case and he'll have the power to grant you
mercy, I'm sure of it.'

Jakob
looked more than a little suspicious. 'So all we need do is tell him
what we've told you and he'll override Escana law?'

'That's
not all, you'll get an armed escort home too, I've seen it happen
before,' Jimmy replied.

To
them it must have felt too easy, they looked to be desperately
searching for a catch somewhere, but neither of them knew anything
about Urian law like he did. Compared to these two, Jimmy seemed a
veritable expert, a fountain of information waiting to be used.

'I
assume you'll be coming with us to do this then?' Ella said, trying
to smirk at him, the tension still filled the air.

Jimmy
responded in kind. 'As if you had a choice in the matter my lady. You
need me!'

Jakob
raised an eyebrow. 'We need someone that didn't even bring a pack?
Are you going to fly us to Urial perchance? Or were you expecting to
share our meagre supplies?'

He
looked around him somewhat deflated, as if noticing the forest for
the first time. 'I didn't really have chance to pack... Besides, it's
only a days walk from here to Urial. Then we shall have a hearty
breakfast while we await judgement.'

Ella
shook her head in mild amusement. 'Well, you've never been wrong
before when it comes to your beloved seaside city, let's go and see
the innards for ourselves.'

'
W
hat
would they think of you now, my plucky human friend?'

He
knew the voice, but couldn't open his eyes to put a face to it. The
mere presence of it had caused the numbing to spread through the
whole of his body, leaving him powerless.

'Lying
at the side of the road, completely helpless, prey to the whim of any
mere brigand travelling these lands. Is this the arrogant one that
once called himself a man?'

Its
light leather shoes glided alongside him now, agonisingly out of
reach.

'Or
has time taken its toll on your pride as well as your body? Unable to
contain a child in your custody, what a wasted potential you are.'

Another
foe would have kicked him at this point, or laughed at his plight,
all he sensed here was disappointment and disinterest.

'In
a sense you are fortunate, as it is through my own actions that you
will most likely not be ravaged by one of the former brutes that I
had the misfortune of encountering. They are desperately dull and
there was no hope for them. The petty ones in Upper Levanin would
have me be subservient to even more rather than extend the security
of the realm through effective human enforcement. I dealt with those
too, but that is beside the point.'

Thom
just listened, there was nothing else he could do, paralysed as he
was.

'You
should see Sisead now, swanning about the whitened walk as if he were
the Emperor himself, which he may as well be given his protection by
the very man. No doubt Alissandra would send her regards if she knew
that you were out here. Their games continue unabated in spite of
your absence, do you not wish to join them again instead of stalking
this backwater? Old Everalm would love to bandy words with you over a
cup no doubt.'

He
listened to all the familiar names from a great distance, for that
was what they were to him. Distant people from another time
long-forgotten. They had taken Mary from him, they were nothing to
him now.

'You
could have been more than that rabble, you were afforded
opportunities to become so in your previous exploits and yet you
rejected them. You could have flown across the peaks of the land
empowered by a will unlike any others,' the voice dropped to a
whisper then, 'you could have become Emperor yourself.'

He
hadn't wanted it, he hadn't wanted anything but to go away and leave
all the schemers and grandiosity in the hands of others. He had died
that day and yet his rebirth still haunted him with the memories of
what could have been. There was no sign of the solace that he had
sought for so vainly in his enforced departure.