NexLord: Dark Prophecies (8 page)

"I will, Mara, but is Yearl coming back?"
Aerin asked, wondering about the disappearance of the lavender man
who had planted the strange trees at his parent's grave.

Aerin nearly
leaped
out of his skin when
Yearl's
soft voice spoke from his left." 

"Where do you think I've been, young Aerin?”
the lavender man asked.

Aerin's heart was bouncing around
within
his chest, seemingly trying to find a
way out of his rib cage.  "How did you do that?" he
finally blurted out.

Yearl shrugged.  “Do
what?”    

Aerin would have sworn that Yearl wasn’t
there a moment ago and seemed to appear out of nowhere when he
spoke.  Aerin wondered how he had not noticed the
willowman before.

"I'll be gone till late afternoon," Mara
continued, her voice showing no surprise at
Yearl's
presence, "as I must procure housing for us; we
can't stay at this Inn forever."

The chair creaked as Tocor's heavy weight
lifted when he stood up. 

"Aerin," the large man rumbled," I need to
purchase some leather; you may come with
me
if you like."

Aerin scrambled out of bed.

"Eat something," Mara noted, stopping him
mid-stride.

Aerin scooped up the apple Tocor had tossed
at him earlier and then followed the Quarian out the door.

Tocor put up his deep hood before they
reached the street, and he carried his smooth gray
staff
like a large walking
stick.  Aerin almost had to run to keep up with the wide
stride of the tall Quarian.

The boy was almost disappointed when he
caught a glimpse of Tocor's black-gloved hand where he gripped his
staff.  The fingers seemed to be of normal human
shape.

They had only gone a few blocks when Aerin
noticed his friend Darel coming up the street.  "Look,
Tocor, there's Darel. He’s one of the friends I met yesterday
at
the Inn."  Aerin
raised his arm to wave when he noticed two Guardsmen following a
pace behind Darel; they almost seemed to be following the boy.

His cry of welcome died on his lips, he
wondered if Darel had broken his word and gone to a Guardsman about
the murder.  Darel had made it plain he thought that was
the proper course of action.

Tocor's bronze gaze took in the fine clothing
that Darel wore, and the two Guardsmen.  He could tell by
the way the Guardsmen watched the crowd, and how they positioned
themselves compared to the boy that the guards were assigned to
protect, not apprehend the young boy.

"Who is your friend?" Tocor asked, with far
more interest
than
he showed.

"I don't know a lot about him, but he lives
in the city.  I think he comes from a wealthy part of
town," Aerin guessed, remembering the many coins Darel had
displayed while paying for the sweets.  He had to smile
remembering the way Lor's eyes had nearly bulged from his face at
the sight of those coins.

"Indeed," Tocor responded, his interest
piqued.

Darel and the Guardsmen turned a corner
without seeing Aerin and were soon lost to sight.

Tocor motioned with his staff, and they
started off again toward the shops.

As they turned the corner at the end of the
block a small knot of people could be seen a few steps ahead, they
seemed to be gathered around something to the side of the
road.  Whatever captivated their attention was blocked
from Aerin's sight by the backs of the watching spectators.

Some kind of colorful balls rose above the
people's heads in a regular pattern; there was a gasp of pleased
surprise from the crowd, followed immediately by light
applause.  The crowd started to disperse and you could
hear the sound of coins being tossed into a cup.

Tocor herded Aerin across the street to avoid
the dispersing crowd.  Aerin looked back to see what had
pleased the spectators and caught a glimpse of Lor picking up a cup
and emptying it into his pocket.  When he was done
Aerin’s friend started juggling the small colorful
balls.  New spectators started to gather but soon Aerin
and Tocor were too far away to see.

There was no sign of the Guardsmen when Darel
met Aerin that afternoon in front of the Inn.

Aerin looked up and down the street before
speaking to his new friend.  "Darel, you didn't go to the
Guardsmen, did you?” he asked as soon as Darel drew close.

Darel frowned.  "Of course not, we
all agreed on our plan, though I still think we should talk about
this."

"Then who were those Guardsmen with you
earlier?"

Darel's eyes glanced away.  "One of
my," and here he hesitated, "teachers asked the Guardsmen to look
after me, I got in a little trouble for coming in so filthy and
late yesterday," he admitted.  "But I left them at the
Library.  I told them I was meeting a friend to do some
research and wouldn't need them for at least four
hours.  I didn't actually lie..."

Aerin was new to the city so Guardsmen
guarding wealthy boys didn't seem like such a strange thing.

Darel lowered his voice.  "Don't
mention the Guardsmen to Dono and Lor, they don't seem too keen on
Guardsmen and I don't want to upset them."

Aerin nodded, looking around for the two
mentioned boys.

"I wonder if those two rascals will
show?" Darel asked.

"I'm sure they will after what we saw..."
Aerin trailed off, not wanting to actually say something about a
dead man.  "You keep an eye out for them; I need to tell
someone something real fast."  Then Aerin ran back to the
Inn courtyard looking for Tocor or Yearl.  He nearly ran
into the large Quarian who stood leaning on his gray staff just
inside the gate.

"Oh!" Aerin said, sliding to a halt when he
found the Quarian so close.  "I was just looking for you!
Mara told me to tell you when I was going somewhere.  I'd
like to go and play with my new friends, Darel,
Lor,
and
Dono
if that is all right?"

Tocor's eyes had not left the gate opening
where he was studying the profile of Darel.  "All right,
just make sure you're back by supper time or Mara might skin you
and make a new scabbard out of your hide."

Aerin's eyes widened a bit, but he nodded and
then ran back to Darel.

They walked
a
little
ways while looking up and down the
cobblestone
street for either of the other
boys.

There was the soft sound of two feet hitting
the ground behind them and the boys spun around to find Lor
standing with his arms crossed, with Dono a pace
behind.  "Think we weren’t gonna show, Ladies?" Lor asked
with a grin.

Darel laughed.  "I knew you'd be
here, you're not the kind of person that runs from a
challenge."

"Not much of a challenge; I already have a
lead," Lor said proudly.

The other boys instinctively moved in
closer.

At Lor’s
pause,
Darel raised his right eyebrow and spoke in a
quieter voice, "Well?"

"Perhaps I'll share it, let me ponder," he
said with a sly glint in his eye.

Darel scowled at
him
but guessed correctly that prodding the other boy
would only delay things.

Aerin thought he had better defuse things
quickly.  "I saw you juggling!"

Lor gave him an overly done innocent look,
"Who, me?  I couldn't juggle a single rock," but he
smiled, "of course, it might depend on the size!"  As he
said this he was suddenly juggling five colorful balls. Where they
had come from none of the other boys had any idea.  The
balls circulated in an intricate pattern, fooling the eyes of those
watching, and then almost as suddenly as they had appeared they
were gone.

"Thank you, thank you, and no applause
necessary!" Lor laughed.

Aerin grinned, "You're really good at that,
you must have taken in quite a haul yesterday! I saw you empty out
that cup in your pocket."

Lor suddenly looked a little
nervous
but hid it quickly.  "I made a
couple pennies, but nothing to speak of, you must have been
mistaken.  I sometimes put a few coins in so that the
spectators think it's proper to throw more, it is part of the
game."

Aerin didn't believe him completely, he had
heard the number of coins hitting the cup, but Aerin let it go.

Lor suddenly turned and headed for an alley;
over his shoulder he called unnecessarily, "If you want to see
what I learned about our friend from the sewers yesterday, follow
me!"

Within
minutes,
Lor had them onto the rooftops again and they
quickly fell back into their order of the prior day: Lor, followed
by Aerin, then Dono and finally Darel.

They traveled the High Road for a good
half-hour, running along the roof edges, parapets, ledges and rain
gutters.  Aerin's heart still tended to enter his mouth
at times, but he had to admit he was getting used to the
heights.  
Eventually,
Lor held up his hand and the four boys approached a short wall at
the edge of a flat roof.  Lor crouched down so as not to
be seen and the others followed suit.

All four of them peeked over the edge and
looked down on the wide street below.  To either
side,
there were nondescript gray
stone structures built up to the typical four stories of Strakhelm
buildings.  Across the street from
them,
there was one of the numerous churches,
with four tall pointed spires on each of its corners rising high
into the sky, and in the center was an ornate peaked roof of the
central worship hall.  Parishioners were entering the
open doors below in small numbers.

They looked for a moment, and
finally,
Darel broke the
silence.  "So... it's a CHURCH!  There are
countless churches in Strakhelm."

Lor held up his hand.  "Wait... and
watch."

There was a small group of ten parishioners
standing on the top landing before the open doors of the church, a
moment later the person they were waiting for arrived and the whole
group moved into the church.

Darel spoke up again as he started to stand
upright from the uncomfortable crouch.  "Look, I don't
see..."

"Then look closer!" Lor whispered intently
and pointed down.

Darel immediately crouched back down when he
saw what Lor was pointing out.

The group of people below had moved,
revealing the inlaid stonework they had been covering on the
landing of the church.  It was a large red triangle with
a dot in the very center, the very symbol they had last seen drawn
in blood by the dying Guardsman.

Lor slipped below the top of the wall, turned
his back and sat down.  "I did my part, now what's our
plan?"

The others sat down as well and they all grew
thoughtful for a time.

Aerin finally spoke, "It's the symbol, all
right, but that doesn't prove anything.  We need to get
inside and have a look around."

Dono rolled his eyes and leaned his head
back, smacking it slightly on the stone of the wall.  He
winced and said, "I just knew someone was going to say
that.  Whoever this is we're after KILLED a Guardsman,
they won't even blink about skewering the whole lot of us!"

Lor smiled slyly.  "Then we'll just
have to make sure we aren't caught.  I'll go in, anyone
here brave enough to go with me?"

Darel scowled.  "I will go anywhere
you will go."

Lor raised an inquisitive
eyebrow.  "I'll remember you said that someday."

Aerin took a quick look over the wall at the
large dark gray church.  "We'll need someone to stay
outside and alert the Guard if something seems to be going
wrong."

Dono looked at Aerin with his head tilted to
the side.  "I suppose you are 'volunteering' to
wait?"

Aerin sat back down.  "No, actually
I was thinking that you would be best for that job.  You
know the city well and could get to the Guardsman faster than I
could.  On the other hand, none of us know the inside of
that Church, so I will be as good as you in there."

Darel twisted the edge of his tunic
nervously. "So what's our plan?  Walk up to a priest and
say, "Excuse me, but did you kill a Guardsman
yesterday?  We were just kinda curious because we might
want to join your church."

Lor glanced at Darel with
half-lowered
eyelids.  "Funny
boy."

Aerin nodded slowly, he hadn't even heard
Lor's reply.  "That's not a bad idea..."

Darel swiveled his incredulous expression to
face Aerin.  "What are you, two hoops short of a full
barrel?"

"No… I mean, we won’t talk about the
Guardsman, but the part about wishing to join their church is the
ticket.  We could say we're interested, that way we have
a reason for being there and for asking some
questions.  Other than that we just keep our eyes peeled
and look for anything that seems out of the ordinary.  If
we find something, then we go to the Guardsman.  What do
you think?"

Lor nodded.  "That's a good
plan.  They're always looking for new converts at these
places, but be warned, I don't know about this church, but some of
them don't let their hooks out of fresh
meat
if you know what I mean."

"We'll give them false names and we won't
tell them where we live," Aerin improvised.

Dono laughed.  "That is
easy
since Lor and I live all over the
city."

"How about you, Darel?" Aerin asked, "Got a
good place you can say is your home?"

"I can come up with a story, no problem,"
Darel agreed.

Lor looked at his fine
clothing.  "No doubt, you haven't even told us the truth,
I'd wager."

Darel's look of chagrin made all three of the
other boy’s chuckle.

Aerin patted Darel on the
back.  "It's ok, Darel; you'll tell us when you're
ready."  To the other two
boys,
Aerin added, "He's probably the
Guardmaster's
own son."