NexLord: Dark Prophecies (9 page)

Lor's eyes narrowed a little, but then he
laughed.  "T'would serve me right if he was for
throw'in
in with a stranger on
something as crazy as this little adventure."

Darel was quiet, the truth was worse than
their fanciful idea.

Aerin was considering his plan for sneaking
into the church when something his father had warned him about came
to mind.  "There is another danger we may face if we step
into that church."

Darel frowned, "What is worse than being
killed and tossed down a sewer?"

Aerin shrugged, "I didn't say worse, just
another danger.  My father taught me about beliefs, and
the power within them to control a person.  If we enter
that church we may come under the sway of their beliefs, and if we
do believe, we give them power."

"They aren't going to convince me of
nothing!" Lor said in a scoffing voice.

Dono frowned at Aerin, "Yeah, quit trying to
scare us, it's not like they can take over our minds!"

"No, but they might mess with your
emotions.  Like the Forbidden Zones, you know the stories
about them making you feel things."

That quieted the boys for a minute, everybody
knew about the Forbidden Zones.

"There is nothing to those, so you feel
something, it goes away when you leave," Lor
stated
, but his voice did not hold
true
conviction.

Darel shrugged, "It doesn't matter, and
that’s different anyway."

Aerin nodded.  "Different, yes, but
this might even be worse… because it’s insidious, sneaking into
your mind.” Then he spoke in oratory fashion, quoting his father,
“When convictions are strong and many people believe, a weak mind
can be swayed if you’re not careful.”

Dono looked puzzled at Aerin’s strange tone,
“Who said that?”

“My father, he was a scholar,” Aerin stated
softly.

Dono
nodded
as if his profession gave his words weight.

Aerin added, “Let's just keep our hearts, as
well as our minds, focused when we go in there.  We don't
want to suddenly start buying into what they are selling."

   Lor smirked, "If Aerin here
starts preaching at us we just smack him
upside
of the head and knock some sense back into
him."

Darel grinned, "I volunteer for the job."

Lor looked back over the wall at the church
entrance.  "So when do we go?"

"I can't go tomorrow, but the following day
would be all right," Darel explained, his next free day being that
far away.

Lor's mouth twisted in mock
disgust.  "By then they'll have cleaned up
everything."

"Oh sure, right now they've probably left a
puddle of blood for all to see in front of the altar itself," Darel
responded sarcastically.

Lor glowered at him.  "You afraid
or something?"

Darel looked Lor in the eye.  "No,
how about you?  If we weren't going in there with you I
doubt you'd have the nerve to enter the place."

Lor shrugged.  "That's your
opinion."

Aerin waved a hand between
them.  "Whoa, we're on the same team here!"

Darel looked a little
sheepish.  "Sorry, Lor."

Lor's lips were still pulled tight, but he
answered, "Forget it."

Aerin looked over the wall one last time at
the church and the blood drained out of his face.  "No…"
he whispered.

Dono noticed his face
immediately.  "What is it, Aerin?"

"It's... him," he pointed to a rather large
man who was just nearing the far right corner of the
block.  The man was wearing a large billowing brown
cloak, though the hood was thrown down and his short-cropped
bristly hair could plainly be seen.

The other three boys just caught a short look
at his back before he rounded the corner out of sight.

"Who is he?" Lor asked.

"That's the man who led the attack; he
ordered the death of my parents," Aerin whispered, anger and loss
battling within his heart.

"Quick, we'll follow him!" Lor said,
scrambling back from the wall so he could stand without being
seen.  Dono and Darel followed, but Aerin was still a
little glassy eyed.

"Aerin!" Lor hissed, and having gotten his
attention he said, "Don't you want to catch that bastard?"

Aerin's eyes hardened.  "Yes!"

"Good, then get off your hairy butt, and
FOLLOW ME!"  Lor growled and then turned to run for the
far edge of the roof headed toward the end of the block where the
man had gone.

Aerin scrambled up and ran after the
others.

They quickly came to a
fifteen-foot
gap between two buildings over a
thin street below.  Lor stopped six yards back and
grabbed Aerin and Darel's arms.  "Are you two up to this
jump?"

The landing on the far side was a thin foot
wide ledge and then a steep slope upwards to a tall peaked
roof.

"Do it," Aerin said. Now that he had made up
his mind he did not want to lose track of the murderer.

Lor took a moment longer to look into Aerin's
eyes.  "Jump as if there was only a foot drop and you
were landing on something you didn't want to break, absorb the
impact by bending your knees... got it?"

Only when Aerin's eyes cleared and he nodded
his assent did Lor turn and run for the wide
opening.  "Watch," he called as he
leaped
lithely across the gap.  He
exaggerated the bending of the knees as he landed, taking out the
impact and stopping him short.

"Ok, just like that," he called back.

Dono followed and landed easily beside Lor.
Then Aerin
leaped
, and he landed a
little hard, but with Dono and Lor steadying his arms he was
ok.

Darel swallowed hard and then ran and
jumped.  He sailed too far and hit the steep
roof.  His feet scrambled for purchase and only Aerin and
Lor grabbing him kept him from falling. 

"Thanks," he said under his breath once he
had regained his footing.

"Don't mention it," Lor answered and was off
down the edge of the roof.  "This should put us ahead of
him; he will be coming up that street and there's no other exit
from this direction!"

They reached the corner of the building and
had their first look at the new street where their quarry should
have been walking, but no one was in sight.

Lor crossed his arms and glared at the empty
street as if it was the pavement’s fault that they had lost the
man.  "He must have gone into one of the
buildings.  We'll have to watch and see if he comes
out."

They sat and watched the street for some
time, but after two hours had passed, Aerin told them he had to
go. 

Darel nodded and added, "I, too, must be
going soon."

Lor looked at Dono and asked, "Can you
stay?  I have
an…
appointment, which I cannot miss."

Dono looked surprised as he replied, "An
appointment?"

Lor's eyes looked away and he
said, "It's nothing, I'll stay if you can't, but I think
that Aerin would appreciate it if one of us spotted this murderer
and discovered his business."

Dono shrugged.  "I have nowhere to
go, so I can stay until dark, but then I must go as well."

Aerin looked at the other three
boys.  "Thank you, my friends, this is not your fight,
but you were trying to help me anyway."

Lor patted Aerin on the
back.  "I've found life to have become much more
interesting since I met you, Aerin, and I hate being bored, so I
guess I'll just have to keep you around."

 "All right then," Darel exclaimed after
a moment, "we meet at the same time and place two days from now,
agreed?"

They all nodded and then Lor led Darel and
Aerin back to the area near the Inn, where he bid them goodbye.

Aerin just made it back by dinnertime and
Mara noted his arrival at the Inn.  "Aerin, come over
here."

After
a last
wave, Darel quickly faded into the crowd and Aerin headed for the
waiting Mara.  He noted from her expression that she did
not seem angry; she was watching the departing
Darel.  Soon enough her old lined face turned to face
Aerin and her piercing gaze studied him.

"You've been gone again for quite some time,"
she noted.

Aerin glanced toward Tocor, who stood nearby
watching the exchange.  "I told Tocor where I was
going."

"I know; I always know more than you
think, just remember that.  If you recall my rules you
need to be in by dark, even if you did tell Tocor you were playing
with your friends.  This city is no place for a green
young boy to be wandering at night.  Things you don't
want to meet might be around some dark corner.  Besides,
Strakhelm is an old city; it's had plenty of time to build its
power."

Mara's speech puzzled Aerin, but he just
nodded, even though he didn't understand her implication that the
city was alive or something.

"Good, now tell me about your friend."

"Which one?" Aerin asked.

Mara took him by the ear and shook his head,
though she was fairly gentle this time.  "You know quite
well I meant the one who just left."

Aerin rubbed at his ear when she let
loose.  "His name is Darel. I don't know much more about
him, though I think he is from a wealthy family. He told me his
teachers had two Guardsmen watching over him."

"I know all that, did he tell you his last
name, or where he lives?" Mara asked impatiently.

"No, that's all I know.  Did he do
something wrong?  Because if he did it's probably my
fault and you should just punish me," Aerin said bravely, trying to
protect his new friend.

Mara surprised him when his words brought a
genuine smile to her face.  "Oh ho, he already has you
willing to protect him; he makes friends fast.  No, he
has not done anything wrong.  In fact, Aerin, you may
have helped me greatly.  We'll know soon enough anyway,
Yearl will tell me what I want to know later."

"Yearl?" Aerin asked. He quickly looked
around to see if Yearl would appear out of the shadows again at the
sound of his name.

Mara's far away gaze returned to Aerin
abruptly.  "Enough, let's get you some dinner; since you
skipped lunch you must be starving.  A boy like you needs
to eat if you are going to be strong enough to fight the
Togroths!"

"Togroths!" Aerin said, but he was on the
move as Mara's old but surprisingly strong grip on his upper arm
gave him little choice.

"That's what you told me this morning, you
said you wanted to be a great fighter," and here she paused and her
voice sounded a little exasperated, "like Ragol.  If
you're going to be a warrior you have to eat, boy!"

Now that food had been mentioned Aerin's
stomach began to growl, making truly horrendous sounds.

Tocor was following them and laughed at the
sounds coming from the young boy.  "His stomach knows
what it wants, that’s obvious enough, if only his brain would
listen."

Once a filling meal of lamb,
carrots,
and potato stew had been eaten, Mara
pointed to the stairs of the common room that led to the bedrooms
above.  Aerin took the hint and stood up ready to go to
bed.  The Quarian had his hood up but the light from the
fireplace reflected off the gold highlights of his eyes within the
shadows.  His low voice emerged, "Safe rest, Aerin."

Aerin answered, "Thank you, Tocor."

"And may your dreams lead to your desires,"
Yearl's voice added.

Aerin blinked. Yearl was sitting only two
seats away from where Aerin had been eating and yet he had not seen
him the entire meal.

The common room wasn't dark, but there were
shadows and a thick layer of smoke, Aerin decided he had just
missed the quiet man. He noted that Yearl was wearing his long
cloak with the hood up, his face and lavender skin hidden in the
hood's shadows.

"And I thank you was well,
Yearl.  Good night all," Aerin replied and headed for the
stairs.

Tocor,
Yearl,
and Mara remained speaking in low voices that no
one else could hear.

Aerin reached the top of the stairs and found
Dono waiting in the hallway.  The red head’s wide eyes
showed fear.

"Dono, what are you doing
here?  Did you see that man?" Aerin asked in an excited
voice.

Dono looked beyond Aerin nervously, but no
one else was in the hall.  "No, I waited but he never
came out.  That's not what I'm worried about, it's
Lor."

Aerin grabbed the obviously scared Dono by
the arm.  "What's happened?"

"It's what Darel said..."

Aerin nodded his encouragement.

With another look over Aerin's shoulder at
the empty hallway, Dono continued.  "Darel said Lor
wouldn't go in without the rest of you, he shouldn't say that kinda
thing to Lor.  He will take that as a challenge, and Lor
never refuses a challenge."

"Are you saying Lor is going into the Church
tonight, alone?" Aerin demanded.

"No, he already went in.  I moved
to another building with a better view of the street after you left
and stayed till after dark.  Lor showed up on the street,
and I think he checked to see if I was still where he'd left me
before, and then he went on in.  I waited about an hour
but he didn't come out.  What are we gonna
do?  I'm scared, THEY might have him."

"Calm down," Aerin suggested, letting loose
of Dono and pacing in the hallway.  "Remember, it could
just be a church, we don't even know who ‘they’ are.  He
might just be talking to a priest or something."

"I have this bad feeling," Dono said, a
tremble in his voice.

"All right, wait for me out by the gate, I'll
be there soon."

Dono nodded and headed for the door, he
looked a little calmer as he quickly slipped out of the Inn.

Aerin went to their room and got out his
sweater, but then he realized he was about to break his promise to
Mara.  He stared out the window overlooking the Inn's
courtyard while pondering what he should do.