Anilyia (20 page)

Tathan sighed. “It was a couple of years
after I left home. I had joined a thief’s guild that tried to gain
power but failed. The existing guild put prices on our heads and
hired assassins to collect. Eloise was the assassin hunting
me.”

“An assassin named Eloise?” Liselle asked
with raised eyebrow. “Doesn’t sound very intimidating to me.”

“That was her real name. She was known as
‘The Dark Mouse’.”

Liselle’s lips twitched as she tried to
restrain a grin. “That . . . isn’t much better.”

Tathan sighed. “Eloise was small and could
squeeze through just about any opening. She was also quiet. By the
time anyone realized she was there, they were already leaving their
body to explore the afterlife.”

“Oh,” Liselle said. “She sounds
dangerous.”

“She is. To make it worse, she loved
killing.” Tathan sighed again.

“And this is your girlfriend?” Liselle asked
disapprovingly.

“Was,” he protested with a hand up. “She
left me a year after we fell in love. When she left, she told me
not to follow. It . . . hurt.”

“I’m sorry,” Liselle said sympathetically.
“I’d be upset if Vevin left me.” After about two seconds, she was
done being sympathetic. “Alright, how did you two fall in love when
she was hired to kill you?”

Tathan rolled his eyes, realizing that he
wasn’t going to get out of the telling. He sighed again before
continuing. “She found me hiding in the wilderness. I had finally
fallen asleep from exhaustion. When I woke up she was sitting on a
rock, staring at me.”

“She didn’t kill you?”

“No. It surprised me too,” Tathan admitted
with a grin. “I figured she must have poisoned me or something. I
was even more surprised when I was able to sit up without weakness.
I asked her why I was still alive.”

Liselle waited. When he didn’t continue, she
asked, “And? Why did she let you live?”

Tathan remained silent for another moment,
“She told me I was handsome and asked if I would be willing to lie
with her for a night or two.”

Liselle’s eyes widened and she burst into
laughter. “Are you serious?!” A couple of other patients looked
over with frowns.

Tathan narrowed his eyes at her. “Shh,
you’re disturbing the other guests.”

That sent her into more laughter. It was
nice when his cousin laughed. The world became a little happier. It
helped them both to relax. Laughter was just as energizing as the
food and rest.

“So did you ‘lie with her for a night or
two’ like she wanted?” Liselle asked coyly.

Tathan didn’t reply right away. “She was
cute . . . and dangerous,” he finally admitted.

Liselle shook her head in amazement. “You
are so odd, Cousin.” She looked at him for a moment before tilting
her head. “Why did she leave?”

He shrugged. “I still don’t know. I thought
we were in love, but one day she just got up, told me she was
leaving and not to follow her.” He shook his head. “Then she was
gone.”

“You didn’t follow her?” she asked.

“Of course I tried to follow her,” Tathan
said with a wry grin. “She was better at tracking than me and knew
how to cover her tracks. Much of what I’ve learned about finding
people was from her.”

“Much of what you’ve learned about killing
people too I’d imagine,” Liselle said with a grin. The guilty look
on Tathan’s face showed her there was more truth than humor in the
statement. All the laughter fled her heart in that moment. “Well .
. . Perhaps we should find Sir Danth and Vevin now.”

“Good idea,” Tathan said with a nod. He was
glad the subject was over. A lot of memories had been pulled up and
he didn’t like memories.

The healer was coming over to them, making
his way through the patients. Liselle and Tathan straightened their
beds and set the used plates as neat as possible.

“Are we allowed to leave?” Liselle asked
when he arrived.

“Yes, you both look to be well. I would ask
a donation for the infirmary. It will allow us to treat others in
need,” the healer suggested. He smiled and held up a hand.
“However, if you are not able to afford it, the care is free.”

Tathan had been to cities where poor were
cared for by volunteers. It was nice to see it here. He couldn’t
help but like the Rojuun. They seemed good.

Liselle handed him five gold uun. He bowed
to her. “Thank you very much, human. Your generosity will care for
many.” Tathan added two of his own. He wouldn’t have given that
much if not for Liselle. Money was necessary for their travels. One
never knew when it would be needed, so Tathan kept it close to
him.

The infirmary was on the opposite corner of
the administration building from the guard section. With a moment’s
discussion, they agreed to go back to the area where the guards had
originally taken them. Perhaps they would be able to get
information as to where their friends were.

Captain Henrrr was talking to a guard about
the importance of caring for equipment when they walked up. He
turned upon seeing them. “Well, the two of you look much better.
Rest did you good.”

“Yes, captain. We feel much better,” Tathan
replied. “I want to apologize for collapsing like that.”

“Not at all. You went through an ordeal. It
is to be expected.” The captain looked over their shoulders. “Your
friends are back. They went with my guards to aid in finding the
woman and squirrel.”

They turned around to see Vevin and Sir
Danth arriving with Sergeant Niirrii. Vevin dashed ahead to meet
Liselle, who ran to him in turn. The two collided in the middle,
embracing and kissing. The guards looked on disapprovingly.

Sergeant Niirrii passed the lovers and
walked to the captain. “We found the house, but they were gone,” he
reported.

“Were there any clues as to where they may
have gone?” the captain asked.

“No sir. All we found was evidence of them
living there. The squirrel gathered debris for a nest, but nothing
of value that would give us any clues.”

“I see. That is disappointing,” the captain
responded with a frown. “I am not happy they escaped. They killed
two guards. That is not acceptable, sergeant.” It was easy to see
that he was angry. Captain Henrrr’s fists were clenched, as was his
jaw.

Sergeant Niirrii took a step back. “Yes sir.
We will continue our search until we find them,” he said
quickly.

The captain nodded and waved them off. The
sergeant and his guards left eagerly. Captain Niirrii turned his
attention to the companions. He frowned at Liselle and Vevin who
were still kissing. Tathan cleared his throat in a futile attempt
to get their attention.

Captain Henrrr chose to ignore them and
concentrated instead on Tathan. “The council has no further
questions for you, Tathan Human. They thank you for your assistance
and testimony. You are free to go about your business,” the captain
told him. It was a lot easier than Tathan had expected. Most guards
would have made him stay in town or even thrown him in jail to keep
him around.

“Thank you, captain,” Tathan replied. “I
wish you good fortune in your search. I’ll be more careful as to
which doors I enter next time.” Tathan was blatantly lying, but the
captain didn’t need to know that.

“See that you do,” Captain Henrrr warned. He
went back to his business as Tathan and Sir Danth dragged the
kissing lovebirds outside.

By the time they were on the street, it had
become a game. Vevin and Liselle were struggling with all their
might to get to each other. Sir Danth had finally dragged Vevin
over his shoulder while Tathan had Liselle over his. All four of
them were laughing hysterically. A few of the Rojuun walking by
looked at them oddly, wondering if the guard should be called.

Tathan hadn’t realized that he and Liselle
had slept through the night. It was morning and the sun was rising,
looking to bring another hot day. He put Liselle back on her feet.
Sir Danth did the same for Vevin. “So did you discover information
yesterday that might help us?” Tathan asked.

The lovers settled down, content to hold
hands as they walked next to each other. Liselle answered the
question after glancing to be certain that no one was listening.
“We were able to get information about the Cavern Road, but not
about the princess specifically.”

“What did you find out about the road?”
Tathan prompted.

“We have to visit the Rainbow Caverns!”
Vevin exclaimed excitedly, breaking into a dance. “And Alluu, it
sounds fascinating. There are a lot of pretty colors in Rainbow
Caverns.”

“Pretty colors, right,” Tathan said with a
raised eyebrow.

Liselle came to Vevin’s rescue. “Do you have
something against pretty colors, Cousin? We could leave you here
while the rest of us go visit Rainbow Caverns,” she suggested
archly.

“No, no. I love pretty colors. Let’s
definitely visit Rainbow Caverns,” Tathan said with a roll of his
eyes. “I don’t suppose it’s on the way to save the princess?”

“If the princess is in Alluu, yes,” Liselle
replied. “If she isn’t then I really have no idea whether it is or
not. What we
have
learned is that Alluu is definitely where
we would be able to find information, if it’s available.” She
looked around again to see if anyone was listening. “A jeweler I
spoke to told me there is a fortress in Alluu where only Rojuun go.
It’s possible the princess could be kept there.”

When Liselle mentioned the jeweler, she
touched the new necklace she wore. “That’s a very nice necklace,
and did I see earrings earlier when we were in the infirmary?”
Tathan pushed hair away from her ear.

She smiled and showed the earrings off, then
the necklace. “Vevin bought them for me. He paid all the gems
Mother Tree gave us,” she told him.

Tathan stopped in his tracks, choking on
that information. Vevin began laughing wildly, not even trying to
keep a straight face. Liselle hit him in the arm. Sir Danth threw
his head back in laughter as well.

Tathan put hands on hips and glared at them
while tapping his foot. He did not look amused. When they settled
down, he asked, “How much?”

Vevin abruptly stopped laughing. He stared
Tathan down. “I paid as much as I wished to pay for them, Tathan.
That will have to be good enough for you.” It wasn’t an answer
Tathan expected and he didn’t know how to respond, standing there
nonplussed. “I will decide how much I wish to spend on my mate.
You’ll just have to accept that,” Vevin declared with swirling
eyes.

Tathan stepped forward until they were face
to face. “At the moment I accept that Liselle is in love with you
and you with her.” He brought a finger up to Vevin’s chin. “But if
you ever hurt her, I’ll kill you, dragon or not.” It was a stupid
statement that could get him shredded, but Tathan truly meant
it.

“Good!” Vevin said with a happy smile.

“Good?” Tathan asked in disbelief, taking a
step back. “What do you mean good?”

“Not many people would threaten to kill a
dragon to protect someone. It makes me really happy you would do
that to protect Liselle,” he said, doing a happy dance. “Don’t
worry. I won’t ever hurt her. I’ll sacrifice my own life to protect
her.”

Tathan knew instantly that Vevin spoke the
truth. Suddenly, he threw himself forward and gave Vevin a hug.
Vevin hugged him back and they smacked each other on the back
enthusiastically. It didn’t last long, just enough for them to
understand that they supported each other.

They both grinned like fools. Sir Danth just
stood there staring at them as though they had lost their minds.
Liselle had her arms crossed. Her nose was wrinkled in
disbelief.

“You two are so weird!” Liselle threw her
arms up in the air and stomped off toward the inn.

They spent the rest of that day and night at
the inn. Tathan and Liselle both needed extra rest. The only thing
Tathan went out for was a new pair of shoes. They weren’t as good
as his previous pair, which had been specially made for silent
movement, but they would do.

Before the sun rose the next morning, the
party was on their way to the Cavern Road. The reddish-brown face
of the mountain was sloped at a steep angle with a huge opening
that had been widened and reinforced by Rojuun after the city was
built.

Inside the mountain was a massive cavern,
the ceiling a good twenty levels above them. A small river flowed
through on its way to Trohiin Lake. Sounds of people and a merchant
train, which had entered the cave in front of them, echoed from the
high ceiling.

A number of buildings lined the walls while
the rest of the cavern was park areas with walkways and bridges
crossing the river. There were plants and animals in roped off
areas, a mixture of upper cavern wildlife mixed with surface
wildlife for people to view. It created a strong smell that was
only partially relieved by ventilation shafts in the ceiling.

The companions moved toward a large tunnel
on the other side of the cavern. Human guards directed by a Rojuun
supervisor were examining a wagon train coming out of the caverns.
The wagons were long and thin. Sir Danth had learned that wagons
were checked for plants and animals from the caverns, which were
not allowed above ground as it could kill them. The Rojuun didn’t
want to upset the natural balance of things by having flora and
fauna smuggled in either direction.

A human administrator sat behind a desk to
the right of the tunnel. Sir Danth led them to that desk and they
gave him the passes. He looked them over and asked, “What is your
purpose in the caverns?” The man was polite, but businesslike.

Tathan answered for them, giving a response
they had discussed in advance. “We’re looking to travel to the
Kingdom of Iynath. The Rojuun are nice, but we want to get out of
the caverns and back under the sun. Regrettably there isn’t any way
to get there except through the Cavern Road.” Tathan slumped his
shoulders as though it was a burden to make the journey.