Authors: Usman Ijaz
“Yes, sir,” Adrian replied.
Connor stayed quiet and kept his eyes lowered,
lest the strangers take note of his dismay. Why could they not have gone to
some other inn? The city was full of them, and these men looked as though they
were only good for trouble. When he looked up the three men were walking away
towards the inn. Connor watched them, and thought it odd how the men preferred
to carry their own belongings rather than entrust it to Adrian or him.
Perhaps
they’re not that trusting.
He and Adrian led the horses inside, the pots
and pans making their dull and noisy music with every step the horses took.
“A copper penny,” Adrian said as he looked at
the coin in his hand. “I suppose it’s better than nothing.”
“What do you have there?” Quinn demanded.
“Nothing,” Connor replied quickly as Adrian
pocketed the penny.
“Hurry up and get on with it, then,” Quinn told
them, gesturing towards the horses.
“It’s really your duty,” Connor told him. “We’re
simply to help you, not do it for you. Where’s Jic?”
“How should I know?” Quinn demanded. “Get outta
my way.” He pushed past the boys and began to unsaddle the horses. He glared at
them. “Well, why don’t you
help
then?” He threw the saddle at Connor’s
feet and told him to stow it in the shed near the back, as though he didn’t
already know it.
That night, as they sat down to dinner, Connor
asked if anyone knew who the newcomers were.
“They didn’t say,” Anne said. “In fact they
didn’t say much of anything. They simply ordered their rooms, paid for them,
and went upstairs.”
“That’s strange,” Bertha muttered.
“They might be from the west,” suggested Heidi,
another of Nina’s serving girls. “They had the look of men who have been on the
road for a while.”
Anne shrugged, a slight movement that showed how
much importance she placed on the matter. Her eyes lit up as she looked from
Heidi to Bertha. “You will never guess who came by today. Janner Mallen! He
asked if he could accompany me to the Festival! But papa overheard him and ran
him off ... but I think he’ll be expecting to see me there!”
Connor winced as the girls launched into their
talk. He’d heard their talk since he was a child, and even now it perplexed
him. How could they talk with so much interest about nothing? For his part, he
couldn’t get the three men out of his mind. Every few moments the memory of
those cold impassive eyes would intrude on his thoughts, and he would think
that those eyes could watch him be devoured down to his soul and not show any
emotion at all.
Stone eyes
, he thought.
The girls talk was abruptly ended by a high,
mocking voice.
“Well, now, what do we have here?” Nina appeared
suddenly beside their table. “A couple of hens squawking away, huh?”
“Oh, do be quiet, Nina,” Anne said crossly.
Nina narrowed her eyes into slits as she
surveyed the girls. “You’ve all had too long a break. Hurry it up and get back
out there ... or must I need tell your father?” she asked Anne and Bertha.
Sullen silence rewarded her, and Nina gave a triumphant sniff as she turned
away, calling over her shoulder, “You girls hurry it up.” She stalked off,
yelling at one of the cooks to not let the buttermilk burn.
Connor watched her go, glad that she had hardly
noticed him and Adrian. He sat there and picked at his meal after the girls had
fled.
3
Adrian found himself in the stables, working to
clear away the grit and mud from Wind’s hooves. His uncle sometimes loaned out
his horses to visitors, some of whom preferred to tour the wild gardens of the
countryside. Sunlight poured into the large building from the open doors and
through the cracks in the walls, lighting the dust motes that swam lazily in
the air. Adrian worked methodically, scraping Wind’s hooves clean while running
one hand along the horse’s side to soothe him. Connor always rejected the duty,
claiming that he never could trust the animals, thus Adrian did it for the both
of them. He didn’t mind it much; in his view it was much better working with
the horses than it was mucking out the stalls.
He was alone at the moment, the two stablehands
having gone for a respite, and the only sound in the large wooden building was
the soft whickering of the animals, the rustling of the chickens at the rear,
and the sound of the scraper on steel-shod hooves.
He wished that Connor would hurry up and be back
with the taffy he had gone to buy. Then perhaps they could go down by the docks
once Quinn and Jic returned. They were done with their lessons with Anne and he
did not intend to let such a beautiful day go by whilst he labored in here.
Certainly being down by the docks took his mind off the infernal dreams. The
mere thought of the dreams was enough to bring them to the forefront of his
mind, and his eyes turned inward, his hands moving more from the familiarity of
the job rather than any order of his thoughts. He tried to shun the images that
came to him, like bubbles floating up through murky water, but it proved to be
useless. He saw the red road, soaked with blood, the sky that was painted with
the life of countless innocents. He saw the tree looming over the water and
witnessed the corpses swaying back and worth. He saw countless crimes being
done to him, watched through the windows of someone else’s eyes, and felt the
same helplessness creep up on him now that he felt in his dreams.
“The horse seems to like you.”
Adrian nearly fell backwards from stool he was
sitting on. He whirled around, dropping the horse’s hoof, and looked at one of
the three men that had shown up the previous day. It was the young one, and
even now he was smiling. He stood between the open doors, a shadow against the
brilliant day behind him.
“I didn’t mean to startle you,” said the man as
he stepped inside.
“You didn’t startle me,” Adrian said slowly. He
wondered how long the man had been there, and then wondered just old he was.
Looking at him, Adrian judged him to be no older than twenty.
“I simply came to check on the horses,” said the
young man as he walked over to where his companions’ and his mount were kept.
“The horses have been well taken care of,”
Adrian said defensively, annoyed that the man didn’t trust Connor and him to be
able to take good care of the animals.
“I see that.” The man walked to his sturdy brown
mare and began to pet the horse’s dark mane.
Adrian looked at his back for a few moments
before returning to his own work. The man came over and huddled down beside
him, looking at the hoof he was working on.
“Do you enjoy working with the animals?” he
asked, glancing at Adrian.
Adrian felt slightly uncomfortable with the man
so close but did not want to show it. “Sometimes.”
The other man continued watching as he pried out
a small rock wedged in the horseshoe. At last he said, “My name is Alexis
Marshall.”
“Adrian Moor,” Adrian said, and let go of the
horse’s hoof in order to extend a hand towards the man. Alexis looked at the
offered hand as though he had not expected it, then grinned and shook Adrian’s
hand with his own gloved one.
“Were there not two of you yesterday?”
“Yes, Connor and I, but he’s gone down to the
market.”
“Ah. I see,” Alexis said. It seemed to Adrian as
though he hesitated uncertainly over whether or not to pursue further conversation,
or the way a man will keep his quiet when thinking of what next to say. At last
Alexis stood. “Well, I can see that the horses are in good hands with you,
Adrian. I believe it’s time for me to leave you to your work and perhaps
explore some of your city.”
“All right,” Adrian said and stood up. Alexis
walked off into the bright light of the afternoon whistling a cheery tune.
Adrian watched him go and shook his head.
4
Alexis came to the stalls the next morning again
and Adrian introduced him to Connor. Adrian saddled his mare while he made
small talk about the fair weather and the din surrounding the markets, and
asked them what lay around the city. He ignored Jic, who watched their
conversation with a hungry look, as though hoping to be invited into their
talk. Adrian felt himself warming to Alexis, if for no other reason than that
he spoke to Connor and him as equals, not merely as boys.
Alexis bid them farewell and led his horse out,
to explore some of the outer edges of the city and to exercise the horse.
“Seems friendly enough,” Connor said as he
climbed to the hayloft. “Not much like his companions.”
Adrian nodded in silent assent. He did not think
much on Alexis or his companions. They were only passersby, like any others who
stayed at the Golden Lilly, to be forgotten the next week, if remembered that
long at all. He had his demons to contemplate, and they did not leave him much
room to dwell on idle matters. He had woken last night in the quiet hours of
the morning, from watching someone he did not know die slowly at the hands of
soldiers with steel. At first he had been unsure of who he was; were the
memories of his life or someone else’s? He had looked around the room wildly,
afraid to his deepest depth that he would not be able to recall who he was. The
sight of the familiar room and its stationary slowly brought him back to his
reality. He wept then, and promised himself that he would tell uncle Jon
everything, no matter if his uncle could help or not. But in the morning he
could not muster the determination again and shied from his uncle lest he
notice something was wrong.
So he tried to stay busy, and kept his thoughts
even from his cousin. There was no reason to burden Connor with any more of it.
By the time Alexis returned he and Connor were
sitting and playing at marbles. Adrian rose to take care of the horse but
Alexis waved him back down.
“At times I miss taking care of my own horse.”
Deprived of his duty and feeling a little
useless Adrian rejoined the game, thumbing his marble against the wall and
attempting to strike the larger marble in the center of the circle they had
drawn in the dirt and dust.
Alexis unsaddled his horse and fed and watered
him before stabling him. When he was done he came to stand over the boys, watching
them play with an amused smile.
“Do you want to play?” Connor asked at last.
Alexis grinned. “Why not?”
He joined in their game, turning out to be a
better player than Adrian had expected.
“I used to play often as a child,” he offered as
way of explanation.
“Where are you coming from?” Connor asked
curiously.
Alexis thumbed the marble against the wall. It
missed. “Carlstown.”
There was a clear interest in Connor’s voice as
he said, “That’s not too far from Grandal, is it?”
“No, not too far.”
“Have you ever been there? To Grandal.”
“I’ve passed through it a few times,” Alexis
said. “But I hardly find myself traveling west these days.”
“Why is that?”
“More profit to be had in the east. Especially
in Teihr and Arath Dar.”
“Arath Dar? Is it true the queen has a
Queensguard full of only women?”
Alexis shrugged. “I couldn’t tell you, I’ve
never been there.”
Connor continued questioning Alexis and their
conversation overrode the simple actions of the game. Adrian listened with only
half-an ear. It was fascinating to hear about the distant countries, but what
good did it do him? He tried to question his own lack of curiosity in their
talk, and thought:
Maybe it’s because Connor’s so bent on leaving this place
.
But that was only a part of the truth. The unspoken fear within him, he knew,
was that the dreams were stealing a part of his soul. How much longer before he
lost interest in all life around him and spent every waking moment gripped in
the clutches of the nightmares?
Connor and Alexis were sitting beside him, but
Adrian felt then as though he was in a world of his own, separated from them by
a thin membrane that was enough to keep him closed off with only his thoughts.
When he forced himself to join their world again, Connor was asking Alexis if
he was going to the Festival of Lights.
“Perhaps,” Alexis answered.
“You should come,” Connor said. “You’ll enjoy
it. There’ll be fireworks..”
Alexis smiled. “Well. Then I guess I’ve got no
choice, do I?”
They played a while longer, until the boys were
called away to saddle the horses of two departing men.
Alexis rose with them, brushing his hands on his
knees. “It was nice spending time with you two.” He turned to leave, and then
stopped and looked back at them. “How would you two like to join my friends and
I for dinner tonight?”
Adrian exchanged a surprised glance with Connor.
He opened his mouth to politely decline Alexis’s offer, and was cut off by
Connor.
“Sure. We’d love to.”