Authors: Usman Ijaz
He had heard many a folk back home say that
Arcadians were a queer bunch, always smiling to your face, while plotting your
death. While it wasn’t exactly like that, Connor noticed that many people did
indeed hide their frustration and bitterness behind false smiles and bows. It
was a wonder that those at whom the smiles and bows were directed at did not
seem to be aware of the animosity that hung in the air.
I suppose they
become accustomed to it after a while
, he thought.
The buildings, he noticed, were quite irregular
from what he was used to as well. They were tall white structures that looked
to be much lengthier than they were wide. Wooden frames clung to the outside of
the walls, as though keeping them in place, though Connor thought they were
meant to be simply decorative. The slate roofs dipped forward at a sharp angle
and ended abruptly at the rear.
In a city, one even as small as Lacon appeared
to be, all these changes and more came together in one place. For Connor it was
as though he had stepped into another world completely.
“You didn’t expect the outside world to be the
same, did you?” Alexis asked him once Connor voiced his opinion.
It
was
foolish for him to be surprised by
the glaring changes all around him, Connor supposed, but he’d never expected
the world outside of Grandal to be so different. They were still on Cahrad
after all.
“If you think this is fascinating, your eyes
would pop out of your head if you ever visited Naban,” Leah said to him.
“You’ve been to the north continent?” Connor
asked in wonder.
“No,” Leah admitted. “But I have heard much
about it.”
They entered the city with a thick flood of
people through one of the main streets. Having ridden since sunrise, Connor
found himself eagerly looking forward to the promise of a good night’s sleep in
a decent bed. Most nights they simply camped by the side of the road.
Leah led them to an inn called The Lioness. They
collected their saddlebags and blanket rolls and handed their mounts to the two
stablehands that appeared. Inside the common room the air smelled of burning
incense. This late in the evening many of the tables were crowded, yet hardly
anyone glanced away from the bard at the rear to note who had walked in. Connor
and Adrian followed Alexis as he found the innkeeper, a portly woman who called
herself mistress Kirpal.
“I do not have many rooms left to give away,”
she told them, “but ye can have one.”
Connor watched Alexis mull it over, glancing
once at Leah as though he mistrusted her. The two hadn’t said very much to one
another in days, he realized.
“All right,” Alexis said at last. “But it had
better have four beds.”
Mistress Kirpal’s gaze shifted from the
Legionnaire to Leah. “Are ye kin?”
“No.”
“Then why can ye not share a bed?” the round
innkeeper asked, amusement twinkling in her blue eyes.
Alexis looked indignant and annoyed at the
suggestion. Leah smiled at the scowl on his face. Connor’s face went crimson as
he realized what the innkeeper was suggesting.
“Four beds,” Alexis repeated.
“All right, lad, if ye will. But if ye ask me--”
“Enough, mistress Kirpal,” the Legionnaire broke
in sternly.
The innkeeper bowed slightly. “I’ll have the
extra beds dragged in, if ye will wait. In the mean time, I suppose ye will be
wanting to wash?”
They followed a serving boy up the stairs and
into a room that Connor thought would be hard pressed to hold four beds. There
they stacked their belongings in a corner and left for the baths behind the
inn. Connor and Adrian and Alexis entered one misty chamber, while Leah
ventured into another meant for women.
A little while spent soaking in the hot baths
seemed to release all the tension in Connor’s muscles, and he could see the
same relaxation spreading over his companions. When they finished, the three
dried themselves off and put on a change of shirts. The change of clothes had
been purchased once they realized how faded and grimy their other wear had
become. In the hall Alexis stopped a maid and asked her if she would wash their
clothes for a silver pence. She agreed and took their small bundle away, with
the promise to deliver it to their room in the morning.
They took seat at one of the few remaining
tables and ordered a simple meal. At Connor’s suggestion, Alexis reluctantly
ordered for Leah as well.
“We’ll be leaving Leah behind in the morning,”
Alexis told them.
Connor stared at him in confusion. “Why?”
“It puts us all in too much danger, Connor,”
Alexis explained. “And Leah perhaps more so. As it is, she can leave us and escape
any harm, but if any who are after us think that she is traveling with us, then
their intentions will include her as well.”
His words made sense, but Connor still felt as
though they were betraying a friend. He nodded reluctantly.
Leah joined them just as the meal was being
served, her dark hair falling to her shoulders damply, and an herbal smell floating
about her. She smiled as she joined them. “Well, the extra cots have been
dragged into our room. You cannot even take a step in there, now.”
They listened to the bard at the rear, an old
man with tufts of white hair who looked as though he would very much like to
sit down.
“Why didn’t you offer to perform?” Connor asked
Leah. There was less pain now when he spoke, but his throat was still sore.
At
least it doesn’t feel as though I’m trying to breathe through a reed
.
“I am too tired, Connor. If I attempted to play
right now it would hardly be any good, although I am certain I could still do
better than what we are listening to. He is butchering every song!”
The rest of their meal passed in relative
silence. Connor stole sideway glances at his cousin as he ate. Adrian’s
experience in Asgar still seemed to haunt him, even though it was many days
past now. Adrian watched the bard, but Connor wondered if he saw the common
room or heard the music at all. His eyes seemed to bore into some other world.
Watching him, Connor felt a strong wave of sympathy for his cousin. For the
first time he wondered at how alone Adrian must feel. Every time someone looked
towards their table, Adrian ducked his eyes almost instinctively, as though the
habit had become ingrained. Their crossing from Mareth into Arcadia had been
filled with anxiety and fear for them all. Now that they had left Mareth, the
company’s guard had fallen a bit once they realized that many here believed the
rumors from the south to be false or lies. But the nervous worry was now a part
of Adrian. Connor saw it clearly, and it hurt him deeply to know that he could
offer little comfort to his cousin. It also hurt him to know that much of the
worry in Adrian’s eyes was for him and Alexis and Leah. Adrian would blame
himself if anything befell any of them. The boy he had left Port Hope with had disappeared,
it seemed, replaced with this worried shell that always seemed to be
contemplating some great vice on the verge of understanding.
Connor lay awake long into the night, any
thoughts of peaceful sleep having fled, and wondered what could be eating away
at Adrian. He questioned this journey they were on. There should be more than
simply three of them to venture into the Ruins. Perhaps once they reached Gale
they could enlist the Prince’s help, he thought. Perhaps then none of them
would have to travel into the Ruins, but instead an army would set out. None of
them ... but Adrian.
He fell asleep feeling miserable.
2
Connor awoke early the next morning, as he had
grown accustomed to while traveling on the road. He immediately noted Leah and
Alexis's empty beds as he went to the wash basin and washed his face. He
dressed in the garb the maid had washed, careful to wrap the scarf around the
healing bruise from the hanging. He thought it must look odd for him to be
wearing a scarf in such warm weather, but he was certain the sight of the scar
would be remembered more. He left the room, deciding that Adrian could use the
extra few minutes of sleep; he looked so tired of late.
He found Alexis sitting in the common room,
breaking his fast on buttered bread and fruit. Connor took a seat before the
Legionnaire. "I thought you said we were going to leave Leah behind"
Alexis frowned as he said, "It's hard to
leave someone when they’re the first to rise. Damn her, she must have foreseen
it."
"Where is she now?"
"In the stables, packing her gear."
Alexis stopped a serving boy and ordered some food for him as well. Alexis's
intent gaze met Connor's. "How are you feeling, Connor?"
Connor eased the scarf around his throat.
"Better than I was before."
"Does it still pain you?"
"Yes, but a little less every day now, it
seems."
"That's good."
The boy brought back a small platter of buttered
bread, a small wedge of cheese and some fresh fruit. Connor picked up the
cheese, and then stopped and looked to the Legionnaire. "Alexis, are we
going to gain help once we reach Gale? I was thinking about it last night. We
can’t be the only ones to attempt a journey such as this, if the risks are as
great as you say."
For a long time Alexis simply stared at him, his
dark hair hanging around his face. "I hope so, Connor. You’re right. This
is too large a task for our shoulders to bear. I hope so." He stood up
then and left the common room and turned for the stables.
Connor ate in silence. He didn’t feel hungry at
all now, but he knew his body needed the nourishment. He mulled over Alexis's
words, and realized what a pillar of strength the man had become in their small
company. If he was filled with doubt ...
then what are the rest of us to do?
He left half his food untouched as he stood up
abruptly and headed for the stables. As he entered, he saw Leah cinching her
straps, and Alexis checking the horses' hooves and shaking his head.
"Good morning, Connor," Leah said as
she smiled at him.
Connor returned her smile and said, "Good
morning." As he headed past her towards Alexis, he realized that he was
glad they wouldn’t be leaving her behind. He couldn’t imagine how dreary these
past few days would have been without her company.
"That trip cross country didn't do the
horse's shoes much good," Alexis said as Connor approached. "Most of
them are worn. Only Michael's horse seems to be in any fit condition to travel.
We'll have to replace them before we set out."
Connor noted the stricken look that passed over
Alexis's face at Michael's name, like a cloud passing over the sun, and thought
that perhaps Adrian wasn’t the only one who blamed himself for others' fates.
"Do you have enough coin?"
"Just barely," Alexis said. "Is
Adrian still asleep?" Connor nodded. "Let him sleep a while longer
then, but you remain here while I take the horses to the blacksmith up the
street.''
"All right."
Alexis handed the reins to Michael's horse to
Connor as he led the other two out of the stables and up the street. Connor
stood there for a moment, staring at the place where the Legionnaire had been,
and then turned and led the horse back to its stall. As he threw some hay in
for the horse, he realized how much he longed to be back in his father's
stables and doing these simple chores. He shook his head of the thought,
knowing how useless it was to long for what was leagues away, and headed
towards Leah. She stood leaning against the wall outside tuning her harp.
Connor hunkered down beside her in the cool shade and waited for Alexis to
return.
"What is it that you do in Grandal?"
she asked him after a while.
Connor glanced at her and then returned to
watching for the Legionnaire's return. "My father owns an inn. I worked in
the stables, along with Adrian."
"Quite the fascinating life, indeed."
Connor smiled. "And what did you do before
becoming a bard?"
"Ah, but to tell you that would mean
telling you my whole life's tale, and I do not think you have the patience for
that. However, I will attempt to sum it up for you. My father owns his own
land, and my mother is a weaver. I suppose they expected me to follow in her
trade, but I refused. I did not want to spend the rest of my life living such a
dull existence. At last, they agreed to buy me an apprenticeship with a bard.
And here I am today."
"Have you traveled far?"
"As far as Xian Azura."
"Is it different there than here?"
"Oh, Connor. Every place is
different."
Connor smiled at her banter. As the wait grew,
he wondered why any sane person would want to accompany them, well aware of the
danger. He asked as much of Leah.
"My answer is the same as before: I see a
tale in the making here. And just as every flower arrangement is made around
one flower, I believe this tale to center around you three."
"But do you know that Adrian is ...."
"An Ascillian?” She asked. She seemed to be
examining how she felt about that. “Well, after the rumors in Sune how could I
not believe it. And I have looked into his eyes. But it does not matter to me.
I am not one of those irrational fools who lay their troubles on others. I like
to believe I was raised better than that."