Servants and Followers (The Legends of Arria, Volume 2) (27 page)

Janus smiled. “I swear it upon my
name.” He said.

Marlo gave Janus his assignment, as a
young woman dressed in servant’s clothes stood beside the masonry
columns of the arcade, watching them. Meanwhile, the entertainment
had finished and everyone was dismissed from the grand banquet hall
as Basha and his group got up, and wearily followed another servant
back to their rooms. Basha fell asleep that night, dreaming of
squid eyes and dancing pigs splattered with blood.

This time, Iibala rode a horse into
town, as she had learned her lesson from this morning. It was late
at night, not quite midnight but close, and it had been a long day
for her. She had spent most of it taking care of her father, who
was incoherent when awake, but still it seemed as if he had
recovered and would continue to recover from the wolves’ attack,
probably Black Wolves if her notion was correct. Now that he was
asleep for good, she had decided to seek out some information from
the one or two people who had been aware of everything that had
been going on with Basha from the start.

She dismounted her horse and tied it to
a post outside one of the buildings in town, and then set off down
the path into the forest towards the Old Man’s hut. She did not
know quite what she might find there, as it had been years since
she had gone down this path and seen the Old Man face-to-face, and
that had been for story-time at the fireside outside of his hut.
She had never gone inside of his hut, had never even gotten right
up close to it, as no one else did. But now she was considering
going right up to knock on his door, or to sneak around, and check
if he was awake or asleep. She had no real plan in mind, just to
confront him with what she knew and what had just happened with her
father. She wanted to ask him what his deal was, following Basha
around, what sort of secrets he had kept from them for all these
years, and what kind of danger Basha was in now. That was the gist
of it, and she hoped that she might get some answers out of the Old
Man, doubtful though it might be that he would be so obliging.

She slowed down as she got closer to
the hut, and edged towards the shadows beneath the trees, as she
did not want to alert the Old Man to her presence just yet. She
wanted to startle the Old Man before he startled her, let him be
discomfited and stunned for once in his long life.

The shutters of the window by the door
were cracked open, and Iibala peered in through the crack at the
dark interior, and spotted what she thought was the Old Man’s
sleeping form on his cot across the room. She decided to try going
in through the window, another chance to frighten him a lot.
Nervously, she pried open the shutters as best she could so that
they wouldn’t squeak much, and then had to lift herself up onto the
windowsill, and squeeze through the opening. She nearly fell over
his table, located next to the window, when she jumped down inside,
but she managed to miss the table and land on the floor
instead.

Iibala grinned, proud
of herself for being so bold and cunning, and started to creep
towards the Old Man, hoping to wake him up with a frightful scream
or a violent shake, when the shutters banged shut. Iibala spun
round, wondering if the wind would do her job for her, when
suddenly the pages of a book left on the desk started to curl at
the corners, and then flip over on their own. What a wind, she
thought, to be so strong, and yet she did not feel the breeze
passing through the room, just the shivering of her spine. A glow
seemed to fill the room then like a star bursting open, and even
though the lighting was wrong
,
too bright and too pure and too
large
,
she spun round then, almost hoping that it was the Old Man
lighting a candle to confront the trespasser in his hut.

Instead, a shimmering hole was before
her now, and as she looked, a figure strode through the hole, and
entered the hut before the light faded to a dim flicker. Iibala,
who had been blinded by the light, now was able to see a little bit
more clearly, and the woman with ash-blond hair frayed at the tips
and clinging to her scalp swung about to face her, thin lips pursed
in a determined frown with straight, rounded nostrils flaring.

And the woman was completely
see-through to Iibala, who could sense nothing but death now in
this room.

“
Who are you?” Iibala
asked the woman, stumbling back, “What are you?”

“
I am a ghost, a
spirit.” The female spirit said to Iibala, striding towards her, or
at least seeming to. “My name was Kala, and you are
trespassing
…
”

“
Kala? Basha’s
mother?” Iibala gasped.

“
How do you know my
son?” Kala stopped.

“
I sort of dated him
for awhile a few years ago.” Iibala said, her head still reeling
from the prospect of talking to
…

“
Iibala...” Kala
said, circling around her, peering at the young woman. “Yes, I
remember now that you have dated him. The Old Man did mention you
to me when he was concerned about Basha’s well-being
then
, but I
told him that you seemed safe enough. I knew that you would not be
able to keep Basha long. He would leave you, once you had betrayed
him.”

Iibala frowned, and
shook her head. “That was a mistake.” She said. “I’m sorry I
betrayed him, I
thought he was just a
boy.”

“
What are you doing
here?” Both Iibala and Kala asked each other at the same time. They
stopped, and stared at each other.

“
I am here now
because the Old Man summons me on occasion.” Kala said. “I step
across now much easier than I did the first time that I
tried
,
the night after I had died. I can now step across without any
help from anyone.”

“
That
is
…
”
Iibala started to say, finding it strange now to be talking to a
dead person crossing over between the worlds of the living and the
dead. No one was supposed to be able to do that! “You mean you’ve
been crossing over since just after Basha’s birth?” Iibala asked,
scrunching up her eyes to stare at Kala. “Then that
means
…
why do you do that?” She asked. “Is this because
of
…
is this why the Old Man watches out for Basha?”

“
It is.” Kala said,
staring at Iibala. “I watch over the Old Man now that he is
watching out for Basha, and
what are you
doing here?” Kala asked again.

“
I am here to ask the
Old Man some questions,” Iibala said, “Specifically related as to
why the Old Man is keeping such a close eye on Basha. I believe I
might know, or at least my father Sir Nickleby suspected
that
…
tell me, is it true that Basha is the tiger?”

Kala recoiled, appalled by Iibala’s
words. “Why? Why here, why now?”

“
Because my father
nearly died! He was attacked by--I believe Black Wolves. He’s safe
now, back home, but I want to know why, and if it is all worth it!”
Iibala cried.

“
It is, Iibala. Never
doubt that.” Kala said, still staring at Iibala. “I will tell you
the truth. The truth that you want to hear, and the truth that you
don’t want to hear, what you cannot imagine. This is my
story.”

Kala floated down, and spoke to Iibala
for well over an hour. As Iibala listened, eyes widening, the Old
Man pretended to sleep, having been disturbed by Iibala’s and
Kala’s arrivals. He knew that it all had to be said. Iibala needed
to know so that she could stop trying to cause trouble with them,
and Kala needed to speak, to let loose some of her secrets to
another person so that she could return to her rest undisturbed.
Iibala would keep the secret. The Old Man hoped that, with Nisa
gone, perhaps Iibala might take her place. With what he still had
to do to make certain things turned out all right, he hoped that
Iibala would be able to help.

Iibala returned home, both satisfied
with what Kala had to say, and bewildered enough not to ask any
more questions for now. When Sisila came to visit Iibala the next
day, and Mirari arrived to take care of Sir Nickleby, Iibala
finally decided it was time, and sat down with Sisila in the
parlor. Tea service and cakes were laid out before them on the
table as Iibala told Sisila what she knew or guessed of Basha’s
fate. Mirari had shut the door to Sir Nickleby’s room, and so
didn’t hear.

Sisila listened anxiously, and then was
silent for a moment before she laid down her tea cup and plate on
the table, got up, and went outside. Iibala watched her go, a
little worried, and then when she heard a scream of pain and agony,
she ran outside to comfort Sisila. She should have been more
careful, and not so careless with Sisila’s feelings. She hoped
things would turn out all right.

“
What is going on
here?” Mirari asked, rushing outside to see what was the
matter.

“
I told her the
truth.” Iibala grimaced, glancing down at Sisila with her arms
wrapped around her. “Now please help me.” Iibala said. With
Mirari’s assistance, they brought Sisila back inside into the
parlor. As Sisila wept on the couch, Iibala and Mirari stepped off
to the side.

The healer shook her head. “I don’t
understand this mess, but I’m half inclined to walk out of here,”
She muttered. She was almost afraid of what power and authority
Iibala wielded here, how she was able to reduce Sisila to
tears.

“
No, please don’t go,
Mirari.” Iibala said. “We need you.”

“
Why should I stay?
Why should I help you?” Mirari asked.

“
I didn’t want to do
this,” Iibala said, looking down, “But I might be inclined to talk
about your healing abilities.” She glanced up at Mirari.

“
N
o one would believe you.” Mirari
said, staring back at her.

“
They might,” Iibala
said, glancing up even further, “Especially if I were to show
capabilities of my own that would prove that I knew what I was
talking about.”

“
You would condemn
yourself along with me?” Mirari asked, gasping.

“
I would do that,
unless you help me. Sisila and my father need your help as well.
You’re a healer, are you not? Is that not what you are supposed to
do?”

“
I will help your
father, of course, but what about you and Sisila? What do you two
need help with?”

“
Magic.” Iibala
whispered, and Mirari recoiled at the mere mention of the word. “We
need you to teach us how to use it.” Iibala continued.

“
Use it? Whatever
for? I am not a teacher, I am
…
” Mirari started to
say.

“
I know, I know, but
any help you can give us will be most appreciated. We are
inexperienced and rudderless. Sisila has barely any knowledge at
all of what talent she possesses, and I am able to sense certain
things, but I cannot control my power. You will help us, won’t you?
Otherwise we will be forced to fend for ourselves, to control and
constrain our powers, and others might suffer for it. Magic can be
dangerous, to both the person who wields it and those around
them.”

“
All right, I will
try to teach you all what little I know, to keep you both safe and
protect others around you. But I expect a higher fee, Iibala, the
one that we’ve negotiated for your father’s treatment won’t cover
this activity.”

“
That’s fine, I
expect that.” Iibala said.

“
I also want you to
have a talk with Sisila about these lessons beforehand, to get her
prepared for what she is about to face, but not right
now.
” Mirari urged.
“
Let her
have a rest, recover from the shock. You’ve done enough damage with
whatever you’ve said to her
.”
She glared at the girl.
“
I am leaving town anyway for a
couple of days, to patrol the surrounding area and see if anyone
else needs my help right now. Your father is not going to be my
only patient while I am here
.
I am going to earn more money
and save lives.”

“
I understand that as
well,” Iibala said, slowly nodding, though she was disappointed.
She had hoped to get started as soon as possible in learning magic,
but it seemed that magic would have to wait for another
day.

Brigga hummed softly
to herself as she took out a basket full of washed linen and
clothes to hang out on the line and dry, but then she paused in the
middle of the stableyard, and glanced back towards the inn, up
towards a corner of the roofline. “Hello, Old Man.” She whispered
softly to herself.

The Old
Man jumped down onto the ground, and raised himself up to
face
and approach her.
“Hello, Brigga. It has been awhile since we last spoke. How are you
faring?”

“
I am
doing fairly well, considering the circumstances that I have had to
put up with working at the inn.” She sighed to herself as she
started to hang up clothes. “I have been trying to ingratiate
myself here, even going so far as to have an affair with Smidge,”
She cleared her throat for a moment.

“
Smidge? Why Smidge?” The Old Man
asked, stiffening slightly.

Brigga looked up at him and said, “Because, Old Man,
I fear that you have to watch out for him. You have suspected him
of being a Follower in the past, have you not?”