The Vaetra Chronicles: Book 01 - Vaetra Unveiled (10 page)

Raleb had heard us enter and came over to the door to see what was happening. His eyes lit up when he saw me, but when he saw my expression, his face fell and he looked down at the floor. "It's bad news then."

"Yes, I'm sorry. We found Donal, but he was wounded in the ambush and didn't make it, in spite of a healer's care."

Raleb turned away from the door. He seemed to curl in on himself, and his shoulders heaved once. Then he straightened and took a few deep breaths. "Well, you earned your payment," he said hoarsely, and wiped his nose with a loud sniff. He turned back to me, his watery eyes giving testimony to his grief.

"Are you sure?" I asked gently. "It barely took a day and you paid me enough for two weeks."

He glared at me and said "Yeah, I'm sure. What would I do with the money in here anyway?" he waved his arms around and looked at the walls of his cell. Then he calmed again. "Sorry...it's not your fault. You did what I asked, so you earned the money."

I moved closer to the door and spoke more quietly so the guard would be less likely to overhear. "He was more than just your partner wasn't he?" I asked Raleb.

Raleb sighed and looked at me through the grate with watery eyes. "Yes, he was. My parents died from an illness when I was little. Donal took me in off the streets and shared his home. I'd have probably been found dead in an alley somewhere if not for him."

"So he was like a father to you," I concluded.

Raleb nodded and looked down. "He may not have set the best example, but he was all I had."

The guard was leaning against the door with his arms folded, watching our exchange. Then he heard noises coming from the guard room and opened the cell block door to see what was going on. He turned back to me and said, "You done? I have more people waiting." The implication was that he wasn't going to leave me in the cell block alone, which was fine. I didn't have anything more to tell Raleb.

"I need to go. I'm sorry about what happened to Donal and I hope things get better for you," I said.

"Yeah, sure. Thanks," he mumbled. I turned and walked back toward the guard.

Back in the guard room, Sulana and her shadow Daven had arrived. As I buckled my sword belt and stowed my dagger, Sulana came over to me. "How'd he take it?" she asked.

"Not well. The two of them were close," I said.

"Well, they chose a dangerous line of work. It was bound to catch up with them eventually," she said a little defensively.

I nodded back at her. "If they had just handed over the ring instead of running, you probably wouldn't even have detained them."

"Probably not," she affirmed.

I wasn't sure what else to say. This was probably the last time I'd see Sulana, but I couldn't think of a good way to say goodbye. The silence stretched between us.

Daven looked back and forth between us a couple of times and then spoke up. "Are we leaving the thief here after questioning? Or do you plan to take him with us?"

I took Daven's words as my cue to leave. They had a job to do, and mine was done. "Well, it was good working with you," I said lamely and held my hand out to Daven with a smile.

He smiled back at me and shook my hand. "You too."

I turned to Sulana and looked deeply into the blue eyes I was certain would haunt my thoughts for some time to come. "Good luck with your mission," I said, and held my hand out to her as well.

She shook my hand slowly. "Thanks for your help. And good luck with the inn and your Raven Company work."

We stopped shaking hands, but left them clasped together for a moment. We slowly let them drop apart. "Thanks," I said, and turned to go.

I opened the door to the courtyard and stopped. I half-turned back to them. "If you are ever in the area again, please come by the inn and look me up." My glance included both of them, but I think Daven knew who I was really inviting.

Sulana just nodded. Daven stepped a little closer to Sulana, waved at me, and said, "Okay, bye."

S
ulana watched Jaylan leave the room and close the door behind him. She wished he would reconsider the idea of exploring his skills with sorcery. It seemed like such a waste for him to let them lie dormant. There were so few sorcerers as it was. She shook her head with a reminder to herself that it was his decision to make.

Sulana turned to the prison guard. "We're here to question the thief we captured yesterday."

The guard looked them both over and nodded. "Right this way."

The guard led them into the cell block and down to Raleb's cell. He shouted through the grate, "Prisoner, back away from the door and get down on your knees." He watched while Raleb complied and then unlocked the heavy cell door. Keeping a close eye on Raleb, the guard let Sulana and Daven into the cell.

Sulana heard the guard close the door behind her, but focused her attention on Raleb. "You can sit," she said to him.

Raleb got off his knees and sat on his sleeping mat. Daven took a position between Raleb and Sulana, but out of their line of conversation. He pulled his dagger and kept it at the ready. Raleb looked up at him sullenly and then glared at Sulana.

"You're the one who killed Donal, aren't you?" he asked.

Sulana grimaced and looked down. "I'm sorry about what happened," she said. "I never meant to kill him. I just needed to get the ring back." She looked into Raleb's eyes. "You shouldn't have run."

Raleb snorted and shook his head. "Of course we ran! We had no idea who you were. You jumped us out of nowhere, and our customers don't appreciate it if we hand over our cargo at the first sign of trouble."

"Watch your tone," said Daven and he took a step toward Raleb. Raleb just raised his chin and sneered at Daven, daring him to do his worst.

Sulana waved Daven back. "Actually, it's your customer I wanted to ask about."

Raleb sighed and looked down at his hands. "Donal handled the negotiations, so there's not much I can tell you."

"Do you know who hired you to steal the ring?"

"I never heard his name. Donal seemed to think he was some kind of sorcerer," Raleb answered.

Sulana's eyes narrowed, and she leaned toward Raleb. "Are you sure of that?"

Raleb looked up at her. "No, I'm not sure. Like I said, Donal handled the negotiations."

"Okay, right." Sulana thought for a moment. "Where were you supposed to deliver it?" she asked.

"Some village near Delta," he answered. "Donal said something about it being on a peninsula, but never said the name."

Daven glanced over at Sulana. "Well, that should narrow things down quite a bit," he said.

Her eyes brightened, and she nodded at him. "I think it does. If memory serves, there's only one peninsula near Delta, and I doubt there's more than one village on it." She turned back to Raleb. "How did you know what to steal and where to find it?"

"Donal had a description of the ring, but he didn't know exactly where it would be hidden. Turns out it wasn't hidden at all. It was in a black lacquered box on a dresser, practically the first place I looked. I was in and out in about two minutes."

Daven chuckled, and Sulana smiled as well. "We'll have to tell the sorcerer who owns it to be more careful with it in the future," she said. "Thank you for cooperating."

Raleb shrugged in response. He looked back and forth between Sulana and Daven, his glance lingering on the drawn dagger with a doubtful frown. "What are you going to do with me now?" he asked.

Sulana's tone became serious. "You caused a lot of trouble, but we recovered the ring. We'll leave you in the hands of the local authorities. What the Governor decides to do with you is up to him. Unless you have a criminal history here in the Lakewoods Province, I doubt the punishment will be too severe."

Raleb nodded his understanding and shifted uncomfortably on his pallet. He then asked, "I'd like to know something. How did you know where to ambush us? Was it the ring? I know there's sorcery involved."

Sulana hesitated. She wouldn't normally divulge the kind of information he was asking about, but he had already guessed half of it, and she felt bad about what happened to Donal. She finally nodded. "Yes, I have a way to track the ring." Daven looked over at her with raised eyebrows, surprised she had answered honestly.

Raleb waited for her to continue, but shrugged when he saw that was all she was willing to tell him. "Thought it was something like that. I knew that contract would be trouble the day we took it, but the money was too good for Donal to pass up. And he's the one who used to tell 
me
 that money was no good if you were too dead to spend it."

Sulana stepped back to the cell door and rapped on it a couple of times to let the guard know they were ready to leave. The guard must have been standing outside the entire time because the door opened almost immediately.

Sulana turned back to Raleb and said, "I'm sorry about your partner and I hope you can find something better to do with your life, once you've served your time."

Raleb looked back at her with a grim expression. "Believe me, I've been trying to do that for a long time."

Sulana and Daven left the room, Daven sheathing his dagger as he did so. The guard stared openly at Sulana when they emerged, then shuddered and locked the cell door behind them. Sulana assumed he had heard the part about her being able to track the ring with sorcery.

Back in the guard room, Sulana turned to the guard as he hung the prison door key back on the wall. "What will his sentence be?" she asked.

The guard shrugged. "Probably a couple months of hard labor, since the merchandise was recovered and he's been cooperative with your investigation."

Sulana nodded and thanked him for his help. She and Daven went back outside where Talon and Barek waited with the horses. She climbed into her saddle and checked around for nearby listeners. Satisfied their conversation was not being overheard, she spoke quietly to the others. "We have a problem."

Barek responded, "What? We have the ring. We caught the thieves. Mission accomplished."

"The thieves were hired," Talon interjected.

"Exactly," Sulana said. "By a sorcerer." She let that sink in. "This was no random theft. The thieves were hired specifically to retrieve the ring. That means this sorcerer knows what it is and what it can do."

Barek asked, "Why does that matter? He didn't get the ring."

Sulana shook her head at Barek's single-mindedness. The mission had been to retrieve the ring, and they had done that. As far as Barek was concerned, the mission was a success and returning to the Archives was the only task remaining.

"Not this time, but he may try again," Talon concluded.

Sulana nodded at Talon. "That's what I'm thinking too. We need to find out what he's up to. We can start with the village that was going to be the delivery spot. We need to go now before this sorcerer figures out we've intercepted the ring and disappears."

Talon held up his hand. "Hold on there, Sulana. That investigation is way outside our mission objectives. Our mission was to retrieve the ring and return it to the Archives. Confronting some unknown sorcerer of unknown skill could jeopardize everything we've just accomplished."

Barek nodded with a satisfied smile on his face. "Yes. Finish this mission first. Then maybe we go after the sorcerer."

Seeing that Talon and Barek were resolute on the issue, she looked at Daven, who shrugged his shoulders and looked down. "What they say makes sense, Sulana, but you're in charge."

Sulana was anxious to get to the bottom of the theft, but knew that Talon was right. Although she was in charge of this mission, his experience and perspective were not to be taken lightly. It was the reason he had been chosen to be her second in command. He was more a mentor than underling. Normally, he would be the one in charge of this group, but she had earned this chance to prove her leadership, and she was thankful for his respectful support.

Sulana exhaled harshly in frustration. "Delaying the investigation may mean we lose our chance to catch up with the ringleader, but you're right. We have no idea what we're up against, and it wouldn't hurt to have stronger sorcery on our side."

Talon nodded at her, encouraging her line of thought. Barek continued to smile, and Daven watched her face, waiting for her decision.

Sulana narrowed her eyes in thought for a moment, and then took a deep breath. "Fine. Back to the Archives then." She turned her horse toward the gate and rode out of the Governor's Complex. The others followed in her wake.