Anilyia (15 page)

Sir Danth shook his head in disbelief at the
dragon. “Were the two of you able to gather any information?” he
asked, changing the subject.

Vevin and Liselle relayed the information
Talia had given them. Vevin became excited again when talking about
the Rainbow Caverns. Liselle showed Sir Danth her new jewelry and
he was suitably impressed when they told him about the bargain they
got.

When they were finished, Sir Danth relayed
what information he had learned. “I wasn’t certain where to start.
I’d been here in the merchant plaza before and thought it would be
wise to try elsewhere, so I headed toward the mountain side of the
city where I discovered similar information about the length of
time it will take to get to Alluu and across to the other side of
the mountains.” He gestured in the direction of the mountains that
rose above the city. “The entrance to the road is at the center of
the mountain face. There are two more thick walls protecting the
entrance should the Druids break through the outer wall of Puujan.
They are just as hopeless to defend as the outer wall would be with
no proper protections from siege equipment. To add to that, there
are houses built against the outside of them,” he said with a shake
of his head.

“A large cave just inside the mountain
houses an administration building. You have to check in there to
get a permit to travel.” The knight pulled papers out of a small
round case he kept on his belt. “I took the liberty of getting our
papers so we can go through whenever ready. He handed one to each
of them. Liselle looked at hers blankly.

Vevin read his and folded it back up. When
he looked at the way Liselle was holding hers, he put a gentle hand
on her arm. “Why didn’t you tell me that you couldn’t read,
darling? I’m willing to teach you.”

She looked up in surprise. “How’d you
know?”

He took the paper out of her grasp and
turned it right side up. Neither he nor the knight laughed when she
blushed in embarrassment. “I’ll teach you to read during our
travels if you like. There’s a lot of interesting information in
books.”

She smiled gratefully. “I’d like that. Thank
you so much.” She held up the letter. “This will let us travel
along the Cavern Road?”

“Yes, and to visit or work in cities along
the way. It does not allow us to go anywhere else within Rojuun
territory though,” the knight explained. “Each of us has our own
letter. You may keep yours or I will hold it if you wish.”

“I’ll keep yours with mine if you like,
dearest,” Vevin suggested.

Liselle considered before handing it to
Vevin. “Yes, that’ll work best I think. I’m with you almost
always.” He took the offered letter and put it with his, making
them both disappear. Liselle giggled when she realized they made a
soft poofing sound.

“While at the administration building, I
started some idle conversation with a few of the human guards.” Sir
Danth continued the story, putting the other two letters back in
the case. “Recently, Alluu has had a stronger presence of the
Rojuun army than before and most of the soldiers reside in the
stronghold your jeweler told you about. If I were to hide away a
kidnapped princess in my strongest keep, I would certainly position
more soldiers in it.”

“Oh yes, that makes sense, but I would think
that keeping her out of any city along the Cavern Road would be the
smart thing to do,” Vevin said with a frown.

“Yes it would. However, I don’t think the
Rojuun would expect rescue in their territory. They are
overconfident and naïve in many ways,” the knight pointed out. “I
don’t know for certain if that is where she is being kept, but it’s
a good place to start in my opinion.”

Vevin nodded in agreement. “Oh yes, most
definitely. Based on your information and ours, that would seem to
be the best place.”

Liselle nibbled on her lower lip as she
considered. “What about the stronghold? How would we get in if it’s
guarded?”

Vevin and Sir Danth looked at each other. It
was obvious neither of them had considered the question. The knight
spoke first. “Well, we just kill the guards and break down the
door. Once inside, we rescue the princess and take her home. Best
to keep it simple.”

“You really think it’s just that easy?” she
asked with raised eyebrow. “Even if we did make it in and rescue
the princess, they would try to stop us on the way out and every
step of the way back to Mayncal.” She looked around to make sure no
one was listening. People were still giving them an extremely wide
berth.

“Well, we’ll just have to fight our way out
too,” Vevin replied like that made all the sense in the world.

“The Rojuun are fierce warriors who won’t
give up easily and we’ll be in deep caves with at least two week’s
journey in either direction,” Liselle protested. “Getting to
Mayncal will take even longer, wherever it is. Until recently, I
hadn’t even heard the name of the kingdom.”

“Hmm, good point, Milady,” Sir Danth agreed.
“We shall have to find another way to get into the stronghold.”

“Aww, I was hoping for a chance to taste one
of the Rojuun,” Vevin said with a pouty expression.

The knight chuckled at that. “Perhaps one of
them might chance upon us during the rescue and you’ll have to eat
him so no evidence is left.”

“Oh, do you think so?” Vevin asked
excitedly. “That would be wonderful.”

Liselle rolled her eyes. “Don’t encourage
him, Sir Knight. There’ll be no eating of Rojuun or anyone else if
it can be avoided,” she chided.

“Of course. I’m just saying it might be
something that can’t be avoided,” the knight explained with a grin.
Liselle decided that if the knight had had a body, she would have
tweaked his cheek for that comment. “What is
your
recommendation for getting into the fortress should that be where
the princess is being kept, Milady?”

She thought about it for a moment. “My
recommendation is that we speak to Tathan and see what he’s
learned. I’m certain he’ll be able to come up with a plan for
breaking into the fortress.”

“Oh yes. Good idea. I think Tathan is good
at breaking into things,” Vevin said agreeably.

“I would dare to say so, Master Vevin. That
is a very useful bad habit to have in our little group,” Sir Danth
stated.

Liselle sighed. It wasn’t as big as one of
Sir Danth’s but an excellent effort nonetheless. “I think we should
finish eating then head back to the inn and wait for him. It’s
getting rather hot out here anyway.”

“Oh I like the heat, dearest. It warms my
scales and bones.”

“Yes, but I’m wilting and that’s even with
the shade the trees provide.” She pulled the neckline of her robe
away to get some air. It really was hot and Liselle was beginning
to sweat profusely. A bath sounded excellent. “Let’s finish eating
and then we’ll go.” Vevin nodded sadly while Sir Danth went back to
scanning the crowd in the hopes of finding a downtrodden
peasant.

Tathan was back in the area where he had
sensed an ambush during their last visit. Just because he had
walked away without figuring out who had been following him didn’t
mean he wasn’t dying of curiosity about it. His senses were right
more often than not and survival was a more useful instinct than
curiosity.

At the moment, he was standing at the corner
of an alley across from the building he had chosen not to enter. He
could see the alley entrance from where he stood. Beyond that were
the lakeside wall and the street he had walked down last time.

There had been no movement for the last two
hours since he arrived. Heat didn’t bother him too often and it
wasn’t anywhere near as bad as a summer in Dralin, but sweat was
starting to trickle down his back and he didn’t feel like dealing
with it. A part of him felt guilty for staring at what appeared to
be a vacant house rather than getting information about the
princess, but wanted to see what the rest of them would discover.
At least that’s the excuse he gave himself.

Tathan moved to the corner of the building
he had been casing and quickly climbed up to a small, foot-width
ledge where the floor of the second level was joined with the
walls. He was able to use that to get to the nearest window. After
a quick check to make certain no one was watching from below, he
maneuvered his knife to unlatch it. Then he pushed the window open
and slipped in quietly, moving immediately to the side of the
room.

Tathan crouched low with knife in hand,
remaining where he was until his vision adjusted to the darker
room. There was a good deal of light coming in from the window, so
it didn’t take long. Even though this house was vacant, a bed was
up against the wall that looked as if it had been used recently.
There was also trash around the room. Most of the empty houses in
Puujan had no furniture. Warehouses in the city contained basic
furnishings, which could be purchased with a home. The concept had
floored Tathan when he heard about it. Nobody had ever taken care
of citizens in such a way to Tathan’s knowledge.

He sniffed the air. An inhabited room
normally smelled of bodies, food and that sort of thing. There were
lingering odors, but nothing fresh. He guessed that whoever
inhabited it had been gone for at least a couple of days. Mixed
with that was another odor that seemed more animal than human.
There were also scratches on the wall whose origins he couldn’t
distinguish. Whoever lived here had some sort of creature with
them.

The door to the rest of the house was ajar.
Tathan moved to the edge of the opening and listened. He stayed
there for a good ten minutes. It was boring, but patience had saved
his life many times and he had all day if needed. The house was
quiet with the exception of a few flies and other insects going
about their business.

Tathan slid through the doorway and into a
short hall. To his left were a couple of rooms and to the right was
a stairway leading down. He checked the rooms, finding no signs of
habitation. Light shone from a window at the top of the stairs that
Tathan was sneaking toward. He paused just out of sight to see if
he could discern sound coming from below.

After hearing nothing, he moved to the
stairs and began heading down. They were made of stone like most of
the house. Tathan was grateful as stone rarely betrayed footsteps
the way an old wooden board would. He checked the stairs for wire
or loose stone on each step. Anyone who would set up an ambush
would likely set traps as well.

The bottom level was darker than the upper.
Dust motes drifted through dim light from the upstairs window while
the windows below were shuttered. To the left of the stairs was a
good-sized living room. On the far side of the room was a doorway
to what would most likely be the kitchen. Beyond that would be the
door to the alley where the ambush would have been.

The living room had a table with two chairs.
There were no carpets or wall hangings of any sort, but litter was
strewn across the floor. As his eyes adjusted to the dark, Tathan
realized that something was alive in the far corner, something
bigger than average.

The creature was facing the wall, curled up
in sleep from what Tathan could tell. It had dark black fur and
looked to be roughly the size of a small bear, though it had a
large, furry tail covering it like a blanket. There were scraps of
food around it along with pinecones, nuts, twigs and other items
from the forest and around the city.

Tathan stood there against the wall,
wondering what to do. He didn’t want to wake the creature, though
he was certain he could handle whatever it was. The problem was
that he had never seen a bear that looked quite like that.

The door to the kitchen opened and a woman
stepped through. She removed the hood of a black cloak from her
head, exposing ebony hair. “Steve? I sense someone here.” Her
beautiful voice resonated within the room, having an edge to it
that surprised Tathan. The woman was stunning. Dim light made it
hard to see her eyes, but he thought they might be green. Tathan
was intrigued.

Then the creature stood on its hind legs,
responding to the woman’s entrance. Tathan’s jaw dropped when he
realized that it was a black squirrel a little taller than him. The
woman and squirrel scanned the room. Tathan realized both their
eyes were dark green and looked exactly the same. It was
unnerving.

As a testament to his skill, the two didn’t
see him immediately even though he was completely exposed at the
bottom of the stairs. He watched as their eyes came to rest upon
him at exactly the same time. There was something extremely
unnatural about both of them. In the squirrel, it scared him. In
the woman, it enticed him and he found himself oddly attracted to
her.

In nature, Tathan had seen squirrels leap
through trees and chatter at him if they thought he would steal
their pinecones. It was sort of cute when they were small. It
wasn’t quite as cute when a human-sized one chattered loudly in a
booming voice before leaping straight at him.

If Tathan’s reaction had been just a little
slower as he jumped toward the stairs, he would have been dead when
the claws sliced through the air. The squirrel’s leap took it from
one side of the room to the next in the blink of an eye. It hit the
wall where Tathan had been standing. Even with Tathan’s reflexes,
the claws ripped through skin and muscle on his right side.

The squirrel didn’t expect to hit the wall
and shook its head. Tathan fell to his knees on the bottom step at
the shock of being cut. Injury was something he hadn’t experienced
in a long time. He could feel blood immediately begin to soak his
shirt and looked down to see that the claws had even cut through
his jacket. The jacket was not impenetrable but had been made with
magical threads that made it resistant to cutting, yet it hadn’t
even slowed the claws.