Death Comes To All (Book 1) (28 page)

Walk,
don’t run. Walk, don’t run.

He
felt certain that at any moment an entire army of city guards would
come from around a corner and bar their way. More than half of the
soldiers that had been in the building had ran, so without a doubt
the alarm had to have been sounded. A part of him expected bells or
sirens to resound, but no such sound came. Even the guard who had
been at the door to the building had abandoned his post.

The
guard must be mobilizing as quietly as they can to avoid concerning
the citizens of the city,
he thought.

A
thousand questions raced through his mind. He had tried to question
Malik, but to no avail. "Now is not the time to talk about it,"
was the only answer he received.

Strangely,
he did not appear to have a drop of blood on him, though the thick,
black leather he wore would have made it difficult to see had any
existed. Ocean's Hand did not have any blood on it either. Roland
suspected that the blue light that had surrounded both himself and
the blade during the fight might have had something to do with it.

Malik,
on the other hand, seemed covered in gore. Perhaps that was more in
Roland's imagination than reality, but that was certainly the
impression that his high-strung mind was receiving.

Malik
had blood on him in a few splotches, all of it on the outside of his
clothing. Not a bit of it was his. He had cleaned his face and hands
in a small pool of water they had found in one of the open rooms they
passed on their way out. He had also helped himself to a dark robe he
had found there. The robe covered up the worst of the mess, at least
enough that Roland hoped no one on the street whom they might pass
would notice.

In
their hurry it didn't take them long at all to reach the inn.
Thankfully they didn't have an army of guards waiting for them, which
Roland had half suspected would be the case. Tammie greeted them as
they walked in.

"Hey
you two," she said happily. "Your friend is waiting for you
up in your room. Will you be coming down for dinner soon? I can save
the booth in the corner for you if you like." She stopped when
she noticed the state of Malik's clothing where it peeked out from
underneath the robe he was using to conceal it. "Oh my! What
happened? Are you alright?"

"Don't
worry,"Malik said quickly. "It's not my blood. We had a
small issue we had to deal with. We can't stay Tammie. People are
going to be looking for us soon. Roland, go upstairs and get Tara.
Don't tell her anything about what happened just yet. I'll do that
once we're gone."

Roland
hastened to comply. As much as he wanted to talk to Tammie himself,
he knew that they didn't have much time before the guards would be
after them. Malik would come up with something to tell the girl, he
knew. He wouldn't have known what to say to her.

Malik
waited until Roland was out of sight before continuing. "Listen
Tammie. These people who will be after us are going to try and learn
everything they can about us, and they aren't going to care much
about how they get it. There were enough customers here last night
that someone might talk about how much time you spent talking to
Roland. There's a chance that you might be in danger if you stayed
here."

The
girl nodded. Malik could see she was holding back a tear.

She’s
strong,
he thought.

He
was not certain whether her tear was for her own troubles or because
of the opportunity she was losing between her and Roland, but either
way she seemed determined to hold herself strong against it.

"I
don't have anywhere else to go," she whispered. Malik could hear
a slight quiver in her voice. She did remarkably well at disguising
it. Were he not so well versed at reading people he might not have
recognized it at all.

"You
should go home to your mother," Malik informed her. "Your
mother loves you, and I'm sure she misses you terribly. I'm sure you
still love her too. You should be able to return here in a few weeks.
I'm sure by then anyone investigating us will know that you were
nothing more than a friendly waitress who served us at the bar, and
won't trouble you further."

A
look of horror crossed her face, and this time she made no effort to
disguise it. "I can't go back there," she spat angrily,
slamming her small fist down onto the table next to her. One or two
of the few patrons in the room looked up at the sudden sound. "You
don't know what that bastard did to me. And the whole time my mother
denied everything I told her. She wouldn't believe me! I never want
to see her again, and I certainly don't want to see
him
!"

"Your
mother did believe you," Malik said softly. "He would have
killed her if she tried to leave him, and he practically owned the
police, so she had no one to turn to for help. I'm sure she was glad
you were able to get away, and might have even helped to protect you
from his wrath after you left. That could be why he didn't come after
you. I don't know for certain. It doesn't matter either way. He can
no longer hurt you, or your mother. You're free."

"What
do you mean?"

"I
know your mother's husband was a man named Thorin Sloan. He worked
for Bloodheart, as you are well aware. Bloodheart has a reason to
want me dead. I can't go into details right now, and it's probably
better for you if you didn't know them anyway, but suffice it to say
that he's had people looking for me for a very long time now. Sloan
tried to capture me, just a little while ago. I had no other choice
but to kill him, lest he kill me and Roland both."

"I
hope he died a painful, suffering death," she cursed.

"No
one could make him suffer as much as he deserved, but I can promise
you he died painfully. He was on his knees, begging for his life. It
will have to be enough. It would be best for you not to dwell on the
past, but instead look toward your future. Sloan has already taken
too much from you. Don't let him take your mother from you any
longer, nor you from her." Malik tried his best to keep his
voice low, hoping that none of the other people in the bar were able
to overhear.

Thankfully
the few who had looked over at Tammie's outburst had already gone
back to their drinks. Generally people who started drinking at this
time of the day were not the type to want to get involved in other
people's business. They would have enough worries of their own
already.

Tammie
nodded bravely. A single tear slid down her cheek, and this time
Malik felt certain it was a tear of joy. Not only was the beast who
had once tormented her dead and gone forever, but she could once
again be reunited with her mother, whom she had unwittingly cursed
for a misunderstanding.

"What
should I say to John and Silus?" she asked.

"Tell
them whatever you think is appropriate. You won't have to be gone
long. I don't know if that slime would have provided anything for
your mother in the event of his demise. Probably not. Perhaps you can
talk John into giving her a job here, or one of the businessmen they
have befriended might know of a place she can gain employment. I
don't think that it's something you'll need to worry about right away
in any case. She has some protections under the law, even laws as
unjust as those that persevere in these lands."

She’ll
be just fine,
Malik told himself.
Just as long as no one
realizes that Sloan was her stepfather anyway.

He
hoped no one would. If they did her association with Sloan's killer
might cause her all sorts of trouble, and neither he nor Roland were
likely to be anywhere close enough to help.

Tara
and Roland came back from the room, carrying all the supplies they
had stored there. Most of the things that Tara had bought for their
journey were being kept elsewhere, with the horse she had bought to
carry them. It was only their personal travel packs and the few
things Roland had bought that were in the room.

"Malik
told you we had to leave?" Roland asked Tammie, though he was
fairly certain of the answer. The girl nodded. "I'm sorry we
couldn't stay. I don't know how much he told you, but with everything
that happened, I'm not sure when we'll be able to come back."

"He
told me enough," she answered, the sadness evident in her eyes.
"He suggested I go home to see my mother for a while. She's
probably going to need me, and I know how much I've missed her."

"I
thought you couldn't go back?"

"Your
friend told me that you took care of that for me today. I can go home
now. I'll be back here someday soon, I'm sure. The next time you come
to the city you will probably be able to find me here. Thank you for
everything Roland."

Roland
looked questioningly at his companion, but as usual Malik stayed
mute. Whatever information he had to give would only be learned when
he thought it appropriate to tell them. He must have told Tammie
something that the others were not yet aware of, yet he felt she
needed to know. Roland would accept that decision for now, he
decided, but once they were safe again Malik would have much to
explain.

I
won’t take his silence forever.

"Don't
worry Roland. I'm sure we'll meet again someday," she said.
"Maybe then we'll have the chance to have that night we couldn't
have now." She kissed him lightly on the cheek, her lips barely
brushing his skin. "Don't forget me while you're away."

"I
don't know when I'll return, or even if I'll ever be able to return.
I don't know what will happen between now and then either. All I can
say for certain is that no matter what happens, I'll never forget
you," he promised.

"I
won't forget you either," she vowed.

Malik
tilted his head in a way that Roland understood as a clear sign. It
was time for them to leave.

Without
waiting for an answer Malik turned and headed out. Roland and Tara
followed without another word. There was nothing more to say to
Tammie, he knew. Anything more was just delaying the inevitable.

"Tara,
I'm going to need you to go back to the stables and try to purchase
an additional three horses. Pay whatever you need to. We don't have
time for you to haggle. We will need to travel as quickly as
possible. Leave by the south gate and start down southern trade road.
Roland and I will be leaving through the same crack in the wall that
we used to get into the city, and meet you a few miles down the road.
You know the campsite you should meet us at. No one knows about you
yet, so you shouldn't have any trouble going through the gate."

"What
happened to you two today?" Tara demanded.

"I
made a foolish, rookie mistake, and underestimated someone. I saw
something that I felt needed to be dealt with, and so I used my true
name to get myself in close to my target. I thought I would have to
deal with only a couple of guards, and I could eliminate the mark
without anyone left alive to pass on that I ever existed.

"I
was so stupid," Malik clenched his fists in frustration. "He
had over two dozen soldiers waiting for us, and there was more
besides. I don't have time to explain everything. The point is some
of those men escaped. I’m feel certain that word will soon
reach Bloodheart that I'm still alive and that I'm in his city. They
might even have a description of what Roland and I look like. We need
to get out of here now."

"I
know you've burned Bloodheart in the past, and a few other mages as
well, but that isn't a reason for him to want you dead so badly,"
Tara said, obviously confused about whatever was going on. Roland had
thought she would have known more than he did, but it seemed he was
wrong in that belief.

"It's
not who I am that he'll be after, but who I was. Look, we really
don't have time for me to explain right now."

"You'll
need to explain yourself later on," Tara informed Malik with a
turbulent look.

Roland
could tell that she was extremely angry with Malik, but she
understood the stakes even better than he did. He recalled the name
that Malik had said to the guard at the door. He called himself
Raiste Goldstone. Something about that name troubled Roland.
Something about it was disturbingly familiar, but with everything
that had happened so recently he was having trouble putting his
finger on it.

He
considered this more as he silently followed Malik, or Raiste it
would seem, through the city. Although they kept a fast pace, Roland
wished it could be faster. He would break into a run if he didn't
know without a doubt that it would cause them to be noticed by
everyone they passed.

Walk,
don’t run. Walk don’t run. People will take notice if you
run.

That
was already too likely to happen for his liking. People would stop
what they were doing to stare at him as he passed, eying Ocean's Hand
warily. For now it was only because a blade like his was so unusual
that it was a bit of a novelty. Soon, however, word would spread of
the battle with Sloan and his men, and the weapon he carried could
not be mistaken for anything else.

Considering
how dangerous it was to stand out for people like his companions, he
almost regretted purchasing such an outlandish weapon. Almost, but
not quite.