ROAD TO CORDIA (14 page)

     Crazily she still wanted to believe him, but how could she?

     “You were going to sell the children.” She was almost crying.

     Suddenly an arm came around from behind, gripping her tightly against a man’s body. He put his hand on her left breast and gave it a gentle squeeze. “A nice little tit,” he said.

     “Let me go.” She jerked against his hold but he didn’t seem to notice.

     “I’ll gives ya four hundred Queens for the lot,” he offered O’Keeven. As he spoke he shifted his hand to her other breast and gave it a squeeze.

     It was all too much for Ja'Nil. “Nooo!” she howled and turned into a fighting, frenzied freak-out.

     Sa’Ari woke up and looked around. “What?”

     The man’s hold on Ja'Nil became rough. “Quiet down ya little bitch or I’ll belt ya.” This only added power to Ja’Nil’s frenzy.

     “What in the Seventh Hell is that?” said the man who thought Ja'Nil was too skinny. He was looking behind Ja'Nil and her captor into the darkness. O’Keeven and the man holding her turned to look. Ja'Nil took advantage of their distraction to bend her head and take a big, deep bite out of the forearm of the man holding her. He let go of her with a curse, practically throwing her away. She just missed landing in the fire.

     But nobody was paying attention to her. Sa’Ari was screaming, the men were cursing, and there was a terrible howl as a gigantic wolf came charging out of the darkness straight at the men. They scattered, but he didn’t swerve. He fastened his jaws around the neck of the man who had been fondling Ja'Nil and bore him to the ground.

     The man screamed just once, and then made a gurgling sound. He flailed his arms and legs before suddenly going limp. The wolf dropped him. There was blood and gore on his muzzle. His eyes were a burning yellow.

     The two horses were making horrified whinnying sounds. The second man grabbed hold of their bridles in an attempt to keep them from breaking free. “For the Lord’s sake,” he yelled at O’Keeven, “keep it away from me. Kill it.”

     He had good reason to yell. The wolf was heading for him. One of the horses broke loose and ran for its life. Realizing he couldn’t control the other one, the man simply jumped on the horse and gave him his head. The wolf went after them.

     Unfortunately,  O’Keeven remained.

      “Well that was effective,” he said, looking after the fleeing man and wolf.

     “What was?” said Ja'Nil, who was still lying on the ground, only inches away from the dead man with the torn out throat.

     “Getting rid of those two,” answered O’Keeven, still looking after the wolf.

     Ja'Nil tore her fascinated eyes away from the red, glistening gore of the dead man’s throat. The handle of a knife was sticking out of a sheath in his boot. She reached down and pulled it free. When O’Keeven turned to look at her, she hid it under her leg.

     “I was trying my best, of course,”

     “You were trying to get rid of them?”

     “Of course. To protect you and the children. But to tell the truth and shame the Devil, I was running out of ideas.”

     “Shame the what?”    

     O’Keeven smiled down at her. “The Devil. Son of the High King of the Seven Hells. Haven’t the priests told you about the Devil?”

     “The priests tell us about the Lord and the Circle of Life,” she said.

     “They left out a rather important part of Circle theology. Doesn’t matter, despite the priests, sooner or later everyone learns about the Devil.”

     “You were going to sell us,” said Ja'Nil.

     “Nonsense, I was just pretending to be a bigger villain than they are. It was all a pretense.”

     “Well, this isn’t,” said Ja'Nil, standing up with the dead man’s knife in her hand. The blade pointed directly at O’Keeven heart.

     Instead of backing up in horror, he seemed amused. “What are you going to do with that?”

     “I’ll stab you if you don’t go away and leave us alone. I will.”

     “Really?”

     “Really!” Her voice quivered only a little.

     “Stab me unto death?” he asked, still smiling.

     “Go away, O’Keeven. Please.” Her hand was shaking, but she meant what she said.

     “See,” he said gently. “I told you that sooner or later, everyone meets the Devil.” He was looking slightly behind her and smiling.

     Ja'Nil risked a quick look over her shoulder. The only one in sight was Sa’Ari, sitting there, watching them with fearful eyes. Ja'Nil felt the knife wrenched from her hand. She turned to see O’Keeven, the knife now firmly in his hand. His other hand was raised in a fist, ready to strike her. He was still smiling. She cringed. He lowered his hand.

     Ja'Nil looked behind him. “Look out,” she warned.

     He laughed but did not turn around. “You’re a fast learner, sweetheart,” he said, then shrieked as the golden wolf leaped on his back.

     O’Keeven fell forward, but with an acrobat’s quickness, twisted just before he hit the ground. He raked upward with the knife. Blood flowed. He had stabbed the wolf in the foot. But after that, it was O’Keeven who did all the bleeding. The wolf clamped his jaws around O’Keeven’s knife hand and ripped. O’Keeven yelled and kicked out. He grabbed a rock with his other hand and socked the wolf in the jaw. Startled, the wolf let go of him. O’Keeven rolled and leapt to his feet. “Run!” he yelled at Ja'Nil and then took off himself. The wolf, growling ferociously, loped lazily after him.    

     Ja'Nil was left with three frightened children and one dead man.

     “Do we gotta monious him?” asked a crying Little Piet, frantically sucking on his right hand thumb as he pointed with his left hand at the dead man.

     “No!”

     “How’d he get dead?” asked Jari.

     Just then, the wolf sauntered back into the clearing.

     “Wolfy!” said a delighted Little Piet.

     “Jari, Little Piet, both of you get into the wagon,” Ja'Nil ordered. “Sa’Ari, you pull them.” Moving slowly, never taking her eyes off the wolf, Ja’Nil reached down and picked up the knife O’Keeven had dropped. Placing herself between the wolf and children, she held the knife ready to throw at the first sign of attack.

     The wolf eyed her and the knife, then yawned and leaned down to lick at the wound on his right hind foot. On his front foot, Ja'Nil saw, caught in the hair, was a golden ring. He seemed completely disinterested in them.

      It’s still dark,” Sa’Ari protested.

     “It will be light soon,” said Ja'Nil. “Just keep going in the same direction we were going before.” She wanted to get as far away from the camp as possible. She didn’t want the children to see the wolf feeding on the dead man. Just thinking about it made her sick. Still, better he eat a dead man than live children.

     Straining mightily, Sa’Ari managed to start the wagon going. Ja'Nil followed, walking backwards, knife ready. Her last sight of the wolf was of him sniffing at the dead body of the man he had killed.

CHAPTER 15

     They weren’t prisoners, they weren’t being sold like pieces of meat and most of all, speaking of meat, they weren’t a wolf’s dinner.

     By the time the sun came up, Little Piet was once again perched on her shoulders, while a sleepy Jari, half-sat, half-lay in the wagon that Ja'Nil pulled. Sa’Ari trudged doggedly alongside.

     “I’m hungry,” whined Little Piet, drumming the heels of his feet on Ja'Nil’s chest.

     “Don’t kick,” she said.

     “I’m tired, too,” admitted Sa’Ari.

     “So am I,” said Ja'Nil.

     “There’s a stream,” said Little Piet, who as usual could see further than the others from his high perch.

     The stream was shallow, but cold and fast moving, as it bubbled over the rocky streambed. All the children, including Ja'Nil, bathed their feet, washed their dusty faces, and drank deeply. Sa’Ari carefully divided the bread into four parts, giving Ja'Nil the largest. Ja'Nil thought about giving her share to the children, but that was plain silly. She was hungry, bigger than the others and doing more work. Anyway, she had already eaten it. The apples were long gone.

     “If Da were here, he’d catch us a gundi bird to eat,” said Jari.

     “Well, he’s not,” said Sa’Ari. “He’s in Cordia. We’re supposed to meet up with him,” she added for Ja'Nil‘s benefit.

     “At the Lady’s Keep?”

     “No, in Cordia.”

     “You’re supposed to go to all the way to Cordia?”

     “You gonna take us, Ja'Nil?” asked Jari.

     “I don’t even know where it is.”

     “Far and far aways,” said Little Piet, in a dramatically mysterious voice, probably imitating his da.

     “I thought you said you always go to the Lady’s Keep.”

     “We do. On our way to Cordia,” said Sa’Ari.

     “But what am I supposed to do with you? I can’t take you to Cordia.”

     “Ain’t nobody asking you to,” said Sa’Ari. “We can take care of ourselves.”

    
Of course you can.

* * *

     They reached the Keep just as the last rays of Little’un blessed the hilltops and darkened into night. Remembering the lethal hospitality of the Red Horse Clan, Ja'Nil would have preferred a little reconnoitering before presenting herself at the Keep’s iron bound gates. But their little troupe had been spotted almost immediately by the soldiers who stood guard duty.

     “Come on, hurry it along, iffin yas don’t wants to be locked out,” yelled one of the soldiers.

     Around them, men and women pushing and pulling carts, hefting bundles, carrying boxes and other miscellaneous objects, were hurrying to either enter or exit the Keep before the gates were closed and locked for the night. Sa’Ari, who was pulling Little Piet in the wagon, started running. Jari wiggled down from Ja'Nil’s shoulders and ran after her siblings. Ja'Nil hesitated.

     The Keep’s walls were both solid and high. Once inside, it might not be easy to get out again. The ironbound gates with a prominent Redbird insignia were so heavy that two strong men would be needed to open and close them. Did she want to trust herself to the Keep’s uncertain hospitality?

     At the gate, Sa’Ari hurried Jari through. She stopped and looked back at Ja'Nil. “Ya gotta come quick-like. They mean what they say. The gates stay locked through the night.” Slowly Ja'Nil started forward.

     “Come on, move it,” said one of the soldiers to Sa’Ari. But the sturdy little girl stood foursquare in the path of the closing gate looking back at Ja'Nil and refusing to move. In spite of her fear, Ja'Nil smiled. Sa’Ari was such a fierce little thing. She picked up her pace.  Sa’Ari, Little Piet, Jari and Ja’Nil entered the mysterious Lady’s Keep just as the gates clanged shut behind them.

     Other than as a destination, Ja'Nil had had no idea what a Keep was or what it would look like. The only structures she had ever seen were her small village, the No Name Inn, and the stone buildings of Lord No’Sila.

     She had no reference for the towers and stone turrets and bright flying flags; or for the huge courtyard crowded with small buildings that seemed to be a combination of shops and cottages and workrooms.    

     There was hustle and bustle and laughter, movement and chatter. The front door was wide open with people going in and out. Soldiers in colorful uniforms were visible and watchful, but seemed to have no mandate to harass or mistreat the people.

     As they weren’t immediately arrested and sentenced to death, she assumed that it would be safe to find some corner against the wall, and huddle there for the night. Maybe she could even scavenge up some food.

      The Mummer children were obviously not beset by Ja‘Nil‘s anxiety. They headed straight for the front door. Ja'Nil caught up with them and grabbed Sa’Ari’s shoulder. “Where are you going?”

     “To see the Lady,” Sa’Ari answered, shrugging off Ja'Nil’s hand. She pulled the wagon right up to the front steps and then made Little Piet get out and walk. With both children following, Sa’Ari pulled the now empty wagon up the steps and through the wide doors. Ja'Nil dithered a moment or two, and then followed.

CHAPTER 16

     They were in a huge hall. It made Lord No’Sila’s judgment room look like a hut. Not only was it both long and wide, it was high, higher than any inside area Ja'Nil had ever seen, and it was a busy place. Numerous groups of people were scattered around the room, but it was not crowded. Some of the people were involved in earnest conversations, some were laughing, flirting or just socializing. Servants were setting up tables, dragging benches across the room, shooing away pesky little dragons who were sticking their inquisitive little scaly noses into everything.

     “Are those dragons?”

     “Babies,” answered Sa’Ari. “The Lady asks the big ones to stay outside. She says they cause too much damage.” Just then, there was the sound of crockery breaking, a lot of crockery.

     “I tolds ya to stay away, now didn’ I,” yelled an outraged servant. She reached down and grabbed up a blue and purple sparkly little dragon with frightened eyes. The woman held the creature by one of its little wings and shook it.

     “Mar’Taia!” said a calm authoritative voice. “Put that child down.”

     “But my Lady,” protested the servant, still holding on to the dragon by its wing. “Look wha’ the little imp has gone and done.”

     As a fascinated Ja'Nil watched, the dragon, having gotten over its immediate fright, took matters into its own hands…mouth … er, breath. Inhaling a long whistling breath, it leaned close to the hand that was imprisoning it and let out just a teeny-weeny little flame. Mar’Taia dropped the creature like a – well, like a hot dragon and let out a blood curdling scream. “It burned me hand off. It burned me hand off.”

     The Lady swept across the room. “Please don’t overdo it, Mar’Taia. Obviously your hand has not been burned off. Let me see it. Nothing more than a pinprick; go and soak it in cold water and perhaps a dram of brandy will help it to heal. Tell Wine Master I authorize.”