Chapter 6: Strangers in a Familiar Place

  Evening fell upon Hatisep in a golden glow. The sun finally released its grip on the sky and slipped below the horizon, leaving the world shrouded in a veil of darkness. In the final hour of light, Ari’El left the rundown building that was her home and made her way to the palace, but not before calling into the door, “I want the table fixed by the time I return tomorrow morning.”

  She ignored their response as she shut the door and walked down the empty street. There were few out, save some weary stragglers on their way home from a day of work. Those who were intent on enjoying their evenings were already in the drinking houses and the disreputable establishments. She halted and sighed as she approached the palace, staring at the sun-bleached walls and crumbling structure. She had never worked nights…she didn’t know what to expect.

  “Move out of the way!” called a voice and she registered the sound of wheels as she narrowly dodged the grain shipment heading for the side alley of the servant’s quarter. “Curse be it!” she hissed as she realized the cart was now blocking the alley way in which she needed to go. There was nothing for it, she would have to take the front entrance.

  She wrapped her headscarf around tightly as she moved toward the gate, swiftly and quietly to avoid the guard’s attention. They seemed more interested in something inside the gate and she blessed her fortunes when she entered without trouble. She glanced over to see what they were looking at and started in surprise. It was Avner, Haran and that woman they were with. Avner was talking animatedly to the guards by the palace pens, a neglected building with a wooden grate for a ceiling. She pulled away and rushed inside the palace, thankful that her brother was always good for a distraction.

  *

  Avner nodded to the guard. “The steward will be here at any moment and he will let you know that it is perfectly all right for us to enter this building. We will be spending the night.”

  “And until he does, you aren’t getting in.”

  “You know, this could be seen as an obstruction to us finding who is responsible. It might make you look suspicious.”

  The guard glanced nervously toward the palace. “I…well I…now wait...”

  “I am here,” puffed the steward, moving down the steps of the palace.

  “Ah, there you are! Will you tell this zealous guard we need to get in?”

  “Of course, let them through. They are allowed within.”

  The guard opened the door’s latch. As he did, the steward droned on for a moment more. “We will be back to check on your progress in the morning. In the meantime, we are locking you in for the night. Farewell. And don’t mind the flying raptors, they sometimes poke around the ceiling grate if they get hungry but they can’t get in.”

  Avner came to an abrupt halt in the doorway as he stepped in something squishy and the smell hit him. His gaze lifted as he groaned. “Oh n…you’ve got to be joking.”

  He turned around, bumping into Haran who had come up from behind, and he struggled to push him aside. “Excuse me, but I think your servants forgot to clean the stable today…”

  “See you tomorrow,” said the steward as the door closed and bolted.

  “Wh…hey!” Avner pounded at the door. “You never mentioned the interior was as badly kept as the exterior! Hello?!”

  He pushed the door and turned around to stare forlornly at the pen. It was a mess, crap all over the floor, ankle deep in some places where it pooled with water that had come through the ceiling. The last rainfall had left this place a muddy disaster and the smell was overpowering. “Oh, for Magog’s sake.”

  “Give me a boost, Haran,” said Suti, standing as close to the wall as she could.

  “What?”

  “I said lift me up!”

  “But…why?”

  She growled, “So I can reach the loft!”

  Haran lifted her, his face flushed as she made a grab for the edge of a loft and lifted herself up. She sat, perched up top like a colorful rooster gazing imperiously down at them. The two men stared up at her for a moment and she arched an eyebrow at them. “Now what?” asked Avner.

  “Now, I sit up here tonight with the dust piles and keep watch while you wade through the dung with the goats and sheep.”

  “What! But…you aren’t going to help?”

  “I am helping by keeping watch from above. You two find a spot to watch the sheep and goats till morning.”

  Avner and Haran gazed about at the mess before them with trepidation. Haran leaned over. “Do you see any dry spots?”

  Avner shook his head. “Not really…but if I do, I’m not sharing.”

  *

  Ari’El’s first duty was to light torches and oil lamps in the halls and private rooms of Rim-Sum. She discovered, with some dismay, that she was one of only two servants that had night duty and would be expected to respond to the needs of every person within the palace. No sooner had she lit the lamps, then she was running across the palace to bring Rim-Sum a snack which was taken in by the guards. After this, she was sent scurrying to the library to tidy up another mess. She was expected to simply clean the room and leave the written documents alone. After she finished sweeping the floor, she couldn’t resist and began to scan the works across the table, reading what had been taken off the diamond shaped racks.

  Scrolls on law, local custom, and sheets of old taxes were scattered about. She glanced at these with little interest and began to put them back into their proper places on the racks. Only when she reached for the last scroll did she stop to open it. It read, Local Legends: tales of monsters and Athelward. Her eyebrows raised in interest and, with a glance around, she sat upon a cushioned chair and began to read.

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  She had been at it for only a moment before the door opened with a groaning of hinges and a figure stepped into the dimly lit library. “Oh! Apologies, I will be going!” she said, not even looking at the figure who had entered as she placed the scroll in its proper place.

  “Not at all, I was just returning to continue up my research…which it seems you already cleaned up.”

  The voice was so familiar that she was startled to see the man who had rescued her from the confrontation with her brother in the courtyard. He was also only half dressed in his night clothing, a light sheer tunic along with his undergarment. He was staring at her, recognition dawning on his face. “I know you…from earlier…in the courtyard.”

  “My apologies, my lord. I will be on my way.”

  “No, stay. Did you put my research away?”

  “I…I did, I am so sorry my lord! If that was wrong…”

  He waved a hand at her dismissively. He checked where the scrolls and parchments were placed and his eyebrows raised higher. “They have been placed correctly. You can read?”

  “Yes…my lord.” She kept her gaze lowered.

  “Would you look at me?”

  She raised her eyes and could see him clearly now in the torchlight. He was taller than she had realized, with fair skin that seemed almost perfect, without blemish. His red hair was curly and his beard was a very neatly cropped trim. His eyes were light brown but suggested that, if out in the sun, they would shine gold. His body was tanned from days in the sun and his muscles well defined though his thin tunic. He had an air of authority that was unmistakable. He was nobility, quite likely one of the Great Sons as well.

  He moved closer to her, appearing to study her features as well. She tried not to quaver under his stare but she knew her eyes, moving from floor to walls to him, was not a good sign. “You do read…don’t you?”

  “I…I do. My lord.”

  “That is strange! A common servant knowing how to read! Or perhaps you are no common servant…where did you learn to read?”

  “I…my lord…” Ari’El felt her voice giving out as she trembled visibly now.

  “Don’t be frightened! I mean you no harm.”

  “Perhaps not now,” she said in an escape of breath.

  He tilted his head at her strange answer. “I have little interest in your past. If I had to guess, an educated woman working in a place like this, I would say…a noble fallen on hard times. Perhaps one who rebelled with the Independent Houses, though you couldn’t have been more than a young girl at the time. It doesn’t matter. I mean you no ill will, now or in the future…unless you mean to do me harm, of course.”

  She looked into his eyes as he smiled, putting a reassuring hand out to the chair. “Sit.”

  She obeyed. He sat opposite her and stared into her eyes. “Were you educated?”

  “Yes.”

  “How much?”

  “Quite rigorously,” she said with a nervous laugh. “If you knew my father, you would not doubt that statement. But that was…a long time ago.”

  “I understand. It is rare to find someone like yourself in the house of a minor lord.”

  “I think there are few people in my situation.”

  He smiled again, causing her to give an embarrassed smile in return. He nodded. “Perhaps that is true. But you may be surprised how many nobles went into hiding after the last war. This might be fortuitous in my case though…”

  He sat there, a ponderous expression upon his handsome face as he stared intently at Ari’El. She, in turn, blushed under his stare and stood abruptly. “If there is nothing else, my lord, I must be about my work.”

  “Stay a moment. I would ask a favor of you.”

  Her face paled and her body went rigid. “I don’t do…favors, my lord.”

  He stared at her, confused, then shook his head. “What? No! Not that favor! You have been living with these lowlifes too long. I mean I might be able to use your help in securing some information about Lord Rim-Sum.”

  Ari’El stood perplexed. “Me? What can I do?”

  “Well, you are capable of reading, and two eyes are better than one. If it is possible, I would like for you to help me sort through these endless stacks of tax forms, receipts, and countless other documents.”

  “What are you looking for?”

  “The usual; corruption and misuse of wealth.”

  She stared at him, incredulity on her face. “You need to look through documents to find that?”

  He chuckled. “Yes, well, I know it is obvious, but I need to build a case against him with physical proof I can bring back with me.”

  “And…he knows you are doing this?”

  “Of course! I am here on official business to audit his budget. He is very willing to accept coins from the United Houses but does very little in return for us. Just one case in many, I am afraid, of outsiders taking our wealth for their own means.”

  “Then why does the United Houses give them money? It would be better used to help their own people.”

  He smiled at her forward comment and she blushed again, looking down. “Why indeed. We would rather tax our citizens and help outsiders. If this is so, your opinion of the United Houses might be justified.”

  “The United Houses is a title. The individual people make the difference.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “Truer than either one of us realize. Yes…I think you will be of excellent help to me.”

  She bowed her head. “My apologies, my lord. I have work that I must attend to elsewhere. I wish I could help but…”

  He waved his hand again. “No matter. I can request you officially to help and they can’t refuse me. Besides, I don’t spend all night at this, I do sleep sometimes.”

  She stood perplexed yet again, unsure of how to proceed. He glanced over the shelves then back to her, nodding to the chair. “Well…sit.”

  She sat swiftly, shifting uncomfortably as he took a bundle of scrolls from a shelf and plopped them in front of her. “So…if he knows you are doing this, I am surprised he is taking it so…calmly.”

  “It's standard procedure. I bring my findings back to the capital and they are promptly ignored. He knows this well enough.”

  “Oh…I see. This seems rather pointless work then. Does it not, my lord?”

  “Oh, this part of it is. But I have another task that you will be working on for me instead. I am looking for particular transactions. That with our enemies, the rebellious group known as the Independents. If I can convict him of that…then maybe my visit won’t be for nothing.”

  Ari’El nodded. “So, this is what you would have me do? Search for incriminating evidence against him?”

  “If you would be so kind.”

  “And…what do I get from this?”

  Her face burned at such a bold move but she held firm as he turned to her, eyebrows raised in surprise. “Oh…shall we speak mercenary terms then?”

  “It seems only fair. After all, you are seeking to convict my employer which might leave me out of work and on the street.”

  He nodded. “I suppose that is only fair. Even people who work for criminals need to be paid. Is that what you are looking for? Money?”

  Her face reddened further as she stuttered. “I…I’m not sure.”

  He smiled at her awkward stutters. “Tell you what…you help me think of a compensation of some kind while you work.”

  He stood up and took another stack of scrolls, plopping them in her face and causing her to sneeze. “I suggest you start with these dates lady…what is your name?”

  “Ari’El.”

  “No family name?”

  “You didn’t care to know my past.”

  His eyes widened in mock shock and he spoke calmly. “I suppose that is true.”

  “And yours?”

  “Lord Kyros Wisdomseeker. I am delighted to meet you, Ari’El.”