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Chapter Twenty-Eight

No one knew elves were even still alive until recently and now Beccia was over flowing with them. I hoped this one was Qianru’s advisor and not the homicidal maniac we’d seen in the ruins. And I really hoped those two weren’t the same person.

My delay had given Qianru enough time to catch up with me. “Taryn, darling, I don’t think you’ve met my assistant, Jovan.” She gave one of her scary laughs and touched his arm with a bit more affection than one probably should with an assistant. “Well, he’s so much more than that, aren’t you?” She looked up at him adoringly and he all but patted her on the head. She might be the one with the money, but he was the one calling the shots.

“I am pleased to make your acquaintance.” His accent was very heavy and he turned to Qianru and rattled off something very long and fluid sounding.

Which resulted in another terrifying laugh from Qianru. Once the disturbance she called a laugh had passed, she turned back to me.

“Oh, I am sorry, dear. Jovan hasn’t adapted well to the common tongue up here. In my homeland we speak something much different.”

He didn’t seem to have the bearing of our mysterious murderer from the ruins, and he had a noticeable limp, as if his left leg was shorter than his right. Not that someone couldn’t fake an accent and limp, but I just couldn’t see this older serious elf as a hot tempered murderer.

“You’re her elven expert?” When he nodded I smiled. “I would have liked you to meet Glorinal, but he seems to have vanished.”

Qianru patted Jovan’s arm again, but this time she left her hand there. “We did see him as we came in. I mentioned how much I wanted them to meet and Jovan spotted him before I did. The poor lamb looked exhausted and said something nearby had tapped his magic and he needed to rest. We came to see if we could help.” She looked expectantly as the crowd around the Dodgy Codger started to disperse.

“I think it’s all done.” I looked around to make sure Foxy wasn’t in sight. Glorinal had spelled Qianru after Foxy attacked her, but I didn’t know what seeing him again so soon might do to the spell. Luckily, Foxy had kept going when I’d stopped and I saw him go into the Shimmering Dewdrop. “You didn’t happen to see a dryad roaming around recently, did you?” It was a long shot, but dryads were rare enough here that if someone saw one, it was most likely Amara.

“That’s odd that you ask,” Qianru said as she tugged on Jovan’s sleeve. “You were just mentioning a dryad to me, weren’t you, dear? A long-lost tree, something like that.”

Jovan nodded slowly as if lost in thought. He had the look that all of his thoughts were deep and he treated them with the respect they deserved. Nothing rash or impulsive about this elf. A marked improvement from the two I already knew.

“Aye, I had heard tale there was a dryad living down here in town, meet her I did want.” The accent was still heavy and the words jumbled, but he was able to make himself understood.

“Do you mean Amara?” I asked, not that I knew of any other dryads in town. He just gave me a deep-thinking shrug. “I think she’s the only dryad around here, but she’s missing.”

I looked down the street. I really needed to go check on Foxy, but there was a chance Qianru and Jovan could help find Amara.

“Taryn, dear? You were saying you knew of a dryad who was missing?” Qianru said with the tone of a person who had probably asked the same question a number of times.

I shook my head and forced a smile. Hopefully she hadn’t been speaking to me too long.

“I’m sorry, yes. Her name is Amara, and she went missing this morning.” I had almost added that she worked at the Shimmering Dewdrop, but I was afraid Qianru would want to go there to investigate the scene before helping out.

“Looking for her, your friends?” Jovan’s grasp of the Beccian common language seemed to come and go, but again he still got the idea across.

“Yes, but we have too many places to look. She was last reported to be heading for the Market.” I let it dangle there.

Jovan gave a slow nod. “I would very much like speech with this dryad. Market search?”

Qianru had been frowning at the Dodgy Codger. At first I thought maybe she was aware of what had happened, but the wrinkling of her nose told me she was just annoyed at the clientele.

“That would be lovely, as long as it is away from here.” She spared a glance for the other pubs up and down the road. “This has to be the most disgusting street in this questionable city.” She flashed her smile at me. “No offense, dear.”

“I completely agree, this is not a good street for proper people to visit. At all. They should probably never come here.” I turned to Jovan. He was definitely quite a bit taller than either Alric or Glorinal. “If you could look for her at the market that would be wonderful. Everyone is very concerned.”

He gave a very slow and stately bow, then turned to Qianru and rattled off a good paragraph in their beautiful, yet unwieldy, language.

Whatever he said caused another laugh to burst out of Qianru. Jovan seemed like an interesting guy, not a scary madman, but his tendency to evoke horrifying laughs from Qianru was reason alone to steer clear of him.

“Yes, dear, I think she’d like that,” Qianru said, then turned to me. “We will go find your friend. I will send word to your home if we are successful.” With that, the two of them flounced away leaving me to wonder just who the “she” was Qianru mentioned and what she might or might not like. I really hoped it wasn’t me.

Which left me standing in the middle of the street. Unfortunately, with the mob’s disbursement, traffic had started again and a pony with a small peddlers’ cart was aiming right for me. Okay, not aiming for me, I just happened to be in his way.

I dodged aside and moved over to the walkway. As I passed a large bush on my way to the Shimmering Dewdrop I found myself suddenly joined by Alric, but the faeries were nowhere to be seen.

He dropped in beside me as if he’d been there all along and I narrowed my eyes as I turned to him. “They haven’t been able to cloak you while you’re moving, right? And where did they go?” If they could do that and no one told me, I was going to hurt someone.

The chuckle that responded sounded far more Alric than old man but the voice was old and feeble. “No, I don’t always need my magic to remain unseen. I crossed over to this side of the street when the crowd moved. I was hoping to hear that elf. I don’t recognize him, so he’s from another clan.” From the tone of his voice at the end he hadn’t been successful. Once the crowd broke up the three of us had been standing alone and clearly even Alric’s keen ears couldn’t cross the distance. “The girls said they had something to do. I thought it better not to ask.”

My smugness faded as I realized it might have been beneficial to me if he had heard Jovan. “He didn’t seem comfortable with common. He and Qianru spoke something else, do you guys have your own language?”

A series of what sounded like a bunch of consonants without vowels came out of Alric. It was sort of similar to what Jovan had said, but different enough that it wasn’t the same exact language—maybe an off-shoot.

“Close, but not the same.” I searched for how to explain the differences but it wasn’t something I could put into words. “His sounded more fluid but less pretty, if you know what I mean.”

Alric nodded as we approached the Shimmering Dewdrop. “There could be variations, all of the surviving clans separated and haven’t seen each other in over a thousand years. Or at least my clan hasn’t seen any others. Your patroness implied there were far more elves to the south, so maybe they have been in contact with each other.”

I swung open the door to the pub, then stopped. “Wait a minute, how did you know what she said?” There was no way he was anywhere near me and Qianru when she’d told me about her homeland.

“I told you, I have my ways.” He shrugged and slipped past me in a quick, yet still appearing enfeebled, manner.

I was about to demand an explanation. Who knew what else he’d been privy to if he was skulking around all over the place? But then I saw Foxy standing alone at the bar.

He was looking down, but mindlessly polishing that one mug he seemed to always have on hand. At our approach he quickly wiped his eyes and looked up with a forced smile.

“I’ve got the barmaids out to be looking around for Amara, but would be welcoming more eyes out there.” His eyes lingered on Alric questioningly and I made a quick check to make sure the pub was empty. For once, even the formerly wild faeries were missing.

We hadn’t discussed letting anyone else know about Alric and I wasn’t sure about the wisdom of it now. But Foxy needed to know that someone he really trusted, besides me, was trying to find Amara.

“Is anyone else here, Foxy?” I looked around, but there could be people in the kitchen I didn’t see.

“Just you, me, and your friend.”

At his words I stepped back and locked the door. “Show him who you are.”

Alric turned to me with a glare, but I shook him off. “He needs to know. And I have a feeling somehow that Amara is tied in to more than just good food coming to the Shimmering Dewdrop.” I held up my hand to hold off any comments from Foxy, but I kept my eyes on Alric.

I understood his concern. I had the same concern. Although now that he looked more like his human persona instead of a wanted elven high lord, I was a little more at ease with it.

Alric studied my face for a few moments, then he nodded and stood up from the old man crouch he’d assumed. “If you think so, I trust you.” There were a lot of layers under those simple words and a shiver went up my spine.

Then he removed his cloak and wraps and turned to face Foxy.

Who dropped the mug he’d been polishing.

“What magic be this! Ye was dead! They all said it.” Then he looked to me. “Except you.”

I nodded and nudged Alric forward.

“It really is me, Foxy. For reasons I will go into another time, no one can know I’m alive.” As long as no one really looked into his eyes too long, nor brushed back his now black hair to show his pointed ears, the make-up worked to keep him looking human.

Foxy came around from the bar, the tears clear on his face, but also a large dose of hope. “Ye came back!” He enveloped Alric in a hug that lifted him a good foot off the ground. Alric pounded Foxy’s back but I wasn’t sure if it was in male bonding or trying to breathe. Probably a bit of both.

“Ye can use your skills to find her!” The way he said skills made me think Foxy wasn’t sure if Alric had magic or not, and didn’t really care as long as it got Amara back.

The sympathetic look on Alric’s face as Foxy set him back on his feet touched me. “I can try, but I’m not as strong as I was before. I’ve been sick.” Even though I had wanted Foxy to know Alric was alive I was in complete agreement with him not knowing all of it. Besides, from what Alric had been showing me today he had skills that went beyond his lost magic.

“Lad, I know you will find her. I don’t know how you survived, or where ye been, but I am glad to have you back in Beccia. Now maybe ye can settle down.”

Alric just gave Foxy a smile. He didn’t mention he was only here because he had another artifact to hunt down and once he found it, he’d most likely vanish again.

Foxy took the smile as an agreement and led him to the bar. I followed along.

“Why don’t you tell me about everything that led up to her disappearance?” Alric had far more pressing things going on than a missing dryad, but he couldn’t not help Foxy.

“It be like this, she got up, kissed me good morning, then went downstairs. She always goes to the market first thing to get the best food. Usually one of the barmaids go with her, but today she told them they didn’t need to go as she was just going to pick up a few little things.”

He shrugged his massive shoulders with a look of such sorrow that my heart broke. “Then she didn’t come back.”

After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, I finally took the hit. “Foxy? Does she have belongings here?” I kept my tone light, but from Alric’s look he knew where I was going with it.

Thank goodness Foxy didn’t.

“Aye, she keeps some things here in the bar and then up in our rooms.” He took out a key and unlocked a cabinet behind him. I couldn’t see the whole thing, but it looked empty to me.

Foxy didn’t say anything, but turned and ran into the kitchen. Alric and I followed. I wasn’t sure what he was looking for, but whatever it was, it wasn’t there. Still silent, he turned up the stairs that led to the apartment above the pub.

The door was locked, a good idea in this neighborhood, but he had it opened in a flash. Alric and I stayed silent as we followed him through the small but neat rooms. Clearly, Amara had not been taken, but left him. The realization must be destroying Foxy as he frantically looked in a number of drawers and cabinets.

“All of her things are gone.” He slid open a few more drawers and Alric and I shared a look. “Someone took her and took all of her things!”

There was denial and then there was ‘in love’ denial.

Alric put a hand on his massive shoulder. “She probably took her things, Foxy.” His voice was low, like one would use around a skittish wild animal that might just rip you apart.

Foxy shook his head, but he was fighting with himself. “No, that can’t be it—someone made her take them. They got her to leave, maybe they threatened to hurt me if she didn’t….” His voice trailed off as he saw both of our faces.