Authors: James R. Vernon
Well-respected? Everyone in Lurthalan knew her family now lived in the slums and treated her family as such. The man must be trying to insult her in a backhanded sort of way. Well, under normal circumstances that might be how the high and mighty spoke to each other, but no matter how much of a show Shane and Leya were putting on, Ezzy and Nolan had been forced here. Ezzy had had enough of being proper.
"Why are we really here?" Nolan gave a loud cough, but Ezzy ignored him. "You send your man to bring us here by force if needs be, flaunt your wealth and Taruun slave, and then continue to offer me backhanded compliments when you know how far my family has fallen. If you want a 'pleasant meal,' then I want some answers."
Shane stared at her, confusion painting his face. Leya, on the other hand, let out a laugh before speaking.
"I was told you were a straight forward woman, and I'm happy that the reports weren't exaggerated. I would have been disappointed if this meal had been a boring display of all of us trying to appear like we were best of friends while cutting into each other with our words. A meal with all of us tossing aside all of the formalities will be much more enjoyable. At least for me."
"You haven't answered my question."
"Fair enough, Esmerelda. Since you want to toss decorum and civility aside, I will give you a straight answer to your question. I had you brought here like a common prisoner for the simple fact that I wanted to meet you in person before I decided whether or not to have Bavian take you outside and kill you."
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
"Well," Ezzy replied, "that certainly is not what I expected to hear."
"Of course not," Shane said with a laugh. "Whoever expects to be told they might be killed? Other than those put to death ...and maybe soldiers or guards... I suppose...."
Leya put a gentle hand on her husband's shoulder, which quieted him as soon as he felt her touch. Their eyes met, and some warmth appeared in the woman's face. When she returned her gaze to Ezzy, however, that warmth was gone.
"You are a riddle. With as much as I know about the Hawkpurse families, which spans both before and after the Plague, I have never seen any mention of a family losing its status as a Hawkpurse. And for the Ciantar family to be the first to fall? When your family dissolved, I assumed the Ciantar name would disappear into obscurity. I believed that Drenks himself would have wiped your family from the land. This does not seem to be the case."
"What can I say, we Ciantar are hardy people."
"Something I already knew. To be given the duty of trading with those in the Deadlands speaks to your family's survivability. Even if that is where your father died."
Ezzy moved her hands underneath the table and clenched them into fists. "My father died because of the actions of one man. He turned those in the north against my father and his caravan."
"And now the one village in the Deadlands that traded with our realm has been reduced to ash. By some powerful creature, if you are to believe the reports. Is your mystery man responsible for this as well?"
"All I know for certain is the name of the man behind my father's death--Ean Sangrave--and I'm going to bring him in to face the justice of the temples."
"If you leave here alive."
"Yes."
"Interesting..."
"If I may say something..." Nolan tried to join the conversation but Leya's raised hand silenced him.
"You may not. Either Esmerelda will leave and I assume you with her, or she will be killed and you will be unemployed. At which point we will offer you the chance to work for us. Until then, you may sit, enjoy the food and drink, but otherwise you will remain silent unless asked a question. Don't try to interject your opinion again. Understood?"
Nolan's face went pale. Ezzy's immediate impulse was to defend her friend, but for once she decided to take Nolan's advice and keep her temper in check. A silence hung over the room for a moment, then Shane broke it with a giggle.
"Yes, yes, I'll ask her." Again he spoke to the air at his side. "No need to dance around with formalities now."
He returned his attention to Ezzy although his eyes did not seem to focus. What was wrong with the man?
"Esmerelda. What is it like being bonded to a Vilathos? I would imagine it's like having something make a home in your mind."
"Well... yes, it is similar to that." Not sure how else to respond, Ezzy took the opportunity to take a sip from the cup in front of her. It contained a deliciously spiced wine that tingled as it touched her tongue. Was the man just making conversation, or did ulterior motives prompt the question? Shane seemed disinterested in the conversation she was having with Leya. He also seemed to be a little off. Not crazy per say, but certainly eccentric. His wife wasn't interrupting him though, so maybe he was prying for information? Ezzy struggled to figure out what was going on, which gave Shane the opportunity to speak.
"That is so very strange. I can't even begin to imagine what that must be like." Again he turned to speak to his side. "What? Oh no, it's not the same. Plus, the Thaljori said I had too many holes in my mind to bond..."
"Husband," Leya interrupted, "we are getting off topic. I'm sure the topic of Vilathos can be discussed later."
"As you wish, my love. Dopa had just wanted me to ask--"
"Perhaps you should allow me to do the talking, while you and Dopa listen and try to figure out if our guest is lying."
Glancing around the room, Ezzy tried her best to find this Dopa fellow hiding nearby but found no one. She even tried looking underneath the table but didn't find even a hint of another person in the room. Letting her curiosity win out, she decided to just ask.
"Who is Dopa?"
"No one you need to concern--"
"Dopa is my most trusted advisor," Shane cut his wife off, leaning forward with an excited expression. "A magical creature that appeared from out of The Wall. He is wise and insightful, and the best part is that he is invisible!"
Bavian laughed. When Leya slowly turned to stare at the man, he instantly stopped laughing, looking as if he was about to wet himself. Ezzy glanced uneasily back to the beautiful Leya. What was it about her that made a psychopath like Bavian so afraid? It was as if everyone here was infected with madness.
"Shane, my love," Leya turned her attention back to her husband. "Remember, you were wanting to keep your advisor's presence a secret. Other people wouldn't approve of him. If they knew, you would be pressured to send him away. And we can't have that now, can we?"
The man sat back and began to pout. "I only told Esmerelda, and she is probably going to die soon. Where is the harm in that?"
"I...I mean, we... have yet to decide Esmerelda's fate. It's rude of you to say otherwise."
Shane rolled his eyes and then nodded. Ezzy watched as that warmth returned to Leya's face and she patted her husband's hand. The woman really did love him, despite his clear mental issues. Maybe she was crazy too. Glancing around, Ezzy tried to find something that might help her and Nolan escape. A cough from Leya brought her attention back to her host.
"As I was saying, I have some questions to ask you. The first one being, why are you here?"
"Because Bavian said you'd have us killed if we didn't come."
"Ah, that Bavian. He does enjoy his jokes. What I mean is, do I have your assurance that you're not here seeking your justice on anyone else besides this Ean fellow? And for that matter, why do you think he is here in Shade?"
"By 'anyone else,'" Ezzy stated, "you mean the Hawkpurses for their ill-treatment of my family after my father's death?"
Leya nodded.
"If I wanted revenge on everyone that may have been against my family, I'd need an army of Vilathos. But rest assured, all I care about, at the moment, is finding Ean."
"And you believe he is here?"
"No, but I think a man that might know where to find him is somewhere in your village."
"So you are not here to seek revenge on my family? For what happened to your family's empire and the destruction of your home?"
That caught Ezzy off-guard.
"Were you responsible for the destruction of our home?"
"No, but you know how the Hawkpurses plot and deceive. I had thought maybe one of the other houses had pointed you in our direction."
"The other houses won't even sell my family a scrap of bread. We have had to survive by buying from the more expensive free traders in Lurthalan. As far as I know, the other families would rather just see mine disappear into nothingness. Yours is the first to even acknowledge that I'm alive."
"I see..." Leya looked less than convinced.
"My only goal," Ezzy continued, "at the moment, is to find the man that caused my father's death. After he is brought to justice, then I'll focus on who kicked the legs out from under my already crippled family. If you are lying and were a part of that, then you have some time to make amends before I come after you."
"Bravo, girl!" Shane began to clap then noticed no one else was joining in and stopped.
"Such spirit," Leya said once her husband had grown quiet. "It's refreshing to see a woman take charge of her family's affairs. A pity your house has been brought so low."
"I'm tired of hearing--"
"Brought low, but not wiped out. You might raise your family out of the ashes one day, become a Hawkpurse again. Maybe you can even undo whatever your family did that made Drenks abandon you and return to the Hawkpurse ranks."
"Drenks has abandoned my family, so I've abandoned him. But make no mistake about it,
I
wil
l
bring my family's name back out of the mire."
"Fewer Hawkpurses around means a bigger slice of the trading pie for the rest of us. Still, I feel an affinity towards you. After all, somewhere down the line, we are kin. I would hate to see your family's name completely disappear."
"As would I."
"Well then, you have my...our family's support. Not with money or manpower, but you can see us as not your enemy, at least. Can we think of you in the same manner?"
"Was your family responsible for the destruction of my home?"
"No."
"Then I don't consider you my enemy."
"Excellent!" Shane interjected. "Then we can finally eat!"
He grabbed the closest serving tray and began shoveling the food onto his plate.
"So glad we don't have to kill you. Now we can talk of more pleasant things."
Ezzy let herself smile. As crazy as the man was, he was a jovial fellow. And Nolan certainly hadn't wasted any time. He had a mouthful of food and was cutting into a piece of meat. He paused for a moment when Ezzy's eyes met his, then shrugged and kept eating. Not wanting to appear rude, Ezzy picked up a thick cob of corn and took a bite. The buttery kernels overwhelmed her tastebuds with their sweetness.
"Now that we've removed some of the tension," Leya said. "Why don't you tell us who you're looking for that is supposed to point you in the direction of this Ean fellow?"
"Mmmph...a Saniteal..." Ezzy said, trying to talk and chew at the same time. "His name is Iacane."
"I've heard of him," Shane said. "Been in the village for almost a whole season."
"Do you know where?"
"No. I haven't needed his services."
"What my husband doesn't know," Leya said, "is that the Saniteal has gone missing recently. The home where he was staying reported that he hadn't returned one night, but his things are still there."
"Have you tried to find him?"
"No, it didn't seem important."
"A missing person in your village didn't seem important?"
"Why would--"
A loud boom interrupted her. Followed by another. The third shook the table and was followed by the sound of splintering wood. Leya made a motion with her hand and Bavian was on his way to the doors. Just as he reached them, they burst open, showering splinters everywhere. Bavian rolled backwards and was back on his feet in an instant. Everyone else was out of their chairs.
Shayua came storming through the entryway, a snarl on her lips.
"Shay, it's alright," Ezzy said, moving towards the woman. "This is just a bit of a misunderstanding. They handled us a little roughly but--"
The force of the larger woman backhanding Ezzy across the chest lifted her off her feet and tossed her to the side. She landed hard, her vision swimming as she tried to fight off unconsciousness. Struggling to rise, she watched as Shayua stalked towards Bavian.
"Want another lesson?" Bavian said.
He stood his ground, not seeming bothered by the towering woman. Shayua didn't respond. She walked right up to the man and started swinging. Bavian dodged the blows almost as easily as he had earlier in the day, but something was different with Shayua's attacks. They seemed more ferocious, more wild. There was no finesse as she swung again and again at the man.
"Enough fun," Bavian panted. "Time to put you down."
Ducking under a punch, he landed four quick blows to the woman's stomach. He might as well have been flicking her from what little reaction Shayua gave to the blows. She just continued swinging at the man.
It was then that Ezzy noticed the woman's eyes. The pupils and white of her eyes were gone, replaced with a dark blue color.
"Something's wrong with her! Look at her eyes!"
"Difficult to do," Bavian said as he dodged another blow, "while she is trying to kill me."
"Get her outside!"
Bavian ducked under another punch and sprinted for the door. Shayua was right on his heels. Once outside the room, he paused in front of the rail overlooking the entranceway. As Shayua charged at him, he leapt out of the way at the last moment. The bounty hunter didn't slow as she crashed through the railing and dropped from sight.
"I said get her outside," Ezzy screamed, running up to Bavian and what was left of the railing. "Not kill her."
"A minor fall would kill that beast? I was hoping I would get lucky and she would knock herself out." He pointed down to where Shayua was getting to her feet. "I'm never lucky."
"Just get her outside before she brings the house down around us," Leya said from the shattered doorway.