Suriax (4 page)

* * *

Kern poked his head in the back door of the
tavern. This time of night, most of the regular patrons were home.
Things were winding down, and the staff was beginning to clean up
and get ready for the next day. It didn’t take him long to find who
he was looking for. “Hey, Marce, can we talk a minute?”

Marcy smiled instantly and put down her
towel. “Sure.” Joining him outside, she leaned casually against the
building, looking at him expectantly. No doubt she thought he would
finally ask her out. She hinted at it often enough. If only that
were his reason for seeking her out tonight.

“I need you to look after my uncle for
awhile. I have some things I need to take care of, and I don’t know
how long I’ll be. I don’t want to leave him alone.”

“Where are you going?”

“That’s not important. Can you watch after
him for me?”

“Of course, but . . .”

“Thanks, Marce.” Kern kissed her quickly on
the cheek and dashed off before she could ask any other questions.
He didn’t have any answers to give her. He didn’t even know for
sure where he was going. He needed to go to Aleria, but he had no
idea what he would do when he arrived. He would just have to figure
that out along the way.

* * *

“You’re looking at this all wrong,” Eirae
looked across the table at his sister, Mirerien, and his brother,
Pielere. Morning sunlight streamed in through the window. They
normally didn’t make any rulings this early in the day, but they
agreed to make a special exception this time. Everyone was on edge.
With today the first day of the Suriaxian annual holiday, there
would be many tourists and over zealous participants bleeding over
into Aleria. Alerian’s were distrustful of Suriaxians already.
Every year, there was a spike in disputes, frustrations, and
lawbreakers to deal with. The three of them had their work cut out
of them. It was their job to maintain order in their kingdom. Of
course, there were other judges to handle smaller issues and day to
day infractions, but Eirae and his siblings preferred to be hands
on whenever possible. Many judges from their father’s time were
corrupt and gave verdicts based on bribes. They unseated all those
judges and began anew, training a new generation of law keepers.
Since those people had a great deal of power over the lives of
their citizens, the triplets felt a great deal of responsibility
for them. They reviewed every case personally and stepped in to
reverse any verdicts that did not comply a hundred percent with the
law. Their impartiality and dedication to the law earned them the
name The Three Lawgivers. Eirae was known as the Punisher. As his
name implied, he focused on the punishments given to lawbreakers.
He believed it was the fear of punishment that kept order and gave
the laws their strength. Pielere was called the Protector. He was
the most like their grandfather, believing that laws existed to
protect the citizens and should be fair and kind. He and Eirae
often disagreed on the subtleties of the law with Pielere more
likely to call for leniency in their punishments. Mirerien was the
mediator between them. She did not feel the law existed to protect
or punish anyone. Laws existed to maintain order. Either protection
or punishment could achieve that goal at any given time. She was
often referred to as the Keeper of Order. People from all over the
continent sought out their advice and ruling in difficult cases,
and they took their responsibilities very seriously.

“We can’t excuse unsanctioned trade with
Suriax,” Eirae continued. “The Farnesay gnomes were very explicit.
They only agreed to trade their drander meat with us because we
assured them we would not trade it to Suriax. If they find out that
merchant sold the meat to someone from Suriax, they will pull all
their trade agreements with us. We are just as responsible as her
for letting this happen.”

“But if she didn’t know he was from Suriax,”
Pielere argued.

“Exactly, if?”

“She didn’t know,” Mirerien said, speaking
for the first time.

Eirae sighed. There was no arguing with
Mirerien’s ability to read people. If she said the merchant was
telling the truth, it was true. “Be that as it may, if we let her
get away with an unsanctioned sale, others will follow. They will
all want to claim they didn’t know.”

Pielere flipped through their papers. “She’s
only had her license a few months. Mistakes at this point are not
to be unexpected.”

“She didn’t tax something the wrong amount,
or miscount inventory. This violates treaties and trade laws. All
merchants know the penalties for violating these laws are severe;
instantaneous loss of their merchant license, fines and possible
jail time.”

Mirerien stood and looked out the window, not
talking right away. Finally, she turned and looked at her brothers.
“There is no need revoke her general merchant license. Her mistake
was not made maliciously, and she is unlikely to purposefully
repeat it. If she is unable to accurately monitor who her customers
are and where her products are going, then we can take away her
license to trade restricted items. That cuts into her potential
profit, limiting her access to merchandise and forces her to face
the economic consequences of her carelessness. We charge her a
small fine to cover the paperwork fees and put her on a
probationary period where we set her up to be monitored. If she
doesn’t break any other laws or restrictions during that time, we
can revisit whether or not to reissue her full license.”

“Agreed,” Pielere nodded.

“Agreed,” Eirae added. “Now, on to the next
case.”

* * *

Maerishka took a deep breath and held it,
waiting for her attendant to pull the lacing tight on her dress.
“Which ones do you like for the banquet?” her event coordinator
asked, holding up two plates. One was white with a colorless
imprint of the royal crest on the center. It was elegant, but no
one would even notice the crest through the food. She pointed to
the second plate, blue with black edges. The door opened, and
Svanteese entered, looking less than thrilled to be there. She
dismissed everyone else, leaving the remainder of the banquet
decisions for later. She had more important matters to attend
to.

“What have you to report?”

“We know the identity of the guard who killed
Cornerbluff, but we have been unable to locate him as of yet. His
name is Kern Tygierrenon, and he lives in a small apartment with an
elderly uncle, but no one has seen him enter or leave the residence
all day. Nor has anyone seen him at the temple.”

“Bring in the uncle. I want to know where he
has gone.”

“Ma’am, as I mentioned, he is very old.”

“I’m sure there was a point in there
somewhere.” She stared him down, daring him to challenge her order.
Svanteese was an excellent assistant, but he was a little too soft
hearted at times for his own good. He would do well to toughen up
and lose the sentimentality. But he didn’t sugar coat things. He
told her the truth, regardless of the possible consequences to
himself. His honesty and loyalty were the main reasons she kept him
around.

“It is unlikely he would survive our usual
interrogation methods. If he dies, we won’t learn anything.”

She grinned. She knew why he was really
worried about killing the man. He was a softy when it came to the
elderly and children, a throwback to his days in Aleria, she
supposed. But he made his wishes relevant to her and gave her a
reason she could accept. As long as he did that, she could allow
him to keep his misguided beliefs and soft heart. “As long as you
get the information, I don’t care how you do it. Keep in mind, that
latitude will be gone if we have any reason to believe the uncle
has information that could pose a threat to me. Are we clear?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Bowing, he left her
chamber, allowing everyone else to return.

Without missing a beat, the event planner
pulled out a scroll. “For entertainment we have . . .”

Maerishka rolled her eyes, not even bothering
to listen to her options. They wouldn’t bring her anything
inappropriate, so which one she chose didn’t really matter.
Randomly picking the remaining details, she got rid of everyone as
quickly as possible. This was going to be a very long day.

* * *

Kern thanked the shopkeeper for his help and
hoisted his bag of supplies onto his back. He could be gone some
time, indefinitely if things went well, and he needed to prepare
for whatever he may encounter. That meant, food, new weapons and
magical items and a few healing potions for good measure.

“Kern,” a man in the black and blue uniform
of the Flame Guard flagged him down. A human with sandy brown hair,
Kern recognized him immediately. His name was Thomas. Most of the
guards worked alone the majority of the time, but they worked one
job together a few months back. The two of them hit it off from the
start, working well together. One of the few humans in the guard,
and a quick learner able to keep up with elves who boasted a
century or more of service under their belts, he was hard to
forget. Taking a seat at an outdoor café, they ordered drinks. The
man waited for the waitress to leave, then leaned forward, lowering
his tone.” I wanted to give you a heads up. I heard one of the
queen’s assistants asking about you this morning. He wanted to know
where you were. He didn’t say much but it didn’t sound like a
regular summons for a job. It sounded serious.”

Kern nodded, downing some of his drink. “That
happened faster than I thought. He must have talked to someone
after all. I must go.” He stood. “Thank you for the warning.”

Thomas followed after him, unwilling to let
it go at that. “So you are in trouble? Tell me what is going on.
Maybe I can help.”

“No, I don’t want to get you involved.”

“Kern,” he admonished. We are brothers. Let
me help you.”

Kern stopped. Members of the guard often
referred to each other as brothers, but it affected him differently
now, knowing he actually had brothers he never met. “There is one
thing you can do. I need to leave the city, and I need someone to
protect my uncle while I’m gone. I’ve already asked a friend to
watch him, but given this news, she may not be enough, and I don’t
want her to get hurt because of me either. If you could keep an eye
on them, make sure they stay safe until I can get back, it would
mean a lot to me.”

“I swear I will keep them safe until your
return.”

“Thank you.” Clasping arms, they bid each
other farewell.

* * *

“Kern!” Marcy ran through the crowds, bumping
into several people who couldn’t have cared less. They were too
busy drinking, dancing and rushing to see the parade to notice a
single elven woman running by. She counted herself lucky she saw
him in the midst of all this madness. After Kern left her last
night, she looked around everywhere for him, without success. Just
when she was about to give up and grab some lunch, she saw him
talking with another guardsman. Three blocks later, she still
couldn’t seem to catch up to him. He was moving like a man on a
mission, oblivious to all the chaos of the Solstice activities.
Down one of the side streets the first of the many Summer Solstice
parades was about to begin. It was the largest and most popular,
especially among tourists who tended to attend more of the early
week activities. In a few days, most of the tourists would give way
to the unbridled euphoria of what was for all intents and purposes
a patriotic and religious holiday. They celebrated the founding of
the city, but they also celebrated their patron god, Venerith.
Known as the Corrupter by those outside Suriax, Venerith was the
god whose teachings inspired Veritan in the creation of the
city.

Stumbling, Marcy barely avoided colliding
with a mid-air acrobat dangling from strips of blue and gold
fabric, suspended from tree limbs. Mumbling an apology she knew
went unheard, she finally caught sight of Kern again. So intent was
she on her quarry, she didn’t see the racing hound barreling toward
her. Lucky for her, Kern did. Running at full speed, he pushed her
out of the way. The hound ran past close enough for her to feel its
tail whip around. Its handlers ran frantically after it, yelling in
futility for him to stop. Her heart in her throat, she could feel
her pulse pounding through her veins. Then she felt Kern’s broad
chest pressed against her body and her pulse was pounding for a
different reason.

“Why did you follow me?” His voice was husky,
his lips next to her ear. Given the loudness of the crowd, it was
the only way to be heard without yelling.

“I was worried about you. The way you left, I
wasn’t sure if you planned on coming back.” Kern looked down. “You
don’t plan on coming back, do you?”

“I don’t know. The way things are going I
don’t know what is going to happen.”

“What’s going on? What aren’t you telling
me?”

Kern took a step back, letting his arms drop
from around her. “It’s complicated.”

“Does it have anything to do with that man
you killed yesterday? Is someone after you for it?”

“No, it’s nothing like that. I mean this all
kind of started with him, but there’s no one out for retribution .
. . that I know of.” Great, one more thing he could worry about.
Oh, well, if someone wanted him dead for Cornerbluff’s killing it
would most likely have happened before now. The man had no living
family, and from what Kern learned when tracking him down, most
people weren’t too fond of him. So, chances were, no one really
minded his death. But, he could be wrong. Nothing he could do about
it now. He’d deal with that if the situation arose.

“So, what is going on?”

Kern looked around briefly at the crowd. No
one appeared to be listening, but that didn’t mean someone couldn’t
overhear their conversation and tell the wrong people. “Come with
me.” Taking her arm, Kern led them through the throngs of merry
goers to a small park. Away from most of the shops and inns, there
weren’t many people on this side of town. Still, he felt a little
nervous at the prospect of discussing his current situation aloud,
as though speaking it would make it true, make it all real. Up
until now, a part of him still felt this was all a dream he would
soon wake up from. But were he to share his knowledge with someone
else, that delusion would be lost to him. No more pretending. He
would have to deal with the reality of who he was, never to return
to his former self.