Ebudae (9 page)

“Yes, Dearest,” Glav said with a slight bow.
The others nodded in agreement. Ebudae was impressed by the woman’s
power and finally understood why she was the leader.

“Now what shall we have for lunch?” Aphry
asked. The tension broke as though shackles had released the air
around them.

“I’ll buy again. I still have plenty of
coin,” Ebudae offered.

“Not a thing you should tell people so
easily,” Glav advised. “But since you offered, I shall relieve you
of the coin and fetch the food. Lizor will come with to carry it of
course.” He and the big man stood to leave. Ebudae gave Glav five
silver pieces, not knowing how much it would come to and not
caring. When they had gone, Juggles handed Ebudae the three balls
and began teaching her some more.

“I think we’ve lost them, Pelya,” Aphry said
in amusement.

“It looks like,” Pelya replied. “What should
we do now?”

“Would you like to learn how to dance? I can
show you some conservative dances if you’re interested.”

“I’d love that! A few of my aunts and uncles
have taught me some things, but I’m always willing to learn
more.”

Ebudae stopped paying attention because
Juggles was getting her to go faster and it took all of her
concentration.

***

Ebudae could handle five of the
multi-colored balls by the time dinner rolled around. The
performers had enough of Ebudae’s coin left from lunch that day and
dinner the night before to pay for their meal.

“I can’t believe how quickly you learned to
juggle,” Aphry said to her. “You have a natural talent for it.”

“I have long, dexterous fingers.” Ebudae
watched Juggles moving a coin through the fingers of one hand while
he ate with the other. He was always doing something with his
hands. “Oh! That reminds me. I have something for you, Juggles.”
She reached into one of her pouches.

“Something for me?” he asked, surprise
evident in his raspy voice.

“Yes. I thought of it when we were working
with the coins yesterday.” Ebudae took out a silver coin a bit
larger than the silver pieces that had paid for their meals, but
not as large as gold coins. “Here. This is for you.”

He took the coin and studied it for a
moment, examining the tree on the front and the building on the
back. He moved it between the fingers of both hands. “It’s very
nice.”

Ebudae was a little hurt that he didn’t
understand it. “It’s not a normal coin.”

He smiled appreciatively. “Thank you. I
don’t remember the last time someone gave me something. I will
cherish it.” It was the longest sentence any of them had heard him
say, evidenced by the looks of shock on everyone’s faces.

Ebudae sighed and slumped her shoulders.
Then she held out her hand. “Give.”

“Well, it seems as though it was a fleeting
memory,” Glav said with a smirk.

Juggles put the coin back in her hand
reluctantly, confused by her actions. Ebudae felt bad, but she had
to show him what the coin did so he could appreciate it. She
flipped it through her fingers a couple of times and suddenly two
coins appeared in her palm. The gasps of surprise pleased her. She
flipped it through both hands and four coins appeared. Then she
made two more appear. That was too much for her to handle and one
of them dropped to the pillow underneath. Instead of panicking, she
dropped another one onto it and the two coins melded into one. Then
she dropped the others onto it, making each one meld into the
original coin.

“How do you do that?” Juggles asked,
hesitantly touching the coin.

“It’s a magical coin of course,” Ebudae
explained. She picked it up and tossed it straight up into the air.
The coin separated into ten at the height of the throw and then
came back together until hitting her palm and merging into one.

“That has to be the best trick coin I’ve
ever seen,” Glav stated, leaning forward for a closer look.

“It’s not a trick coin, it’s a magical
coin,” Ebudae corrected. She looked at Juggles. “Would you like to
know the secret to making it work?”

He nodded slowly, his eyes wide.

“It has to be a key word,” Glav
suggested.

“Nope. It’s something entirely different,
better than a keyword.” She gave him a sly, secretive work. “And
I’m not telling you.” Ebudae grabbed Juggles’ sleeve and led him to
the other side of the tent behind the changing room.

To be on the safe side, she cast a spell to
prevent anyone from hearing the secret. Juggles’ eyes grew wide
when Ebudae’s hair blew softly around her face at the gathering and
releasing of energies.

“They can’t hear us now,” she explained.
Holding the coin in her hand, she pointed at the building side.
“This is the secret entrance. Before you begin, enter it with your
mind.” Ebudae flipped the coin to the tree side. “The branches are
how many times you can duplicate the coin, fourteen in all. Just
break off a branch each time you want a new one. You have to move
your mind fast, like when you’re juggling multiple objects.”

Juggles was dumfounded and stared at Ebudae
with his jaw open. She took his hand and put it in his palm. “You
can do it. I know you can,” she encouraged. He looked at the coin
for a moment before getting his concentration. Ebudae knew he
understood when surprise lit across his face. “There you go. Now
turn it over and start breaking off branches.”

He did so and the coin split into two,
causing him to jump. That made it meld back into one, so he focused
with renewed determination. By the time he reached the fifth coin,
sweat was flowing down his forehead and the muscles strained in his
neck. He let it go back to one with a gasp of breath. Then he began
to sway. Ebudae steadied him until he was able to focus again.
“Shall we go back to the others?”

When he nodded, Ebudae released the spell of
silence, causing the magical breeze to ruffle her hair again. They
stepped out from behind the screen only to see two frantic
newcomers talking to the group.

“He was probably high, but that doesn’t mean
that he deserves to die in the streets of Dralin,” a woman
complained to the others. Sparkling makeup was painted around her
eyes and across her temples like feathers. Red hair trailed down
her back across a fake, green wizard’s robe.

The brown-haired man with her also wore a
fake wizard’s robe covered by oversized runes sewn with gold
colored thread. Heavy makeup accentuated his eyes and lips. “Jovias
doesn’t just write our plays, he handles the money. If he doesn’t
pay for the loan on the stage before the show tomorrow, we’re all
out of jobs.

“It’s not just the money, the stage and the
plays. Jovias is a good man and a good friend. What are we going to
do, Aphry?” the woman asked. “He’s your brother. I know you don’t
get along, but . . .”

“We’ll help,” Glav told the woman, putting
his arm around Aphry’s waist. “Regardless of what’s happened
between them, Aphry doesn’t want him to suffer.” He saw Juggles and
Ebudae coming up. “Ahh, our juggling duo has arrived and they still
have their clothes on. Ebudae, this is Karla and Frank, actors who
work for Aphry’s brother Jovias.”

“Hello,” Ebudae said, blushing uncomfortably
at the suggestion of what might have happened behind the changing
curtain. Her stomach knotted in embarrassment and she ducked her
head to stare at the ground, missing the dagger glare Pelya shot
the man.

“Yeah, hi,” Karla said. She turned back to
Glav, dismissing the young woman with hardly a thought. “So what do
we do?”

Glav frowned in thought. “You said that
Tobias was going to get new costumes, but he never showed up at the
costume maker’s shop. That was yesterday.”

“Right. And he didn’t see his dealer. No one
else knows where he is either,” Frank said.

“Hmm . . .” Glav rubbed his chin while
considering. Everyone else either exchanged glances or stood
quietly in deep thought except for Pelya and Ebudae who exchanged
glances.

“Are you certain the shopkeeper wasn’t
lying?” Pelya asked.

Karla looked at her with a frown. “No. He
wouldn’t lie.”

“What about Jovias’ dealer? Perhaps he was
lying?”

“I don’t know,” Karla responded testily.
“This has nothing to do with you, little girl.”

“If you want our help, don’t talk to our
friend like that, Karla,” Aphry warned with narrowed eyes.

The actress took a step back in alarm. “Yeah
. . . I’m sorry. I’m just so worried and she . . .” Karla gestured
up and down at Pelya.

Pelya crossed her arms. “You don’t know
where he is. The first thing you need to do is question the last
person he saw, which was you. You wouldn’t be here asking for help
if you had harmed him.”

“Me?” Karla interrupted in outrage.

Pelya ignored the reaction. “The next thing
you do is ask the person he was going to see. You’ve already done
that, but you need to ask him again to see if there are any holes
in his story. You also need to find out if he has anything to
hide.”

The actors frowned, but they were listening.
“Go on,” Glav encouraged from Pelya’s side.

“If everything checks out there, you need to
talk to whoever else Jovias might have met with, such as the drug
dealer. You’ve already done that, but sometime deals go bad and
dealers aren’t known for being honest.”

“So we need to go talk to the costume maker
again?” Karla asked.

“Yes. We’ll ask a few extra questions in
order to look for inconsistencies.” Pelya headed toward the
exit.

“Wait a minute. Where are you going?” Aphry
asked.

Pelya turned. “To the costume maker’s. You
said it’s Joma’s Costumes in the Carnival Market District. We can
be there in a few minutes.”

“You are not going with us, young lady. I
won’t put you in danger.” Aphry said. She grabbed a pair of knives
from a small chest and put them on her belt. Ebudae felt Juggles
move from behind her to go to his own chest. Lizor grabbed a couple
of hand weights and put them on his belt. Then he grabbed a long
iron bar normally used to put weights on and leaned on it like a
staff. Glav just grinned and Ebudae figured he already had his
knives hidden.

Pelya didn’t say anything for a moment. She
looked at Ebudae who shrugged. They both loved adventure and it
sounded interesting, plus they both wanted to help their friends.
When the others were ready to go, Pelya stepped to the side and let
them out. Aphry and Juggles were the last two to go, motioning for
the girls to exit before them.

Once outside and into the courtyard in front
of the stage, Aphry hugged them each. “Take care of yourselves and
come back anytime.”

“We will,” Pelya assured her. She grabbed
Ebudae’s hand and started back toward home.

“We’re just going to leave?” Ebudae
whispered in disappointment. “I want to help and I know you do
too.”

“Shh. I bet we can get to that shop faster
than they can. I know what questions to ask.” Pelya looked back to
make sure they were out of sight. “Turn here and follow me. We’re
going to run.”

Ebudae grinned in exhilaration. They were
going to break some rules, do dangerous things and maybe even
rescue someone. When Pelya began running, Ebudae followed behind.
Her friend was stronger and faster than she was, but Ebudae was
extremely fit. Wizards had to be healthy and physically strong in
order to withstand the energies they channeled through their
bodies.

She cast a small spell while they ran, being
talented enough to do so. It gave them a small boost of endurance
so that they would be able to run longer and recover faster. Pelya
looked back and grinned. Throughout the journey, she constantly
glanced back to see that Ebudae hadn’t fallen behind. They had a
developed a system in the ruins below Dralin. The warrior always
led the way and paced herself to Ebudae’s speed. Navigating through
Carnival was difficult though and Ebudae began to wonder if they
would make it before the others.

The tents and stages gave way to food
vendors and hawkers in their open stalls. Those gave way to an
assortment of different sized buildings, both stone and wood. The
Carnival Market District was a small District that catered to
Carnies. It ranged from small shops to huge warehouses.

Within five minutes, they were at the
costume maker’s. They were breathing heavily, but not unduly so.
The heat caused them to sweat profusely though, a feeling that made
Ebudae uncomfortable. She would make it a point to take a bath as
soon as they got back to the manor.

They walked inside at a normal pace so as
not to spook anyone. A guard just inside the door looked them over
and then dismissed them as no threat. Customers looked through the
rows of costumes, but there were only a few shopping. Pelya went to
the main counter, ignored a tattooed woman leaning on the counter
and headed toward a fat, balding man in garish clothes. He was
brushing lint off a pair of striped leggings.

“Master Joma, I need to speak to you. It’s
urgent,” Pelya whispered harshly. She looked behind her as though
someone were chasing them. Ebudae played along and looked back
fearfully too.

“What? What is it?” The costume maker looked
towards the door and then back at the girls with concern written
across his face.

“They’re coming to get the information and
they’re going to bring a Guard unit if they don’t get answers,”
Pelya told him.

Joma became alarmed. “I don’t want to go to
jail. They’ll do bad things to me there. I’m too old to
survive.”

Ebudae wondered what the man had done that
he would instantly think he was going to jail. Pelya hadn’t said
who was coming or for what.

“You don’t have to,” Pelya told him. “They
know what you did, but they need information about something else
instead. They’ll go away if you give it to them.”