Jalia At Bay (Book 4) (23 page)

“What happened to your family, Hala?” Daniel asked gently.

“You two killed them all, all of the Taldon Clan, but us little ones. You burnt them alive,” Hala said between gulps. She couldn’t stop the tears flowing as she spoke. “Jalia killed my father with her knife, because he tried to stop her,” she said. She then added with a touch of pride, “He wasn’t a good man, but he wasn’t a stupid one either.”

“Why did we kill the Taldon’s?”

“Adon Taldon, the heir to Mallon, robbed you. You killed him getting your things back and my family tried to take revenge.”

“Thank you. Go and sit down.”

Hala, still sobbing, walked away and sat where she had been before.

Daniel kept his eyes focused on Cara, as he had during the entire conversation with Hala.

“The way I see it, Jalia, once we have killed these two, we go back down the road and kill the other Marin’s. We have no choice, since Don is much too stupid to yield.”

“I yield!” Don shouted, cutting the skin of his throat against Jalia’s sword in his eagerness to be heard. “I yield!”

Daniel dropped his sword from Cara’s throat. She stared at him with a look of horror on her face. Jalia backed away from Don, almost bumping into Daniel. With one smooth motion, her sword was back in its scabbard. She leaned against Daniel and took his arm in hers and gave it a loving squeeze.

“I knew that reason would prevail in the end,” Daniel said cheerfully, putting his sword back in its scabbard.

Jalia let go of Daniel and went to sit beside the weeping Hala.

“Don’t think that because of this you are getting out of knife practice tonight. There is a tree over there that you can throw at.”

Hala smiled, “I might not be very good tonight.”

“All the more reason to practice then.” Jalia smiled back. “You saved a lot of lives tonight, Hala. I’m proud of you.”

“My father used to beat me and treat me like dirt,” Hala said, “But I still miss him, Jalia. I had forgotten how much I missed him until now.”

“I miss my father too.” Jalia sighed. “He was killed by Sand Fairies in the Atribar el’Dou desert a couple of years ago.”

“That’s two more things in one sentence that I was sure were mythical.”

“Most myth has a basis in fact,” Daniel said as he sat on the other side of Hala.

Jalia watched Cara and Don. Cara had gone to her brother and offered her hand to help him up. He ignored her and got to his feet without her help. They started talking in angry whispers, too far away to be overheard.

“Do you think we have solved that problem?” Jalia asked nodding towards the Marin siblings.

“Don won’t try to escape and go home. As for Brila Marin and the rest of her family, who can tell?” Daniel replied thoughtfully. “That will be a bridge we have to cross when we come to it…, if we ever come to it.”

21.
       
Boathaven

At Marin’s Farm

Brila Marin waited impatiently for the adults of the family to gather for the meeting. Seven days had passed since her dead son had been returned to his family, seven long days she had waited for Cara and Don to return to tell her that her son’s killers were dead. Seven long empty days.

Brila waited for her family to come to the Meeting Lodge, the last building her husband constructed before his untimely death. It was a large stone walled thatched roofed building, thirty feet by twenty with a tiled floor. The only furniture inside was a large table with benches at each long side and two massive chairs, one at each end. The table was twenty feet long and eight feet wide. Planks of hardwood had been cut and fitted together so artfully you could hardly see joins between them. The wood had been stained and varnished until it shone a purple red, like a sunset after a storm.

The table was dominated by three massive wooden candelabra that squatted on its polished surface. There was still enough light coming through the open windows so the candles did not need to be lit.

Brila had given birth to thirteen children. Ten of them entered the room; seven of them brought their spouses with them. They took up positions, according to their age, relative to the chair at the end, the chair that Brila sat upon.

Brila waited until they were all seated before she spoke.

“I have gathered the family together because it is seven days since Bril’s body was brought home to us. It is seven days since Cara and Don were sent on their mission from which neither has returned. Anton returned this morning, and now he has had a few hours rest, we can begin.”

All eyes turned to Anton Stone when Brila named him. Anton was in his mid-twenties, a handsome man with fair hair and a winning smile. He was respected within the family for his brains and integrity. Anton was happily married to Marta Marin and they had three children at Brila’s request. At that moment, he looked haggard and everyone knew he returned along with two exhausted horses that very morning, after nearly a week away.

“Mik,” Brila said and Mic jumped up at her call. “Tell us once again what happened at Pegars Ford.”

Mik hesitantly retold the story of how he, Cara and Don decided to ambush the traders when they completed the crossing of the ford. He described Daniel and Grilt in some detail, telling how they crossed the ford without incident. He described how Jalia had stumbled with three horses in tow and how her own quick thinking and that of the young girl on the biggest horse of the three had saved her life.

He described how Jalia took Cara prisoner and how he went to her rescue.

“Jalia told Cara outright that she killed Bril with her own hands and how he deserved to be dead,” he stuttered. The room was silent for a moment except for the impatient drumming of Brila’s fingers on the massive table.

There were some titters of disbelief as Mic explained how Daniel defeated him in unarmed combat. Brila’s glare silenced their laughter and Mic stopped talking, unable to think of what to say next.

“I should have killed Gef and Tom Fasser years ago,” Brila said coldly. “We knew they were up to no good, but since they left us alone we left them alone. They should be thankful they did not survive that raid.”

“Tom was shot through the eye with an arrow. You don’t want to know where the arrow hit Gef,” Mic said, indicating with his hands the exact point. “And poor Torin was separated from his head as neat as if he’d been executed.”

“Enough!” Brila shouted through gritted teeth. “Jalia al’Dare and Daniel al’Degar killed my beloved Bril and now they have killed Cara and Don.”

“You don’t know that for certain, Mother,” Tobe, Brila’s oldest son and heir to the farm said hesitantly. His mother was seething with a cold anger and Tobe knew just how painful it could be to oppose her.

“Be quiet!” Brila shouted, cowing her oldest son into submission. “Does anybody believe that Don would not be back here by now if he was still alive?”

Everybody around the table shook their heads reluctantly. Don hated to be away from home for even an hour longer than necessary. He doted on his mother and would never have kept her waiting if he could have prevented it.

“I sent Anton to Sweetwater and beyond to find out about these two child killers,” Brila continued. “He went as far as Telmar before returning to us.”

There were gasps around the room. To ride to Telmar and back in seven days was quite a feat, even riding two of the family’s finest horses in relay. No wonder Anton looked tired.

Several of the young women looked at Anton with covetous eyes. They thought that it was a crying shame he was so devoted to Marta.

“Tell us what you learnt, Anton,” Brila said quietly, sitting down to let her son in law take center stage.

“What I am about to tell you is unbelievable, but I swear that every word is what I was told myself,” Anton began. “These people, al’Dare and al’Degar have been traveling from the west for the last two years. People tell stories about them in Telmar that are hard to believe. That they ended the rule of the mad King of Ranwin, killing an army of his men single-handed. That they took on and killed slavers wherever they found then, freeing their slaves. These stories must be exaggerations and lies, they cannot possibly be true.” Anton paused.

“What can you tell us that is true?” Brila asked.

“They helped destroy the Miners Association control at Brinan, becoming the leaders of a popular uprising. No one knows what became of all the Association’s gold. People in Telmar claim these two assassinated the rest of the Miners Association when they reached Telmar. I met a guard who swears he walked into a room to find all the remaining members dead in their chairs, with those two in the process of robbing their bodies.”

“And recently?” Brila probed.

“They arrived in Sweetwater covered in blood and weaponless except for a single dagger. They killed the two men that robbed them. One of those men was Adon Taldon.”

There was another gasp. Every member of the family knew of Taldon’s Fort. It was a dark legend parents told their children to stop them straying too far from home.

“Are the Taldon’s after them?” Mic asked in awe.

“The Taldon’s are no more. Only a few of their children and their freed slaves now occupy the fort.”

“I met Mallon Taldon once,” Brila told them. “Your father and the six other men we were with persuaded him we were more trouble to rob than it was worth. He would never tolerate his son being killed.”

“All the adult Taldon’s, every single one of them, were burnt to death at Sweetwater. It was difficult to get the locals to tell me anything about it. They pretend it never happened. I got one of them drunk enough to talk. Al’Dare and al’Degar did it; virtually single handed, if the man I spoke to is to be believed.”

“We will have to go after them in force,” Tobe stated firmly. “They will have reached Boathaven by now and the boat to Slarn will leave before we can get there. I don’t know how the family remaining behind will manage the harvest. Its mid-summer now and we will be gone for at least two months…” Tobe’s voice faded as he considered the enormity of the task ahead.

Brila smiled at Tobe. “It is good to see that you know your duty to family, my son. Sometimes I think you are too soft to be my heir and it is good to hear otherwise. However, I have decided on another course of action. I will not risk more members of my family against these demons.”

The family stared at her in surprise. It was unthinkable that she would not seek revenge and what other course of action could there be?

“Tobe and Anton will set off tomorrow morning for Bagdor. They will take four of our best horses and ride them in relay. When they reach Bagdor, they will go to the Assassins Guild. They will take this with them.”

Brila slammed a heavy bag of gold onto the table where it thumped so loud one of the younger women let out a yelp.

“They will ask to speak to Allin Grogal. If I know Allin. He will be high in the guild by now. Perhaps he has already achieved his ambition to become Chancellor. Tobe and Anton will place a contract with the Assassins Guild to kill al’Dare and al’Degar. To make sure they do their job swiftly, you will inform Allin of this.”

“Two more bags of gold await them on the successful completion of the contract, provided that the heads of al’Dare and al’Degar are placed upon my table before the first snows of winter. Tell Allin that Mic has seen them and will recognize them when he sees their heads.”

“Mother, isn’t Grogal your family name?” Mic asked.

“Allin Grogal is my younger brother,” Brila said without emotion. “Set off at dawn and ride like you were a Magician King with the Fairie hot on your trail.”

“So that is what Boathaven looks like,” Jalia said with satisfaction. She and Daniel had ridden ahead of the traders that morning. They looked down at a large town in the distance. It might contain several thousand people, as it was certainly big enough.

From where they stood, they could see the waste expanse of the River Jalon as it wound its way down the valley towards Telmar. Another river, dwarfed by the Jalon, but still big in its own right, lazily snaked its way to join the Jalon. That river passed straight through Boathaven. Four large ancient bridges spanned its banks until it reached a large and unnatural bay.

A semicircle of stone, half a mile across created a massive basin of water in the side of the river. The western half of the basin was clogged with mud washed down from the mountains, but the eastern side was clear. From their position, high on a ridge, Jalia and Daniel looked down on a working harbor, with jetties and cranes for loading and unloading goods. At one end of the harbor, a massive boat was moored. White wood smoke curled lazily from its funnel.

“That must be the boat to Slarn,” Daniel remarked.

“I’d never have guessed if you hadn’t told me. How do you think they avoid the boat burning with a big fire blazing inside it?”

“I think the boat is made of steel,” Daniel suggested.

“Then why doesn’t it sink?” Jalia asked.

“It’s like a bowl sitting in a tub of water. It won’t sink unless the water gets inside it.”

“Ah,” said Jalia as she grasped the principle. “What are we going to do about Hala?”

“If all goes well, we recover the ring and dagger from Lady Sorn and then we travel on to Slarn.”

“I thought we could find a good family for Hala; here in Boathaven.”

“We can’t do that.”

“Why not?” Jalia asked in exasperation. She liked Hala well enough, but she did not like traveling with children. She felt it limited her choices.

“We are still too close to the Marin family who might take revenge on her… and there’s another reason.”

“Which is?”

“I promised I would take her to Slarn, and show her a city.”

“She is a liability. She gets better with a knife, but it will be years before she is any good. As for her sword-fighting…”

“She is twelve years old, Jalia,” Daniel said patiently. “She needs to grow up to acquire the muscle and weight to fight. When she is fifteen and older, she will be an excellent swordswoman.”

“She is your problem from now on, Daniel. I would leave her here. If you take her with us and something happens to her, it will be your fault.”

“You blame me for whatever happens anyway”

“Just so you know.” Jalia turned her horse and headed back to the traders. It would be midday before they reached the town.

“Look, the Swallow is in port,” Hadon told the others excitedly. His fellow traders were delighted at the news and started talking to each other animatedly. They stood at the same spot where Jalia and Daniel had been two hours earlier. It would take another three hours for them to get into the town. Traveling with a donkey train is a slow, if not majestic, business.

“I thought you said that the boat was called the Steam Dragon?” Jalia asked.

Hadon gave Jalia a look of pure contempt while Jonas tried and failed to suppress a giggle. Several of the traders laughed out loud. “The ship with the funnel is called the Steam Dragon. The boat with the majority of our cargo aboard is called the Swallow. Have I explained that simply enough for you?”

Hadon had little idea how close to death he came at that moment. The Jalia al’Dare who first met Daniel on the road to Enbar Entar would have thrown a knife at his throat and watched him drown in his own blood.