Jalia At Bay (Book 4) (30 page)

Cold rage rolled through his mind. Win saw Jalia closing in on him as if in slow motion, her sword swinging to cut his head from his body. Behind Jalia and off to his right a dark figure stood outlined against the sky. Win instinctively aimed his crossbow and before Jalia could reach him, let off his bolt at the figure behind her, the person who had dared to end his life.

Even as Jalia’s sword chopped Win’s head from his body, Win saw the convulsive movement that showed he had hit his target. That person would soon be joining him in oblivion. Win died satisfied that he had taken his killer with him.

Jalia ran to the edge of the roof and shouted out ‘all clear’ to the people below. From what she could see on the dock there wasn’t much point in shouting as only three people were still standing.

Jalia turned back and saw the headless body of Win clearly in the light of the two moons. She recognized the hilt sticking out of his belly.

“Hala,” Jalia gasped. There was no one visible on the roof in the direction the knife had been thrown from. All Jalia could see were dark shadows from the walls. She dragged the knives from the bodies and started hunting in the dark of the roof for the young girl who had saved her life.

“And if you dare to move out of this cabin for anything at all, I will make sure you can’t sit down for a week,” Jalia warned one last time as she slammed the cabin door. There was only an hour to go until midnight and she had to get back to Daniel.

Hala sat on her bunk and fumed. It was just like Daniel and Jalia to cut her out from everything, just as it was starting to be fun. Hala knew she was better at throwing a knife than any of the traders. Most of them didn’t even wear a sword, so it was totally logical that she should have been out there guarding them as they brought the swords into the boat.

Jalia hadn’t seen it that way and had slapped her when she suggested it. Hala’s bottom still stung from that slap as she sat with her arms folded tightly across her chest. As far as she was concerned, Daniel and Jalia were spoilsports of the worst kind.

She fumed in silence for almost ten minutes, occasionally stamping her feet in frustration. Then it occurred to her that everybody else was in the dining room and the coast was clear if she wanted to leave.

She knew the plan. Daniel went over it twice before the grownups noticed she was sitting in the room, listening to every word. That was when Jalia had dragged her off.

No one would notice if she left the boat. Even if there were guards watching the boat from the roof, they wouldn’t pay much attention to a twelve year old girl, even one carrying a small sword.

Hala made her way silently through the bowels of the Steam Dragon towards the gangway to the dock. Her heart thumped with excitement as she trod the corridors, being as silent as a mouse. Daniel was giving her lessons in how to walk without being heard and she had proved to be a quick learner.

She crept down the gangway to the dock and ran for cover as she heard riders approaching. Hala barely made it into the shadow of the buildings before they reached the gangway.

“Well, Uncle, you have escorted me to the Steam Dragon safely and we must say our farewells,” Gally Sorn said as she dismounted.

“I trust you will return soon. I will miss your company,” the Lord Protector replied.

“I suspect that one of your female servants will be in your bed before the light of dawn,” Gally answered with a smile.

“But none of them possess even half your skills, my dear.”

Gally curtseyed at the Lord Protector and laughed.

“Your compliments are always of the highest quality, dear Gal. These swords will win the war in Slarn and rest assured that the Sorn family, as always, will be on the winning side. I shall be back by the spring, I expect.”

“Give my regards to my brother and your mother,” the Lord Protector said as he turned his horse, “And to our dear cousins when you see them in Wegnar and Bratin.”

“I shall, have no fear.” Gally led her horse up the gangway and into the boat.

Hala breathed a sigh of relief as the two adults disappeared from sight. Jalia would have to get onto the roofs of the buildings and she was sure to start with the nearest one. Hala located the ladder leading to the roof and found a comfortable place to wait.

It was difficult for Hala to stay awake in the hours she waited for Jalia. She got up and trotted on the spot, pinched herself and practiced various exercises she had been taught. It was a welcome relief when she heard Daniel singing.

Hala found her face turning red as she listened to Daniel. Living in Taldon’s Fort meant that she had known the facts of life since she was old enough to walk, as the Taldon men rarely bothered to be discrete. However, she had never seen the things Daniel described.

She was so embarrassed that she didn’t notice Jalia creep by and onto the ladder. When Hala saw Jalia outlined against the night sky, she was so surprised she made just enough noise to alert her. Hala held her breath so long she felt certain she would faint. Jalia decided the noise was simply the building creaking and moved up the ladder.

Hala breathed an enormous sigh of relief; she would have to be a lot more careful if she didn’t want Jalia to see her. Daniel said that when stalking a person, you should move when they move; stand still when they stood still. Hala resolved that that was just what she was going to do, as soon as she found the courage to climb the ladder.

Jalia crouched twenty feet in front of Hala. Thirty feet beyond her, four men with crossbows waited to kill the traders. Hala considered retreating as she expected Jalia to come back this way very soon. Even to an untrained eye, there was no way that Jalia could take on all of these men. She would have to come back and get help.

Hala nearly gasped out loud when Jalia began creeping towards the men. She didn’t know what Jalia was up to, but she was determined to help if she could. As Jalia traversed the roof, Hala moved into the position that Jalia left behind. Hala wiped her hands on her jerkin and skirt. They were sticky with sweat and she would need them dry if she was going to throw her knife.

Hala was frightened. What started out as an adventure had become real and men with crossbows were a different thing to aim at than trees. Throwing her knife to kill one of them seemed unreal. She was certain she would miss or make a mess of it. Her hands trembled and she nearly dropped her knife. Hala knew she had to be strong for Jalia. Jalia and Daniel had made her life worth living and she owed them everything.

When Jalia threw her knives; Hala knew the plan had gone wrong. She heard the sound of bolts flying and bow strings humming though she didn’t understand why. Then she saw Win aiming his crossbow at Jalia. If he had fired straight away, she wouldn’t have had the time to stand up and take careful aim.

Hala asked the Fairie to bless her aim and threw the knife with all her strength. She should have dropped to a crouch and the safety of the dark as soon as she threw, but she was so anxious to see where it ended up that she stayed outlined against the sky.

She was so pleased when her knife flew true that she smiled in accomplishment. A second later, the wind was knocked out of her as Win’s crossbow bolt buried itself into her guts. She doubled over and clutched at the end of the bolt in agony. Hala fell to the roof and fainted.

The only people standing when Daniel reached the traders were Tonas and the Denger brothers. They looked stunned as they surveyed the bodies around them. Tonas dropped to one knee and turned the body of his father over. Hadon’s sightless eyes stared back at him, a crossbow bolt having pemetrated his heart.

Daniel checked Grilt and Tel. Both men were dead, Tel with a crossbow bolt between the eyes.

“This is my fault,” Daniel said to the dead men. “I got you into this.”

“It was my father’s fault,” Tonas said loudly, his voice getting firmer as he continued. “He insisted we come out before Jalia gave the all clear and these deaths are on his hands and no one else’s.”

“Is it safe to get up?” Don asked from where he lay face down on the cold stone of the dock. Answering his own question, he pushed himself to his feet and examined his right shoulder where the cloth of his jerkin was torn.

“The bolt grazed my shoulder and I decided the safest place was lying on the ground. They were only shooting at the people standing up.”

Daniel grinned, “You have the makings of a warrior, Don,” he said, relieved that the death toll was lower than he feared.

“Cara!” Don rushed to where she lay. Cara lay spread-eagled on the ground, a crossbow bolt sticking out from just above her heart. It looked too long to Daniel, more like an arrow than a bolt. Don knelt and lifted her head gently.

“What happened?” Cara asked in a dazed voice.

Daniel couldn’t believe she was still alive and tore her leather jerkin away. Beneath her jerkin, the breastplate he had seen her wear at the ford glinted in the light of the moons. The bolt had penetrated the plate but stopped before it cut into her flesh.

“I knocked my head on the dock when I landed,” Cara continued, “Is everybody else all right?”

Daniel looked at the six dead people and wondered what to say.

On the viewing platform on the funnel, Dor made appreciative noises as Cara got to her feet.

“They build women tough around here, if Jalia and Cara Marin are any guide.”

“Did you see what happened on the roof, my… Dor?”

“I was distracted by what was going on in the dock. Somehow, Jalia killed the four men. When I looked back she was cutting off the last man’s head. It’s possible his crossbow misfired or he missed her.”

“We should get down from here,” Jant said urgently. “They may see us as the sky lightens.”

“We can go now. They are going to get the swords to the ship, which is all I wanted to know.”

Jalia found Hala in under a minute. She ran her hands over the girl’s body and found the end of the bolt sticking out of her belly, sticky with blood.

“Oh you silly girl,” Jalia whispered.

“It hurts, Jalia. It doesn’t look like you are going to get to whip me for disobeying you after all,” Hala said in a weak, but steady voice.

“You are going to be fine,” Jalia said, stroking Hala’s hair.

“I’m a Taldon, Jalia. I know that nobody survives a bolt in the guts,” Hala paused and then said, almost crying, “I don’t want to die.”

“Save your strength,” Jalia said and kissed her on the forehead. “I know a boy who can perform miracles, even if he doesn’t believe it himself. I have to get you back to our cabin without anybody seeing us. Can you be brave and quiet?”

“I’ll try,” Hala told her, and smiled. She felt safe in Jalia’s arms.

“We get the swords,” Tonas said. “There are six of us. We can do it in four trips.”

“What about the bodies?” Wilf Denger asked. He looked down at Dav, Perder and Balaf. They had been friends for most of their lives.

Tonas looked around the dock for inspiration. There was a pile of ballast stones near the Swallow.

“Weigh the bodies down with ballast and throw them into the dock. We don’t want questions asked at first light.”

The Denger brothers looked offended and Daniel shook his head. It was a good idea under the circumstances, but he had a better one.

“Move the bodies into the lock-up. Then we get the swords. It’s easier and I will leave some money and a note for whoever finds them, so they might receive a decent burial after we have gone.”

Wilf and Tred breathed a sigh of relief. That seemed like a much more decent idea to them.

“Yes, I agree,” Tonas said in a harsh voice. “It will be quicker than using stones.”

Daniel heaved two of the heavy bags into the hold of the boat and walked straight into Jalia. She had crept up from behind without him hearing.

“Come with me. I have something important for you to do,” she ordered and he followed her silently to their cabin. Jalia stood outside it and put her arms around his neck.

“Hala is in there with a crossbow bolt in her guts. She saved my life, Daniel, and now you are going to save hers.” Her voice sounded like ice cracking in glaciers.

“I can’t…,” Daniel began and Jalia put a finger to his lips.

“You saved your brother. Before the Fairie even imparted their gift, you saved your brother from a knife rammed into his backside.”