Jalia on the Road (Jalia - World of Jalon) (12 page)

Jalia told Daniel about discovering the girls locked in the wagon and waited for his reaction.

“Are they slave marked?” he asked after a moment’s thought.

To stop the slaves running away owners branded the letter S on their foreheads. People marked as slaves couldn’t leave through a city gate without proof of their emancipation or authority from their owners.

“No. It would probably make them less attractive to their users.”

“It’s none of our business, Jalia.” Daniel said, keeping his voice low. Sound carried far at night and he had no wish for the show people to hear him.

“I’m not leaving them, Daniel. They’re children. It would be wrong.” Jalia hissed back.

“Keep your voice down.
 
I’m not suggesting that. Do you have a plan?”

“Well… we break them out of the wagon and…” Jalia wasn’t sure exactly what to do then, she’d only thought as far forward as the rescue and then, perhaps, killing the show people.

“Exactly,” Daniel said, “So here is what we’ll do. The two of us will go to bed.”

There was enough light from the flickering fire for Daniel to see Jalia’s mouth drop open as she misinterpreted Daniel’s words. He punched her gently on the shoulder.

“We pretend to go to sleep so these people can attend to their slaves. They haven’t been fed or given water since we got here. They must be waiting until we can’t see them. After they’ve done that, you will go and free them using your magic ring to open the lock.”

Jalia snorted derisively, “I don’t need magic to open a lock.”

“I’ll get our remaining food and the water skins together. We meet outside the camp. I’ll take the slaves and you’ll stay here and keep their owners occupied. I want them tired out.”

“Why should you take the girls, and where will you take them?” Jalia asked angrily.

“I know these roads by day and night. Remember the village we were at before we reached the lake?”

“You mean the village where those farm boys followed me everywhere and kept pawing at me?”

“Exactly, the one where they have a shortage of women. I’ll get the girls to the lake tonight and they can follow the trail to the village. They’ll need all our food and water because I doubt they have any skills at foraging. That village is far away from the trade road there isn’t a chance their previous owners will find them.”

“I’m not sure giving these girls to those farm boys is a good idea.” Jalia said, her voice echoing with disquiet.

“I’ll get them to tell the village elders you sent them. After what you did to their leader for patting your bottom, I’m sure they’ll be well treated, just in case we ever go back.”

Jalia’s brilliant white teeth reflected firelight at she smiled with relief. Daniel’s plan made sense. “But why do I have to wear out the show people?”

“I’ll be back before morning and we’ll set off to Delbon at first light. The longer it takes them to discover their slaves are missing the longer we have to get to Delbon, where I’m sure they’ll not trouble to follow us. I don’t want to kill anybody. Killing only causes more trouble in the end.”

Jalia didn’t see what was wrong with killing people, or with trouble for that matter, but if it was what Daniel wanted she was willing to play along.

They walked back to the fire together. Daniel yawned and so did Jalia. “We’re going to bed,” she said loudly, deliberately implying she and Daniel would be sleeping together. “Thanks for the entertainment.”

Jalia nodded towards Tregar. Loni smiled, clearly pleased Tregar wouldn’t be sampling Jalia’s delights that night.

As they walked to their bedrolls, Damil turned to Erik. “What did you find in her things?”

Erik scowled at Daniel’s receding back. “Nothing, the boy caught me and pulled a knife on me.”

Damil raised an eyebrow, “And he still lives?”

“He’s more capable than he looks,”

“So are they alerted to us?”

“Yes. If we try to steal from them we’ll have a fight on her hands. If the girl is as good as the boy, at least one of us will die.” Erik stared into the fire, “I think that this time, the price is too high.”

“The girl would command high prices.”

“She would probably kill the first couple of clients.” Erik replied sourly.

“But what a way to go…” Damil pondered the odds, “Very well, we’ll leave them alone. Tell Tregar to get Loni to feed and water the girls.”

The camp quieted down. The two wagons with their doors open were positioned facing the fire. Tregar and Loni lay in one of the wagons and pulled a curtain across the door. Before long, the sounds of strenuous sexual activity could be heard coming from the wagon.

Damil smiled at the sounds while Erik’s scowl became deeper. The two of them went to bed, making their beds near the doors of their wagon. The third wagon was a few yards behind the others. Both men were light sleepers, as men had to be if they wanted to survive out on the road.

Jalia had become one with the darkness. She reached the door of the brothel wagon and put a pick to the lock. The lightest ‘snick’ sounded as the locked opened. The girls in the wagon lay asleep, though a single candle burned inside a jar to give them light. Jalia woke them one by one, holding their mouths until they were awake enough to realize she was freeing them. They must have spent time dreaming of rescue because they caught on quickly and let themselves be guided out into the trees.

Daniel waited at the agreed spot some way outside the camp. He had filled their water skins and brought along packs of dried food that he divided among the girls to carry. Daniel led them into the darkness of the forest. Jalia wondered how he navigated woodland so effortlessly. He was taking the girls in a wide circle to reduce the chances of their being tracked.

Jalia returned to the camp. All she needed to do was get the camp awake and keep them that way for an hour or two without anybody getting suspicious. Jalia grinned at the thought,
‘This was going to be fun.’

She walked to the fire and crouched in front of its dying embers, apparently warming herself. She pulled out the knife in her left boot and used it to pry free a largish ember with a fair bit of life still in it. Sticking her knife into the ember, she flicked it over her shoulder and into an open wagon door where it landed on a cloth.

The knife was back in her boot in an instant and someone watching her closely would probably not have seen what she did. Even if they watched her, the sight of her shapely rear would likely have distracted them from the ember as it flew through the air.

Jalia waited until the blaze in the wagon was well alight and then screamed ‘Fire!’ at the top of her voice until everyone was awake.

The show people beat at the flames with sticks and pulled burning things out of the wagon. Jalia appeared to help them while actually hindering. It was at that point she noticed the monkey.

Siki had discovered that the door to the slave wagon wasn’t locked and opened it while screeching for attention. So far, the others were too busy putting out the fire to notice, but that wouldn’t last. Jalia had to stop the monkey or she’d have to fight them. Worse than that, they still might be able to catch up with Daniel and the girls.

Jalia put her hand in her pocket and found what she’d been looking for. She grinned and pounced on the monkey, grabbing it by the scruff of the neck with one hand as the other took hold of her knife.

The fire had been put out, but everyone was fully awake. Damil shouted at Tregar for building the fire so high and putting their possessions at risk. Jalia suffered a disappointment, as Loni had been naked when Jalia cried fire and there could no longer be any doubt that her breasts were real. The good news was that Daniel was not present to see them and that both Loni’s breasts and tummy sagged.

Jalia put Daniel’s kettle on the fire and offered to make tea. By the time they got back to bed, the pale light of pre-dawn lit the sky. Nobody noticed that Daniel was missing.

Jalia dozed for what seemed a second or two before being shook awake. When she managed to get her eyes open she found the donkeys packed and her horse saddled. Daniel grinned at her and indicated they should leave. They set off as quietly as possible, given that they were persuading donkeys to start moving. Fortunately, none of the show people woke.

When they were well clear of the
camp
Daniel
asked Jalia how she had managed. He listened intently and laughed when she told him about starting the fire. For reasons that confused Daniel, Jalia chose to give him a graphic description of Loni’s bodily faults, as if he cared in the slightest.

Then she mentioned the monkey and how he was about to give the game away. Jalia described grabbing the monkey by the scruff of the neck and pulling out her knife. Daniel stopped her, looking shocked.

“You killed that poor innocent monkey?” he asked, truly appalled at the thought of killing the animal.

“That monkey was about as intelligent as the average man.” Jalia pointed out.

“You had to kill him. I understand.” In a strange way Daniel found the death of the monkey harder to take than he would have if Jalia had killed the show people.

“I grabbed the monkey by the scruff of the neck while in my other hand I had the knife and a small parsnip I’d got in my pocket as a treat for my horse. I showed the monkey the parsnip and poked his genitals with it so he would spot the similarity in size and shape.

Then I threw the parsnip in the air and chopped it into three pieces as it fell to the ground. He looked at my knife, the pieces of parsnip on the floor and then at his genitals. I let him go and he went onto the roof of Damil’s wagon and never uttered a sound.”

Jalia thought further for a second or two. “It is entirely possible that monkey is cleverer than some of the men I’ve known.”

“How will we find your brother?” Jalia asked when they stopped to eat at noon. They had traveled a greater distance than they normally did in a day and were fast approaching Delbon. There was no sign that the show people were following them.

Jalia was relieved that Daniel was talking to her again. She was surprised at how long he could hold a grudge. After all, he hadn’t actually died from the experience of having his legs broken, even though he should have.

“We can leave that problem for tomorrow. We won’t reach Delbon before the city gates close for the night.” Jalia noted Daniel’s moody expression and tried to cheer him up.

“Tell me about Delbon. I didn’t see more than a few coffee shops when I was there.”

“But still you managed to annoy the Guard so much they chased you out of the city.” Jalia saw a slight smile cross Daniel’s face and tried again.

“They were going to arrest me for killing a card cheat. What kind of place arrests you for doing that?”

“You didn’t have to kill all those Guards though, did you?”

“They attacked me, Daniel,” Jalia replied, a pout on her lips.

A silence settled over the camp as Daniel knew nothing he said could possibly explain why that might be wrong. It was just the way she was. And a part of him recognized he loved her for it.

“You were born in Delbon, tell me about it,” Jalia said to break the silence. She didn’t want to mount her horse with the two of them not speaking.

Daniel drew a triangle with its point facing towards them.

“This is the
Delbar
Heights
, a massive wedge of hills, mountains and impenetrable land lying at the heart of Jalon. The river Jalon flows from the
High
Mountains
until it reaches the edge of the wedge and then it flows around the heights first going south to Delbon and then north again until it reaches Ranwin.”

Jalia nodded. She had endured a comprehensive education and knew all of this, but just as long as it kept him talking, she was happy.

“Delbon is the bottom of the triangle. Long ago the River Jalon took a short cut slicing off the end of the wedge into a smaller triangle and Delbon is built on that with the river to the north. The King’s Palace is at the northern end at the highest part of the city.”

“I noticed everything was uphill from the gates. Do the city walls go all the way around?”

“They end at the river, which is barrier enough as the current is very strong. The river can’t be navigated any more. Not since the time of the Magician Kings, though their harbor still survives.”

“The Palace was built by the Magician Kings, wasn’t it?” Jalia asked, though she knew the answer.

“Legend says the High King held his court at Delbon, but that was over a thousand years ago. What’s certain is that those thrown into the King’s dungeons never return. Rumor has it they house demons that eat anyone thrown in them, but I’ve no wish to find out.”

“Where will we camp, if we can’t get into the city?” Jalia made a mental note not to get caught by the Guard. She’d no wish to sample the dungeons.

“You didn’t see Outtown when you arrived in Delbon?” Daniel sounded surprised.

“Outtown?”

“It’s a shanty town outside the city gates. The King tolerates its existence and it’s where all the undesirables end up. Makes policing the streets of Delbon so much easier if all the bad guys are outside.”

“It sounds like my kind of place.” Jalia smiled as possibilities occurred to her.

“I suspect you are right.” Daniel had no doubt what she meant.

They looked at each other and reached an unspoken agreement, Jalia mounted her horse while Daniel got the donkeys ready for travel.

It was well past dusk when Jalia led Daniel and his donkey train into Outtown and they started looking for somewhere to spend the night.

Outtown was bustling with activity. Its buildings were illuminated with massive torches while their owners employed men to stand in the street shouting descriptions of the delights to be found inside to the crowds on the street.

Jalia was fascinated. Last time she’d been to Delbon she had ignored Outtown in her desire to get inside the city walls.

No one paid much notice to them as they traveled down the deeply rutted road. One or two people stared at them and Jalia’s horse. Horses as good as her grey were rarely seen.

A sign proclaimed a building as a trader’s inn. The sign boasted an enclosed stable for their animals. The inn looked to be as good a place as any to spend the night. Daniel’s donkeys and Jalia’s horse would be safe in their guarded stable, which was a major consideration.

Jalia dismounted and went into the inn to negotiate the price for the night, leaving her horses reins in Daniels’ hand. She was so much better at bartering than Daniel that he didn’t even consider going in to help her.

Fifteen minutes later, Jalia and a couple of workers from the inn came out onto the street and assisted the pair with stabling the animals and carrying their bags to a room. Traders always kept their goods close to them, especially in places like Outtown.

Daniel was exhausted from the activities of the night before and he dropped onto a cot with a sigh. Jalia, on the other hand, was wide awake and eager to see more of Outtown.

Daniel had put the bar across the door and was already snoring. Jalia sidled over to the window as silently as the floorboards would allow and climbed out.

Daniel heard Jalia getting onto the sill and opened an eye to see her drop from it. He went to look out of the window and saw there was a fifteen feet drop to the ground. Jalia was nowhere in sight.

Daniel shook his head and went back to bed. He wondered how long it would be before Jalia came back and whether they would have to flee the place when she arrived.

Jalia walked with a definite skip to her step through the dark streets, not at all bothered for her safety. The first tavern she came to was selling sex to furtive men with rotten teeth and that didn’t correspond with her idea of fun so she moved on. When she heard gasps of delight and raucous laughter, she followed the sounds to a large building.

Inside, scantily dressed girls served alcohol to a boisterous crowd of men. Most of the men were on one side of the large room where they packed so tight she had difficulty figuring out what they were up to.

As Jalia struggled through the crowd, she noticed some of the girls in the corner were serving themselves to the customers. Jalia wondered what they were doing to their dresses to make their breasts appear so full and decided to enquire about it later.

She managed to push and shove her way to the front of the crowd and discovered that the reason for the crush was a knife-throwing contest. It was nearing its conclusion as the finalists threw their knives at a target set up some fifteen feet from where they stood.

Jalia asked the nearest man and discovered that the crowd had each put ten bits into a pot to take part in the contest. Ten bits was a good day’s wages, so a lot rested on the outcome. Jalia estimated the pot held the equivalent of four gold coins and slipped the same amount out of her money belt and into her hand.

A chant rose of “Len Sawl! Len Sawl!” as the bigger of the men easily defeated the other, throwing his knife into the small red circle painted on the target. The man next to Jalia insisted Len Sawl was the greatest knife thrower in Delbon’s history.

“I challenge Len Sawl,” Jalia shouted above the chanting and the voices died as the crowd realized it was a woman making the challenge.

The winner of the contest looked Jalia over and smirked.

“Look lads, a girl seeking to screw the victor. I’ve got to warn you, girl, I can’t do it for more than ten minutes before I spend. But I can manage it twice in an hour if that’s good enough for you.”

The crowd rumbled with good natured laughter. Jalia frowned. She had encountered this kind of thing many times before and was skilled in dealing with it.

“Your manhood doesn’t really interest me and I’m not in the mood for a good laugh. However, I will challenge you to a knife throwing contest. Your winning pot against my hard cash.”

Len looked her over again. He took in how steady her hands were and the way her eyes moved. He summed her up as potentially a better thrower than the men whose money he had just taken.

“I only throw for money, little girl. Why don’t you come back when you’ve managed to grow some tits?” The crowd roared with laughter and Jalia felt her face going red.
‘What was it that made men like large breasts so much?’

Jalia threw the four gold coins onto the table. There was a drawing in of breath. Murder cost much less than the money she had dropped on the table. A man near to the table picked up the coins and bit into them one by one, examining the result by holding the coins to a lantern. No other metal was as soft as gold or as bright. He nodded at Len to let him know that Jalia’s gold was real.

Len licked his lips, which for some reason had gone dry. There was tension in the room. If he did not take up the challenge he would be laughed at and he was not certain he could win. He reached a decision.

“Very well, girl with the baby tits. We’ve been playing the best of five. Will that do?” Len hitched his belt up a little higher in anticipation of the contest to come. He wore the same kind of baggy trousers that Daniel favored, but unlike Daniel he had a significant paunch he tried to cover up.

Jalia smiled sweetly.

“Three throws will be enough, if you are man enough for it, that is.”

She walked across to the throwing line. A crude line in the dirt floor marked its boundary and Jalia made sure her feet were on the right side of it as a little wizened man ran forward and pinned a new target to the wall.

“Since you’re so eager, you can have the first throw,” Len said, knowing full well that this gave him the advantage.

“Turn and turn about.” Jalia replied, meaning they would take turns on who had first throw. Len nodded reluctantly, recognizing that Jalia wasn’t a fool.

Jalia took a knife from her boot. With only a cursory glance at the target, she threw. It stuck half in the red mark and half in the white. The crowd clapped in appreciation. It was a good throw.

Len came to the line and shooed Jalia away in the manner a farmer might use on an annoying chicken.
 
Jalia back away slowly her face impassive. Len took careful aim and threw, his knife landed fully in the red. He was winning and the crowd roared with delight.

It was Len’s turn to throw next and again he took careful aim, but this time his knife sliced into the red and white.

A man standing near the target shouted out the results to the crowd before returning Jalia and Len’s knives to them. Jalia again stood behind the line. This time her knife landed in the red and the contest was even.

Len was getting annoyed. Jalia might win and he had debts he needed to repay. As soon as a new target was set up he pushed past Jalia who was waiting to throw.

“Let’s end this now.”

Len threw his knife into the middle of the red. He turned to Jalia and said, “Your best could never be more central than that, the prize is mine.” The crowd cheered in approval

Jalia was getting fed up with this boys-club she’d found, though truth to tell it was normal for her to encounter this sort of thing. She scowled at the little man who set up the target.

“Remove his knife. My knife will enter the same hole, leaving only one cut in the paper.”

The room went silent. Such a throw was impossible.

Jalia felt the tension rise up a notch. The hubbub became a silence so deep that a man was glared at for daring to cough.

Jalia threw her knife without even appearing to aim. It flew into the red. Everybody waited in silence as the scorer carefully pulled out her knife and held the target up for everybody to see, putting his finger through the single cut in it.

The crowd stomped their feet and applauded as Len fumed. He realized that Jalia had been playing games with him and her first throw was simply to put him off his guard.

Jalia went over to the table to claim her prize when Len’s angry voice brought her to a halt.

“Any fool can throw a knife at a target. But are you brave enough to let me throw my knife at you?”