NexLord: Dark Prophecies (18 page)

“You don’t seem to be concentrating
today.  Perhaps you should stop and practice your
defensive sequences, alone,” Tocor suggested in his deep voice.

“Whatever, I’m done,” Lor declared and stuck
the practice sword into the sand and then marched off out of the
courtyard.  Aerin started to follow, but Tocor called him
back.

“Let him be, Aerin.  Sometimes
people need a chance to cool down, you can be his friend
later.”

Aerin watched Lor
depart
while wondering what was wrong with the normally
irrepressible youth.

As Dono and Aerin sparred they discussed
their friend.

“You have any idea what is wrong with Lor?”
Aerin inquired.

Dono grunted noncommittally.

Aerin scowled, he knew Dono was keeping
something from him.

“Come on, tell me!”

Dono just circled with his practice sword
ready.

Aerin concentrated on the
bout
for a few moments, and when he saw his
opening he came in with a quick feint, followed by a circular move
that got through Dono’s defense. Aerin brought his sword down on
the other boy’s wrist with good force, and Dono nearly dropped his
sword.

“Ow!”

“Got what you deserved, I’m only trying to
help Lor!” Aerin explained.

“
Well,
you
can’t beat it out of me!” Dono complained, rubbing at his
wrist.

Aerin smiled, “I wasn’t trying to beat it out
of you, in truth I just wanted to make sure I had your
attention.”

 “All right, I don’t really know what is
wrong with him.”

“But...” Aerin prompted.

“I might have a guess,” Dono said
sheepishly.

“Spill it.”

Dono glanced over to where Tocor was working
with Gandarel on his lunge.  They were out of casual
earshot. 

“I saw him with a couple of the Skulls, two
days ago.”

Aerin straightened up out of his sword
stance.

“Skulls, what would he be doing with
them?  He’s been trying to stay away from that rat pack
since the first day we met!”

“I know, and that’s why I found it
strange.  I sort of followed them,” Dono said, his gaze
locked onto Aerin’s eyes as if seeking some approval for doing
wrong.

“Well, what did you find out?”

“I think they have him stealing for
them.”

“
Dread
take
me, we better go to Mara about this, she will know...”

“NO, they have something on Lor, I don’t know
what, but he wouldn’t work for them unless he didn’t dare to cross
‘em.  If he is willing to do their dirty work, it must be
something he
don’t
want anyone ta
know.  Not you, not me and certainly not anyone
else.”

“All right, let's get together after practice
and see what we can figure out.”

During the rest of
practice,
Aerin thought over what Dono had told
him.  Gandarel had to return to the Seat right after
practice, so Dono and Aerin went out into the street together and
found a place to talk.

Aerin had an idea of what they were holding
over Lor’s head.  “Could it be that brand mark you told
me about?” he asked Dono.

“Maybe, I don’t know.”

“What else do you know?” Aerin demanded,
“Come on, I can’t help him if you hold out
on
me.”

Dono wouldn’t meet Aerin’s eyes.

Aerin took him by the shoulders and shook
him, “Tell me, Dono, or I will have to go to Mara.”

“They have been wanting to get Lor ‘cause of
the way he can move on the high road.”

“Yes, I know how good he is, but what good
does that do them?”

“There is a job they
want done
and they think Lor can get in.”

“Job?”

“You know, a night lifter.”

“You mean burglary?”

“Yeah.”

Aerin considered his next words; “I know Lor
has done some of that in the past...”

Dono shook his head, “Not lately, and not
like this!  He might have lifted a purse or two in the
past, or filched some bread, but not like this, not a night
lifter.”

“What about that brand?” Aerin prompted.

“I never
done
seen it.  I just supposed it was true as
he never takes his shirt off.”

“I see.”

“
Meanwise
,
if he does have the brand, the next time he’s caught he’ll be pole
mounted.”

“Pole mounted?”

“Yeah, just his head; they feed the body to
the dogs.”

Aerin shuddered at the thought of his friend
being beheaded.  “Gandarel will stop them; he won’t allow
Lor to be... pole mounted.”

“He won’t have a chance, the Guard will see
his brand and do it to him right on the spot, that is the law, no
waiting.  They don’t go bothering the Seat of Stone for
petty thieves.”

Aerin considered for a
moment.  “Wait, Lor wouldn’t allow the Skulls to make him
risk beheading just to hide a brand, would he?  They must
be holding something else over him.”

“Could be, but I dunno what,” Dono
answered.

“
Well,
we
had best find out if we are going to help him.”

“He won’t tell you, remember how proud Lor
is,” Dono warned.

Aerin nodded, “I know.  All right,
we’ll have to do this secretly.  We will take turns
following him; it is our duty to help our friend, even if he
doesn’t want help.”

“I don’t know Aerin; it is kinda like
betraying his trust.”

“Look, you did it already, and we will both
promise to keep any secrets we learn between the two of us...
deal?”

“Deal.”

“All right, here is the problem: you and
I aren’t as good as Lor at traveling the High Road so we will need
to be smart.  When following Lor keep back and risk
losing him rather than being discovered, got it?”

“Right, I’ll let you know what I learn.”

“
Meanwhile,
I’ll explain to Mara that you and Lor have some other business to
attend to that I don’t know about.  That’s pretty close
to the truth without saying too much.”

Dono nodded.

“Come get me if you find out something, I’ll
be ready,” Aerin promised.

Dono sighed and gave Aerin a weary smile, and
then departed for the rooftops.

The next day, when Aerin went out into the
city in search of Dono, he couldn’t believe all the decorations
that were being put up for the upcoming Freedom day.  The
lamp poles that lined the streets were wrapped in colorful flowers
and ropes, and banners were strung across the
streets.  Even shop windows were painted with scenes of
victory.  Some people were already cavorting in fancy
costumes depicting fierce and horrible creatures, as well as Lords
and Ladies of the Worthy.  By far the most popular
costume was that of the NexLord, Ragol, and his four bondsmen:
Juman the fearless, Hazlerfeld of
Westerock
, Kor of the twin swords and Sethra the
true.  Legends all, these were the five heroes who led
the armies to victory in the ‘Last Fight’ against the Dreadmaster
and his legions of the Togroth, three hundred and twenty-one years
ago.

The streets were busier than normal, so it
took Aerin longer to reach his meeting place with
Dono.  He found his nervous friend leaning against one of
the decorated lamp poles, with a sour expression of worry
pasted
on his round face

“There you are at last,” Dono greeted
Aerin.

“Yes, I can’t believe all the stir in the
city about Freedom day,” Aerin said
to
explain
his tardiness.

“It is always like this, any excuse for a
party, and this is the biggest one of the year.”

“I didn’t realize people knew the history of
Ragol so well,” Aerin answered.

Dono laughed, “They don’t!  I
didn’t, for that matter, not until I met you.  Somehow
you manage to talk about Ragol all the time, I bring up food, and
you talk about Ragol.  I mention a favorite Gladiator and
you talk about Ragol.  I don’t think you realize you’re
obsessed!”

Aerin poked him in the ribs with a
finger.  “I’m not that bad!”

“Worse, but anyway, most people just
celebrate Freedom day without really knowing
anything.  They wear costumes and cavort around
pretending to be Ragol, but they couldn’t tell you much about him
if you asked them.  He lived so long ago that now his
great victory is just an excuse to have a party.”

Aerin looked serious, “Someone should teach
them. A
fter the
war,
Ragol said the Togroths would return
and…”

“Obsessed, I tell you, see what I mean?” Dono
interrupted.

“All right, you win,” said Aerin with a
grin.  “But he was right, about the Togroths...”

Dono put his hands over his ears and started
walking away, “I’m not listening!”

Aerin hurried to catch up as he called
out, “OK I’ll quit, but only if you tell me what you learned
about Lor.”

Dono’s playful smile evaporated and he looked
worried once again.  “I followed him last night, he was
checking out a place... it ain’t good.”

“What place?”

“The merchant master’s villa.”

“Merchant master?”

“He controls the Merchant Council; he is a
very powerful and rich man.  He has lots of guards, lots
of locks and lots of grief if you mess with him.  Only a
fool would try to steal from a man with that kind of
power.  He could call in every Guardsmen, not personally
assigned to Gandarel’s protection, and send them to overturn every
stone in the city until the culprit was found.”

“And how do you know Lor was ‘checking’ his
place?” Aerin asked.

“I know, I’ve done a little of that work
myself, not lately, but you know, times were hard a while back,”
Dono said, a little sheepish.

Aerin patted him on the shoulder, “It’s OK,
Dono, I understand.  Got any ideas on what to
do?  We could talk to Lor...”

“And he will tell us to butt
out.  You know how he is,” Dono said miserably.

“We could go to Gandarel.”

Dono shook his head
negatively.  “You know how he puts ‘duty’ ahead of
sense.  He would go to Lor and tell him not to rob the
merchant, then Lor would be belligerent and Gandarel would tell him
he would have to follow the law. Lor would tell him to do as he
pleases and then things would just be
worse
because Lor would do it anyway, and the Guard would
be waiting and... ”

Aerin placed a hand on his arm, “Slow down,
you’re rambling; besides, I see your point.  Then we
will have to do this from the other end.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s the Skulls who are pushing him; we’ll
have to push back.”

“There are a lot of them, and many of ‘em are
older boys.  There are only two of us.”

“Four, if you count Gandarel and
Lor.  They have something to hold over Lor, we need to
know what that is so we can remove it.  Then we’ll see
what’s up.”

“Lor won’t tell
us.”       

“I didn’t say we would ask
him!   I wonder how much time we have to figure it
out?  Any idea when Lor will move on the Merchant?”

Dono considered for a
moment.  “I’ll have to look into it, but a holiday is
always a good time, there is lots of confusion, people leave their
houses to go to parties all night.  Yeah, I would guess
he’ll do it on Freedom day.”

“That is at the end of the week, five
days.”

Dono nodded, “That would be about
right.  
Well,
I doubt
Lor is going to do anything until later tonight, but if you want to
keep track of him, he is juggling two streets over.”

“I’ll watch him,” Aerin promised.

“Good, then you can tell me where to find him
when I take over again come nightfall.  Meet me here
again at lamp light.”

“I’ll be here, but if not, don’t wait more
than about an hour.”

“Right.”

Aerin found Lor easily by the crowd gathered
around to see his latest juggling performance.  Lor
cleaned out the can after he was finished, and then headed down the
street and Aerin followed.

Curiously, Lor went into
an herb
supplier for a time.  Aerin
waited outside, wondering what he could be buying in such a
place.  The shop was way too small to risk going inside;
Lor would have seen him instantly.

After the other boy came out he headed to a
part of town Aerin had never been to before. The streets became
dirtier and a higher number were boarded up. 

Aerin peeked around the last corner where he
had seen Lor
turn
and jerked his
head back.  Lor was only a few feet away, though luckily
his back was to the corner.  He had stopped at an old
woman who was sitting on a small stool with a bucket of flowers
next to her, obviously for sale.

Aerin listened.

“Any luck today?” Lor asked the woman.

“No, but I’m sure someone will buy something
soon, never fear,” she replied.

“Come inside for a while, mother, I have
something to help your cough,” Lor said.

Aerin nearly gasped, Lor had sworn he
had no parents, more than once!  This old flower seller
was his mother.

He heard Lor's mother coughing, a deep and
rasping sound issuing from her chest.

Lor’s voice was full of concern, “Mother,
please come inside and lie down on the bed for awhile.”

Lor picked up the bucket of flowers, and they
went up three steps and into the door of the building. Aerin heard
the sound of a door opening and closing.

Aerin backed off to a better vantage point,
further away, where he could watch the door, and have time to get
away should Lor come out and head in his
direction.  
Some time
later, he heard the door open and a young girl wearing a simple
brown dress came out of the door and headed away down the
street.  The distance was far, but Aerin thought she
looked enough like Lor that she must be his sister.