Ossendar: Book Two of the Resoration Series (7 page)

“I don't think we were wrong. One of the few things we believe absolutely and without question is that the one of prophecy will be born under the sign of the prince. Flaranthlas was not, he was born under the sign of the tree. Therefore he can not be the subject of the Kelcer prophecy.” The man said, leaning back in his chair.

“Well how can that be?” The questioner asked. “How can he not be the one if he is doing these things?”

“I have been thinking a lot about that,” the man answered, “and I think that Flaranthlas may be a precursor to the one prophesied about.”

“A what?”

“A precursor, uh in this case a person that fits many parts of the prophecy but is not the one prophesied about. I think that Flaranthlas may be preparing the world for the appearance of the one who will restore the Dragon Order.” The man paused, but none of the others said anything, so he continued, “In fact, I think that we might see several precursors prior to the child of prophecy's appearing.”

Silence greeted his words as the others contemplated this news. “Several others?” Some one finally managed, “You mean several more like him that are learning magic and sorcery?”

“Well, yes.” The man frowned at the other person's words. Was that fear in his voice? This was, after all, what they had worked so hard for.

“Thank you,” The questioner's voice said, although there wasn't much thanks in the tone. “You have given us something to think about.” A brief pause, “Keep an eye on the boy.”

It took all his effort not to snort. Keep an eye on the boy? Of course he would keep an eye on him.

Aaron, Atock, and Enton spent their evenings over the next week looking for Elona, but the girl was nowhere to be found. But then again, Telur was an enormous city and it would take three men longer than a week to thoroughly search all the taverns and inns, and that was assuming that the girl stayed in one place. For all they knew, she could be moving around and she might be hitting places they had already visited.

Throughout the whole ordeal Aaron was embarrassed and guilty. His whole squad had helped him buy the girl's freedom, and now he had lost her. This reason above all others was what prevented him from allowing Atock to bring in other members of the guardians to help search. So far, Atock and Enton had honored his wishes.

For their parts, Atock and Enton had continued to search diligently, but the enthusiasm had disappeared quickly when the enormity of the task had settled on them. They spent each evening sticking their heads into the taverns and inns, and asking after the girl. When what they really wanted to do, was to stay at one of those taverns and drink some ale, toss dice, and maybe throw some darts.

Atock had stopped at a tavern in the western part of the city, near the city gate. The tavern was called the Headman's Noose, and it was a small tavern, but it was in a good spot and saw a lot of traffic from the merchants and their guards. He stood in the doorway and observed the raucous crowd. It was still early evening, but the seats were all taken and most of the standing room as well. The serving girls were hard pressed to keep all the men's drinks filled, but they gave it a good go. Two musicians played on a small stage that was along the opposite wall. One was playing the flute, while the other picked at a stringed instrument that he didn't recognize. A bar ran along the wall to his left, and it too was crowded as men stood waiting to get their drinks.

Sighing, Atock stepped inside. He knew better than to ask the men if they had seen Elona. They were too busy drinking and they could probably have her sitting on their laps and not recognize her from his description. The serving girls were another matter altogether. They were sober, and would remember a young girl who was playing the men. The trouble seemed to be in catching one of the serving girls long enough to talk to her.

He made several unsuccessful attempts to get the serving girls in conversation, and not only did that fail, but he was starting to get nasty looks from some of the patrons. The last thing that he wanted was to get in a bar fight with this lot. They probably all knew each other and worked for the same person.

A large man with a nose that had been broken more than once walked up beside Atock. “Something you want?”

The man had the unmistakable appearance of a guard; rough and more than capable of taking care of himself. Hope sprang up in Atock at the sight of the man. A guard might be even better than one of the serving girls. He would remember the girl just like they would, but more importantly, his whole job was to stand there and watch the crowd. “Uh, maybe. I'm looking for a girl.”

The man snickered, “Aren't we all, but the girls here are only paid to serve drinks and nothing else.”

“No, no. You misunderstand me.” Atock said quickly, “I'm trying to find a particular girl. She's seventeen with brown hair to her waist and brown eyes. She answered to the name of Elona.”

The guard looked him up and down, “What's it to you? She stole something from you?”

“No,” Atock said, shaking his head, “I'm trying to help a friend who needs to find her.”

The man paused considering, “I know the girl. She was in here several nights back, almost started a brawl, playing the men against each other like she did. I threw her and several of the men out into the streets.” He smiled, “She wasn't too happy with me after that, either. That one has a mouth on her.”

“Any idea where she went,” he asked quickly. He wanted to find the girl and be done with this searching.

The guard nodded, “Yeah. I heard her tell some of the men that she liked to hang out at a tavern called the Drunken Dwarf. It's on the northern side of town near the center of the flower road.”

Atock knew where the flower road was. It was a wide stone road that took its name from the enormous planters lining the street. Each of the planters had beautiful plants that kept the street decorated in pretty, sweet smelling flowers.

Atock tossed the man a silver scepter and headed out into the street. For the first time in days, he had hopes that they could find the girl and be done with this business. He felt sorry for Aaron, the boy had tried to do something good and it had bitten him. It wasn't the boy's fault; it was that minx of a girl's fault.

The sign over the inn read the Drunken Dwarf. Aaron yawned and looked back up at the sign and shook his head, how many more of these places did they have to search? The others hadn't said anything, but he was sure they were ready to be done looking for the girl. He was ashamed to think that he also agreed. The only thing that kept him going was the thought that he had saved the girl, so that kind of made him responsible for her. He balled his fist up and then relaxed it, if he ever caught that girl; he planned to beat her half to death. Sighing, he walked in to the inn.

Inside the door, he paused and looked around. The inn had rooms to rent upstairs, and the common room took up most of the first floor. The kitchen also was on the first floor to the back of the building. It was a common setup and he had seen it plenty over the last week. The common room was full of rough looking men, some of them were farmers and cattle drivers, but the majority were merchant guards. Several games of dice were being played in the corners, a couple of men were leaving via a back door, and a half-naked girl sang while she danced on a table. His eyes lingered on the singing girl. She was young and cute, but she had dead lifeless eyes. As he watched, a man reached up and groped the girl and she didn't even seem to notice. Shuddering, he turned away from the sight.

Calling a serving girl over, he asked after Elona, briefly describing her. The girl's eyes widened.

“Yeah. I seen her, give me a gold crown, and I'll tell you where.”

Aaron's eyes narrowed and he fought the urge to slap the girl. “A silver scepter is all I will give.” He responded and the girl jumped quickly at his offer. Grudgingly, he pulled the silver coin out, knowing that he had overpaid for the information.

“She just left out the back door with a couple of customers.” She looked at him sideways, “I guess you know what I mean by customers?”

Aaron's face hardened at the serving girl's comments. What was the girl up to? He turned and walked quickly through the common room and through the back door.

The doorway led into the kitchens, where a cook was busy preparing food. Well, perhaps busy was an overstatement. The cook was cutting roast beef to place on a plate, but there wasn't much else happening. It seemed the majority of the patrons tonight were more interested in drinking than eating. The cook barely glanced up as Aaron entered the kitchens and headed across the room toward the doorway on the opposite wall.

The door stood propped open, to help vent the heat from the cook fires. Aaron stepped into a back alley way that ran behind the inn. He stopped and glanced left then right. A sound coming from somewhere to his left caught his attention. He looked down the alleyway into the darkening shadows, but he saw nothing. Cautiously, he moved deeper into the alley.

He hadn't gone far, when the sound of a door slamming made him spin around. The door into the kitchens had been slammed shut, and three people stood in the alley between him and the flower road.

The brown haired man standing on the left side of the alley had the appearance of a sword for hire, perhaps a merchant guard but Aaron didn't think so. The man looked like he knew how to use his sword and his cold eyes never left Aaron. A long two handed sword rested with the tip on the ground and the hilt against the man's belt. He wore a bulky grey cloak that Aaron guessed was covering armor. He had never seen the man before, but the other two people in the alley he recognized quite clearly.

Elona stood on Aaron's right near the kitchen door. A man had a vice like grip on her arm, and her scared eyes darted back and forth looking for an escape. It took a moment, but Aaron recognized the man who was holding her arm.

“Dale Stonewood,” he spat the name as if cursing. “What are doing with Elona? She's a free woman now.”

Stonewood smiled at Aaron, “Yes she is, thanks to you, but you know that as a free woman she came asking me for work.” His smile got even nastier. “Seems she missed the trade. I guess you were unable to satisfy her.”

Aaron felt the anger swelling in his stomach. “Is that true?” He asked Elona, “Did you return to him? Did you ask to go back to the same exact thing that you escaped from?”

Her scared eyes met his for the first time and they welled with tears. “I.. I thought it would be different now. When I worked with him before I got a few coppers for every crown I earned. As a free woman, I expected five or six silvers.”

Aaron was amazed. The foolish girl had thought it was a horrid life earning coppers for every crown, but she thought it was better if she earned five or six scepters.

Stonewood snorted and shoved the girl into the wall. “You'll be lucky if I let you work for a copper from now on.” Then he turned back to Aaron. “You see. She was always mine, and she always will be.”

Aaron shook his head in disgust, “Fine. If that's what you want then I'm done with you.”

Stonewood smiled again, this time is was an evil sneer. “Oh, you are quite through with her, but I'm not quite done with you yet.”

Aaron glanced back over at the swordsman, not overly worried. The man might be good, but he wasn't too bad himself. Drawing his sword, Aaron nodded at the swordsman, “Only one?”

Stonewood shook his head, “Actually, it's three.”

It was then that Aaron heard the footsteps coming from behind him.

Flare was lost. While he lived in the palace, the rest of the guardians had been given official quarters in an officers barracks. The barracks were on the edge of the main palace grounds, just inside the wall. It was a large building with numerous hallways that were lined with bedrooms. He had passed several officers in the hallways, and had been given directions to the western side of the second floor, but somehow he had gotten turned around. The hallways all looked the same. Standing at an intersection, he was wondering should he continue on straight or turn left or right.

“Flare?” A woman's voice called out from behind him.

He turned and was immensely relieved to see Kara walking towards him. “Kara! Thank the gods! I am so lost in this maze of hallways and rooms.” He hadn't seen her for more than a week now, and he noticed that she looked tired.

She smiled, but the smile seemed to falter just a little as if something was wrong, but it was gone before he was sure that he had seen it. “What are you doing here?” She asked.

Had he seen something just then? His thoughts went back to Dagan's words, and he found himself wondering about Kara. “Uh, I was looking for you,” he said slowly. “I'm not allowed to drill with the other guardians until you say I'm ready.” He smiled at her, “I have enjoyed the lessons with Dagan, and I think the King wants me to continue them, but I have to get out into the sun. And besides, I can't spend the whole summer cooped up in the palace.”

Kara nodded, “Well how are you feeling? Are your wounds bothering you at all?”

“No!” Flare said emphatically. “I haven't had any pain since we got back, and I'm ready to push things a little.”

She smiled, and this time it seemed to be genuine. “All right.”

His heart jumped at the words, “Really? I can drill with the guardians again?”