ROAD TO CORDIA (9 page)

     “Slap the damn kid, that’ll shut her up.”

     “Don’t you dare slap her. And you,” Ja'Nil heard herself say to the first man. “Grow up.”

     He turned on her. “What did you say?”

     “Grow up?” Her voice came out as a squeak.

     Just then, the wagon jolted to a stop. Everyone stiffened. Even the child stopped crying.

     O’Keeven pushed himself away from the wall of the wagon. “Remember,” he said softly to Ja'Nil, “let me do the talking.” He squeezed her shoulder reassuringly.

     Thank the Lord of the Circle for O’Keeven.

CHAPTER 9

     As soon as the last person was unloaded, the wagon was driven away. However the four horsemen remained,watchful and deadly.

     They were in a dusty courtyard with both First Sun and Little’un beating down on them. Two story block-like buildings constructed of red stone surrounded the yard. The main building had a large doorway flanked by two round wooden pillars painted a vivid green. On the pillars, written in gold colored paint, were quotes from The Book of The Circle, all of the quotes having to do with justice and obedience and woe to malefactors.

     At least, they were believers in The Circle. Just seeing the familiar words made Ja’Nil feel better, not good, but better. After all, she reminded herself, we are all Children of The Circle. It’s our duty to care for each other.

     She touched O’Keeven’s shoulder and pointed out the pillars to him. He looked at them blankly, and then questioningly at her.

     “They’re believers. That’s a good thing, isn’t it?” she asked.

     At that moment, there was a loud screech and two burly men slowly pushed open the big doors to the main building.

      “Inside,” yelled one of the horsemen. “All of you, inside.”

     No one wanted to be first, but the horsemen kept crowding and threatening with their lances, until all of the travelers reluctantly stumbled into a square, windowless room. The doors, which had opened so slowly, closed with a crash.

     Inside, the only light came from torches hung along the walls. Aside from a large wooden chair placed on a dais at the far end of the room and a banner, displaying a rampant red-maned horse, the room was bare… and intimidating.

     Pressed tightly together, the travelers looked around fearfully.  The heat from the torches, combined with the body heat of the travelers, made it difficult to breathe. Ja'Nil could smell her own body, it wasn’t pretty. She longed for a cool drink of water.

     With the same screech, the doors opened again and a tall man entered. “Make way for No’Sila, Lord of the the Red Horase Clan,” bellowed one of the soldiers following. A wide path through the crowd immediately appeared.

     Ignoring the bunched up travelers, Lord No’Sila walked to the dais and sat in the chair. Two men followed him and took up positions slightly behind and to either side of him. The seated man had only a knife stuck in his belt, but the men behind him were well armed. They not only carried lances, they had sheathed long swords slung over their backs, and knives, the handles clearly visible, tucked into their boots. All three wore their hair long and messy looking. Their skin was weathered and sunburned. They looked tough, nasty, and competent. Several other Red Horse men stayed in the back of the room, arms crossed, waiting.       

     Ja'Nil was so scared that she crossed her legs and tried not to think of her bladder.

     She was going home. Yes. Definitely. Right after this, she was going home. O’Keeven was fun and charming and made her feel special, but being safe was better.

     One by the one the travelers were brought before Lord No’Sila to be questioned. Apparently, none but healers were allowed to travel freely on his land.

     “But I didn’t know that,” was not an acceptable excuse. Some, those who could afford it and who Lord No’Sila did not regard with deep suspicion, were fined, and then roughly escorted off the land.

     Ja'Nil’s mouth was dry and her hands trembled as she waited for her turn to answer questions. O’Keeven was called up first.

     O’Keeven smiled his charming smile and spread his hands wide. “Obviously I’m a Player,” he said. He reached into his pack, an action that caused the men standing behind Lord No’Sila to draw their swords. They relaxed slightly when he withdrew nothing more threatening than four juggling balls. One even smiled slightly when O’Keeven went into his act.

     Lord No’Sila watched with hard eyes and unsmiling mouth. O’Keeven really had the balls flying, when Lord No’Sila called a halt to it by making a quick, hard, downward slashing motion with his hand. “Enough!”

     O’Keeven caught three of the balls but one of them fell to the ground.

     “Where is your clan insignia?” asked Lord No’Sila.

     “Ah, yes, my insignia.” O’Keeven smiled. “The elders of my troupe and I had a disagreement. An artistic disagreement. So, in light of our difference--”

     “They threw you out.”

     “Well, we agreed to disagree.” This time O’Keeven’s smile was not quite so broad.

     “What was your crime?” asked No’Sila. “Theft, murder, adultery, betrayal?”

     “Hey, hey, wait a minute now.” O’Keeven held up his hands, palm out. “I assure you--.”

     “Assure me not,” said Lord No‘Sila. “You have trespassed upon our land. I sentence you to thirty lashes and a year of hard labor.” He motioned to two men standing in the back of the room. They came forward, grabbed O’Keeven, and began pulling him away.

     “You’re next,” said No’Sila, motioning to Ja'Nil.

     “Me?” She squeaked.

     “Why is a female of the Fisherfolk crossing my land?” asked No’Sila.

    
To get to the other side,
thought Ja'Nil in a brief flash of irritation. Before she could answer, O’Keeven, who was struggling with the Red Horse soldiers, started yelling.

     “My Lord,” he yelled. “I have information about a spy in your land. The Queen’s spy.”

     No’Sila turned his head slowly and looked at the struggling O’Keeven. The soldiers stopped dragging him away but did not release him.

     “Speak,” No’Sila said to O’Keeven.

     O’Keeven straightened. “Here? In front of everyone?”

     “Here,” agreed No’Sila, “In front of everyone.”

     The room was very quiet. O’Keeven twisted his neck nervously and pulled his tunic straight. “I would think you’d want this information to be confidential.”

     No’Sila nodded to his two soldiers. “Take him away,” he said.

     “No, wait. Of course I’ll tell you.” He took a deep breath. “It’s her,” he said, pointing straight at Ja'Nil.

     Ja'Nil had been staring at O’Keeven along with everyone else in the room. When he pointed in her direction, she looked behind her to see who the spy was.

    
Oh, my Lord of the Circle, he’s pointing at me!

     No’Sil raised an eyebrow. “The little Fisherfolk girl?”

     “That’s her hook,” said O’Keeven. “Who would suspect her? She’s traveling to Cordia to report to the Queen.” He looked directly at Ja'Nil. “Go on, ask her.” he urged. “She’s been traveling across the country, snooping, and picking up information. When I met her, she had just come from K’epper’s. You know what a cesspool of spies and corruption that place is. She told me herself that she reports to the Queen. She tried to pump me for information but you know Mummers. We mind our own business.”

     “That’s not true,” protested Ja'Nil. “O’Keeven, you know that’s not true.”

     O’Keeven ignored her, so did Lord No’Sila.

     “She was traveling with you,” No’Sila pointed out.

     “No, no, no. We were both going in the same direction.”

     “You couldn’t outdistance a female?”

     “Well, of course, but you know how it is.” He tried a, ‘we’re both men-of-the-world’ smile on No”Sila. “She’s a little on the skinny side but…” He threw out both his hands and shrugged.

     “A little young, isn’t she?” asked No’Sila.

     “Hey, you’re right,” O’Keeven immediately switched tactics. “I didn’t touch her. You can ask her.”

     Ja'Nil couldn’t believe her ears. Before her very eyes O’Keeven, her friend O’Keeven, had morphed into a lecherous, backstabbing traitor.

     No’Sila studied Ja'Nil, and then he beckoned her closer. Ja'Nil couldn’t move. Her feet were frozen to the ground. One of No’Sila’s men approached her. She started backing up. The man reached for her. She turned and ran.

     Of course, there was nowhere to go. The room was small and crowded, the doors locked. There was nowhere to hide. The other travelers pushed her away from them as if she carried a deadly disease they wanted no part of. It took only moments before she was firmly in the grasp of  No’Sila’s soldiers.

     “See,” said O’Keeven. “I told you she is a spy.”

     No’Sila didn’t even look at him. “Take the Player away,” he ordered his men. O’Keeven was frog-marched out of the room, protesting all the way. No’Sila focused on Ja'Nil. “Are you a spy?” he asked.

     “No, sir. I mean, no your lordship,” she answered. Her voice quivered.

     “Then why did you run?”

    
Was he serious? Who wouldn’t run?

     “I was afraid,” she said.

     “Your purpose for coming on my land?”

     “I didn’t know it was your land. I thought…”

     “Yes?”

     “I saw all the others,” Ja'Nil gestured vaguely at the other travelers. “I thought the road was the -- a public road.”

     “Public?” he said. “You mean you thought it was the Queen’s road.”

     Ja'Nil nodded.

     “Are you on your way to Cordia?”

     “Well, I was going to go home but--”

     “Are you traveling to Cordia? Answer the question.”

     “My village needs a healer.”

     “So out of all the people in your village your Chieftain picked you to travel to the capital, to interview and negotiate for the services of a healer?”

     “Not a Chieftain,” she said. “We have village elders and yes, they sort of did send me.”

     One of Lord No’Sila’s men snorted with disbelief. Lord No’Sila looked at him. “A liar, do you think?” he asked the man.

     “Aye, Lord,” said the man. “Who would send the likes of her on official business? Even the Player spotted her.”   

     “They didn’t send me,” Ja'Nil protested. “They sent my aunt. I was traveling with her.”

     “Where is she?”

     “We were attacked by pirates. She was wounded and died. K’epper buried her, then he tried to marry me, but I ran away. A giant wolf almost ate me, but O’Keeven saved me. He gave me something to eat, because I was so hungry and…” she ran out of breath.

     Everyone was staring at her.

     “Please,” she said. “I know the country is going to the Seven Hells and there’s…a…  well lawlessness everywhere, but I’m no spy.  We’ve had no healer for more than two years.”

     “So you are merely carrying out your aunt‘s duties?”

     “That’s right.” Relief flooded Ja'Nil’s mind. He understood! He was going to let her go.

     “You are going to Cordia?” he asked.

     “Yes…I guess so.”

     “To see the Queen?”

     “I don’t think someone like me will get to see the Queen.”

     “But you would try?”

     “I don’t know exactly how you find a healer,” she countered.

     “By applying to the Queen,” No’Sila said in a cool voice.

    
Oh Lord.
 “Really?” her voice squeaked.

     “Do you know what Quid Pro Quo, is?” asked No’Sila.

     Actually, she did. Quid pro quo had been something her aunt had been very big on.

     “Uhh.” Should she say, yes? Should she say, no? “Uhh,” she repeated like a moronic child’s mimic doll. “Not exactly,” she finally answered.          

     “It means,” said Lord No’Sila, “if you want a Healer from the Queen you give her something in return. Something of equal value. What do you have of equal value to give the Queen?”

     “I…uh, nothing,” said Ja'Nil.

     “What, for instance, would you say if the Queen or her minister asked for information?”

     “Information?” Ja'Nil swallowed nervously.

     “What would you tell her if she asked for information about the land of the Red Horses? If she asked for information about me, Lord No’Sila, would you lie to the Queen?”

     “But I don’t know anything about you,” she wailed. “Truly I don’t.”         

     “Don’t you?” Lord No’Sila stood up. He was a tall man, and standing on the raised platform, he seemed a giant to Ja'Nil, looming over her. “I think you are a spy,” he said.

     “No!”

     No’Sila’s face was hard, almost rigid with determination. “You are female and very young so you will not be tortured.”

    
Tortured?

     “At dawn you will be tied to the Retribution Stake and shot through the heart onto death by The Five Archers of Justice.”

     “What?”

     “It will be swift and it will be just. Thus are spies dealt with.” He gestured, and two men grabbed her and pulled her from the room.

     “Wait a minute--.”

CHAPTER 10

     She was so frightened her teeth chattered. Fighting them was useless; besides, her limbs were icy, so frozen with fear she could barely open and close her hands.

     They carried her down a long flight of steps into a hallway, which emptied into a huge underground room lined with cages. Each cage seemed to be overflowing with prisoners: noisy, smelly, loudly protesting, prisoners. It was deafening. The two guards, who were in charge of her, had to yell to hear each other.

     “Need to put her in solitary,” said one.

     “Ain’t no solitary cell, alls filled up,” the second man pointed out.

     “Law says thems to die go in solitary.”

     They looked at each other. “Ah, the hells with it,” said the second man. He went to the nearest cage, unslung his whip, and slashed it across the bars, hitting the hands and faces of the prisoners who were peering out at them. Several of them screamed in pain and all of them flung themselves away from the bars. The other soldier who was half carrying, half dragging the terrified Ja’Nil, dropped her unceremoniously onto the stone paved floor and unlocked the cage door. For a dazed moment Ja'Nil just lay where she had been dropped, then she scrambled to her feet to run. Too late. The soldier grabbed her by her hair and shoved her into the crowded cage. The door was slammed shut behind her. She lay panting on the unbelievably dirty floor.