The Legends of Ithan Book 1: Ghosts & Fire

25

Vix sat at the bar fuming. He should have known better than to stick his neck out for these idiotic women. Kala evidently had either forgotten the plan or had abandoned him. He felt a sting of betrayal and chose instead to nurse his anger. How dare she double-cross him! Suddenly a sparrow flew into the tavern. It began pecking people and flying around the room. Everyone was jumping up and trying to shoo the annoying little bird out of the room. The tavern keeper yelled for his boys to get a cloth or something to catch the bird in.

            Vix was watching the chaos when it occurred to him that this was a distraction even if it wasn’t Kala‘s doing. He slowly slipped from his stool and headed towards the back entrance as quickly and cautiously as he could. He opened the door and slipped in to the darkness of the room with his dagger drawn. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness he realized he was alone in the room. There were no green men and no she-devil. He cursed under his breath. They evidently had her somewhere else. He looked closely but the room was filled with nothing but sacks. He decided it would be best to go out the back exit rather than back in to the tavern. He walked towards the door to the outside and kicked something that didn’t feel like grain. He felt around in the dark and found a lumpy sack. It felt warm and like a…person.

            He pulled the sacks off and found the woman he’d been looking for. Her eyes were closed and she was still. Vix worried that she was dead. She was bound tightly and gagged. He knelt down and undid the gag around her mouth. She still didn’t wake up. It was his fault. If he hadn’t been the tool the green men had used to bring her here she would still be alive. He felt at a loss. He had never felt such a heavy burden of responsibility around his neck. He felt chocked with it. He clinched his fists. He heard the ruckus in the tavern get quieter and decided it was time to leave. He opened the back door and nearly shouted with startlement as there stood Kala with Grada and another man keeping watch.                     

            “Hurry! Dusty can’t keep them distracted forever,” Kala whispered.

            “Who’s Dusty?” Vix asked puzzled.

            “The sparrow. He’s a friend of mine. Now hurry.”

            Vix dropped his head, “I hate to tell you this but….she’s dead and it’s my fault.”

            Kala gasped and ran into the darkened room to Cyndal’s body.

            “Kala, hurry!” the strange man standing with Grada whispered in to the dark room. Vix noted that he wore the attire of a knight and looked a little like Kala in the face.

            “Help me, Vix. I can’t lift her on my own,” Kala said as she strained under Cyndal’s weight.

            “She’s dead, Kala. Just leave her and let’s go,” Vix said with exasperation.

            “No she’s not,” Kala said and continued straining under the weight.

            Of all the times for her to be in denial this was not a good one, Vix thought. He knelt down beside Kala and placed his hand on her shoulders, “We’ve got to go, Kala.”

            Kala looked at him with puzzlement, ”Vix, she’s breathing.” Kala put Vix’s hand in front of Cyndal’s mouth. “And besides, we already heard the green men say she wasn’t dead.” Kala rolled her eyes. “Now help me.”

            Vix felt an immense relief that he had no intention of ever admitting. “Well, I just don’t trust what people say,“ Vix said in his defense. “For all we know they might have known we were eavesdropping and only mad us think she wasn’t dead.“ He picked up Cyndal’s shoulders as Kala picked up her legs and they began to shuffle out of the room.

            Grada came to the exit and whispered, “What’s taking so long?”

            “I thought you had ran off to your grave,” Vix said,

            Grada chuckled, “Perhaps you made more sense than you thought you did, young Vix.”

            Suddenly Dusty came whirling past Grada. “Uh, oh,” Kala said.

            “Kala, we’re out of time!” the knight said.

            “Grada,” Vix said, “if you can lift that big axe I bet you can lift a body too. Come in here. Hurry!”

            Grada came into the room and lifted Cyndal over her shoulder in one easy motion. Then picked up Cyndal’s sword that lay among the sacks. Kala and Vix ran out and Grada closed the door behind her as she left. Suddenly Dusty chirped overhead. “Come on. He says he knows a safe place,” Kala said and hurried to follow Dusty.

            They all hurried to keep up with Kala and Dusty as they made their way through back alleys behind shops and inns.

            The tavern keeper had thought he heard voices in the back room. He thought as a precaution he should check and make sure the swordmaster was still asleep. He opened up the door and the light from the tavern fell on the place where Cyndal’s body had been. The tavern keeper couldn’t believe his eyes. She truly was great. She must have tricked them into thinking she had drunk the drugged rye he had given her. The dragon men would need to know about this. He called for one of his men and told him to follow the passageway till he found the dragon men. If word got back to the king about the invasion then their element of surprise might not be possible. Of course, the tavern keeper reflected, the swordmaster wouldn’t know about the secret passageway his men had dug to the palace. So even if the guard was increased at the palace the green men wouldn’t be stopped. The food at the palace supper would still be drugged, the dragons would still attack, and the dragon men would still invade the castle. There was nothing the swordmaster could do to prevent it, and the tavern keeper smiled.