In the middle of the night, Garin woke up to the sound and feel of the wind coming into the room through the open door. He sat up and his eyes immediately fell on Hannah who was asleep, still facing the direction away from him. He turned his gaze away from her and looked at the entry point, wondering why the door was wide open. He looked over at the other side of the room and saw that neither Layla nor Kessie was on their mat-bed.
“Oh no,” he whispered and dashed to his feet.
Hannah woke up to the sound of his movement and looked at him, wondering what was going on.
“What is it, Garin?” She asked as she sat up.
“The girls are gone,” Garin told her as he went to search through their things.
“What?” Hannah asked in shock, “What happened to them? Where did they go?”
“I don’t know, Hannah. I just woke and noticed that they weren’t here,” he said while looking into his satchel, “…and neither is my bag of coins,” he added.
They realized now that Layla had taken off with her sister and had stolen their money also. Hannah knew what the reason was and so did Garin. They knew that Layla must have heard their conversation in the night and that must have been why she took off with Kessie.
Hannah got off the mat-bed and went to check on her stuff as well, realizing that Layla had taken more than just their money.
“She took two of my knives as well,” Hannah said out loud.
Garin ran over to the window to look around, hoping to see them but they were gone and it seem like they had left more than an hour ago which meant they must have put a long distance between them.
“They must be long gone by now,” Garin said, and to Hannah, he sounded almost like he didn’t want to go after them.
“That doesn’t matter! We have to find them, Garin,” she said, “It’s not safe for them to be out there. Something terrible could happen to them,”
“Well, then what are we waiting for?” He asked.
Hannah was relieved to hear him say this. They armed themselves with a light arsenal and left the inn to search for the girls. At first, they wanted to split up so they could cover more ground but, they figured that there was only one direction the girls could have gone so, so they went with that direction and they went together.
Hannah and Garin search all night long, covering every inch of Yoran Town but all to no avail. After they were certain that the girls must have left the town, they went beyond it but still, they couldn’t find them; they couldn’t even find any tracks that could help them locate the girls and it was as if they had vanished off the face of the earth.
They both knew what the only reason they couldn’t track had to be and it wasn’t a good one; someone must have captured them and was probably holding them somewhere secure, or worse, they had been killed.
*****
After spending the entirety of the night looking for the girls, Hannah and Garin decided to cut their losses and return to Yoran Town, hoping that the girls were alright and would turn up soon.
The sun had risen from beyond the horizon and had cast its brightening glow upon the land. About an hour after sunrise, Hannah and Garin reached the town but when they got there, they saw the people of the town all heading in the same direction, as if they were all being summoned.
“What’s going on? Where is everybody going?” Garin asked one of the townspeople.
“The square! The King’s guards caught two thieves and are about to punish them in public,” A woman replied.
Hannah looked over at Garin and her eyes sent him a question, the same question that was on the tip of his tongue; could the thieves be Layla and Kessie?
They both ran with the crowd and arrived at the square. A wooden stage had been set and a group of guards were on top of it. They also had two prisoners with them but they covered their heads with sacks so Hannah and Garin couldn’t tell yet if it were Layla and Kessie.
“Here ye! Here ye!” Jorah Hathel said, “Gather around, people of Yoran Town, for this is a lesson for all to learn.”
Hannah and Garin immediately recognized him as the man they met back in the valley that was leading the King’s riding party.
“The King’s Law has taken effect but it seems some of you are yet to understand the severity of disobeying it. Thievery is a crime in these lands and those who are caught in it will pay by losing the hands with which they stole, despite age, sex, or status,” Jorah said.
He gestured at one of his men and the guard whipped off the bags from the prisoners’ heads and as Hannah had feared, it was Layla and Kessie.
“These two girls were caught fleeing town with an outrageous sum of gold coins in their possession last night. When asked where they got the money, they couldn’t provide an answer which clearly means only one thing; they stole it,” Jorah pulled out his sword from the sheath, “By the King’s Law, the punishment is to have one of their hands cut off.”
The crowd gasped in shock, worried for the girls because of what was about to be done to them. A guard pulled Kessie closer to Jorah and held her hand out.
“No! Leave her alone, please. Punish me but don’t hurt her,” Layla screamed while struggling with another guard that was holding her as well.
“Don’t worry, child. You’ll be punished as well,” Jorah said and tightened his grip on his sword.
Hannah grabbed one of her throwing knives, ready to attack the King’s guards in order to save the girls but, Garin held her back.
“No! Not like this,” he whispered to her.
Jorah raised his sword, about to bring it down on Kessie’s hand when Garin ran out into the open and yelled at him.
“Stop!”
Jorah looked up and saw Garin standing away from the crowd with his arms raised. Hannah ran out as well and stood beside him as they addressed the King’s advisor.
“Ser Jorah, those girls are not thieves. They are our daughters. My wife and I have been looking for them all through the night. Please spare them. They have done nothing wrong,” Garin said aloud.
“I know you, don’t I?” Jorah asked Garin.
“Yes, you do. We met yesterday in the valley and you directed us into the town. Remember I was with my family; my wife and my daughters?” Garin asked.
Jorah looked at the girls’ faces and at Hannah’s and he recognized that they were truly by Garin’s side the day they had crossed paths in the valley.
“Where did your daughters get so much gold?” Jorah asked, curious to know.
“The gold is mine. It’s my entire life’s savings and with that money, we were planning to settle down and begin a new life in this wonderful town,” Garin lied.
“If the gold is yours, why were your own children trying to flee the town with it in the middle of the night?” Jorah demanded to know.
“It was just a simple misunderstanding, Ser,” Hannah cut in, “What matters is that they didn’t steal it so you don’t have to punish them,”
“Be that as it may, this one still committed a crime by attacking one of my men when they stopped them last night,” Jorah pointed at Layla, “She nicked him with a knife and if it wasn’t for his quick reflexes, she could have hurt him badly. Surely there should be consequences for attacking a member of the King’s royal guard, don’t you think?”
Garin could tell that Jorah was out for blood and wasn’t going to just let the girls go so easily. They needed to do more to convince him to spare them and with tyrants like him, only one thing could be used to appease them.
“How about you keep the gold as recompense for your wounded soldier? It should be enough to cover whatever damage was done. Please, Ser, just take the gold and spare my daughters,” Garin begged.
Groveling wasn’t Garin’s style and more than anything, he hated doing it. However, he was smart enough to know that it was a better hand to play considering their circumstances. They were outnumbered twenty to one and he wasn’t at full strength because he was still recovering from the wolf attack. It was better to act docile and submissive to the enemy.., for now at least.
“Fine,” Jorah said after thinking it over for a few seconds, although Garin knew he was surely going to take the deal, “Your daughters shall be spared,”
Jorah signalled at his men to release the girls and after they let them go, they both ran off the stage and went into the safety of Hannah’s arms, shivering in fear.
“It’s okay, girls. It’s okay now,” Hannah said to them.
“The King thanks you for your contribution,” Jorah said to Garin while waving the bag of gold around, “And know that this does not cover your tax for next season. When it’s due, you’ll have to pay it so I suggest you get to work to make more money before then. We wouldn’t want to anger the King.”
“I understand, Ser Jorah. Thank you for your kindness,” Garin said before leaving the square with Hannah and the girls.