Chapter 7
The next morning Covarla woke to find the pouches of gold and silver on her dresser. Adria must have pu them there, she thought. She slid the pouches into her bags.
She quickly got dressed, making sure the pendant was well hidden. She place her knife in it's sheath on her belt. She made sure her sword was resting firmly in it's sheath before gathering her bags and leaving the room.
When she knocked on Adria's door there was a pause before she hear Adria answer with "I'll be right down."
Covarla proceeded down the stairs and into the common room. There were few people around this early in the morning. People were only just beginning to come out of their homes and onto the streets.
Covarla sat down at the nearest table. She figured that it would be as good of a place as any ohter to wait for Adria and Keilen. She wasn't sure if Keilen had a room in the inn or not, so she didn't know which way he'd come from.
She passed the time by watching the few people that drifted in and out. One lone man came in and sat down at a table. His back was to her so she couldn't see his face, but she had caught a glimpse of it when he had entered. He seemed very familiar, but she couldn't remember where she'd seen him. I seem to be losing my memory, first that guy last night, now this one, she thought to herself. Then she remembered when she had seen the man. He was the man who had but watching her last night. But she had seen him before last night, too.
Covarla decided to think backwards to all the places she had been. She had been in the inn for the last four days and she didn't remember seeing him here. Before that had been the sword competition, but that wasn't it. There had also been the fight in the alley. Suddenly she realized that that was where she had seen him. He was one of the two men who had gotten away.
She knew he had been watching her last night and that meant whoever he worked for knew she was here, too. Now the man was watching the stairs, so he was probably waiting for her. She couldn't let him see her leave.
She knew how to avoid him. She motioned for one of the serving boys to come over to her. "Do you know of a guy named Keilen who has been here often the last few days?" she asked the boy.
The boy nodded. "He stays nearby," he said hesitantly. Apparently the boy was suspicious of why she was asking him questions.
"Could you watch for him?" she asked. "If you see himm about to enter the inn, stop him and tell him to meet Covarla in the stables. Can you do that?"
The boy nodded hesitantly. Covarla smiled and pulled a coin from her purse and gave it to the boy. The boy then moved off to the area near the door. She could tell that he would keep his promise.
Now to keep Adria out of the common room, she thought. Again she signalled one of the servers, this time one of Maive's daughters who was only slightly younger than Covarla. This one at least knew Covarla was a friend of her mother's.
"Could you go upstairs and tell Adria to come down the back stairs and meet me in the stables?" she asked.
"Sure," said the girl. True to her word, the girl started across the room and up the stairs. At the top she pause and spoke to someone before coming back down and smiling at Covarla. Just in time.
Now how do I get out of here myself without being seen? she wondered. She looked around. The man's attention was focused on the top of the stairs, so the door to the kitchen would be just out of his sight. She couldn't go down the middle of the room because then she'd go right past the man. She would have to go around to the back and then along the wall.
Quietly she gathered her bags and wove her way around the tables and along the wall. When she reached the door she slipped through and hoped that the man hadn't turned his head any.
Once safely in the kitchen she waved to Maive and tried to keep out of the way of the people who were bustling about. She threaded her way to the door and out into the stableyard.
She quickly moved across the yard and into the stables. The building was large and well enclosed so that air could circulate, but she couldn't be seen. Only a few of the stalls were unused, the rest were filled with horses of many different colors, sizes and breeds.
She saw her horse near the back and to her left. In the stable beside it was Adria's. Both were already saddled and ready to go. She Walked down the aisle seein if there was anyone else in the stables. She didn't see any of the stablehands, nor did she hear anyone moving in the loft. She thought it odd that there wasn't anyone in the stable, but dismissed it as just being early. She went to her horse, who snorted at her when she approached.
"Miss me?" she asked the horse as she smoothed it's mane. She took her time as she fastened her bags behind the saddle. When Adria still hadn't arrived she began to get worried. Probably just saying goodbye to Maive, she thought.
She leaned up against the wall and tried to be patient. Her nerves were beginning to go on edged. She was starting to become worried about the man in the inn. She couldn't be sure that he hadn't seen her. He could have begun to suspect something if he noticed the boy watching the door. She was just about to go looking for Adria when the mage came into the stables with Keilen at her side.
Covarla let out a visible sigh of releif which calmed her nerves a little and caused both Adria and Keilen to give her a look full of worry. She still had an intense urge to get away from the inn, though.
"What's going on?" Adria asked when she reached Covarla. "Why did you want us to meet you out here and not in the common room?"
"You remember those two men who escaped from the alley the other day?"
Keilen nodded simultaneously with Adria. Both looked somewhat confused as to why she would ask that.
"Well, one was watching me last night, though I didn't recognize him at the time. He, however, recognized me. I know because he was watching me then and he's back in the common room now, watching for us."
Adria nodded. "Then we'd better hurry before the other one shows up."
Covarla nodded and led her horse out of the stall. Outside of the stable she saw a horse waiting near the gate that she assumed was Keilen's. She waited while Adria led her horse out. Keilen moved over to the horse near the gate and led it outside. They mounted in the alley and moved into the street at a slow pace.
There still weren't many people out and the ones that were were scattered about. They were the only ones on horses that they could see.
Keilen led them through the maze of streetes and towards the gate to the pass. As they crossed into an alley, covarla turned her head for a moment to look at the growing crowd in the plaza they had just crossed. For a moment she thought she had seen the officer that she and Adria had met on the road near Amaranth, but when she looked again she couldn't see him. I am getting too jumpy, she thought. Even seeing things now. She hurried to catch up with Adria and Keilen, who were now at the other end of the alley. She caught up to them and tried to relax.
When they reached the gate, they found that it was still closed. There was a guard outside trying to keep the crowd of people waiting to get out quiet. The trio waited at the back of the growing crowd as the guard went inside to see why the gate hadn't been opened yet. Some of the people waiting looked to be merchants, others travellers and a few more seemed to be farmers.
The gate finally crept open and the crowd filed past the guard, who quickly took his notes and let them pass. Before them was a long road leading upward and through the snow capped mountains. The pass itself didn't seem to go very hig, but she knew that it was long.
***************************************
Jared Icole had ridden hard to get to Keymar. He had left his soldiers behind at Paran so that they hadn't slowed him down. He had told them that he'd leave word in the barracks here as to what to do. He knew he was getting close to those girls.
When he asked the gate guard, the guard didn't remember the girls. The guard had checked his records and was able to tell him that they had passed through four days earlier. He was also able to tell Jared that the next day the younger one had left by herself in the direction of the faire. Later the other went the same direction with the owner of the Crystal Dove. All three had reentered the city together and not returned this way. When asked the man had provided directions to the Crystal Dove.
From there Jared had gone to the local barracks. When he was passing through the plaza he thought he saw the younger girl, but when he looked again she wasn't there. At the barracks he listened to the local news while he waited for the officer in charge to return to the barracks. Most of the men and women were still talking about the winner of the Keymar sword competition, a girl around eighteen or nineteen they said. Some were still curious about why she'd been attacked and others responded by saying she could take care of herself, she'd proven that much.
"What was her name again?" one lieutenant asked.
"Something odd, Covala, maybe," another man answered.
"It wasn't Covarla, was it?" Jared asked.
The two men nodded with confidence. "That's it," the second man said, "I was close."
"Did she had long brown hair that was back in a braid?" he asked, wanting to be certain this was the same girl he was chasing after.
"Yes, as a matter of fact she did," the man replied. "Why do you know her?"
"No," he replied. "But I've been looking for her." He dashed out of the barracks leaving behind the curious soldiers. Where was that inn? Maybe he could catch her there.
He rode his horse throught the streets that hadn't yet begun to crowd. He reached the inn in a matter of minutes. He quickly tied his horse to the post in front and hurried inside.
He caught one of the serving boys by the arm and asked him to take him to the owner of the inn. He followed the boys into the busy kitchen. A large woman came over and introduced herself as Maive, the innkeeper.
He asked her if she knew a girl named Covarla who was travelling with another woman.
The innkeeper hesitated for a moment before answering. "No," she said. "I don't."
Jared could tell that she was lying to him. "Miss, I've come a long way. I'm taking time away from the army to find these girls. I would appreciate it if you told me where they are."
The innkeeper sighted. "They were here," she said. "They just left. They should be on their way to the pass. If you hurry you may be able to catch them."
Jared thanked the woman before hurrying out of the inn and towards the gate. He pause for a moment at the barracks to leave a not for his men to meet him in Tilen, a city on the other side of the pass.
He had more difficulty getting through the city now because more people were up and about. When he reached the gate he learned that the two girls had passed through not too long ago. He should be able to catch up to them in the pass. He urged his horse into a fast run and kept his eyes alert for anyone on the road ahead.
***************************************
Covarla was glad that the trio was making good time. They were nearing the pass itself in less than an hour's time. She knew, however, that the pass would take them most of the day to get through. It wasn't that it was trecherous that it take so long, it was that it curved sharply in some places and rose steeply in others. The pass almost seemed to be supernatural the way it remained walled on either side by sharp mountains rising high above. The pass was great for trade because it was rarely ever clogged with snow, the climate was too warm for that most of the time. Though, it wasn't a very pleasant journey if it was raining and the ground turned muddy.
The rest of the mountain range was too hard to croww for there were no other natural passes. Keymar and Tilen profited well from that. Both cities wer within an hour's ride of the pass. Trade coming south to Para would either have to pass through the two cities or go around the mountains by either the sea to the west or the river to the east. Most of the merchants prefered to use the well patrolled pass than the river and sea that had been know to become rough during the stormy seasons.
Covarla expected to pass several merchants comin in to Para along with the patrols, travellers and messangers. Oddly there were quite a few messangers going into Para wearing the colors of other countries.
When she commented to Adria and Keilen about it, they both told her of the rumors they had hear of trouble up north. Keilen had heard that it was a dispute between Selea and Litiz. Adria had heard that the trouble may have gone as far north as the Paxton Plains.
She knew one thing however, more than likely the trouble wouldn't bother their small group unless tere was an all out war. And even then tere were treaties between most of the countries that protected travellers from uninvolved countries.
They reached the first series of curves without any problems. They had been warned that these curves were the longest and sharpest in the pass. Thankfully the passage didn't narrow any.
Covarla had to admit the pass was rather pretty. The sky was blue above theri heads and the mountains were a solid gray dotted here and there with trees on some of the slopes. The pass was peaceful. There were few people travelling this part so early. She guessed that they wouldn't start to see many of the people coming from Tilen until much later in the day.
They approached the second series of curves in almost no time. These curves widened enough that there would be plenty of room for five people to ride side by side and still not clog the pass.
It was in those curves that they came across several horsemen waiting in the middle of a unusually large part of the pass. There were about a dozen men on horseback with weapons ready. When they saw the trio round the turn the men charged.
Once they got over their initial shock, the trio prepared to fight. Covarla drew her sword and took up a position near the front, yet off to one side of their group. She turned her back to both Keilen and Adria as most of the men changed direction to come at her. Only three continued to charge at Keilen and Adria. Keilen was the first to act. In a flash of motion he had two daggers flying through the air, knockin down two of the three men. Then he was launching daggers at the men attacking her. The third man didn't get more than a step past the two that had fallen off their horses before he was sent flying from his horse by an unknown force. The man hit the wall of the pass with a solid thunk.
Covarla didn't see if any of the three got up before she was engaging the first of teh men that had turned to her. He didn't have much time to react before she struck at him. He slid off his horse and landed in a headless heap. She sent his horse back at the men who hadn't reached her yet. She ran the next man to reach her through the stomach after blocking his attempt at splitting her head. The next man was much better with the sword he carried than the first tow had been. While she both blocked his strikes and attempted to strike at him two more men had reached them and were trying to strike at her from behind. She couldn't see what happened, but she did hear both of them collide with a large boulder. She managed to get in a luck strike at the man that split his skill. There were only three men left now and several riderless horses. All three of the men had pauses a moment when they saw their companions fall from their horses. Two more fell to Keilen's daggers and the third tried to flee before being cause in some kind of invisible snare.
Covarla was glad there hadn't been many more men to fight because she was already slightly winded and more than a little nauceous. She guessed she hadn't quite gotten over the healing. She urged her horse over to where Adria and Keilen were hauling the last man to his feet. She dismounted and walked toward the group. She avoided looking at the bodies of the men who had been slammed into rock and the one with the split skull. She had killed before, but she wasn't quite used to it yet.
The man was struggling wildly against his bonds. Keilen pushed the man down onto a sitting position and started to question him. The man refused to answer any of the questions they asked. He seemed to begin to be urged to answer after several very creative threats. Covarla didn't realize that some of the things he suggested were physically possible. The man seemed to be persuaded, though whether from Keilen's threats or Adria's magic she didn't know.
A fog started to gather in the passage. The man seemed to grow warier and slightly frightened. The fog grew thick and solid near the man. Adria seemed startled. She felt the hair on the back of her neck rise up and her head begin to slightly ache. The fog closed entirely around and formed a solid mass that could be touched. Strangeled sounds came from within the fog. Covarla shuddered to hear the screams that come next. When the fog disapated all that was left of the man was a smear of blood rocks.
Covarla looked at Keilen and Adria's faces were both white. All of the horses but their three had run off. Their horses were nervous and looked ready to bolt. Covarla mounted her horse and motioned the others to do so as well. She suddenly felt the need for walls around her and other people nearby.
They rode quickly around the next part of the pass, finally passing other people. When they again reached a clear stretch of passageway Keilen spoke. "There would have been some odd questions asked if anyone came by. Especially if the pass patrol came by."
Adria nodded. "I couldn't quite trace the origin of the spell, but I could tell that it comes from the north. I've not seen that particular spell used before, but I had heard of it."
Covarla shuddered. "I'd rather not see it again."
Previous Chapter Home Untitled: Index Next Chapter