Chapter 8

Ledger woke with the cheery, bright morning sun shining directly on his face from the high window. His eyes immediately rebelled, squeezing shut in reaction to the unwelcome, cheerfully bright light. Rather than fight them to re-open, he rolled over to his right side and promptly hit the wood floor face first. His faint groan of pain sounded like the screaming of several banshee’s singing loudly in the middle of his head. Next, he tried to move his arms to push himself up a little. They informed him they couldn’t move. His hands seemed to send a message about a blanket wrapped around them like a cocoon of wool. His struggles only went to strengthen the hold they had on him. Staying still seemed to be his best option for the moment.

After not moving or making any sounds for a few minutes, the banshee’s settled down to a quiet scream. Ledger tried to reason with his eyelids to get them opened. His left eye finally agreed to open a little to test the waters. What greeted him was not great, nor was it so bad, at least no sunlight was shining in his eye. He could see under the bed though. A single lump of cloth and an unknowable number of dust bunnies lived down there. One of them seemed to blink at him, then dove into a small hole in the floorboard. His left eye informed the right it was mostly safe to open now. Soon he had both open, swiveling around to get as much of a view as he could from his head being partly stuck under the bed, lodged between the floor and frame. Now that Ledger had an idea of where he was, and the reason moving was not easy, he tried to roll away from the bed, pulling his head free. This worked and he ended up in the middle of the room on his back, right in the sunbeam, now once more shining directly in his face. Both eyes slammed shut and sent letters of protest to the brain.

The new pain caused him to groan again, and a faint whimper issued forth, causing the banshees to go violently mezzo-soprano to add to the pain already screaming through his head. His head tried to detach from his neck in protest and crawl back under the bed on its own. That proved impossible since the rest of the body refused to let it go its own way. By now, Ledger was starting to think, think and remember, he quickly wished he hadn’t.

“Market place, big accident. Ale, bad ale. Very bad ale. Going to kill Andrew once I can move,” he muttered. The banshee’s punched him between the eyes from inside, causing him to pass out again. When he woke up again, the sunbeam had moved on and was no longer making its presence felt. He rolled around on the wood floor and worked the blanket loose from his arms. He wasn’t able to stand right away, but he did manage to raise enough to crawl back onto the bed. This caused his brain to send a message that his bladder had reported in and it was full and needed relief and soon.

He looked around the room, moving very slowly, he reached to his packs and pulled out a fresh set of shirt and trousers. He didn’t see his boots but did locate the sandals he used for short walks inside. Now the challenge was to get to his feet. He slowly stood, holding the edge of the bed to steady himself. “What the hell was that stuff,” he wondered aloud, wincing in pain. One of the banshee was still in residence and sent a warning shout, at least the volume was turned down now. He shuffled to the door, only to find it locked again. Seeing the key on its hook, he soon had it opened. The hall was turning a bit as he tried to go straight, but he made it to the stairs. He started down when he froze at the sound of Andrew’s surprised voice.

“Brena, where have you been, you went missing three days ago. I thought...”

“Three days?” A girl’s voice he didn’t know replied in disbelief.

“Yes, where have you been? I’ve been worried sick, and several folks have been by looking for you.” He pointed to Jessa. She knew who had been looking and waiting for her to surface.

Now Ledger had to choose, go and face the folks downstairs and the newcomer, or go back to bed and hope his bladder held. His bladder sent a final warning and he felt the muscles that held it closed start to weaken. “Down it is,” he thought. He barely paused once downstairs and looked to where Andrew was sitting, talking to a girl with painfully bright red hair. “No time, gotta go,” he said.

Jessa spotted Ledger as he staggered down the stairs. She could see by the look on his face that he was going to be in trouble in another minute. She dropped her cleaning rags and made her way around the busy room. When she reached him, she helped speed him along.

“You’re not going to explode again, are you?” she asked worriedly.

Ledger didn’t even pause, “Bursting bladder,” was all he said. He sped up as he reached the door to the back. Jessa reached around him and shoved it open, then shoved him in. Ledger staggered a little at the shove but didn’t quite lose control. He stepped into the first stall, not even bothering to pull the door shut. Getting his pants down was but a second’s worth of work and he barely aimed in time as his bladder finally lost the battle to hold.

Jessa waited outside for him to finish. She counted the seconds it took. When she passed forty-five and he was still going strong she had to wonder at the boys holding capacity. She heard a groan of relief and the sound tapered off. When it stopped completely, she could tell he was still not well from the night before. He had turned around and sat on the seat. He had a sudden look of panic and let out a blast of noxious gas that was heard in the common room by the patrons nearest to the door. Jessa knew what was coming. She grabbed a wash bucket from a cleaning supply table and tossed it to the boy. She almost didn’t make it out as his stomach started heaving again.

Once out of the danger zone, she pulled out a sign that said, “Out of Service.” She hung it on the door and went to re-open the vents to try and stay ahead of the smell. Within a minute of opening the vents, screams and shouts started filtering in from the outside as the toxic cloud began to spread down the street. She knew she would most likely have a visit from the city guard soon because of the deadly gas cloud she had just released out across the city. Rather than put off the chore, she went to the racks that held the wines and ales. The cask that was the cause of the problem had a funny color to it. The mold inside had made it outside, or maybe the other way around. She didn’t care which at this point. She pulled a drain hose from a storage bin and hooked it to the valve. She made sure the hose was set to drain straight into the city ways. She opened the valve and waited as the barrel drained. This took a good ten minutes before it stopped. She tilted and blocked up the back end and made sure she got as much out as was possible.

With this setup, she returned to the common room to find it had emptied except for Andrew and Brena. The smell had leaked in, despite her efforts to contain it. Brena had taken time apparently to retrieve the items that would be collected now that she had resurfaced. Andrew was questioning her as to her whereabouts over the last several days.

“Andrew, I swear that I was in that place for less than an hour. It was late night when I went in, then mid-day when I came out. I don’t understand it in the least,” she said.

“Well, whatever the case may be, the people that want to see you will be here shortly. They stopped by each day about this time to see if you had resurfaced yet.” He paused and watched as the doors to the street opened and several men in rich jackets entered. “Well, here they are now.” Andrew stood and moved to another table away from Brena so the men could join her and have some privacy.

Brena turned and looked at the men. One she recognized from the night they had arrived, the others she didn’t know. The Thieves guild officer spotted her and led the other two men to her table. He sat without and invitation and looked her in the eyes, “So they kept you for a few days. How long did it seem to you?” he asked.

Brena looked at the man, then his companions before answering. “As far as I can tell, I was in the chapel for less than an hour.”

The guild man cocked his head to one side and muttered, “How interesting. The time-stretching is getting steadily worse of late. Most folks it is half a day to the hour. Three days is stretching it though.” He took notice of the cylinder she held, “They asked you to deliver that for them?”

“Yes,” said Brena. Her hand tightened on the cylinder as she held it.

“Good, it’s an excuse to get you on the caravan next week. We had planned to do the same, still might in fact. Now, have you the items we discussed the other night?”

She pulled up the bag she had sitting on her legs under the table. Without a word, she began pulling the stolen goods from it. She saw one of the men’s eyes light up when she pulled out the book with the mystic markings on it.

“That’s it,” he said in a relieved and excited voice. “What of the thief that stole it, has he been captured and dealt with?”

Now Brena had a turn at giving cold eyes. “I killed her myself. Mind you it wasn’t because of this, it was more of a mercy killing in her case.” She slid the book to the center of the table but the man-made-no move to take it yet.

“A mercy killing? I don’t understand,” he said.

Brena considered how much to tell this person, then decided it wouldn’t matter much either way in the long run. “She was poisoned by a black slime mold. It was eating her alive. What I did was a mercy to end her pain.”

“She? Her? A woman broke into my home and stole this from me?” He seemed somewhat taken aback by this revelation.

“Yes, She. Mira was quite good at what she did for a living,” Brena replied, a slight chill entering her voice.

“Well, be that as it may, the reward for the return is, shall we say, considerable.” He pulled out a pouch and set it next to the book. “The money is yours, girl. Have a safe journey. I happen to have known your father by the way, how is he doing?”

“Dead,” was all she said.

“Oh. He was a good man, it is a terrible loss to the world then.” He laid his hand on the book, then asked, “How did he die, if you don’t mind my asking?”

“He was murdered by the Duke of The Planes Guard for a crime we had nothing to do with,” she replied.

“I don’t want to know more then. The less I know, the less I will have to lie on your behalf.” He picked up the book and stood. “Gentlemen, lady, a pleasure doing business with you.” He left without another word or look back.

The guild man spoke, “Now that that is out of the way, my friend here is from the recovery company. They find things that have been taken and return them for a price.”

Brena knew this man would be a dangerous enemy if crossed. She pulled the assorted items from the bag and set them out for him to examine. “Hmmm, this item is not on the list I was given to check on, you may keep it.” It was a gemstone covered bracelet. “The rest are known items we have been hired to recover. I will pay you a finders fee for the entire lot if that will suit you?”

“How much of a finders fee?” asked Brena?

“Oh, a mere pittance. Say, one hundred royal plat coins?”

Brena did her best to maintain a straight face and not blink at that number. Andrew, on the other hand, went wide-eyed and did his best not to choke on his water. He knew he shouldn’t eavesdrop, but found he cared for the girl. With a level voice, she said, “That ... That will do quite nicely.”

The Recovery agent pulled out four pouches and set them before her and began to carefully pack each item in the case he had brought with him. The guild agent just stared at her while she waited for the man to finish packing. Once done, she lifted each pouch and could tell that each did have the amount by the weight. Those coins were heavy. He stood and turned to leave, pausing only to say, “Should you come across any other items that are suspect, feel free to contact one of our offices in the cities along the route to the Cove.”

He left, also without another word or look back. Now the Thieves guild agent looked her in the eyes, but before he could speak, Brena tossed one of the bags onto the table in front of him.

“That will cover the guild cut I should think,” she said.

Now he smiled, “Indeed it does Brena Sizemore, Queen of Thieves. You need to take care, bounty hunters looking for you in the city now. It would seem the wife of the dead duke has increased the bounty on you by a fair amount.”

“Oh joy. First a mad Duke, now a mad duchess.” She grumbled.

Andrew was looking out the window and saw a man holding a sheet of paper and showing it to folks as they passed by. The guildsman looked at what had so suddenly caught Andrew’s attention. “In fact girl, you may want to vanish before that bounty hunter comes in here.”

Brena didn’t ask questions, she grabbed her bag and dove for the floor and quickly crawled to the door leading to the jakes. Jessa opened it and looked inside as if talking to somebody, then closed it after Brena had gone in. Jessa had an evil grin and waited for the inevitable sounds of horror at the smell. She frowned when said sounds failed to happen. She returned to the bar and waited as was her normal job. She looked pointedly at the maids so they knew to keep their mouths shut for once.

Brena had smelled much worse in her life. Growing up under the city was always a nasty way to live. Sewers always reeked. She slid into the first stall not checking to see if it was occupied. After closing the door, she stood and waited. She about peed herself when Ledger said, “Pardon me, but this stall is in use.”

She turned and looked at the boy, no, a young man sitting on the commode looking utterly miserable. Now she knew the cause of the odor.

“What the hell did you eat?” she asked quietly.

“It was some bad ale. I have been sick since last night.” He grimaced as his stomach cramped again and more gas and liquid were expelled into the city sewer. “I’ll just stay right here until it’s all out of me.”

Brena made a shushing motion and turned back to the entrance. She waited then lifted her feet off the floor while holding a cross member that holds the stalls together. The door opened and they both heard a man start gagging. The door slammed shut and they could hear him yelling at Jessa.

“You need to clean those stalls lady, that is beyond awful. What do you keep in there? Dead cattle?” he shouted.

They couldn’t hear the response but the door opened again a minute later. The man called out, “You in here kid?”

Ledger groaned as another cramp hit him before he could answer and a loud blast sounded from him that only added to the toxic cloud already polluting the entire block around the Inn. The bounty hunter slammed the door shut and could be heard gagging. “Lady, kill that kid and burn the body, that was beyond disgusting.” He stormed out of the Inn and headed towards the inner city walls in search of his quarry, and fresher air.

Jessa waited a minute to make sure the hunter had moved on to the fresher air down the street then called to Brena to come out. Brena had not been idle while waiting. She pulled out her poisons bag and dug around until she found what she wanted. She handed Ledger two small green leaves. “Chew these and swallow the juice, not the leaves. This will help your stomach relax a bit.”

Ledger took them and started chewing. He screwed up his face, “These taste almost as bad as that ale,” he groused.

“I know, but they will help. Clean up and come out when things settle down,” she said. She waited and soon Ledger staggered to the door to join her in the commons.

Andrew saw him come out with Brena and smiled. “I guess they have met now.” The guild man looked at the boy and frowned.

“Isn’t that the kid that does the stones?” he asked.

“Yes he is,” said Andrew. “We want to keep him out of sight until we leave on the caravan. I got him a slot as a driver.”

“Well, now you have two to keep hidden. You can be sure the hunters will be back later.”

“I know. That is something I will deal with when the time comes,” said Andrew.

“Kid, I don’t know how well trained you are, but that man will rip you apart in a few seconds. Don’t go playing hero for nothing.”

Andrew thought about it, then agreed. “I have to get to the Cove, and I need to make sure those two get there as well.”

The Thieves guild man studied Andrew deeper, looking into his eyes, trying to see what drove the young man. “Think, but be ready to act kid, that is how you will survive. The journey with the caravan will not be easy. This time of year is always rough as the road agents are out in force now.”