Chapter 3

When we faced the first lock on our way it was already getting dark and we only guided our two barges to the first pair of the locks. The young boy who had been leading the horse quickly showed me how to operate the gates and then we pulled our two barges inside, closed the gates behind us and then carefully opened the upper gates just a bit so that the lock started to fill. Once the boy had showed me the tricks, he took the horse and started on his way back to Aston. While the lock was slowly filling, I looked down the canal towards Aston. It would soon be so dark that it wasn’t possible to tell that the city was there, but I was still able to sense the presence of the mass of people there.

When I moved I started sensing in the other directions and I was able to sense a few people in the house close to the canal. None of them had come to check on us, which was no wonder since the weather was turning quite bad again. It wasn’t freezing but the rain was getting worse every moment. There was a flagpole next to the upper gates and I would need to raise a flag there when I wanted to continue our journey upstream. The same system should work all the way. Once the water level inside the lock was at the same level as the upper canal, I walked to the big wheel that operated the gates and opened them fully. Then I took the tow rope and started pulling the barges out of the lock so that they could be tied to the dock in the upper canal. Once I had the first barge tied there I turned towards Hanna.

“Hanna, why don’t you go back to the cabin and start making some tea out of something. If I have it right, Kara is not close to the stairs and it should be safe to go down.”

“Oh, Stian - I mean Arne. That young girl is still probably way too shocked to try anything, but after a few days we need to be more careful again. I saw things like that happen often enough in the theater world.”

I finished tying the barges to the upper dock before I made sure that the upper gates were tightly closed. Even if these canals running next to the river Aston would not have any risk of running out of water, there wasn’t any reason not to do the work properly. I was going to be a merchant, after all.

Even though Hanna had said that Kara would probably not cause any problems for a day or two, I used my sensing for locating the two women down in the cabin before getting down the stairs myself. The truth was that I was really exhausted myself and even if I had done my best to hide it, the sad truth was that my body hurt all over because of the bruises I got while getting pushed out of the sewer by flooding water. Besides that, I was wet and cold, but I hadn’t dared to complain since Hanna had been out there with me and she was an old woman.

There were two lanterns giving some light to the cabin and there was fire in the small stove that had already warmed the cabin so that I was able to feel the heat. Most likely it wasn’t that warm there yet, but it surely felt like that after half a day outside. Damn, I had really become soft during my years in Aston or maybe there was just something wrong in that Aston air. I didn’t say anything but just started taking off my wet clothes and I was prepared to hang them on the rope that had been tied inside the cabin for just that reason, for drying your clothes.

“But young man - what on Mother Earth has happened to you?”

I turned to look at Hanna and then I quickly looked at my own upper torso. No wonder that I had felt a bit stiff and all movements had hurt: my whole body seemed to be covered by bruises.

“These? I guess that I took some hits while going through that sewer. Either by some things going with the water or by hitting the walls. There are no broken bones, so these will heal in a day or two.”

I didn’t really believe that myself, since now that I had stopped moving, I was able feel the aches, as though they had been waiting for me to stop working and come inside and relax. As if I really could relax here.

“Oh no, young man. We need to treat those bruises or otherwise you’ll be too sore to move.”

“I remember how that rushing water just caught us and suddenly I wasn’t able to breathe. I hadn’t been able to fill my lungs fully before we went underwater and at some point I wasn’t able to hold by breath any longer. Then came darkness...”

Kara’s voice wasn’t that loud but it was clear. Like she had now been able to think and accept at least some of what had happened.

She went on, “Then I felt like I was leaving, going away with the wind, but there was some glowing figure, cursing and hitting my body. It’s like I had seen that ... even if I didn’t really see anything ... then, without any warning I was there, in my wet clothes on the river bank coughing out water.”

After saying that, Kara turned to look at me with those amber eyes. Or maybe it was just the reflection from the lantern.

“That was you Stian, wasn’t it? You did something to me. You pushed me back into my body and made me this.”

“Please call me Arne while we are traveling, Kara.”

“You didn’t answer me! I have now had time to think about it and it all felt like a dream but it wasn’t, was it?”

I shook my head.

“Kara, I don’t know. I. Don’t. Know. I have no idea what happened, I just remembered that I made a promise to take care of you and then you were dying there, right in front of my eyes. I couldn’t let that happen.”

I could feel Kara staring at me, but I wasn’t going to apologize to her. Not for saving her. Then Hanna cleared her throat.

“Young woman. Kara. Now that we know what happened there, why don’t you help Arne, here, to change all his wet clothes. Besides, I think that we all should be happy that you didn’t just die there, young woman.”

Even if Hanna couldn’t do any magic, she seemed able to guide other people to do things they probably hadn’t planned to do. For sure, I hadn’t planned that Kara would take off my trousers and underpants.

Later that evening we consumed some fried chicken together with some bread and cheese. The ale that Hanna brought with her was strong enough that I was feeling it, in my exhausted state, and therefore I probably felt more relaxed than I should have. On the other hand, I was warm, had my stomach more or less full and, most importantly, there was no immediate need to worry about being exposed.

“What really happened in the Library? The morning I left Aston there were all kind of rumors running amok and most of them were about some Magicians fighting inside the Library and almost burning the whole place down. According to what I heard, for a moment it had seemed that the whole Library might burn down but all of a sudden all the flames vanished and there was just a flooded basement.”

Hanna’s question was both an innocent one and also very loaded. I hadn’t planned to tell Kara that I had killed her grandfather just a few moments before he would have killed me. I raised my gaze and looked first at Kara and then Hanna.

“My former friend, Rurik, came down there with his new boss, some young Magician whom I didn’t know at all. However, he looked odd and somehow I got a scary feeling that he had somehow loaded himself full of magic. His eyes looked odd and it was like things were happening too slowly for his taste. They were supposed to kick me out and Rurik would start working there instead of me. When we entered Halvard’s room, things suddenly escalated and that Magician guy released his magic with disastrous results.”

I shook my head trying to look sad. At least I hadn’t lied.

“Suddenly there was fire and I had to escape the room. I knew that I would need to open the valves in order to put out the fire, but the pipes downstairs had not been tested for some time and the pressure of the water broke the connectors. Suddenly there was fire on the top of the shelves and flood near the floor. Luckily I knew that there was that sewer and a way out of the library since the fire was heading to the stairs.”

“How ... how did you get out of there? Rurik’s master was one of those war Magicians and ... and you had that corner already secured!”

Sometimes women could be hard to read, but this time the accusation in Kara’s voice was unmistakable. I turned to look at Kara and this time I didn’t even try to look anything else but dangerous.

“Rudolf was as close to a friend as I could have there at the Library - and he told me to be careful before he disappeared. Very careful. If they could do something to him, I knew that my life wouldn’t be worth much: Is that good enough reason to make sure that you might have another route out? Secondly, Rurik’s master might have been a war Magician, but let me assure you that he wasn’t the most dangerous being I have faced, not even close. My loyalty lies with my family, my friends and my people and all the things I do, I do for their well-being and safety. I did make a promise to a dying man to keep you safe - maybe I made it in haste, but it was made and I take my promises seriously. You may have your knack with ropes and knots which may cause some challenges in restricting your movement - but I’m sure there are some ways to do it, if needed. So Kara, don’t be mistaken - I may feel some responsibility for you because of what happened and because of what I did - but my family, my friends and my people and their well-being will always come first!”

Even if I spoke Anglon, I did my best to push as much magic into my speech as I only could and from the look on Kara’s face it was clear that she was able to sense it, too. I sighed inside. It might have been much nicer if she had loved me or even liked me, but there were much more important things than being liked by a former student Magician. Besides, I already had a family. Yet I didn’t really want to tell her that I had killed her grandfather - even if only moments before he would have killed me. However, for now, I had decided to trust Hanna about how to deal with Kara.