Chapter 11

Caltrena led him into the house after the other two Dryads greeted him. Inside a warming fire awaited him and a table set with a meal, though only for one.

“Do you ladies not eat?” Darras asked.

“We ate earlier, though we do not eat all of what you would,” Mesoli replied.

“We don’t eat meat,” Hollana added.

“Will it disturb you if I do?” Darras enquired with a frown.

“No. It’s just not a necessary part of our diet, so please, enjoy.” Caltrena replied.

The meal was another meat and vegetable stew, which appeared to be a common recipe in all the Realms Darras had visited, though this one had what appeared to be pine nuts and mushrooms in it. Also, to his delight a flagon of beer was poured for him by one of the Dryads, though he was no longer sure which was which.

“This is very good,” he complimented the Dryad who poured the beer.

“Thank you. We preserve Human foods for the various meetings we have with their representatives and have learned over the years to cook them properly,” she replied.

“I’m sorry,” Darras sighed. “This is terribly rude of me, but I can’t tell you apart.”

“I’m Hollana,” she smiled and then caused her dress to change to a vibrant deep blue. “This should help.”

“Thank you, Hollana,” Darras replied. “I much prefer to be able to call someone by name, if necessary.”

“Caltrena will remain in yellow, Mesoli in red.”

“You’re most kind.”

Darras thoroughly enjoyed the meal and then was ushered to a chair by the fire by Caltrena as the others tidied up.

“I can sense you are brimming with questions, sir Darras, so please, go ahead and ask,” she chuckled.

“I was under the impression that a Dryad was a woodnymph, though you are very different to Syriel...” he began, though stopped at Caltrena’s smile.

“Syriel is a woodnymph, as am I. However a Dryad is the higher form in that our bodies can be substantial, as you can see.”

“A grown up woodnymph,” Darras chuckled.

“In a sense. Syriel is aged one hundred ... or so, I and my sisters are over one thousand years.”

“You must have seen many changes?”

“Only in the faces of those who visit. We have no reason to leave the woods and if we did, it would be for war.”

“I take it the Humans realise this?”

“They did know. But recently their arrogance in seeking to circumvent the agreements we have has become tiresome. Nor have their attempts to seize the worshippers of Doriel gone unnoticed by us.”

“Yes, I stayed in one of their cottages,” Darras nodded. “I intend to free him, if possible, once my own task is done.”

“We cannot interfere, but will offer sanctuary to Shtin and his friends whom you’d free,” Caltrena replied as the other Dryads entered the room.

“There are others?”

“Sadly, yes. We believe the Priest in charge of the Temple is under instructions to use them as hostages in any negotiations.”

“Then a lesson needs to be taught,” Darras replied with a grimace.

“You would do this for our goddess?” Mesoli asked.

“Indeed, I would,” Darras replied. “I have met the lady and her followers have aided me. Though I’d do it anyway as I cannot abide injustice.”

“You are very different to the Humans we normally meet, sir Darras,” Hollana acknowledged.

“There are many like me, though it appears not that many in this Kingdom,” Darras chuckled.

“Yes, Kingdoms that worship the goddess of light also tend to respect the other gods, but this Kingdom is intolerant of any who preach tolerance and fairness.”

There was other talk, of course, but nothing other than information on the lives of the Dryads and what they knew of the town, which was not very much. So other than an enjoyable evening in good company, there was little else other than sleep left for Darras.

The next morning Darras awoke feeling comfortable and rested. He’d spent the previous evening talking with the Dryads, picking up what information he could about the port of Lucil and, once breakfasted, intended to scout out a route into the town, a route which he could take without being observed and registered.

Hollana was the only Dryad in the house that he could observe as she served him breakfast, a porridge and cream dish that was both warm and filling, along with a cup of milk.

“If you head down the track to your right, the port is but an hour away,” she informed him as he prepared to set off, carrying only his staff.

“Thank you. Hopefully I’ll return soon,” Darras answered, then gave a cheery wave as he set off.

Upon reaching the road, Darras made good time, catching the whiff of the sea and noting the signs of a busy road, though as yet there was nothing in sight. The town gate was, as he suspected, guarded, with the gate guard extracting a toll as well as getting a name from any who weren’t townspeople.

“What if you just lie about who you are and where you’re from?” he murmured.

‘They check, ’ Erren informed him. ‘Each town has a scryer who will look over the list of visitors looking for anomalies.’

“Ah, so if your name doesn’t appear at a previous town?”

‘Yes, they’ll know and will seek you out.’

Darras nodded, though said no more, moving instead silently around the town wall to the seafront where he was faced by a harbour wall. Fortunately for him, like many places in the capital of this land, it appeared that money was not spent on anything they didn’t need to and the mortar on some of the stones was weak and brittle. This enabled Darras to haul himself up to the top of the wall and carefully scan what was on the other side. What he saw was a busy scene with ships both loading and unloading, but, more importantly, no one looking at the wall itself and so he quickly pulled himself over to stand on the walkway. From there it was a short walk to a set of steps that took him down onto the dockside. He then headed into the town itself, observing the people and generally acting as if he was exactly where he was supposed to be.

Finding the home of Alderman Frey was easy enough. It was, other than the keep, the largest building in the port town. It was also isolated from the other buildings around it by a tall wall with only two entrances, one of which appeared to be for goods and tradesmen.

“This is not going to be easy,” Darras murmured as he observed a gatehouse in each entrance as well as an open space before the building itself.

‘Yes. He is very protective of himself, ’ Erren agreed.

“Wonder what if anything goes under it?” Darras replied. “He does run a smuggling operation after all.”

‘A secret passage?’

“Yes. Plus, if he’s that paranoid, there will be an escape route ... possibly a few.”

‘I see, ’ Erren replied, then went silent.

Darras nosed around and found what he thought might be a possible entryway in a locked gate where the lock itself looked old, but a careful examination proved it was actually fairly new. What it failed to do though, was prevent Darras from lifting the gate gently off its hinge pins and open it carefully to gain entry.

‘Clever, ’ Erren enthused.

“Their lack of attention to small details will be their undoing,” Darras replied quietly as he made his way along the passage, counting the steps until he figured he was probably near the home of the Alderman.

He spotted what was an entryway and cautiously glanced down it, seeing a further door that would most likely be locked, though hopefully not impossibly so. The door was locked; however the locking mechanism was on Darras’s side of the door, along with an extra iron bar that could be dropped into place to prevent any pursuers following whoever entered by the door.

“Now we wait,” Darras murmured.

‘That we do, ’ Erren replied.

“Hope it’s his house,” Darras chuckled.

‘It is, otherwise I would have told you, ’ Erren replied primly, before breaking out into a giggle.

‘It’s time, ’ Erren informed a dozing Darras. ‘All in the house are sleeping. Only the guards outside are awake.’

Darras, using his knife, pushed back the hasp of the lock and quietly pulled the door back. Leaving his staff behind, he moved quietly through the doorway and into the house. He located a servant’s stairwell and proceeded up it, believing the Alderman would be on the upper floor. Yet once there, he could not sense the wrongness that marked a shadow to his senses. Being methodical, he checked each room in turn, finding a sleeping occupant in what he assumed was the master bedroom, but no shadow.

“Has it gone wandering?” he asked Erren.

‘I don’t know, ’ came the reply. ‘But it’s close. I can sense its general proximity.’

“I can’t feel a thing,” Darras admitted. “Could it be sensing you?”

‘It may. Though from what I learned from the previous three, they are not as sensitive as I first suspected, unless you place my blessing upon a person or object.’

“They are physical ... in a sense, so they have to use doors,” Darras mused. “Unless they are occupying a person.”

‘Can’t say for sure, my Darras. We’ve only gone after low level ones so far.’

“If this is a higher level, it may have detected you.”

‘I don’t think so ... hold someone is moving!’

“Shadow,” Darras agreed feeling the ‘wrongness’ and moved to where he’d be behind the door should it open.

As it had for Darras, the door swung silently open, and the shadow stepped into the room and straight into Darras’ grip on its neck. This one was a lot more powerful than the previous three Darras had dealt with. However, Darras’s grip remained firm as he moved it away from anything it could use to either attack him or make a noise with as its struggles became weaker. Whatever it was in Darras caused it to rot from his touch. Finally, it collapsed, disintegrated and dissipated and Darras gave a sigh of satisfaction at his work.

“Who the hell are you?” a sharp voice came from the bed area. “Guards! Guards, intruder!”

Not wishing to meet the guards, Darras swiftly turned and headed through the still open door, pursued by the Alderman. He heard the sounds of the household coming awake. He made it to the servant’s stairwell and descended rapidly, heading for what he presumed to be the escape route, easily gaining ground on the Alderman. Swiftly he entered it, pulling down the locking bar as he moved quickly to the exit. At the gate he simply lifted it off its hinges, slipped outside and then dropped the gate back into place, thinking to delay them with a mystery, should they come looking. Darras then headed away from the ruling district, the sounds of alarm fading behind him. He occasionally ducked into alleyways to avoid the town patrols until he reached the harbour wall and scrambled down into the darkness.