The Lion of Eomar, Eric K, Hasler [top young adult novels .txt] 📗

him in sight. Upon entering the back room, he noticed the back end of Alee-aidiz sliding out of the window in the far corner. Raguel sprinted to the window and skilfully fell through it without making too much noise, or mess of himself. Scrambling to his feet, wiping dust off his clothes, he saw Alee-aidiz and continued the chase through the alleys.

Raguel started to find himself impressed by Alee-aidiz, his knowledge of Eomar's back alleys, the speed he could move, and the way he had managed to get him to talk without doing anything. 'That clamped to the spot feeling,' thought Raguel 'how did he do it.' He continued to follow unaware of where he was heading, but convinced that the old man was testing him. He couldn't explain how he knew, but the old man would accept him into the shelter. 'I should learn to hold my tongue' he thought. He started noticing people crowding the street, 'the street' he thought as he looked down, 'it's clean.' Yet, still not really paying attention to his surroundings he did manage to notice that Alee-aidiz had started moving like an old man again, slowly limping through the corwd, hunched over, bumping every now and then into a wealthy person. Raguel smiled, 'you old dog' he thought as he started to weave his way through the crowd. The longer he followed the more he continued to forget about his surroundings. It was easy enough for him to wander through the crowd because everyone looked to be repulsed by what they saw and stepped away from him, deliberately denying the fact that he even existed. However, Alee-aidiz managed to attract attention, by bumping into people, possibly on purpose. Raguel found it amusing watching the wealthy abuse Alee-aidiz, only to be sorely reprimanded by the old man's quick smooth tongue. 'He would make a great thief' he thought as he followed lost in the joy of the chase, without a care for what direction he was haeding, until he heard a seagull squawk! He stopped, and stared at his surroundings, 'crap' he thought 'I'm in Boils Embayment.'

The realization of where he had followed Alee-aidiz sunk in. He spun on his heal looking around, hoping that The Watch hadn't seen this piece of South Eastern scum unwittingly wander into the North Eastern section of the city. He mouthed a silent prayer to one of the many gods begging them to protect him if he had been seen. Not knowing what to do, whether or not he could remove himself from this section without being noticed, when a woman's voice whispered in his right ear, “It is dangerous for you to be in this part of the city.”

He turned to look at her. She was dressed in similar fashion as him, except in dark brown robes and without a hood. She had long blond hair that was knotted and scruffy, and her eyes were like shiny bright blue sapphires embedded deep within the black rings that exposed her many sleepless nights. She smiled, “It's alright,” she said. “Come with me. I know a place where you will be safe.”

He furrowed his eyebrows, “That's the second time I have heard that today. The first time lead me here.”

She smiled, “I saw you following Alee-aidiz, and considering the way you are dressed I figured you were not trouble.”

She turned and started to move towards the port, gracefully moving aside for the wealthy, and thereby avoiding abusive insults. Raguel shook his head, looked up to the sun and said, “Dazbog, have you really answered my prayer?”

With no answer he started to follow her, however, there was no grace in him. He did not avoid the abusive insults; it was more like he preyed upon them, inciting more than was his fair share. The woman, who did not seem to enjoy this, turned and gracefully glided up to him and with a peaceful smile she said, “You do know that it is wiser to avoid trouble in this part of the city, especially if you are one of us!”

He just stared at her, and then shook his head, “I am not sure what you mean by one of us!”

She just smiled and said, “come and you will see.”

She turned and continued towards the port, reluctantly he followed. The closer he was to her, the less abuse he received. In fact, people once again began to deny his existence.

The closer to the port he came the more he could hear the seagulls squawking. Their high pitch cries for more shellfish and whatever scraps of food that could be found was a cacophony that had turned into a vile noise that he wished to be far away from. The port was the only place in Eomar that was busy with workmen, which was also something he hadn't seen before. Small boats with too many fishermen aboard were both struggling to return, and leave the port. The amount of fish in wooden crates had him astounded. He tapped her on the left shoulder and asked, “Where will all the fish end up?”

She turned towards the crates and said with sadness in her voice, “It will be scattered among the wealthy in both the North Western and North Eastern sections.”

His eyes widened, “There is enough here to feed the whole of Eomar, why scatter it only among the wealthy?”

“You know better than that, do you not?” She shook her head, “Come, there is food where we are going.”

He followed her as she climbed down a set of almost rotten steps that led into the darkness underneath the harbour, which was broken by beams of light showering down through the cracks in the docks. He had trouble seeing where they were going, even though his eyes were slowly becoming accustomed to the darkness.

“Over here,” she called softly. He turned to the right and struggled to make out her silhouette resting on a flat rock near the bank. With his eyes adjusting a little more quickly he moved towards her and asked, “What is your name?”

“Now Raguel, isn't it rather foolish of you to follow a person this far without knowing their name?”

He spun to his left and saw nothing, but said, “I was hoping you weren't leading me on a wild chase old man!”

Alee-aidiz laughed, “I almost lost you though!” His laughter was almost infectious, and Raguel giggled and at the same shivered with the thought of being upstaged by an old man.

A hand touched his right shoulder, he almost jumped out of his skin, “My name is Shareena,” she whispered in Raguel's ear, “And you have been chosen to join us!”

“Did Alee-aidiz choose me, or is this some kind of trick to rob me of what little I have!” said Raguel in a rough sceptical tone.

“Don't be silly boy,” said Alee-aidiz with a laugh, “I would never choose the likes of you. No, no, no.

There is much you need to know about yourself, and who it is would choose the type that you are.”

“Well whoever this person is,” said Raguel softly and rather dryly, “let me meet this person and get it over with!”

“It's not that simple,” said Shareena.

“The young lass is correct,” agreed Alee-aidiz, “the One who chose you is not a person, as such. But you will meet the One, in a certain way that only you will understand.”

“So, when will that be?” asked Raguel not really understanding what had just been said.

Alee-aidiz stepped up to Raguel and placed his right hand on the younger man's left shoulder, and the weight of the world seemed to clamp him to the spot again, “We cannot enter the sanctuary until night fall.”

“Why not,” asked Raguel.

Shareena walked up from behind, “well,” she said in sweet tone in his left ear as she rested her right hand on his right shoulder, “that's because...” she was interrupted by Raguel collapsing. He dropped to the sand like a rock falling from the sky.

“What did you do that for?” asked All-aidiz.

“I didn't mean to” she replied, “I only touched him...”

“You should know better,” interrupted Alee-aidiz, “I already had him in my grasp. Two hands are dangerous, one is often far more than enough.”

“Alright, knock it off,” she said rather loudly, “its dark under here. Maybe your eyes can adjust quickly, but mine can't!”

“Then you should have held back!” he said sternly.

“Yeah, you are right,” she said, “I just... I find it a little hard to judge what will happen whenever I do... I don't know how, or why! Sometimes I have control, other times it does what it wants!”

Alee-aidiz shook his head, “maybe you were released too early! It doesn't matter, grab his feet. We will have to carry him now.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Five

 

Standing on the roof of the dilapidated tavern scratching the back of his head while looking into The Rotten Splice, Bodwin couldn't help feeling impressed at how different the square looked from this height. The tatterdemealion which usually riddled the derelict centre in daylight weren't so easily seen from three floors up. 'Well,' he thought, 'third hour is a dangerous time of night to be out.' Surveying the edges of the centre he noticed clusters of people huddled underneath mouldy flea ridden blankets, not caring what anyone else was doing, just trying to keep alive and hidden from whatever may happen. He smiled, not at the memory of hiding like that for the past two cycles, at the feeling of not having to do that again. Half starved of sleep and food, continuously having to keep one eye open, not because of thieves, but because the watch would be out looking for the next day's sacrifice. Grabbing anyone they thought fit to exterminate or just causing fear for the sheer fun of it. He shuddered at the memories. “You know,” said Trayvr softly while keeping hidden in the shadows, “the idea of being up here is not to be seen!”

Bodwin looked towards the shadow the voice came out of, “I haven't been up here before,” he said.

Walking softly out the darkness with a smile spread from ear to ear, “Well you have now. Come, you need to learn to stay in the shadows while moving.”

“That's easy enough,” replied Bodwin just as softly.

“True,” replied Trayvr, “but how fast can move?”

“Why does that matter if I'm not seen?”

Trayvr shook his head, chuckled, and then said “the trick isn't being seen. It's whether or not can see what's in the shadows.”

Bodwin furrowed his brows, “what do you mean?”

“Come, I'll show you,” replied Trayvr, and with a smile he turned and said, “See if you can keep up!” then he shot off through the shadows across the roof; Bodwin reacted, suprising himself with the sudden burst of speed.

The roofs were rotten in most places and holes had formed, which made navigation a little tricky. Alleyways cut through the solid wooden mass like streams through a valley separating one depression from the other. Dust from the disturbed dry mould formed clouds with every step they took, Bodwin was suprised that he could see all this within the shadows. Attempting to keep an eye on his surroundings, and trying not to fall through rotten holes or trip over the clutter that riddled the roof tops made it hard