Ebudae (37 page)

The knight ticked off a third point. “I have
a feeling that there’s going to be fighting involved very soon.” He
patted his sword. “What good is carrying such a pretty weapon if I
don’t get to swing it at things?” He grinned.

“I like you, Sir Knight,” Ebudae said,
linking an arm in his.

“That’s understandable, Milady. I
am
extremely likable after all.”

As they all laughed again, Ebudae realized
that she felt good. A suppressive weight had lifted off her
shoulders with her grandmother’s death. There had been a time when
the thought of managing the estate seemed daunting, but knowing
that it was alive and would help her made that burden
disappear.

Pelya had been her best friend throughout
life even though they hadn’t always seen eye to eye. But now Frath
was her friend as was Sir Imbra. It was odd for people to like her
and for her to trust anyone. It was a sensation that meant more to
her than anything.

“Ebudae? What’s wrong? You’re crying,” Pelya
said in alarm. She leaned forward and put a hand on Ebudae’s.

“Am I?” She wiped a tear away. “I’m just
happy to have friends. Thank you all.” More tears came and she
didn’t know why. Pelya squeezed next to her and wrapped her into a
hug while Sir Imbra put a comforting arm around her. Frath reached
over and took the hand Pelya had released.

“You’ll always be my best friend,” Pelya
said with empathetic tears in her own eyes.

“Hear, hear,” Frath agreed.

If Sir Imbra said anything, Ebudae didn’t
hear it. Pallon Estate entered her mind and informed her that a
group of four men was climbing over the alley fence into the
backyard.

“Ebudae?” Pelya asked, concerned again.

“There are men entering the estate.”

“How soon til we get there?” Frath asked. He
looked out the window.

Sir Imbra slid open a piece of wood above
him that allowed him to talk to the driver. “How much longer?”

“We’re almost there, Milord.”

The estate didn’t ask Ebudae what to do. It
had standing orders given at the time it had been built. Three men
were grabbed by willow trees and ripped apart. The last ran away
from the trees into one of the ponds. The fish only got in a few
nibbles before the creature at the bottom gulped him down.

“Never mind,” Ebudae said weakly. “They’re
gone.”

“They’re gone? What does that mean?” Sir
Imbra asked with a frown.

Ebudae debated how to answer the question.
“You don’t want to know. Let’s just say that no one is allowed to
trespass on Pallon Estate.”

She didn’t know how hard it was for the
knight not to pursue the question.

The carriage pulled up to the gate and they
went inside. Tina greeted them at the door and handed Shade to
Ebudae when they walked in.

“Isn’t it supposed to make us sad when we’re
around it?” Pelya asked.

Ebudae nuzzled its cheek while debating
whether they should go into the sitting room, to the conservatory
or somewhere else. “Only if it thinks you’re a threat. It’s in my
arms, so it won’t bother anyone.”

“Milady,” Sir Imbra said. “If you don’t
mind, I shall go back to the temple for the night. There are
supplies I want and I must let my companions know where I’ll
be.”

“Of course.” Ebudae curtsied quite well even
with a bunny in her arms.

“I will return shortly after dawn.” He bowed
and left through the door Tina reopened for him.

“I’m going to leave for a while too.” Frath
turned to leave without explanation.

“Daddy!” Pelya spread her arms
incredulously. “Please tell us where you’re going and give me a hug
first.”

He blushed and gave her the hug she had
ordered. “I’m sorry. As far as where I’m going, a couple of the
people I have in mind to work for Ebudae are usually up at night.
You two get some sleep. I won’t be gone long and I know where my
bed is.” He was about to leave, but snapped his fingers. “Oh. I’ll
tell them to inform the squirrel what they do. If you can have the
estate let them in?” he asked Ebudae.

“Of course. Thank you.” Ebudae answered with
gratitude.

“You’re welcome.” With that, he was
gone.

“What do you want to do?” Ebudae asked
Pelya, ignoring the bunny that was licking her hair
affectionately.

“I’d love a bath and sleep.” Pelya’s
shoulders slumped in exhaustion as she relaxed for the first time
that day.

Tina had already shut the door. Hearing the
request, she dashed toward the stairs to draw them a bath in
Ebudae’s suite.

“That sounds like a wonderful idea,” Ebudae
said with a smile. They followed Tina up the stairs.

Chapter
25

The night air was cooler than it had been
for weeks, a fact for which Frath was thankful. It was also nice to
be alone again to sort things out in his mind. Frath didn’t like
being around people, even though spending the day with his daughter
had been one of the best in his life. It occurred to him that
storming a warehouse, meeting an intelligent creature called
Rojuun, freeing slaves and trying to gather evidence to save Pelya
from getting sent to jail wasn’t what most parents would consider a
lovely day with their children.

Pelya was a wonderful young woman. She was
also beautiful and brave. Those facts terrified him because it
meant she would always be in danger and not every danger in the
world was obvious. Sometimes danger came from those who
seemed
like allies, but turned on a person when they were
most vulnerable. It had happened to Frath often in the orphanages
and even in the Guard. He had become leery of everyone.

As he strode along the streets toward the
Yaffen Shop District, Frath considered Ebudae. He didn’t worry
about the young lady ever turning on Pelya. The young wizardess was
the oddest young woman he had ever met, but it was that unusualness
that made him trust her. The two girls had a bond unlike any he had
seen before. He was sure they would even die for each other.

Sir Imbra was a holy knight. Frath, for the
most part, hated anything to do with religions. He especially hated
priests and knights who tried to ram their beliefs down a person’s
throat using a holy scepter or sword to pound it in. Sir Imbra was
different though. He worshipped his goddess in his own way and
treated others respectfully. He was also
truly
honorable
rather than using the word honor to beat the weak senseless while
visiting brothels and wielding power for personal gain. Frath
admitted to himself that he honestly liked the man. He also
believed that Sir Imbra would protect Pelya with his life.

Reanna seemed like a nice enough goddess,
but he belonged to Distra, the Goddess of Sorrow. She was an odd
goddess to worship, one of the Hushed Gods Pelya had read about.
Frath hadn’t told Pelya that he wanted to read that book in the
lost temple just as much as Sir Imbra did.

The biggest problem with the idea of
following Reanna was that all of her worshippers seemed to smile
all the time. They liked daylight and happy thoughts. Distra didn’t
mind that Frath only smiled around Pelya. She didn’t mind that
Frath liked walking alone at night. In fact, those qualities were
probably the reason she had hammered his head as Ebudae had put it
so eloquently. Her ability to touch his mind whenever she pleased
was why the irises of his eyes remained like amethyst gems. Frath
belonged to her and he had come to accept it.

Shadows cast by lanterns and moonlight
danced on the walls to his right. They urged him to move to the
other side of the street to avoid danger in a nearby alley. He did
as they suggested and heard a man curse from beyond. It was one of
the more useful side effects of being God-Touched. Danger was
easier to overcome if one knew how to avoid it, especially since he
still hadn’t taken the time to put on his chain shirt.

The Yaffen Shop District was a small
district in Dralin south of the Merchant District and east of the
Orphan District. If a person wanted to find a magical item, they
would go to Wizard’s Mall. If they wanted anything exotic, they
would go to the Yaffen Shops.

It was said that no two shops in the
district were the same. Frath knew it to be true because he had
spent a day and night looking at every single building in the
district. There were two specific places he was visiting to find
workers for Ebudae.

Frath had a knack for finding the most
unusual people. Sometimes while walking around, other times while
on duty. He had met Pelya’s mother, Sheela, at the Eastern Gate
District while on duty. It wasn’t really a gate as Dralin had no
wall, but it didn’t prevent the city planners from naming it
that.

He also had a tendency for rescuing people.
It was how he had met Lady Pallon and how he had met Erma. What
Ebudae didn’t know was that he was the one who had found Tina for
Lady Pallon. The people he was going to hire for Ebudae were others
he had met or saved. The two qualifications they would have were
that they were good at their jobs and they would be loyal to
Ebudae.

Bubbo was a heavyset young man who had
reached Dralin by extraordinary means. He also cooked the best food
Frath had ever tasted. He liked to eat the food he made, but that
wasn’t the reason he couldn’t keep a job. Bubbo had a sister,
Poolu, who had an uncontrollable tic and a random propensity for
swearing at nothing in particular. That sort of thing was bad for
business, so they had been fired from every job they had, even
though Poolu was an extremely hard worker too.

A rundown shop selling a variety of fried
potatoes was at the edge of the District. It wasn’t very
successful, but the crazy old woman running it didn’t care. She
hired Bubbo to help her cook the potatoes and gave the siblings a
small room in the attic in return. Frath ran up the rickety stairs
outside of the building and climbed up four sketchy pieces of wood
nailed into the side of the shingled roof to get to a large
shuttered window. Luckily, the roof was at a very gentle slope.

He knocked on the shutters and was greeted
by a string of invectives that made no real sense. “Shut up,
Poolu!” Bubbo yelled in a roly-poly voice. “Who’s there?”

“It’s Frath.”

“Frath! Come in.” The shutters opened
outward, causing Frath to move his head back to avoid being smacked
in the face. “Come in, come in. It’s good to see you friend.” Poolu
barked out a swear word. “Shut up!” Bubbo yelled at her. In a
friendlier tone, he welcomed Frath. “Have a seat and stay a
while.”

The only place to sit was the window ledge.
Bubbo plopped himself on the lone bed while Poolu took the only
chair. There was a table, but it had things on it. “I have a job
for the two of you,” Frath said. “It comes with room and board much
better than you have here.”

“They’ll fire us the first time I lose
control.” Poolu’s shoulder twitched and she twirled strands of her
short brown hair around a stubby finger.

“Not this time.” Frath gave her a genuine
smile, a rarity for Poolu. She smiled back thankfully.

“Where is this job, my friend?” Bubbo asked.
“This attic is better than living on the streets and I don’t want
to risk that.”

“Go to the estate of Lady Ebudae Pallon in
the Merchant District. Tell the squirrel that you’re the new cook
and maid. It’ll let you in.”

“Squirrel?” Bubbo asked in confusion. “Are
you ill, friend?”

Frath chuckled in spite of himself. “No. I’m
not ill. Lady Pallon is an odd person, but a wonderful one. Her
grandmother died today and all the servants left.”

“Is there something wrong with her?” Poolu
asked suspiciously. Then she spat out a curse word. “Never mind. It
doesn’t matter.”

“She’s an odd person and a powerful
wizardess. She doesn’t smile very often and she disappears for
days. However, she’ll accept you both if you do good work.”

“We do excellent work,” Bubbo assured him.
“Do you know the pay and the living arrangement? Not that it
matters too much. Anything would be better than this.” He gestured
around the small attic. A rat looked out from one of the two
ceiling beams. It wanted to know too.

“I believe you’ll each have your own rooms
in the servant’s quarters. I’m not sure what she’s paying, but
it’ll be more than here, plus she has an excellent kitchen.”

Poolu began shoving things into a bag at the
mention of the rooms and had it half-filled by the end of the
sentence. Frath spun around on the ledge and made his way down the
steps when Bubbo began packing another. No words were necessary,
but that didn’t stop Poolu from swearing once more.

Ebudae would have a warm meal in the
morning, but there was one more person Frath knew in the district
that would be of great value. It didn’t take long to get to the bar
where she liked to have a drink most nights.

A bouncer nodded at Frath when he walked in.
It was a loud and busy bar even late at night, but there was little
trouble as it catered to shopkeepers and their workers. He made his
way past the tables full with patrons. Serving girls were busily
delivering ale and simple foods from the kitchen to the patrons.
They worked hard and earned a decent wage in return, a good job
most would covet.

Kitta was a tall woman of six-feet when
standing. At the moment, she was arm wrestling a shopkeeper at a
table against the far wall. They had an audience cheering them on
and exchanging bets. Frath could tell she was playing with the man.
The shopkeeper had her at an advantage and grinned triumphantly. It
was too soon though and Kitta swung it back around to slam on the
table. Cheers mixed with cries of dismay while the victor was
congratulated and the loser jeered.

Frath was tired, but he sat down in the
chair vacated by the shopkeeper and put his arm forth. “Alright
Kitta, how ‘bout you pick on someone your own size?”