Escana (9 page)

The
memory hit Jakob and with equal speed it receded. He had been running
through hedges and had snagged some of it on his trousers. No, not
these trousers.
Jeans
. The word seemed alien to his own mind.

Much
like his time at the waterfall, he came out of his own thoughts to
find that his feet had autonomously guided him to where he needed to
be. Jimmy was rummaging through a pile of clothes, tossing a series
of shirts and trousers aside in disdain. He finally seemed to settle
and Jakob had to admit that his taste in clothing was acceptable.

Now
that he had been suitably attired for the party, they made their way
back down to the main floor of the inn. Picking his way through the
crowd, Jakob followed Jimmy to a door behind the bar that led out to
the exterior.

Jimmy
eased himself onto a small bench, clasping his hands behind his head
and letting out a contented sigh. Jakob joined him unprompted,
waiting for the inevitable chatter.

'So
why were you out at Harvester's so early today?'

Jakob
shrugged. 'Your father refused to give me work so Harvester offered
some instead, you could say I was out on business.'

Jimmy
turned his head to him, somewhat confused. 'He didn't offer you the
job then? He said you were a certainty to Thom, what changed his
mind?'

Jakob
tried not to wince at the mention of his father, focusing instead on
the question. 'I believe that Ella told him about my rather poor
joke.'

This
brought a sigh from the young man. 'You still never told me what it
was you said to her.'

He
stared off into middle distance, reluctance building in him. 'It's
not important.'

Jimmy
chuckled, it was an unexpected sound considering the uncharacteristic
seriousness of his question. 'You're a terrible liar. You realise
that, don't you?'

A
twinge of annoyance shot through Jakob, he didn't like derision of
any sort, even in this jocular tone. 'I just don't see what business
it is of yours what I said to her, maybe you should ask her.'

The
smile faded from Jimmy's face as he met Jakob's eyes. 'I'm asking
you. I hoped I'd been accommodating enough to merit an answer.'

Jakob
took in a deep breath. 'Fine. I told her that if she wanted to wake
up with her clothes on she should try going to sleep in them more
often.'

He
expected Jimmy to burst into a gale of laughter, it sounded so
ridiculous and petty when he finally spelt out her reasons for
sabotaging his potential job at the Chipped Flagon.

Jimmy
wasn't laughing, he sat in thoughtful silence as if Jakob had given
him a conundrum to puzzle over.

'It's
harder for you I guess,' Jimmy finally said, rising from the bench.
'You're the new boy from the city and you don't know the people here.
Ella doesn't make friends easily, you have to be very careful with
what you say around her.'

Jakob
shrugged. 'She didn't need to take the issue up with Gooseman.' His
temper started to rise as he spoke the man's name.

Jimmy
raised his hands, clearly seeing the look on Jakob's face and not
wanting any conflict. 'Just hear me out before you rant and rave at
me, okay? If you had got the position, Ella would have resigned. If
Ella resigned, Harvester would take it up with Gooseman which would
be very bad for business indeed. My father was just doing what was
best for the inn.'

Jakob
frowned, unconvinced by the explanation. 'What does Harvester have to
do with all this?'

Jimmy
cocked an eyebrow at him, that wasn't the question he was expecting.
'Ella's father would think she had been mistreated if she were to
stop working at the Flagon.'

It
dawned on him, Harvester was Ella's father.

'You
didn't know,' Jimmy said. It was more a statement than a question.

Jakob
shook his head.

'You're
going to go to work for a man fiercely protective over his only
daughter and you've managed to upset her before you've even started.'

He
rebounded at that, he wasn't going to let Jimmy lecture him like
this. 'How was I meant to know that she was his daughter? How was I
meant to know any of this? I'm the new boy from the city, remember?'
His head began to ache at the various implications. He was supposed
to be saving an Empire, not dabbling in gossip, for some inexplicable
reason the gossip felt important.

Jimmy
sighed. 'I'll speak to her, see if I can make her understand your
side. No promises.'

He
really shouldn't have cared at that point, this Ella girl was nothing
to him. Yet he felt oddly drawn toward her, was he mistaking
attraction for one of the threads that the stranger spoke of? He
needed more time to separate the feeling of potential prophecy from
that of his own reactions.

He
found Jimmy's hand on his shoulder, patting him in a comradely
gesture. 'Let's not worry about that tonight, you and I shall go out
and have fun and get you acquainted with the locals. We can't have
you being the city boy forever.'

Jakob
didn't feel enthused about it but he didn't see any other direction
he could be headed. He followed Jimmy back through the inn in the
direction of Harvester's plantation again.

It
was an uneventful walk, Jimmy explained that he had tried to wrangle
a carriage out of Gooseman but that he wasn't biting. He then
detailed how his previous attempts to steal the carriage may have
influenced the decision.

Jakob
listened to him chatter on about Escana and various people that would
probably be at the plantation and how it was the biggest event at the
hamlet each year. None of the names or places evoked anything within
Jakob and he found himself tuning Jimmy out into a lively if
irritating buzz.

The
previous distrust that Harvester had shown during the day seemed to
have disappeared with the setting of the sun, probably due to the
safety in numbers approach to such a gathering. The large gate had
been flung open and the dogs were conspicuous in their absence, not
that Jakob minded at all.

Large,
expensive-looking lamps mounted on wooden stakes planted in the soil
lit the way up the path towards the homestead and bathed the
surrounding fields in a warm glow. As they grew closer the familiar
signs of life filtered through the air to greet them. It almost felt
like they had come full circle somehow and were returning to the
Chipped Flagon again.

As
they entered the large converted barn Jakob could already notice the
difference in the atmosphere. There was a great joviality in the air,
all of the days labours were completed and everyone was welcoming the
spectacle and diversion.

A
large barn door that had previously comprised the far wall of the
room he had breakfast in had been opened up to a field behind it,
beyond it stood a pavilion that must have been erected after Jakob's
departure. Harvester sat at a long table with a tankard of ale in his
hand, chatting to a grizzled looking farmer about local matters in a
loud voice. He was surrounded by farmhands and what Jakob assumed was
his extended family, all of them tucking into a fine spread on the
table.

The
entire pavilion was full of provender and people chatting and
laughing between mouthfuls, others were crowded around open kegs
making even more noise.

Jakob
wasn't a big fan of noise or social gatherings, people were
unpredictable at best and large crowds made him nervous. Still, he
was here to mingle, or at least that's what he'd been forced into at
the behest of Jimmy. It was another case of feeling like this was the
right thing to do without knowing why.

The
night dragged on from that point, it was a dull repetition of meeting
and greeting various people that Jimmy knew. This was punctuated by
bouts of eating, which Jakob certainly didn't mind as it broke up
conversation and gave him a brief respite. He had to take meals where
he could given his circumstances and the fare on display proved to be
excellent.

He
gradually settled into the routine as the hours rolled in, he wasn't
sure if it was Jimmy's expert navigation or his own instincts but he
managed to avoid both Ella and Solomon. Unfortunately he failed to
escape the attentions of another unwanted guest.

Gooseman
strode up to them with a smile on his face, entirely unconcerned and
acting as if the morning hadn't happened. 'Why hello there lads,
enjoying the kegs are we?' He patted the side of the barrel, his
cheeks flushed with drink.

Jimmy
groaned audibly, clearly this wasn't an isolated incident. Jakob felt
the same feeling of hatred mingled with disgust at having to deal
with this ugly little man again.

'Are
you sure you haven't had enough to drink, father?' Jimmy said, though
from the sounds of things it was an entirely fruitless question.

'Enough
to drink?' Gooseman shoved his flagon under the tap with a grin. 'Of
course I haven't had enough boy, I can still remember where I've
been!' he belted out the last bit so that everyone could hear and
received a round of cheers.

It
had happened so quickly that Jakob barely caught it, he wasn't sure
if it had happened at all. For the briefest moment Gooseman's face
seemed to flicker from jest to something else. He wasn't entirely
sure what but his anger spiked wildly at having seen it. He felt a
sharp pain in the palm of his hands and found that his nails were
digging into his skin, he looked at them for a moment, anything to
take his mind off this repulsive creature.

Jimmy's
remonstrations with his father seemed distant, whatever he was
supposed to do, Gooseman was connected to it. A wave of pain hit him
at the same time as a hand slamming down on his back. No, pain was
the wrong word to describe it, it was some kind of sickening mental
jolt.

'You
have yourself a good night!' Gooseman drawled at him, staggering off
toward the opposite end of the pavilion.

He
fought down the reflex to swing his clenched fists at the man and
felt his knees go weak. Whatever Gooseman had to with his finding The
Six, it wasn't positive.

Jimmy
was at his side then, his face transformed from embarrassment to
concern. 'Jakob, what's wrong with you?'

Jakob
waved him off and staggered toward a field, he doubled over and
started dry heaving. The other guests paid him no heed, assuming the
young lad had simply had too much to drink. Jimmy knew better and
refused to leave him alone.

'Was
it the meat? You should have told me you weren't feeling well.'

He
turned round to face Jimmy then and must have been unable to conceal
the murderous look in his eyes. He found his feet and ran off across
the fields, away from the pavilion and the people and the man who
brought this one sickeningly clear thought into his head. Harold
Gooseman had to die.

H
is head
ached as the red mist started to recede from his vision. The
insistence of his own mind that he needed to end the innkeeper's life
was so graphic, yet without any rational motive Jakob found himself
incapable of carrying it out.

He was running over fields once
again, head pounding with faint recollection, trying to escape from a
land he didn't belong in. He needed to find some way out, yet
everywhere he looked there was nowhere to go. He had thought his task
was going to be slaying powerful creatures or villainous rogues. The
idea of murdering a drunken innkeeper in cold blood didn't strike him
as overly heroic.

A barn came looming out of the
darkness, he knew at best that Jimmy would be searching for him and
at worst that he'd have company. This seemed as good a place as any
to hide and reflect on what he'd just felt.

He pulled at the door and was
surprised when it came free without any struggle, apparently
Harvester wasn't concerned about thieves tonight.

The barn was pitch black and
Jakob proceeded with caution so as not to step on anything
unfortunate. He felt his foot touch a pile of hay and with searching
hands he clambered onto it.

At least now he had time to think
if nothing else. The odds were stacked heavily against him it seemed,
he was so smitten with revulsion at his own murderous rage he
couldn't carry out a task that appeared to be mandatory. This was
assuming that his own feelings weren't at fault and the transition
from his world to this one hadn't caused any instability.

A sharp pain lanced through his
skull as if underlining the possibility of the point, that or it was
a harsh reminder yet again that it was too early to recall his former
past.

His
former past? Surely he knew his former past already? He had come from
the city of Daelovia with his father against his own wishes to this
small hamlet so the man could ride about getting his jollies off on
being a Warden. What more was there to know other than vague
remembrances of his time in the city?

In
spite of this he knew that he was missing something, that the hazy
recollection should have been clearer and less evasive to the touch
of his thoughts. Every time he tried to grasp a memory it slithered
away from him as if his own brain was a series of tiny snakes that
fled from tactile recollection.