The city of Alloa. Alexandra threw open the front shutters of their carriage when she heard the call coming down the caravan. Leaning out, she squinted in the sunlight and covered her eyes with her hand, waiting for the bright world to refocus again.
Luca was already out with the riders, Alexandra could see him a little ways off from the caravan on horseback riding back from the direction of the city. The group had ridden ahead to let the city know that the arrival of the merchant procession was imminent. Sophia leaned out of a side window, and Zooey, not to be outdone in anything, just climbed out and stood tall on the roof.
Coming into view over the crest of the next hill was the outline of rooftops, the distant northern city, the edge of the world seemingly. Andry in the lead carriage had made the call and then it was repeated down the length of the massive caravan until nearly everyone was leaning outside their windows, trying to catch the first sight of the city. A cheer went up from the caravan, everyone was a little tired of the constant travel and were looking forward to a time of rest. Everyone except Alexandra it seemed, she longed for the constant travel, to keep on moving to new places, to stay one step ahead of whatever may be after them. They had long grown accustomed to the lurching of the carriages as they walked on their steam-powered legs along the highway, but it was true she was looking forward to the world standing still.
Bell towers and buildings several stories tall were appearing over the top of the hill now, it would certainly be a change from the rustic villages and small towns they had recently been passing through. It almost may feel like home, if that was a good thing. Beyond Alloa though in the distance was an even more awe-inspiring sight: the jagged peaks of the Rotsen Mountains.
Like a sheer wall of rock and snow, they lay further in the distance, obscured by low-level fog. It was hard to see them at this range, just a blur of gray and white extending very tall into the sky, shooting well past the clouds that seemed to concentrate near and around the Mountains.
Turning her gaze back to Alloa, Alexandra watched as it came better into view; it was a very large city indeed! She had not exactly expected such a large settlement this far out of central Prydain, it was impressive even as they approached at a distance.
"Oh wow," Sophia was the first to break the silence, "a real proper city."
"It's big."
Zooey at least pretended to not be impressed, "it's just a city, so what? Not nearly big as the capitol."
"It's not but that still doesn't make it any less impressive," Sophia craned her neck up, "this is the largest city this far north in the entire country."
"Whatever," Zooey folded her arms and shrugged.
"I can't believe we're here," Alexandra grasped her pendant, this was where she had been told to go.
Is this where her answers were?
"And here we are, all safe and sound," Sophia was glad that through everything, the four friends were still together and all right.
"It's been so long, sometimes I almost forgot why we were out here."
"Look!" Sophia was pointing ahead, "Luca's riding over."
Luca had broken away from the rest of the riders, circled around and came riding up next to the carriage, his horse keeping pace.
"Luca!" Alexandra was glad to see him, "you were up early today."
"I hope I didn't wake you," Luca had tried to be as quiet as possible earlier in the morning when it was time to meet up with the other riders for the morning ride around the caravan.
"I couldn't sleep to be honest with you, not with the city so close."
"I know what you mean," he laughed, "I was so excited when Keelan saw it first, he saw the tallest bell tower as we came around the front of the caravan after a few loops."
"What's it like?" Sophia was reaching out and brushing the horse's side as it trotted along next to them, "have you been there already?"
"We rode just to the outskirts," his eyes were wide with excitement, "it's such a big place. Anyway, we were met by some soldiers..."
"Soldiers?" Zooey wrinkled her nose.
"Don't worry, they were friendly. I asked and they said they were of House Benedikt, at least they seemed nice enough. We told them the caravan was coming and then rode back here. It looks like a really cool place, a real city. The streets are actually paved cobblestone, they have streetlamps and everything!"
"I wonder who we are supposed to find?" Alexandra was staring ahead at the city drawing closer.
"Did Miss Florence say who is supposed to meet us?"
"I don't know," Alexandra sighed, "she had just said that the answers I was looking for were in the north. This is as far north as you can get so this must be the place."
The rest of the ride into town was short, soon enough it was buildings passing by on either side of them, not hills or fields. The winding caravan made its way down one of the entrance roads and set itself down, the legs of the carriages simultaneously lowering themselves to the ground before folding back up into themselves. The merchants and workers of the caravan began to disembark, and begin to offload their belongings, trade-goods, and supplies.
The arrival of the caravan was a usual event and many in the group already had lodgings in town, but most hurried to go about the matters of business...they were a merchant caravan after all. Having no other belongings but their travel packs, the Oonskat travelers slung them on, taking Luca's with them, and stepped into the city.
Alexandra stood in the middle of the road, in the middle of the moving crowd and just looked up at the buildings. She had not seen buildings made of processed stone since way back in Lerwick, it was quite the change from the scenery they had been moving through the past few weeks. For a moment, closing her eyes and listening to the moving of the mass of people, Alexandra thought she was back in Avindr.
This was different though, no one here knew them, no one here gave them dirty looks. No one here in this city knew them to be Oonskat, it was a freeing feeling. They could go anywhere without fear of being thrown out because just who they were...unless of course word had reached Alloa about them being fugitives and they were turned in. Perhaps their predicament was worse when they were just untouchables, but at least now it was for a physical reason and not just who they were.
"I'm going to look around, I'll find you all later," Zooey was already walking away.
"How are we supposed to find you?" Alexandra tried to get her attention.
"We'll meet up later, I'm just gonna have a look around."
"Be safe!" Sophia called after her.
"Yeah, yeah, see you guys soon"
Alexandra sighed. "No stopping her is there?"
"She's just restless, she'll find us once she's satisfied her curiosity."
"Yeah," Alexandra knew it was best to let her go for now, "anyways, we need to find a place to stay or something. Who knows how long we'll be here."
"Hey look, there's Andry," Luca pointed out the caravan leader's impressively large form in the midst of the crowd ahead of them.
He was directing people from the caravan, making sure everyone was settling in and getting what they needed. There were many trade goods and livestock to offload and see too. Alexandra was sure it was a logistical nightmare to have to worry about several hundred souls and their business, but Andry seemed to handle the burden well and was respected above all others among the caravan. He was level-headed and kind, firm but understanding. Few disputes ever occurred in the caravan thanks to his balanced and fair leadership, and the caravan as a whole did good business and prospered.
While Sophia and Luca helped a family carry some of their belongings out of their carriage, Alexandra approached Andry.
"Thank you sir," she bowed her head slightly in respect, "for allowing us to go with your group all the way here."
Andry stopped checking all the lists he was holding and held them at his side, "no bother, you and your friends more than made up for it with all the work you lot did around the caravan. All the animal caretakers have had nothing but praise for your young friend Luca; all the livestock took to him and he became one of the best riders we have. Sophia became quite popular with sewing group as well, a lot of the men have been commenting about how good the repairs to their clothes have been."
"She's quite good," Alexandra knew of Sophia skills already, her beautiful purple dress tucked safely in her pack.
"And Zooey," Andry went on, "she was teaching some of our guards some sword tricks after awhile. She fights with a fire from her heart, it makes her nearly unstoppable."
"I wouldn't want to face her, that's for sure," Alexandra smiled, Zooey had become quite the swords-woman in a shockingly short amount of time.
"You've been very helpful as the caravan messenger, it's made life so much easier for everyone, believe me. I felt bad always sending you all up and down the caravan on errands but you never complained once, and all the families have said how happy they were when you would come by."
"We are just thankful you took a risk and let us travel with you," she could not express her gratitude in words properly, "we would still be so far away from here on the road if we had to go on foot. If not for you and others, we might never have got here."
"Like I said," he assured her, "you all more than made up for it. What will you do now?"
"I'm looking for something here I think," she answered honestly.
"You think?" he raised an eyebrow.
"I'm not sure what it is, but I know I'll know what it is when I find it."
"I see. Well then, it has been a pleasure having you and your friends along, I know many will be disappointed if you do not travel with us when we leave Alloa in a month or so. If you do stay here though, I wish you luck them in your endeavors and I hope we'll meet again," he turned to leave and get back to overseeing the unloading of the caravan.
"I do have one more question," she stopped him, "if you do not mind."
"Of course not," he turned back to face her.
"Why did you take us with you?" she had to summon some courage to ask Andry that.
"Because you asked."
"No," she shook her head, "why did you take us with you. We could have been spies, raiders, thieves. Why did you take that chance, it was an awfully big one to take. You know each and every person in your caravan, I've seen you the past few weeks, it's how you're such a good leader. But we're strangers, you let an unknown into your group, why? You had nothing really to gain and plenty to lose possibly for taking us along."
"Charity?" He stroked the hairs on his chin.
"Is that really the only reason? Don't get me wrong, we... I owe you everything for bringing us here, I am truly grateful for that; but I want to know why."
"A hunch maybe," Andry gave up on his charity excuse.
"What?" she frowned, confused at what he could possibly be thinking about.
"I think I'm doing my duty, or I may just be allowing myself a moment of crazy fantasy. You look... regardless, you're here and that's all that matters. Go on with what you need to do, I hope we cross paths again my lady," he turned and began walking away into the crowd before she could say anything more.
She watched him go, she hoped she had not offended him. Alexandra did not think so, he was a kind man and not quick to anger at all. As he slowly disappeared into the people moving about, directing the flow of goods from the caravan, Alexandra noticed something she had not before. Sticking out of Andry's typical heavy over shirt was a tuft of an undershirt: an errant fold sticking out into view. It looked beautiful and of a fine make, it was a forest green colour with a gold weave around the edge of the portion she could see.
Greenguard.
Did Andry used to work for House Archdeacon? Was he like Miss Florence? Was he an ex-soldier?
He certainly had the bearing of a proud military man, and the calm head in stressful situations. She tried to call after him to ask, to ask if he knew a Miss Florence, but Andry had already vanished among the hundreds of people.
Alexandra stood on her tiptoes to try to spot his head over the others but it was no use, Andry was apparently done talking about the subject and did not want to be found. Sighing, she turned to see if she could find her way back to her friends, wherever they were wandering at the moment.
Zooey in particular had wandered towards the middle of town to see what there was to see. There were a few soldiers mulling around, but none of them noticed her. They were not wearing the distinctive black and red tunics Zooey had learned to hate, they did not seem to pose a threat at the moment.
The arrival of the trade caravan was a big event and many were out in the streets to begin buying and selling, or just to see the new arrivals to the city. She window-shopped a little, taking a look at the various shops and eateries she was passing. She had a little money with her and regretted not asking for some extra from Alexandra, who had the coin purse in her backpack for the group.
She was angry at Alexandra though and did not want to ask her for anything; she never asked Zooey for anything anyways. Zooey huffed and walked a little faster with no particular destination in mind. She had fought hard and bravely back in Avindr, in the Winnowing Chamber, but since then they just seemed to be bouncing along from one place to another with no real control over what was going on.
It bothered Zooey: she liked to be in control, she liked to know what was going on, she liked to be on top of the situation.
Not really paying attention to where she was going, Zooey suddenly found herself in the city square. She could not help but take in a deep breath as the stunning sight was laid out before her. The huge open area was cobble-stoned just like the streets, all the roads from every direction fed into it, and it had a huge stone well in the center that was covered by a large stone slab. The well had two immovable stone posts and a crossbeam that sat over it, probably for removing the protective covering if ever need be. Around the periphery of the square were various street vendor stalls, selling all manner of food and other trinkets.
Many people were in the square, eating, talking, just taking a walk, or sitting down reading. At the far side, opposite herself, Zooey spied what looked like a fancy pub. Having some small amount of coin at least and being thirsty from all the walking that had brought her there, Zooey decided she was worth it to enter such a posh-looking establishment. No one here knew her to be an Oonskat, as far as they knew she had just come from the trade caravan, which was mostly true.
Alexandra managed to find Luca, he was helping see the last of the livestock off of the carriages. He was loathe to leave the animals he had spent most of his time around the past few weeks, but she was eventually able to pry him away. Their next task was to find Sophia whom Luca had said went off with a family, helping bring their luggage to their lodgings in the city. She kept an eye out for Andry as well as they passed through the crowd but she had no luck seeing him.
"Who are you looking for?" Luca noticed she seemed preoccupied.
"Oh, no one, sorry," she dismissed her search, "did you see what direction Sophia got off too?"
"I think this way, she was with the Greuorje family, you remember them right? For a few carriages back from ours?"
"Oh yeah," Alexandra had delivered several items and messages to them during the trip, "husband, wife, two sons and a daughter right?"
"Yep, that's them. Anyways, they had quite a few packs and the kids are so small they weren't really going to be a help, so Sophia offered to help them move to their rooms."
"Speaking of rooms," Alexandra realized they had no place to go in the city themselves, "we'll need to find somewhere to stay while we're here."
"You think we'll be here that long?" Luca had never really considered how long they might be spending in Alloa.
"I'm not sure," she admitted, "I don't even know what I'm supposed to find here. Besides, even if we left with the caravan, it'll be a month or two before they move out again."
Luca scratched his hairless chin. "Oh yeah. Well, we're Oonskat after all, we're good at finding places to stay..."
"Keep your voice down!" she chided him, "we don't need people to know that."
He looked around quickly, hoping no one had heard his declaration of their lowly social status. "Oh yeah, sorry."
Alexandra decided to change the subject to keep Luca from being down on himself. "Alloa seems nice."
"It's pretty big!" he was enthusiastic about the city, "I'm so glad we got to come here and see it. It seems a little cleaner than Avindr."
"Less people," reasoned Alexandra, "probably easier to keep clean."
"I wonder if there are any nobles here."
"Probably too far north for their blood," she laughed, "they like their comfort and being close to the capitol, makes them feel important I think."
She wasn't totally wrong.
"Yeah, you're right," Luca laughed as well, "it's been nice not hearing about nobles for a while."
"Now you're the one who's right,""Alexandra thought it was true indeed that it was good to be away from the capitol, "but now we just have to find Sophia, then Zooey wherever she may be."
Zooey had made her way to the fine establishment she had seen across the square and upon pushing the door, she stepped inside. Inside was all polished mahogany wood and shiny metals painted gold.
Stepping up several small inlaid steps into the main atrium, Zooey was taken aback at the luxury of this small palace so far north in Prydain. She was standing inside a very elegant bar area, several staircases on the far left side of the room led up to the upper floors. The windows were stained-glass and several chandeliers hung down from the ceiling. Siding up to the bar, she caught the bartenders attention.
"What is this place exactly?"
"You don't know?" the thought seemed to surprise him.
What would Alexandra do? She thought fast, trying to picture her friend smooth-talking the guy.
"Um," she cleared her throat, "just off the trade caravan, first joined it in the south. First season with it you know, never been here before."
"Oh well, welcome then," his frown became a smile much to Zooey's relief, "this is Top Gold, the finest hotel in Alloa."
"Is it really?" she decided to prod him a little bit.
"But of course!" he took to the defense of the establishment. "This here is the largest and most luxurious stay in all of Alloa for the comfort-conscious well-to-do traveler. Why, Alex Archdeacon himself stayed here! Several seasons before his unfortunate passing at the hands of land pirates of course, bless the slain family be they at rest."
"Yeah, yeah," she had heard the story of the great House Archdeacon's demise many times while growing up in Avindr. "Can I get the finest drink in all of Alloa then in the finest hotel?"
"Of course... ah, I hope it is not rude, but how much would you like to spend."
Zooey decided to play it cool, throwing her small coin purse onto the bar, "this is all I'm carrying right now, wasn't really planning on stopping anywhere yet."
The barkeep quickly fingered through the bag counting up the coins, "well yes, this will get you a pint of our very own Alloa Ale."
"Sounds good," she really did not care what the name was, she just wanted something to drink, "I'll take it."
"Just a moment," he slid the coins off the bar into his palm and went back to pour her pint.
Turning around, she surveyed the dining area of the hotel. There were quite a few people filling the seats around the many tables laid out nearby, families, merchants, travelers of all sorts.
Receiving her pint, Zooey found an empty table and took a seat, closing her eyes and drinking her first sip of the Alloa Ale. It was quite pleasant, a dark flavor with a hint of wheat. It was miles better then the poor ales she sometimes had managed to get back in Avindr, usually sneaking it after people had left it half-finished then leaving before they noticed her and kicked her out for being an untouchable.
Zooey relaxed in the seat; here she was: an Oonskat enjoying a real pint of ale in such a fancy place so far north that it was the end of Prydain.
Two men at the table next to Zooey's were grumbling in harsh but quieted tones. Without making it obvious she was eavesdropping, Zooey slid over to hear better. Pretending to be enraptured looking around and concentrating on her drink, she listened in on their conversation.
"...and I here they demanded the best room!" the first was obviously angry about something.
Having nothing better to do then stare at the ceiling, Zooey decided that this was the best entertainment she could find at the immediate moment.
"Probably better to give it to the three of them then cause a problem, we'd only probably suffer for it later."
"Did you see that chest of gold they took up to their room? I heard it's all the taxes they've forced out of the villages."
Zooey's eyes widened a little, the sound of a chest of gold piqued her interest.
The second man sighed, "damn Cornelius men."
Cornelius.
Now Zooey froze in her chair, everything became silent around her it seemed except for the two men talking.
So House Cornelius was here after all. Way up here in the north their insidious fingers were already gripping.
Were they looking for them? Had they followed them? Were they searching every town for them?
Zooey's eyes glanced around the hall to see if they were around, if she was cornered, but she did not see any black or red tunics. Trying to get her heartbeat back down, she went back to listening in on the two men, hoping to gleam more information from their angry private chat.
The first, the angrier of the two, continued in hushed tones. "I know they're a powerful House, but do they really need to come up here and..."
"It's a free country, they can go where they please just like you and I can," the second also upset but trying to temper it.
"Just like me and you? Really?" the first man grew even more agitated, "all these new laws and restrictions on travel. Soon no one will be able to go anywhere without permission from that House. We're a peaceful city, the gem of the north, and those three just walk around like they already own the place!"
"They just soon might," the other took a long sip of ale, "be careful what you say."
"But did you see the chest of gold?"
"No, did you?"
"I heard from one of the bellboys that it took four of them to lug it upstairs."
"That sounds a little far-fetched"
"It's a lot of gold either way, a fortune to be sure! Just a handful of that could guarantee someone a lifetime of happiness."
"Just a handful..." Zooey whispered to herself.
The second man was tired of the talk, "just keep fantasizing, I need to get home to the family."
"Damn it! Those Cornelius people don't deserve all of it!"
"...they don't." Zooey nodded quietly.
The two men exchanged goodbyes and went on their way. Zooey remained sitting until a few minutes after they left, so it would not look to anyone watching like she had been intentionally listening in.
She looked at the stairs again, her hand tightening around the handle of her mug. Her mouth sneered as she thought about the gold upstairs, gold that did not rightfully belong to the despicable House Cornelius. She took the final swig of the actually-good Alloa Ale and made her course for the stairs across the atrium.
She glanced behind her to make sure no one was watching her, then quickly ascended the steps. The fifth floor up, she found what she was looking for: the last door down the hallway was guarded. A man in a black and red tunic stood to the side of the door, a sword prominently hanging at his side.
She pretended to just be a regular guest and ducked into an alcove without making eye contact. Pressing against the wall, she leaned out ever so slightly to see the door. She wanted to see the gold, she just wanted to hold it, to see their stolen fortune for herself.
Zooey was not sure exactly why she was up there...was she going to try to fight the guard?
She was not sure what she was doing, she did not want to think about what she was doing. That's when she saw what she did not know she was looking for: the way in. Above her in the alcove was a trapdoor in the ceiling, a way into the crawlspace between floors. They were common in larger structures, so workers could access the steam pipes between floors if there ever was a problem.
She stood on her tiptoes, hand outstretched, but she could not reach it. Drawing her sword slowly enough so it did not ring, she used it to dislodge the panel and push it aside, leaving a hole in the wooden ceiling above her head. Glancing again at the guard, she reasoned she was far enough away that a little noise would probably not be suspicious. Looking back up, she bent her legs and tensed her muscles up.
She jumped sideways with all her might right at the wall. Pushing off the wall, she propelled herself at the opposite wall. Pushing off that one she got enough height to grip the edge of the opening and haul herself up. Gently replacing the trapdoor in case anyone came by and saw it, she began crawling along the narrow space towards the end of the hallway. She was careful to move as slowly as possible so her crawling would not make much noise, or disturb the dust that lined the cracks in the ceiling.
Between the ceiling boards, she could see the Cornelius guard below, sternly standing just outside the fast-approaching door. As she crawled, the sound of voices from the guarded room could be heard. A few more feet, and she had passed over the wall dividing the room from the hallway and was directly over whatever secret goings-on was happening in the room.
From what she could see, the impressively large room was lavishly-furnished, just as they had demanded from the establishment. Three large beds with the finest satin sheets, polished tables, chandeliers, cushioned-seats, the room had it all. On the rounded table in the center of the room was a large wooden, metal-bound chest. It was open and spilling out from the top was a huge pile of gold coins.
Zooey's heartbeat faster at the sight of the wealth before her. Her fingers twitched, she wanted the gold. More than that, she did not want Cornelius to have it.
The two other Cornelius men were inside the room, sitting in opposing chairs, relaxing. They both had pints and seemed to be enjoying themselves, though slightly annoyed. Zooey pressed her ear to the wood planks and closed her eyes, trying to hear what they were talking about.
"...it's all right here in this city."
The second one agreed, "passable. It'll be better once we drive out any undesirables."
Undesirables. Zooey was used to hearing that term.
"I just wish it wouldn't take so long," the other took a long drink.
"Maybe sooner than we could hope, Treyor. Most of the National Patrols have already been replaced by those loyal to our ideals. Those few Benedikt soldiers in town are being recalled even now I hear."
"I wish we could stay here longer," the one called Treyor sighed, "wait for one of our National Patrols to get all the way back up here and clean house and set up Alloa the way it should be. But alas, that fun job is not for us Vercio"
"Oh, did the last letter say why are we heading to the Distansera after here? We're doing very well indeed I'd say, all the tribute we've collected with so little trouble...except for that one of course."
"Oh but Gylesmoore was so much fun!"
Zooey's hands clenched.
All she could see was a burning house, Jorge telling her that Alexandra had gone inside.
She remembered standing outside helplessly, the heat of the fire awash over her worried face. She remembered seeing Alexandra emerge from the fire with little Geir on her back, her wonderful red hair almost matching the flames behind her as she burst through.
A phoenix rising.
Zooey remembered rushing forward as her friend collapsed on the ground, falling unconscious just outside the house. She remembered the helpless feeling she was drowning in during that moment as she could do nothing but watch.
Cornelius was responsible, it had been the suspicion but there had been no proof. Now she had it and she was angry. She wanted to hurt them. She wanted to get back at them. She wanted to do something.
"But I suppose it's a good thing we are going," Vercio's voice interrupted Zooey's dark train of thoughts, "they probably want people of intelligence to check in on our operations there."
"They've been doing fine so far," Treyor did not want to leave the comfort of Alloa. "They don't need us."
"But it makes us look good, and they'll remember us when the House runs everything."
"There's to that," Treyor raised his cup.
"Come on," Vercio stood, "let's go down and get some fresh drinks. We'll bring one back for Udul before he complains about having to guard our collection."
"We'll do the underling a favor," Treyor put down his now-empty mug, "and get ourselves some more refreshments!"
"We could just order some up. Stupid peasants would probably trip over themselves in their hurry to serve us."
"True," Treyor agreed and laughed at the thought, "but I'm getting bored in this room. Let's go."
Zooey held perfectly still as the two threw on their overcoats and left the room, locking the door behind them. She waited and listened as their footsteps faded down the hall, then disappeared completely as they reached the stairs and headed down.
She shimmied over to the center of the room, directly over the table with the still-open treasure chest. Using the tip of her sword, she dislodged some of the ceiling boards and set them aside; now she had a clear view to the beautiful shiny gold below. She hopped down on the table as noiselessly as possible, crouching next to the chest.
It felt good as she ran her hands through the overflowing gold coins, coins that House Cornelius did not deserve. With a smirk on her face she quickly filled up the coin purse she had on her with her new fortune, stuffing all of her other pockets as well. She made quick work of visibly reducing the size of the Cornelius treasure, taking handfuls at a time. Once she could carry no more, she reached up, jumped, and pulled herself back up into the crawlspace above.
Being meticulously careful in her heist, she replaced the ceiling boards carefully, making sure they looked as undisturbed as they ever had. Turning around, she began to crawl back the way she had came. She was halfway back to the entrance to the crawl space at the end of the hall when she heard the voices of Treyor and Vercio once more quickly getting closer.
"I can't believe you didn't remember to close the tax collection chest!" Vercio was annoyed at having to return to the room.
"No one would dare touch it, besides, Udul's on guard."
"You can never be sure, these northerners aren't very smart you know, one of them might get a stupid idea or something."
Treyor sighed as Vercio unlocked the door to their room. "True. I'll make sure to teach them all a lesson when our National Patrols seize the city."
"Filthy scum," Zooey spat, hatred burning inside her.
"Maybe after we return from the Distansera," Vercio looked at the table, "we can... what's this!?"
Zooey smirked.
Serves them right.
"Udul!" Treyor screamed.
The third man, the silent guard outside hurried inside the room, "yes sirs?"
"What happened?!" Vercio could not believe his eyes.
"I don't know!"
"Look how much is missing!" Treyor was tearing up cushions on the couch trying to find out where their fortune had suddenly run off to, "it was just here!"
"I... I don't know sirs," Udul could not explain. "No one approached or entered the room."
Zooey had to cover her mouth to avoid laughing out loud.
"Take that," she smiled, happy to hurt them in any way she could. The gold felt good in her pockets; hurting House Cornelius felt good.
"Well someone has taken it!" Vercio looked around in a panic.
That is when things went wrong.
Out in the hall, a local girl not much older than Zooey, stepped out of a side room in the hallway. She was one of the maids that kept the hotel tidy, she had been in the adjacent room cleaning the whole time and having finished her work, was coming back into the hall to go downstairs and then go home.
"There sirs!" Udul pointed, "someone in the hall!"
Vercio was instantly in the hallway, blocking the girl's path. She started, dropping her wash pale and stepping back, hitting the wall behind her.
From her hidden vantage point above Zooey could see the fear in the girls' big turquoise-coloured eyes. Her hands were trembling. Vercio leaned in close and brushed his hand against her auburn hair.
"A little wench," his voice was sickly smooth, "what is your name?"
"T... Torpha my lord," she answered. her voice quiet and meek.
Treyor was now behind Vercio, his hand on his sword, but all smiles in the face. "Oh my, how old are you my dear?"
"Fifteen..." she was on the verge of tears.
"Not young enough to not know how to steal, is that right? You saw all that gold and just couldn't keep your delectable little hands off it, isn't that right?."
"I... I didn't take anything..." she was shaking as the men pressed in closer.
"Maybe she put a spell on me," Udul was sneering at the girl, "we've all heard the stories of forgotten ancient magic up here in the north, maybe it's real. Maybe she's a Tovanaar."
"Are you?" Vercio's face was almost touching hers, "are you a Tovanaar? A magic user?"
"No." She was too afraid to speak, she merely mouthed the word.
"Well," Treyor grabbed her hands, "we'll give this city an example."
Zooey could not move as she watched them drag the sobbing girl away down the stairs.
"What have I done?"