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Topiara - Chapter 40
Green eyes beneath delicate red brows peeked out the cracked door. "What do you want?" the young woman asked in a strange and musical accent.
"We just wish a few words with your master," Lyara told the woman gently. "We're hoping he has some information that we seek. We wish neither him nor you any harm."
"Who is it?" demanded a coarse, bellicose voice from behind her.
"There are some people who would speak to you, Master," the young woman announced in her singsong accent without turning her eyes from the strangers outside the door. "Do you wish me to let them in?"
"Do they look like traders?" came the question.
"We're travelers, seekers," Lyara answered for the young woman. "We look for information only – and we're willing to make our infringing on your time worth your while."
There was a moment of silence, and finally even the young flame-haired woman turned to see what her master's desire would be. Then the door pulled more open to allow the group into what was most likely the best suite of rooms the Flaming Pearl had to offer. In a cushioned chair set nearest the window that overlooked the street sat a fat man wrapped in fine clothes that looked like they might have fit him if he weighed considerably less.
"You are Corwin?" Lyara inquired first.
"Ye wouldn't be here if I weren't, young lady," the fat man growled and waved the flame-haired woman away when she would have handed him a napkin to wipe his perspiring brow. "Be off wi' ye, tree-spawn," he cursed at her. "I'll call ye the next time I need ye." He then turned his dark eyes to the quartet. "Ye say ye'll make my time valuable. Get to it."
Lyara could feel Farranby bristling behind her, but refused to let his attitude affect hers. "We're here hoping that you can help us find someone possibly brought to you many years ago – a young Talandri girl taken as a slave thirteen years ago…"
Corwin's face grew wary. "A Talandri girl, ye say?"
"Her family was killed, and she was handed to a slave trader on an island in the Varren Straits," Farranby couldn't resist filling in the information before Lyara could open her mouth.
Corwin's face changed again – it grew sour. "There was one fella who used to make regular trips on behalf of some local bandit king up there – Vinzen, I think his name were…"
"That's the man we're speaking of," Lyara said immediately.
"That one were a cheat and a liar," Corwin spat and frowned. "Last I heard of him, he'd earned himself a poison dart in the neck – and no great loss to the world, believe me!"
Lyara nodded. "We were aware that he was killed years ago. Our interest is rather in locating the Talandri slave girl he had with him."
Corwin actually rubbed his bearded chin thoughtfully. "Ye know, I remember him talkin' about having contraband on that last trip – he even showed the child to me. Young she were – eyes as big as saucers and so terrified she couldn't say a word."
"You saw her? She was alive – and well?" Farranby asked in a very small, very soft voice. Sharin moved closer to him and put a hand to his back where no one else could see, offering him sympathy and support in a hidden way.
"Aye – well, she seemed healthy enough then," Corwin shrugged. "I tol' the bastard to haul her out of Alinber fast – the King's Men had no problem throwin' those who traded in Talandri stolen children into the darkest prisons, and I wanted no part of it. He said he'd no intention of sellin' her in the big city – asked if I knew of any on the borderlands what might be in need of a little maid like that'n."
"And did you know of anyone?" Lyara pressed carefully.
"Maybe," Corwin's face grew wily. "An' maybe now might be a good time to find out jus' how valuable ye feel my time and information are to ye."
Lyara reached into her pouch and pulled out five pieces of specie and dropped them one by one into the waiting palm. "You've already given us something valuable. Double this if you know where the trader sold the girl."
Corwin's fat hand had swallowed the specie almost at once, and his face showed his pleasure in the transaction. "Now that's what I like," he smarmed, "folks who know the price of goods and services and are willin' to pay for quality."
Lyara had the next short stack of specie in her hand, and she tinkled the little bits of metal together. "So… where did he take the girl?"
"I can't be entirely sure, mind ye," he replied, his eyes caught and held by the sight of more specie being so casually bounced around in a hand, "but I tol' him to ride east and south – that some of the damned Vryies might be interested in doin' to a yellow-hair what them damned holders been doin' to them in the west." He shook his head. "When the stories finally made it back up here, sounds like he headed straight for the trees to the south – makin' no stops in between. Of course, there be a lot of ground between here and the trees, so if he did stop, I'd not be knowin' that part of it."
Farranby could stand quiet no longer. "So you're certain she's not somewhere here in Alinber – or in some smaller place between here and…"
Corwin frowned immediately. "I tol' ye all I know – that as far as I know, he took the child to the Vryies." He pointed to the stack of specie in Lyara's hand. "It's the truth – and it's the best I can do for ye."
Lyara looked over her shoulder at the rest of the group, her eyes finally meeting and connecting with Jilan's. When he gave an infinitesimal nod, she turned and poured the rest of the specie into the trader's waiting palm. "Our business is concluded then," she said and turned to go.
"Do ye head south then, to the trees?" Corwin inquired in a far more amenable tone than he'd used before.
"We will go where we must, until we know what became of my daughter," Farranby said with a note of finality.
"Yiren, come out here!" Corwin shouted, and an inner door opened so that the flame-haired young woman could rejoin the group. "Are ye sure that goin' home be what ye want, girl? There be many here would make ye a fine match for mate…"
"I'm sure, Master," the young woman stated in surprise, giving the strangers still in the room a startled look. She walked quickly to the side of Corwin's chair and went to her knees. "Please, Master – I've given you my freedom price…"
"Aye, that I know," Corwin grumbled and then looked up into Lyara's face. "I have a business proposition for ye – one that may profit ye in yer search." He reached out a fat hand and dragged the flame-haired woman to her feet. "This here be Yiren – daughter to one of the western Ru'an, taken in a raid years ago. I acquired her by accident, kept her with me – but the little vixen managed to set aside just enough that she paid me her freedom price about the time I got meself stuck in the side."
Lyara frowned. "So? Turn her loose, as the laws require…"
"She wishes to be returned to her people," Corwin interrupted rudely, "an' findin' someone foolish or desperate enough to be willin' to take her into the trees hasn't been easy. I'm thinkin' that ye'd profit from havin' her with ye because she'd stand witness to yer good intentions – and I'd profit by knowin' I'd be doin' right by her in the end."
It was Jilan's brows that rose the fastest. "Getting a conscience in your old age?"
"Nah," the fat man shook his head. "This one be broadcastin' all over town how bad she wants to go home – and that's bad for my business. The sooner she be gone, the sooner I can buy me another who'll be far more willin' and even-tempered."
Farranby stepped forward to look the young woman full in the face. "You've touched the ground – your vri'i has shattered – you know this," he told her in the soft and musical tones of her own language. "You surely will be cast down to the zumi, just as any other chan'vrii would be."
Yiren stared at the stranger who addressed her so easily in a language she hadn't heard spoken properly for years, then swallowed hard and replied, "I am not chan'vrii – my father gave us all amulets against being taken in one of the many raids made into our world." She reached into the neckline of her dress and pulled out a sliver of carved wood. "My living vri'i resides safely inside – I will not feed the vines before my time. Please, Master – if you are going to the south, take me with you. Take me home."
Corwin's face was dark. "You speak like one of them tree-spawn," he said and spat on the floor.
"You're the one proposing this business arrangement," Lyara shot back, "so you might want to rethink insulting those you're trying to barter into doing you a service."
The fat man shot her a withering glance, but backed down immediately. "So… What do you think of my proposition?"
Lyara turned to Farranby and addressed him in the Vryies language herself. "What do you think?"
"Mistress, I was listening to you before. I'm willing to help you find a yellow-haired woman, if she lives in the trees," Yiren promised with a note of desperation. "I know what it is to be kept in a place far from all I know and understand."
Lyara looked into the green eyes and saw the same desperation that she knew must have inhabited her own gaze for years before she finally found her own way home. "I too have been taken and kept in a place far from my own," she told Yiren in quiet firmness, then looked to Farranby for help. "What kind of oath would bind her to her word?"
"I swear on the living vri'i I wear that I will be of whatever service I can be to return the yellow-hair captive to you," Yiren swore on her own behalf. "Should I betray my vow, may my vri'i shatter – and may I be tossed to the zumi without mercy or reprieve."
"You aren't going to get much better than that," Farranby commented into Lyara's ear.
Topiara warmed on her breast, singing a note of warning that Lyara found she couldn't entirely ignore – but knew was insufficient as a reason to turn down the genuine boon having a Ru'an's daughter along might provide them in looking for Farranby's daughter. "Done," she announced, putting her small hand in Corwin's fat and sweaty hand and pumping it with all the strength she had. "Have her ready to leave early in the morning – and provide her with her own pony – we have no extras for her to ride."
"She doesn't own a pony," Corwin complained immediately, "and I…"
"Then rent one," Jilan smiled at the fat trader coldly. "When we return from the trees, we will return the pony for your refund. Or buy a cheap one for her – and you can resell it when we return it."
"Aren't you being a little premature?" came the rude comment.
Lyara blinked. "Excuse me?"
Corwin turned skeptical eyes on her. "You're banking on the idea you'll be coming back. Me? I'm banking on nobody finding your bones under them devil-plants on the forest floor. Why should I waste my specie on a pony that will never return to me?"
"Because you'll lose enough specie to pay for ponies several times over if I decide to leave her here with you," Lyara told him tersely. "It shouldn't be hard for you to decide which you can afford more."
"Blast you!" the trader exploded and then began laughing. "You barter like one who has worked the trade routes for the better part of two lifetimes." He laughed so hard that his belly shook while he tried to hold it still, and tears of both hilarity and pain ran down his face. He finally managed to get himself more or less under control again. "She'll have her pony, girl, when you stop by in the morning – never fear."
"Thank you, Mistress," Yiren clasped her arms across her breast and bowed to Lyara. "You will not regret your decision."
Once more Topiara warmed and sang out a quiet but unspecific warning – and once more Lyara knew it was one she couldn't completely disregard. "Be ready at dawn," she instructed the Vryies woman. "We will not wait for you long."
Sharin looked about her in curiosity as the four of them retraced their steps to the Prairie Rose Inn. "Do you think there is time to see just one play?" she asked plaintively. "I've only heard of such things – never ever seen anything…"
"I think I'm going to want to stay quiet and rest," Lyara said with a sigh, still unable to get the idea out of her mind that by agreeing to take the Vryies woman back to her people, she'd made a serious mistake. "We're going to be wanting to be on our way by dawn, remember?"
"I think I can see to it that Sharin and I get enough rest, even if we do take in a play," Farranby responded, putting his arm about the younger woman fondly. "I feel as if we made a huge step today – knowing we don't have to search this whole city for one lost woman gives me hope."
Jilan eyed Lyara and came to his decision. "I think I'll stick close to the Inn myself," he stated firmly. "I've seen plenty of plays in my lifetime – I'll make up for it when we come back through again. I'd rather go when I know I have the time to relax and think about what I've seen with a little more leisure time."
"Enjoy yourselves," Lyara called as Farranby and Sharin headed off in the direction of the line of theatres to study the playbills. She glanced at Jilan as she turned for the door of the Prairie Rose.
"What is it?" Jilan's hand caught at her elbow as she walked past him.
"I'm not sure," she sighed more heavily this time, allowing him to pull her to a halt. "I think… I think that agreeing to take Yiren home might be a mistake."
"Topiara being mysterious again?" he asked understandingly.
She nodded glumly. "I hate it when it just sounds off without being specific," she complained, knowing that by now he'd have enough experience with Rolayn that he'd understand her confusion and disquiet.
"I got the same feelings too," he agreed, confirming her suspicion. "And yet, I didn't get the idea that she was untrustworthy."
"No, it's not that at all. She's desperate enough to get home that I don't think she'd betray us – I know I wouldn't in her position," Lyara tugged at his arm to get him to accompany her into the Prairie Rose and over to a table in a quiet corner of the common room. A sharp glance toward the bar had Krell heading toward them almost immediately to take an order for a pitcher of bitters and two tankards.
"What is it then?" Jilan asked with a note of frustration in his voice when they were alone again.
"Gah!" she threw her hands to the sides in a gesture of frustration. "Maybe I'm just tired and distracted by the kind of city this is…"
He shook his head slowly. "I've never seen you get distracted or worried for no good reason," he stated reasonably, hoping to calm her down a little. "There's probably something coming up in our future because of your decision to take her with us – something that may change the way things happen."
"Yes – that's more how it feels," Lyara thunked her chin into her hand and looked across the table at him, marveling at how just a few words could help her focus. "It's like I've opened a door and invited trouble to find us."
"And yet," he pointed out after waiting for Krell to deliver the bitters and once more walk away so they could have their privacy back, "we will never know what other trouble might have come our way because we chose NOT to take Yiren with us – trouble with dealing with the Vryies themselves, perhaps."
"You have a point," Lyara grumbled, filling the two tankards and taking her own up for a healthy draught. "Still…"
"Let it go, Lya," Jilan soothed at her. "Stewing over what we cannot know yet will do you no good – and maybe make it so you can't rest the way you want tonight."
"I know…"
He picked up his tankard and took a swallow. "Maybe we should find a play to relax our minds after all," he suggested. "We've been so focused for so long, sometimes it does good to just put it all away and think of something else entirely for a short while."
"That's not the way I work," Lyara told him with a shake of the head. "I think I'll rest better knowing that I've thought things through as best I can before we start out again." She looked at him long and then put out a hand across the table to him. "I'm glad you're here."
Jilan smiled at her and took her hand in his, feeling the immediate and comfortable snap of energy and connection that came every time they were close like this. "I wouldn't be anywhere else," he told her earnestly. "You're stuck with me, you know."
She smiled back and tightened her hold on his hand slightly. "I wouldn't have it any other way," she confessed. "You're stuck with me too."
"I can live with that."
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