Archives: Hunt for Kiran
Chapter 17: On the Trail
Soon, her tracking led them back out to the main road, and judging by the random positioning of the tracks, the trio had stopped to talk. The dog’s tracks seemed to disappear when the tracks picked up again, and soon, all the tracks were lost in the assorted foot traffic along the road. Sythenra paused for a moment, trying to figure this new development out.
“Did you lose them?” Mica asked, having followed behind Adriel and the others in silence.
“Well...the dog at least,” Sythenra replied, scratching the back of her head. “Give me a minute, I’ll see if I can find sign of them.” The ranger bent down from the ground and examined the tracks. After observing the place where Kiran and his company paused, she finally realized that some how, the definition of the dog’s tracks had diminished, but they were there. Sythenra carefully regarded the tracks, but once they joined the other foot traffic on the road, they were lost. “All I can say is that they went west,” the ranger said and stood up. “If we keep following the road, keep your eyes on the side, in case there are signs of them veering off later.”
“Then let us keep moving,” Adriel said, walking onwards. He wanted to keep Yrsanne and Mica moving, and if they had to keep their eyes on the road, then that was all the better to hold off the conflict...for now.
Yrsanne was quiet and ignored Mica from then on. It wasn’t that she ignored him, but merely her considering how she would take a bit of revenge for his insolence. Such things required a certain amount of consideration...
Mica fell in behind and followed the group without speaking. If the dog’s trail was lost then the easiest way would be to ask Gnome to pick up the trail for us, but doing so may alert Kiran to our following him. If not him, one of the two other dark elven women, one being that wretched whore Thiana. If we could make it seem natural, follow them with just a single gnomish spirit, it might be easier to track them. However, there is still the matter of whether or not they would manipulate it to give false information. It depended solely on our control of the spirit. If we exerted a certain amount of force to get it to work for us and only us, than there’s a slim chance... Mica’s thoughts continued to follow whether or not to bring up the subject of using the spirits to track them, at least a little.
As Sythenra tracked on, the sun fell in the sky until they were in the dark. Luckily, dark elves could see better in the darkness than humans, so Sythenra could continue tracking. As they came to a road breaking off from the main, the ranger went to investigate. The group paused while she examined the ground, and she soon found the signs of passage. “They went this way!” she announced, excitedly.
“Great news,” Mica exclaimed. “We should make haste,” the half-elf said with moderate enthusiasm. He was used to working nights as it was, the cover of the night was better for an assassin in anyway.
Adriel made a quick turn down the new road, following Mica and Sythenra with determination. Was there another village? What if they actually found Kiran up ahead? The young dark elf was ready to face his father, and hopefully Mica would let him get his licks in.
As the group continued on, they arrived in a small village. It was dark and quiet as most of the residents were sleeping. A single inn was near the center of town. “An inn,” he pointed out. “We should investigate it.”
Yrsanne’s eyes skimmed over the building. “Investigate?” she asked, an eye brow quirking. “This isn’t a murder scene...” Yrsanne took a sideways glance at Mica. “Not yet, at least.”
“Planning another attempt at murdering some poor yokel?” Mica asked, not bothering to look back at Yrsanne. Not giving her the time to respond, Mica answered Adriel, “Yeah, we should go investigate the inn.”
“That’s cute,” Yrsanne said with a snake-like grin to Adriel. “He insults himself for me. It gets easier and easier.”
Adriel refrained from making a reaction to Yrsanne’s statement. The last thing he wanted to do was pick a side in the conflict, let alone allude to it. The dark elf went to the door of the inn and tested the handle, finding it locked. “Locked. How should we proceed?” Adriel asked. “I do not want to arouse suspicion by trying to knock on the door. Can any one pick a lock?”
“I can,” Mica stated. He hadn’t picked locks since he was a child, but it was something he was good at. “I need a hairpin,” he admitted. “Either that or a needle.”
Adriel considered what he may have, and realized the jewelry that he had brought for trade. The dark elves didn’t exactly use money, except in dealing with humans. Only so much had been given to him, and to make up for that, his mother had given him a few pieces of her jewelry to trade. Slipping his pack off his shoulder, Adriel dropped it to the ground and knelt to rummage inside it. Once he found his collection, he searched for a long enough piece of metal and came across a set of silvered hairpins his mother once wore. “Perfect,” he said, then handed them over to Mica.
Mica took the pins silently and slid up near the door. Gently working them into the lock he pressed his ear against the door and closed his eyes. Luckily the lock was pretty simple, four small tumblers in the internal mechanism, a common configuration for house door locks. With a small click from each tumbler that was worked into place with the two hairpins, Mica tried the door again, not to jostle it too hard. With one more final click the door opened slightly with just Mica’s weight on it. He retrieved the hairpins and returned them to Adriel.
Adriel tucked the pins into his coat pocket and secured his traveling pack on his back again. With the door open, Adriel peeked in through the crack and saw the common room empty. Quietly, he pushed open the door and stepped around Mica. Walking carefully on the floorboards, he tried not to make a sound, but despite that, they were discovered. The innkeeper in bed clothes stepped out of the kitchen with what looked to be a club in his hand, and made a dash for Adriel. The dark elf quickly whipped his rapier out and had it at the man’s throat, stopping him in mid-stride.
“Don’t hurt me...take what ye want!” the innkeeper pleaded, seeing that he was no match for the dark elf. He dropped his club—which appeared to be a leg from a broken chair that had been sanded down into a weapon—and raised his hands.
“All I want is information,” Adriel spoke softly. “We are seeking a dark elven man. He should have a dark elf woman with a large black dog in his company.”
“And there may possibly be a third woman,” Sythenra interjected as she stepped up alongside Adriel, hand on the hilt of her sword defensively.
“F-first room on the left,” he said, pointing to the stairs.
Mica nodded and strode past Adriel and the innkeeper. Going to the room silently, the half-elven assassin felt the brush of the cold night air on his legs. He pressed his ear to the door and listened for a moment. No sounds other than the curtains in the wind came from his listening. With a gentle push against the door he made it make a sound, to see if anyone made a motion in the room. So far, all he was greeted with was silence.
“I don’t think they’re in there anymore Adriel,” Mica stated. “Innkeep, do you have a spare key for this room? We would be so inclined to search the room for a moment.”
With a shaky hand, the innkeeper took his keys out of the pocket of his night clothes and offered it to Adriel, who had yet to relax his stance. After he found the correct key, Adriel took them with his free and held them behind him. “Sythenra, please take these to Mica,” he said to the ranger. “I have a few questions for the innkeeper.”
The ranger quickly snatched the keys from Adriel and hurried upstairs to where Mica waited.
“Now, were there two women with him?” Adriel asked.
The innkeeper nodded. “I only saw the one first, a beautiful dark elf in purple, she rented a room alone,” he explained. “I went up to check on her at night, and the other two and their dog were sharing the room with her. The fellow said she was his daughter.”
Yrsanne stayed with Adriel, somewhat disinterested in going much of anywhere Mica went. Her sword was never even reached for. Leaning against the doorway, she simply observed the area, watching silently. Normally, she might desire to be a bit more active, but it seemed a bit overkill.
* * *
Mica took the key graciously from Sythenra with a small nod of appreciation. Fitting the key into the lock he worked it open, and pushed open the door with a heavy hand. There was not much inside, a mussed bed from people woken early and an open window for which they made their escape. “Help me look for clues please,” Mica asked of Sy as he wandered into the room.
Sythenra stepped into the room after Mica. Ever since their rest, he was acting much more amicable, and it was disconcerting at first, but Sythenra was beginning to become at ease with it. As the ranger skimmed the details of the room, her eyes fell on a slip of paper on the table. As she picked it up, she realized it must be a letter, as it was folded and sealed. Written on it was “Mica”.
“Here,” Sythenra said, holding the letter up. “It’s for you.”
Mica stared at the letter for a second not sure what to do with it. Almost bewildered, he unsealed it and took the time to read over the contents half-aloud, “‘Mica, I know you want my death, and I won’t deny you that right if that is what you believe will repay my debt to you. I have wronged many others though, and I must make amends. Allow me one month to get my affairs in order and I will meet you in Salbad to await your judgment. Your father, Kiran.’”
Mica’s face contorted for a second in anger, then fell. Mica could hardly contain the outburst that was crawling up from his stomach. He laughed, long and hard, at the contents of the letter. “This is too much,” Mica groaned in between peals of laughter. “You should read this for yourself. I’m sure you’ll get a kick out of it too,” he said handing the opened letter back to Sythenra.
The ranger took the letter from Mica and read it over, her brows furrowed as she tried to understand it. “Feh, bullshit,” she growled, and handed the letter back to Mica. “The bastard has never been honest a day in his life. He actually thinks we’ll fall for this?”
* * *
‘His daughter’...another sister? Adriel sheathed his sword and hurried upstairs.
With Adriel bounding away, Yrsanne was left with the innkeeper. Adriel and Mica could have their family time if they wanted it. It sounded to her like their prey was a skip ahead of them anyway. No reason for her to run up any stairs. “This happen often?”
“What?” the innkeeper asked, his thick hands rubbing his Adam’s apple.
“Dark elves picking your locks,” she said, strolling over to the empty bar.
“Something like a third time.” The old barkeep watched as Yrsanne’s fingers deftly snuck over the edge of the old walnut surface and pulled up a bottle of something. Then came a tankard. Yrsanne popped the top off of the old liquor and poured it half full. Enough for someone to get drunk off of. It should have come in a shot glass. If a half a tankard of bad booze was all they were going to steal, the innkeep was fine with that. But Yrsanne brought it to him and wrapped his empty paw around it.
“You could use a little something,” she said, her voice low, cool. “They won’t be long.”
* * *
Adriel heard Mica’s laughter before entering the room, where he found his brother and Sythenra in the otherwise empty room. A window was open, making it obvious that Kiran, Thiana, and the mystery woman had made their escape. “What is that?” Adriel asked, pointing to the letter Sythenra was passing over.
“It’s a letter addressed to me of all people, from our father. Read it if you’re interested in a laugh,” Mica said with a snort. “We’ll decide what to do from there after you’ve read it and whether or not you’ll believe what he has written.”
Adriel took the letter, and hearing that it was addressed to Mica, he made the comment before he started to read; “Should I feel offended that I, his first born son was not addressed?” The comment held a little disappointment, but it was mostly meant to humor. “At least, I assume I am his first born,” Adriel murmured as he read. Once he finished the letter a moment later, he scoffed. “We continue,” he replied. “The man is a liar. All he is trying to do is purchase time.”
“Buy some time,” Mica corrected Adriel’s slip. “It’s ‘he is trying to buy some time’, and no. Feel honored that he didn’t have the gall to call on your name, lest it be befouled by his tongue.”
“Ah, forgive me,” Adriel said, slightly ashamed at the mistaken phrase. Now the dark elf decided to reveal the information he had just garnered about the other girl Kiran was traveling with. “As Sythenra guessed, there is another woman with him. The innkeeper said Kiran called her his daughter. It seems we have another sister.”
Mica shook his head at the new information. Another sister, this one allied with their father. It was not boding well for the brothers. “It takes a special kinda person to be able to track us with the spirits without any of us knowing that we’re being tracked.” Mica grunted, roughly stroking his chin while pondering aloud. “It doesn’t sit well in my gut. I’m not one to follow completely on instinct, but I’ll be damned if I get hoodwinked twice in two days. Allow me to explain what I mean by this.” Mica continued.
“Now, the first time Kiran had a head start with Thiana—the bitch’s—knowledge. That much is feasible. They traveled along the road—as we did—resting at that other inn. They moved from there to here during the day, and didn’t know that we were following closely behind. There was the chance for us to get lost along the way, if Thiana didn’t know we had a tracker.” Mica tipped his head to Sy. “With that said, we followed them as far as the elven settlement which we met with some hostility. Somewhere between there and here they met up with our sister. They got here and decided to bunk down for the night. Kiran wrote me a little letter, and they were supposed to rest. We broke in rather quietly, but the bed wasn’t warm when we got up here, which means that they were expecting us. Now, I’m no expert shaman, but I know when the spirits are watching me and when they aren’t. We weren’t being watched on the road, at least as far as I could sense, so how in the hell did Kiran know we’d be here when we were?”
Adriel thought on the situation, but he had no answers. “You are correct, if he was using spirits to watch us, Yrsanne would have undoubtedly noticed; she is an especially adept shaman,” he concurred. The dark elf scoured his knowledge for anything of use, and came up with only an inkling of ideas. “Perhaps this sister is a seer, or maybe knows human scrying spells?”
Mica groaned loudly—a groan of defeat. What the hell were they going to do? He plopped down on the bed and put his head in his hands. He needed to think, the decision wasn’t going to just jump into his head. “What are we going to do?” he muttered aloud.
Adriel sighed and leaned back against the wall, feeling the weight of the predicament. “All we can do is keep going... I suppose,” Adriel suggested. His thoughts were running over what he knew of seers from the small group of dark elven soothsayers that he was familiar with. “Seers must either sleep or meditate to have visions. Perhaps if we keep them on the run so they cannot rest, we may catch up to them before she can make the time to have a vision.”
“I suppose so. Well...in that case, let’s go then,” Mica said, standing up. Physically fighting off a small spell of dizziness, Mica gave a reassuring smile and nod. “We’ll catch up to him pretty soon and when we do...well, we’ll figure it out from there.”
Adriel nodded. “Sythenra, you should lead the way out of the window and look for signs of their passage,” he said to the ranger. “I will go fetch Yrsanne.” Adriel turned and headed downstairs.
With a nod to Adriel, Sythenra headed to the window. Here she was, stuck with Mica again, but at least it was only for a few minutes. The ranger hopped out onto the small outcrop of roof and looked about for signs of passage, but the roof was clean for the most part. There was a little moss on the wood shingles, and she noticed a wet patch up ahead that looked like some moss had been kicked off. “It looks like they headed toward the fields,” Sythenra said to Mica. “Ready to go?”
“Ready when you are,” Mica nodded, ready to follow Sythenra out the window.
* * *
Adriel hurried down the stairs to see Yrsanne keeping the innkeeper company. The young dark elf approached, and as he did, he searched for a few coins in his pocket. He supposed his rudeness toward the innkeeper was uncalled for, but he feared the innkeeper alerting Kiran to their presence. “He is gone. Kiran and his companions seem to have escaped out the window. We are continuing on after them,” he said to Yrsanne. He laid down several coins on the counter next to the innkeeper, who flinched at the dark elf’s approach. “I apologize for my rudeness,” he said. “Money, for your trouble.”
Yrsanne sighed. “It never ends,” she said, shrugging her shoulders to the innkeeper. As the two headed out the door, Yrsanne stopped. “Try a bolt for the door,” she said as she strolled out.
Adriel headed out the main door and back around the stables where the window of Kiran’s room faced. On the roof, Sythenra and Mica were following the path Kiran and his companions had taken. After crossing the roof, Sythenra came down on a low stone wall that separated the stable yard from the fields beyond. The ranger crouched on the wall, looking at both sides of it. There were no tracks on the field side, nor on the stable side. Confused, the ranger scratched her head, trying to look for other clues.
“Have you found anything?” Adriel asked as he approached.
“They definitely came down the roof, but I’m not sure where they went after that,” the dark elven woman replied. “Maybe they wised up and used the spirits to help.”
“That should be easy to follow then.” Mica grinned. “If they used the spirits it’s only natural that the spirits themselves could uncover the tracks.”
“Not necessarily,” Yrsanne said quietly, pleased to be outsmarting him. “Have you ever tried to undo the command of a master shaman? Spirits can be more loyal than you know and the cost for its betrayal can be high. Which is why I’ll do the bargaining here.”
Taking a few paces away from the others, Yrsanne closed her eyes and began to mutter in a low voice, her words indiscernible. It took no time at all for the dark sensation of Gnome to fill the space around them. The earth shifted underneath her feet and the glint of metal caught starlight, then swiftly disappeared. Gnome fell back, but did not disappear entirely. He was waiting.
Yrsanne turned around. “I need metal,” she said. “Or a gem. Something rarer than steel. Jewelry would do. Or a good amount of gold. The price is high. Whoever hid their tracks bolstered their influence by bartering metals with Gnome. He will not yield without a better offer.”
Mica rolled his eyes at Yrsanne’s tone. Had he come across a master shaman and defeated her with her own spirits? Of course, his old master died at his hands for assuming that the half-elf wouldn’t be able to turn the tables. Spirits, like mercenaries, only had loyalty to their own greed. There was no fear of a master shaman. What were spirits if not exalted compared to the shaman. Demanding respect from the spirit was an idiotic—and culturally dark elven—way of thought, as antiquated as those who ruled their clans. Yrsanne’s ignorance to the way things actually worked with the spirits just showed how naive the elders of the dark elves failed in understanding the principles of the act. A low level shaman with a good enough bribe could win the favor of even a king spirit, given that they had enough power to contact them in the first place. Assuming anything else was idiotic. “I have nothing of worth on me. Parsley was the jewelry wearer.”
“I have more,” Adriel said. The young dark elf slung his backpack off his shoulders and set it on the ground. He searched through it, and this time the jewelry was easier to find. Pulling out a soft blue pouch, he tossed it to Yrsanne; inside were a number of platinum, sapphire, and crystal jewelry pieces.
Yrsanne opened the pouch and inspected the contents. Pulling out a sapphire hairpin, she smiled. “Who knew you had such a flair for women’s accessories, Adriel. Something you’re not telling us?” Taking out two more pins adorned with gemstones just in case, she tossed the pouch back. “I won’t take anymore from your... jewelry pouch.”
Yrsanne returned to her place and called back Gnome almost instantaneously. The terms were negotiated in a matter of seconds and the exchange made. The jewels sunk into the earth, never to be found again. Gnome swept across the earth, shooting off into the distance. When his presence was gone, the tracks were so clear that a fool could follow them. “I can’t be easier than having them in sight. Shall we?”
If Adriel’s complexion allowed a blush, it would have been obvious on his dark cheeks. “My mother gave them to me to barter with,” he explained,feeling the need to clear his name, as he strode toward the stableyard wall. Planting his hands, he pushed himself up and gracefully hopped over. Sythenra, who had been standing on the wall, leapt off after him and began following the tracks like a bloodhound on the hunt.
“Whatever you say, Adrielle,” Yrsanne chided, following behind.
Adriel’s ears tipped back slightly in annoyance and embarrassment when Yrsanne added the feminine touch to his name, but he said nothing. If he said anything, it would probably only serve to embarrass him more. So, he followed after Sythenra, focusing on the set of four tracks—two female, one male, and one canine—through the field.
The trail led them through the field and to the edge of a wooded area. Here, Sythenra stopped. The ground became harder and was grown over with short grass and low lying plants, so the path wasn’t as easy to see. “Looks like they headed into the woods, surprise, surprise,” Sythenra said, adding the last part dryly. “Either they kept going, or they stopped to rest.” The ranger didn’t move on though, she was concerned about what Mica suggested; that they had a seer with them. “What do you think we should do? What if the seer knows we’re coming?” she asked Mica.
Mica grunted. “If the seer knows we’re coming then I suppose they won’t bother waiting to rest. They’d want to get as much distance between us and them as possible. It’s also likely, however that if we continue without resting ourselves we’ll hardly be in the position to deal with them when the time comes.” Mica didn’t want to voice his thoughts over this but he’d regret it if he didn’t do so now. “...we should rest. As much as it kills me to say so, we should rest for now. The seer will keep them one step ahead of us whether we rest here or not. I’d cast it to a vote. Who wishes to rest, who wishes to continue.”
Mica wanted to rest. “I say we continue,” Yrsanne voted. “The track is right in front of us. I say we follow it, at least a ways. If you get too tired, we’ll rest later. Besides, I’ll bet we wore out our welcome with the innkeeper.”
Adriel frowned at the options; neither seemed promising. Either they rest and Kiran got a potential lead, or they continued on and the seer potentially helped them escape before Adriel and Mica could find him. With a defeated sigh, Adriel agreed with Mica; “I say we rest and continue while we are refreshed.”
Sythenra was equally unsure of the choices and wore a pensive frown as well. “Maybe you two should rest and Yrsanne and I scout a bit, see if we can find anything?” she suggested.
Yrsanne smiled a little. Sythenra and she were not exactly friends, but perhaps there was something wicked enough in her yet. The suggestion, at least in Yrsanne’s mind, was laced with a subtle message: the dark elven woman gets things done. The dark elven man complains about fatigue and wastes time. “An excellent idea, Sythenra. You two boys stay here and let us get things done.”
With that option up, Adriel felt reluctant to wait, but he’d follow Mica’s example. Glancing toward his half-brother, Adriel waited for his response.
Sythenra stepped forward, not bothering to wait for a response from the two men. “I’ll take...the west,” she said, then headed into the direction of her choosing.
“Sleep tight, boys,” Yrsanne muttered, twisting around on her heel and power walking forward, following in step with the tracks gnome had provided for her. If Adriel didn’t want Kiran that much, Yrsanne was willing to take him just for sport.
