Night Prowlers

Aurei and Eleazar patrol Westmark, searching for the criminals.

39.

Night Prowlers

 

It became quickly apparent that there really wasn’t much that she or Eleazar could do that hadn’t already been set in motion by the ducal guards.   Eleazar made a list of the places that the guards had checked and the times they had checked them.   He then suggested that they have two groups of guards, one group checking a business or home, and then, an hour later, a second group checking the same locations, in hopes of throwing off the criminals, who would think that they had a while before a specific hiding place was searched again. 

 

Pectros took three guardsmen and initiated this strategy, leaving Aurei and Eleazar standing in the Great room of the keep, several hours before dawn.

“Well, now what?   I feel somewhat guilty just standing here doing nothing.”   Eleazar told her as she got up and walked over to him, her eyes glowing bright red.

“I’ll give you two options.” She whispered in his ear, “We can go out and find some of the guard detachments and relive them and search ourselves.   Or…”

Her hand ran through his hair and he looked down into her beautiful face, knowing exactly what the other alternative was, and while that sounded extremely appealing to him, he really had only one right answer.

With a deep and somewhat frustrated sigh, he said, “Let’s go find those guards.”

“Are you sure?” She teased, her lips inches from his.

“If someone dies tonight while we engage in something that will bring shame to us, how would you feel?   Especially since the vision we had of Yesh.”

She closed her eyes and nodded, “Yes, I know.   It’s getting difficult again.   When we were in King’s Reach, it wasn’t so bad for a few days.”

“You were preoccupied.”

“Well, let’s go be preoccupied again.” She was frustrated, but in her heart knew it was a better choice.

 

***

 

Half an hour later the two of them had knocked on a dozen doors of residents, who, though they did not enjoy being awakened in the last watch of the night, were pleased to see that their Duchess and Earl had returned and were vigilantly searching for the two crazed Dwarves.

They walked from the last home with a bit of amusement, for it had been the home of ‘Grandmum Salli', one of the older widows in the community.   Though it was closer to dawn than it was to midnight, she had invited them in and somehow had produced cups of warm tea which she had bidden them to drink.  
“You two really should get married.” She had told them as they sat across from her in the dim light of her home.

Eleazar nearly choked on a drink of tea at her abrupt suggestion, much to Aurei’s amusement.

“Is he dragging his heels, dear?”  She asked Aurei with a sympathetic pat to her knee.

“Well we have been rather busy lately.” She answered as Eleazar regained his composure. 

“There is no excuse.” The elderly lady pointed her finger at Eleazar, “What if this sweet girl was to become pregnant; think of the shame she’d go through because of you.”

“Ma’am, we haven’t… um…”

“Now you don’t expect an old lady to believe that, do you?”

“Uh…”

“Now don’t be embarrassed, I was young once, you know, and some things never change.   There have been a lot of boys in the community that have tried to catch her eye, and I didn’t think the girl was even interested until she saw you.   I’ve known Aurei my whole life; we used to play together as little girls.   She just took her time growing up.  But you don’t want to embarrass her by getting her in the family way with the two of you unmarried, do you?”

“No ma’am, but I " I-I mean, w-we haven’t…um…”

Grandmum Salli frowned and turned to Aurei, “Aurei?”

“We’re sleeping together every night, Salli.” She said mischievously, and Eleazar just slapped his forehead in frustration.

“See?”  The elderly lady said as she turned back to Eleazar, “There is no need to feel embarrassed.   You’d have to be some sort of saint not to have fornicated with a pretty girl like this who is obviously crazy about you.   Now I want to tell you that there is always a price you have to pay for illicit fun…”

She proceeded to lecture Eleazar on his responsibility to Aurei as a sweet young girl and how he needed to just take responsibility for his needs and make an honest woman out of her.  

Ten minutes later they were walking down the dark street, his ears still burning from her kind-hearted, but firm lecture, while Aurei threatened to wake the whole block with her laughter.

“You bad boy!” She mocked, smacking his butt with her hand.

“Me?   You lied to her!   Not only that, but you put yourself in the same boat as me!”

“No I didn’t!   I’m the poor innocent maiden seduced by the lusty knight!”

“You do realize that the story will go all over town now!”

Aurei just snorted, “I’m sure there are worse rumors.”

“That used to bother you.”

“Yeah, I guess it did.   Now I really don’t care.   Let them think what they want.   It’s somewhat fun being a fallen woman.”

“You might not think so after a while.”

“Well hopefully that will change soon.  Let’s check some of the shops; I don’t think I can stand seeing you squirm so much.”

They checked a number of businesses but found all of them tightly locked and empty.   In the east, a hint of the upcoming dawn was lightening the sky by the time they reached the millpond.  
“Shall we head back and see if Eioldth has learned anything yet?”  Aurei asked as they stood there for a moment.

“Not yet.”  Eleazar took her hand and led her over to the edge of the pond.

“Don’t you dare throw me in!” She began pulling against him, but he held up his hand.

“No, no, nothing like that.” 

 

Something in his smile both thrilled her and scared her at the same time, but she quit protesting and went with him.   Her heart was racing as he took her hands in his own.

“Aurei, you know, we’ve had a lot of activity recently.  I remember what Yesh said to you in the vision about the two of us being married already in mind and spirit, but even so, we still should follow his words.   It occurred to me back at that crazy old woman’s house that I have not done something that I should have done.”

As the early morning birds began singing in expectation of the dawn, the young half-Drow knelt (rather stiffly in his plate armor) and looked up at her with a smile.   Aurei trembled from head to toe and began crying, though she grinned broadly.

“Aurei Bugley, I have found in you the joy and love that has long been missing in my life.   You have brought more happiness and completeness to my life then I ever dreamed possible.   I cannot even dream of spending a life without you near me.   I love you with all of my being.   Aurei, will you marry me?”

He stood up and her answer was the most passionate kiss they had ever exchanged.   The kiss lingered on and on and was only broken by the footsteps of the Miller, carrying a lantern and a loaded crossbow, checking on the noise he heard.

“It’s just us, sir.” She called to the man.

“What in the world are you doing out here so early, Duchess?!   I thought you all were gone to King’s Reach; haven’t you heard: two Dwarves went crazy and killed a man.”

“That’s why we were out here; looking for them.”

The Miller just looked at her in doubt.

“Well, we were just taking a break and Eleazar asked me to marry him!”  

“Hmmm.   About time, I’d say, but congratulations to you both.   Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going back to bed - unless those two Dwarves have been caught, then maybe I could go back to work.”

“We’ll let you know as soon as they are found.”  Aurei called after the rather cranky man, who waved his lantern in reply as he returned to his house.

“Maybe we should go tell Grandmum Salli.” Eleazar suggested with a smirk, “That way everyone will know.”

She just chuckled and put her arm around her fiancé as they turned in the early morning twilight and trudged up the empty street.