Hiding

Shel hides Rick from what they think is an assassination attempt.

12.

Hiding

 

“He’s not coming,”  Jevon said to the Changeling lady hiding at the end of the alley in the shadows, “It’s been two hours, and he’s always more prompt then this.”

A frustrated sigh came from the shadows and a moment later the Bitter Dreg emerged, still wearing the lovely form of a Faesidhe noblewoman.

“He’s either been tipped off or something has happened to him today.   Perhaps Gelden has other assassins hired as well.   Take me to his home,”

A telepathic thought was projected into Jevon’s mind by the girl as she spoke.    *Gelden or his men may be watching us now, so do not use my real name or mention anything that would spoil my plan.    Rick could be in worse danger now, if Gelden has other killers after him.    I will instruct the Goblin and Halfling to search for Rick in a menacing way to keep up my persona, but I’ll speak to them telepathically and instruct them to share our true plan with him so we can set up a fake assassination.    I must win Gelden’s trust quickly if we are to learn of the whereabouts of the Losasidhe King and Queen.*

“What about Tadd and Mutt, lady?”   Jevon said aloud, to give Ant a lead in to speak to them.

“I’ll tell them what I expect of them and what I will do to them if they don’t comply.    Wait here, and don’t you dare try to leave, magician, or I’ll hunt you down and kill you.”

“I understand, ma’am,”  Jevon replied, feigning fear.

 

Ant hurried into the guild building and was gone for a few minutes.     Then the door opened and Mutt and Tadd rushed out, speaking to him as they passed.

“The Faesidhe lady ordered us to search for Rick and convince him to let us take him to her if we find him,”    Tadd explained as they went by.

“Good luck,” He called after them.

*I instructed them what to do.* Ant’s voice spoke telepathically to Rick, though she was still in the guild building.   *I’m going to order you to take me to Rick’s home, but I don’t want you to actually take me there.   I’ll give you telepathic directions to one of my hideouts which we’ll pretend is Rick’s house.    This will give me time to think of what to do next.    I will not speak much to you during the walk to my hideout.*

A moment later the Changeling woman exited the building and approached him, “Good, you didn’t try something stupid while I was gone.   You will take me to your friend Rick’s house now.”

“Yes ma’am.”

*Start heading down the street, I’ll tell you when to turn.*   She instructed telepathically and Jevon did as she commanded.

They had walked about a block when Jevon noticed a group of 5 city guardsmen approaching them from the other direction.   At first he ignored them, but it soon became evident that they were coming up to them.

*Uh oh, this is not good, Jevon.    They have orders to arrest all of the guild members since Muld and Syndi are now known to have stolen the Queen Eioldth.*

“What do we do?”  He mumbled to her as the guards now picked up their pace and were reaching for their swords.

“Run!”   She replied, and he was ready to comply.    They suddenly bolted down a narrow alleyway, the guards yelling for them to stop and one of them blowing a whistle to bring more after them.

Jevon and Ant just ran blindly.    Rounding a corner at a full run, they crashed into another group of guardsmen racing to the sound of the whistle.    Both of them pushed the guards off of them, desperate to get back on their feet, but there was a magic-user with the guards and he pointed a wand at their feet.   Suddenly a grey gluey mass covered their ankles and feet and both of them found it impossible to pull free.

Jevon quickly began chanting a Dispel Magic spell, but only got halfway through it before being knocked unconscious with the flat side of a guardsman’s sword.    Ant simply surrendered, knowing they were beaten.

 

***

They moved very cautiously, ducking into buildings and around corners as they slowly worked their way across the city.     Shel had taken hold of his hand and pulled him after her like a mother leading a child, but Rick had little other choice.

Finally, they reached a series of 20 single storey rental houses that lined both sides of the street.    Shel led him halfway down the street, nodding once to a male human and then to a half Orc woman who spoke to her as they passed.

“You’re taking me to your house, aren’t you?”

“Shh!”

“Shel, this is too dangerous!   If the city guard finds out-“

“Will you please shut up?   Wait until we’re inside, hon!”

She pulled him up a couple of steps and produced a key which she used to unlock a door.   Then, not too gently, she yanked him inside behind her and slammed the door shut.

Finally she let go of his hand and relocked the door, also sliding a large dead bolt across it.

Shel sighed in relief, turning now with a smile, “Okay, now we can talk.   I’m sorry about snapping at you, hon, but you can’t trust anybody.    This is my humble home - not much, but it is fine for a single lady who works long hours.   Please have a seat, Rick.    I’ll get us something cold to drink.    Do you like sweet tea?   I have a little breadbox-sized cooling chest that I bought from the palace when they upgraded their kitchen magic items.    It was back when I was working there.   They let the staff buy the old stuff and I got an incredible deal on this little chest.   I keep a pitcher of tea, a few wrapped packs of meat and eggs in it.”

The Orc lady didn’t wait for his reply but hurried off to fix them something.    Rick glanced around her house - it was tiny and not fancy, but extremely neat and orderly.

“Shel, you really shouldn’t get involved with this whole thing.    You might be thought of as an accomplice.”    Rick seated himself on a small sofa.

“They have to catch us first, hon.    I don’t plan on letting that happen.    Do you like lemon in your tea?”

“Um… sure, I guess so.   They could begin using searching spells to find me, you know.”

“Let’s hope they don’t think of that.    I’d imagine that they were more focused on Muld and Syndi.    Or did you mean that assassin?   She might try magic to find you.”

Rick sighed, rubbing his eyes, “Wow, in trouble with the law, betrayed by my friends and an assassin after me… Lord, what a day.”

Shel sat down on the sofa next to him, handing him a cold cup of tea.    “This might help make things slightly better.”

“Thanks, Shel,”   He took a sip, “Wow, this is delicious!”

“Thank you, hon.    The secret is keeping it cold - it lasts longer and tastes better.”   She leaned back and took a drink from her own cup.

“I’ve got to get out of Westmark, Shel.”

“That is one idea, Rick.    You could just stay hidden until this whole thing blows over.”

“What if that doesn’t happen?”

“Well, then I guess you’d have to leave.    But if you wait a few days, it should be easier to sneak out.    Right now the guards will be looking for guild members.   But that might help you, actually, as if your friends are arrested, then they can’t help that lady assassin hunt you down.”

Rick arched his eyebrows, “Yeah…that might help… if we could just get her arrested with them, at least I wouldn’t have to worry about being stabbed or garroted.”

“It might also scare her off if she knows the city guard is hunting for you.”

“This is all so crazy, Shel!    Why would Muld and Syndi steal an airship?   It has to have something to do with the message they received yesterday when we all were touring the airship.”

“Maybe they’re being blackmailed by someone.”

“But by whom… and why?”

“I don’t know hon.”

Rick sighed again and shook his head, “Just my luck - I finally get a job I really like, that pays well and with a great boss, and in one day’s time it all falls apart.”

“Now, don’t give up, hon; you don’t know all the reasons for what is going on.   There may be a very good reason for all of this.”

“I certainly hope so.    I’ve got to find out, Shel, but I don’t dare show my face.   If the city guard doesn’t arrest me, the assassin will probably kill me.”

“I have connections at the palace - people that I still know and that I’m on good terms with- maybe we could have one of them speak to the King or Queen to allow you to tell them what you know.”

“But would it do any good?    They’d still think I was lying.”

“Hon, they have spells to prove or disprove that.   They could exonerate you of involvement in hijacking the airship.   Or they could find the assassin and arrest her.”

Rick considered this for a while, then just slowly shook his head and closed his eyes.   “I don’t know what to do, Shel.    I suppose you are right, but I think it might be best to wait until tomorrow so maybe the city guard can begin to straighten all of this out.   I don’t really want to spend even one night in a dungeon.”

“You should get a good night’s rest so you can think clearly tomorrow.”

“I’ll have to come up with a disguise.”

“A disguise?   Why?”

“Well, they may be watching the inns in the city and I don’t want any of the guild’s clients to recognize me.    We’ve done work all over Westmark.”

Shel shrugged, “Well then, why go to an inn?”

“I can’t go home - so what choice do I have?”

“You could stay here,”   Shel offered with such timidity that Rick had to smile.

“You don’t want a man staying with you - what would your neighbors think?”

Shel snickered, “They’d probably be relieved - they don’t think I have much of a life at all - I go to work, come home and rest, and go back to work.    They’d be surprised to think I had a friend.”

“I’m sure you have lots of friends, Shel.”

She shook her head, “I don’t know why you’d think that, hon.”

“Because you’re a charming and sweet lady that I’m sure everybody likes.”

Shel smirked, “I could just be nice toward you and a bear to everyone else.”

“But you’re not like that at all, are you?”

“Well… no…”

“There!   You see?   You’ve probably got a bunch of friends.”

“Hon, I really don’t.    I have acquaintances, but I really don’t have time for true friends with work and everything.”

“What about your family… I mean Bruce and Lysa,” He quickly added the last part, remembering her tale of her parents’ deaths.

“Well Lysa is an elf now and a newlywed and Bruce is very busy with his career.    In fact, I only see him every few weeks when he comes in to Flapjacks to eat.”

“So you really don’t have anyone, do you?”

Her pretty yellow eyes lost their sparkle as she bowed her head, “No, not really… but hey, you know, I’m alright with that!”

“You are?”

“Orcs tend to not have a lot of close friends, hon.”

“That’s because most Orcs aren’t as charming and pretty as you are, Shel.”

She smiled weakly, thinking he was just patronizing her to make her feel better, “Thanks, Rick, you’re too sweet.”

“It’s true, Shel; I’ll confess something to you.   I am not fond of Orcs - we were almost killed several years ago in an ambush at Orc Pass and I’ve sort-of held a grudge against your race.    I’m not proud of it, and it is completely unfair, yet its’ true.   But you have an amazing personality, Shel and I don’t mean ‘for an Orc’; I mean for anyone.     You’re easily the most charismatic Orc I have ever met.”

“Except for my cousin Lysa.”

“No, I include her in that too, though I don’t know her really well.   You’ve helped me to see how prejudiced I was and how completely mistaken I was.   I want to apologize to you for all the hateful thoughts I’ve had against Orcs over the years.     After meeting you, I can see that your race is just like all the other races; there are all types, good and bad, and it is unfair to judge a race.”

Shel grinned, and as he looked at her, he was amazed to find himself thinking how pretty she really was.     An Orc!    She really had changed his attitude.

“Hon, you’re right when you say that there are all types.   Orcs are predominately primitive and that is probably why my race has such a bad reputation.     So many are violent and barbaric - and we aren’t one of the pretty races.”

“Well, you’re very pretty, Shel…”   He blurted out, blushing immediately after he’d said it.   Her pale green cheeks flushed a lovely red as well and for a few awkward moments neither one spoke.

Finally Shel shifted a bit in her seat and said, “Well, anyway, why don’t you stay here tonight, Rick?     It might help your thoughts on Orcs to see that we live just like the other races live.”

“Oh, I know that, Shel.    I just don’t want to alarm your neighbors.   If they think you brought a human male here they may shun you.    I know some races don’t think Orcs should fraternize with humans.”

“Well, let them think what they want.     They don’t know the situation and besides, I’ve already brought you here, so they might think the worst anyway.    I’ll worry myself sick, hon, if you leave and try to come up with a disguise and stay in an inn.   Please, stay here.    This couch makes a fine bed and then in the morning we could go to the palace early.   I know the night guards; they don’t change the guard until 8 AM and I’m sure we could get inside, then send a message to King Eleazar.   He’s very just, hon; he’ll listen to your story.”

“If you’re sure it isn’t any inconvenience to you…”

“It’s not, Rick, really.”

“Well, Jevon, Mutt and Tadd would never think of looking for me staying with an Orc.”

“I promise I won’t kill you in the night, boil your bones and make soup with them.”

“I thought only Ogres did that?”

Shel laughed, “I’ll find you a pillow and blanket.”

“Thank you, Shel; you realize that you probably saved my life today?”

“All in a day’s work, hon.”

“I am in your debt, Shel.”

“Nonsense.   You took care of Flapjack’s cooling chest problem, so we’re even.”

“You’ve done a lot more than I did in return.    I still owe you.”

“No you don’t; don’t worry about it.    I’ll be right back, I’ll get the pillow from my linen closet.”

She sat down her tea on a low table and hurried down the hallway to a cabinet at the end.     Less than a minute later the Orc lady returned with a large fluffy pillow and a thin blanket.

“Will this do, hon?”

“That’ll do just fine, Shel, thank you so much.”

“It’s far too early for bed and I’ll wager you haven’t eaten dinner, have you?”

“No.”

“I’ll fix us something.”

“Don’t go to any trouble-“

“It is no trouble at all, hon.     I’d fix myself something anyway, now I’ll just make double.”

“Can I help?”

“You can chat with me while I work.”

She went into the kitchen area of her home and opened up a small cooling chest.     Quickly she chopped up some sausage then some vegetables, which she put in a big skillet on her wood stove.     After lighting the stove, she began cooking, humming happily to herself as she worked.

“What about your family Rick?”   She asked, “You’ve told me about your bad luck with elven women, but do you have any family here?”

“Not here… not anywhere, really,”  He replied, unconsciously frowning.

“Oh, I’m sorry, hon.”

“I’m not sure that I am.”

“Huh?”

“Sorry, Shel… you just touched on a sore subject with me.”

“Your family?”

“There really never was any ‘family’, just a woman who was my mother.”

Shel looked at him in concern after hearing how he spoke and he smiled grimly.

“I guess that sounds bad…let me explain.”

“You don’t have to, if you’re uncomfortable, Rick.”

“No, it is a tale I’ve told several times.    You see, my mother was a prostitute in East Point  -- when she was young she was said to have been quite attractive, and she worked in a w***e house that catered to the sailors.    She was the most popular w***e, she claimed, but that life aged her quickly and when her looks began to fade, she lost her star quality.”

“My goodness, how awful.”

“One sailor raped her and beat her so badly that she was out of commission for several weeks, even with healing potions.     Then she learned that he’d impregnated her and so she went to the abortionist that the prostitutes used.    She was drunk and got into a fight over the price of an abortion with the abortionist and stabbed him.   She nearly killed him and she was arrested and thrown into the city jail.   She’d been arrested three times before and was terrified that she’d be executed this time, as the courts there took a very dim view of prostitution.”

“But she had the abortion?”

“No; the fight she’d had was before he’d performed the abortion.   So she really wanted rid of the baby, but she appeared before the judge before she could try her own abortion.     The judge had learned that she was pregnant and since she was pregnant, he gave her one last chance - for her baby’s sake.    She was in jail for a month and then set free.”

“Was she still pregnant then?”

“Oh yes, you see, she worked it out in her mind that by being pregnant or having a child, the law would feel sorry for her or overlook crimes for the sake of the innocent baby.    So she decided to keep the baby.     As you probably guessed, that baby was me.   I’m lucky that I was ever born, Shel.    She was a drunk and a drug user and continued whoring throughout her pregnancy.    It seems that there are men that find that erotic, so she had plenty of business.”

Shel wrinkled her nose in disgust.

“Anyway, she had me and basically used me as a way to keep from being executed or locked up for long.    The judges in East Point had great sympathy for poor children.     But she didn’t love me and made no false pretenses that she did.    I was allowed to stay at the w***e house with some of the other prostitutes’ children.    The Madam of the house put all the kids to work cleaning rooms and doing servant work.    She’d beat us like we were her own and it was absolute slavery.    My mother would go weeks without speaking to me and then it was usually criticizing something I did.”

“Oh Rick, what a sad life.”

“It was rough, Shel, but when that is all you know, you endure.   I hated it.     One day when I was fourteen, the police raided the house and I managed to escape and found a job on a stagecoach.”

“What happened to your mother?”

“Well, without a child living with her, they executed her after she stabbed one of the city guards during the raid.    I only heard about it two years later when one of the sailors that was one of her clientele recognized me while riding on my stage.  He told me what had happened to her, but honestly, it didn’t bother me at all.   I hated her.”

Shel just stared at him in pity while she slowly stirred the skillet of sausage.

Rick wondered if he’d made a mistake telling her about his mother.

“So you worked as a coachman on a stage?”   Shel finally spoke.

“Yeah; that’s where I met Jevon and Tadd - we worked for a while with Princess Amala too.   With the civil war going on last year, we weren’t able to work as coachmen, so Muld recruited us as Practical Magicians and trained us well.”

“Hon, I’m concerned about you.    The story you told me about your mother and your childhood - that had to have scarred you deeply.”

Rick shrugged, “I’m okay, I guess.    It might have turned me off of human women - all of the prostitutes were humans in that w***e house- and it took me a long time to not look down at all women.    Maybe that is why I have had such trouble.    I guess I dream of people acting honest and really caring instead of just playing head games with you.     Everyone seems to eventually stab you in the back.    Such as Jevon and Tadd, for example.”

“Rick, we don’t know the details of what happened - they could be beguiled,”  She finished cooking the sausage and quickly fixed two plates of them, adding some bread and green beans onto each plate.

“Thanks, that smells wonderful,”  Rick said as she placed a plate of food in front of him.

“It’s just a quick meal --- I usually don’t eat fancy at home.” 

Shel sat down beside him on the sofa and waited to eat until after he had sampled the sausage.   She looked at him expectedly, and he gave her a thumbs up after taking the first bite.   

She was an excellent cook.

“This is delicious, Shel.”

“Thanks, hon; I’m glad you like it.    I never fix meals at home except for myself.”

“It’s nice to have a home-cooked meal,” He said as he chewed.

Shel jumped up and returned with the skillet, to offer him seconds.

As she refilled his plate, there suddenly was a harsh pounding on the front door that caused both of them to jump.

“City Guard!”  A gruff voice called from outside, “Open up in the name of the King!”

Rick and Shel glanced at each other in alarm, both of them mentally scrambling for a course of action, but they did not have time to make a decision.     There came a loud crash and the sound of splintering wood.

Jumping to their feet, they found a swarm of city guards rushing into the house.

The armed men raced over to them and were grabbing at Rick when suddenly Shel swung her iron skillet like a club, flinging off the last of the sausage as she connected with the helmet of the first guard reaching for Rick.

“Run, Rick, run!”  She yelled as the guard went down and she advanced on the next one.     Rick jumped back as she swung at the guard, but he ducked under it then swung a long wooden Billy club at her head.     With a crack he connected, sending the Orc lady to the floor.

Rick felt fury overwhelm him.   Ripping free of a third guard’s clutches, he punched the one who had hit Shel, breaking the man’s nose.    But as he grabbed for the guard’s club, two other guards tackled him, savagely smacking him several times on top of his head until he was out cold.

“Bind their hands and feet and carry them back to the dungeon,”  The captain of the detachment ordered, then turned on his heels and exited the house.