Eilinland- Through the Wall
Eilinland
Through the Wall
Bailey Davenport
Chapter 1
A young girl sat in the corner of a dungeon cell lit only by a few torches on the opposite wall. She looked to be about ten years old, but it was hard to tell. The torches were burning low and flickered so much it was hard for Bierno to get his eyes to focus on anything in the room.
Then he saw movement at the far end of the hall. The girl saw it as well and looked up as two dark figures walked in.
**********
The vision faded away as Bierno’s eyes adjusted to the present like he had just stepped from darkness into the light. His hearing came back with his sight, and he just barely heard the end of a question from his wife, Sonya, who sat across the kitchen table from him with her hands clasped around a cup of warm tea. A chorus of crickets could be heard through the log walls of their little farmhouse, and their two sons breathed heavily in slumber in a nearby room.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that,” he said. The sudden ripping of his consciousness to and then from some other place left him having a difficult time remembering what they had been talking about.
Sonya furrowed her brow. “I just asked if you planned on going to the city for market tomorrow, but you’ve had another vision, haven’t you?”
Bierno nodded slowly, staring into his cup of tea. Sonya sighed slightly and then took a sip from her own.
“What was it?” she asked after a moment of silence.
“A young girl locked in a cell,” he answered.
“Oh,” she breathed, putting a hand on her heart. “Did she look well?”
“It was hard to see; it was rather dark,” he answered. “We won’t have much to go on.”
They were silent once more, savoring their last moments together. Bierno looked deep into her eyes and saw the love, the courage, and the pain behind them and knew his own were mirroring the same emotions. When they’d drained the last drops from their cups, Sonya rose and walked towards their bedroom.
“I’ll help gather your things,” she said.
Ten minutes later, Bierno was on his way out of the house, glancing through the rooms as he went. His eyes were drawn to a place in the far corner where water damage was starting to stain the ceiling from a leak in the roof above it. It would be fine until he returned, but he now greatly regretted having put it off.
Once outside, Bierno walked across the moonlit yard alone. He needed no lantern even as he entered the darkness of the barn, led his dappled gray horse, Commander, from his stall, brushed him, and saddled him. Commander blew through his nose, bothered by the fact that he’d been woken to work in the middle of the night. He followed Bierno obediently out of the barn and around the side of the house to the front where Sonya waited to say goodbye.
Bierno lifted her up and swung her around as she whispered in his ear.
“I’m so proud of you.”
They stepped back.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Bierno said.
“Just be careful.”
After a final kiss, Bierno mounted his horse and jogged him up the path until he’d crested the small slope in front of the house. Bierno stopped and turned to look back at his home one last time. Sonya still stood on the step in front of the house, watching him. Her long, blonde hair blew in the gentle wind, and the starlight was shining on her face, creating a sight almost too beautiful to leave.
Nevertheless, Bierno turned and rode over the crest of the hilltop. Very few tears were shed between the two of them, and they both slapped them away in annoyance: Sonya, walking back to a warm bed, and Bierno, riding into a cool night.
The path Bierno travelled on was well known to him, and Commander never faltered as his hooves pounded the dirt on the flat and even ground between the ruts and rocks. The moon was full, and the crisp summer night air drove the drowsiness from both horse and rider as they went along.
They soon came to a crossroad where two other riders waited for them. As Bierno joined them, the horses nickered a greeting to each other. As for the riders, Bierno was the first to speak.
“Where’s Gillio?”
He looked first to the rider on the right: a man on a horse which reflected the moon so brightly, it seemed to almost glow. The man wore a hood that left most of his face in a shadow, but any part of his face that was visible was pale, and long, blonde hair fell across his chest. He now looked off down the roads surrounding them for any sign of the missing rider.
Bierno then looked to the rider on the left who rode a horse so dark that it was hardly even visible in the night. The rider was also clad in black and wore a cloak, but the hood lay back on her shoulders revealing clear, light skin, a determined brow, and a strong jawline. Her black hair, which was pulled back neatly, was streaked with white although she was only in her twenties. Her eyes were strikingly gold, and she now rolled them in annoyance in response to Bierno’s inquiry.
“We were hoping that you’d seen him,” she said.
The words were barely out of her mouth when the horses started prancing, and then something came crashing out of the woods about a hundred yards away. It was a horse carrying a young man who, at the moment, had a very wild appearance. His jacket was half off of one shoulder, his brown, shoulder-length hair was in every direction, and he had an expression of frenzy and excitement on his face. His horse, likewise, had flared nostrils and was showing the whites of his eyes. Both were covered in leaves and sticks and splattered with mud.
“Run!” he yelled as he flew past them down the path.
The other riders wasted no time in catching up to him. The black-haired rider, Jekka, looked back after they had raced about another hundred yards from the edge of the woods.
“Gillio,” she yelled above the wind, “there’s only a half dozen dragons that live this far from the mountains. How is it you always manage to find them?”
Gillio looked to his left where Jekka rode, her expression full of humor, annoyance, and the excitement of a good chase.
“I got lost on my way here; we accidently stepped on her tail,” he yelled back.
He had rehearsed a good story – one good enough to explain why he was late without revealing the fact that he’d gotten lost in the woods on his way. That was before he stumbled on some bigger trouble, and then he’d been so occupied with escaping and not getting roasted that he didn’t get the chance to come up with another explanation. It was probably just as well: he wouldn’t have been able to shout the entire thing over the wind rushing past their ears anyway.
“How do you accidently step on a dragon’s tail?” shouted Jekka, “and how did you get lost? You’ve travelled that path hundreds of times!”
He sighed. “The trees were blocking the moonlight; it was dark! I thought it was a tree root or something.”
“With scales?” Jekka yelled back.
At that moment, their conversation was cut short by a blast of fire hitting the path in front of them. The horses rolled back on their haunches, sliding to a stop before the heat could singe their muzzles. All of the riders spun the horses around and watched as the dragon breathed in another gulp of air and aimed its open mouth straight at them. Aenin, the man on the white horse, had strung his bow as soon as he’d had the chance, and now he shot a silver-fletched arrow through the thin skin of one of the dragon’s wings. The dragon cried out in pain as it fluttered towards the ground like a wounded bat. It regained its balance before it landed and then flew off back towards the woods. Bierno checked to see if anything was burning, but all he found was a patch of grass which was much less dewy than the rest and slightly charred.
“Well you certainly have a knack for finding tro
uble, Gillio,” said Jekka after a moment of silence.
“Thank you, Jekka. People so rarely appreciate my uncanny ability for creating excitement…”
“You can talk later,” interrupted Bierno. “I want to be to the city by morning.” Here he glanced sideways at Gillio. “We’ve wasted enough time already.”
**********
They made it to the city just after sunrise. The City of Eilin was full of tall buildings with shops on the lowest levels and apartments or more shops above. The buildings were tallest at the center of the city where a castle stretched all the way up to the clouds.
The riders were well liked in Southern Eilin which in itself was not a bad thing, but even the simplest task, such as riding from the gates to the stables, was difficult when surrounded by people. It proved to be especially difficult on market day when everyone was either in the streets to buy, to sell, or simply to see friends and have a good time. The sight of the warriors got many old rumors circulating again and presently gave everyone something new to talk about. A hat seller began to tell the baker next to him about how Gillio had single-handedly defeated a sea monster. This was, in a way, a true story, but it had been grossly exaggerated through a long line of retellings beginning with Gillio himself. A woman who was out shopping mentioned to those around her that she was the best friend of Bierno’s wife and would be sure to stop by the house to visit her now that Bierno was away. The truthfulness of that statement was a matter of opinion, but Sonya graciously would not have countered the woman’s remark if she had been present.
As they rode, Bierno and Gillio waved and called out to friends and engaged in quick conversations as they passed. Aenin just smiled and nodded to people when necessary, and Jekka kept her eyes on her horse’s mane and drummed her fingers on the saddle horn impatiently when they were moving too slowly.
In the midst of all of the excitement, there were two sets of eyes that were not on the riders. One belonged to a young woman at the age of 19. She had been sitting on a flat roof two stories above ground for quite some time, watching a bread seller’s cart below her. She couldn’t believe her luck when everyone left their carts to watch the warriors ride by.
The other belonged to a law officer who was envious of the riders’ fame. He stood near the back of the crowd, looking around and thinking of all of the reasons that the people should not be so thrilled to see them. He thought of the traffic hazards and the empty vendor carts causing a negative effect on the economy. It was at this moment that the girl, who had been sitting on the roof minutes before, snatched up a piece of bread and ran into the nearest alley.
The officer, whose name was Trolt, suddenly forgot all about the riders.
“Stop, thief!” he yelled, running in the direction that he had last seen her.
Startled, several people turned around, and a few men ran to join him. Meanwhile, the girl had run to the end of the alley and up to a wooden slat fence. She scaled it quickly and jumped down on the other side, her bare feet landing lightly on the cobblestone. Now on another busy street, she dodged through the crowds, making her way a few buildings down before ducking into an alley on the opposite side. A moment later, her pursuers made it over the fence and spread out to look for her.
She took a few hurried bites of bread and looked around. The end of the alley was completely blocked by a tall fence with several barrels and boxes stacked up against it. A rat could just barely be seen in one of the dark crevices between them. She threw him a few crumbs and smiled as he picked one up with his little paws to eat it. Having caught her breath, she looked around the corner of the house to see if her pursuers had followed.
About forty yards away, Trolt was questioning a small group of people. He looked over and their eyes met.
“Oh, toadstools!” she gasped, lurching back into the alley and standing rigid against the wall for a second, her mind racing.
“What am I supposed to do?” she mouthed to the rat, but it just twitched its whiskers in response. Finally she looked up, shoved the bread in her mouth, and jumped, grabbing onto the gutter above her head.
Trolt quickly excused himself from the conversation and ran to the spot he had seen her, only to find another empty alley.
“Not again!” he groaned as he was joined by another man helping him. “She must be a magician to have disappeared like that.”
“She has to be around here somewhere.”
They began tipping over barrels and crates looking for her. The rat scurried off, leaving behind two crumbs. Trolt bent to examine them with a puzzled expression on his face. Just then, some rubble fell from the roof above, causing both men to look up. There she stood, just near the peak of the roof, smiling.
“Hello,” she said pleasantly.
“As an officer of the city of Eilin and a servant to the King, I command you to come down at once!” Trolt exclaimed.
She laughed. “I’m very sorry, sir, but it appears I still have the upper hand.”
“Oh, do you?” he asked. He skillfully swung a crossbow from over his shoulder and set the string, pointing the short, sharp arrow in her general direction. He didn’t intend to shoot, but he hoped it was intimidating enough for her to obey his orders. “Now, come down and there won’t be any trouble.”
She met his gaze over the glimmering tip of the arrow, and as she did, she had an idea. She reached out behind her, caught hold of the peak of the roof, and swung herself over the top to the other side.
“She’s getting away again!” someone yelled, although of course the fact was obvious. They ran around the building as fast as they could. Finding yet another empty alley, they assumed she was already on the next street and hurried on their way.
After jumping over the peak, the girl had slid about halfway down the other side of the roof before stopping herself. As the men were running around the front of the building to look for her on the south side, she had climbed back up and over the peak to the north side. After dropping back into the alley, she breathed a sigh of relief. She stepped out onto the street and planned to walk to a different part of town where she could eat her bread in peace. Before she got very far, she looked over her shoulder to be sure she wasn’t being followed—and bumped right into another officer.
**********
Gillio and Jekka walked through the busy streets on their way to the blacksmith’s with a load of dull weapons and tools. After leaving the stables, they had started a discussion about what a terrible idea it was for Bierno to send the two of them on errands together. Jekka had suggested that maybe it was a form of punishment for arguing as often as they did. Gillio disagreed. They had been silent for some time after that, and now Gillio couldn’t take it any longer.
“Oh, come on, Jekka. Don’t be such a bad sport about it,” he said.
“I’ve been a perfectly good sport about it,” she responded. “You’re the one who stopped talking all of a sudden.”
“Neither of us were talking.”
“Which is only out of the ordinary as far as it pertains to you.”
“And that is exactly what I’m talking about. If you didn’t say such negative things all the time, maybe none of this would even be a problem in the first place.”
“And maybe if you didn’t give me reason to say such negative things, we would both be much happier, too.”
“You’re doing it again!”
“So are you.”
He let out a cry of frustration and bumped into her with his shoulder, almost sending her falling into some people walking by. She gave him a look of reproach and rolled her eyes.
They rounded a corner and were surprised to see a large crowd gathering on one side of the street. They pushed their way through until they were close enough to see what was going on. At the center of the crowd, an officer had a girl by the arm. She said something they couldn’t hear, and they were both surprised when he responded by smacking her across the head with the back of his gloved hand. She went limp for a moment, falling to her knees as
the wave of pain passed, and then she started pulling and twisting, trying to get away.
“You can’t do this!” she shouted.
“I’m sorry, miss, but it appears we have the upper hand now.”
The voice belonged to Trolt. After not finding the girl earlier, he had been walking back to his post, feeling quite disappointed. He found the crowd gathered around the girl and the officer who caught her, Bosk, at about the same time that Jekka and Gillio did. Now he was triumphantly pushing his way through, taking his place next to Bosk and grabbing the girl’s other arm.
“Oh, just who I wanted to see,” the girl said, her sarcastic tone nearly masking the quiver in her voice.
“I said not another word!” shouted Bosk.
With that, he raised his gloved hand either as a warning or to deliver another blow. She ducked down, but before anyone could find out which it was, Gillio was in between him and the girl and roughly grabbing Bosk’s arm, shoving it back down to his side.
“No matter what she’s done, that is no way to treat a lady,” said Gillio firmly.
Jekka now came out of the crowd, dumping all of the packages on the ground that Gillio had suddenly shoved into her arms a moment before. She stepped up next to Gillio, sizing up the situation and wishing for the hundredth time that Gillio didn’t always get into so much trouble. She hated being on the losing side of a fight, and it looked like they would be if Gillio wasn’t careful.
“There is only one way to settle this,” announced Trolt. He spoke mostly to Bosk and the crowd because he recognized Gillio and Jekka as two of the famed riders and did not feel like making eye contact with them. “We will take her to court at once.”
“You are taking her to court?” asked Gillio. “After what I’ve just seen, she should be taking you.”
“That sounds reasonable to me,” said the girl with a smile.
Jekka wished that both of them would just keep their mouths shut.
“For your information,” Trolt said, now addressing Gillio directly, “This girl has been stealing from the villagers’ merchandise for months.”