Sky Lord by Rowan Erlking (that summer book .txt) 📕

The assistant turned back with a fixed smile that was merely meant to be polite. “I am sorry, but this case has precedence. You will all have to come back tomorrow.”

Moans accompanied cries of disappointment, but the assistant would not hear any of it. She smiled, escorting Tia in and shutting the others out.

She led Tia into a darkened corridor. One lamp gave them light. A dark velvet cloth covered the opening at the other end of the hall. The assistant pushed it aside, letting Tia through.

It was not as Tia had expected. In her mind’s eye, she had envisioned a medium sized study set up with chairs and a table, much like the Underlord’s accounting office. This room was very dim but rather spacious. Drawn on the floor in white paint were fancy symbols, written in a circle. Writing jutted across it like a star, centering where a well-groomed middle-aged man dressed in satins and brocade knelt just in front of a small table. Candles were set about the room, equal distance apart at the ends of the writing on the ground. Mysterious, it also seemed a bit much. Tia hesitated.

“Do you want to see the Great and All-seeing Tior Dalos or not? He is waiting, and the fee is non refundable.” The woman crossed her arms waiting for Tia to decide.

Tia drew in a breath and swallowed. She stepped over the paint into the circle, walking carefully to where the man was.

“Kneel on the pillow,” Tior said when she reached the table. “It will ease your aches.”

Her heart pounded in her chest. At a closer look the man did indeed seem like he had traveled far. His skin was more weathered than that of the villagers of the mountain pass. His hat was not Brien Amon style, but similar to the Hann turban. He had rings on his hands, and he wore several chains of pure gold around his neck. She knelt down.

“Lend me your hand, palm upward,” he said.

Tia carefully extended her hand, afraid that if she touched him she might cause his seeing ability to fail him. She knew she drained more than memories and shape from people. Life energy was also stolen. Hoping not to have that effect on everyone she touched, Tia watched him peer at her palm.

“You have worker’s hands. You were once a slave,” he said. His eyes looked up. He pointed at her palm, but not touching. “This here, is a sign of healing. You were not recently a slave.”

She blinked. This was not fortune telling. Anyone with sense would know that by looking at her hands. Tia peered more intently at his face.

He smiled genially. “I see you think a great deal more than speak. That is a sign of wisdom and intelligence.”

Tia huffed, pulling back her hand with a glare at the table. The fifteen pieces were non-refundable. She felt like such a dupe.

“And your manner says you are cynic when it comes to seer abilities.” He then cleared his throat. “All right. Now that the preliminaries are done, I can tell you your future.”

“Don’t bother.” Tia got up, wobbling on her spikes in disappointment. “You don’t have the answers I am seeking.”

“You are going to Danslik,” Tior called up.

Tia halted. She turned, blinking at him. “No, I’m not. I have no intention of going to Danslik.”

He smirked. “Ah, but your fortune says differently. You are going to the capitol to meet the Patriarch of Brein Amon. You have no choice in the matter.”

Her heart stopped in her chest. She stared.

“No,” she murmured, shaking her head. “I just wanted to have answers to questions.” But she trembled, kneeling down again. “I need to know, who really is the Sky Lord, and why am I cursed. Can you tell me?”

Tior stood. He pulled off a chain from around his neck. It was long and thin like a silken thread. It was looped noose style with a tinkling brass charm at both ends of it. He placed it around her neck. Patting her on the head, he stood up.

“I cannot tell you. I can only see what’s before me. And you,” he turned around to face the hanging curtains behind him, “owe me fifty gold coins.”

Tia blinked. Trying to jerk to a stand, she found the weight of the necklace bearing her down the to the floor. The bottom brass bell just barely touched the wood, but it might as well have been nailed there with an iron spike. She could not pull up any higher. In fact, the necklace started to choke her neck.

“I suggest you don’t struggle,” a new voice said from behind Tior. “They want a live one at the capitol.”

Tia looked up, half expecting the Cordril hunter to be standing there but it was not him. The man behind Tior was a thickset man with bristly brown stubble on his chin. His jaw was like that of a Gole—wide with a gristly set of teeth, all brown from smoking and chewing tobacco. He wore a halter that carried his weapons: a broadsword on his back; a crossbow dangling at his side; a speedy pistol, one like the police in Calcumum used; and a bowie knife stuffed under his arm for easy access. His bullets ran up and down every strap of the halter making him look ready for everything.

He handed Tior his fifty gold pieces, counting them one by one from the palm of his gloved hand. Tior’s eyes grew wide and glittered with pleasure with each new piece. His assistant crossed the room eagerly to get her share. “I’m sure Hana will want her portion. She called and said the demon was coming.”

It was too much to hear. It had been a trap. Tia closed her eyes, her tears breaking out and falling to the floor. She grabbed the chain to take it off. The bell at her neck jingled as soon as her fingers brushed it. The weight suddenly tripled.

She dropped face-first into the table, feeling the thread pull tighter. Gasping, Tia clutched her throat.

“I told you not to struggle!” the bounty hunter snapped, tromping over then loosening the chain gently with his fingers so that she would not choke to death. The leather from his gloves brushed against her neck. “It is a demon chain. Only pure human hands can remove it. Besides, even if you could get it off, you can’t get away. You are sitting in a demon circle. I painted it myself.”

Drawing in air, Tia barely lifted her head from the table, staring at the man’s legs. It was all she could see. His black boots adorned with straps and stitched leather showed much wear. At his knees and above were rubbed through and had been re-stitched.

“It has been a pleasure doing business with you, Sisrik,” Tior said wrapping up the gold in a handkerchief. He stuffed stuffing it into a velvet money purse. “I hope you have the pleasure repeated.”

The bounty hunter gave Tior a wry smile, saying nothing.

“Sisrik!” a familiar voice shouted far across the room where the door was. Tia could not see the newcomer, but she closed her eyes, knowing who he was. “That’s my bounty!”

“Ah!” Sisrik replied then crossed over, taking one side step to be in the way of the hunter’s march toward Tia. “Jonis, so nice to see you. No, she is my catch. Had you all the proper hunting supplies you would not have lost her. The bounty is fair game. Perhaps you would have been better to use a demon chain. But oh! I forgot. You can’t handle a demon chain any more than she can. I wonder what would happen if I put one around you.”

The Cordril hunter lifted his chest, though Tia half expected him to draw his sword and knock off Sisrik’s head.

“Go ahead and try it, meathead. You only caught her because I passed ahead to the police that she was coming their way. You are only lucky she fell into your trap.” He looked down at Tia. “Personally, I didn’t think she would fall for it. I’m rather disappointed.”

Tia closed her eyes, laying her heavy head back on the table. It was no use to fight. Had they used demon chains in Calcumum, she never would have gotten this far. She had been lucky, but now her luck had run out.

Sisrik the bounty hunter arranged for a locked transport to take Tia to Danslik. The Cordril hunter remained in Tior’s mock fortuneteller’s shop, but Tia noticed that he was not bound by the demon circle as she was. He went in and out bringing an armload of bread he had bought, tossing her one. Sisrik had not given food at all, snorting even when he saw Jonis sharing his food.

“You know her head is on the block once they find the treasure. Why feed her?” Sisrik said. He was sitting on the table scraping his knife blade on a whetstone to sharpen it. He ran it down, slipping it off with a gratifying ‘shing’.

The Cordril hunter glared at him sideways, squatting on his haunches and leaning against the wall. “There is no reason to starve her.”

The bounty hunter laughed, scraping one more time along the stone. “Yes, but it is a perfectly good waste of food and money.”

A young courier pushed past the curtain, breathless and waving. “Mr. Counz! Come quickly! Your other charge has broken the bars to his cage! They’re having trouble getting him back in!”

Sisrik moaned. He jammed the knife into its scabbard with a hop off the table. He glanced once at Jonis. “Watch her for me. And don’t you try to let her go so you can catch her again. She is my bounty.”

“Like I can with that chain around her neck,” Jonis snapped. He took another huffy bite of his bread roll, leaning harder against the wall.

Tia had been listening, but there was no use to fight. Listless, she only held the bread in her hand. Hunger had been clawing the inside of her stomach, but she didn’t care. She was going to Danslik against her will to see the Patriarch of Brein Amon. And though the fortuneteller had been a fraud, his fortune for her had been correct. She got her fifteen gold pieces worth.

“Are you going to eat that?” Jonis’s words broke into her thoughts.

Sisrik had lifted the weight of her chain so that it only hung like a stake to the ground again. She could sit up, but only a little. However, she just lay there, defeated.

“You know, those buns cost half a silver piece for five.” Jonis scooted closer. “If you aren’t going to eat it, I suggest you put it in your bag for later because you will get hungry. Danslik air always makes me hungry.”

Tia rolled over, staring at him.

Jonis smirked with mischief in his eyes. The cat scratch was now a crusty scab, brown and dry on his skin.

“Why are you talking to me?” Tia said. “Why are you even hanging around? You are not going to get your fifty thousand gold pieces now.”

He blinked, tilted his head then shrugged, dropping his backside to the floor and sitting straight legged.