{"id":120,"date":"2010-01-01T13:30:44","date_gmt":"2010-01-01T20:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/atfmb.com\/Evermist\/?p=120"},"modified":"2010-02-11T21:33:31","modified_gmt":"2010-02-12T04:33:31","slug":"chapter-fifteen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/atfmb.com\/Evermist\/2010\/01\/chapter-fifteen\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter Fifteen"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a9 2009, Patrick Hester.\u00a0 All Rights Reserved<\/p>\n

Chapter Fifteen<\/h1>\n

When they staggered as a group from the inn, all they could manage was to giggle like fools.\u00a0 Fyet was the first to stumble, causing Eli, who was supporting the other at the time, to stumble as well.\u00a0 This caused a chain reaction and they all ended up on the snowy ground laughing.<\/p>\n

Broat was able to stand before the others and he pulled each of them to their feet and pointed them down the lane towards the ship, giving a shove for each to start them walking again.<\/p>\n

“That’s him,” someone whispered.\u00a0 Eli looked around, curious as to the source.\u00a0 He could just make out the shapes of four men standing in their path and well in the shadows away from the torches burning on either side of the inn’s door. He smiled at them, about to ask for a hand and wondering how silly they must all look.\u00a0 “Kill him!” the one closest to him shouted and he saw something flash in the torchlight.<\/p>\n

“Murder!” Broat shouted at the top of his lungs, diving for the man and shoving Eli aside all in the same motion.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

What happened next happened quickly.\u00a0 Eli half-stumbled into the wall as Broat pushed past him.\u00a0 He heard a grunt and saw that Broat had tackled the man who’d been coming for him, driving him back into the next shadowy figure and taking both to the ground.\u00a0 Before he caught his breath, someone else was leaping over the men and coming towards Eli, an innocent look on his face.\u00a0 He saw another flash of steel as a knife shot towards him.\u00a0 He slid aside, then grabbed for the attacker’s hands, struggling to keep the knife away from his body.\u00a0 Sounds of fighting erupted all around him, of men grunting and gasping, but he didn’t have time to think of that – he had to keep this one knife away from him.<\/p>\n

Everything was moving slowly, but his mind became sharp, the sound of his own heart thumping in his ears.\u00a0 He spun with the other man, each trying to move the knife where they wanted it.\u00a0 Someone hit him from behind and he fell on top of his attacker.\u00a0 Another blow and he saw stars swirling all around him.\u00a0 The man he’d been fighting with went still.\u00a0 Panic flashed across his mind and he knew they were going to kill him, kill him and his friends.\u00a0 More shouting as the stars faded from his sight.\u00a0 Someone kicked him so hard he flipped off the man he’d fallen on and slammed into the wall.\u00a0 The sound of boots running on stone and he knew it was over\u2026<\/p>\n

Torchlight flooded everywhere.\u00a0 As quick as the light bloomed into the little corner, the fighting was over.\u00a0 He sat on the ground next to his friends, trying to clutch his head and his side at the same time, every breath causing a sharp pain behind his eyes.\u00a0 A warm, damp cloth was pressed against his head and a gentle voice told him to hold it tight.\u00a0 Looking up caused him to see stars, but he managed.\u00a0 Militia guardsman were all around.<\/p>\n

“He’ll be all right, I think,” said a woman.\u00a0 She was the innkeeper from The Salty Sea.<\/em> She was smiling at him as she wound a bandage around the cloth.\u00a0 “Have a headache for days,” she added.\u00a0 He looked around.\u00a0 Three crewmen from The Seaspray<\/em> were on their knees across the lane from him.\u00a0 A fourth lay sprawled where he’d fallen, his empty eyes staring up at the stars and his own knife sprouting up from his chest.\u00a0 Eli shuddered.\u00a0 That was the man he fell on.\u00a0 Guards stood around them, rifles in hand and ready to fire.\u00a0 One was going through and tossing their belongings on the ground before them.\u00a0 As the last of four matching purses clanked down, the searcher let out a whistle.<\/p>\n

“Ten gold each,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Who paid you?” demanded a man in a long, dark coat.\u00a0 Eli couldn’t make out his rank.\u00a0 “Were you recruiting or out for murder?”<\/p>\n

“Got nothing to say,” said one.\u00a0 Eli looked at him.\u00a0 He looked familiar.\u00a0 Turning, he met Narut’s eye, who gave him a single nod.\u00a0 This was the fellow he’d pointed out before, the one who’d been watching Eli on the ship.\u00a0 What was going on?<\/p>\n

“We’ll see about that.\u00a0 Take them to the jail.”<\/p>\n

“Yes sir,” said one of the guards.\u00a0 They started hauling the crewmen to their feet, then led them off one by one.\u00a0 The dead man was left where he lay.\u00a0 The man in the long coat turned to Eli and his friends.\u00a0 Even facing them, his rank was hidden beneath his coat, so Eli was unsure how he was supposed to react.\u00a0 He tried to get up, but everything was spinning.\u00a0 The innkeeper pushed down firmly on his shoulders and he was surprised at how easily she held him there.<\/p>\n

“You lot sticking to your story?” the man asked Narut.\u00a0 Before he could answer, the innkeeper spoke up.<\/p>\n

“Saw most of it myself.\u00a0 They attacked these boys as soon as they were out my door.”\u00a0 Eli stared up at her silver hair, done up in a bun.\u00a0 She reminded him of his grandmother.<\/p>\n

“You’re certain?” asked the man, clearly an officer.<\/p>\n

“I am.\u00a0 Will swear it in court if need to,” she replied.\u00a0 He was already waving her off.<\/p>\n

“Okay – you three,” he pointed at Narut, Fyet and Broat.\u00a0 “Get him back to the ship.\u00a0 Have a medic look him over.\u00a0 And count yourselves lucky – whether it was murder on their minds or snatching you to sell to the pirates, I don’t know.\u00a0 But they were determined to see it through.”\u00a0 He spat as if for emphasis before turning and walking away.<\/p>\n

Narut was there first, sliding under Eli’s arm and pulling him to his feet.\u00a0 “Up you go,” he said softly.\u00a0 They each thanked the innkeeper, who smiled and wished them well before disappearing behind the heavy door of her inn.\u00a0 Eli could hear the sound of a bolt being slid into place.<\/p>\n

“It wasn’t about pirates, was it?” he whispered to his friend.\u00a0 Narut shook his head.\u00a0 Eli did his best to put one foot in front of the other on the way back to The Seaspray<\/em>, thinking about his conversation with Sergent Fesh.\u00a0 It seemed a long time ago, but now it was fresh in his mind.<\/p>\n

“A man like that wants what he wants and he’ll do whatever it takes to get it.\u00a0 And he doesn’t want you coming back.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Eli shuddered and it wasn’t because of the cold.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 2009, Patrick Hester.\u00a0 All Rights Reserved Chapter Fifteen When they staggered as a group from the inn, all they could manage was to giggle like fools.\u00a0 Fyet was the first to stumble, causing Eli, who was supporting the other at the time, to stumble as well.\u00a0 This caused a chain reaction and they all […]<\/p>\n

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