I heard footsteps entering and Brone’s voice say. “You can come out. The danger has passed.”
I threw the blanket to the side and crawled out from under the bed. Brone was no longer at my door. He was a room over giving Akiko the same instructions.
Stepping from my room, I noticed Brone walk toward Almana close to the kitchen and begin a quiet discussion.
Watching them for a few minutes, I was tempted to barge in, ask the questions that were burning in my mind.
Brone finally waved me over. “Tell Akiko to also come. We need to talk.”
I went to get her and we all sat at the table.
After a heavy sigh, Brone began. “My neighbor came to the door. He lives across the road from us. He noticed the two of you walking the street yesterday close to the market. He also took note that you turned and headed down this street. He wanted to know if either I or Almana had noticed the strangers in the area. I of course insisted that I had not.”
“That’s good news then,” Akiko said.
“Not really,” Almana added.
Brone continued. “He told me he heard strange voices coming from my yard. He was curious so he came closer, listened at the fence for a while. He assured me that he heard two women speaking. The suggestion was made that perhaps I had intruders while I was at work.”
Almana said, “I guaranteed him that I was home the entire time and hadn’t noticed anything amiss. No thievery was evident. I told him that I also heard the strange voices but they definitely didn’t come from my yard. I suggested that perhaps the women he referred to were outside our property on the far the side of the fence. And I also guaranteed him that I would have noticed an intruder.”
Brone looked worried. “I told our nosy neighbor that we should arrange a search party throughout the neighborhood. That this would help put us all at ease.”
I asked, “What did he say?”
“He is gathering a group as we speak. But, he also suggested notifying the officials, have them scour the area for any rapscallions.”
Almana said, “Everyone is terrified of the ever present starving population among us. They get desperate and resort to violent methods at times. Any stranger walking the streets is a warning to all. I had hoped no one had noticed your arrival in the area.” She wrung her hands in agitation.
“You will have to leave tonight,” Brone said. “You are no longer safe here. If you are found they will torture and kill you.”
“But we just came,” Akiko said.
“Where will we go?” I asked.
“There is another safe house in a less affluent area and it’s much closer to Casimer’s Royal Grounds. We were all hoping you could stay here safely for the first while. You need training and instruction on how things are run on Dwarkaa Farrin. Although this alternate safe house will provide greater ambiguity, the risk for Casimer’s purging will be much greater. The poor don’t keep a vigilant eye on every stranger that comes through. They have nothing and therefore have little to lose.”
“What do you mean by Casimer’s purging?” I asked.
Brone nodded. “Casimer’s Royal Guard routinely clean up the riff raff among the people. When their quota is low, they gather whomever they find to torture or execute. Their reaping place of choice is the poverty stricken areas, where most are starving anyway and hope is a rare commodity. These low level citizens are weak and easy to apprehend and execute. Their children are especially a target for Casimer’s regime.”
Almana said, “The safe house is in the centre of a poverty stricken area. One benefit is that the women you’ll be staying with are very adamant about the revolution. They would do anything to speed the cause of Casimer’s demise.”
“How will we find the place?” I asked.
Almana looked worried. “Very few of us ever travel to the other areas on Dwarkaa. It is highly discouraged and those who do try it, especially business owners such us ourselves, are open to attack or lynching. You should have been warned before you wandered through area after area on your way here. We all took a great risk.”
Brone said, “We had hoped you could arrive without notice. We should have known better.”
“You still have not told us how we will find the place,” I reminded them.
The two of them looked at each other, their tangible fear causing the air to feel like static in the room.
Brone finally said, “I’ll figure something out. You cannot travel alone this time. This mission is too important.”
“But if no one is allowed to travel? How are we to safely get to the next residence?”
Almana said, “Occasionally Brone takes a load of produce to the main market but only if he has significant extra to sell. If he travels without sufficient reason he could be punished.”
Brone continued, “There is a large market close to the home where you will stay. One of the women you will be staying with sells trinkets she makes from items salvaged from the garbage heap. She does this illegally but thus far she has not been caught.”
Almana turned to Brone and said, “You cannot drive there tonight. But these women have to leave our home when the sun sets.”
“I know,” Brone said, wringing his hands. With shifting eyes, he said, “Tomorrow at first light I will load up my wagon, hook it up to my horse and make the trip to the main market.”
“And where are we to stay this night?” I asked.
Almana and Brone both looked at me. They appeared at a loss of how to solve this problem.
“How about your shop?” Akiko suggested. “Couldn’t we sneak in there after dark and hide until morning?”
Brone leaned forward, his arms resting on the table. “Yes. This might work. There is a secondary hatch door at the back of my shop. I keep it locked from the inside to ward against thieves. I will stay late today, until after the sun sets. I will unlock the hatch just before I head for home. You two will travel through the dark streets and arrive just as I’m leaving my shop. You must lock the hatch when you enter. Do not light a lantern and no talking. We cannot risk you being found out. You must stay silent and vigilant.”
“We will be as quiet as snakes in long grass,” I assured him.
“My shop from the back view looks like a square but it has a flag flying from the peak. You won’t see the symbol on it in the dark but there are only a handful of shops that fly flags. I was given the sanction to have one on my roof by the Royal Guard.”
I nodded.
“Tomorrow morning, before sunrise, I will come with my wagon and horse.”
“Explain horse? What is that?” I asked.
Akiko joined in. “Is it a wild animal like your dogs?”
Brone allowed a small smile before answering. “No. A horse is a very large animal.”
“Your dogs are large too,” I insisted.
“Yes, but not nearly as large as my horse. Horses are used to pull heavy loads. You will see tomorrow. There is another business owner who keeps everyone’s horses in his stable and field.” Brone stood. “I need to get to my shop and make preparations.” He turned to Almana. “See to it that they have supplies.”
She nodded and stood, turning toward the kitchen to prepare.
The rest of the day was filled with anxiety and wondering as we gathered our few possessions and anticipated the journey ahead.
Almana prepared a scant meal for us at dinner but gave us both a satchel of food to take with us. She also arranged a bag of extras for the home we were traveling to. If they were as beggarly poor as Brone suggested, we would not be eating well in the new place. I prepared myself for a starvation lifestyle.
Akiko and I waited impatiently for the sun to set on the horizon. We waited longer until darkness began to cloak the surrounding homes and streets. The moon remained concealed behind thick cloud as though it too were condoning and abetting our night mission. Almana gave us the go-ahead when the darkness outdoors became an entity.
She walked us out to the yard, opened a side hatch in the fence, low to the ground, and let us out. The opening was impossible to detect by the eye, completely concealed by plants and greenery from the inside.
Akiko went ahead of me. As I crawled through, branches and leaves slapped my face and exiting proved more difficult then I’d prepared for. Large shrubs concealed the entrance from the outside also. Passing the offending plant, I stood and heard Almana lock the hidden exit behind us. We were on our own. Navigating the less traveled back roads and alleys, it didn’t take us long to reach the market. We located Brone’s shop without too much trouble. Everything looked different in the dark. The backside of the shops made finding the right one difficult but soon the flag came into view, its outline waving in the stiff breeze.
We found the hidden hatch and, after looking around carefully to make sure we weren’t being watched, I opened it. The opening wasn’t even half our height. We both had to crawl through into the dark building. I was the first one inside and Akiko locked the opening when she was safely indoors. We found a place to settle down on some rough hewn bags. They provided some cushioning from the hard dirt floor.
Sleep evaded me as I worried that perhaps we’d been seen. I braced at every noise outside the thin walls and kept reaching for my knife and short sword in its holster in preparation.
I could feel Akiko’s eyes on me although I couldn’t see her in the pitch black space.
“We’ll be okay, Viveka,” she said in a hushed tone.
“We’ve been given no assurance of that,” I whispered back.
“Tarman Farrin likely has scouts up in the sky watching over us. We have nothing to fear.”
I made a derogatory sound through clenched teeth. “You forget that this is Dwarkaa’s Domain, Casimer’s home stomping grounds. Nothing is sacred here. No life is valued. Tarman Farrin has limited authority here.”
“Is that true? Is the power of Tarman Farrin impotent in Casimer’s presence?”
“Let’s assume it is. We cannot let our guard down for any reason. We must stay vigilant. Move and speak as though we are our only protection. We cannot take any chances here on Dwarkaa.”
“What of Suma? Do you think she has abandoned us to our own devices?”
“Speculating is of little value. Now hush and try to sleep.”
Akiko grew silent and I was relieved. I didn’t know the answers to her questions anyway.
Maybe I dozed between my anxious waking moments. I don’t know. During the middle of the night a scratching noise at the door brought me fully awake. I reached for my knife, sprung to my feet and stealthily hurried to the door. Standing to the side of it, I waited for whoever was on the other side.
The door handle moved but the lock was firmly in place. The person on the outside began to ram against the door, hoping to budge it. I heard more than one voice. As far as I could tell, two men were conversing trying to figure out how to get in.
Akiko awoke and I heard her stand and shuffle over.
I pointed to the other side of the door. She got into position.
A splintering hacking noise filled the space. They were attempting to cut their way in with an ax and were likely looking for produce, any type of food to fill their bellies.
I decided to wait until they gained entrance before confronting them. Killing them in the shop would be easier and would make it more convenient to hide the bodies.
The hacking at the door went on for quite some time. They obviously didn’t have much strength because if they did they would have destroyed the door long ago.
I signaled for Akiko to move back from the door and conceal herself. I did the same. Some large barrels hid me well. Better to let them fully enter, kill them inside rather than have them make a run for it and have to make chase in the street.
The door finally gave way and cracked right down the middle. Moonlight shed scant light into the entrance. I raised my short double-edged sword and readied myself to rush at them. Through a slit between large matching barrels, I watched as two men entered and looked around the space. Akiko waited behind a partial wall opposite me. We were both concealed well. The darkness of the shop also helped hide us.
I waited a moment longer to lunge and was shocked when someone else entered, a young child no more than four years old. She went up to one of the men and reached for the back hem of his coat.
He turned and hit her hard so that she fell backwards and landed on her bottom in the doorway. “I told you, wait outside you useless lass!”
The child struggled not to cry but whimpered as she scrambled to her feet and left the shop.
My instincts told me to kill the men but what of the child? What would become of her? Akiko waited for me to initiate. I delayed only an instant more before moving into action.
