The Book of Terrus: The Ghosts of Goran

Chapter 15 - Allies and Strangers

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What felt like hours, but was probably only minutes, passed as Vinie, Gideo, and Bakko sprinted along the back alleys of Moaan. Finally, when their legs would carry them no further they paused, gasping for breath behind a stack of crates. The air was hot and stifling in the narrow alleyway. Vinie gulped down lungful after lungful of the heavy air, feeling rivulets of sweat plaster her clothes to her back, arms, and legs. They seemed to be doing a lot of running these days.

With a cough and a spit, Gideo regained enough breath to speak. He stood barely upright with his hands braced on his knees.

"Well, that went better than it could have."

"And also worse," Bakko wheezed, looking like he was about to pass out. The old pearl diver did in fact collapse to the ground. With a grimace of pain, he stuck his bad leg out in front of him and started massaging the spindly calf muscles. Vinie noted that his leg must be getting stronger if he could run even short distances on it. "If we weren't wanted in Moaan before, you can bet your life we are now."

Pushing her damp, black braid back over one shoulder, Vinie sent a chagrined half smile in her dad's direction. She decided not to let Bakko know that there was a rather large dock rat poking its nose out of the crate behind where he sat.

"It was only a matter of time anyways," she said, trying not to sound defensive. "Besides, you heard the magistrate; twenty-five lashes just for smoking sativa. Bury my bones if I was going to stand and watch that!"

"I'm not saying it was the wrong thing to do, just bloody brazen all the same," Bakko replied. "It's done now though, and we're going to have to think of somewhere to hide out." He jerked his chin toward the sunny main street where it beckoned at the end of the alley. "This quarter of Moaan is going to be overrun with soldiers for days."

"We can't go back to the Gull's Nest, even if we had any money." Gideo shed his sweat soaked vest and gave it a few shakes before shrugging back into it. "The innkeeper wasn't exactly inconspicuous in the fight, so she'll have enough trouble to manage without us around."

Nadathan and Sula's invitation from earlier came back to Vinie then, and she snapped her fingers.

"Yas, it's our best bet," she declared aloud to herself.

Both Gideo and Bakko looked at her with near identical expressions of confusion. Vinie didn't imagine Gideo would appreciate being told that he resembled the wizened old Bakko in any capacity though.

"As much as I would like to agree, I don't dare for fear of agreeing to storm the Southern Citadel next," Gideo chuckled nervously. "I'll fish for your thoughts?"

"Sorry, I was thinking out loud. What I mean was that Sula and Nadathan told me where to find them before we escaped the square. They have a boat in the Serpent's Tunnel too, and want to hear more about...well, about this idea for a new country."

Bakko struggled to his feet. Gideo moved to offer him a hand up, but Bakko waved the help aside.

"This is, as they say, your mad fool adventure, Vinie. Lead the way, my pearl." Then he frowned, the dim light of the alley making him squint. "What's that?"

Following her dad's urgent pointing, Vinie looked down at herself. She stiffened with surprise to discover that the slickness on her forearms was not in fact sweat, but blood.

With shocking speed, Bakko was at her side, his knobby fingers gripping her wrists and turning her forearms upside. The sunlight from overhead barely reached down to where they stood between the buildings on either side. It was hard to see in the heady shadows, but Vinie thought the cuts crisscrossing her dark skin did not look so very deep.