In Mountains Meet
an excerpt

It was not time yet. Jelinis looked up to the sky as it painted itself in jewel tones with the setting of the sun. The Hiuert guards would be making their way through the town at nightfall, and then she could run. Surely those guards would see her need for protection and take her away from here. They were the guardians of justice, the far reaching hand of Mistress Leinel who protect all in her lands from the atrocities of the outside world.

Those atrocities had found their way to this little town upon the border of Tierlas. The skirmishes of the barons from the neighboring kingdom into Tierlas had been met and fought, but still a foothold had been gained among the merchant class who had seen the advantage at making deals with the foreigners. Merchants like her master Barile who favored the Mistress’s administrators and landed lords on the one hand and betrayed them with his deals in the other.

Jelinis had seen too much and the arrival of the new captain of Hiuert guards had made things even more precarious. Barile had her hide contraband in her little room at the bottom of his grand house behind the kitchen, and he pressed upon her urgency and stealth when she ran messages in the shadows of buildings across the border. How her heart would pound so loud like the great drums of the Paliras Temple. Were that it was High Summer now and the temple drums rolled their thunder on the day across the city and into the farmlands. She would have had crowds to conceal her, but it was the husk of harvest days now. Jelinis could wait no more.

She had to be ready. Legs curled beneath her as she pressed her back hard against the wheel beneath the abandoned wagon on the street where she hid. Her brass kissed brown hair with its length knotted at the nape of her neck was concealed beneath a midnight blue kerchief. Nervous glove covered fingers tucked the length of her brown skirt around her legs again to be sure no bit of pale flesh could be caught by passersby’s lamplight.

The streets here were never completely quiet, not to those that knew the activities of night. But, for the honest people and the laborers of outlying fields, when night fell they cocooned themselves in their homes or the warm company of the taverns where not until late at night and in no less than two, they would return to their residences. So, for now, the streets only held the scurrying of street dwellers and those traveling to the inns.

Everything came to being seen at the right time by the right people. A simple and hazardous plan, but no other means were available to her. She could not escape Barile’s grasp by merely walking. His power was too great in the town to seek protection from anyone who lived here. No one but Mistress Leinel’s Hiuert guard could save her. She just had to convince them.

Nathe sat on his horse casually, leaning forward to rest his hand against the mare’s neck in soothing calm. He and his men waited on the outskirts of Rumis, a border town that crept fingerlike influences into the town on the Cupari side of the border. Nathe had been sent here from Tierlas City to subdue the growing tide of illegal dealings. The only consideration he had was the more swiftly this task was done the more quickly he could return the post at the heart of Tierlas. Promotion came at a price, and Nathe hoped this would be his last pitiful post to fill before his true calling came to him.

“Sir,” his second in command, Veaso, spoke softly, “the second wave is ready. I hope word of our ruse does not reach the General.” It was still there in Veaso’s voice; that doubt.

“The people need their comforts, Veaso, and so if the troop does not come through at nightfall they will worry.” Nathe sat up more straight and turned dark eyes upon Veaso who had brought his horse up to Nathe’s right side. “But if wait until later to bring one troop in, then those we want to catch will be suspicious and not go about their usual nightly dealings. No, there must be two, and I will face the consequences of my decision.”

The two sat in silence as the last vestiges of light faded into a tapestry of dark blue flecked with stars. The moon was a shade and nothing more than the vaguest hint of its existence haunted the sky. Veaso spoke again, “The extra men are nervous, Captain.”

“It will be over soon. Let that energy build and keep them on guard. Let us also hope our information is correct. This trap will only work once.” At that, Nathe placed the helm over his head, the brown-black waves that brushed his shoulder concealed under the dark boiled leather protection. It did not do much to protect against arrows or directed blows, but a glancing blow would have less impact, and that was all Nathe cared to have. It was a eager thrill to fight with the risk, and he relished it.

“Take them out, Veaso. I will see you back at the barracks.”

Veaso wheeled his horse about and cut out a third of the group of thirty men behind them. Following the dirt road down the small rise of the hill towards the city, the troop of men started the expected tour of the city. Nathe watched them move. Some of the men just new recruits come in the past week. Uncertain in their skill and unready in their purpose, but this was routine. No, it was his troop, his border veterans that would be facing the risks. Still, he watched until the dotting of men and horses became a cluster and then a vague shape as they reached the lamplights of town.

Barile Sessiem was the prey tonight. Nathe felt the pull of that house in its humble wood and sunbrick architecture that rose no higher than others around it. The rumors of illegal dealings had started to concentrate from haphazard one time attempts into continual and successful maneuverings that all led to Sessiem. The power the man wielded was silent, subtle, and formidable. If Nathe could break him, no, when Nathe broke him, the town would return to the path of Mistress Lienel’s desiring. Nathe thought the precipes, the simple chant taught to school children that consumed the extensive and lengthy litigations of centuries of rule: seek to help others, strengthen your family, serve your country – do these things and they will be done for you.