A rough hand clamped over my mouth and a gruff voice whispered in my ear, “Cooperate and you won’t get hurt. Not a sound. Will you keep quiet if I remove my hand?” I nodded. “Good. Now listen carefully. You’re going to walk ahead of us. One sound, one peep, and you’ll be sorry. Try to run and you’ll regret it. Understand?”
I again nodded. I really did not have much choice. From what I could see, both of the men were well-muscled and looked to be in good shape. Both looked capable of causing me bodily harm, and I certainly had no training in fighting. The narrow passage between the buildings afforded very little room to maneuver. It was dimly lit and scarcely wide enough to pass through. The man behind me gave me a rough shove, causing me to stumble and almost fall. As I lurched forward, he grabbed my arm painfully to steady me with the admonishment to be more careful. Maybe he should stop pushing me, I thought. I was surprised that I found myself more angry than frightened. That feeling only lasted until the second man spoke up.
“These rovers are surprisingly easy to catch, aren’t they?” he said, following his words with a menacing laugh. “Sure is an easy way to make a nice bit of coin.”
“Too bad we can’t play with them a bit though. Would be good sport, but I’m not going to cross orders for one such as pays us,” the first man said.
I could feel a shudder go through the hand he had clamped on my shoulder.
“Aye, you have the right of that, my man,” the second man said.
We traveled in silence after that, through a maze of passages between buildings and down narrow alleys, until we halted next to a short stair leading down beneath a building.
“Down the stairs lass,” the first man ordered.
When we reached the bottom, he came up beside me and pushed open the door. He dragged me over the threshold into a dark corridor and pushed me through the first door to the left. The room might once have been a small store room, but this day it was devoid of everything but a chair.
“Sit, and not a word,” the man who had been behind me said.
I had hoped to get a look at my captors but their cloak hoods were pulled up, hiding their faces in shadow. As he reached out to accept the rope his partner was handing him, I did see a long jagged scar on his right hand running from between his thumb and first finger to his wrist. The second man then walked behind me, grabbed my hands, jerked them back, and tied them while the other man tied my legs to the chair. Struggling only earned me a sharp rap on the head, causing me to see stars.
They had not removed my daypack, and I tried to think of what in the pack might be of help to get me out of here, when I watched in horror as one of the men unfastened the flap and began to reach inside.
“Oh, arrugh,” he exclaimed, “something bit me. What have you got in there anyway?”
“Serves you right!” the other man exclaimed. “You know the rules. No harm, no theft. Come on, the one as wants these rovers will get to this one this night. She’s secure and our patron offers a bonus if we can get more than one rover in a day. Let us be off, my fine fellow, to go earn more easy coin of the realm.”
With that said, the two exited leaving me in darkness. I waited to hear the click of the lock sealing me in. It did not come. Instead I heard the drop of a bar falling into place on the outside of the door. I was now well and truly trapped.
I tested the bonds that held me to the chair and they were tight, allowing very little give. My shoulders were already beginning to ache because of the strain caused by my hands being tied behind my back. Once the door had closed, the darkness was complete, and I was hard pressed to keep panic at bay. I kept struggling against the ropes, trying to free my hands to no avail, when suddenly I stilled. I felt something crawling down my arm.
A shudder of horror ran through me. Who knew what manner of vermin lived in the basements of this older part of Tverdal. I could not decide whether to remain as still as possible, hoping whatever was crawling on me was just passing through and did not intend me for lunch, or to move as much as possible and throw it off. I chose stillness. As I sat there as still as possible, barely breathing, I was overcome with a sudden sense of calm flowing over me like the material of a fine wool cloak. I had a sense that everything was going to be alright. I did not even jump when something began tugging on the ropes that held my hands.
That sense of calmness and reassurance continued as I felt the ropes on my hands loosen, and then fall away. At first I could not feel my hands, but then the feeling returned with a vengeance, and felt like a thousand pins and needles were prickling them. Once I had the feeling back, I tackled the knots on the ropes that held my legs to the chair. Feeling somewhat foolish, I spoke into what should have been an empty room, “Thank you for your help.” Nothing and no one answered me back.
Abruptly my sense of calm vanished to be replaced by a sense of urgency. I needed to get out of this room before the patron of the two men who had snatched me off the street came. I do not know how much time had passed since they had stuck me in here, but that sense of urgency was now overwhelming. While getting myself untied, I had knocked the chair over and gotten turned around. In the darkness I had no notion as to where the door was, so I stepped away from the chair, put my arms out in front of me like a sleepwalker, and cautiously walked forward. The room was not so large that I would not run into a wall quite quickly. Unfortunately, my left hand smacked against the wall, which was closer than I had thought. Fortunately, I had picked the right direction, for as I moved my hands to each side, my right hand encountered the door frame.
I found the door latch, which lifted easily, but the door did not budge when I pushed against it. The bar I had heard drop held the door tightly closed. Now if I were a true heroine of legend, I would cleverly or magically get the door to open and be on my way. Unfortunately, I am not a heroine of any kind.
Before panic could again begin to rise, once again a sense of calm settled over me. Well, if I could not get out, maybe I could surprise whoever would be coming in. Again, with my arms outstretched like a sleepwalker, I shuffled my feet back towards where I thought the chair lay. On the third cross of the room, I knocked into the legs of the chair, almost tripping myself up. Reaching down, I picked up the chair. It was very heavy and would be difficult to swing at someone. Using my hands as my eyes, I felt along the legs of the chair and discovered that one of the back legs, which also served as support for the back of the chair, was loose. As a woodworker, it was hard for me to smash the chair onto the floor time after time, trying to break the chair apart, but as someone who needed an element of surprise to help get out of here, it was not.
I wished I could someday meet the furniture maker who had built that chair, which was winning the fight we were engaged in. I wanted his or her glue formula. I had just gotten a bottom rung to break loose when I heard the latch bar being lifted. Quickly, I moved to the wall, luckily in the right direction, and found the edge of the door frame on the side that would put me behind the door when it opened. What kind of damage I thought I could do with a chair rung I did not know, but I knew I needed to try.
I was poised, chair rung high over my head, ready, as the door slowly began to open. I was at a disadvantage, for the dim light coming in through the partly open door almost blinded me. A strange shadow appeared on the floor of the room. Just as I prepared to swing downward, Carz flowed into the room, belly low to the floor. I stepped out from behind the door.
“Carz?”
“Nissa?”
Oh my, could my life take any more twists and turns? Now my hunting cat could talk?
“Nissa, would you please put that piece of wood you are brandishing down before you accidentally hurt one of us!”
It finally dawned on me that there was someone framed in the doorway behind Carz. “Journeywoman Clarisse?” I questioned. “Is that you? How did you find me?”
“Answers later. Move now. I think we need to get you out of here. Hurry!” she said as she pulled back out of the doorway. Journeywoman Clarisse moved swiftly down the short hall and up the steps. She held up her hand, signaling we should hold up behind her while she checked both ways down the alley.
“Come,” Journeywoman Clarisse said quietly, and motioned we were going to go left down the alley. When we reached the corner, she stopped and took off her cloak. “Put this on. It should cover up your rover clothing. Might disguise you should we run into whoever locked you in that room. You are now a journeywoman glassmaker should anyone ask, but leave the talking to me. We are returning from an errand to Master Frulinger’s shop where we picked up several packets of powdered minerals that add a blue tint to the glass. Once we leave this alley, we’re going to walk at a fast normal pace, looking like we belong here and know what we are doing in this part of town, which by the way is nowhere near Master Frulinger’s shop. If anyone stops us and calls our bluff, I will simply tell them, we were taking a short cut and got turned around.”
“But how did you find me?” I asked as we swiftly moved down the lane.
I was having trouble keeping up because I kept tripping on the bottom of Journeywoman Clarisse’s cloak, since she was just enough taller than me. I finally pulled the front up and tucked it through my daypack strap to make walking easier.
“We’ll sort all that out when we get safely back to our campsite,” Journeywoman Clarisse stated, leaving me as confused as ever.
At that point, however, I was so relieved to no longer be a captive, I did not question how Journeywoman Clarisse appeared to know this less desirable part of Tverdal. I would certainly think on it later. While we met others on the lanes we traveled, no one stopped us or even talked to us as we made our way into the newer section of town, coming closer to the fairgrounds with each passing step. Nor were we stopped or paid attention to at the town gate, and to my surprise, Journeywoman Clarisse steered me down the road towards our campsite and away from the fair entrance. About half way to the campsite, she indicated I should give her back her cloak, which she shoved into her daypack.
“Act as if this day were just a normal day at the fair. I’ll volunteer us to try our hand at fishing. We can talk then,” Journeywoman Clarisse suggested.
“Won’t folks question why both of us are back early? It must be a good hour before closing,” I asked.
“We lucked out this day. The animal auctions were this afternoon and also a performance by the Royal Players. Most of the booths closed down early anyway. I asked Evan to close down ours and tossed him enough coin to pay his way into one of the shows. You owe me. We will tell anyone who asks that we were tired of the hustle and bustle, not to mention dust, and were looking forward to a bit of quiet,” Journeywoman Clarisse replied.
As we entered the campsite, the tent belonging to the two odd men was still there. Journeywoman Clarisse and I both waved at the other rover family members who had stayed back this day. When Mistress Jalcones motioned that we should come over, Journeywoman Clarisse pantomimed fishing and the two of us, indicating we were going fishing now and would talk later. Once we had settled on the banks of the stream in the soft grass and had our lines in, we both started talking at the same time.
“How did you . . . ?”
“Who put you . . . ?”
“You go first,” Journeywoman Clarisse said.
I told her what had happened, leaving out the real reason I had gone to see Mistress Fern. Hearing my story out loud, it did sound a bit lame, but I rushed on and told about being snatched and what the two men had said about picking up rovers.
“They were working for someone they were afraid of, who thankfully didn’t want those they captured either harmed or robbed. I don’t know why they wanted me, but they said their master wanted to talk to me, although I am not sure it was me me, or me because I am a rover. Seemed a strange way to set up a conversation. I think I need to get the word out to the rovers to not go anywhere alone. I didn’t like it that those men thought we were ‘easy pickings’. Well, that explains what happened to me, if not why, but how did you find me? I don’t think you were just in the neighborhood.”
“You really need to thank Carz, but I would suggest you hug him once he is through fishing. Wet hunting cat is not appealing.”
“Carz?”
“Carz! I had just finished a sale when Carz appeared in the booth and very gently but insistently grabbed my hand with his teeth and began pulling on it. I swear it took ten years off my life. Evan had followed Carz from behind the guildhall. Said that hunting cat of yours had jumped the fence. Carz was persistent in letting me know I was to come with him, so I asked Evan to close up the booth and followed Carz. He walked by my side out the fair gate and turned towards town. Once through the town gates, he continued at my side as if the two of us were on a merry stroll, just slightly bumping into me to go right or veering slightly left if we were to go to the left. Now I think I might know what sheep feel like when being herded. If I did not know better, I would have thought he had a small rider on his back directing him. I even looked at one point but could see nothing. Felt a little foolish to be honest. At any rate, once we hit the older part of town, where there were fewer folks about, he took the lead and we picked up the pace. Led me straight to that door and started pawing at the bar. I truly don’t know how he found you.”