Chasing Sparks

Chapter 33.1

The Seekers arrived at a small town en route to the mountains and Tiel had decided to stay in the local inn, much to the dismay of the innkeeper who recognised him instantly.

It was late evening and they were still sitting at the table. Tiel eating. Alona looking distracted, as she had for most of the last couple of weeks. Celie sitting sullenly as was her want, staring at a potato and pushing it around her plate now and again. And Bolo was grinning broadly, tucking into his third plate and didn’t look like stopping any time soon.

Tiel then heard what he had been listening for. A problem. A problem in need of solving. The middle aged man across the room was pleading with the obviously richer fellow sitting at the table, for the return of his daughter. The rich fellow was flanked by a couple of bruisers. As Tiel listened more carefully, making use of his heightened senses, it appeared the rich merchant had kidnapped the man’s daughter and would only return her when all the man’s debts were paid.

Payment of debts was of course important, but securing the funds through the abduction of young girls was not the generally accepted way of going about this. There were laws about this kind of thing.

Tiel could have approached the rich merchant and likely solved the problem there and then but he had something else in mind. So, as he watched the wealthy merchant get up and leave, with the two burly fellows in tow, he turned to Celie and said, “I need you to do something for me.”

Celie looked a little apprehensive and stopped moving the potato from side to side. “What?”

“Don’t worry. I don’t need to kill someone. Now, did you notice the merchant that just left?”

“No.”

“Well a merchant just left.” Tiel continued, “And I believe he may have kidnapped a young girl. I would like you to follow him and bring the girl back to this inn.”

“What?” Celie said, “So you can kill her.”

Tiel stared at her. “No,” he said, sighing. “So I can reunite her with her father over there,” pointing at the distraught looking man holding a cup of beer in his hand.

Celie looked at Tiel, “Are you sure, she’s been kidnapped?”

“No,” Tiel said, trying not to sound too exasperated. “But if you bring the girl here, we can ask her.”

Tiel stared at Celie, wondering if what he was doing now was worth the effort. "Go now, before the merchant completely disappears from sight,” he snapped.

Celie glowered at Tiel but then glanced at the man at the corner and sprang up quickly and disappeared out of the door.

“She doesn’t make it easy,” Tiel said to no-one in particular.

Alona and Bolo shared a slight smile.

Alona turned seriously to Tiel. “Want me to follow and check she’s OK?”

“Did you not see her in the Tourney? Do you think she needs your help?”

“I know,” Alona replied, “But she’s not the same person from the Tourney.”

Tiel glanced at Bolo. “So people keep telling me,” he said.

Celie left the inn quietly and saw the small man walking quickly away from the inn about a hundred paces away. Celie guessed this was the merchant and instantly didn’t like the man. Some people seemed to have that effect on her. They just gave off an aura of unpleasantness. This was such a man.

Something about the way he walked. The way he paused briefly in the shadows to look around. The way he carried himself. Pretty much everything about him made Celie not like him. She was surprised she hadn’t noticed him earlier in the tavern, but her mind must have been on something else. She couldn’t remember what, but it must have been important.