Disclaimer: Don't own Eldest
I AM. SOOO. SORRY! I've been busy, writer's block, didn't know what to do, other things came up. I can offer no excuse worthy enough for my long silence. The thing is, it's here now, and that's all that matters. In the words of the orcs and urok hai of the Two Towers movie, "Looks like meat's back on the menu, boys!"
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"Alycie," whispered Elian from beneath his hood, "we've been searching for hours. There's no inn that isn't filled to the brim with soldiers and there's no business that lies unguarded. We'll have to just sit in someone's doorway and sleep in shifts. I'll go first if you like. We can't keep walking like this. The horses have to ride who knows how many miles tomorrow and they are severely in need of rest--"
"I know, Elian. I know," murmured Alycie, her eyes darting around, hesitating on each guard they neared until they had gotten safely past. "I'm tired too..."
It was nearing dusk. The people in the streets had thinned out and now there only remained the night guard along with the few stragglers heading to the nearest pub. Alycie lightly tugged at Elian's shirt and nodded at an upcoming alley that split the wall of buildings to their right. They reached it and began to turn when two guards garbed in red and black emerged from it, swords swinging from their belts. The two fugitives quickly turned their feet and resumed their straight route along the road, trying to look nonchalant.
"Even the alleys are guarded," muttered Elian. "At this rate, there is no way we'll find a place to stay."
"Hold it," said Alycie, grasping Elian's wrist and squeezing it. He stopped and followed her gaze. There was a building across the street not too different from any other building they had passed thus far. A sign hanging out above the window read 'Apothecary' in carved, green letters. Alycie glanced at Elian from beneath her hood. "If we can't find public quarters, perhaps we need to take matters into our own hands."
"Do they have stables?" asked Elian.
"I think I see a small hold out behind," said Alycie, glancing down the alley that cut to the next street over behind the building. . Her eyes spotted a wooden post alongside the shop. "Tie them there until we can certify that we have lodgings."
They crossed to the apothecary, shifting their gazes in a quick sweep of the street, seeking out guards. There were none. Elian quickly tied the newly-christened horses' reins around the post and the two of them quietly entered the shop.
The apothecary was poorly stocked, to say the least. A few flasks stood on shelves behind a counter and barrels filled with various herbs and roots lined the walls. A dark wooden staircase stood against the rightmost wall, leading up to the second floor. A door in the back clearly led to the stables Alycie had spotted.
"Nobody's here," said Elian. Alycie nodded, silently reaching down to her boots. "How are we to certify lodgings then?"
"With a little persuasion," said Alycie, withdrawing her knife. Elian stared at it, then back at her face.
"You can't mean to kill them?" he said, uncertain. Alycie shrugged.
"If they try to call the soldiers. Otherwise we'll just threaten them. Threats go a long way, you know."
"Yes, but there are other ways," said Elian. Alycie raised an eyebrow.
"If there are, they're not as foolproof as threats are in these kinds of situations," she said. Elian shook his head and looked back at the staircase.
"Fine, go on then. Go up there and do your worst to the poor shopkeepers," he said. Alycie glared, but crept over to the staircase and began her ascent, the dagger grasped firmly in her hand.
The top stair creaked loudly as she put her weight on it. Alycie jumped up onto the top floor at the noise and it ceased. She took a deep breath and turned, making her way down the hall towards the nearest door. Slowly, she grasped the knob and turned it, pushing the door inside.
There were two beds in the dark room, across the room from one another. Alycie crept towards the nearest one and slowly craned her neck to see the occupant's face. It held a boy, a little over thirteen years of age by the looks of him. She skittered across the room and examined the other occupant. It was a twin. She lifted her knife, only to lower it again, sighing. They would have to find a different shelter. She turned to leave...
...only to find herself facing the point of a sword. Her eyes traveled up the blade, connecting with two, wide hazel eyes filled with warning. Female eyes. A mother's eyes. She jerked her head silently, but meaningfully, towards the door and Alycie edged towards it, backing into the hallway. The woman followed, drawing the door shut behind her before she spoke.
"You've got three seconds to explain why you're in my house before I run you through," she said. Alycie immediately noted the strange pronunciation of vowels that the woman had when she spoke. It was familiar somehow...
"Me and my partner, we're two traveling strangers. We were just looking for lodgings for the night and we came across the stables and just thought we could bunk inside this apothecary for the night and leave at dawn. My companion's downstairs. I was just looking for the owner to ask permission, and that must be you." Gray-blue eyes pleaded with the hazel, but the latter narrowed, accompanied by a slight twitch of the lips in a smirk.
"I see you're used to lying everywhere you go," said the woman. "But I bet you've never lied to a mother before. I can always tell. Now why don't you say why you're really here? Planning to kill my boys in their sleep before you rob the place? Well you won't find anything. The money's dried up with the war rampaging like this."
Alycie considered the woman. Her long, blonde hair flipped out in half-curls around her ears and shoulders and her shoulders were tense as she held the sword. Alycie felt an unexplainable sense of trust fall over her.
"We're here about the war, actually," she said. "Passing through, that wasn't a lie, but it's because of the war. We're headed to Urû'baen." To help or to hinder the Empire, she didn't specify. The woman's eyes widened even more.
"I've seen you before. You're on those posters hung up around town!" she exclaimed. "Are you with the Varden?"
"We have...seen them before, yes," said Alycie, still a bit hesitant. The woman lowered the sword at once, all signs of a threat gone.
"Did you hear anyone called Ferros when you saw them?" It clicked.
"You're his mother, aren't you?" asked Alycie. The woman looked delighted.
"You have seen him then! Is he alright? How are the Varden doing? Are they making any headway against Galbatorix?"
"He's fine, they're all fine," said Alycie. She didn't fell particularly inclined to give out the details of the attack at Farthen Dûr quite yet.
"Are you headed to stop the Empire, then?"
"We're headed to do what we can," said Alycie. "But I'm afraid our journey has nothing to do with the Varden. We aren't on their orders."
"Still, you're doing something. I keep telling myself I need to help somehow, but I can't just leave Rane and Kale on their own..."
"Could we continue this downstairs?" asked Alycie in a hushed voice. "My companion will want to discuss things as well."
"Ah, right. Come along then," said the woman, picking the sword back up and leading the way down the stairs. "I'm Magelyne, by the way."
"Alycie," said Alycie. "I see the soldiers have taken over pretty securely here." Magelyne snorted.
"Securely? They stand at their posts all day asleep on their feet. They've stopped even checking the goods wagons that enter and leave the city. Lazy as they are..." They stepped off of the staircase onto the ground floor and looked around. Elian was nowhere to be seen.
"Elian?" said Alycie, peering around the corner. A gasp behind her made her spin around in time to see a dark arm grab Magelyne by the throat, pinning her to the wall as a knife found its way to her face. But she didn't go down defenseless. In less than a second, the sword had moved from its blade-down position to being up at the ready, pressed against the assailant's neck. Alycie quickly grabbed at the attacker's shoulder. "Elian! It's fine! She's on our side!" she said. The knife fell away from the woman's face and the long sword sank back to the floor as Magelyne lifted herself from the wall, staring at Elian.
"I thought you were certifying lodgings," said Elian, looking at Alycie.
"Turns out it's easier than I thought," said Alycie. "This is Ferros's mother. She's a friend to us."
"My apologies, Miss," said Elian, nodding at Magelyne. "I'm Elian."
"Magelyne," said Ferros's mother. She seemed a bit dazed, looking at Elian, but she snapped out of it and turned her eyes back to Alycie. "How can I help you then?"
"We need a way to get out of the city," said Alycie. "As well as food and provisions. We've run low and we still have a long, difficult ride across the plains ahead of us. After our escape from Petrøvya, which you've no doubt heard about as well as the rest of this town, we'll have to remain even more inconspicuous."
"We could probably get you out of the city around dawn, when most of the guards are asleep at their posts," said Magelyne. "That's when the security is most lax. I've been watching them, waiting for the day when it would come in handy. You say you have horses though...it's hard to sneak out of a heavily guarded city with two horses..."
"You say they don't check wagons anymore," said Elian. "You could drive us out in a covered wagon using our horses to pull the cart. Granted, you wouldn't be able to keep the cart once the job is finished."
"I can't leave the apothecary," said Magelyne, shaking her head. "It's too suspicious. I never leave the shop for more than a few hours and I never venture out of Furnost. I guess you could say I'm scared of the outside world."
"Your sons could drive us," said Alycie. "The twins upstairs. They're of the age that they can help around your shop, if they don't already."
"They're not my sons. But they could drive you..." considered Magelyne. Seeing Alycie's puzzled look, she smiled. "They're my nephews. My sister died of an illness right before her husband was taken to be a soldier. I raise them, but Ferros is my only blood son."
"Where is your husband?" asked Alycie.
"I was never married," said Magelyne. "Ferros's father wasn't my husband." Her eyes drifted from Alycie to Elian as she spoke. Alycie decided it was best not to press the subject too long.
"We should ready the wagon now, just so it's ready in the morning when we leave," said Alycie. Magelyne nodded, turning towards the staircase once more. "I'll wake Rane and Kale and tell them their mission. Then, you two can sleep up in my room until morning. It's too unsafe to sleep down there in the open."
Alycie and Elian made their way through the shabby door in the back of the apothecary, stepping into the stables where the horses slept, nearly dead on their feet from exhaustion. An old horse drawn wagon sat in the back corner. It wasn't big, only a one-horse wagon. Alycie found an extra strip of reins, and they fastened it to the harness already attatched to the wagon, making it suitable for both Umbar and Fiddlewisk.
"Is she really Ferros's mother?" asked Elian after a while.
"She looks like him," said Alycie. "Are you having doubts?"
"It's strange. She gives me an odd feeling. I don't know whether to trust her or not," said Elian. "It would be foolish to go around blindly trusting every mother we met."
"I trust Ferros, and I trust her," said Alycie. "What she's been saying isn't a lie. I'm positive. She will help us get out of here."
"Still..." said Elian hesitantly. Alycie put a hand on his shoulder, turning him towards her.
"Don't worry," she said. Elian held her gaze for a long time before turning with her and heading back into the apothecary.
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