Well, here we are into Part 4. It's a short chapter, but I hope you like it anyway. Chapter 5 will be really long, so I hope it makes up for it. Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing, and thanks also to my wonderful beta, Darren.
Disclaimer: Relic Hunter still isn't mine, I just took Syd and Nige out to play for a little bit.
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The next day passed without incident. It was more riding and silence. Sydney and Nigel talked to pass time, but Yorn remained apart. Not that Sydney minded. It seemed that every time he opened his mouth, it annoyed her.
Wester was a town of about the same size as Lindz, though this one had children playing in the streets. It was only mid-afternoon when they got there, and Sydney was looking forward to a few extra hours without her butt on a horse.
The inn at Wester was even smaller than the one at Lindz, and they had to stable their own horses. With Yorn's help, Sydney--and even Nigel--did a passable job. It almost broke her heart when Sydney found out the inn didn't offer baths. Her quick scrub in the stream hadn't been enough to wash off the feeling of blood.
She felt a little better when the innkeeper told her there was a communal bathouse not far away. He even hinted that if they hit it before suppertime they'd miss the swarm of sweaty farmers that bathed there after coming in from the fields.
"Thanks," Sydney said gratefully. "Coming, Nige?"
"Sure, why not?" Then he stopped. "Uh...is there division between the sexes?"
"In a way," the innkeeper answered. "There is only one bath, it's all the town can afford, but there is a sheet dividing it for modesty's sake."
Nigel had stiffened, but now relaxed. "All right, then."
"I'm going to pass," Yorn said, handing Sydney some money. "This should get you in. I'll bring the bags up to the rooms."
She accepted the money, and she and Nigel walked outside.
"So, what do you think, Nigel?"
"This is all strangely surreal," he admitted. "I mean, look, everything is so primitive, but at the same time, so...so perfect."
"Yeah, I know what you mean."
They walked in companionable silence, soaking in the sights and smells and feel of the town. The most fascinating aspect for Sydney was seeing the people interact much as they must have in the past of her own reality--mothers with children, buyers and sellers bartering outside of the shops and inside behind open doors, people talking and laughing and living their lives. She had imagined it many times, but imagination didn't take into account the smell of horse sweat or the screams of children as they played a form of tag in the middle of the dirt-packed main street.
It was a street of mostly shops. Each had a beautifully painted wooden sign hanging from it with a picture depicting what went on within. The smithy had a picture of a hammer and fire and, as they walked past, Sydney could hear the clanging of metal and smell the scorch of the forge.
"It's so dusty," Nigel commented, sounding delighted. "I wouldn't have expected it to be this dusty."
"Dirt roads and wagons, Nigel."
One of them rattled by as Sydney said this, and she caught a glimpse of some withered vegetables. The man driving the cart had a stern, sallow look to him. Sydney found herself studying him sharply because of the contrast he provided to the rest of the town. Here, the people looked, if not well-fed, at least a little further from the edge of starvation than those they had met on the road. The man with the cart had the quiet, hungry desperation they saw in their days of travelling. It brought Sydney's mind back to why they were there.
"I wonder what it must be like to live here," Nigel said, watching a pretty young woman walk by.
Like the others in the town, the woman's dress was homespun, the fabric covering her from neck to ankle. Over top, she wore a simple undyed apron. Sydney found even the village clothing of this world enthralling, and she would have liked to bring an outfit home to model for her class.
"I suppose," she answered, noting that Nigel's eyes were more on the girl's figure than her clothing, "it's the same as anywhere else. It looks interesting from the outside, but from the inside, it's still the same boring daily tasks everyone has."
"Unless, of course, they work with you."
Sydney smiled at him. "There is that."
"I wonder what Yorn's regular life is like."
The guide had never offered any information about himself. They knew no more now than they had when Theri introduced them.
"I don't know, but I still don't trust him."
"Well, he did pretty well in that fight last night."
"Dereck Lloyd is pretty good in a fight too, but would you actually trust him."
"I like Dereck."
"I do too, sometimes, but I don't trust him as far as I can throw him."
They had reached the bathhouse by then to find a very bored and very young attendant. She reminded Sydney a bit of Claudia.
"Hi! Not from around here, huh?"
"Nope. How'd you guess?"
She indicated Nigel. "That's the most interesting thing to come through here in months."
Sydney smiled at Nigel, who just blushed and ducked his head. "He is a cutie."
His eyes widened at that, making Sydney smile wider.
"Two people are four doubles, please."
Sydney handed over the four coins Yorn had pressed into her hand.
"Thanks." Sydney wondered how anybody could actually be that perky. "Men on the right, women on the left."
"Good," Sydney said. "I like the left."
Then, the attendant winked at Nigel. "Let me know if you need someone to scrub your back."
"Yes, well...um..." Nigel said, stepping back and tripping over his feet. If Sydney hadn't caught him, he would have landed on his already sore backside.
"C'mon, Nigel." She grabbed his shirt, the one he'd finally learned to tie himself, and pushed him towards the right door. He glanced back one more time, then stumbled through. Sydney entered the door on the left more gracefully.
Inside was a huge chamber with woven robes hanging on pegs and a huge pool with steam rising from it. The pool seemed to be about four feet deep, though it sloped up to about three feet at one end. Around the room, candles glowed, flickering off the walls and the large sheet hanging down the middle of the pool. Through the sheet, she could faintly see the form of Nigel struggling with his ties.
"Need some help there, Nige?" she asked, amused.
"Do you think it would be wrong to introduce some bloody buttons to this world?"
She raised an eyebrow. "Is that a yes or a no?"
He sighed heavily. "I can manage."
"Just let me know."
Still amused, she undressed and slid into the water. For the moment, she and Nigel were the only ones in the bath. She grabbed the soap from the side of the pool and swam to the curtain so they could talk more easily. She could hear Nigel on the other side, splashing and singing softly to himself.
"You okay in there?" she asked.
"I'm fine. Believe it or not, I can wash myself, Sydney."
"I wish we knew more about this Rainmaker's Staff and where to find it--besides the legend, I mean. What kind of country is it? How hostile is the land? What kind of dangers do we face? Yorn isn't being very forthcoming."
"No," Nigel agreed. "Maybe he thinks we should work on a need to know basis."
"I hate 'need to know'," Sydney growled. "It just means trouble. Remember Nostradamous?"
"How could I forget? The man who hired us was the killer."
"I think when I get back, I'm going to shake some answers out of Yorn and see what falls out."
Nigel splashed a little louder. "Well, I think I'll find somewhere safe and far away for that. Yorn doesn't seem like the type who likes to be shaken."
Sydney flexed her hand. "I have my methods of persuasion."
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After returning to the inn, feeling cleaner and more human, Sydney had dinner with Yorn and Nigel. Then, the three of them stayed awhile to listen to the entertainment. It was a child of about twelve singing, while a man who was probably her father accompanied her on a harp. The sound was so sweet, it seemed to reach into Sydney's heart and twist. It seemed to affect Nigel as well; when she looked at him, his eyes were brighter than normal.
She looked at Yorn through the corner of her lashes and saw the guide was entranced. The harsh scowl lines on his face had softened, and his expression was relaxed. Seeing him like that, Sydney almost believed that she could grow to like him.
The evening passed peacefully, and Sydney was feeling very mellow when the three of them finally headed up the stairs. Nigel had a touch of ale with his supper and was babbling slightly, but he wasn't really drunk. He was animately telling Yorn about the time he and Sydney went searching for the devil doll. It was a very amusing story, though it hadn't been funny at the time. Poor Nigel had twisted his ankle and caught a form of poison ivy. The part he was having such fun relating was neither of these things, however, but the bit where the two of them were tied together and Sydney had to pretty much twist herself inside out to get them loose.
Yorn listened to the story earnestly, not even threatening a smile. Sydney was beginning to believe he had absolutely no sense of humor whatsoever. But at least he wasn't scowling.
At the top of the stairs, Sydney told Nigel to go ahead and go to bed, then she asked Yorn if it was all right if she talked to him privately for a few minutes. In his room, she boldly went over to his bed and sat down. "I'll get right to the point. Nigel and I are wondering what to expect here. We know the legend of The Rainmanker; we know about the Staff; we know what its supposed to do. What we don't know is what's coming up ahead. I know you're our guide and we need to trust you, but we also need to know what to expect. 'It will be dangerous' is just too damn vague."
Yorn regarded her for a moment before sitting beside her. He sat far enough away to give her her personal space.
"We are heading into dangerous territory. In another tenday, we'll leave all semblance of civilization behind. There are three small villages between here and there. Until then, our most probable threat is bandits like the ones we faced last night.
'After that, we reach real wild country. Forests. Overgrown clearings. Ruins. The dangers there are many. There was a mage war fought there about five hundred years ago, after the Rainmaker's time. The remnants still haunt the place."
Sydney's eyes widened. "What sort of remnants?"
"Stray spells still trying to capture someone, strange creatures, changed and spelled landscape. You name it. Many people who go don't come back. Eventually, we will reach country so wild that we will have to leave the horses because there is no trail. We will approach the ruins of Lesha on foot to search for the Staff. We may never find it; it's never been found. In fact, no one alive has even been to the ruins of Lesha, not that I've heard, anyway. We're not even taking into account natural predators or the brutality of the land. We'll be lucky to get in and out alive."
Sydney chewed this over before saying, "I've been in worse situations."
He nodded. "You handled the bandits well."
"Thanks." Sydney got to her feet and went to the door. She turned once before leaving to say, "Good night."
Yorn smiled. He had a nice smile and it transformed his face. "Good night, Sydney." Then, he said, "How does someone like you end up with someone like Nigel?"
She shrugged. "He accepts me for who I am."
Though their couplehood was a lie, this statement was the complete truth.
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Sydney awoke suddenly in the darkness. She blinked sleepily, wondering what had awakened her. She could hear Nigel's gentle breathing beside her, so she knew he was still asleep. Her eyes were adjusted enough that she could make out his features.
Since Nigel wasn't the cause of her suddenly being awake, she sat up slowly, looking around to see if there was something wrong in their room. Her arm snaked down to the floor on her left, feeling for her knife.
"Sydney..." It was just a whisper, but it made the hair on her arms and the back of her neck stand up.
"Light on," she said, causing the globe on the bedside table to let out a gentle glow. It was enough for Sydney to see she was in the room alone. Her hand tightened on the hilt of her dagger.
"Sydney..." The voice came again.
She wondered if she should wake Nigel, but decided against it.
"Who's there?" she asked softly.
"Sydney..."
"Show yourself." this was louder, loud enough to make Nigel mumble in his sleep.
There was a shimmer in the air. Sydney's stomach clenched as a form coalesced by the light globe. It was a woman, younger than Sydney, with long brown hair and pain filled dark eyes. She was wearing a floor-length white dress that covered her both to wrist and to chin. It was simple yet elegant.
"Who are you?" Sydney demanded, still low enough so she wouldn't wake up Nigel.
"Sydney, can you see me?" The voice was still a whisper, but Sydney could now hear that it was feminine.
"I can see you; I can hear you. What do you want?"
The form still shimmered, and Sydney could see the wall through it. "My name is Karolyne. I have come to warn you."
Karolyne? Then Sydney saw the Staff in the young woman's hand. Could it be? "Are you the Rainmaker?"
"I have been called that, yes." The sadness deepened. "And it cost me everything."
"Why are you here? Can you tell me where to find the Staff?"
"I have to warn you. Be careful. They come."
Sydney drew her brow together. "Who comes?"
"Them. They want my Staff. Don't let them have it. Don't. They will kill you."
"Who are they? You're not making any sense."
The spectre didn't answer her. It just slowly faded away. Its eyes continued to haunt Sydney long after they had disappeared.