30. Unexpected Company
Unexpected Company
Larissa
“I take it you don’t have identification papers.”
Larissa spun toward the old man, careful to keep Halla between herself and the wall. She had nearly forgotten him, focused entirely on the squad of sentries growing ever closer by the minute. He pushed up the half-crescent glasses, triggering Larissa’s recognition.
“I do know you,” she spat. “You were buying slaves at the auction.”
From the corner of her eye, Larissa noticed Darien’s hands close into fists. Anara shifted on her feet.
The old man stood unruffled at the accusation. “They’ve found better homes with me than they would have at the hands of anyone else.”
“You can’t just buy people.”
“You most certainly can in Perle. That’s why you’re hiding the child behind you. A second-born, right?”
Larissa drew her gun, though she didn’t point it at him. Not yet, at least. “You won’t touch her.”
Her quick movement caused her hood to slip back, revealing more of her face and hair.
The man’s eyes hardened behind the glasses, but he wasn’t looking at the gun.
He was staring at Larissa, at the scar that stretched behind her ear.
There was something in his gaze that Larissa had not expected—not fear or even anger, but curiosity.
Raising his hands, he stepped toward the bookcase.
“There’s no need for that. I’ve already decided to help.”
Grabbing the side of the bookshelf, he heaved. It moaned then creaked as it swung out on rusted hinges, revealing a passageway cut into the wall.
Larissa looked at Anara and Darien. Her own concerns were mirrored across their faces. What if it was a trap? Just a cellar with no way out? What if he was simply containing them to turn them over to the sentries?
As if reading her thoughts, Darien asked, “What choice do we have?”
Pounding came from the shop next door. There was no choice at all.
Larissa shoved the gun into her waistband.
Grabbing Halla’s hand, she ran into the dark passageway.
Anara’s footsteps sounded behind her. Just as Darien entered the tunnel, the old man returned the bookcase to its proper place, plunging them into total darkness.
Through the wooden bookshelf came the muffled noise of the shop door bursting open.
“Identification papers,” came the impatient voice of a sentry.
“I have them right here,” the old man said.
“Was there anyone with you in your shop today?”
Larissa covered her mouth, her own breath harsh in her ears.
“I had four guests a little bit ago, but they passed on before your arrival. I also purchased two slaves at auction today, but I have sent them on an errand to the Wall.”
“Your papers are in order, but I do not see the slave licenses.”
“As I said, I received them today. The auction said they would be sending along the licenses soon.”
The sentry harrumphed. “By imperial mandate, you are required to come forward with any information regarding second-born citizens or runaway slaves.”
“Yes, yes, I am quite aware of the mandate. May I go back to mixing my medicines, or is there perhaps something I could sell you since you have scared off all of my business for the day?”
The front door slammed in response. Only the soft padding of the man’s shoes against the tiled floor remained.
His footsteps approached the bookshelf, then came the sound of glass being moved and books shuffled about.
When he spoke, it was low and muffled, as though he had pressed his face up against the wood.
“They’re still in the market square. Continue down the tunnel. It will exit out onto another street.”
In the darkness, all Larissa could feel was Halla’s hand in hers. All she could hear was the harsh, anxious breathing of the others until Anara whispered.
“Our only option is forward. Go slowly and quietly; this tunnel passes between other shops.”
“How do you know that?” Darien asked.
“I can hear them.”
Larissa couldn’t, but she trusted Anara’s heightened senses. She reached out her open hand to find the wall but scraped her knuckles against stone. She pulled back, cradling her throbbing hand. “Kings and Queens!”
“That’s not very Princess-like,” Halla whispered.
Anara chuckled low in the back of her throat. “Actually, it’s extremely Princess-like, although it used to be more my thing than Lovisa’s.”
Larissa tried again, more cautiously, and felt the cold of the wall seep into her palm. “Maybe we should focus on getting out of here instead of whether I meet Princess criteria.”
She edged forward. With the wall to guide her, hesitance turned to confidence with every step. Soon she heard voices outside the walls from shops or homes. Just as the voices faded, Larissa’s foot jammed into a barrier in front of her.
“ Víti! ” she hissed.
“I’m going to vote a ‘no’ on the whole Princess-criteria debate.”
“Shut up, Darien.”
“At least you found the way out,” Halla offered.
Larissa glared in her sister’s direction, then felt in the darkness for the door handle.
In that instant, she was reminded of the locked door from her memories.
Shaking aside the thought, she pushed against the wood.
It opened a crack, allowing dim light to stream in.
Not direct sunlight, but still too bright against the pitch black of the tunnel.
She blinked against it, forcing her eyes to remain open and alert.
Based on the smell and the copious amounts of trash piled against the door, the hidden passageway had opened into a shaded alleyway.
Larissa slipped through the opening, careful of her footing, followed by the others, who blinked just like she did as they adjusted to the shaded light.
Larissa turned on Anara. “What was all that about in there? Why were you asking about a dwarf comet?”
“Dwarf cornel,” she corrected, leaning heavily against the wall behind her. “The nectar that I used to heal you before is extracted from the fruit of that flower.”
“You said it was exceptionally rare; why would it be here? What happened to asking about the Vienám?”
“She was,” Darien said slowly, as though choosing his words. “It’s a code, right? There’s no shipment of dwarf cornel fruit.”
“None whatsoever. However, there will be someone at that warehouse tonight who can get us out of here and take us to the Vienám.”
Larissa closed her eyes. This whole day had been more complicated than she’d hoped. She reached in her pocket for the instructions and handed the slip to Anara. “You’ll understand that better than me.”
With apparent effort, Anara shoved off the alley wall.
Only then did Larissa realize she had been leaning there for support.
She considered reiterating Darien’s earlier offer of rest but changed her mind.
The sooner they got out of there, the better.
Glancing at the directions, Anara moved toward the mouth of the alleyway.
Larissa made to follow then stopped at the tug on her sleeve.
“You weren’t really going to shoot him, were you?” Halla’s brow furrowed.
“Who?”
“The store owner.”
“Of course not.” Not if she didn’t have to anyway.
Halla’s raised eyebrow questioned Larissa’s truthfulness.
“Halla, you know me better than that. I was just scaring him, you know, a little bit.”
She rolled her eyes but let go of Larissa’s arm.
With Anara leading and Darien at the rear, the group emerged from the alley.
Hoods drawn, they passed briskly from shadow to shadow, following Anara as she glanced at the slip of paper in her hands at every street crossing.
How she understood it, Larissa would never know.
Most of the streets were missing sign posts, and the ones that did exist were unreadable.
As they made their way back toward the Wall, the crumbling, decrepit buildings intermixed with newer warehouses built for storage. No doubt they had been strategically placed away from the people who desperately needed the food and closest to the loading bays and sentries’ outposts.
Within reach of the destination, Larissa noted the alarming lack of people on the streets. If a sentry spotted them, they’d stand out.
Darien must have been thinking similarly. “Anara, is there a curfew we should be aware of?”
Anara’s response was labored with harsh pants. “People are expected to be in their homes long before sunset. We need to get to the warehouse before then.”
“Are you alright?” Larissa asked in alarm.
“Just drained. I’m fine.”
“Do you—”
“I’m fine; we’re nearly there.”
“How do you know which one—”
“I know.” Anara bit out the words.
Darien shot Larissa a glance. She shrugged then jogged after Anara. What could they do?
The warehouse loomed in their vision long before they found the correct street to turn on.
It was a massive building with metal rolling doors lined up on the sides of it.
Heavily armored trucks sat empty in the neighboring dirt lot.
It had the look of a place recently deserted, but one that could become heavily active at the turn of a switch.
Anara released a sigh of relief when they arrived. She did not hesitate, plunging straight ahead and opening the entry door, which obeyed without resistance. The others followed, with Darien closing the door behind them.
Though not as pitch black as the tunnel had been, a shaded darkness encompassed them.
Speckles of dirt in the air caught the fading light from skylights scattered across the high ceilings.
The cavernous space hosted an array of vehicles and stood at least two stories tall, based on the railings and walkways that ran along the upper walls.
Over a dozen doors along the walls led deeper into the warehouse.
Boxes sat stacked in uneven groupings around the room.
It smelled like a combination of soil, gas, and produce. Larissa sighed. It smelled like home.
Walking to the far side of the room, Anara lowered herself to the ground and closed her eyes. “Now, we wait.”
Halla sat beside Anara, mimicking her posture, but like Larissa, Darien remained standing. Was adrenaline pumping through his body too? Larissa rocked on her feet, trying to shake the tension from her shoulders. Every passing second ticked closer to their inevitable discovery.
“How long are we waiting here?” she asked. “I feel exposed.”
Anara glanced at Larissa through squinted eyelids. “The physician said sunset. We’ll wait until then.”
“This doesn’t feel right,” Darien said.
Anara closed her eyes. “We don’t have a lot of options. If they’re not here by sundown, we’ll leave and find the Vienám another way . For now, we wait, and I rest.”
Darien looked torn, pacing for a moment more before taking his own spot on the ground next to Anara and Halla.
Larissa remained upright, at times walking around the perimeter of the room or simply rocking in place.
An odd mixture of exhaustion and exhilaration tore at her body.
She wanted to tell Anara what she had felt at the slave auction, the way the galdr had built up inside of her, but whenever she tried to grasp that feeling again, she came up empty.
It was as if the power had never existed at all.
The sound of a slamming door boomed through the room.
Halla jumped. “What was that?”
Anara tilted her head in the direction of the sound; her ear elongated and grew fur as she inhaled deeply through a long snout. After several tense seconds, she snorted, shaking off the transformation and leaping to her feet. “Stay here. If I’m not back in five minutes, get out of Perle.”
“Wait, where are you going?”
But Anara had already dashed across the empty space and darted through one of the doors that led deeper into the building.
Halla rose, folding her arms around her stomach. “Where is she going?”
Darien reached out before Larissa could. “It’s okay, kiddo. She probably just went to see if someone from the Vienám finally arrived. Come on, let’s find a better place to wait.”
He led her to the side of the room where the boxes were stacked more closely together.
There was a small gap between them and the wall.
It was an ideal hiding place. Halla squeezed in immediately.
Larissa reached out to touch Darien’s arm and spoke softly enough that Halla could not hear. “Thanks for reassuring her.”
Darien swallowed, and Larissa saw his eyes flit down to where her hand still rested on his arm.
“Of course,” he murmured, his voice rough with emotion.
She knew she should let go, but a memory was surfacing in her mind.
There was a boy and girl standing beside the shoreline under a full moon.
As the image crystallized in her mind, Larissa felt the warmth of Darien’s arms around her, but she knew it wasn’t real.
She let her hand drop before the memory could return in full.
“Should we go after Anara?” she asked him.
“She told us to wait.”
“That doesn't mean we have to listen.”
Running a hand through his hair, Darien shook his head. “What about Halla?”
Gratitude surged through Larissa, knowing that Darien understood how she felt.
She feared for Anara, but she couldn’t lead Halla into danger or leave her alone.
It didn’t matter if Halla didn’t think she was a kid anymore; she was Larissa’s responsibility.
If anyone was going to check on Anara, it would have to be Darien.
“Go,” Larissa said. “We’ll wait here for both of you.”
Darien’s eyes held her own, and within them she saw a battle of emotions she wished she didn’t recognize.
Darien reached up, tucking back a strand of hair that had fallen from Larissa’s braids.
His fingers brushed against her healing scar, and she resisted the overwhelming urge to lean into his touch, to find strength and comfort in his presence.
He dipped his forehead, nearly touching her own. “Be safe, Lara. For me.”
When he pulled away, confusion and regret flooded through Larissa. Even as she tried to push away the emotions, her heart ached for his return.
Leftover emotions , Larissa’s brain chided her heart. From a different time with a different person .
But Larissa wasn’t sure she believed herself anymore.