9. Emilia
Chapter 9
Emilia
A s Timas drops me off at the door to my suite, I have an idea, but limited time to act on it. I hurry down the hallway, trying to make my way to the smithy where Garrick likely is. I walk as fast as I can, my dress swishing with each stride. At this moment, I wish I had my pants and long tunic instead of this long dress, then, maybe I could walk quicker. Running would likely cause too much attention. I have just over an hour to get ready for dinner because Timas’ little walk turned into a long stroll which was wonderful, but put me back a bit on my plans.
The setting sun hits the windows, casting this lovely glow on the ground, but I can’t stop to admire how the colours change at the different angles you perceive them; I am on a mission. Briefly waving to Bilna as I pass the kitchen, I find the door that leads outside to the smithy. From a distance, I can tell no one is working in the smithy, so I look around for any sign of someone who can point me in the right direction. A soft smacking noise comes from around the corner and a few painful grunts accompany it .
Walking around the corner, I see a partitioned-off area that is filled with sand. Inside, Garrick has his fists up, readying a swing at his opponent. And his opponent, Milori. I walk a little faster to get to them. Both men are shirtless and have attracted a bit of a crowd, but that doesn’t seem to stop them. Garrick goes to punch Milori in the side, but he is too quick and steps out of the hit, he doesn’t notice when Garrick’s left fist comes up and jabs him in the jaw.
“Thought you could dance your way out of that twinkle toes?” Garrick goads. Milori spits some blood out of his mouth but smiles, and it looks frightening with blood covering his teeth.
“I am so glad you can appreciate the skills of a talented dancer, now if we can get your ugly face to actually perform a two-person dance without tripping over your own feet or crushing your partner we can call this a win.” That successfully annoys Garrick, and he goes for another punch to the face, but Milori ducks under his arm and lands a solid punch to his side, forcing Garrick to lean forward and hold it. Milori comes out from underneath Garrick’s arm and spots me, and with that same bloody smile, he hollers at Garrick.
“I told you she would come. Didn’t I tell you?” He looks back at Garrick who has finally recovered from the blow. He walks up to Milori and kicks his foot out, tripping him and pushing him down to the sand.
“That’s cheating!” Milori shouts as he stands back up. Garrick is already to the wooden partition and about to jump over it when Milori comes up behind him and pushes hard. Garrick had already picked his feet off the ground, jumping over the small wall, so the extra push makes him go flying past me and he face plants in a mud puddle. Tough luck.
I can’t help the laugh that bubbles up and bursts through me. The two of them act like uneducated fools and it’s highly entertaining. Milori jumps over the wall, breathing heavily and very pleased with himself.
“You two are a bunch of children.” I’m finally able to say after laughing so hard.
“Hey, he started it.” Milori points to Garrick, who is standing now and trying to rub off the mud that covers half his body. Raising my eyebrow at him in a ‘really’ kind of way just makes him laugh.
“Now, if you two are done, I need your help.” Garrick comes to our little group—the spectators previously watching the sparring match have dispersed and left just the three of us standing here.
“What do you need, Em?”
“First, how did you know I would be coming here, Milori? Did you have someone watching me?” He gives a half-smirk as he put his hands on his hips.
“No, I did not have the already large amount of people watching you give me an update on your whereabouts. I saw the look of planning in your eye when we were talking this morning. I knew you didn’t like the answer Timas gave and I figured either you would somehow sneak out of the dinner and do it yourself OR you would come to good ol’ big brother over here.” I am annoyed by so many of the things he said, the biggest of which is the ‘large amount’ of people watching me. Are there not enough stationed guards to watch out for me? I bet there is a hoard of other people watching me, and I don’t even know it. I look around without thinking as I run that through my mind.
“What are you guys talking about?” Garrick says, exasperated.
“We are going to come back to the large amount of people watching me. There better not be anyone in my room while I’m sleeping, that’s creepy.” An involuntary shiver courses through me at the thought.
“Timas would kill anyone who thought to go into your room, so no, there is no one who is going to watch you there,” Milori says, confirming I’m not crazy for thinking it.
“HELLO!” Garrick shouts, hands flying up in the air, bringing us back to the topic at hand.
“Right, sorry. I need you to somehow break into Aecus’ house and search it for anything suspicious. Especially this room he normally sleeps in after he has a drunken night. Apparently it’s on the first floor not too far from the front door.” I get all that out quickly because I completely forgot I have limited time.
“What? Why?” Garrick’s confusion isn’t unwarranted, but hopefully, he understands this quickly so I give him a shorter version of the day to catch him up.
“Estola thinks we should search his house and especially that room and I agree. unfortunately, Timas won’t let me do it so I need you to do it.”
“There is one thing I like about Timas: he always wants to protect you. I admire that. Ok, I’ll try and sneak in… somehow. Not sure how a green Orc is going to go unnoticed in the upper-class section of the city, but that’s for me to worry about.” He sighs.
“Thank you, Garrick! I really appreciate this.” Suddenly, Milori coughs and then coughs again.
“Um, excuse me, aren’t you going to ask me to help?” He looks truly affronted by my not asking.
“I thought you would be at the dinner, and besides, do you really want to get on Timas’ bad side by going against what he said? At least with Garrick he won’t harm him too badly because he’s my brother.”
“Wait, what?” Garrick says.
“I said he wouldn’t harm you too badly.” It’s true he might be mad, but Timas would never hurt my family.
“Great,” Garrick mutters.
“I am, one, completely offended that you don’t think I can handle myself with Timas and, two, deeply hurt you don’t consider me your brother!” He sniffles to emphasize his point, which just makes me chuckle.
“You aren’t her brother. I am.” Garrick growls.
“I’m adopted! Don’t judge me because I’m not green!” He stomps his foot like a child .
“Fine, you go too. It would likely go better if there were two of you anyway. But you guys need to figure it out. I am going to be late for dinner at this rate.” Turning, I start power walking back to my suite.
“You’re an idiot,” Garrick says to Milori.
“I’m not an idiot. My mother said I was cognitively challenged.” And that’s all I hear before I open the door and walk back into the palace.