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When the bell stopped Teine couldn’t help but notice all the sudden, tense expressions around the table. “Easy, easy,” Hamoni assured them, her voice calm and carrying over the bell. “Remember, we’ve got a very demanding guest. It might not mean what-” The bell started again in earnest, ringing again without stopping. In a swirl of long skirts Hamoni swept dramatically from the room and headed out through the dining room. Without a word, Pasha got to her feet, grabbed a small picnic hamper down from one of the shelves and began filling it with portable foodstuffs.
Hamoni was back in an instant and had gone pale under her golden complexion. “Teine! Report to the dining terrace at once. Take your bag. Do you have shoes on? Good! Now, go!”
“What is it? Raiders?” demanded Kenneth, rising to his feet so suddenly his big belly lifted the table an inch before dropping it to the ground with a plate rattling din. Both the other Human boys stood up so fast they knocked their bench over.
“Worse,” Hamoni confirmed. “Inspectors.”
Red-faced with rage but wide-eyed with alarm, Kenneth swore. “Those swiving sons of whores! Can’t they just leave us alone?”
Although the headman spoke softly, his harsh words fell hard on Teine’s ears. Although boys his age often cursed playfully, Teine rarely heard bad language being used in earnest. Throwing his satchel over his shoulder, he fled the room, spurred on not by the tone of anger in Kenneth’s voice, but by the fear he heard there as well. He rushed into the formal dining room looking for the door that led to the terrace. Movement caught his eye, and he could see Madric, his brother the Master, and Marne through the leaded glass windows on the doors leading outside to the dining terrace. Marne and his two Aoife relatives all seemed to be staring at something in the distance. Marne had even climbed up on a chair to get a better vantage point.
Teine got there as quickly as he could, craning his neck to see what they were looking at. It seemed a distinctive scarlet and gold carriage, pulled by white horses was edging up the winding driveway toward the Tower. “It’s a bloody lucky thing we decided to dine up here rather than down in the courtyard, otherwise we wouldn’t have seen them until they were upon us,” Master Solmurrian was telling his brother. “But if only you’d done your job, we wouldn’t be in this mess-”
“I don’t want to hear it now,” Madric growled, with real menace. Teine saw Marne catch his eye, his expression pleading. “I told you, the storm interfered…”
Teine tuned them out the instant he realized enormity of the situation. Inspectors from the Church would be there within minutes; Marne was unable to be hidden away- either in plain sight, behind crafty magics- or tucked away in a room no one would find. That really only left one solution, and Teine’s eyes darted around, looking for ideas. After a moment, he cleared his throat.
“Does that path lead to the beach?” he whispered to Marne, pointing. From the terrace they were standing on, watching the carriage inch up the road, there was a stairway that led down to the courtyard. The courtyard was bowl-shaped, and had many stairways leading off it, going in many directions, but there was one in particular that led down to the sandy beach, where he could see foamy waves lapping the shore.
Marne nodded wordlessly, his strange eyes as wide and frightened as a kitten’s.
Teine bit his lip as a plan came to mind. He hated speaking up and interrupting the angry Aoife, but it was worth the risk. “I can take him to the beach. Right now.”
Suddenly the two Aoife men stopped arguing and looked at him. Master Solmurrian glared, and Madric grinned. Both spoke at once.
“That’s a good idea. Hide him in plain sight,” Madric crowed.
“You fool, that will never work,” Master Solmurrian growled.
Madric put his hand on his brother’s arm, nodding at Teine in a way that indicated he’d better get moving. As Teine shuffled his shoulder bag into a more comfortable position with the strap across his shoulder muscle and chest, he beckoned for Marne to climb on, piggy back. Like a monkey, Marne climbed onto the Human boy’s broad back, wrapping his skinny legs around Teine’s waist. Although the child weighed hardly anything to Teine, he noticed with glee that some of Marne’s weight rested tidily on Teine’s satchel, providing the boy with a little extra security and a bit of a seat.
“It’s a good plan,” Madric was convincing his younger brother. “They aren’t interested in Marne. They’re here for me and my work, as usual. They probably think they’re being kind, checking on our safety after such a bad storm. If the boys go down to the beach and play in plain sight, it’ll look very natural and likely not even be noticed.”
“If we see anyone coming that we don’t recognize, we can make a run for it,” Teine added. The carriage had rounded the bend and had drawn too close in sight any more.
For several long seconds, Master Solmurrian scowled at Teine- and Teine did not back down. “Go, then. They’re almost upon us,” he finally agreed.
“Wait!” cried Hamoni, banging open the terrace door hard enough to rattle the glass in its panes. “Take this!” She’d anticipated Teine’s idea, and she was prepared. She pushed the small hamper that Pasha had packed into Teine’s hands and threw a white sun-cloak over Marne’s fair head and shoulders. Now they really looked prepared to play on the beach.
“Thank you,” Teine told her gratefully. “Wish us luck.”
“Luck. Now get going.” Madric snapped, hurrying them along. “Be careful, but act natural. Don’t come back until we send someone for you.”
“Faithful steed,” Marne giggled. “And don’t call me Master. You won’t do it again?”
Teine grinned. Faithful steed, indeed. It was the most whimsical, childlike thing the boy had said yet. Teine returned it in kind. “Neigh!” he replied, descending the stairs from the terrace down to the courtyard. Once they made it to the bottom of the stairs Teine increased his speed, breaking into a fast jog across the courtyard.
“The pun is the lowest form of humor,” Marne intoned. ”But I like them anyway.” They breezed past the decorative fountain, and Teine jumped in alarm when a watery figure rose up out of the pool and made a swipe at them.
“Was that…?” Teine started to ask, but he’d just gotten to the next batch of stairs which lead to the beach, and concentrated all his efforts into a rapid and safe descent.
“A water elemental,” Marne confirmed. “His name’s Foosh, and he lives in the fountain. He’s always cranky after a storm, but you can meet him later.”
Shaking his head in wonder, Teine hitched Marne higher up on his back and pushed aside the remnants of a fallen palm tree as he headed at best speed down to the beach.
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Tags: Foosh, Hamoni, Kenneth, Madric, Marne, Master Solmurrian, Pasha, Teine