Chapter 6: The House of Leaves

The brothers Homoth and Komotz, along with the duke's guard, Baet, took the first watch as darkness settled over the House of Leaves. Men just more than boys, with more mischief than in their hearts than might be good for them, Homoth and Komotz played cards as they waited for nothing to happen, and bothered the Saot guard to join them yet again. "I tire of taking my brother's money," Homoth complained in his foreign tongue.

Baet could not speak their Trohl language and the brothers could not speak Saot or Ministrian. Indeed, the brothers were the only two of the Jindleyak militia that could not speak Ministrian—though they knew a handful of phrases, most of them vulgar.

After several attempts to communicate, Baet got the gist of their plea and realized the brothers wanted him to gamble. Indeed, he wanted to join them as play quickened the passing of time— but he had no money, and simply shook his head in refusal.

"It is our luck to get the Saot guard. We can not even speak to him," Komotz complained. "Why could we not watch with Toar? It makes no sense that he should watch with Apulton and Andrus when they know Ministrian."

One of the last to go to bed, Toar happened through the room. Homoth stopped him as he stepped by. "Baetolamew will not play with us. Does he hate cards?"

Toar turned to Baet and asked why he refused to play with the brothers. Baet gave his answer and Toar interpreted as he continued up the stairs. "He has no coin," Toar shrugged. "You must remember, we were all in prison little more than a week ago. All our stuffs were taken," he said as he continued on his way. "Even the duke borrows from Traust."

Homoth and Komotz stared at each other for a long second, surprised that they had not realized this. "You do not play for lack of coin?” Homoth began. “Well, I have too much of it!" he declared, and pushed a stack of copper bits toward the Saot guard.

"It shall be quicker for me to take money from two men instead of one," Komotz noted and pushed a few of his own coin at the Saot with a nod.

Initially, Baet refused their charity. The brothers continued their insistent pleas.

The Saot’s palms itched to hold the cards. Figuring the hours would be long and tedious if only he watched the game from afar—and since the brothers made such a demonstration of wanting him to play—he allowed himself to be persuaded. After all, it was only copper. How much trouble could it cause?

The three men whiled away the hours as they played card games that were new to Baet. But the Saot was a consummate gambler, and he quickly divined the mechanics of their foreign games. With Lady Luck on his side, Baet lost little and gained a great deal. He collected bits and bots from the generous brothers as they scratched their heads in disbelief.

The next night, Baet's winning streak only continued, and also the night after that. Baet won so much that the brothers had to trade Baet silver so they might continue to play with copper. Indeed, Homoth and Komotz quickly grew to regret inviting the Saot to play.

The watches passed as quiet as the days. Baet was quite satisfied that the Jindleyak house was unknown to their Ministrian and Degorouth enemies. Tucked away in a quiet corner of Ebertin, he felt more and more that his return home was inevitable. As he continued to win coin from the Jindleyak brothers, Baet began to fantasize about his triumphant return to Gaurring. Once back in Gaurring Heart, he'd receive a handsome sum for escorting the duke through the wilds of the north. Then he'd retire from the Armies of Gaurring altogether and go to the coast of Ewile, purchase a cottage with a view of the sea, and become a poke for the local watch. It was a quaint, idyllic dream.

The fourth night at the House of Leaves, cards barely began before the three men were interrupted. Someone banged at the thick front door. Komotz was out of the current hand, and so he checked the catch while Baet checked the blade given to him by Traust. Komotz cracked open the peep hole with one hand on the hilt of his sword. As soon as he saw who interrupted, he swung the door wide and stepped aside.

"You're a sight for sore eyes!" A haggard woman beamed at the brother. She grabbed Komotz and hugged him with one arm as she dragged a pale and bloodied wretch into the room. This second individual was white as a sheet—except where dried blood flaked from his face—and maintained his feet only because the woman held him up.

Homoth dropped his cards at the sight of Elpis and Scurra, and swept up his tiny stack of coin. "They're home!" He yelled up the stairs. "Git your lazy asses out of bed!They're home!" He banged on the table as he stood, then made his way to the door.

Baet gathered his mountainous winnings of copper and silver as he set his cards aside. With his metal tucked away, he turned to the door and found himself staring at Wenifas. Her face was a mask of trepidation and askance as she held a fussing and irritable Evereste.

The beautiful priestess was not her usual dour self, but seemed sapped and completely lost. Baet offered a hand, and Wenifas was only too happy to accept—a fact that concerned and excited the guard. With a flutter in his heart, Baet led her to a couch and had her sit. Wenifas flounced on the couch and almost spilled her babe. As she sat, Baet realized she'd developed quite a smell.

Homoth and Komotz half carried a pale and heavily bandaged Elpis up the stairs as Scurra closed and secured the door. Saleos and Toar squawked and poked about the edges of Eplis’s bandages as they followed him into the nearest bedroom.

Celesi ran down the stairs passed the men and joined Wenifas on the couch. She wrapped the priestess in a hug. Evereste fussed and whined and it took Wenifas several beats to notice anything was wrong with the child. With a frown, Celesi gingerly pulled the girl from the priestess.

"I..." Wenifas began to protest.

“You must relax, my sweet sister,” Celesi wrapped her in a hug with one arm and kissed her as she took the babe. "You have obviously suffered something dreadful, and I have had too much rest! Let me see to your babe. I shall care for her as if she were my own."

WIth tears in her eyes, Wenifas passed Evereste to the young Trohl. "She needs food. She needs changed," Wenifas confessed. She collapsed back into the couch. "I’ve had nothing to give her," she pouted as tears formed in her eyes.

"Hey... hey! It's okay!" Celesi soothed Wenifas and stroked her hair. "We're all here for you! Sit, relax, and I will see that she is fed and changed!"

"Where's Meu?" Wenifas asked.

Celesi frowned and shook her head. “She is not here,” she said, as there was still no sign of the slender redhead.

"Then we are not all here!" Wenifas buried her face in a pillow and began to bawl. "There are so many of us missing!"

As Wenifas hugged her and bawled, Celesi turned on Baet with a critical eye. "Get some food," she ordered. "Get fruit and soft things for the baby,” she said in Ministrian.

More than happy to be of assistance, Baet went into the kitchen and searched through the pantry and chill box. He assembled a plate of berries, a soft pear, milk, and honey; the light sort of fare he preferred when he was sick. He returned as Celesi finished with the child's diaper. Wenifas was slumped to the side, her eyes closed as she breathed even. Was she asleep so soon?

Celesi took the plate from Baet with one hand and gave him the spent diaper with the other. "Thank you," she said in a formal manner and gave him a bit of a smile. She thought the guard should be encouraged for his good behavior as she turned back to Evereste.

"Thank Jeiju!" Traust stated as he arrived in the room with the duke and Carringten. He was all too happy to see Scurra, Elpis, and the foreign woman had finally arrived. They may be in a sore condition—especially Elpis—but that was much preferred to being lost. Traust turned to Scurra as she was the most lucid of the group. "Where have you been? What has happened to you?"

The others grew silent so they might hear Scurra's response. "We were ambushed at the Lady Yandira's," she began. “We arrived to find Degorouth and Ministrians already there. When they could not capture us, they threw the Lady Yandira off her balcony," she said with her gaze on the floor.

Several of the men let out a gasp and whispered among themselves. Scurra wiped her eyes before she continued. "We had to fight our way back to the road. I didn’t see how it happened, but Elpis was cut under his arm. Although it was a shallow strike, I believe it nicked his artery, as he bled something fierce. For a time I thought he'd bleed out. He's a tough cookie, and we've been lucky on that front, since he is the only one that knew the whereabouts of this house,” Scurra noted. “We were chased from the Lady's estate and managed to lose them as we approached near the slant streets.”

"I was right to think they might go after our friends—but I did not expect them to do so immediately," Truast frowned. "I should not have sent so few to go to the Lady's house."

"Even if all of us went, you would not have sent enough," Scurra stated. "There were so many. We only escaped because the Lady was brave and warned us. I believe that is why she paid such a heavy price,” she shook her head. "Have you seen the wanted posters."

“Wanted posters?” Traust began. “We have not been off the property since we arrived, except to check our drops.”

Scurra shrugged. “The drawings look nothing like us. I would not be worried.”

"What are we worth?" Duboha asked.

"The lot of us?" Scurra pointed about her Jindleyak cousins. “A hundred chit a piece.”

Duboha frowned. "A hundred chit barely seems worth it."

"The ones they really want are the foreign duke and my brother," Scurra said. "It seems to be accepted among our enemies that they somehow orchestrated Kezodel's death. They're the real prize: five thousand chabling a piece."

Duboha gave an appreciative whistle.

"It's fake money, no matter the amount,” Komotz snorted, “It's like they don't really want to catch us at all."

"They're forced to stick to their lies," Traust noted. "Even if it is a lie, it is a generally accepted lie, and five thousand chabling would see a frugal man through many years. But enough of the price on our heads. You were running from Degorouth and Ministrians near the slant streets. It took you three days to get here from there?"

Scurra gave a nod and continued her story. "We got away, but we were going the wrong direction. We decided to backtrack through the tunnels of Beletrain, which got us away from the Degorouth and Ministrians, but brought other problems."

"No!" Homoth's eyes grew wide at the suggestion. "You saw naga!?"

Scurra bobbled her head about, shaking and nodding all at once. "I wouldn't say we saw it," she admitted, "but we certainly had a run-in with one of the bastards," she leaned close to Traust. "You'll notice the priestess is missing her boy," she whispered.

Celesi's eyes went wide at the statement. She searched about room, though she knew she would not find Claiten. No wonder Wenifas was so distressed! The others shook their heads. Celesi thanked their stars that Wenifas was oblivious to the conversation as she drifted on the edge of sleep. With a lump in her throat, Celesi cradled Evereste a bit tighter.

"Well, there is some good news," Traust cut in. "Your brother is awake—or should I say he is out of his coma. How he sleeps through all the noise we make is beyond me."

Scurra gave a nod. "If he is well, then we should wake him. I'd like his opinion on Elpis."

"Saleos will see Elpis settled," Duboha said as he stood, "but I will wake him all the same since you ask." He took the stairs two at a time.

"Figures you'd be the one to see a naga," Homoth continued to complain. “You didn’t see it?”

"The naga," Scurra repeated. "Damned thing tried to take my head off with a mallet! I just heard it and managed to dodge, but I lost my footing and fell back. I lost my torch. Lucky for me, the beast turned on the others, or I’d be dead. The beast took a swing at Elpis. He was already down to one arm. He dropped his torch in favor of his axe—but could not mount a proper defense. The beast crushed the bone around his eye, and he fell, before I could even stand," she shook her head. "That’s when the beast turned on the priestess. The priestess saved us all. She found a black powder bomb in the folds of my brother's cloak," Scurra fetched one of the weapons from her own pocket for the others to see. "She said she smashed it into his face. Notice her hand is burned."

Scurra shrugged. "With it's face on fire, the beast screamed and disappeared back into the murk—but it took her boy," she hanged her head. "What were we to do? We could not search for him…" she began, before she choked up.

“To do so would have been folly,” Traust agreed. “Men go missing in that snake pit on the regular.”

"After the naga, I put another rag around Elpis, and we limped for the exit at full hobble,” Scurra continued. “We came out of the tunnels at Fowler's Auction. His daughters made to bandage Elpis—but they were rubbish. Fowler promised to send word and asked that we stay until you could come get us. I assume you heard nothing from the man."

"Not a thing," Traust confirmed. "We've checked our drops religiously and received no word from anyone."

Scurra frowned. "I didn't trust the man. He wouldn't stop staring at the Ministrian's tits. It's not too surprising since he didn't seem that interested in the honor of his own daughters. Poor Elpis needed sleep—and not the kind those girls offered," She shrugged. “I have little doubt he meant to sell us out and would have delivered us to the Degorouth if we stuck around. We did not, after a short might, we snuck out and made for the apartment in Peverly. We stayed a night there and rested up. which was the only decent sleep I’ve had in days. Last night, we stayed in a ditch among the homeless down by the Church of Muaha Dalinfoers. I must say, we did a mean impression of vagabonds as we limped through the city."

"The Church of Dalinfoers? That was last night?" Duboha asked as he came down the stairs once more.

Scurra nodded.

"It took a full day to get from there to here?" Duboha continued.

Scurra stared at Duboha. "It was slow going to drag a half dead man and escort a woman lost in her sorrows! Each time I turned around, the priestess was wandering off and Elpis was doing his best to die on me! We were forced to take a lot of breaks and this city is way too big!" Scurra finished with a growl. Her anger didn't last. It melted into a smile as she stared at all the concerned faces about her. "By god, it's good to be among friends!" She said as she hugged those nearest to her, including Duboha.

Traust turned to Duboha. "Did you wake the brother?"

Duboha gave a nod. "He means to see Elpis before he comes down, and he says he has something to calm the priestess if she’d like."

Celesi turned to Baet, who was oblivious to the conversation. She spoke to him in Ministrian. "Will you see the lady up to my room?" she asked.

Baet nodded and gently picked Wenifas off the couch. To the Saot's delight, she laid her head against his shoulder. Despite the dirt and wear of her misadventures, she was still a sight to see, and now that the babe was changed, she didn't smell quite as much as before. He carried the priestess up the stairs as the others continued to converse. At the end of the hall, he shifted her weight so he might open the door and felt a familiar lump press against his chest. It was the shape of a musket, and he realized it must be Cloud Breaker tucked under her cloak! He glanced about the hall.

Sure that they were alone, Baet shifted the woman and felt abut her person that he might retrieve his weapon. With a moan and a whimper, Wenifas protested his touch. He shushed her as he continued to dig about the layers of her clothes as he tried to reclaim the musket.

Across the hall, the door popped open. Krumpus stepped from the room where Saleos and Toar treated Elpis. He noted Baet's hand buried in the priestess' clothing and gave the guard a disapproving look.

"It's not what you think," Baet stated as he pulled his hand back.

With a snort, Krumpus opened the door to Celesi's room. He waved for Baet to bring the lady in and set her on the bed. Then he pushed the Saot out of the room and down the stairs, all while Baet protested his innocence.