[Terquem]

Chapter 3
Part 15

Brendun carefully lifted Tabitha from the floor, ready to get moving up and out of this place as soon as possible when he saw the curious turturons moving in on Alo.

To her credit, she did not immediately react in a hostile way, but Brendun could tell the close little folk where making Alo nervous.

“Owww,”

“Ahhh,”

“Vervee,”

They made strange sounds as they gathered around her, and finally one of them, one young female with thick reddish hair in a tight braid worn pulled over her shoulder and hanging down across her ample chest, was the first to say anything else.


“You are, Nadin, or Thavin, yes? From the noble’s barge? You are one of the outcasts?” she said. Her voice was deep, and her words carried a tone of compassion.


Another among the turturons, an older man, standing behind the girl, pointed his arm from where he stood, indicating Alo’s forehead, “She has the brand of the untouchable.”


There were other sounds of sympathy, surprise, and curiosity from the turturons. Finally, as Brendun noticed Alo’s quivering, and the slight lifting of her sword arms, he had to ask his friend to put a stop to the curious, but not threatening behavior, before Alo lost control.


“Thomas, please, ask your people to give her some space. She is young, and inexperienced.”


Alo shifted in a slow slide to the side, away from the gathering little people, and came close to Brendun.


“I can speak for myself,” she said, speaking slow, loud, and clear. She turned in place, a graceful pirouette, bowed to the Turturons, and then rising, she lowered her arms, and said, “I am Mauli A’Anawa. This is where I was born. I am neither noble born nor of the warrior class, not a Nadin or a Thavin. I am the slave of the girl, the one this man carries. My name is Alo Tanas Gynemid, and I am not your enemy.”

Her words had a pronounced effect on the Turturons, who all took turns bowing, placing one hand against their forehead, and saying softly, “We welcome a friend of our people.”

Brendun leaned toward Alo and whispered, “Well done,” and then turned away, toward Thomas and said, “Thank you, we’ll be on our way now.”

“When you get to the stairs,” Thomas said from behind Brendun, “be careful. We’ve set up some planks on the steps, on the right-hand side, to make it easier to get the wheelbarrows up and down here. Good luck Brendun Mark.”

Alo followed Brendun as he walked away from the turturons. It was only when they reached the bottom of the stairs going up, back into the city, back to where they might get the help they needed that Alo said, quite innocently to Brendun, “what do you think she meant by ‘the noble’s barge’?”

Brendun had to stop. He thought about the question for a moment. He tried to imagine what that simple comment could mean, but it couldn’t mean what he thought it meant. There had not been an octopus-folk barge in the harbor, here, in fifteen years, and when that happened it almost started a panic that nearly emptied a third of the city. It couldn’t be happening again. Twice he opened his mouth to say something to Alo, anything that might answer her question, but he couldn’t put the words together in his head. It would have to wait, “I don’t know,” he said at last, and keeping to the left of the stairs, Brendun began the long climb up to the cellar of the Bench Board tavern.

As they climbed Brendun decided it was time to find out what ally Alo had in the city.

“Once we reach the old hall below the tavern, we’ll make Tabitha as comfortable as we can, you tell me who you can trust in Greenwall, and how to get to them, and I’ll go fetch help. I’ll want you to stay in the hall, for now, until I know it’s safe to enter the tavern without drawing too much attention to you.”

“Iah don’thha knowww wahhere he isah,” alo said from behind him.

Brendun stopped on the stairs, turned his body around and said, “You said you knew the way. Tell me slowly what you mean. Do you know where your ally is or not?”

For the first time Brendun registered a slight bit of frustration from Alo. She let out a strong breath, which lifted the skin on her face toward her neck, and then said, very slowly, “I could take us there. I remember the landmarks, but I do not know what they are named. If I tried to describe them to you I could very easily get it wrong.”

She straightened up, moved another step closer to Brendun and putting her face near his she looked right into his eyes. Her mouth flap lifted at the corners in what could only be a smile, and in a very different sort of way, her voice going up an octave with a bit of laughter dancing around each word, she said, “You will just have to trust me, and I will lead us there.”

Alo, with her impressive agility, and mobility, moved up on to the planks on the right side of the stairs, all the while keeping her face toward Brendun, and then moving each arm quickly she went around him until she was above him, then turned her whole body around and started quickly up the stairs again.

He watched her progress, and after checking on Tabitha one more time, headed after Alo as quickly as he could, thinking to himself, “I haven’t died, yet, maybe I’ll survive a walk, at night, through Greenwall, with an octopus, seems like it’ll be a piece of cake.”