“Can I help you, Sir?” theyoung innkeeper asked.
“You are very young for aninnkeeper,” Garth commented.
“Inheritance, Sir,” theinnkeeper replied without emotion. “What can I do foryou?”
“We require a room with a viewout the front,” Garth answered.
“Sorry, Sir,” came the quickreply, “our rooms are mostly long term and the front ones arealready occupied. May I have your name for the ledger,Sir?”
“Kyle Agrat,” Garthreplied.
“Thank you, Sir,” theinnkeeper said as he headed for the stairs. “If you follow me, Iwill show you to your room. My name is John and I will do whateverI can to make your stay more comfortable.”
John marched up two flights of stairsand opened the door to a room and promptly left. Garth and Kalinawalked in and put their packs down. Kalina walked to the window andlooked down at the street below. Garth gently took her arm andpulled her away from the window.
“This room is in the front,”Kalina said. “He said he didn’t have any front rooms.”
“They will always say thatunless your name is Agrat,” Garth chuckled. “I wasn’t sure thatthis place was still run by the Spiders or not because I didn’trecognize any of the young faces.”
The Spiders were a secret spyorganization for Targa before the Collapse. It was set up by PrinceOscar Dalek and General Gregor, who was a Colonel at the time, togather information on the Black Devils. It was so secret that evenKing Eugene did not know it existed. Within moments of theirarrival the door opened to admit a man and closed again.
“You old renegade!” thenewcomer greeted as he walked over and embraced Garth and thenembraced Kalina. “And you brought your lovely woman to embarrassthe rest of the city ladies, too.”
“Some things never change andyou, Larc, are one of them,” Kalina smiled. “We have missed friendslike you.”
“You have been missed, too,”Larc sighed as he sat on the floor. Larc never sat above floorlevel in any of the front rooms since before theCollapse.
Garth and Kalina followed his exampleand ignored the chairs in the room. “Tell us what has changed,Larc,” Garth requested.
“Too many things havechanged,” Larc let out. “I assume that you heard about King Byronand Queen Marta or you would not be here. The Contest of Powergrows stronger every year. Assassination of Council members is thenew fad and someone decided it was time to include the King in thelist. We got Queen Marta out in time.”
“Where is she?” Garthasked.
“I don’t know,” Larc admitted.“You know how the Spiders work. I handed her off to a contactoutside the city. He handed her off to another who was known tohim, and so on. The only way to find her is to repeat the processand every one of those contacts would have to agree. The chance ofone of them breaking is slim, two never.”
“Well, at least she is safe,”Kalina said.
“As safe as can be,” Larcstated. “The Council several years ago started this mess. KingByron was ill and the Council ruled in his place for severalmonths. During that time they managed to change some of the lawsthat restricted their power and as a result they eliminated theKing’s influence over the country. I don’t need to tell you thatAlcea is a dead issue. They passed a proclamation that the officialname of the country is Targa and the city is Tagaret. They havedreams of reestablishing the Kingdom of Targa in its entirety andthe only thing that stops them is each other. As soon as one groupgains prominence, another group cuts them down. We can’t even keeptrack of who is in what group any more because they change theiraffiliations quicker than they change their clothes.”
“Why does the Army stand forit?” Garth asked.
“The Army is a joke,” Larcgrimaced. “The Rangers were the first to be eliminated. They werefolded into the regular Army by Council decree. Most of them wouldnot accept it and quit. A year later, they did the same thing tothe Red Swords. A lot of them accepted the change, but many othersdid not. Since that time, however, even the ones who accepted ithave retired or quit. The Army is full of youngstersnow.”
Garth nodded as it confirmed hissuspicions. “What happened to the leaders of the Rangers and theRed Swords?”
“Mitar Vidson and DavidJaynes,” Larc stated. “Why do you want to know?”
“You think you are a sly one,Larc,” Garth laughed, “but you just told me that they joined theSpiders. I would like to talk with them. Their help is going to beneeded.”
“So you know about GeneralGregor, then,” Larc said. “I will not let you talk those two meninto committing suicide. I know they will gladly sacrifice theirlives to free the General, but they are too good tolose.”
“I do not want them to freethe General,” Garth stated. “I will do that with my own men. I wantto talk with them about the heir.”
“Your own men!” Larcexclaimed. “You have come up in the world. I can send any wordabout the heir to them, if it is important enough.”
“Do not be stubborn with me,Larc,” Garth said gruffly. “I have possession of the ProphecyChildren.”
Larc stared at Garth like he had grownwings. “How long have you had them?” Larc asked. “Do you have bothof them? I should have known by now if you have had them for anytime at all. Are you positive?”
“I have never seen youflustered before,” Garth laughed. Turning more serious, Garthcontinued, “You are not the only one who can keep secrets, but youwill keep this one until I give you leave otherwise. I mean it,Larc. One word and I’ll cut your organization apart man byman.”
“You haven’t answered myquestions,” Larc reminded Garth.
“One, for sure,” Garth said.“Almost positive that we have two. I have had them for a couple ofmonths.”
Larc was shocked and showed it. “It’strue, then,” Larc finally got out. “Nobody really believed in theAncient Prophecy. Everyone thought it was just some talk soeveryone would have something to hope for. I see why you want totalk with Mitar and David, then. Their help will be necessary torestore the Rangers and the Red Swords. The General must be freedas well. What did you mean about your men? You have always been aloner.”
“I have formed the AlceaRangers,” Garth answered. “We are small, but we will succeed wherelarger forces would fail.”
“I will arrange for Mitar andDavid to be here this evening,” Larc capitulated. “If you needanything in the way of support, you have only to ask forit.”
“Thank you, Larc,” Garthappreciated. “You should know what I will be asking them to do soyou can spare them their other duties. The heir is not proclaiminghimself now. He needs more training before that can beaccomplished. I will be asking David and Mitar to find thelocations of their loyal members who have either left or remained.The Rangers and the Red Swords will not be reactivated now, butsomeone must lay the plans for doing exactly that.”
“They will have my fullsupport,” Larc promised.
* * * *
The tailor gathered his belongings andbowed as he left the room. Once the door was closed, Fredrikremarked, “I could learn to like this style of living. I have neverseen an inn as plush as this one.”
“Don’t get too used to it,”Tedi taunted. “We are not very far from the Targa dungeons and wecould end up in them yet.”
“I think the tailoring tookmore than enough time for the word of our arrival to spread,” Arikannounced. “Let’s go down to the dining room and have Lord Wasonshow himself off.”
Fredrik preened himself in front of themirror, making sure his new, blue silk suit was not wrinkled or indisarray. Arik in his brown and gray breeches, white frilled shirtand brown leather vest waited at the door, as the Lord’s bodyguardshould, his hand on the hilt of his sword. Tedi was attired as aservant with brown and gray breeches and shirt. Fredrik gathered uphis straight, wooden walking stick, which was delicately carvedwith seashore scenes and topped with a small gold knob and walkedout the door. Arik stepped quickly to stay on Fredrik’s heels andTedi followed a distance behind.
As they stepped into the dining room,dozens of eyes turned their way. Fredrik asked for a table in thecorner as Kalina had instructed him. Not being in full view ofeveryone would ensure that people’s curiosity about who was seeingthe newcomer would be kept high. Fredrik sat fully in the cornerwith Arik on one side and Tedi on the other. A waiter came to takethe order and Fredrik suddenly felt ill prepared. He had nevereaten in so fine an establishment and the wrong choice of foodcould show him as an impostor.