The Unsuspecting Mage - Brian S. Pratt [107]
James nervously crosses the room, taking a seat in the chair as he looks around. He hears the door close behind him and glances back at the two guards taking up positions around the room while the man who had brought him there remains by the door.
He returns his attention to the man sitting across from him. Appearing to be middle aged with hair just beginning to grey about the temples the man holds an air of command the single scar running along his left jawbone doing little to diminish it. Reaching down to the floor beside him, the man brings up the hood containing the remaining boards. “You know about these?” he asks.
“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t,” James replies nervously.
“It would seem that the other night, four people died in a house not far from here. Two others were seen leaving that very same house around that time. Those same people were also observed to go and bury these in a refuse pile not too far from here. Interesting wouldn’t you say?” The man sits back in his chair and looks at the reaction his words are having on him.
James shifts nervously in his chair, eyes flicking from the man, to the boards and back again, but doesn’t say anything.
The man continues, “Now, we know that the people who died in the house were working under the orders of someone working on behalf of a Lord Colerain from Bearn, whether they knew it themselves or not. What we want to know is why Lord Colerain has an interest in you?”
“You’re not with the city guards?” James asks.
Laughing, the man replies, “If we were, you wouldn’t be here now would you?”
“No, I suppose not. Why this interest in me?” he asks.
“Anything of interest to Lord Colerain, interests us,” the man answers.
Gesturing to the boards, James asks, “What do you plan to do with those?”
“Probably throw them away,” he replies. “They were merely instrumental in gaining your attention. Now, why this interest in you?”
“I really don’t know,” James explains. “For some reason he’s been after me since Bearn. I was unfortunate enough to accidentally be on his estate several days ago. He saw me there and ever since has been trying to get hold of me.”
“So he is after you because you are a trespasser?” he asks with disbelief. “You don’t really expect me to believe that do you?”
“As far as I know, that is the reason,” James repeats emphatically. “I swear it!”
The guard who escorted James crosses over and whispers into the man’s ear. The man’s eyes widen slightly and then slowly nods. He sits back a moment and appears to be considering something. “I believe you.”
“Just who are you guys?” James asks, more confident now that it seems they mean him no harm.
“Who we are is no concern of yours,” the man says. “How did you manage to kill those men?”
“Me and my friend took them by surprise and killed them,” replies James.
“Hmmmm…” the man says, “doesn’t seem likely, but then again, they are dead and you are here. You can go,” he tells James. “Just be careful, Lord Colerain wants you in a bad way it would seem.” Motioning to the guard who brought James in, he says, “Orrin, see that James is escorted to the city gates.”
James gets up to go and suddenly realizes the man said his name. How does he know me?
“Yes, sir,” Orrin says then comes over to James and says, “Let’s go.”
Once they left the building, James asks Orrin, “Who was that?”
Orrin doesn’t offer a reply, simply escorts him down the road toward the gates into the city proper. He tries several times to engage Orrin in conversation but the man remains quiet, failing to respond to any of James’ questions or comments.
Just before they arrive at the gate, Orrin says, “This is where I leave you,” then abruptly turns about and returns back the way they had come without so much as a goodbye.
“Bye Orrin,” James says as Orrin goes down the road.
James enters through the gate and follows the now somewhat familiar street, through