Lora of Two Worlds

Felix and Roland had been running all evening and hadn’t eaten supper, so they sat at Leon’s table, eating and talking at once.

Before they knew it, the hour was past midnight.

In the morning Felix would have to chase down the trail of those crates, and Roland had to speak to his father about moving troops.

Leon had come to Lohenheim and was staying at the Grand Princess’s mansion, the thing was kept quiet, but the Count of Odenheim knew of it, and whatever word Leon had got, the Count would weigh it well.

The three rose. They watched Leon take a few steps, and Felix grinned:

”You weren’t shining me on, good, you can walk. The day you got out of the carriage in that wheelchair, you scared us half to death. Don’t worry, I’ve told the servants to keep away from this court. It’s the quietest spot here. Nobody will know your secret.”

”Quiet on this side of the wall, sure. The other side is another story.”

Leon had only said it offhand, but Roland was thrown: ”The other side? From here, that’s our rose garden and my sister’s Riverside Lodge. Is it loud? I don’t hear it. Are you royal ears just too delicate?”

”What’s ’royal’ got to do with it? When Lora was little she took a slingshot to the glazed tiles on my mother’s roof, and nobody told her to keep it down. The man’s just fussy, ignore him.” Felix tugged Roland toward the gate, leaving Leon standing there stunned:

What did I even say? Your sister’s above criticism now?

Roland had one foot over the threshold when Lyle came running in from the courtyard gate: ”Master Roland, something’s up next door. I was up in the tree and I saw the Odenheim young lady leave the mansion, following a maid carrying a waste bucket.”

”My sister? This time of night, following a waste cart... Was anyone with her? Why didn’t you go after her?”

Roland was already moving, legs outpacing his questions, heading for the old apple tree. Felix grabbed his arm:

”The postern gate is faster. I’m coming with you.”

”No, if I’ve guessed right, what my little cousin stumbled on has to do with whoever pushed her into the river. I’ll go with Roland. You go back to the sheriff’s hall and bring men. Lyle can meet you and guide you back. If it’s the Yorvik Liaison Office, screw it, raid the place!”

Leon was already following, the ache in his legs be damned.

Lyle nodded: ”The young lady has a lad with her. But that hidden guard I spotted in the daytime, I don’t think he’s with her.”

Felix didn’t waste another word. He turned and headed for the front gate.

The waste carts of Lohenheim came by every night after midnight, going door to door. They hauled the waste to the outskirts, worked it into fertilizer, and sold it to the farms round about.

It wasn’t a trade just anyone could get into, every cart was registered at the sheriff’s hall. Though the city no longer kept curfew, the gates still locked at sundown. The only things allowed out after dark were the waste carts.

The Count’s mansion was no different. At lights-out every gate was bolted, and the only one opened through the night was the postern where the waste went out.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Riverside Lodge normally put out two buckets. Tonight, somehow, there was an extra half-bucket, and the lads on waste duty were in a bind:

Waking someone else up in the dead of night, who was going to thank them for that?

The best move was to get the deaf-mute lad from the colonnade watch. One trip took maybe a quarter hour tops. The young lady would never notice.

The two lads were just about to go and call him when they saw someone coming.

It was Aprille.

Aprille heard them out and offered to carry the extra half-bucket herself. A head maid, doing filthy work like this, the lads thanked her to the skies.

Hiding behind a pillar, Lora finally put it together, what Aprille had been doing in the privy earlier:

That extra half-bucket was her ticket out of the mansion.

Lora waved her white handkerchief and called Shawn down from the tree. Norton had never seen Shawn before and was a little startled by him.

”Shawn, get ahead of them to the postern gate. Tell the guard: whatever Aprille tries to do, let her through. Then find Alvin and tell him: Aprille had to be one of the people who knew what happened yesterday.”

Shawn hesitated and said low: ”I’ll have someone else carry word to Master Alvin. I’m waiting for you at the postern.”

Lora nodded and looked at Norton: ”You stay with me. It’s dangerous out there. When we reach the gate, you turn back.”

Norton’s head shook like a tavern sign in a gale. This was the first time he had ever hated being deaf, but he still had his eyes, and he was going to keep them on his lady and not let anything happen to her.

Norton knew the grounds inside and out. He led Lora through the paths in the rose garden, and they quickly caught up to Aprille and her waste bucket.

They weren’t the only ones at the postern. Eight or nine people were already lined up outside. When the lads saw an extra maid from Riverside Lodge, they started muttering and elbowing each other, grinning.

Aprille set her bucket down. The two lads, who could hardly stand there and make her wait for the empties, bowed and thanked her, and she took the chance to excuse herself and slip into the shadows.

When no one was looking, she didn’t go back through the gate. She ran, straight down the wall’s shadow toward the quarter gate, without a moment’s hesitation.

Lora, Norton, and Shawn all went after her. Past Goodspring Quarter, the Royal Avenue opened wide before them. The street was empty. Aprille was running in a panic and wasn’t hard to follow.

She passed the Dunbar family ward without going in, and Lora said to herself: So it’s not Dorothy Dunbar. Then it’s to be the Yorvik Liaison Office.

At the crossroads, Lora noticed Shawn mark a corner of a wall.

The strange thing was, Aprille was heading straight for the South Market.

”Where’s she going? Is she not heading for the Yorvik Liaison Office?” Lora didn’t know the streets and, seeing Aprille pull far ahead, couldn’t help asking Shawn.

”She’s already passed the Liaison Office. Looks like she’s going to the South Market, no, to the quarter behind it. The one they call the Stews.”

”The Stews? What kind of place is that?”

”It’s... where the brothels are. Outside the pleasure barges on the Loene, it’s the only part of Lohenheim that stays lit till dawn.”

Sure enough, the road ahead grew brighter and brighter as Aprille turned into the Stews.

Back in Empress Matilda’s day, this quarter had been thick with eastern merchants come to trade in Lohenheim. The houses here were built with a foreign, sultry look that set them apart.

Now, strung with horn lanterns of every color, their open windows showed glimpses of clinking cups, the twang of lutes and reeds, and troubadours singing love ballads, a dazzle of silk and light that left you dizzy.

Lora’s heart pounded as she took it in: Mom and Dad spent their whole lives studying the medieval world. If they could see the Empire at its wildest, in living color...

But she had no time for awe. She was looking every which way for Aprille when a departing carriage blocked their view for a moment, and Aprille was gone.

Two tavern-stewhouses stood before her, one on the left and one on the right. Norton pointed at the left-hand one, the The Gilded Lily, and made signs:

I didn’t see her go into the right one. She’s in I for sure.

Shawn signaled them to stop: ”My lady, wait outside. The lords should be here any moment. I’ll get up on the roof and try to spot which room she went into.”

He turned to Norton: ”Norton, you don’t leave her side for one second. Anybody messes with her, you beat them dead.”

He had seen Norton’s fighting in the barracks. A handful of pimps and brawlers would be nothing.

Just as Shawn climbed the gable wall and pulled himself onto the The Gilded Lily roof, in a lavishly furnished chamber within, a hand cracked hard across Aprille’s face:

”You slut of a servant! You swore no one knew, and you dare lead Odenheim men to my door!”