Riyan gestured for him to continue, so he launched into a summary of the events.
“Well, for starters, we ran into problems even before we got to Saran. Pirates had put in on the coast, a few hours ride north. They spotted us and gave chase… we barely managed to escape.”
“Oho? I wouldn’t imagine a few pirates would give you two any trouble with the Kalari arts I have taught you,” Riyan said, judging them. “I know I trained you better than to allow yourselves to be surrounded. Hmm. But they gave chase, did they? On Ash’va, I presume? I see. I haven’t taught you mounted warfare.”
Maiya nodded. “Right. We got really lucky. We would’ve been dead meat if Vir hadn’t had his throwing stones and chakrams. He managed to take down our pursuers with those.”
“Stones?” Riyan said, cocking a brow. “Why in Vera’s name would you—ah. A foolhardy attempt to conserve your chakris, I presume?”
Vir nodded. “We hadn’t even made it to Saran. I didn’t want to waste my ranged weapons there.”
“Understandable,” Riyan said. “And indeed, this is the fatal flaw of all thrown weapons. Chakrams are deadly, but disposable. And yet, failing to use them may very well have meant the deaths of you and your friend. A warrior knows when to use his tools.”
“Well, he did manage to take one of the pirates down with his stones,” Maiya said. “He’d even cut them, so they were super sharp.”
“I see. You used the stones at range, and then switched to your chakrams when the enemy drew close. A good strategy, all things considered.”
As always, the man could intuit the flow of an entire battle with just a few hints. Moreover, this was twice now that the man had complimented Vir. He wondered whether Yuma had possessed Riyan, filling him with her tenderness. Whatever it was, he wasn’t going to complain.
“Right. After the pirate encounter, things were pretty calm until we got to Saran,” he said. “We met a stranger on the highway into the city, but that’s when things took a turn for the worse.”
“Explain,” Riyan commanded.
Maiya picked up the narration. “This guy said he was a merchant. Came from Saran. Eyed us up and down, asked us a bunch of questions. Who we were, what we were doing. And then he turned around and headed back to the city after chatting us up. Vir and I both thought it was suspicious, but we got into the city and checked into our inn just fine. So, I kinda forgot about it.”
“Until the next day,” Vir continued. “We were out shopping for supplies when guards ambushed us. We fled into an alley but couldn’t get away.”
“My fault,” Maiya said, looking down at her feet. “I can’t jump and vault up rooftops like Vir can, so I ended up holding us back. We… we were captured and… they abused Vir because of it.” Tears began to well up in her eyes. “I—”
“They roughed me up,” Vir interrupted, squeezing her hand. “But it really wasn’t that bad. I was more worried about what would happen once they realized we weren’t Sawai aristocrats.”
Tanya scoffed. “You’re both lucky to be alive. Perhaps they took pity upon you since you were minors. People have been executed for less. At best, you could look forward to a life of hard labor.”
“That seemed to be our fate,” Vir said. “Until one of the local urchins broke us out. I didn’t know if we could trust them, but we didn’t have much of a choice.”
“Turned out they felt bad about setting us up,” Maiya said. “Well, that and they wanted to leech us for all the coin we had.”
“You were framed? By the merchant? Explain,” Riyan commanded, his hawkish features growing angry.
“Exactly,” Vir replied. “Seems he hired the urchins to dress up like us and go steal from a bunch of shops. The guards were out for blood, and there aren’t many Sawai brothers matching our description, so they caught us.”
“What then? What befell you after you escaped with the urchins?”
“The problem was Bumpy,” Maiya said. “They’d captured him too, so we had to break him out before we could escape. The urchins led us to a sailor, Old Man Bakura, who promised us safe passage if we put in a good word for him with our ‘parents.’ Still can’t believe he didn’t catch on that we weren’t ’ristos. Bakura was adamant that we’d get caught trying to escape the city gates with Bumpy.”
“And right he was,” Riyan said, stroking his beard. “Saran’s walls are manned at all hours. They would have closed the gate as soon as they learned of your jailbreak. He did you a service.”
Vir had wondered about that. The city gates had seemed so tempting. If they could’ve escaped there, they needn’t have entrusted their lives to the slaver. But it sounded like Bakura had been right after all.
Riyan didn’t look happy at this news, which came as a surprise to Vir. “I honestly thought this was another one of your tests. I thought you’d sent someone after us to throw a log into our plans,” Vir said. “Was that not the case?”
The big man slowly shook his head. “No. No it was not. This is quite concerning. I do not believe this mysterious stranger was associated with the pirates you ran into. I doubt they would’ve concocted a plan like this. Their approach is far more direct. Kill now, ask questions later. No… this person knew who you were. They knew you were in disguise from the outset.”
“You think he saw through our makeup?” Maiya asked. “You think he saw an opportunity and took it?”
“Perhaps. Perhaps not. Tanya and I will investigate this matter on our own. Do not concern yourselves any further. Tell me what happened next.”
“W-well, we boarded his ship with Bumpy,” Vir said. “I had to bribe Bakura to set sail since the authorities were after us.”
That got a laugh out of Riyan. “You were played, boy. If you’d been captured, that man would have been in just as much trouble as you! He never intended to stay. He saw a chance to grab some coin from an easy mark, and he took it. Just like those urchins.”
Vir had known that… but his desperation had overridden his good senses at the time. Besides, we still made out with four silvers and change, he thought. But would Riyan buy that? That was the question.
“Anyway,” he said, eager to move past that embarrassing moment. “We then set sail. I only found out a few hours later that we were riding onboard a slaving ship. The hold was full of demons, bound for the Pagan Order.”
He’d expected this to be a bombshell revelation, but neither Riyan nor Tanya reacted at all.
“Isn’t—aren’t you surprised? I freaked out so much. Thought we were going to be made into slaves too.”
“How could that happen?” Riyan said. “To the captain, you were Sawai. If he did such a thing to nobility, death by execution would be a kindness. Slave trade is not unusual in Hiranya. And demons are often used as such. It does not surprise me that the Pagan Order lunatics would pay to have slaves ferried there, only to butcher them themselves.”
In hindsight, Vir should’ve expected Riyan’s callousness. It irked him, but there was no point arguing the matter now. “Anyway, that’s about it. Bakura let us off at the coast as promised, and we made our way back from there.”
“And we managed to get the most important supplies you asked for, despite all that happened,” Maiya added.
“Yes, but not everything,” Riyan replied. “Regardless, it seems you two handled yourselves appropriately. I hope that you have learned some valuable lessons from this ordeal. Now, about the money… I hope you won’t pretend that you spent it all? With the amount of supplies you brought back, even with your bribes, you should have a good deal left over. Three or four silvers, I think?”
The Ghost of Godshollow’s stare bore down on them both.
Here goes, Vir thought, taking a deep breath.