Chapter 71: You Are Big
Harven did not leave right away.
He stood there for a moment with his jaw tight. Then he turned and walked.
He was walking towards the gate without looking back.
Reynold eyes were on him.
Then, just as Harven was reaching the gate, Reynold’s voice sounded across the yard.
"Harven."
Harven stopped but he did not turn.
"Take your servants with you," Reynold said. "Every single one you brought into this house."
Harven then turned slowly, his face was dark. "You can not be serious."
"Every servant you hired," Reynold said. "They leave with you and right now."
Harven stared at Reynold for a long moment as something ugly flashed in his face. Then he exhaled through his nose, and looked at the staff that had gathered around the yard.
Then he tightened his jaw.
The gateman was already standing a little to the side, looking at the scene. The guards that had been crawling were at one corners now. The maids that Harven had personally brought in were grouped near the passage door.
Harven looked at them.
"You heard him," he said through his teeth. "Pack what belongs to you. We are leaving."
He did not wait for them. He resume walking.
Reynold was still standing in and his eyes on Harven.
Then he heard the sound of Harven’s people leaving too.
Harven was now standing just beyond the gate now, far enough to be outside but close enough that his voice was loud.
"Reynold Starweaver."
Harven eyes were on Reynold now.
"You are just a boy," Harven said. "Having powers and being bonded to three dragons does not change that. You are still just a boy." He hold Reynold’s gaze. "I am coming back for you."
Reynold did not blink as he said. "If you come back here to make trouble for these people, you will not be walking out alive like you are doing right now."
Something moved through Harven’s face as he heard Reynold’s words.
He balled his fist.
"This is not over," he said. Then he turned and was gone.
The sound of his footsteps faded. Then there was nothing but the wind moving through the yard and the the storm clouds drifting apart above the rooftops.
Reynold stood there for a while then he turned to the Gift Mother.
She was not looking well at all.
Gift was crouched beside her, one hand holding hers. There were marks along the woman’s arms. A few of them were still bleeding a little.
Reynold walked toward them.
He stopped in front of her and crouched down. Then, gently, he hooked one arm under hers and helped her to stand.
The woman blinked. She looked at him with eyes that were trying to figure out if this was real.
She let Reynold help her.
Gift got up too and took her mother’s other side. Together, the two of them walked her inside the house.
The hallway was dim but warm.
The old servants were already inside. The ones who had been working here before the Starweaver family left for Terravelde City.
They had come inside, one by one, and now they stood in a loose group near the main hall entrance.
Some of them had their hands pressed together.
A few of the older women eyes were wet.
They all knew Reynold. When he used to run down this same hallway and get in trouble for it. When he would steal food from the kitchen and try to blame the cat.
Now he was taller than most of the men.
He walked past them with the Gift Mother’s arm across his shoulder and he did not say anything yet. He just walked her to the sitting room and helped her down onto the cushioned bench along the wall.
Gift rushed upstairs.
Then the woman sank on the chair and settled back and exhaled slowly, closing her eyes for just a moment.
Then she opened them and raised her hand.
Her fingers reached for Reynold’s face.
He did not move away. He let her touch him. Her palm was rough and dry. It pressed against his cheek and she looked at him like she was reading something written there.
"Reynold," she said softly.
"Yes," he said.
"You look so mature." Her voice broke a little. "So big and so grown." She shook her head slowly. "When did you grow up so fast, my boy?"
Reynold said nothing. He just stayed there and let her have the moment.
Then Gift came back into the room with the first aid box. She stopped when she saw them like that. Her mother’s hand on Reynold’s face.
Gift cleared her throat.
"Let me do it, Mama," she said quietly. She set the box down and sat beside her mother.
Reynold stood and stepped back.
He leaned against the wall with his arms crossed as Gift opened the box and started cleaning the wounds.
Reynold watched them both.
Before, the two of them had always been well kept. Clean and neat. Gift’s mother used to wear her hair pinned up with a small clip she was always fixing. Gift used to have this way of tying her headscarf so that it never came loose no matter how fast she moved.
Now they were both lean and looking unkempt.
Their clothes were worn at the elbows and the hems.. Her mother’s hair had more grey than Reynold remembered and it was untidy.
He thought about what it must have been for them.
He thought about what working under Harven’s hands must have looked like.
He pushed it down.
Gift pressed the ointment into one of the cuts on her mother’s arm and the woman winced but said nothing.
Reynold straightened.
"I’m going to look around the house," he said. "I’ll be back."
Gift’s mother looked up. "Will you be staying the night?"
"Two days," Reynold said. "That is the leave the academy gave me."
The woman nodded slowly. Something in her face relaxed just a little.
Gift shifted her eyes to him. She looked at him for a moment. "You really did grow up." The corner of her mouth moved. "You look big."
Reynold let out a short breath. Something close to a laugh. "Where is Alistair?"
Gift tilted her head toward the door. "He went to the market. He should be back soon."
Reynold nodded.
Alistair was Gift’s senior brother. The same age as Reynold. The first real friend Reynold had ever made in this house, before the family had to leave.
Reynold turned to the older servants who had gathered near the doorway.
"Go back to your work," he said. "I’ll be here two days. Before I leave, I’ll put someone in charge and make sure things are settled. You have nothing to worry about."
The servants looked at each other. Then they nodded, one after another, and quietly moved away.
Reynold turned and went upstairs.
He went to his father’s study room first.
The door was exactly as he remembered. Dark wood.. And the lock, a numbered one, the kind where you pressed the digits in the right order before it would open.
It look Harven never opened it.
Looking at it, there were small scratches around the lock face. Someone had tried more than once. But without knowing the numbers, it will not open.
Reynold stare for a while before he pressed the first set of numbers he remembered.
But it did not open.
He tried the second combination.
Still did not open.
Reynold stopped and stood there quietly as he think.
After thinking, he then press the third combination.
The lock turned and the door swung open immediately.
Dust.
The whole room was covered in dust. Cobwebs were hung at corners of the ceiling. A thin grey film covered the desk, the shelves, the window ledge.
Reynold stepped inside.
He left the door open behind him and walked to the shelf along the far wall. He was looking for something. He did not know what he was looking for. But he just need something that might help him read the coded letter from his father.
He ran his fingers along the spines on the shelf.
Then a book fell.
Reynold picked it up off the floor and opened it.
The first page had a list of names. Below each name was an address. Then a type, Store, Tavern, Warehouse. And beside each entry, a name of whoever was handling the operation.
Reynold read the first three entries.
Then he stopped.
He read them again as his throat was feeling strange.
These were Starweaver properties. Every single one of them. Stores and taverns and warehouses.
Dammit.
Reynold stared at the list, he did not even know something like this was for the Starweaver.
Reynold was still turning pages of the book when a knock came.
He did not even finish saying come in.
The door swung open.
"Oh man." The voice was low and breathless. "Oh man. Fu*k, man. So it’s actually true."
Reynold looked up.
Alistair was standing in the doorway. He was breathing like he had run all the way here. He stared at Reynold with his mouth slightly open.
Then he laughed. The kind that is really just shock with sound coming out.
Reynold put the book down and crossed the room.
Alistair shoved Reynold’s shoulder with both hands the way boys do when they don’t know how else to say they’re happy to see you. Reynold grabbed his arm and they did that half-grip, half-pull thing.
Alistair stepped back and looked at him properly.
"Holy hell," Alistair said. "You are massive. What are they feeding you at that academy?" He shook his head. "And your face. You used to look like a goat. Now you actually look like a person."
"You still talk too much," Reynold said.
Alistair grinned.
Then Reynold reached back and picked up the book from the desk.
"I need you to look at something," he said.
He opened it to the first page of the list and held it out.
Alistair looked down. His eyes moved across the entries. Then his brow pulled together.
"Do you know any of these places?" Reynold asked.
"Yeah." Alistair nodded slowly, still reading. "Yeah, I know a few of them. There’s a tavern on Coppergate. And there’s a grain store near the south docks. I’ve walked past them a hundred times." He looked up. "These are all Starweaver properties?"
"All of them," Reynold said. "They belong to my family."
Alistair went quiet for a moment.
"Alistair," Reynold said, "I need you to go to a few of these for me. Just look, don’t say anything. Don’t tell them who sent you. I just need to know who is actually running them right now and what kind of shape they’re in."
Alistair looked at the list again.
Then he looked at Reynold.
"Yeah," he said. "Yeah, I can do that."
.....
Back at the inn.
Valerius was standing at the center. Magnus was behind him. Sael, Elara, and Daven Power were still there. The three other dragon riders stood near their dragons.
The peace talk with the Forsaken Lords was today.
Valerius reached into his jacket and brought out a small glass vial. Inside it was a dark concoction, thin and slightly purple.
He hold it up.
"Drink this," he said. "All of you. It will link our minds together for the next twelve hours. We’ll be able to speak through the link without the Forsaken Lords hearing a single word."
"And this is safe?" Elara asked.
"Safer than walking into that meeting without it," Valerius said.
Sael took the vial first. She drank her portion and passed it along. Each person drank in turn without more argument.
The three dragon riders went first after that ad they climbed their dragons.
Magnus climbed up behind one of the riders, settling himself in.
Elara and Daven moved to the second dragon. Daven got on first and reached down for Elara’s hand. She took it.
Sael walked to the third dragon.
Valerius was right behind her.
His boot was on the mounting step when he paused.
Something made him look back.
Sable was at the top of the stairs of the inn. She was standing there, her hair loose, her arms at her sides.
She raised her hand in a small wave.
Valerius looked at her for a moment.
Then he nodded.
He climbed up.
The dragons moved.
Their wings spread wide and slow and then all at once the courtyard dropped away beneath them and the city shrank small below and the sky opened up in every direction.
Sable stood at the top of the stairs until the dragons were too small to see.
Then she turned and went back inside.