Unen and Irena reluctantly looked at each other. Vrba thrust his jaw forward. “Don’t worry, ladies. I’ll ask Klinack on your behalf. Mind waiting here while I do?”
“Th-Thank you very much.” Their grateful voices were perfectly timed.
✦ ✦ ✦
“HEY, Unen! What does that say?! What kind of store is it?!” Her eyes sparkling, Irena excitedly jabbed a finger toward a sign that had a drawing of a crab brandishing scissors.
“Archeka Barbershop,” Unen answered, reading off the shop name written above the crab.
“Interesting. I totally thought it was a store that had something to do with crabs.”
“Like one that serves crabs as food? Or one that serves them as an ingredient?”
“Food, obviously!”
Is that obvious? Mentally cocking her head in confusion, Unen procured a map from her pocket. Sissel had written up a simple city guide map before they left.
“I can’t believe I am presenting Lady Unen with a map drawn by me,” he had said, sounding terribly reluctant. But he had drawn a very easy to follow map with the city’s highlights and the major stores clustering the main streets.
Maps didn’t have to be especially detailed to be good. Nor were they necessarily better with more items written on them. A good map came from selecting the right information to record, based on the audience and what purpose it was intended for. Even Unen’s maps left out the geological features and vegetation in order to reproduce the topography as accurately as possible on parchment. Naturally, the information was left out only because the mapmaker Unen determined it to be unnecessary; she could easily include it if she felt the need to.
Irena peered at the map in Unen’s hand. “Say, Sir Turek, is it possible to visit the square where this market is being held?” Irena asked their accompanying imperial guard, who was maintaining a reasonable distance from the girls.
Ori and Mouru had chosen to stay at the castle when the girls were on their way out for a stroll through the city. “Don’t need to go because it’s not our first time to the capital” was their reason. Turek served as their bodyguard instead. He left behind his imperial armor to prevent attracting any fuss, but he still remained a reassuring ally as they made their way through the throngs of city dwellers due to his burly physique and stern face.
Turek led Unen and Irena around a corner off the main street. The narrow road wasn’t listed on the map, but it was the best shortcut to the market.
Irena’s exuberant voice echoed through the scarcely used alleyway, “What kinds of stands are set up at the market? What type of goods will be sold there? What’s popular?”
Unen followed behind Irena and Turek as she debated on whether to save Turek from Irena’s flood of questions.
Her face abruptly clouded as she remembered what Harabal had said in the guest room that morning. He wanted to speak with her while looking at the existing landscape from the castle turret’s rooftop. And he wanted to be alone with Unen.
From what she had gleaned from overhearing Harabal’s conversation with the king last night, he did acknowledge her surveying skills as genuine. Which begged the question—what exactly was it that he felt the need to discuss? Furthermore, climbing up to a confined turret rooftop to gaze at the land would provide absolutely no benefit to their conversation.
The quiet voice that had woven its way through the stillness of night replayed in Unen’s head. “The girl’s knowledge is the real thing. It will be dangerous to leave her to her own devices any longer.”
It can’t be that… Sinister thoughts sluggishly unfurled in her mind, like a snake awoken from its slumber in the sun. But the continuation of her premonition was forcefully cut off when her mouth was suddenly covered from behind.
Someone’s hand had stuffed a starched cloth into Unen’s mouth in a matter of seconds. She threw her hands out in a startled struggle, but the hand yanked the cloth lodged in her mouth backwards, jerking her head back with it and throwing her footing off balance. Another hand darted out to wrap around her waist, and she was dragged into a byroad.
Unen had screwed up—she’d fallen behind Irena and Turek because she had been lost in her thoughts. She tried to tear the cloth out of her mouth to let the two know of her dire predicament, but not only had her kidnappers tightly tied the cloth around the back of her head, they had wrenched both her arms down and pulled a bag over her head.
Someone lifted Unen, bag and all, off the ground.
Trying to struggle was impossible with the bag encasing her from head to toe. The best she could muster was contorting her body. And no matter how hard she tried to twist around, it was unlikely to affect the person who had lifted her off the ground with ease. The cloth gagging her mouth blocked out her screams, rendering them as nothing more than muffled moans.
Even so, Unen continued her desperate struggle and screams. She prayed that someone—it didn’t have to be Irena—would realize a kidnapping was taking place.
Just as she thought they had turned a second corner, something hard slammed into her body. Had the person carrying her suddenly come to a stop? Or had he accidentally hit her against something? Before she could think further, Unen was jolted forward a second time and rolled on top of something hard.
Right away, she heard several sets of jumbled footsteps and the piercing shrieks of steel grazing steel.
Now was her only chance. Unen feverishly thrashed her legs inside the confined space like her life depended on it. Feeling the wind at her feet, she used her entire body to gradually roll the bag up toward her head. Somehow, she managed to free herself from the bag using her feet.
Loosening the gag in her mouth, Unen looked up and saw a familiar broad back. Brandishing a sword, he stood protectively in front of her.