A Quarter Call Earlier

Why does this feel so familiar?

Clergy tossed the question around in his mind again and again. It just didn’t make sense. Why would fighting feel familiar here but not at the prison? Why didn’t he remember the plaza or the street. Why didn’t he remember anything!

“Hey!”

Clergy snapped out of his thoughts and the world suddenly came flooding back to him. The sharp breeze brushing against him as the wagon raced down the street. His heart pounding away in his ears. The scent of blood in the air.

“Hey!” Micah called to him again. He was crouched over the guard, holding a blood soaked cloth over the wound that made it hard to tell if it was still bleeding. Nitara was laid up in the back. She was sitting on the bench against the wagon’s edge, with her lame leg resting on top of a crate. Abel was steering them at a brisk pace down the road. He—

“Get that bandage changed and check if he’s still breathing! I don’t want him to die on the way to save his life!” Abel said as he turned his head to the rear, before quickly snapping back to the road.

“I know,” Micah called back. “I’m going! I’m going! Clergy!”

Clergy jumped. “W-what?”

“Come hold this down while I cut a new one,” Micah said, nodding down toward the wound.

That blood… Clergy thought. “Micah I—”

“I just need you for a second. I’ll be quick.”

Clergy looked back at the guard’s wound and sighed. His hands were trembling as they grasped the book in his lap. Why did I even take this? He thought to himself. He hadn’t even gotten a chance to open it yet, but there was… something in it though. Something important, or at least, something familiar. That sensation he’d felt in the archives was just like the visions he’d been having or the waves of people’s emotions. There had to be a connection.

In fact, the more Clergy thought about it, the more he realized there had to be a connection between all the weird stuff that had happened to him. Never mind nearly getting killed a few times, why was he having visions in the first place? Why was he in agony for one second than healed the next? He knew that wasn’t normal, even Amos knew that wasn’t normal. Answering that question was about the only real path he had to figuring out who he really was. Well, it was the only one he could think of that wasn’t also trying to kill him. He needed to know the truth and he would find out.

He stared at the crimson stains marring the cloth. All he had to do was get through this day. He was almost there. Just… get it together. “Ok,” Clergy said, before shuffling out of his seat.

Micah moved out of the way and let Clergy take his place. Blood gushed around his hands as he pressed down on the wound. Fuck. He held back a gag. I can’t let him die, Clergy thought. Just get it done. He closed his eyes and pressed down hard.

“P-Promise me…”

What? Clergy thought. What was that? He didn’t recognize the voice. It was so soft.

“Please…”

Who is that? He opened his eyes.

It was David.

He was lying in the dirt. Where’s the guard? David grabbed his arm. Where’s the wagon? Blood… oh god the blood. It was pouring from his chest. The cloth wasn’t enough. He needed more. He needed—

“Clergy!”

No!

David reached up and Clergy gasped then shuddered back.

“Whoa! It’s ok,” Micah said, coming over and giving Clergy a puzzled look. “I got it.”

Clergy turned toward Micah. “No I—” He turned back. David was gone. It was just the guard and the same wound as before. “But that’s—”

“It’s ok,” Micah said again, moving Clergy’s hand. “Thank you.” He quickly started tying a bundle of cloth to the guard’s wound by wrapping the rest of his cloak around his waist.

Clergy backed away. “Right…” He returned to the bench, picked up the book, and sat down.

“Micah,” Abel called back, motioning toward him while he gave Clergy a not so subtle look. It was somewhere between concern and contempt. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to know which it was right now. Though Clergy’s eavesdropping skills once again came in handy.

“We should send him back,” Abel said in a hushed tone once Micah got close.

“He’s fine,” Micah said. “Just a little shaken up.”

“And that’s fair,” Abel said, “but we’re bringing this guy to the clinic. That means filling out a violent incident report and that means being questioned. I don’t think he’s up for that right now.” He looked back toward Clergy who quickly darted his gaze away. “And he really needs to be.”

Micah paused on that for a moment.

“Stella’s isn’t far from here Micah.”

“Fine,” he said. “Back to Stella’s. I’ll tell him.

“And how to get back.”

Micah nodded but looked away. “Right.” He started heading back toward Clergy.

“Hey,” Micah said as he approached. “So listen, we… have some stuff we have to do for this guy at the clinic. It’s very hands on and to be honest I’m not sure if you’re up for it right now, so—”

“I get it,” Clergy cut in. “Back to Stella’s.”

Micah let out a sigh. “Right,” he said. “Here’s how you get there.” The directions were straightforward and easy to understand. After going over them a couple times in his head Clergy pretty much had them down. Soon Abel pulled the wagon over, and Micah politely but briskly escorted him off and sent him on his way. Not long after they were gone Clergy started to walk.

At first people were staring after he’d left such a dramatic scene, but eventually he slipped further away from the wagon and disappeared into the pedestrian tide.

— ~ —

It was tense inside Stella’s kitchen. The usually lively space was quiet, and the silence strained on those idling within.

Stella stood near the cold oven, wiping down one of the wooden countertops. Her hand swayed in rhythmic circles along the surface, without care or purpose. She glossed over the same spot again.

Clergy, on the other hand, was— fine, Clergy thought to himself. I’m fine. He was sitting at the table in the center of the room. His skin was still damp with sweat. His hands were clasped over the table. Trembling. Trembling. Stop! He clutched them together.

His heart was still pounding after seeing David like that. After barely getting out of this day alive. But it’s over now, Clergy thought. That clearly wasn’t real and I have to calm down. He took a deep breath to steady his nerves. Trembling. Trembling. He sucked his teeth.

“So Clergy.” It was Stella, approaching nervously from her place by the countertop. “You’ve been back a little while now, and I wanted to give you your space—”

She was being kind. Her face from earlier told Clergy that he must’ve come in looking like a mess.

“— but you still haven’t told me what happened. I understand some of the others went to the clinic, but I need to know more. Like why are you holding that?” She motioned down to the book he’d placed on the table and apparently never let go of.

He’d looked through the book on the way over here. It was a log of some kind with names, dates, and a shorthand he couldn’t decipher. Honestly, he could barely read it. The handwriting looked more like scratches than words, but he still couldn’t shake that feeling. He needed to keep it around.

“It’s… it’s really nothing,” Clergy said. “And I told you Abel, Micah, and Nitara are at the clinic. Micah said Ezra will be back on his own—”

Stella waved him off. “That’s great,” she said, “but I’m talking about Alvon, Clergy. What happened with Alvon?”

What do I say? Clergy thought. What do I even know? “We—”

The back door swung open. Ezra walked inside. He had his bow in his hand and the same outfit as when he’d left. A dark cloak draped over his leather armor and clothes, a beige tunic with brown pants.

“Ezra!” Stella said, jumping up at his entrance. “How did—”

“Not well,” Ezra said as he stalked over to the table and set his bow down. “Where’s Daniel?”

“He went to get the new reports on the investigation at the garrison. He should be back any minute. Why?”

Ezra sat down in the closest chair next to Clergy. “We need to talk.”

The back door swung open again. Abel and Micah came in together with Nitara as they helped her inside. Stella moved at once to pull up a pair of chairs close by, while the three of them made their way to the table. Once they’d sat Nitara down she kicked up her bad leg onto the other chair and nodded. Satisfied, Abel went to step away, but Stella spun around and grabbed his arm.

“Explain,” she said.

Abel groaned as his face sunk into a scowl. “We had bad information and ran into trouble.”

Stella looked into his face. “Fine,” she said after a moment. “You’ll give me the real explanation later. Where’s Alvon?”

“Why don’t you ask our peerless leader when he gets here,” Abel said. “It should be coming from him after all.”

Stella balked. “You don’t mean—”

“Sorry I’m interrupting,” Micah cut in. “But I just want to jot down what we talked about while it’s fresh on my mind.”

“Right yeah, go ahead,” Abel said.

Nitara raised her hand.

“And grab a paper and pencil for Nitara too.”

Micah nodded and rummaged through one of the shelves. He came back after a moment and handed Nitara her supplies, before sitting down with his own and writing.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Clergy peered over at them. What’re they—

“Ok, you didn’t answer my question Abel,” Stella said. “Why wait for Daniel to say something? He’s not here, you are, so let’s—”

“Then it looks like I timed my entrance well.” It was Daniel coming in through the cafe doors that lead to the front.

Stella looked over at him. “I had that locked,” she said.

“I know where you keep the keys,” Daniel replied, dangling them from his hand. Then he looked over at Abel. “And what exactly should I be telling the room?”

“Don’t be coy,” Abel said. “I know you’ve gotten reports on the scene. You must’ve been told what we already know.”

Daniel gave him a puzzled look as he stepped deeper into the room. “I’ve heard those reports and I still have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Abel scoffed. “That’s right. Of course you don’t. You’ve never known.”

“Known what?”

Abel slammed his hand down on the table. “That actions have consequences! Alvon is dead!”

The room fell silent after that. Stella gasped and brought a hand to her lips. Micah’s face wrinkled with regret, but the news froze the rest of the room.

“How do you know that?” Daniel asked. “He’s not one of the listed casualties or prisoners.”

Abel just scowled for a moment. “I have a source inside the garrison.”

Daniel gawked. “Who?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Abel said. “They said it plainly. ‘Alvon is dead. Don’t bother looking for him.’”

Daniel scoffed. “Well unless you’ve got more than an unnamed source I don’t know Alvon’s dead. So let’s—”

“There’s a lot you don’t know,” Abel snapped. “What’s in that damn archive is on the top of that list.”

“So,” Daniel said. “It wasn’t there.” He sighed.

“No,” Abel said. “It wasn’t.” He nodded over toward the table. “Tell him what was Micah.”

Micah let out a deep sigh before finishing jotting down his last thought. “There was no ledger,” he said, “but some of the footnotes in the extra books were… weird. Nitara found the same thing.”

Nitara finished writing then held up her sheet. “Some of them were just random passages talking about completely unrelated things. Others reference books that aren’t labeled using the same system as the archives. They look like journals or notes.”

Micah held up his sheet to read. “‘Subject three’, ‘Trials Ten-Fourteen’, very weird stuff,” he said. “Nitara and I compared what we remembered about the actual passages. We realized a lot of them seem to be talking about people. Things about their behavior and mood, really out of place in those books.”

“These almost seem like… tests of some kind,” Stella said, peering over Nitara’s shoulder. “But what would Gad even have to test?”

“So, in short,” Daniel cut in. “We have a piece of something we don’t understand, and information from a source we can’t trust—”

“And whatever he’s got there,” Ezra chimed in while he motioned over toward Clergy.

The room turned toward him. Oh shit.

“You never did explain what that was,” Stella said as her stare slipped a bit from concern to contempt.

“Hand it over,” Nitara said. “You’ve been weird with that ever since you got it in the archives. Time to spill.”

How could I even explain this? “Look, why don’t we—”

“Take it, Ezra”

In an instant Ezra shot up from his seat and threw a punch at Clergy.

Fuck! Clergy threw the book up to shield his face. Here it comes! Except it didn’t. What?

Ezra snatched the book from his hands just as he went to peek at him. A moment later he walked over and handed the book over to Nitara. Then he went back to his seat. His seat next to Clergy.

Are we really not gonna talk about this?

Nitara flipped open the book and started to read. Her face slowly went from stern to puzzled. “Abel,” she said. “Isn’t this?”

He walked up beside her and peered over her shoulder. “This is Leah’s handwriting,” he said. “And these are entry logs for patients coming into the clinic.”

Nitara scoffed. “It still amazes me that you can read that.”

“There’s… some structure to it,” Abel said, before peering down closer to the page. “If you squint at it hard enough.”

“I’m sorry but, Leah?” Micah asked. “What does she have to do with this?” He looked over at Clergy. “She’s the director of the city’s clinic.”

Clergy sighed. I don’t even have to think it anymore.

“I’m not sure,” Abel said, “but these records. They’re this month’s records.” He flipped through the book. “Look. The entries just stop after 5 days ago.”

“After we hit that prison,” Ezra said.

“But wasn’t the log book there when we came in?” Micah asked. “Why would they start a whole new log and hide the old one in the garrison archive?”

“I think I might know,” Abel said. “These last entries. She tried to cross it out, but they’re guards. Guards with cuts and bruises like they’d been in a fight.”

“Guards at the fight from that day. Guards from the fort,” Micah said.

Abel nodded. “She marked it as a violent incident report, which means she questioned them.”

“Why would she cross out the entry then hide the book?” Stella asked. “What is she trying to hide so desperately?”

“I don’t know,” Daniel said. “Let’s go ask her.”

“No,” Abel shot back. “No, you aren’t going anywhere, because you’re not in charge anymore.”

Daniel scoffed. “And you are?”

“Someone needs to be who gives a damn about the people whose lives he’s risking! We almost died for nothing in there!”

“And instead you found two credible leads! One we can use right now! I don’t see the problem!”

Micah slammed his hands down on the table. “Don’t see the problem?!” He spat. “You don’t see the problem?! Well, that’s no surprise since nobody seems to! Alvon is dead! That’s what Abel said, and we’re all talking around it like everyone here isn’t grateful that he’s gone!”

Nobody spoke. Nobody moved.

“Well I’m not!” Micah said. “No matter what you all think of him now Alvon used to be better. Until he ran into us. If there’s something wrong we did it. I did—”

Daniel walked over and put a hand on his shoulder. “We’re not even sure that he’s dead,” he said. “No matter what Abel believes—”

Micah swatted his hand away. “No you’re not getting it! Because like always you’re so caught up in the rush of your master plan that you can’t even listen!” He stood and met Daniel’s gaze. “We need someone in charge who doesn’t think of us as expendable, so long as your ambition is satisfied. We talked about it on the way back over here. You’re not in charge anymore.” A moment later though he backed away. “Because after the clinic Abel and I are leaving.”

Daniel groaned as he gave them a puzzled look. “And where are you going?”

“Well,” Abel said. “My source gave me one more piece of information.” He scowled as the next words left his mouth. “There’s an Arbiter in the city.”

That news pulled shock out of everyone’s face. Clergy’s most of all.

An Arbiter?! Clergy thought. They’re real. Arbiters are real. His mind shot back to his dream. And one’s coming after me.

“No,” Daniel said. “There’s no way your source could know something like that.”

“Believe it or not I trust it enough to take the threat seriously,” Abel said. “And I’m not the only one.”

“There haven’t been any signs.”

“No? What about Gad putting a third of the guard on his personal detail. What is he so paranoid about?”

“I’m talking about the real signs.” Daniel said. “The ones Saadya gave us when she warned us about them.” He waved his hand in the air. “There’s been no cases of impairment, no losses of speech, or endless sleeping.”

“There is one,” Micah said and the room turned to Clergy again.

Wait, wait, wait. “What’s he talking about?” Clergy asked. “What signs? You’ve all heard of Arbiters before?”

“And it sounds like you have too,” Nitara said. That caught the room’s attention.

Clergy sighed. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Try us,” Stella said, who’d walked around and taken a seat at the table.

Here we go. “When I first woke up I had a dream. In the dream some guy called an arbiter said he was hunting me down and he would find me.”

The room was silent after that.

Great, now they think I’m crazy. He squirmed beneath the group’s gaze. “It felt very real at the time.”

“Is it possible?” Micah asked the room. Its gazes naturally turned to Abel.

“I’m… I’m not sure,” he said. “But if an arbiter is involved… I wouldn’t rule anything out.”

“Then let’s be sure,” Daniel said. “Saadya would know.”

“And you’re going to ask her?” Nitara asked?

“Someone has to explain this mess to her, right?”

“Alright then,” Abel said. “Then it’s decided. We’ll go and ask Leah about these logs and then we’re parting ways.” He reached out his hand to Daniel. “You’ll bring Clergy to talk to Saadya and Micah and I will pursue our own leads.”

Daniel looked down at his hand. “It’s done.” He shook his hand.

The room waded into solemn acknowledgement, which is great, Clergy thought, except—

“Who is Saadya?” He asked aloud.

The rest of the group looked around at each other. “It’s probably best if she introduces herself,” Daniel said. “But she’s someone who can help.”

That explanation seemed to satisfy the moment. I’m not really satisfied.

“Ok,” Abel said, then he looked back at the table.

But I guess that’s all I’m gonna get.

“Nitara needs a splint and then we’ll head out.”

“Actually,” Micah said. “I think Ezra should stay here.”

Ezra looked at him. “Micah?”

“Don’t try to play this down,” Micah said. We were out on the streets too. Guards are out in force right now looking for archers. Looking for you. You need to wait until this cools off before you go anywhere.”

“You can’t—”

“He’s right,”Abel said. “It’s too dangerous for you right now.”

“Even I agree,” Daniel said. “The search right now is serious and people still remember Jibral. There’re still wise tales about a young archer being told in bars.” He gave Ezra a knowing look.

“You’re not as anonymous as you believe you are.”

Stella reached over and held his arm. “I could use the help, Ezra,” she said. “I was gonna open up later to make up for the business I lost from the riot. It’d make setting up easier with you around.”

Ezra looked at her then back to Micah. “I’ll stay,” he said at last.

“Well then can you get some extra rags?” Stella asked. “I want to get this place clean before we start up again. They’re in the front.”

Ezra nodded, got up, and left toward the cafe doors.

Abel pat Micah’s shoulder. “And we should get the supplies for this splint before we head out.”

“They’re on the shelf?” Micah asked.

“Upstairs,” Abel said. “Come on.” Pretty soon the room was cleared out save for Daniel, Stella, and Clergy.

After a moment Stella looked over at Daniel. “Are you really ok with this?”

Daniel chuckled at that. “So I get the probing, but Mr. mystery book gets out clean?”

Stella smirked. “He’s not unscathed,”she said. “He’s in the same boat as Abel.” She looked over at Clergy. “I expect the real explanation of what happened later.”

Clergy straightened up and nodded. Doesn’t feel like that was optional.

She turned back to Daniel. “But you didn’t answer my question,” she said. “Are you really ok with this?”

Daniel looked away and sighed. “At the end of the day,” he said. “This shit just needs to get done, and I really don’t care how it happens.” He looked back over at her. “Gad needs to die and all this,” he motioned around the room, “needs to end. Whatever it takes to make that happen is what I’m going to do.”

Stella gave him a look that was clearly concern. “Just be careful,” she said. “Your life isn’t worth your ambitions either.”

Daniel said nothing to that.

Soon everyone returned to the room, and began their various tasks. The kitchen was lively again, and for once Clergy knew what lay ahead. Answers. He needed those now more than ever.