**

Chapter 41: Return To Khalm

**

“Little Aiden threatened you with death? I don’t believe it!” Laul chuckled.

Jaff had forgotten how annoying Laul’s laugh was. He sounded like a hyena choking on a bone. No, Jaff didn’t miss the man at all. Aiden was the only reason why he stopped by Laul’s store, but to his disappointment, the angry young man wasn’t there.

Jaff sat back in his chair, his arms twisted around his chest. “First of all, I don’t find his actions as amusing as you do. And second, Aiden is not ‘little’; not anymore.”

“The Aiden I remember wouldn’t hurt a spider,” Laul said, wiping his eyes dry with his shirt collar. “You must have stirred him up good fashion!”

Leaning back in his chair and shaking his head, Jaff wasn’t sure which one bothered him more; Laul’s laughter or the fact that he was right. The animosity he saw in Aiden’s eyes before he departed was unexpected. He was still rattled by it.

“No, I haven’t seen hide nor silver hair of that young man in months,” Laul said as he gathered his cup and saucer from the table. He carried the dishes over to a counter, the same counter Jaff would climb on as Quinn and watch Aiden work the store.

A pile of dark ashes resting in the fireplace evoked memories of his nephew reading stories by the light of a comfortable fire. His voice and laughter flowed ever so clearly in his mind as if he were right in the room.

The cap Aiden wore while making deliveries hung on a tack above the fireplace. Laul would never let him leave the store without it, partially for representation he told the young man. But little did Aiden know, Jaff had insisted to Laul that his silver hair be kept covered so no one would know of his lineage.

Jaff took the cap off the tack and stared at it. The head covering seemed much smaller than he remembered. Flipping it over revealed a piece of paper taped to the inside. A smile grew on his face as he looked it over. It was the list Aiden thought he had lost that day. He forgot he had it in his cap.

“Did you hear what I said?” came Laul’s pestering voice.

Jaff placed the cap back where he found it. “Maybe.”

“I was telling you how wonderful it was to know Aiden was alive. He didn’t do my tired old heart any good when he disappeared that night, you know.” Laul poured a beverage into his cup. “Care for some more tea?”

“Why won’t he try to understand?!” Jaff said, beating his fists repeatedly on the counter. “I was wrong! I admitted that! I’ll take my own life before I harm him again!”

“You can’t run your knife through someone then expect them to turn around and hug you, Jaff. I know I wouldn’t. I would cut you open and feed your insides to the dogs.”

That wasn’t the first time Jaff had heard Laul repeat that line. He told it to a customer who was three months behind on his grocery bill and a supplier who he accused of ripping him off. To Jaff’s knowledge, the round-bellied merchant had never made good on his threats.

And this was the man I trusted to raise Aiden!

If it weren’t for Laul’s late wife, Jaff would never have left baby Aiden with the man. Her name was Nadia and she couldn’t have a child of her own. She was the perfect candidate for a baby no one else wanted. It was a shame when an illness took her and then Aiden was stuck with Laul.

“Could you try to be a bit more understanding, Laul? For my sake??”

“Why don’t you change back into Quinn and get some work done around here?” Laul suggested. “You two left me quite short staffed when you took off.”

I’ll bet you were short-staffed. Aiden and I were your only workers. “You still owe us for some of the deliveries we made for you.”

“You’ve been away for months without a word of your return. I think you’re the one that owes me.”

There was no winning a conversation with Laul when money was the subject or sympathy for that matter. “Listen you, greedy jackal, just send word if you see Aiden around. I’m staying in Nabiil for now.”

“Should I tell him you’re looking for him?”

“Most certainly not.”

Jaff departed Laul’s store and looked over the place he once called home. Khalm was just as he remembered it; quiet and boring. The warmer weather encouraged more outdoor activities, but the person Jaff was looking for was nowhere to be found. Not surprising. Aiden could disappear and leave without him knowing he was ever around.

Still, he had hoped.

The familiar sound of propellers churning turned his attention upward. A chariot with Midaharian flags flew over the small town as it descended toward Nabiil. Jaff couldn’t remember the last time the emperor’s official means of transport graced the skies of Khalm. What business would he have in this part of the world?

“You want to hear a crazy rumor?” Laul asked, watching the chariot as well.

"What’s that?”

“Both the Taimoor and Lisador are dead and now some kind of evil magic has swallowed their kingdom’s capitals.”

“Evil magic?” Is Damnation really spreading??

*

All eyes were on it as the Midaharian chariot touched the ground. It wasn’t too often for Nabiil to be graced with officials from the kingdom. Much speculation preceded their unannounced arrival to the 'city of steam’. There wasn’t a person in the city who hadn’t heard the talk of unforeseen death and devastation across Midaharia.

Amid the crowds of onlookers, members of the local press gathered around the port, anxious to put an end to the rumor of Emperor Taimoor’s murder. After all, it was his chariot that landed. His strolling out of the port with his usual entourage of guards and generals would be enough to kill off the unconfirmed reports.

Silence fell over the people as the gates to the port gradually opened.

Solemnly, with long strides, tails of their red and black uniforms teased the pavement, three of the emperor’s five generals walked out of the port. Whispers and gasps accompanied them as people noticed the gold broken crown pinned to their chest. A gold broken crown was an indication that Midaharia was under military control and the throne was empty.

Ignoring the inquisitive reporters, the generals boarded a steam-powered wagon and rode off.

“I hadn't realized how much of a superstar you were here, Idris,” Isa said, wiping his glasses with a piece of cloth.

“You know not one of them’s here to see me,” Idris replied. “It’s the emperor they were expecting.”

“Yes, I know. I was only trying to lighten the mood," Isa said, looking over at General Badr. "Our friend has been much too quiet lately.”

“He’s been spooked senseless by a storm cloud.”

“You’d be hiding under your bed if you saw what I did, Idris!” Badr barked.

"Figured that would get a response from you," Idris grinned.

“There’s no question that something dire is unfolding around us, or else we wouldn’t be where we are,” Isa said.

The wagon rolled along the streets of Nabiil’s ever-expanding commercial district and came to a stop outside of its ‘Grand Hotel’. Rising over two hundred and forty feet above the city and boasting a panoramic view of the ocean, the hotel was a common resort for royals conducting both unofficial and official business.

And on this day the general’s business here was very official.

In the most modest royal dress, she could find, golden tiara glistening in the sun, Ahrman Queen Katherine stood tall, accompanied by her Royal Guard on the steps of the hotel.

“Gentlemen,” the queen said. “I hope your flight here wasn’t as turbulent as my own.”