GiulianOnTheScentGiulian still couldn't quite believe he was about to have an interview with Elissa's grandfather. He peered out the window of the hackney; dusk was settling over Aquila's streets. Earl had assured him that he knew the address, and Giulian felt he had reason to trust the driver whom he knew to be Elissa's friend. Still, he kept an intermittent eye on where they were going as they wended their way deep into the lower city. Giulian hadn't been sure what he'd find when, taking a chance that the "Tonio" who'd kidnapped Elissa was the same one who had betrayed her father years ago, he set out to discover if any Chathams remained who would take Elissa's part. It was the only way he could think of to find out where she was being held without -- he hoped -- alerting her captor ... to make an end run around Tonio's probable expectations. He'd started with one of his best informants: Jimmy, a carpenter he'd originally hired to help refurbish the Thieves Den. Jimmy was diligent and a skilled worker, but his grey hairs and the fact that he was hard of hearing made it difficult for him to find employment. Giulian was more than willing to put up with Jimmy's partial deafness, and considered his age an asset when it came to gleaning information about former conditions in the lower city. He'd soon found that Jimmy had other advantages as an informant. Because of his deafness, people tended to talk carelessly around Jimmy, not realizing that he could read lips. So Jimmy knew a good bit more about people's doings than they thought he did, and being treated with respect and generosity made him more than willing to cooperate with "Mister Jules." But when Jimmy allowed as he "knew someone as might know someone" who knew the Chathams, Giulian had allowed him to set up a meeting with the "someone" without dreaming of the result. "Rodman Chatham is alive?" was his first astonished reaction to the news Jimmy's friend gave him. Elissa had spoken of her grandfather with affection, but also with the type of nostalgia that led Giulian to assume that the old man was years dead. Not a bit of it, said the wiry little man sitting across from Giulian in a dim tavern in a back street. Yes, he knew where to find him. Yes, he'd take a message. And in short order a message had returned saying that Rodman Chatham would speak to Giulian, and giving a time and place. The time was now, and here was the place. Earl drew to a halt before a tall, narrow brownstone building, shabby but not falling down by any means. Giulian sat up and reached for his crutches. Being considerate of Mister Giulian's situation and the meeting he was having, Earl clambered down from the box of the coach and went to the front door and rapped his knuckles against it. The door opened to reveal a servant girl in simple, but well kept clothes as she looked at Earl and then beyond at the gentleman in the carriage. "Hello, Lucy miss. I'm delivering Mister Giulian here as requested by Mister Rodman," Earl said, doffing his cap and giving her a bow and a smile. "Oh aye. Aye. Mister Rodman was expecting a young chap to visit him. News of Miss 'Lissa," Lucy said. She waved toward Giulian to come to the house. "Come in. Come in. Be welcome." Giulian had meanwhile got himself out of the hackney and up to the front door. He was dressed neatly but anonymously, in a dark suit rather than Anderon colors. "Thank you, Miss," he said to Lucy; then, turning to the driver, he asked, "Earl, can you wait? I don't know how long I'll be..." "I wouldn't even think of leaving a fella like you alone around here. Miss Lucy will take me in for a spot of tea, right my dear?" Earl said with a grin. Lucy shook her head and swatted him on the arm. "You know yer way to the kitchen. I'll meet you there." She smiled at the young lord and nodded. "Let me show you to the sitting room. Would you like a pot of tea and some treats?" "That would be very kind of you," responded Giulian, a smile lightening somewhat the gravity of his expression, though it didn't manage to chase the shadows of worry from his eyes as he followed the maid into the house. "Here you are. Go on in there and find a cozy spot. Mister Rod will be on his way down. Creaky bones and all that, takes him a while." Giulian nodded. "I understand." "I'll be back with the tea," she said as she reached a door and waved him through. Giulian stepped through the door Lucy indicated, and looked around the room before choosing a seat. Another door opened to reveal an older man leaning on a cane, dressed in simple, but expensive-looking clothes, and a full head of silver-white hair. Elissa's eyes looked at Giulian from the lined face. He shuffled forward, using the cane to support his right side as he made his way to the chair. He looked at Giulian carefully, glanced at the crutches, and back at the young man. "Hmm. So, you're the young nob fella who's been seen with my girl? Something I'm sure your father is none too happy with," Rodman said as he settled into another chair. Giulian was about to reply to this when something else struck him. His eyes widened, and the sharp intake of his breath brought the aroma to him even more strongly. He blurted, "Peppermint! I remember--" Rodman smiled at the outburst and raised an eyebrow. Giulian shut his mouth, blinked, then went on in a more subdued tone, "I beg your pardon, sir. It's just that ... Elissa said one of the things she remembered about you was, well, the smell of peppermint. And yes, I'm Giulian Anderon." "Don't mind at all. I am amazed she remembered that long ago. I keep them in my pocket." He moved his hand to his shirt pocket and pulled out a couple of the hard candy treats. "I also use it in an oil for my arthritis. Supposedly it helps cool down my muscles." Rodman gave a shrug of his shoulders at that one. "I know who you are, young fellow. As I know who your father is. He knew my work long ago. Rather amazed at my girl for choosing you, considering her background and all." "Sometimes it amazes me too, sir," responded Giulian. "Hmm. Nice simple answer from you, young fella." Rodman gently swung his cane against Giulian's legs. "I'm rather amazed you accepted her into yer life. Not to mention yer bed. You will not make one of those low-base women outta her. We have an understanding? You do right by her or you'll answer to me!" Giulian's eyes sparked as he faced the old man. "I don't intend to 'make' Elissa anything. What's between her and me is ... between us." His voice lowered as he went on, "I suppose I can't blame you for being suspicious of the intentions of anyone bearing the name of 'Anderon.'" Rodman, he reflected, was of an age to have been a contemporary of the old Lord Anderon. Although Giulian's late and on the whole unlamented grandfather had died before Giulian was born, he'd certainly heard stories about him -- and even worse ones about Delan's elder brother, Drostin. "Let me assure you I'm my father's son, if I'm anything... and he also had the experience of finding love in an unexpected quarter." "Now that that is settled." Rodman leaned back. "What did you want to speak with me about? My girl doing all right? She not hurt?" "That's what I wanted to speak with you about." Giulian reached into his breast pocket and brought out Tonio's letter. He extended it to Rodman. "I need your help, sir." Glancing at the letter, Rodman pulled out a small pair of spectacles and placed them on his nose. He took the letter and opened it. His eyes narrowed and the line of his mouth hardened. "Damn him. Damn that man and curse him to hell," he said vehemently. He looked at Giulian. "How did he get his hands on her?" "I can't be sure, but I suppose she must have been taken off guard the night of the riots -- while she was helping us rescue Renata Tremontaine." Giulian briefly explained the circumstances of the rescue, and Elissa's role in it. "I don't know... maybe I should have waited for her, but we had wounded, and... I don't know," Giulian repeated. "Maybe it wouldn't have helped. And I trusted... Elissa's always been able to take care of herself." "That she has. She's a Chatham. We are trained to take care of ourselves and rely on no other. Another reason I'm amazed she chose to be with someone. Perhaps, she wants to care for you, instead of just herself. Be strong," Rodman said, his eyes deliberately moved to the crutches and back to Giulian, "when you cannot." But she's never made me feel that, thought Giulian ... even though she'd first appeared to him as a rescuer. To Rodman he said, "I don't think either of us has ever underestimated the other." "No, she has learned to see beyond surface value of things and people. Far better than I ever have." Rodman shrugged one shoulder. "Perhaps because of her nature." He tapped the letter against his leg a few times. "Have you received any other news concerning her? From your father, perhaps?" Giulian shook his head. "No, nothing. Father is ... rather busy, right now. And I'm not sure I want him to know -- at least, not till Elissa's back." He frowned. "Anyway, ten to one that's where Tonio will expect me to go for help. I'm hoping he doesn't realize I know about you." "No need to worry about that one. The idiot doesn't know that I am still alive." Rodman smiled; a twinkle lit up his eyes in a similar fashion to Elissa's when she got onto an idea or thought. "Not many people know about me. Safer for Elissa. At least I thought it would be safer for her. Well, now, let's see where that idiot is staying. I put it around here," he said, rising to his feet and shuffling to one of the shelves. He pulled out a couple of journals and glanced through a couple of pages. "If I know where she's being held," said Giulian, sitting up alertly, "I have friends who are ready to help..." "Right, everyone go in all one fell swoop to someone who is prepared for that type of attack and knows a bit more than you," Rodman said. "I hope we'd come up with a better plan than that," said Giulian. "Do you have any suggestions, sir?" "With Tonio? The main thing is to be cautious with him. While he has one plan going, there is always another one brewing. He may have gone one way with you, but at the same time is going another way," Rodman said as he shuffled back to the chair with a pair of journals in his hand. "He knows all about Elissa's skills and talents. He would find ways to overcome them, to balance them, and keep her immobile. I would not put it past him that he would harm her if it came to it." "So he's not making empty threats," said Giulian, his expression at once somber and dangerous as he gestured toward the letter. "No, he would not make an empty threat. He sees her as a way to rise above his situation. Using her will make him powerful. Using the son and heir of a noble family, of Anderon, no less, would be even more worthwhile." "Instead of rising by his own efforts, the way Elissa has," Giulian said bitterly. His face hardened. "But he'll find it's not so easy." "No, it will not be easy. Not for him. Not for Elissa. Not for you. He will not let her go without a fight. And a fight I know my girl will give him. She just needs an edge, an opening of the restraints he must have on her, for her to get the edge and slip away." Giulian's eyes narrowed, thinking. "So the best way would be not a direct attack, but a distraction of some sort. That's just as well," he added ruefully, "since the best swordsman of my acquaintance is on the injured list at the moment." "That would most likely be the best course of action, young one. Distract Tonio and whomever he has guarding her away, give her time to slip away." One corner of Giulian's mouth curled up slightly. "I see we think alike, sir ... at least in some ways. In any case, right now I need information. Not only where Tonio is, where he's holding Elissa ... but what other fingers he may have in other pies. And therefore, what sort of fire in the kitchen would set him and his associates scurrying." "Then you will have to go through this, young one," Rodman said, leaning forward and held out one of the journals. "In here is whatever information I have gathered on Tonio. Perhaps, it will come into better use in your hands as well as your father's. Perhaps as a cover for some of Elissa's escapades that someone should pay for." Giulian took the book into his hands as if he were being given possession of a holy relic. "Thank you, sir!" The first glimmering of a smile lit his face as he looked up at Rodman. "Elissa would tell you that there's nothing I'd rather get my hands on than a primary source. As for using this information... I swear it won't be to harm either you or Elissa." "If I thought otherwise, I would not be giving you that journal. There are others as well, that could help in a search, perhaps place a different light on certain events. If this one helps and does not harm Elissa, but places enough harm on Tonio, then you are welcome to come back and peruse my private library," Rodman said. "And, no, young man, my girl would not tell me. I am not here to her. For her safety and freedom." "So you'd rather I not tell her that I've seen you," Giulian guessed. "I'm sorry for that. I think she would like to know." "That is the world we live in. I do not want her hurt because I am still living. I have supported and loved her throughout her life. But, for her to keep her life, I must remain in the shadows. Until things change," Rodman said and shrugged. "Now, you must go and do what I cannot. You must go save her. This time, from more than just herself and her past." "I will," said Giulian with conviction, tucking the small journal into an inner pocket. "Thank you again, sir. Perhaps ... things will change sooner than you think." "Perhaps. Until then, I will be keeping my eye on you. Make sure you treat my girl well." Rodman smiled as he pushed himself to his feet. Giulian rose also, at the same time reaching for his crutches. "I will have my contacts start looking into the whereabouts of Tonio. If they find something, I'll send you a note through our mutual acquaintances. They'll be there if you need a hand." He held out his hand to the young nobleman. "Find her. Take care of her. She needs care more than she realizes. It was a pleasure to meet you, Lord Giulian." "A pleasure to meet you, too, Mr. Chatham," responded Giulian, clasping the old man's hand firmly. "May I say I'd like to repeat it someday ... in happier times?" |
