The Shamer's Daughter - A Fanfiction

Chapter 14 - The Search

An entire day went by where Dina got to sleep. She needed plenty of it after the night she had had, and plenty she got. She heard Magnus and Nico discussing things in the rest of the house but she was too tired to care. She was only awake to eat and to use the chamber pot under the bed that Magnus made sure to empty for her. The following night, shortly after she had had her dinner and had just fallen back to sleep - Magnus came to shake her awake. He tried to be gentle, but his grip also told her he was in a hurry.

"Schh..." He whispered as soon as her eyes opened, so she wouldn't make a sound. "Quick, get under the mattress, we have company." He whispered very quietly and Dina could hear the footsteps marching around outside his house. Her heart pounded while she fought her way out of the sheets, her body still weak. Mr Magnus lifted the mattress for her and pushed the necessary boards to the side so she could climb into the bed. He did it so quickly, that he got multiple splinters in his fingers, but he had no time to think about it.

"Get down!" He whispered slightly more desperately as there was an insisting knock on the door. "No matter what happens; don't make a sound!" He said just as he let the mattress fall back into place on top of her and her little room turned completely dark. There was only just enough room for her and she couldn't move much. Hopefully she wouldn't have to be there for long. She felt the boards give in a little, as Magnus had taken her place in the messy bed. And just as he pulled the covers to his chin, the door was kicked in and 4 armed soldiers stormed into the room.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Magnus shouted and got back out of the bed as soon as they had seen him. "What are you breaking down my door for and at this time of day?"

"It's not that late, old man." A cold voice said from the kitchen, but Dina didn't recognise it. Without any orders, the three other men started pulling down jars and books from shelves and drawers. Every chest and cupboard was opened. Every chest. It wouldn't be long before they reached the wood bin that had been Nico's bed for the past days. It was such an obvious place! Dina felt sure he would get caught, but minutes went by without her hearing anything other than Magnus complaining about how many things they were smashing and breaking. A large crash deafened his voice for a second and then he started yelling even louder.

"No! Careful! Hold your breath - everybody out!" Mr Magnus started chasing them out of the room, but they all resisted. "I'm telling you, leave this room if you hold your life dear!" And then he hurried out the door and frightened enough by his reaction, the soldiers all followed. All except one.

"Wait!" He shouted and his men turned around, though they stayed outside the door. He took a couple of deep breaths and Dina wondered if she should get out herself, because it did smell odd and suspicious and her eyes started to itch. But Magnus had told her to stay still no matter what, and so she did. The soldier, who happened to be the biggest of them, took three quick steps and then grabbed Magnus's shirt collar. He slammed him against the wall with no regard for the people on the street who could now see them on the porch.

"That's enough old man, I'm sick of your tricks! Where is he?!" He spit through clenched teeth and Magnus held up his hands worried if he was going to hit him.

"Release him." A voice said that made Magnus freeze and Dina gasp even though she was trying to hold her breath. It was the voice of Lord Drakan. Dina's little compartment suddenly felt even smaller and she momentarily thought of stories about people who had been buried alive, but pushed the thought away and worried about the more current issue. Drakan stepped up onto the porch and closer to Magnus who now wasn't pressed against the wall by anyone but himself.

"Now." Drakan said while he looked through the open door and then turned his gaze to Magnus and his scared expression. "Where is he?" He spoke very slowly, but he was far from dead as they had all believed. "I know he's here." He added when Magnus didn't answer right away. "Why else would you pull a trick like that? There are no other gasses here than a small amount of ammonia and you know that as well as I." That must have been what the first guard had realised when he wanted the rest to stop their flight.

"Common mistake." Magnus just said, bur Drakan didn't buy it. Too common a mistake for someone as experienced as Mr Magnus to be wrong about it.

"Fools! Letting yourself scare by something that is found in every pigsty. Keep looking!" Drakan partly yelled though it didn't take more than a look to make his soldiers go back in.

"Why would I help a murderer?" Magnus said as they went back in, trying another way seeing as his diversion only made them more suspicious. "We were enemies even before his crime, why would we turn friends now?" Drakan only laughed bitterly.

"You were never enemies Magnus. He was always your favourite, even when you taught the both of us, and we both know I was the better student."

"He's not here my lord." A guard announced as he emerged back from the house. "We've searched everywhere." Dina held her breath again even though she now knew it had only been ammonia. Could they really be that stupid? Not to look in the wood bin? But she knew they weren't. Drakan was both a wise and smart man.

"He must be here - why else would he pretend it was poison in the air?" Drakan spoke more to himself than to Mr Magnus, but this time he answered.

"For a moment, I thought it was chlorine." He said. "A common and honest mistake, that's all."

"Mistake?" Drakan had now turned to the alchemist again and was snaring right into his face. He sounded more like a snake than a human when he spoke. "If there is ever a day where you can't tell the difference between ammonia and chlorine - it will be the day you have stopped breathing. But watch out, old man, that day may come sooner than you'd expect." He pulled away and spoke to everyone, including the small crowd that had gathered on the street to watch the arrest of Dunark's murderer. "A new order is born, and it will not tolerate traitors!" He called back his soldiers and Dina heard the marching steps leave the house. She couldn't believe it! They had come and gone without finding them!

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