The Elemental Jewels (Book 1) Read Free

underclass of the city.  He knew none of the people, saw none of their faces, yet felt a connection to them all, as the universal concerns of life – of every person’s life, including his own – poured out into the drainage way air for him to hear.  And then the words were gone, perhaps leaving some lasting impression on their listeners in the conversations.
    There was a furtive movement that Grange thought he saw out of the corner of his eye, a dark blur to his right.  He turned his head, but there was nothing in sight – no people, no patrolmen, no cats or rats.  He tried to reconstruct what he thought he had seen.  Something that had seemed to travel upward?  Had something scaled the wall of the building down the way, he wondered.  That seemed unlikely – inexplicable.  He shook his head, looked closely around himself for any other signs of movement, and slowly relaxed his vigilance.
    Time passed, and Grange decided he could count on safely emerging back into the city.  He cautiously walked back through the alleys and passages, crossed deserted side streets, and then strolled along the tow path of the little-used canal that carried mostly trash and debris as it passed beneath the bridge that was the first assigned meeting place.
    Garrel was inconspicuously waiting in the shadows, Grange was happy to see.  He strolled past his friend without seeming to notice, and then crossed the street and entered an alleyway, where he waited for Garrel to join him.
    “I thought they had you for a second!” Garrel said as soon as he stepped into the alley.  “I saw that big patrolman slap his paws on you and I thought you were on your way to the chain gang.”
    “I slipped away,” Grange brushed his friend’s concerns away.  “And then I just went to the ditch in the eastern quarter and waited for things to calm down.  What happened to you?”
    “Well, I had an easier time getting away, since I’m not as pale as the snow on the mountains,” Garrel jibed Grange.  It was true; Grange didn’t have the healthy golden hue of the rest of the people of the city of Fortune.  He was a lighter-skinned boy, his unknown parents having left him that detrimentally obvious legacy in addition to poverty and orphan-status.  Grange found it hard to blend into crowds; his light skin, high cheekbone, and light hair color all stood out, or made him appear to be a tourist from Southgar, but wearing concealing clothing and hats typically helped him avoid gaining a great deal of notice.
    “Have you seen Hockis?” Grange asked.
    “No, not a sign.  I just took off running.  Did you see which way he went?” Garrel replied.
    “Once I felt that hand on my shoulder I didn’t notice if the sun was in the sky!” Grange answered.  “I was only focused on making my escape.”
    “Let’s wait here a few minutes, then move on to the Chapel,” he suggested.
    Grange shrugged his agreement.
    “Did you get anything?” Garrel asked.
    “A few purses.  Nothing that feels too heavy,” Grange admitted mournfully.  “There wasn’t much time with the patrol showing up like they did.”
    Garrel grunted his agreement, and they lapsed into a comfortable silence until Garrel nodded his head.  “Let’s move on to Plan B,” he prompted, and they left the alley to skulk through the streets of the city.
    They skirted around the neighborhood of the great square to head to the other side.  Their predetermined meeting places were deliberately widely scattered, so that if trouble made one neighborhood unsuitable to meet, a far-off neighborhood would hopefully be calmer and better suited for them to gather together unimpeded.
    Several minutes later they walked along the curb of another dirty drainage ditch and came to a dark cubby in the back walls of the Chapel of the Living Flower, a great building that had been constructed around an ancient tree that always had bright yellow blossoms which were always open year round.  The tree was a