Before he could approach the owner of the Pricosine, Daniel was called to the front by Skinsh ko Talush. He was awarded an honorary title that did not mean much to him. As soon as he could, he retreated to the back of the crowd, where he found a spot to sit. He had never felt so tired. He had not allowed himself sleep aboard the airship, almost feeling bad to discover when he had nodded off. He’d see to Clelem later-
“Daniel…” a soft voice said. Daniel recognised it without looking.
“Warlem.”
“You did the amazing, Daniel. The impossible. And with such style. I hate to trouble you, but I do need to speak with you,” said the young man.
There was an urgency in his voice that Daniel could not resist. He got up. “Okay. Where? Here?”
Warlem shook his head. “No. Too public.”
Daniel nodded. “Give me a moment.” He went to where Tomlin, Aldrick and the Skipper were standing, told them he was leaving quietly and returned to where Warlem was waiting.
They walked off, to a carriage, Daniel wondering what this would be all about.
39. Missing
As soon as they had entered the carriage, it started to move.
“You are not waiting for your father?” Daniel asked, somewhat without need but curious about the why.
“No. He doesn’t seem to care so much. Daniel, I am really sorry to inconvenience you like this, and when you hear the reason you have my permission to slap me in the face, or anywhere you prefer. We do need your help, though.” Warlem looked in the most pleading way Daniel had someone ever seen.
“Okay. What’s the problem?”
“My sister is gone.”
“Gone where?” Daniel was not sure this was a joke, but it had the makings of it. It couldn’t be one though. Warlem was not the kind of person to go for practical jokes.
“We don’t know. Four days ago she just disappeared. Not a word from her that she was going to do something like that, and also none of her things have been taken. We worry, Daniel, that someone abducted her.” No matter how sneering Warlem could act towards his sister, the man’s face showed serious worry now. “We are going to see my mother now. She too wants to ask you for your help, but I think it is good that you know this beforehand.”
“Your mother. At your house.”
“Yes.”
“And your father? He will either tear my heart out or throw me down the hill.” Daniel was not looking forward to a confrontation, even if he felt sorry for the man about his daughter. But Warlem’s remark…
“I think he would opt for both, Daniel, he is really mightily displeased about something,” Warlem shook his head. “If you feel like sleeping, please, go ahead. We’ll be there in a while. I’ll wake you up.”
“I’ll try. Just close my eyes for a second.” A second was all it took to make him fall asleep.
“Daniel?” It took Warlem some serious shaking to wake the man up. “I am truly sorry to wake you up already. We’ve arrived.”
“Yeah, that’s okay.” It wasn’t, but Daniel was not going to back out of this. A was said, so B was the logical next step.
They clambered out of the carriage and into the basket under the floater. Swiftly they were going up the hill, and Daniel felt a tweak in his heart over the airship that had done so miraculously well. He shivered, from the cold, the lack of sleep, from the tension of the past days that was still in him. A shower, food and a bed were on his mind, the last two not necessarily in that order.
The floater stopped. They got out, stepped into the reception building. Warlem grabbed a coat and offered it to Daniel. “You look cold.”
Daniel did not object; he was cold. He put on the coat and didn’t mind how it would smell after giving it back. He followed Warlem through the transparent tube and into the large hall with the fountain. The young man led him to a sunny terrace.
Ugidra, Clelem’s wife, was sitting there. As the two stepped onto the terrace, she got up. Her face was red, her eyes puffed up from crying. “Mr. Zacharias…”
“Warlem told me what appears to have happened, my lady,” Daniel said. He had trouble getting his head together and saying the right things. “I am sorry if I say dumb things, I am quite tired, but can you tell me what happened?”
Ugidra nodded. “I know. I understand. And I appreciate that you came to listen to me, very much.” She then offered him a chair and told him that Rayko had indeed disappeared without a word four days earlier. “She has never done that, Mr. Zacharias. The day before she had one of her arguments with her father before and she was very depressed after that, but-” Ugidra looked at Warlem “-that has happened before.”
“Regularly,” Warlem confirmed. “And that leaves me stuck with her goffeesh.”
“Golfdish?” Daniel asked, wondering if he had heard that right.
Warlem sort of nodded. “Her pet.”
Goldfish, Daniel thought, typically the pet for a stuck-up girl. “Warlem told me nothing of her things were taken as she left. Disappeared.”
“Indeed. She would never leave without some of her things.”
“And you have tried to contact her on the hydger, I assume?”
“Yes. Someone in the staff is trying to call her every hour, but no one has heard from her.”
So her hydger was responding. Maybe he could do something with that.
“Mother, do not forget the recordings,” Warlem reminded her.
Recordings? Daniel was surprised.
“Ah, yes, how foolish of me.” Ugidra reached for the oversized locket she was wearing and opened it. The left side was a display like Daniel’s device had, just smaller. She did a few things with the incredibly small controls on the right side and handed the locket to Daniel. “If you touch the left side, you will see what Warlem means.”
“We have one of the most amazing things in our house, Daniel,” Warlem said with some pride, “it is a device that can store moving images. There are not many of them.”
Daniel looked at the young poet for a moment and touched the left side of the locket. The small display came to life. It showed, in black and white, a view of a part of the garden, probably behind the house, and a door. The images were moving, be it not smooth. They looked jumpy, as if the recording had been made only a few images per second. For several seconds nothing happened, except shadows jumping. Then Daniel gasped. A cloaked figure, the cape wide and billowing in the wind, carefully moved towards the door. The person, whoever it was, fumbled with the door, then disappeared inside. The jumpy movie stopped.
“Can I see that again?” Daniel asked. He had seen it well, he just didn’t believe it. Warlem did something to the thing and Daniel watched the short movie again. As it ended he handed the locket back to Ugidra. “Do you have any idea who that is? And when this is recorded?”
She shook her head. “No one who has seen this-” she shook the locket “-knows who it might be. The recording is of the evening before we noticed Rayko gone. She was just… gone… the next morning.” Tears started rolling down her cheeks again, as the pain bit her again.
Daniel told them that this was the same person who had lured him to Maliser Park and stunned him, on the evening of the soiree. “I don’t know who it is either, but this person seems to hold a grudge against your husband, lady Dandra ko Galem.”
“Can you find my little girl for me, Mr. Zacharias? I will pay you anything. Grant you anything. As long as I have Rayko back.”
Daniel took in a deep breath. “I can’t promise anything, my lady, but I will do what I can.”
“Thank you, Mr. Zacharias, thank you, thank you. If you need funds, or anything, just let me know about it. I will transfer my hydger sign to your hydger; if there is anything I can assist you with, you must call on me. Day or night.” Ugidra and Daniel exchanged numbers on their hydgers. Warlem also told Daniel that he could call on him at any time. The poet was very concerned about his sister’s well-being, and wanted her back home again too.
