did you call me?”
“When I was on the boat that time-”
“Ship.”
She laughed. “Yes. On the ship. In the wall I found a loose board or so, and behind it I found a lot of small packages. I took one and when I was back home, I found someone who could tell me what it contained.”
“Drugs,” Daniel knew.
“Yes. I showed them to my… father.”
Daniel stopped dead in his tracks. “Oh no. Tell me you didn’t.”
Rayko stopped also, Kernak did too. “I did. I said I had found the drugs and asked him why they were on the ship. He said it was none of my business and I should stop bothering him about it.”
“That was it?” Daniel could not believe that. Not after what he had learnt about that man.
Rayko hesitated and started walking again. Daniel joined her, as did the Kotrvayk. “No. He told me something more then. He told me that he had contact with that pirate, Birkle something. And he had told that pirate not to attack the ship on that voyage because I was on board.”
Again Daniel was tempted to stand still. “He did that? And he told you? Why didn’t you tell someone? You could have told me.”
“Who would have believed me? You? Would you even have taken the time to listen to me? We did not exactly part as the best of friends at the soiree, Daniel.”
He had to agree with that.
“And my… father was powerful. He threatened me. He said I would get into serious problems if I were to tell anyone about this. I knew I would. Well… you know.”
“Now there is a threat to seriously be scared of,” Daniel said. “He has surprised me in more than one way.”
They were silent for a while, as the road started to climb more steeply for a while.
“That is why I invented the man in the black cloak,” Rayko said, “as that looked like a way I could get in touch with people without anyone noticing it was me. I think it worked pretty well.”
“You had me fooled until you showed your face, I have to give you that.”
“I really wanted you to help me, Daniel, but I could not do it any other way. I hope you understand that.” Her voice sounded almost begging. “I hoped you would go and save the people from the Pricosine, I bought the boat for that.”
“You bought it, just for that?” Daniel was perplexed.
“Yes. I have some credits I can use, and I thought this was a good investment. Too bad it was too small,” she sighed. “But I heard how you went and rescued them.” Rayko looked at Daniel and there was a clear hint of admiration in her expression. “I was so happy about that, Daniel. Really, I was. But it was so painful to hear how many people died…” Her voice dropped to a mere whisper as she said that.
The memory of that jumped Daniel and he too fell silent. Without saying a word they walked up the last part of the road to the house.
“Wait here for a moment, will you? I’ll guide Kernak back into the garden first,” Daniel said.
Rayko nodded, and watched how Daniel disappeared inside with the large animal. Kernak looked at her for a moment, before she followed Daniel.
Daniel opened the door again. “Please, come in.” He let her in and soon they were in the small library. Daniel had stored the black cloak and what had come with it in his own room for the time being. “Would you like something to drink?” He was surprised that she had not complained about the long walk uphill.
“Yes, please. Tea would be nice,” she said with a shy smile.
“Sit where you like. I’ll go and arrange for some tea.” Daniel left the room, and returned with two glasses of water. “Tea will done soon. I thought you would appreciate this.”
“Oh. yes. Thank you.” She accepted a glass and slowly sipped from it.
There was a tension in the room. They both were aware of it, and neither of them knew how to break through it for a while.
“You know, Daniel… I have talked to my mother. About… her husband.”
Daniel was surprised that she referred to Clelem like that all of a sudden.
“He was not my real father, she said. And not Warlem’s real father either.” Rayko stared at the glass, as if there was something fascinating going on inside it.
“Excuse me, please. Your tea,” a servant said, who came in with the tea. Soon after, they were alone again.
“When my mother had told me that, there were many things I suddenly understood about him,” Rayko continued. “Most of the time he regarded me as property, or a thing, or something like that. And not just me. All of us.”
Daniel nodded. He recalled the moment where Clelem had literally shoved her into his arms, without twitching a muscle. “Yes, I see that now as well. Maybe you can explain something to me now.”
“What is it you want to know? I want to tell you what I know. You are entitled to know it.”
Daniel picked up his teacup. “When you had disappeared, Warlem came to me and asked me to come and talk to your mother. When I was at your house, he showed me a recording of a person in a black cloak, who came to the house through the garden. It looked like… you. But you were the one kidnapped, so it could not have been you. How does that fit?”
“I wanted to go out of the house. I wanted to try and contact you. There were too many people in the house and I was afraid someone might hear me, so I changed into the cloak and left through the garden. But before I got to the side gate, I discovered people there too, so I had to back into the house again.” Rayko wrapped her arms around herself, as if she was cold suddenly. “They took me away from the house that same evening.”
61. The Litany of Nahmyo
Daniel saw a few tears in her eyes. “Rayko, are you feeling well?”
She looked at him. At first she wanted to nod bravely, but changed her mind. “No.”
Daniel got up and sat down next to her, on the couch. He put an arm around her and pulled her close.
Rayko did not resist. She leaned into him and started to sob. “It was a big man, Daniel. He put something in my face. Before I lost consciousness I saw Gaguran Slindris come into my room.” She started crying, her body shaking as the memories came back to her. “Then I woke up and I was tied up and in that dark place. Gaguran was there, and the big man, and a few others. I could not see them, but I heard them talk. They said that something would be going down soon, but I don’t know what that was.”
Daniel got the eerie feeling that she had no idea where she had been exactly, nor what had been the plan of her step-father. He gently rocked her. “It’s all over now, Rayko. It is all behind you, like a bad dream. Slindris is gone. And your step-father is gone also. They can’t hurt you anymore.”
The woman reached for his free hand and held it. “I know. But it hurts in such a strange way.” Most of her tears had stopped flowing now. “I always saw him as my father, and then he abused me like that. He wanted to kill me, didn’t he?” Her voice had gone into a whisper.
“I’m afraid so, Rayko. And I’m sorry for that. Really.” Daniel felt pain for her, as she had gone through all that. She was not the kind of person that should have to face things like that, but some bizarre twist of fate had made it happen.
“Sometimes there are things in a life,” he suddenly heard himself say, “that throw everything you know upside down. It is then when you have to find the trust in yourself, and in the harmony that is the world around you. Nothing happens without a reason. Usually we don’t know the reasons, but things happen. We can fight them but we can’t beat them if they are meant to come true, Rayko.”
Daniel felt as if someone was speaking through his voice, and yet… the things he said made sense to himself. For a momentary flash he was back on the hill, in the night, where he had talked with Lundar.
Rayko, her face pressed against Daniel’s shirt, nodded somewhat. “Yes.” Her fingers were entangled in Daniel’s.
