Page 16 of Gilded Crown

Blue screamed as he bolted down the street, dodged a cart, and made half of the people stop to look at him. Jari shoved past a couple and nearly knocked into an old lady with her shopping.

People muttered and pointed. Jari tried to catch up and caught a glimpse of the servant’s messy blue hair and black shirt as he turned a corner.

He was nowhere to be seen when Jari went around. He skidded to a stop and frantically scanned the crowd.

“Have you seen a guy with blood all over his face?” he demanded of an older man walking toward him.

“Huh?” He twitched his wings.

Jari raced to a vegetable stall a little farther up and asked the man behind it.

“I didn’t see anybody like that run by, but I did hear a bit of a ruckus that way.”

Fuck. Jari turned to sweep the crowd and tried to catch his breath. A horseless carriage paused for a cat crossing the street at a lazy pace. People tromped by on the cobblestones, a few vendors called to potential customers, and a cat fairy cocked his ears at Jari as he passed. Jari caught a flash of blue hair, but it was a woman with a ponytail.

What the fuck? How had Blue disappeared like that? He looked up at the building on the corner which was a dwelling and hurried to check the back end of it.

Trash littered the little alley, and a drunk snored against the wall. Blue wasn’t in the side alley, and Jari went down one more building.

If he hadn’t gone down that street or behind a building, where the fuck did he go? People didn’t vanish like that. Jari came around to the front of the dwelling and wondered if he should go around the corner and look down that road. He should have seen the man running ahead, but maybe he’d missed it somehow.

He was about to when several others suddenly screamed, and Jari swore he heard impact and a crack somewhere behind him.

“Oh, my Elira!”

“Look!”

“He’s dead!”

“He fell! He fell!”

Jari whipped around as a few others ran. A woman burst into tears, and a man covered his son’s eyes before turning him away. Some stared aghast and pointed at Blue who was lying prostrate on the cobblestones as blood seeped from his head. For several moments, Jari didn’t even know what to think or do, and a few rushed forward. One rolled the body over and reached for his neck while the majority continued panicking and staring.

Jari knew there wouldn’t be a pulse. He caught sight of the face, bloodier than before, and turned away as a sick feeling rose in his gut.

Chapter Four

A few city guards who had come upon the scene tried to harass Jari because someone said they’d seen Jari chasing Blue. A passerby said Blue had robbed Jari, and he was within his rights.

“No, he didn't rob me,” snapped Jari. “I didn’t attack him eith-”

“Jari’s with me, and he did nothing wrong,” said a smooth voice, and he turned to see Aurelius had come on his horse. A few Palace guards followed him. Someone had draped a cloak over the corpse, and many were still trying to see. “What happened?”

“This man jumped off the roof of the dwelling, Your Majesty.” A guard pointed at the body.

“I didn’t see him go inside,” said Jari. “I don’t even know how he got in when he ran around the corner.”

The guard pointed at the side of the building. “It’s kind of hard to see it, but there’s a side door behind those bushes.”

Jari hadn’t noticed anything behind the overgrown bushes. Now it made sense. Blue had run all the way upstairs and used the roof access while Jari was stupidly looking around the alleys.

“Someone will send a report later,” Aurelius told another Morning Glory guard who came up. The Palace guards dismounted. “I’ll have one of my guards question the servants to find out what happened inside. He was one, and there was a commotion. I think it had to do with his wife cheating on him. Jari only chased him because he was threatening violence, and he ran.”

“All right. We’ll move the body, and the family can deal with the formalities.”

“We need to go to lunch,” Aurelius told Jari as the guards moved away, and one squawked at some people to get a move on and stop staring.

“Excuse me,” snapped Jari.

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