Ebudae by John H. Carroll Page A

go. Now
turn it over and start breaking off branches.”
    He did so and the coin split into two,
causing him to jump. That made it meld back into one, so he focused
with renewed determination. By the time he reached the fifth coin,
sweat was flowing down his forehead and the muscles strained in his
neck. He let it go back to one with a gasp of breath. Then he began
to sway. Ebudae steadied him until he was able to focus again.
“Shall we go back to the others?”
    When he nodded, Ebudae released the spell of
silence, causing the magical breeze to ruffle her hair again. They
stepped out from behind the screen only to see two frantic
newcomers talking to the group.
    “He was probably high, but that doesn’t mean
that he deserves to die in the streets of Dralin,” a woman
complained to the others. Sparkling makeup was painted around her
eyes and across her temples like feathers. Red hair trailed down
her back across a fake, green wizard’s robe.
    The brown-haired man with her also wore a
fake wizard’s robe covered by oversized runes sewn with gold
colored thread. Heavy makeup accentuated his eyes and lips. “Jovias
doesn’t just write our plays, he handles the money. If he doesn’t
pay for the loan on the stage before the show tomorrow, we’re all
out of jobs.
    “It’s not just the money, the stage and the
plays. Jovias is a good man and a good friend. What are we going to
do, Aphry?” the woman asked. “He’s your brother. I know you don’t
get along, but . . .”
    “We’ll help,” Glav told the woman, putting
his arm around Aphry’s waist. “Regardless of what’s happened
between them, Aphry doesn’t want him to suffer.” He saw Juggles and
Ebudae coming up. “Ahh, our juggling duo has arrived and they still
have their clothes on. Ebudae, this is Karla and Frank, actors who
work for Aphry’s brother Jovias.”
    “Hello,” Ebudae said, blushing uncomfortably
at the suggestion of what might have happened behind the changing
curtain. Her stomach knotted in embarrassment and she ducked her
head to stare at the ground, missing the dagger glare Pelya shot
the man.
    “Yeah, hi,” Karla said. She turned back to
Glav, dismissing the young woman with hardly a thought. “So what do
we do?”
    Glav frowned in thought. “You said that
Tobias was going to get new costumes, but he never showed up at the
costume maker’s shop. That was yesterday.”
    “Right. And he didn’t see his dealer. No one
else knows where he is either,” Frank said.
    “Hmm . . .” Glav rubbed his chin while
considering. Everyone else either exchanged glances or stood
quietly in deep thought except for Pelya and Ebudae who exchanged
glances.
    “Are you certain the shopkeeper wasn’t
lying?” Pelya asked.
    Karla looked at her with a frown. “No. He
wouldn’t lie.”
    “What about Jovias’ dealer? Perhaps he was
lying?”
    “I don’t know,” Karla responded testily.
“This has nothing to do with you, little girl.”
    “If you want our help, don’t talk to our
friend like that, Karla,” Aphry warned with narrowed eyes.
    The actress took a step back in alarm. “Yeah
. . . I’m sorry. I’m just so worried and she . . .” Karla gestured
up and down at Pelya.
    Pelya crossed her arms. “You don’t know
where he is. The first thing you need to do is question the last
person he saw, which was you. You wouldn’t be here asking for help
if you had harmed him.”
    “Me?” Karla interrupted in outrage.
    Pelya ignored the reaction. “The next thing
you do is ask the person he was going to see. You’ve already done
that, but you need to ask him again to see if there are any holes
in his story. You also need to find out if he has anything to
hide.”
    The actors frowned, but they were listening.
“Go on,” Glav encouraged from Pelya’s side.
    “If everything checks out there, you need to
talk to whoever else Jovias might have met with, such as the drug
dealer. You’ve already done that, but sometime deals go bad