Dahlia put an arm around Wren in what she knew would be a futile gesture of comfort if the soldiers decided to come back here. and watched Barnabas leave the store room to go deal with the soldiers. The two women both sat motionless and rapt, listening to what transpired in the shop front. Or Dahlia, at least, was motionless. Wren was shaking like a leaf. Dahlia squeezed her a little tighter, listening, and felt like a ton of bricks had been lifted off her shoulders when she heard, “The fugitive has not been apprehended. You should be free to go about your business when we move on, sir. Inform your customer that she is advised to return to her home immediately.”
Dahlia exhaled slowly, thanking Angsar, and even Wren managed a hopeful smile. But then the conversation turned icy again and Wren went rigid. The girl looked at Dahlia with wide, frightened eyes as the soldiers ‘casually’ asked Barnabas if he wanted to end up arrested. This was not good. For any of them. And, though she didn’t know the man, Dahlia found herself doubtful that Barnabas would be able to charm or argue himself gracefully out of this situation. So she gave Wren another squeeze, and an encouraging smile that was probably devoid of confidence, and picked herself up. Motioning for Wren to stay put, Dahlia crept out of the storeroom. Once she was in the work room, she didn’t make a large effort to be silent. After all, she was meant to be here. She picked something up and set it down, as though she’d been doing something, then made her way into the front room.
“Barnabas, the mixture is -” she started, as though she’d come to update the apothecary keeper about some goings on in the work room, but turned to the soldiers upon seeing them. “Sorry, have you caught the fugitive? Are we free to go?”
“No, we-”
One guard started answering, but the other cut him off with a smug sneer. “Depends on what’s going on here. Our friend,” he nodded to Barnabas, “was just volunteering to come in for some questioning.”
Dahlia hadn’t really decided what tactic to use when she’d entered the store front, but once she saw the smug confidence of the guards - who couldn’t have been more than 18 - anger flashed through her and she decided to follow it and double down on Barnabas’s indignation. It might not be the best plan, but an incensed woman might still strike fear where an angry man would not.
“Excuse me,” Dahlia snapped authoritatively, pulling herself up to her full height, “do you mean that you haven’t found the mage, and you’re here interrogating civilians when there’s a dangerous criminal still on the streets? Do you know there’s a war going on?”
The left guard shuffled a bit, looking uncertain, but the right guard’s sneer only darkened. “Listen here, ma’am -”
But Dahlia didn’t let him finish. “No, you listen here. I'm sure you feel very self-important patrolling the streets here in Uthlyn where there’s almost no conflict. But there are real soldiers out there dying in real conflict. My husband, Lord Karol Gray, was killed in conflict only weeks ago. And I don’t think he died so that some teenagers can threaten invalids and widows.”
“Oh, Lady Gray, we didn’t realize…” the left guard muttered awkwardly, looking thoroughly chastised.
But the right guard glowered, and Dahlia knew she’d made a mistake using her name and found herself making a mental note that she needed to ask Leanna if she would take her children, if anything ever happened to her. Then, hoping to make up for it and turn the tables, she added the demand, “What are your names and ranks? I think my father, Lord Treyburn, might need to talk to the head of the guards about how things are being run here.”
Dahlia hated using clout like this, but she knew she couldn’t pose enough of a threat as a woman, Lady or not, and Darryn Treyburn still had sway in the military after his retirement, and hopefully these soldiers would know it.
The soldiers grudgingly provided the information requested and the left guard looked like he was more than ready to leave the apothecary, but the right guard paused, his expression smoldering, and glared beyond Dahlia and Barnabas at the door to the back rooms of the apothecary.