Jalia and the Slavers (Jalia - World of Jalon) by John Booth Read Free Book Online

shapes and held in place with ribbons around their heads.
    A first, Daniel had trouble spotting Jalia. The women looked so similar in the costumes. Then they walked up the steps towards him and Jalia became obvious, despite her clothes she moved like a cat on the prowl. Daniel held the hand not holding his mask out towards her.
    “Good evening, Daniel,” Jalia said, not quite able to keep her face straight as she said it.
    “How did you know it was me?” Daniel asked impressed that she recognized him so easily.
    “Sword and dagger, Daniel. The first thing I ever look for on a man is the size of his sword.” Jalia replied and then burst out laughing. “If Yousef could only see you now, he would die happy.”
    Jalia took Daniel’s right arm as Talla grabbed onto his left and the three set off into the hall following Karn and his daughters.
    The Great Hall was magnificent and consisted of the biggest single room Daniel had ever seen. It was a least three hundred yards to a side. At its center was a dance floor, a hundred and fifty yards square, tiled with black and white marble slabs like a vast chessboard. Beyond the dance floor tables were covered in plates of food and barrels of drinks. People stood around helping themselves. At the far end of the hall stood a platform where an orchestra was tuning up. Daniel often encountered bands of four of five players at markets and fairs, but there were thirty or more players on the platform and he wondered how they would all be able to play together.
    The most striking features of the Hall were the five massive chandeliers providing the light above the dance floor. The ceiling was in the shape of a dome rising to over a hundred and fifty feet above them and the chandeliers hung fifteen feet above their heads on ropes. Each of the chandeliers were ten feet in diameter and taller than that in height and each had a least a two hundred candles burning on them.
    The chandelier were made of wrought ironwork and each was decorated with thousands of hanging crystals which refracted the light from the candles to create moving mottled light patterns across the dance floor.
    It struck Daniel that the room looked like a holding pen for a thousand fancy colored birds and the noise was not dissimilar to a chicken coop. He took Jalia and Talla to the side of the room and hoped nobody was going to be silly enough to suggest he danced with them.
    When they stood together, drinks in hand, Daniel took a close look at Jalia’s dress for the first time. Though it looked normal from the waist down, it was a little lumpy above the waist. Jalia saw him looking at her and smiled.
    “I’ve got my normal clothes on under this thing. I have things to do after midnight and I don’t want to go back to the house to change. I’ll dump these things in the coach and grab my boots and weapons.”
    “Isn’t all that clothing a little hot?”
    “Compared with what you’re wearing I expect I’m cooler than you are.”
    “Certainly less itchy,” Daniel said with a sigh, “I’m sure this thing is infested with all the fleas of Brinan.”
    “Good evening, sir.” A smartly dressed man in a sensible black silk suit and carrying a small black mask addressed them. “Am I right in assuming you are Daniel al’Degar, the trader who entered my city yesterday?”
    “I am that person, though how you can tell who I am in these clothes defeats me, but you have me at a disadvantage, sir.”
    “I am Marcus al’Tren, deputy president of the Mine Owners Association and currently in charge of the city.” Marcus was a big man, wearing a practical looking sword at his belt and a knife sheathed in his boot. He was about thirty years old and carried himself as someone who was used to being in charge. Behind him stood two guards, barely dressed up at all and carrying crossbows. There were at least twenty such men in the hall. It appeared that Marcus wasn’t going to let anybody cause any trouble at his ball.
    “Two