Part IX

We hushed as the footsteps grew near. I slapped Rakool's hand away from his nose again.

God I wish he would stop doing that. It's so annoying.

The footsteps of the man following us round the corner. Rakool started messing with his nose, but I dare not move to slap him in case if the man saw me. He kept walking down the street. I could swear that he looked confused. Then Rakool sneezed. I swore loudly and the man we were watching jumped, seeing us. He turned and started running away. I ran from the shadow, following him. Behind me I could hear Rakool yelling something after me.

The man turned left and ran down the main street. I could see that more people were out, doing their morning errands. The man was fast for his size and I had quite a time keeping him in my site as he ran around people. I saw him run to the right down an alley. A few seconds later I arrived at the alley and turned. Unfortunately I ran right into a person who was coming the other way. I was knocked back and could hear the woman I hit grunt as she stumbled. I grabbed her shoulder, helping her up so she wouldn't fall. When she was stable on her feet I started apologizing like mad. Not wanting to be rude but still trying to keep an eye on the man who I was chasing.

Damnit, where'd he go? You lost him.

I sighed. Since I lost the guy I turned my attention to the woman I ran into. She looked up and I noticed she had red hair and green eyes.

"P-Pen!"

"Dirk!" She stood up and promptly slapped me. "You asshole!" She glared at me.

"God, I'm sorry. What'd I do?" I massaged my sore cheek.

"You left me, Dirk. You made me feel like such a whore!" She started tearing up. I stared at her blankly. I never knew she would take me leaving last night so hard.

"I'm really sorry, Pen. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

She sniffed and looked at me. "Liar."

"I'm not lying Pen. You gotta believe me." I started pleading. Why was I pleading? She started tearing up more. I thought she was going to cry.

"Why did you leave?"

Think of something to say. Try and comfort her so she won't make a scene.

I had noticed people were giving us weird looks as they passed us by.

"I...I didn't want to put you in danger."

"What?" She looked at me like I was an idiot.

"I said I didn't want to put you in danger. The Hammerites were after me. I was afraid that they would have found me where you were, where you live. I couldn't live with myself if any harm were to come to you."

Smooth Dirk. Smooth thinking.

She kept looking at me, "Liar..." In her eyes, I could tell she was hurt.

"I'm not lying." I reached out to her, grabbing her shoulder and pulling her to me.

"No, stop." She resisted, but I pulled her close to me and hugged her. She relaxed and rested her head on my shoulder, crying. "You're lying...I know it, Dirk."

Don't give it up, Dirk. Just keep going with the flow and she'll believe you.

"I really care about you, Pen. I..."

Do it, Dirk. Just tell her what she wants to hear. Just tell her so she'll be happy and stop crying. Then you can go on your way.

"I love you, Penelope."

She went slack in my arms. She stopped sniffling and kept still. A few moments later she leaned back and looked up into my eyes. "You really mean that?"

I nodded. Her face brightened. "You," She giggled. "You really mean that."

I smiled and asked myself, "Now what?" I just kept smiling.

Penelope was smiling too. I wasn't quite sure what to say. I'm sure if I really meant by what I told her, that I really loved her, I would know what to do. But I guess leading her on for right now would have to do.

"I wish I could stay with you, Dirk. I really do. But I have to work and clean up the tavern. If I take any more breaks I'll be fired. You know how they are." Pen was still smiling. God I was really regretting what I said. But I kept smiling.

"Well, I've got to go. Bye, Dirk. I'll see you later." She leaned forward and gave me a quick kiss. Penelope stepped back and waved, running down the street. When she was out of site I stopped smiling. I sighed heavily and looked at the ground. I wasn't sure how to feel about what just happened. I figured I might as well go back and try to find Rakool. Maybe sort things out there and arrange a time for him and I to get together after I retrieve the Builder's Guide.

I started back towards Rakool's place.

Are you going to tell her later on that you don't love her?

I continued walking silently, ignoring the voice in my head.

How do you think she'll react? I'm sure Pen will hate you for it. Don't expect to be friends with her after you tell her. Are you going to tell her, Dirk?

"I don't know!" I was starting to hate my conscience. The little "voice of reason" that kept bothering me with things I wanted to forget.

***

On my way back to Rakool's house, I thought about my incident with Penelope. I didn't really want to think about it, but I couldn't help myself. Honestly, I wasn't sure how to deal with it. Would I tell her the truth?

No.

I made up my mind as I walked. I wouldn't tell Penelope anything. I was going to put it in the back of my mind and get on with things. Get the Builder's Guide, sell it to Karras, and go on with life.

So in what part of 'going on with life' is Pen involved?

I sighed, not knowing the answer.

Looking up I noticed I had absentmindedly walked straight up to Rakool's front door. I was relieved to see light coming from inside, which meant he was home. That also meant I could talk business and get my mind off of Pen.

Drumming my fingers on his wooden door for the second time today, I thought about the Builder's Guide again, and what made it so important. I mean, so what if the supposed Builder actually wrote it. That would make it only important to the Hammers, and maybe Karras since he used to belong with the Hammerites before he started his own following. But what could the Builder have to say about immortal life? In Clothilde's journal he speaks of there being a way to make unholy creatures such as zombies, immune to blessed articles that would normally kill them. Why in the world would the Builder reveal how to "save" those creatures which he so detests?

My thoughts were interrupted as the door opened. Rakool looked at me and smiled, shaking his head, "You really shouldn't go running off like that. Chasing someone you don't even know."

"I couldn't help it. I swear it was that guy we saw at the tavern last time we were there." I stepped inside and closed the door as Rakool went into the living room.

"Even if it was him, you shouldn't have chased him." Rakool sat down and kicked his feet up on the coffee table.

I asked, sitting on a couch next to him, "Why not?"

"Cause he knows now, beyond a doubt, that we know he was following us. He's going to go to whom ever it is he's working for and tell him just that."

"Well maybe that'll just put him off awhile then. Stop following us cause we know we're on to him. I'd guess he'd just lay low for awhile."

"Yeah," Rakool yawned. "Let's hope it's just that and nothing else."

"Speaking of which..." I took the papers out of my shirt. "I want to see how far we've got to go before I can go in and get the Builder's Guide."

"Oh yeah, that whole deal." He got up and walked over to his desk that was on the far side of the living room.

Rakool's apartment layout was simple. Front door lead straight into the living room, passed that there was the kitchen, left of the kitchen was the bathroom, and south of the bathroom, to the left of the front door, was his bedroom.

At his desk, Rakool pulled out a letter. Walking over he sat back down on the couch and laid the letter on the table in front of me.

"So this is the letter to Karras, right?"

"Yup. I finished it last night, tell me what you think."

I picked it up and leaned back, reading it out loud.

"Karras- I am aware that you hold a personal interest in a book that has been owned by the Hammerites throughout the years. I'm sure you're aware by now that the Hammerites' prized book, 'The Builder's Guide'. I just happen to have acquired this book, and would like to sell it to you. As you know, the Hammerites are quite unpleasant people to work with, so it would be best to keep everything quiet. Not that I don't think you'd tell anyone anyway. Our price is 20000 -Anona Mouse."

"So, what do you think?"

The name Anona Mouse is absolutely ridiculous. I wonder if Karras will even take this letter seriously.

"Well it's a bit long, rather indirect, the signing of 'Anona Mouse' is just a really bad pun, and what possible reason would he have to tell the Hammerites that we have the book? Karras wants the book all to himself and would, I'd imagine, do anything to keep it from them."

"Yeah, I suppose."

"Anyway the book hasn't gone missing just yet. I still need to steal it. One of the reasons I came today was to see with you when I should get it." I looked over to see Rakool. He was sitting sideways on the couch stroking his chin thoughtfully.

"You know Dirk, there's always tonight."