by H. M. Clarke
“Dagan, she’s okay,” Banar said as he crouched next to him. Ryn stayed a few steps back giving her a wide field of view of all of them.
“I see that Banar.” The three looked shaken and white but relatively unharmed. In the back of his mind he had expected crying and hysterics–that was the usual reaction on the rare occasion he could rescue someone–but was pleasantly surprised that none of them succumbed. The Blackwatch knew how to train for steady nerves.
Of the three, Lily looked to be the least affected, so he directed his attention on her.
“Lily, do you know where the other cadet is? You and three cadets were taken last night from The Wicked Woman, but there are only two cadets here.”
“Dagan-”
Dagan cut off Banar’s objection with a look. “There is a missing girl. We need to find her.”
“It’s alright Banar,” Lily said laying a hand on her Pairs arm to reassure him. “They took her not that long before you arrived I think. And then they started arguing.”
“There is a room through that door.” One of the cadets pointed to the door Leeta had come through. “That is where they took her, but this time they haven’t brought her back.”
Then before Dagan could answer her a roaring stream of cursing came from the room indicated by the cadet followed by a roared “VANNIK!”
Vannik’s head popped up from the bodies he was examining and then he was off and moving. For his size that man can move quickly, Dagan thought. He patted the girl on the shoulder in what he hoped was a reassuring way and rose to follow in Vannik’s wake. Ryn fell into step beside him, calling to Ashe and Donal to secure the mages before they came to.
“I’m dreading what we’ll find in there,” she said quietly to him.
He felt Ryn’s emotions roiling through the Link. “Let’s hope for the best, we might be surprised.” Privately, Dagan did not hold much hope in finding the girl alive.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Ryn followed Dagan into the room.
It was much smaller than the hall with shelving and bookcases lining the walls interspersed with brackets that held lit lanterns. The sputtering flames from these made the shadows of the room jump erratically around and made the room seem filled with people. In the central area of the room were three tables set parallel with each other each with a neatly folded white cloth at one end. That small piece of order set a jarring discord with the rest of the room. Ryn’s eye was drawn to the far table where Bron, Vannik and now Dagan stood, blocking her view of its contents.
As Ryn moved slowly towards them, she noted the wide, leather straps attached to each table; enough to hold someone’s arms and legs. She also noted the large brownish marks and stains ingrained in the wood of the table tops. She scented the strong scent of vinegar and brine and under that, the faint smell of decay.
The smell was enough to turn her stomach, but she closed her eyes and steadied herself. Ryn recognized the mix of smells. It was the same as those used at the keep by the physicians to help preserve a body when it needed to be transported a long distance for burial.
“Ryn-”
“No Dagan,” She cut him off before he could finish. Ryn could feel his concern for her over the link. She did not want to be coddled. She is a Blackwatch Constable, not some simpering manor girl with more beauty than brains. “I need to see this. You tell me that working for the tribunal is not all daisies and sunshine… I need to see what we’re up against, what you are fighting against.” She took a deep breath. “I am Blackwatch and so is she. She is family.”
Dagan’s eyes narrowed as he assessed her words and through the Link, Ryn felt his concern turn to acceptance as what he saw and felt of her reassured him. “Very well.” He sidestepped down the table, leaving a gap between him and Vannik and gestured for her to fill it. Through the gap, Ryn could see part of an arm and lower body of what looked to be someone lying on the table, half covered by one of the white sheets.
Ryn slowly walked the room, keeping her attention focused on that small gap between Dagan and Vannik, if she did that then it just looked like they were standing around someone who was sleeping. As she slipped in beside Dagan, he gave her a little smile. She returned it and then turned to look at the table.
A girl lay still on the tabletop, with short blonde hair and looked not that much younger than Ryn. She recognized her as being a first year Blackwatch cadet–though could not remember the name - and there was no sign of trauma that could be seen on her body. Ryn looked harder at the girl’s face and noted the sunken cheeks, the gray pallor of the skin, and the redness around the eyes.
“What happened to her?”
“Magic is what happened to her,” Bron spat out the words as if trying to rid himself of something distasteful.
“There is nothing wrong with magic brother,” Vannik soothed. “It just depends on the people who use it.”
“Magic is a tool. And just like any other tool, it can be misused to devastating effect,” Dagan’s low voice stopped any other response. “This is what happens when unregistered mages play with things that they do not understand.”
“But there is not a mark on her.”
“There wouldn’t be. They drained her life, Kathryn. Everyone has a small seed of magic in them, it is the foundation for the core of what makes us human. But as with other abilities, some people are blessed with more of an abundance of magic than others.”
“Cursed more like.”
Dagan ignored Bron’s words. “The magic core is usually powerful enough to give us the basis of thought, speech movement, and our essence. But with some people, such as myself, Vannik and Donal, our core burns a lot more brightly giving us a well that we have the ability to channel into what is called magic.”
“So, we all have the capacity for magic?” Ryn asked, a little confused. This was the first time she had heard of magic being described in this way.
“Well… yes. But it would kill you, even the smallest spell would drain your core and leave you a lifeless husk. As I said, to be a mage, you need to be blessed to have a strong core that can store and tap the well of magic overflow that is produced.”
“Well, I’ll be. I didn’t know that is how it worked.” Vannik cleared his throat. “So we are born as we are as Bellus wills it.”
“More or less.”
Ryn looked again at the girl on the table. “I don’t even know her name. Why would they drain her like that? Why would they kill her?”
“Because that is what bastards like them do. They only care for themselves and don’t give a fig about others.”
“Bron, we are not all like that,” Vannik said.
“No, you and Dagan aren’t.”
“To answer your question Kathryn,” Dagan said with a slight rise in his tone. “Once we have the surviving mages secured at the keep, we will ask them. Leeta said something before she attacked us about using our essence to fuel their mind control charms.”
“So this girl died because someone else wanted power.”
Dagan gave her a grim nod. “There are always people in this world who crave control and power over others. It’s up to people like us to make sure they don’t get away with it.”
Ryn couldn’t take her eyes from the pale face of the young cadet. “We can’t let her friends see her like this.”
“They won’t. Kathryn, I need you to go outside and call Peck to deliver a message to Knight Sergeant Kimba to have a squad come out and secure this farm and to take the prisoners here into custody.” As he talked, Dagan moved to one of the worktables and grabbed a piece of parchment and a pencil and began to scribble on it. “Vannik, you can guard the entrance to this room while Bron gathers Donal and Ashe to make sure the prisoners are secured, especially the mages. Banar can make sure that the girls are comfortable, he won’t want to leave Lily alone.”
Dagan put the pencil down and rolled the paper into a tube and tucked it into a leather cylinder that he pulled from one of his pockets. He then handed it t
o Ryn. “Make sure that Peck knows to give this to Kimba.”
Ryn took the cylinder from Dagan. “Peck’s not a trained messenger bird Dagan.”
“He’s a Nabolean Crow isn’t he?”
“Yes-”
“Then he will deliver that message to Kimba if you ask him to.”
“I’ve never had him deliver messages before.”
“Then this will be the first.”
Dagan said this with such conviction that Ryn immediately turned and left the room. The last thing she saw was Dagan pulling the sheet tenderly back over the pale face of the girl.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
The last of the prison wagons disappeared into the distance under cover of the dust stirred up by the horses that went before it. Another wagon contained Lily and the two cadets and with them went Banar. At the head of that procession was the wagon bearing the body of the dead Blackwatch cadet with an honor guard of Constables guiding her way back home to Brookhaven.
Ryn leaned against the gatepost to the farm yard with Peck, head cocked to one side, peering down at her from its top.
“Cacaw, cacaw,” the bird said followed by a ruffle of feathers.
“I know Peck. I know you are not a pigeon and I sincerely thank you for delivering that message to Sergeant Kimba. Annnnd I am sure Dagan will thank you as well.”
The crow flattened his feathers against his body and turned daintily on the spot to look back at the barn, he then half opened his wings in his version of a shrug.
“Cawww.”
“He won’t forget. Not if I remind him. When we get back to the keep, I’ll grab some steak from the kitchens for you as my thank you for helping. If it wasn’t for you, we’d still be waiting for them to come.”
“Raww.”
“I wouldn’t try that if I were you. Dagan doesn’t seem like the kind of guy that would allow himself to be hit by bird poop.”
Peck snapped his beak and cocked his head as he looked at the small group of people standing just outside the entrance to the barn. Ryn looked as well, curious at what had caught Peck’s attention.
Donal was talking to Vannik with Ashe and Bron listening and nodding. Not far from them, Knights Sergeant Kimba and Kuma were in what could only be described as a heated discussion with Dagan if the hand gestures from the two Blackwatch were anything to go by.
Ryn ‘listened’ to her Link with Dagan, but could only feel amusement coming through it. Whatever was being discussed was not upsetting him.
“What do you think of this whole business Peck?”
The bird cocked his head quizzically at her.
“Vannik is right. For a group backed by shadowy organizations from Kaldor, they were pretty amateur. I mean, something just doesn’t feel right about all of this. It shouldn’t have been this easy for us to capture this farm, and I think Dagan knows it.”
Peck cawed and looked around him. Ryn knew he was looking at the Blackwatch Constables patrolling the farm perimeter and the two pairs stationed on the surrounding hills. There was also a Pair standing guard over the cellar entrance in the barn. Securing the area until a trained Tribunal team could come from Kaldor and investigate.
“Yeah, when you think logically about it, it doesn’t make much sense. It still doesn’t stop me thinking that they wanted this to happen.”
Peck gave her a reassuring croon, making her smile in response. Ryn reached up and scratched his neck feathers causing the bird to croon even more.
Her eyes rested again on her Pair.
“You don’t really like Dagan do you?”
The bird stopped his crooning and snapped his beak.
Ryn couldn’t help but laugh. “Okay, you don’t have to be so rude about it, silly bird.” She went back to scratching Peck’s neck while watching Dagan and the small group of Blackwatch. “We are Paired now Peck, which means that Dagan is going to be with me a lot. Will you promise to be nice to him? For my sake?”
Peck puffed out his feathers and deposited a large dropping on top of the fence post.
“Peck! Be nice, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re jealous.”
The crow gave out a loud squawk and quickly turned his back on her.
“If you’re going to be like this, then I am going back to the others.”
Peck did not turn back, so she decided to make her way over to the group to stand with Ashe and Bron. Ryn heard the sound of wing beats as she walked away and from the corner of her eye, she saw Peck flying towards a nearby field. Probably going to hunt for any mice silly enough not to be scared underground by the tromping of Blackwatch patrols.
Bron was just finishing up what must have been a long-winded story about a donkey if the bored look on Ashe’s face was anything to go by when she arrived. Ashe smiled and nodded at her as she stopped beside him. Donal and Vannik were talking quietly together off to one side.
“What are they talking so intensely about?” she asked nodding towards the two magi.
Ashe shrugged. “I don’t know. I stopped listening when Donal asked him for details about that spell he cast earlier.”
“It would be a good trick for him to know. It might come in useful for you both someday.”
Ashe patted the hilt of his sword and grinned. “If it’s all the same to you, I prefer to keep my trust with my arm and my blade.”
“Magic has its place,” Bron said running a hand over his beard, fingers habitually checking his intricate braids. “But I’m with you Ashe. I prefer to trust what I can see and know.”
“I trust my blade, but I won’t complain if magic saves my skin. I’d be a bit of a hypocrite otherwise after what’s happened to me over the last few days.” Ryn glanced over at Dagan and then at the two Knights Sergeant who were still talking intensely, though more now with each other than with Dagan. “Do you know what’s put a bee in their bonnet?” she asked them nodding towards the two Blackwatch.
“No idea,” Bron replied.
“They were talking about the unregistered magi and then they moved away and the talk became all hush hush,” Ashe said frowning. “I have the distinct impression that those three know something more about this whole situation that we don’t.”
“What do you mean? We only found out about this place when they took Lily. If that didn’t happen, they may have succeeded in their plan in mind controlling those recruits and none of us would have been any the wiser.” Ryn looked again at the trio. They certainly did not want their discussion overheard. They had moved enough of a distance away that their furious whispers sounded like a bunch of hissing snakes.
“I don’t think Dagan knew of this place before today either, judging from his reactions,” Ashe said with a strained looked that suggested he was getting his teeth pulled. “But the Knights Sergeant? Kuma moved around like this place was familiar to him.”
“You think Knight Sergeant Kuma was involved with this lot?” Ryn could not keep the shock and surprise from her voice. “Ashe, I thought you always liked Kuma.”
“I do. But that still doesn’t stop my gut from telling me differently.”
“It wouldn’t surprise me if he was, or at least suspected something was going on in Brookhaven town and at least knew about this place third hand,” Bron said, still stroking his beard. “It’s always the older, more experienced members that know where all the dodgy stuff is happening. The veteran Blackwatch are also experienced enough to not to try anything with the dodgy stuff unless they know they can win.”
“As opposed to us youngsters?”
Bron nodded to Ryn. “The new blood always think they are ready for anything and will jump in feet first without testing the waters… Bad things can happen as a result. You were all lucky here because you had experience turn up and help at just the right moment.”
“I don’t know…” Ashe frowned as he thought how to frame his next words. “My gut still tells me that there is something not right here.”
“My gut is telling me the same Ashe,” Ryn look ha
rd at both men. “Do any of you think that this was a little too easy for us? I know we are Blackwatch and all, and Dagan is a Magister, but that capture went a lot easier than I imagined.”
“According to Donal, that dispel Vannik cast was pretty powerful,” Ashe said.
“Dagan said the same thing. That Vannik’s dispel would have knocked out any magic operating on this farm.”
“He was channeling both Donal and Dagan’s magic sources…”
“But would that still be enough to stop those magi?” Ryn asked, looking hard at both of them. “If it was me, I would go down fighting.”
“Donal and Vannik were pretty wiped out after that spell, and Dagan did not look much better. Maybe it was the same for the unregistered magi? Maybe they had depleted themselves as well. Weren’t they channeling their power into that woman?”
Ryn grimaced at Ashe. He was right. Leeta was draining those magi dry of their source and nearly caught them all in her own spell, if not for Dagan’s quick thinking with Vannik.
“Maybe I’m reading too much into things here.” The words came reluctantly from her lips and Ryn found herself staring again at Dagan. She tore her eyes away and looked back at Ashe.
“Have any of your gut feelings ever been wrong?” Bron, still stroking his beard, asked as he studied Kuma.
“No,” Ashe answered him immediately.
Ryn hesitated before answering. “Most of the time, No.”
Bron stopped his beard stroking and looked at her. “Most of the time?”
Ryn sighed. “It has been wrong on occasion. On two occasions to be precise. But it has never been wrong when it really counted.” As she spoke, her gut spoke to her again but this time her instinct did not point toward Kuma. It pointed back at the prisoner wagon heading back to Brookhaven Keep.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“I don’t know what it is Dagan, I just feel like something bad is going to happen.”
Ryn and Dagan rode at the head of their small group as they made their way back to Brookhaven Keep, with Peck flying high above keeping a watchful eye on the surrounding countryside.
