The Dragonspire Chronicles Omnibus 1

by James E. Wisher

  When they left the mansion, Gerard was waiting with ten guards, the same ten that escorted her to meet Yaz and Brigid. Gerard took his place at her side and Yaz and Brigid followed a step behind with the guards flanking the core group. They all carried cocked and loaded crossbows with matching scowls. Looked like Randall had a loyal collection of men in his employ. Hopefully they all felt that way. While it seemed unlikely the kidnappers would have an inside man, it wasn’t impossible.

  As they strode towards the gate, a group of four brawny guards wrestled the bar out of its cradle and pulled the doors open. Outside, a girl younger than Brigid dressed in an ordinary but neat brown-and-green dress stood waiting.

  “Is that the same messenger as before?” Yaz asked.

  “Yes,” Lady Cobb said. “I’m uncertain if she’s actually one of the kidnappers, or just some poor child they pressed into service. I find myself hoping the latter though why I have pity for someone working for kidnappers I haven’t the least idea.”

  “It’s because you’re a decent person, my lady,” Gerard said.

  She offered a faint smile. “Thank you, Gerard.”

  They reached the gate and stopped just inside.

  “Is the money ready?” the messenger asked without preamble.

  “It is,” Lady Cobb said. “But you won’t see a coin of it until I’ve seen my husband alive and unharmed.”

  “I’ll guide whoever you wish to send to where he’s waiting. The exchange will happen there. Once we have the scale, you can have him and be on your way.”

  “I’ll prepare a company, my lady,” Gerard said.

  “One person only,” the messenger said. “I’m not taking a small army to where my people are waiting.”

  Lady Cobb shook her head. “One person could be easily killed and the money taken without them ever seeing Randall. That’s not at all acceptable.”

  The messenger shrugged. “Guess you don’t want him back very badly. I’ll tell the others. Next time I come back it’ll be with his head.”

  “Archers!” Gerard said. Ten crossbows snapped up and pointed at the girl’s chest. “You’re not going anywhere until we have a deal.”

  She raised her arms and closed her eyes. “I’ll accept death before I betray my people. But understand that if you kill me, you kill Randall as well.”

  Yaz looked closer at her bare arms. There was a small tattoo of a coiled dragon on the inside of her bicep. He knew that design. It belonged to a group of fanatics called the Scaled Society. But they were dragon worshipers, not kidnappers. Why in the world would they have grabbed Randall? He didn’t know, but there was no question that if she was a member of the society, she would certainly die before betraying them. Maybe there was another way.

  “Lady Cobb, may I have a moment?” Yaz asked.

  “Watch her, Gerard.” Lady Cobb moved a few yards away from the gate, far enough so the messenger couldn’t overhear them. “What is it?”

  “She’s part of a cult called the Scaled Society and will absolutely die before betraying them.”

  “What are you trying to say?”

  “I suggest you send someone with her along with the money and let us follow them from a safe distance. If they try anything, we’ll be in a position to intervene and we might just find out where Randall is. I know it’s a risk, but I think it’s one worth taking.”

  She chewed her lip as she considered her options. In reality she only had two choices, give in or give up on her husband. Rotten options, but there it was.

  “Very well, but won’t the messenger wonder where you two have gone?”

  “No.” Yaz forced himself not to show any emotion. “I assume there’s another way out of this compound?”

  “There’s a small sally door in the rear wall.”

  “Perfect. When you’re ready I want you to scream at us and order us out of your sight. Say you’ll never abandon Randall no matter what the risk, that sort of thing. We’ll retreat through the manor and out the back so we’ll be ready to follow as soon as they leave. Send your best fighter. If there’s trouble, we’ll need all the advantages we can get.”

  Lady Cobb nodded. “You’re a very clever young man. I’m pleased you’re my ally and not my enemy.”

  “Likewise,” Yaz said. “Whenever you’re ready.”

  Lady Cobb screwed up her face and screamed. “Get out of here! I won’t even consider abandoning Randall. Go now before I set the guards on you!”

  Yaz and Brigid hurried back toward the mansion. As soon as they were through the door Brigid asked, “Is this cult dangerous?”

  “I wouldn’t have thought so before now.” Yaz ducked around a corner and jogged down a long hall decorated with some kind of weird masks toward the rear of the house. “The book I read only held limited information about them. Mostly they preach about how dragons are a superior species and humans shouldn’t hunt them or use their body parts in alchemy, not even shed scales. Certainly no mention was made of them kidnapping people.”

  They exited the rear of the house and found a closed and barred door in the back wall so narrow it was all they could do to squeeze through. Yaz doubted a man in armor could even force his way through the gap. Once they were outside, they jogged a wide loop toward the grove of maple where they left Silas.

  Hopefully, the wizard had gotten rested, since Yaz figured they were going to be pretty busy for the foreseeable future.

  Yaz, Brigid, and Silas were trailing Gerard and the messenger girl, keeping fifty yards back, and using what Silas assured them was a simple spell to make sure their targets didn’t make an unexpected move. They’d left Thunder and Silas’s horse tied up in the maple grove. Traveling on horseback would make them too easy to spot. Yaz and Brigid had liberated their spears before setting off. Somehow, he suspected they’d need them.

  They were a mile from the manor and the messenger showed no sign of slowing. She also showed no sign of heading for the city. Yaz had assumed they’d keep Randall locked in some basement somewhere. Of course, what he knew about kidnapping would fill a short book indeed.

  “I’ve never heard of the Scaled Society,” Silas said. “Why would anyone want to worship dragons? I mean, they’re powerful, magical animals, I grant that, but even so, worshiping them seems dumb. I doubt they’re even capable of appreciating adoration from a human. They should find an actual god to worship, not that I’m a big believer in that sort of worship either.”

  “I’m not surprised you’ve never heard of them,” Yaz said. “The cult is a small one, at least according to the book I read. Maybe that’s why they need the money. If there aren’t enough people contributing things might be tight.”

  “Is it me, or are there a lot of crazy people in the world?” Brigid asked.

  Yaz shook his head. “It’s not you.”

  “Hang on, guys,” Silas said. “They’re turning off the road and entering the woods on the right.”

  “Let’s try and get ahead of them.” Yaz led the way, slipping between a pair of skinny oaks and into the shadowy forest. The temperature instantly dropped about ten degrees.

  They angled toward the messenger’s path, moving quickly between the trees and weaving around scattered shrubbery.

  “They’re still heading deeper into the forest,” Silas said. “Right towards us.”

  Yaz slowed. If Randall and his captors were here, they should be close.

  The thought proved prophetic. Twenty yards further was a clearing with a single figure tied to a stake driven into the ground. The man looked rough. His dark hair was greasy, stubbly beard covered a square jaw, and he wore a ragged tunic and pants stained with dirt. Definitely looked like a prisoner. Unfortunately, he had green eyes. Randall’s were brown. Whoever was tied to the stake, it wasn’t Randall Cobb.

  Yaz touched his lips and snuck around behind the bound man. The ropes weren’t knotted and he held a long dagger in his right hand. The situation became instantly clear. Kill Gerard, take the gold, and make Randall dis
appear forever. That wouldn’t do at all.

  Yaz eased back and whispered, “That’s not Randall.”

  “I guessed that when I saw the dagger,” Silas said. “The others will reach that clearing in seconds. What do you want to do?”

  “Can you bind the assassin with magic?” Yaz asked.

  “Sure, that’s easy enough.”

  “Great. Brigid, would you swing around to the opposite side of the clearing to make sure the messenger doesn’t escape when her trap fails? Try and keep her alive if possible.”

  “Got it.” Brigid snuck off leaving him alone with the softly mumbling Silas.

  Given his lack of experience with magic, Yaz was curious to see what Silas’s spell did. At first there was no change in the clearing. Then he noticed it. The shadows around the stake had shifted and wrapped around the assassin’s arms and wrists. Since shadows had no substance, they must’ve served as a conduit for the magic.

  His analysis was cut short when Gerard and his guide entered the clearing. The bulging bag of gold looked like about all he could carry.

  “There he is,” the girl said. “Check him over if you want.”

  “I intend to.” Gerard crossed the clearing and bent down. “My lord?”

  The assassin tried to lunge at Gerard, but Silas’s magic kept him from moving.

  Gerard rose and spun to face the girl. “What are you playing at? This isn’t my master. You can’t possibly have imagined such an imposter would fool me.”

  The girl looked at her confederate, her eyebrows drawn together in obvious confusion. Time for the next step. Yaz pushed through the branches and stepped into the clearing.

  “We neutralized your assassin.”

  “You!” Gerard stared, wide-eyed. “Lady Cobb sent you and your friend away.”

  “Yes, she’s a fine actress. In order to fool your companion, it was necessary for you to believe you were on your own. It seems to have worked. Now it’s just a matter of getting them to tell us where Randall really is.”

  The messenger broke and ran. She barely reached the edge of the clearing when the butt of Brigid’s spear snapped out and caught her in the gut.

  The girl doubled over and fell to the ground.

  Brigid stepped out of her hiding place and pointed her spear at the girl. “Where do you think you’re going?”

  The girl clutched her stomach and moaned. Gerard stalked over, grabbed her by the hair, and dragged her back to the center of the clearing.

  He slapped the messenger across the face. “Where is Lord Cobb? Talk or you’ll get worse than that.”

  Her moans turned to laughter. “You got me, I admit it. Doesn’t matter though. I’ll never break.”

  Gerard backhanded her and set her lip to bleeding. The girl glared at him, but stayed silent. Gerard raised his hand again.

  “I don’t believe you’ll convince her that way,” Yaz said. “The young lady is a true believer. Mundane methods of interrogation will avail you nothing.”

  “You have a better idea?”

  “Indeed. Let me introduce you to the third member of our group. Silas?”

  Silas stepped into the clearing with Wicked floating at his shoulder. He made quite an entrance. The girl stared at him or more precisely the little floating skull.

  “My friend is very skilled in both lightning magic and necromancy. What do you think, Silas? Are there any spells in your bag of tricks to compel her to speak?”

  “Not while she’s still alive,” Silas said. “But if we kill her, I can call her spirit back and question that. Better yet I can force the recalled spirit to tell the truth. You wouldn’t think it, but a soul can feel pain if you know the right spell. Lucky for us, I do.”

  “Gerard, since she’s holding your employer hostage, do you want to do the honors?” Yaz asked.

  Gerard dropped the bag of gold and drew his sword. “With pleasure.”

  The messenger stared at the length of steel then looked at Silas who stood grinning and rubbing his hands together like a villain in a child’s story book. It was an almost comically excessive display, but from her worried expression, it seemed to be working.

  Gerard raised his sword and she screamed, “Wait! Please. I’ll tell you. Just don’t do anything unnatural to me.”

  “Speak, girl, and speak fast.” Gerard lowered his sword.

  “The society is holding him in a warehouse near the docks. It’s owned by Three Dragons Trading.”

  “Assuming your plan had succeeded, what were you going to do with Randall?”

  “Kill him and toss his body in the river. I don’t know why, but Master Tor made it clear he was to talk to no one.”

  “That’s stupid,” Yaz said. “If you weren’t going through with the swap anyway, why keep him alive at all? It makes no sense.”

  “You’re right. No matter their talk, I doubt the higher-ups have the stomach to kill him. Most likely they’d have chickened out and decided to keep him in a cell for the rest of his life. Stupid, as you say, but it’s not my place to question.”

  Yaz nodded. It wasn’t impossible to believe. There was a big difference between holding someone captive and killing them. It was surprising to hear that the society leaders had scruples enough to refrain from murder, but it made things easier for them.

  “Silas,” Yaz said. “A moment?”

  They moved a little ways away from the others and Yaz whispered, “I think she’s telling the truth. Is there anything you can do to confirm it?”

  “Not directly,” he said. “But a while back I had to run a con on someone to get information and I used a fake curse to get them to think if they lied, they were going to die horribly. We could try that.”

  “Okay, think I get the idea. I’ll set it up then follow your lead.”

  Yaz and Silas went back to the messenger.

  “I believe you,” Yaz said. “But I can’t discount the possibility that you’re a really good liar. Just to be safe, Silas is going to put a spell on you.”

  Silas stood over her, shadows already gathering around him. “This spell is called The Curse of Living Death. It binds your soul to your body so no matter what happens, you can’t die. You will be forced to experience the pain of dying for all eternity. The only way to end it is if I come back and lift the curse or you find a necromancer more powerful than me to do it. If you want to add anything to your story to assure I come back safely, now is the time.”

  “No,” the messenger said. “I told you everything, I swear. Please don’t do this. I’ll do anything. Please.”

  “Sorry, can’t risk it.” Silas chanted and the darkness grew deeper. A pair of red eyes appeared in the swirling shadows. He pointed and it all slammed into the girl who struggled and tried to escape without success.

  And then it was done. The shadows vanished, leaving Silas looking like his usual self.

  “Let’s tie these two up and get going,” Yaz said. “It won’t take long before the society realizes something’s gone wrong.”

  Though it was smaller, Fort Kane felt busier to Yaz than The City of Bells. Wagons raced far too quickly through narrow streets putting pedestrians in harm’s way. Curses flew back and forth, though no one seemed to take them very seriously. Yaz had never visited anywhere like this and had no great desire to do so again.

  After dropping their prisoners and the sack of gold off back at the Cobbs’ manor, Yaz, Brigid, and Silas had made plans to locate the warehouse and free Randall. Gerard had insisted on joining them and no one objected. He’d already risked his life to free his master, so they had no doubts about his loyalty. Besides, having someone with local knowledge might be handy.

  When they arrived, the gate guards had given them no trouble. It seemed that before he started working for Randall, Gerard had served in the city watch and still had good relations with them. Given their business, Yaz was glad to have him along in case things went bad.

  They’d been walking for ten minutes and weren’t far from the warehouse dis
trict when the smell hit them. The stink wasn’t as strong as the sewers, but it held the same flavor.

  “Gods, why did I ever want to leave home?” Brigid asked with her hand over her nose.

  “I believe you mentioned adventure and seeing the world,” Yaz said. “Who would have guessed so much of the world smelled like an outhouse?”

  “Fort Kane uses the river to carry their waste away,” Gerard said. “The rains have been few and far between this summer and the water level is low. It is not a pleasant combination. When Lord Cobb offered me a job, getting away from the river was a welcome benefit. I can’t thank you all enough for helping rescue him.”

  “We haven’t rescued him yet,” Yaz said. “Plus, we’ve got our own reasons for wanting to save him.”

  “It’s a shame you had to use such a nasty curse on that girl,” Brigid said.

  Yaz and Silas shared at look.

  “The truth is,” Silas said. “That was all bluff and illusion. I doubt there’s such a thing as a living death curse and even if there was, it would take a necromancer far stronger than me to cast it. So few people know anything about magic that it’s easy to trick them.”

  Brigid gave Yaz a hard look. “I suppose it was your idea.”

  Yaz shrugged. “The concept was. For all our sakes I had to make sure she was telling the truth. If scaring that girl is the price for us walking out of here alive with Randall and learning more about our people’s fate I’m happy to make that trade.”

  Brigid blanched. “I hadn’t thought of it in quite those terms.”

  Gerard was watching the interplay with the hint of a smile dancing around his lips.

  “What?” Yaz asked.

  “Nothing. It’s just you all seem to get along well. That’s good. I’ve seen many squads torn apart because the members didn’t fit together as well as they should. Having people you can depend on is the most valuable thing in the world.”

  “And yet the Scaled Society seems to prefer gold.” Yaz paused when he spotted a long row of warehouses. “I think we’re here. How do you want to do this?”

  “Let’s just walk by and see if we can figure out which warehouse is theirs,” Gerard said. “Once we know that, we can decide how to approach.”