Grishel's Feather

by Guy Antibes

  - FT

  “That is it? We have to find an object of power, and we don’t know where it is?” Jack said.

  Tanner coughed. “It is in Passoran. I think Helen can serve as a chaperone to protect you, Jack, from two other women.”

  Jack laughed. At least Tanner’s illness didn’t affect his sense of humor. “I will leave my objects behind. I wish I could take the orb, but…” He shrugged.

  “I won’t go! I won’t go!” Penny said and pointed at Jack. “He will kill me again!”

  “No, he won’t,” Helen said. “I can protect you from him as well. We have to make plans and leave. I will take the letter to your parents, and we will leave in the morning after we have arranged for food to be brought to this house.” Helen looked at Tanner. “You will have to fend for yourself.”

  “I have before,” Tanner said, looking at the books on the shelves. “I can’t say I am enthralled with Fasher’s library.”

  “I’ll arrange for some alternate reading,” Jack said. “We’ll have to find some decent horses.”

  “We brought them with us,” Tanner said. “Now be off and take what you need from the house now. I won’t be letting you back in until you heal me with the feather.”

  Jack nodded. “We will do better than our best,” he said.

  Penny laughed, but it turned into a sneer. “You killed me once, now you get the chance to kill Tanner.”

  Chapter Two

  ~

  J ack looked at his own objects. He used the power from Eldora’s box to top them up with magic. He also laid out ten copper rods and powered them with the only healing magic he knew; the energy spell was the only medical magic that the wizard had taught him. Jack imagined that Fasher let him know about it since he could fill up a healing object of power much faster than Penny.

  He put on the bracers with Eldora’s water and ice spells. Fasher hadn’t written those down on their agreement. Jack wasn’t so sure he had told Fasher about the bracers.

  Jack took a deep breath. He didn’t feel very confident that he could save Fasher. Penny would be fighting him all the way, even if they did manage to find Myra Pulini and the feather. Fasher and Corina were friends, more than close friends, now. Eldora had also touched Corina, and that was a bond made stronger with her help in saving the Waterford dynasty in Tesoria. Jack pressed his lips together. He would succeed despite the burden Penny would undoubtedly be.

  His mother kissed him goodbye, and his father shook his hand. “Sure you don’t want to back out and join me?”

  Jack smiled and shook his head. “A village depends on what we will do. It is more important to me than straightening boards,” he said.

  His father sighed. “I imagine so. Good luck.”

  Jack nodded and walked out into the lane where they lived. The horse that Tanner had brought was already stocked with food and supplies. He tied his armor to the saddlebags and mounted up, heading for Fasher’s house where Helen and Penny waited on the steps.

  “One more thing,” Jack said, knocking on the door.

  Tanner opened it. Jack extended the bag of copper rods. “I can’t do any real healing, but Fasher had me make these things to give his patients strength while they fought illness. Use them when you need them,” Jack said.

  “You aren’t supposed to do that kind of thing on your own,” Penny said.

  Jack shook his head. “I’m not supposed to do all kinds of things, but Fasher taught me how to make these. I’ve been the one to energize the wooden rods I distribute and retrieve all over the village. Fasher once told me that copper stores more power than wood.”

  Penny looked up at Tanner. “Don’t hold them for too long,” she said. “You should be able to tell when you’ve had enough energy from them.” Penny looked sideways at Tanner. “I’ll bet Fasher didn’t tell you that.”

  Jack could feel his cheeks burn. “No, he didn’t.” He coughed. “Thank you for teaching me that little bit, Apprentice Ephram.”

  She pushed past him down the stairs. “We’d best be off.”

  “She’s right.” Tanner rattled the objects of power in the sack and waved. “If you figure out how to use the feather, come here first on your way from Passoran, if I’m still alive.”

  “You’d better be,” Helen said, scowling as she mounted up and rode down the street.

  ~

  The two women rode ahead of him talking about things they’d rather Jack not hear, he guessed, so he dawdled behind. Without Tanner, Jack wasn’t sure who was in charge. Helen generally deferred to Tanner, but that was because she was always out doing scouting or something. He kept wondering about Grishel’s Feather. Was it secured in a magic box like Eldora’s Bones? Was it a real feather or a carving? He concluded he knew nothing other than the name and it did him little good to think about it.

  Locating Myra Pulini and recruiting her to their cause was the first step. Perhaps she had the answers to the questions Jack continued to ask himself. His first trip to Bartonsee was still clear in Jack’s mind as they rode through the countryside. Their first night was spent at Orderton, and they stayed in the same inn Jack had used before. Jack seemed like an extra appendage to the group. Helen and Penny continued to talk of things he had little interest in. The way Penny glanced at him from time to time spawned the suspicion that the topics were designed to exclude him.

  After a boring dinner, Jack rose from the table in the common room. “I’m going up to bed. You girls continue to have your pleasant chat. We should leave not long after dawn.”

  Helen growled at being lumped in with Penny. “I’ll make sure Penny is up and ready early,” she said.

  Jack smiled inside as Penny’s face winced, just a bit. He continued up the stairs, and when he reached his room, he pulled out a folio filled with his handwritten transcriptions from the wizardry manual. Fasher never told him he had to stop studying, only that he had to leave the manual behind.

  As Jack examined his notes, he wondered if Fasher had sneaked into his office and enchanted his notes. When Jack took it from Fasher’s associate in Dorkansee, the manual couldn’t be read properly. Here he was reading and re-reading his notes and not picking up much of what was written. Not for the first time, Jack wondered why Fasher put up so many obstacles to inhibit his learning magic.

  He absorbed what he could, but in the end, it didn’t make much sense. Perhaps he could acquire something else in Bartonsee when they sought out Myra Pulini, or maybe Myra would be able to teach him more.

  Jack sighed as he extinguished the magic flame that illuminated his room. He put his head back on the pillow and thought of what spells to practice when they spent the next night out in the open.

  Early in the morning, Helen knocked on Jack’s door when he was nearly dressed. “Time to eat and get on the road,” she said through the door.

  The window let in the dawn light. The sun had barely risen, its light brushing the tops of the chimneys in the town. He met Helen and a rather disheveled-looking Penny Ephram in the common room. They had their belongings piled up on the unoccupied side of their table. Few patrons had joined them at the early hour.

  “Are you ready?” Jack asked Penny.

  She grumbled. “As ready as I need to be. I’m not used to traveling.”

  Helen laughed. “You will be an old hand at it before we are done. I’m looking forward to visiting Passoran since I’ve never traveled in that country before. You will get a taste of the culture when we get to Bartonsee.”

  A breakfast of buttered bread and some kind of mush was served. Jack and Helen emptied their bowls, but Penny could only down about half. “I’m not used to eating this kind of food so early in the morning.” Her face twisted into a disagreeable expression.

  “Time to go,” Helen said. She got up and began to gather her things.

  Penny shoved a few more spoonfuls of mush into her mouth before she joined them heading to the stables, putting a folded slice of buttered bread in her pocket.

  Helen glan
ced behind her as she walked with Jack. “Today will be more interesting than yesterday,” she said with a sly smile. “I will be less of a lady.”

  Jack raised his eyebrows, but he resisted looking back. Penny wouldn’t take too much gloating from him before her mood would sour the entire expedition. They mounted, and Jack noticed Penny wince as she set her behind down on the saddle. He wondered if the girl had ever done much riding, but as they left Orderton, she settled into her seat as well as he did. If she was hurting, Penny hid it very well.

  They stopped to rest at a familiar place. Helen pulled out her sword. She gave Penny a sly grin. “I think it is time you and I had a little session to see how well you handle that weapon you have strapped to the saddle. I already know how poorly Jack wields a blade. He always said you were accurate when you weren’t blinded by a dented helmet.”

  Penny glared at Jack. “Some things should remain unsaid.”

  “And some things shouldn’t.” Jack looked forward to Helen’s workout with Penny. “I gave you a compliment.” Jack expected Penny to stick out her tongue when she drew her sword from the sheath still tied to her horse.

  She addressed Helen in the clearing. Penny hadn’t lost her form in the months she had been working for Fasher. Jack guessed she had a fencing tutor at her father’s mansion in Raker Falls.

  Helen began the encounter tentatively relying more on defense than offense. She wasn’t showing Penny anything. Jack sat on a rock and tried to learn something about the sparring match from both opponents.

  Penny began to get more aggressive. This was more like the person Jack had faced in the forest when he killed her. Helen’s smile turned a bit as Penny began to challenge Helen. Jack could see her precision with a sword had improved since he had fought her.

  It looked like Helen had enough when she began to use her strength, batting Penny’s accurate strokes aside. It took Penny off her rhythm, and Helen began to press her until she dropped her sword and raised her hands.

  “I’ve had enough!” Penny said, out of breath. She put her hands on her knees and took deep breaths. “My tutor never challenged me like that.” She barely got the words out between breaths.

  “He or she should have,” Helen said. “You did well until I pressed. We will have to work out to improve your strength and work on your defensive technique. Once I used my strength, you couldn’t keep up.”

  Penny nodded her head as she became more erect, still breathing heavily.

  “You will spar with Jack next.”

  “No!” Penny said. “Not with him. Not ever.”

  “Why not?” Helen said. “I’ve worked with Jack. He isn’t anything like the boy you faced in Raker Falls.”

  Penny’s eyes narrowed as she ran her gaze over Jack. “He just about killed me.”

  “An equipment malfunction,” Jack said. “I’m not sure I can still beat you unless I am wielding Fasher’s sword.”

  Helen nodded. “We can wait until after Bartonsee,” she said. “But you will fight him when we turn east. I insist unless Fasher has taught you aggressive fighting spells.”

  “I am a healing wizard,” Penny said. “I wouldn’t know the first thing about using my magic to fight anyone.”

  The corner of Jack’s mouth curled up. “I might be able to help you with that.”

  “Teaching me forbidden magic? Uncle Fasher would not be pleased.”

  “He hasn’t ever complained about my doing that,” Jack said. “A few spells. Something basic that will show other wizards that you have a bite. Swords sometimes don’t intimidate them.”

  Helen pursed her lips.

  “Swords don’t intimidate wizards all the time,” Jack said, not wanting to get into an argument with Penny. “It is for your own protection.”

  She scowled as if taking a swallow of too-hot tea. “I won’t become a renegade like you.”

  Jack raised his eyebrows. “Me, a renegade? Has Fasher described me like that?”

  Penny shook her head. “I describe you like that. You are a despicable renegade.”

  The only thing Jack could do was shrug. He couldn’t get into an argument every stop along the way to Passoran.

  “Jack is not despicable,” Helen said. “I know him better than you, it seems. He is many things, and some not so pleasant, but despicable and renegade are not two of them.”

  Penny put her sword back into its scabbard. “What do I do to get more strength?”

  “You two will run to Bartonsee. I will take your horses. We will find rocks along the way for you to lift. Jack’s will be larger since he is larger,” Helen said.

  They ate their lunch and rode for half an hour before Helen stopped them. “Running time,” she said.

  Jack was no fan of running just to run, but he was an enthusiast compared to Penny. She lasted half a mile before she couldn’t go any further. Jack persisted with the two women behind him for two more miles after driving himself as much as he could. He felt ill and couldn’t mount his steed for a quarter hour. Helen had them run two more times during the afternoon until they reached an inn.

  Penny took a bath first, and then Jack sunk into a cold tub. All the hot water was being used for preparing the evening meal. He wanted to be resentful, but he found the cold water settled his aches and pains better than a hot bath might have.

  He entered the common room just as two men walked up to the table where Penny and Helen sat. Jack patted his hips. He had no weapons.

  “Do you two ladies want a good time tonight?”

  Helen was about to get up, but it was time for Jack to do a little protecting. “Are these two men bothering you?” he asked Helen.

  “I can take care of myself,” Penny said.

  She was about to slide the sword out of its scabbard, but Helen leaned over and shook her head. “Jack can take care of this,” she said. She folded her arms and pursed her lips, looking at the three men standing at the table.

  “You trust your virtue to this boy?”

  “Was this going to be a situation where Penny and Helen would have lost their virtue?” Jack asked. “I may be a boy, but I am a wizard, as well.” He produced a flame three feet high, dancing six inches above his palm.

  One of the men laughed and duplicated Jack’s trick. “Now what are we going to do, see whose flame is longer?” Both men laughed at the joke, but then their faces turned serious. Jack knew enough about tavern brawls that there was about to be one. Maybe he could stop it before it got out of hand.

  Jack pulled his arm back and let the wizard of the two have it with his fist. The man doubled over. A few drops of blood splattered on the floor, seeping from between the man’s fingers. The other man grabbed Jack, but Jack wriggled away and teleported behind the same man and kicked him hard in the rear.

  “Do you really want more of this?” Jack said.

  “If he can teleport, he can do a lot more nasty things than I can. I know when I’m licked,” the man with the bleeding nose said. The pair left the tavern.

  Some patrons laughed, and others scowled at the unseemly turn of events. Helen seemed to have enjoyed it.

  “Your style is a bit different from Tanner’s, but your heart is in the right place. I thought the tavern would erupt.”

  “I wanted to stop the fight before it attracted more participants. I’ve been in enough tavern brawls.”

  “As a teenager?” Helen said.

  “Uh, yeah,” Jack said.

  “He has a reputation in Raker Falls,” Penny said.

  “Had.” Jack finally took a seat. “I haven’t gotten into a fight since I began working for Fasher.”

  “You never showed Tanner or me that you could use your fists.”

  “Tanner would destroy me in a fight,” Jack said. “I’ve had to use other ways to defend myself.”

  “Like kill innocent girls,” Penny said.

  “And what did I do when that happened? I lugged your sorry body all the way to your house, that’s what I did. Fasher did his thing, and here
you are.”

  “I didn’t need you to save me,” she said.

  “Maybe you did.” Jack turned around when someone patted him on the shoulder. He raised his hand and swiped away a fist heading for his head. “Looks like we will be in a fight, after all.” He stood up, knocking his chair over and the tavern erupted.

  Jack didn’t know anyone, so he didn’t know who was on his side or on the side of his two former opponents who stood at one end of the bar, grinning to each other. He heard the whine of a sword being pulled out. Jack didn’t quite know what to do, but Helen certainly did. She tucked Penny under the table and handed Jack a knife.

  “You can use this as a wand or a knife, I don’t care, but if we kill anyone, we won’t be leaving first thing in the morning,” she said.

  “And if we get killed, we won’t be leaving either,” Jack said with a half smile before he ducked another punch and landed a stomach blow that curled his opponent. Jack took advantage and hit the man in the chin. That was when he felt something break in his hand. “Ooo.” He pointed the knife at his next opponent. “I’m going to have to resort to magic.” He began throwing weak wizard bolts around those attacking their table, wishing he had the wand that fortified the bolt’s power.