Grishel's Feather

by Guy Antibes

  “I think I have one. It is made for a young man, though.”

  Penny frowned. “Let me try it on.”

  The shopkeeper helped her with it. Penny frowned immediately. “Not for me,” she said. “The shield works better.” She looked at Jack and narrowed her eyes, frowning.

  “I’ll buy both shields.” Jack pulled out his purse.

  “But you don’t need one,” Penny said.

  “I want one,” Jack opened up his purse and asked for the price of the shields.

  They dickered around. Penny looked embarrassed while Jack and the shopkeeper went round and round until finally settling on a much lower price than what the shopkeeper originally asked. They walked outside. Jack’s shield was strapped to his arm, and Penny wore hers on her back.

  “This is definitely more comfortable,” Penny said.

  Jack figured it would be. They couldn’t walk through market lanes with shields, so they walked back to the inn. Helen was happy to see them return. She had tied Myra to one of the three beds in the room the women shared.

  “You watch her. I made sure she has relieved herself,” Helen said. “Penny and I are going for another stroll in the market.”

  The two women left Jack alone with Myra. He looked at the unhappy woman. “Don’t be too long. My stomach can only take so much,” he said.

  Myra glared at him.

  “I’m a hungry, growing boy,” he said to the wizardess.

  “I need to go to the washroom again,” Myra said.

  Jack sat on the opposite bed. “No. I always follow Helen’s orders. I don’t want to find out what she will do to me if I disobeyed.”

  “And what would she do to you, a wizard?”

  “Tie me up and beat me. She is very experienced around wizards since she works for one, Fasher Tempest. Helen has developed a resistance to a lot of spells,” Jack said.

  “Tell me about it,” Myra said.

  “She has?” Jack blurted out. He hadn’t expected his story to be true. “What spell did you try?” He remembered he had charmed Helen’s ring.

  “That’s not for you to know, helper.”

  Jack figured she must have tried to coerce Helen again.

  Myra peered at Jack. “Where did you get your power?”

  “Where does anyone get their power?” Jack said. He didn’t have any idea where the woman was headed with her question.

  “Was there a moment when your abilities blossomed?” She leaned forward with anticipation for the answer.

  The question was creepy. Was this woman using an odd method to get free?

  “I supposed I noticed it after Fasher raised Penny from the dead after I killed her in a dueling accident,” Jack said.

  “Raised from the dead?” Myra said with her eyebrows raised. “Even healing wizards aren’t supposed to do that kind of thing.”

  Jack thought that was an odd turn of a phrase. “I suppose she wasn’t really dead. Fasher is the healer, not me. She seemed dead, but he wanted to use my power to help.”

  “Wanted to use a teenager’s power? Fasher is more powerful than you can understand.”

  “I know he is powerful. He gave me a warded box that was able to free someone from the Black Finger Society.” Jack wanted to change the conversation, so he asked, “Are you familiar with the Black Fingers? Is that organization active in Passoran?”

  “The Black Fingers? They are active everywhere, as far as I know, although the Passoranian chapters aren’t as aggressive as the Black Fingers in Corand and Tesoria, and definitely not the blood-thirsty organization as practiced in Kadellia. They are the scary ones.”

  Jack leaned forward. “How do you mean not as aggressive?”

  Myra relaxed. “They keep to themselves, discuss objects of power and research magic. In Passoran, the Black Finger Society is more of a social organization, like a village association as much as anything else.”

  “Except they have chapters throughout Passoran?”

  Myra put a finger to the side of her mouth in thought. “I wouldn’t say throughout. Why do you ask?”

  “I have had to fight the Black Fingers on Fasher’s errands.”

  “And you won them all?” She looked at his fingers. “Of course you have. It is from your power.”

  “Is it strange for a helper to have power?”

  “It is for a seventeen-year-old helper,” Myra said.

  “I’m nearly nineteen, now,” Jack said. “How does Fasher know you?”

  Myra frowned. “He saved my life after an attempted robbery. He was to be our victim. I’ve hated the man ever since.”

  Jack blinked. “Hated? Why did you come with us, then?”

  “To rob you three. I wanted my revenge. Didn’t Helen tell you? She wrung the story from me this afternoon. Tempest knows I have contacts in Fassira, the capital.”

  “Then why don’t you give us the contacts and we will let you go,” Jack said. He didn’t see how dragging the woman all the way to Passoran against her will, would make their errand any more successful. “Do you know where Grishel’s Feather is?”

  “You asked me that before. My contacts might, but I certainly don’t. I’ve been in Corand for ten years, more or less.”

  Jack pressed his lips together. “I wish I could trust you, but you could make up names just like Harria Wovenbottom did. Give us the names now, so if you run away, we might have an opportunity to find them. Bear in mind, you won’t get paid until we are successful. So you can take your chances as a thief or as a consulting wizard.”

  “Helen said something similar. I will think about it. I don’t want to be watched all the time. I will tell you this, Helper. Fasher made you what you are. I can believe you two together raised someone from the dead. That is all I will say.”

  Jack didn’t like the look of her smile. “You barely met him, you said.”

  “Although I may lack his power, I’m not stupid when it comes to wizardry things, and Fasher is no ordinary wizard, and because of that, you are no ordinary helper. ”

  “Are any helpers ordinary?” Jack asked.

  The smile became more unsettling. “Not really.”

  Helen walked through the door and pursed her lips. “Good. Neither of you cut each other’s throat while we were gone.” She looked at Jack. “What do you think? Should we let her go?”

  “After we get some names,” Jack said.

  “It will cost you.” Myra sat up a little straighter.

  “A few names for your freedom?” Helen shook her head. “That will have to be enough.”

  Myra scowled. “I will go with you, willingly, as long as you pay my way.”

  “Names first,” Jack said.

  Myra gave them three names of people she knew in Fassira. Helen wrote them down and asked Penny and Jack to leave the room.

  Jack and Penny remembered the same names and wrote them out in case something happened to Helen’s paper. Helen walked out of the room with Myra. The wizardess headed for the washroom. Perhaps she had been truthful about that.

  The four of them sat down at a table in the common room. Helen pulled out a map.

  “This is where we are,” Helen pointed out the spot and then moved her finger. “We need to cross this pass into Passoran. The mountain range isn’t even as high as the one where we fought the wolf packs in Tesoria. Virora is six days from here and Fassira three days past that.” She sighed. “There is no faster or more direct way.”

  Jack wished Fasher had Grishel’s Feather among his objects in Raker Falls. Their journey was already taking too long, and with Myra’s dubious names, it was likely to take even longer.

  “What are these hot springs?” Penny asked, propping up her head with a fist and pointing to the map with the finger of her other hand. “Are they so famous they are put on the map?”

  Helen gave her head a slight shake, and Jack restrained a smile. Here they were rushing to save Fasher and Tanner, and Penny was interested in sightseeing.

  “It is very famous
. Passoranians come to Corand just to bathe in them. It is an hour off the main road. Do you fancy a cleansing bath?” Myra asked. “I’ve never been, but I always wanted to go.”

  Penny looked at Helen. “Three hours off our trip. An hour there, an hour to bathe, and an hour back isn’t that much of a delay.”

  Helen looked at Jack. “You probably need a bath, stinky young man. We might never come this way again. Shall we have a side trip? I thought it would be a day’s delay.”

  Jack looked at the three women who all gave him the impression that the excursion was his decision. “If we pick up the pace all the way to Virora, I think it might be a good idea.”

  Helen looked at the map, and they all contributed to coming up with a plan to get to Virora in Passoran a full day quicker than Helen had originally estimated. They would spend one day camping rather than sleeping in an inn every night. Jack thought it was a fair compromise. Helen now seemed to be as enthusiastic about going to the hot springs as Penny and Myra, but Jack would rather remain aromatic and get to Virora sooner.

  Myra’s attitude underwent a quick change. Jack wondered if she would steal their belongings in the middle of the night and escape west, back to Bartonsee. He would talk to Helen, but she would likely beat him to a warning about the woman.

  Chapter Seven

  ~

  A fter a good night’s sleep, Jack was the last person to the common room, joining the ladies. More discussion of the hot springs accompanied breakfast, and Jack was happy to be back on the road.

  In a few hours, the cobbled road became crowded with travelers going in both directions. Jack rode by himself. Penny wouldn’t ride with him, and Helen stuck to Myra. He had plenty of time to think in this situation.

  His first thoughts were of Fasher and Corina. At least Fasher could make objects of power to keep them both energized. But would they be effective? Jack didn’t know since he knew he couldn’t use healing rods on himself. He could store magical power in an object, but he didn’t know if energy rods would strengthen him against whatever wasting disease Fasher had contracted. However, Tanner’s copper rods would give him enough power to last for a few months, Jack hoped. All this travel was taking too long.

  What would be the nature of the illness? Did it sap magical energy, or did it put a human body out of rhythm somehow? The more he tried to come to some conclusion, the more he realized it was a futile effort.

  He glanced at his bracers and wondered about Eldora’s influence. He had no relationship with Alderach, just with the priests. Takia’s Cup was a more solid thing. He knew the strength of her power. Eldora, on the other hand, was more intimate than the others. He could put Takia and Alderach aside and rationalize that the manifestations were concentrations of magic, which is what made an object an object of power.

  Eldora had talked to him. Jack looked at the bracer on his right wrist. Underneath, Eldora’s kiss still couldn’t be removed. The bracers worked like any other object of power, but no human could have made them, since the objects created water or ice from nothing. He couldn’t deny a personal friendship with the god. He considered it a friendship because of Eldora’s demeanor, not by anything he did. She put up with his joking. He wondered if Alderach or Grishel would do the same, or were they perennially silent because they disdained all of mankind?

  Did the gods have rules to follow? Jack smiled at the thought. He wondered if there were dos and don’ts. Who made them? He had never been taught about a king among the gods, but it seemed that Eldora had some restrictions. The Sanctuary of the Wild River was created long ago, as was the bone that he had to leave back in Raker Falls. He didn’t know who made the warded box, but it was a font of power, more than a mere object. He couldn’t imagine what kind of spell a human wizard would use to create such an object.

  Everyone knew that the gods had power. Jack couldn’t deny such a thing, but what was a god’s purpose? Other than providing a few sendings and very occasional interventions, what good were gods? Jack didn’t know. Did they change the weather or move mountains? Did they really watch over the sick, or did they move men like gaming pieces in preparation for war? He had never heard of Alderach doing any of that. Eldora tampered with the lives of men, though. Was she in trouble with some king of the gods for doing so?

  Jack smiled to a passing cart heaped with produce. Did Alderach have any kind of a hand in helping that man grow so much food for others? Jack shook his head. He had gotten as far as he could with that line of thought and looked back at the three women, now riding abreast on the road. They talked about a faster pace, so he would do the pacing.

  He didn’t go that much faster, but soon Helen rode up next to him. “I thought you’d speed up. Keep at it. I’m trying to keep Myra focused on the hot springs. She has been talking nonstop about it. We will spend the night under the stars, but there is a village we will pass through, eat our midday meal, and buy some fresh food for tonight and tomorrow morning.” She returned to the other three.

  Jack upped the pace a little more and noticed that they now rode in a line and continued to do so until they reached the village Helen had mentioned. They stepped into the common room, uncommonly crowded for lunch and found one of the few remaining tables.

  The serving girl came to their table.

  “Why is this place so crowded?” Penny asked.

  “There is talk of thunderstorms coming over the mountains making a wreck of the afternoon. They are supposed to hit in an hour or two, so they say.”

  Helen looked at Jack and shook her head. “We might be spending the night here. I’ll check with the innkeeper,” she said, getting up and walking away.

  Myra looked peeved, Penny looked clueless, and Jack wondered if they could possibly have another vote about veering off the road to have a bath in the hot springs. Perhaps Jack could learn to generate hot water from the red-rimmed wrist guard. What could be more refreshing than Eldora’s water?

  He thought about it and realized that might not work since he would have to be where they bathed. Jack doubted the women would appreciate a cool shower from a passing thunderstorm. The weather had to be pretty violent to get everyone to take shelter in a common room, but then perhaps the weather was an excuse to throw down a few tankards of ale in the middle of the day.

  Helen returned. “I was able to secure two rooms. They won’t be particularly nice, but they will be dry.” She glanced at Jack. “We will have to make up the time tomorrow.”

  Right, Jack thought. He would have to think about some kind of prank to pay them back for the delay. He laughed at the thought. Perhaps he’d get some inspiration when they were back on the road.

  “If we have an afternoon off, maybe you three can take baths at the inn?” Jack said. The glares that he got in return told him baths at a village inn didn’t take the place of the lure of famous hot springs.

  After a very mediocre lunch, Jack decided to spend the afternoon in his room. He sat on the bed when he heard the rumble of thunder, and in a few moments, a torrential downpour drummed against the roof of the inn, just above Jack’s head.

  He stretched out on the lumpy bed and closed his eyes. Jack woke to a pounding on his door.

  “Get up, Jack,” Helen said. “We have to go. Someone has abducted Myra.”

  Jack opened the door to let Helen and Penny into his tiny room. “What happened?”

  “A life of crime can catch up to you,” Helen said.

  “One of her former victims recognized her in the common room. They dragged her out of the inn. I was, uh, unarmed and couldn’t stop her without my sword.”

  “I don’t blame you,” Jack said, knowing Penny wouldn’t know what to do in that kind of situation. Maybe it was a good thing she was unarmed. Jack turned to Helen. “Did she try to use her magic?”

  Helen shrugged. “I wasn’t there since I decided to follow your example. I thought Penny could keep an eye on her.”

  Jack began gathering his things. He flinched at the crack of nearby thunder.
“I suppose we get to go out in that anyway.”

  Helen shook her head. “It looks like it. We will get ready. Whoever is down first can start asking questions.”

  “What kind of questions?” Penny asked.

  The girl looked miserable. She had let them down, Jack thought, but they couldn’t expect her to defend the wizardess.

  “What did the abductors look like? Where did they go when they took Myra? For all we know they might still be in the village,” Jack said.

  “I can tell you what they looked like. One was short and wiry with straight black hair but a thick curly beard. The other was clean-shaven and taller than the other but shorter than you. He had dark brown hair. The man was thin and not as strong looking as the other. He was older too. They walked to the east when they dragged her out,” Penny said. “I might have heard horses neighing.”

  “I’d be complaining about having to run in this muck too. I guess we head east then,” Helen said.

  After calming down the horses right after another close lightning strike, the trio took off back on the road toward the hot springs.

  Helen stopped a pair of travelers huddling in their cloaks in the rain. “Have you seen three people on horses? A woman and two men? The woman has been abducted. She is in her late thirties. One of the men is dark, bearded, and short, although you might not notice that on a horse. The other is a little lighter-complected with no beard.”

  “I remember the beard,” one of the men looked at the other. “They passed us half an hour or so ago heading toward Passoran.”

  “Thank you,” Helen said.

  “What is the inn like in the next village?” one of the men asked.

  “Dry is all I’ll say,” Jack said.

  The two men laughed and continued west as the three of them rode east.

  They rode until the sun began to set. The thunderstorms had passed them, but the air turned hot and sticky. They asked another set of riders if they had noticed Myra and her abductors, but they hadn’t passed three riders.

  “They must have stopped for the night,” Helen said. “We will have to watch the sides of the road for places where they might have sought shelter.”