Stonecutter's Shadow: A young mage's fight through a fantasy kingdom full of treachery

by James Haddock

  I handed the papers back to him, “have all the supplies unloaded into the warehouse. I'll decide what to with them later. Make sure everyone in the village is armed and store the rest of the weapons in the warehouse.”

  “Yes, Sir Mage,” he said as I continued my tour of the ships.

  The days seemed to pass slowly as I waited for our cargo ship and news from Rollings to arrive. My mind kept picking at the vulnerabilities of the cove and village like a healing wound. Now that the there was a useful cove and quay, there were going to be more activity here. At a minimum, the keep needed to be manned. I could hire a mercenary company for that, but anything more was not my responsibility. That was Aric's, and I wasn't planning on staying here anyway.

  Chapter 19

  A fortnight had passed, and our ship had not yet returned. I wasn't worried yet — it could just be bad weather or slow going filling their hold with supplies. “Rider coming in,” someone said. “Looks like Gar returning from Rollings.” We stepped out to see what news he was bringing.

  “I found Captain Rollings, Sir Mage, he and 60 of his men are two hours behind me,” Gar reported.

  “Well done, see to your horse, then get an ale and something to eat.” I said. I went back in the tavern to wait the Captain Rollings and company to arrive. An hour and a half later the Rollings company began arriving. I was surprised to see the number of wagons carrying troops.

  Captain Rollings stopped in front of the tavern, “good morning scout, or is it Sir Mage now?”

  “Good morning, Captain, it’s Sir Mage this time. I'm a little surprised to see you, but pleased. I thought you killed at the battle for the keep.”

  “I too am surprised, since I thought you dead as well. I had left the week before the battle to spend some recovery time at home. The doctor, who I've brought back with me, accompanied me to Rollings check on our other wounded. Our reports said there were no survivors at the keep, and that Prince Aric had been taken prisoner.

  I nodded, “all true, I caught up with them and freed the prince. He now sits on the throne and is rebuilding what Lermont destroyed. The keep needs to be manned, are you interested in the job?”

  “And the duke?”

  “Found guilty of treason and executed.” That was close enough to the truth, though I had no problem stretching the truth.

  He nodded, “we are, if I can recruit and train men to replace the ones I've lost.”

  “By all means, please do. You can go ahead and occupy the keep and get set up. I'll come up later and we’ll talk more.” He nodded and turned his horse and headed for the keep.

  Doc waved as he passed by, and I returned it. Their walking wounded looked better than the last time I saw them. Some were in wagons because they lacked horses. Luckily, I had 100 ready for them to use.

  “Sail ho,” came a shout from the crow's nest on one of my ships. Hopefully, that would be our cargo ship. I hoped they brought plenty of supplies, because the Rolling's company looked a little light on them.

  I walked down to the quay to see if it was our cargo ship. It looked like ours, but I couldn't be sure. Whoever it was, she was coming straight in. It was still going to be an hour before she tied up, so I went back to my office in the tavern. It turned out to be our ship, and the captain came to the tavern and came straight to my table.

  “Sir Mage, it's good to see you. I see you've been busy.”

  “Good to see you as well captain. We did have some excitement, and needed a quay,” I said, smiling. “What did you bring us?” He handed me the cargo manifest. I scanned it nodding. The whole cargo was food and staples. “Very good, give orders to have the whole cargo unloaded into the warehouse. Then come back, we have things to discuss.

  “Yes, Sir Mage.” He left to give his orders and returned a short time later.

  When he returned, “take a seat,” I said. A serving girl brought him a beer as he sat down. “You may have noticed my two new ships moored at the quay.”

  “I did.”

  “I need captains, and crews for them. I thought maybe there might be enough between your crew, and the men left here to crew one, but not the other.”

  He nodded, “you'd be correct in your thinking. We'd need to bring in men to man the second ship.”

  I thought a moment, “So, here is what I think we should do. Man one of the ships, then head to a port where another good crew and a captain can be found. Hire them and fill any needs you have on your ship. Buy a cargo of food and staples for both ships and return here.

  “You'll crew the third ship, and she'll sail to buy a like cargo, then deliver that cargo to the capital. While the third ship is on its way, you’ll take the two ships and cargo to the capital. I imagine you'll need to do that same run two or three times, but the king will instruct you on his needs. Stop by here to check on supply needs as you pass. Any questions?”

  “When do we leave?”

  “As soon as you have the second ship manned and can set sail. The capital needs those supplies.”

  “Then I best be about it then.”

  I nodded, “Safe voyage captain.”

  “Travel safe, Sir Mage,” he answered and left.

  * * *

  After breakfast I went to the keep and met with Rollings. The keep was already set up with enough room for his people so no additional work was required there. We agreed he could draw provisions from the warehouse for the company's needs.

  “As to our mission, Sir Mage, what do you require?”

  “Your contract is with King Aric, and the Kingdom of Farshores. Our southern border and the small Port of Split Rock need protecting. That is your mission. It will require patrolling the southern lands and manning this keep.

  “You may recruit and train men for your company. I doubt you will need to seek other contracts for the foreseeable future. Now that there is a usable cove and quay here, I imagine Split Rock will grow. Who knows, King Aric may name you governor.”

  “Yes, well, be that as it may, we'll saddle one horse at the time,” he grinned.

  “You will be sending monthly reports to the king, as well as requests for future needs.”

  “You won't be staying?”

  “No, I am needed elsewhere.”

  “If we are talking about long term defense of a growing port we need to talk about expanding the keep to cover the harbor.”

  “In what way?”

  “To properly protect the harbor, we will need cannons. Otherwise, a ship with big guns could anchor in the cove and reduce us to rubble.”

  I thought for a moment, “let's take a walk and discuss what is needed.” We walked the walls, then down to the cove, war gaming what would be our best defensive placements. It would be quite an expansion of the keep … it would become a fort adding half again as much area to its footprint.

  “Very well, captain, you’ve convinced me. I'll expand the keep into a fort. In the short term, we’ll take the cannons from my ship in the harbor for the fort, then, as soon as we can, we'll buy larger ones with greater range.

  “Yes, Sir Mage.”

  * * *

  I found a quiet shadow where the cliff rock met the keep and stepped into Shadow. I had not intended to stay this long, or put this much effort into the keep, cove, and village. But to be fair, I’d started it, so I guess I needed to finish it. I sat down, getting comfortable, and felt down into the stone. I held an image in my mind of what I wanted and began my work. Having learned my lesson from repairing the palace, I paced myself and only worked part of the day … then ate and rested. After a week, the keep had been expanded into a harbor fort, and they started moving the ship’s cannons.

  “Tell me captain, where would I be able to buy cannons for the fort?”

  “Grandover, in Aries. They make the best cannons I know of,” he answered.

  “That's west of Redmoore, is it not?”

  “Right you are, a good piece from here.”

  “It is that,” I replied.

  By the end o
f the second week, I had improved the cove by expanding the quay and lowering the bottom making it more of a true harbor. I also added a larger breakwater for protection from storms.

  I was getting antsy to be on my way. I don't know why — I just didn't feel I belonged here. I felt I was still just the hired help building someone else’s estate.

  I gave Captain Rollings and the village headman their final orders, ate a good breakfast, then quietly left. I walked to the cliffs, stepped into Shadow, and went to the top. Holding my arm out, I rubbed the ring and Falcon appeared. I held the way to Redmoore in my mind, then went into his shadow. Falcon’s outstretched wings caught the wind, and we were off.

  I was more relaxed this trip and watched through Falcon's eyes as the world pass under us. I saw a few ships on the horizon … what an incredible sight! We reached the capital of Redmoore, and Falcon landed on a tall building’s peak. The harbor was full of ships from many different countries. Falcon took us down to a lower flat roof where we were out of sight.

  I stepped out of Shadow and sent Falcon back into his ring. I stepped into Shadow and went down into the alley, then came out. I walked around the harbor looking at the ships and listening to the crowd. I decided to find

  a cargo ship, or maybe two, that I could send to Aric.

  I didn't want to go through the Trader's guild to hire a ship, so I sought out individual ships from different lands, asking along the wharfs of the ships that were unloading to see if they had an outgoing cargo. I offered those that did not have a contract to carry staples to the Farshores capital.

  The first two turned me down, as they were still leery of what they had heard of ships being seized. I had to raise my price to overcome the fears of the next four. The fact that I paid two-thirds cost up front closed the deals.

  While I was dealing for supplies, I replenished my personal goods, since I had used most of what I carried, and I didn't want to be caught short. If I had not been so well armored, and provisioned, the arrow would have killed me — poison or no poison.

  I bought a meat pie for lunch from a vender and ate while I perused the market area. Preoccupied, I passed the mouth of an alley and a man stepped in front of me. Too late I realized there were already two men behind me. “Step into my office,” The man in front said, giving me a gapped tooth smile.

  I glanced in the alley to see there were two more men waiting there.”

  “Are you sure that's how you want to do this?”

  “It's always worked in the past,” he said, and his men chuckled.

  I shrugged and walked into the alley, and the two men already there turned to lead the way. Once we were well down the alley and completely in the shadows, I stepped us all into Shadow. They cried out with shock at the complete darkness. They stopped and putting hands out trying to feel something. I kept walking away for them.

  “Is this how it worked in the past?” I asked. They all drew their knives waiting for the attack. “So, tell me, did someone send you for me?” They said nothing. I took one of the men's Shadow Form and he and his shadow began a short fight. “One down, four to go.”

  “We don't know nothing!” another of the men said. I took his shadow form, and they fought. The others spread out their hands searching for their enemy. Left alone they world probably kill each other.

  “Two down, three to go,” I announced.

  “If we tell you, how do we know you won't just kill us?” the leader asked.

  “You were just following orders, you give me his name, and location and I won't kill you. However, if you lie to me, I'll hunt you down, and we'll continue where we leave off.” I waited, they said nothing, so I took one of the other men’s Shadow Form. Man, and Shadow fought…briefly anyway. “Three down, two to go.”

  “His name is Bender,” the leader said. “He's the overboss of the docks. You were buying large amounts of goods and contracting with ships, He wanted his cut.”

  “And where would I find Mr. Bender?”

  “He owns the Wayfarer's inn, his office is on the top floor.” I stepped out of Shadow and headed back to the docks.

  * * *

  I walked the dock’s front and found the Wayfarer’s inn, which didn't look too bad from the outside. Going down a side street I stepped into Shadow and went up to the top floor. The Shadows told me there was a guard at the stairs and a single man further back in the apartment.

  Mr. Bender, or so I assumed, was sitting at a desk working. I looked around the apartment, a simple place, but comfortable. There was a nice balcony where one could sit and enjoy the open air.

  I stepped out of Shadow and walked back into the room where Mr. Bender was. Seeing me he jumped to his feet, drawing his dagger. I held my hands out to show they were empty.

  “If I were going to harm you, it would already be done. Truth is I'm here at your invitation, or so your men told me,” I said, waiting for him to decide what to do.

  “You are the man contracting cargo to Farshores?” I nodded.

  “My men are still alive?”

  “Some of them.”

  “The trouble with using such men is that they are... well, difficult. If they’re not smart enough, they tend to break or kill everything, and everyone. Too smart, and they try to kill me, and take over.”

  “Every business has its challenges.” I said.

  He smiled, “true. Please, have a seat. Wine?” he offered.

  “No thank you.”

  “To business then,” he said, taking his seat. I took the offered chair. “I am owed a percentage of the shipment that leave my docks.”

  “That's between you and the ship masters,” I answered.

  “True, so what I'd like from you is information.”

  “You already know what each cargo is, where it's going, and what gold changed hands.”

  “All true, but who are you and whose gold are you spending?”

  I thought a moment, “information, for information.” He nodded. “Who's paying to find out?”

  “Maybe no one, if you turn out to be a simple merchant, no one will pay for that. If, however there is something more, that may be worth something to someone.”

  I nodded, “I was hired by king Aric to contract cargo ships to supply goods to Farshores. The former king, Lermont, ruined trade by seizing cargos and ships. King Aric wants trade to start coming back to his port.”

  “And Lermont?”

  I shrugged. “Rumor says he took the treasury and his mercenaries and fled north. Why the interest, other than the obvious trade advantage the information offers?”

  “It was not common knowledge that Redmoore was backing Lermont. King Starwick borrowed heavily from the Blood Bankers to fund his war. With Starwick’s death the blood gold has gone missing from the treasury and the blood bankers are offering a lot of money for information on the whereabouts of their gold.”

  I sat as if in thought, “There was a rumor that Lermont was receiving gold shipments. With Starwick’s death Lermont may have taken the last gold shipment and left before he was killed by his own people. The question is, was the last shipment blood gold? Lermont was apparently desperate, and mercenaries don't fight for free.” Bender was nodding his head. “Perhaps your people in Farshores could add something to the picture.”

  “Perhaps,” he said. “If I were a merchant looking to invest in cargos, I might look at Port Lagrange in Stunwich.”

  “I'll do that. Fair winds to you,” I said, raising.

  “And to you,” he answered.

  I walked out the balcony door and stepped into Shadow. He came out right behind me, searching for how I had come and gone. Since my other captives had told the truth, and the meeting hadn't turned bloody, I returned and released them but left the dead in Shadow.

  I took a room at a nice inn and enjoyed a good meal. I listened to the Shadows as people talked around me. Things seemed to have quieted down. The crown prince, now king, had reached an understanding with the mages of the city.

  But
he was having a harder time convincing the Blood Bankers that he didn't have their money. The bankers were still looking for their gold, or payments on the loan. If they found their gold, they would take it and forgive the loan. In the meantime, the Kingdom of Redmoore was still responsible to them.

  I felt my obligation to Aric was satisfied; I had set up supply shipments for Farshores. My final obligation was to get cannons for Fort Split Rock. After that, I'd see how I felt. Thinking about buying the cannons, I realized I needed better clothes. I'd find a tailor in the morning.

  * * *

  I was the tailor’s first customer when he opened. He took my measurements and showed me what he had already made that would fit me. What he had wasn't perfect, but it suited me well enough. Besides, I didn't want to wait around for a week while he made something else. I bought what he had and was on my way.

  I rode Falcon's Shadow west to Grandover, which was quite a large city set against a mountain range. The mountains provided the ore for the cannons, so it made sense for them to have the foundry there. Cannons were not the only thing they made, but they were the most profitable.

  I changed into my nicer clothes and went to the foundry. When I entered, a clerk greeted me “How may we serve you, M'lord?”

  “I'm here to procure cannons,” I answered.

  “Very good, sir. Just one moment.” He left to get his boss, or so I imagined.

  Another man came from the back,” Good morning, M'lord. You seek cannons? What size, and how many?”

  “Eight, large ones, for our fort.”

  “You are in luck; we have just completed a number of our large cannons. The original buyer failed to obtain his financing. If you will come with me, I'll show them to you.”

  I followed him through the buildings and found they did indeed have the cannons I wanted. They also had balls and powder if I wanted to purchase that as well. I didn't want to waste a lot of time, so we bargained for a package deal — cannons, balls, and powder. I paid their price, and they agreed to store everything in their warehouse while I arranged transportation.

  Once all was locked up, I went into the warehouse’s Shadow, then put my purchases in Shadow, and spread a storage sheet out. Now came the tricky part: using my levitator ring I moved everything onto the sheet. placed everything on the sheet in Shadow, then folded and stored the sheet.