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

by James Haddock

It took Falcon and me several days to reach their Capital Isle — longer than I had anticipated. We landed in Shadow in their capital city, Montanha de Ouro, which meant gold mountain in one of the local languages. That made sense as the city was built at the foot of a mountain, and I wondered if it was also where their gold came from. The city included a large harbor full of cargo ships being unloaded and loaded. There was also a large naval presence … no wonder they sailed the seas with impunity!

  I went to the market district and watched and listened to the people. There were different languages being spoken, but they used a common one for business. The people were much like people everywhere, just dressed differently. The food was a little spicy for my taste, but good. There was a city watch presence, but most citizens ignored them. They did the same to the soldiers I saw, and there were quite a few of them on the streets.

  The one thing I did not see was mercenaries, but there were plenty of mages. The population didn't seem to fear them but offer them more respect. I changed my guise to take on the look of a minor mage. I bought a sweet pastry and walked to the Grand Bank, which was on the edge of the market district. I sat on a stone bench under a tree and ate my pastry while I watched the bank.

  It seemed to take up a whole city block and was three stories tall. The bank didn't seem to be guarded, but I'm sure it had magical wards in place. When I finished my pasty, I washed my hands in a fountain and moved on.

  As soon as I was able, I stepped into Shadow and returned to the front of the bank, then waited for someone who looked like a scribe that worked in the bark. After several people passed, I finally chose a well-dressed man who looked like a merchant and jumped into his Shadow. Once in the bank, I Shadow Jumped and went looking for the Chairman of the Grand Council's office.

  As I walked down the main hall, I found the council in session, hearing request for loans. There were 21 councilors total, I discovered by listening, 14 councilors, 6 high councilors, and the Grand Councilor. All were mages of varying degrees of power.

  I sat and listened for a while, finding that apparently this group only heard the petitions for large sums of money to fund kingdom-level affairs. Once these were heard all but the High Counselors, the Grand Counselor, and the High Council’s clerk exited the hearing room, and the doors were closed.

  “We will now hear the reports on our war loans,” the Grand Councilor announced and the clerk rose to read from a report.”

  “If you please, Grand Councilor,” one elderly councilor said, rising. The rest of the councilors groaned. “Yes, I know I'm beating a dead horse, but this needs to be addressed. The pushing of kingdoms to war on their neighbors is bad business. We are making plenty of profit on our regular loans, so why push kingdoms to war? If we continue, down this path, one day our sins will find us out.”

  I sealed the hearing room's doors, then placed my face in Shadow and stepped out. I took the Shadow Forms from all around the room, and they began to move and claw like hungry demons. That seemed to shock them more than if I had used a thunderclap entrance.

  “You are correct, brother, and that day has arrived.” The old councilor sat down, staring around in shock. “I am here to call this body to account for its sins.” I continued, not giving anyone a chance to speak. “You have turned kingdoms against kingdoms, fathers against sons, brothers against brothers — all in the name of profit.

  “You gave no thought to the countless lives you were ruining. You gave no thought to the death, destruction, and misery you were visiting upon others. Well, I'm here to visit that upon you.”

  I dropped a large flash of fire behind me, putting them all in Shadow, and took them into it. I Shadow Flowed to the old councilor who had spoken against war profits and stepped him out of the Shadow. “Sit!” I ordered. He dropped into his seat and I stepped back into Shadow.

  I tossed a light ball into the air above them. “Since you are so big on war, and fighting for profit, I offer you this. You shall all fight to the death, the winner gets the grand prize of keeping his life. The losers get... I shrugged.

  I extinguished the light, flowed to a different location and threw a fire ball into the middle of them. They did the rest, turning on each other with a vengeance.

  I stepped out of shadow and returned to the old councilor. “Who are you?” he asked.

  I thought a moment, “They call me Harbinger. I was sent to put an end to your evil practices. Leave this building and take the ordinary bank employees with you. Those that remain will die with the rest of the high council. You will be spared to take the account of what happened here, as a warning to others. Now go,” I said.

  I felt down into the foundations of the building and the bedrock began to shudder like an earthquake. I unsealed the doors, and the old man ran out shouting for everyone to run for their lives.

  I stepped back into Shadow to see if we had a winner yet. Surprisingly, there was one. The clerk sat to the side holding bloody knives. His clothes were smoking where fire had come close to hitting him. I chuckled, he wasn't even a mage, and yet he was the one to walk away from the fight.

  “Well,” I said, “it seems you have won.” He stood suddenly, dropping his knives. “Go find the old councilor and tell him Harbinger killed the High Council,” He nodded. I stepped him out of Shadow, and he ran, as the building continued to shake.

  I withdrew the Shadow from the dead high council and left them lying.

  As the building began to sink into the ground, I Shadow Flowed down to the vaults. There was more gold there that I could have ever imagined being in one place.

  There were also rooms of books of all kinds … books on magic, engineering, medicine, and much more. There were also rooms containing shelves of magic artifacts of every description. I quickly tucked all of it went into my Shadow.

  I also found their archive, which listed all debts owed to the bankers. The Shadows told me everyone was out of the building, so I set the records on fire and Flowed out of the building and across the street … then joined the crowd that was forming there.

  While everyone watched I sank the smoking bank building into the ground, leaving nothing but a smoking hole in the ground.

  A smaller crowd was gathered around the old councilor and the clerk, asking what had happened. As I listened, they were beginning to tell their story to eager ears.

  I suddenly realized how hungry I was and left the crowd looking for a nice inn where I could eat. I took a room at the Imperial Hotel, which was an exceptionally large and extremely nice inn. It had multiple floors and wings of guest rooms. My suite was made up of a sitting room and a bedroom. It also had a private privy with running hot water for the tub. I took a long hot bath then sat on the balcony looking out at the mountain.

  I spent a week at the Imperial relaxing and dining at different eateries around the city. Gossip being what it is, the story of what had happened to the High Councilors had spread. The story being told was mostly true, although like most stories had become somewhat exaggerated.

  The bank now had new High Councilors headed by Aldman, the old councilor. I decided to reserve judgment on how I thought that would turn out. With a bottle of cold wine, I sat on my balcony watching the sun set. As I drank, I pondered what I should do next. My blood debt was paid, my promises kept, and I had more gold than I could spend in ten lifetimes. What does one do when one can do anything?

  I thought back to the night the mercenaries invaded our house and killed my family. I tried to imagine what my life might have been like had that not happened. I suddenly felt the loss of my family weighing on me like the mountain in the distance … and I wept.

  Chapter 33

  I woke, sat up quickly and regretted it immediately. I grabbed my head, hitting myself in the face with the wine bottle I was still holding. My skull felt like it was going to explode and my mouth tasted like a cat had slept in it.

  I opened my eyes enough to see it was morning and I was still sitting on the balcony. “Oh, someone just kill me,”
I whispered.

  I stumbled to the wash basin and ran cold water over my head. Going to the bedroom, I closed all the curtains, and went to bed. Hopefully, I would feel better or die quickly … I was good with either of those outcomes.

  I didn't fully recover until the next day and found I had lost my taste for wine, perhaps forever. I went to the best tailor in the capital and had four complete sets of fine clothes made, as well as new boots and shoes. I paid extra so they would be ready in a few days.

  Walking by a furniture store, a thought occurred to me and I went inside. I looked around at the furniture that was on display and wondered why I hadn’t thought of this before. I bought the best they had to offer, which was genuinely nice indeed. Those included rugs, bedroom furniture, sitting room furniture, and a dining room set. I had them put the rugs down, then arranged the furniture on the rugs like I wanted it. Once that was done to my satisfaction, I paid for all of it.

  “I'll need a receipt, please,” I said.

  “Of course, Sir Mage, I'll return in a moment,” he replied.

  As soon as he left the room, I put the whole room in Shadow, putting my new furniture in as I did. I now had a comfortable home with me wherever I went. I stepped into Shadow and left the merchant's store.

  The next stop I needed to make was a merchant’s warehouse. But first I sat at my new dining room table and made a list of what I wanted. It was the same list I bought to supply the merc company at gorge keep, including tools and equipment.

  When I entered the supply warehouse a clerk met me, “How may I serve you, Sir Mage?”

  “I wish to purchase some supplies,” I said, handing him my list.

  He scanned down the list, “It will take me a few days to gather all of this. Where shall we deliver it?”

  “I'll pick it up, have it gathered in one place, I’ll return for it.”

  “Of course,” he said, bowing.

  I gave the tailor and the merchant three days, then collected all my orders on the same day. Now my Shadow was fully supplied, and I could stay there in comfort.

  I felt I needed to get away from people for a while and I was now prepared to do that without sacrificing comfort. The place I had in mind was Flat Lake … at least to start with, I'd see how I felt after that.

  * * *

  A few days later I was sitting at my favorite cafe in Rockspire, drinking coffee and enjoying a sweet roll. “Ok, I'll admit it, I have a weakness for sweet rolls,” I thought to myself.

  I was about to order another l when my Shadows told me someone was approaching another nearby table. I recognized the person by his Shadow's feel … it was the young spymaster, Rodger, who had murdered the old one.

  When the server had taken his order, I put my foot in his shadow and had his Shadow pull him in. I'd leave him there for now, and maybe forever. It also made me think of Mr. O. I guess I should pay him a visit as well.

  I considered these moves as stopping trouble before it happened. On second thought, the thieves’ guild would always be there, maybe I could use them for my purposes.

  The server returned with the drink ordered by Rodger, finding him gone he left the cup on the table and came over to me. I paid my bill but stayed seated, watching the river for a while.

  Rockspire was a nice place, and I liked it here, but I wanted to do things a little differently this time. There was really no hurry, since Lermont was dead and no one was coming to start trouble for me… as far as I knew.

  I decided to pay Mr. O a visit. On the way I stopped by the Hole in the Wall tavern and retrieved my divination stone. It had saved my life before, until the Archmage blew us up. Stone in hand, I continued to Mr. O's warehouse.

  I found him alone in his office and put on the guise of a dark mage, and put my face in shadow. When I was ready, I stepped out of Shadow in front of his desk. Startled he jumped up from his chair, throwing a fireball at me. He was apparently wearing artifacts. I caught the fireball holding it a moment then tossed it away, putting it out.

  “Let's not act too hastily, if I wanted you dead you would never see me coming. I'm here on business,” I said taking a seat.

  He regained his composure and sat down in his chair. “What kind of business?”

  “We are going to be investing in certain business in the city, and we don't want any interference from the guild.”

  “Well as long as you pay us you will have no problems.”

  His Shadow slammed his face into his desk then held his head back by his hair. His nose, and mouth were a bloody mess.

  “You misunderstand, we're allowing you to continue your business, not asking for permission to do ours. That is, unless you become more trouble than you are worth, if that happens, we'll just take that as well.” His shadow released his hair.

  “How will we know which businesses are yours?” he asked, wincing, and wiping his bloody mouth on his sleeve.

  “Since you are fond of initials, you, or your people will be told Mr. H owns the business. But we understand business has cost.” I sat a bag of gold on his desk.

  “Good day,” I said and stepped in Shadow disappearing. I stood watching him. He looked around the room, then stood up. He took his chair and broke it against the wall. After he calmed down, he picked up the bag of gold feeling its weight. Shrugging he put it in his desk.

  I'd wait to see what happened.

  * * *

  It was a nice morning, so I thought I'd visit the older part of the city closer to the cliffs. It was a nice walk, there were a lot of estate mansions here. Everything was manicured and clean. I walked through a park with trees and small ponds, it was peaceful.

  The back side of the park nearer the cliff face was less well kept. The estates here were shabbier as well. There was a rather large estate right at the back gate of the park that was overgrown with vines … obviously in desperate need of a gardener. On the gate of the estate was a family crest, seeing it brought me up short. The crest was a stone shield, with a sword cleaving a stone in two embossed on it.

  “In her day she was something to see,” a man said from behind me. I flinched, but the Shadows told me he was well away from me.

  I nodded, “She still is,” I answered. “That's an unusual family crest,” I said, turning to face him. He was an old man with a cane, dressed in older but fine clothes. I saw there was still a spark of life in his eyes.

  That's my family’s crest, the Stonecutters. At one time the most well know, and most respected name in Rockspire. Not so much anymore, I'm the only stonecutter left.

  I shook my head. Reaching into my bag I pulled out my father's signet ring. Holding the ring for him to see. “Not the only one,” I said.

  His eyes went wide, “where did you get that?”

  “My father.”

  “What was his name?”

  “Percival,” I answered.

  “My God, I thought him dead years ago. He was my cousin. The last time I saw him, he could not have been more than four or five. Does he still live?”

  I shook my head, “sadly no. As a matter of fact, until this moment I thought I was the last Stonecutter.”

  “And your name,” he asked?”

  “Horace.”

  He smiled, “that's my name as well. Do you hate it as much as I did?” I laughed nodding.

  “Please, let’s go inside so we can talk,” he said.

  I followed him through the gate which opened noiselessly despite looking ancient. Inside the walls, the estate looked better cared for. The front door to the house opened and a footman took his hat and cane.

  “Raleigh, have tea sent to the study,” he told the footman as we entered. The Shadows told me there were only a few other people in the manor.

  There was a large waist-high stone just inside the door. “This is an old family tradition. The first time a Stonecutter visits Stonecutter Manor, they cut their mark into this home stone,” Horace said, watching me.

  I smiled, realizing it was a test as this type of stone
was extremely hard and difficult to cut. I nodded and cut my mark into it.

  He smiled nodding, “Welcome to Stonecutter manor, Horace Stonecutter. And may I add, welcome home.

  “Thank you,” I said bowing slightly. We moved into the study and tea was brought in. We sat in comfortable leather chairs as tea was poured.

  “Where was your family living?” He asked.

  “Farshores, in the capital. We owned a quarry there.” So began a long night of us sharing our stories. He led by telling me the family history here in Rockspire, which took a while. The mood turned dark when I told my story. I felt comfortable with the old man and told him most of my story. Well, less the vision parts, and the fact that I had taken the Blood Bankers’ treasure. I wasn't that trusting.

  It was early morning before we called it a night and I was shown to my room. The room smelled stale, like it had not been used in a while. The Shadows told me I was alone, and no one was watching me.

  I stepped into Shadow and took a tour of the rest of the house — life had taught me to be a little paranoid. The Shadows said that only me, old Horace, and Raleigh remained in the manor. I flowed from room to room and found it was a large manor and genuinely nice. Almost every room's furniture was covered with sheets to keep the dust off. It seemed old Horace didn’t get many visitors, and he and the servants only used four or five rooms to live in.

  I found the manor's vault, and flowed in. It was not empty, but Horace wasn't rolling in gold either. I'm sure it cost a lot to keep a manor of this size running.

  Completing my tour, I was satisfied that Horace was what he appeared to be, just a man and a manor in their declining years. I returned to my room and slept in my Shadow.

  I was up before sunrise and went down to the kitchen. I thought I might have some coffee while I waited for Old Horace to rise. I knew that Raleigh was already up and about his duties.

  I made sure we ran into each other in the hall. “Might I get some coffee please?” I asked.

  “Of course, sir. If you take a seat in the dining room, I'll have it in there straight away.”