The Blinded Journey

by Jeffrey Quyle

  “Oh my, Kendel,” she came to a sudden stop, then backed up. “We’re coming around a bend, and a little way down the road is a bridge, where a dozen men are gathered together, with some horses, and some bodies on the ground. This must be where we rescue the nobleman.

  “Are you ready to do it?” she asked.

  “Do what?” he asked, mildly annoyed. “Give me time to try to explore the situation and figure out what is what.”

  “Okay,” Flora snapped back, as Kendel focused on releasing his consciousness to explore the situation down the road. He began to float above the ground, then ventured further and stopped, without picking up any awareness of other people in the area.

  “I need to get closer,” he told Flora. “I can’t find them to tell what kind of people they are.”

  There was another scream.

  “They’re bad people, take my word for it,” Flora said impatiently. “Let’s go,” she said as she grabbed the front of his shirt and began to tug him forward. “And if they start to come for us, just blast them all,” she advised.

  The pair started to stride forward purposefully, and Kendel let Flora lead him while he focused his attention of ranging out of his body to try to examine the group ahead of them. Within seconds, he found that he could only partially sense the other people present; there were people there, but a fog-like atmosphere seemed to blur and muddle his ability to accurately sense them. As Flora led him closer, he strained his efforts and managed to find vague traits that he could identify By the time someone in the group spotted the pair of newcomers and shouted, he thought he understood the dynamics.

  “There are three men coming towards us,” Flora told Kendel in a low voice.

  “And there are others still on the bridge?” he asked for confirmation of what he sensed.

  “One, two,” Flora softly began to count aloud, “yes.”

  “There’s someone in pain and scared, and others who are,” he groped for a descriptive word, “unpleasant,” Kendel explained.

  “Can you do something?” Flora asked.

  “Who are you two?” the trio approaching them called. “Stop right there and wait for us.”

  “Get ready to support me,” Kendel advised Flora.

  “What?” she was confused by the inexplicable request.

  Kendel was mindful of how he had been impacted by his attack on the man who had wanted to assault Grace in the hotel room, many nights prior. Kendel was going to deliver punishment to the men coming towards Flora and he, but Kendel was going to suffer pain in making the attack. He wanted to deliver the lowest level of damage that would drive the men away.

  Guessing at what that was and how to do it was going to be partially luck and partial guesswork. He raised the walking staff that Flora had provided, then called forth the energies, and sent a mild burst of green power at the nearby three.

  He felt them all respond to the pain. It was bruising, but not overwhelming. And then it hit him, only he found that he suffered three times as much reflected wounding as each of the individuals suffered. The men cried out, while Kendel collapsed, his fall broken only when Flora reacted in surprise, catching him and easing him to the ground.

  “What did you do?” one of the men asked.

  “What evil spawn are you?” asked another.

  “Kendel? What happened? Are you okay?” Flora asked.

  Kendel sat up and took a cautious breath, then sensed that the men still intended to seize he and Flora. They had unpleasant thoughts about doing more than seizing Flora he realized, and in his anger he focused on just one of the men and raised his staff, then fired another blast of energy, slightly stronger, at the target.

  The man cried out in pain and fell to the ground, while Kendel dropped his staff and clutched his own midriff.

  “What’s going on over there? Grab ‘em and bring ‘em along,” a distant voice called.

  “Kendel, tell me what’s happening to you?” Flora pleaded as she knelt close to him. “Are you okay?”

  “When I use the energy to hurt someone else, a part of the energy bounces back and hits me too, is the best way to explain it,” Kendel said between deep breaths.

  “I’m so sorry,” she sounded sincerely moved by his pain. “Hmm,” she said a moment later, then Kendel felt her lean over him and pick up his dropped staff.

  “All of you leave. Take your wounded companion and go, or we’ll pick the next target,” Flora bluffed as she lifted the walking staff and pointed it at the bandits, as if she was going to shoot out pain just as Kendel had done.

  “No, my lady, we’ll leave right now. Let us return to our companions and leave together,” one of the less-injured men spoke as he and his friend helped the most-badly injured one to his feet.

  “And leave the nobleman behind,” Flora shouted after them as the trio began to withdraw.

  “Kendel, can you stand?” Flora asked as she squatted down next to him. “I think you may have to give them one more demonstration of what you can do to really drive them off. Can you do this one more time?” she asked him.

  His hip was an agonizing mess, indicating where he’d suffered the results of his attack, but Kendel managed to stand by leaning heavily on Flora and the staff. “Let’s get closer,” he grimaced.

  “Are you sure?” Flora asked. “I hate to see you hurting. You look like you’re in real pain.”

  “It’s happened before,” Kendel told her. “I need the witch’s staff to do this without pain, and we don’t have it. So let’s get this over with. The pain will pass quickly.”

  They hobbled a few steps closer, as the two groups of bandits reunited at the bridge.

  “I’m going to pick out the worst one and fire,” Kendel informed Flora.

  He let his awareness float towards the cluster of people, and found one that seemed to radiate a particularly masochistic personality as the members of the group moved about; none of the personalities seemed pleasant to Kendel, and he concluded that whoever he struck probably deserved punishment, at least in Shaiss’s eyes. He leaned on Flora, raised his staff, and released a bolt of green energy that struck someone in the milling group and raised a scream. Then Kendel felt his own shoulder burst into pain and he slumped to the ground.

  “You knocked one of them down!” Flora said excitedly.

  “Give me your staff!” she excitedly blurted, then lifted the staff from his hands and called out.

  “Who else wants to feel the pain? Leave immediately or I will pick another one of you to harm – and we can make it even more painful!” she threatened.

  Kendel writhed on the ground as his own pain overwhelmed him, only vaguely able to listen to Flora attempt to bluff the robbers away from their ambush at the bridge.

  “Oh, oh! It worked!” Flora said excitedly moments later. “They’re running Kendel!” she bent down next to her companion. “Oh Kendel, I know it hurt you, but it worked. Your attack and my bluff made them run!

  “Here, let me help you sit up,” she curled an arm beneath him and raised him up.

  “Where does it hurt? Can I help?” she asked.

  “My shoulder, my hip, my chest,” he listed his wounds.

  “You’re a mess,” she tried to sound light-hearted. “We brought some Tylenol; let me give you some, then I’ll go check on the nobleman. He must be one of the bodies on the bridge.” She rummaged around among the things in her pack, then pressed two caplets between Kendel’s lips.

  “Swallow these and rest. I’ll be right back,” she promised, then left him.

  He swallowed the pills one by one, then rested and waited for his body to recover. Already, his injured hip was feeling better; he slowly rolled over to push himself upright, then shuffled forward in the direction Flora had gone.

  As he approached her, he heard her talking to someone. His chest still hurt, and he sat back down to rest, so that his body could complete its natural recovery.

  “We saw you being attacked, and my companion is a mighty sorcerer,” Flor
a’s voice explained to someone who was slightly propped up against the side of the bridge. “He used his powers to chase the robbers away.”

  There was an indistinct answer, then Flora spoke again.

  “No, we won’t leave you alone,” she said. “We can help you, and we can help you to a safer place.”

  There was more indistinct conversation, and in the meantime, Kendel felt his pain lessening, while he sat and rested his head and arms on his legs in front of him. When he felt comfortable enough, he rose again, and began to go towards Flora, but then stumbled over a pair of leather bags that the thieves had abandoned in their hast to escape. He recovered his balance before he reached down and found what had tripped him up.

  “These bags here, did the thieves leave them behind?” he asked.

  The first bag was far heavier than he expected when he began to lift it.

  “He says they aren’t his. His belongings are in the saddle bags on the horse down by the creek,” Flora reported.

  Kendel set the heavy bag back down and opened the flap, then carefully plunged his hand inside, and found that it carried a large hoard of coins – copper, brass, silver, and gold coins were mixed together in the lower portion of the bag.

  “Here’s what we needed,” he told Flora without turning to look at her.

  “Just a second Kendel,” Flora returned his call. He felt around and found a second bag, but it contained only items of clothing and a few small tools.

  “That man we rescued; he’s in bad shape. He says he has a castle about ten miles away; if we can manage to get him there his staff will take care of him.

  “What do you have?” Flora asked after giving her report.

  “This is the money we are supposed to confiscate from the robbers, the money Shaiss told us about,” Kendel replied. “It’s heavy, almost too much for us to carry.”

  “Maybe someone’s horse can carry it for us,” Flora said.

  “What happened to the guy?” Kendel asked.

  “He and a pair of servants were riding on the road when they were ambushed by the bandits. One of the servants got pulled off his horse and Erdonn tried to save him, but he got captured too. The bandits killed both the servants and were going to hold Erdonn hostage for ransom, when we happened to come along, just like Shaiss said,” Flora gave a quick recap of what she had learned.

  “How bad is he?” Kendel asked in a lower voice.

  “Maybe not too bad. He doesn’t show many signs of injury,” Flora replied in an equally hushed tone. “But he’s probably in shock from seeing his servants killed and the all-around experience.

  “You wait here, and I’ll go get the horses,” she said.

  “Do you know anything about horses?” Kendel asked.

  “I rode some when I was a little girl. I’m not afraid of them,” she answered. She patted his shoulder as she rose to her feet, then she walked away, leaving Kendel alone with the bags.

  Moments later he heard a limping footstep approach him.

  “You’re the sorcerer who saved my life?” a deep voice asked.

  “I’m Kendel, traveling with Flora,” Kendel answered. He rose from his crouch and turned towards the source of the voice.

  “Powers that are!” the man softly swore. “You’re blind?” he asked in astonishment.

  “I am,” Kendel agreed.

  The clip-clop of horse hooves walking in the dirt of the road suddenly sounded, then grew louder as the horses stepped onto the stone-floored bridge.

  “Here’s one horse, and there are two more down there, and the bodies of your servants, Lord Erdonn,” Flora said. “Should you be up and walking about?” she asked. “We’ve got some water from a magic spring that might help you heal,” she offered.

  Within a minute, she had opened her pack and let Erdonn drink from their bottle of water.

  “What is this bottle?” he asked as he examined the clear, soft plastic they had brought with them from the modern world.

  “It is a special thing,” Flora answered awkwardly.

  “I’m feeling better already,” the nobleman declared in less than a minute. “Let me help you fetch the horses and Cenchul and Barnnaw,” he said to Flora. “You shouldn’t have to do this for me.

  “Would you hold this lead, Kendel?” Erdonn asked, pressing a leather strap into Kendel’s hand.

  The other two were gone for what seemed a long time, then Kendel heard their steps and the horses’ as well.

  “Would you like to ride a horse Kendel?” Erdonn asked. “You can ride the one you’re holding, while we walk the other two.”

  “We’ll go faster if you ride,” Flora advised. “We talked about it, and we think we can get to Erdonn’s castle in time to spend the night there, which would be a nice change. We could eat cooked food too,” she spoke with a spark of enthusiasm in her voice.

  Kendel reluctantly agreed to ride on the horse, agreeing that it would save time for the others to walk without having to pull and direct him around the minor obstacles that seemed to fill the wilderness roads. He was soon pushed up into the saddle and the group set in motion.

  Flora and Erdonn proceeded to chat extensively as they walked, almost disregarding Kendel as he sat behind and apart from them. Kendel overheard most of the conversation, as Flora managed to make Erdonn do most of the talking, and the nobleman seemed to Kendel to be happy to talk about himself, excessively.

  “My family has built a barony out here at the fringe of the wilderness, keeping relative order and peace from our castle north to the River of the Land,” Erdonn said expansively. “We’ve fought a great many criminals over time to help protect the people who live here in the villages or farm here.

  “Unfortunately, my companions and I were caught by a gang we did not know about while we were visiting a shrine, and now Cenchul and Barnnaw are dead,” he mourned.

  “I’ll have patrols out looking for the criminals who did this,” he vowed.

  “Yet fortunately you are still alive,” Flora ventured. “You’ll be able to continue to protect your villages, and they must be thankful for that,” she said earnestly.

  “Speaking of protection, how did we happen to be rescued by the pair of you in such a miraculous fashion? What brought you down this empty road at this particular time?” Erdonn asked.

  “We are on our way out of Four Borders, heading towards Headterre,” Flora answered.

  “Just the two of you, you and the blind sorcerer? How do you happen to be traveling together? Are you married?” Erdonn asked.

  “No,” Flora said quickly, too quickly for Kendel, “we are companions traveling together, but not more than that. We’ve had adventures together and know one another, almost like brother and sister,” she offered, cutting Kendel’s pride with her disavowal of any romance between them.

  “And where are you going?” Erdonn asked.

  “We hope to go to a place in the east, Mount Cru Jolais isn’t it, Kendel?” Flora raised her voice to ask.

  Erdonn burst out laughing.

  “That serves me right for prying so much; my apologies. I will not ask you any more about what mythical place you are headed towards,” the young man spoke.

  “It’s not mythical,” Flora replied. “We’ve been told to go there and ask the wizard there for assistance.”

  “Mmm, hmm,” Erdonn answered in a neutral tone.

  “And we hope to find friends along the way, a young couple, woman and man, who are also headed there,” Flora added.

  “You have a long road ahead of you, one that stretches many miles more than I ever imagined traveling. The way will be dangerous, but if you have great powers, I believe you will succeed. In the meantime, when we reach the castle, I hope you’ll agree to spend the night. We’ll serve you a good dinner and let you sleep in comfort and safety, so that you can start fresh tomorrow on your way, if you want to depart that quickly,” Erdonn offered.

  “A bed!” Flora rhapsodized. “I would love to spend a night in a bed. We accept
the offer, and you’re very kind to make it. Sometimes, powerful men in your position are not so generous; I’m glad you are one of the generous ones.”

  “I would hope that I’d offer hospitality to any traveler in need, let alone those who saved my life,” Erdonn replied. “It’s my duty, a part of showing the kind of society I hope we can someday build throughout our barony.”

  The pair chatted on amiably as the journey continued, while Kendel sat silent on the horse, essentially forgotten by the two pedestrians.

  He felt his pain diminished and energy restored as he rested and let his mind wander, thinking about the challenge ahead. He would find it challenging to travel with Flora while she felt none of her previous affection for him.

  Without actively intending to, Kendel let his consciousness leave his body once more, while the two walked in front of his horse continued to chat amicably. He let his awareness glide in the air overhead, then let it swoop through the woodlands along the road.

  He discovered a person in the woods, a person who seemed to hold no ill intent as they stood in a spot not far from the road. Kendel dwelled just above the woodsman, and watched as the person remained still until Flora, Erdonn, and the horses had passed by. At that point the watcher in the woods began to move rapidly ahead of the travelers, using paths in the wood that ran parallel to the road.

  The watcher moved out in front of Kendel and his friends, and Kendel began to track him closely, wanting to discover where the watcher in the woods was headed. It might be a trap, a setup for another ambush, Kendel theorized.

  There were no other travelers on the road, Kendel happened to realize as he speculated about the potential for an ambush. There had been no other travelers at all in the whole time he and Flora had been moving along the road, and he wondered why the region had no one passing through it. Perhaps it had a reputation for bandits and robbery along the road, although that didn’t square with Erdonn’s account of how he protected the road and tried to halt criminals.

  The watcher in the woods had gotten far ahead of Kendel’s group, as the man had run with determination, opening a large gap.

  Kendel called his awareness back into himself, speeding his spirit rapidly above the landscape to re-enter his own body.