by Trevor Darby
“I have just two seeds. I’ll let them go for a gold,” he answered.
I nearly sighed with relief. It wasn’t as much as I had expected.
“Each,” he finished. The smirk said it all. He knew the buyer was me. He had me over a barrel and was going to enjoy my pain.
I nodded. “No problem,” I answered. “I’ll be the one handling the transaction for him.”
Eorich smiled. “Perfect. I will see you then.”
I went to my room and took one of my two remaining seeds. The sharp, pleasant tang hit the back of my throat. I normally took them at noon, but today had been a bit unsettled to say the least. An hour late wouldn’t hurt anything. The effects of one nyepsium seed lasted exactly one day. Go more than three hours late and it could take up to three weeks of regular dosage to recover your full Knack. I laid down to rest and woke several hours later.
I cleaned myself up a bit and then hurried down to the mess hall. There I saw Barish. I sat beside him with my plate of food. Eating slowly, he and I chatted about nothing much. Finally, I asked him, “No hard feelings?”
He laughed. And I knew immediately that all was good between us. “No hard feelings,” he said. “By the way, did you find any?” he whispered.
I nodded. “I’m buying two from Eorich at ten.”
“Eorich,” he said in an overly loud voice.
“Keep your voice down,” I said.
“He hates you,” he said. “Plus he’s a Natural. Why would he have any seed?”
“I know he hates me. And I haven’t thought of much else since he told me he had some. I have no idea why he has some, but I’m not going to look sideways at a gift from Brigid,” I said. “Besides,” I added, “he’s charging me a gold for each one.”
“You think he’s in it for the profit?” asked Barish with a look of disgust. “That is stupid. He’s the richest one at the Institute. He needs money like I need the clap.”
“You already have that,” I said.
“Bah,” he waved his fat forefinger at my face. “I’m telling you, he is up to no good.”
“He never is,” I said as I frowned. It was likely that Barish was right, but what choice did I have. I needed my two extra seeds and I needed them bad.
I stood up from the table, bowed to Barish and said, “Good health.”
“To you as well,” he said by way of reply. As I walked away from the table, he called out to me. “Be careful Mats. I don’t have many friends, and I would hate to lose one of them.”
I smiled back at him. “You have exactly one friend.”
“Bah, you savage,” he laughed again and pointed his finger at me. “You and your jokes, maybe I should instead wish you some harm. Then I wouldn’t have to hear you jabber on like an old jackdaw.” Ogma’s quiet laugh echoed through my mind in perfect counterpoint to Barish’s deep, booming laugh. I did not appreciate the humor and I let Ogma know.
I left the Dining Hall and went to my room. I had a few things to prepare. I laid my cloak on my bed and began to gather the tools I would need. First I put my wand in my front pocket. Most students used large wands, I preferred a short one. In my hand it just extended out from my closed fist. Dark ebony from the southern lands, it was hard as steel and smooth as glass.
Next I put a pair of steel balls in the front left pocket of my cloak. Just smaller than a human eye, I had them forged by Viltas, the smith in my village. I had never yet killed a man with my sling, but wasn’t concerned about it overmuch. I had taken down several red deer and one year had even dispatched a wildcat that had been prowling too near the fields. With them I stashed my small sling. I strapped my falcata on my side and picked up my short spear. Magic was good and all, but in a quick scuffle, nothing was better than a falcata and spear. With them, I had killed many men.
I put my cloak back on, enjoying the heft of the steel balls. As a student, fights were strictly prohibited, but no one had ever been punished for defending themselves.
I walked out of my room and down the stairs. Quickly, I strode through the Institute grounds until I reached the western fencing grounds. Once there, I stood waiting, leaning ever so slightly on my short spear.
Within moments, Eorich stepped out from the shadows. Behind him, I could see three other shadows.
“Eorich,” I bowed my head slightly. Honey not vinegar I told myself. Ogma hooted softly by way of approval.
“Savage,” he said. He smiled at me. To me, his grin had always seemed predatory and cruel; the shadows cast by the gibbous moon made his grin seem even worse, if that were possible.
“Are you still willing to transact?” I asked.
He nodded. “Certainly, did you bring the money?”
I reached into my pants and pulled out my too thin leather purse. Opening it with slightly trembling hands, I shook the entire contents into my hand. Five silver and one gold, all the coin I had in the entire world. I showed them to Eorich.
He slapped my palm and the coins flew everywhere, falling like soft rain on the sandy battle pitch.
I stepped back and lifted my spear.
Eorich laughed. “I said fifteen silver and three gold. Are you trying to cheat me?” he asked.
“You lie,” I answered in an even tone.
Eorich looked behind him. “You heard him. He first tried to cheat me and now he calls me a liar,” he said to the shadows that stood behind him. “Savage that he is, he probably stands incapable of understanding civilization.” He turned and looked me in the eye, “I will excuse you if you apologize for calling me a liar and kiss my dagger. Otherwise, we shall have to settle this like men.” As he said this, he pulled a short dagger from his belt. The sycamore handle and Luna circles gave it all away. With a flash of insight like a bolt from Ambisagrus above, I understood. I carried the twin to his dagger in my cloak pocket where I had put it right after pulling it out of Kaber’s forehead this morning.
“You,” I said. “Why would you kill Kaber?”
“It seemed the most efficient method to get rid of the Imps. I wanted to start with you but after I hit Kaber you moved to quick for me to hit you as well,” he said. “Now, shall we fight like men?”
“I see only myself here that fits that description,” I answered.
His eyes focused at the insult. He stepped back and into the faint light stepped three enormous men. “I shall have you put down like the savage dog you are,” said Eorich as he stepped away from the circle.
With a start, I recognized the largest one as Goll. He must have betrayed Kaber to Eorich. “Even the odds fast,” said Ogma. My familiar, always there with helpful, timely advice. I stepped into the path of Goll and spun as fast as I could. Catching him unawares, I extended my arms and struck him across the temple with my spear. The shaft broke as I delivered the blow. A solid crunch and his eyes rolled back. He slid to the ground. Not a killing blow, but he wouldn’t stand steady for days.
I danced quickly to my left and took inventory of my remaining attackers. The other two were smaller than Goll, but not by much. They moved warily, spreading out from each other. Each of them held a large sword and a small buckler shield. The one to my right had a scar across his face and down through his mouth. It tugged his lips into a rictus grin. Scar and no scar I named them in my head.
As they moved to either side, I stepped back slowly. As I did, I reached into my left pocket with my right hand and slid my forefinger through my sling. I withdrew the sling and quickly grabbed one of the steel balls with my left hand. I put it into the sling keeping my eyes on scar face. I wanted the one on my left to think I didn’t see him.
I watched no scar carefully with my side vision. As soon as he took his first fast step, I swung to face him and quickly whipped the sling in my right hand around my head once and released. The steel ball flew straight at him. With mere steps between us, he didn’t have a chance to dodge. The ball flew just over his buckler and crushed into his right eye socket. He stopped cold
and fell backwards, never to move again.
I knew scar would be moving in for the kill so I ran right at no scar, where he lay in the dust, and leapt over his body. Spinning in mid-air, I landed on my feet facing the way I had just come. Scar hadn’t expected that. His long iron sword swung through the now empty air with a slight whir that sounded like an oversized bee flying past my ear.
I smiled. Two down, two to go. I grabbed my other steel ball and quickly flung it at scar. Having seen what happened to his partner, he was ready and easily dodged it. His momentary distraction gave me time to pull out my wand. I began to chant.
Scar eyes grew wide and round. He turned and ran. I was hoping that would happen. Most Knackless are afraid of magic because it is strange and unknown to them. They don’t know the truth, magic is difficult and slow. Adept level magicians have only two or three spells they can use, and unless they have trained in battle magic, they are most likely useless on the field of battle where things move fast or they don’t move ever again.
With scar and company out of the way, I stood up straight from my fighter’s crouch and smiled a tight little smile of satisfaction. “Eorich, are you there?”
I heard a bit of rustling off to my right. I turned to face him.
“I’m here,” he said.
“Do you even have the seed?” I asked.
“Never did,” he said with a smile of satisfaction as he stepped into the dim light of the moon as it shone down onto the sandy circle.
Just then, something hard hit me in the left shoulder and burned all the way through. I looked down, and saw a broad arrowhead protruding from just under my collar bone. The pain was unbelievable. It felt like someone had just stuck a red hot poker through my shoulder, which I guess in a way they had.
I turned around and there behind me stood Professor Aeron holding a bow.
I gasped, more from the surprise than the pain. “Why?” I asked.
“It is time to cleanse the line of impurities. Those without the Knack at birth should stay that way.” His eyes shone with madness unleashed. I sunk to my knees. The pain was unbelievable. I had taken hits in battle and practice before, but this was something other.
“You begin to realize?” he asked me.
The sudden realization came to me. “You poisoned the arrow?” I gasped.
“Absolutely. I had to be certain, you see,” he said.
He looked over my head. “You will finish him, Eorich,” he said.
Behind me, I heard Eorich’s cheerful voice reply, “Most certainly, Professor. It will be my most cherished assignment.”
The Professor turned and began to walk away from me. I lifted up my wand and quickly spoke the words, “Saighead teine.”
A tight rod of fire shot from the end of my wand and struck the professor in the back, just the way Barish had taught me. The fire exploded when it hit Professor Aeron and he shrieked as he burned.
I stood and turned. Not ten feet in front of my stood Eorich. He was pale and shaking. “That is forbidden,” he said.
I laughed. “So is attacking a fellow student.”
Eorich turned and ran. I was too wrung out to do anything but I reached into my right cloak pocket anyway and pulled out the cursed dagger that had killed Kaber. I took careful aim and threw the dagger at Eorich. It hit him right in the back. With a flash of purple black light, the dark spells took effect and sent his soul straight to the Death Mother for judgment. Eorich fell face first to the ground and didn’t move again.
I slowly sat down and waited. While I sat, I pulled my falcata out and cut off the broadhead arrow tip. I couldn’t reach back to pull the arrow shaft out, that would have to wait. Not more than five minutes passed before students began to arrive. At the head of them, walked Barish.
“What happened?” he asked.
Not wanting to tell the entirety of the events, I just nodded at the four bodies. “I was attacked and defended myself.”
He nodded and whistled a quick note of appreciation. “Well done,” he said.
I motioned for him to lean down.
As he leaned down, he asked, “You used the fire rod spell?”
“Of course,” I answered. I motioned him to lean closer.
Into his ear I whispered. “Pull the arrow shaft out of my shoulder and get me up, quickly. I’ve been poisoned.”
He pulled the arrow shaft out with a quick, painful tug. I felt like passing out. It hurt almost as much coming out as it had hurt going in. Then he pulled me to my feet and announced, “I will be taking my friend Mats to the infirmary. Send any Inquisitors there.”
We walked out of the circle. “You aren’t done yet, are you?” he asked.
“No, I still need my seeds,” I said. “Walk me to Professor Aeron’s office, please.”
We slowly walked over there. When we got there, we just walked in. I searched for the seeds. On Professor Aeron’s desk, there was a small flask and a leather pouch. I drank the flask right away. Professor had always taught me to keep an antidote close at hand when working with poison. The leather pouch was bulging. I opened it. Inside were 115 Nyepsium seeds.
Barish gasped, “It’s a king’s ransom.”
“Close enough,” I answered and smiled. I clutched the bag holding the seeds in my right hand and walked over to the infirmary with Barish’s help.
“Now are you done?” he asked me as he helped me lay down on the infirmary cot.
I nodded, too tired to do much else. Ogma hooted softly from the corner.
“Good,” said Barish, “Then all is as it should be.” And with that, he left.
Thank you for reading
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