by Guy Antibes
They went to Grigar’s room, which was bigger and nicer than Jack’s.
“How come he got a nicer room?” Jack asked.
“I’m an old bird,” Grigar said. “In Masukai, age gets more respect than elsewhere.”
Jack nodded. “Since I am younger, I get a room as small as mine.”
“If you are complaining, I’ll complain along with you,” Namori said. “My room is exactly like yours.” She laughed.
The flourishes came with how to drape the outer robes, tie the sashes, and how to wear the caps and hats they were given, so Jack didn’t have to worry about disrobing in front of Namori. When they were done, the dinner gong sounded.
“You are free after dinner. I will show you to the stable where there will be weapons, supplies, and your map.”
Helen and Tanner joined them as they ate. Each of them wished the others well.
“When will I have to wear my hair like that?” Tanner asked.
“Whenever you wish. Just ask me,” Namori said. “I won’t be going anywhere.”
“I’m not sure about the black, but I’d like to wear my hair like you do,” Helen said. “I think it is long enough.”
“Not quite, but we can work on it,” Namori said, smiling.
They all drank a bit more alcohol than they needed to, but it was a send-off. Jack didn’t like leaving Tanner and Helen, but they had to prepare to retrieve the Battlebone, and he had no illusions about needing to be over-prepared to do it.
Jack returned to his room and found another big stack of rods. A note in the sack said one-third energy, two-thirds healing. Although his head was nearly to the point of pounding, he went to work.
~
Namori let them sleep in. They weren’t to leave before midday and Jack had to separate the items he would take and not take with him and left the newly charged rods along with the items he had decided to leave behind. She retrieved him before the midday meal. Like before, Jack decided to take his wand, Eldora’s box, and the wrist bracers and leave everything else at the Pearl Mist academy. He could duplicate the other objects in one form or another, but he couldn’t replace the warded box and the wrist guards. The wand was a trusted weapon, and the Masukaian wizards’ wands were similar enough it wouldn’t draw any attention.
“We will eat after we leave the city. The traffic is best to slip through right now.”
“We aren’t sneaking out of Yomomai, are we?” Grigar asked.
“No, but you are foreigners, even if you will have Masukai names on your ranking cards,” she said.
They reached the stables. Jack thought he rode a short horse on the way from Taiyo. This one was even smaller. Their mounts were shorter and stockier. With Jack’s height, he wondered what he would look like riding on the smaller horse.
“Better for you,” Jack said to Grigar.
Torii Ishoru and Okiku walked into the stableyard.
“Here are your cards. Gigaru Zinza.” He handed a ranking card to Grigar. “Sakoru Sinda.”
Jack took his card. “You can call me Sak for short,” he said to Grigar.
“End it with a vowel. Sako or Saku,” Okiku said. “They are vaguely close to your first names, so if you inadvertently use the wrong name, it won’t be difficult to cover it up.”
“If it even becomes necessary,” Grigar said.
“It might not,” Torii said. “Look inside at your ranking.”
“I was expecting a promotion,” Grigar said, frowning. He showed them his card. Wizard-Seven.
“I got a small promotion. Wizard-Eight, Warrior-Seven.”
“Your original rankings were a bit inflated, in our opinion. These are good starting points, although when you enter Deep Mist, rankings will mean little as you will find out,” Okiku said. “Good luck, but I don’t think you will need it.”
Torii bowed to Jack. “I don’t know what Akkora has in store for you, but you will be better prepared when you return to Yomomai as will be your two warrior friends.”
They stuffed the supplies and the map that Torii Ishoru had given to Namori, and put their used Masukaian weapons into their sashes before they left the Pearl Mist academy in a roundabout way. The way out of Yomomai was easier than the way in. Namori, for one, didn’t call them out as foreigners like Okiku did. They traveled for an hour outside of the city when Namori stopped them under the spreading boughs of an old, old tree.
“This where I leave you on your own,” she said after dismounting. She pulled out the map. “I’ve never been past the crossroads, here.”
The point on the map didn’t appear to be too far ahead of them.
“So we head south?”
“It looks like due south,” Namori said. “When you get to the village circled, someone will retrieve you. That is all Torii Ishoru told me this morning. There are many in Yomomai who haven’t been to Deep Mist.” Namori smiled. “Those who return are of an exalted status—”
“Does that merit a larger room?” Jack asked.
Namori giggled. “Probably, but they stay in a different area of the academy if they stay with us at all.”
Jack nodded. Obviously, Deep Mist graduates probably didn’t need to be trained, but Jack wondered if there were more Deep Mist trainers at the academy than Namori realized. He suspected there were levels of knowledge within the Pearl Mist. He didn’t know if he was excited about that, disappointed, or fearful. Jack would just have to wait and find out.
“Thank you for your help,” Grigar said and reached over to give Namori a hug.
She blinked but then smiled and embraced the older man. She looked at Jack. “Well?” She held out her arms.
Jack wasn’t about to turn away an opportunity, so he gave her a hug while she returned it with a peck on his cheek. “A little going-away present,” she said.
Jack nearly turned around to see if a little sister would emerge from the woods. “We will visit you on our return.”
“If I come back to Yomomai when you are done. My father has asked me to interrupt my training and join him in Taiyo. I will be notified when you travel back to the capital. I am still anxious to get my mother free, but the Pearl Mist won’t move until you can join me. I can’t use one of the brothers or sisters in the society to free her.”
Jack felt a sense of disappointment within himself. He thought the Pearl Mist was a bit nobler than relying on outsiders to help Kiro Ganshi retrieve his family. It had been a long time since Jack had learned of the hostage situation.
“I look forward to seeing you again,” Jack said.
Namori gave him a smile. “As do I.” She mounted and left them, waving once as she headed north back to Yomomai.
“That was a little late in coming,” Jack said, rubbing his cheek where the girl’s lips brushed his skin.
“She honors you and dishonors her father,” Grigar said. “But I agree. She is a nice enough girl, even for the Masukai who have a distaste for foreigners. Cute too.” He smiled and mounted. “You might not like our new mounts, but I do. It is easier for me to climb aboard.”
Jack grinned. “A new adventure begins,” he said as he untied his new armor and put it on. He lacked a helmet, but Jack never liked them, especially with his longer hair.
“The next stage of the adventure. I had thought my learning days were over, but I exceeded even my own feeble expectations,” Grigar said, laughing. “And I have a new hairstyle I’d never show my friends and family in Lajia.” He patted the top of his topknot. The pin fell out, and his hair collapsed to his shoulders. “Cursed thing,” Grigar said, as he had to dismount to retrieve the pin and fix his hair again.
Chapter Sixteen
~
T hey followed the map heading south. They would stay on this same road for two days before they took another. Jack got a few stares along the way, but with Jack’s warrior weapons and Grigar’s wizard hat, no one bothered them. When they stopped for the night, they consulted the map again at the inn’s common room.
“We have ten da
ys’ worth of travel,” Grigar said. “I hope every day is as easy as this one.”
“We can only hope.”
Jack sat in the common room, drinking a cup of wine. He sat back and gave Fasher an update after the wizard asked him to communicate in the mornings rather than the evenings. There was a time difference, after all.
It wasn’t the first time Jack had been reminded of the fact, but he usually got the scolding from Penny since he typically talked to her first. This time his report was just for Fasher. The wizard gave him his usual warnings. Deep Mist would test his ability with wizardry, but Jack already knew that.
The next few days were unremarkable. A cool wind rose up from the east, so they put on their light hooded cloaks. After that, no one even stopped to stare at Jack’s foreign face. A mountain range grew on the southern horizon that was not on the map, but when Jack consulted the map, he figured the road would curve a lot.
“You will need water if you follow the road into the mountains,” the innkeeper said. “This is the last place you won’t have to pay.”
“Pay for water?” Grigar said.
“Not much on the other side. Going to Deep Mist?”
“Yes. We haven’t been before.”
The innkeeper nodded. “You people come through here all the time, so don’t be upset. Only the new ones would ask about paying on the desert side.”
“Is the way difficult through the mountains?” Jack asked.
The woman shrugged. “They are mountains,” was all she said. “There are bandits, but you shouldn’t have to worry.” She had copied down their names and rank when they first arrived. Anyone who wished to track a person wouldn’t have too difficult a time if they knew their name and rank unless the person had multiple ranking cards.
Jack tossed and turned that night, worrying about the mountains. They rose the next day. As the day wore on the road began to get steeper. They stayed the night in a tiny roadside shelter. There were no inns until they reached the other side. Their meal consisted of the dried Masukaian travel food. Neither Jack or Grigar cared for it, but they needed to eat.
The next day, they set out and reached a pass in the mountains. Far in the distance, Jack could see the southern steppes. Bands of light green, yellow, and gray spread across the flatter lands below.
“It doesn’t look very hospitable,” Grigar said, gazing into the distance.
“Deep Mist is out there somewhere,” Jack said, and he snapped the reins and urged his horse down the other side of the mountain.
They passed a shelter, but moved on, thinking that they had enough time to reach a small village on the map.
It was dark, and by the time they reached the village, every dwelling was dark. It was too early for everyone to go to bed.
“I don’t think people live here anymore,” Grigar said.
Jack had to agree, but it was too late to keep going. “We will stop then. Perhaps there is an inn of some kind we can use for shelter. I’d feel a bit odd using someone’s house.
A larger building looked like a good place to rest. Jack slid the door open and conjured a light. He expected to see cobwebs and dust, but the place looked well kept.
It wasn’t an inn, but a large house. Grigar moved the horses around to a small stable at the side of the house and returned. “There are four horses in the stable,” he said.
“Hello?” Jack called out.
“Who are you?” A quavering voice spoke from the darkness. “Go away. Please leave us alone.”
“We are two travelers, just seeking a place to rest before we head farther south,” Grigar said.
“Heading for Deep Mist? Or are you going to join the Red Heron encampment?”
Jack didn’t know quite what to say, and while he was thinking, Grigar said. “Deep Mist. Have the Red Herons intimidated you?”
The voice produced its own light. “The Red Herons have at the expense of some of my friends’ lives. Isn’t that enough to intimidate anyone?”
The light revealed a white-haired Masukaian, his hair pulled back. He dressed in a light white robe, but his face and feet were bruised.
“They have done this to you?” Grigar said. He rushed to the man and held his wrist. “We know a few bits of healing. Are there others in the village in need of help?”
The old man looked at Grigar. “Are you a ghost come to mock us?”
“No,” Grigar said, helping the man to sit on a low table.
Jack went to him and gave him a pulse of strength.
“Akkora’s blessed?”
“So I have been told,” Jack said. “Does that help?”
“One more time,” the man said.
Jack gave him a healing spell and then put some magical energy into him. He also said the trigger word “Clean” in Corandian. The man dropped his head before gathering strength to lift it again.
“You are stronger than him,” the old man said to Jack.
“In some things,” Jack said.
Grigar smiled.
“Can you be more open with us?”
“I told you the truth except their encampment isn’t where I was instructed to tell you. The Red Herons do have an encampment, but there are only a few of them. They have set traps where you were to go.”
Jack shook his head. “We wouldn’t have gone to any Red Heron encampment,” Jack said. “That would be foolish.” He looked at Grigar, who nodded at Jack.
“We can deliver you from the coercion spell.”
“Do that and then send help. I am the only one with any real power in the village and look at how you found me.”
“How many Red Herons are there?” Jack asked.
“Four.”
“That might change my mind. Do you know where they are?” Jack said.
The old man looked relieved. “I do. Let me draw you a map.”
“On the one we carry,” Jack pulled out the map and flipped it over.
The old man found a pencil and scrawled a crude map on the backside.
“It is half a day there, in the foothills, but you will be a bit closer if you leave there for Deep Mist. You just go south until you reach,” he looked at the reverse side. “This road.” He marked an “x” on the spot where he thought both roads would intersect. “You will need water. There is nothing for miles.”
“Don’t worry about that,” Grigar said. “Let’s get started on your people so we can leave first thing in the morning.”
~
The grove of stunted trees in the gash of a little valley was right where the villagers told them the Red Herons camped. Jack wondered why the wizards would be here, rather than the village, but as they got closer, they saw boxes and a row of shabby tents.
“Mining?” Grigar asked Jack.
“I don’t know,” Jack said, “They are up to no good if they coerced an entire village. None of the villagers told us of the workers.”
They rode closer. Jack made sure his wand was full of magic. They secured their horses and walked the rest of the rocky way in. There were plenty of large rocks to hide their progress. They stopped to watch. A few workers brought boxes to a red-robed wizard. The Red Heron made the box shake with his magic, and he levitated a small amount of the rock out and into another box at his side.
Jack spotted all four of the wizards engaged in the mining operation. One exited the mine, which was out of their sight, following one of the workers.
They moved closer and caught the yellow glint of gold in the next load, the sitting wizard processed.
“What shall we do?” Grigar asked.
“We freed the villagers. Do you want the Red Herons to return and bind their minds again?” Jack asked.
“No, but we don’t know how powerful they are.”
“And they don’t know how powerful we are,” Jack said. “Let us see if we can reason with them or if they are as far gone as the Black Fingers. Back to the horses.”
They untied their horses and proceeded to ride into the camp after Jack made sure
Grigar had an anti-coercion charm. The Lajian already did.
“From my sister’s collection,” Grigar said.
One of the Red Herons approached them. “What are you doing here?”
Grigar raised his eyebrows. “I am afraid we are lost. We passed a deserted village last night and continued on until we arrived here.”
“You can turn around and go back the way you came, can’t you?”
Jack felt the pressure of the wizard’s spell.
“Actually, we will take the trail out of your camp and head south,” Jack said.
“No, you won’t.”
The pressure increased.
“Your eyes aren’t very good,” Jack said. “This man has a wizard’s cap on. He is immune to coercion spells.”
The Red Heron’s eyes narrowed. “It takes three or four Pearl Mists to resist my spell.”
“Your eyes still aren’t very good. Do I look like a Pearl Mist member to you?” Jack said, trying to act like Tanner. “It looks like you are mining gold, is that correct?”
“Our business is our own,” the Red Heron said. His three companions joined him. “If you don’t leave now, we will kill you.”
Jack smiled. “I’m just trying to be friendly. Are those workers your slaves? Do you have them under a compulsion spell too? It is against Masukai law to compel people, or so I was taught.”
“If you want to spout law with us, you won’t leave this valley alive,” the Red Heron who separated the gold said.
Jack guessed he was the strongest wizard. Jack had no idea how he refined the ore using his magic, but he would get Jack’s attention first.
“Is that a threat? I didn’t threaten you,” Jack said. He glanced at Grigar, who looked a bit uncomfortable, but Jack knew Grigar had put on his armor under his robe at the village.
“Does it matter?” one of the Red Herons said. He raised his hand and pushed it.
A wind hit Jack in the face, but Jack shut his eyes and pointed his wand. There were three wizards left. The mining wizard struck Grigar with a gout of fire that just stopped short of singeing the Lajian. Grigar had a wand of his own that blew the wizard onto his back.
