The Isle of Mists: An Epic Mage Fantasy Adventure (Legend of Ecta Mastrino Book 3)

by BJ Hanlon

  Edin watched him for a moment then laid down on his own small cot. Outside the crashing waves sounded far below him, rhythmically attacking the cliffs.

  6

  A Deal with a Frenemy

  Edin stood on the top of a mountain overlooking a field of battle. Far below, like bleeding and headless worms, bodies were strewn around the field. The cries of men, terrified and painful somehow reached his ears despite the great distance.

  Many more were advancing, stumbling over their fallen comrades as if they were nothing but dead tree limbs.

  To the left, he saw line upon line of soldiers. Dunbilstonian, Resholtian and even small bands of men in black jerkins and of dark complexion.

  The last were disbursed between the soldiers as if they were some sort of secret weapon.

  To the right, he saw the multicolored robes of the magi.

  Masses of black arrows flew from the left; fire, water and terra firma from the right. They arched together directly in front of Edin.

  The attacks were slow and seemed to stay aloft for a long time moving as if they were propelled through sap.

  Edin’s hands shook. He wanted to do something but could only watch as both buzzed past and threw each other and landed on their targets. Men and magi screamed, cried out as their bodies were destroyed and their souls were returned to the gods, either above or below…

  Then Edin saw a familiar figure in black robes atop a giant warhorse. He was at the head of a cavalry charge. A moment later, lightning crackled high above them in the clouds. A fat man stepped out of the magi line. The bursts of electricity flew from Pharont’s hands and arced toward Berka.

  It arched across his vision like a river unsure of what path it should take.

  Edin raised a hand and suddenly, a great ethereal barrier was erected like a wall between the two armies. It rose hundreds of yards into the air. Arrows, fire, and lightning all crashed against the barrier.

  The Por Fen horses whined and reared back, riders toppled to the ground. Slowly, men began to stare up in his direction. Thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands. Their eyes turned on him with great intensity and he could feel their strength pushing into him throwing him off the pinnacle. The ground rumbled shaking Edin.

  His eyes cracked open as the shoving intensified.

  “Are you alright? You were thrashing in your sleep...” The blond hair and spectacled eyes of Dorset were above him. His look was curious. Edin nodded. “Well, you don’t want to be late a second day.”

  “What time is it?” Edin said groggily.

  “Five.”

  “Five? That’s early.”

  “You have to get going or you’ll be late.”

  “It’s too far.”

  “Then wake earlier,” Dorset said and traipsed toward the stairs.

  Why would Dorset care? Did the teacher suddenly worry about his unwanted roommate getting whipped? Then he remembered Mersett.

  “Thank you,” Edin said.

  Dorset stopped as if to say something, he seemed to look up for a moment toward the wooden slats above him. Then he disappeared down the curved stairwell.

  The morning light was rising through the window illuminating the circular room. There was a shabbiness about the place, curtains were frayed and dotted black with spots, small flies hovered over a plate with half eaten food, dollops of candle wax curdled on the floor next to tomes, scrolls, and writing utensils.

  Dorset appeared again, sticking his head through the wooden trap door.

  “There’s coffee still warm downstairs.”

  “Thank you,” Edin said.

  Dorset nodded and disappeared.

  Edin took a moment to stare at the brown package next to his bed. He ripped it open and dressed. He grabbed his flask and stared at it for a moment. His head pounded and his hands shook. It was empty.

  He sighed and wondered if there was a tavern to refill it on the way… or better yet if Dorset had any. He’d have to ask.

  When he got down though, Dorset had gone. He glanced out the door and watched him crest the small hill a few hundred yards down the road. He went to the coffee.

  After drinking a bit, Edin poured some in his flask and began toward the fields.

  The trek was grueling and Fior was in a mood. Edin arrived as other workers were just heading out to the field in their matching brown uniforms. He caught Henny’s eye. The big man looked away.

  “You’re late,” Fior said.

  “I live far.”

  Fior raised a whip, braided with many strands all tied neatly in a small knot at the end. A gleeful grin crossed his face. “I warned you to be here on time or face the whip.” He took a step forward. “Off with your shirt.”

  Edin didn’t move, he stared at the small knots dangling like willow branches in a gentle breeze. His hand moved toward his belt. No sword. Edin could kill this guy with out it… but he wasn’t the enemy was he? He was the dog, one of the Fat Arse Egotist’s many dogs… Edin clenched his jaw.

  Fior raised the whip and started to bring it down. Edin summoned an ethereal bubble between them and the strands bounced harmlessly off. “Take your punishment like a man…” He spat and tried again. There was no getting through. Even through the white light, the foreman’s face turned bright red.

  After four more strikes with nothing, Fior huffed. “You’ll pay for this, it’ll be much worse for you.”

  Edin took a breath and let the shield evaporate. “The plow?”

  “Get there now,” Fior grumbled, his hand twitched wanting to raise the whip again, then he turned and stormed off.

  Henny appeared in the barn door and waived him over. “You’re a philios…

  ain’t been one of those here in…”

  “Hundreds of years. Yeah, I was told,” Edin said.

  He worked till four with barely half hour for lunch and only a handful of water breaks. His mouth was dry, everything ached and he surely lost ten pounds in the heat. He pictured the cool blue waters of the Crys and wished he could leap into them.

  Edin’s hands were raw and blistered when Fior rang a bell to quit.

  Henny walked up next to Edin, he’d been trailing him all day, “a few of us are headed to the tavern if you want to join?” His voice a bit more jovial than before.

  Edin’s mouth craved it, he wanted to have that drink… maybe needed to. He hadn’t thought about Arianne all day. He’d just worked in the fields, sweaty, sore, and exhausted. He deserved an ale or a whiskey. Edin nodded.

  They didn’t head back to Baili’s place. That was supposedly for the ranchers and the residents of Brackland. Of which, Edin guessed, he was one. They went to another tavern called the Reaper in another hamlet the locals called Yarden.

  “It’s half yard, and half garden ya see,” Henny told him pointing out small patches of manicured grass and other large garden beds. Women and children were moving throughout these, pulling weeds and picking vegetables that were in season. “These are the crops we get to keep ourselves. The rest all goes back to Delrot.”

  “You get paid, don’t you?” Edin asked.

  “Of course, a pair of chits a day, but we don’t have to pay for our homes, the farmhands don’t have to pay for clothes, and our children get to go to school. Not the nice one in the city, but the agricultural one… it’s just a one room place near the gorge but Britia teaches ‘em just fine. Good lady too,” he said with a wink.

  A woman stood, took off a bonnet, wiped her brow, then leaned back with her hands pressed to her kidneys. An audible crack came from her back. She could’ve been pretty, but there was no way to tell. The tunic she wore was far too big for her and tied at the waist with a piece of twine.

  Henny opened the door and waived Edin in. The tavern smelled of stale ale, sweat, and the sweet odor of freshly picked produce.

  Edin took a seat at a far table while Henny grabbed ales. There was an awkward silence for a while. “You sure you want to be seen with me? Fior would probably take it as an insult.” />
  “Bah, he’s back in Delrot, surprised he even showed up at our farm today. Guessing it has something to do with you.”

  “Imagine you’re right,” Edin said.

  A few men stopped by, ones from a different farm. Henny introduced Edin. They were nice enough folk, a cheerful sort that were content with their lot in life.

  “Edin here plows like a drunken geezer,” Henny smiled, “can’t keep it up for the life of him.”

  “Like you Henny?” a man said.

  Henny lifted his mug and grinned. “Your wife never complained.”

  They roared laughter and drank heavily. Edin listened as they sang songs about farming and the island that produced so much bounty. There were sad songs too, the kind Dephina would croon, ones about leaving the old land from threat of persecution and friends left behind…

  Hours later, as they were leaving, Henny directed Edin toward a small stable at the edge of the hamlet. He pushed open a pony door and led Edin to a stall at the back. “I got this mule. He ain’t that strong and he’s a bit old, but he can still carry you.”

  Edin looked at the animal, he was about as tall as Edin’s stomach, had deep brown eyes and gray fur with a black mane.

  “Carry me?”

  “Yeah, you can have him, ya know for the ride to and back from the farm.”

  Edin swallowed a lump in his throat and looked at the big man. In the dim light of unburning candles, the man looked fatherly… well unclely.

  Edin didn’t know what to say, he reached out and petted the animal’s nose. It was cold and wet and the animal smelled of soiled hay.

  “You don’t have to take Gary…”

  “You call him Gary?” Edin said.

  “I call him Wind… It’s ironic cause he’s slow ya know.”

  “I had a stallion I called Hail…” Edin said.

  “Prolly faster than this beast,” Henny said slapping the animal hard. It whinnied and tried to nip him. “He’s feisty too.”

  It was a quarter-moon that night and the world seemed dark. The wind cooled his body as he walked next to Gary up the road toward the Reaches. After making little progress on the back of the donkey and getting nibbled on a half-dozen times, Edin decided to lead him the rest of the way.

  Beyond the tower, there were three peninsulas. All nearly identical. Twenty feet or more above the waves and rocks. Three long fingers reaching out toward the sea as if trying to snatch a fish.

  He tied Gary to a hitching post and petted him. Edin could see far out into the ocean as the moon twinkled off it like a diamond. What was out there beyond the horizon?

  Edin walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down. He felt a bit of vertigo as he stared at the long drop to the water. White waves smashed the rocks.

  For a moment, the thought of jumping came over him again but Edin shook it away. He looked out into the emptiness of the night and the black Crimson Ocean. He imagined Arianne next to him, her blond hair flapping in the wind, her eyes sparkling and her jaw quivering expecting a kiss.

  “I wish you were here,” Edin whispered as he sat down on the edge of the cliff with his feet dangling above the surf.

  Edin wasn’t sure how long he’d sat there when he heard footsteps.

  “If you stare long enough, you can see the sun rising.”

  It took Edin a moment, “well it is east.”

  “I’m not lying then,” Dorset said, he moved to the edge of Edin’s view and glanced down. His long blond ponytail flapped behind his head. He wore a flowing green robe that pushed and pulled in the breeze. “You know it was really peaceful out here, much better than the hustle of the city. No trouble, no worries… then you come along.”

  “I upset your home, did I?” Edin said feeling the tension rising up in him. He didn’t like this man, he was a pompous jerk for certain. “Take it up with that fat man. I didn’t want to live with a slob.”

  Dorset pursed his lips. “That’s great, I don’t want to room with an ignorant cratmonger either. We’re both stuck then.”

  “I guess we are,” Edin spat. He didn’t have friends, he didn’t even have Arianne anymore. What was the point in fighting with this bookworm? It didn’t matter, he was already too far gone. “So why are you out here, do you prance around in that dress every night hoping some burly farm lady will sweep you off your feet?”

  “I made dinner… was going to offer you some.” Dorset stomped away. The retreating footsteps were probably meant to convey anger. “And don’t tie this ass to the post, it’s for horses.” He shouted over the distance.

  A loud clap startled him awake. Edin’s eyes popped open, he reached for his sword pressed between the bed and the wall and pulled it. In a quick movement, he unsheathed it, dropped to the serpent stance, and looked for an intruder.

  Dorset was standing over a pair of boots. One of them was still rocking from side to side from the drop. His roommate stared at him for a moment, he pushed the spectacles from the top of his head down to his nose, pulled them up again and dropped them. “What in the blazes is that?” Dorset asked.

  Edin relaxed a bit but he was still annoyed,

  Dorset dropped his boots just to wake him.

  What a blotard, Edin thought. “It’s a sword,” Edin said a standing. “Why did you do that?”

  “It’s like… a mirage or a broken mirror or…” his mouth seemed to try and chew on words but without success.

  Edin grabbed his sheath and put the sword away. He was in his undertrousers again and turned back to his bed but the sun was already coming up. It didn’t feel like he slept at all… again.

  “Your scars… have you seen a lot of battles?”

  “No.” Edin bit back a retort despite the unceremonious wake up. “Just a lot of fights.”

  “You know how to use that?” Dorset was still eyeing the blade like a lost treasure of the old kingdom.

  “I carry it for luck and hope that the bad guys will fall down dead upon seeing it.”

  “Has that worked for you?”

  “I’m alive aren’t I?” Edin said before grabbing the work trousers and pulling them on. “Unfortunately for your peace and quiet.” He picked up his shirt and got a whiff of his arm pits. Edin recoiled.

  “There’s a wash room downstairs… soap too,” Dorset said. “It’s to clean your body and hopefully help with that smell.”

  “I know what soap is. You try working the fields and not smelling like a sewer in the lower quarter.”

  “Spent a lot of time down there have you?”

  “It’s the best place to deposit your kind.” Edin grabbed his clothes and headed toward the stairs, he paused, walked back, picked up his sword, and went down to the washroom.

  Dorset said nothing.

  After a vigorous scrub with a sponge and soap that held a pungent floral perfume. Edin left with a towel around his waist. Coffee displaced the perfume and Dorset was seated at the small two-person table reading something.

  Edin made an effort not to look at the book, but his curiosity got the best of him. The letters were waving and sweeping lines that made no sense to him. Ulstapish, he guessed.

  “It’s just coffee,” Dorset said sitting at his table.

  Edin paused, adjusted his things, and poured himself a big cup before heading upstairs. Changing into his second uniform he stared at his sword.

  Holding it for just those few moments had brought back a strong desire. An urge came over him, he wanted to strap it on and work in the fields with it. Maybe even train on lunch…

  Fior would think twice about harassing him. He left it.

  Downstairs, Dorset was packing a few things in a shoulder bag. He glanced up at Edin then back down. The book was still on the table with a sheet of paper sticking out of it like a place marker.

  Edin poured more coffee into his mug and stared out the small kitchen window toward the ocean. Beneath the window, a wash basin was filled with dirty dishes. Tiny flies darted in and out of them.

  “You w
ant to learn spellcraft?” Dorset said.

  Edin turned and leaned against the counter, “who said…”

  “Mersett,” Dorset interrupted. “Said he’d appreciate it.”

  Edin didn’t respond but just stared at the teacher. Maybe he was a good teacher, maybe there were things Edin could learn from him, but the thought of being taught by such a pompous know-it-all… he paused. “I would,” Edin said correcting that thought.

  “I’ll help you, but I want you to do something for me. Teach me to fight.”

  “You want to fight?” Edin snorted. The man was thin, barely a stick. And in the light of the morning, his head seemed too large for his body like a melon on a broomstick. “Can you even hold a sword?”

  “I’m not as weak as I look.”

  “How do you know how weak you look?”

  “About as stupid as you look I suppose.”

  Edin sighed, “I can’t make any promises.”

  “Me neither,” Dorset said, “I’ll be back around five, the book on the table is for you. You’ll need to learn Ulstapish. That book is for my remedial students.” He paused. “By the way, your donkey got into my flower beds, ate some of my favorite petunias.”

  “Are you an old maid?”

  “There’s a shed behind the tower. Use it.”

  The workday was the same, Edin, a bit hungover, he sweated mercilessly in the fields despite the perfect climate. He probably drank a gallon of water but he felt as if he were getting better at plowing… though there didn’t seem much to it.

  Henny followed, sowing seeds of something called okra, a plant from southern Bestoria.

  As the day came to an end, he began to hear horse hoofs beating against the dirt path. Arianne? He thought and looked toward the west.

  Then he noticed it was more than one and around the corner of the tall wheat plants, a group of men with dark blue capes rode up.