Traveling Mage

by Tim Niederriter

  Spells of the Curtain: Traveler Mage

  Copyright © 2018 Tim Niederriter

  http://mentalcellarpublications.com

  https://dwellerofthedeep.wordpress.com/

  All Rights Reserved.

  No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written consent of the author. Unauthorized duplication in any media is a violation of international copyright laws and will be prosecuted.

  Published by Mental Cellar Publications

  This is a work of fiction People, places, events, and situations are the product of the author’s imagination. Any similarity to actual people, places, and events is purely coincidental.

  Also by Tim Niederriter

  Spells of the Curtain Series

  Court Mage

  Battle Mage

  Winter Mage

  Garden Mage

  Traveling Mage (October 7th)

  Fire Mage (October 25th)

  Protector Mage (November 12th)

  …and more to come!

  Tenlyres Series

  Ilsa and Blue

  The Gray Lector

  The Lyre War

  The Root Conspiracy Series

  Memory Lost

  Mind Chase

  Image Storm

  Cell Cycle

  Other Books

  Rem’s Dream

  Find out more at http://mentalcellarpublications.com

  This series is for the friends who made it possible.

  And also for Zig Zag Claybourne, a fellow author who encouraged me to dust off this tale.

  And now, for the readers whose enthusiasm for this story encourages me to keep writing every day.

  Thank you all.

  Chelka

  Prison Keep Nirmota near the imperial city's northwestern wall made for a less than pleasant sight for Chelka, mostly because it was her destination. Walls of black stone chiseled with huge beast-headed bell towers on every crenelated fortification loomed as she entered the building’s shadow. She went alone so the retainers and Edmath could prepare for their voyage around the end of the peninsula before they would turn north.

  She passed through gate after gate that closed behind her. The warden of the keep had been told of her visit, and being a royal princess and daughter of the Hearth Emperor gave her latitude to move where she pleased.

  She spoke with the shift leader, a moth legionnaire who stood in the courtyard near her destination in the middle cells. She handed him a sheaf of papers.

  "I think you'll find these are all in order. However, hold onto them for the moment. If I speak to you on the way back, burn them."

  He nodded. One of his guards escorted her into a cell block. Gloom ruled indoors, even during daytime. Only tiny windows in a few of the cells provided illumination, barely enough to see by.

  The guard left her side when they reached her destination. He motioned her forward as part of his bow and retreat. Chelka peered into the cell before her.

  "Kana of Palatan, I presume?" she said.

  The woman sitting by the far wall of the windowless cell looked pale in the shadows. She raised her head, eyes tired and met Chelka's gaze.

  "Who are you?" she asked.

  "The wife of the man you were hired to kill."

  Kana's eyes widened. She lowered her gaze.

  "I see. So this is the end."

  "The end of something," said Chelka. "but I'm here to offer you a chance, mercenary."

  Kana's eyes remained fixed on the floor.

  "What kind of chance?"

  "A chance at a pardon, but on a condition."

  Kana sighed.

  "I don't have any options."

  "Your team is being kept entirely in this fortress," said Chelka. "I happen to know all your weapons and tools are here as well."

  "Something tells me you aren't planning to break us out."

  "Why bother with that? I told you, I'm here to offer you a pardon if you accept the terms I offer."

  Kana shook her head, unruly mane of dark waves shifting unevenly.

  "Just tell me what you want."

  "I want to hire six mercenaries to travel with my team to Elk Country. I could use people with knowledge of inland gathering. I looked into your past. You were exiled to the north from Palatan. Even going home to recruit your five friends was a risky move."

  "You learned all that in a month?"

  "Please, my good mercenary. I learned all this over the past week. Don't underestimate the reach of the Squid Tribe."

  Kana raised her eyes.

  "Suppose we go...you'll let us all out?"

  "I only have need of you, but I understand you've grown close with the people you lead. Consider their pardons your bonus."

  Kana set her jaw.

  "I won't ask for gold. A family is worth more than any coin, even if they're all commoners."

  "You're not related to them by blood."

  "Not by blood, Lady Benisar, through blood."

  "I understand." Chelka smiled.

  "I accept your terms," said Kana softly.

  Chelka nodded.

  "You will be released today. I've seen to it your belongings will be returned to you. I'll be waiting for you at the Whale King's docks at dawn tomorrow. If any of you aren't there, you will all soon find yourself back within these walls."

  Kana bowed her head but said nothing.

  Chelka turned to leave.

  "Thank you," said the woman in the cell.

  "Don't thank me," said Chelka, "because I haven't forgiven you."

  And if you knew where we were going in the north, you'd already know that, Chelka thought.

  "See you at dawn," said Kana.

  Chelka nodded to her escort. He led her outside. She passed the shift leader without a word and continued on her way into the city toward the house she and Edmath had rented for the last three weeks. She did not doubt Kana would be loyal enough to trust based on the auguries she had commissioned and what Edmath had told her.

  She couldn't feel too bad for former enemies, even if they would be joining her in a potentially dangerous mission.

  "Creator blessed," she whispered, "give me strength."

  For a moment she doubted the wisdom in her reasoning to visit the prison, to recruit the mercenaries who attacked Edmath a month ago were held. She brushed the thought away. Edmath agreed with her the six of them had only been interested in two things. The first was money. The second was protecting each other. That kind of loyalty could be useful on a journey such as this one. The northlands could be dangerous indeed, and none of her team were familiar with the territory.

  The area around the winter Saale college of Roene Park was forbidding, even in summer. Chelka let her prayer linger in her mind. She doubted the creator's beneficences most of the time, but even as a Saale she had no other higher power to whom she could make an appeal.

  Roshi prayed to their prophetess, but she had been mortal from what Chelka understood. Either way, when one crafted beasts into weapons of war, one needed to clear her conscience any way she could.

  She arrived at the house in the bright afternoon. Edmath was at the palace, instructing gardeners in how to care for his growing glade of Orpus trees. Even Ed, peaceable Ed had made his creations capable of great destruction.

  It did not seem to give him much pause. Chelka watched a flock of titanic sky levoths sailing over the sea in the distance. Diar offered such a hub of resources, but she would not miss the city much. Her family's palaces in Sizali were far more comfortable for her tosh, and there was less travel on foot or by air. Unfortunately, she doubted the north would be any easier to live in, ev
en if only for a short while.

  At any rate, this voyage should be interesting as well as dangerous.

  The levoth's massive forelegs unfolded and touched bottom near shore, relieving Edmath of tension after nearly four days at sea. He thanked the titanic frog-whale hybrid in the frog language before walking to the flat ridge atop the levoth's head to join the other leaders of the expedition. In the water to his left, the orca protector Kyelin broke the surface and spouted water into the warm air of the afternoon.

  Edmath waved to the mighty ocean-going retainer of the Whale Tribe. Kyelin raised one flipper out of the water then breached with a long crooning reply of good luck. Brosk had insisted on the orca's accompanying them this far, but now his role complete the black and white whale and his partner turned southward to rejoin their pod leagues away.

  Brosk smiled at the wakes of the departing whales.

  "Looks like you made a friend, Ed. Not every ward gets that kind of acknowledgment from Kyelin."

  "It helped I could talk to him, I'm sure," said Edmath with a grin.

  He removed his glasses and cleaned wiped off traces of sea-spray. For the most part, he had stayed on the levoth's back for the voyage, sleeping under the stars, but it had left his and Chelka's clothes and hair encrusted with salt. Still, it was better than vomiting in the great creature's dry stomach where most of the others had slept.

  This mission was a joint venture, ordered by all three lower emperors, each one sending a Saale they could trust. That the three of them were also best friends since Lexine Park made everything a sweeter yet.

  Chelka motioned Edmath and Brosk to come to the top of the levoth's head where she stood with the controller. They wasted no more time. Captain Onserun was a veteran of two insurrections as well as the last war with Roshi and he bore the scars to prove it.

  He bowed low to Brosk.

  "My prince," he said, "welcome to Gathat."

  Brosk peered out at the collection of wooden buildings, mostly small except for a few modestly scaled structures along the shore. The pier beside the levoth where they would disembark looked rickety, standing on legs encrusted with weeds and clinging sea creatures. A crowd of villagers stood at the base of the dock, watching Edmath and the others on the frog-whale's head.

  "It's a fishing village, mostly Elk and Bear Tribe. Small too, as you've no doubt noticed," said Onserun.

  "Thank you, captain," said Brosk. "Please prepare your soldiers to go ashore with my fellow Saales and me."

  "Of course, my prince." He bowed again, then walked to the levoth's back and descended into the dry stomach to set his people in motion. Just after he vanished, a head of wavy hair emerged, followed by the rest of the Rooster Tribe mercenary leader, Kana.

  She waited to one side on the bony deck of the levoth's back as her five companions emerged. At first, Edmath had been unsure they could trust the mercenaries but over the last few days, he'd grown to appreciate them, especially the big spear-breaker, Obbin, who reminded him a little of a young Brosk. The hulking Rooster Tribe man nodded to Edmath as he joined Kana and the others of their team.

  All-in-all Edmath hoped this mission would not be as dangerous as Chelka guessed it might become. As Saales familiar with unexplained tears, he, Brosk, and Chelka were here to investigate a possible magic event in the wilderness west of Gathat.

  Edmath, Chelka, and Brosk finished surveying the village from above, then returned to the levoth's back. The creature lifted one armored amphibious leg and made a bridge to the pier for the human passengers. Ridges along the fin flared out to offer extra traction to keep them from slipping on their way down.

  Edmath stepped onto the pier with a greater sense of relief than before. He glanced back to find Rewebb, one of their mercenaries, helping steady another of them, Senei with her weak leg, as they descended. The other two Rooster Tribe commoners, Buna and Jekk brought up the rear.

  As the last two of the landing party reached the pier and the controller captain's Whale Tribe soldiers began to appear on deck, a commotion broke out among the villagers on the shore. A woman in a white cloak and dark tunic but no sash broke through the crowd and approached the pier. She started onto the creaking boards and marched straight toward Chelka, Brosk, Edmath, and the rest of their party.

  The woman wore her a plain metal clip to hold back her pale yellow hair. She carried no weapons except for a striker pouch at her wide belt. Her expression was intense and fixed on Chelka.

  "Finally, the empire sent someone," she said as she neared. "I judge you three are Saales, correct?" she indicated Edmath, Chelka, and Brosk.

  "Correct," said Edmath.

  "Indeed," said Chelka. "I'd judge you are too, given the tools you carry."

  Brosk nodded.

  "I gather that as well, though I don't know what you mean by ‘finally.’"

  The woman motioned to the villagers behind her.

  "I have been here for six weeks, a representative of Roene Park."

  "So you're a winter Saale?" said Edmath.

  "I have that honor. My name is Ninafi." She shook her head. "That's not the point. At the moment, I think you know this village is suffering from raids by the enemy."

  "The enemy?" Chelka frowned. "Roshi?"

  "I don't think so," said Ninafi. "My honorable Saales, we don't know who they are, only that they strike every night after darkness falls." She eyed Kana and the mercenaries, then glanced at the gathering soldiers on the levoth's back. "How many warriors did you bring with you?"

  "A score of Whale Tribe mariners," said Brosk. "But they're only here to protect the levoth while we move inland."

  "Whale tribe?" Ninafi's eyes widened as she met Brosk's gaze. "Forgive me, you are Brosk Naopaor, eldest son of King Ahenesrude."

  "Eldest living," said Brosk in a low voice, the closest he would come to a growl. "And it would seem my parentage is irrelevant here, beyond the resources I have been able to bring."

  Edmath nodded.

  "If the situation is as dire as it sounds, we should make a plan before nightfall."

  "Kana," said Chelka. "Take your team and go ashore and tell the crowd we can help them. Ask around for any royals and warriors training who can help us."

  Kana nodded, then led her people down the pier to meet the crowd.

  Chelka turned to Ninafi.

  "Well, Ninafi who wears no sash, tell us what you know. We did not know of your plight before this moment."

  Ninafi's posture deflated. She shuddered.

  "Then none of our messengers made it. Creator, bless their souls." She made a sign of grief, touching her forehead, then her lips.

  Brosk put a hand on Edmath's shoulder.

  "You and Chelka learn what you can of the situation. I will tell the captain to prepare his troops to help protect the village."

  "Good idea. From the sound of things matters are dire." He sighed. "I only wish word had reached us in Diar. We could have brought an army rather than one small escort."

  "Indeed, but nothing we can do now," said Brosk.

  Chelka nodded, then turned to Ninafi.

  "Please, tell us all you can about what's been happening here," she said. "And lead us ashore. I serve the War Empress, and will do my best to evaluate your defenses."

  "Yes. We must hurry."

  "Of course," said Edmath. "Let us go."

  The three of them went along the pier to shore. Only three days by sea from Diar and danger loomed, completely unknown in the capital. Edmath could not help a frown of worry from creeping over his face. What manner of raiders could cut off a village from contact so completely? He knew and hated they would soon find out.

  Edmath and Chelka followed Ninafi to the village hall just paces from the pier. Scratches and claw marks marred the polished ratam-grown pine wood of the doors. Inside, the building was dim as clouds moved outside the windows.

  A group of village elders waited around a long table, most sitting. Only
one stood, a white-haired but still-sturdy-looking man wearing his elk tosh's antlers and a gray coat with a maroon scarf.

  "I take it these are the new arrivals?" the man asked as Ninafi approached the table with Chelka and Edmath.

  "We are two leaders of the expedition," said Chelka. She introduced the two of them by name. "But we came without knowing your plight."

  "Surely will help us, regardless?" said a woman sitting on the far side of the table.

  Chelka nodded.

  "Yes. We will. But we need to know the situation better if we are to be of much use."

  "The raiders come by night. They speak in some language none of us can understand, not even the royals." The man with the scarf put his hands on the table. "They keep to the dark, but haunt us each night from sunset to sunrise, trying to get inside."

  Edmath frowned.

  "What do they do if they get in?"

  "They kill whoever they reach with claws and teeth," said the elder woman who had spoken before. "Only children are spared."

  "They spare the children?" Chelka said. "Strange, but a blessing nonetheless."

  "Indeed," said the elder woman. "We are fewer every year as our youth leave for the south. That was so even before they appeared."

  "How long has this been going on?" asked Edmath, folding his hands to keep them from shivering in the drafty chill that entered the hall.

  "The first attack was the night of the mid-winter solstice," said the man with the scarf.

  Edmath shared a glance with Chelka, then turned to the elders.

  "Six months and they are still raiding. What do they want?"

  "Besides killing they steal food from our stores and kill our animals." The man with the scarf sighed. "We barely survived until spring thanks to their early attacks."

  "Have you slain any of them?" asked Chelka. "Can we see what they look like?"

  "They have become careful since I arrived," said Ninafi. "But we have three bodies that are yet to rot. They aren't human, at least not fully."