by B. T. Narro
HUNTED SORCERY
By B.T. Narro
Jon Oklar:
Book 2
Copyright 2020 by B.T. Narro
Cover and Map by Beatriz Rare
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is coincidental. All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the express written permission of the copyright holder.
CHAPTER ONE
It was my second night following a man named Gregory Shaw. He had been accused of several things: death threats, theft, and a few minor crimes, but there had been no evidence found against him. He used to be employed by the king, though he surely had never spoken to his majesty, as I did often. Instead, Shaw’s orders had come from the head guard of the capital, a man who was discharged because of similar corruption charges.
Shaw had been given the option to reenroll. He only had to sign the same contract that the rest of the king’s guards did. It was an oath to stop the abuse of power in all forms and end the spread of dteria. The guards who agreed and signed were held to this oath through ordia. They couldn’t break it if they tried. Those who refused were immediately removed from service.
Of course Shaw had refused, as had many others.
I had signed a similar contract. However, mine only specified that I must protect the king at all costs.
My contract was not the reason I was out here on another cold night, missing sleep, watching Shaw take large swigs of ale in Red’s Tavern. The reason I was out here was because this was my punishment for disobeying the king. In fact, this was the seventh night of my punishment. The first few days were fine, but now I was irritable, always uncomfortable, and just plain tired.
Not only was I tired physically, I was tired of trailing nefarious men only for nothing to happen. I understood the king’s need to punish me. I had deceived him into sending troops into the forest against his will with the help of a little lie from his daughter. But the battle against the dark mages from Rohaer had been victorious because of what I’d done.
I was no longer proud of my decision. I just wanted this punishment to end. Ten days of losing two hours of sleep each night was too much.
Winter had begun. There was a cold breeze every night, but I chose to watch the tavern from outside. I still hadn’t figured out how to blend in anywhere unnoticed. I seemed to attract gazes no matter what I wore. I was dressed like a commoner most nights, not a weapon on me, and tonight was no different.
Red’s Tavern had been Aliana’s place of work before the king recruited her. She’d just about shed tears telling me of the harassment she’d suffered here and how the owner did nothing to stop it. Some men went as far as touching her without her permission, and unfortunately there seemed to be another serving girl here suffering the same fate.
I watched as Shaw grabbed the arm of the young, curvy woman. She gently pulled free of his grasp, her expression fearful, as she stayed to listen to whatever he said.
She didn’t seem to give a reply as she walked away, passing an old man standing behind a counter who saw the whole thing. I imagined he was the owner, given the pleading look the young woman showed him.
He said something to her as he gestured at Shaw’s small table among the crowded floor of patrons. Her shoulders slumped. She returned to stand in front of Shaw with folded arms. I couldn’t hear what he told her, but it was clear from her scowl that she didn’t appreciate his words.
This went on for some time. I could step inside the tavern and tell Shaw to leave her alone, but I needed to catch the man doing something more severe to finally get him off the streets. Not only was he suspected of many crimes, but he was most likely working with our enemies, the dark mages.
There was no telling how many dark mages there were in total, but their intentions were clear. They wanted to take control of the entire kingdom. They already had the city of Koluk, not a day’s ride from the capital. But there were many of them here as well, all in hiding. There was no doubt in my mind that they were planning something big. We had delayed them by intercepting the one hundred mages and soldiers from Rohaer who had tried to join their comrades in Koluk, but there were still many of them hiding in and around Newhaven. They would attack soon enough.
Meanwhile, here I was losing sleep when I should be resting. I needed to train as hard as I could. My fatigue was really starting to slow me down.
I was tired sick of watching and waiting. We all knew Shaw was guilty of at least something. It was time to flush that something out. I started to come up with a plan as I watched him harass the girl more and more.
It was late. The tavern wouldn’t stay open much longer. I was about to enter and initiate my plan when I noticed another man walking down the street. I hid in an alley as he entered the tavern. He greeted Shaw and took a seat at Shaw’s table.
I edged closer to the window. The streets were empty by now, the curfew nearly in effect. I was surely noticeable, but I wanted to hear what they said as the owner of the tavern gestured at the table for the young woman to serve the new guest. She looked at the two other servers, both men, but she might as well have been invisible to them as they busied themselves with cleaning up. All other patrons had left by then.
“We’re closing soon,” the server told the straggler.
“What’s your name, beautiful?” Shaw’s friend asked.
Wearing a scowl, she said, “We only have ale and wine left for tonight.”
“Smile,” Shaw demanded. “And tell him your name.”
She let out an audible breath and did not smile. “Burda. Now which would you like?”
“An ale, Burda,” Shaw’s friend said.
When she turned to leave, he gave her rear a hard smack. Shaw let out a guffaw as Burda froze, her body stiff. She did not turn back but walked the rest of the way through the dining area to confront the owner.
I couldn’t hear the conversation, but the old man’s expression spoke loudly enough. He wouldn’t listen to her complaints as he left my vantage point, then returned a moment later with a mug.
Burda refused to take it, but he said something that changed her mind, and soon she was headed back to the table with a nervous look. She set it down and scurried away as Shaw and his friend laughed.
I had seen enough. This friend of Shaw’s would make this more difficult, but I wasn’t going to let this go on another night. It was time to enact my plan.
I rushed into the tavern. “I have a proposition for the owner,” I announced as I looked around. “It’s urgent!” I wasn’t the best actor, so I tried not to show my face to any one person for too long.
The old man came out from behind the counter. “Over here.”
I rushed past Shaw and his friend. Shaw was a large man, his body overflowing from the chair. His friend was more my size, a bit taller than average and clearly strong. They each looked to be about twice my age. I didn’t feel any dteria from them as I rushed by, but that just meant they probably didn’t have an essence of dteria with them. They still could be dark mages.
I stopped in front of the owner and spoke loudly enough for Shaw and his friend to overhear. “I am in need of a sweet white wine as fast as possible!”
Sweet white wine was hard to come by. I didn’t expect him to have any.
The owner appeared confused. “Why is that?”
“My master is hosting a few important guests and has run out of white wine. He is willing to pay well. I have the coin with me.” I made sure Shaw especially could hear the last line.
“I don’t have any white here,” said the owner, his regret obvious.
; “Do you know where I might find some?”
“There’s no other tavern open at this time of night,” he replied.
Shaw announced, “I got two bottles of white myself.”
I took a moment as I held back my grin. Then I turned and gave him my best incredulous look. It was probably overdone, but it should do the trick.
“You?” I asked in disbelief.
“You don’t believe me?” He spoke as if insulted.
I turned back to the owner. “Can you vouch for this man?”
The owner’s mouth twisted into a smile. “I can.”
It was an obvious lie, most likely out of fear. I pretended to study Shaw for a moment before I gave him a nod.
“All right, then,” I said. “I will meet you outside after I have a quick word with the owner here on behalf of my patron. Future business.”
Shaw and his friend walked out of the establishment. I noticed the three servers pausing in their cleanup, including Burda, all edging closer to listen.
When the opportunity to give someone a chance to redeem himself came up, as it did now, I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if I didn’t take it. I stepped up close to the owner, dropping my naivety.
“Is there anything you want to tell me about that man now that he’s not here?”
“The man comes in. He pays. He leaves. That’s all I know.”
And he harasses your server, I replied only to myself. You do nothing to stop it. You don’t even warn Shaw to knock it off.
The owner had a legal right to ask Shaw to leave his place of business for any reason. If Shaw refused, the owner could get the king’s guards involved. It might’ve been an easy way to arrest Shaw so I didn’t have to put myself in a potentially risky situation, as I would now. But I trusted myself to get through whatever happened. I would figure out what to do about this owner later.
I noticed Burda staring at me after the owner walked away. I met her gaze. She shook her head with a grave look, clearly warning me not to conduct business with Shaw. I showed her a quick wink to let her know I knew what I was doing. She appeared surprised at first, but then her nervous expression returned as she shook her head once more.
I left the tavern. No one but official guards could carry a weapon in the capital. I did not see a weapon on either of these men, but I suspected at least one had a small blade hidden.
“Lead the way,” I said as I took my place behind them.
Gregory Shaw and his friend walked beside each other, each giving a glance behind them. I watched their legs to see if a dagger or even a small knife might be hidden in a holster. I couldn’t make out anything clearly, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t there.
After a little while I told Shaw, “It doesn’t seem necessary for your friend to come with us. I would feel safer if we parted from him now.”
“He’s staying with me right now,” Shaw answered for him. “And I’m not looking to get robbed, either. I don’t know that I can trust you yet. I want him with me.”
“Very well.”
Two I could deal with, especially if neither of them was a sorcerer. It was if a third got involved that I would start to worry.
I continued to voice concerns that I figured would bother me if I’d really had been sent out to find white wine by my master: I told them I was in a hurry, and they sped up. I reminded them that my patron was very powerful, so nothing should happen to me or his coin. They told me they understood, and this would be a fair deal for white wine.
“Sweet white wine,” I specified.
“Yes, sweet white wine,” Shaw agreed.
They led me down a few streets before they eventually turned into an alley. My pulse increased. I slowed to give myself more distance, but surprisingly, they did not care to stop. What was even more surprising was that I watched Shaw pull a key out of his pocket and head toward the door of a large house.
My heart started to race. Was he really going to try to sell me sweet white wine? That was the worst possible outcome I could imagine. All this time and effort would be wasted. Even worse, I would have to pay the man good coin that I doubted the king would pay back to me.
Shaw opened the door and looked back at me. “Are you coming?” He didn’t sound too eager.
“I’d rather we finish the deal out here,” I told him honestly. I didn’t want to walk into a place I had not scoped out before.
“It might take a little while,” Shaw said. “This is my friend’s house. Got to find the damn bottle.”
The other man spoke. “You might as well wait inside. Warmer there.”
I didn’t need witnesses. The king trusted me enough that if I told him I was attacked by these men, he would imprison them. I just had to make sure that happened.
I would enter and stay near the door, where I could escape easily.
“All right, fine. But keep some distance until you find the wine.”
Shaw gave an easy shrug. “Suit yourself.”
I followed them into the house, immediately walking into a large dining area with a long table at the center. There were various pieces of fine furniture against the walls. I imagined this “friend” was likely a dark mage who had paid for this house with coin from threats and robberies.
I would’ve had more confidence about whatever was going to happen if I wasn’t lacking sleep. I had fought against many dark mages and swordsmen a week ago in the forest, usually facing two or three of them at a time. But we had surprised our enemies. They had been disorganized.
Right now I had little idea what to expect.
I stayed close to the door as Shaw walked through the dining area and opened the door to the next room. He slipped through the opening and closed the door after him. The other man stayed a few feet from me.
“What’s your name?” he asked.
“Don,” I lied. It was close enough to Jon that it shouldn’t throw me off too much if they were to use it. Besides, this man would probably give me a false name as well.
“I’m Jacob,” he said as he offered his hand. “There’s no need to be nervous.”
I shook it as I made myself relax my shoulders, though I was still on guard.
“Why don’t you have a seat while I check on him?” Jacob offered.
I casually took one of the nearby chairs and pulled it away from the table before I sat. I didn’t want to be trapped.
“I’ll help him hurry this along.” Jacob walked across the dining room and went through the same door that Shaw had.
I quickly got up and looked around. I rushed to one of the nearby dressers and opened the drawers one at a time. There were just cloths and silverware: forks, spoons, and knives. I pocketed one of the knives just in case. The blade was small, surely not lethal enough to kill a man, but it was better than nothing.
I returned to the door, ensured it was still unlocked, then waited on my feet. Eventually, the door across the room opened. Shaw came out holding a bottle wrapped in cloth. Jacob followed soon after, nothing in his hands. Shaw set the bottle on the table.
“Here’s your wine,” he said. “How much are you willing to pay for it?”
I edged closer. “That’s a white?”
Shaw took down the cloth, but the dark bottle hid the color of the contents inside. “Come look for yourself.” He pulled off the stopper.
I edged closer. It was clear that neither had immediate access to a large weapon like a sword, but a couple of deadly weapons could’ve been stashed just in the other room.
I thought for a moment. I could deal with that.
I sensed movement as I reached for the bottle. I glanced at the stairs leading out of the dining room and saw another man casually coming down them wielding a sword. It caught the candlelight and gleamed as he lifted it in my direction.
“Stay where you are,” he said. He was overweight with dark hair that was just starting to gray. “I’m just here to help the deal move along smoothly.”
I lifted my hands and backed away from him. The presence
of mana assaulted my senses, dark energy in the form of a powerful essence, presumably in one of his pockets. This hefty one would be the one who gave me the most trouble.
“This is your house, I assume.” I spoke calmly.
I was relieved I had finally caught not only Shaw but one of the dark mages he was in business with. The king would be pleased, might even call off the rest of my punishment.
Holding up the sword seemed to strain him quickly as a bead of sweat ran down the side of his face. He put himself between me and the front door, then turned the lock.
“Yes, and this will be the only time you visit,” he threatened, then let down the sword. “You came here to buy some white wine, but all I had was red. You liked the taste of it so much that you left all your coin here. If you tell anyone that something else happened here, you will be found and punished. Trust me on that. We are everywhere. You will be found. There are others who have tried to involve the guards, and they were made to disappear, permanently. Do you understand me, young man? This could be a smooth transaction, or it could be the end of your life. Seeing as how it’s not even your coin that you’ll be losing, there’s really only one answer to give.”
I knew he was telling the truth that other victims had gone to the guards. Word had even reached the king about the terror these dark mages and their consorts had inflicted on many people in Newhaven. I didn’t know what happened to these people. The king didn’t tell me or the other sorcerers everything.
I looked behind me. I hadn’t heard Jacob leave the room, but he was coming back now with a tiny hand ax in one hand and a small hammer in the other. He started to hand the hammer to Shaw, but Shaw reached over and grabbed the hand ax instead. Neither tool was designed for fighting, each far too small, but both were more deadly than the small blade in my pocket.
“Set all the coins you have on the table,” Shaw ordered.
I didn’t like the positioning, two of them on one side of me and the dark mage on the other, but all I had to do now was get out of here.
They thought themselves to be wise, scaring me into an agreement for wine so that I had no evidence against them, but Shaw luring me into the house of a dark mage was all the evidence the king needed.
