The Window and the Mirror

by Henry Thomas

  “So you expect me to believe that this girl has no bearing at all to Lord Uhlmet or his enterprise? That she is some tawdry whore that fell in with good fortune in the harlot’s game of chance and landed herself with the company commander, and that is all?”

  “It’s the truth, my lord,” Joth lied. He hated hearing the slimy mage speak about the lady Eilyth so.

  Norden looked at Joth for a long while and studied him. “So you have said, Linesman. So you have said.” Norden licked his lips and stared at the fire with his hands under his chin. “I understand the dire situation, the defeat of your company—Lord Uhlmet’s company—at the hands of the savages, the need to bring urgent word. It would seem to me that expediency would have been better served had word first been sent to Immerdale?”

  The man was right, but Joth was prepared for such a question. “My lord, my orders were to deliver my message to the High Mage in Twinton and at the insistence of Lord Uhlmet to avoid all delay in achieving that end.”

  Norden nodded. “He’s a fool,” he muttered. “The man is unfit for command. I knew this would happen. As soon as he got the appointment, I knew it would happen.”

  Joth stood there at attention.

  “So no dispatch riders were sent out then?”

  “Not that I know of, my lord.”

  “Not that you know of, or none at all?”

  “None at all.”

  “Then according to your account, you saw Lord Uhlmet dragged from his horse as you were ambushed within the Dawn Tribe Territory and you, your commander, and company were pushed back to the camp by the savages and their warband?”

  “Yes, my lord. Their army.”

  He looked at him a long time before nodding and continuing on. “So presumably before Lord Uhlmet was dragged from his mount and captured by the savages he gave orders to your company commander in the event of a catastrophe such as this, and by your account he wrote this writ out to you moments before your entire camp was overrun and you managed to slip out with the girl in tow and make your way to Borsford Sky Harbor, where you requisitioned the airship Skyward against the wishes of her captain in the name of the Magistry and flew here to Grannock in order to rest and bury a crewman killed due to some incident with an innkeeper raising the town guard?”

  “Yes, my lord.”

  “And you swear you have spoken to no one, excepting myself, about your orders or adventures or the defeat of your company and Lord Uhlmet?”

  “No, my lord.”

  The mage studied him.

  “I mean to say yes, I swear that I have not,” he clarified.

  The mage studied him again and then nodded, satisfied. “Linesman Andries, I have prepared a document for you to sign. If you would be so kind, my clerk has a quill at the ready.” He swept his arm back to a thin young man seated at a table behind him, who had been scratching out the deposition and recording it on parchment for the mage’s files. The youth now stood and walked over with two sheets of parchment in a stack. He never looked Joth in the eye as he handed him the quill. Norden snatched the pages out of his hand and looked them over. “These fools they send me,” he muttered to himself before shifting his focus back to Joth. “Right then, Linesman Andries, this is an affidavit claiming that the words you have spoken and the account you have given is truth. Should it be found to be untrue or contrary, then you shall be held accountable for your part in it. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, my lord.” It was the truth, more or less.

  “Then make your mark here.” He pointed to the bottom of the page. Joth signed his name. The mage flipped the page up so that the bottom of the page beneath it was exposed. “And here, Linesman.”

  Joth signed again. “Why sign the same thing twice?”

  Norden smiled slightly. “Merely a legality, soldier. Do not concern yourself with things above your station.” The mage walked back to the clerk’s table. “We often keep copies of the same document. I’m preparing a new writ for you to speed you on your way.” He sat down across from the clerk and put quill to parchment, adding, “and to get you some good accommodation in Torlucksford, courtesy of the Magistry.”

  “Torlucksford? My orders were for Twinton, my lord.”

  “Yes, but you will not be taking the airship there, Linesman. I shall be taking that.” Joth seethed behind his tight-lipped expression. The mage regarded him evenly, enjoying his position of power. “I take priority, you understand. However, I understand that Lord Uhlmet’s situation needs to be made known and that your orders must be carried out, so after I use the Skyward to my ends I shall send it to Torlucksford to skim you along on your way. Fear not, this should only delay you by a week or less, and to be honest, Linesman Andries, you look as though you could use some rest.” The man was scratching out a writ as he spoke.

  “Thank you, my lord, I appreciate your help.” Bloody tyrant. He was doing this out of spite, Joth knew.

  “Well after the merry little chase you led us on yesternight, you should appreciate everything that I am doing for you, and the fact that I am doing anything for you at all you should appreciate most.” He glowered as he wrote. Norden finished his new writ and sprinkled powder over the freshly drawn ink, letting it rest on the table a moment before gathering some sealing wax and a candle. He blew the powder from the document and quickly folded and sealed it with his ring while Joth was made to stand there. “Linesman Andries, you shall present this writ to the gate guard at Torlucksford and he shall direct you to The Star in the Field, a fine inn where you may take your ease until Captain Dierns sends for you. I have stayed in this inn many times and let me tell you it ranks among the finest of inns. I have an account there, and I shall personally cover the cost of all your expenses during your stay. In this way you can pass on to Lord Uhlmet how courteous I was to you once I discovered the true nature of your journey, should we ever have the chance to see him rescued from his plight.” He smiled his oily smile again.

  So was that it? Joth wondered. Mage Norden gets to exercise his high and mightiness and delay his and Eilyth’s journey out of some personal rivalry with Lord Uhlmet? He did not have any education when it came to any kind of politicking or strategy, but he could not get his head around a man who was willing to lose his own silver to sate his ire. No, this mage was a calculating and methodical man, and there was no doubt in Joth’s mind that the mage stood to gain at all ends of the bargain. Perhaps that was this man’s art, thought Joth. The art of deceiving. He made one feel as though they were getting something of what they wanted when in actuality the mage had already found ways of winning at every point.

  Perhaps Joth was right in everything he was thinking, but it changed nothing. The mage had trapped him, and now he was going to Torlucksford no matter what. At the least I kept lady Eilyth out of danger, he thought proudly. This mage would have snatched her up and held her like a prize, to elevate himself in the eyes of his peers; used her like a slave once she had run out of uses, like a whore through all of it. He would not let that happen, no matter what. Once the severity of the situation between the nations of the People and Oesteria became known, he knew that the Magistry would most likely attempt to hold Eilyth as a hostage in a strong-arming ploy to show their power and their willingness to sacrifice everything rather than negotiate with savages. He wondered if the Magistry would consider them savages if they had witnessed the wheeling cavalry, the stirrup-less lancers riding gracefully, the lines of javelineers throwing with precision timing so that the ranks did not run the risk of casting their darts into the backs of their compatriots; but these things would have been lost on the man.

  “As you command, Lord Mage,” he said simply, taking the document.

  “You may set out when you like, but I suggest you eat something. You are free to go, Linesman. Good fortune in the search for your whore.”

  The man smiled again and Joth would have hit him in his smarmy mouth had
he nothing to lose, but he knew that he would be hanging from a rope or rotting in a pillory box if he did, so he drew a deep breath and mustered a nod before turning to go. One last notion tugged at his mind and prompted a question. “Lord Mage?”

  “Yes?”

  “You didn’t give me back the writ from my commander, my lord. I’ll need that.”

  “No, Linesman, my new writ shall suffice. Is that all?”

  “Yes, my lord,” he said resignedly.

  “Well then, I would say ‘may the winds speed you,’ but that no longer applies to your mode of travel. So, farewell, Linesman.” He regarded him smugly and waited for him to leave.

  Joth obliged him and went back upstairs to gather his things. When he returned to the great room Norden and his scribe were no longer there, and he was met by the half-hearted serving girl who asked him disinterestedly if he ‘was wanting his breakfast,’ or not.

  “Yes, if it please you.” He replied, “I’m just out to the stables for a moment.” The girl gave no reaction, but he knew she must have heard him. Joth was out the door and around the corner and looking for Bellan the groom in the stable yard when he heard someone whistle from within the stalls. He walked into the stable block and tried to discern where the noise had come from. He saw the gray mare Aila toss her head and then the lady Eilyth stepped into view from behind her. She smiled at him.

  “Lady!” he whispered excitedly. Joth hurried toward her. “You are all right?”

  “Yes, I am fine.”

  “Lady, forgive me. I tried to stop the mage, but he has taken the airship from us. I failed.”

  She nodded. “What now? We go by horseback?”

  “He gave me a writ and accommodation in Torlucksford and said that if we wait there that he’ll send Ryla Dierns to collect us. He said it’d be about a week or less. I’m sorry, lady, it’s because of all the trouble with us trying to escape and getting ourselves caught.”

  “He must show his power. I understand.”

  “Yes, but he’s a real bastard. I’m sorry but he is. He should have let us continue on.” He studied her in the stall, her hand on her mare’s neck watching him. She was beautiful, but it was a beauty that shone from inside and out. Being away from her for that brief amount of time after being side by side along the road for so long and seeing her now had reminded him of that.

  “What is it?” she asked him.

  “Did you have anything to eat? You must be starved.” He covered, “I’ll run to the kitchens and get food for us both and then I think we should best leave this place.”

  “Bell brought me food last night and this morning.”

  “You stayed here last night? In the stables?”

  “Yes, with Aila. And Bell, too.”

  “Where is that lad?”

  “He left to help the soldiers with their horses a short while ago.”

  “I’ll get some food, and then I want to be shed of this place before I lay eyes on that mage again.”

  Eilyth smiled grimly and he left her with his belongings to add on to the packsaddle while he hurried back inside the inn. He breathed a sigh of relief knowing that she was fine and safe and right under the mage’s nose. The halfhearted serving girl looked slightly disappointed to see him appear again, but she set a plate before him promptly and curtsied before leaving.

  Joth ate his breakfast hurriedly and noted that none of the airship’s crew had been allowed down from their rooms for breakfast. He had hoped to get a word in with Ryla Dierns before he and Eilyth set out. He had wanted to tell her that they would wait for her, that he had tried to save her from the mage’s wrath by coming forward, that the man could be dealt with by no other means, but he knew it was most likely that Ryla Dierns would feel he had gone against his word by bringing Lord Uhlmet into Norden’s full view. In Joth’s favor was the fact that Norden had captured her and her crew and procured his writ from her, so she already knew that the mage had knowledge of Lord Uhlmet’s involvement. He hoped that the captain would forgive him if she harbored him any ill will, for she was a hard woman and she seemed to hold on to slights and seek revenge for any wrongs done to her. She was good at keeping up the air that everything was as carefree to her as the day was long, but the truth was that there was a cold edge to her. Her desire for vengeance when she spoke to him and Eilyth in her room was so intense that Joth had second thoughts about continuing on the journey with the woman.

  At the same time he had to admit that she was a thoughtful woman, and fair; as a captain she was very strong and good to her crew. Joth hoped that Ryla Dierns would meet them in Torlucksford. The airship was a frightening yet amazingly easy way to travel long distances over a very short period of time, even if Elmund gave him dirty looks and Galt and Kipren both did not trust him. He would rather sail the skies with those men than get dealt a new crew on a different airship once they hit the town. If Mage Norden’s writ would even give him the opportunity to travel by airship, he thought ruefully; the man had sealed the writ so that he was unable to read it and he did not know if his fortunes were better or worse. Joth set his spoon down in the empty bowl of porridge, downed his ale, and made for the stable yard. He threw a last glance up the stairs and saw the two Norandish guardsmen at the top of the staircase chatting with one another.

  He thought of the captain and her crew. The mage had fixed it so that he would have to leave without speaking to any of them, he realized. He was a petty man. The morning had turned blustery and the cool winds cut through him like razors as he walked around the corner into the stable block and found Eilyth with their mounts saddled and the packhorse laden and ready for travel. She was leaning on her staff and talking to the horses in playful tones when he arrived. He took the reins of the dish-faced bay from her hands and swung into the saddle. Eilyth mounted her horse.

  “I don’t even know where this place is, Torlucksford.”

  “Nor do I.” She was sitting Aila with her staff across her lap and the lead to the packhorse in her hand.

  “We’ll ask someone at the well as we ride out.”

  She nodded.

  “I want to be shed of this place.” He wanted to be clear of that mage and his foreign lackeys. They asked a woman at the well the way to Torlucksford and she pointed north and east and told them to follow the road out of Grannock and stay on it, whatever crossroads begged direction of them they were simply to keep traveling on that road until they made their destination, always continuing straight. It sounded easy enough to Joth. They followed the road past the well and out down the gently sloping hill and startled some pheasants into the trees, then a single buck deer burst through and stood watching them for a long beat before turning back the way he had come. Eilyth seemed to be concerned with the portents.

  “What does it mean?” he asked resignedly, for he could not get his head around reading into the “signs,” as she called them.

  “It is a sign of poor fortune to come, or perhaps the wrong path,” she said thoughtfully.

  He did not put his faith in such things. Joth could see that she was not pleased. “No offense, lady, but anything could have spooked that deer and those pheasants.”

  “Yes, but we saw the signs did we not? Was it not the two of us here who witnessed the birds and the deer?”

  “Of course, but what does that have to do with anything?”

  “It has everything to do with it. We see the signs as they happen; it is left to us whether or not we listen. Things are always happening, and the world is always speaking and telling us things, warning us.”

  Joth had never placed his faith in things that he could not touch or see, only things that bore substance and held weight; the idea of predestination or some sort of divination being possible and real seemed near impossible. Then again, he was still struggling with the new reality of being more aware of the life and energy flowing all around him everywhere he looked. Ei
lyth had woken him up to that in the pass that day when he had almost escaped with Wat, but he was still stumbling through the awareness in the way that someone who has not fully woken up falls out of bed and groggily ambles about, yawning and rubbing their eyes. He was not able to trust in the way that Eilyth could, he doubted and second-guessed himself every time he felt anything that he could not explain away to some rational, reasonable cause. To Eilyth it was as natural as breathing and her confidence in it was devoid of any doubt. There was no artifice, no ulterior mechanics or intentions to Eilyth’s observations. Joth wished that he had her confidence. Joth placed his faith in his knowledge, his friends, and the familiar; her faith was in the workings of the natural world, and the great mysteries she seemed able to understand. She was grounded in it; it was a part of her.

  “It’s so easy for you. I cannot look at things the way that you do with such ease.” He did not say it petulantly.

  “I look at things with such ease because these are easy things.” Again with the half smile Joth was beginning to interpret as an expression of triumph, some conversational victory she had won for herself.

  “What am I meant to do with that knowledge anyhow?”

  “Be wary.”

  “So if a deer bursts out of a forest because something somewhere startles it and I see it happen, then I have to look over my shoulder until something bad happens or almost happens? It just seems like fool’s talk is all.”

  “Fool’s talk? The signs are fool’s talk? You speak, but your words are empty.” She looked at him fiercely and she reminded him for a moment of her brother, something in her eyes. She looked away from him and whispered a word to Aila and rode a pace ahead of him, leaving Joth to stare at her back confusedly.

  “Lady? Eilyth, I’m sorry.”

  She would not look at him again for the longest time. They rode out along the road over gently rolling hills as the sun stretched its way up from the horizon. They had paused near a stand of trees to relieve themselves and Eilyth had just returned to where Joth stood holding the horses when they both spied a cloud of dust over the hill ahead of them, and a smallish figure riding a tall horse came into view thundering down the dirt road toward them. Shortly after, he crested the hilltop and he spurred his mount toward them at lightning speed.