The Dotard

by Greg Curtis

  “But you don't have a lot of time. Because I don't have a lot of time.” In fact, he had barely a matter of days before the Priests began their next attack on the demon of death. He needed an answer before that.

  With that he left the unicorn in the garden as it continued munching away on his beans and pretending to be just a magical beast, and headed inside. He needed more tea – and perhaps something to eat. A sandwich. Cheese and tomato. He had some fresh bread and a nice soft cheese. And he always had fresh tomatoes.

  So he busied himself making his snack, and tried not to think about what was happening outside the house. After all, whether they were considering his deal or not, he could do nothing more. It was up to the Faerie. And once they had decided on what they were going to do, he would make his decision.

  A few minutes later he stepped outside his house and headed to the outdoor table and chairs. But he stopped half way when he realised that he had a guest sitting at them. A woman dressed in white who was mostly concealed by a rose bush. All he could see were her legs wrapped in an ankle length white dress, but he guessed who she was.

  “Tea? Something to eat?” He called to her.

  “An excellent idea.” She gestured at the table and an instant later the kettle that had been in his house was sitting on it just in front of her along with another sandwich.

  She was making a point Edrick realised as he walked the rest of the way to her. Something about power and which of them truly had it. It wasn't him. But then he had always known that.

  “Thank you for showing yourself.” He sat down opposite her. “I'm Edrick.”

  “And you can call me Fae.”

  She smiled and it was a strange expression on her. At once polite and serene, but also regal and perfectly cool. Edrick actually found it hard to describe. But seeing it Edrick thought it made her look quite alien. Not so much less human, but less warm. In fact, she frightened him a little.

  For the most part she looked any person he would see in Riverlandia, save for two things. The first were her eyes which were black like those of the unicorn she actually was. The second was the light-coloured patch of skin on her forehead which he assumed was her horn. Her beauty was also uncommon if he was honest. There was no doubt that she looked like a princess in her white gown, but there was something unearthly in her beauty. Could someone be too beautiful? If so then it was her.

  How old was she? He found himself wondering about that. Because he simply couldn't tell. Beyond the fact that she was no child, he couldn't have said if she was young or old. Ageless would perhaps describe her best.

  Then there was her name. Fae. Short for Faerie he wondered? But it didn't matter Edrick realised. Very little mattered except what was going to happen in the next few days.

  “It's nice to meet you Fae.” Then he thought about it. “To speak with you.” Was he really meeting her after all? There was something about her that wasn't real,

  “Really.” She looked at him as if he'd said something foolish. “Because it doesn't feel so nice to me.”

  “I apologise for that. But dangerous times mean my hand has been forced.” He let out the breath he'd been holding and looked away for a moment, before deciding what he wanted to say.

  “Can we please just put that to one side. I truly do not want to reveal your secret. It was just that I thought I might have had to. But now that we're speaking I hope that it won't be necessary. And while I have no doubt that you're upset with me, I ask that you put that aside and hear me out.”

  “The only thing that matters is that there's a lich loose in Riverlandia. One that you helped to create. And it needs to be stopped. Before my world ends up in another battle in which thousands are killed – including my friends and family.”

  “We did not bring the great demon to your world. Or any world. Ever.” She took a delicate sip of her tea. “Whatever you might think of us, we would never do that.”

  “And I believe you. No one would. But as my old master told me just a few days ago, bad things sometimes just happen. And sometimes we bring them about without intending to or even guessing that they would be the result.”

  “In this case you gave a spell to someone, without understanding what he would do with it.”

  “Who? What spell?” For the first time the woman had an expression on her face other than that of calm self-control. She looked surprised. And then a measure of suspicion appeared in her black eyes. She thought he was lying. He knew she wanted to deny his charge.

  “Wilberforce Wilberton. He came here about fifteen years ago, a desperate man. And he was given a spell of perfect physical restoration.”

  “I don't remember him. And we do not grant people our spells.” The calm had returned to her face, but she still hurried the denial out a little too fast.

  “I'm not surprised that you don't remember him. But he wrote of his visit in his journals. Of how he slept here as he had as a young man, and awoke with fresh understandings. He now had the understand of a new magic. Magic which he later fashioned into spells.”

  “He slept and awoke with our knowledge?” Fae did not look pleased by the idea.

  “It was not the first time. You might also remember him from earlier. About a hundred years ago he and Renata Yolande came to this realm. They would have been young wizards then – about my age. And they came in search of you. They stayed from what Yolande told me, for about a year, travelling and exploring, until finally your defences forced them to leave. They could not stand to stay any longer.”

  “But even though they both felt unwelcome here, Wilberton wanted to return. He was filled with curiosity. Curiosity and ambition. He wanted to become a great wizard. He learnt answers here that he could not find elsewhere. He learnt them through his dreams.”

  And that was the part that Edrick didn't completely understand. Yolande hadn't completely understood it either. But for some reason while Wilberton had been in this land, he kept waking up each morning with new magical understandings.

  “Still, your defences worked. He stayed away for nearly eighty or ninety years, growing in power and knowledge. Eventually he became one of the most learned wizards in our world. And all because of the year he spent in Faerie. And he would have continued as such and never returned had his health not failed. You see, he developed stone joint, and it was growing out of control. His magic could not contain it. That was when he returned. He might have felt unwelcome here, but he was in terrible pain. He needed an answer. Desperation forced him to return.” And to consult his sources as he had written in his journals. Why he'd been coy about that, Edrick didn't know. But if Wilberton had simply written down the truth of what he'd done, it would have made things a lot easier for him to work out.

  “But perfect physical restoration would not help him. It would kill him,” she started to object. But then she stopped as the understanding dawned on her. “The Lord of Death found him.”

  Edrick nodded. “And as best we can tell from his journals that was about fourteen or fifteen years ago. And ever since then he has been at war with that thing inside him. His mind has slowly slipped away. His spellcasting became more hit and miss and produced ever more wild outcomes. Paranoi started taking root. He must truly have been lost in a world of confusion.”

  “Finally, some months ago, it all fell apart. Another of his spells went wrong and he abducted seventeen hundred winged elves – the Argani – from their world and trapped them in ours. Then he attacked me here. He tried to kill me. A few weeks after that when the Guild had him stand trial, he lost all semblance of control, and destroyed Coldwater, killing thousands. Today nearly twenty thousand people are homeless as he has taken the entire town as his own.”

  “We tried to fight back. The Priests tried to sanctify the town. It was a battle the likes of which our world has never seen before and thousands more died and were hurt. He has become a wizard lich and we have never encountered such a thing.”

  “Although we lost so many in battle, at least the Pri
ests succeeded in weakening him, and Wilberton has been able to take back some control. It appears he is now trapped in a small part of the town, surrounded by a shield made of iron golems. Wilberton has told his granddaughter though that he has only regained his wits for a short time. That the demon inside him is regaining his power. Before then he must be killed. If we succeed the demon will no longer have access to the world. Another battle is planned to take place in only a few days’ time.”

  “And?”

  “I think he lies. I think Wilberton tells Carrie what he most desperately wants to be true. His love for her is all that holds him together against the demon inside. Maybe he even believes his lies. I don't know. But weakened as the demon may be, he has access to the magic of one of the most powerful wizards of Riverlandia. One who has your knowledge. And I think he has been wielding it with the power a god.” It was the only explanation he had for what he had seen. A wizard's gift with the power of a fallen god behind it.

  “I doubt we will win. And if we lose, the consequences will be terrible. The demon will be free.”

  His story done, Edrick let out a heavy breath and took a swig of his tea. Then he waited for the woman – if she was a woman – to respond.

  She didn't seem to be in any hurry to do so. Instead she sat there, regal and calm; deep in thought. At least he hoped that was the case. She was so still that she could have been a statue. Maybe she could do that too? He didn't know. But if the lady was a unicorn who could become a woman, what else could she do?

  He didn't disturb her. Instead he sat and stared at the valleys, wondering if this was going to be the last time he saw them. He couldn't imagine that the Faeries were going to be happy with him after he had threatened them. Edrick glanced up at the grey sky above and thought it somehow appropriate. Certainly it suited his mood. It would be a shame if he had to leave. But it would be a necessary sacrifice. Wilberton had to be stopped. Before the demon inside him, or whatever it truly was, broke free.

  It was a surprisingly long time before the woman finally returned to the world. By then Edrick had finished his second mug of the orange blossom tea and was beginning to wonder if he should say something. Maybe even poke her shoulder just to check if she was still alive.

  “What you speak of is alarming to us.” She launched straight into the conversation, catching Edrick a little by surprise. “We must discuss it. But you may be assured that we will act.”

  “Thank you.” Edrick nodded politely to her, hoping that when she said act she meant act in the way he wanted.

  “You may also be assured that there will be a price demanded for this crime.”

  With that she was gone. She didn't disappear exactly. She didn't portal away. There was no rush of air or popping sound. She didn't fade away either as if she'd just been an illusion. She simply wasn't there. Maybe she had never been there and it had all been in his head?

  But he understood what she meant. He would be punished in some way for his threat. He had expected it though.

  “I still thank you.” Edrick called after her, not knowing whether she heard him. Then he gathered up the dishes and headed inside. At least if he was evicted from his home – or worse – it would be worth it knowing that he had done what he could to help.

  Later, this afternoon he thought, he would go and see Carrie. She was awake now, but in no condition to leave the field they were using as an infirmary. Her physical injuries were healing. But the emotional suffering as she prepared to say goodbye to her grandfather was destroying her. Edrick hated that. He hated to see her in pain and know that there was nothing he could do for her. Still, he would lend her what support he could.

  Maybe the Faeries could help with that as well? Find her something good to hold on to. A trace of hope perhaps. But the representative of the Faeries had gone before he had thought to ask. Before he had thought to ask if they could send the Argani home too. He had been too slow. Another failure on his part.

  Perhaps the Faeries would be right to banish him from their realm? And maybe that would be the right thing for him too. He could get in his wagon and leave for parts unknown, never to return. That way at least, he could never create any more disasters. He hoped though that Carrie would come with him. After all, when this was over he suspected they would both be people without families. And once the pain of their losses had been dealt with, he hoped they could finally be something more than friends trapped in an uncomfortable marriage. He wanted that. More than he could say. But he could not suggest such a thing while she was in such a terrible place.

  But afterwards? Edrick held the hope close to his chest.

  “Oh, and one more thing.” Fae's voice suddenly came out of nowhere, causing Edrick to jump just as he was putting the dishes in the sink. “There will be absolutely no hugging or kissing!”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  It was the smell that got to you, Carrie thought. The cries she could live with. Whether they were those of the patients in pain or the wails of loved ones saying farewell, after a while you got used to them. You even forgot about them. The grim faces and sorrowful words of the physicians you could learn to ignore. The sight of the dead being stretchered away eventually became just another sight. Even the pain of her own injuries had now reduced to an ache that Carrie could ignore. But the smell just seemed to cut through everything. Even after days and days spent lying here in this field.

  It was the odour of the balms and the salves. The poultices and unguents. And of course, the hideous root teas they forced down everyone's throat. Vicious concoctions that were as foul smelling as they were supposed to be good for a body. The odours of the unwashed, of stale urine and dead blood had faded over the days as the field had slowly emptied of patients. At the start there had been more than fifteen hundred patients lying in the grass. Now Carrie guessed it was closer to three hundred as the others had left – either to recover elsewhere or to be buried. But the odour of the medicines remained.

  But perhaps the smell was a blessing. As was the fact that they were all lying out in the open. What tents they had gathered together after Coldwater had been destroyed, had been burnt down in the battle, and thus far few more had been found. But the cold at night and the occasional rain, like the smell, did help keep her thoughts off what was coming. Death. The death of her grandfather. Or the death of thousands of soldiers and maybe her friends. Maybe both.

  Everyone was worried. No one knew what was coming. She could see it in the faces of those who tended to her. And She didn't know how it would go either. All she knew was that it was close. Two, maybe three days before the battle was called.

  Maybe she should leave? Carrie kept thinking about it. She was well enough now to leave. And there was little she could do when the battle came. She could get Edrick to bring her back to his home in the magical realm. That way she wouldn't have to watch what was coming. She could just hear about it afterwards.

  The only problem was that she couldn't leave. She was as trapped here by her terror as if she had been chained to the ground. Even though she didn't want to watch, she had to see.

  Of course, Edrick wasn't in the best of shape either. Physically he had come through the last battle unscathed unlike many. But it was clear that his mind was starting to slip. The last few days he had been talking to people who weren't there. Mostly he tried to hide it. But every so often she would hear him mumbling under his breath as he tended to his patients. Or see him whispering at thin air. Sometimes he even waved his arms about as if he was arguing with someone. But whenever she asked him about it he would deny it.

  At least he was looking more at ease. For a while there she had been thinking he was going to simply drop dead where he stood as he tended night and day to his patients while also trying to plan for what was coming. But something in him seemed to have changed. She'd even heard that he'd finally started sleeping again.

  She stared at him as he knelt beside a soldier with a missing leg a few rows over. He was trying to give some encourage
ment to the man – telling him that he would recover and could go on to live a good life. He had changed, she thought. He was no longer the happy-go-lucky man he had been, spending his days as the carefree dilettante Yolande described him as. Not that Carrie had really ever seen him as that. But he had been a much happier man before this disaster had hit them. Since then he had become much more serious. Much tougher too, she thought. And at least the lies had ended. She was glad of that at least, even though she now knew why he'd lied and it hadn't been as bad as she'd feared. She really had imagined he was fleeing from justice – not a six hundred pound fiancée. The strange thing was that as she met the grim faced, eternally serious man he had become, she sometimes found herself missing the carefree lying wizard in hiding.

  “At least he's speaking to an actual person this time instead of a ghost,” Py commented, seeing the direction of her gaze. “He’s starting to worry some of the people.”

  “I know.” His talking to ghosts was worrying her as well and she shared the sorceress' concern. Although she would stand by him to the bitter end, the last thing she needed in her life was another madman. She just hoped that once this was over he would regain his wits. She wasn't confident though. Nor was she confident that she would survive Py’s daily treatment. Carrie often thought of it as torture by another name.