by Bob Blink
Jolan could feel a number of abused muscles, and now he knew why. With a bit of concentration and another burst of pain when he moved, he managed to force himself into a sitting position.
“Why?” he asked.
“Most likely it’s a kidnapping, unless someone has some personal nastiness in mind and wanted to bring one of us somewhere it can be carried out undisturbed. Kidnapping has kind of tapered off of late, but if it had only been a robbery, they wouldn’t have gone to all the bother to drag us here. I doubt they’d have had a carriage standing by. The real question is, are they after you or me? Is there anyone who has reason to wish you ill or to kidnap you?”
“I told you my story, which it didn’t seem you believed, in the tavern. Only a handful of people in the Settled Lands even know I exist, and I can think of no reason any would have reason to harm me, or consider kidnapping me. The one person in this land who would wish me ill I don’t think realizes I am here, and his response would be very different, and instantly fatal I suspect. No, I can’t see myself as the target.”
“I thought as much,” Tomas replied uncertainly. “I am the more likely target given my father’s position and wealth.”
Jolan realized Tomas was trying hard to stay calm, and that the confirmation that he was the probable target of the attack had left the man doubtful.
“I should prepare you for one of the unhappy realities of our situation,” Tomas said slowly. “If I am the target of all this, and you were merely an unfortunate bystander whom they grabbed up to cover their actions, then you could be at grave risk. Kidnappers have a poor reputation with regards to the health of their victims, let alone those who are of little value to them. They might be deciding it’s best for them to get rid of you at this very moment. Unless you can offer up a reason for them to keep you alive, I fear you might not survive the day.”
“And you?”
“I am a bit encouraged by their actions so far. Unlike you, I have not been abused. That seems to imply they want me in good health, at least for the moment. Probably they feel I am worth more in exchange. On the other hand, less than one-third of kidnap victims in this city are returned alive, even when all ransom demands are met. So you see, both of us have reason to worry.”
Jolan had been searching around his cell and his person while Tomas was talking.
“My ring and purse are gone. So is my staff.”
“They checked you while you were out and took everything of value. Did the same thing to me for whatever it’s worth. They took my purse, and my favorite ring that is worth a great deal. Look, the stuff they removed from us is sitting over on that table. I think your staff was left at the tavern. I didn’t see anyone bring it along.”
“Asari!” exclaimed Jolan, wondering why he hadn’t thought to worry about him until now.
“Your friend was inside the tavern when this happened. I don’t think they even know about him. He should be alright.”
“Thank God for that,” Jolan thought. His friend must be going crazy with worry, but at least he was all right. Jolan didn’t kid himself that there would be anything Asari could do to help him. They knew hardly anyone, and even his uncle who had a bit of influence was unavailable. Jolan knew he was on his own now.
His head was still pounding from the blow he received, and his thoughts were a bit muddled, making formulating a plan difficult. Maybe he should wait and give himself time to recover, but he was thinking about Tomas’ words. If the people decided he was of no use, which could happen at any time, his situation could become more desperate rapidly. Better to act while they were leaving him alone. Slowly, he pushed himself to a standing position. These people had a bit of a surprise in store for them.
“How many have you seen since we got here?” he asked Tomas while he steadied himself.
“Four I think. Never more than two of them have come in here at a time.”
“Let’s see if we can get out of here.” Jolan told the man. “I haven’t too much control, so you should back away as far as possible from the door of my cell.”
Jolan figured one of those force balls should tear the cell apart right away. Even without the staff, they should work against any of the people that stood in their way. He faced the door, ready to let go with a blast of power, then realized he couldn’t draw on the power at all. It wasn’t like the time Asari had muddled his brain with the Karonabark. He knew what he wanted to do, he was simply unable to find the magic energy with which to accomplish the wish.
“Ah, I thought I heard talking. It looks like our mage has woken up.”
A very overweight and mean faced man waddled into the room and looked at Jolan. The man had a scraggily beard and close set piercing eyes. His left arm was oddly stunted, looking like a child’s arm had been somehow grafted onto a man’s body. He grunted and grinned.
“You’re not much of a mage, are you? Or are you pretending? It seems like you can’t even tell you’re warded and cut off from the power.”
Cut off! The man wasn’t lying. That was why he hadn’t been able to draw the power he needed.
“I think you didn’t know,” the man said. “Dragons! You didn’t even have the weakest of shields activated to protect yourself from thumps on the head like we gave you. What kind of mage would forget to do that? I’d say you weren’t even a mage if it weren’t for that ring of yours.”
Jolan looked up sharply when the man mentioned the ring.
“That got your attention, didn’t it? Yeah, I could tell right off it was some kind of special mage’s ring. The symbols make it pretty clear, but the way it glowed on your finger was the real give away. Not everyone knows about that, but I do. The glow disappeared right off as I removed it.”
“Who are you?” Jolan asked.
The fat man giggled. “I’m Dupree. I’m more of a mage than you, even though I never had none of that fancy training you big shots get. At least I can handle shields, and I’m able to ward you from the power. How do you like that? I’m the one holding the barrier up between you and what you’d like to tap. As long as I’m around, you are going to be helpless. You might as well get used to that.”
Self trained, Jolan thought. Whatever this guy knew of the power, he apparently figured it out on his own. He thought about the risks Altz had warned him of. Then he looked at the arm again. It had a long scar on the inside of the forearm. He made a guess.
“You screwed up your arm, didn’t you?” he asked. “Somehow it got hurt a long time ago and you tried to use your magic to fix it. Looks like you stopped the bleeding, but whatever you did stopped it from growing anymore. That’s why it looks like that isn’t it?”
Dupree paled and his anger flared and he moved quickly closer to the cage. “Why you smart. . . .”
Then, just as suddenly he regained his control and backed away.
“I’ll remember that when your time comes. You’ll see.”
Smiling, Dupree turned and made his way back out the door.
“You better watch that one,” Tomas warned. “He’s a bit odd, and for some reason he doesn’t like you. It’s like he’s jealous for some reason. Are you sure he doesn’t know you?”
“I’ve never seen him before. I think he is someone who has some limited ability in the power, who has taught himself whatever he knows. He never had the advantage of real training, and instead of being one of the elite, he is a victim of his own misuse of the power and is only a deformed subordinate of whoever is really in charge.”
“You don’t think he’s in charge? The others seem to defer to him”
Jolan pointed to their stuff sitting on the table. “Look over there. My ring is obviously something he covets. You said your ring was valuable, and he would know that.”
“Cost me almost two hundred golds,” Tomas said.
“If he were in charge he would have latched onto both for himself. Instead he respectfully leaves them there for someone else. The person in charge is whoever he set those aside for.”
Tomas nodded slowly. “That makes a certain sense.”
“Dupree wasn’t at the kidnapping, was he?”
“I didn’t see him. There were six of them that hustled us down the alleyway. Two were carrying you, and the others were pushing me along. Dupree wasn’t among them. Why?”
“We have one of our answers. They weren’t expecting a mage, or he would have been there from the start. That means they were after you. They hadn’t planned on me.”
“Why did they bring you along?”
“I suspect they thought we were together. Maybe they thought I could be worth money to them as well. Now they are probably trying to figure out who I am to you.”
“If they find out, you’re in trouble. Is Dupree really able to block you from using your power?”
“It appears so. I told you I wasn’t trained. Maybe if I knew more there would be a way around what he is doing. For now, we have to see if we can work together.”
Tomas nodded, but there wasn’t much else to say at the moment so Jolan returned to the small cot and sat down. His head still ached, and he was thirsty. Of course there was not even a little water in the cell.
Jolan dozed, and a bit later he woke to voices. They were faint and difficult to hear, but it sounded like something might be about to happen. He forced himself to sit, and tried to clear his mind.
“Dragons be Cursed,” whispered Tomas from across the way.
Jolan looked over at him.
“I could hear them. They said Falk is coming.”
Jolan shook his head indicating that meant nothing.
“Falk has a bit of a reputation. He never returns his kidnap victims.”
“What do you think is going to happen?” Jolan asked.
“I suspect they are going to move me somewhere. From a few things I’ve overheard, this is apparently a temporary place where they first take people. Then they move them someplace a bit more secure.” Tomas looked at Jolan sadly. “I don’t know what they’re going to do with you.”
Chapter 31
Asari was so worried he could barely function. He had no experience dealing with something like this. But he had no one else to turn to. He felt totally helpless, but Jolan must be counting on him. His friend had no one else. It had been two days now since Jolan had disappeared and he was no closer to having any idea what had really happened or what might have become of his friend. He wanted to believe he was still alive, but the fear was growing ever stronger that he must have been killed by now.
Finding Jolan’s staff had been where it started. Picking up the wooden staff, Asari had run down the alley hoping to find his friend, or at least some indication he had gone that way, but there had been nothing to find. The street at the far end of the alley had been dark and empty. He had checked, and while there had been reasonably fresh horse droppings, and there may have been wheel marks, if he was honest there were wheel marks everywhere. Even if his friend had come this way there was nothing more to learn from some depressions in the ground.
He’d hurried back and questioned everyone he could find that would tolerate his intrusion. No one inside the tavern knew anything. Only one person could remember seeing Jolan and Tomas leave, and then only when Asari pressed with the best description he could give. That person had remembered Jolan’s staff more than the men themselves. Those out front had already left and the few still present had been mostly talking with associates and hadn’t noticed a thing. He’d finally talked to one man who’d thought he’d seen a man of Tomas’ description heading away up the alley with several others, but he wasn’t certain.
At first Asari thought that Cheurt must have discovered Jolan’s presence and come to kill him. But that made no sense. Cheurt wouldn’t have handled removing Jolan this way, and he wouldn’t have left the staff behind. Cheurt would have known immediately the value of the staff, and would have taken it with him. No, he was certain it wasn’t Cheurt.
Since he could think of no other enemies Jolan could have, Asari became convinced that the whole disappearance was somehow tied to the man Tomas they had been talking with. Had Tomas arranged for Jolan to be taken? That came full circle back to the thought that Tomas could have no reason. That would almost have to mean Tomas was working for Cheurt, and the fact Asari was certain Cheurt would have handled Jolan differently.
So Asari assumed that Tomas was probably the target, and Jolan had therefore been an accidental casualty of whatever action was be taken against Tomas. That was worrisome, because it meant Jolan was likely of no value to them, and eliminating him would be the logical course for them to take.
Asari had tried to figure out a way to see if Tomas was actually missing. For all Asari knew, Tomas had left for his home before Jolan was attacked. Not knowing where Tomas lived, he couldn’t very well check up on him. For that matter, given who his father was, Asari suspected he wouldn’t be able to even get close to the man’s home, and if he were missing, it was unlikely anyone there would admit to it. For the same reason, he wondered if telling the guard would be wise. They probably wouldn’t believe him in the first place, and, if word got out that a son of the nobles had been taken, the kidnappers might decide to cut their losses and eliminate Tomas so he couldn’t be linked with them. That would mean they would kill Jolan as well.
Tomas had indicated that he typically spent the day watching the proceedings in the People’s Court, but the next session was a full ten-day week away. By then even if he managed to find that Tomas was back in the court, anything he learned would be too late. Something needed to be done now.
Asari had also gone to find Altz, the mage friend of Jolan’s. He was the one person with abilities that might be able to aid his friend. Unfortunately, Altz had still not returned, and although Asari had left an urgent note for the man to contact him immediately, he’d heard nothing. Since his uncle had still not returned, Asari was left to rely on the few people he knew in town.
“That’s really close Sindra,” he said.
Ashreye, Sindra and Asari were working on a drawing of Jolan in the Peaceful Pony. Asari had wondered if it might be wise to relocate, but he was unable to move Jolan’s Mage’s Box, and had elected to stay put for that reason. Sindra had a good eye, and was a fledgling artist who was demonstrating her skill by making a color sketch of his friend. He hoped to use it as he continued his questioning around the tavern.
“Do you think he’s even alive?” Ashreye asked. “It’s been a couple of days. The chances are they’ve. . .”
“He’s alive!” Asari interrupted her. He pointed towards the Mage’s Box he’d shown them earlier. He had belated recalled something Jolan had told him about the creation. “Jolan told me once that if anything happened to him, his Mage’s Box would cease to exist. All the contents would simply tumble out onto the floor, but the box itself would vanish. Since it is still there, he’s still alive wherever he is. He might be hurt, but at least he lives.”
Asari felt for the Colt in his belt. He was going to find Jolan, and when he did, whoever had taken him would be in real trouble. Mage or not, the pistol would work on them.
Ashreye was shocked by the intensity of Asari’s reaction. She had never seen him like this. All the times they’d been together, all the times they’d made love; he’d always been funny, playful, passionate, and easy-going. Now there was something dark and dangerous in Asari’s eyes. It scared her more than a little. She’d known he was close to Jolan, but he was acting like the man was family.
“What are you going to do next?” she asked softly.
“Keep looking,” Asari responded. “With Sindra’s drawing it might be easier. Someone might recall Jolan when they see his face.”
Sindra handed him the finished drawing.
Asari looked at it and wondered if he would see the man pictured there alive again. “I know it’s not fair to ask, but could you make a couple more for me?”
“I’ve got him captured in my mind now. The next ones will be easy. Take that, and I’ll have the o
thers ready when you come back.”
Asari touched her briefly on the shoulder. “Thanks Sindra.”
He walked over and picked up his jacket, pausing a moment to touch the staff leaning against the wall. “By the Dragons Jolan, I swear I’ll find you,” he whispered.
After giving Ashreye a brief hug, he hurried out the door and down to the stables for his horse.
“Asari’s changed,” Ashreye said to her friend after Asari left. “He’s a little scary.”
Sindra looked at her and shook her head. “I don’t think so. I think you’ve only seen the fun side of him in the past. He had nothing to defend. I think he’s very protective of those he loves. I feel sorry for the men who took Jolan if he ever figures out who they are.”
Ashreye shivered a bit. “You think he’d kill them.”
“Without a second thought. That reminds me. I wanted to ask you. Is that some kind of weapon he always carries on his belt?”
Ashreye nodded. “He says it’s something special Jolan gave him. He claims it can kill anything. He told me he plans to use it to kill a wizard some day. I thought he was kidding me. Now I’m not so sure.”
After a minute she had a thought. “Sindra, do you think he’d protect me if I needed it?”
Sindra looked at her friend. “I think he’d try to protect anyone he cared about. Why?”
Asari rode out of the Peaceful Pony on his horse. He hadn’t ridden in a while, but he had too many places to go to walk, and the carriages were getting costly. With most of the golds and all of the copper coins out of reach in Jolan’s box, he had to conserve coins. With what he planned, he might even have to exchange one or more of the precious projectiles for the pistol in exchange for coin. He wouldn’t let a shortage interfere with finding his friend. He was glad now they hadn’t locked the spare magazine away in the box as they’d discussed.
