by Elina Vale
She lifted her other eyebrow and smiled. Her eyes twinkled. “But you already are, Borgan Drognaban, a huge part of it. You are the bearer of the secret. Like it or not. I must go and find someone who knows something about this dark master, and I need to know if there are any more curses being cast… Something big is going on. It is my job as a drokashai to solve this.”
Boa bit his lip and shook his head. “Karla, I don’t…”
“Just remember it all, Boa. The curse, Ordan, the scroll... That’s all I’m asking now,” she said with a quiet voice. “If there’s something you need to do... Stay alive. Get that pendant, and maybe even you’ll get that curse off. Maybe then you’ll know that magic can do more than destroy, and that the black magic is a real thing and something to be afraid of. There’s no way magic will be banned. At least in a long time. Do you want what happened to you to happen to another young boy, eh?”
Boa frowned. “Of course not. Karla… You’re talking like you’re leaving.”
She nodded and drank the rest of her wine. “I am. I’m gonna leave back to the Spike. I must listen and learn the secrets whispered in the narrow corridors of that wicked tower…and I must talk to the Order, when and if I’ll have any proof.”
Boa rolled his head. “I don’t know that I should…”
She squeezed Boa’s arm fondly and stood up. “Be well, boy. I hope I gave you some kind of direction with your life, eh?”
Boa suddenly felt really sad to see her leave. She had helped him. At least she had shown him that there was still hope and that his burden could be taken away from him. But to do so he might have to face his worst fear—magic.
“Thank you, Karla. I won’t forget about you.”
“You better not. And don’t forget what I have told you about Ordan and about the library and all.”
“I won’t. I won’t promise, though, that I will do anything—“
“I know, I know.” She waved her hand in the air dismissively and smiled with her teeth showing. “You should lighten up, Boa. Life isn’t so serious. At least not all of it. And we’ll meet again. I just know it. Goodbye.”
“Goodbye, Karla Toinder,” Boa said, smiling and rolling his head. He had never met a woman her age quite like that. Karla winked, turned her back to Boa and left, snow whirling in from the open door.
Boa finished his meal and left the inn to study the town Karla had left him. He stepped outside and held onto his hat when brisk wind hurled around him. He shivered. The snowing had stopped again, but the sky was gray and the weather was truly uninviting. Just like the whole town.
Most of the houses were buildings with one story. Crooked they were, worn down and broken. There was a small temple on the other side of the street. It caught Boa’s eye, and he crossed the road to look at it more closely. The temple was white, painted with chalk paint. It looked like a normal small-town’s holy place, but something curious caught Boa’s eye—the caskets. Dozens.
The ground being still frozen, caskets were piled on top of each other. This winter had brought so many dead?
Boa walked a while in the streets, and then he finally found what he was looking for. Mayer’s house. It was three stories high and much bigger than any other building in Ronder. White-washed walls had few, big cracks on them, and one of the windows was nailed shut with boards.
Boa rose the wooden stairs up, hopping over a gap between the third and the fourth step, and knocked on the door.
A young girl with blonde, braided hair in a scruffy, black, maid dress opened the door.
Boa smiled. “Hello. I’m here to meet the Mayor Horda.”
She blinked a couple of times like she had just woken up from a sleep, and then shrugged and said, “Mmh. He’s in his salon, as usual. ‘Tis time of the day.”
The maid turned her back to Boa and started to rise the stairs before Boa realized that she wanted him to follow her. He quickly shut the door behind him and ran after the young maid.
“So,” Boa said behind the girl, climbing the stairs. “Awful thing that monster, eh?”
She stopped, turned around and stared blankly at Boa. “I’ve got no idea what the fine mister is talkin’ ‘bout.”
Boa leaned closer, glared suspiciously at his sides like he didn’t want anyone to hear him, and whispered, “You know, that thing that happened to Patel.”
Her face scrunched. “I see fine mister is not from around ‘ere, so you don’ understand. We must not talk ‘bout it.”
Boa grabbed her arm and she tried to yank it away.
“But I can help this town. I’ve got…skills in that area,” Boa said.
She pursed her lips. “Told you. I know nothing ‘bout it.”
She tore her arm off from Boa’s grip and ran upstairs. Boa sighed and followed her to the second floor. The stairwell was narrow and stuffy, and the yellowish walls had some paintings of past kings, mayors, and other mighty men. There was a feeling of wrongness in the weird house.
The maid waited for him in a narrow corridor with murky green walls, portraits hanging crookedly on them. She stood behind a closed door with an angry look on her face.
“I’ll warn you, mister, Mayor Horda don’t like talkin’ ‘bout it either. And you don’ wanna end up on the wrong side with ‘im.”
Boa nodded to reassure her. She knocked on the door, staring angrily at Boa.
This town started to intrigue Boa. There was clearly some monster lurking near the town, causing some trouble. He might actually have something he could bargain with to get the map—he would get rid of the beast and ask only the map as a reward. Boa smiled. Thank you, Karla. She had truly made Boa’s future a lot brighter.
They were called in, and the maid opened the door. Boa stepped in after her.
A fire was burning in a fireplace. Big, stuffed bear heads screamed their silent last screams with their glass eyes beaming on the walls, and paintings of naked women in dubious circumstances kept their company. Burgundy drapes on the window didn’t help the atmosphere. It smelled stuffy and sweet, and a light veil of smoke slithered on the ceiling.
Mayor Horda himself was a fat, sweaty man. He sat in an armchair in the middle of the room. He turned his reddish eyes, sank deep in his reddish, buffed face toward Boa and frowned. The other side of his mouth rose up like he was a dog. But Boa’s gaze didn’t linger on these things, but on the back of the head whose owner sat in the armchair opposite Mayor Horda.
The woman turned around, and Boa startled. She was gorgeous. Her brown, nearly black eyes were lined with black chalk, making them really stand out from her face. She had blue and purple strings, ribbons, and weird silvery talismans scattered across her black silky hair, her coffee-brown arms had several bracelets of onyx and silver, jingling. But the thing that instantly caught Boa’s eyes was the cloak that had a certain, very recognizable symbol in it. A triangle with five circles around it. The woman was a senatai. Boa felt the instant need to run away when her eyes studied him.
“Nania, you-eh foolish girl!” Mayor Horda spurted out to the servant. “I told you-eh…I had a visitor and-eh…I shouldn’t be bothered!”
His voice was thick and swollen. Boa saw the lewdness in his eyes, probably fed with alcohol. He could smell the fear, numbed with remedies.
Nania, the maid, panted. “I...I’m sorry, Mayor Horda, I just came to work and I—”
“Quit blabbing, girl. Get out.”
Nania vanished from the door and closed it behind her. Mayor Horda turned his eyes on Boa. “What is it you-eh…want?”
Boa cleared his throat. “I heard you have...a situation here in your lovely town. I can help you with that. You know, the monster.”
“Really?” Mayor Horda said, squinting his eyes and leaning back in his chair. “That’s-eh…wonderful. I doubt you’ll do it for-eh…free?”
Boa nodded his head. “Well, I do have something on my mind, Mayor Horda.”
The woman stood up, her bracelets jingling. “But wait a m
inute, Mayor Horda. I thought we just made a deal?” Her voice was soft but persistent.
“Oh, yes, dear. You must-eh…understand that-eh…then you were the only hope I had, but now-eh…I’m willing to hear this man out. What did you say your name was, young-eh…man? And do you think you can-eh…handle this situation here? Even maybe without-eh magic?”
“Magic would only make things worse. I’m Boa Riverson, and I’ve traveled with the Band of Five for several years. We’ve confronted many magical creatures that the senatai have created to destroy poor innocent people’s lives—”
“The Band of Five-eh? Impressive. I’ve heard-eh…of the group. Aren’t you a bit young to be accepted as-eh…one of them?”
Boa nodded. “I was the youngest ever to be chosen for it.”
“Well, well-eh. Now, how much you want for your troubles-eh? We are a poor, simple town-eh here in the north…neglected by the rest of the land-eh.”
“I’m glad you asked. All I ask for my troubles is one item that I’ve been told you might have, Mayor Horda.”
The senatai, who had sat back down earlier, jumped up again and faced Boa. She was tall, nearly as tall as Boa, and boldly stared at him straight to his eyes. “The map. You want to have the map.”
Boa gritted his teeth. Of course, she was after the map as well. “You don’t need it, senatai. I need it more than you do.”
“You can’t possibly know my intentions, Boa Riverson.” She tilted her head and eyed Boa, lifting one of her arching eyebrows. “Do you know who I am?”
Boa grunted. “You’re a senatai-witch, that’s all I need to know.”
“My name is Eavan Firestone.”
Boa’s eyes widened. Firestone? Even Boa had heard rumors about her, the most powerful of the young generation of the senatai. She could crush Boa with just a wink of her eye. Or something. Boa wasn’t really sure how the magic worked. Boa steeled himself. What did it matter? He would have to get the map.
Firestone smiled and placed her hand on the fat man’s arm. “I was here first, Boa Riverson, and I have already made a deal with lovely Mayor Horda, here.”
Boa frowned. The witch played a dirty game. Mayor Horda stood up, pushing himself up from the chair painstakingly slow, and smiled wickedly.
He wiped his sweaty hands on his trousers. “I have a solution to this problem-eh, my friends. I wish the both of you will solve this little…issue-eh, here in the town. And in the end, I’ll decide-eh, to which one I shall give the map, and to which one let’s say…four silvers. If neither one will succeed-eh, well, then I’ll keep the map-eh and the silver.”
Boa glowered him. Four silvers for saving an entire town from its tormenter? Four silvers would be sufficient amount of vanishing a moss-goblin from the stables, not solving the horrors in an entire town. But he had no choice. He would just have to do better than the senatai.
“Fine. I’ll do it.”
CHAPTER 4
After the competition had been declared, Boa stepped outside and took a deep breath. The fresh air felt good after the sweet and smoky atmosphere inside Mayor Horda’s house. Boa was deeply disappointed in the situation, but there was nothing he could do about it. He would just have to do better than the senatai. Resolve the issue. Get the map. Find the pendant. Simple.
The snow and ice on the street had started to melt and had turned into a slush. Firestone turned around, tossed her long hair over her shoulder, and pierced her fiery eyes on him. “You ruined my deal. This was my job!”
Boa grunted and walked briskly forward. He owed no explanations to this…senatai. To this witch.
“Boa Riverson, get away and let me handle this,” she said behind his back.
“Not a chance, witch,” he said, and made his way towards the inn he had been at earlier with Karla.
Eavan took a few running steps and leaped in front of him, stopping his way. It wasn't snowing anymore. Now it was pure water raining on them. Raindrops glistened on her black, shiny hair. She pointed at him with her finger, her bracelets jingling lightly. “I know what’s bothering this town, and believe me,” she shook her head, “you can’t handle this. Not by yourself.”
Boa burst into a laugh. He had vanished ghosts and goblins, drove a herd of hungry mermaids away from a seashore village, and they had even killed a fire-lizard with the Band of Five. Surel, he could handle one spirit, or whatever it was that was teasing this town.
“You’re nuts, Firestone, if you think I’ll let you take this away from me. It means too much to me.”
Eavan lifted her one eyebrow and took a step aside, smiling. “Well, you will see. Remember that I warned you, Riverson. This particular problem isn’t for you. You will need magical help with this one.”
“No magic can do any good!” Boa grunted, and pushed his face in front of hers. “You just be careful, senatai-witch. I won’t save your ass if—”
She suddenly stopped and stared somewhere over Boa’s shoulder. “No, wait! I think I saw something—” There was terror and confusion in her eyes. Rapidly, Boa turned to look, expecting to see the monster they had been talking about. There was nothing but a few townspeople hurrying to get away from the rain. Boa turned around again, ogling her. Eavan was staring at Boa, her eyes wide and mouth slightly open.
Boa squinted his eyes. “Don’t try your tricks on me, senatai. Good luck... No, actually, no luck for you. Stay away from this.”
Boa circled around the woman who was still standing in the middle of the street, blinking her eyes, shaking her head lightly and making silent words with her mouth. She kept staring at Boa, but he turned his back to her. All the senatai were a thorn in his flesh. They were the doom of this land with their magical abilities. And of course, Boa had to run into one that was sinking crazy.
Boa raised his eyebrows to the innkeeper when he handed him a clump of wax.
He leaned towards Boa, his eyes glancing around, and he whispered, “When the night lands, you should put it in your ears. Otherwise, you are lost.”
Boa rolled the clump in his hand. “How so?”
“Just do it…so you won’t get… It’s very loud in this town at nights.” He leered at Boa under his brows, then nodding toward the wax, vanished into the kitchen, banging the pans and pots loudly. Boa shrugged, stuck the wax to his pocket, and climbed up to his room. He had requested a room with a window to the main street. From there, he could observe the situation. What caused the pile of caskets in the temple’s yard? What had silenced all the folk of Ronder? Boa knew that he wouldn’t find out anything by asking questions, so he decided to see it for himself. He could observe it now and make the plans after.
The night landed.
The town silenced quickly, and every window and door was shut. Except Boa’s. He put the wax into his ears and sat by the window to wait. The wax made an irritating buzzing in his ears, and he could hear his own blood rush and the beating of his heart. The street was deserted. Maybe it was a spirit or a ghost that bothered this town? Or maybe even a living dead? Some idiot senatai were always experimenting with things, and they left these untamed creatures, created with magic, behind.
He took his long knives and started to wipe the blade with a soft cloth. He must win this contest. Everything depended on this. His freedom, his life, depended on this. He could break into Mayor Horda’s house and steal the map, but he didn’t wish to be labeled as a thief. It could cause him troubles later on.
Boa startled. Something moved behind him.
He twisted around, holding his long knife in his hand. He was ready to strike the intruder, but stopped.
Eavan Firestone stood in front of him, head tilted and hands crossed over her chest. She had removed her senatai cloak and wore a white shirt and brown leather trousers. Her coat was tossed over her arm. She pointed at Boa’s ears, and he removed the wax.
“Fast like a boa-snake… Is Boa your real name?”
Boa didn’t answer to her, and put his blade down
, letting the air out. He had nearly attacked her. His heart beat loudly and he gritted his teeth. She had almost gotten herself killed. The senatai didn’t look startled at all. She stood there, calmly.
She tapped her jaw with her finger. “I was thinking, that if we are forced to work together, we might do so for real.”
She sat on his bed, ignoring Boa’s ugly leers, digging into her leather bag. “I’ll give you something to read… I believe that the thing we are dealing with is an earthmaiden. Oh, and put the wax back. Trust me. Though I’m not sure it will help. Earthmaidens are very loud.” She held a small book in her hands and offered it to him with a challenging look in her eyes.
Boa stared at her quietly and didn’t take the book.
Eavan sighed. “I... I’ve heard about the Band of Five and the young, gloomy man in it. I know you hate all the senatai. Everyone who knows, talks about it. I don’t know why, or what have we ever done to you—”
“Nothing you need to know.”
She swung her hand in the air. “Fine then, but we have to do this together. I have to get the map and the pendant—”
“I need it,” Boa said, and stared at those coal-black eyes, feeling instantly the powers she had. It radiated from her like heat from a fire.
“So do I! It’s my task to finish my fourth year, and to keep me ranked as the best of my—”
Boa grabbed the book from her hands. He wouldn’t be intimidated by her. He stuffed the wax into his ears. He couldn’t hear her words anymore. She tossed her hands in the air as a sign of frustration, and then sat on the bed again, crossing her arms over her chest.
Boa opened the book from the marked page. The handwriting was awful. It was sharp-edged and winding, and some words were barely readable.
“Earthmaidens
An earthmaiden is an elf of a kind. They are an adaptation of mermaids: they make their nest near a deep pond or a cave. Earthmaidens hunt at nights. They sing a song to lure the men to them, and when they catch them, they’ll use them the way they please, and afterward they eat their victims. An earthmaiden hunts mainly men… (Here the paper was smudged and some text was written with large, angry letters Are known to hunt women too. In the deep pond of Grovehill lived an earthmaiden that hunted only women.)
