“So, if we meet a sorcerer or wizard we don’t know, we can look him up?” asked Felistia.
“Right. Any magic user not in here is probably good.”
Soon, they gathered up everything that looked useful. Unfortunately, there was little edible food in the cabin. All the food supplies had rotted or been attacked by animals and insects in the interval since the owner had been killed. They took their plunder out and put it in their saddlebags, now fairly empty as they had eaten most of the food they had found there originally.
The three rode back across the clearing to the end of the path. Felistia and Lathan continued until they were well into the woods, just barely still in sight of the cabin. Berlina stopped right at the edge of the clearing, turned her horse to face the cabin, and read the funeral incantation for Dolorophus. The cabin exploded into purple flames and quickly burned to the ground, until there was nothing but a pile of ashes. Berlina went down the path until she reached the other two.
“Instant funeral pyre,” she said. “Now you see why I wanted to be out of there before I read it. Well, let’s go.”
The three turned and went on down the path to the road. When they got there, the forsythia bushes were gone. “You see…” Berlina said. “Once we figured out they were signposts and followed them, they were no longer needed, and they vanished. I told you they were a magical message from Forsythia.” They turned and continued east on the road.
Chapter Eleven
An Angry Meeting
“How the hell did they escape?” asked Zatarra. He was a small man, but powerful in appearance and dressed in sorcerer’s robes. He had long, white hair down his back and a long, white beard down his front, both reaching past his belt line. Bushy, white eyebrows hung down, barely failing to obscure his vision.
The man he faced was obviously a nobleman, but an ugly one for all that. He was never handsome, but the scar across his left cheek disfigured his face beyond its natural unpleasantness. He wore the silks of a prince, in the maroon and orange colors of the house of Drailsen.
“I don’t know, Sorcerer,” Prince Drailsen said in a raspy voice, the result of another injury evidenced by a second scar—this one across his Adam’s Apple. “The princess and her companion were in my dungeon. In one of the safest cells, it had wards built into the cell door.” In a voice dripping with sarcasm, he added, “Wards cast by one more of an expert in such things than you.”
“Your Highness, are you casting aspersions on my powers?”
“Take it any way you like, Zatarra. I have heard some of your fellows discussing who is the better sorcerer and who is the worse, and your name came out well down the list. They say you are sloppy, careless, and cast poor spells. As an organizer of our efforts you are fine, but as a magic user…”
Zatarra had a fierce scowl on his face, but he didn’t contradict the prince. “Let’s not argue. The question is, how did the princess escape?”
“One of my guards survived long enough to tell us that he recognized the warrior who forced his way into the palace and broke down the cell door,” said Drailsen. “He said it was Lathan—that stupid oaf you hit with the beclouding spell. That still begs the question of why he was here. Who summoned him and how?”
“Did your guards confiscate all the possessions carried by the two girls?”
“I know they confiscated all their gold, and one took an old, rusty sword the princess had. He said the sword was so badly rusted, he could not pull the blade from the scabbard. Let me think…yes, one of them found a book and took it. I’m not sure why. Did he think that a book could knock down the bars of their cell?”
Zatarra got a terribly angry expression on his face and said, “You idiot! If that’s all your guards took, they must have left the princess with her kit of tools for magic and witchcraft. No wonder she was able to get out. She probably cast a summoning spell to get that lout Lathan to come to her.”
“No, that she did not do. This castle is protected. Protected by spell-wards that will not let magic in or out. Any attempts to cast a spell further than the castle walls will just bounce back and hit the one who cast it. If she did not do that, and she couldn’t have, I have no clue how they escaped. It looks like someone, perhaps Lathan, used a mace on the cell door. However it happened, before they left the castle, they located her sword and her book, and she took them along. Although, why she wanted a rusty sword—one rusted so badly into the scabbard that it couldn’t be drawn—really perplexes me.”
“A rusty sword? Oh, my God. I remember hearing tales of a rusty sword that couldn’t be drawn, except by its owner. A sword that appeared rusty to outsiders, and which is hardly visible, as it blended in with its background. The legendary Black Sword is one of the most powerful enchanted weapons in the world and now she has it.”
“Black? No, my men were sure it looked rusty. They said it was sometimes hard to see, because it blended in with its surroundings so well.”
“That fits,” said Zatarra. “The Black Sword. I wasn’t sure if it really existed, or if it was a myth. She has it. Damn! Well, there’s no use crying over spilled dragon’s milk.”
“One thing I don’t understand,” said the prince, “is why you keep talking of magic, spells, and such. Surely, the princess cannot be a witch, wizard, or a sorceress?”
“Wrong. She’s a witch. From what I hear, she is a very accomplished witch, very powerful. Several members of the Order of the Flowers, actually a witch’s coven, were hanging around the High Palace for years. They purportedly taught her classes about nature, flowers, and such, but they were really training her in witchcraft. From what I hear, she was an excellent student.”
“A princess who is also a witch? Are you sure? Couldn’t it be her companion who is the witch? That sounds so much more likely.”
“No, Princess Berlina is a witch. I know that for a fact. That is one of the reasons we are so anxious to capture her. As for her companion, there is something strange about her, but we—my organization—have not been able to find out what. The important thing, right now, is what has been done with the idiot Crown Prince Darvid.”
“My men, those that did not get killed in the kidnap raid, took him to the Quince Castle and have him locked up there. That was as we planned. Wasn’t it, Zatarra?”
“Yes, yes. The castle far in the east. That, of course, is why I persuaded the foolish Queen Regent to imprison the brat, Berlina, at the Sorcerer’s Retreat to the west, as far in the other direction as possible. For her own protection, of course.” He chuckled evilly. “But now…” he paused and shook his head. “Now that she has escaped, she will have figured it out that if I wanted her to go west, east is where she should head. Damn.”
“You didn’t leave any clues behind, did you?”
“Of course not! The thing most to be feared is the map, and I took that with me. In any case, my tower lab is completely secure, she couldn’t have gotten in there.”
“Sorcerer, here you’ve been telling me how powerful a witch she is, and now you deny that she could have entered your lab and found a clue. Think, man, think!”
“Well, if she got in…unlikely, but if…she could have relocked the door on exiting and made it look like nobody was there. The map…” He paused and scrunched up his face, obviously trying to remember something. “Arrgh! I recall it, now. The Adobe spell. I have never used it, but I have heard of it and how it works. She could have made a copy of the map that used to be there!”
“So, she and her companions could right now be heading toward the Quince Castle? I think we better get moving. If she gets there…my troopers are good men, but not one of them has any brains. Lord knows what she might manage to do.”
“At least, Your Highness, we can make good time mounted. When they left your castle, they were on foot. They will be slow getting there. We should be able to beat them to the Quince Castle.”
“If she’s as good as you say, she’ll get herself and her companions some horses as quickly as she can. We
had best get moving.”
Chapter Twelve
Of Rings and Dragons
The trio passed through many small towns, often taking the opportunity to buy food…if it was daylight. Berlina still had no clear idea how much longer the journey was going to last, and she worried about running out of gold. They came to one town a couple of hours after sunset, having taken advantage of the light from a setting moon to continue riding. It was getting too dark to see, and the town looked as if all the inhabitants had taken to their beds.
“Lathan,” said Berlina, “I think this is a good chance to pick up some supplies.”
“Uh, the stores look…well, closed. We gonna wait for morning?”
“No, I think we can get some good bargains by shopping this late.”
“What are barginz? I din’t know we needed any of them. We din’t have any before, did we?”
Berlina struck her forehead with the palm of her hand in exasperation. “I was talking about food!”
Lathan wore his usual puzzled expression. “Oh, food only. Whychoo say barginz if yoo meant food, huh?”
Not wanting to argue further, she changed the subject. “Look, I think this is a store here. We’ll hitch our horses to the post. Then, see if you can bust the door open. Only do it quietly.”
Lathan went over to the door, put the point of his sword where the door met the doorjamb next to the lock, and gave a mighty push. Without much noise, the wood splintered easily0 and the door swung open. Berlina entered and gestured to Felistia and Lathan to follow her. Once inside, she held up her wand so the tip of it gave a light, revealing that it was indeed a store full of food and other essentials. “Fee, can you see in the dark enough to gather up what we need without the light from my wand?”
“Yes, I just shift my eyes to their cat form, and I can see quite well in the dark,” Felistia answered. She found a large, empty sack and moved quickly around the store, picking up an assortment of food and other items. Finally, the bag she carried was full.
While Felistia gathered food, Lathan leaned over to Berlina and asked, “How come the storekeep ain’t here, and yoo still know what to pay him?”
“We’re not going to pay him anything.”
“Uh, ain’t that…like we’re…like, uh stealin’ the stuff?”
“Yes, we are. Like we stole the horses, we stole the gold.” She could see he was about to protest and held up a finger to stop him. “I really don’t like stealing, but we’re almost out of gold, and we’re on a quest to rescue my brother Darvid, remember? That makes it okay.”
His face lit up in a smile, and he nodded in agreement. “Yeah…hey, dat’s right. I furgot.”
“Maybe we can find some way to pay the storekeeper back later, after we rescue—”
She stopped as a door in the back wall opened and a man came out, his hair all tousled from sleeping. He was carrying a battered and rusty sword. “Stop, thieves!” he called.
“Disarm him, but try not to hurt him,” said Berlina.
Lathan pulled out his sword, waved it around in the air a few times, and brought it down on the man’s weapon, cutting the blade off the hilt like it was made of cardboard. The man dropped the now useless hilt and began rubbing his hand. “Ow, ow, ow! That hurt!”
Before the man could recover, Berlina grabbed a length of rope hanging on the wall and threw it to Felistia, who hog-tied the man, stuffing a gag in his mouth so he could not scream for help. “There,” she said. “That should hold him.”
Berlina paused a minute in thought. “Hmmm, if he lives back there, I’ll bet he has his gold back there, too.” She stepped through the door the man came through and quietly chanted a spell. Her wand swung around and pointed to a small cabinet. She opened it and pulled out a small bag of coins, adding it to her pouch.
Lathan, who had been watching through the door, started to protest, but she waved a finger at him and said, “A quest, remember?” He nodded. “Now,” she continued, “put the storekeeper back here in this room.”
As Lathan was doing so, she glanced back into the cabinet and realized there was something else in there, way in the back corner. It was a ring. She pointed her wand at it and softly chanted “ Ringalevio.” The ring glowed with a lovely green hue, and a wave of pleasant feeling enfolded her briefly. “Well,” she muttered to herself, “it does something good. Maybe I can figure it out later.” She placed the ring in her pouch with the gold and left the back room, motioning Lathan to follow her. She closed the door and cast a locking spell on it. “There. Nobody will find him for a day or so. We’ve been here too long. Let’s go.”
Felistia was already outside, transferring the contents of the sack to their saddlebags. When she finished, they remounted and started on down the road. It was slow. The wand didn’t give enough light to travel very fast, but half an hour later, Berlina decided they were far enough from the town to be safe. They turned off the road and went a short distance into the woods before stopping to camp for the night.
* * * *
The next morning, they ate breakfast and then pushed on. In late afternoon, they came in sight of another town, and Berlina told Lathan to stop. “I think it would be best if we took to the woods and bypassed this town.”
“Uh, ain’t that gonna be slower nor goin’ troo it?”
“Yes, but I don’t want to take chances that word of our depredations at the store last night got here ahead of us. The local gendarmes might cause trouble.”
“Deper who? I tought we jus’ stole some stuff. An’ hoose this guy John Darm?”
“Never mind. Just follow me.” She turned off the main road and onto a small path that led toward the forest on the right of town.
It was much slower, and darkness caught them long before they could circle around the town. It was almost noon the next day when they got back to the road. Berlina also detoured around the next town they came to. After that, there were no villages, no signs of civilization for three days of travel.
Suddenly, Lathan stopped his horse, shaded his eyes, and said, “Dere’s somepin dere, Princess, but it don’t look like a village. Yoo got any idear?”
“You’re taller and get a better view. I can’t see anything yet, and I doubt if Felistia can, either. Let’s go slowly until I can get a look.” She started her horse ahead at a slow walk. After a bit, she stopped and said, “Looks like some kind of fort…log stockade or something like that.” Seeing that Lathan was completely confused as usual, she said, “A wooden palace.”
“Oh,” said Lathan. “Ain’t it kinda silly buildin’ a palace outa wood? Most guys got palaces like ‘em fancier.”
Berlina started forward again, and the other two followed. As they approached a door in the wall, two men snapped to something vaguely resembling attention. “Who approaches?” one asked.
She decided to give the fake names they used at the tavern and hoped Lathan would not get too horribly confused. “I hight Bejanna. This is my companion, Fezzia, and my attendant, Lathan.”
“Why should we let you in?” asked one of the gatekeepers.
Why, thought Berlina, are these idiots so fussy about who they let in? Aloud, to impress the gatekeepers, she said, “We are on a Secret Mission for the Sorcerer’s Guild.” Like I’d announce a secret mission to everyone. “What is the name of this place, and why is it so well fortified?”
The two men bowed, obviously impressed by the idea of a secret mission. Then, one said, “This is Plumboth. We are just a town, but the walls are because of the dragons wandering in the area. I hight Formold, and my companion is my brother, Forthold. It is our job to close and fasten the gates if a dragon approaches.”
“Dragons? Do they breathe fire?” asked Berlina.
“No, ma’am. There is indeed fire, but it does not come from their mouth. You are in most danger when the dragon is walking away from you, if you understand me.”
“The dragons fart fire? Oh, goodness! How can one safely proceed down the road? We have our Secret Mission to
accomplish.”
“Ma’am, I suggest you enter the village and talk to the dragonmaster…former dragonmaster, that is. He has recently lost his power to control the dragons.”
Inside the walled village, the guards led the three to a house bigger and grander than any other, yet starting to fall into a state of disrepair. They tethered their horses. Then, Formold led them into the house. The inside of the house was as much in disrepair as the outside. Springs burst through the cushions of what had once been a luxurious couch, stuffing leaked from seams of chairs, and the lone table had several books propping up a broken leg. As they were looking, a man in grand, but now somewhat tattered, robes of a pale green entered the room. The color looked very familiar to Berlina. She thought about it, and suddenly remembered the light given off by the ring she took from the storekeeper’s cabinet.
The man introduced himself. “I hight Pyarrow, and at one time, I was the dragonmaster. I had a magic ring which could control the dragons and chase them away. However, the ring was stolen and many died before we were able to build the walls. I understand you have a question for me?”
“Yes, dragonmaster. I hight Bejanna. I, my companion Fezzia, and my man Lathan are on a Secret Mission and must pass on down the road. How do we safely get past the dragons?”
“Ah, ma’am, would that I could help you. If I had the ring, I would simply chant the incantation ‘Puffpuffpuff’, and all the dragons nearby would flee, first tucking their tails down between their legs to prevent shooting fire.”
“How far down the road does the dragon-infested area extend?”
“About three day’s ride.”
Berlina pulled out her wand, waved it at the dragonmaster in an intricate pattern, and intoned “Hypnos!”
The man suddenly went into a trance. Berlina walked up to face him and said, “Dragonmaster, do my bidding, and you will be rewarded by the recovery of your ring. Do you want to do that?”
Berlina's Quest Page 8
