by Eric Vall
The entire room was frozen until I pulled back the hammer on my revolver again. The metallic click made everyone jump, save for Aurora and Cayla. The two still living bandits snapped their heads up in unison and gawked at me in terror.
“Who else wants to introduce themselves?” I asked with a sharp grin.
The bandits looked at each other, looked back to me, and then they shoved at one another as they both tried to bolt for the door.
I couldn’t have that.
I swung my arm around, dropped my front sight, and fired four times in quick succession.
The two bandits crashed to the floor with shouts of agony as they clutched at their bullet-riddled legs. I had put one in each of them, right above the knee.
“Sorry, boys,” I said as I opened the loading gate on the revolver and removed the spent shell casings. “I couldn’t have you telling anyone about me. How’s it feel being low man on the totem pole for once?”
The bandits whimpered and gasped in response as blood slowly pooled out around them.
Oops. Might have hit some arteries.
“Yeah, I bet it sucks,” I muttered mercilessly, “but you gotta admit, you are a right sight better than your dead friend here. For now at least.”
I nudged at one of the bandit’s feet, and he wailed in response.
“Gods, stop, please,” he begged as he clutched at his thigh. Blood pumped sluggishly from between his fingers, and his face had gone ashy white underneath the dirt embedded in his skin.
Huh. Might have hit bone too.
“Bet you’ve heard that one before,” I growled as I glared down at the sorry sack of human waste. “How well did it work for all the people you’ve robbed and murdered?”
The bandit sniffled and gurgled incoherently, but his friend had enough fight left in him to glare up at me between his tears.
I lifted my head and looked around the room. The remaining patrons all stared back at me in frozen fear. My eyes scanned through the options before I settled on two middle-aged but muscular men at the end of the bar.
“You there,” I said as I pointed to them. “Tie these men up. Use whatever you can find. I have some questions, and I don’t want them getting ideas about escaping. When I’m done with them, I’ll leave their fates in the hands of the good people of Keld.”
The two men glanced at each other before they looked to the bartender. I followed their line of sight and realized he must be some kind of leader in this town.
After a moment, the silver-haired man nodded as he finally set down his glass and dirty rag.
“Listen to him, lads,” the bartender grunted with a jerk of his head. “Tie ‘em up.”
“Thank you,” I said to him as the men moved to follow my instructions.
The bartender gave me a slow once over, and his brown eyes latched on to the revolver still in my hand before they flicked to the rifle barrel that poked out over my shoulder.
“Think I’m s’posed to be the one thankin’ you,” he muttered, “though now I’m wonderin’ what yer price is gonna be.”
His voice had a thick and languid drawl to it now that he spoke in complete sentences instead of clipped and cryptic warnings. It was a warm and comforting accent, but the look in his eyes was anything but.
“My price?” I echoed as I furrowed my brow.
The bartender raised an eyebrow at me and looked pointedly to the dead man on the floor and then to his struggling friends that were currently being hogtied.
“Everyone has a price,” the silver-haired man said as he crossed his arms over his chest. “People just don’t do somethin’ for nothin’.”
“True,” I conceded with a smile, “but kicking bandit ass is more of a passion of mine. A hobby, if you will. We just happened to be passing through at the right time is all.”
“Really?” the bartender drawled skeptically.
I nodded. “I swear it. All we’re looking for are some provisions for the road. If you have some, great, but if not, we’ll simply be on our way.”
The suspicion in the bartender’s eyes slowly started to fade as he looked from me to Aurora and then to Cayla. The Ignis Mage met his gaze straight on and unblinking while the disguised princess kept her eyes averted and her face tilted toward the floor.
“Who are you?” the bartender finally asked when his eyes landed back on me.
“Mason Flynt,” I replied with a grin as I extended my hand out to the man. “I’m a mage with Illaria’s Order of Elementa.” Then I turned to gesture to the women beside me. “This here is Defender Aurora Solana, also with the Order, and this is Ca… tlin, our companion.”
I stuttered as I came to Cayla, and the princess winced, but the bartender didn’t seem to catch my fumble. His eyes had nearly bugged out of his head as he looked between Aurora and me, but he took my hand, regardless.
“Don’t get many mages round here. Name’s Serlo Hammund,” he said, and his grip was like iron as he squeezed my fingers. “I own this establishment. Well, I did before those bastards showed up.”
He glared at the bandit’s corpse again and then spat on the back of the body’s coat. A dark hatred swirled in his brown eyes.
“When did they arrive?” I asked as I released his hand.
“Coupla months ago?” Serlo shrugged. “It was only a few of ‘em at first. Spoutin’ bout a new tax they was imposin’. I didn’t pay ‘em no mind, but then more showed up, and people started gettin’ hurt. I figured it was easier to just pay ‘em the money, but they wanted more and more.”
“And no one stepped up to stop them?” I questioned.
“How do ya think people started gettin’ hurt?” Serlo asked as he cocked a gnarled eyebrow at me. “Keld is a small town, a waypoint for travelers. We don’t have no soldiers or fighters, and we certainly don’t have whatever that is in yer hand.”
He nodded to the revolver I still held, and I smiled as I tucked it back in the holster.
“That’s just a new weapon I’m working on,” I replied with a dismissive wave of my hand. “It’s still a work in progress.”
“Yeah well, finished or not,” Serlo grumbled, “we could use somethin’ like it in Keld. You might’ve taken care of these three bastards, but more will return when our money don’t make it back to the Boss.”
“The Boss?” I echoed with a frown. “Who’s that?”
“His right name is Camus Dred,” the bartender grunted, “but everyone knows him as the Bandit Boss or just the Boss. Rumor is he used to be some poor orphan from a small border town down south, but that was before he realized he could steal the money he didn’t have. He and his gang have run the back roads for a few years, but it wasn’t till recently that he got so godsdamn bold.”
“After the attacks here in Cedis started happening you mean,” I said.
Serlo’s brow furrowed. “Yeah, how did you--“
“That’s why we’re here,” I interrupted. “Similar attacks have happened in Illaria, and we’re trying to get to the bottom of who’s behind them. We’re headed to Eyton for some answers.”
“Good luck,” Serlo snorted. “The king’s got his head so far up his ass, I bet he couldn’t even tell ya his own name. Between the attacks and the bandits, people are ‘fraid to leave their homes. If a beast don’t tear them limb from limb, then one of Camus’ men will make ‘em wish they was dead. And what has the crown done? Not a damn thing.”
Cayla bristled beside me, and I did my best to suppress a wince. I also tried to step casually on her foot to keep her quiet, but it was no use.
“I think King Davit is doing the best he can with our kingdom’s limited resources,” the princess said sharply.
I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye and saw that her cheeks were flushed red and there was a fire in her ice-blue eyes.
Serlo’s eyes shifted to Cayla, and a frown marred his face.
“Do I know you?” he asked as he squinted at her.
Aurora elbowed me in the ribs, and I cleared
my throat quickly.
“What if I told you I could have Keld protected from bandits by nightfall?” I blurted as the skeleton of an idea popped into my brain.
Serlo looked back to me slowly. I could tell he was still trying to place Cayla, but I had caught his interest.
“Normally I’d say you was a crazy fool,” Serlo grunted as he looked me up and down again, “but ya’ve already proved me wrong one time today, so I’ll bite. What are ya talkin’ ‘bout?”
“I can build a wall around Keld by sunset,” I replied with a grin. “A tall and smooth stone wall that bandits would have a very hard time scaling. I’ll need some help from the townsfolk to make gates to go over the road, but that shouldn’t be too hard.”
“Yer gonna build a perimeter wall in less than a day,” Serlo said with a deadpan expression.
“For a price,” I shot back as my grin grew sly. “How does some bread, meat, and a flagon of ale sound?”
“Sounds like ya might be crazy after all,” the bartender muttered as he shook his head. “I’ll get ya yer provisions, for what you did here in my bar, but I don’t have nearly enough to pay for yer labor.”
“Do you have any vacant rooms?” I asked with a tilt of my head.
“Aye,” Serlo said with a nod.
“Then I’d like your finest available room for tonight, and we’ll call it even.” I held my hand out to the surly bartender once more. “What do you say?”
“I say yer a strange one, Mason Flynt,” Serlo replied as he took my hand again, “but ya got yerself a deal.”
“Perfect,” I said as I stepped back with a smile. “I’ll get started right away then, and I’ll be back for that ale.”
Serlo cocked an eyebrow at me again, but he didn’t say a word as I spun around and strode out of the bar with Aurora and Cayla hot on my heels.
“Mason, what the hell was that?” Aurora hissed as we pushed out the swinging doors into the noonday sunlight. “We were supposed to reach Eyton by nightfall, but now you’re delaying us here for a full day and night?”
“Eyton and the king aren’t going anywhere,” I said with a shrug, “but you heard Serlo. The moment we leave, the bandits are going to descend on this town again like a pack of pissed off wolves. I can’t just leave them high and dry, not when I can do something about it.”
Aurora frowned, but she couldn’t argue with my reasoning.
Cayla, on the other hand, wasn’t as moved.
“Perhaps we should leave them to fend for themselves,” the princess muttered darkly as we walked past Bobbie 2.0 and continued on the road toward the edge of town.
“You don’t mean that,” I said gently as I reached out and took the upset maiden’s hand.
Cayla sighed and squeezed my fingers. “You are right. I do not. However, it is frustrating to see that the people truly believe we don’t care for them. I wish they knew how little my father has slept since this all began, how sick this violence and death has made him.”
“They’ll know soon enough,” I replied as I leaned over and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Once we stop who’s behind these attacks and give that Bandit Boss a good kick in the nuts, the people of Cedis will know that their own princess went on a harrowing journey to bring them back a hero.”
“A self-proclaimed hero now, are you?” Aurora cut in as she raised an eyebrow.
“Am I wrong?” I responded with a cheeky grin.
The half-elf rolled her eyes, but her lips curled upward at the corners. “You are not. I am just trying to keep your ego in check so that you do not tip over like a top-heavy babe.”
“Thank you for your tireless work, Defender Solana,” I intoned seriously, but when Aurora and I locked gazes, we both dissolved into laughter.
“Where do you want to start, Mason?” Cayla asked as we came to the edge of the town.
“Here should be good,” I replied as I looked around us.
The buildings of Keld stood at our backs, along with the majority of the townsfolk. I guessed word had spread about what happened at the Prairie Inn because people came out of their houses and various stores to watch us with curiosity instead of fear.
“Can we do anything to help?” Aurora questioned as she stepped up beside me.
“Fetch me some food and ale once I get tired?” I suggested with a wink. “Oh, and could you also grab some more ammo for the revolver when you have a chance? The rifle’s loaded, but just to be safe.”
The Ignis Mage nodded and then added, “Try not to overexert yourself, Mason. We still have a ways to travel come the morning.”
“Yes, dear,“ I teased. Then I raised my arms, summoned up my Terra magic, and set to work.
Keld really wasn’t all that big. It was maybe two football fields in length and maybe one and a half wide. I estimated that less than a hundred people called this town home, but it was a home regardless, and these people deserved to feel safe in this place they had settled in and called their own.
So, I started at the edge of the main road and worked around the town in a big circle as I built the wall in sections. As I walked, I kept my magic constantly flowing through me. The dirt and dust bubbled at my feet before it started to condense, harden, and rise upward into the bright blue sky.
The rock wall I crafted was nearly forty feet tall and almost ten feet thick. It took a lot of concentration and power to mold something so large, and within minutes sweat beaded along my hairline and skated down the sharp line of my jaw.
But once I started, I couldn’t stop. I had forgotten how magic was foreign to the people of Cedis, and when I started to curve around to the left of Keld, I happened to glance over my shoulder and caught sight of the townsfolk creeping along after me, their eyes wide and their mouths agape. The small boy that had been ushered inside by his mother when I first rode past on Bobbie 2.0 stood in the forefront, and by the look in his eyes, one would think I was lassoing the sun.
Emboldened by my audience, I gritted my teeth and kept going, even though my legs grew heavier with each step, and my arms had started to tremble at the shoulders.
“Mason, I think you should take a break now,” Aurora said sometime later. I couldn’t tell how long I had been working, just that the sun was arching closer and closer to the western horizon.
“Almost there,” I grunted as the next section of wall rose up in front of me. In my peripherals, I could barely make out the smudged outline of my starting point. I had nearly completed my circuit. I just had to finish this final stretch.
“At least drink something,” the Ignis Mage groused as she stepped up beside me and shoved a canteen of water under my nose.
Instantly, my tongue poked out to swipe across my chapped and dry lips, and my magic faltered as my attention was diverted.
“Where did you get that?” I rasped as the stone wall wavered but slowly inched upward in front of me. “I thought the water pump was broken.”
“It is,” Aurora replied, “this is the last of what we brought from Illaria. Drink it.”
The chivalrous part of me wanted to argue and offer it to my two gorgeous companions, but the dehydrated and exhausted part of me reached out and snagged the canteen from Aurora’s grip.
I tipped back my head and drained the dregs in three strong gulps. When the water was gone, I smacked my lips and sighed.
“Thank you,” I told the half-elf with an apologetic smile. “Guess I needed that.”
“Who could have known,” the Ignis Mage replied dryly as she rolled her eyes. “You still have a great deal to learn about patience, Mage Flynt.”
“But I make up for it with charisma and charm,” I shot back with a broad grin.
“Less talking, more building,” Aurora chastised as she pointed to the wall in front of me. “You need to complete the wall before the sun sets or you lose consciousness, whatever comes first.”
“It’ll be a tight race,” I chuckled as I turned back to the stone before me, “but I think it will be worth it.”
And I was right.
By my best estimate, several hours had passed since I began my little architecture project when I drew close to the road, and the end of the wall, once again. Both my arms shook from shoulder to fingertips now, and my feet dragged in the dirt as I stumbled onto the edge of the road. I sent one last burst of magic into the rock, and the section of wall shot up five feet before it leveled out with the rest and finally stilled.
I staggered as I dropped my arms, but Aurora and Cayla were suddenly on either side of me, and their hands propped me up as I leaned into them.
“We have you,” Cayla whispered into my ear.
“Stubborn man,” Aurora admonished, but I caught her grin out of the corner of my eye.
“What d’ya think?” I muttered tiredly as I jerked my chin to the finished wall.
The surface was smooth and flat, without any handholds, and the reddish stone glinted nicely in the sun. The only gaps in its continuous circle were on either side of the town, right where the road cut through.
“Eh,” Aurora said with a shrug, “I think you could have made it taller.”
She smirked down at me, and I groaned as everything in my body started to ache.
“Cayla, would you do me a favor and tickle Aurora until she begs for mercy?” I requested as my knees knocked together.
The half-elf gasped in mock indignation. “Don’t you dare!”
I started to chuckle, but then quickly stopped when it hurt just about every cell in my body.
“I think I’ll take that ale and food now,” I murmured to the women who held me up. “Seems I worked up something of an appetite.”
“No kiddin’,” drawled a voice at my back, and the three of us turned around to find Serlo with his arms folded across his chest.
The bartender’s close-set brown eyes surveyed the wall that loomed over my shoulder. While his mouth didn’t fall open and his eyes stayed in their sockets, I could tell he was impressed by the way he shook his head in disbelief.
“Still think I’m crazy?” I asked with a tired and lopsided grin.
“At least ten different shades,” Serlo replied with a nod, “but ya are a man of yer word, I’ll give ya that.”
