by Guy Antibes
Pol had made sure that he had given Paki sufficient money to spend on something. Jonness and his two assistants called to the acolytes to move on. They would eat lunch in town and then get back up to the monastery for their afternoon classes.
A biting wind kicked up after they left the confines of the monastery, and some of the boys hadn’t worn much clothing under their robes. When they complained, Jonness said they could buy something in town.
I like this side of the island better than the back side, Demeron said.
Pol could see his horse’s point. There were trees to break the wind, and the landscape didn’t look as forlorn or as wind-scoured as the other. He smiled. “You won’t like the cobbles much longer.” Pol saw that the monks rode on the side of the road. “Why don’t you walk on the side?”
That sounds like a good idea. Pol picked up that Demeron was as happy about the field trip as he was.
They proceeded to the port, silently talking. Pol just responded to Demeron’s observations.
After putting the horses in the large stables that belonged to the monastery, Jonness took his charges to the hall that the Deftnis monks used for remote classes.
The hall could probably seat half or more of the monastery, but Jonness had the acolytes gather in a corner along with their belongings.
“We will be breaking up into teams. As we gather here, my two assistants have been hiding eight objects around the town. They are all within the city limits and are out in the open. You will be given clues as to the object’s whereabouts, and you’ll be given two hours to find them. Once you are successful, come back here to report. Do not disturb any other items that you may come across. If you do, both of you will be disqualified. Am I understood?”
“Yes, sir,” most of the acolytes said.
“I will call the pairs. Come up and get your clues. Say nothing to each other until you have left the building. You need to return no later than noon.”
Pol waited for six pairs to leave before he heard his name called, and then Kell’s name reached his ears. He groaned. Pol just didn’t deserve a partner who hated him.
Kell reached Jonness before Pol. He tried to snatch the paper with their clues before Pol had a chance to look at it. His partner growled as Jonness gave the clues to Pol.
“You need to work together. If only one of you arrives with your find, you will both be disqualified. Understood?”
Both of them nodded, but Pol noticed that Jonness hadn’t given that rule to any of the other pairs. He could picture Kell ignoring Pol for the entire exercise.
Pol memorized the clues and gave the paper to Kell who read it and jammed the clues in his pocket.
Pol walked outside. Kell took off towards the center of Port Deftnis.
“Shouldn’t we puzzle out the clues?” Pol said, hurrying to Kell’s side.
“You’re so smart, why do you need me?”
Pol didn’t know why Kell was so angry. “Because we are a team. Working as a pair is part of the exercise.”
“It is?” Kell stopped. His eyebrows furrowed. “I thought the point was to find Jonness’s little trinkets.”
Pol shook his head. “The point is to use Seeking skills. It really does help to talk it out between us. I know.”
“As if you’ve done it before.”
Pol threw his hands up in exasperation. “I have. I solved two problems with an actual Seeker, Valiso Gasibli. I also had a scout for a tutor that made us practice finding objects, but not in a town.”
Kell sputtered. “You know Valiso Gasibli, personally?”
Pol nodded. “He served as my bodyguard for my last days as prince. If I hadn’t been so scared, they would have been exciting. I did learn quite a bit.”
Kell took a step back to gather his thoughts. “Well…”
“Well, what?”
“What should we do if you know so much?”
Pol could tell that Kell’s reply was meant to mask his astonishment. But that only made Pol more surprised by Val’s obvious reputation.
“Let’s review the clues,” Pol said, holding out his hand.
Kell grunted, but put the wadded-up paper into Pol’s palm. After smoothing out the paper, Pol read the script out loud.
“Not by water, not by fish, not by grain or sainted wish
Look for something hanging high, but not a thing that you would buy
A script proclaims a partner’s name
Failure to find will bring you shame”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Kell said.
Pol looked around at the village and looked back at the clues. “It tells us some places to disregard. What do you think not by water means?”
Kell looked towards the two docks that stretched into the ocean. “The waterfront is out. That’s easy enough.”
All of the clues were easy, but that didn’t make the seeking simple. The clues only told them where not to look. “Why don’t we go into a general store and see if they sell maps of the port.”
“Why?” Kell’s face brightened and snapped his fingers. “That might keep us from wandering all over town.”
“Maybe,” Pol said. “But I don’t have a better idea. Finding our object involves figuring out the pattern. In this case, the places that are not included.”
“Patterns?” Kell asked.
“We obviously haven’t gotten to those yet in detection. It’s a methodology that Seekers use to analyze what went on with the crime and helps determine how the criminals acted. We should get to patterns some time soon. Don’t worry about it. We should be able to solve this without the use of patterns.”
Kell shrugged as the two youths walked down towards the docks where there were more commercial establishments. Kell pointed out a general store, which they entered.
“How can I help you? Acolytes on a treasure hunt?”
Pol only nodded. Kell looked offended. “Do you have a map of Deftnis Port? We have to find an object, and don’t want to wander all over the port.”
“You’re only the second pair who have come calling,” the shopkeeper said. He turned around and pulled a sheet of paper from a drawer against the wall. “Here. No charge. The monastery had these printed up.”
“Is it current?” Pol asked.
“Current enough. Do either of you need anything to snack on while you search? I’ve got some sweet rolls left over from my morning rush.”
Pol hadn’t thought to bring any money and shook his head.
“We’ll take two,” Kell said. He looked at Pol. “Not by grain means we won’t be near a baker’s shop.”
Pol smiled. Finally, Kell did something nice. Pol put it down to a momentary miracle. “Can you include a scrap of charcoal or something else to mark up the map?”
The shopkeeper let the youths each choose a roll, and then presented a used pencil stub to Pol. “Is this good enough?”
“It is. Thank you!” Pol said.
They walked out of the store and sat on the raised wooden walkway that lined both sides of the street. Pol laid the map out between them.
“No bakers, fishmongers, restaurants that sell fish, and no churches or graveyards.”
“Graveyards?” Kell said, furrowing his brow.
“Sainted wish. People of faith, living and dead. I don’t know how people on the island dispose of the remains of those departed. In North Salvan cities, most people are cremated.”
Kell nodded. “The map has labels on everything but homes.”
They both went to work and began eliminating much of the village.
“So what hangs high, something that a man could fly?” Pol said.
“People don’t fly, birds do.” Kell groaned with frustration.
Pol wasn’t ready to panic, but he leaned back against a post and closed his eyes.
“Find anything yet?” Paki said, walking down the street with his hands in the pocket of his robe.
Pol opened his eyes and could see by the way the pair stood that they hadn’t been any
more successful than he.
“Is that a map?” Paki said.
Kell put the map out of sight.
“The general store will probably give you one, if you ask,” Pol said.
“Thanks,” Paki’s partner said. He tugged on Paki’s sleeve, pulling him towards the store.
Kell narrowed his eyes at Pol. “Why did you tell them that?”
“Why not? Master Jonness didn’t call this a competition. We shouldn’t care if others succeed or fail. All I want to do is find our object. That’s why it didn’t matter if they saw our map. All the objects are different, right?”
Kell nodded and said, “You really are a smart one.” Pol didn’t know if the comment was sarcastic or not.
“When you’re as scrawny as I am, you have to develop your mind to survive. Even then, I nearly didn’t a few times.”
After an awkward silence, Pol squinted. “So what can a man fly?”
Kell still didn’t have a clue, if the expression on his face was any indication.
“A kite? Fly a kite?” Pol said.
“Oh,” Kell said. “Fly a flag?”
Pol brightened. “That would work even better. Look for flags. One that has my name or your name on it. Oh, could this be so easy?”
“I hope so. Let’s go looking.”
Pol consulted the map. “Here are places we don’t have to go,” Pol said.
They wandered around the town, consulting their map for places that fit outside the pattern of the not water, not fish, not grain, and not a sainted wish.
They walked past a walled house and Kell spotted a flagpole. Someone’s coat-of-arms flew above a crimson-trimmed white flag that had ‘Digbee’ scrawled on it.
“There it is,” Kell said. He went to throw open the door embedded in the wall next to larger double doors.
Pol took Kell by the arm. “Not so fast. We can’t just walk up and take it.”
“Why not?”
“It’s too easy, right?”
Kell nodded and smiled. “I think you are correct. But still a direct approach wasn’t forbidden.” He knocked on the door.
A wizened man dressed in servant’s clothes opened the door after a long wait.
Kell towered over the man and looked down. Even Pol could feel the intimidation. “We’d like one of those flags,” Kell said, pointing to the flagpole surrounded by a circle of winter flowers nearly overcome with weeds.
“I’ll inquire of the master.” The man bowed and closed the door. Pol heard a bolt slam shut.
“We’ll just scale the wall then,” Kell said.
Pol leaned back and folded his arms. “Do you own the property?”
“No.”
Pol nodded. “Do you know the trespassing laws of Deftnis Port?”
Kell sneered. “Do you?” He went back to his Landon imitation.
“No. That’s why we shouldn’t scale the wall. If we are caught stealing the flag, then we might not be able to make Jonness’s time limit, will we?”
Kell shook his head. “So we wait?”
“Let’s just ask politely. Val said sometimes the easiest way is the best. If the owner doesn’t let us have the flag, then we will have to come up with an alternative plan.”
Kell shook his head again. “We’ll try it your way, and then we will try mine.”
“That works for me,” Pol said. He’d rather be first than Kell.
Both of them stood straighter when they heard someone withdraw the bolt from the door.
“You may come in and speak to my master,” the servant said. He held the door open for Kell and Pol and then shuffled slowly ahead, leading them into the house.
The sitting room was just off the foyer. The servant offered them seats. Kell looked around at the house and made an approving face.
“Maybe it’s not your style, but I like it,” Kell said.
Pol’s rooms at Castle Borstall were fancier than the sitting room, but that was part of his past. He just sat with his hands gripping the side of the straight chair that he sat in. Kell had taken residence in an easy chair, and Pol thought that a bit presumptuous.
“So, what is it you want?” the owner said as he rushed in, adjusting the sleeves of his coat.
“Your flag,” Kell said.
Pol shook his head and tightened his lips. Kell’s upbringing obviously didn’t include the deportment lessons that Pol’s did, even if he had let his temper get in the way too often.
“Not your flag, sir.” Pol stood. “As you may surmise, we are Deftnis acolytes on a training outing. One of our instructor’s men had you raise a small flag underneath your own. We have come to recover it.”
“And what will you give me in exchange?”
“What?” Kell said.
Pol pursed his lips. “Do you know what time it is?” he said.
“One hour to noon,” the man said.
Pol thought for a moment. “We will weed the flagpole flower bed if you will give us the flag.”
“Manual labor?”
Pol thought for a moment. “Your servant probably has a hard time getting down on his knees to weed, so we will be doing both you and him a service.”
The man put his hand to his chin. “I thought you would want to pay me money, but I like your approach. Once the bed is weeded, you may retrieve your flag.”
Pol felt it a bit odd in the way the man acquiesced and wondered if there would be another obstacle, but they had made an agreement. “We will get to it at once, if your man can provide us with a cart to dispose of the weeds.”
“I can arrange that. Go to work, boys,” the man said.
Pol dragged Kell out of the house before he said anything else. The man hadn’t introduced himself, but the owner had to be highly placed in the village to have a nice house and yard. The device on the owner’s flag was a coat of arms. He looked up and could see in one square of a shield the symbol of Deftnis, so the man had to have been an acolyte or a monk at some time.
Both of them went to work. Pol had to show Kell how to weed and minimize the damage to the flowers.
“How do you know how to do such menial work?”
“My friend Paki’s dad was a Royal Gardener. I used to help them in the gardens in exchange for learning about scout methods.”
“So that’s how you knew how to do such a good job at making fires.”
Kell had picked up that skill rather quickly, but Pol nodded. “I consider myself an experienced expert in weeding flower beds, too. It goes much quicker if two work and don’t talk.”
Kell didn’t say another word, and in half-an-hour or so, their task was complete. The wheelbarrow that the servant had dropped by was filled with weeds, and Pol surveyed their work with a smile. It would take a while for the flowers to fill in, but they looked better than before.
Kell took the flag cord and tried to lower the flags. “It’s stuck.”
Pol looked up at the pulley at the top of the pole and wondered if the owner was a magician who tweaked a pattern to put another obstacle in their way. That would have fit what Pol felt about the man when he agreed to give them their flag.
“Let me try,” Pol said.
“You? What strength do you have?”
“It isn’t apparent, but I do have some, you know,” Pol said. He looked up and closed his eyes. He opened them, but held them slightly out of focus as he concentrated on their flag and tweaked the ends that were knotted to the rope. After a few moments, the flag fluttered to Pol’s outstretched hand.
“You could have retrieved the flag from outside the wall,” Kell said. Pol didn’t like the petulance, but thought Kell might not have been raised in a very polite, refined environment.
The owner walked out. “I see you were able to get the flag down magically. That should be an easy task for a Third. Why didn’t you just do that in the first place?”
Pol looked at Kell and then at the man. “You must be a magician yourself.”
The man nodded. “My name is Garryle Handson. I�
��m the Deftnis representative in the Port, so basically I’m the mayor. Jonness’s message said that he was sending a good pair this time. He always sends the best magician in his class to me, and Jonness didn’t disappoint. We didn’t introduce ourselves before.”
“I am Pol Cissert and this is—”
“Kell Digbee. My name is on the flag,” Kell said, interrupting Pol.
“Well, I am glad you chose the higher path. I was prepared to retain you here until after noon, but now you are free to leave.”
Pol turned around. “Is it impolite to ask you what level you attained at the monastery?”
Garryle smiled. “I am a Gray, and I still don my robes to teach upper-level magicians. Perhaps we will see each other again, Pol Cissert.”
“Perhaps,” Pol said. He bowed to Garryle, and both of the acolytes hurried to the Deftnis hall.
Jonness looked up from talking to his two assistants. “Ah, I expected to see you two here. Four of the teams won’t be joining us at noon since they’ll have their lunches in jail, and we think there will be three others coming. The question is will they make it on time?”
“Are all the teams given tasks with hidden teeth?”
Jonness grinned and nodded his head. “All of them.”
~
After a lunch with half the acolytes, one of the assistants escorted the jailed acolytes back into the hall. They all rode back to the monastery, trading stories along the way.
Pol walked into the magic class, interrupting Vactor’s conversation with the Abbot.
“I can wait outside,” Pol said.
“No, no,” the Abbot said. He took a seat next to Pol. “Your classmates won’t be here today. How did you do with the Seekers this morning?”
Pol told them all about his adventure, which, admittedly, didn’t take very long.
“Jonness stuck you with Garryle, eh? You’ll see him when you advance. I’ll bet he was rubbing his hands waiting for you to steal the flag. That’s what most boys do.”
“Most?” Pol said.
“Jonness uses much the same exercises for each class. Garryle is a gray, Seventh Level, as you might have found out, and just sits in his house when the search begins, locating anyone who ventures near. If you did anything questionable, shall we say, he would have frozen you on the spot and had you hauled off by the port constables, whom he directs.”
