The Serpent's Orb

by Guy Antibes

“Enough of this. I’m going to bed early tonight,” Helen said. “Every day is going to be a long one from here until we see the spires of Dorkansee.”

  Tanner watched her go. “She will stew about what we said all night, I’ll wager. The girl is more complex than she lets on.”

  “What does she let on?” Jack asked.

  “A tough swordfighter, first and foremost, and a woman second. Sometimes she fights her good instincts, just like she did when we were arrested,” Tanner said, yawning. “I think I will do a little thinking myself.” He yawned again. “With my eyes closed, of course.” He smiled and patted Quist on his bald head and left the two of them in the common room.

  “You are worried about the wizard’s helper business?” Quist asked.

  Jack nodded. “Do I have any responsibilities that I need to be aware of?”

  “None,” Quist said. “wizard’s helpers need training, and you’ve just started yours. Why do you think you are on this quest for the Serpent’s Orb?”

  “I wondered about that,” Jack admitted.

  “Book learning is always better paired with personal experience. Look at what you have experienced so far.”

  “I’ve seen the world, that is for sure.”

  Quist laughed. “Not that much of it. You haven’t even gotten to the capital of Corand, yet. There are still plenty of adventures along the way.”

  “I’m not so sure,” Jack said. “Once we pick up the orb, it is a quick trip home.”

  Quist smiled. “I don’t think getting the orb will be an easy task. Fasher has tried for years to retrieve it from Derr Mason, and that has included his own trips to Dorkansee.”

  “You mean he has failed to get it back?”

  Quist nodded. “I’m not saying it will be impossible, but don’t think you’ll knock on a wizard’s door and he will just hand it over.”

  Jack rubbed his forehead. “I thought this was an easy errand.”

  “It is an errand, but I’m sure Fasher will be as interested in how you go about it as much as how successful you are.”

  ~

  The conversation with Ozzie Quist ground into Jack during the long travel day. Tanner announced there would be no more camps because the general area around Dorkansee was thick with villages.

  “You look a little down,” Tanner said after a quick lunch to rest and water the horses and then proceed.

  “Ozzie said that Fasher has tried to get the Serpent’s Orb himself and failed.”

  Tanner smiled. “We can help with that,” he said. “Fasher was probably alone, and you aren’t. I’m sure we can all help you get the orb before we move on.”

  “You can?” Jack said.

  Tanner nodded. “We might not succeed, but at least you’ll be able to tell Fasher that you tried.”

  “I can do that.” Jack felt considerably better having some allies in the capital. He didn’t know if Tanner’s volunteering to help was shared, but it appeared that Quist was on board. The only one Jack wondered about was Helen, and he didn’t know exactly how she could help.

  He was still unsettled when they arrived at the next inn. Jack began by drinking a little too much, but he wasn’t close to losing his faculties. In fact, all four of them were well lubricated when the village headman strutted in wearing polished gauntlets, a sword too big for his short stature, and a shield strapped to his back.

  Jack observed that the man couldn’t sit in a chair with the shield on his back, but was unsurprised when the headman walked up to the bar. Helen looked at the village leader with somewhat bleary eyes, while Jack popped another roasted nut into his mouth taken from the bowl they had ordered as a snack to accompany their drinking.

  “I’ll bet you can’t separate that dunce from his shield. Imagine walking into a common room wearing armor,” she sneered. “He probably sleeps in that getup.

  “What would you wager?” Jack asked.

  “For you? I will accompany you until you find your precious object of power. How is that?”

  Tanner narrowed his eyes and smiled. “I would go for it, Jack.”

  “But what happens if I lose?”

  Helen smiled with her eyes flashing a little less bright with all the drink. “Your magic sword.”

  Jack shook his head and tried to think clearly. If he had Helen committed until the end, then he wouldn’t need to use the sword to grab the orb. He didn’t see how he could lose. The shield was as good as his. “I’m in.” He looked at Quist. “You remember the bet, and Tanner will remember the bet. I’ll have no reneging,” Jack said. He ate another nut and pushed the full tankard of ale away. Quist looked at it longingly, so he set it in front of the wizard.

  The village leader continued to boast about his prowess with his blade, but the man had forgotten to wear one. Jack rejected the notion to rob the man at sword point, but as the man staggered out of the common room, Jack got to his feet and followed him out.

  “Whoa, there,” Jack said, as the drunk leader listed right into Jack. “You are a little top-heavy. Let me help you out of the shield so you can find your way home.”

  “Would you be so kind?” the headman said as he leaned against Jack. “It is the real badge of my office,” he slurred. “My great grandfather wore it in the last Passorand border war.”

  “Wouldn’t want it to be damaged or have it damage you,” Jack said.

  “You are such a good boy.” The man blinked a few times as Jack helped unstrap the ungainly thing from the man’s back. “I don’t recognize you.”

  “I’m just passing through from Dorkansee to Bartonsee. Your village is a good stopping point.”

  The man nodded. “It is.” He motioned Jack closer. “I get a cut from the inn.” He nodded and squinted. “Keep it a secret.”

  “There is no one for me to tell it to,” Jack said. He shook his head. It was too late, and he was still a little muddled from the drink, but Jack wasn’t so far gone he didn’t know what to do.

  Jack strapped the shield over his shoulder and helped the man into his house.

  “Shhh,” the headman said holding a finger to his lips. “Wifey is asleep. Don’t want to wake her up.”

  Jack smiled. He knew that “wifey” wasn’t asleep. His own mother never dozed when her husband was late coming back from the pub in Raker Falls, and he didn’t see a reason that wasn’t a universal thing.

  “There you go, sir. Have a good evening.”

  The headman was just about out when Jack shut the door behind him and ran around the side of the cottage. He waited for the headman to come out, but he never did. Jack had won his bet, and he knew how to proclaim it.

  He went around to the back of the inn and displayed the shield for all to see, and then he went to bed, not quite sleeping as soundly as the headman would be by now.

  At dawn the next morning, Helen rapped on Jack’s door.

  “The sword?” she asked.

  “Come in here.” Jack smiled and took her to his window looking out over the rear of the inn. He pointed to the headman’s shield standing proudly upright, affixed to the roof of the inn’s outhouse. “Do you like my carpentry skills?” he said.

  Helen grunted, but then she turned to look out the window at Jack’s work, currently being uproariously admired by the stable crew, and laughed.

  “You better get out of the village as quickly as you can. The headman won’t be happy.”

  Jack ran downstairs and gulped down breakfast and headed out on the road north before anyone came to look for him. He waited at a little copse splitting two fields until the three riders, Tanner, Quist, and Helen holding the reins to the packhorse, rode even with him.

  “Did you see my handiwork?” Jack asked the wizard.

  “I slept in, missing the monument before it was torn down. You sure gave the early risers at the inn a laugh,” Quist said.

  “The headman was probably just sober enough to hear your misdirection, Jack. He gathered a few reluctant villagers and headed toward Bartonsee,” Tanner said
. “What a man!”

  Helen laughed but turned to Jack with a serious look once he mounted and caught up to them. “I will pay my debt,” she said.

  “I wish I could say I could actually hold you to it, but I appreciate the sentiment.” Jack looked ahead at Tanner and Quist riding ahead and felt like a real part of the group for the first time.

  ~

  They stopped at another inn for their midday meal and to rest their horses. Jack got out the orb seeker and saw that it was still pointed toward Dorkansee.

  “If you keep pulling that thing out, do you think it will start pointing in the opposite direction?” Helen said.

  “Not really,” Jack said. “It reminds me what I’m seeking, that’s all.”

  “Give the kid a break,” Tanner said, just sitting down after seeing to the horses.

  Helen grunted. “Let me hold it,” she said.

  Jack handed it over and as soon as the transfer was made the blue disappeared. “Let me touch you to see if I can lend you some power,” Jack said.

  “Suit yourself,” Helen said.

  “You are able to do a few tricks?” Jack asked.

  “Like this?” Helen lifted her finger and a flame sprouted from the tip. She shook her hand. “It will start to burn if I hold it too long. I can’t do anything more than the ordinary,” she said.

  Jack thought about what just happened as he retrieved the orb seeker and put it back in his pocket. “What makes a wizard is the ability to use significantly larger amounts of power that most people. Is that right?” Jack said to Quist, wanting to confirm his theory.

  “You aren’t so dumb, after all,” Quist said. “That is correct, and that is especially true for a wizard’s helper.”

  “So why am I special and no one in my family is?”

  Quist shrugged. “That is a question that no one has ever answered. I am sure that some people with wizardly abilities are never tested and others are picked up by the Alderacheans and turned into priests. But it is well known that there are wizards who are the only ones in their family, like me and like you. But I have known wizards that are part of a family of them. Only Alderach knows what is going on.”

  Jack sat back, looking at his hands. “A conduit, like a large water pipe when everyone else is a drip.”

  “Hey!” Helen said. “Who are you calling a drip.” She folded her arms and looked away.

  “You have lots of company, Tanner for one.”

  She unfolded her arms. “This is true. I guess you didn’t mean it as an insult.”

  “Would I do such a thing?” Jack said innocently.

  Helen narrowed her eyes. “I have no idea what you are capable of.”

  “Mounting shields to outhouses. Jack has definite talent, there,” Tanner said.

  They ate and were back on the road with one more night before arriving at Dorkansee. Along the way, they decided on one last practice session with swords. Ozzie worked with Helen using Jack’s practice sword. There was one man in Corand that Jack could beat without question, and that was Quist. It was time for Jack to finally pull out the magic sword again.

  He swung it around and noticed Helen doing the same. “If the cube doesn’t work for you, then this thing wouldn’t. Why did you want my magic sword if I lost the bet?”

  Helen lifted a corner of her mouth in a kind of smile. “I’d sell it to the highest bidder. You and Tanner found an incredible bargain.”

  “Ah,” Jack said. “Well, it doesn’t matter now, does it?”

  “It does since you are still a mediocre swordsman without that.”

  Jack laughed. “Becoming good enough to be called mediocre was my goal back in Raker Falls.”

  Ozzie was no stranger to a blade, but with his ability wasn’t on a par to Jack’s, Tanner played with him. The man was at least ten years older than Tanner, and he looked like he enjoyed working with the woman better than the man.

  “Try with your helmet on,” the mercenary said, finishing up with Quist. Tanner had his armor on, so Jack put the pieces on that he owned.

  They fought, and the sword, as always, seemed to spring to life in his hand. He could tell the last week of training had made a difference, but it was the sword that tipped the scale. Jack still couldn’t beat Tanner, but it was more of an equal fight.

  “We did the right thing. Your instincts are better having used the practice sword all this time. Don’t lose that magic sword, for if we have to fight, you can give as good as you get from an opponent.”

  “Do you consider yourself a good swordsman?” Jack asked.

  “With the magic sword you are better than average,” Tanner said. “Helen has a competitor in you,” He laughed and was able to deflect the dirt clod that she threw at him. “Time to get going if we are to make our inn before dark, and then it is midday tomorrow when we reach Dorkansee.”

  Chapter Ten

  ~

  J ack looked at the skyline of Dorkansee, and they still weren’t close to entering the city. “How big is the capital of Corand?”

  “Four or five times bigger than Bartonsee,” Helen said. “We would ride for an hour or more to get to the city center.”

  “Is that where we are staying?” Jack asked.

  Tanner shook his head. “We won’t go farther than the Fourth Ring. I know a man who rents houses. With the four of us, it will be cheaper to live in a house rather than rent rooms in the Second or First Ring of the capital.”

  “Really?” Jack said and immediately regretted saying that.

  “Onion boy hasn’t been to Dorkansee yet,” Helen said, smiling. She used the term “onion boy” to refer to Jack when he said something bumpkinish.

  “Then let's go,” Jack snapped the reins on his horse and picked up the pace, leaving the rest behind. He looked behind, but no one followed him. He had to wait for them to catch up.

  “I know you are excited, but we can only go as fast as our packhorse lets us,” Quist said. “Besides trotting rips up my tender backside.”

  “Be patient, youngster, just don’t gawk too much. Each wall constitutes a ring,” Tanner said “There are five rings in Dorkansee. The two inner ones are for gentry and well-heeled merchants, as well as Dorkan Castle, where the king lives. The middle one is where the poorest live. We will be staying in the fourth from the center and the largest ring. People live outside the ring, too, but they are hardly counted as citizens.”

  Jack concentrated on keeping his jaw from dropping as the buildings and the people never stopped. They finally passed beneath the second huge gate and were in the Fourth Ring. He was glad Tanner knew the way because Jack knew he would have been instantly lost inside the city.

  The press of people ebbed and flowed as they made their way on a road that went around the third wall which he occasionally saw in the distance toward the city’s center. Finally, Tanner turned down a lane and entered an open gate into a small stable yard.

  “Stay here, and I’ll find a place,” Tanner said.

  How Tanner could ride directly to their destination astounded Jack, but he dismounted along with the others and watered Tanner’s horse first. The man returned.

  “We aren’t far,” he said when he mounted. “Follow me.”

  They turned in the opposite direction and proceeded down the lane until it intersected a larger street. Tanner turned right toward the Third Ring, and soon he found the street he was looking for. The area didn’t look particularly friendly to Jack. Most of the houses were behind walls, but Tanner found the one he sought and used a key to open a gate into a small courtyard. Room for six horses was on the right, and two empty carriage bays were on the left.

  The house itself stood behind a well in the middle of the courtyard. It was at least as large as the Ephram mansion in Raker Falls.

  “This is a large house,” Jack said.

  “It is for us, but we would be paying more for separate rooms in the Fourth Ring, not to mention the higher prices found in the Second Ring which would be twice as much.”
Tanner smiled. “I am taking into account the large discount that I negotiated, and we will have to cook our own food if we can’t find a pub relatively close. I am not that knowledgeable about the neighborhood.” He looked around the courtyard. “Let’s go inside and pick our rooms, and then we can assemble in the sitting room to make plans to retrieve Jack’s orb.”

  The horses needed more attention than Tanner thought, so it took an hour before they assembled in the sitting room. The furnishings had seen better days, but then they were comparable to some in the inns where the group had stayed, except for the exquisite inn at Bartonsee.

  “So where is the orb?” Quist asked.

  Jack pulled the seeker cube out and pointed to the northeast. Tanner pulled out a map of the city. “Let’s see the address Fasher gave you.” He looked closely at the map. “We are close to this intersection,” Tanner said touching the map where their house was, “so that confirms that the orb is likely in a Ring closer to the center. That is consistent with the address that Fasher gave you.” He oriented the map to match the direction the cube showed. “It is a little late to negotiate the Third Ring, so I suggest finding a place to eat and a place to find the things to fill the larder in this house. I already peeked, and there isn’t much to use, although there are dishes, pots, and pans.

  “The Third Ring is that treacherous?” Jack asked.

  Helen nodded. “The king allows the poor to congregate there. Food and other supplies are dropped off along certain roads around the ring, but that only attracts gangs who sell the food, free to them, to the citizens. It is a miserable place, but if you follow the main spoke roads to the Second Ring, the thugs will leave you alone, but only during daylight.”

  “What happens to the unlucky?”

  “Robbery to murder. Seldom do people escape the Third Ring unscathed,” Quist said.

  “But there are four of us. Can’t we fight off a few thugs?” Jack asked.

  “A few hundred is more likely,” Tanner said. Why are you interested? Do you like to live dangerously? I’ve known you for a few weeks, and I wouldn’t have thought.”

  Jack laughed. “I don’t have a death wish. It just surprises me. I expected rough areas—even Raker Falls has a few adjacent lanes that people avoid—I just didn’t expect an area so vast.”