by Guy Antibes
Tanner, Heros, and Helen stepped outside to present the leather armor to Quist while Jack waited. The shopkeeper returned with armor that didn’t look anything like before.
“It looks worn.” Jack looked at the cuirass more closely, “but it isn’t.” He had to grin. “Perfect.”
“Do you want to wear it outside?”
“Is it proper to do that in Rugiz?”
The shopkeeper peeked out the door again. “Do what your friends do and tie it to your packhorse. They are true soldiers, are they not?”
“They are. I’m not.” Jack said with a grin. “Thank you!”
He took his armor to show his friends. “Now I can look like a weary mercenary.”
Tanner looked offended. “Do I look weary?” He touched his face playfully.
Helen laughed. “I’m not weary, but perhaps a little worn.”
They mounted, and Heros took the lead again, depositing them at a modest inn. “You may find this surprisingly good since it is run by my people. I will return here once I have completed my business.”
He walked in with them when Tanner registered. “Take good care of my friends. I will have my usual room,” Heros said. He turned and walked out of the inn and instructed the stable boy what to do with his belongings. “I will see you all later.”
Jack watched Heros walk away, while he grabbed his bags and sought out a bed to collapse into. Tanner gave him a key to the room they were to share. Jack wasted no time in dropping on the bed and closing his eyes. He hadn’t slept well the previous night and the two full days of travel caught up to him.
Tanner shook him out of his slumber. “Time for dinner. Wake up. We need to talk.”
Jack blinked looking out the window at the darkening sky. “Right.” He rubbed his eyes and splashed water into his face. “Better.”
They walked down to the common room. The inn didn’t give Jack quite the shock that the decrepit place in Bartonsee had, but it was close. The tables were polished, and the chairs looked like they were made in the current century. Quist and Helen were already talking when Tanner and Jack arrived.
“First we order,” Tanner said. He raised his hand and held it up until a server came. Jack noticed a few others doing the same in the room. “At least we don’t have to continually bother the servers this way, although, on a busy night, I imagine there are many tired arms.”
There were three choices, and they also ordered wine at the server’s recommendation. Jack observed the patrons. The place seemed to enjoy an orderly clientele. Tanner had chosen a table far enough away from others to permit some private conversation.
“I don’t feel prepared enough,” Jack said. “I can do a few tricks, but if Simara Khotes is really a Black Finger Society member, how will we manage?”
“Now you tell us you are getting cold feet,” Tanner said.
Jack shook his head. “I didn’t say I wouldn’t confront her, I said I don’t feel prepared enough.”
“So, are you going to wait until the patriarch saunters into Rugiz?” Helen said with an accusing voice.
“What if we get caught in between the two of them?” Jack said. “How will we survive?”
“It isn’t as if everyone surrounding them will be killed,” Quist said. “Wizard battles aren’t like that. They don’t go on and on. The more power extended, the quicker wizards burn out. I should know.”
“Didn’t you burn out in a wizard battle?” Jack asked.
The three of them looked at each other, but it was Quist who nodded. “All three of us were there,” he said. “Fasher was too. There was a border skirmish at our southern border. The Kadellians brought up their wizards after the first crush of the two forces. The wizards on our side were Tempest, a woman, and I. What was her name? She perished in the initial onslaught of magic—”
“Ennie Gatehill,” Helen said.
Quist nodded. “Ennie. She was consumed with fire. Fasher and I had to protect our forces. Helen and Tanner had accompanied Fasher, who was all but conscripted to join. I wasn’t that strong—”
“But he made up for it that day,” Tanner said, putting his hand on Quist’s shoulder. “That was the battle where Fasher decided he would rather learn to heal. Because of their protection, we routed the Kadellian forces. The aftermath was awful. The moaning was awful, but when the moaning ceased, we felt even worse. Fasher didn’t know what to do, and all Helen and I and the rest of the survivors could do was concentrate on the battle wounds. Fasher went among the burned and gave them sips of water as they died.”
“And what happened to you?” Jack asked Quist.
“I wandered around waiting for my power to return, but it never did. I was doing odd jobs until I met you in Bartonsee.”
“You have worked with Helen and Tanner since then?”
Quist blushed. “No. I hadn’t seen them until the day you and I met.”
Jack was still curious. “What kind of odd jobs?”
Quist shook his head. “It is not for you to know,” he said.
“The wizard is right,” Helen said. “It is better that you don’t know.”
Jack sat back. “Well, that is more than I knew before I sat down. So we all have armor. I can’t stop any kind of fire-induced by wizard enemies.”
Quist nodded. “I will teach you that tonight, but it takes a lot of practice to be able to deflect true wizard fire. We have some protection from wizard bolts, and you can throw them. Let us hope it doesn’t get to that.”
“I can agree with that,” Jack said. “What about a plan?”
“I thought Helen and Quist might do some scouting. We need to know what Simara looks like. Neither of them knows what Henry Oppen looks like, either, if he is even with her. We will check out the surrounding houses. If it is an inn, then I will check out the inn. Then when we are ready to attack, we will don our armor and proceed to reclaim the orb.”
“What if the patriarch shows up?”
“Then, I don’t know. We know he can launch wizard bolts, and will have to assume he can throw fire since he demonstrated a version of that when he buried his assistants at sea. I’m not sure if he will try to kill or just subdue,” Tanner said. “We have to be prepared to fight our way in and fight our way out.”
Jack looked at the seeker orb. The blue face pointed to the east. “I wish this told me how close it was.”
“Be thankful it does what it does,” Quist said.
Their dinners came, so they ate without much discussion.
“Come to my room,” Quist said, “and bring that book of yours. You wanted me to translate?”
“Something like that,” Jack said.
He retrieved the book and brought his wand to Quist’s room.
“First let’s see the book.”
Jack handed it over. “Can you read it without getting the words muddled in your mind? I think there might be a Second Manipulation spell stopping me from understanding it.”
“Hold my arm,” Quist said. “I need a helper’s help.” The wizard thumbed through the pages in the front and in the back. “That is interesting. It gets worse as you proceed in each manipulation. You can learn the basics, but when you get to the parts where you can do damage to yourself, even I can’t concentrate. If you hadn’t warned me, I would have thought the words are confusing me, but it really is a spell.”
“So how will I learn to protect us from fire?”
Quist smiled. “I might have lost my power, but I didn’t lose my mind. I can teach you that without a book. A stronger and more knowledgeable wizard will have to help you unlock the words.”
“Or it keeps secrets from getting out,” Jack said.
“Both, if we want to be realistic. I’ve seen similar books, but I never owned one. That is why I grabbed it when we had to quickly take some additional knowledge with us. It is dangerous to learn everything at once, even if you could perform the spells. It takes years of practice to control spells, you know.”
Jack nodded, more than a bit d
isappointed. He had visions of returning to Raker Falls as a powerful wizard, but that wouldn’t be the case. At least he would learn a few tricks to upstage whatever progress Penny Ephram had made.
“How do I protect us from fire?”
“With an object of power. I tried to do it on my own, and look where I am.”
“In Rugiz. You are a world traveler,” Jack said. “And all because of me.” He grinned.
“Well, that is the case, but…never mind.” Quist cleared his throat. “Fire repelling isn’t a deep secret.” He flipped through the First Manipulation section of the little book. “It is here under Reverse Styles.”
“What does that mean?”
“It is a relatively simple instruction on how to reverse a spell. In this book, spells seem to be referred to as styles, and in this case, it is fire.”
“So I could have found out all along?” Jack said a little miffed that Quist was making the fire repulsion spell more mysterious than it should have been.
“You didn’t know what it was called, did you?”
“Of course not. That is why I…” Jack frowned. “I’m sorry. I don’t know the terms and that book doesn’t define them.”
“Right,” Quist said. “It assumes the wizard knows the definitions.”
Jack nodded. “Now what spell word do I have to say to repel fire?”
“It isn’t as easy as that,” Quist said, “but that is part of it. You need to feel your power, project the protection, and use the right spell word, which is the least important.”
“Teleportation was easy,” Jack said. “I thought where I wanted to move and said the magic word, and then it happened.”
“With any word?”
Jack shook his head. “I used the same word that I used in Dorkansee, ‘shift,’ and it worked when I moved to the other side of the Soffez gate. Why won’t this be just the same?”
“Because you are manipulating magic outside yourself. The farther you extend your magic, the more power you use, at least in the first three manipulations.”
“So I start small and then work my way up? I don’t think we have time for that.”
“No we don’t,” Quist said. “I used the word ‘quench,’ so you might want to start with that.”
“How will we test it?”
“A candle will work as well as anything else. Think of a shield in front of your body that stops flame. Don’t think of a breastplate or the flame will get too close.” Quist lifted the candlestick. “Do it.”
Jack knew how to gather power. He thought of a shield in front of his body. “Quench,” he said with some force.
Quist moved the candle forward, and it snuffed out about six inches from Jack’s body.
“It worked!” Jack said.
“You said starting small, and that was small. Fasher and I spread protection one-hundred yards in each direction and about eight feet high.”
Jack looked at Quist, slack-jawed. “How did you do that?”
“Fasher did most of it, carrying an object of power. He never showed it to me, but then when my power burned out, I didn’t want to see a wizard again.”
“We can’t experiment in this room,” Jack said.
“Then to the stable yard we go,” Quist said, taking the candlestick and a tinderbox with him.
Jack stood in front of the stalls.
“Now imagine protecting the stables behind you,” Quist said.
Jack turned his head and guessed the stable was thirty paces wide and eight feet high. He looked at the structure long enough to get a feel for the dimensions of the front. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes to visualize the stables, and gathered his power. “Quench!” he said holding out his arms to mentally keep the protection going.
Quist tested the flame barrier, and while Jack didn’t cover the whole width, he covered enough to protect his friends and their horses.
“Drop it and tell me how you feel.”
“I don’t feel burned out,” Jack said, but his legs became rubbery, and he fell to the dirt when he took a step. “But I am weaker, definitely weaker. This was much more taxing than the personal shield.”
“It should have been, Jack. Can you duplicate that tomorrow if need be?” Quist asked.
Jack nodded. “But I don’t know how effective it will be.”
“Let’s hope we won’t have to find out.”
~
Heros and Jack rode up front. Jack looked at the cube and Heros helped navigate the twisting streets of Rugiz. Jack looked at the cube when they turned into a street. The blue side pointed straight ahead until they passed a house and then the blue color pointed to the left and then behind them the farther down the street.
“Do you remember where the cube turned?” Jack said to Heros.
“I do. We can walk past the house to confirm.”
Quist gave Jack his knit hat. “Wear this walking one way and take it off when you return.”
Jack laughed. “Isn’t that going to look ludicrous?” he said.
The wizard shrugged. “It is a suggestion.”
Jack snatched it from Quist’s hand and jammed the thing on his head, covering his light hair. Heros and he walked past the house, with Jack looking at the cube. Once he verified the house, they returned. Jack and Tanner donned armor.
“This isn’t your fight Heros,” Tanner said.
The Soffez leader laughed. “Who said I was joining you? I’ve done my part and wish you well. Should you need any assistance from a Soffez family, show them this token.” He gave Jack and Tanner each a little gold piece with a wagon pressed on one side and the image of a family on the other.
Jack put it in his shirt pocket and shook the leader’s hand. “Thank you.”
“Our debt is paid, is it not?” Heros smiled. “But we will remain, friends,” he said.
“We will,” Tanner said. “Farewell.”
“Don’t worry about me; worry about yourselves. If you end up chasing the wizards, I will know and send along a family member to help,” the man said as he mounted and rode off.
Quist watched him go. “I thought he might be the one to watch the horses,” he said, wistfully.
Tanner and Jack walked to the end of the block and down the alley. Similar to Corand, the stables were on one side of the alley and the houses on the other. Jack watched the cube as they approached the house. The blue edge moved to point directly to the house from the back. There was no mistake. The orb was inside.
“I hope Helen does what she needs to,” Tanner said. “She knows all about wizards, but we don’t know—”
Jack held his wand in one hand and his sword in the other when he invoked the shield spell for them. “The door is opening!”
The patriarch’s stern gaze met them. He lifted his wand and shot a bolt at Jack. The bolt bent down and splashed against the sword, surprising Jack. He stood fast while Aramore Gant prepared a wash of fire. Jack’s shield held firm, even though the foliage began to burn.
The patriarch’s face was lit with anger. “You fools! Stay out of my way.”
“Not while I still have breath,” Tanner said, standing across from the garden between the house and alleyway.
“I can arrange for that to stop,” Gant said.
Jack felt his head throb in tune with the vibrating of his sword. Tanner put his hand to his head and dropped to the ground. The patriarch slammed the door shut. Jack heard the click of a latch. He wanted to run into the house and confront the churchman, but Tanner gasped for breath at his feet. He couldn’t abandon him.
Panic nearly succeeded in frazzling Jack, but he knelt down and put his hand on Tanner’s neck and tried to infuse gentle warmth and an image of relaxation. “Breathe,” Jack said softly.
He felt a trickle of power leave him, and at the same time Tanner’s breathing evened out, but he relaxed too much and fell into a deep sleep. It was all about control, Jack thought. He looked up at the house. Nothing was happening, and that concerned Jack. He took another look a
t the cube and sighed. The blue edge pointed the way they had first passed the house, away from Quist. The orb was on the move again, and he feared the chase had begun anew.
Tanner sat upright. “Helen!” was the first word he spoke. “What happened?”
“I don’t know yet. The patriarch beat us to Simara Khotes and has taken off with the orb.”
Jack helped his friend to his feet. “I thought I was going to die. Gant’s magic had closed my throat. Why weren’t you affected?”
Jack looked at his magic sword. “This stopped a wizard bolt, maybe a fire spell, and whatever the patriarch did to you. We need to get to Quist.”
Tanner looked like he was ready to murder someone and shoved Jack aside as he marched to the back door of the house and kicked it in. No one was in the kitchen, but there was a body on the sitting room floor.
“That must be Henry Oppen,” Tanner said. “No Helen.”
“And no Simara,” Jack said. “The patriarch must have taken them.”
Tanner quickly ran through the house. “There are women’s clothes in one room and men’s in the other. They were living in this house waiting for someone.”
“A Black Finger wizard?” Jack asked.
“I’m not so sure, now. What if Gant has joined the Black Finger Society?”
“I got the impression he was on his own,” Jack said.
Tanner nodded. “All we can do is follow your orb seeker.”
“After we get our horses,” Jack said.
They opened the unlocked door to the house and found Quist sitting on the curb of the gutter with a small jug in his hand. He stood up, blushing, and set the jug down. “Do you have it?”
“No,” Tanner said. “And Aramore Gant has Simara Khotes and Helen.”
“How?”
“We will tell you once we are on our way. First, we need to find a guard and notify him of the murder and abduction. I don’t want Rugiz authorities trying to arrest us for a murder we didn’t commit.”
They spotted a guard two blocks away.
“There has been a kidnapping and a murder,” Tanner said.
“Where?” the guard said, grabbing his sword.
“This way. You can use our kidnapped associate’s horse.”
