by Guy Antibes
Jack put his hand to his face. Tanner wasn’t serious about them accompanying the guard to the scene of a crime, was he? He had been accused enough times of naivete in Raker Falls. He sighed. It was a mistake. It was a big mistake.
The guard looked through the house. “Do you know how the man was killed?” the guard asked.
“A wizard bolt, most likely,” Jack said. He turned the man over, and there was the burn hole in the man’s chest. Jack looked at Tanner. “The same place as Derr Mason,” he said.
“Well that may change things a little,” the mercenary said.
“Who is Derr Mason?” the guard asked, just as another stepped into the room.
“He was killed by the same method in Dorkansee a few weeks ago,” Jack said. “The person who did it has just taken the woman whose horse you rode here.”
“So there were two women abducted?” the new guard said.
Tanner nodded. “We need to give chase.”
“And where do you think the carriage has gone?” the guard said. Jack could see he didn’t really believe Tanner.
“I have a charm,” Jack said. “See?” The blue edge was heading west, likely out of the city.
“So you are a wizard?” one of the guards said.
“I help a wizard,” Jack said.
“You could have killed the dead man?”
“I wouldn’t have killed him, no,” Jack said.
“I think you two need to come with us.”
Tanner looked wildly until two more guards walked through the door.
“Of course,” Tanner said, giving the men a little bow.
Chapter Eighteen
~
Q uist, Tanner, and Jack sat in a holding cell. They had given up their weapons voluntarily, yet the guards still looked at them with side glances as they walked past.
“We could have fought them off,” Quist said.
“We could have ridden out of town if we kept our mouths shut,” Jack said. “Even I know that.”
Tanner grunted. “Hindsight is the best sight,” he said.
Jack shook his head. “I think you are looking at it from the wrong angle,” he said. “We should have just moved on.”
Quist chuckled. “Now, boys,” he said. “We haven’t been charged with anything, and no one can link us with the scene. Plenty of people passed that house.”
“Right,” Jack said. “Plenty of people saw us come out the front door and confer with you before we rode off. I think we are doomed.” He put his hand to his forehead. “Doomed.”
“We will talk to the youth first,” an officer said. “Up,” he consulted with a parchment, “Jack Winder.”
Jack sighed and stood while a guard unlocked the cell door. He followed the officer back the way they had come and was shown into a windowless room.
“Sit,” the officer said.
Jack had to concentrate on not talking back like he usually did back home. It had been a while since he was last questioned.
“What happened at the house? Who was murdered, and why did you do it?” the officer accused.
Jack took a breath. “I didn’t do anything,” Jack said.
“But you are the wizard of the bunch.”
Jack wasn’t about to say a word about Quist under the circumstances.
“We believe that the man killed was Henry Oppen, a confederate of the woman who was abducted. Her name is Simara Khotes, a Lajian who was living in Dorkansee. Henry and Simara took an object of power that another murdered man, Derr Mason, was holding for my master, a wizard named Fasher Tempest. The four of us sailed here from Dorkansee to retrieve the object, but another wizard by the name of Aramore Gant beat us to her house in Rugiz and killed Henry. He also abducted a female member of our group, Helen Rafter, as well as Simara. The guard, who we contacted voluntarily, will verify we found him, just the three of us with a packhorse and Helen’s mount.”
“Why did you break into the house, then?”
“We thought our companion was in there, and she was. We feared she might have been killed by Gant.” Jack shook his head. “I don’t know how they were taken from the house. We found Henry dead and ran around the house to see if Helen was dead somewhere, but she wasn’t. Quist, who was watching our horses, was more interested in a jug of wine and must have missed the carriage that took the three away. Didn’t someone see the carriage?”
“I’m doing the asking,” the officer said. “But there was a carriage, and people got into it, but no one saw anyone carrying two women inside.”
Jack shrugged. “All I can say is that Helen is missing, and we didn’t kill Henry Oppen. If we were with the carriage, why would we have returned to the house?”
“And that has us all confused, too,” the officer admitted. “You have a wand that shoots bolts, don’t you?”
“You have my wand,” Jack said. “But it is mine, and I know how to shoot bolts. That doesn’t make me the killer when just about everyone involved is a wizard or has worked for one.”
The officer took a key chain from his pocket and began to twirl it as he thought. Jack caught the glint of the same kind of coin that Heros had given him. He reached into his pocket, under the officer’s watchful eye, and pulled it out.
“We have been to the city of the Soffez,” Jack said holding out his coin.
“Where did you get that?”
“From a friend named Heros.”
The officer took it and examined it closely. “It is genuine.”
“The mercenary in the cell has one, too,” Jack said.
“When were you last in our city?”
“We left three days ago,” Jack said. “We traveled with Heros to Rugiz and said our farewells this morning.”
He tossed the coin back to Jack and stood up. “Rarely do I see one of those in the hands of a foreigner, but I am forced to believe you. What can I do to help?”
“Just let us go. The carriage carrying our friend is certainly out of the city by now, and we must chase it.”
“How can you do that? You’ve been in our custody for a few hours already.”
Jack took out the seeker cube. “This is tuned to the object of power,” Jack said. “It is heading west, at present. This is how we found the two wizards.”
“Then how did the other wizard find them?”
“He probably traced her travels. We took a less-traveled route through the swamp,” Jack tossed the coin, “so Gant leaped ahead of us.”
“Then I will grant your release. The man’s name is Aramore Gant. Can I have a description?”
Jack gave the officer the information. “He also may go by his title. He was a priest of Alderach. In fact, he held the high office of patriarch.”
“You travel in high company. The Alderachean patriarch did stay in Rugiz for the last three days. He left today, another possible point in your favor. Find him, and if you can, bring him back here.”
“I can’t promise anything. I think he is more powerful than any of us, but if we aren’t killed, we will try.”
“I can’t ask for more. The authority to use the forces of Rugiz doesn’t reach very far past the city.”
~
Jack, Tanner, and Quist headed westward, but as they entered the farmlands that surrounded Rugiz, the blue indicator began to drift north.
“They have turned,” Jack said. “What does the map show?”
Tanner unfurled it as they took the opportunity to rest the horses. “This is the western end of the swamp,” he said. “Then there is the Notiz Road that parallels the one we took to the south.”
Jack looked down. The western road veered further west skirting the river that served as a border with the next country over until a mountain range dipped down from the north.
“Could he be heading back to Lajia?” Quist shrugged. “What do you think he will do with two captive women?”
“Assuming they are both captives,” Jack said. “We don’t know anything. Perhaps he is heading toward the mountains?”
“Or he
could take the river down to the sea. There is another port when the river ends in another country,” Tanner said, snorting. “All we can do is follow the orb and try to catch up.”
“Carriage horses need to rest, too, so we just have to keep at it,” Jack said.
“Then let’s mount.”
The three of them continued and found the northbound road. The cube told them they were at the bottom end of the road with the cube almost directly ahead of them. The Notiz Road was uneven but wide, and Jack thought that gave them an advantage trying to catch the patriarch since the carriage couldn’t move very fast through some of the stretches.
They arrived during the night in a village just before the road curved eastward a bit.
“Did a northbound carriage stop here in the past day?”
The tavern owner nodded. “Maybe midday. Everyone looked very tired. I tried to talk them into spending the night, but…” the man shrugged his shoulders. “I missed an opportunity to make some unexpected money.”
“We are following them, so we will have a meal and then move on. Another missed opportunity,” Quist said. He looked at Jack and Tanner. “We aren’t moving on, are we?”
“We are,” Tanner said. He turned to the tavern owner. “Could you have someone feed and water our horses?”
“I will.”
The food was spicier than suited them, but it was food. Tanner had to stop Quist from drinking more wine than was good for a night ride. The mercenary gave the tavern owner a generous tip, and they rode into the night.
Jack knew that they all thought the patriarch would have to stop at the next village for the night. So they moved forward. There was another rough stretch of road, so they had to slow down, but sometime after midnight, they reached the next village. A carriage was in the stable yard at one of the inns.
“We caught them!” Jack said, looking at the pointer on the cube’s face change as he walked around the inn.
“That we did,” Quist said, “but capturing them is another thing entirely.”
They stood in the stable yard talking about what to do next, when a group villagers barred their way. Jack sighed as his eyes spotted all the men in the all-too-familiar green. This was the village that attacked the Soffez family.
~
“Can’t I teleport my hands from these manacles?” Jack asked, but his companions were asleep despite their current surroundings.
They were secure inside a covered cart bouncing along a rough road. The village didn’t have a jail, but it did have a farm where criminals were put to work. It was still dark when they were quickly tried and found guilty of attempted murder. Jack had protested that no one had died, but that didn’t matter to their enemies. Now that they were facing two years at the farm, Jack held out little hope of showing up at Fasher Tempest’s house within his allotted two months.
All of Jack’s possessions were back at the inn, waiting for the patriarch to sniff them out and take them with him, even his wizardry manual. He closed his eyes too.
“Out!” a voice called, waking Jack up. Someone prodded them with a long stick. “Out. You will have to get to work at sunrise.”
Jack blinked hard. His hands and feet were still manacled, and the three of them shuffled to a bunkhouse. There were four others in a room built for far more. He shuffled to the far end of the room, followed by his two companions.
“Have you got any ideas?” Quist asked Tanner.
“Not until morning. I don’t even know where the village is from here,” the mercenary said.
“And we will have to retrieve our bags.” Jack sighed. “I have things to return to Fasher; of course, the number one thing is myself.”
“I will agree,” Tanner said. “Go to sleep. The patriarch will be far away by the time we return to the village, but I assure you, it won’t be two years from now.”
The three of them rested. Quist’s snoring threatened to bring the barracks down, but Jack eventually succeeded in falling asleep again.
“Out!” a guard said.
Didn’t these people have a more novel way of waking people up, Jack thought? He sat up first and then shuffled to the front of the building. Tanner followed him, but Quist wasn’t up yet. The guard rapped him hard on the feet, and that woke the wizard up. He hobbled quickly to catch up.
The three other prisoners were already eating at outside tables beneath a raggedy cloth-covered awning.
“Bread and milk,” one of the guards said.
Jack had eaten both in his life, so he grabbed stale bread and milk that wasn’t quite as fresh as it could have been. He ate as much as the guards would let him. Tanner followed his lead, but Quist picked his way through the bread and dipped it in the milk. He ate little.
“You are looking to lose weight?” Tanner said.
“Now seems like an opportune time,” Quist said sarcastically.
“Quiet, prisoners. We will weed today.”
“Just like we always do,” one of the other prisoners said.
“At least we aren’t building a rock wall,” the other prisoner said.
“There is that.”
They walked across four fields to one that was half weeded, from what Jack could tell. He wasn’t much of a farmer and had tried to stay away from agricultural duties at Raker Falls, but he had weeded his mother’s garden enough times. He didn’t like it then, and he didn’t look forward to doing the same for the foreseeable future.
The guards lined them along six rows, gave them large loosely woven sacks and told them to get to work. Jack pulled the first weed, but the stalk broke off. He looked at the weed and found it had been broken off before it grew out.
They would be back at this field in a few weeks to pull the weeds all over again. Jack tried to move the dirt with his mind, but he wasn’t able to move the soil. Quist looked over at him.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m trying to shake the dirt, so the whole weed comes out. That is the way I did it in my mother’s garden,” Jack said. He tried not to get down. Getting caught in the village was a huge surprise, but Jack still had an errand to finish, and like Tanner, he couldn’t let himself think he would be here for the whole time.
“You still need a trigger word. Without one, the magic can’t come out,” Quist said.
Jack nodded. “I’ll growl like the earth is shaking.”
Quist raised his eyebrows, still ripping weeds out of the hard ground. “Whatever works, I suppose.”
Jack closed his eyes and concentrated on the ground holding the weed in. He growled, and nothing happened. By the time he got to the end of the row, there was enough rumbling at his feet to shake the dirt loose.
“It’s working!” Jack said.
“Mind your strength,” Quist said.
“I will.”
By midday, Jack could feel his power beginning to fade. “I’ve done what I can.”
“Rest your power for the remainder of the day. It is how a wizard gains power,” Quist said. “This is a good exercise for your magic, Jack.”
“I don’t know why. We will be here for two years and then what? Fasher won’t take me back.”
“No, it won’t take two years. Not with a wizard among us. A month of this will help your strength. Most wizards don’t get a chance to constantly exercise their power.”
“Even a month is too long,” Tanner said. “No more than a week, and let’s hope that since the patriarch no longer needs the orb seeker that he left it behind.”
“How do we get out of here in less than a month? I have to teach Jack a bunch of wizardry.”
“No you don’t, you old toad. Two spells are all. How to unlock the manacles and how to put people to sleep.”
“You can do that?” Jack asked Quist.
The wizard shrugged. “It is a Second Manipulation.”
“So the patriarch used a Second?” Jack asked.
“No, he didn’t,” Tanner said. “No one saw anyone carried into the carriage, so that means he u
sed a Fourth Manipulation.”
“I thought that was for communications,” Jack said.
“Part of it is, but if a wizard is near another, the telepathic aspect can serve to make someone do what the wizard wants,” Tanner said.
“Coercion?”
Tanner nodded. “I learned a lot about wizardry when I worked for Fasher, but I don’t have any more power than anyone else— other than Quist, here.”
“How long will it take me to learn?” Jack said.
Quist didn’t look happy. “It isn’t good to push the boy. He could burn out or hurt himself,” he said to Tanner, but then he turned to Jack. “A week or two. You learn disgustingly quick.”
Quist refused to teach Jack for three more days. However, Jack continued to exercise his power each day. He didn’t know if it did any good, but now that Quist had finally told him that, he would find a way to do wizardry exercises each day.
“You need to know how manacles work,” Quist said. “The guards will get tired of watching us in a few minutes so we can talk about it as we weed for now.” Quist continued to go on about how they worked from the inside.
Jack already knew how to pick manacles, but he had never tried to use magic before. He couldn’t wait any longer to leave the prison. He had already spotted a nail coming loose on the outside of their barracks that he could use. He worked it out right after their evening bread and milk.
When the guards turned out the lights, he worked with the manacles until he found out how the Lajian version worked. It was easier than the ones the guards used in Raker Falls. While Quist snored away, Jack removed the wizard’s manacles and Tanner’s before removing his own. He was ready to leave the farm, despite the opportunity to exercise his magic.
Jack waited while he thought of how to overcome the guards, but then he thought, why not evade them instead? He walked to the back of the barracks and began moving nails out of the way. Before long he was able to wiggle three boards out of their place. He kept the nails and woke his friends up.
“Time to go,” Jack said as quietly as he could.
Quist nearly said something, but he turned it into a snore.
Tanner woke up and looked around before he realized his manacles were off.
