by Guy Antibes
Chapter Twenty-Seven
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J ack Winder opened his eyes and looked up at the stars shining through the trees. If this was heaven, why did his body ache at every joint and in every muscle? He tried to turn his head, but couldn’t. He had no strength. The wind rustling the leaves of the trees above him seemed so lifelike. He had always wondered what it was like to be in Alderach’s bosom. He had expected it to be so different. This seemed too mundane, plus his body really hurt. He took a deep shuddering breath, and everything went black again.
~
Light punished Jack’s eyes as he woke up. He sensed that time had passed. The sun was low in the sky, but he couldn’t tell if it was rising or setting. Was there a sun in heaven? His body felt better. He tried to move, and he found he had enough energy to sit up.
His possessions were all close, so he crawled on his hands and knees. Everything that he had on him when he died came with him to whatever realm of Alderach he was in. He sat and looked through the trees at a familiar sight. He hadn’t graduated to Alderach’s bosom, after all. He gazed, not believing his own eyes, at the temple tower that looked so prosaic as it rose over his village, Raker Falls.
Jack was giddy with excitement. He made it home. He actually returned to Corand and seemed to be alive, although he still didn’t feel fully alive since his body felt like it had tumbled over the falls and pounded into the rocks below.
He staggered through the village toward Fasher Tempest’s house. Jack smiled at the surprise he would see on his master’s face and the astonishment on Penny’s. He grasped the latch and twisted. The door was locked! He rummaged around at the usual hiding places but didn’t find a key.
Jack sat on the stoop, looking out at the village. It felt so good to be home, but frustration consumed him. He struggled to his feet and made his way home.
“Mother?” Jack called.
“Oh, you have finally returned, but aren’t you a few days late? Weren’t you supposed to be gone for less than two months?” she said from the kitchen.
“Yes, but I’m back,” Jack said, walking to her. It felt wonderful to talk to anyone. “Are you feeling fine?”
She waved his comment away. “I haven’t had another episode. The healer thought I wasn’t eating enough, easy enough to remedy.” She wrinkled her nose. “You are back, but you stink. Take a bath, change your clothes, and then I’ll feed you something.”
Jack accepted the large ewer of steaming hot water and poured it into the family tub. He pumped enough water to cool the near-boiling water and took off his clothes. They were filthy, but most of the dirt came from lying for hours in the little clearing in the woods surrounding the hilly side of Raker Falls.
The anxiety that had been his constant companion since they first set off in pursuit of the patriarch in Rugiz finally soaked away. He toweled himself dry and pulled out the sack he had worn around his neck when he teleported.
Jack sat down and shook his head. He couldn’t have been luckier. He pulled out the orb. It looked pristine in the light streaming from the tall window in the bath room attached to their house. Somehow it had lost its tingly feeling that he associated with objects of power. He wiped it clean using the damp towel, and thought of Amara’s last tragic minutes. She didn’t deserve to die, and he continued to hope that Grigar, Tanner, and Helen managed to escape. He wouldn’t know until someone showed up in Raker Falls or sent a note to Fasher.
Next came the bowl. Jack made an inarticulate sound when his hand touched a single finger bone still sticking to the underside of Takia’s Cup. He quickly tore it off and stuffed both objects of power back in the sack. He wouldn’t pull that out again until he spoke to Fasher.
His mother had folded clean clothes next to the door, so Jack dressed in clean clothing. He looked at the dirty things piled in the corner of the room and smiled when his mother would wonder where he bought such strange clothes. He didn’t think anyone knew he had gone to Lajia.
Jack walked into the kitchen and ate buttered bread and cold meat, but it had never tasted so good. He pinched himself to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. So far, his experience seemed absolutely real.
“Did you have fun on your trip to Dorkansee?” she said as she peeled vegetables with her back to him.
Jack smiled. “It was more of an adventure than fun.” He shot to his feet when he noticed Fasher Tempest walking past toward his house. He sat down again when Penny Ephram came into view. He wouldn’t run to his master like a puppy in that person’s presence.
After finishing his meal he returned to his room, and feeling much better than when he entered the house, he buckled on his swords and the wand and pulled the cord of the sack over his neck. He looked at the cuirass and his helmet sitting on his bed and decided to leave them.
Jack couldn’t help but grin as he strolled down the main street of Raker Falls. He passed the Alderachean priest.
“You are back from your travels. Did you find your errand interesting?”
Jack frowned. “Does everyone know where I went?”
The priest raised his eyebrows. “Probably. The Ephram girl didn’t keep it secret. She prophesized you would fail. Did you meet your deadline?”
“Late by two days,” Jack said.
The man looked over Jack’s body. “But it appeared you picked up an armory along the way.”
“One of the swords is Wizard Tempest’s. The other is mine. I did get a chance to visit the cathedrals in Bartonsee and the capital. I was very impressed.”
The priest’s eyes lit up. “Oh, very good. I’ve only been to Dorkansee cathedral once. I must be off.”
Jack turned to watch him go the other way. He wondered what the man would say if Jack described the demise of his patriarch. A client walked out of Fasher’s house, so the wizard must be in.
Filled with anticipation of astonishing Fasher, Jack confidently walked into Fasher’s office.
“I have returned,” Jack said.
Fasher looked up, as unconcerned about his arrival as his mother.
“You are late,” the wizard said without emotion.
Jack could hear Penny chuckling behind him. She was probably ecstatic for the past two days.
“I was unavoidably detained, but I returned to Raker Falls as soon as I retrieved the orb.”
“But it was stolen when Derr Mason was killed,” Fasher said, looking a little less calm.
“Tanner, Helen, and I traveled to Lajia following the thieves. They were members of the Black Finger Society.”
Fasher sat back and laughed. “So, I supposed you lost the Serpent’s Orb on your way here?”
Jack frowned. Fasher didn’t believe him, and he made it official by folding his arms. Jack had experienced enough of that in his time. He pulled out the orb and rolled it across the table.
Fasher sat up and retrieved it before it dropped to the floor.
“This is it,” he said.
Jack kept the wizardry manual and Takia’s Cup in the sack.
“Now prove that you fought a Black Finger for it.”
Jack couldn’t believe Fasher still didn’t believe him. He rummaged around in the sack for the grisly artifact. “Here is a black finger. I won’t tell you whose it is, but if Tanner Simple ever shows up, he can tell you.” He tossed the finger bone of Aramore Gant on Fasher’s desk. “I have quite a story, and when you are ready to believe me, I will happily tell you.”
Fasher narrowed his eyes. “You seek to make terms with me?”
Jack took off the magic sword and laid it on Fasher’s desk. “Thank you for the use of this. It saved my life.”
Fasher sat up straighter.
Jack took off the wand.
“Thank you for the use of this wand, it also saved my life. I learned on my errand what a wizard’s helper really is. In Lajia, a helper is called a Takia’s font.”
Fasher chewed on his lip. “All well and good. Does this mean you are quitting?”
Jack shook his head. “I
learned enough about my power that I don’t want to learn it on my own. I was lucky I wasn’t killed.”
“Lucky is right,” Fasher said, holding onto the orb and tapping his finger on his desk. “Whenever Tanner shows up, I’m sure he will fill me in. What I would really like to know is how my orb lost a lifetime of stored power.”
“It is part of my story,” Jack said. “Are you willing to listen?”
Fasher looked at Penny. “Shut the door.”
“I’ll be willing to listen when the orb is working again. I assume you learned a lot of forbidden things during your errand?”
This wasn’t going at all like Jack had envisioned.
“I imbued my sword with an anti-coercion spell and the wizard bolt spell.”
Fasher folded his arms again. “Forbidden and forbidden. I am your master. You are to learn from me. Why did you think I sent two mercenaries to protect you? They knew no magic so you wouldn’t be tempted to do something foolish.”
Jack didn’t know what to say. Any more explanations would involve his story, and he would be cursed if he would give up his adventures to an unwilling listener. How could Fasher not be impressed that he made a sword into an object of power and that he had used up all the stored magic in the orb teleporting back to Raker Falls?
“The orb, catch it!” Fasher tossed the object of power to Jack, who juggled it before he plopped it back into the sack. “I don’t want to know what else you have in there. Don’t think to surprise me. Remove the sack and find a way to put the orb around your neck, so it is in constant contact. I suppose I’ll be ready to entertain your story in five years or so when you have restored the orb. If you aren’t going to quit, get that white tabard on and make some sense out of the mess Penny has made of our accounts.”
Jack went to his desk, the white tabard on his shoulders again. This time he was certain it was a punishment. He gawked at the scribblings Penny had made on all the paperwork that Jack had in order before he left on his errand.
Penny sauntered in and put another stack of papers on his desk.
“I’m glad my uncle put you in your place. You are only a wizard’s helper, after all.”
Jack shook his head and laughed even though it hurt. She had no clue what a wizard’s helper really was or what he had learned. He would find a way to tell Fasher of his grand adventure before his five-year sentence was up. When that time would come was anybody’s guess.
The End
Character List
The Serpent’s Orb
Jack Winder – Our hero and the wizard’s helper
Penneta Ephram – A girl in Jack’s village
Fasher Tempest – The village wizard
Tanner Simple – A wandering mercenary
Helen Rafter – A wandering mercenary
Ozzie Quist – A burnt-out wizard
Aramore Gant – Patriarch of the church of Alderach
Derr Mason – Wizard in possession of the Serpent’s Orb
Simara Khotes – Lajian wizardess in Dorkansee
Henry Oppen – Simara’s companion
Heros Soffez – A leader among the Soffez Family
Igar Khotes – Simara’s father
Grigar Soffez – Wizard relative of Heros
Amara Soffez – Wizardess
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