Behind the Tales

by Aurora Peppermint

  Before he did any of the shopping he needed to do, Martus headed for the pub downtown so he could get some food and also look over the map he’d been given. Hopefully Fitzy was a practical man and took more actual roads than paths through forests and mountains. There were quite a few problematic landscapes between Chetsville and Orbeautons. Maybe Fitzy was only a few days away and they would find him easily enough. But the entire trip to Orbeautons and back could take up to a month, maybe even a little longer if he hadn’t been smart about which route he took.

  By the time Martus was actually sitting down with a meat pie and some ale in front of him, he was already dreading opening the map. He knew he had to get this job moving, though.

  The map seemed at least a few years old, and it was messily drawn. Not something that had been bought and simply drawn on, then. Fitzy must have drawn the whole thing himself. Everything was meticulously labeled, at least, and Martus recognized more than a few of the town and river names. Fitzy had drawn his own path in red ink, and from what Martus could tell it looked like a pretty straight line from Chetsville to Orbeautons.

  There was a strange break in the straight line, right around the village of Bayasonne. Martus had heard about it once or twice, from some of his friends back home who traveled to Orbeautons once or twice a year to sell their goods. Everyone had told Martus that it was a tiny village, not somewhere that someone would take a deliberate detour to get to. It was at least a dozen miles out of Fitzy’s way, though, and then another half a dozen to get back on track once he left. Martus couldn’t be completely sure, since the distance wasn’t marked very consistently, but even on the paper, it was very removed from the other towns that were labeled along the line.

  Martus hummed a little to himself; he would have to ask around. Maybe Geraldine knew something about Bayasonne. Maybe it had some sort of significance to their family. There had to be a reason that Fitzy would stop there every time that he went to Orbeautons when it was so far out of his way.

  For the moment Martus folded the map back up, tucked it away, and went back to eating his breakfast. After walking into town and the scuffle with Abiday, however brief it had been, he was practically ravenous.

  ONCE MARTUS finished eating, he picked up the things he needed for his trip, including a proper map that stretched over the same distance so he would know how long he’d have to plan to be away, and then headed home. It was early in the afternoon, so he knew Hal and Elsaben would be awake by the time he got back, but he hadn’t been gone all that long considering everything he’d gotten done.

  “El? Hal? I’m home!” Martus waited before he stepped in the house, in case they were outside again today, but when neither of them responded he headed inside.

  “Martus, you’re back. If you’re working on finding the hero, I have some new information for you.” That was the last thing Martus had expected to hear from Hal, but he gave him his full attention nonetheless.

  “What is it, Hal?”

  “There was a man here.”

  “What?” Martus tensed up immediately, glancing over to Elsaben where she was reading at the table. She seemed to be all right, but Martus already wanted to relocate. “Who? Is everyone all right? Wait—what does this have to do with me trying to find Fitzy?”

  “It was a man who was here for you. He said he worked for the woman whose son you’re trying to find. Geraldine, right? He said he had something to give you, about the hero fellow.”

  Martus’s shoulders sagged, and he let out a huge sigh of relief. He hadn’t expected Geraldine to ever actually come and get him or send someone to, but he was glad it had been from her.

  “Oh, all right. That’s fine, then. They were supposed to know where we are, just in case they needed anything. Um, what did he drop off for me?” Martus slid into a chair, shrugging out of his coat and hanging it on the back of the chair.

  “It’s some sort of a book, a journal. It was her son’s, apparently. I don’t know how it’s supposed to help you find him, but it’s here if you want it.” Hal walked over to the bookcase and reached onto the top shelf and got a leather-bound book down. He dropped it onto the table in front of Martus before sitting down next to him. “How was your day? Did you figure anything out?”

  “I spoke to his sister, Mel. She’s a little scary, to be honest. But she gave me a map, and I picked up some things for the trip. I’ll have to write to someone back in town and see if they can watch Elsaben. How was your day? How’s the spell going?” Martus smiled gently, leaning his elbow on the table and balancing his chin on his palm.

  “It’s been… it’s been slow. I really just want to be able to handle myself. But I can see myself getting a little better at it.” Hal sighed but then perked up a little. “If you want to practice with me later, though, we can. It might help me concentrate if you’re there.”

  Martus smiled before leaning over the table to pat Elsaben’s book and get her attention.

  “Little one, do you mind staying in the house while Hal and I go do some work?” The garden wasn’t too far from the house, and Elsaben had been home alone before. If she wanted them to stay, though, Martus didn’t want to upset her. She hadn’t seen him all day, after all.

  “I’m working, so I guess it’s okay. Can we make dinner together, though?” Elsaben leaned forward, offering Martus a toothy smile.

  “Of course we can, sweetheart. If you need anything, just come out and get us, okay?” Martus leaned over to kiss the top of Elsaben’s head before standing up and grabbing his coat from the back of his chair. He smiled brightly, turning to face Hal. “Should we go, then?”

  Hal nodded, smiling himself as they headed out the door and toward the garden. Martus knew that Hal had been working on the spell, that he was always adding herbs to his food and drinking potions with his tea. He took a few hours every day to just sit outside and practice his concentration, but despite all that, Martus had never actually been there before. For a while Hal seemed to have been embarrassed about the fact that he had to learn a spell at all, and then Martus just didn’t want to be there distracting him. He was actually excited to help him out.

  “So what do we need to do here, Hal?” Martus sat down on the bench next to Hal, resting a hand gently on his shoulder.

  “Well, the spell’s mental, not verbal. So I have to sit here and recite it in my head until I feel like I can control the part of me that turns into a dragon.” Hal folded one of his legs under his knee and offered Martus a nervous smile before closing his eyes. “As for helping, I was thinking that it might just make me feel better to know that you’re here? Sometimes I worry about something happening. It hasn’t yet, but if you were here, you would be able to keep me from actually hurting anyone.”

  Martus didn’t know if he’d actually be able to do that, but he would do anything he could to help Hal. It was stressful for him too, knowing there was a chance someone would get hurt because of Hal. They’d just moved here, and Martus was doing all right with the locals so far, but Hal hadn’t ventured into town very often, and no one really even knew he was here. If they did, they just thought he was a human, if a rather odd one.

  While Hal’s brow furrowed in concentration and his hands clenched on his thighs, Martus simply sat quietly next to him. He watched him carefully, though, trying to imagine what could be going on in his head. Martus had learned spells, had even learned spells that were incredibly hard for him, but he’d never had to learn one that could change his life, and never one that would take so much concentration that he’d had to practice it for more than a week or so at a time.

  Martus was so focused on Hal’s face and trying to imagine what was happening in his mind that he was caught completely off guard when Hal reached over and caught his hand. After a second of realizing what was happening, however, Martus laced his fingers through Hal’s and smiled gently. It was nice to know he was helping and that he made Hal feel a little better.

  After a few moments of silence, Martus relaxed back on the
bench and looked out over the garden. It was really shaping up beautifully. He didn’t exactly have a green thumb, but Hal and Elsaben grew things a lot together when Martus had to go into town to work. The best thing about having their own garden was the food they grew. Martus spent a lot less money on food, which meant he had more to help with Elsaben’s books and to get her things she wanted.

  Martus was shocked out of his thoughts when Hal’s hand tightened around his. His face was all scrunched up, but his eyes were still closed. Martus guessed he was still working on the spell, but he kept a little bit of a closer eye on him to make sure nothing was wrong. When Hal came in from his practice, Martus knew he was often exhausted from it.

  All of a sudden, Hal ripped his hand away from Martus’s and pressed both of them over his temples. He was breathing harder than usual, and Martus hesitantly reached out a hand. He didn’t disturb him just yet—he didn’t want to interrupt what he was doing—but he was worried.

  Hal started shuddering then and fell off the bench and onto the ground. Martus immediately jumped up and knelt next to Hal, gripping his shoulder and shaking him gently. That didn’t seem to do any good, though, so rather than trying to pull Hal out of his spell, Martus conjured up magick of his own and replaced Hal’s hands with his own over his temples so he could push healing magick into his mind. Martus didn’t think Hal was sick, precisely, but it was the only thing he could think of to help him.

  Hal was still shuddering and his face was flushed, and no matter how much magick Martus pushed into his mind, he didn’t seem to be getting any better. Then all of a sudden, Hal just took a deep breath and sat straight up, giving Martus a strange look.

  “I think I did it!” Hal grinned in a way that was honestly rather unsettling for someone who seconds before had looked on the edge of death. Martus looked him over carefully before standing up and offering his friend a hand to get up himself.

  “Does that happen to you every time?” Martus frowned a little. It was good that Hal was learning to control when he changed, but if it was at too high a cost, Martus wasn’t sure it was really worth it. “Are you going to be okay?”

  “Do you mean how I fell? It just happens when I concentrate a lot on the spell, that’s all. The part of me that changes, I feel like it doesn’t really want me to stop it. So it makes me fall every once in a while, and I get a little shaken when I get back up, but I’m okay. Still, I’m making a lot of progress, like I told you.” Hal’s brows furrowed in confusion, and he tilted his head to the side a little. He grabbed Martus’s hand, and Martus helped pull the other boy up.

  “I’m worried about you, Hal. I know you have to do this. I know that your parents’ friend told you it was what you were supposed to do. But it really doesn’t seem very healthy.” Martus looked Hal over as subtly as possible.

  “I’m going to be fine, really. If it’ll make you feel better, when we go in the house you can use your magick to examine me and see if anything’s wrong. But I feel just fine. I’m a little tired, and I’m kind of hungry, but I am going to be all right, Martus, I promise.”

  Martus wanted to believe Hal, but he was so focused on making sure everyone else was safe and doing what he could to push down his changes that he might not even know if what was happening was unhealthy for him. Martus supposed that if he did use his magick to see if anything was wrong, then he would at least know.

  “Okay, come on, let’s go inside and I’ll see what’s wrong with you.” Hal shot Martus a skeptical look at that, and he quickly corrected himself. “If there is anything wrong with you, of course. You might be fine. It just seems a little odd that something that’s supposed to help you would make you have this kind of reaction.”

  Martus frowned, taking Hal’s hand again and tugging him back toward the house. There were a few spells he could use to see what was wrong with Hal, but most of them were only for physical conditions. If there was something mental going on, then there wasn’t much Martus would be able to do to tell what was happening. He shook his head a little bit. He would focus on what he actually could do for the moment and then see if he could do some research on mental spells later.

  “Elsaben, why don’t you go and put your book away while Hal and I talk about some things, hm?” Martus smiled when he stepped through the door, hoping Elsaben wouldn’t sense his tension.

  She pouted, but after a few seconds she hopped down from her chair and lifted her book from the table, going over to her little bedroom. When Martus turned back to him, Hal was already sitting down at the table.

  He sat down across from Hal and took a deep breath, holding his palms out in front of Hal and pushing his magick forward from his hands. He didn’t feel anything unusual, though, and as far as his magick knew, Hal seemed as healthy as anyone else. Martus glared a little, concentrating more to examine Hal for any sort of illness. Even after a few minutes of sitting in complete silence as Martus waited to see something happen, there was still absolutely nothing. Martus still had things to do that night, so he decided to give up, for right now anyway.

  “All right, I’m sorry for doubting you, my friend.” Though Martus still had his questions. “Let’s just get Elsaben and make dinner so I can start planning for this trip. I want to get it over with as soon as possible. There’s this… strange place, on the map. It’s way out of the way, and apparently Fitzy goes there every time he has to go to Orbeautons. But it’s just some pointless little village. It’s in the mountains, though, so I’m guessing that’s where he is, and I’m not very excited.” Martus hadn’t ever actually been to the mountains, but he knew they were horrible.

  “I think you’ll be fine.” Hal laughed a little, standing to go get Elsaben from her room so they could start on dinner. He paused and looked over his shoulder. “Besides, I’ll look over the map with you after dinner and see if there’s an easier way to get there. I haven’t actually ever been that close to Orbeautons, but I know a lot about the parts around it. Maps are sort of a passion of mine.”

  “Really?” Martus grinned. He never would have guessed that Hal liked maps of all things. Now that they were living together, Martus felt like he was learning new things about Hal every day.

  Anyway, he appreciated the help. He certainly didn’t know anything about any place besides Altonswood. “Thank you, Hal.”

  Chapter Three

  THE SUN was barely up when Martus started gathering his things a few days later. Everything was in order. Hal had done what he could to make the maps clearer for Martus, and he’d even spent a little bit of extra money on supplies. There had been too many stories of people going up into the mountains unprepared and never coming down again.

  “Who’s staying with El?”

  Oh. Everything wasn’t ready. Of course the second Martus was ready to leave, Hal would remind him he’d forgotten perhaps the most important thing.

  “Shit.” Martus ran his hands through his hair and flopped down into a chair, letting his forehead thump against the table. “Shit, shit, shit! I can’t put this off anymore. What am I going to do?” He slammed his hand down on the table as he sat up, looking hopelessly at Hal.

  “She could come with us. One of us can always wait with her. Or you can postpone the trip a few days.” Hal hesitated, pressing his palms to the table and leaning over. “Now that we’ve bought everything for the trip, though, we could use the pay once you get him back.”

  “I know, I know. I’ll feel like a terrible big brother if we take her along, but I don’t think it’ll be dangerous. For my money, Fitzy probably just got himself lost. But if he’s… kidnapped, or something, I don’t want to drag her into that. What should I do?”

  It was different now, and sometimes Martus was incredibly relieved to have someone else he trusted around when he had to make tough decisions like this. Especially about Elsaben. He wouldn’t just blindly do what Hal suggested, but he did know that he cared about Elsaben at least as much as Martus did. He wouldn’t recommend something that would put her in harm
’s way.

  “I think we should go, honestly. You’ve got the horses. You’ve got everything planned out and together. If we get into some dangerous situation, I promise I’ll take her far away and make sure she doesn’t get hurt. Fair?”

  It sounded, on paper, like it could be a good plan. But Martus simply couldn’t agree with it. He would rather inconvenience himself than put his sister in danger. Especially since it was due to his own foolishness that she didn’t have someone to look out for her.

  “I think we should take her home. See if she can stay with Alexander while we’re gone. It’ll add to the trip, but I think it’s worth it.” Martus looked up at Hal for reassurance. He would have to make the extra trip too.

  “If you think that’s best, we can do that. I know you just want her to be safe.” That was certainly the truth, and Martus was grateful Hal understood that.

  “I’ll go wake her up and we’ll get on the road. If we take a few shortcuts, it doesn’t have to be a long trip.” It had taken a whole day the last time, but Martus thought he knew a few paths that would take time off the journey.

  WAKING UP so early had not made Elsaben into a very happy traveler, but at least when they told her they were going to see Alexander she perked up a little bit and relaxed for the majority of the journey. Martus, on the other hand, spent most of his day trying not to worry about how much their time had been set off by his stupidity.

  It made the journey seem more drawn out, but they still arrived at Alexander’s house just past lunchtime. If they had Elsaben dropped off and got back on the road right away, they could get back to Chetsville just past sunset and, hopefully, only be less than a day behind schedule.

  After everyone climbed down from their horses, and with Elsaben perched on his hip, Martus knocked on Alexander’s door, hoping his friend would be home despite the fact that he hadn’t sent a letter or anything.