by Guy Antibes
~
The two Korvannan agents, one new and one not-so-new, rode into the forest five leagues north of the capital. Panix ended up bringing provisions on a floater for the both of them, not trusting Quill Vent’s dubious organizational talents.
Floaters often took the place of wagons on Dornna wherever there were magicians to keep them levitated. Panix’s floater had one large wheel hanging down on a hinged arm to keep the apparatus in line. With Panix ability to levitate, he could recharge the float on their return trip.
As they rode higher into the foothills, the wildflowers added color and scent to the air as the new leaves began to unfold. The pleasant weather held, but the air felt heavy as if it could cloud up and rain at a moment’s notice. Being so close to nature helped soothed Panix’s ruffled emotions.
“What are you going to teach me?” Panix said, as he rolled out his blankets for their one night out in the open. Tomorrow night would be spent in Quill’s cabin. At least Panix hoped he would be spending it inside. He had his doubts after his visit to Quill’s house in town.
“Mostly political stuff. You know some of it, but it’s probably been awhile since you studied Dornnan affairs.”
Panix didn’t tell his companion that he read every political, commercial and historical tract he could get his hands on and discussed them regularly with Harlan. “What about spy techniques and codes and secret inks? Do you have special martial arts skills?”
“Ah, no,” Quill dismissed the question with a wave. “I never got into that stuff. I’ve never used them in any of my assignments, just messaging coins, and what a wonderful invention that is. I can teach you something about codes and what we use to send messages. Are you still good with the magic?”
Groaning inside, Panix replied, “I use magic in my job as the Chief Development Magician at Baltac Metallurgical Works.”
“You work there? That’s the biggest one in Pent. I guess what I can teach you won’t take us too long. It’ll be a nice vacation out of that town anyway. I can use the two weeks off.”
As if you are doing anything in town or out here, thought Panix. His friend didn’t say much the rest of the evening. Panix ended up cooking the dinner. Quill had complained of a stomach ache, which miraculously disappeared when Panix served the food. And this guy represented Korvanna in Pent? Panix had second thoughts about the competency of the KII.
Although Panix didn’t need a fire because all he had to do was use a little magic to make the utensils hot, since he learned early on that heating up food directly didn’t do much for taste and texture. After the meal, Quill’s sensitive stomach reappeared and Panix washed up the dishes. No practical magic technique existed for dishes other than boiling water for washing and removing water from the washed surfaces, much to Panix’s continuing disappointment. He long ago tried to remove food from plates, but it took longer than washing them with a dishrag.
With the falling night, the temperatures dropped and both men turned in. Panix tried to get Quill engaged in a conversation about the KII, but his questions were soon answered with snoress. If the KII filled its ranks with agents like Quill Vent, then Panix might not want to join. Moshin seemed to be more of the exception that the rule in the KII.
~
Surprisingly, the cabin looked in much better shape than Quill’s house. The outside walls were made of local rock stacked just right, similar to Panix’s own larger house close to the Gerellian border. Panix could sense some magic in the mortar keeping the rocks in place and making the joints waterproof. “This must have cost you a bit. You knew magicians worked up here to set the stones, didn’t you? The carpenter who made the eaves did a marvelous job. This is very nice.”
Quill wasn’t exactly forthcoming with any details. “I got a great deal on this.”
Inside, the cabin didn’t show a speck of dust and everything appeared new and orderly. Even the clothes Quill stored in the cabin were hung up in a wardrobe. All of the windows consisted of small panes and Panix could tell magicians did the glazing as well. Quill’s family had plenty of money, but it startled him that they’d let their son spend it on this expensive hideaway.
“Quite a place. It reminds me of my house by the Gerellian border.” The memory of Merra and him walking though his own house caught at Panix. Could he ever escape the ashes of his marriage? He put down his bags and went out for the boxes of provisions. Quill merely sat down and sighed.
A roofed lean-to opened up to a little corral in the back for their two horses. It looked like Quill or, more likely someone he hired, had filled the stalls with hay. Panix lifted the full grain bin and put a couple of measures in each feedbag, giving the horses a treat.
After he brought everything in, Panix had to put it all away. With that done, Panix rubbed his hands. “So what’s the program?”
“Program?” Quill played with a loose thread on the cuff of his shirt.
“Yes, my indoctrination. If you remember, I tried to get some perspective last night, but perhaps I framed my questions in an uninteresting way.”
“Oh, that. Yes. Well most of the Pent stuff you already know. Pent is ruled by Marquessa Ronna and is helped along the way in the usual fashion by a Council of Elders. There’s not much to Pent’s nobility. Her closest confidante is Foald Baltac, your boss. The foreign minister is my chief contact, Baston Blox. Quite a nice chap, actually. We get along really well and I’ve had many long conversations with Blox about Pent and Korvanna. He’s so interested he even takes notes. I find him a very nice man helping me buy this cabin.” Quill waved his arm around.
How could Quill be associated with Blox and not know about Merra? Could he be so dense or was hiding his knowledge to be polite? Panix decided on dense.
“There seem to be rumors of some unpleasantness starting up in the south.” Quill stopped abruptly, looking at a fingernail. He ripped the tip of the nail off with his teeth and spit it on the floor. “I’ve registered my concern with the Marquessa and that’s where Pent is.”
“Do you have any agents in the field? Any local contacts? How did you find out about the unpleasantness in the south?”
“No agents in the field. None are needed. Pent is peaceful and stable. Everybody’s happy. Baston told me about the south… just to let me know so I could slip something in my report to our superior, Corilla Westter, the wife of the Korvannan ambassador to Gerellia.”
Does Moshin or anybody else realize what kind of agent they had in Quill Vent? The thought deeply disturbed him and he was disappointed not only with Quill, but again wondered what kind of competence would permit KII management to give him his post. The man seemed to be quite content to just fill space. Panix realized he’d have to play along and grab what few nuggets Quill might inadvertently throw his way.
“How long have you been getting information out of the foreign minister?”
“Me get information from him? Oh. About a month after I arrived. He’s very interested in our intelligence service and has shared with me his feelings about Pent. I’ve actually been out with him. He has the most striking mistress…”
Panix had to get up from his chair and fled into the kitchen. Dense. Quill Vent couldn’t be more oblivious to his surroundings. If his sabbatical didn’t improve, Panix would return to Baltac’s in worse shape than when he left.
“Do you want anything to drink?” He couldn’t face Quill until he gulped down some wine in the privacy of the kitchen and centered himself.
“Some wine or ale. Either is fine.” Quill was quiet until Panix served him a cup of wine.
“What about Pent’s internal situation?” Panix sipped wine as Quill guzzled all of his down.
“Blox thinks it’s time there was a new ruler. He’s of noble blood, too, and the Marquessa has had her turn.”
“He told you that?”
“Ah, yes. Don’t worry, Corilla has been notified.” Quill smiled. “Corilla will relay the information to the Marquessa when the time is right, if she hasn’t already. I just
play at being myself and Baston thinks I’m in his pocket.” Information like that probably went both ways and both men likely inhabited each other’s pocket.
~
A large cardboard box lay open on Lorna’s bed. She stood at her full-length mirror, holding a ballroom gown to her. She pursed her lips, wondering if the golden color clashed with her brown hair. She put the gown over a chair and pulled back the drapes, letting more light into her large bedchamber.
Her father had just let her redecorate the room. She had the workmen take off all of the ornate molding and the plaster decorations on the ceilings were removed. She was going to live in a modern bedroom even if her father kept the rest of the house in the old-fashioned style.
She liked the fluted moldings rising from the floor and becoming lilies as they rounded the arched windows to her chambers. The furniture followed the same simple flowing shapes and clean lines.
Taking up the dress in the now-brighter room, she looked at the color and decided she would return the gown. She rarely went to balls anyway, but just having the gowns in her closet made her feel more feminine.
Her penchant for formal dress served as an escape of sorts from her normal attire. Her usual mode of dress, for some time, consisted of simple suits with coats cut similar to male fashion and long straight skirts. She gave herself a smile in the mirror as she pushed a stray lock of hair from her face. Few knew of her gown collection and she wanted to keep it that way.
A knock on the door interrupted her musings. “Your father can see you now,” a maid said.
“Tell him I’ll be right down.” She’d make him wait just the right amount of time.
Foald Baltac’s study door stood open so Lorna rapped on the doorframe and then peeked around the door.
Her father got up from the chair behind his large, messy desk. “Come in, Lorna. You wanted to talk to me before dinner?”
She walked in and sat down. “I’m going to ask you one last time. Now that Gavid is gone, why can’t I help run the factory until you’re ready to retire? I promise I’ll work side by side with Fennel until Panix Gavid returns. I know we can work together.” She saw her father frown, but she continued. “I can be nice to him. I’ve learned so much from Harlan Gennoc about production methods and how to work metal. I know I can do it father. I’ve taken the liberty to outline a practical training program to prepare me.”
She pulled a few pages of closely written script from within her coat and presented it to her father.
Foald turned red and took a deep breath. “I’m not going to discuss this with you again. Don’t you think we’ve been over this and over this?”
“But all I want is a chance to work in the factory. I want to be useful! My friends are content to live idle lives and gossip about the latest fashion or latest scandal. That’s not me. I want to do things and I want to learn at your side.” She’d made a mistake coming here. Anger played across her father’s face.
“I’ll tell you one last time and then there’ll be an end to it! I’ve committed to myself that my factory will be run by a magician. It’s the only way. It’s not because you are a woman, or my daughter. You have no magical talent. And you won’t have to worry about competing with Panix Gavid. He’s taken some time off and I’m not going to accept him back.”
“So I can be in charge?”
“Didn’t you just listen, Lorna? I’ve decided Fennel Derrac will be my successor. Panix left enough work for decades and Fennel is just the man to make sure everything is implemented. Besides, I never trusted Gavid—too much magical talent and no experience leading anything. Fennel told me Panix constantly demeans all of the other magicians for their lack of power. He’s always showing them up and I know that whenever he got really upset the building shook. Fennel assured me that he would never do that.”
Lorna ignored her father’s justification for firing Panix and concentrated on her dream slipping away. She tried to keep her eyes from welling up. “I’ve wanted to be like you for years. I dress more like a man. I graduated at the University when my friends were perfecting their drawing and their music. I’ve done everything you could ask a son to do.” She felt her eyes welling up although she promised herself she wouldn’t cry.
“Have I encouraged you? No. This is your dream, Lorna, it’s not mine.” He took Lorna’s plan and ripped it to shreds, leaving it in front of him on his desk. He rose, signaling dismissal. “We won’t talk of it again. Get it out of your head. I don’t want you to bring it up at dinner. We have business guests. Now go.”
“You just don’t love me because I’m not like Mother. We live in this mausoleum. I wouldn’t be surprised if you had her exhumed in South Pent and put her coffin in our entry hall.” Lorna felt the tears running down her cheeks as she stood wringing her hands.
“Out. Out now.” Foald said through clenched teeth.
She fled from his office—her dreams shattered. She’d voiced her innermost feelings and after the many times of asking, Lorna knew this was the last. She felt her dream of running the metalworks slip like sand through her fingers.
She put her hand out on the banister. She desperately wanted to curl up in her bed and throw her covers over her head. She’d lost her breath and tried to force air into her lungs. After a moment she walked and then ran up the stairs.
She sat on a pale yellow couch and put her head in her hand. How could the encounter have gone so wrong, so fast? She lifted her head and looked at her wet hand. Lorna deserved a good cry, but Father had business associates downstairs. She’d show him just how tough she was.
If she couldn’t be allowed to show her father how she could run the family business, then she would make herself useful somewhere else.
Lonra wiped her eyes and pinched her cheeks. She had to fix her hair. Taking a deep breath, she lifted her chin and walked out of her room, her back erect and intent on correcting the course of her life.
~~~
Chapter 10
All of the different-sized gables gave Mardon Fannok’s manor house a jagged roofline. The gray gravel drive contrasted to the local yellow brick that clad the three stories of its walls.
“I don’t like you coming to my house, Soy.” Mardon said.
“I need ten more men. They’ve got to be local or Bentonnian. I don’t want any more Murgontian deserters. I don’t trust them.” Soy Gromec didn’t tell Mardon Fannok that he feared Uven Kyrod had his own spies watching him in Pent. He received the news of his assignment and a caution about the mood of the pocket cabinet from Lorvad Pokkan.
Sovad Mustak shed the name of Sovell Mortac when he fled south after Baltac had discharged him. In southern Pent he was now known as Soy Gromec and he now would utilize the gang of men Uved had assembled for the last few months in case Sovad’s attempt to infiltrate Baltac’s metalworks failed. Uved had obviously planned for his failure in the city of Pent. Fannok’s men had begun disrupting the south in small ways before Sovad had even been hired. He’d never felt used so badly in his career.
“I think I can get you a couple of Bentonnians. They’re on the run from our neighbor to the west.” Mardon was thick. He had his uses now that he was in the employ of Murgontia, but Sovad knew Uven’s promises to make him a regional administrator wouldn’t be honored. “Don’t know why Murgontians won’t work. I keep them hid pretty good on my land, y’know.”
“And if they are caught, Fannok? Then our operation will be rolled up and you with it.” Sovad decided a little fear would shut him up—nothing could make him smarter, not even a little magic. “Now, did you get the Pent Post schedule? We need to start attacking the transportation down here.”
“And I need to cover for your activities.” Mardon said, nodding his head.
“Just enough to keep the Pentish authorities from seeing too much of a pattern. This is to be an insurrection of the local folk, not a band of foreign outlaws, like you’ve been running things. The more political we can make it, the more likely this operation will flow in our favo
r. Now, the schedule. I’ve got to get my men together.”
Mardon handed over the paper. Sovad put it in his pocket and walked to his horse tied up at an ornate metal hitching post. He mounted and rode off towards his hideout in a set of caves five leagues to the southwest.
~
Three days after arriving, Panix left Quill’s cabin by himself. Quill meant well, but with Panix’s readings and what little he skimmed from Moshin Twent’s memoirs, he had a deeper background than Quill’s. Since Quill was as indifferent at spying as he seemed to be at soldiering at the college, he didn’t have much practical information to offer.
Panix learned nothing more about the Korvannan Intelligence Institute or what was expected of him. The only useful token Quill gave him was a Gerellian messaging coin with the device linking to a similar coin in the possession of Corilla Westter in Gerellia. He now had a means to communicate with someone who did know what was going on. Before he left, Quill sent a message to Corilla, telling her that Panix now had the coin in his possession.
Panix looked forward to the solace of the trip through the forest back to the city of Pent. He could take his time without the distraction of Quill Vent. The wildflowers gave the forest a fresh scent as they were in the height of their bloom. Panix found it relaxing to look for fauna along the way. He practiced detecting animals with his talent, something he hadn’t done since he was a teenager, trying to get an advantage when hunting with his father.
He could feel the existence of five deer behind a brush screen. Panix yelled and heard the deer fleeing further into the forest.
Panix found himself gradually gaining control over the anxiety that had been causing him so much stress. It still bothered him every time someone mentioned Merra’s name. Could he ever get over the pain of her rejection? He knew rationally that it wasn’t his fault that Merra should never have attempted to be a magician. But he did accept that it was his fault that he couldn’t provide her the kind of attention she craved. Emotionally, some wounds would never heal. The woman he fell in love with probably never existed. She didn’t exist now and their fight, now years ago, certainly confirmed the same for Merra.
