by Guy Antibes
“You are drugged. Did you notice which way is out?”
“I used to play in these caves.” She got to her feet and stretched to get her circulation going. “You go right.”
“Can you walk OK?” Panix was anxious to get going and glad at the prospect of not carrying Lorna.
Lorna looked at him and nodded. “The question is, are you all right? Don’t ask about me, you’re bleeding on the side of your head.”
Panix put his hand to his wound. “I get dizzy if I move my head too quickly, but if I can stay upright…” He put his finger to his lips. He heard voices coming up the passage. “Close your eyes, tightly.” he whispered.
He conjured a globe and threw it against the wall opposite the opened curtain. The brilliant light seeped through his hand and closed eyelids.
“I can’t see!” the guard said, as his companion fell to his knees, with his hands to his eyes. Panix took his water jug and slammed it into the standing man’s head. Lorna took the fallen guard’s sword and both of them overpowered their other captor.
“Help me drag them into the room,” Panix said as he took a pair of feet. They tied the men up, gagged them, and threw a blanket over one on the cot and Panix’s cloak over the other on the floor.
Back in the rough corridor, Lorna led the way. Both were now armed and it seemed that Lorna wasn’t entirely sure of the way, after all. After a few false turns, they saw daylight forcing its way into the cavern. Panix threw out his senses to find pursuers far behind them. “Are there larger rooms back there?”
“Yes, a big room with a pool fed by a spring.”
That made sense to Panix. “Be careful, Sovad will have guards.”
“Sovad, Sovell, Soy. Murgontian spy,” Lorna said.
Panix nodded. “We’ve got to get back to the capital as soon as we can. I’d use my messaging coin, but it seems they went through my pockets. It’s too dangerous to look for it. We’ll leave together, but if we break up or one of us is disabled, the other must move on. Agreed?” Panix said looking at Lorna.
“If that’s the way you want to do it, then it’s fine with me.”
Panix led as they crept up to the cave’s entrance. They didn’t see a guard. Panix clung to the irregular rock of the opening and looked out. The horses were tied along a line slung between two trees. On the far side, Panix barely made out a man lying asleep in the dappled shade.
He turned around to look in the other direction and came face to face with another guard. Lorna jumped past him and skewered the man. Panix clamped his hand on the mouth of the dying man and eased his fall to the ground.
“Are you all right?” Panix asked Lorna, who leaned against the rock wall with her hand against her mouth with watering eyes. “Never kill a man before? The guards inside might be dead.” She shook her head. Panix continued, “Don’t worry, neither have I. They won’t have any qualms about killing us so let’s get mounts.”
They crept along the rocks, moving away from the sleeping man. Reaching the tree line, they moved back through the trees, trying to stay silent.
Just before they reached the man, a horse whinnied. Aroused from his slumber, the guard spied Lorna. He drew his sword. Panix had gone deeper into the trees and came out behind the man. He was too far to engage him, but he concentrated, heating up the man’s sword. Lorna was ready to engage the guard when his eyes widened and he dropped the red-hot sword. He rapidly shook his burned hand as Lorna pierced him through the heart, although tears streamed down her face.
She saw her horse and untied it from the string. She mounted as Panix quickly cut through the saddle cinches of all of the other horses and shooed them away except for one. He mounted and then they took off.
“How many horses were there?” Panix yelled as they plunged into the forest.
“Seven or eight.”
“Sovad had more men than that at the cottage, so there’s probably another band. Do you know the way out of here?”
Lorna nodded and guided her horse from the main road along a faint trail as the pair disappeared into the shadows of the forest.
~~~
Chapter 15
Lorna led them to a stream, which turned towards the way they’d come.
“We’re heading back?” Panix said.
“That’s right. They’re going to think we continued in the same direction. Another trail crosses this stream in about half an hour, that way.” She pointed towards the cave, hoping that time hadn’t distorted her memory.
In the silence of the forest, they kept quiet. They heard faint yells and soon the pounding of hoofs in the distance. Stopping behind a screen of bushes two hundred paces from their original trail, they waited for more sounds. Nothing came closer.
The trail had overgrown and both of them had to ride hunched down over their horses. Panix asked Lorna to stop. He walked back down to the stream and used a dead branch to cover their tracks. He picked up handfuls of dirt and along with some simple magic, obliterated their tracks.
“Quite a team.” Lorna said, almost to herself.
Panix gave the young woman a wry smile. “Team is right. We get captured and have to escape for our lives... At least now we have a chance to get back to Pent City.” Panix swayed a bit and put his hand to his head. “What a mess.”
They continued on in silence. Towards dark, they came across a farm. Circling the fields, they reached a cherry orchard. Not wanting to find out if the farmer was allied with Mardon and Sovad, they grabbed what ripe fruit they could find and left along a different trail.
“Where does this go?” he said.
“Back to the cottage. We have to get our things.” Lorna was surprised that Panix grabbed her reins. What was he thinking?
“No we don’t. We have to go directly to Pent. Sovad will have the house guarded.”
“I didn’t think...” Lorna felt lost.
“That’s why we’re a team.” Panix bit into the fruit. “We should travel the night through. Do you know how to get us in the right direction?”
“I’m fine during the day, but I won’t recognize anything at night,” Lorna said. They continued on.
A few minutes later, Panix stopped. He closed his eyes. “I’m trying to see if I can locate my alloy. We can use that as a compass.”
Lorna was about to say something, but he raised his finger. “Be quiet for a little longer, I’m trying something new.” Panix sat still until he raised his hand and pointed off to his right. Opening his eyes, he said, “We’ve been riding west, not north towards the city of Pent. There. Pent City is that way.”
Lorna shivered in the cooling air, except she wasn’t cold. She was raised amongst magicians doing metalwork for her father, but this was the first time she’d seen this kind of magic. In fact, she had no idea magicians could do any of the techniques she’d seen Panix perform after they left Fannoc’s mansion.
“What did you do? Your face went white for a while, then it was like you came back to life.”
“Hmmm. I can’t exactly explain what I was doing. It’s an extension of a calming technique. I first did it when they tried to drug me. Let’s just say I needed quiet to locate where my alloy is being produced. The technique doesn’t feel very safe. I doubt I’ll try it again anytime soon. My head feels like it’s been pounded by one of Harlan’s machines, but Pent is that way.” Panix looked from Lorna to where his hand pointed.
“If we were out of the forest, we could travel cross country, but that’s not for leagues yet.”
“Where does this trail lead? It’s going more west than north.”
Lorna looked around and thought. “If that’s North, I think this trail passes by my father’s manor. There’s a road to Pent before we get there. We can’t make very good time in the dark riding in this direction.”
“Then let’s head west, again.”
A couple of hours later, Dornna’s largest moon rose to make the going a little easier. Lorna thought they were lucky that neither had been unhorsed by a low-hangi
ng branch. The forest thinned as they approached a crossroads. A man stood by his horse in the dark and the pair stopped before he could notice.
“Sovad must have a map if he can afford to put a man at key crossroads waiting for us.” Panix whispered. “We’ll have to deal with him. Let me see if there are any others close by.” He clutched his head. “There are two other men further on. Do you think we can slip past them?”
Panix’s horse snorted. “So much for sneaking past. Let’s ride towards your father’s manor, then head cross country for the Pent road.” He slapped Lorna’s mount as he urged his own into action.
On they rode. The man at the crossroads yelled for his companions. The other two were sleeping and it would take some time before they could get mounted, Panix and Lorna were far down the road before they got organized. After a few bends, Lorna led Panix off the road into more woods. They waited for their pursuers to rush past.
Lorna re-entered the road.
“No,” said Panix. “We’ll have to go cross-country. There may be more of them close by.”
She turned to follow Panix into the woods. The going was slow. Panix bumped his head on a branch. Lorna could see he clung to his mount to keep from falling off.
“I’ll lead. You stay hunched down,” Lorna said.
Panix apparently struggled to keep from losing consciousness, but he nodded as she took his reins to lead them forward. It seemed like hours before they entered a road. Lorna looked up at the moon and realized it had only been minutes. “Can you see if this road leads in the right direction?”
“That way.” He pointed to his left. He didn’t turn white or have to hold his hand. Perhaps his searching became easier every time he tried it.
“We need to ride faster.” Lorna headed down the road as Panix followed. She looked back to see him clinging to the saddle, hunched over. The horse seemed to jerk his body and Panix reacted in pain.
A few hours later, the moon was about to set. “We need to rest our horses and I think you need to rest.” Lorna said. They pulled up and left the road going fifty paces into the woods to a grassy meadow. A stream meandered through the clearing delineated by reeds growing on its banks.
They dismounted and let their horses graze for some minutes. “I could use some hot food,” Lorna said rubbing her arms. Neither wore the cloaks left behind in the cave.
Panix pulled a saddle knife from his horse. He went to the stream and washed the blade. “How about some baked fruit?” He pulled some cherries from the saddlebag, pitted them and then placed them on the knife. A few seconds later, the the cherries steamed in the darkness. He pulled them off the knife, juggling the hot fruit to keep his fingers from burning. “Here,” he said, tossing one to Lorna.
She juggled it from hand to hand until it cooled, then bit into the fruit. “Oh this is great. Not mushy at all, but cooked.”
“I fortified the flesh so it would stay together. More variations on my metallurgy. I hope you don’t mind.” Lorna cringed, but then she relaxed a few seconds later. Perhaps her aversion to magic could wear off. He baked one for himself.
As they ate the hot cherries, Lorna said, “Thank you. I appreciate the magic. I feel that every time you use it, I should feel diminished, but now I recognize you aren’t practicing it to show me up.”
“Show you up? That’s never been my intent, here or anywhere.”
“I know otherwise.” Lorna took another bite to realize she really didn’t.
“How can you know otherwise? There is no otherwise.” Panix put his hand to his head. He seemed to concentrate for a moment then looked up with a bit more composure.
“I bet I can teach you my centering technique. Do you want to learn?”
“But it’s magic. I have no talent,” Lorna protested, dubious that Panix could teach her anything.
“I think the trick is more concentration than magic. If I’m wrong it won’t hurt you to try. But I think you’re up for this. Close your eyes.”
Lorna closed her eyes. Panix put his hands on her head. She started at his touch.
“Calm down. This is how I learned. Now try to figure out where the center of your head is from your feel of my hands.”
She tried as hard as she could to find the spot. “I think I’ve got it.”
“This is the critical thing. Try and call up a focus. I use a pinpoint of light. It works really well.”
“I picture a red light in the center,” she said.
“Don’t get excited, the point is to focus and center your thoughts on the light until you feel all of your concentration is on the light and your emotion is pushed aside.”
“I can do this. I center on the light and then relax. Like my energy radiates from the spot and goes out my fingers and toes?”
“That will work as well as anything,” Panix said.
Lorna went silent for a few minutes. She tried to look inside of herself. Her thoughts were jumbled and twisted as she tried to calm down. She pushed them away and looked again for the red light and grabbed onto it. She used the light as focus to push her worries out and away from her body. As she continued, she felt relaxed. Lorna compared it to a very hot bath.
She opened her eyes. “It works. I feel calm for the first time since you told me Sovad was coming for us.” Panix was pleased to see her smile.
“That is you controlling yourself. You should be proud. There are lots of things that don’t require magic.”
Panix’s comment gave her a lot to think about. Silence ruled the meadow as they quickly finished the cherries and gathered the horses.
~
Sovad rode up to the Baltac manor house after spending half the night riding from the Baltac cottage. It looked derelict in the early morning light. “Doesn’t look like this place is used much. Where are their horses?” he said to Soloc.
His scout looked blankly at his superior.
“Horses. Didn’t you hear me man?” Sovad said.
A glimmer of thought entered the man’s head. “None around the manor. They musta taken ‘em inside. Don’t want us to slaughter ‘em.” A smile of relief passed through Soloc’s face.
“Perhaps you’re right.” Sovad rode up to the front door, dismounted and pounded on the door with the pommel of his sword, leaving dents in the wood. “Panix!” he yelled.
“What do you and all those armed men want? There is no Panix here,” said an old man’s voice muffled by the closed door.
“We want Panix Gavid and the Lady Lorna Baltac to come out.” Sovad didn’t sense any magic defenses. He realized the door had dented—no magic protection. Panix wouldn’t have let him burn the house down if he’d been inside.
“Miss Baltac’s not been here for more than a year.” The man’s voice spoke with truth.
Sovad’s shoulders sagged. Defeated. They’d be halfway to Pent by now. He never thought this insurgency would work anyway. Now the Marquessa would know Murgontia was behind it all. Sovad knew his own arrogance defeated him. He now felt foolish telling Lorna and Panix his real name and his Murgontian connection to feed his ego, now knowing his taunting had come back to bite him. Did he really want to win this fight? He realized that he didn’t understand his own actions.
Could he be getting old? Soft? He killed the horses without qualms, but when it came to taking Panix’s life, he really didn’t know if he could have carried out his threat.
Why did Panix have to be so different from anyone he’d ever known. Sovad could see the father in the son, but he had no qualms with Rennis Gavid, or did he? What was it about these Gavids that affected him so?
“Let’s ride back to the cave. There’s no one here,” Sovad said as he mounted his horse. “We’re finished.” He neglected to tell them the entire operation was finished. That would wait until he hid as much wealth from their activities as he could.
On their way to the caves, Sovad thought of Panix — a man not to underestimate again. The best thing to do was simply avoid him.
~
“B
lox, send a message to General Lettec and tell him to make sure the passes to Murgontia remain sealed.” The Marquessa sat at the head of the long table in the Council Chamber. Her simple dress, so early in the morning, surprised Lorna as she sat with a hastily prepared plate of food and a cup of wine.
Panix sat next to her. Her father and Baston Blox were the only other councilors in the room. The informality of the situation unsettled her. It wasn’t that she expected to be hailed as a heroine, but the Marquessa treated her presence as a matter of fact.
Panix surprised her by not speaking at all when they arrived. Didn’t he want the glory? That would fit her old perception of his character, but it didn’t match her new perception. They had just enough time to freshen up before being ushered into the Marquessa’s presence. By the time they arrived, Blox and her father sat at the table, each with a tiny amount of food.
Panix still looked ghastly, perhaps his head still hurt with blood still seeping from his wound and his skin continuing to appear pale. She had suggested that he rest before they met with the Marquessa, but Panix merely shook his head.
She saw Panix through different eyes, now that they had returned from South Pent. He never worked for recognition. It was something else. Fennel Derrac’s accusations were absolutely false.
Lorna’s reflections were interrupted. “Lorna,” the Marquessa said, looking directly at Blox. “I want you to work more closely with Baston. We need to know the extent of Murgontia’s plans. I didn’t realize our metal was so valuable to them that they would risk so much to invade.”
“That seems overbold, your grace,” Baston said, taking the cautious side as usual. “Perhaps it’s a misunderstanding and these are merely a band of brigands.”
“A band of brigands bribing Mardon Fannok? A band of brigands led by a Murgontian spy? I think not Baston. I want to make sure my desires are carried out. That is why I assigned Lorna to you. Remember she is in your organization at my direction. You may go.”
“Yes, your grace.” Baston reddened at this dressing down in front of others and left the chamber.
“Ronna,” Foald said. This was the first time Lorna heard her father ever call the Marquessa by her first name. She had no idea such a special relationship existed. “We need to notify our Korvannan friends in Gerell and their agent here in Pent. If the Murgontians are so bold as to try an invasion of the south, they might seek to try the next weakest path—through Gerellia.”
