by Brian Keller
She brought herself out of her reverie and glanced around. Felis had continued walking around the remainder of the cleared area. He appeared to be collecting information about what had happened here and was putting those pieces together. She’d only just met him a few days ago, so she couldn’t explain why she felt so comforted to know he was nearby. Still, he now appeared to be an almost different man. As he searched the surrounding area, he seemed to almost glide across the ground. Not like a scholar at all.
Chapter 2
Cooper didn’t know how long he’d need to wait, but he decided to use the time to do a mental accounting of his situation. In one column he had stacked up all the things he’d lost in the last twenty-four hours. In another column, he assembled a list of long-term goals. Several goals jumped right to the forefront but he kept his mind on track, rather than feeling self-pity tied to the items in the first column or rage tied to a few entries at the top of the second column. Instead, he focused on the nebulous space between the columns. What needed to happen? What did he need to do to make those goals a reality? He felt a pang of loss as his mind drifted back to Master Worthan’s Analysis and Sabotage classes. He hoped the old man had survived, but he had to assume the worst.
At this moment, Cooper was one person, acting alone. The best solutions were those where he might bring about the changes he needed by manipulating circumstances in certain ways; minimizing both his own efforts and his exposure. In order to do that, he’d need an absolutely clear picture of what he needed to manipulate. One person working alone… He couldn’t see how it might be possible.
That was why he needed to get out of the city. He knew Rukle had survived. He’d been outside the Guild when the Army attacked. He'd spoken to him outside the Guild house afterward, just before Cooper had gone back in to assess the damage and retrieve a few belongings. Rukle had told him that he’d spoken with Dailen, who planned to go to work in a nearby Smithy. Cooper knew that Master Brais and Evan had been outside the Guild with Rukle when the Army struck, but had gone in afterward to see if they might assist any Guild members who’d managed to hide themselves from the soldiers. He didn’t know if they’d succeeded or even survived.
The one place he knew he could go to find a Master from the Guild was the Forest. Utsef was a Master, and better yet, a Master Assassin. Also, Loryn was currently in the Forest taking lessons from Utsef, along with four or five of her classmates. Maybe Utsef would know what to do, maybe not, but either way he’d need to be informed of what had happened to the Guild. They all needed to be informed. Depending on how the students responded to Utsef’s training, and pending Utsef’s approval, Cooper could bring them all back with him when he returned to Paleros. Utsef and the students, along with Rukle, Dailen and any other Guild members hidden in the city, might be able do what was needed to bring those goals to reality.
He knew Treanna should be returning to the city fairly soon, but he didn’t know which merchant caravan she was traveling with, or when exactly they were due to return. He couldn’t risk remaining in the city, inquiring after every caravan on the off chance that he might locate the right one. When she learned what had happened, she’d likely remain with the caravan and simply become a merchant. It might not be exactly what she wanted, but it’d certainly be better than whatever prospects she might have by staying in the city. He only wished he knew a way that he might pass some additional funds along to her, to guarantee her position with the caravan.
After a couple hours, Mardon’s voice could be heard from the hatch, “Ready to go? The boat’s coming in a few minutes.” Cooper stood and picked up his bag, bow and quiver; the sum total of his worldly possessions, and walked to the stairs that led to the deck above.
Cooper let his eyes scan across the city. It looked different when viewed from the water. He turned to Mardon, “Sir, I’ve been wanting to ask since we first introduced ourselves, but I didn’t feel like it was appropriate, and after that I never really had the opportunity, with all that’s been happening…” The First replied, “Sounds serious. What is it?” Cooper grinned, “Who makes your boots?” The First’s expression revealed his surprise and he let out a boisterous laugh, “My boots?!?” He laughed again before he answered, “There’s a cobbler in the Trade Quarter. He married one of my nieces. He makes all my boots. Would you like me to place an order for you?” Cooper shook his head, “I don’t think there’s time. Won’t he need measurements?” The First drew the dagger from his belt and he squatted down in front of Cooper, “Hold still.” He traced his blade around the edges of Cooper’s feet, carving the outlines on the deck of the ship. He stood and said, “That should be all he needs. I’ll have a pair waiting for you upon your return.” Cooper opened his mouth to speak but the First continued with a wink, “I’ll charge it against your account.”
Fifteen minutes later, his gear stowed on the floor of the boat, he pulled an oar through the water in cadence with Silas’ voice behind him. Silas was a Wharfsider who had assisted with identifying a few of Jarell’s sellswords. It was less than a week ago, but to Cooper it felt like months had passed since he’d last seen the man. With seven men rowing, the boat cut through the water at a steady pace but it still took a little over an hour to reach open water where they could take advantage of the prevailing current to help bear them south. Cooper wondered whether he might lose some skin from his palms before all was done but Silas’ pace never wavered.
They paddled among the rocky outcroppings and sea stacks of the Broken Coast and as they neared the Southern Cliffs, Silas pointed to a crevice in the rock that reached all the way to the crest. As Silas handed Cooper a pair of leather straps with meat hooks attached to them, he explained, “Strap these to your wrists. There’s an anchor chain that spans the entire height of the crevice. As you climb, slip a hook somewhere above you, into a link in the chain. It’ll help you climb, and let you rest as often as you need without needing to worry about your grip.” Cooper accepted them gratefully as Silas continued, “When you reach the top you’ll find a large flat rock on a patch of grass. Just slip those hooks underneath. Whoever comes through next will collect them.” Cooper gave Silas a conspiratorial look, “Seems like you’ve done this kind of thing before…?” The large Wharfsider grinned, “Now I don’t ask you to tell your secrets, do I?” Once they’d pulled alongside the cliffs, Cooper collected his gear and clasped hands with Silas before he strapped the hooks to his wrists. He balanced on the edge of the boat, hooked into the chain, placed a foot against the rocks, and pulled. The rocks were wet and waves commonly crashed against them, sending salt water spraying in all directions. As his feet left the gunwale he heard Silas shout over the noise of the water, “Kinsman!” He turned his head to see why Silas had called out. Silas gave him a short wave with his paddle and yelled, “Luck!” Then he and his fellows set their oars against the rocks and pushed themselves away. Cooper gave him a nod in reply and yelled back, “Many thanks! And luck to you!” He then turned his full attention to his next task; ascending the Southern Cliffs. He’d only climbed a few meters and had already realized that the climb would be nearly impossible without the hooks. The rocks often broke away under his feet, causing him to take more care in his foot placement. It made an already difficult climb even more challenging, but with the hooks he was able to reach the top while the sun was still an hour or so above the horizon.
He crawled across the ground, away from the edge and unstrapped his gear, letting it fall in a heap. He rolled onto his back as he removed the straps from his wrist and massaged them where they’d chafed. As he rested, he worked his arms and shoulders, letting the blood flow in. He rolled back over and came up on a knee and opened his pack. He pulled out a set of clothes and changed into them, then carefully folded the Guild leathers he’d been wearing and placed them in the bag. Now he wore only cloth pants, jerkin, and a thin jacket. His only visible weapons were his bow and arrows, and the camp knife on his belt. He tucked the climbing hooks under the stone as Silas instruc
ted, checked his bowstring, slung his bag back over his shoulders and faced northwest. For the next hour or two, he’d need to skirt along the farmer’s fields to avoid any patrols on the roads. Once the sun had completely disappeared, he should be free to walk along the roads, as long as the patrols didn’t stretch out this far. While he could snack on some of the dried meat and cheese he’d taken from the Guild kitchen; tomorrow, he’d take some time to hunt. He should reach the Forest within the next three or four days, depending on how much effort was required to avoid patrols.
He was tired, but that was mostly from the climb. Surely he’d need to sleep, but first he’d need to put more distance between himself and Paleros. Progress would be slower in the dark, and slower still since the ground was uneven, but at least he’d be unobserved unless some farmer was out checking his fence rows.
As the evening progressed, the sky had darkened. He had been walking northwest, mostly west, in order to get clear of the city. He’d been using the fading light on the western horizon as a means to gauge his direction. Now that the sun had gone down completely, he began walking north at every opportunity, looking to find the main road. The obscured glow of the moon beyond the clouds provided almost no illumination, but it did provide some basis for navigation.
*****
Once they’d returned from the Ruins, Felis took his leave and returned to the University with the mages. Iona went in search of the Spymaster. She felt certain that he’d want to hear what she’d discovered and what she sensed. Hoping to narrow her search, she reached out with her Talent and tried to feel where he might be or might have been. She got no indications. After she’d knocked on several doors, she was finally informed that Yoren had left the Palace District not long after she had, and he’d left in a rush. The fact that she hadn’t yet found him seemed to indicate that he hadn’t returned.
As she returned to her own chambers, her thoughts drifted back over the events of the day. From the time she’d felt the waves from two of the Gifted fighting, her preconceptions had been challenged. What she’d been taught about the Gifted was significantly incomplete. Gifted abilities were not alike. Manifestation of Talent in the rest of the populace differed not only in which Talents appeared but also in how they were accessed. While all the Gifted may channel power, and convert the power of one element force into another in the same manner, it seemed that not all of them had equal access to the same elemental forces. It seemed that even amongst the Gifted there might still be variations in affinities. She couldn’t blame those that had written the research materials that she’d been studying all this time; undoubtedly, they’d never had two such Gifted to study at the same time, and certainly not while locked in combat.
She might not know where Yoren was, but she could occupy her time documenting her own findings. No doubt the professors at the University would disregard, or even dispute what she was about to write, but she knew what she’d learned today was the truth and it needed to be written down.
*****
Cooper walked for a few more hours. He didn’t know how much distance he’d covered, but he knew he hadn’t reached the road yet. He thought he must be getting close to the road, so he knew better than to start a fire to warm himself. Even if he had wood to start a fire, any campfire would draw attention and he was still too close to the city to risk the kind of attention that might bring him. The air hadn’t started turning cold yet, but those days weren’t far off. He unpacked his bag and pulled on a second set of clothes, taking care to cover his feet. He wrapped his blades up inside his leathers and stuffed the bundle into the bottom of the bag, then pulled it around to use as a pillow. The second layer of clothing helped, but he still shivered himself to sleep. Tomorrow he’d consider cutting a few armloads of tall grass and weaving a sleeping mat, but most likely his time would be better spent putting as much distance as possible between himself and Paleros.
He woke before dawn, as was his habit, but today instead of using the privy at the end of the sleeping bay and doing his stretching exercises, he raised himself slightly on one elbow and took a look around. The grasses were tall enough that he had to sit upright in order to see far enough to serve any purpose. He still couldn’t see the road that would lead him to the Forest, but he knew that if he kept walking north he’d come across it. He’d just need to keep his eyes open for mounted patrols. As long as he was able to move uninterrupted, by tonight he felt he could relax. He wouldn’t expect patrols to venture out much more than a day’s walk from the city.
The remainder of the day was largely uneventful. He located the road by mid-morning and was able to quicken his pace. He continued to walk through lunch time, though he did pause briefly enough to pull some meat, bread and cheese from his pack. Memories of the last time he walked this road plagued him. The thoughts were bittersweet. He wondered what had happened to Kolrem. Whether he’d escaped when the soldiers burst into the Guild halls, or whether he’d fought and been captured, or killed. Thoughts of Kolrem opened the floodgates for other thoughts of friends and classmates to burst through. Rukle hadn’t indicated that he’d seen anyone else he could identify with any certainty. He had told Cooper that he thought he might’ve seen Aden, a classmate and assistant Apothecary, shackled and loaded into a cage, alive. He also said he’d seen the corpse of their combat instructor, Mister Skran, loaded onto a wagon. According to Rukle, it was either him, or someone with his same build who was dressed like him.
To distract himself from these thoughts, he busied himself with watching for rabbits as he walked westward. Within a few hours, he’d killed, gutted and skinned three rabbits and spent five minutes stalking some other animal. Once he’d gotten close enough, he saw that it looked more like a cross between a rat and a large cat. Since he didn’t know what it was, he left it alone and returned to the road. Three plump rabbits would provide plenty of meat for dinner.
By dinner time he still hadn’t reached the edge of the forest, but he could see it in the distance to the west as the road crested the higher points of the low, rolling hills. He realized that he still had no wood to build a cooking fire. He’d hoped, and even expected, to have found some fallen branches under the trees that grew in the fence rows, but obviously other travelers had the same notion, or perhaps it was the tenants themselves, picking up wood for their own cooking fires. It was made all the more obvious why merchants and other travelers carried bundles of firewood with them on their ventures. Cooper decided that if he couldn’t start a fire, there was little point in stopping for the night. He continued walking westward. Perhaps he could reach the edge of the Forest by morning.
A few hours after dark, he could see the glow of a few cooking fires to the north, well off the road. He considered approaching them, perhaps offering to share his rabbits in exchange for a place near one of their fires, or simply sneaking in and stealing a bundle of wood and kindling. He decided against both options. Even if the men around the fires didn’t detect him, any horses they had surely would. And a horse could easily give him away as he neared the campsite. Since he had no idea what allegiances these men might have, it simply wasn’t worth approaching. He wasn’t starving yet, just getting hungry, and by tomorrow he’d be surrounded by more firewood than he could carry.
It was still a few hours before dawn when he reached the edge of the forest. Even in the darkness, he could see well enough to gather an armload of fallen branches as he moved amongst the trees and deeper into the Forest. Once he felt he was far enough away from the road, he dropped the firewood, set his gear on the ground, and started whittling one of the sticks he’d picked up, making a pile of wood shavings.
Once he’d gotten a fire started, he cleared the space immediately surrounding the flames and then cut a few green sticks to use for spits to skewer the rabbits. He then busied himself between adding more fuel to the fire, remaining careful to keep the fire small, and turning the spits to evenly roast the meat. He had no cup to catch the drippings, so he had no means to baste the meat. As a re
sult, it came out quite dry. It filled his stomach just the same and he let the fire slowly die out as he slept. He was chilled but contented.
Chapter 3
It took him three days to find Utsef, or more accurately put, to be found by Utsef. In that time, Cooper had hunted a deer and dressed it out. He then built a much larger fire than he needed and roasted almost an entire shoulder of venison over it. As it cooked, he scraped and prepared the deer hide for tanning. He didn’t know how long he’d need to stay in the Forest before returning to Paleros. He expected he’d want warmer clothing before too much longer, so it would be best to get started immediately.
He’d filled his belly and was adding a few more branches to the fire, to keep the flames bright, when he realized that the fire had done the job as he’d expected it would. Utsef stepped into the small clearing that Cooper had chosen for his campsite. The woodsman greeted him with a nod, then turned his head and spoke over his shoulder to the Forest behind him, “Lower your arrows. It’s Cooper.” A disembodied voice from the trees pierced the darkness, “Cooper?!?” In moments, Loryn scrambled into view and rushed toward him. He managed to rise in time to greet her as she wrapped her arms around him. She stepped away, slightly self-conscious, “What are you doing here?” Her eyes swept the edge of the clearing, “Are you here alone? We circled around and couldn’t find anyone else.” Cooper let his head hang in response. He took a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh. He raised his head and looked at Utsef, “Call everyone in and get warm by the fire. I have much to tell you.”
