by Tim Susman
Before leaving the Tower, he sought out Bryce Morgan again and made sure he had all he needed to make the London Calatians comfortable. That done, he walked down to the Inn so that he could bid the sentries goodnight on his way.
Old John was understandably curious about where a hundred extra Calatians had come from, and, when he’d properly awoken, who was going to pay for the extra food. “I’m sure the Army will compensate you,” Kip said.
“Aye,” John growled, standing from his bed in his close, small bedroom behind the kitchen of the Inn. “I’ve heard that noise before. Lived through many wars, you’ll recall.”
In his heart, Kip knew the old man was right. Compensating the owner of an inn for food he brought to prisoners or even refugees was going to be far down on the list of priorities of an army that needed to win a war against a massive empire. The fact that John was willing to take that risk anyway, after all that he’d done for Kip over the past year, spurred the fox to go one step farther.
He laid a paw on John’s arm, and when the man turned to him, said, “I will see to it that you are fairly compensated. I give you my word.”
John’s lined face betrayed no emotion at first, and then his lips tightened with resolve, and he straightened as though shedding a weight from his shoulders. “I would have done it anyway, but I’ll do it with a glad heart now.” He grasped Kip’s forearm, fingers still strong over the fox’s fur and slender bones. “I know how much it means, what you’re doing, and I’m glad to do my part for it. There are many who have sacrificed and lost more than I will.”
“Pray that those sacrifices may soon be at an end,” Kip said. “Thank you, John.”
“Spoken like a young pup in his first war.” John smiled. “But from your lips to God’s ear. Now get on with you. I’ll feed your fellows.”
My fellows, Kip thought as he left the Inn and gathered magic to return to his mission. Only by race, surely, though Abel and Coppy’s family had other ties to him. But the thought made him smile as he returned to the cool English night.
13
The Road
Malcolm and Alice had kept the Calatians going at a slow pace, though many of them complained about the walking. When Kip reappeared near Alice, two otters were walking alongside her, an older female and a younger male. “But there’s sorcerers here,” the older one said, untroubled by Kip’s appearance. “Why should we walk?”
“Ma!” The younger male gripped her arm, giving Alice and Kip a fearful look. “The sorcerers aren’t ferrymen.”
“They fly us across the Thames when they like.” The otter stared boldly at Kip. “They appear and disappear. And these two are Calatians. Why make us walk all this way?”
“We can,” Alice said. “But it takes effort.”
“I’m working on doing just that. There are only four sorcerers here.” Kip indicated Broadwood, still asleep and being carried by Alice. “One of them spent all yesterday sending a hundred Calatians to safety. We’re doing all we can, and if you can just help us with a little bit of walking, you can sleep while we carry you to and over the water.”
“We can swim,” chirped the younger otter.
“This is seawater, and there’s a lot of it,” Kip told him. “Maybe a hundred miles.”
“How much farther to the coast?” the older otter asked.
“If I can fly us, we should get there just after dawn.” Kip made a quick decision. “We’ll stop for a break partway through the night so people can rest and eat, and I’ll try flying us then.”
“All right.” The otters moved away, back into the crowd.
Alice gave Kip a grateful smile. “You found a demon name?”
“Yes. And your father sends his love and worry.” He looked around the crowd, two hundred Calatians trudging together up a low grass-covered hill. At least the rain had stopped. “Otherwise things have been quiet?”
“No danger, just some complaining. And a few of them tried to sing songs, but we weren’t sure if we should do that. Malcolm said the less noise the better.”
“I’d trust his judgment.” Kip looked ahead. “Nik didn’t alert me, so I didn’t worry too much. Even so, I knew you could handle anything.”
“Maybe not anything.” Alice wagged her tail. “I can’t help the rain, and it seems much nicer now it’s stopped. Are the Calatians settled in the Tower? Was Father pleasant to you?”
“Very. He said he trusted me.”
“Maybe he’s changing his mind.” Alice reached out and took Kip’s paw. “I knew that once he saw you for what you are, he’d understand.”
He squeezed her paw in return. “I think it was more that he saw what you can do. He is coming to see you as a young lady capable of making her own choices, not as someone whose future he has to arrange.”
“Let us hope.”
The peace Kip felt from that moment lasted only twenty minutes or so, until another Calatian came up to complain about the walking, but he was grateful for that small reprieve in the midst of the mission. Looking around, he noticed small things: the Calatians with better night vision, like the foxes and polecats and beavers, were helping along those with less facility to see in dim light, like the otters, and those with generally poorer eyesight that got worse at night, like mice. There might be complaining, but at the same time his people helped each other throughout, whether here or back in New Cambridge. The thought warmed and fortified him.
Malcolm’s wards held up well even when Malcolm himself needed a rest, and the night was quiet out in the English countryside. Only two people, hurrying along a road, came near the group, and neither of them glanced at the crowd. Kip, alerted by Nikolon, moved to where the road crossed their path and held the Calatians back from it as the human pair walked through them, mumbling about getting to Bath before morning.
Another time they passed near a farmhouse and startled a cow that took to lowing. There was nothing the sorcerers could do about it except hurry everyone on past while watching the farmhouse for any signs of life. There, too, they remained fortunate.
How many more encounters could they risk? Kip worried about it even though Nikolon kept a vigilant eye out and Malcolm assured him that his wards would hold. When they got to the coast, there would be far more open air, there would be daylight, and they would be much more exposed.
When several more Calatians had complained about being tired and Kip judged that they were about halfway through the night, he called a stop in a large meadow near a forest. As everyone sank to the ground and broke open what remained of their provisions, Kip sat with Malcolm and Alice a little way apart from the others. “I know the ward must be a strain on you,” he began, talking to Malcolm.
“It’s no more than I signed up for, and a sight more interesting than holding the same ward on the same house during a battle.” Malcolm’s voice held less cheer than Kip was accustomed to.
“What I’d like to know,” Kip said, “is whether the calyx ritual would be of use to you when we reach the shore. We’ll have no cover of darkness or—”
“Aye.” Malcolm rested his head in one hand. “I’ve thought on that. I believe I can keep the wards, though I’d like to be awake for all the time over water.”
“Would the calyx ritual help?” Kip repeated.
His friend rubbed his forehead. “Are you offering yourself?”
“Or me,” Alice put in. “I know what it is and I’m willing to do it.”
“You’re both occupied with other things.” Abel walked up and sat himself between Kip and Malcolm. “I, on the other hand, have nothing to do but walk about keeping all these people comfortable and reassured as much as I can. My,” he lowered his voice, “valuable blood can easily be spared.”
Kip reached out, but Abel intercepted his paw and held it, his eyes steady on Kip’s. “It’s freely offered,” he said quietly.
Malcolm took a breath. “The thing is,” he said, “I’ve never done that. Cast a ward with enhanced…magic. I don’t know how it would work e
xactly. We might not even need it.”
“But if we do, it would be rather too late to cast in that situation,” Kip said. “Why not try it here, where we have time to spare?”
Malcolm nodded. “Have we a knife?”
“I have one,” Abel said. “And I can get a cup in a moment.” He stood.
“And there’s my last objection done away with. Yes, if all of you are so determined, try it I shall. A stitch in time saves nine, me ma used to say.”
“Let’s make sure nobody can see us.” Kip arranged himself, Malcolm, and Alice with their backs to the main group while Abel went to fetch a cup. “You know what to expect, right, Malcolm?”
“Aye. I’ve done it, though not for months. Master Vendis told me I’d not need to use the ritual for much more than summoning demons, because a ward is a ward, but there’s no harm in seeing if I can hold it longer or add another protection, eh?”
“That’s the spirit.” Kip looked over his shoulder at their charges, most of whom sat contentedly eating or rubbing their paws. The conviction seized him that he would do almost anything to keep them safe, and he understood that both Malcolm and Abel were doing the same.
When Abel returned, he saw what they’d done and seated himself in front of Kip, tail resting on the grass, hidden from the others. From a pouch at his side he produced a small knife and a cup.
Kip leaned forward to put a paw on his arm. “You understand we haven’t a healer here.”
“Aye. I’ve a length of cloth to serve as bandage.”
“I can cauterize the wound as well.”
“Doesn’t that require a hot knife blade, though?” Abel put the knife point to the inside of his elbow, situating it over the cup he’d set on the ground.
“Not the way I do it.” Kip forced himself to watch his friend’s blood spill into the cup. Even though Abel had been a calyx for years and knew well how much blood was needed, after a few seconds Kip couldn’t help saying, “That’s enough.”
Abel looked surprised, but withdrew the knife. He cleaned it and then reached for the bandage. “Cauterizing leaves a scar, does it not?”
“A healer can mend the scar.”
The fox hesitated, and then extended his arm to Kip. “I’ll take your offer, then.”
Kip concentrated and burned the wound very lightly, enough to scarify the flesh. Abel winced but did not cry out, and when Kip sat back and dismissed the fire, the other fox probed the scar with a claw. “It hurts less than when my mother did it on my tail,” he said. “Although I was only seven then, and had little to compare that pain to.”
“I hope it wasn’t too bad.” Kip tried to see the wound, but Abel kept his paw over it. “Thank you for doing this.”
“I’ll do it again if need be, and need might be.” The fox held the cup to Malcolm’s hand, and Malcolm took it.
“Your sacrifice is appreciated,” he said, braced himself, and drank. He put the cup down and said, “Now, let’s see.”
The glow on his arms when he called magic looked stronger to Kip, and Malcolm’s indrawn breath told him his friend felt the difference as well. He murmured a series of syllables and lowered his arms to his sides as the glow faded and died.
Alice watched with wide eyes. “Did it work?”
“Oh, aye, it did.” Malcolm leaned back. “The wards feel stronger. Of course, if they’re not tested, we’ll never know. This is the trial we defensive sorcerers must endure.”
“What trial?” Alice asked.
“Our spells are rarely noticed except in failure. You there, you can lift a boat and everyone sees it, everyone oohs and aahs. But it’s only when we sail past a cluster of people all staring and seeing naught but what my spell shows them that people see what I’m doing.” Malcolm laughed shortly. “It’s all well and good, for I know the use I am, and I know my friends do too.”
“We never doubt it,” Kip said.
“Of course not.” Alice put a paw on Malcolm’s hand and turned her eyes to Abel. “Not any of our friends.”
“I’m happy to help in the success of this mission, in however small a way.” Abel got to his feet. “I’m going to walk around and see if anyone else needs anything.”
Kip held out a paw to Alice. “Want to come along with Abel? Let’s talk to the people.”
“I’d love to.” She stood with him.
“I’ll stay here and keep an eye on Broadwood, if you don’t mind.” Malcolm leaned back on his elbows. “Enjoy this fine spring night. Let me know when it’s time to get on the move again.”
The three foxes walked through the group, with Abel taking the lead in asking how everyone was. Kip noticed that he took the opportunity to introduce them to Kip and Alice wherever possible. “Our American cousins,” he called them. They met the two otters who’d been complaining to Alice, a mother and son named Bella and Bill Sasha; they met a family of dormice named Jinx; they met another fox family named Canno, whom privately Kip thought might be related to Peter Cadno. After a dozen other introductions, they encountered Abel’s conspirator friends, the other calyxes who’d agitated for action. Grinda kept to herself and they did not approach her, but Alice got to meet Pierce the otter, Callo and Charles Cotton the rabbits, and Thomas Trewel the dormouse. All of them were highly excited at the mission and kept thanking Alice for all she’d done.
After that, they went on to meet others, most resting, some talking. One small group of Calatians knelt around a beaver who was reciting passages from the Bible, all of their heads bowed in prayer.
“Are Coppy’s family here?” Alice asked in a low voice as they left the prayer circle.
Kip shook his head. “They’re in New Cambridge. Broadwood sent them over.” He hadn’t counted, but he’d seen Coppy’s mother and at least two of her children go, so he assumed the others had as well.
“Good.” Alice looked around. “We should depart soon.”
“There’s Abel. I’ll need his knife.”
Kip and Alice hurried over to the other fox and apprised him of their plan to depart. He produced the knife and gave it to Kip, who made sure nobody was watching and then nicked a small cut in his wrist.
“You need less than human sorcerers do?” Abel asked, watching Kip lap at the blood.
“Usually. It depends on the spell. For a second-order demon I won’t need much. I might try it without any at all, but this is important and I don’t want to risk anything.”
The other fox nodded. “Want a cloth for a bandage?”
Kip shook his head. “It’ll heal fast enough. Thank you, though.” He swept fire over Abel’s knife and gave it back to the other fox, then gathered magic so that his paws glowed violet. “I’ll go a little ways off to summon the demon.”
“Dangerous?” Abel asked.
Alice shook her head. “It’s disturbing if you’re not expecting it.”
“Now you’ve warned me, I’ll be expecting it,” Abel said. “If you don’t mind my coming along.”
Kip swallowed back the impulse to tell Abel to stay. After all, he’d been so protective of Alice and had learned that she could take care of herself, and this was no more dangerous than watching a puppet show. Abel would be fine. If the demon got loose somehow, he’d be in danger whether two or twenty feet away. “All right,” he said, leading them all around the other side of a stand of trees to conceal their activity. “But stay behind Alice and don’t utter a word or move until I’ve finished the binding.”
Valkuni appeared again as the serpent in the cloud of ice mist, and Kip bound it without incident, then exhaled and turned. Abel’s eyes were wide, and even Alice looked surprised. “I’ve seen demons, once or twice,” Abel said. “But…it’s so strange, seeing it here in the middle of the countryside.”
“Aye,” Kip said. “Valkuni, make yourself invisible and speak only to me until I order you otherwise.”
“Yes, master.” The demon’s crackly voice had barely finished speaking the words when its form faded from view.
“All right.” Kip walked back to the group, and Abel and Alice fell in alongside him. “We’ll have to prepare them all to be carried. The calyxes know what it’s like, but not everyone may. It can be disorienting if you haven’t had it done before.”
“I’ll get everyone together and warn them what’s coming,” Abel said. “And I’ll enlist Thomas and the Cottons as well.”
“I’ll start it slowly,” Kip promised, composing his order in his head. After a moment, Malcolm found them, and Kip asked if he or Alice could find any problem with his phrasing. Neither could, so when Abel finally came back and reported that everyone was ready, Kip gave Valkuni the order.
The group of Calatians rose half a foot in the air. Many oaths came, and one or two panicked and clung to each other, but on the whole they all handled it very well. The calyxes, used to being flown, helped comfort and orient the others. After a minute, people had calmed, and Kip moved them forward.
Nikolon was not much burden to Kip at all anymore, but Valkuni fought him at a low level every minute, taking a good deal of Kip’s concentration. “I’ll have to get us to the coast first, then rest before we go to the Road,” he told Malcolm, Alice, and Abel. “I can probably hold him for a while, but I can’t focus on much else while I’m doing it, not and have him keep everyone aloft.”
The journey went smoothly, with the exception of one or two sheep walls that Valkuni carelessly smacked people into before Kip amended his orders. Abel made a joke about how the walls wouldn’t stop sheep-Calatians, if there were such a thing, making everyone smile.
Kip and Alice and Malcolm made a small bet about whether they would see sunrise before the sea, and a side bet about whether Broadwood would wake before one or the other. Malcolm thought they were moving fast enough to reach the sea before the sun rose, but as it happened, the sun had been up for nearly an hour before the briny smell of ocean reached them.
