01 - The Price of Talent

by Peter Whittlesey

  Devlin then put down his bow, drew his sword and walked down to the scene of the battle to check on Bevan. Tiernan followed suit, leaving me alone in the woods. So, in a daze, I followed the rest of them down to the ambush site.

  When I arrived, I wished I had stayed in the woods. The smell of burnt flesh, and the sound of crackling, like bacon just out of the pan, made me retch. I don’t recall how I ended up on all fours on the ground, but I was glad to be there as I proceeded to throw up everything I had ever eaten in my entire life. I spent the next few minutes being violently ill.

  “Bevan, are you ok?” Said Devlin sheathing his sword.

  “Yeah, I’m all right I think,” said Bevan. “Thanks to those fire arrows, you guys really saved my bacon. I thought I was done for with the horseman coming at me while I was covered by the guy with the crossbow. By the way, how did you hit him from the other side of the carriage?”

  “A very good question,” said Devlin. “Especially considering we don’t have any fire arrows.”

  “I think your questions are better directed to Tyr,” said Tiernan.

  “He seems a little busy losing his lunch,” said Bevan. “And he also doesn’t appear to have any fire arrows either.”

  “I think, once he’s done with what he’s doing, we all need to have a little talk,” said Devlin. “But first we have more pressing concerns. Namely, the guard that got away. We need to clean this up as quickly as we can, empty the carriage of any useful goods, then get the hell out of here.”

  To this suggestion, everyone was in agreement. Devlin, Bevan and Tiernan quickly unloaded the carriage. Inside they found a couple of chests full of coins, and a variety of weapons and equipment. The chests were unloaded first, then the weapons. It was a lot to unload, just the four of us, but it was accomplished quite quickly.

  “All this gear presents us with a problem,” said Devlin.

  “Yeah, Sapphire hasn’t come back from the longhouse yet with the cart Jarvis took,” said Bevan.

  “Do you think we could load up the carriage and take it with us?” asked Tiernan.

  “It’s a little big for the footpaths we use,” said Devlin. “I think we need to move this gear by hand off the road and to our campsite.”

  “We’ll also need to get rid of the carriage and bodies,” said Tiernan.

  “A couple miles down the road there is a clearing,” said Devlin. “I think we put the bodies in the carriage, move the carriage to the field, then set the whole thing on fire.”

  “Won’t that draw attention to what just happened?” Said Bevan.

  “Yes, hence taking the carriage a few miles away,” said Devlin.

  “Why not just bury the bodies?” Said Tiernan.

  “And what do we do with the carriage?” said Devlin. “Or the horses for that matter.”

  “Do we need more horses?” Asked Bevan.

  “We already have one for each cart,” said Tiernan. “More than that will just eat away at our supplies of animal feed and hay.”

  “Exactly,” said Devlin. “Which is why I think towing all this to the clearing a few miles away, releasing the horses, and then burning the whole thing down is a good idea. Make it look like they built a fire too close to the carriage. Make it look like an accident.”

  “Won’t the guard who escaped tell people what really happened?” Asked Tiernan.

  “Unfortunately, yes,” said Devlin. “However, we want to be well away from here by the time the authorities come. In the meantime we don’t want to alert any patrols that happen by here. We need time to clear out.”

  “Sapphire should be coming by any day now with the cart,” Tiernan said. “Once she’s arrived at our camp, we can move the money and equipment back to the longhouse and move to another ambush site.”

  “As far from here as we can manage,” said Bevan.

  With that decided, we proceeded to move the goods off the road and back to the overlook site. This was harder work than you might imagine. The chests were especially heavy and awkward. It didn’t help that I was still fighting nausea and was quite weak in the knees. Still, the work was done as quickly as the four of us could manage. Putting the bodies in the carriage was an even less pleasant experience. The smell of burnt flesh in the carriage was alarming. Fortunately, Devlin spared me from actually carrying the burnt corpses. He and Bevan got those, Tiernan and I still had to move the non-burnt corpses, which was unpleasant enough. Once everything was loaded up, Devlin got into the driver’s seat of the carriage.

  “Tyr, why don’t you come with me,” said Devlin. “Let Tiernan and Bevan move the goods from the overlook to the campsite.”

  “Uh, ok,” I said, just realizing it is the first thing I had uttered in quite some time.

  Surprisingly, or perhaps not, Bevan and Tiernan offered no arguments to this. They just collected their things, and headed off to the overlook where we had stored the money and equipment. When they set out into the woods, I got up on the bench beside Devlin, not wanting to get inside the cabin with the corpses. Once up, Devlin snapped the reins and the horses set off down the road.

  “All right Tyr,” said Devlin, once we had been on the road for a little while. “What happened back there?”

  “Uh, you mean during the ambush?” I said, lamely.

  “Yes, then.”

  “Bevan was almost killed,” I said.

  “There is that, yes,” said Devlin. “But that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m referring to how he was saved.”

  “Ah, yes… you mean the… um… fire?” I said.

  “That’s exactly what I mean,” said Devlin. “But there is more than that. All those men that were killed were wearing amulets under their armor. The same amulets that were on the Inquisitors we rescued you from.”

  “Oh shit, No!” I stammered, true shock and fear filling me when I heard him.

  “Yes,” said Devlin. “I didn’t point this out to the others because I wanted to talk to you first. Why are inquisitors after you Tyr?”

  “Oh no!” I said. “No, no, no! They’re still after me? They weren’t just guarding the money?”

  “No, Tyr, they weren’t,” said Devlin. “Tax collectors and transporters often have guards, but they are rarely that well-armed, and they almost always give up without a fight. These guys didn’t even attempt to avoid a fight. They were out for blood from the moment Bevan introduced himself.”

  Upon hearing that, the nausea and weakness flashed through me again. Devlin had to grab my shoulder to keep me from falling out of the cart. My head was pounding all of a sudden and the world was spinning.

  Now you’ve really stepped in it kid!

  Oh god, not you, not now.

  Of course me. Who else would have any insights in your current situation and be able to talk to you telepathically.

  I… I don’t know what to do. If I tell him the truth and he throws me out, where do I go? What if he turns me over to the Inquisition? I, I have no idea what to do.

  First things first. Man the hell up.

  WHAT?!

  I didn’t know it was possible for someone to snivel and whine telepathically, but you just fucking managed it.

  I’m in a lot of trouble here.

  Then why don’t you use your brain?

  What?

  Think for a moment you moron. He asked you on this trip for a reason. Bevan and Tiernan made no objections to you not helping them carry some really heavy equipment. He has already pointed out that he knows the Inquisitors are after you.

  What are you getting at?

  HE KNOWS YOU LIT THOSE MEN ON FIRE WITH MAGIC! Now it’s up to you to decide how to spin the situation. You either tell him the truth, and face the consequences, or lie to a greater or lesser extent, and face possibly different consequences.

  If he already knows, then lying is not going to do anything but make me look either childish or untrustworthy. Either way, that won’t help me staying with them will it?

  See, now you’re using
your head. Now talk to Devlin.

  “Tyr? You feeling ok?” Asked Devlin, still holding my shoulder to make sure I didn’t fall out.

  “Honestly? No, I have not felt right in months,” I said.

  I then proceeded to tell him everything. I told him about how the Inquisitors ambushed me and the family at the farm. How I woke in the hospital to find out my farm was destroyed and everyone but me presumed dead because nothing was found of them. How I was found with my sword. How I can call it to me whenever I need it. How I was captured by the Inquisition at the mayor’s house. How since joining their band of highway robbers I had been practicing my magic in secret, lighting candles and melting ice while there was still ice to melt. The only parts I left out were how my sword talked to me, because I didn’t want to appear crazy as well as dangerous, and how Ross also had some skill with magic and had tried to help me. I then told him how, when I fumbled the reload with my bow, and Bevan was in danger, I panicked and started lighting his assailants on fire.

  After these revelations, there was a period of silence as Devlin let it all sink in and thought things over.

  “Tyr, if I hadn’t seen those men burst into flames, I would not have believed you,” said Devlin. “But I did see. I also have seen what fire arrows actually do when they hit things, and unless those things are soaked in oil, they do not burst into flames like that. I have even heard of flour dust causing explosions in storehouses, but obviously there was no flour back there.”

  “Please don’t send me away!” I stammered, in a near panic at the tone in his voice. “I don’t know what the Inquisition wants with me and I don’t want to know. It can’t be anything good!”

  “Calm down Tyr,” said Devlin, a bit surprised at my reaction. “No one is sending you away. I already have one… talented… member of our little family. I’m not prejudiced against the unnatural.”

  “Another talented person?” I asked, pretending I did not know about Ross.

  “Yes, and you know it already too,” said Devlin. “Ross spent months healing me after your rescue and I healed at a remarkable rate for someone as inured as I was. I know about his healing skills, how they are not entirely based on his ability to make bandages.”

  “Oh, um, yeah…” I said. “I didn’t want to reveal his secret. He said people are unlikely to react favorably to knowing about our talents.”

  “I understand, and your loyalty to him in these matters says a lot about your character,” said Devlin. “And he is right, thanks to the church’s teachings many people do look down on magic. But you have found yourself surrounded by outlaws, people not exactly favored by society. So we are about as sympathetic a group as you will find.”

  “Thanks…” I said. “Thanks for being understanding. I… Don’t have anywhere else to go. I worry I am putting everyone in danger though… Since it looks like the Inquisition has not given up looking for me.”

  “Tyr, we’re highway robbers,” said Devlin with a smile. “The authorities are already out to get us. Most of us fled our former lives only a few minutes before the local constables or church police came to arrest us. It’s not like we were model citizens to begin with.”

  “Thanks, for… well… everything I guess,” I said, quite relieved again that I was not being turned out.

  “This does raise a question though,” said Devlin. “What exactly are you capable of?”

  “Honestly, I don’t know,” I said. “Before I started practicing with heat and fire, I couldn’t really manage anything on purpose. I would get headaches and then things would explode. Practicing has helped me channel my energies into things, and keeps the headaches at bay. But, aside from lighting fires, I have no idea.”

  “Interesting,” said Devlin. “Well, I think we can make use of the fire starting abilities anyway…”

  I was a bit apprehensive upon hearing that, but then I wasn’t really in a position to say anything about it either. After all, things had gone much better than I had really thought they might. I didn’t want to rock the boat.

  A little while later, we arrived at the clearing. Getting the carriage out into the field took more effort than I had thought it might. The field was excessively muddy, and the wheels got stuck on quite a few occasions. Still, we did manage to get it out in the middle. Then Devlin undid the hitches on the horses, and smacked them each on the bottom to start them running away. Of course, they didn’t really go that far, just to another part of the field in the clearing where they immediately began eating the grass and flowers.

  “I think they will get the picture better once the carriage is on fire,” said Devlin.

  “So, how are we lighting it on fire,” I asked.

  “How indeed?” said Devlin with a smile. “Why don’t you do it?”

  “With what?...” I said, then felt dumb. “Oh, with magic… All right… Uh, it’s quite a bit bigger than candles and camp fires…”

  “It’s made of wood though,” said Devlin. “Think of this as a good opportunity to test yourself.”

  “Ok,” I said, with a little trepidation.

  Without any excuses at hand to delay things, I turned and faced the carriage. For the first time I really looked at it beyond just registering it was there. It was much bigger than the carts we used at the longhouse, bigger even than the cart we used back at the farm to carry our excess goods to market. It had a roof, and was even painted. In many ways it was quite a nice carriage.

  “Tyr, stop stalling, we have a long walk back,” said Devlin.

  At a loss of what else to do, and realizing he was right, I had been stalling, I started to concentrate on the carriage. I reached deep and found my store of anger and frustration, and slowly focused it on the side of the carriage. The paint on the side of the carriage started to blister and pop, even smoke, but no fire. So I dug deeper and opened up the taps a little more, and then flames appeared on the side of the carriage. But even so, it was not exactly going up in flames. Fortunately, this annoyed me greatly, so I used that too. Finally, a real fire started and quickly covered the whole carriage.

  “That’s good Tyr, I think you can stop now,” said Devlin.

  So I released my concentration, and just about fell over backwards.

  “Funny, when you were in the fight earlier, you made those people burst into flames,” said Devlin. “That seemed to take a great deal more effort.”

  “I was panicking during the fight. I don’t know how I did what I did there,” I said as I regained my balance. “When I do it on purpose, it’s much harder, and much more exhausting.”

  “Interesting,” said Devlin. “Keep working at it then. Maybe it’s like sword fighting. You don’t become a master overnight.”

  “Yeah, all Ross said was to keep working at it so I could better control it, and so that I could minimize accidents,” I said.

  “Regardless, I think, it’s time to hit the road,” said Devlin. “We have a few miles to walk before we get back to camp, and that bonfire you just lit is going to attract attention, assuming there is anyone on the road to spot the smoke.”

  We then turned our backs to the carriage, and headed back to the road. I looked back just once and was happy to see that the fire had indeed scared the horses off. I hoped they found their way back home. Or if not home, someplace safe. Then, with Devlin in the lead, we walked all the way back to camp.

  Chapter 14.

  “So, how’d the little bonfire turn out?” Bevan asked as we arrived back at camp.

  “Quite well. The horses are free, the carriage was a ball of flames as we left, and the bodies were inside,” said Devlin. “With any luck they will be completely consumed in the conflagration.”

  “Will it look enough like an accident to fool anyone?” Asked Tiernan.

  “Honestly, probably not,” said Devlin. “But then it doesn’t have to keep them confused all that long. It just needs to keep them off our trail long enough for us to relocate.”

  “So, did Tyr tell you his little secret?” As
ked Tiernan.

  “Yup he did,” said Devlin with a smile. “Seems Tyr has an affinity for fires, or at least can start them easily enough.”

  “Certainly explains all the melt holes in the snow banks around the longhouse,” said Bevan.

  “You… all… already knew?” I stammered.

  “You may be a clever kid, but you aren’t clever enough,” said Tiernan. “We figured you were up to something when you spent so much time outside after archery practice and sword practice.”