01 - The Price of Talent

by Peter Whittlesey

  “Are you really claiming that the Church is short of funds?” scoffed Devlin. “Now that is rich. Why, your carriage alone is likely worth enough to feed and house these people for a year, assuming that’s what you actually are going to use this money for.”

  While this banter was going on, I heard rustling behind us in the woods. I turned to look, and thought I saw something or some things moving through the trees behind us. I could not be sure. I was about to alert Bevan when I saw one of the guards put his hands on his sword hilt.

  “Now, now,” said Devlin, ever on the alert. “There is no need for that. My compatriots in the woods have arrows trained right at you. Touching steel is a good way to ensure your family is on the list needing pension and widow benefits.”

  “Ah, yes, friends in the woods” said the priest. “Unfortunately for you young man, this is not an entirely novel concept to me.

  And just as he said that, four guards with cross bows drawn and loaded came out of the trees behind where we were standing. I think I managed an “Oh SHIT!” before I hopped around to the other side of the tree for cover. Bevan and Sapphire had the same thought. Suddenly we were in a very tense situation indeed. We three were pinned down by four crossbowmen with our backs to Devlin. He was facing two mounted guards, the driver and the priest. I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up as everything froze for just a moment.

  Then all hell broke loose. Bevan and Sapphire loosed their arrows at the crossbow men, hitting their targets in the chest. It was such short range it was hard to miss. The two crossbow men who had not been hit by arrows returned fire. One bolt hitting the tree Sapphire was hiding behind, the other hitting Bevan in the shoulder he had exposed to shoot his arrow. I then returned fire with my arrow and took a third crossbowman in the forearm of the arm he was using to hold up his crossbow.

  I quickly readied another an arrow and shot again at one of the crossbow men, narrowly missing his head, while Bevan and Sapphire took down two of the three wounded crossbowmen. The uninjured crossbow man, seeing this, dropped his crossbow and drew his sword. The man I had shot also dropped his crossbow, not being able to hold it properly with an arrow through his forearm, drew his sword and came at the three of us.

  I reached for an arrow and found the ones I had set up were out of reach. I had apparently been unconsciously backing away slowly. Worse, I had left my quiver on the other side of the tree. With no other options, I discarded my bow and drew my sword.

  Finally some real action. You sure took your sweet time getting me into the game.

  As he said this Bevan and Sapphire had also drawn swords and were engaging the two crossbowmen left standing, Bevan with mighty swings of his thick broadsword, and Sapphire with fast darting movements like a fencer. Still they seemed not to need my help.

  Just as I was thinking this Sapphire yelled at me.

  “GO HELP DEVLIN! HE’S OUTNUMBERRED THREE TO ONE!”

  Yes, let’s go help Devlin, with us there the odds are even!

  I’m not sure about your math there.

  You, me, Devlin versus two guards and the driver. You don’t think the old priest is going to join in the melee do you?

  Probably not, his staff didn’t look like it would make much of a weapon.

  So I ran down to the barricade as fast as I could in armor and carrying a drawn sword. This is surprisingly difficult, armor is never heavier than when you are sprinting, and a blade is never more awkward to carry as when the image of you tripping, falling and impaling yourself on it is running through your mind. Still I managed to get there in short order.

  As I was running, I saw that Devlin had jumped behind the barricade and was using it to help negate the advantage the men on horseback had. Still, the driver had drawn his sword and was circling around to engage him. Meanwhile the men on horseback had circled back and looked like they were going to run and jump the barricade, so as to trap Devlin on the other side between the barricade and their horses. If they jumped that barricade it was going to go badly for Devlin, no matter how skilled with a sword he was.

  As they turned their horses and started to gallop at the barricade, Devlin engaged with the driver. I was still some ways away from the barricade as I ran to intercept. As the horses approached the barricade, I saw Devlin parrying some blows inexpertly thrown at him by the driver with his sword. Knowing things were about to go badly, and that I was too far away still to help, I did the only thing I could think of, I lit the barricade on fire.

  There was a loud “FWOOSH!” as the barricade ignited and 10 foot flames jumped up from it. The horses, seeing this, immediately stopped short, skidding to a halt in front of the barricade. This sudden stop caused both of the riders to be violently thrown from the backs of their horses. One of them was thrown onto the burning barricade, the other slid to within inches of the open flames. Meanwhile, things were going badly for the driver of the carriage. Devlin had stopped parrying and moved into an attack sequence and was giving the driver all he could handle. It would not be long now before Devlin finished him off.

  As I arrived at the barricade, Devlin disarmed the driver and had the point of his sword at the man’s throat. Of the two guards on horseback, the one that had hit the ground had pulled the one that had hit the flaming barricade off it and was trying to put out the fire on his clothes and in his hair. Bevan and Sapphire were still on the edge of the woods having a sword fight with the guards there, but he and Sapphire looked like they were winning, as the guards were bleeding from quite a few wounds.

  During all this commotion, the priest had just stood there. As I came to a halt in front of him, he smiled.

  “And now our honored guest arrives,” he said with a rictus grin. “I think that’s quite enough of all this nonsense.”

  And then there was a loud bang and a flash of light. The impact was both aural and visual. I found myself on the ground and didn’t remember falling. I blinked my eyes and looked around. Devlin was sitting down behind the barricade blinking and shaking his head. The driver of the carriage was on the ground twitching. The guards Bevan and Sapphire had been fighting were down as well, one run through by Bevan’s blade, the other knocked over by the impact of whatever the priest has done. Sapphire was on her knees rubbing her eye with one hand and searching blindly for her sword with the other.

  “Ah, good,” said the priest. “Much more civilized. We have expended far more effort and lost far more lives collecting you than anyone I can remember in a long time. I think it’s time you took a little nap young one.”

  And as soon as he said that, he looked me in the eyes, smiled, and the world disappeared into darkness.

  Chapter 15.

  I woke up in the dark. Not just the dark of night, because that has some faint residual light you can see by once your eyes adjust, but complete darkness. The absence of all light. I found myself lying on what felt like a stone floor. It was well worn, but you could still feel the slight cracks where the stones were joined.

  As I sat up, I realized I had a blistering headache. I immediately put my head in my hands and curled up into a little ball. It was some time until I thought about much else. Once the headache subsided, I tried to gather my thoughts. I remembered the ambush of the carriage going wrong… But not much after that. I had some fleeting images of boots and the hem of a white robe, like I was lying on the floor near someone. But these were just detached fleeting images. Perhaps moments of consciousness? I couldn’t figure it out.

  Also, I noted that I was clothed only in my underwear. I wasn’t chained up, like I was in prison, but I did not have any possessions besides the cloth of my underwear. I also felt like something important wasn’t there… But I had a hard time focusing on what that was. As I stood up to better understand my surroundings it hit me that my sword was gone. This was odd as all my previous excursions into oblivion resulted in it appearing at my side while I slept.

  Deciding to take one thing at a time, I walked around with my hands out to try and fee
l out where I was. This did not take a long time. I seemed to be in a stone room that was about 10 feet by 10 feet. When I reached my hands above my head, I could feel stone there as well at the tips of my fingers. So I imagined the ceiling was between 7 and 8 feet off the ground. Also, in the very center of the room was a metal grate. The bars were securely set into the stone, and the floor had a gradual slant towards the grate. I figured it must have been some sort of central drain, likely for bathroom duties. This latter assumption was backed up by the faint hint of sewer or midden smell that wafted up from the drain.

  The oddest part of the room was that I could not tell where the entrance was. There seemed to be no way to get in, or out, of this room. With nothing else to do, I tested the grate to see if it was possible to move or bend the bars. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get it to so much as rattle. It seemed that the bars were set deep into the stone, and that any attempts to bend them with physical force was going to meet with failure. I tried anyway, but my failure was inevitable.

  With nothing else to do, I tried to focus some amount of magical power, if only to give me some light to see by. Unfortunately, with nothing to focus on, I did not accomplish much. I had to choose between using the cloth of my underwear as a wick, or put up with the darkness. Modesty won out, and I went without light.

  My next attempt was at summoning my sword. I imagined it in my hand and tried to focus my powers into making it appear. Unfortunately, nothing happened. So I focused harder, and still nothing happened. I focused so hard that my headache started to return in force. I focused so hard that my hands and feet went cold, and then almost lost feeling. I focused until the air around me was frosty cold. Then I released it into my image of my sword. This last time it appeared.

  It did not appear in my hand though. It clattered to the ground at my feet. My fingers were so numb that I must have dropped it. Also, I was suddenly feeling very, very weak. Like I had just been running in full armor carrying a bale of hay. I slumped over and managed a sitting position. I just sat there for minutes breathing hard and trying not to pass out. When I finally caught my breath and had some feeling back in my hands and feet, I reach out and picked up my sword.

  Quite a mess you have gotten us into.

  Me?

  Yes, you. I was happy in a warm storeroom surrounded by all sorts of interesting stuff. Quite a bit more interesting to look at than the inside of a lean-to.

  Do you know where we are?

  Not a clue. It seems like a dark room or cell.

  I sort of had figured that out.

  Well, then you are ahead of me in figuring out where we are. Honestly, I think I would have preferred staying in the storeroom. You aren’t a brilliant conversationalist, and the views in here are terrible.

  It’s just me and a drain that I think is supposed to be used as a latrine.

  Exactly my point.

  Not knowing what else to do, but feeling oddly comforted having my sword with me again, I settled myself into a seating position in a corner. With my sword in my lap, and my hands on my sword, I was as comfortable as I could hope to be. From there, I must have fallen into a deep sleep.

  I awoke to the sound of steps above me. They were oddly muffled, letting me know that the stone above me seemed to be as thick as the stone below me. There was a bunch of such noises, and then a long pause. Then I heard a loud scraping noise. A rumble of stone on stone. Then suddenly there was light.

  At first the light was blinding. But my eyes got used to it after a few seconds. I saw one of the stones in the roof above me had been raised by some hidden mechanism. Then a set of heavy wooden steps were lowered into my cell. Down the steps came a set of feet. I was expecting heavy hobnailed boots like a guard would be wearing. Instead it was a pair of almost dainty slippers, small ankles and a white dress.

  Needless to say this surprised. It surprised me enough that I did not draw my sword and rush the stairs. In hindsight, I should have planned better for a situation like this, but in my defense, I was still disoriented from my surprising change in circumstance.

  As the girl descended, and girl she appeared to be, I saw that she was attired in a white dress, had blond hair, and that her hair was done up in a braid and held back by the sort of headwear worn by nurses. I saw all of this through the stairs, as the hatch had opened opposite to me, and the stairs descended away from me. As she turned around, I realized that I knew this girl.

  “M… Meredith? Is that really you?” I asked.

  “Tyr? Are you awake? It’s so dark in here…”

  Then the noise of other feet descending the stairs interrupted us. This time it was three sets of feet. Two were definitely of the large hobnailed variety. The third though was in more comfortable looking footwear. It was descending slowly, using a cane, and was also wearing all white.

  When he rounded the corner, with two guard behind him, I could tell that he looked familiar as well. He was the same older man that had stepped out of the carriage.

  “Ah, Tyr, good to see you’re awake,” he said.

  At the sound of his voice I drew my sword, but I did not make any sudden moves, as he had two armed guards with him. These two were wearing chainmail, had swords at their hips and were carrying truncheons. All three paused for a second beside Meredith as they all noticed simultaneously that I was armed.

  “Well, well, Tyr, from where did you get that?” Asked the old man in white.

  “You want us to take it from him?” Asked one of the guards.

  “I wanted you to disarm him before we put him in here,” said the old man with an edge to his voice.

  “Uh, we had sir. We left him here with only his small clothes on,” said the other guard.

  “I see…” said the old man. “Well, Tyr, this can go one of two ways. You can rush us in an attempt to find freedom, but one against three is terrible odds. Or you can put down your sword and we can have a conversation.”

  I paused and looked around. Unfortunately, I was nearly naked, weak from hunger and my efforts of summoning my sword, while they were armed and armored and had Meredith near at hand to use as a human shield. I did not like my chances. So I put my sword back in its sheath and propped it in the corner. Then I sat in front of it with my hands on my knees.

  “Ah, that’s a good boy. I had worried I would have to resort to violence,” said the old man. “Such a messy business. I much prefer rhetoric and communication to brutality.”

  While he was saying this Meredith looked extremely uncomfortable, and the guards looked nonplussed. But they also looked ready to use their truncheons, so I decided that discretion was still the best plan.

  “Now that we are all happy and calm,” said the old man. “Let me introduce myself. I am Claudius Frollovius, I am the priest in charge of the inquisition in these parts. I was fortunate to find you on the road between Sudchester and your home town of Forsburg. I would hate to have lost too many more of my men trying to find you.”

  “What of my friends?” I asked.

  “Who? Oh yes, the bandits that you were with,” said Claudius. “Once you were in the land of dreams, things started going badly for them I’m afraid. After a few failed attempts to take you back, my men chased them back into the woods.”

  “They’re ok then?” I asked.

  “Well, they were when I left with you,” said Claudius. “Once they were on the run, I called my remaining men back to transport you here to Caer Sud. It seemed pointless to waste more men chasing them down. I left it to the local authority to root them out of the woods.”

  “Ah… I see.” I said evenly.

  “You can only let weeds grow for so long before they start taking over your garden,” said Claudius. “But this is not why I have come.”

  “Oh?” I said. “Then why are you here?”

  “Why, to check on you,” he said. “I even brought your favorite nurse with me. I figured a familiar face would help you adjust to your new circumstance.”

  “So that’s why Meredit
h is here?” I asked.

  “Well, no, that’s why she’s here in your quarters right now,” said Claudius. “Now dear, would you be so nice as to make sure Tyr is not suffering any lasting harm from his journey? That’s a good lass.”

  With that prompt, Meredith made her way over to me. She had me stand, looked into my eyes, asked me if I was in pain, and generally made sure I was ok. She seemed genuinely concerned with how cold my hands and feet were and how cold it still was in the cell.

  “He’s ok, except for being almost hypothermic,” she said to Claudius, after checking my vitals.

  “Hypothermic you say?” He said, seemingly to be genuinely interested. “My, my, Tyr, I think I know how you managed to get a hold of your sword… Meredith, thank you my dear. Please, go see to your other patients. Don’t let us hinder you.”