by Clark Bolton
Looking toward the kitchen, he wondered if he could sleep there for the night. He was sure he could unlock the door with a cantrip if need be. After the staff left he could do this, then get a fresh start in the morning. He then noticed a short man watching him.
The man didn’t look all that much like the other Pus-Don, though he was dressed like one. He was stockier and shorter and, with the fur cap he was wearing, looked exotic in some way.
After it became apparent the man wasn’t leaving, Ich-Mek said in a sarcastic tone, “You come to laugh at me?”
Instead of walking away, the man approached and asked, “You are a student?”
Ich-Mek took it as more of a statement than a question. “No,” he replied with a shake of his head as his heart began to race.
“You look lost. Do you not have a post to travel to?”
Ich-Mek felt nervous now, and tried to assure himself the man wasn’t looking at his ring, but failed. “I might go there later.”
“So you are a student.”
“If I am, you’re being rude.”
“You should go back to the school,” the man advised. “It gets cold here at night. No one to take you in.”
They were interrupted then by the sound of several riders approaching. The man looked out over the wall to the road below. He then waved to whomever it was. A short conversation followed, then much to Ich-Mek’s relief, the man ordered the men back up the road, saying, “I will watch here…best wait for me on the provincial-road.”
“You are a soldier?” Ich-Mek asked nervously as he began thinking about what spell to cast.
“I am whatever the Pus-Don need me to be.”
Ich-Mek nodded his head politely, then dared to ask, “Is there a river near here?”
The man frowned and stared at him longer than it should have taken for such an answer, Ich-Mek was sure. Finally, the man asked, “Why does Fu-Si look for a river?”
Ich-Mek started breathing fast as he backed up to the low wall that looked westward. Gazing down, he tried to determine if he could jump from where he was. Putting one foot on the wall, he then hesitated.
“Be careful, Fu-Si,” the man said in an apparent attempt to calm him. “Jump now and you’ll be in the river you’re looking for.”
The comment made Ich-Mek pull his foot down as he began frantically trying to determine the truth of what the man had said. How big was the Shu River, he asked himself as he gazed from the foot of the building to the base of the mountains.
“Does it go all the way?” Ich-Mek asked breathlessly as he began to feel dizzy.
“Yes, but if Fu-Si falls on his head, he won’t get across.”
Ich-Mek looked to the man in desperation. “You’d help me get across?”
“Why do you wish to cross?”
Ich-Mek ignored the question and looked away to the mountains again. “I have gold to pay you.”
The man sat down slowly before saying, “Gold isn’t why I sent my men to look elsewhere.”
“What, then?” Ich-Mek asked as he slid to the ground and hugged his knees to his chest. The world was spinning a little now as he continued to pant.
“I have need of your ring, Fu-Si,” the man told him as he gestured toward Ich-Mek’s left hand.
Panic caused Ich-Mek to rise again for a moment, until the man held up his hands to indicate he meant him no harm. Looking toward the steps that led down to the road, Ich-Mek wondered now if he could outrun the man.
“I will help you cross, if you will help me,” the man then said in a sincere tone.
Ich-Mek closed his eyes tightly for several moments, before fearing he was making a mistake by not watching the man closely. Opening his eyes once more, he saw that the man hadn’t moved, and looked as if he was calmly waiting for the kitchen to open again.
“I need to cross right now! Before the sun sets.”
“Well…what I ask of you can wait, but I think hiding tonight would be the wiser thing to do.”
Ich-Mek shook his head adamantly. “It must be before dark!”
The man nodded his head in understanding. “Don’t you wish to know what you will owe me?”
“I don’t care,” Ich-Mek admitted. “Help me cross the river…and get over those mountains. I’ll pay you whatever gold I have.”
“Ahh…no gold wanted, Fu-Si,” the man replied. “I need you to use that Ossaya ring…in my village.”
Ich-Mek looked down at his ring. “You mean Owesek?”
“Maybe,” the man admitted. “That ring, I’m sure, is what I need.”
“How do you know?”
“You are a dragon-mage! Dragon-mages have closed the temple…dragon-mages can open it.”
Ich-Mek was starting to feel better now, and so slowly slid onto a stool. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Yes, this I know. Come with me…my village is over those mountains.”
Ich-Mek turned to look across the wide river. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, I track and guide for the Pus-Don…I know.”
Ich-Mek stood and then reached down for his bag. “I swear, on my Owesek-ring, that if you help me I will go to your village with you.”
The ring suddenly got very warm on his finger, so much so that for a second Ich-Mek considered removing it. He couldn’t, though, he realized – that required a master.
“Done!” the man said as he spat in his hand and held it out toward Ich-Mek.
After some hesitation, and many impatient gestures from the man, Ich-Mek finally reciprocated, and the two sealed their bargain with a sloppy handshake. He got only two steps toward the road before the man suggested again that they find a place to hide for the night. Afterwards the man explained they could take the provincial-road, which would take them the long and safe way around the mountains.
“No!” said Ich-Mek adamantly. “Now, or no bargain.”
Chapter 15
His name was Tass, and Ich-Mek decided he looked more than competent. They were running at a slow pace, now, across the frozen Shu River – though Tass called it by another name. The man had made makeshift packs from the supplies he had taken off his mule, which had been in the stable behind the kitchen. When asked why they didn’t take the mule as well, Tass had replied it wouldn’t be of use on the ice, nor the mountains.
Ich-Mek’s bag was now in a thick hide pack, tied to his back by Tass. It was already slowing him down, and they had hardly begun to run. The things Tass had bought from the kitchen at the last moment – way more than Ich-Mek thought they needed – were also in his pack.
A day or two to climb over the mountains, he figured, then they would find Tass’s village. He didn’t want to think about what came after that.
“They chase us already!” Tass announced, after stopping ahead of Ich-Mek.
Turning back, Ich-Mek could see the soft glow of torches in the waning light. They were an hour behind them at least, he knew. He and Tass had walked at first, but then as the sun began to set, Ich-Mek had urged him to run.
“What have you done?” Tass asked as a frightened Ich-Mek ran past him.
“Nothing,” he claimed between ragged breaths.
“Regent thinks different,” Tass remarked as he passed him up.
“Like you…they want my ring!” Ich-Mek called after Tass.
“You mages kill each other for it?”
“No…doesn’t work that way!”
Tass then changed direction slightly, which confused Ich-Mek. They had been making for the nearest mountain, but now seemed to be heading off course.
“We need to get across!” Ich-Mek yelled breathlessly as he slowed to a walk.
“Not that mountain. We can’t climb it!” Tass called back.
“What?”
“There!” Tass yelled as he pointed between two peaks, which were a short distance from the one they had been heading toward. “That pass!”
Ich-Mek shook his head as he looked to the darkening sky. He then tried to calm himself by thinki
ng about the long time it would surely take for the Regent to summon a dragon; assuming Ober-Toss even could, Ich-Mek told himself. Suddenly he was reminded of his last encounter with a dragon.
“This way!” Ich-Mek yelled as he ran straight for the nearest mountain.
They had compromised, and so they had ended up on the far bank of the frozen river, at a point in-between. It was dark now, and though they could see the snowy landscape around them, they mostly concentrated on the points of light still crossing the river.
“You fear the Regent,” Tass announced as he began surveying the peaks around them.
Ich-Mek tried to read Tass’s face in the dark, but couldn’t. He was feeling guilty now about not mentioning what might come to chase them in the dark.
“I...don’t fear the Regent.”
“You don’t fear the Pus-Don?” Tass replied with some doubt in his voice.
“I do! But they won’t chase us much further.”
“Perhaps,” Tass replied, “you think we are in Teng-Ju province.”
“Aren’t we?” Ich-Mek asked in a panic.
“Ask the mountains.”
“What?”
Tass started climbing the steep slope, using a long pole he had brought to feel his way. “Will they lie for you?” Tass then asked.
“That doesn’t make any sense!”
“They will lie for the Pus-Don.”
Ich-Mek wasn’t sure what Tass meant as he started stumbling after his guide. He resisted casting a glow cantrip as that would obviously aid those tracking them; without it the climb was painstakingly slow.
When they got to the near-vertical slope of the mountain, they looked down to watch the Pus-Don for a while. They were in tighter groups on the river now, and Ich-Mek – try as he might – couldn’t tell how many there were by the number of lights alone.
“They are stopping, aren’t they?” Ich-Mek asked.
“For now,” Tass replied as he began fishing things out of his pack.
Soon Tass had him holding ropes and strange metal rings. Ich-Mek now wore a pair of fur-lined boots that Tass had found for him before they had left. To these Tass helped him strap iron pegs, which had points on them sharp enough to cut.
“Hold like so,” Tass told him as he put a strange-looking axe into Ich-Mek’s hand. “Now the other hand.”
“What do I need two for?” Ich-Mek asked.
Tass ignored the question then said, “Climb only when I tell you. Do not be impatient.”
Ich-Mek nearly rebuked the man for being so impertinent to him, then decided to just watch his guide slowly, step by step, climb out of reach. He hadn’t even realized Tass had tied a rope onto him until Tass yanked on it.
“Climb if you fear them,” Tass called down.
The first two steps were difficult, and he kept hitting rocks with his axe, instead of ice, which he had seen Tass aim for. He was about to step back down before Tass began hauling on the rope. This made it possible for Ich-Mek to make it up to where Tass stood.
“It is good you are a boy,” Tass hissed in the dark. “A weak man would be too heavy.”
Ich-Mek winced at the comment. He couldn’t stop his legs and arms from trembling, and wondered how they could possibly climb to the pass. Not even in daylight did he think he could do that.
“They are waiting on the river,” Tass announced after they had climbed in near silence for what to Ich-Mek seemed like hours. “We will find a ledge to sleep on.”
“No!” Ich-Mek whined breathlessly. “We have to keep going.”
“You can’t keep going!”
“I have to.”
“No! You may fall, even if I find us a ledge.”
Ich-Mek gave up arguing and just pressed his forehead against the ice and rock of the mountain. He wasn’t sure if he had possibly dozed off for a moment when suddenly Tass was hauling him sideways from a point way above. Minutes later, Tass pulled him by his pack up onto a ledge.
“We must hide,” Ich-Mek announced as soon as he caught his breath.
“Yes, in the morning they may see us from the river.”
Ich-Mek chuckled insanely for a moment as he lay exhausted, before finally yelling out in frustration, “It’s not the Regent I fear!”
“The Regent can hear you, Fu-Si,” Tass warned in a much softer voice.
“I don’t care…because the dragon will track us by our sweat, I’m sure.”
Tass exhaled sharply before slipping down to sit beside him. “You are a dragon-mage.”
“Yes! And…I have met a dragon. Now please believe me when I say one is coming.”
Tass was silent for a while before asking, “Will it fly beyond Key-Tar-Om?”
Ich-Mek scoffed at the question. “Will the mountains lie for it?” he asked in a sarcastic tone.
“No, they will not,” Tass replied in a sincere tone.
“They scatter and run,” Tass informed him as he was shaken awake by the man.
It was still dark, and despite trying hard not to, Ich-Mek had fallen asleep. Looking down to the river far below, he could see what Tass meant. The points of light had been huddled together when last he had seen them, but now they were scattered and moving. What’s more, they seemed to move in all directions.
Ich-Mek’s heart almost froze when he looked up to the sky and saw a shadow pass across the stars. He grabbed Tass’s leg and then his coat, and tried to quickly pull him down. After a moment, Tass didn’t resist, and soon both of them were hiding their faces, and hugging each other like frightened children.
It was like being dunked in ice-water, then let up to breathe for a moment, then being forced back down again. Each pass of the dragon ignited every emotion in them, then cruelly extinguished them as it left. Ich-Mek nearly jumped from the ledge at one point so frightened was he, but Tass held him back.
They were never sure the dragon saw them, nor sure if it crossed out of Key-Tar-Om at any time during its domination of the night sky. They only knew when it left. It was like waking from a nightmare and finding the sun had already risen.
“They are gone,” Ich-Mek announced when the first light of day revealed the river below them.
Tass sat up, then lowered his head in prayer. “May my friends be spared,” he whispered.
Ich-Mek couldn’t think the same. The Pus-Don were tools of the Regent, and should know better than to threaten a dragon-mage.
“Will they think us dead?” Ich-Mek asked hopefully.
Tass looked at him incredulously, then nodded his head. “The mountains will lie for us, I think.”
“Good! Now we have to climb, huh?”
“No, we wait three days, then we cross the river,” Tass informed him emotionlessly. “The provincial-road is a better route.”
Ich-Mek took a deep breath of mountain air before saying emphatically, “I can never set foot in Key-Tar-Om again. Never!”
“The mountains cannot be crossed!” Tass replied with equal emotion.
“Then why did you take me up here?”
“To show you the mountains cannot be crossed!”
Ich-Mek shook his head at the short man. “Can we follow the river?”
“There is a gorge to the south. They would easily see us approach.”
“But they think we are dead!”
Tass smiled thinly at him. “The Regent is a foolish man?”
“Ok!” Ich-Mek replied angrily after a pause. “Then how about north along the river?”
“It leads higher into the mountains. The valleys there are deep…there will be no bank of the river to walk on and the river will not be frozen.”
Ich-Mek already felt cramped sitting on the ledge, so suggested they climb to the top, to at least look. Reluctantly, Tass agreed, but only because he sought a way to the north, he said. Then he explained they might be able to find a way back to the river, at a point not watched.
“I can make us both lighter,” Ich-Mek announced after Tass had begun to climb.
“We have no
thing to spare,” Tass replied as he planted his axe carefully.
“That’s not what I mean,” Ich-Mek said irritably. “A spell…I’m a mage.”
Tass stopped climbing and looked down at him with concern. “What kind of spell?”
Ich-Mek closed his eyes for a moment to quell his rising impatience with the man. “Levitation spell…it will make you and me…and everything we carry…a lot lighter.”
“You are a dragon-mage.”
Ich-Mek wasn’t sure how to take that last statement, so he ignored it. Sitting down in the pre-dawn light, he began memorizing the spell from his spell-book. It had been one of those he had found in the library, and he could see now how useful it could be to a climber.
Tass became impatient with him, and then finally climbed back down to the ledge to wait. When Ich-Mek finally rose, he gave no warning before casting the spell and reaching out to touch the man.
“Why are you shuddering?” Ich-Mek demanded to know when Tass began to wiggle about in revulsion.
“Magic is not for men.”
“Why not?” Ich-Mek chuckled. “Who is it for, then?”
“Dragon-men!”
“I’m not a dragon-man…I’m a dragon-mage! Now wiggle up the mountain.”
Ich-Mek could see the man become even more frightened, when, with just a wave of his hand, he made Tass rise effortlessly upward. He had to admit he found it very disconcerting as well, when he did the same to himself.
Tass still insisted on using the ropes, and axes, which Ich-Mek found silly at first. But when a gust of wind nearly separated him from the rock face, he was more than glad to have rope to hold on to.
By noon they had reached the top of the pass, and so found themselves on a ridge running off toward the west. There was no other direction accessible to them, so Tass reluctantly led them along the ridge.
The views were stunning at first, but it wasn’t long before they found them more daunting then beautiful. When they could walk atop the ridges, they made good time, but often they had to climb either up or down to get to the next section. It was snowing also, which was of concern to Ich-Mek, seeing how deep some of the snow drifts were already.
