by Jaxon Reed
THIEVES & WIZARDS
JAXON REED
CONTENTS
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Epilogue
Dramatis Personae
THIEVES & WIZARDS
THE FORLORN DAGGER BOOK 1
Copyright © 2016 Jaxon Reed
Cover art by JH Illustration, jeaninehenning.com
Published by edbok.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
www.jaxonreed.com
FOR JENNIFER
PROLOGUE
“Come on, Nanny!”
The young prince giggled and ran toward the center of the palace garden.
Isabeth ran faster, her concern rising.
“Your Highness! Come back, we shouldn’t stray so far from your guards!”
The little boy stopped and turned suddenly, a serious look on his face.
“I saw a pixie, Nanny! A real pixie! It had wings and sparkled and—”
He turned quickly toward something in the corner of his eye.
“There it is!”
He ran off. Isabeth started to run after him but stopped when she heard shouting, and the clanging of swords.
She looked behind her, and watched in horror as all four of the prince’s guards were struck down in a fury of blades and arbalest bolts.
The attackers turned toward the interior of the garden. One of them pointed at her and shouted. They began moving her way.
She turned and ran.
“Your Highness!”
She rounded a corner in the path and pulled up short. The little prince stood before an older man dressed in simple robes that seemed drab and colorless. He had long blonde hair and a long blonde beard, both streaked with gray. In his left hand, he held a staff topped by a stone pulsing in light. He held his right hand out, palm up, with a pixie floating above his fingers.
Isabeth took it all in at a glance. The pixie seemed bright and colorful, blue light flashing around her. Four small wings beating fast as a hummingbird’s helped her float in place above the wizard’s hand. The prince seemed bedazzled, holding his face so close his nose almost touched her.
The wizard looked up at Isabeth and smiled.
“Aha! You must be Nanny.”
A shout from one of the swordsmen approaching snapped the attention of everyone back to the path.
“You should come with us, Nanny. Else, I fear your life is forfeit.”
“Come where?” Isabeth said, confused.
“Think of it as an adventure! Besides, your prince will need you.”
With a flourish of his robes, they disappeared, just before a swordsman ran around the bend.
CHAPTER 1
Captain Tomlin rode point, at the front left of dual columns. To his right rode Assistant Captain Borrel. Behind them twelve additional lancers followed, their royal orange-red leather armor shining in the sun.
All the men were fit, young soldiers. Most were blonde, typical of their region. They rode with lances pocketed, pointed up, one hand steadying the lance and one hand holding the reins.
Behind the lancers, six horses pulled a royal carriage painted the same shade of orange-red as their armor. Inside sat Her Highness, Princess Margwen, fifth born of the King and Queen of Coral, and her Lady in Waiting, Anabella.
Behind the carriage a full compliment of twenty pikemen followed on foot, marching in formation quickly in order to stay up with the horses, carrying pikes at an angle over their shoulders.
Tomlin’s eyes narrowed as the road wound its way through the surrounding woods.
“Don’t look so tense, Cap’n. Ain’t nothin’ out here to worry yerself about.”
The blond and sunburned Borrel was lower born than most Coral officers. He showed it in his speech, Tomlin thought. Borrel’s rank, however, had been gained by merit rather than family connections. Tomlin had asked for him specifically to accompany the Royal Guard on this trip.
“There’s always something to worry about, Borrel.”
A bend in the road ahead worried Tomlin now, and as their procession approached the curve he made out a curious figure standing on a large boulder beside the road.
Tomlin held his fist in the air, bringing everyone to a halt. Borrel pulled up even with Tomlin, and squinted at the figure in the distance, placing a hand above his brow for a better look.
“What be this? A vagrant? A leper maybe? His clothes look like rags at this distance, Cap’n.”
Tomlin regarded the figure in silence for a moment, caution stirring in his gut.
“Could be a wizard.”
Borrel guffawed.
“Ay, now, Cap’n. And which of the twelve wizards would be out here in the middle of nowheres?”
Tomlin didn’t answer.
The curious ragdoll character on the boulder began dancing in a circle, his arms waving wildly.
A flash of light burst from the sky, and fireballs rained down on the party. They hissed through the air and exploded on contact. Six of Tomlin’s lancers were killed instantly, along with their horses. The air filled with cries of surprise and pain, along with the final throes of man and beast.
“Dismount! Disburse! Take cover!”
Tomlin and Borrel jumped off their horses and threw themselves behind a boulder as more fireballs rained down death and destruction. Tomlin watched as two of his lancers straggled to the other side of the road, hiding behind trees. He grimaced as all their remaining horses were struck by fire, dying instantly in explosions of smouldering flesh.
The pikemen ran to the front of the line. Tomlin noted with detached satisfaction that one of them had the wherewithal to grab the carriage’s two lead horses, helping to keep them calm. The driver fought mightily with their reins and they may have broken had it not been for the quick-thinking piker.
Tomlin raised his head and shouted orders from behind the rock.
“A wizard! Take cover!”
Most either didn’t hear or ignored him, and raced forward among the burning and dying horses, pikes stretched out in front.
The wizard twirled his hands again, and another round of fireballs poured down, killing most of the pikemen instantly.
The wizard yelled a command, and a dozen men leapt from the road’s surrounding trees and underbrush. He climbed down from the boulder, and approached the carriage and the carnage along with the men.
The wizard’s men raced forward in a rage, quickly slicing down the remaining pikemen, and anyone still living. Despite the advantage of their longer weapons, the few remaining pikemen standing were disoriented and distraught from the wizardry. One of the wizard’s men jumped up onto the driver’s seat of the royal carriage and stabbed the driver.
“Who are they?” Borrel whispered.
“Not sure. They’re not wearing colors.”
“Who’s the wizard?”
“It has to be Darkstone. No other wizard would attack a peaceful party this way, murdering everybody.”
Borrel snorted.
�
��I don’t trust any wizard. They’d attack anybody if it suited them.”
INSIDE THE CARRIAGE Margwen held Deedles, the blind cat, close to her chest.
Deedles’ fur glowed all white. Her eyes were mostly pink. She rocked her head back and forth, occasionally batting the air with a paw at something only she could see. Margwen stretched her neck up, trying to see out the carriage’s high windows.
“Stay down, Your Highness!”
“I will not stay down! Not while the men sworn to protect me are dying out there.”
The princess shook her blonde locks in frustration at Lady Anabella. The older woman glared back at her, and bit off the sharp rebuke on her tongue.
Anabella had served the younger woman her entire life, first as a nursemaid and nanny, then as a Lady in Waiting. Now the princess neared twenty years of age, and Anabella found herself well into her fifties, graying and growing older by the day it seemed. And in the fullness of her years, she considered herself wiser than the princess.
Her wisdom also dictated it was not a good idea to let the princess know she was wiser. It simply would not do to fuss at Margwen in this time of great danger, Anabella decided.
“Then stay back. I’ll put a spell on the door. Perhaps it will keep us safe from these men.”
Anabella murmured a few words and twirled her fingers in the air. A wisp of light escaped from her hands and rushed out to glow around the latch.
THE MEN DEFINITELY SEEMED EXPERIENCED, Tomlin thought. They carried themselves as soldiers long used to fighting together. Each held a sword and confidence accompanied their every step, especially with the wizard behind them.
The wizard indeed wore rags. The edges of his pants and shirt sleeves were frayed. He stood covered in soot, and black smoke drifted up from his clothes as if they had narrowly escaped burning.
They all wandered through the charred and smouldering remains of horses and men. Borrel scrambled up for a better look.
“Get down!”
Tomlin pulled the eager assistant captain back behind the boulder.
“I think I can take the wizard out,” Borrel whispered, pulling a throwing knife from his boot.
Tomlin shook his head.
“Don’t try it. He’s much more powerful than he looks.”
As the wizard walked past their hidden position, Borrel poked his head above the boulder again.
He pulled his arm back and threw the knife, putting as much strength behind the blade as he could muster. It twirled toward the wizard, then froze a few feet from his back. A blue globe of protective energy surrounding Darkstone appeared. The blade stopped on the globe’s outer periphery. Darkstone turned and motioned at it with his hand. The blade reversed course, flew back and thunked into Borrel’s neck.
He sank down behind the rock into Tomlin’s arms. Tomlin pulled the dagger out, and tried to stop the bleeding with his hand.
“Take it easy, Borrel, take it easy.”
But the blood was too much, flowing out from the front and the back of his neck. In seconds, Borrel was gone.
Tomlin peeked carefully above the boulder. The wizard and his soldiers neared the princess’s carriage.
“OPEN IT,” the wizard said.
One of the men grabbed the carriage door’s handle and pulled. The door wouldn’t budge.
Another pushed him away and swung at the handle with his sword. The weapon bounced off harmlessly.
“Step aside,” the wizard said.
He twirled his hands for a moment then shoved them at the door. Light streamed from his arms and enveloped the carriage. The door burst open with a loud, BANG! and flew off in the air.
Darkstone smiled as he looked inside.
“Hello, princess.”
He stepped out of the way, and motioned toward his men.
“Grab her.”
TOMLIN NEVER FELT MORE HELPLESS. He peeked above the boulder as the soldiers surrounded the carriage. He scanned the road and spied some lances scattered about.
Charging the wizard would be hopeless, he thought, staring down at the lifeless Borrel. But, maybe he could take out a few of the soldiers.
A trump sounded nearby. Several more men jumped onto the road from the trees and brush and rocks, all dressed in forest green.
FOUR SOLDIERS MOVED to the broken doorway of the carriage. Anabella backed up, spreading her arms wide, covering up the princess, pressing against her and the cat.
Deedles meowed in irritation at Anabella’s back pressing her tight. She squeezed out of Margwen’s arms and thumped awkwardly to the floor.
Two leering soldiers crowded the opening, their hands gripping inside the carriage.
“Move out of the way old woman, or we’ll cut you.”
Deedles’s head turned in alarm at the sound of a strange voice. She bobbed her head up and down, trying to locate its source.
The soldier who spoke pulled himself into the carriage. He reached toward Anabella, dirty hand looming large in the enclosed space. Anabella screamed.
The hair on Deedles’s back went up. She hissed. A ball of white light grew around her, quickly growing larger. Suddenly, it blew out the doorway in a large explosion.
Darkstone looked at the four dead bodies on the ground. The explosion had thrown them all back from the door. The man inside had been thrown farthest, a good twenty paces.
“Now, that was an interesting spell.”
TOMLIN WATCHED in amazement as the green-clad men from the forest advanced on his position. Their archers took out three of the wizard’s men before the soldiers were even aware of their presence.
The brush rustled behind him and he turned, startled. A man dressed in drab, colorless robes stepped out from behind a tree. He stood about the same height as Tomlin. His long blonde hair and beard were streaked with gray. He put a finger to his lips, then smiled at Tomlin, and walked toward the broken carriage.
He stopped in the middle of the road, raised both hands above his head, and sent long streaks of white lightning toward Darkstone.
The ragged wizard’s globe of protection flared up, encircling him in blue light that absorbed the lightning. He turned and shot back bolts of his own, with a grim smile.
“Greystone! I wondered where you were these days. It’s so fitting I should find you in the Hidden Woods.”
The two wizards walked closer to one another. Bolts of energy from their hands zapped together, cancelling the other out.
The green-clad men kept fighting, making quick work of Darkstone’s few remaining soldiers. Blades flashed, arrows sank into flesh. In moments, the fighting ceased as a few stragglers ran off into the trees.
The green-clad men fell back, and all eyes turned toward the two wizards as they fought, now circling one another, blasting light and energy.
Tomlin laid Borrel’s head down gently, and scrambled out from behind the boulder. Darkstone had his back to him now, fully engaged in his battle with Greystone.
Tomlin walked out onto the road, stepping between the charred flesh of his men and their horses. He picked up a lance. There were no more enemies left, he decided, except the wizard.
The lance felt heavy. Twenty paces long, it was designed to be carried by a horse. But with a surge of adrenalin, it seemed light as a feather in Tomlin’s arms. He rushed the raggedly dressed wizard who had killed so many of his men.
Just before the tip of the lance reached Darkstone’s protective globe, Tomlin pointed it downwards. He noticed before that the globe seemed strongest at the wizard’s center, and in the calculated efforts of an experienced lancer he aimed his weapon at what he suspected was the enemy’s weakest point.
The lance froze abruptly, a pace from Darkstone’s calves. Tomlin fell forward in momentum, his hands skittering along the lance.
Darkstone turned at the intrusion, startled.
Greystone pounced, taking advantage of his opponent’s lapse in attention, sending a huge bolt of white energy crackling toward Darkstone. The force of the explosion t
ossed the ragged wizard off his feet despite the protective globe.
Darkstone snarled in irritation, twirled his hand and flew up and away in a cloud of smoke before Greystone could press his advantage.
A TALL, handsome, brown-haired man reached a hand down to Tomlin, helping him back on his feet.
“That took guts, charging a wizard like that. I admire you, even though it was the most foolhardy thing I’ve seen in a while.”
Tomlin dusted off his leather armor, and glanced in dismay at the charred and smoking bodies on the road.
“I wasn’t thinking too clearly. I just wanted to strike back.”
The tall man offered his hand again, this time to shake.
“I’m Trant. I lead these men.”
“Tomlin, Captain of Princess Margwen’s travel guard. I’m in debt for your service today to the Coral Throne.”
Trant waved off the formal offer of thanks.
“Greystone handled most of it for us, as usual.”
GREYSTONE POPPED his head into the carriage opening. The old man’s face featured crow’s feet around his pale blue eyes. The pale yellow visible in his white hair hinted at the glory of its former color. His wrinkles creased as he grinned at the women and the cat.
“Hello!”
The cat looked straight at him, almost as if she could see the wizard clearly. He scratched her ears and stroked her back. She purred in delight.
“And who might you be? Deedles? A most excellent name. I am Greystone.”
He paused for a moment, stroking the cat. They stared in one another’s eyes.
“Yes, I’m afraid that was indeed Darkstone. A very bad one, he is.
“Why thank you, that is kind of you to think so. I must say, the Globe of Expulsion you used against those men was quite astonishing. I do believe it’s the first usage of that spell in two or three centuries. Very complex, and especially difficult to conjure in tense situations.”
Greystone glanced up. Both of the women looked at him with curious half smiles on their faces.
“Oh, I beg your pardon. I am Greystone. You two are blessed to be accompanied by such an exceptional wizard’s cat.”
