Captain Tanner nodded. “This isn’t my first trip to Pailtar. We know which places are safe. Good luck with your travels.”
With a wave, Kiana started off down the road from the docks.
9
Torun
Envee and Torun arrived in Pailtar in the evening. Their first stop was at a boarding house where they acquired two rooms for the evening. Then they went next door to a cafe that served late meals. Over a sandwich and tea, they discussed the plan.
“Do you think talking to bartenders in pubs will work here in Pailtar like it did in Venecia?”
Torun shook his head. “Not as well, I’m afraid. The Thieves’ Guild runs many of the establishments, and if I recall correctly you said this girl Kiana once was part of the Guild.”
“Yes, she was, her and her mother,” Envee said.
“In which case we’ll have to be extra careful. I think after dinner you should retire to your room, and I’ll work my way through the city. I have a knack for talking to people, but it will tricky.”
“I’m not a child,” Envee said.
“Of course not. I never meant to imply it. I only mean that I feel safer myself when I’m working alone. It is easier to keep one’s back to a wall when there is only one person, and if I start spinning yarns to get information there is only my words to catch myself on. And in a city I don’t know at night I don’t want to risk it. Tomorrow, if I haven’t any solid information, we’ll work together to find the information we need.”
Envee frowned, but she finally agreed. After finishing her tea, she headed to her room.
Torun sighed. Playing nice was getting on his nerves. The obsessive sorceress better be worth the effort, he thought to himself as he got up to head to find the man he needed. What he’d said to Envee was true. It would be harder to find information here in Pailtar. Not because of the Guild, but because Lord Zellox had fewer spies here than he did in other kingdoms. After taking Morthon and Balta, Pailtar became an afterthought. The port city had value, but wasn’t worth the effort.
Leaving the café, Torun headed to another establishment. The doors to the shop were closed, but a light was still on.
Torun knocked.
A man came to the door. “Sorry, closed for the day. Come back tomorrow.”
“A western wind sweeps across the world, and it won’t wait until tomorrow,” Torun said.
The man in the store opened the door. “Come in.”
Once inside, the man locked the door behind Torun. He pulled a knife and stared at Torun. “I don’t know you.”
“And I broke protocol. I know. But my business is Lord Zellox’s business and I haven’t the time for clandestine messages. I need information and I need it now.”
The man hesitated. “Well, at least you know the code phrase. Half the idiots Lord Zellox sends to Pailtar can’t even remember that.” He put his knife down.
Torun chuckled. It was true. The men Lord Zellox sent to Pailtar had been a little questionable. But on the list of places where spies were needed, Pailtar was low and sending idiots loyal to the cause was sufficient. There were far more valuable places to send their competent spies. “A ship came in earlier today from Venecia. A young woman. I need to track her down.”
“Come with me,” the man said. He grabbed his coat and opened the door. After locking the shop, he started walking down the street. After a couple blocks, he turned into an alley. There he turned and went down another alley. This continued for several minutes until they stopped.
They stood in the shadows of one of the buildings until another man walked into the alley. He froze when he saw Torun.
“Relax. He’s with us,” The man from the shop said.
“What in the seven hells, Warren? This isn’t protocol.”
Torun shook his head. Neither is using names around a stranger you idiot, he thought.
“He’s one of the lord’s men, and he needs info,” Warren said.
The newcomer looked at Torun warily and then nodded. “What do you need?”
“You were watching the docks today,” Warren said. “A ship came in with a girl?”
The newcomer nodded. “Yes, a real beauty. They arrived; she went into the city for a couple hours then returned with a wagon. Loaded up some cargo and then took off.”
“Anything else you remember?” Warren asked.
“Ugliest little mule I’ve ever seen,” the man said. “Oh, and the wagon had wide rims.”
“That’ll be Jeff Morton’s mule, your woman must’ve been heading out into the desert. Not a lot of wagon travel that way, and not many use those wide rims. Won’t be too hard to track for someone who knows the land,” Warren said.
“I’ll need a tracker, someone disposable,” Torun said.
Warren looked at the other man. “Go get Eddie Kurr.”
The man turned and walked away.
“Won’t be but a few minutes. Eddie’s most likely at the Burnt Soul having a drink. He’s a decent tracker, but he has a gambling issue. He lost his standing with the Guild over his debts, so if he goes missing no one will go looking for retribution.”
“How goes the war? We hear things here, but never enough if you know what I mean.”
“There have been setbacks, but nothing that can’t be resolved.” Torun said. The man was a valuable asset to Lord Zellox, but his curiosity meant nothing to Torun.
They stood in silence waiting for the tracker to show up.
Finally, two men came down the alley.
Even in the dark alley, with minimal light, Torun could see Eddie was a shabby and unkempt man.
“Eddie,” Warren said.
Eddie nodded.
“How many drinks in are you tonight?” Warren asked.
“Only a couple. The Burnt Soul won’t give me no drinks on credit, cheap bastards.”
“Care to make some coin?” Torun said.
“I’m not adverse to the idea,” Eddie said.
Torun could smell the cheap alcohol on the man’s breath. He’d had more than a few drinks, but not enough that he didn’t have his wits about him.
“A wagon left Pailtar today. I need to follow it.”
Eddie scratched his jaw. “Need a little more to go on than that.”
“It was Jeff Morton’s wagon, with that mule of his,” Warren said.
“See, now we’re talking the same language. Do you know which way the wagon went?”
“No. That’s why we need you,” Torun said.
“I can look at first light,” Eddie said.
“No. I want to leave by first light. You need to have found the trail before then or I’ll need to find another tracker.”
Eddie looked at Torun for a moment. “Twenty gold a day including today.”
“No. A hundred gold total. Twenty now and the rest when the job is done.”
“I’ll take that deal.”
Torun turned back to Warren. “I’ll need horses for myself a companion and Eddie.”
“Three horses total,” Eddie said. “Two for you and your friend and one spare for the two of you to share and to use as a pack horse. We’ll be moving fast, but we also need to be watching how much water we need. I’ll be going on foot.”
“That’ll slow us down,” Torun said.
“No, Warren has a reputation. He can jog all day.”
“Most of the time it won’t matter,” Eddie said. “Tracking across soft sand is easy, any idiot can do it, but when we come across hard ground it gets tricky. If I’m on horseback I have to get down close to see the ground proper. That wastes time, and one less horse is that much less water we need. I know what I’m doing. I’ll scout the perimeter of the city tonight, find the tracks from Morton’s mule and then follow them far enough that I know which watering hole they’re headed towards. In the morning we’ll head out. We’ll push hard until we hit that hole. It’ll take a day or two to catch that wagon, depending on which way they went, but we’ll catch it.”
“Good enough,” To
run said. He handed Eddie twenty gold coins.
“Be at the southern city gates at daybreak. They won’t open the gates until the sun’s popped its head out,” Eddie said.
Eddie turned and left the alley. Warren turned to his companion. “Three horses, and water sacks. Go to Alverez, he has good stock and doesn’t ask questions. Have it ready at daybreak at the southern gates.”
The man took off into the night.
Torun nodded in appreciation at the way Warren worked. By having the animals delivered to the gates no information about where Torun was staying need be handed out.
“You’ll make sure Eddie is paid properly?” Warren asked.
Torun nodded. The scout would be taken care off.
10
Quinton
Quinton’s eyes opened. He was surrounded by blackness and he had no idea where he was. The last thing he remembered was fighting the spy George and then going to Sharon. He’d been such an idiot. He’d panicked and all his training had gone out the window. George had been strong, but that hadn’t been the problem.
Standing up, Quinton realized something strange was going on. The blackness got lighter as he stood, but it made no sense. He was in the back of a wagon and the wagon was in the desert. That in itself was strange, but nothing compared to the fact that he wasn’t in his body. His body came through a closed crate, and his legs were still in it. He wasn’t solid or the crate was just an illusion. As he tried to understand what was happening a voice rang out.
“In case you haven’t figured it out yet, you’re dead.”
Quinton turned to the figure standing beside the wagon. “Father?” Quinton said, even more confused.
“Hello, Son.”
“You’re dead. Wait, I’m dead too?”
“Afraid so.”
“What am I doing here?”
“That is where it gets interesting.”
Quinton jumped down to the ground. He looked over to the fire and saw a woman sleeping beside it. “Is that Kiana?”
“Yes, but she can’t hear you. Not yet anyways.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Like I said, this is where it gets interesting. You died, but your spirit didn’t leave your body. The mana-stone you created; it is acting like an anchor for your spirit.”
Quinton frowned. “It is acting like one of Hanna’s bloodstones?”
“Exactly, except instead of someone taking that stone, they’ve left it on your body. The poison that Raze used on you had magical properties that killed you but is keeping the flesh intact.”
“Raze?”
“The man you knew as George Mavane. He was a spy working for Lord Zellox.”
“I knew it.”
“Yes, but that isn’t your problem any longer. You are going to have to make a tough decision soon. Kiana is taking your body to a necromancer.”
“She thinks I can be brought back to life?”
“Yes, since your spirit hasn’t gone anywhere it is just the flesh which matters.”
“OK. I can understand all that. It makes some sense. But what are you doing here?”
“Watching you, of course. I’ve been watching ever since I died.”
“I thought… well I thought you’d be somewhere else than here.”
Quinton’s father laughed. “You mean the seven hells?”
“Yes.”
“That is a fair assessment, but it is complicated.”
Quinton looked around. “Looks like I have the time.”
“Yes, for now.”
Quinton waited for him to continue.
His father sighed. “As you know, when I died, I was working with dark mages. At first, I had no idea that they were bad. They were just part of our team, but the whole time I was being manipulated, pulled into their dark web. I can’t claim innocent, I was too easily seduced by their powers, but I wasn’t in my right mind at the end. I was under their control.”
Quinton nodded. It made sense. “Alright. So, you weren’t totally evil.”
“No, just foolish and all too human.”
“If you weren’t evil why aren’t you in the spirit world?”
“I am in the spirt world. I’m in what you’d call the first of the seven hells. To go to what you know as the heavens, one must be chosen by the gods. Many gods aren’t picky, if you live a good life you can get in, especially if someone in the spirit world petitions on your behalf, like a good reference. However, if you’ve been morally corrupt, or done things the gods frown upon, then you are sent to what you know as the seven hells. Because I betrayed my king and kingdom no one spoke on my behalf, not that I blame them for not doing so. However, because I was coerced using magic, my bad deeds are minor. Intent matters when it comes to judging one’s soul.”
“So you weren’t worthy of the heavens but weren’t bad enough for true hell?” Quinton had always thought his father was a complicated person but not an evil one. When he’d betrayed the king he’d thought maybe his father had been evil and he just hadn’t seen it. Now at least Quinton knew that his father had been manipulated and hadn’t been the monster some had thought him.
“That is one way of looking at it. And while they are called the seven hells that isn’t precisely how it works. It is far more complicated than that, but let’s just say the first level of hell isn’t that bad. I can still watch the world; see my family and I don’t have to deal with evil demons or anything like that. Most of the spirits I encounter are like me, flawed individuals who took the wrong path in life.”
“If you’re in the first hell, how did you get here?”
“I’m not really here. You see me, because now that we are both dead, we can communicate. I want to help you through the process.”
The process of bringing me back to life? Quinton thought. “How is that going to work?”
“You have to make a choice.”
11
Kiana
Kiana woke before dawn. While hot during the day, the desert cooled off rapidly during the night. She’d built a small fire and stayed close to it, but it had burnt out and now she was shivering. Instead of restarting the fire she got up and did some light stretches. The sun would be up soon and traveling when it was cool was important.
Taking a couple apples from her supplies, Kiana fed Ellie May. The mule gladly ate the fruit out of her hands. Kiana rubbed her neck. “Going to be a long day. We should get started.”
The Arkoma region of Mithbea was still a full day’s travel. It wasn’t that far as the crow flies, but the desert terrain was always shifting, dunes and sand pits made travelling in a straight line almost impossible, and the scattered watering holes added to the equation. Water was essential, and smart travelers stuck to the watering holes when they could. After Morthon had attack Pailtar, a few of those watering holes had been closed. Leaving only enough water for the animals in the region.
As she drove the wagon across the desert, Kiana thought about her life, it had changed so much since the last time she’d been in this desert. Then she’d been a stubborn child willing her way into a life she didn’t understand. It was almost humorous now to think about how much of her mother’s advice she’d ignored only to end up realizing she’d been right. Right about now, Kiana would’ve loved nothing more than to have her mother in her ear, telling her what the right thing to do was. Necromancy was considered by most to be a dark magic, but Kiana knew enough to understand that no magic in of itself was inherently good or bad. It was how the practitioner used that magic that made it good or bad. Necromancy involved communicating with the spirit worlds, it almost involved life force. In some way’s necromancy was similar to a powerful healer. A healer used their magic to restore life, but they could also use their magic to take life. Again, it depended on the user, not the magic.
Using necromancy to return Quinton to life sounded like a good idea, and one that Kiana was committed to, but what would be the actual consequences? Would he be the same, would he even want to be brought back
? These were serious questions that need to be answered. Also, on her mind were the words of Julie Bones. Rain in the desert? What kind of clue was that? It hardly ever rained in that part of Mithbea. Was there some sort of magic that would create a raincloud to follow? And what was she talking about it being the start of the journey and not the end? That seemed backwards.
Her thoughts were interrupted when Ellie May stopped.
Kiana frowned. “What’s up girl? What are you seeing?” They were in a bit of a ravine as they crossed a section of dunes. The travel was much quicker, but the downside was the limited visibility.
Ellie May snorted loudly and clawed the ground with her left hoof.
Realizing something was seriously wrong, Kiana got down from the wagon and drew her sword.
She walked forward pushing her sword into the sand. Quicksand was always a potential concern, but the ground here was firm, whatever Ellie May was getting concerned about, it wasn’t quicksand.
Out of the corner of her eye, Kiana spotted movement in one of the sand dunes. Sand was sliding towards the ravine. Walking closer to where the sand slid, Kiana could feel the hairs on the back of her neck rising. There was something in the sand. She could feel its presence.
Suddenly, the entire sand dune seemed to move at once. A giant scorpion came out of the sand and attacked her.
Kiana jumped back as one of the scorpion’s claws snapped at her.
The scorpion attacked again, and this time Kiana had to use her sword to stop the attack. The scorpion’s claws struck the sword, but instead of retracting at the touch of the cold steel, the scorpion’s claws grabbed hold of the sword and pulled it out of her hands. The scorpion then attacked with its stinger. Kiana barely rolled out of the way as the stinger struck the ground where she’d been a moment ago.
The scorpion used its claw to fling Kiana’s sword to the side. It then took two steps forward, its claws held wide apart and its stinger hanging in the air ominously.
Kiana could hear Ellie May screeching and trying to break loose, but Kiana had tied the reins to the solid wagon. As much as the mule wanted to help fight, she was securely held in place. Which had seemed like a good idea at the time, but now Kiana wasn’t so sure. Having the mule fighting with her might not be the worst thing.
Necro Mage Page 5
