Spells of the Curtain Volume One

by Tim Niederriter

  Edmath helped Zuria to her feet, moving to maintain shelter from Ursar's gaze by keeping Rakoi between them and him.

  "We can't let them surprise Chelka when they arrive."

  Zuria nodded.

  "Sounds like you have a plan."

  "Not much of one."

  "Well, no time to hesitate now," she said.

  "Move toward the water," Edmath said, raising his voice. "Rakoi, keep up with us."

  "Yes, Edmath."

  They raced toward the pier where the Rooster Tribe mercenaries and Santh waited for them. Ursar leapt overhead and landed on the paving stones beside the mercenaries at the edge of the water. He whirled, eyes blackening over with his lethal spell.

  Brosk's chain flew from the water wrapping around Ursar's leg. Brosk fell tugged the Dawkun off balance as he fell once more into the water beside the pier. Ursar cursed and twisted, skidding backward a few paces as he freed himself from the chain. He looked pale, drained, even before the chain cut him. Could the Dawkun be on his last dregs of internal energy?

  "Rakoi, get ahead. Stop Ursar," said Edmath.

  The tree lurched forward, sliding along on ghosted tendrils. It did not manage to interpose between Ursar, and Edmath and Zuria so much as run into him. He staggered and went down.

  Edmath and his sister rushed past, opening new tears and forming new signs.

  Kana snatched a small sword from the ground and cut at Edmath, gashing his out-stretched arm. Blood coursed in red. He darted to one side, blocking another blow with his stethian.

  Thorns leapt from the Saale weapon and tangled around Kana's arm and sword. Zuria's summoned serpentine coils hit the man with the mace and bowled him backward, pinning him against the dock house wall.

  Light-headed and world spinning at the sight of his ragged wound, Edmath staggered away from Kana. His sign of the vine loosened and Kana broke free of his tendrils. She darted toward him as he retreated, stumbling. He fell to the street, but kept his stethian aimed at Kana's chest.

  She batted the weapon’s point to one side with her blade. Panting, she stood over him, blade poised.

  "You really don't know why you're here," he said, trying to hide his desperation. "Why she hired you."

  "Don't try to distract me," Kana said.

  He gritted his teeth.

  "Should have known that wouldn't work."

  Kana's blade began to fall. A razor sharp tail cut across the back of her legs. Edmath rolled to one side as Kana lost her footing with a cry of pain. She hit the street and Surba nudged Edmath.

  "Get up. There is still much danger," said the giant bloody-tailed rat.

  Edmath fought to stand and managed it.

  Ursar tried to force his way around Rakoi, bleeding from multiple cuts and blades. He struck the tree with his fist, and Rakoi rocked backward with a splintering of one branch and a crack running into its trunk.

  He laughed, a harsh, terrible sound as he and Santh stalked toward Zuria.

  "Prince Naopaor is done for. There are Shark Tribe warriors in the water. You won't last much longer, Lord Benisar."

  Edmath grimaced, blood running down one arm and dripping through his fingers.

  "I won't have to. They're turning around."

  The levoth had ceased its approach. Edmath gasped for breath, dizzy and in pain.

  "You'll get me, but you want Chelka too. Good luck now that she knows."

  "But how?" Ursar snarled.

  Santh glanced at the brightening waves. He shook his head.

  "Those shark tribals we hired were overrated. He defeated all three."

  Hyreki turned from facing the sea.

  "One is better than none," she said. "We will take Lord Benisar and the tree. Kill the others, including those useless roosters."

  "With pleasure," said Santh.

  Ursar froze.

  "I thought we were to kill Benisar too?"

  "Only if we can get them both for certain, Ursar," said Hyreki.

  "I will have my vengeance." Ursar rushed at Edmath, bellowing a roar, sword in hand, but eyes lacking any of his deadly magic, filled instead with a raw urge to kill.

  Edmath lurched out of Ursar's path, but the Dawkun's wounded leg snaked out to trip him. He stumbled, keeping his feet.

  Ursar whirled, blade in-hand.

  "Wait," said Edmath. "What does your revenge mean if you betray your comrades to get it?"

  "They promised me this!" Ursar's blade flashed out, trained on Edmath's heart, a pace away from a lethal stroke. "I will have it!"

  "Kiet," Santh growled. "Stand down."

  "No," whispered Ursar.

  "Listen to him, Ursar," said Hyreki. "It's not time for this nonsense."

  "Nonsense? Nonsense?" Ursar scowled.

  Edmath paced sideways, working his way closer to Rakoi. If he could just get there... He hoped the tree's invested magic could help him, drained and bleeding as he was.

  "Listen to them. Revenge means nothing without Chelka, right? She took your hand."'

  "Coward. You want me to let you live and kill your wife instead?"

  Edmath grimaced, trying to remain calm.

  "Well, to be honest, I would prefer neither, good Dawkun. In the meantime, I feel we have some things to discuss. For instance, Lady Denyal."

  "Don't address her," said Ursar. "Your fight is with me."

  Edmath shook his head.

  "You're always a servant, Ursar, never a master."

  "How dare you!" the Dawkun slashed the air between Edmath and the pier. The blade hovered there, stopping Edmath's path to Rakoi.

  The wounded tree turned toward him, triangular seal-eyes pulsing sadly.

  "Don't harm him worse, Kiet," said Santh. "He's already beaten."

  "Quiet. You can't stop me." Ursar's eyes began to fill with black magic, but then the color drained away. Santh held one of his daggers out toward Ursar, siphoning the magic from the spell into its blade.

  Hyreki joined Santh where the pier connected to the street.

  "Ursar, don't test Santh. You can't fight without our help." She nodded to Zuria, still tensed in her survival stance. "And you won't win without your brother's help, Lady Mierzon."

  She struck the air and magic flowed into her, making her glow with power to trained Saale sight. Then, she reached into the tear with her crimson glove, the fingertips gleaming silver in the morning light breaking through the clouds above before they disappeared into light altogether. She scratched at the edges of the tear.

  Edmath stared as she opened a large, stable rent in the world curtain from which magic sprang forth. She leveled her gaze at Edmath.

  "Put down your stethian and come this way, Lord Benisar."

  Edmath clenched his bloody hand, then slowly crouched and set his stethian on the stones. Rising, he glanced at Ursar.

  "Are you going to go against them too?"

  Ursar bared his teeth in a snarl. He lowered his sword. Edmath continued toward Hyreki and Santh. On the way, he planned to pass Rakoi. Desperate thoughts rushed through his mind, wondering if Rakoi's magic would be enough to let him fight.

  He lacked any other choice.

  At Rakoi's side, he reached out with his bloody hand and touched a branch.

  "You can use it," he whispered. "Use your magic now."

  Rakoi made no sound, but a firm pulse of light emanated from its seals.

  Edmath's wounded arm stopped bleeding, then stopped hurting. He relaxed his grip on her arm, then kept walking. Hyreki nodded as he drew near. She didn't seem to notice the healing.

  "Good. Bring the tree too. We're leaving."

  "Leaving?" Ursar gazed at them.

  Santh smirked.

  "Indeed."

  Hyreki put a hand on Edmath's shoulder.

  "Go through the light," she said.

  "What are you talking about?" Ursar walked toward the pier, ignoring the stethian and Surba crouched by the wounded Kana. "What about Chelka?"

  "We let her go for now. This is
more important," said Hyreki.

  "No. You lied to me," said Ursar.

  "I wouldn't lie to you. Things have changed."

  "Why? What has changed, really?"

  "Your situation, of course," said Edmath with a glance at Ursar. "Think about it. The guards will be here soon. That levoth and its passengers will be ready for you. You can't win if you fight."

  "I don't need to win to kill you, Edmath," said Ursar, blood-streaked features contorting with rage.

  "But you won't," said Edmath. "You can't go against your friends too."

  Hyreki gave a slight smile.

  "He's right. Ursar put down that sword."

  He took another step toward Edmath, weapon clenched in his fist.

  “That’s enough.” Hyreki’s voice grew stern.

  Ursar halted in his step.

  “This is over,” said Hyreki.

  Ursar lowered his sword, the dropped it to the paving stones with a clang of metal. Hyreki nodded, guiding Edmath closer to the bright rift which spilled magic into the morning air.

  Zuria glared past Santh to Hyreki.

  “Don’t give up, Ed.”

  “Zuria, my good sister, there is no way left to fight.” He lied.

  Her eyes trembled. She lowered her gaze.

  His stethian was not where he had dropped it near Kana. Neither was Surba. He listened for a squeak, a sound only he would understand.

  “Edmath!” Surba darted forward, the stethian clutched in her coiled tail. She hurled the weapon in his direction.

  It seemed to hang in the air for a long moment, then descend at a languid pace. It was impossible for him to miss. His fingers closed around the weapon as he drew in magic from Hyreki’s large tear. He shot branches at all three of his foes, blunt rather than piercing as he lacked the focus to sharpen them all. He hurled them away in each direction, then used a vine to pull Zuria to his side.

  Rakoi stood motionless behind them as Edmath and Zuria squared up to fight once more.

  “They’ve still got numbers,” she said.

  “Not anymore.” Edmath nodded to Rakoi. “Rakoi’s Dawkun powers are free to use. She can fight as well as heal.”

  “Will your blasphemies against the creator never end?” said Ursar as he retrieved a dagger from near Kana where had landed after Edmath’s branch throw.

  Hyreki glided closer over the water, her wings beating steadily.

  “You can see magic. How careless of me to let you get so close. Santh, close the tear. End this!”

  Santh’s blades flashed, one in each hand. He lunged for the tear. Edmath’s branches melted away before his attack, unable to even touch the knives before blackening and then fading to dust. He did not dare use any of the magic he still held. Those blades were too powerful. Santh slashed through the tear with both daggers at once. Edmath shielded his eyes against a brilliant glare.

  Then Santh screamed pain. His daggers clattered to the street. Zuria withdrew, coiling her serpentine neck. Her snakelike head in partial tosh bared venomous fangs. Santh clutched his shoulder where she had bitten him. He sank to his knees.

  “Finally,” Zuria said. “A solid dose.”

  “No!” Hyreki swooped in, grabbing Santh with her momentum. She pulled him over Edmath’s remaining branches, then the two of them crashed into the street on the slope near Ursar and Kana.

  She pushed herself to her feet with a groan, already tearing at the world’s curtain with her gloves. She tunneled into a glow, vanishing along with Santh and Ursar. Edmath stared after them, then blinked as the light faded. The enemies were gone. He turned to Zuria.

  “Good bite.”

  “Good branches,” she said with a smile. “Glad to save you, brother.”

  “I know,” he said. “Thank you, good sister.”

  Rakoi crawled to join them along with Surba. They watched the levoth carrying Brosk, Chelka, and the Benisar experimental organisms into port under the rising sun.

  A hubbub of activity surrounded the street as guards arrived and the Benisar levoth started unloading its passengers. Chelka and Brosk joined Zuria and Edmath amid the activity.

  “Who were they?” Chelka asked, gazing at the guards as they rounded up Hyreki’s mercenaries by the pier.

  “These attackers had abilities I’ve never heard or seen recorded,” said Edmath.

  Brosk folded his arms.

  “We’ll have to question the mercenaries. Perhaps they will know more.”

  “It’s worth a shot, but I doubt they know much,” said Edmath.

  “We will see,” said Brosk.

  “Thank you all for keeping Edmath alive while I was away. We never seem to have a break, do we, my love?”

  Zuria bowed low to Chelka.

  “It is my honor to help family.”

  Chelka grinned at Zuria.

  “That’s a new one. I’m glad you can call me family, Zuria.”

  “As am I,” said Zuria.

  “What else would friends do?” said Brosk. He glanced at Surba. “Even this little one put in her best.”

  Surba looked at Edmath.

  “He should know I am not little for a rat. You wizards learn much, but remember little.”

  Edmath laughed, exhausted, almost delirious.

  “What did she say?” asked Brosk.

  “Nothing of import, my friend. Nothing of import.”

  Ursar

  The sights and sounds beyond Hyreki’s tunnel through the world’s mystic curtain made his skin crawl and chill with gooseflesh, despite the odd warmth that flowed from everywhere around and within him. A pallid hue diffused his sight, but at the same time, every other sensation amplified. His wounds burned with pain, but he ignored them despite their intensity. Voices called warnings. Zemoy Benisar’s bellows of frustration at the disappearance of his foes before he could arrive were still audible, but the people themselves could no longer perceive Ursar, Hyreki, or Santh.

  The two strange people limped together down the road toward the sea. Ursar crept after Santh and Hyreki, following their path between the ghosts of buildings and piers to the edge of the water. They did not stop there, however. A small boat waited on the shore, not ghostly like the other objects, and with a figurehead of a polished silver bird, it’s beak sharp and jutting. Hyreki helped Santh along a pier and then guided him as he climbed into the boat. She turned to face Ursar.

  “You can’t follow us,” she said.

  “Take me with you! It’s death to stay in this city.”

  Hyreki shook her head with a quirk and down-turn at the corners of her lips.

  “Ursar, you don’t belong in the Cloud Empire.”

  He seethed, advancing on her despite his lacking power. He would not have the magical strength to defeat her in a duel.

  “I should have known—”

  “It seems to me you did know, maybe not at the beginning, but you’re not a fool, Ursar. You knew I’d betray you.” She smiled, actually smiled at him. “However, I underestimated you.”

  “What does that mean?” he said, a snarl in his voice. “Do you plan to kill me now? Or simply abandon me here? You won’t find either an easy task.”

  She nodded.

  “I understand.” She tugged one glove with its silver fingers from her hand, revealing pale skin beneath. “That’s why I’m not going to simply let you die alone in this place.”

  He tensed for her to strike, prepared mentally to dodge a magical attack, unsure what Hyreki intended.

  “Relax,” she said. “I’m going to help you.” She tossed the glove to land at his feet with a thump on the wooden pier. “Use that to escape this place once you’ve left the city. Consider yourself lucky you got this much from me, Ursar Kiet.”

  He crouched, keeping his eyes on Hyreki as he picked up the glove.

  “Where are you going?” he asked.

  “Nowhere you will ever see, Roshi.” She smirked. “But I’m not sorry we met. Goodbye.”

  His lips twitched and his hands
shook. Hyreki glided into the boat. Santh untethered the vessel from the pier. They floated away into the glow of this strange other side, disappearing from sight in moments. Ursar watched them go as he straightened his back. The cries of the Zelian guards echoed behind him. He walked along the coast, heading for the city gates. He held on to the glove, and to the memory of the silver figurehead as he walked, aching, miserable and once more alone, but still alive.

  Beyond the city gates, he put on the glove. A mile west of Diar, he stopped walking in an orchard off the main road. He squinted at the air, glimpsed the curtain for the first time from beyond the barrier, then raised his glove and started scratching a tunnel back to the other side.

  Chelka

  Prison Keep Nirmota near the imperial city's northwestern wall made for a less than pleasant sight for Chelka, mostly because it was her destination. Walls of black stone chiseled with huge beast-headed bell towers on every crenelated fortification loomed as she entered the building’s shadow. She went alone so the retainers and Edmath could prepare for their voyage around the end of the peninsula before they would turn north.

  She passed through gate after gate that closed behind her. The warden of the keep had been told of her visit, and being a royal princess and daughter of the Hearth Emperor gave her latitude to move where she pleased.

  She spoke with the shift leader, a moth legionnaire who stood in the courtyard near her destination in the middle cells. She handed him a sheaf of papers.

  "I think you'll find these are all in order. However, hold onto them for the moment. If I speak to you on the way back, burn them."

  He nodded. One of his guards escorted her into a cell block. Gloom ruled indoors, even during daytime. Only tiny windows in a few of the cells provided illumination, barely enough to see by.

  The guard left her side when they reached her destination. He motioned her forward as part of his bow and retreat. Chelka peered into the cell before her.

  "Kana of Palatan, I presume?" she said.

  The woman sitting by the far wall of the windowless cell looked pale in the shadows. She raised her head, eyes tired and met Chelka's gaze.

  "Who are you?" she asked.

  "The wife of the man you were hired to kill."