Regulators Revealed

by Toby Neighbors

  The other Regulators were drawing their wands, but they were moving slowly, and Dex slashed his sword at them, shouting his spell.

  “Ozztia!”

  It was a simple spell, intended to sweep the legs out from under an opponent, but Dex cast the spell high using the Lord Marshyl’s powerful sword. The spell knocked half of the remaining Regulators from their horses, and sent two more riders dashing away from the fight, their horses out of control.

  “I’ll kill you!” the red-headed woman screamed.

  A man with a thick wand of reddish wood managed to get his horse under control and sent a blast of blue light in Dex’s general direction, but it wasn’t close enough to threaten him. Bliss returned, diving into the chaos and raking her talons across the rump of the wizard’s horse, sending it galloping out of control across the arid landscape.

  Only the man who had first spoken to Dex was still on his horse and in the fight. He raised his wand toward Dex, who in turn raised his shield. It was a mistake that kept him from seeing that the Regulator wasn’t aiming directly for Dex, but at the cart instead. The wooden cart was blasted apart by a powerful spell. Maslow was sent flying into Dex, knocking the Marshyl off his feet, as shards of wood from the cart stabbed into Dex’s hip and upper thigh. He felt a flash of pain as the wood ripped through his clothes and pierced his flesh, but there was no time to deal with the injury.

  Dex levitated his father’s paralyzed body away from him, and rolled to his knees just as a flash of red light shot toward him. The spell hit Dex in the chest plate of his armor, burning a gaping hole in his robes and knocking him onto his back again. The armor protected Dex from the spell, but he couldn’t afford to risk taking another blast. He rolled aside as a flash of light scorched the ground where he had been.

  “Saultia,” Dex called out, using the magic to propel himself up.

  He flipped over, barely off the ground, and landed in a crouch with his shield up. Another red blast flashed toward him, hit the dragon shield, and rebounded back toward the Regulator. The man’s scream of panic was cut short as he dropped dead from his horse.

  Dex glanced over the rim of his shield just in time to see a rock flying toward him. He raised the shield and the rock clanged against the metal. When he looked again the red-headed woman was rushing toward him, a curved knife in one hand, the other reaching as if she meant to claw his eyes out with her finger nails. She never saw Bliss coming. The phoenix swooped down and filled it’s talons with her red hair before flying upward again.

  Dex saw the woman lift from the ground by her hair. She screamed in pain and slashed at Bliss with her knife, but only succeeded in cutting through a section of her hair. What was left in the phoenix’s grip wasn’t enough to support her weight. A large section of hair tore free from her scalp and she fell to the ground, collapsing in a bloody heap.

  Looking around, Dex could see that four of the Regulators were regrouping in the distance. One was dead, another was limping away on foot. The red-headed woman lay groaning and Dex guessed she had been injured in the fall, but what bothered him was the fact that he couldn’t find the eighth member of the group of Regulators. His instincts were screaming that he had missed something important, and that he was in danger, but he couldn’t find the last wizard. When a spell came flashing at him from behind the boulder where Dex had positioned his horses, Dex was nearly caught off guard.

  He cast an evasion spell completely on instinct. “Cashuh!” Dex said, the spell sending him lunging sideways as the flash of light from the hidden Regulator missed him by inches. Without hesitating Dex sent a counter spell toward the final fighter. The bone basher spell was one of two intrinsic spells bound to the Lord Marshyl’s sword from the magical objects forged in the steel when it was made. Dex knew the sword had a powerful attack, and the spell which derived from the beard of a dwarf did not disappoint.

  Normally, most magical spells were bright and colorful, and the simplest of spells were completely invisible. The bone basher spell was like a shadow, erupting from the sword’s tip and streaking toward the Regulator, who dropped back behind the boulder. The spell hit the stone and there was a crack like lightning. Half of the stone crumbled away, revealing the cowering Regulator. His eyes were round with fright and he raised both hands.

  “Drop the wand,” Dex said.

  The man nodded, the aspen wand dropping from his trembling fingers.

  “Go,” Dex said. “And don’t come back.”

  The man turned and ran. Dex looked around, the pain in his wounded hip flaring, or perhaps his senses finally registering the pain. The red-headed woman was slowly crawling away, her face covered in blood from the wound in her scalp. The body of the dead Regulator lay nearby, and Dex’s horses were together with two of the animals left by the Regulators. The cart lay in pieces, completely ruined.

  Looking down at his hip, Dex saw that the robe covering his armor was ruined. There was blood on the tattered fabric. The hole in the chest of the garment allowed him to rip it apart and shrug it from his arms. He unfastened his sword belt and the robe fell to the ground. Dex spent the next several minutes carefully pulling shards of wood from his hip and thigh. Most of the wounds were superficial, but two had stabbed deep. Blood leaked down his leg and into his boot, which squished when he walked.

  He collected the horses, which were content to follow Titan. Dex couldn’t help but imagine his horse as the leader of a pack of wild stallions, running free across the Greeg Lands, kicking up great clouds of dust as they galloped over the wild terrain. He whistled and the big, black charger trotted over to him, followed by the other horses. Dex climbed slowly up into the saddle, taking the pressure off his wounded leg. He would have to see to the wounds soon, but first he needed to do a few things to ensure that he was safe.

  He sheathed his sword and hung the belt from the pommel of his saddle. It was a bit crowded on the big horse with the extra supplies and rations. He would need to redistribute things soon. He could use the draft horse to carry their supplies and his father could ride one of the horses abandoned by the Regulators.

  “Gravish,” he said, using the magic of the opal ring to summon the aspen wand the cowardly Regulator had dropped. It was a blonde-colored wood, flexible, and made with virgin blood. Dex was not an expert in wandcraft, but he could tell the wand was weak.

  He used the summoning spell once more to retrieve the slain Regulator’s wand, which the wizard still held in his lifeless hand. It was oak, and polished with a dark stain. The wand had been made with wolf’s milk, not unlike his father’s had been. Dex released the elvish ending spell which had left Maslow paralyzed during the fight.

  “I hate that spell,” he grumbled, getting slowly to his feet. “I could have been killed, you know.”

  “Talk to your Regulators,” Dex said.

  “They want me dead, or hadn’t you figured that out.”

  “Why would they want to kill you?”

  “Because they fear me,” Maslow said. “I have been Master Crane’s Hammer. There’s a reason behind the name. I was in charge of ensuring that all the Sage Regulators conformed to the teachings of Master Crane. And when I failed to crush the Marshyl Guild, which by the way, I did to save your skin, I fell out of favor with our leader.”

  “So you were free game?”

  “In a sense.”

  “Sounds like a wonderful group of people,” Dex said. “Come help me get these supplies squared away.”

  “Why should I help you?” Maslow said.

  “Because I’ll just curse you again if you don’t. Either you help, or you’re dead weight.”

  “You failed to learn manners in my absence.”

  “And whose fault was that?”

  “No need to point fingers,” Maslow said, taking the blankets that Dex handed to him.

  A few moments later they had the rations, blankets, and extra torch tied securely to the draft horse. Dex also had his father gather up as much of the wood as he could from the ruin
ed cart. Fuel for fires was hard to come by in the Greeg Lands and Dex was determined not to waste it. By the time Dex finally felt that they had everything they could salvage from the scene of the battle, there was nothing left to do other than see about the moaning, red-headed witch. He nudged Titan forward and the big horse walked slowly toward her.

  “How bad is it?” Dex asked.

  “Go to hell!” the woman snapped angrily.

  “We can help, if you’re willing,” Dex said. “Otherwise we’ll leave you out here alone. The rest of the Regulators have fled. I doubt they’ll double back. And there’s a Greeg tribe close by.”

  “You’re a monster.”

  “No, I’m a Marshyl. How badly are you hurt?”

  “Just look at me,” she wailed. “I’m dying.”

  Dex had to admit that she looked terrible. Her face was covered in blood, while a large chunk of her hair was missing and in its place was raw flesh. Dex even thought he could see a pale section of her skull. But it was her legs that were truly devastating. One was twisted completely back on itself, the sole of her foot was pointed up at her head. The other leg looked to be intact, but the ankle was broken and swollen, her foot lay tilted awkwardly on the ground.

  “Your legs look broken, but I think you’ll live if you let us help.”

  “I don’t want your help.”

  “Fine,” Dex said, feeling a little cruel, but knowing the woman’s bitterness was driving him away. He couldn’t help her if she didn’t want him to. Healing would take time, and they needed to move away from the scene of the fight. Enough noise had been made to attract the Greeg, and perhaps worse. Dex wanted to get far away before making camp and seeing to his own wounds, much less someone else’s.

  “Maslow, we’re leaving,” Dex said.

  His father was up on one of the spare horses. “I’m ready,” he said.

  “Wait,” the red-headed woman said. “You can’t leave me.”

  “Actually we can,” Maslow said heartlessly.

  “Look, here’s what I can do,” Dex said. “I can lock your body into place. It won’t stop the pain, but it should minimize it. The only problem is, I need to straighten your legs out before I cast the spell.”

  “No,” the woman demanded. “Don’t touch my legs.”

  “If we leave them like that you’ll lose them,” Dex said. “And if we leave you here you’ll die. What are you willing to do to survive?”

  “Fine, you bastard. You’ll enjoy hurting me. Marshyl Knights are all the same. You think you rule the realm, but your time is coming to an end. Mark my words.”

  “Maslow.”

  “I never liked her,” he said, dismounting.

  “What’s your name?” Dex asked the woman.

  “Sonja,” she said between shuddering breaths.

  Dex knew was she was afraid, but he had no way to ease her pain. When Maslow reached her she screamed at him, cursing and shouting as he reached down and took hold of her foot. Fortunately, she fainted before her screams became unbearable, and Maslow was able to straighten both legs without torturing her. Once her legs were in place, Maslow bent her at the waist and Dex froze her body with the elvish ending curse.

  Maslow removed the saddle from the second of the two horses that had been abandoned by the regulators. He wrapped the saddle in its straps and secured it to the draft horse. Dex then levitated her into place on the spare horse. She had to be gently laid across the horse’s back like a blanket, her head and legs hanging down on either side of her mount, but at last they were ready to leave.

  “You try anything and you’ll be riding like Sonja all the way back to the Bitterroots,” Dex warned his father.

  “Don’t worry, son,” Maslow replied. “You can trust me.”

  Chapter 25

  A few hours later they stumbled upon a tiny spring. Water trickled from beneath a large rock, through the dirt, and into a small, muddy puddle.

  “You think that’s safe to drink?” Maslow asked.

  He’d kept up a steady conversation although Dex mostly ignored him. The older man loved to hear the sound of his own voice, or was trying, once more, to lull Dex into lowering his guard. The young Marshyl had learned from his mistakes and remained vigilant for any signs of treachery despite his father’s jovial attitude.

  The first thing Dex did, before even getting off his own horse, was to freeze his father. Maslow was just taking a breath, no doubt to launch into another long-winded exposition, when Dex cast the spell. The older man stiffened and then started to topple out of the saddle. Dex caught his father using a levitation spell, and lowered him to the ground. Then he did the same with Sonja. Climbing out of the saddle was painful with Dex’s leg and hip still oozing blood, but as long as he didn’t put too much pressure on the leg he felt okay.

  Normally Dex wouldn’t rely on magic to do basic chores, but after unbuckling the straps on the horses, Dex levitated the saddles and blankets off their backs. He positioned the blankets and saddles close to where he planned to build his fire, but not too close to where he would sleep. His plan was to keep both of the wizards in his custody paralyzed with the elvish ending curse through the night; he didn’t want to take any chances.

  Finally, he unloaded the wood and spare blankets from the draft horse, hobbled each of the animals, then collapsed near the big stone on the opposite side from the spring. The sun was going down and he didn’t want to have to clean his wound in the dark. Using the water from their dwindling supply seemed wasteful, but he cleaned the punctures and covered them with a strip of fabric from one of the spare blankets. Once that was done he cinched his belt tight around his hip and got a fire going.

  Bliss roosted on the big rock and once more shared a feather so that Dex could concoct a healing tea from its ashes. He considered drinking a little of the draught himself, but decided the woman needed it much more than he did. He had to release her from the paralysis so that she could drink it.

  “You should have just killed me,” she said when he released her from the spell.

  “You may change your mind about that,” Dex said, sliding his hand behind her back to lift her a little as she took a drink of the tea.

  “What is this?”

  “It’s just hot water and phoenix tail,” Dex said. “Wine would be better but I don’t have any.”

  “Phoenix tail?”

  “The feather was burned, the ash mixed with the water,” Dex explained. “It has healing properties.”

  “How do I know it won’t kill me?”

  “You are a confusing person,” Dex said with a grin. “I thought you wanted me to kill you.”

  “Of course I don’t want to die, you fool. Are all Marshyls as daft as you?”

  “Are all Regulators as hateful as you?”

  “Ah, ah, there,” she said relaxing a little as he settled her back on the spare saddle once she had drunk the mixture down. “Now let me sleep. My head is pounding.”

  Dex wasn’t sure what to do, but the woman was soon asleep and he froze her body once more. He had to use most of their remaining water to clean her scalp wound. Then he wrapped her head in a clean strip from the blanket and let her rest.

  The night was cold, but the wood from the cart made a warm fire and Dex was as comfortable as the wound on his hip and thigh would let him be as he stretched his feet out near the ring of rocks he had set up to contain the fire. He gazed up at the bright stars, resting his head on his saddle, and wondering how long it would take them to reach Northia. Escorting prisoners was dull, stressful, and more work than Dex had expected. He didn’t mind fending for himself, or even taking care of his friends, but seeing to the needs of prisoners was exhausting and not the least bit rewarding.

  He had to release his father from the elvish ending curse to let him eat. Dex hadn’t bothered trying to fix a meal, relying instead on dried beef and stale bread crusts to sustain them.

  “I wish you would give me a little warning before you do that,” Maslow said as soon
as he was free of the paralysis spell.

  “Eat,” Dex said. “I’m tired.”

  “You should have let me tend to that wound.”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “I’ve got some skills at healing wounds.”

  “Somehow I doubt that.”

  “Dex, at some point you’re going to have to learn to trust me.”

  “Why on earth would I do that?” Dex said. “You do realize I’m taking you to face the Lord Marshyl for your crimes. We aren’t running off to start a new life.”

  “Things might be different than you think,” Maslow said.

  Dex just looked at his father with a withering glance.

  “Hear me out, son,” Maslow continued. “Have you heard of the prophesy of Eddema?”

  Dex continued to ignore the older man. So far, Maslow hadn’t even gotten up from the horse blanket he was sitting on. Dex tossed him some jerky and half of a fist-sized loaf of crusty bread that was nearly as hard as the dried beef. Maslow caught the food but didn’t immediately begin to eat. Instead, he continued talking.

  “Eddema is a village far away in the north, on one of the dragon horn islands. There’s an oracle there, a holy man. He prophesied that the time of the Marshyls is ending.”

  “Funny, no one bothered to tell us,” Dex said.

  “It’s true, son. You have to see that. Why not slip away before you get caught up in all the fighting. Master Crane won’t stop until the Marshyls have been eradicated and the Source revealed.”

  “If that group that tried to free you is any example of what the Regulators are capable of, I’m not worried about the Marshyls being overcome any time soon.”

  “You’re ready to throw away your family,” Maslow said, raising a hand to stop Dex’s angry retort. “I know, I know, it’s not your fault I’ve been gone for so long. And I know you may not believe that I really couldn’t remember you, but I want you to know that if I had known I would have come for you, Dex. And we have the future. We can go away, just the two of us. With what we know and are capable of doing the sky is the limit. No one would dare stand in our way.”