The Lure of Fools

by Jason James King

  “I gave it to him,” Ezra growled. “I gave him that cursed thing! And now it’s going to turn him into a monster–like me.”

  “You were hardly a monster, old friend,” Irvis said.

  Ezra whirled on him. “What about that night at the arena?” The harshness of Ezra’s voice made Mulladin start to blubber nervously.

  “Argentus– ”

  “How can you say I am not a monster?”

  Ezra sank to the cobblestones and gripped the sides of his head with his hands. Now Mulladin was crying.

  “Hush,” Irvis gently chided the boy-man. “Argentus,” he carefully began, “you are not that man anymore.”

  “Aren’t I? I’ve lied and stolen, things I promised Rasheera I’d never do again.”

  “This time is different. This time it was for a good cause, not selfish greed.”

  “I gave it to him, Irvis. That’s my real crime. I thought I was so damned clever Kaul would be fooled. Now Jekaran is bonded to that thing, and it will consume him the way it consumed me.”

  “Jekaran has an advantage that you didn’t have, Argentus.”

  “Oh yeah?” Ezra spat sarcastically. “And what’s that?”

  “Someone who loves him so much he would put aside even his oaths to The Divine Mother to chase that fool boy all over Shaelar in order to rescue him.”

  “My love is tainted, Irvis,” Ezra said softly.

  “What are you talking about?”

  Ezra looked up from the ground. “The sword left something behind in my mind. I’m not sure what it is, but it calls to me, now more than ever.”

  “You mean it left its mark upon your mind and soul.”

  “No,” Ezra snapped. “I’m not talking metaphorically. There’s something hidden inside my mind, something real. Like the sword left a part of itself behind. I think it may be like a man burying a treasure so he can come back to it someday. The sword put something in my brain when our bond was broken, in case I ever re-bonded it. So it would remember me.”

  “You’ve never mentioned this to me before.” Irvis sounded worried.

  “That’s because even thinking about it terrifies me.” He looked back down at the ground. “I feel like this whole business has awoken whatever it is that the sword left buried in my brain. I’m tempted to take it back, Irvis. What if that’s the true reason I’m chasing Jekaran all over the kingdom? What if it’s so I can take it back from him?”

  Irvis knelt in front of him. “Listen to me, Argentus. No one knows more about temptation than I do—you know that. So trust me when I tell you that it is not the fact that we are tempted that taints us. It is only if we heed that temptation.

  “The sword was a part of you for years. It was in your head, and even controlled your body. So of course it will tempt you to return to it, and it probably always will. But do you remember what you told me the night you broke the bond?”

  Ezra didn’t say anything.

  “Do you remember?” Irvis repeated.

  Ezra nodded. “My sister.”

  “Yes,” Irvis grabbed Ezra’s shoulders and squeezed. “Your love for Anarilee is what gave you the strength to break the bond. It’s what protected your sanity and made it possible for you to recover.”

  Ezra slowly nodded.

  “Your love for Jekaran gives you the same reservoir of strength to draw from, perhaps even more so because you raised him. You are doing this because you love your nephew, not because you lust for the power of the sword. And when the time comes, it will be Jekaran’s love for you that will give him the strength to break the bond.”

  That actually comforted Ezra, and a giddy sense of relief overcome a good portion of his self-doubt. He nodded appreciatively.

  “Come on,” Irvis said as he stood and reached down to help Ezra to stand.

  “Sometimes I really do think you belong in those robes,” Ezra said as he brushed the dirt from the back of his trouser. He looked at his chubby friend and grinned. “What you said about my focusing on my sister for strength was damn-near insightful.”

  Irvis grinned back. “Well, women have always brought out the best in you. They bring something out in me too, but it’s not on the inside.”

  “I take it back,” Ezra said flatly.

  Irvis just laughed.

  “Mae!” Mulladin suddenly blurted out, and not in his usual forlorn tone. This time he sounded happy.

  Ezra turned to look at the man-boy, and found him pointing eagerly at something. Ezra followed Mulladin’s finger to a piece of new canvas nailed to the open door of a shop a few paces off to their right. On the canvas was the color-trapped image of a girl in a sundress leaning down over someone on the ground, the spinning wheel of an overturned cart a blur in the background.

  The girl’s hair was shorter than Maely’s had been, but it was definitely her. That’s when Ezra saw the real focus of the image, the woman on the ground. She had pale skin and hair the same color as an Apeira well.

  “Allosian,” Ezra gasped.

  “Yes,” Irvis confirmed, “that’s definitely Kairah of Allose, but that picture doesn’t do her justice. She’s gorgeous, Argentus. The most perfect specimen of womanhood that I have ever laid eyes on.”

  “Did she know you were laying your eyes on her?” Ezra scoffed.

  Irvis didn’t make a reply.

  Ezra had to sidestep a surly looking sailor to get to the image, and when he did, he tore it off the door. A few passerby’s shot him disapproving looks, but he didn’t care. He quickly read the words scrawled underneath the image:

  By order of Imarin Guard Captain, Iskar Eraenas, two hundred silver Aies for information leading to the location of the fey woman, and an additional hundred for the apprehension of the girl.

  “That was not up a full day before it was rescinded,” a gravelly voice said from Ezra’s left. He looked up to find a bald, old man with a milky right eye shuffling over to him. His good eye was fixed on Ezra and the man spat something foul onto the street as he came to a stop.

  “Why?” Ezra asked.

  “The fey girl was taken into the custody of some out of town noble who sailed away with her to the capitol.”

  “And the young woman?” Ezra’s pulse quickened as hope surged inside his chest. Perhaps Maely and Jekaran were still in Imaris, hiding out or maybe detained by the city guard. If that were the case, Ezra would easily be able to rescue them by using his displacement talis. He fingered the amethyst-capped earring piercing his left ear lobe.

  “Gone,” the old man said. “Guards even saw her leaving through the north gate but didn’t do a damn thing to stop her. Word is they were whipped by Captain Eraenas himself for it. So you see, that’s why that paper ain’t worth a load of ghern shi–”

  “Was she alone?”

  “What?”

  “Was she alone?” Ezra repeated in a louder tone.

  The old man scowled. “I ain’t deaf!”

  “Sorry,” Ezra said. “But do you know if there was a boy with her?”

  The old man shook his head. “I only heard them talk about the girl in that picture.”

  Ezra nodded. “Thank you.”

  He turned to Irvis and was about to say something when the old man made a deliberate throat-clearing noise. Ezra looked back at him.

  “Something else?” Ezra asked working to suppress his rising annoyance.

  The old man narrowed his eyes. “In these parts it’s customary to offer a gratuity when someone provides useful information.”

  Ezra rolled his eyes, fished in his pocket, and flicked a coin at the old beggar. The man caught it with surprising dexterity and then flashed a near toothless smile before shuffling off.

  “Where is that boy?” Ezra hissed through clenched teeth.

  “Your girl has obsessively chased Jekaran for hundreds of miles. I doubt she would leave him here and run off on her own.” Irvis leaned in closer to look at the image Ezra still held stretched between his hands.

  Ezra nodded. “Whic
h means Jekaran was taken on that ship with the Allosian woman.”

  “That old beggar said it was sailing to Aiested,” Irvis added.

  Ezra gritted his teeth. “That’s where Maely’s headed! And that’s where we need to go!”

  “Argentus,” Irvis began in a delicate tone, “if Jekaran was captured with the sword, and is being taken to Aiested–“

  “I know what it means, Irvis!” Ezra snapped. “Which is why we have to get there as fast as possible.”

  “But they have two days on us. That ship will be docking by now.”

  Ezra nodded slowly. “Do we know who the Rikujo boss of this city is?”

  “You’re joking, right?” Irvis said. “The Rikujo will kill us if we go back to them. Deserters are to be executed without exception! Your law, remember?”

  “I know,” Ezra said. “But they are the only ones who can get us access to a slipgate.”

  Irvis grabbed his bicep and hissed, “Argentus, this is madness! Even if they don’t kill us, do you really want to get involved with them again?”

  Ezra threw off Irvis’ grip and moved in close so that he was mere inches from his friend’s chubby face. “If we don’t get to Jekaran soon,” he said through gritted teeth, “the crown will hang him for using that sword–if not for the crime, then so the king can bond it.” Ezra stepped back and dropped his eyes to the image in his hands. “I can’t let that happen, Irvis. I promised Anarilee I would take care of him, and if that means dying or even selling what’s left of my soul, I will do it.”

  Irvis stared at him for a long moment before smiling wanly. “Well, we left the Rikujo together, so we might as well go back to face judgment together.”

  Ezra felt a sudden surge of affection for Irvis. “Thank you,” he choked out.

  Irvis smiled again. “With the power vacuum created by Kaul’s death, his lieutenants will be fighting for control. If you returned and proclaimed Jekaran the slayer of Kaul and your rightful heir, they just might help us.”

  “You want me to make them think my nephew has taken over the Rikujo?”

  Irvis shrugged. “He does have the sword of the Invincible Shadow, which kind of does make him your heir.”

  Ezra nodded thoughtfully, “It could work.”

  “Last I knew a woman named Graelle was in charge here. We probably can find her at Racheta’s Pleasure House.”

  Ezra scoffed. “How convenient for you.”

  Irvis shook his head. “Not anymore. I’ve given my life to The Divine Mother. I have to remain pure.”

  “Well, there’s no time for that anyway,” Ezra said. Then he rolled up the image of Maely with the Allosian woman and was about to stow it in his satchel when Irvis touched his hand.

  “Can I keep that?”

  Ezra cocked an eyebrow.

  “Not to look at Maely,” Irvis quickly supplied.

  “Given your life to The Divine Mother, huh?” Ezra handed the image over to the monk.

  “That doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate the beauty of Rasheera’s creations,” Irvis said defensively.

  “You mean appreciate the Allosian woman’s cleavage?”

  Irvis tucked the rolled picture into a robe pocket. “Well Rasheera did create her.”

  Ezra chuckled. The fact that he had a plan helped to rein in his gnawing worry. I’m sorry, Rasheera, he prayed. I know I promised never to go back, but Jekaran’s my boy. He was probably selling his soul by returning to the Rikujo, but if it saved his nephew, then Ezra decided the bargain was in his favor.

  Maely cast another glance over her shoulder. Imaris was gone now, replaced by a dirt road that twisted behind a seemingly endless curtain of tall pine trees. She was glad to be away from that city. It had been pleasant enough, as exotic as she imagined a port city to be. But Imaris was where everything had gone wrong. Imaris was where she had lost Jekaran.

  Shouldn’t have let him talk me into taking Kairah there, she thought, and not for the first time. Had she put up more of a fight, Jekaran surely would’ve given in and they would be in Jeryn with Mull and Uncle Ez right now. And she wouldn’t be clinging to the neck of a stinking ghern trying to keep a nearly invisible Vorakk shaman in her line of sight.

  Where is he? She ground her teeth. Looking back had made Maely lose sight of him again. Although they were following a road, the lizard man had occasionally turned off to take shortcuts through the trees. What if she had lost him? Would this road lead her to Aiested?

  “Karak?” she called out.

  No answer.

  Maely reined in the ghern and it slowed to a stop.

  “Karak?” she repeated, and this time her echoing voice carried a hint of rising panic.

  Something heavy struck the ground at her right and Maely screamed. The ghern shuffled sideways as Karak materialized from thin air.

  “Golden womb of the goddess, Karak!” Maely snapped as she pressed a hand to her breast as if that could slow her pounding heart.

  “Reka, Karak scare?” he asked in his unique accent of guttural hissing.

  “Where did you go?” Maely hotly demanded.

  Karak pointed skyward. “Top of tree, aka.”

  Of course. She could feel her cheeks heat with embarrassment. He was scouting out the road ahead, something he had done a few times before. “Well it wouldn’t hurt you to warn me before you run off the road to climb a tree!” she scolded. “I have a hard enough time keeping track of you as it is.”

  “Ska,” Karak replied with a dip of his scaly head.

  “Well?”

  “Reka?”

  “Did you see anything?” Maely snapped.

  Karak flashed a toothy grin. “Esk, birds.”

  “You know what I mean!” Maely huffed.

  “Karak see big human city, aka.”

  The news abruptly washed away Maely’s irritation. “The capitol?”

  Karak nodded.

  “How far away are we?”

  That question appeared to trouble the Vorakk and he hesitated before answering, “Reka, days?”

  Maely sighed. She supposed that the magic Karak used to extend his vision must make gauging distance difficult. Either that or communicating the answer was hard for the lizard man, whose native language wasn’t anything more than growls and hisses.

  She shot another glance back over her shoulder in the direction of Imaris. They had been on the road for two days, and as best as Maely could figure, had come about seventy or so miles. That was the one good thing about riding the stinky and hairy ghern–the only good thing. And remarkably, Karak was able to keep pace on foot, whether by magic or by some innate Vorakk trait, she didn’t know.

  Maely touched her thumb to her ring finger and brushed the underside of a metal band. Since nearly losing her mother’s ring in Imaris, she had taken to wearing it in order to keep it safe. It had also come in handy in dealing with the Imarin city guard, who were still on high alert and questioning everyone who left the city. They wouldn’t have let her leave had she not commanded them to.

  If only I’d had it when Gymal took Jek. She choked back threatening tears. It had fallen out of a tear in her pocket, just before Jekaran clashed with the crystal golem. Of course, she hadn’t known that until she reached for it to stop Gymal from kidnapping him.

  Maely had watched through stinging tears as Gymal’s ship sailed out of the Imarin harbor, her heart breaking on the fact that only a short time before, she could’ve saved Jekaran. She stayed like that for a long time, until the ship was well on its way and a mob of guards and officials swarmed the docks.

  The ringing alarm bells and urgent shouts of the crowd sounded far away as Maely wandered back to the bottom of the steep hill that was Imaris’ main thoroughfare. There she found the wreckage of the wooden cart she and Kairah had used to outpace the crystal golem. In the chaotic aftermath of Kaul’s attack and the crystal golem’s rampage, nobody had paid any attention to the small silver ring lying half-concealed underneath the broken spokes of a wooden whe
el.

  Almost robotically, Maely leaned down and picked up the ring. She was about to slip it back into her pocket, but caught herself, and slipped it on her finger instead. With the compulsion talis full of Apeiron, she could use it to ward off anyone who might try to take it. She was so upset at the time she had wanted someone to try to take it, but no one did. In fact, she hadn’t needed to use it at all until the guards stopped her at what was left of the city gate.

  It had taken Maely the rest of the morning to find Karak. He had hidden their gherns and gone to investigate the chaos in Imaris. She knew he’d be back, so Maely just sat on the ground next to her grazing ghern, staring at nothing, her tears having run dry. When Karak finally returned, she told him what happened. The lizard man had listened intently, asking few questions but seeming to understand her every word.

  She thought reciting the story of her fresh tragedy would’ve brought more heartache and tears, but by then numbness had settled over her. It wasn’t until dark that she could feel enough to cry again, and she did cry, late into the night.

  It wasn’t so much the loss of Jekaran that made her weep, as it was the fact this all could’ve been avoided had she followed her instincts and not let him go with Kairah. She ground her teeth. That Allosian witch!

  Whether by use of magic or the more mundane spell of her figure, she had lured Jek into this. True, she also helped to save his life, but Maely didn’t want to give Kairah any positive credit. And according to Jekaran, it’d been trying to save Kairah from a rape gang that led to his bonding the sword, which led to his imprisonment, which eventually branched out into every other trouble that afflicted them. Anyone with even the tiniest brain could see that this mess was all Kairah’s fault.

  “Reka, girl hear?”

  Maely snapped her eyes up from her ring to find Karak staring at her intently. “What?”

  The Vorakk shaman hissed, “Isk no time! Uska, find stupid human boy!”

  Maely’s embarrassment quickly turned to anger. “Well, if you would tell me before you leave the road to scout, I wouldn’t have to stop to find you!”

  “Ssk,” Karak hissed as he signed something. Then he leapt into a jog, his form blurring into a translucent haze.