by Dante King
“He’s been acting unimpressed with all of this,” Tolin said. “But he loves it really, the chance to see new places and bite new people. Now, how about some tea?”
We walked downriver far enough to get clear of the bodies, and settled beside the water. I made a fire and started to boil a pan of water. Master Softpaw stalked through the long grass, hunted butterflies, and watched birds scatter at his presence. I didn’t know if the local fauna had seen a cat before, but if not, then they were in for a shock.
“It’s good to see you again, Vesma,” Faryn said.
“And you, Master Faryn,” Vesma said stiffly.
“Have you found your studies of plants useful out here in the world?”
“Yes, Master. You have my undying gratitude.”
“It was my pleasure.” Faryn smiled, ignoring Vesma’s sarcastic tone.. “The woods here are so different from around the guild, I only hope that I’ve helped equip you to survive.”
“I think our Augmenting and fighting skills will matter more for that.”
“I suppose you’re right. And I’m glad that Ethan has someone like you to help watch over him.”
I watched them uncomfortably out of the corner of my eye as I used tea-making as an excuse to pretend I wasn’t listening. The women in my life had to relate to each other somehow. Faryn had been a tutor to all of us. The elf had taught me my first wood techniques and was responsible for my entrance into the Radiant Dragon Guild, where she taught botanical traditions to its members. It hadn’t occurred to me that there might be tensions between Vesma and Faryn—on one side, at least.
“Why are you here?” Vesma asked the other woman.
Faryn smiled warmly. “I was worried about Ethan. Not that I don’t think he can look after himself—he’s proven that to all of us.” She caught me observing the conversation and turned her face to me. “But I’m not sure that you know the true meaning of the mission Xilarion has given you. What is at stake, and what tensions underlie it. I wanted to do what I could to help, even if it meant traveling such a long way.”
I gave Faryn a reassuring smile. She’d suffered a trauma when she was young and seldom traveled far from the Radiant Dragon Guild. She’d never mentioned ventures beyond the lands the guild protected. To have traveled this far would have been a huge challenge for her. It still seemed odd that she’d come all this way because she was worried.
If Xilarion was concerned that we were off track, Faryn’s presence on the Diamond Coast was understandable. The rest of Radiant Dragon were likely busy with repairing the guild house and attempting to replenish their numbers. After the battle with Clan Wysaro, it would take months, if not years, to return the guild to its previous state.
“I came to keep her company,” Tolin said in answer to my unspoken question. “And to make sure that you hadn’t gotten yourselves killed on this little excursion..”
He’d never struck me as the bodyguard type, but it made sense. Faryn would have been very nervous about traveling all this way. Who better to help her overcome her fear than an old friend and his cat?
I chuckled. “You left the temple unattended? Did you find some other guy from another world to take care of it while you’re away?”
“The Unwashed Temple can take care of itself.”
“Yeah? So all the cleaning was just some Mr. Miyagi shit?” I asked.
Tolin’s brow furrowed in confusion. “I was teaching you a lesson.”
“Consider it learned.”
“Hmph. You’re still wet behind the ears, and you’re off galavanting across the countryside. You never thought to say goodbye before you left?”
I tried to hold back a smile. “Didn’t get an opportunity.”
“If you paid as much attention to manners as you did to polishing the temple lamp, then—”
Faryn cleared her throat. “I think we should discuss the task at hand. There’s more to this excursion than simply delivering a message.”
“Care to elaborate?” Vesma asked as she fed the fire.
“Local feuds, such as Radiant Dragon’s conflict with the Wysaro Clan, often run deeper,” Faryn answered. “There are forces at work within the empire, forces that threaten to tear us apart and leave civilization in peril. This task may go beyond mere talking. Intervention may be needed to keep our fragile peace.”
“You sound a little stiff there, Master,” Vesma said pointedly.
“My words came from the mouth of Guildmaster Xilarion himself,” the elf told us. “It’s the best I can presently recall.”
There it was. Faryn’s words had confirmed my prediction that this mission held more than a simple messenger service. That was good. I wasn’t really the mailman type.
I poured the tea and passed the cups around. Master Softpaw emerged from the grass and rubbed up against me.
“Hey, buddy,” I said as I scratched his head. “Are you done hunting?”
Softpaw climbed into my lap and curled up. I stroked his back, and he purred as he settled down to sleep. The rest of us sipped at the boiling tea, a much-needed refreshment after a run through the forest and the fight against the fishmen. I hadn’t realized how much my energy was flagging until the liquid warmed my insides and invigorated me.
“Where is the sword that I gave you?” Tolin asked suddenly.
“It was swallowed by a hellhound,” I said. “Long story.”
“Why didn’t you carve it from its corpse?” Tolin asked. “Did you learn nothing from the guild?”
“I found something better.”
I held out the Sundered Heart Sword. I expected the old priest to reach out and take it for a closer look, but he just eyed it and sipped his tea with a strange expression. I wasn’t sure if it was fondness, suspicion, or something else entirely.
“Nydarth,” he said. “The Sundered Heart. I see you didn’t exaggerate when you spoke of your arrival at my temple gates. How is the old girl doing?”
“Very well,” Nydarth said inside my head. “In spite of how you left me, you old goat.”
I decided to relay her message to Tolin a little more politely.
“She’s doing well,” I said. “For someone trapped in a sword.”
Tolin snorted. “I imagine that she said it a little differently.”
I stroked Softpaw’s head while I considered a series of pressing concerns. I had a lot of questions about Nydarth. The dragon spirit was in a habit of keeping me in the dark. I doubted that my old mentor would be willing to answer my questions about the Sundered Heart either. That left me striking a balance between the most useful question and the one most likely to get a response.
“I’ve been wondering about your relationship with her,” I said. “What was the connection between you two?”
“I played some part in the Sundered Heart’s movements,” Tolin said. “When the last person who wielded her got himself killed, he left the Sundered Heart laying in a ditch. That was not place for such a powerful artefact, so I retrieved it. I placed the sword in the depths of the Ember Cavern, for safekeeping.”
“Safekeeping, he says?” Nydarth muttered. “The old man practically imprisoned me!”
I narrowed my eyes at my mentor. “You made it up the mountain and past all the fire beasts that fill that place?”
After a moment, I remembered how Tolin had made the piece of boiled chicken disappear when I’d first met him. If he could use some variation of that skill in battle, he would be a fearsome Augmenter unlike any I’d seen so far. But maybe it had just been a trick? A sleight of hand meant to impress me?
“Oh, so I’m too helpless to do such things?” Tolin asked, his tone indignant. “Just a frail old man who needs to be pandered to and left somewhere safe and warm until he breathes his last?”
“Yes,” Vesma said bluntly. “Such is the way of our elders, in the end.”
Faryn laughed at the impertinence, but Tolin’s cackle caught me off guard.
“You’re right,” he said to Faryn. “It is a good t
hing Ethan has people like this one to watch his back.”
“And who watches your back, old man?” I asked him. “Master Southpaw is a formidable warrior, but something tells me he’d rather let you be killed than offer a paw to help.”
“I was not always as you see me now. Time may not take its toll at the same pace for all of us, but no one starts out white-haired and wrinkled.”
“So, you’ll be coming with us to the Resplendent Tears Guild?” I asked. I didn’t know what the guild members would make of the slightly scruffy and time-worn priest. But then, I didn’t know what they would make of us outer disciples either. I was entering completely new territory, and I’d be glad for Tolin’s company. Particularly if he had any more tricks he was willing to teach me.
He shook his head. “Not me. I have a temple to tend. My congregation may just be my cat and my memories, but I have a duty to them nonetheless.”
“I’ll join you for the journey,” Faryn said. “I’ve never ventured beyond the mountains. It will be wonderful to see what grows here, to see more of their forests and their farms. Perhaps I may even find plants worthy of study.” The elf’s forest-green eyes sparkled as she surveyed the trees around us. “But I’ll leave you to deliver Guildmaster Xilarion’s message. You are the guild's representatives, after all. It's bad form for me to be in your party.”
“Then we should get going,” I said as I set down my empty cup. “If there’s some “intervening” to be done, we won’t get anywhere here on our asses.”
“Ah, to be young and eager again.” Tolin held out a hand. “Could someone please help me up?”
While Kegohr helped Tolin through his venerable elder routine, I put out the fire and emptied the teapot. Master Softpaw dislodged from my lap and watched proceedings with suspicion until Tolin snatched him up. The movement was remarkably swift for a man of his age and supposed fragility. He deposited the hissing cat into his bag and tightened the top until Softpaw could only poke his head out and glare indignantly at his captor.
“Cease your hissing,” Tolin muttered. “You’ll enjoy the view, and I’m the one who has to do all the walking.”
Tolin said his goodbyes as he slung his bag over his shoulder and trudged over to me with the help of his walking stick. He laid a hand on my shoulder and looked up into my eyes.
“Tread carefully, Swordslinger,” he said. “Stay true to your path. You have a chance to make the empire a safer place. It would be a pity to waste it.”
Tolin turned abruptly and left without another word. Like a ghost, my first mentor vanished around a rocky outcrop, and I turned my attention back to the others. The fire was a smoldering mass of ashes, and our small camp was once again stowed in the haversacks over our backs.
Vesma’s map was on display again as she discussed the route with Faryn.
“It seems a shame not to see more of the forest,” Faryn said. “It’s all so beautiful.”
“The route through the farmlands will be quicker,” Vesma replied curtly. “You can always come back to the woods.”
“I know. And I know you have a message to deliver. It’s just that there are so many plants to forage. Do you know the properties inside the sap of a salted palm? A little Vigor, and it can be made into quite the tonic for stamina.”
“There will be other plants on the farms,” Vesma countered. It normally wasn’t like her to speak so brazenly to a higher ranking guild member, but Faryn wasn’t like the other masters. The wood Augmenter was the only master who’d slept with me a few times. That was my best guess for why Vesma was being so difficult.
“Farmed plants aren’t the same. They don’t have the spirit of the forest, that thrill of the wild.” Faryn looked up at me with a twinkle in her eye. “Sometimes, you want something untamed.”
“And sometimes, you just want to get walking.” Vesma rolled up the map and stowed it away.
“Uhh. . .” Kegohr looked from Vesma and Faryn and back again. “I’m thinking that’s not the way to speak to a master.”
“Oh?” Vesma pouted. “It’s not? My apologies, gracious Master Faryn. Please do forgive my verbal indiscretions.” She marched in the direction she’d indicated without another word.
Faryn stared at Vesma’s back. “She is rather spirited, isn’t she?”
“Sure is,” Kegohr said as he set out after her.
“I thought she was satisfied with our arrangement?” Faryn asked me.
“It’s not that she’s unsatisfied. She just had no idea you’d be here. Hell, none of us did.” I eyed her appreciatively. “Not that I’m complaining.”
“I promise to stay out of the way. I’ll only be here if you need my assistance.”
I took Faryn’s hands in my own and kissed them. “It won’t be a problem. It’ll just take a bit of time for Vesma’s disappointment to wear off.”
“As soon as it does, I would like a moment alone with you. We have a lot to catch up on.”
“I can’t argue with that. Come on; Kegohr and Vesma will be halfway to the guild house by now.”
Our route snaked along the riverbank and down a well-worn trail toward fields of green farmlands. The track soon widened into a surface packed hard from decades of trading carts and steeds, like those that now accompanied alongside us. Many of the drivers and riders made polite nods when we encountered them, and I guessed guild members were treated like a kind of nobility.
We left the trees of the forest behind us as we entered bright orchards of fragrant fruit. Faryn pulled a few leaves and budding flowers for later study. The orchards opened up to paddy fields spread across steps carved into the hills. All the while, the river ran along beside us, its waters singing a burbling song to the blue sky.
The wild forest was entirely behind us by the middle of the afternoon. Several streams from the mountains fed the river and turned it into a powerful watercourse. Mills stood proudly on both banks and creaked as huge water wheels turned tirelessly and powered simple machinery for grinding corn or sawing wood.
Farms and mill owners watched us warily as we passed. Kegohr’s muscular gray bulk and protruding tusks probably didn’t help. Faryn did good work at reassuring some, but I was sure we were leaving a trail of rumor and speculation in our wake. Little did they know that we’d left our most bloodthirsty companion behind, carried away in Tolin’s sack.
As we crossed the farmlands, Faryn filled us in on events since we’d left the guild.
“Hamon is still with the Radiant Dragon,” she said. “Kept alive by Master Xilarion’s magic.”
Hamon Wysaro, heir to Lord Jiven Wysaro, had been one of the leading figures in his father’s attack on the Radiant Dragon Guild. I’d kicked his ass in a tournament bout and defeated him in combat, only for Jiven to fill him with a raging fire magic and turn him into a being of fantastic destructive force. The technique had almost consumed Hamon, a price Jiven was apparently willing to pay for an advantage over the Radiant Dragon. It was only Guildmaster Xilarion’s intervention that had saved Hamon from a horrible death.
“And they’re letting him go back to his studies?” I asked. “After everything he did?”
“If only that were possible.” Faryn shook her head. “The fire is still eating away at Hamon, constantly devouring his body. He’s kept alive by a powerful magic scroll Xilarion received from the Emperor.”
“Why would he waste something so powerful on Hamon?”
“Because he is the product of his father. Hamon is not truly dishonorable like Jiven. There is something that can be redeemed in him. And those of Radiant Dragon need Augmenters.”
“Not Augmenters who betrayed the guild,” Vesma spat.
Faryn tutted, a little too much like a teacher addressing a student. “Hamon is . . . changed. He is not the person he once was. Besides, he is so very far from ever being a danger to anyone. He can’t leave the room they’re keeping him in without starting to fall apart, can’t pick up a book or pen and scroll without that bursting into flames. He’s tra
pped by his own body.”
“Good,” Vesma said savagely.
I was inclined to agree with her. Hamon had been a stuck-up prick from the moment I’d met him, certain of his own superiority and constantly determined to prove it. The prince of the Wysaro Clan had turned on the guild that had housed and trained him. He’d betrayed his tutors and his fellow students. The resulting battle had been devastating.
I’d have found something far worse for the bastard than simple imprisonment.
“What about the rest of the Wysaro clan?” I asked.
“All the clan’s members and a few of their friends took part in the attack on the guild, so they have all been expelled.”
“Then, why keep Hamon? Shouldn’t saving him be someone else’s business? His father’s, for instance? ”
“Lord Wysaro has laid the failure of their attack at Hamon’s feet. Whether he believes it or not, he’s shifting the blame and the shame onto Hamon.” Faryn sighed. “Master Xilarion believes that Lord Wysaro would kill Hamon if he were to return to the clan rather than have that shame become part of his reputation once more. From what we know of Jiven, I’m inclined to agree. The man’s greed and ambition far outshadow any love he has in his heart.”
Faryn’s voice trembled, and I wondered if she knew more about Jiven Wysaro than she was telling me. Or whether she was simply reacting to what she’d seen in Wysaro’s conflict with the guild.
“Has the Wysaro Clan made any more moves against us?” I asked.
“Almost the opposite,” Faryn said. “They’ve retreated completely into the Wysaro Fortress. There are rumors that they’ve started training their own Augmenters now they don’t have access to the Radiant Dragon.” The elf slid her fingers over a sheaf of rice as she spoke.”People have speculated that they might set up their own guild, but right now, we don’t really know anything of what’s going on in there.”
“Has the Emperor responded to the attack?” Vesma asked.
