A Scholar Without Magic

by Guy Antibes

  Desmon shivered. “That was scary. You had a knife floating in front of you, Sam.”

  “Better floating in front of me than sticking in front of me. That’s why Greto succeeded more than this man earlier today.”

  “Yesterday,” Desmon said.

  Sam nodded his head. “Does it make a difference?”

  Desmon smiled grimly and instructed his men to make manacles for the remaining officers. They made a pile of dead soldiers from each force and began the grisly task of documenting who had died, before burning them on a pyre off a ways from the road.

  “Did any get away?” Sam asked.

  “A handful,” one of Desmon’s men said.

  Sam hoped one of the sentries had escaped, and he would make sure Glory’s name made it to the deceased list.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  ~

  D ays later, they arrived at the camp just on the other side of the Ristarian border. They had passed large encampments in Zogaz, but they weren’t an occupying force. Sam verified at the villages and towns they had passed that the soldiers paid for everything, and they were ordered to behave, with strict punishments awaiting those who did not. He still hadn’t told Glory that he could create pollen.

  There were plenty of pollen buildings temporarily built in the camp. Desmon and the remaining officers escorted Sam, Glory, and Plantian to a wooden two-story main headquarters.

  Sam was surprised to see Banna sitting at a table with representatives from Ristaria and Trakata.

  “No one from Zogaz?” Sam asked as introductions were made, and the three of them sat down on the other side.

  “We have the people’s permission, but Hizor stays neutral like they always have. Zogazin from outside the capital will fight, but few from Hizor will. It is enough to have their permission to allow us to fight Kreb from Zogaz,” Banna said, a bit sternly in Sam’s opinion. “Tell us of your travels from Alloren, Father.”

  Plantian described their flight from Alloren after being attacked by assassins. He expanded his narration to include their travels to the captured village.

  “Glory? Would you answer some questions from us? You are under no obligation to do so.”

  She blinked when Banna told her that. Glory had told Sam that her biggest fear was an interrogation, but she didn’t know anything other than warder tactics and had little to add to their knowledge of troop placements, since the warders were treated more like servants. The only advantage that she had seen was having her own tent and better food. Other than that and different uniforms, they were told what to do and when to do it. Her comments were the same as she had made to Sam on their trip to the northeast.

  It was Sam’s turn. He stood before he began. “You might be wondering how Plantian was able to generate enough wards to fend off the Vaarekians. The truth is, I once couldn’t create a smidgen of pollen.”

  “Once?” Banna said, leaning forward.

  Sam nodded. “Once. I almost died from an examination by the Order of Ren, seeking to find out what my malady was. They found a growth on my spine, using a gold probe. A reaction to the gold was what almost killed me. I lost the feeling in my lower body, but after weeks of numbness, my body healed, and I eventually learned I can create pollen. The problem is, I have a lump of it in my hand.”

  The representatives laughed. “You have been in Zogaz too long, Smith,” one of them said.

  Sam tossed the brick onto the table. It landed with a thud. “My pollen is invisible to your eyes, just as your pollen is invisible to mine.” He took off his spectacles. “Look through these.”

  The representatives were astonished to see invisible pollen.

  “You are a freak,” one of them said.

  “I’ve been a freak since I was five years old. I just added to my freakiness. I can create wards, and those wards are what saved Plantian and me. With the invisible armor I created, that invisibility helped me to defeat one of Kreb’s elite assassins and a team of them when Plantian and I were attacked in Alloren. It is also my contention that there is an element of the Zogazin that are definitely not united in supporting you. Someone had to have notified Kreb’s assassins that Plantian and I were together in Alloren,” Sam said.

  The representatives were silent. “So what do you want us to do? Give you command of the armies?” one of them said derisively.

  Sam shook his head. “I just wanted you to know that Plantian, Glory, and I are willing to help you and have special talents to help you do so. Plantian and I are both pollen magicians. Banna Plunk can vouch for my knowledge of pollen, and Desmon can tell you that I can create and defeat wards. Even though Glory doesn’t know strategies, she knows warder tactics. We can contribute as consultants to your efforts to defeat Viktar Kreb.”

  “Why don’t you join our army as officers?” a uniformed woman said.

  “We have talked it over while we traveled. No. You have officers enough,” Plantian said. “We would like more freedom to act and lend our expertise wherever needed.”

  “Impossible. I won’t allow you to roam around Polistia on your own,” another uniformed representative said.

  “Are you Viktar Kreb?” Glory asked. “Why do you talk like him?”

  The man looked flustered. “To whom will you report? Who will direct your efforts?”

  Sam looked at Banna Plunk. “She knows us. We will consider her advice, but we will act independently,” Sam said. He didn’t know how much he trusted Banna, but he doubted he could rely on any of the other representatives. They did not look like a united front to Sam, but they were fighting a common enemy, and hopefully, Viktar Kreb would keep them together until his dreams of conquest were vanquished.

  “I’m inclined to agree,” Banna said. “Sam could, in a sense, be considered a protégé of mine. I taught him about wards and first discovered his potential as a pollen magician. He has a history of being an investigator, a snoop, if you will, and carries the logic and persistence of any good investigator. We can use him best as an independent party.”

  Sam internally sighed. He didn’t know if Banna would go along, even though Plantian had said that she would. She was his daughter, he had told them, but Sam had firsthand knowledge of Banna’s stubbornness.

  The representatives asked the three of them to leave while they conferred. It didn’t take long before they summoned them back into the conference room.

  “We will accept your offer of assistance, Sam Smith, Plantian Plunk, and, uh,” the representative looked down at his notes, “Glory Wheeler, late of the Vaarekian army.”

  ~

  “So you are under my command?” Banna said as she walked with them after their meeting.

  “You didn’t listen, Daughter. You are an advisor. We are independent,” Plantian said.

  “Whatever. The result is the same. I can suggest where you go and what you do.”

  “I’d like Emmy to accompany us,” Sam said.

  Banna nodded to him. “I agree, but I won’t promise that you won’t be sent into dangerous places.”

  “Polistia is a dangerous place for all four of us, I’m afraid,” Plantian said. “I am a professor who has spawned one of Kreb’s most virulent enemies, you. Glory has deserted from the Vaarekian army and, hopefully, is counted as a casualty. Sam is hunted down for personally defying the Dictator. Kreb’s reach is long, my dear.”

  Banna grunted. “I am in no less danger, but I can’t accompany you. It is all I can do to keep pasting the current alliance together. You could tell it isn’t a strong one.”

  “Kreb might make it strong,” Sam said. “If they all treasure their independence from Vaarek, you can use that.”

  “Oh, I have and will continue to do so. The first thing I’d like you to do is return to Alloren, via Hizor, and assess whom our friends and foes are. I have few allies.”

  “I look at it a little differently,” Sam said. “I have a few allies, and that gives us a head start. We have Pilkis and Hilsa as prime contacts in both places. Renatee has co
me here with Mito?”

  Banna shook her head. “The professor did not leave Hizor. He told Mito that he hadn’t finished what he wanted to do.”

  “Maybe he has by now,” Sam said.

  “Speaking of Mito Nakara,” Banna pointed to the Lashakan walking their way.

  They held their conversation in check while Mito joined them.

  “I would have words with Glory Wheeler,” Mito said. “I want to know what happened to Tera Barako, so I can write a proper report to her father.”

  Glory nodded and walked off with him.

  “So that leaves the family,” Plantian said.

  Sam turned as red as Banna.

  “Figuratively speaking. We are pollen magicians, after all.”

  “We are,” Banna said, looking at Sam. “We need to have words between us, as well as those two.” She looked at Mito in serious conversation with Glory. “Now what really happened in Alloren?”

  Sam gave Banna a more complete version of his experiences regaining his ability to create pollen. Before he finished, Glory and Mito joined them, standing in the middle of the camp.

  “The effect of the lightning remains,” Banna said, “but that makes your malady all the more interesting.” She looked at Plantian. “How does he compare to other magicians?”

  “As strong as you, my dear. His imagination runs in other directions than yours,” the professor said. “But his magic is only restricted by his desire to create.”

  “But try as I might, I can’t make visible pollen,” Sam said.

  Banna smiled. “You will find a way to make that work, I’m sure. Give me a demonstration.”

  Sam created a pollen patch and placed it on the back of Banna’s hand, stretching the skin. “See? I can do the patch, but it doesn’t hide anything.”

  She shrugged. “And you said ward detection became easier?”

  “It did,” Sam said. “But you told me that about mask-making on board The Twisted Wind.”

  “I told you a lot of things. Your observation of my warded arrows saved my father’s life.”

  “And he saved mine,” Sam added. “He is more accurate. I don’t have the time to practice archery. A crossbow might work better. The problem is, you can’t retrieve warded bolts.”

  “Not much of a problem that I can see,” Banna said. She pursed her lips. “Let’s get something to eat and talk about your mission.”

  “Mission?” Mito said.

  “They are going to Hizor and Alloren to try to ferret out traitors.”

  Sam stopped Banna. “They aren’t traitors until the Zogazin declare war on Vaarek. They betrayed us, though. People close to us or close to our friends did betray us.”

  “Betrayers, if that offends your sensitivities less,” Banna said.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  ~

  S am had second thoughts about returning to Hizor, but as he entered the city, the oppressiveness that he had ended up feeling when he had left didn’t return. He knew he wouldn’t have to stay long in the city, and perhaps that reduced the anxiety he had felt.

  They rode directly to the Academy. Mito, who had joined them in their leg to Hizor, and Sam rode behind the wagon carrying Glory and Plantian. They found Renatee Dinik working in his laboratory on quite a different design than the one Mito had taken to the Ristarian border.

  “This is much more efficient,” Renatee said to Mito and Sam. The others were less interested in the mechanics and roamed around Renatee’s shop, looking at the curiosities. “The arms articulate and fling the seeds farther. I’m thinking a pollen-made capsule could be flung with seeds inside much, much farther than casting the seed itself. If it spins horizontally, it can distribute the seed as it moves. The capsules can be retrieved and reused again, if desired.”

  Renatee showed them prototype capsules. “It needs more field-testing, of course, but this has the promise to be much more efficient than the other machine. As it turned out, the other contraption was too sensitive to the wind. If it shifted, the seeds would fall back into the faces of those operating the thing. That was very inconvenient and might end up being disastrous.”

  If they were talking about wards, Sam heartily agreed. Renatee’s work was impressive. The proctor walked over to Glory, looking at a bowl with a tube descending from it. She laughed and held her hand to her mouth to keep from laughing more as Renatee explained what the part was for.

  Sam wandered around as the other two had done and found a crossbow of sorts. It had a u-shaped shaft, open on the top. He pulled back a lever and cocked the metal bow. When he pulled the trigger, a bolt sped across the room and slammed into the wall.

  He looked into the shaft to see that bolts were stacked horizontally above the deep groove that acted to guide the bolts. Renatee ran to Sam, looking alarmed.

  “You have to be careful if you wish to play with my toys.”

  Sam recognized a mild joke embedded in his warning.

  “This is a crossbow?”

  “I have placed a feeder mechanism. It drops bolts into the u-groove where the pusher is. You have to cock the crossbow first. It moves the pusher back far enough so that a feeder slot will allow the bolt to drop into the groove. When you pull the trigger, it pushes the bolt out at a rapid speed. It can be quite accurate, but it does take strength to cock the bow.”

  “Can I try it again?” Sam pulled the lever, it did require strength, but Sam was up to the task. As it was pulled back far enough the bolt dropped. He aimed at a specific place on the wall and shot. He was disappointed his aim was low.

  “Aim higher to compensate for the drop,” Plantian said. “It is the same principle in archery.”

  “Of course,” Sam said, thinking the bolt would move in a straight line with the force it had. Everything dropped, he chided himself.

  The result was better, and Sam thought he could master this better than he would a strung bow. The farmer’s crossbow didn’t have anywhere near the power this one had. If he were to shoot wards, he would have to experiment with ward protection, that was for sure.

  “Can I have this?” Sam asked.

  “Of course, you can. I have made others, though this is the best design, and I have documented it meticulously. I already have improvements in mind, but there are only so many projects I can develop.”

  Sam could see that. He looked at the bolt and imagined a very dense pollen version. It dropped at his feet. He smiled as he made more and put them into the shaft. Sam’s aim improved with every shot as the bolts hit the stone-faced wall.

  He didn’t have to worry about losing bolts, since with his new pollen-making capabilities, he had an unlimited supply. He now realized that he could have made pollen arrows and pollen wooden blocks. His lack of experience with pollen bit him again, since he should have thought of that sooner.

  “They fly a little erratically. Do you have any idea how they could fly better?” Sam asked.

  “Feathers, of course,” Plantian said. He looked over the shaft. “If you made feathers that would pop out after you shot the bolt, they would fly straighter.”

  Sam looked at the groove. “Could you make the groove into a tube?” he asked. “Then the feathers would be constrained. They don’t have to stick out too far, do they?”

  “That would be up to the pollen-maker,” the inventor said, scratching his head. “I could swear I heard something hitting the wall you aimed at, but I don’t see anything there.” Renatee shook his head, confused.

  Sam laughed. “It is my invisible weapon.”

  Renatee laughed. “Invisible weapon. You can do better than that,” he said, obviously thinking Sam was joking.

  Sam created a bolt with flexible appendages like feathers. “Hold out your hand,” Sam said.

  Renatee did so. “Are you going to slap it?”

  Sam placed the pollen bolt on it. “What do you feel?”

  “Feel?” he closed his hands on the bolt. “You can make pollen?”

  “Pollen people can’t see, but
I can.”

  “I would think you are joking, but you aren’t.”

  “No, I’m not.” He gave Renatee a very short version of his Alloren story. “I can put a pollen cover on the crossbow, but you will have to make one out of metal. My pollen might not last as long if I’m shooting it.”

  He toyed with the bolts for more than fifty shots while Renatee worked on a tube cut to size, but Sam finally found a design that worked much better than a naked bolt. The shots flew more true than anything else Sam had tried.

  “Will this work?” Sam took the modified crossbow and shot it. The results were much better than a bow and arrow, even though the range wouldn’t be as long. “Can I take it with me?”

  Renatee pursed his lips. “Not until I make a few more improvements that I have in mind.”

  “Now to get to why we are here. We came to find a traitor,” Sam said. “Someone is feeding information to Viktar Kreb to the detriment of Zogazin national security.”

  “A traitor, after all,” Glory said, a little too triumphantly for Sam’s taste.

  “I will accept that,” he said to the young woman.

  “How can I help?” Renatee said, looking a bit shaken by the revelation.

  Plantian stood closer. “We have been corresponding for some time. Someone has been tracking my movements and Sam’s movements. We were attacked by assassins, and someone knew where we were headed when we left Alloren.”

  “We never wrote after you reached the Order of Ren,” Renatee said. “It can’t be me.”

  “It can’t solely be you,” Glory said. “That’s not to say you are the culprit.”

  “Oh, I see. Someone might be sneaking a peeky-boo at my scribblings.”

  Sam smiled at the Zogazin-style reply. “Can you tell me where your correspondence went and who handled the letters from Plantian before they reached you?”

  Renatee sat down and scribbled some notes on a page.

  “Here is who I think handles it coming in, and these people touch my prose when I send it out.”