by Rachel Ford
He jumped up, reaching for his blade – the blade he no longer carried. He feared the worst, that the giant was coming for him in his sleep. But Karag was nowhere near him.
On the contrary, the giant had stooped by the bars, and seemed to be fiddling with them. “What are you doing?” Jack demanded.
Karag glanced over his shoulder. “Ah, good: you’re up.”
“What are you doing?”
“Doing? Nothing at all. But I seem to have discovered a gap in these bars.”
Jack craned his neck and peered past the giant’s shoulder. Then, he crept closer. There was indeed a gap in the bars, where some tremendous force had pulled them apart. A gap that definitely had not been there earlier in the evening.
“It seems to be man-sized,” Karag continued.
“You bent the bars.”
“Me? Of course not. I told you, I just found them like this. But it’s a happy coincidence, since the gap is large enough for a man to slip through. A man like you, for instance.”
Jack frowned. He didn’t understand why the giant would be helping him. But then, he didn’t want to stay, either. “Why are you helping me?”
“Me? I told you, I had nothing to do with this. I am a law-abiding man. It’s a crime to willfully damage city property.”
Jack waved away the lies. “Right, sure, but that doesn’t answer my questions. Why are you helping me?”
“I’m only pointing out that there is an aperture here through which you could get out, my friend. And if you chose to go retrieve our belongings, you might be able to find a key along the way. Or we may find a similar aperture somewhere else. Since there are obviously so many structural deficiencies with this building.”
“Hold on, you want me to help break you out of prison?”
“Of course not. That would be a crime. But it’s not a crime to walk through an open door, is it?”
Jack considered for a long moment, peering through the gap in the bars. It was wide enough for him to get through, with no effort at all. And he wanted to get out. He needed to get out. Then again, Karag was a murderer. He couldn’t free a murderer, could he? He shook his head. “You’re a murderer. I’m not going to spring a murderer from jail.”
The giant seemed about to argue when a guard stepped into view. “Hello then! What are you two villains up to?” He drew his sword, and moved toward the bars. Jack backed away quickly.
Karag, though, reached a great hand through the opening, swift as lightning, and grabbed the swordsman around the head. Then he pulled him, swift and sharp, into one of the bars. The man groaned and slumped to the ground, unconscious. “Dear me, that must have hurt.”
“You killed him,” Jack gasped.
“Killed him? Of course not. Just a bad headache. Maybe a slight concussion. A few lost teeth. Nothing a bit of rest – and maybe dentures – won’t fix.
“But, it is bad news for you, I’m afraid. He saw you, clear as anything, looking through the gap. And he’s going to conclude that we made it. Which makes you, my friend, an accessory.”
Jack scowled at him. “I had no part in any of it.”
Karag glanced down at the fallen guard. “Well, maybe you can convince him of that. Maybe, when he wakes up with an egg-shaped lump on his head, and missing teeth, he’ll be in a reasonable frame of mind. Maybe their threats won’t be so terrifying they’ll confuse me into implicating you.”
Jack kept scowling at the giant. “This is blackmail.”
“Of course it isn’t. I’m just laying out the facts as they are, my friend. You can either retrieve our property and we can run together. Or you can stay here, and try to reason with this generous fellow. Your call.”
Chapter Five
Jack protested that he didn’t have time for this, that he was on a mission to save the world. Karag shrugged. “I don’t deal the cards, Jack, my friend. I just play the hand I’m given.”
In the end, though, Jack decided the murderous giant was right – this wouldn’t go well for him. The best thing he could do was get out, now.
So he slipped through the aperture, and crept back the same way he’d come. He stopped by the evidence locker, and retrieved his own belongings, and the giant’s. There wasn’t much: just a dagger, a purse, and a bottle of poison. Then, Jack sifted through the rest of the prisoners’ belongings.
There was a lot of rubbish there: weathered swords and ragged cloaks and stale bread, and so on. But he did collect forty gold pieces, scattered here and there, and a few rings with unknown magical properties. He figured he could discover what they did later. In the meantime, he had to get out before anyone found them.
So he slipped on his armor, and strapped on his sword, and strolled out of the room – straight into a guard.
“Hello,” the other man said, “what are you doing down here?”
Four options flitted through Jack’s thoughts.
[Lie] I seem to have lost my way. I’m looking for the castle steward.
[Intimidate] What’s it to you, bub?
[Bribe] Forty-three gold pieces say no one was here.
[Flatter] Looking for a handsome fellow like you, obviously.
Jack chose the first option. The guard harrumphed. “Really? You’re two floors off…”
Here, he had two more choices:
Really? No wonder I’m so mixed up!
And,
Oh goodness. I don’t suppose you’d mind showing me the way, handsome?
Again, Jack chose the first option. The guard scowled at him. “Very mixed up, I’d say. You better move it, before I put you in a cell to clear your mind up.”
He had three possible responses.
Talk to me like that again, and you’re going to spend time in the infirmary.
Whatever you say, good looking.
And,
Right. Right away.
Jack chose the latter, and scurried away. He wasn’t sorry for it. Part of him felt bad about leaving the giant behind. Then again, Karag was a murderer. So he determined to think no more of it.
He followed the same path the guards had first taken him on, only in reverse, until he stood in the crisp night air outside the fortress. He breathed in a deep lungful of it – and immediately regretted it, as the night stunk of horse and dust.
He figured he would head out of town right away. No sense waiting until the guards discovered there’d been a prison break. Anyway, it would be dawn in a few hours. The rest of the team would catch up to him.
So he followed the road north, past the fortress. He got about half way when a voice accosted him. “There you are, Jack.”
He froze in his tracks. It was the giant. “How the heather did you get out?”
“Oh, I figured when you didn’t come back something must have interfered.”
Jack gulped. “Uh. Right. A guard. He caught me by the evidence locker, and turned me out.”
“No worries,” the giant said. “I presume you have my belongings, though, since you retrieved your own?”
Jack nodded, and fished through his inventory for Karag’s gear. “Here you go.” His curiosity, though, got the better of him, and he had to ask, “But, uh, how exactly did you get out, and ahead of me?”
“It’s the darndest thing, actually. I don’t know how I missed it before. But there was a gaping hole in the wall of the dungeon.”
Jack blinked. “You…you put a hole in the wall?”
“Me? Of course not. It was just there. I simply walked through it.”
“Right. That sounds…likely.”
“So, where are we off to? I recommend we get moving, before anyone comes looking for us.”
“We? Us?”
Karag nodded. “Your quest, remember? All that stuff about saving the world and everything?”
“You’re coming with me?”
“Why not? I’ve nothing better to do at the moment.”
Jack was about to argue when a thought flashed through his mind.
Companion added to
your party: Karag the Giant.
He didn’t like it, obviously, but it seemed Jack had no choice in the matter. The game had assigned him this oversized cutthroat as a companion. So he headed to the northern gate, as fast as he could without arousing suspicion.
It might take the Kaldstein guards awhile to figure out that a petty thief had gone missing. But the fortress had a gaping hole in its side now. That wouldn’t take very long to notice.
Still, they reached the northern gate without difficulty, and got out with a, “Safe travels to you,” from the watchman.
They followed the road by moonlight, and reached the fork two hours before dawn. Jack decided he would sleep. He settled in behind a stone outcropping, out of view of the road. “You have the watch, Karag. I’m going to catch some shuteye.”
He did sleep, but Karag didn’t watch. He figured that out when the sounds of distant voices roused him, and he found the giant sound asleep behind the same rocks. Great. Another useless companion.
He left the giant sleeping, and peered out at the newcomers. Then, he grinned. It wasn’t a posse of guards searching for escaped prisoners. It was Ceinwen and Er’c and Migli.
He stepped into view. “Ah, there you are.”
“You got here ahead of us,” Er’c said.
Jack nodded, deciding he would skimp on the details. “I thought a head start wouldn’t hurt.”
“I’m afraid we’re late,” Ceinwen said.
“It’s my fault,” Migli admitted. Which, somehow, didn’t surprise Jack. “I overslept.”
“And I barely slept,” Ceinwen said. “The city guard roused me. A killer I’d brought in for the bounty the other day escaped prison last night.”
“Really?” Jack whistled. “That’s a lot of prison breaks in one night.”
She frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Nothing. Did you find your killer?”
She shook her head. “No. I’m afraid he escaped. He’s probably half way to Little Valley by now.”
“Ah,” Jack said. “Well, I’m sorry to hear that. But at least that’s in the opposite direction of where we’re going.”
Ceinwen nodded glumly, like it didn’t sound to her like the good news he thought it was.
“Alright, well, if that’s it, I guess we can head out?”
She nodded again, and an informational message entered his awareness.
Companion added to your party: Ceinwen the Elf.
Jack turned back to the crossroads sign. Three arrows jutted off of it: one pointing south, with the word “Kaldstein” painted in fresh, crisp lettering; one pointing north, with the words, “The North Sea,” painted in a similar script; and the third, old and so faded its writing was illegible, pointing east.
Ceinwen tapped the faded sign. “That way.”
Which again, didn’t surprise Jack at all. He’d played enough videogames to know that, given a choice between new and safe and old and foreboding, the videogame was going to choose old and foreboding ten times out of ten. So he spoke cheerily, “Right. Let’s go, then.”
“Where are we going?” a fifth voice asked – Karag’s voice. The giant had poked his head up over the rocks.
At the same time, Ceinwen grabbed the hilt of her sword. “My gods, he’s here.”
The giant, meanwhile, snarled. “Her. You sold me out, Jack.”
This did surprise Jack, and he said so, and was immediately ignored. Ceinwen rushed toward the rocks, sword drawn. Karag got to his feet and drew his own dagger. Migli started putting distance between himself and the entire party, and Er’c followed Ceinwen, flames glowing on the tips of his fingers.
Jack found his anger rising at the whole lot of them, and he screamed, “Stop!”
They froze, of one volition.
“What in the heather is going on here? Do you two…know each other?”
“This is the escaped murderer I was telling you about,” Ceinwen said.
“This woman set me up,” Karag said at the same time. “I was just a simple wine merchant, and this crazed wench took it into her head that I was a killer.”
“He murdered five people by selling them poisoned wine,” Ceinwen said.
“Four,” he countered. “The fifth was incidental: a servant, who skimmed from his master’s wines. Not a target. Not that, of course, I had anything to do with any of it. But whoever your real killer is.”
“He’s still dead.”
“Only because he was a thief.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Jack said. “So Karag is some kind of assassin?”
“Yes,” she said.
“No,” he said.
“He killed an entire delegation from the Crimson Isles.”
“Slavers – all of them.”
“Not the servant.”
Karag shrugged. “An accident, as I say. Truly, I wish I could claim credit for the act, as noble as it was. But I tell you, Jack, I am innocent.”
“Noble,” she scoffed. “You weren’t there for noble reasons, Karag. You were there on behalf of the Obsidian Isles.”
“A hit between rival factions,” Migli nodded. “I’ve heard of this sort of thing: little nations, each hoping to establish ties with larger ones before the other.”
Karag smiled, and said in a tone that seemed to belie the words, “Such outlandish speculation. There’s no truth in it at all. And anyway, Sir Jack, even if some of the lies were true, which, of course, they’re not, answer me this: is the world a better place, or a worse one, with four fewer slavers in it?”
Jack scratched his head. “Well, better, I guess.”
Karag bowed. “Exactly.”
“But he only killed them to stop a peace between the Elven Alliance and the Crimson Isles.”
“Speculation. Mere speculation,” Karag said. “Whatever the killer’s motives, what we know for a fact is that he made the world a better place.
“Now – not that, of course, I am the killer. I am simply operating under the conclusion that this deranged woman insists we make. But, surely I do not deserve prison for making the world a better place?”
Jack sighed and Ceinwen glowered. “Look, Karag, stop pretending you’re innocent.”
“But I am.”
“We all know you’re not. But Ceinwen, even if he is the killer –”
“You literally just acknowledged that he was.”
“Okay. Even though he’s the killer, he’s not wrong. He took out a bunch of slavers.”
“And an innocent bystander.”
Jack nodded. “Yeah, that one stinks.”
“Accidents happen,” Karag shrugged.
“But it was an accident. And he’s agreed to help us.”
“Surely, my surly elf, the fate of all mankind, and elf-kind, and giant-kind takes precedence over your bloodlust.”
Er’c spoke quietly, almost apologetically. He said, “I have to concur, Ceinwen. I think it’s better if he comes with us.”
She stared daggers at the giant, but didn’t disagree. Jack took that to be a tacit agreement, and breathed out. “Okay, good. We’re all agreed. No one is killing anyone. Karag comes with us.”
“Fine. But if you step out of line even once, giant, your head is mine.”
He smiled again. “Charming.” Then, he turned to Jack. “Now, this quest…what exactly are we doing?”
Jack started to explain, and Ceinwen squared her shoulders and started to lead the way down the eastern road. They’d gone for perhaps half a mile when the sound of hooves, coming fast and urgent behind them, drew their attention.
A blur of shimmering white streaked across the road, moving so rapidly that Jack couldn’t even make it out. Migli, though, smiled. “Ahh, good. It’s Arath.”
“Arath? How in blazes did he know to meet us here?” Ceinwen asked.
The dwarf shrugged. “I haven’t the foggiest.”
“Did you tell him, Migli?” Jack demanded.
“Me? Of course not, Jack. You are the leader of our expedition. If y
ou say he stays, who am I to contradict you?”
Jack didn’t quite believe the dwarf’s protestations of innocence, but he didn’t have time to ponder them, either. Arath was moving at an insane pace, and before they knew it, he’d covered the distance.
A moment later, the shimmering white streak stopped moving, and a horse appeared in its place, with Arath on its back. At least, it looked something like a horse. It was a huge, muscular brute, with a flowing mane and a long tail. All of which looked perfectly horse-like.
But its coat glistened and shimmered with every movement, like a tube of craft-store sparkles. And on its head sat a giant, gleaming horn.
Jack blinked. “Is that a flipping unicorn?”
No one answered him. Arath sprang off the creature’s back. “Ah, Sir Jack, I’m glad I caught you. I got a late start, as you can see.” He patted the sparkling creature’s neck. “But Shimmerfax here bore me swift and true.”
Jack’s eye twitched. “Did you just say… ‘Shimmerfax’?”
Arath nodded. “Shimmerfax is the lord of all battlecorns.”
Jack’s eye twitched again, harder and stronger this time. “Did you say… ‘battlecorn’? Like, ‘battle unicorn’?”
“He’s in my service. And since you are all now in my service as well, you may command him as well.”
A thought flitted through Jack’s mind
Companion added to your party: Arath the Ranger.
And right after it, came another.
Animal companion added to your party: Shimmerfax.
Jack had problems with the entire situation. He’d rejected Arath as a companion, and now, somehow, the game had stuck him with the other man anyway. Worse, Arath was calling them all his companions, as if Jack was a mere pawn in someone else’s game. All of that, though, paled in comparison to Shimmerfax.
“Speak to supervisor,” he said.
The world froze and Migli turned. “Yo, Jack, what’s up?”
He frowned. “Richard?”
Richard was an intern who filled in at nights for Jordan. Which meant, if he’d taken over, that her shift must have already ended.
The dwarf – Richard – nodded. “What’s up?”