Fletcher

by P. S. Power

  Still, if he got it right, they’d make some kind of impact when they hit hard enough. As he walked up, the guard was already mustering outside, standing in two long lines, each man carrying a spear. Captain Ford was in the front of them, armed the same way. Depak Sona was near him, already working on a spell of some sort. In the distance ten men, each with a mask over their face and in flowing dark clothing, walked up, on foot.

  They were about three hundred feet away, moving closer by the second. Starting in a single bunch they moved apart on the road, so that no man was too close to any other there. Making it harder for the crossbowmen on the wall to hit them by shooting in the general direction of the group.

  He moved in next to Captain Ford, who actually chuckled.

  “You brought rocks?”

  He nodded, keeping his eyes forward.

  “I did. You haven’t shown me how to fire a bow yet. These won’t go as far. Feel free to throw some, when they close in. Some of your men can, too.”

  That got him glared at.

  “We can do a little better than rocks.”

  Looking at the plain seeming stones in the basket he nodded.

  They were very nice rocks, if nothing else.

  Chapter sixteen

  The arrayed force of masked men, ten strong, walked slowly toward their position. They didn't do anything, except for walk, in eerie silence and in perfect unison. Each man not only stepping when the one next to him did but in perfect measure. Their arms and even heads moved in perfect time, as if it were a single man in front of them.

  As they all watched, it was the Anders portion of his being that had a question. One that got Farad to think about what he was seeing a lot harder than fear would have allowed him to otherwise. Off to the side of the guards in front of the castle, Depak Sona worked away at creating some kind of spell that was vast and powerful. That was a thing that could be felt even from twenty paces away.

  Something shifted behind him as he spoke, on the other side of Captain Ford.

  “Is this an illusion?” Truly, he wanted to ask Depak that question. The man was busy at the moment, so that could not be done.

  An aged voice spoke next to him, nearly whispering.

  “Indeed, that is the heart of this. Blood magic, from the feel. The source, the focus at least, is there… Ten feet back of the men we see in the front.” To go with the words was an outstretched finger, pointing the way.

  Master Tolan stood next to him, about three feet away, his face calm as he did whatever kind of Wizardry was needed for the day. He seemed certain of the words, which had Captain Ford calling out in a powerful voice.

  “Illusion! Target ten feet behind the front line of advance!”

  That got arrows to fly from the walls. Bolts, since they were coming from cross bows and shorter. Those had to be fletched as well, even if so far he’d not been tasked to that kind of thing. Half of the product of the shop was in that kind of thing, if not more. They were basically arrows, but shorter and heavy.

  They went through the men there, proving that they weren’t real. There was no blood or crying out. They just kept stepping forward, toward the line. Next to him, eyes still closed, Master Tolan pointed down at the basket, which was sitting on the ground.

  “I can’t tell exactly what you have there. Anything that might work here?” Again, the voice was soft and very calm.

  Captain Ford made a soft sound. It wasn’t totally pleased.

  “Rocks. He brought throwing rocks to protect us. Brave of him, I’ll grant that. We should send him away. I already should have.”

  There was a nod from the older Wizard, whatever that title meant. Something different than a Magician, from what the fellow had done so far.

  “Yes. Still, he is here to guard us all. Perhaps you should throw something, Master Brolly?” This time the words were slightly dry. Not mocking, in particular.

  So he did just that. Reaching down into the basket and picking one of the top stones, almost at random. He could feel the magic on it, so it wasn’t one of the rocks that might have been missed or anything like that. His throw wasn’t very accurate, falling well short of the line, having gone only about sixty feet from them. Before exploding with a nice pop that threw a bit of the road into the air.

  It wasn’t far enough by half.

  “Captain, is your throwing arm better than that?” He tried to sound relaxed about the whole thing, even as Depak Sona walked over, seeming pleased enough. At least the man had a smile on his face.

  “Well! My clever and complicated spell work will do nothing against a thing that is not there. Too bad, it was going to be most spectacular. Here, try… This one, I think?” The stone he picked looked much like the others to Anders.

  Captain Ford took it from the ambassador, his face seeming serious as he threw the thing.

  When the thing hit there was a sound that carried back to them. Then nothing much seemed to happen. Except that the line of men moved sideways a few steps and then didn’t continue onward at all.

  Ford grimaced.

  “Nothing happened? The magic failed, or…”

  It was Tolan who shook his head.

  “It worked. The carrier is dead. We need only find the blood patch or talisman and that might tell us much about who did this. Come…” He stopped, saw who was there, made an uncomfortable face at Depak and then took a deep breath. “Us four should see to this, I think. Would you, Captain Ford and you Master Brolly guard us while we work? Don’t come too close, in case there is a trap. Master Depak, if you would attend me?”

  There were nods all the way around, with the Captain looking at Anders first, then moving as the rest of them did. For his part, he carried the large and fairly heavy basket with him. The spells were already on the stones after all and he could throw things faster than he could yell. Really, if he was ready for it, he might manage two things at once that way. That wasn’t certain, but he got ready to push people back with a spell at the same time, just in case.

  Masked men were just standing there, seeming solid and totally real. It even looked as if they breathed, their clothing moving in the breeze as they passed. Identically. On a day with no real wind to speak of. There were signs that it was false.

  Master Tolan, old or not, went first, pointing with his eyes open this time.

  “There we go. Our carrier.”

  What he pointed at ignored the men around them totally, showing that there was a tiny brown rabbit, laying on its side, directly on the stone road. Frost covered its fur and even the little leather vest it had on. On the back of it was a sewn on leather badge, worked in an intricate pattern that was more complex than anything like it he’d ever seen.

  That, on the top, was smeared with a rust brown substance, which was easy to identify, given that Master Tolan had mentioned blood magic. No one pointed and called that out, since the two older magic users were standing there, moving on the thing carefully.

  Ford waved to him.

  “You have a distance weapon. If anything comes at us, hit it as soon as you can. Magic is at play, so keep at least five paces from any of the rest of us.” The spear in his hands was gripped tightly, and he looked around, ready to fight if they were approached at all.

  As Master Tolan moved in, slowly and carefully, the leather on the back of the small rabbit began to smolder, a thing which was quickly waved at by Depak Sona, a few words whispered, stopping the effect from taking place. In one instant, the masked men, as real as they seemed, vanished from the scene altogether. A startling effect that resulted in Anders jumping slightly and nearly throwing a rock at where the men had just been.

  Ducking down next to the small hare, the castle Wizard grunted.

  “Drat. The blood is gone. Burned beyond use as for the energy trail. On the fortunate side we still have the rabbit. The rest of this is safe now. The traces of magic linger. No traps remain.” The tiny creature, and it looked young, not just small, was picked up by its hind legs.

  T
hen he reached down and tapped it, showing that it was hard to the touch.

  “Frozen solid? Very nice, gentlemen. We even have something to work with left, thanks to Master Depak here. I should take this to my studio and examine it, to find trace to whoever made it. We know so far only that it was blood magic. From the residue… I’d say a man provided the energy. That could be the caster or the sacrifice at this point. First…” Closing his eyes again, he held his left hand out and slowly spun in place. The man stopped when he faced Anders, then again on Depak. After that he took several steps forward and did it again.

  “There is nothing in this area, other than the residue and the magics we hold here. We need to check and guard the rest of the castle…”

  Captain Ford looked back, then nodded.

  “This was a distraction. Even if they made it to the gate and illusions couldn’t hurt us much. Something else is going on, given that. I’ll set the men on it, looking for infiltrators.” He didn't run away, calling the orders out from where he was, still holding his spear ready.

  Which was the right thing to do, Anders had to figure. The other man still looked around, even if they’d been told that no magic was present. Master Tolan could be wrong or confused, possibly by a skilled blood mage, if that was the name for such things. Also, a single man with a knife could kill one of them as well, with nothing magical being involved at all. An archer might even be hiding far enough away to do it that they wouldn’t see it coming, if they weren’t looking.

  Scanning the world around him, he took a deep breath. The guards were moving back into the castle already, for that search. That took away the bodies they needed. From the sound of it, Master Tolan was going to be required to find any link he could to the spell caster. Depak Sona shouldn’t have even been there, since no matter how many people died in an attack there, letting an Ambassador die was worse, since it could lead to war.

  “Captain Ford, we should check the area, in case there are soldiers or fighters of some kind. These two should move back to safety first. How do we do that?” It sounded simple, except that just having them walk to the front gate in a tense situation might cause bolts to fly at them. The guards had just seen magic after all. Both Tolan and Depak were known to use that kind of thing. It would be a mistake to attack them. Also, a thing that could happen.

  History was filled with such mistakes taking place.

  “Hold your spacing, Brolly. You have the right of this. We’ll walk them back to the castle, then send them inside under guard. That will leave us two men down on the front gate. Can you hold that while I do the first search?” The man seemed a bit bloodless as he spoke.

  Not at all fearful or shaking like Anders was doing. The other men seemed perfectly fine that way, as well. He would have felt embarrassed by it, except that Farad didn’t care what people thought of him on that level. No one in his first life had ever proclaimed him particularly brave at all. Not cowardly either, since such things had rarely come up for him.

  “I can do that.” Then, carefully, they moved back. Going slowly, with Captain Ford spinning as he walked, so that he could see on all sides of himself.

  Anders started to do the same thing, if not as smoothly or well. Nothing jumped out at them, thankfully. At the gate the Captain waved at two of the men.

  “We need a search of the countryside, as soon as the castle is cleared. I’ll check the area in the front first, since the attack came from that direction. The rabbit had to have been released locally. We need a protection detail for the magic users. Except Brolly. He’s filling the gap here. If anything happens, throw rocks at it.”

  The words came with a stern look. One aimed at the men there, who were busy scanning the world around them, not making eye contact. One of them pointed with the end of his spear.

  “There, Anders. Get a weapon to the ready. Sharp eyes here.”

  Then the others moved away, taking two of the gray clad men with them. Captain Ford jogged away, heading back to the attack site, then past it. For a long time, nothing happened, except that they all stood there, nervously, with sweat dripping down their necks and faces. At least that was what Anders was doing. The other men seemed far more comfortable that way. No one mocked him for it, even as water from his body moved into the material of his tunic.

  The sun was bright enough over head, though moving into twilight, giving relief from the heat that way. After nearly two hours, the Captain came back, holding a small, crudely crafted cage. The brown thing was held in one hand and he walked gingerly, as if it might burst into flame on him if he did the wrong thing.

  “Brolly, can you tell if this had magic on it?”

  Nodding, he moved forward and put his left hand out. The right one had a rock in it, which tingled from magic that he’d placed there. The cage did as well, if very faintly. The sense of it was similar to the vest the rabbit had worn, he thought.

  “It should be fine. This is what the other magic was carried in, at a guess. It should probably be taken to Master Tolan.” The shaking and sweating had stopped, thankfully.

  Ford smirked at him.

  “I figured as much. Can you run this over then, Brolly? Good work out here today. We won’t be able to search tonight, which means we need a double guard out. For now… Deliver that and then see to your Ambassadorial charges? We locked them all in their rooms, or at least I gave orders to do that.”

  There was a pat on the back, which came with a slight push. Then a wave at his basket of special rocks.

  “Don’t forget that. Not that it wouldn’t be nice to have something like that ready out here right now.”

  Anders could see that. Going inside the things would be less useful, since the forces would be trapped, anyway.

  “Keep those? They should be thrown away from the user, hard. The spells should last about three days. There’s fire, freezing and explosions on them. Nothing that strong, in particular.” That was down to him not being that good yet. They were still worth having at the front gate for the night.

  The Captain gave a single, gruff sounding, laugh.

  “You heard the man. Everyone arm with a stone, keep your spears with you. Make sure the second watch knows to pass the word on that and get these to the perimeter rovers as well. Dismissed, Brolly.”

  Then the man turned, to look off into the growing darkness.

  Feeling naked and unarmed, Anders carried the little cobbled together cage inside, not knowing specifically how to find Master Tolan’s studio. Rather than stumble around bashfully, he simply walked up the the first of the interior guard, a tense looking older man who was fairly clutching his spear and asked.

  “This needs to be delivered to Master Tolan. Only I don’t know where he stays at all.”

  There was a blink, then a nod from the man who narrowed his eyes in thought.

  “Far eastern tower, second floor. I don’t proper like know which door is his. The guard on it will, so ask him.”

  Then the man looked past Anders, ignoring him. Seeking a threat.

  Jogging slightly, still a bit damp under the arms and between his legs from the earlier tension, he scurried quickly, even if the cage probably wouldn’t be all that important to anything. It might be and that was enough to make trying worthwhile. In the main he felt rather helpless, after all.

  At the correct hallway, the second from the front, since that was how they were counted, the guard sent him to the second level, up the stone staircase. Then he was to go all the way back, to the tower room there. That was rather special, since the tower rooms, while round, were also huge. At least that was what he’d always heard. There were twelve that had rooms in them, the upper two levels of each being kept for defensive purposes. The castle Wizard having one of them was a sign that he was treasured there, most likely.

  Tapping on the door didn’t get an answer, taking three repetitions before it opened. That was done by Master Tolan himself, who seemed blank eyed at the moment. Like he’d been sleeping or as Farad recognized instan
tly, as if he were in a trance.

  To that end, being familiar with such states himself, he held out the cage.

  “Your target touched this. There is a trace of magic on it.”

  Taking it from his hands, gently, the man closed his eyes for a few moments, then spoke.

  “It held the carrier for some time. The magic was in place at least three days before it was released. Not activated in any way. The imprint is fading. Come. Make note of that.” The door was left open, the man walking slowly toward a chair.

  Slumping into it, he took up the small patch of leather, separated from the rabbit now, the back singed, the complicated leather work visible in the dim lamp light. There was a writing station set up, with a few words scribbled on a piece of paper. Poorly. Probably done in the working trance.

  Anders moved into place, and did as he had been instructed, taking notes. The part about the cage was described clearly, the lamp being brought near him so that he could see well enough to use the pen. The metal nib felt odd on the heavy paper.

  After some time, the older man started to whisper.

  “The sacrifice of blood was a man. Not old. Perhaps thirty years. No older than that. From east and south of here. The way is… Far. Not a man of Istlan. Not Yanse or Paranal. South of that on the second continent.”

  There was no slowing or stopping in the words, moving from one concept to the next as the words were quickly placed on paper. The details were rather complete, if slow in coming.

  “The caster… They are neither man nor woman. Both but one. Human. Old. More than a century. Also in the east and south, from very far away. Evil. The mind corrupted. Not ridden or taken. Magic surrounds them. So does physical might. A military… A large force, anyway. It is different than an army.”

  Then, changing again, the man moved his left hand, to point at the still frozen rabbit, the tiny brown lump of fur looking pitiful in the dim light.