Grishel's Feather

by Guy Antibes

  “I think the Torito siblings are tricksters too,” Jack said grinning.

  Penny just shook her head in dismay and continued to follow Sammo and Barria. Carlo had moved behind Penny and Ferrio with Helen and Jack in the rear.

  Jack raised his mental shield again and said to Helen, “I found a way to shield my thoughts, so we won’t be so obnoxious.”

  “Teach her the spell,” Helen said. “She was so distracted yesterday. It drove me crazy.”

  “Now you have a taste of what I go through every day.”

  “Poor, poor onion boy,” Helen said mockingly. “She feels much the same way as you do every day, too, you know. To her, it is every bit as infuriating.”

  “The obsession thing?”

  Helen nodded. “Drives her crazy too.”

  A war needs two enemies, Jack thought. It was the same kind of thing, but Helen’s words did make Jack wonder if it was a good thing to exacerbate the rivalry.

  ~

  The group rode through a good-sized wood and stopped at a well-used campsite. The burble of a brook added to birdsong making the glade a very pleasant place to rest in the middle of the day.

  “We like to come here,” Barria said, walking over to Jack and Helen. She looked back at her brothers, tying up her horse. “It is pleasant, and my brothers can be a little more natural here.”

  Sammo passed gas, very loudly, making his brother clutch his stomach and laugh. Then Carlo did the same, and both brothers began a little duel until they ran out of the ability to pass any more. They rolled on the ground laughing like ten-year-olds.

  Jack couldn’t keep a laugh or two down. Even Helen smiled at the crude display, but Ferrio and Penny walked out of the campsite.

  “I’ve done my share of that with my friends,” Jack said. “It isn’t near as much fun when you do it by yourself.”

  Helen shook her head. “I’ve traveled with soldiers before, so that isn’t the first time I’ve seen the game played. At least the brothers are having a good time.”

  Sammo and Carlo continued to laugh and slap at each other like a pair of energetic bear cubs or immature teenagers, Jack admitted to himself. He found a log to sit on and chewed on a loaf of bread and sipped a pot of ale after he had removed the wax plug with his mouth, spitting it on the ground.

  Helen sat with Barria while they ate. Jack noticed that Ferrio and Penny hadn’t returned. He took a big bite of his bread and took the ale with him toward the spot where the pair exited the clearing. Jack adjusted his sword with his unoccupied hand and stepped into the wood.

  After a few steps, Helen had joined him. They split up and headed in roughly the same direction. In a few moments, loud voices filled the air. Jack ran toward the sounds and stopped when Helen’s sword pointed at Myra Pulini’s accomplices.

  Jack drew his knife and his sword and joined her a few paces away. The two men had already tied up Ferrio and Penny, still trying to get to her knife.

  “What do you two think you are doing? Are you stupid?” Helen said, glancing at Jack out of the corner of her eye. Jack took another step forward. She tilted her head in Jack’s direction. “He’s the wizard, remember?”

  The men looked at each other. Uncertainty filled their faces. “Can we surrender?” one of them said.

  Jack snapped a wizard bolt at their feet. The two men jumped back.

  “Did you hurt our friends when you tied them up?”

  The two men shook their heads, but Jack didn’t believe them. “I will count to ten. I don’t want to see either of you again. One. Two. Three…”

  At four, the men ran to their horses and galloped off.

  Jack cut Penny’s bonds while Helen freed Ferrio. Jack noticed a thin line of red on the priest’s neck.

  “I think they were following us,” Ferrio said, looking at the blood he had wiped off on to his hand.

  Penny scrambled to her feet. “I didn’t even have time to use the invisibility spell. I screamed for you, but perhaps the telepathy spell isn’t working anymore.”

  “Invisibility spell? Telepathy? Those are advanced manipulations,” Ferrio said, looking at Penny with wide eyes. “You can…?”

  “An object of power that Jack made.” She showed him the knife.

  Jack sighed. Couldn’t the girl keep a secret? “It is a simple one,” Jack said.

  “No object of power is simple. I got the impression that your master made them.”

  “He’s not carrying anything Fasher made.” Penny had the wand tied to her saddle.

  Jack glared at Ferrio. “I’d rather your superiors not know that I can make objects,” he said.

  Jack could wish all he wanted that the hawk priests didn’t know he carried objects, but he couldn’t shield his possessions from detection…or could he? Now he had something else to find in the wizardry manual. Ferrio now knew a lot more than Jack had intended.

  He removed the shield from his mind. “I was busy,” he said to Penny.

  “You were busy! You were busy? They tied me up…roughly.” She folded her arms and appeared to be pouting.

  “I noticed you two were still gone and Helen joined me in fetching you back to camp. Your worries are over, for now.”

  Penny collapsed into his arms. “Safe.” She cried. “I’ve never been so scared in my life. Ever since we ran into them at that old barn, I’ve been having nightmares about them catching me.” She cried some more, but when Jack patted her, she stared at him as if she noticed him for the first time and pushed away. “Don’t touch me!”

  “Can I cry in your arms?” Ferrio said to Helen with the hint of a smile.

  “If you want to die,” Helen grunted and walked over to Penny and hugged her.

  Penny gave Jack an inscrutable look and wailed again.

  Barria and Carlo broke into the tiny clearing.

  “What happened?” Barria said gazing at the rope on the forest floor.

  “Myra Pulini’s partners in crime,” Jack said. “Let’s get back to the clearing, and we will tell you all about our first Passoranian friend.”

  Ferrio told them of their capture and how the two brigands told them to keep silent. It appeared that they hadn’t expected Ferrio and Penny to find them hiding in the same wood. The two men seemed to have no idea what to do with their captives.

  Helen related most of the story from Passoran to the present. Ferrio nodded when she spoke about the parts that he knew. Jack was just happy Ferrio was safe and Penny was calming down.

  “They might be trailing us all the way to the monastery.” Sammo spit on the ground. “I don’t want to be a free guide service.”

  “Nothing should be free,” Carlo growled. He pulled out his knife and checked the edge.”

  “Stop posturing you lummox,” Barria said. “I would guess our clients are well aware that you were the only one who didn’t come to anyone’s rescue.”

  Carlo put his hand on his chest and looked hurt. “Someone had to watch the horses, didn’t they? I gave up on the glory so we could ride on.”

  Sammo broke into laughter. Carlo’s face turned impish as he joined in. Jack thought of himself as a trickster, but he was an onion boy compared to these two.

  “Let’s get going,” Helen said. “I’ll be riding behind us to make sure that pair doesn’t follow.”

  “If they do, maybe we should find out what they intend to do once they are at the monastery,” Jack said.

  “Good idea!” Carlo said, slapping Jack on the back.

  It took a moment for Jack to catch his breath, but he just smiled at Carlo and mounted his horse. He should have asked the pair what they had done with his clothes, especially the boots with the four hidden crowns. An opportunity lost, but then realized he had focused on the right thing, saving Penny and Ferrio.

  Chapter Seventeen

  ~

  T hey continued onward through the hills and finally stopped at a small village.

  “The inn isn’t so bad for the size of the village,” Barria said, “b
ut they only have a women’s dormitory and a men’s dormitory. No private rooms.”

  “That is better than sleeping on the ground,” Penny said.

  Barria laughed. “It all depends on who you are sharing the room with.”

  “She is right,” Helen said.

  Jack didn’t care. He had shared nights out with his friends in all kinds of places back at Raker Falls. All he cared about was getting a respite from the traveling and picking what he could from the tiny brains Sammo and Carlo had.

  They had to care for their own horses. Jack helped Penny with hers. Ferrio was struggling enough. Barria joked with the priest while she helped him finish up. The priest seemed to be embarrassed by it all.

  Jack and Helen dumped their things in the lockable trunks at the foot of every bed in the dormitories and arrived first at the modest common room.

  “No signs of Myra’s friends?” Jack asked.

  “Yes, there were signs. They are still following us, but I had a little conversation with them. It was much the same as yours. They are to stay out of our way, or they will be losing fingers.”

  “Can you trust them not to follow us?”

  Helen frowned. “Not really. They are a hard pair. If they touch Penny again, they will lose more than the digits on their hands. I made that clear too.”

  “Should we tell Carlo and Sammo?”

  Helen shrugged. “We don’t have to. I already told Barria. I’m sure she won’t keep the information to herself.”

  Jack sat back in the rickety chair. His father’s furniture was always better than anything he used in an inn. Without Tanner, Jack couldn’t sit back and not have to worry about such stuff. Tanner always had great ideas, and Jack kept having to scramble to picture what might happen, so he would not seem like a fool to Helen.

  Getting into the monastery as one of seven people wouldn’t be as easy as going in alone where he didn’t have to plan, but could use his wits. He had no idea how to help Helen direct everyone. Maybe the Toritos and Ferrio would stay behind. He thought that Ferrio could be convinced not to get close to the eagle-sect monastery.

  The two Torito brothers bounced down the stairs laughing, but then they were always laughing about something.

  “What are you thinking about?” Helen said, her eyes on the approaching pair.

  “How are we going to coordinate our efforts to get into the monastery?”

  “What makes you think we have to coordinate anything? We have a pass.”

  Jack sat up. “I forgot. I was thinking about what the prioress might do. Sammo and Carlo seem to think we will have to sneak in.”

  “Why sneak in if we don’t have to?” Helen said.

  Jack shook his head. “I am a fool.”

  “What was your first hint?” Helen said drily, “among the many.”

  The brothers arrived before Jack had to answer.

  “Warming up our seats?” Carlo said.

  “No,” Helen said. She stood and looked at the stairway. Barria motioned to her. “I am being beckoned.”

  Jack lowered his shield. He hadn’t had a chance to teach Penny how to create one and hoped she had enough power.

  “Are you all right?” Jack asked Penny.

  “No. I saw the two bandits putting their horses away in the stable. I don’t think I can stay in the inn if they are here,” she said.

  Jack looked at the Torito brothers. “Our two friends are sharing beds in the dormitory tonight.”

  Carlo looked at Sammo and grinned. He rubbed his hands together. “Not if we have anything to say about it. Right, brother?”

  Sammo raised his eyebrows. “They are very brave or very stupid to show up in the village. Didn’t you give them instructions to stay out of your sight?” he said to Jack.

  “I did,” Jack said, although he considered his demand a bluff. “Shall we find them and talk to them?”

  Both brothers nodded. “Let’s retrieve our weapons.”

  They found the two bandits finishing up with their horses.

  “Are you lost?” Sammo asked.

  The men flinched and backed up. They were unarmed, their weapons on a pile of hay between them.

  Jack pulled out his knife. “Helen said you would be losing digits if you showed your faces where we were. Which one do I take off?” Jack said.

  Sammo clapped Jack on the shoulder. “You tell ‘em.”

  Carlo grunted his assent.

  One of the men gathered enough backbone to speak. “You don’t own the inn, boy.”

  “The girl you assaulted is panic-stricken. Put your saddles back on and leave,” Jack said as he pulled his sword out of its sheath. “It is three against two.”

  “At least,” Carlo said. “He’s a wizard, remember?”

  Carlo’s comment surprised him. He didn’t think the man had ever listened to anything Jack had said.

  “You wouldn’t hurt us in this inn, would you? People are watching at the windows.”

  Carlo and Sammo turned around to look, and when they did, one of the men crouched down to retrieve his weapon. Jack zapped him in the hand. He didn’t hold back.

  The brigand screamed, clutching his injury to his chest. “You—” He looked at Jack with venomous eyes as he pulled a knife with his left hand.

  Sammo didn’t waste a moment and ran him through with his sword. As he crumpled to the ground, the other criminal jumped for his sword and rolled underneath one of the two’s horse. He emerged on the other side and threw a knife at Sammo, hitting him in the shoulder.

  Jack sighed and pointed his sword at the man’s head and put an end to the last of Myra’s friends with a well-placed wizard bolt.

  “Amazing!” Carlo said. “You really killed him.”

  Jack shook his head with regret. “I had to react since we were in danger.”

  “And I have a knife in my shoulder,” Sammo said, sitting on the ground, grimacing.

  Carlo and Jack gently helped Sammo to his feet and helped him to the inn. Penny stood at the top of the stairs. “I can help him,” she said.

  They took him into the men’s dormitory. Penny followed, but a less-than-half-dressed man snatched a blanket and wrapped it around himself as she walked in.

  “Sorry,” Penny said. “I’m a healer’s apprentice.”

  “Turn your back when you heal him, so I can get some clothes on.”

  Penny averted her gaze and concentrated on missing the drops of blood staining the dormitory’s floorboards. She tore away Sammo’s shirt and examined the wound. The knife hadn’t been pulled out yet.

  “I’ll need towels or clean rags and water,” she said. “Then Carlo and you can clean up the blood.” Penny shivered as she said it.

  Carlo ran out of the room. Her eyes followed him, and unfortunately, she saw too much of the man still changing his clothes.

  “Hey!” the man said.

  Penny snapped her head around.

  “I’ll need something to staunch the blood if the wound is too severe,” she said to Jack.

  After retrieving a towel from his pack, Jack stood ready. He held onto Sammo while Penny worked.

  “Clean the blood away while I tend the wound,” Penny said.

  Jack nodded as Penny began to move the knife out of the wound. It required a tug at first, but then it slid right out. Blood began to pour from the wound, but as Penny muttered a few spell words that Jack didn’t know, the river of blood turned into a trickle.

  Sammo moaned. “That hurt!”

  Jack took Sammo’s hand and held it.

  “There is more to come,” Penny said. “Magical healing doesn’t stop the pain.”

  “Now you tell me,” Sammo said with a smile more like a grimace.

  There were more gasps, and Sammo finally closed his eyes after a particularly painful treatment.

  “That was to heal the bone that stopped the knife,” Penny said. “Bone healing is the most painful for some reason. I’ve—”

  A white-haired man in a robe hobbled in
to the room. “I’m the village healer,” he said, out of breath. “This is the patient? Is he dead?”

  Penny shook her head. “Sleeping or unconscious. I’m an apprentice wizard healer. I’ve done all I can do.”

  “Oh. I do a bit of both, wizardry when I need to and conventional healing when I don’t,” the man said. “You don’t mind if I check your work?”

  Penny took a few steps back and let the man take her place next to Sammo. Carlo arrived with rags with Ferrio carrying a steaming bowl.

  “Ah. I need a wet rag. Give me the cleanest,” the healer said.

  Carlo looked them over and tossed one to Jack, who dipped it in the water. The water was almost scalding. He waved the rag around until it cooled a bit and handed it to the healer, who didn’t look pleased how his request was carried out.

  The man gently wiped at Sammo’s wound. “This looks good.” He placed his hand over Sammo’s injury and closed his eyes. He spoke a few spell words. Penny nodded her head after a few.

  “Not bad. I will need to fix a few tears if you don’t mind?”

  “Not at all,” Penny said. “I’m just an apprentice.”

  “Good enough to have saved the man’s life.”

  After a few minutes, the healer stood up. “He will need to rest for three or four days. The worst of it is patched up, but if you know wizard healing—”

  “The body still has to heal,” Jack said, still holding onto Sammo’s hand. “I’ve been worked on before. I’m her master’s helper.”

  The wizard raised his eyebrows. “A true wizard’s helper?”

  Jack nodded. “I don’t heal. Penny does.”

  The wizard grunted. “You are Penny?” the man said, looking at the girl.

  She nodded.

  “You should probably leave the dormitory before the innkeeper gets excited. The village is very strict about the separation of the sexes.”

  “Oh!” Penny said. “I will go now.” She tiptoed across the room, tiptoeing through spots of blood on her way out.

  The healer looked at Jack. “You really are a wizard’s helper.” He peered into Jack’s eyes. It made Jack uncomfortable.

  “You helped her save your friend’s life. She didn’t have the power to do what I sensed inside. Just your touch was enough for him to respond to her spells and to my ministrations,” the wizard said quietly.