Grishel's Feather

by Guy Antibes

  Jack found himself facing Garolla. The head held a wand in his hand. He reappeared, the invisibility in his knife about depleted.

  “You! You started the fire, didn’t you, Corandian?” Garolla said.

  “I did. Grishel wanted the library destroyed. Addio was a bonus.”

  The head laughed. “You and the abbot hide behind Grishel. That stops today!”

  Garolla raised his wand, but instead of a wizard bolt, Jack felt the familiar feel of a conversion spell. He looked at the smudges developing on his fingers.

  “This wipes off,” Jack said. “You won’t use that spell, again.”

  Garolla’s mouth dropped. “You can withstand that spell?”

  “Oh, yes, I can.” Jack shot a wizard bolt at Garolla. It only made the Black Finger leader stagger back a step. With his power gone, Jack used the edge of his sword to end Garolla’s life.

  A cry went up on both sides. “The head is dead!”

  The fight turned into a rout, and few Black Fingers escaped out of the valley.

  Jack and his group used the stairs to the wall as a resting spot. They had let the monks do the chasing. Monks seemed to be faster runners than better fighters.

  The abbot and Torlo walked up to them. “We would have lost without you. That is justification enough to give you the object,” the abbot said.

  “I will still make the hundred healing objects, once my power returns.”

  “How long with that take?” the abbot asked.

  “This evening. We would like to leave in the morning. It is a long journey to Raker Falls.”

  “Maybe not so long. There is a trail in the western side of the valley that leads to Corand. It is faster than heading farther south or north to bigger roads,” Torlo said. “I know the way.”

  Chapter Thirty

  ~

  P enny spent the rest of the day and the night seeing to the injured on both sides, although there weren’t many Black Fingers left to heal. Jack recovered his strength, but spent most of it cleaning the conversion spell from monks and wizards. He did get about forty more healing rods created before he was totally exhausted.

  The next morning, they gathered in the meeting room after breakfast.

  “Here is the object you asked for,” the abbot said. “You may take it with you and keep it.” A monk carried in a pillow with the object on top.

  Jack shook his head. “We will send Torlo and Rucco back with the object. Perhaps we might find out more about the spell when I show it to Fasher Tempest. He is very knowledgeable about such things.”

  “I won’t demand, but I will gratefully accept it back,” the abbot said, looking down at his clean fingers. “It will take a while to get used to our new situation. We haven’t had to decide if we should be eagle sect or hawk sect. As Black Fingers, we always held ourselves above the squabbles of the two.”

  Jack pursed his lips. “I think the hawk sect would be best, but develop your own practices. I think the hawks have distorted a few things too.”

  The abbot laughed. “As if you would know.”

  Jack smiled. “I am partial to Alderach, myself. There aren’t any factions there, I think.” He remembered the differences in the horned hats, but that might have been because of the wealth of the specific church they served. Raker Falls would have to have been one of the humbler temples.

  “Is there a box or a leather sleeve for that? I don’t want to touch it,” Jack said.

  “We can fix something up while you are getting ready to leave. Torlo has spent the early morning copying a map of your route.”

  “I have it here,” the monk said, patting his chest.

  “Good, then let's get going.”

  Carlo and Barria saddled up, but they would be heading back to help Sammo travel back to Maltina.

  They said their goodbyes at the gate amidst monks still cleaning up after the battle for the abbey. Everyone kept the armor they used during the fight. Thankful monks contributed clean but well-used clothes to them.

  “I am relieved yesterday is over, but it appears we will have to continue to train for battle,” the abbot said. He chuckled. “We might have to become a military order.”

  “I can think of worse things,” Helen said. “Good luck.”

  With the farewells behind them, Jack, Helen, Penny, Torlo, and Rucco headed west through the valley, which extended farther than they thought.

  “Are you going to miss your father?” Helen asked Rucco.

  “I intend on coming back to the abbey to visit, but a long absence might be for the best, while the Black Finger Society is reorienting itself. I won’t return to the cavern now that the library is destroyed. I’m sure there will be others who will leave the society. I would have done it, even before Jack removed any possible coercion spell.”

  Torlo nodded. “I am the one to feel more regret. The abbot already knows my opinion on how the abbey should be run, but I won’t be here while they do their planning. I think a military order might be very interesting. I hope everyone remembers who I am when I return.”

  Rucco laughed. “Torlo doesn’t tell you that he is the right age and has the right qualifications to become the next abbot when the current one retires. He will have the time to remake the abbey into whatever he decides.”

  “Whatever Grishel decides,” Torlo corrected.

  “As if Grishel has ever talked to anyone,” Rucco said.

  Jack kept silent, remembering the hawk tattoo on his wrist. They traveled through the valley and found the trail leading up into the mountains, after discovering a few false tracks.

  The trail quickly became rougher than any of them had anticipated, but they continued on until breaking at midday at a small meadow split by a running stream.

  “Are you sure this will take us to Raker Falls?” Jack asked, looking at the map over Torlo’s shoulder.

  “If the trail hasn’t been washed away or overgrown. I was told a few people have used the trail this year in both directions, but I never talked to them. They rode horses, that I do know,” Torlo said.

  They continued onward and upward. That night they camped at a small lake that nearly filled up a tiny valley. Jack cut some branches, found some grubs under rocks, and was soon joined by Rucco and Torlo fishing.

  “Can I try?” Penny asked.

  Jack gave her the crooked pole and sought out another. He was at the lower end of the valley where he could see down the mountain. The abbey was barely visible in the distance, but what caught his eye was movement along the trail below him. He couldn’t count the horses, but they were being followed.

  He ran to the lake. “We have to leave,” he said, just as Penny pulled in a larger fish than Jack thought they would catch in the mountain lake. “Riders are coming up the trail.”

  “You are right,” Helen said. “There isn’t enough room to fight anyone on the shore. Pack up the fish.”

  They had enough fish for a good meal. Torlo produced a canvas sack. “We could put them in there, but they will probably spoil before we get a chance to eat them.”

  “I have a solution,” Jack said. “Put them in.”

  He used the blue-cuffed bracer to surround the fish with a thick coating of ice. “It’s just like keeping fish outside in the cold to keep them fresh,” Jack said.

  They mounted and left. They hadn’t covered any of their tracks on the trip, so it didn’t make any sense to cover up their presence at the lake. Helen had them leave their poles and line by the bank. It might entice their pursuers to stay at the lake that evening.

  After riding as far as was safe in the night, Helen had them stop at a reasonably flat spot. The trees had begun to thin out at the altitude, but that didn’t keep wizards from creating a fire to keep warm. They cooked the fish on the flames, and that was dinner.

  Jack tossed and turned in the night. Penny seemed to be having a worse time than he did, but dawn finally arrived, and Helen had them up chewing on stale bread as they rode. Later in the day, they passed a ro
ckfall that made riding too treacherous. Between Rucco, Torlo, and Jack, they levitated enough rocks out of the way to proceed. They also moved the same rocks back to create an obstacle for their pursuers.

  As night fell, they camped on the Corand side of the pass that marked the boundary. Jack produced water to fill their water skins. They ate a thin stew made from a packet of dried meat and vegetables that the monks had prepared.

  “We eat this stuff during the winter,” Torlo said. “It packs well, doesn’t it?”

  Jack nodded, but he had to force the stuff down, as did the others. At least it was food.

  After another uncomfortable night, Helen rode back to scout their pursuers while the others proceeded down into Corand. The Corand side of the mountains seemed to be steeper, so they spent more time walking their horses down rock-filled slopes. If their pursuers chose to ride hard, Jack was sure there would be accidents.

  Helen caught up to them at midday.

  “There are eleven Black Fingers, including Myra Pulini,” Helen said. “I suppose she is there as their guide. None of them look like they are particularly skillful riders, so they won’t make it through this stretch as quickly as us.”

  “We can’t fight them here,” Jack said. “Someone will fall down the mountain.”

  Helen nodded. “I agree. We need to keep up the pace and make a stand before we reach Raker Falls. We need to water our horses to keep them fresh. Jack?”

  Water sources were probably farther down the mountain, so Jack used the same sack that held the fish and filled it with water from his red-cuffed bracer, after rinsing it many times. Rucco and Torlo lugged it to each of the horses and stood while the horses drank the water.

  It took some time, but soon they were through the steeper parts and picked up the trail just as vegetation began to pop up along the trail.

  “Thanks to Eldora, our mounts will be in better shape than theirs,” Jack said.

  “Eldora?” Torlo said, stopping in the middle of the trail.

  “The wrist guards were given to Jack by mountain people,” Penny said.

  “But they were imbued by Eldora in a vision,” Helen said.

  Jack glared at her, but she just smiled at him without saying a word.

  “You had a visitation?” Torlo asked.

  “I did. It was during an errand to Tesoria. Eldora is the goddess of most of the country,” Jack said.

  “But a visitation? Were you involved in what happened in Gameton?” the monk asked.

  Jack cleared his throat. “I was there.”

  Torlo stopped his horse. “If a goddess appeared to you and gave you objects of power, spells I have never seen before, then you must know if Eldora abandoned the Black Finger Society? We were told she did.”

  “She never condoned the society in the first place,” Helen said. “Eldora worked through Jack to save Gameton from a Black Finger takeover if you must know. A Black Finger wizard killed the king and mimicked his form to usurp the throne. That didn’t last long because of Jack.”

  “Those are from a goddess?” Penny said with her mouth open. “I knew you all were involved but—”

  “The bracers were made by someone else. The water and ice spells were imbued by the goddess.”

  “That is hard to believe,” Penny said. Her skepticism seemed to return.

  Jack ripped off the cuffs. “See the tattoo? Those are Eldora’s lip marks.”

  “What is that bird on your other wrist,” Rucco said.

  “Bird?” Jack snapped his bracers back on.

  “I saw it.”

  Jack guessed it was time for the revelation. “I had a visitation from Grishel while we napped in the field outside the cavern. He told me to burn the library and suggested I borrow the object that drained magical power.”

  “Let me see that again,” Penny said.

  Jack let her remove his bracer. Torlo and Penny stared at the bird tattoo.

  “It isn’t an eagle,” Torlo said. He laughed. “So that was why you suggested we become a hawk sect.”

  Jack nodded.

  Penny looked at it closer. “It is too clear to be a tattoo,” she said. “Why do you get all the visitations?”

  Jack could only shrug. “I didn’t ask for them. Each visitation has involved an additional errand that put me and those with me in danger, so they aren’t a privilege.”

  “I guess not,” Rucco said, scratching his head. “Destroying a vast collection of magical texts could not have been done lightly by any wizard.”

  Jack nodded. “I would have rather read them, that is for sure. But Grishel said the Black Finger Society would have used the library against the rest of us.”

  “He’s right,” Rucco said. “I heard of demands from the Kadellian chapter. They wanted all the books transferred to them. The order was very controversial, and it ended up splitting the chapter. A few wizards began to leave the order at a regular trickle after that.”

  “I’m sure Grishel had his reasons,” Jack said. He mounted up, so the others would as well, and they headed back down the trail.

  “What did he look like?” Torlo said.

  “A man with tiny feathers instead of hair on his head like on the statue at your church. I’m guessing a god can appear however they want. An expert at the Fifth Manipulation can probably do the same,” Jack said.

  “He’s right,” Rucco said. “We should stop talking and ride a little faster. I’m sure I’m on the right side now.”

  “I know I am,” Torlo said, grinning. “I’m riding next to someone who has seen Grishel.”

  Jack shook his head. “Don’t think I’m anyone special. I’m not a Grishel worshipper or an Eldora worshipper. I just talked to them and did what they asked. It’s not like they made me a leader or anything. I’m just me.”

  “Just you,” Torlo said. “I’m impressed anyway. You continue being ‘just you,’ and I’ll bask in the knowledge that Grishel knows what we do. Sometimes I have had my doubts.”

  “I don’t think they can meddle in our affairs directly, though,” Jack said, admitting something he had thought about before. “I had to burn the library. I had to contact Corina Bell. I had to do what I did to stop the Black Finger Society takeover of Tesoria. The gods could only request me to do what they asked.”

  “You didn’t refuse, did you?”

  Jack thought about it for a bit. “I could have, I’m sure, but I’m not that kind of guy.”

  “Not to a god anyway,” Penny said.

  “When have I refused to do what you’ve asked me?” Jack said, but he regretted the words as they left his mouth.

  “Plenty of things. Take out the garbage. I’ve told you to do this and do that, and you’ve effectively ignored me.”

  “Ah, yes, life’s important things,” Jack said.

  Helen laughed. Jack glared at her. “A little help would be appreciated,” he said.

  She just shook her head and urged her horse to move faster down the trail.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  ~

  A fter a more comfortable night spent cushioned by pine needles, they took off again. Jack thought they might make it to Raker Falls by the end of the day, but Helen didn’t agree and left them for another scouting foray.

  She galloped back. “They must have only slept a few hours. The riders are right behind us.”

  Jack looked around for a spot to fight, but they continued on until Helen stopped them.

  “We ride another two hundred yards and then circle back to here off the trail so we can have the high ground,” she said.

  “You propose an ambush?” Torlo asked.

  “When you are outnumbered two to one? The answer is yes,” Helen said. “Follow me.”

  They obediently followed Helen as she led them down the trail and then blazed a track close to where they had stopped.

  “Strap on your armor and prepare to fight. You are all wizards, so it will be wizard to wizard. I will move in as close as I can to negate their magic with
the edge of my blade,” Helen said.

  Jack looked at her as she strapped on a helmet and admitted she was the bravest of them all, not that that was a major concession. Her prickliness was an advantage at that point.

  She stepped up to Jack and Penny. “If I could, I would let you ride on, but you can’t be dogged by a gaggle of wizards all the way to Raker Falls and then to the coast. If Torlo, Rucco, and I fall, you must take off, regardless.” She cleared her throat. “Tell Tanner he was in my thoughts at the end.”

  They all had a bite to eat and a drink of water before horses were heard on the trail. Helen let them pass before entering the trail. “If you have any long-range wizardry, the time to use it is now,” she said.

  Jack had a thought. “Take the feather,” he said to Helen.

  “Feather?” she said.

  Jack cursed himself. He hoped the others hadn’t heard. “The object that acts like Grishel’s Feather. Get in close and touch a male wizard. A good long touch will be enough to drain their magic. I suspect that even a brush with it will take away their offensive magic ability.”

  “I have to get in close anyway. Be ready to take it from me if you have to flee,” Helen said.

  Jack handed the leather-wrapped object to the mercenary. He took a deep breath. He would begin with Takia’s fire. He didn’t want to burn the wizards, but he couldn’t let them stand in the way of saving Tanner, Fasher, and Corina, not after traveling all this way. He shot a wizard bolt as far as he could, hitting the flank of the third horse in the column.

  “Here we are!” he yelled, waving his sword.

  The Black Fingers bunched up. The leader pointed his wand into the air. “Kill them!” She didn’t have a distinctive way of saying it, but it was enough justification for Jack to set aside his reluctance to use his sword.

  The Black Fingers charged. Jack lowered his sword, and waited until the first bolt nearly reached them.