The Warded Box

by Guy Antibes

  “But invisibility? He taught you to imbue.”

  Jack shook his head. “No, he didn’t. A wizardess taught me when I was out doing an errand, like this one. I learned a few spells on that trip, and Fasher was very unhappy with me.” He would be unhappier once Tanner showed up, if he ever did, or when Jack finally relented and told him the story of retrieving the Serpent’s Orb.

  “Teaching yourself magic is very dangerous,” Lark said.

  “I know. That is why I haven’t learned more spells. It isn’t that I can’t, it is that I won’t. As I said, invisibility seems like fun. I’m a bit of a trickster, and I can use it then.”

  “I shudder to think of a wizard’s helper being a trickster,” Lark said.

  Chapter Four

  ~

  T hey turned east once they reached a road that ran east-west close to the border between Corand and Tesoria.

  “Why do we have to be so discreet?” Jack asked as they approached a village, and Lark and Ralinn put on their veils. Lark wore a mask, as far as Jack was concerned, but Ralinn’s veil showed her lovely eyes. It was enough for Jack.

  “You don’t need to,” Lark said, “but these are anxious times in Tesoria. The less I am seen, the better it is for me.”

  Jack smiled. “I’ll be a good sport and wear one, too, if you want. If someone is looking for a man and a young woman, perhaps we can throw them off the scent with two veiled men.”

  “Scent?” Ralinn said. “Do you think I am a boar?”

  “Perfume,” Jack said, smiling.

  Lark chuckled. “Go ahead.” He turned around and was limber enough to pull a cloth from his saddlebag. “Here. This one will match Ralinn’s blush.” He tossed a red veil to Jack. “Ralinn gave me that veil. It has a special meaning in certain quarters. If I need it, I may snatch it back.”

  The veil had some red embroidery on the red cloth. Jack laughed and tied it on. “Do I look like a Tesorian?”

  “You do, but you don’t speak like one,” Lark said. “Listen to the people talk, and you’ll be able to pick up a few of our unique speech patterns. ”

  “I can’t just listen to you?” Jack asked.

  “Feel free,” Lark said. “Common—” Ralinn coughed. Lark cleared his throat, too. “Non-wizards speak with a more pronounced accent.”

  Jack was no dummy. He knew Lark was going to say “commoners” and that meant the pair were noble wizards. It didn’t matter to Jack, since he had traveled for two months with a duke’s brother. He could see that it was all the more reason for the pair to hide their identities. It gave him a little pause to think he might not get to know Ralinn better. Jack was as common as any person they would chance to meet.

  The village was set in a wood that hugged the border, Lark said. Fields were tended on the south side, plants reached toward the sky as spring had turned to summer while Jack had worked for Fasher Tempest. As they proceeded through the village, Jack was surprised that more than half of the people wore veils of all colors and textures. Most men wore black or white like the one Lark wore. They passed a man dressed well for the village, and his veil had a herald or something emblazoned on the front in gold thread.

  “Nobles wear fancier veils?” Jack asked.

  “Indeed they do. If our travels take us to Gameton, the capital, you will see very elaborate face coverings,” Ralinn said, fingering her veil.

  The veil thing was surprising for a country bordering on Corand. “We must seem plain folk to you,” Jack said.

  “I wouldn’t use the term ‘plain,’ but we think Corandians are somewhat more open than us,” Lark said.

  Other than the veils, Tesorians dressed pretty much like Corandian citizens, Jack thought. Lajians, on the other hand, dressed in a totally different style. If Fasher sent him on this errand to learn something, he had succeeded. Jack already knew how to make himself invisible and knew that Tesorians thought they were much different than what Jack suspected they really were.

  They rode through the village and continued southeast on the main road toward a Tesorian town that Lark had identified as where they would spend the night. The sun was hanging low above the horizon at their backs when they stopped at a nondescript inn.

  Stable boys helped strip their horses before they headed inside. Jack walked toward a familiar face standing on the porch leading into the inn. Tanner’s eyes lingered on Ralinn, so Jack bumped into him. How did Tanner know they would be stopping at that inn? Tanner didn’t immediately recognize him, but as Jack walked past he felt Tanner grip his arm.

  “I didn’t believe Fasher’s claim that you made it out of Amara’s keep alive,” Tanner said. “I almost let you pass except for that sword at your hip. It looks like you picked up a matching knife. How did you do that?”

  Jack pulled down his veil. “A friendly weapon maker liked the sword so much I let him sketch the dimensions of the sword for making the knife. Don’t they look good?”

  “Not as good as you,” Tanner said, giving Jack a hug. “We thought you were buried at the bottom of the chasm along with Aramore Gant and Grigar’s sister.”

  “Helen survived, too?”

  “She’s here with me. Fasher knew you would be staying here, so we’ve been here for a couple of days, just missing you in Underville.”

  “And Grigar?”

  “He will always miss his sister, but we did manage to retrieve most of the objects of power. Some simply disintegrated when half of the keep collapsed, but her storage chamber survived. It took us a while to get out, but we did.”

  “Fasher said you used the orb?”

  Jack didn’t want to pull it out and show Tanner, so he walked in the inn and let the mercenary follow. Lark had arranged for their rooms. Jack introduced Tanner, who gave a letter of introduction to Lark.

  “No offense, but I don’t need anyone to protect my apprentice and me,” Lark said.

  “I’m not here to protect you but Fasher’s helper.”

  Jack put his hand between the pair. “It’s all right, Lark. I know Helen and Tanner. We can trust them with our lives. I already have.”

  “A woman?” Lark said, still a bit upset.

  “Quite a woman,” Tanner said. “Don’t you have a woman for your apprentice?”

  “She is…she is a special case,” Lark said.

  “So is Helen, as you will see.”

  Jack pulled Tanner up with him to his room. There was no sharing with Lark, Jack guessed.

  “Don’t make things worse,” Jack said to his friend. “I can see you two don’t get along, but we need him to navigate us through Tesoria.”

  Tanner sat on Jack’s bed. “I know. When we showed up at Raker Falls, Fasher immediately sent us to find you.”

  “You didn’t tell him our story, did you?”

  Tanner laughed, “Of course we did. It’s a good one. I don’t know what happened at the very end. Fasher seems to think you used the orb to teleport all the way to Raker Falls.”

  “I did,” Jack said. “That is why I have to wear the thing around my neck for five years,” He pulled it out of his shirt. “It has a little power back, but it was all used up when I arrived from the keep.”

  “Helen and I thought you had died, but Grigar thought you might have teleported to the other side of the chasm. We looked but couldn’t find you.”

  Jack chuckled. “You just did. It just took longer than you expected. Fasher and I had a bit of a falling out about the orb being dead and all. I refused to tell him any of our story.”

  “Fasher has a different interpretation of that, but it doesn’t matter. You are alive and on another errand. We are here with you, but Fasher didn’t tell us very much other than the fact that you carry a warded box in your bags.”

  Jack pulled it out. “This is actually a flat scroll,” he said. “I still don’t know why I have to personally deliver it.”

  “Another Fasher Tempest errand, Jack.”

  “I have to take it to the grand wizard at Wilton in the southeas
tern part of the country. Fasher said Tesoria is unstable and that I will need Lark Handercraft’s knowledge to get me there safely so I can personally unlock the ward.”

  “The timing couldn’t be worse,” Tanner said. “Tesoria is in the middle of an insurrection. Actually, I think it is better to call them insurrections, since there are a lot of people fighting others to get a leg up on invading Gameton, the capital.”

  “And Wilton is on the other side of Gameton from here,” Jack said.

  “An army of five,” Tanner said. “We’ve talked enough. Tuck your message away and let’s get downstairs. Helen should be showing up any time now. She was making sure you and your wizard friends didn’t land in another inn.”

  They walked down to the common room. Ralinn and Lark were drinking ale under their veils. Jack saw others with lowered veils around their necks like his. Jack sat down while Tanner brought a fifth chair to their table.

  “Helen will be here soon,” Tanner said. He smiled at Ralinn. “Jack, would you introduce me?”

  “This is Tanner Simple. We traveled to Lajia together along with Helen Rafter, who will be joining us shortly.”

  “Jack told us he doesn’t know many spells,” Ralinn said. “Is that correct?”

  Tanner nodded his head. “He has only been a wizard’s helper for five months or so. Fasher doesn’t want him to learn too quickly.”

  Lark snorted. “So he sends him out on his own? Do you know he learned invisibility on our way here?”

  “Really?” Tanner said. “We should be able to make use of that, eh Jack? Do you want to go into a life of crime? Invisibility and teleportation are outstanding tools for a thief.”

  Lark’s eyes widened over his veil. “What?” He looked at Jack. “You can teleport?”

  “Not too far,” Jack said giving Tanner a meaningful look to keep his mouth shut.

  “I’ve never mastered teleportation,” Lark said.

  Jack looked at Tanner. “Grigar didn’t seem to have any trouble,” Jack said.

  “Grigar and his sister were two of the most powerful wizards in Lajia,” Tanner said. “He kept a very low profile because of his sister.”

  “Simara had never heard of him,” Jack said.

  “That is because Grigar isn’t the name he generally goes by.” Tanner looked at Lark and Ralinn hanging on his every word. “He swore Helen and me to secrecy.” He folded his arms to end Jack’s questioning.

  Helen walked up. Lark sat up straighter.

  “My tummy told me it was time to return, and a good thing I did. It is very good to see you again, Jack. Fasher said you teleported all the way from Lajia to Raker Falls,” she said as Lark spit out a mouthful of ale. She looked at the wizard and then back at Jack.

  “You teleported across the sea?” Lark said, too loudly for the room. People looked their way.

  Jack could see the man blush from what he could see of his face. “All the way from Lajia?” Lark said much more quietly.

  “I had a unique object of power,” Jack said, “or I wouldn’t have been able to.”

  “Object or not, I’ve never heard of such a thing,” Lark said.

  “It was that or die,” Jack said. “I’ve grown rather attached to living.”

  “You really don’t know many spells?” Ralinn said.

  Helen laughed. “The spells he knows, he knows very well. But we will find that onion boy, here, is still dripping from behind his ears.”

  “Onion boy?” Ralinn asked.

  “It’s nothing! Nothing at all!” Jack said waving his hands, but Helen didn’t catch the message or didn’t choose to, and related Jack’s encounter with the farmer taking Jack from Raker Falls to Orderton on an onion cart.

  Even Lark was able to laugh at the story. Jack just sat with his elbow on the table cupping his chin with his hand, knowing to say anything in his own defense would be met with derision. Mercifully, the server showed up. Even though Jack was severely embarrassed, the story seemed to settle down the group, and despite his embarrassment, he went to bed feeling better about everything, except for the prospect of enduring the wrath of Fasher when he returned to his home village. His mentor would not be happy with Jack learning so much about wizardry, and Penny would be thrilled to witness Fasher’s anger.

  Chapter Five

  ~

  T hey were about to set out the next morning when Lark suggested they wear some armor. Ralinn didn’t have any, so Helen made sure they stopped at an armorer and found a few pieces that would fit Lark’s apprentice. Lark bought a light sword for Ralinn and another for himself.

  “That is not for you to fight an armored man, so don’t get any ideas,” Lark said.

  Ralinn nodded but narrowed her eyes and said, “You know I’ve had some training with one of these. It was as much a requirement for me as it was for you.”

  Jack and Tanner looked at each other as if to say what did that mean? The pair were definitely wizards, but they had a history, of that Jack was certain. Helen and Ralinn mounted and headed west, back the way they had come.

  “We are backtracking?” Jack asked.

  Lark nodded. “The lines of insurrectionists and loyalists change every day. When we stop for our midday meal, we will go over the map as it appears today,” he said. “It may look different tomorrow, so we will have to make inquiries every day.”

  “We did when we traveled to Underville,” Ralinn said. “It makes travel a lot longer.”

  “I am assuming we travel in Loyalist-controlled areas?” Tanner asked.

  “Of course. Wilton and Gameton are Loyalist strongholds. If we journey straight through the country, we run the risk of not being admitted into either of the cities. Which reminds me, tonight you three will have to have papers drawn up.”

  “Will we have to pledge loyalty to the Tesorian king?” Helen asked. “That isn’t something I want to do. I know nothing of Tesorian politics, and I won’t blindly support someone I don’t know.”

  Lark ground his teeth. “I don’t know what will be required of you. We will face that problem when we get to it.”

  “Why didn’t we register where we stayed last night?” Jack asked.

  “The next large town will be a better place to register, that’s all. You have to understand Tesoria a bit better to have an appreciation for our rules and regulations,” Lark said.

  Jack wasn’t very interested in following rules and regulations, but he wanted to get to Wilton as quickly as he could. Lark was making Jack’s errand in Tesoria start to feel worse than their experience traveling in Lajia. No one asked them to register with the authorities, and it seemed sort of a stupid thing to do in a nation as chaotic as Tesoria. Could Fasher’s message be all that important? He didn’t know, and there was nothing he could do about it.

  Their journey to the village where they were to go over the map ended quickly. Lark and Ralinn wore veils the entire time, so Jack joined in. Just before they reached the village, Helen pulled out a scarf and made an impromptu veil.

  “I’m the only one showing their face?” Tanner said, sounding disappointed, but Jack could tell he was joking.

  The group rode into the village looking intimidating. They endured the stares from the veiled and from the unveiled. Lark stopped at a hitching post at a pub. There were no rooms since the place didn’t have a stable yard or a second floor, just a bushy thatched roof.

  “Our horses can water themselves while we water ourselves,” Lark said with an unexpected lightness. Everyone followed him into the pub.

  The food was served, but Lark clearly steered the conversation to the conditions of the road and the weather. Jack could tell that he didn’t want others talking. The Tesorian wizard spread the map out on the table while the pub prepared their food.

  “On our trip, there are trouble areas here, here, here, and here.” He put his hands on large areas of the map. The coast seemed to be fully in Loyalist hands, but from what Jack could tell, the situation was fluid a day or two inland.


  “Our path?” Tanner said.

  Lark didn’t speak, but his finger moved toward the coast halfway down the west side of Tesoria before breaking inland. Jack could see Gameton sitting along the largest river on the map two-thirds toward the Kadellian border. Wilton wasn’t that far to the south, but farther east. Roads led to the capital and back out to Wilton, where the grand wizard was.

  Lark folded up the map and put it on his lap while they ate. Before an hour had passed, they left the pub and took a south track before turning right onto a larger road to the west. Jack traveled next to Tanner at the rear of their little group.

  “Why are we going this way and that when there is a straight road to the town?” Jack asked.

  Tanner shrugged. “It probably has something to do with the way Tesorians think. Their brains don’t work like the rest of us. There are always wheels within wheels.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Nothing is simple or straightforward. They have all these rules and regulations, but they don’t make things easier, they make them much harder. We will just have to endure it. Bend like the tall grasses. If you don’t, you will become brittle like straw.”

  “Does Helen think the same way you do?”

  Tanner smiled. “I gave up a long time ago trying to figure out how Helen thinks. Sometimes I’m right, and sometimes I am wrong, very wrong.” He looked at Helen’s back, her head bent to the side, listening to something Ralinn told her.

  Helen’s interest in the girl surprised Jack, especially after Helen had been a victim of Simara Khotes as much as the rest of them in Lajia.

  Tanner turned as if he heard a sound in the woods around them. “We’d best pick up the pace,” he said, calling to Lark. “We aren’t the only ones in this forest.”

  Lark immediately kicked his horse into a gallop, and they hurried out of the woods. Jack looked at Tanner’s face, seeing the ghost of a grin.

  “I didn’t hear anything,” Jack said.

  Tanner’s grin strengthened. “We need a little excitement to keep our blood flowing,” he said.