Luther reached into his belt pouch. He put three greenish cubes of rock on the table. "Turquoise."
"Huh?"
"Turquoise will block their spell caster's disease or plague whatever it is."
Jason picked up a cube. "Do I eat it?"
"No!" Luther shouted.
"What then?"
"Simply keep it in your belt pouch. Don't lose it. It's not easy to find."
Timothy said, "I'm surprised you were able to find any."
"Years ago, men in our fiefdom had some and were making dice. I rescued these three rocks. At the time, I had no idea why I did it. Fate? Maybe."
Timothy raised his cup up high, "To fate!"
Jason tapped his with Timothy's. "Fate."
Luther added his mug to make a triad. "Fate!"
A young man in Ranger's garb approached their table. The three of them looked up at him. "Can we help you?" Luther asked.
This new man asked, "You're going to kill Quintak? King of the Southern Badlands?"
"What of it?"
"When Quintak invaded Lynken, that was my hometown." The young man shed a few tears. "We buried my father, my mother, and my sister."
Jason said, "He could be useful. A fourth blade."
"Is the blade arcane?" Timothy asked.
The new man fingered his sword hilt. "An ancient blade of speed, arcane for sure. My name's Roger."
"He won't have turquoise."
"If the four of us are standing together and Jason doesn't eat his piece," Luther said, "it would likely be enough. The pieces we have are actually bigger than we need for one person."
An old man at the bar shouted, "You'll never survive. Your quest is doomed."
"I don't care if we're doomed," Roger said. "You get me close to Quintak, and he'll bleed."
Jason laughed bright and loud. "It'll be my blade, but you might prove helpful."
"You're letting me join?"
"I'm not the leader. You can join us as far as I'm concerned."
"We have no leader. We're equals," Luther said. "I say he can join."
Timothy said, "Onward, to doom!"
Men in the pub cheered them on.
Chapter Forty-One
Roger pulled up a chair. Later, the four of them stumbled back to their rooms in the inn after much alcohol. The following day, they headed south around noon after loading up the horses with water skins, jerky, dried apples, and grain.
No duck or pheasant that crossed their path was safe. They saved the dry goods for later. Timothy spoke after three days. "Roger, how'd you find yourself in our tavern so conveniently?"
"Luck, fate? What does it matter?" Luther asked.
Roger pulled his horse to a stop. "To be totally honest, I saw a great vision of the God of War. He told me to go to the pub."
Fire flashed through Luther's eyes.
Roger continued, "My line has always prayed to the God of War: my father and his father. As many men as our line can remember, all prayed to him."
Jason raised his voice. "We need him. That's what matters."
"I won't betray you!" Roger clenched his right fist and put it into their center. One by one the other men made fists until all four were connected.
They traveled for days in haste, sparing no time for anything other than to rest the horses and fuel their bodies. The horizon of desert stretched out in the distance to the left and right.
Roger pushed his horse forward onto the sand. They came across a great lizard eight feet long from nose to tail. Jason pulled his blade and dismounted. The lizard snapped at him but was obviously stupid. He pierced it through the brain, and they started a fire. The meat was lean, tough, and tasted like rat's ass, but the men ate it.
Luther and Timothy both put up wards to protect their campsite at night.
In the morning, they stumbled upon a nest of cacti that bore an orange-colored fruit or seed of some kind. Luther said, "If you can get past the thorns to the fruit, it's edible."
Timothy stepped forward, blade in hand. He expertly cut the seed pods off the plants. The seeds tasted okay, but the flesh of the pods was tart and juicy.
The smell from the fruit drew a small family of foot-long rats.
Roger said, "I don't want to eat rat."
Luther raised an eyebrow. "My concern is the snakes that eat rats this big."
"The lizard we killed could eat these rats."
"The rats likely taste better than the lizard," Jason said.
Timothy stared off into the distance. "There's a town nearby."
"Maybe it is time to see what our copper will buy."
"I agree," Luther said.
Timothy kicked his horse into a trot. The others followed him.
The village consisted of huts made from some kind of tall grass mixed with mud. Luther had no idea how they stayed in one piece. The doors were made of the same grass. All sorts of plants were growing. Some of them the same cacti with the orange fruit; others were obvious food plants. There were a few cows and pigs too, but no chickens. The Southlanders hid from the quartet of men.
Soon a great howling began throughout the village. A tall man wearing leather around his middle and shoulders came out of a big hut at the end of the road. Fifty Southlander men came out of huts and formed a mass around the tall man. About half of these men wore Bractar, and most of the women wore the chains as well.
Jason raised his hand. "We come in peace."
The tall man waved his right hand at the young men. A dance of silvery corruption skipped across the ground like embers spitting out of a fire. A bit of a twisted feeling in their stomach hit the men, but it was no more than a faint sourness.
Timothy summoned a bolt of lightning down on the tall man, and everything above his shoulders exploded. The Southlanders with blades screamed at the top of their lungs and pushed forward in a rage. Roger hopped off his horse and drew his blade, cutting a line in the sand. Jason jumped down and stood on Roger's right.
Luther bounced a fireball hotter than pure lava over Roger and Luther's head and into the Southlanders. Many burned. Timothy poured more lightning.
Roger's blade blitzed from throat to throat so fast it was just a blur. Jason pierced men through the heart whether they tried to block him or not. Their blades couldn't stand against the Cuts-metal.
Luther threw more fire, getting a kind of charge in his chest with each new soul he sent to some unknown afterlife. Timothy stuck to lightning and paused every few moments to watch their backside. Roger and Jason cut down man after man. Soon a dense quiet spread across the village. Women in Bractar started to emerge from domiciles. The women wept.
Sickness spread in Luther's heart. What had they done?
"The chant to remove the Bractar." Timothy spoke loudly, "They don't even realize they are slaves."
Luther said the words. The others had the phrases memorized, too, and they spoke along with him.
Break the bonds
you use to enslave
free yourself
free your slaves
break the chains you have made
or in this earth
you will be laid
The Bractar shattered and fell to the ground.
A woman stepped forward, "You've saved us. I've been a slave my whole life."
Roger shouted, "You're free!"
"Carry as much water as you can," Luther said, "and head north into Lynken. Free men there will accept you as equals."
Women began to bow and nod. One of them said, "You should escort us."
"We cannot. Our business is to the south."
A crow cackled from a rooftop, and it sounded like the bird said, "Puppetmaster" three times. Then it flew off.
Chapter Forty-Two
The troop of four filled their skins with water from the well. They headed deeper into the Southlands. The sun baked their clothes to their bodies.
At high noon, they stopped to water the horses. Roger said, "If we could find shelter, shade, we could res
t during the day and travel at night."
"It's not a bad idea," Timothy said, "but I doubt we could find shelter for the horses."
"Snakes come out at night, too."
A centipede poked its antennae over a hill. Luther drew his blade. The others did the same.
"Can you guys make some kind of wall of fire?" Jason asked.
Luther shrugged. "We can throw balls of fire."
"No wall?"
"Form up with the horses in the center," Roger said. "One bite and we're walking."
They formed a square. The single centipede disappeared for a moment, then a twisting, turning, shiny black sea of armor-plated bodies took its place. Timothy stood on the north side throwing balls of fire bigger than wagons. Luther faced south launching fire the size of houses.
Roger and Jason aimed downward slashes, cutting the insects into pieces. The creatures didn't slow. Some of the bigger ones started to leap at Roger and Jason. The men cut them in half mid-flight. The mass of black carapace-covered monsters continued unabated. Luther shouted, "Shield us, Timothy!"
Timothy threw up a spherical wall of power around all four of them and the horses.
Luther painted a massive hexagon over all the centipedes and willed Pyros.
A great ball of fire formed around the men and beasts. The centipedes died. Luther poured more power and heat into the fire. On the edges of the flame, the sand began to melt into glass. Timothy shouted, "Enough!"
Luther let the fire bleed away.
"You clearly stated that you couldn't make a wall of fire," Jason said.
"It wasn't a wall," Luther replied, smiling wide. "It was a sphere."
"So you lied, my friend."
"I thought it was a pretty good idea," Roger said.
"Yes, sheer brilliance," Timothy said.
Jason picked up the dead half of a centipede and smelled it. "I'm not saying it was stupid, but Luther clearly lied to all of us. This is easily just the beginning. It all starts with one little white lie."
"Shut up," Luther said.
Jason held up the insect corpse. "I bet these are edible."
"No."
"Another lie?"
Roger laughed. "I'll eat the horses before centipedes."
Jason poked his finger inside the corpse. "It's just gross icky stuff inside anyhow, no flesh."
"Maybe if we deep fried it."
"That's a good idea."
Luther said, "A lot of daylight left."
"The centipede corpses are going to bring all sorts of scavengers, too," Timothy said.
"Let's ride!"
They traveled until sunset. A cave fifteen feet across burrowed into the side of a dune.
"I don't like the look of this cave," Luther said.
"True adventurers would explore it," Roger said.
"We're assassins, though."
"We've got to press on or explore it. Camping right next to a cave and going to sleep, would be monumentally stupid."
"I say we go inside," Jason said. "Tie the horses in a line, bring them in with us."
They dismounted and secured the horses together. Roger stepped in first. They found some old bones, but no inhabitants. They walked outside into the darkness and set up camp wards.
The sun woke them. They traveled across blinding desert for two more days without encountering anything significant. On the third day, they noticed a village a lot bigger than the last one.
They walked down the middle of a street between thatch huts, irrigation canals, and food plants. Slaves ran and hid from the four men, but a great whistling sound carried through the village.
"Not again," Jason said.
"We can't kill everyone," Luther said.
Roger let out a little chuckle. "Clearly, we can."
"It wouldn't be right."
A mass of men with blades stood at the end of the road. In their center, six figures sat on giant spiders. Jason shouted, "We come in peace!"
The men on spiders began to chant and wave their arms. Small balls of black fire the size of pumpkins pushed out of their hands towards the four on horses.
Jason and Roger jumped to the ground. Timothy threw up spheres around their party. "I don't know if these shields are going to help."
Jason shouted, "They'd better help."
The balls of black fire were slow moving, barely a third of the way to the men.
Luther drew a triangle on the front of the largest ball of fire and called out, "Shoc!"
Lightning crashed, and the fireball scattered into shards of darkness. Luther drew more triangles on the balls of fire and rained lightning.
The Southlanders, blades in hand, charged forward.
Jason shouted, "We come in peace!"
Luther shot a massive fireball forward into the Southerners with blades. It burned the first few into oblivion. Luther felt the dead in his heart, and black tendrils began to form in his fingertips. Some kind of ward stopped the fireball from destroying all of the Southlanders. A burning hatred itched into Luther's heart as he began to wield more and more fireballs. The fire finally reached the spell casters mounted on spiders, and they burned. As each one died, a pulse echoed in Luther's heart.
The tendrils of sickly black plague grew in Luther's hands until they reached his wrists.
Chapter Forty-Three
A group of Rangers in the courtyard in Lynken practiced their drills. Simon watched. The courier from Weslan arrived and took his horse into the stables. He approached Simon. "I have a letter from Jason."
"Let's have it."
He held out an envelope, and Simon snatched it up. He ripped it open. Two parchments. The first read, "Dear Mom, I landed a cool gig guarding a caravan. It's sweet. It's a little dangerous, but it's not that bad. Love, Jason."
Simon looked at the second parchment: "Dad, Give the first letter to Mom. I'm heading into the Southern Badlands with Timothy Drakkar and Luther. We're going to kill Quintak to avenge Lynken."
"Stupid," Simon said. He raced home. Heather greeted him with a kiss. "Our boy wanted me to lie to you. He's gone with his friends into the Southlands to assassinate their king."
"He what?" She asked.
"He's going to assassinate their king."
"Go stop him!"
Simon thought for a few moments. "I can't go into the Badlands alone."
"Did Juxta's idiot-boy go with our idiot-boy?"
"Yes."
"Go get Juxta."
Simon's eyes started to dance about. "I love you."
He ran out of the house and kicked his horse back into a gallop to the castle. He found William in the throne room. Simon bowed.
"Spit it out, whatever it is," William said.
"My boy is heading into the Southern Badlands to kill Quintak to avenge all the people Quintak killed in his last excursion into Lynken. He's with Juxta's son and Timothy Drakkar."
William squinted his eyes. "There's a chance they could succeed."
"I want to go talk him out of it. I'm retiring."
William's face turned hard as stone. "By law, I can't say no, but I can argue my points. Why not a vacation?"
"A vacation. Yes. Maybe that would be better."
"With a squad of ten of our hand-picked Rangers."
Simon began to rub at his chin. "We'll need Juxta."
"Travel to Weslan first, then go after the boys."
Simon nodded repeatedly. "It's an idea. You'll truly commit ten men?"
"I'd send a hundred if I thought they'd hurry you along. If you see Quintak..."
"Yes?"
"Kill him."
Simon grew a sly, thin smile across his lips.
William shouted, "Assemble the men. Let's go."
They walked out into the courtyard, and Rangers began to gather up in lines. William and Simon simply watched. The last man stepped into place.
"Many of you are aware of Jason son of Simon and his exile," William spoke in a loud voice that carried. "You're also aware that the last time Quint
ak sent troops into Lynken, hundreds died."
The men began to look at each other.
William continued, "Jason is on his way to kill Quintak to restore his honor among us."
Rangers began to grunt and cheer until it became a great bellowing chorus.
"Simon is going to go to talk some sense into his boy, or help, whichever," William said.
The cheers became a thunderous roar.
William held up all his fingers on both hands. "I want ten volunteers to accompany him."
En masse, the ranks of Rangers stepped forward.
William turned to Simon. "Pick your men."
Simon went through the ranks and picked his ten favorites. The quickest and smartest of the bunch. Simon shouted, "We ride today! We've got to go to Weslan and fetch Juxta."
They left within a half hour at a trot.
* * *
In Weslan, Juxta found the same Ralph Storm books Luther had read. He learned the chant to break Bractar chains. He studied which plants were edible. Almost two weeks passed. He found an old scroll, not written by Ralph Storm, which talked about turquoise, an opaque stone that was a mix of blue and green, with etched lines and markings in both black and white. The scroll said a half ounce of the stone would be good, but a full ounce worth of the stuff would be ideal to counter the Southlanders' plague or rot.
Juxta started his quest to find turquoise. He asked every Magi in Weslan and went to every jeweler. He found no such rocks.
He was having dinner with Lisa. "We're lost."
"I had never even heard of turquoise before two days ago," Lisa said.
A great knocking sounded on their door. They raced to answer it. Simon and ten Rangers stood outside.
"What took you so long?" Juxta said.
Simon growled. "The letter had to travel to me, then I had to travel here. Had we traveled any faster we would have needed extra horses."
"Did you happen to bring any turquoise with you?" Lisa asked.
"Can you drink it like wine?"
"No, it's a rock. We need it to counter the Southlanders' magic."
One of Simon's men raised his voice. "How would we even know turquoise from any other rock?"
"They're an opaque bluish-green color with darker lines like veins in them," Juxta said.
"Opaque?"
Luther, Magi: Blood of Lynken II Page 13