by J. R. Castle
‘I-I doubt it,’ he said, thinking on his feet. He tried to sound as meek as possible, keeping his eyes trained on the ground. ‘I’m from the northern islands, it’s my first time on Keriss …’
The guard smirked, not believing him for a moment. Quinn could feel Ignus and Thea bristle by his side …
‘You’re that boy, from Yaross.’ He called to his fellow guards. ‘Let me get a closer look at you, you worm,’ He reached out to grab Quinn, who tried to get away but the guard was on him too fast. This is it, Quinn thought, we’ll have to fight … The guard reached for Quinn’s hood and pulled it back with a gleeful flourish … Quinn felt something grab his wrist.
‘A-ha,’ cried the guard, but then a look of confusion crossed his face. ‘What the—’
Quinn sucked in a breath and looked around at the astonished faces of Ignus and Thea. He could feel the breeze rustling gently across his face, but something was different. He went to run a hand through his shoulder-length hair, but instead felt only bristly stubble. He looked down at his hand, which was suddenly bone white and covered in tiny blond hairs, instead of the normal tanned, smooth skin. As he exhaled his panicked breath, it felt different. He reached up to rub what turned out to be a crooked nose.
‘You fool!’ bellowed the fat guard to the lanky guard. ‘He’s an old man! Let them pass, before we have Lord Lorimer to contend with for holding up his shipment …’
‘We’re free to go?’ Maria asked hopefully.
The guardsman in front of Quinn blinked in confusion like a gormless fish. ‘I …’ he muttered. ‘Um …’
Quinn looked down at the hand clamped round his wrist: Ulric. He gave Quinn a sly grin and a wink. His eyes flashed at the bemused-looking guard. Not wasting any time, the others barrelled through the checkpoint. Quinn pulled up his hood and hurried behind them, Ulric dragging him along impatiently.
Ignus and Thea hurried around them, as they made their way swiftly away from the checkpoint and down the mud path towards the first shops and houses in the town.
‘What is that?’ Thea asked breathlessly. ‘Magic? Is it a spell …?’
‘Quinn, you look like an ancient old bruiser,’ Ignus laughed. ‘Like me!’
Ulric let go of his tight grip on Quinn’s hand and suddenly the mirage dropped. Quinn’s features softened and turned back to normal. His nose straightened out, his arms darkened, and he had the strange sensation of feeling his hair grow back down to his shoulders all at once.
He looked up at Ulric. ‘I have no idea …’
Ulric gave a cheeky grin, his moustache dancing on his upper lip. ‘That, my friends, is a little taste of Shadow Magic!’ he declared. ‘And I don’t like to brag …’
Quinn doubted that very much – he could feel the pride coming off Ulric in waves.
‘… But it’s just a little trick I learnt long ago,’ he continued. ‘If I hold on to someone else, I can project my abilities onto them, too.’
‘That’s amazing,’ Thea gasped.
‘Not bad, eh, Quinn?’ Ignus boomed.
Quinn couldn’t deny the relief that was coursing through him. Despite Ulric’s arrogance, Quinn could recognise a good deed when he saw one.
‘Yeah, pretty amazing,’ he muttered to Ulric. ‘I guess you saved us.’
CHAPTER 8
A CRY FOR HELP
The first thing Quinn noticed as they walked through Astria was how desperate it looked. The roofs of the old houses which lined the streets had missing tiles and the windows had wooden hoardings instead of glass. Pale pink paintwork was peeling, and in places, whole walls had crumbled.
Maria shook her head as they made their way down towards the market. ‘It wasn’t this bad last time I was here. It gets worse every visit,’ she muttered.
People scurrying through the damp, cobbled streets threw them suspicious glances before hurrying away once more. The five of them continued through the winding streets until they eventually opened out onto a large square. The ground was paved with faded marble making intricate, beautiful art. The lamps that hung in straight lines around the perimeter were wrought in curving, unusual designs. The whole place looked like it had once been prosperous and even beautiful – a central focal point that the whole of Astria could be proud of.
Now, however, the shops that lined each side were dilapidated and had clearly seen better days. The stalls in the central market were half-empty and lacking in most of the basic goods. The few scared shoppers seemed desperate to get back to their homes as quickly as possible.
The grey weather didn’t help things, but the entire place had a deathly pallor, as if the marsh’s ghostly fogs had wrung the joy and life out of it.
‘The people seem terrified,’ Thea whispered.
Quinn nodded in agreement. One day, if he defeated Vayn, he would be Emperor of this place, although he wondered if the Black Guard would have left anything behind for him to rule over.
‘We should split up,’ Ignus said, glancing around the market square. ‘We’re too conspicuous like this, and the Black Guard will have been told to keep an eye out for Quinn and Thea and myself.’
A group of Black Guard were beginning to gather at one side of the square.
‘I need to find some magical supplies anyway,’ Thea said. ‘Come on, Quinn. You’re with me.’
‘The rest of us will look for somewhere to hole up,’ Ignus said. ‘Meet back here in an hour.’
‘And I will take my leave,’ Maria said. ‘You kept your side of the bargain and helped me find my cousin and I’ve shown you the way across the swamp.’
‘We’re not finished,’ Quinn promised her again. ‘We’ll find a way to save her. Somehow.’
He pressed his hands into hers and she said goodbye to each of the travellers in turn. ‘Until we meet again.’
The Black Guard across the square had started to idle their way towards the group.
‘C’mon,’ Quinn hissed, grabbing Thea’s arm. Together, they darted back into the winding streets, as Ulric, Ignus and Maria went in the opposite direction.
Quinn had never been in such a big town before. His village on Yaross had only had about fifty houses, and he’d known every single person living there. He guessed there must have been at least ten thousand people living here. The streets were a warren of twisting passages and high dark houses. How someone could find anything or anyone here, he had no idea. Thea didn’t seem to have a much better idea, either. No one would stop to talk to them when they tried to ask for directions, and most of the shops they peered in were dark and locked up.
‘This is pointless,’ Quinn said as they turned into a rubbish-strewn alley. Everywhere he looked, people were poor and scared, and they were shooting angry, sullen glances at everyone they passed. That was what twelve years of Vayn’s rule had done to Keriss.
‘Watch out!’ Thea hissed.
Quinn glanced up to see a patrol of Black Guard enter the far end of the alley. For a second, Quinn froze, but he and Thea were in plain sight, so they couldn’t turn back.
‘Hoods up,’ he hissed to Thea, pulling his over his head.
Together, they made their way down the alley towards the guardsmen, Quinn gritting his teeth while he hoped their hoods would hide their faces. Thea pulled Quinn against the wall as the guardsmen stalked up to them. Quinn kept his face turned down and felt the guardsmen’s gazes burning into him. He clenched his fists and dug his fingernails into the palms of his hands so hard he winced.
Walk on past, he thought desperately. Walk on past.
With a grunt, the nearest guardsman shoved by, almost knocking Quinn into a pile of rotting food. He stumbled and caught himself but kept his eyes down as the patrol moved on, laughing.
‘Close call,’ Thea hissed. ‘C’mon.’
They came out of the alley onto another cobbled road. Washing was strung across the street between the houses.
‘We’re lost,’ Thea said, hopelessly. ‘We’re never going to find a magic shop …’
‘That must be where Lorimer lives. I’m sure Maria said something about a barracks in an old castle,’ Thea said.
‘Well, at least there are some signs of life up there,’ Quinn said. ‘Come on.’
As they reached the main road, the deserted streets and nervous citizens gave way to a huge crowd milling around. People were packed close, trying to catch a glimpse of something moving past, up towards the castle. Quinn and Thea rushed to the back of the crowd to get a closer look and soon saw the reason for the crush.
A group of sentries were parading through the square on tall horses, heading for the grand barracks. A dozen dark steeds made their way through the thronging crowds, shoving past the townspeople as if they weren’t even there. In the centre of the group, a tall man on a warhorse rode steadily forward, a sneer twisting his face.
‘Clear the way!’ one of the sentries bellowed, using his horse to shove the townspeople aside. ‘Move, scum!’
Suddenly, the quiet murmuring of the crowd found its voice. One woman pushed her way to the front, pulling her tattered velvet cloak around her. Lines of worry wrinkled her brow as she desperately started shouting, ‘Help us!’ she cried. ‘Our people are getting lost in the marshes. You’re supposed to be protecting us!’
At first the crowd seemed scared by her dissent, but gradually murmurs of agreement began circulating among them.
‘My son went out to scavenge in the marshes because there’s no food,’ the woman continued. ‘He never came back. What are you going to do about it? You need to go out and find him!’
The sentries didn’t reply. They just kept shoving their horses forward despite the desperate cries. The murmurs in the crowd were getting louder and angrier.
‘It looks like there’s going to be a riot,’ Quinn muttered to Thea.
Thea nodded, and together they tried to edge back through the crowd that was pressing forward. ‘The people of Astria have had enough of the Black Guard.’
‘Lorimer!’ the woman shouted. ‘You need to do something!’
The pompous man in the centre of the group turned on hearing his name, and looked down at the woman with contempt. He was wearing black armour, but not like the guards’. Instead it was inlaid with gold so that it glittered in the sunlight. His helmet was decorated with purple plumage that stuck up from his head like a warning sign. Quinn could see a sliver of a grin crack his powdered face as he looked down his nose at the crowd. Lorimer. The man himself.
‘Lorimer!’ the woman shouted again. ‘Answer me!’
The crowd went silent as Lorimer paused to consider the trembling woman below him.
‘You dare speak to me?’ he whispered, his thin, menacing voice carrying across the crowd like a toxic gas. Everyone seemed to be holding their breath in anticipation. ‘Take her away …’
‘No!’ The woman cried, dodging back and merging with the crowd, as a Black Guard tried to grab her.
Lorimer raged as she slipped from his grasp. ‘Catch her!’ he growled. ‘And beat these people back!’
The brutish sentries around him drew their swords and turned the butts of their spears on the crowds, lashing out at the men and women. The people were so packed together they couldn’t turn and run. Quinn saw and heard wood thump into flesh.
Lorimer spurred his warhorse and it leapt forward, barrelling through the people.
The crowd surged. Quinn was knocked to the side, banging into Thea. He grabbed her by one arm to stop her falling. If they fell to the ground here, they would be crushed under the feet of the panicked townspeople.
The sentries moved forward, jabbing with spears and swiping with the flats of their swords. An elbow caught Quinn under his chin and he grunted in pain. He felt dragon scales form under his shirt.
At the front of the crowd, Quinn saw the woman who had been shouting at Lorimer go down as the crowd tried to get away from the advancing horses. The sentries didn’t seem to care. They kept on pressing forward and the crowd stumbled away. The woman was being battered from all sides and she couldn’t regain her feet.
‘She’ll be crushed!’ he yelled, leaping forward. He shoved his way through the retreating crowd. Bodies bounced into him, and he fell to his knees. He grabbed on to a man in front and hauled himself up.
Ahead of them, one of the sentries urged his horse forward. The woman tried to rise, but the press of the crowd knocked her back. The horse’s hooves rose above her and she raised her arms up in terror, letting out a horrified shriek …
CHAPTER 9
A VOICE FROM AFAR
Quinn darted into the crowd and grabbed one of her arms, hauling her back. The horse whinnied as its hooves hit the cobbles with a smack.
A moment later, Thea joined Quinn, and together they dragged the woman out of the square and into a narrow alley. The sentries were dispersing the rest of the crowd, and townspeople were limping away as fast as they could, supporting each other. Quinn saw bloody faces and heard the laughs of the sentries as they cantered around the square on their horses.
‘Thank you,’ the woman said, breathlessly. She looked in pain, but she didn’t seem badly injured. ‘You didn’t have to do that.’
‘We couldn’t leave you,’ Quinn objected.
‘All I wanted was for the town guard to do something about my son. He’s been missing for over a week. I … I’m afraid for him. The Stone Trolls have been coming closer to Astria.’ She glanced at the square. ‘Lorimer does nothing to protect us …’
‘We’re going to help,’ Quinn said fiercely. ‘We’ll find a way to overthrow the Black Guard and get rid of the Stone Trolls.’
Thea leaned over, frowning and peering at the woman’s neck. The woman’s hand went up self-consciously.
‘What is it?’ Quinn said.
‘That necklace you’re wearing …’ Thea said. ‘I recognise the symbol.’
The woman slowly pulled her hand away, revealing a rough piece of obsidian carved with what looked like a crane, its wings outstretched in flight.
‘What if it is?’ the woman said defensively. ‘There’s nothing illegal about magic.’
Quinn knew this was true, but he also knew that the Black Guard didn’t like people practising magic. Thea was proof of that – she’d been cast off her home, the Rock of Sighs, when her tutor Telemus was teaching her sorcery. Black armour might be proof against any ordinary weapon, but the Guard could never be sure against magic.
‘Oh, I know!’ Thea grinned, happily. ‘In fact you’re just the kind of person I’ve been looking for.’
Quinn curled himself up into a warm velvet armchair, dry and comfortable for the first time in days. The woman they had saved, Mother Onyx, had invited them to stay. Having scoured the streets for Ignus and Ulric, they had eventually found them and brought them back to her small house. Quinn looked out of the window across the sloping roofs to the mist-covered mountains in the distance – the two Dragon Knights were busying themselves by the fire and Thea was deep in conversation with Mother Onyx. The bottom room of her house was where she stocked dozens of mysterious potions, strange magical items, and what looked to Quinn like really unpleasant dried bits of animal. To Thea it looked like heaven – a magical treasure trove to rival all others.
‘Do you really think you can help my son?’ Mother Onyx asked anxiously, pushing back her bundle of grey hair from her lined face. She had wild, flashing, sea-green eyes, and an air of eccentricity and distraction. Quinn couldn’t help but be reminded of his Aunt Marta.
‘We’re going to try,’ Quinn said, firmly.
It wasn’t just Mother Onyx’s son or Maria’s cousin. Dozens of people had been turn
ed to rock by Vayn’s Stone Trolls in the marshes. If he ever managed to overthrow Vayn, it would end, but in the meantime, people were disappearing every day. As long as the Black Guard held the only safe road and the Stone Trolls stalked the marshes, Quinn knew people would keep disappearing. The only way to stop it was by getting rid of the Guard and the Stone Trolls.
‘That necklace,’ Thea said to Mother Onyx. ‘It’s a symbol of Astrian magic, isn’t it?’
Their host nodded. ‘The seeing magic. All magic users in Astria carry the symbol. If you want to know why there’s a city in the middle of the swamp, it’s not just the mines in the mountains here, it’s the old magic.’
‘The symbol is called the magic wing,’ Ulric commented from beside the fire. ‘Because you can send messages on the air. I remember Vayn coming here to learn the secrets of the seeing magic. That was before he turned against your father, Quinn.’
‘That’s what I thought,’ Thea said, nodding. ‘Ever since I started studying magic, I’ve heard people talking about the Seeing Stones of Astria. They say the stones of Astria are the best in the Twelve Islands.’
‘It’s true,’ Mother Onyx said. ‘Their secrets have been passed down from mother to daughter for hundreds of years.’
‘You know how to make them?’ Thea said, leaning forward eagerly, her eyes flashing with wonder. ‘Only I’ve been looking for something.’ She glanced over at Quinn. He frowned, wondering what she was looking at him like that for.
‘Not me,’ the older woman said, with a smile. ‘I’m only a dealer in magical items. I don’t have that kind of magic talent.’
‘Seeing stone?’ Quinn interrupted. He’d never heard of them. But then his Aunt Marta had been the only person Quinn had ever known who possessed magic, until he’d met Thea.
‘They allow people to see across great distances,’ Mother Onyx said. ‘If you know the right charms, you can even talk to others who are also in possession of a seeing stone. An Astrian Seeing Stone is a remarkably powerful item and far too valuable for a trader like me to be selling.’