by Guy Antibes
The carriage began to rock from a commotion going on in the cab. She looked at Fenning who found a place to turn the coach off the road. The highwaywoman struggled with her bonds.
Delia had gagged her with a pretty pink silk ribbon. “Such naughty language,” she said. “The woman’s definitely not a graduate of Miss Poddy’s”
“Stop,’ Fenning said. She continued to struggle.
“Stop, please,” Gristan said as he materialized in sight of the woman. “If you cease your actions, we will remove your gag.”
She lay panting on the floor, with a look of defiance.
Norra leaned over and untied the ribbon.
“What have you done to me? Why am I tied up?”
Gristan said, in a reasonable voice, “You did try to hold us up, my dear. Your friend graciously removed a sack of money and fled, taking your horse. Now, you can join our little company for a while or we can just let you walk for miles as you try to piece your miserable life back together.”
The woman growled. “Everything I have is on that horse.”
“We did keep your sword,” Delia said.
The young woman looked like she was ready to cry, but then she hardened and struggled with her bonds. Norra tried to put herself in the thief’s place. Her reactions would be similar. She wondered if the woman just needed a bit of help. As long as she didn’t injure anyone, the effort might be worth it.
“If you promise you won’t run us through, we’ll let you join us to the next town. The other one did the stealing. Let’s just say you were in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Norra said, hoping that would calm the woman down.
“Will you untie me?” Her voice sounded much younger when she wasn’t yelling at them. Perhaps she might be Delia’s age.
Norra looked at Fenning, who made extra flourishes with his spell, loosening her bonds. Norra did the rest of the untying.
“I’m Norra, this is Delia, the ghost,” the woman shrunk back as she recognized that Gristan was a ghost,”is named Gristan, the wizard is Fenning. We’re headed south. So, what’s your name?”
“My name is Lily.” she asked. What’s south?”
“South and then west somehow.” Norra wondered herself. “I don’t quite know our path, but it will take us to Taxia.”
“ Do you know there are wizard wars all over the south? Billston is burning, Osprey Lake is in flames. I wouldn’t go there. You can let me off at the next town or village.”
“If you had to pick a safe route to Taxia, how would you go?”
Lily thought a bit as she rubbed her hands and ankles. “I’d head east to Nastaly and sail to… to…”
“Torell Port. It’s the entryway into Taxia,” Fenning said.
“That’s it. You could try skirting the coast with the carriage, but it’s hardly a straight line. You might think you’d save some time, but I don’t think you can beat a ship.”
Norra had a thought. “Would you like to join us? We’re heading to Taxia and beyond.”
“What’s beyond Taxia?” Lily said.
“Magia. We’re headed for Magia.”
“No,” she waved her hand, “I’ve never heard of the place.” She sat up and rubbed her wrists.
“Where do you think the wizards are coming from for these wizard battles?”
“Uh.” Lily rubbed her hair, “I don’t know.”
“They are fighting for territory,” Fenning said. “When the mages in Magia move, they will level every city and enslave every person. Right now minor wizards are coming over and trying to grab up land. None have been successful. You’ve obviously heard of the destruction. Right now all they are doing is killing each other. Once the mages move, it will be a different story.”
“Can I just leave? I don’t believe in all of this magic claptrap.”
“We don’t have rules. Except we don’t take from each other.” Norra looked directly into Lily’s eyes. “If you can’t restrain yourself, feel free, but we will keep your sword.”
Lily pursed her lips and looked at them all, except Gristan. “I don’t much like joining up with strangers who have bound me.”
“Right. Bound you up after you tried to rob them and then untied you,” Delia said. Her assertion surprised Norra. She let Delia continue. “Go if you want. It might be the only chance you’ll have to leave this long, dangerous road you’re on and do something else.”
“My sword, please?” Lily said.
Fenning shook his head and handed her a gold piece. “This is enough for ten swords or a reasonable horse and we don’t want to worry about you trying to hold us up, again.”
She took the coin and leapt off the carriage. She gave them a wave and darted across a short section of field and into the small wood beyond.
“Then let’s get on our way,” Fenning said, pulling his head out of the cab and climbing up to his driver’s seat.
“I can drive, if you want,” Norra said. “Besides, if I can wear Lily’s sword, it might scare a few off.”
Fenning looked at Norra and grinned. “Go right ahead. We lose a warrior woman and we gain one.”
~
The inn looked barely big enough for two rooms, but they all were hungry and tired. The excitement of being robbed merely wore Norra out. She wondered about Lily. She couldn’t be more than a year or two older than herself and her life was headed nowhere.
Norra had to keep picking gristle and little strings of inedible meat from her teeth, but the food was warm and that was enough.
When she sat down for breakfast, Fenning sat in front of a bowl of greasy looking mush. “Lard in mush. Makes me shiver all up and down,” he said. “At least the ale is passable.”
Norra took a tiny bit and made a face at the horrid taste. “Time to leave.” They opened the door to the carriage and found Lily sleeping on the floor.
Fenning grabbed onto her foot and shook. She blinked her eyes and rose slowly, as she stretched just like a cat waking up. She held out the gold coin in her hand. “I’d like to buy my sword back and join your little party.”
Norra looked at Fenning and back at Lily. “If you promise not to try to hold us up. I can’t commit that you’ll be any safer or sleep any better than you did last night, but you’ll see people and country you haven’t seen before.” She forced a smile and put out her hand.
“I will. I’m not sure I’m all that excited about returning to my former profession and I know I need a change anyway. Thank you,” Lily said. Norra heard the sincerity in Lily’s voice and felt right about offering her the opportunity to escape with the rest of them in the ship they’d eventually take from Nastaly Port.
~~~~
Chapter Five
Tragedy Strikes
~
“The road forks in this town. One road leads south and the other one east to Nastaly Port. East is likely the best way to get you safely to Taxia.” Lily drove them through the taller forests of the Vikker Mountains that separated Taulone from Nastalia.
Norra glanced at the woman’s sword. “So how did you end up as a robber?”
“How did you end up as a wizard?” Lily said.
“I’ve already told you,” Norra said. She tried to be nice, but Lily had a fortress built in her mind and it seemed that nothing could get through. Her personality matched her spiky hair and masculine dress. It wasn’t that Lily was prickly, just incredibly direct.
“You did, didn’t you?” She looked out along the road and sighed. “I didn’t have much chance. I come from a poor family. My father served in the Nastalian army as a sergeant and lost a leg to a crossbow bolt in his calf. He changed after his wound and became bitter. Since he couldn’t work, he took it out on my ma and me. I was ten when he came after me to do worse and I slammed the edge of a frying pan into his head. It knocked him out and my mother did the rest. She hung for his murder and I was set free. I’ve been on my own ever since.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Most people are, but that doesn’t change thi
ngs any. I’ve had options, but none of them have been any good. I hooked up with that bad fellow six months back and I’ve been fighting him off all the while.” She shook her head in dismay. “He’s gone and here I am.”
“Here you are. Hopefully among friends.”
Lily let out a short bark. “It’ll be a first.”
The thief concentrated on the road as Norra thought how sad Lily’s life must have been. She’d felt sad before when there were misfortunes at Bordon Forest, but everything happened to other people. This was the first time she actually had to take flight herself. At home, she’d go up to her room and sleep all nice and warm, shrugging off the misfortune. Yet here was someone real, in obvious pain.
Norra wondered what kind of pain she felt. Certainly she missed her parents and feared for their lives. With all of the wizards after her, she felt exposed more than anything else. Delia felt enough fear for the pair of them. Her reaction was to sleep a lot. The world does pass you by when you shrink from it.
Norra held onto that thought. What were her own motivations? Lily was trying to make the best of awful circumstances. Was her escaping from Miss Poddy’s any different? She sought to remove the mage’s power, but after? Despite it all, she wanted to return to Miss Poddy’s and become a ‘lady.’ Her adventures were thrust on her and she reacted to them, surely, but Lily had no choice but to make hard choices and, plainly, it became more difficult to make good ones.
Could she help Lily? Norra knew that her own life wasn’t a bed of roses at this point, but she still had wonderful memories of her family and hoped to be reunited with them after all of this trouble ended. Lily had to concentrate on the future and not dwell on the past. Yes, she’d do what she could to help Lily as long as she was a member of the group and Norra would work on looking forward and making choices rather than have them made for her. Her primary choice? Get rid of the mage’s power! As long as Lily joined them and behaved, their choices would coincide.
“What’re you nodding your head about?” Lily looked over and then back at the horses.
“I was thinking about things. How right now, no matter where we’ve been or what anybody has done to us, we face the same exact options, you and I. Our futures can be linked, and station in life means nothing. If you join us, we share the same path and the same fate at the end of that path. It’s up to us. I’d like you to join us.” And Norra found she really did. They could face the journey together. Norra really didn’t have anyone to share her life when she was at home. Life had ended up a bit too static for that and Miss Poddy’s represented an outlet. But now, anything could happen and if Lily joined them, it would happen to the both of them. Like sisters. Norra looked back through the carriage window at Delia, sleeping again. Delia was a sister, but somehow a part-time one at present. She’d perk up once they got out to sea and off of this endless road.
“Hmm. You really think so?”
“I do. I gave you an offer to join us and I really think you’ll make our group stronger. Give it some thought. Come with us to Taxia and see more of Polda. You can leave at any time, except I don’t recommend it when we’re out at sea. It might be a little inconvenient.” Norra giggled and, amazingly, so did Lily. She felt the beginning of a friendship, but she feared it might be a bit fiery at times. Norra knew Lily was much more in tune with the ways of the world—ways that Miss Podingoode would have never taught to her young women.
~
Bloggo
Stopping by the log Norra and Fenning moved from the road, Namen closed his eyes in order to pick up traces his magical senses might discover.
“Could be.”
Bloggo grimaced as he dismounted. They’d ridden some fair distance without stopping.
“They’re out of my range of detection, Blog. What to do? We are far from Hiddington. Should we go west where there is more destruction?”
“Why do you keep asking me questions you’ve already answered in your head, brother? You want to follow the road. I know you. There are plenty of problems in the south of Polda, anyway.” Bloggo knew his brother well enough that he’d not easily leave an intriguing problem alone. That meant more of these horrendous rides. He really didn’t mind the pain to his backside. His brother loved being away from Magia and all of the politics. Bloggo loved it as well. Life was a bit too hostile for the untalented and he was utterly untalented.
The mage dismounted and walked around the scene. “Ah. Perhaps there is enough magic to produce a scene with a spell.” Namen twirled and waved his hands, singing an enchantment. He stood back and gazed at the ghost-like images in the air.
“A carriage. See it, Bloggo? The robber is struck with a spell and… what? The mage is a woman! How can that be? The wizard at her side whispered the spell to her. A wild talent? Inconceivable! But look, Blog, they do nothing about the robber’s partner, he takes off and… that’s it.”
Bloggo still stood by his horse. “Namen, quite a tableau. Too bad you can’t show it in a tavern. Think of the coins that would shower upon us.” His brother was well and truly smitten with his quest. No stone would be left unturned until Namen confronted the poor girl.
“Upon me, Blog. No. There are better ways to live than to show ghost tableaus to people.”
His brother didn’t always catch the sarcasm in his voice. Still, for all of his imperiousness, Namen had great focus. He mounted his horse, ready to continue their pursuit.
“The questions mount, Blog. A woman mage.” Namen shook his head as if he couldn’t have believed what he saw. “We must investigate before we tidy up the east.”
“I knew it.” Bloggo had his elbow on his saddle and he leaned over to rest his head on a fist.
“No moping or perhaps I might need another servant.” Namen glared at Bloggo.
Fat chance. His brother knew he’d never keep another servant for more than a few weeks. Bloggo would have been gone long ago if his brother didn’t entertain him so much.
~
Norra
“Doesn’t it ever snow here? “ Delia said. The ends of her hair were damp as they approached the last large town before Nastaly Port.
Norra wondered if Delia would make it. If it wasn’t sleeping, it was complaining.
“Nastalia and Taxia are the two hottest places on Polda,” Gristan said. “Here it’s hot and humid and in Taxia it’s hotter and dry.”
“Ugh!” Delia said.
Norra sat in the cab so she could take a bit of a nap herself. The padded seat seemed quite luxurious compared to the cushion Lily shared with Fenning in the driver’s seat. The little wizard didn’t like the cab at all and, despite the risk from wizards, preferred riding on top. She looked out at the profusion of green from her window. Palm trees and flowered bushes moved by. Winter was a faint memory and this was more like summer. Early spring still ruled on the other side of the mountains they had just crossed.
“So how much further?”
Gristan pointed to the paper as Norra drew with a piece of charcoal. Between the two of them a map of sorts sat on her lap. She pulled out the map she had put in her doll. It only covered Magia, but she folded her scribbled work to the map and replaced it in the doll.
“One more town, my dear,” Gristan said. “And then we wait for a ship to take us to Taxia. I wonder how my ghostly body will take to riding the waves.” He made a wave motion with his hand.
“Can’t we hire an entire ship?”
“I hadn’t thought of that. If a captain is willing, I suppose.” He stroked his beard.
“Then that’s our goal.”
“We’re getting into the outskirts of a town,” Delia said, looking out of the carriage window and energized by seeing more people. “Maybe a nice inn tonight? Perhaps some dancing in the main room?” she sighed. “That would be so lovely.”
Norra heard the wistfulness in Delia’s voice. The little party didn’t provide enough stimulation, so Delia let herself descend into her own personal world. So that was what bothered Delia. She wanted t
o be around more people. Perhaps a little action would be just the thing.
Norra realized that farms looked the same in Nastalia as they did in Hestvestia. She viewed the increasing frequency of villages. Smaller cultivated plots sped past the windows. Norra looked out the back window to get a different view and saw a horse gaining on them. She knocked on the board above her. “A horse is coming up on us!”
“Lily spotted him,” the muffled voice of Fenning came into the cabin from the driver’s seat.
The coach pulled over to let the horse pass, unobstructed.
“It’s a wizard!” Norra put her head out of the cabin. “At least he’s wearing wizard garb!”
Fenning jumped down before the carriage stopped, handing the reins over to Lily. He ran around to the back as the wizard pulled his horse to a stop.
“Fenning! I thought I saw you driving.”
The wizard was dark, with bushy black eyebrows and a bushy black beard that didn’t leave much of his skin showing. He wore a pointed black hood that remained up.
Fenning put his hand over his eyes to peer into the hood better.
“Insul? It that you? What brings you down to Nastalia?”
“I’ve joined a gang of wizards. We’re going to take over Nastaly Port from the other wizards around here. We’ll be all set when the Mage War comes.” The wizard looked at Delia gazing at him from a window, Lily standing on the bench and Norra now joining Fenning. “Well, well, a harem.”
Norra didn’t like his look as she walked to Fenning’s side. Insul’s haughty look reminded her of the two wizards they had met on the road.
Fenning leaned over to Norra and she listened to the spell. Fenning couldn’t tell her what it did. Fear made his voice shake.
“And are you going to join the Nastaly group or us?”
“Neither, Insul. We are headed for the port and then we sail to Taxia. Can’t take them overland through all of the destruction that you and your friends are creating between here and there.”
Insul ground his teeth. Norra could hear crunching from where she stood. His visage darkened. “Join us or you’ll die on the spot.”
“Why?” Fenning put his hands out. “I’m not harming you. Just let us go, Insul.”