The Hidden Mask (Wizard's Helper Book 6)

by Guy Antibes

  “Do they know you’ve gone out?” One of the villagers asked.

  Jack didn’t like the question.

  “Only the guard,” Ari said.

  “That’s all I wanted to know. I sure like that sword.” The man said. He looked at a few of the villagers who nodded and stood up. “Put everything in your pockets on the table, and we will let you out of here.”

  Jack looked at Ari. I don’t want to fight these people.

  Then don’t. You can take us right to our rooms. Ari smiled.

  “I thank you for an informative evening,” Jack said as he picked up his sword and put it in his sheath. He grabbed Ari’s wrist and teleported.

  Jack sighed as they materialized in the tiny room. Jack ended up standing on his rolled mat and slipped to the floor. Ari laughed, and Jack ended up joining him.

  “I didn’t think they would turn so quickly on us like that,” Jack said.

  “I wasn’t sure they would until they began to speak too freely to strangers. Once they complained about all the factions, I think a few of them decided they didn’t want their indiscreet talk to get back to their master, especially after your demonstration with the cuffs.

  “I went too far, didn’t I?”

  Ari smiled and nodded. “You did.”

  Jack unrolled his mat. “I don’t know if I’ll ever learn.”

  “There is a time and a place for everything. Simple villagers are less impressed by what they perceive as tricks. Throwing the star wasn’t a trick, but using your black bracers was.”

  “I’ll remember that.”

  Ari nodded. “This is only your first encounter with Antibeaux commoners. They are not all the same. You will have to learn how to discern motives more quickly.”

  “If you knew that we might be attacked, why did we go into the tavern?” Jack asked.

  “Showing is better than telling,” Ari said. “You said you don’t know if you’ll ever learn, but I think you did.”

  “Keep my mouth shut and be wary of those who don’t.” Jack thought for a moment. “That includes being wary of me.”

  “For someone with a different point of view passionately held, that answer is yes.”

  “But how can you learn what others think if you don’t get them talking?” Jack asked.

  Ari smiled knowingly. “I think you know the answer to that.”

  “Ask them about themselves first.” Jack had observed Grigar and Tanner doing just that. He wished they had talked about getting information at Deep Mist, but they didn’t.

  “You know more than you think, Jack,” Ari said, “and answers from that thinking come when you aren’t talking. Your instincts seem to be correct most of the time, but we will get some practice on this excursion.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  ~

  T he next day, they left early after a buffet breakfast in the dining room. The lord was absent, as were most of his retainers. Jack figured they hadn’t arisen yet. The carriages entered the courtyard, but the riders had to lug their bags to the stable.

  “That isn’t fair,” Jack said to Pol Asoule, both of them eyeing the carriages as they left the courtyard to trudge to the stable, which wasn’t very far away.

  “Life isn’t particularly fair. For the most part, it just happens,” Pol said. “It is what we do with our personal situations that is important.”

  “Is that a teaching of Yvessa?” Jack asked.

  Pol laughed as did Ari behind him. “Yvessa is silent on the subject,” Pol said. “It is something my father taught me.”

  “He taught you well, then,” Ari said. “One has to find their philosophy wherever they can. Sometimes it is what you learn in a church, sometimes it is what you learn at home, and other times it can come from random places, like on excursions to the countryside.” He chuckled.

  “A personal philosophy can also change. What I thought was wisdom when I was younger, I now count as foolishness,” Pol said.

  “The factions?” Jack said quietly.

  Pol nodded gravely. “That might be correct.” His solemn face turned to a smile. “Who knows what I will take as wisdom ten or twenty years from now?”

  “It might change two or three times,” Ari said, “or it might not. There are some concepts that won’t change once you have learned them.”

  Jack had been given a lot to think about, which he did once they mounted and began their descent back into the valley. A few of the men from the tavern were in the stables, but they kept their distance.

  The ride wasn’t particularly pleasant since the carriages had a harder time negotiating the twisting road. Finally, they reached the valley, and the party moved a little faster. In an hour, they reached a large village. Jack hoped it was where the brewer lived. If the tavern patrons in the servant’s village were hostile, it didn’t change the fact that the ale was outstanding.

  “We are splitting up,” Pol said. “The agricultural ministry representatives will be heading to some large farms. You can join them or come with my team and poke around the village talking to craftsmen.”

  “I’d rather tag along with you,” Jack said.

  Ari nodded. “So would I.”

  They left their horses at the village stable next to the largest inn and set off on foot to the far end of the village where many craftsmen clustered.

  The visits interested Jack. He listened to how the conversations went and could tell which craftsmen and craftswomen aligned themselves. A blacksmith constantly invoked Yvessa’s name. He could be a WWS member since he used magic in his work. A weaver talked about preserving the villages and not growing, obviously leaning toward the Antibeaux Preservation Society.

  Just before midmorning, they entered the brewery. Since the brewmaster was a woman, this was likely the place.

  “We have come to inspect your premises,” one of Pol’s men said.

  The woman grunted. “Inspect away,” she said. “The sooner you get through, the sooner I can get back to my business.” The brewmaster turned to Ari and Jack standing to the side of the others. “I haven’t seen you two before.”

  “We have come to observe,” Jack said. “I am from Corand, and Ari is from Bornan via Chancey.”

  The woman squinted at Ari. “You’re the wizard?”

  “I am one of many, many wizards,” Ari said. “I am, as far as I know, the only Bornan wizard in Antibeaux.” He gave the woman a bow.

  “Stay once these men are through violating the sanctity of my temple.”

  Jack laughed. The woman’s eyes remained narrow, but Jack noticed the glimmer of a smile.

  “We won’t be long,” Pol Asoule said. “We will need a barrel to take with us, a small one.”

  “You can observe me draw it,” the woman said. She took a tiny keg and filled it from a huge cask. She turned off the spigot and pounded a cork into the hole. “Make sure you don’t drink this,” she said.

  Jack had the idea that the keg might not even make it out of the village.

  The men inspected large bins full of grains and other smaller bins.

  “I think we are through. The largest inn is where we will eat our lunch,” Pol said. “We will leave for two hours in the afternoon. If you aren’t there, we will leave. Our next stop is the town of Mont Alyse.”

  “I know it well,” Ari said. “Don’t worry about us.”

  Pol and his men gave the brewmaster perfunctory bows and left them. “Enjoy yourselves,” Pol said, smiling as he left.

  “May we sit?” Ari asked.

  “Over there,” the woman pointed to a trestle table with benches. I will be a few minutes getting my brewing back in order.”

  Ari looked the place over. “We don’t have ale in Bornan, you know. The local drink is an alcoholic beverage made from fruit and sugar cane.”

  “More like what the Masukai drink?” Jack asked.

  Ari smiled. “We Bornans taught them how to distill, but I understand they never did like fruit wine very much. There is an ancient story
to that, but I won’t bore you with it. I happen to like this woman’s ale much better. I suppose it is from spending too much time in Antibeaux.”

  “I like ale better, too, but I like the wine in Masukai better than the wine in Corand and Antibeaux.”

  “That might change once your time in Masukai becomes farther in your past,” Ari said. “There is a man I’d like you to meet. He lives a few miles outside Mont Alyse and might be helpful in your quest.”

  Jack sighed. “I don’t think I need any more help. I just need information.”

  “Save making a decision until you meet him,” Ari said.

  The brewmaster returned, bearing three big mugs of ale. “This is better than the swill I gave Pol Asoule and his bloodsucking friends. They inspect all the tradesmen to see if their taxes need to be increased.”

  “Doesn’t everyone pay the same?” Jack asked.

  That made Ari and the brewmaster laugh. “In Corand maybe but not here,” she said.

  Jack took a sip and then a longer draught. “This is even better than what we had last night,” he said.

  “Where were you last night?”

  “The inspectors spent the night at Lord Pomme’s house,” Ari said. “We sneaked out to the little servant’s village close by.”

  “They get some of my good stuff, but not as good as this,” the woman said. “I make this for Lord Delancey. Do you know him?” she said, looking at Ari.

  “I do. I will be introducing Jack to the lord tomorrow. Our next stop is Mont Alyse.”

  She looked at Ari and nodded. “I hear that he is getting anxious about what is happening in Bristone.” The woman peered at Jack but spoke to Ari. “Is it all right to speak in front of the boy?”

  Ari chuckled. “It is. Our goals are different, but we are walking the same path together for a while.”

  Jack certainly didn’t know what that was all about.

  “What is happening in Bristone, then?”

  “The queen’s sister was attacked in the lower level not too long ago. I think it was a warning from the Double P,” Ari said.

  “Not the WWS?”

  Ari shook his head. “They wouldn’t have as much to gain, besides their man is the prime minister. He would find other ways, but I could be wrong.”

  “Charl Masson would be a bit more discreet. Was the princess badly hurt?”

  Ari looked at Jack. “My friend was there at the time. Was Princess Glorie hurt?”

  “More scared than anything else. I helped her until real healers arrived.”

  “You did, didn’t you?”

  The brewmaster looked surprised. “Was there anyone to defend the princess?”

  “My companion and I helped her guards beat back the attackers, but I don’t think they intended to kill the Princess Glorie, but to frighten her, which they certainly did,” Jack said.

  “You travel in high circles,” the brewmaster said.

  “Higher than you can imagine,” Jack said.

  Ari coughed but then was able to swallow his ale.

  “But I don’t typically mix with royalty,” Jack said. “Not on a regular basis.”

  “On an irregular basis?” the woman said.

  Jack nodded. “You might say that. I’m the son of a furniture maker, after all.”

  “A craftsman! Good for you. Is there anything else I should know?” the woman asked.

  “Can you ship a few kegs of this marvelous brew to Bristone?” Ari asked.

  “With an appropriate payment. It can be at any address before you get back.”

  Ari grinned. “Paper please. I will buy two kegs for me and four for Jack. He has more friends with whom to share this delicious brew.”

  With the transaction complete, Jack and Ari gave the woman the chance to return to her work, and they exited back into the tradesman quarter of the village.

  “Are all these tradesmen patriots or whatever you might call them? What about the village at the manor?”

  “They weren’t anything, but they will pretend they are whatever the lord is,” Ari said. “When you get to a certain point, it is all about survival.”

  Jack realized that he hadn’t gotten to that level, ever. He hadn’t had to knuckle under to anyone. Was his life that easy? He had to admit that politically, he had been compliant. In Masukai, he accepted whatever anyone commanded if it furthered his goals. He always knew he could revert back to the mission. But what if he didn’t have any goals? If he didn’t have an errand?

  A hollow feeling grew in his stomach, and it wasn’t hunger.

  “I’m not like them right now, am I?”

  Ari looked at him with a furrowed brow. “What?”

  “I lead a different kind of life. I have goals, but once my goals are finished, I’ll be untethered.”

  “I’m a little confused, Jack.”

  “The common people. They live from day to day. They do their jobs, raise a family, get old, and die. I’m not like them, yet, but I will be.”

  “That isn’t exactly what I had in mind when I said I’d teach you a few things while we are on this trip. May I apply some perspective?”

  “Please do,” Jack said as they reached the main street.

  “Life is what you make of it. You don’t have to go on an errand for Fasher every day to make a living, but people get a lot of reward from having a family, from friendships, from all the experiences life brings. There are good things and not so good things. You grew up in a village, so you know what it is like.”

  “No, I don’t, and neither does Penny. You won’t find two more self-centered people in the world who have recently emerged from their self-centeredness,” Jack said.

  “Did you like the ale we had not long ago?”

  “I loved the ale,” Jack said, smiling.

  “Did the brewmaster look like she was being tortured when she created her ale? She does it day after day, you know. Did she look bored?”

  “It is her passion,” Jack said. “Furniture making is my father’s.”

  “Wake up, boy. Don’t lose your focus. It looks like you’ve had a mental growth spurt, and it isn’t over yet. People make what they will out of life.” Ari rolled his eyes. “We already talked about this too. If they fall too far and lose their perspective, they will follow the easiest path. Others won’t do that. They will seek out learning in all its forms and improve themselves. I thought you were doing a lot of improving, but maybe you aren’t.”

  Jack sat down on a bench on the wooden sidewalk that was two feet higher than the village pavement. He rubbed his head and laughed.

  “What are you laughing about?”

  “The ale,” Jack said, “packs a punch. I’m drunk, and I didn’t even know it.” He shook his head. “I was rambling and feeling a little sorry for myself, right?”

  “I think you are still rambling,” Ari said.

  “Get some food for me at lunch. I’m going to take a nap in the stable next to my horse.” Jack shook his head again. “I’ve never had alcohol affect me like this.”

  Ari smiled. “It wasn’t just the alcohol, I’m thinking. Our local brewmaster likes to slip other things in her brew.”

  “But you aren’t affected,” Jack said.

  “Not when I don’t want them to. I’ll have to teach you someday, but you aren’t ready, especially right now,” Ari said. “Let’s find you a bed for the next few hours.”

  Jack didn’t reel or stagger as he walked with Ari to the stable, but he could tell his thinking was impaired, now that he realized he had ingested some kind of drug that might have made the ale taste better than it really was. They found the stall for Jack’s horse, but it wasn’t clean at all, so Jack climbed into the cab of one of the three carriages and quickly drifted off to sleep.

  ~

  “Wake up, Corandian!”

  Jack sat up a bit too quickly and felt woozy. Definitely a drug of some kind, he thought. “I’m awake, but not particularly aware.”

  Pol laughed. “I should have wa
rned you. That woman’s ale requires you to sit down and stay seated.”

  Jack shook his head to clear the cobwebs, but he was definitely more in command of himself. “I’m better.”

  “You don’t look it. We are going in for lunch. It will do you some good,” Pol said.

  Jack rubbed his head and nodded. “Lead on.”

  Pol led him to a private room. There were a few strangers among the group. Pol made the introductions. The men led a farmer’s cooperative that the Double P sponsored. Jack wondered if the conversation would turn political.

  The agricultural men in the group began to report their findings to the cooperative leaders. Jack wondered why these men deserved to know what other farmers were doing. The political alignments of the non-Double P farmers were being discussed and noted by one of the strangers.

  Jack didn’t think such a thing was ethical. He glanced at Ari, who sat across the table from him, but the wizard subtly shook his head. Jack reminded himself that he was observing and kept his mouth shut and paid close attention to what was said.

  One of Pol’s men pointed out that the co-op ignored a few WWS farmers. That was what Jack was going to say.

  “It doesn’t matter what you think. We report to Charl Masson, not Payare Bellet, your prime minister. You’d be better off if you remembered that,” the highest-ranking agricultural inspector said.

  Pol’s face remained impassive, and the objector’s face turned red, but he didn’t say another word.

  Lunch was served, and the uncomfortable atmosphere dissipated a bit. The cooperative leaders left, and everyone saddled up for the ride to Mont Alyse.

  Once on the road, Pol took the objector aside and talked to him quietly. It almost looked like an argument was going to erupt in front of Ari and Jack trailing the group, but the man finally nodded. Jack could tell by the sloped shoulders that the objector had accepted the futility of his argument.

  Jack looked at Ari, who had also observed the discussion ahead. “There wasn’t even any subtlety,” Jack said. “Do all the factions act this way?”

  Ari nodded. “You can appreciate how difficult it is for Pol to be unaligned. At least he doesn’t have to defend a faction.”

  “What do the WWS have power over?”