Magician In Captivity: Power of Poses - Book Three

by Guy Antibes

“Are you joining us?” Kulara said, putting her hands on her hips. “If you do, promise me you won’t put me to sleep, and I will promise not to do the same to you.” She looked angrily into the Vashtan’s black eyes.

  The woman pushed back her hood to reveal straight black hair.

  “Dyed like mine,” Valanna said. The Vashtan looked less intimidating with hair the color of Kulara’s people.

  Derit nodded while Valanna looked at her face. She thought the Vashtans all looked alike, but once she got past the eyes and the honey-colored skin covered with freckles, she could see that Derit's features were different from the magicians they had killed in Santasia. Actually, she would look rather attractive to a man, in Valanna’s opinion…nearly beautiful, if it wasn’t for yellow teeth and black eyes.

  “If you are going to accompany us,” Kulara said, “let’s have a discussion first.”

  “I would be happy to. You are?”

  “Kulara, second wife of Prince Asem Ferez. I am a magician of some power on a mission for my King.”

  “Asem Ferez…” the woman said. Valanna could see thoughts turning around in her head. “I hadn’t been told about your role.”

  “Who did you talk to?” Valanna said. There would be a lot of information that she would need before she would be tempted to trust Derit, but other than killing the woman, something that Valanna wasn’t prepared to do, they had little choice but to hear the woman out.

  “You know Mr. Snively of Pestledown?” Derit looked at Valanna.

  “I do.”

  “He sympathizes with our cause.”

  Kulara put her hand on her hips. “Just what is your cause?”

  “We don’t want Vashta to become an imperial power.”

  Valanna couldn’t keep her mouth closed. “It’s been trying hard, though, hasn’t it?”

  “There are clans that have. The Blue Swans and others have had enough. If the fighting comes to our continent, many of my people will die.”

  “And they won’t elsewhere?” Kulara said.

  “Others have played behind the scenes.” Derit's eyes flashed to Valanna. “You have seen my countrymen in Santasia. We can die like anyone else. The Yellow Fox clan has visions of world domination without understanding the peril they put us in.”

  “Slavery? Domination? That kind of thinking leads to misery. Are people miserable in Vashta?” Valanna said.

  Derit lowered her face. “They are, in some of the countries.” She lifted her chin. “But we want that to change.”

  “A counter-revolution? Won’t innocents die if that happens as well?” Valanna said.

  “Less people. I can’t hope for a good outcome, just bad and worse. I will help you as I can. We know you have information about the Vashtan puppets among your people—“

  Valanna snorted. “What do you think we should do with that information?”

  “What you intended,” Derit said.

  “And what is that?” Valanna put her hands on her hips waiting for the Vashtan to answer.

  Derit looked at Valanna, and then at Kulara. “Destroy them before they destroy King Marom and all of Warish.”

  “Pestle would quickly fall, should that happen,” Kulara said to Valanna.

  Derit nodded. “It would, and that is what they intend. I am here to help you stop that, although we still may be too late.”

  Valanna narrowed her eyes. “How did you find us?”

  “Snively said you would return to Balbaam. I arrived and waited for you. He has a few contacts in the palace, enough to know that you came back and would use a flyer to reach the Arid Lands. I waited a few days at the same oasis where you spent your first night. I followed you here on foot. I nearly didn’t recognize you with the dark hair.” Derit shrugged. “I could have gone to where Asem Ferez’s first wife lives and found you in that village, but that would complicate things. There is at least one Yellow Fox living there.”

  Valanna wondered what kind of price she could ask Derit for the privilege of traveling with them. She thought of just the thing. “We will let you come with us if you show me the teleport spell.”

  Derit's eyes widened just a bit. “It is supposed to be a secret.” She tapped a finger on her lips for a moment. “Riotro, your Black Master, knows it, so I suppose it is only fair to let you know.”

  “The Yellow Foxes taught him?”

  Derit nodded. “It is simple enough. You bend forward in a pose, and say ‘hargoti.’ You must think of your landing place first. Either a distance, with a direction or a certain place.”

  “The Vashtans could teleport roughly three leagues, Trak says.”

  “Trak? Trak Bluntwithe?” Derit said.

  “You know of him?”

  Derit smiled. “If he were here I would hug him and kiss him on the lips.” The woman gave Valanna a genuine smile. So the Vashtans could feel positive emotions. “He is a hero among us,” Derit continued.

  Valanna didn’t know if she should tell the woman that Valanna killed Vashtans as well.

  “Valanna might have an objection to that,” Kulara said. “Trak and she have a…history.”

  “Forgive me if you are in a relationship. I respect him. Your question? Three leagues if magicians join forces. One has to be strong to make the pose work at all. I can’t even go a full league on my own.”

  “Show me that pose again,” Valanna said. She would certainly be adding this one to Trak’s portfolio.

  ~

  Valanna took the flyer down outside of a Ferez encampment.

  “Asem’s wife is just ahead,” Kulara said. “I can’t teleport any farther than Derit can, but you can easily outdistance both of us.”

  Valanna could hear the dejection in her voice.

  “But you can teleport,” Derit said. “I generally teleport only short distances, anyway. A few hundred paces are more than enough. If you are going to escape from someone, you have to make sure no one is touching you, or they will come with you. The more you use the pose, one pose after another, your power declines, and the less distance you can move.”

  “I remember,” Kulara said, her voice nearly a grumble.

  “Let’s get our visit to Rumanna over first,” Valanna said. She had never met Asem’s first wife and really didn’t want to, but Asem wanted both of them to visit his wife and any of his children. He had four, the youngest being a girl of fourteen.

  They had decided to leave Derit behind to guard the flyer until they had gained enough information on the whereabouts of the traitors. Since Derit could teleport, they didn’t think the woman would want to burden herself with their contraption if she decided to flee.

  “No dust bath, Kulara? We can tell them we changed our clothes before we entered their village.”

  “Out of respect?” Kulara said.

  Valanna giggle just a bit. “Out of deep respect.”

  Kulara snorted. “Let’s just hope Rumanna doesn’t pull a knife on us or order one of my stepsons to attack us.”

  A guard slipped out from the concealment of a few bushes growing on a little hill. “No one enters a Ferezan encampment without permission.”

  “Even Prince Asem’s second wife?”

  The guard looked a little closer look. “It is you, Kulara. It has been a while.”

  “Indeed it has, Parazan Ferez. Does Rumanna still travel with this village?”

  The guard smiled and bowed to Kulara. “She does.”

  Valanna noticed a strange look in the guard’s eyes. “I counsel caution when you visit. She is a woman who never forgets,” he said.

  Kulara’s visage sharpened. “Neither do I,” she said. “Where is her tent?”

  “She has a yellow silk door and insists on putting her tent up in the middle of camp.”

  Parazan bowed deeply to Kulara and eyed Valanna as he let them pass.

  Once the pair had entered the camp, Kulara led them between the tents in a random way. “I don’t trust Parazan,” Kulara said. “He never did like my husband, so I can’t quite
believe him.”

  “You don’t think she is in the tent with the yellow door?”

  Kulara’s eyes shone with anger in the dark. “No, but I’m sure her tent is close to the center. It always is.” Voices were heard coming.

  “They should have come along here.” Valanna recognized that as Parazan.

  “Should we leave?”

  More voices seemed to surround them. Valanna crouched down in a teleport spell and took them back to the flyer.

  “Run into trouble?” Derit said from the flyer. She had lain down with a cloth over her face. The Vashtan sat up and put the hood over her head. “If I let the sun bake my face, the freckles only get worse.”

  Valanna had to grin at the woman’s vanity. It made her seem even more like a human than a nameless enemy.

  “We were about to be captured by guards,” Kulara said. “Let’s go up thirty stories and see what is happening in the village.”

  Valanna took them up in the air and glided towards the Ferezan encampment. She counted forty tents. On the other side from where Kulara and Valanna entered, shepherds tended flocks of thin cows, sheep, and goats.

  Kulara leaned over with Valanna to look at the action. Valanna realized that if they could have glass to screen out the wind, then they could also have glass installed in the floor to look down. Men clustered around a woman wearing a red scarf wrapped around her head.

  “That is Rumanna, and from the arrangement of everyone, I would say that she is definitely in charge,” Kulara said

  Derit crept to the other side of the flyer and joined in the observance. “I see a Vashtan; he is underneath that dark hood.”

  “I do, too. That means Rumanna must be a traitor, as well,” Valanna said.

  Kulara turned red with anger. Her eyes narrowed, and her lips formed into a snarl. “I should kill her.” She shook a fist at the assemblage below.

  “Asem might not forgive you,” Valanna said.

  “He might only because I wouldn’t have given him the opportunity to do it.”

  Derit stood up, holding onto the rim of the glass front. “We don’t have to float up here, do we? I’m still not used to this, especially since we aren’t moving.”

  Valanna took them back to their original hiding place. Since they had teleported to the village, the warriors wouldn’t have a way of tracking them. She set the flyer down and treated herself to a long drink of water. The other two followed her example.

  “Tonight, let’s capture Rumanna and put her under a truth spell,” Valanna said. “Then when we’re done, we will do what we have to.” She slammed her palm on the cork of the waterskin.

  “You’ll have to do the questioning,” Kulara said. “I’ll only end up choking her.”

  “Derit, if I know where her tent is, can I teleport inside?”

  The Vashtan nodded during a drink of water. “You should. You’ll be close, anyway. The spell won’t let you appear where you will become part of the tent, if that is what you mean.”

  “I mean I don’t want to show up in front of armed guards.”

  “Take me with you. I’ll be ready to put them to sleep,” Kulara said.

  Derit looked at both of them. “I can do the teleporting, if you’re worried. I’m more concerned about the Vashtan in the village. What if he is in Rumanna’s tent?”

  “I can put him to sleep as well,” Kulara said with a grim smile.

  Valanna gripped Kulara’s hand. “Strike a shield pose before we go.”

  “We only have to wait until nightfall,” Derit said, grinning.

  These two women seemed excited about literally appearing from nowhere in the middle of an enemy camp. Valanna didn’t know what else they could do and just forced a smile at their enthusiasm.

  ~

  The lamp, with its single flame, didn’t quite reach all the way to the inside corners of the tent when the three women appeared. Kulara kept her shield pose ready while Derit straightened up from teleporting them into Rumanna’s tent. The dim light showed the forms of four sleepers.

  Kulara silently bent over the figure of one of them. As she formed a truth pose, two Vashtan magicians appeared in the tent. Valanna was ready with a shield pose and used it to push them into the sloping side of the tent. Derit threw a fireball, which hit one of the magicians. The other managed a teleport pose and took both Vashtans out of the tent.

  Shouts rang outside as Kulara pulled a struggling Rumanna out of her bedclothes. “We leave now!” she said. They all held onto each other, two of them clutching the struggling Rumanna, while Derit went into the crouched pose, and teleported them out of the camp.

  Teleporting four people at once seemed to limit Derit's range, so Valanna quickly posed and brought them all to the flyer.

  “We go up,” she said, realizing that no one would be able to see them in the moonless night.

  Kulara took them up thirty stories.

  Derit applied the truth spell to Rumanna, since Kulara’s attempt had been interrupted by the Vashtans.

  Kulara rolled up the sleeves of her desert robe and put her hands on her hips. “Now we will get to the bottom of the rebellion.

  ~~~

  Chapter Twenty-One

  ~

  TRUST REMAINED AN ISSUE AS TRAK LOOKED INTO JOJO’S EYES. The man relaxed as if nothing had happened.

  “What did you intend for us?” Tembul said. “I can see you might be playing us straight or leading us to our destruction, but if that is so, why have you saved us and put your cousin at risk?"

  Trak looked at Mori, who had put her hand to her mouth, the alarm plain on the woman’s face. It might have been an act, nothing more. He stood up and struck a pose.

  Tembul rose from inspecting the still form of Nashi. “Let’s stop the theatrics, shall we? Nashi is drugged, but not dead.”

  Trak wondered what kind of drama they were embroiled in. He noticed Tembul clenching his fists.

  “You are my creatures,” Jojo said, looking at Trak and Tembul.

  Trak clenched his jaw and said through his teeth, “Not if we don’t wish to be. I know you have provided for our freedom, but now is the time for you to be honest with us as to its cost.”

  Jojo pursed his lips. “I suppose you aren’t quite my servants, are you?”

  “No, we are not,” Sirul said, “but that doesn’t keep us from working together, does it? You want something that you haven’t shared with us. You already know why we are here. Why don’t you let us know what is really going on, so we don’t feel like you’ve betrayed us or that we are tempted into doing something that won’t work in our mutual favor.” He had a hard time getting the words out in Benninese, but Tembul patted Sirul on the back after his little speech in Benninese.

  “I agree with Sirul,” Trak said. Actually he was quite proud that Sirul said his piece so eloquently.

  “As do I.” Tembul sat back down. “It is up to you, Jojo, and you, Mori.”

  When Tembul included Jojo’s cousin, she walked in and stood behind Jojo.

  “Very well,” Mori said. “Tell me what you are building in my stable.”

  “A flyer,” Trak said. “We know how to lift something up into the air, and we use a wind spell to propel the flyer in the direction we want to go. We put flyers to good use in the Santasian civil war, so it’s not exactly a secret.”

  Jojo smiled. “Interesting. How fast do they go?”

  “That depends on the power of the magician’s wind pose. A magician with a good command of wind can go an hour or two in a straight line at about six to ten leagues an hour. A lesser magician can’t go as fast or as far. We had very competent wind magicians in Santasia. Some could fly for half a day. What might take a horse rider a week might take a day or two on a flyer,” Tembul said.

  “You are a good magician?”

  “With wind? Not bad, but I am not particularly adept at other poses. We had a very strong female magician with us.”

  “And you, Trak?”

  “I hold my own.”r />
  Jojo nodded his head knowingly. “So you spirit the Toryan princess out of Beniko Castle and take her swiftly to Homika to sail back to Torya? Any pursuit would be days or weeks behind. You realize that you might not be able to beat a message bird.”

  “I do, but that’s the plan,” Trak said. “Are you going to let us do it?”

  “Of course,” Jojo said. “But—”

  “Here comes the price,” Sirul said.

  Jojo glared at Sirul. “Very well, my price. I need the Vashtans neutralized.”

  “I am nobody’s assassin,” Trak said.

  “Did I say you needed to kill them?” Jojo said.

  Tembul reached out and grabbed Jojo’s arm. “How else do you stop magicians?”

  “That is up to you three. I will try to find out where they live in the castle. I really don’t care about your princess. She has no value to me so, as far as I am concerned, you are free to return her to your country.” Jojo quickly got up and stood over Nashi, shaking his head. “This person is not a friend of yours, nor of mine, now. Cease to use him. He deceived the both of us. Don’t worry any further about betrayal.” He left without another word.

  Mori sat down on a cushion. The others never had a chance to rise when Jojo left. “I am sorry I tried to fool you about Nashi. I wouldn’t kill someone and Jojo knows that. If you would just take him out into the stable yard, Nashi will know what to do when he awakens.”

  Tembul shifted his jaw in thought. “Won’t he expose us?”

  Mori shook her head. “He knows Jomio would kill him for real if he did that. I am sure my cousin didn’t know about the false plans. I can read him well enough, even if you three can’t.” She shook her head. “I’m just sick of his maneuvering. I made a life in Beniko without him, and now he demands me to act instantly as he demands.”

  “You can always say ‘no’,” Tembul said.

  Mori glared at him. “Jojo is not an easy man to cross. My work has depended on flexibly administered laws, and if Jojo comes to power, my efforts might have to come to a halt.”

  “Your efforts are not all legal, is that it?” Tembul said. The tone of his voice was nearly accusatory.

  Trak ground his teeth. Of course, the house and the privacy of the stableyard indicated activities that might be on the shady side of the law. Even he could see that, but Tembul had to apply an insult when they still needed Mori’s help.