Magician In Captivity: Power of Poses - Book Three

by Guy Antibes

  “You are free to come with us to Homika. If I recall my geography, it’s closer to Vashta than any other Benninese port,” Tembul said.

  Ferikan nodded. “It is. Can you use our help in getting the princess out of the castle? Do you know the layout of the top floor?”

  Boriak shook his head. “I know the layout of our cell quite well.”

  “I do,” Hana said. “I can tell you right where the princess is ensconced in all her glory.”

  Trak scolded himself for not even asking Hana the question when they first met, but then that wouldn’t have changed his wanting to free the Vashtans. He needed to know these people better and would have never thought that Vashtans had a sense of humor.

  “Tembul, take Hana inside and mark up our map. I’m going to go to Mori’s house and arrange a meeting with Jojo. He needs to know about Shinowa’s plans, and I don’t want to complicate anything for him when we act.”

  Trak quickly teleported to Mori’s stable yard and ran to the side entrance to knock on the door. He didn’t receive an answer, but he would leave her a note. He reached to undo the lock, but found the door to be open. He ran through the house. A pot of water still steamed on the stove, and he couldn’t imagine the disciplined Mori leaving boiling water. The front entryway to the house was a mess. A table had been knocked over on its side, and cloaks littered the floor.

  “Mori!” he called as he went through the house. He found a full purse on the dresser of her bedroom. No robbers. Had Nashi already spirited her away? Trak wondered. He found the rest of the house empty. How could he find Jojo? Could he have been picked up as well?

  Trak heard the front door slide open.

  “Mori?” Jojo called out while Trak heard Jojo shift the furniture. “What is this mess?”

  “She’s been taken,” Trak said as he descended the stairs. “She didn’t think she was in any peril.”

  “Ah, headstrong woman,” Jojo muttered. He sat down in her living room, his eyes shifting from spot to spot on the low table probably following his thoughts.

  “She didn’t tell me where she put you,” Jojo said as he looked up at Trak standing over him.

  Trak pursed his lips. “I wouldn’t worry about that,” he said, intoning the spell in the sentence.

  Jojo looked down again. “I know what you just did. I assure you that I am clean of any magical taint.” He gave Trak a crooked smile. “I’m sort of on the run myself. Nashi has finally thrown in with the other side.”

  “I know,” Trak said. “I saw him with Shinowa and the Emperor and a Vashtan ally. They have probably thoroughly ensorcelled each other.”

  Jojo’s eyes widened. “You’ve seen the Emperor?”

  “I have my ways. How is your revolution going?”

  After running his hands through his hair, Jojo stood thinking to himself and ignoring Trak’s question, and then walked into the kitchen. “She would never leave this boiling,” he said as he took the pot off the stove and laid it on a stone trivet. He looked as dejected as Trak had ever seen the man. “As to my revolution? It seems that my enemies can strike at me through her. If I could spirit her away from Bennin, I would.”

  “I can,” Trak said.

  Jojo snorted. “I don’t doubt that you could.”

  “I am leaving as soon as I retrieve the princess. If I take Mori, what are your chances of success?”

  Hope sprung up in Jojo’s eyes. “Better than even. Much better since my enemies will have nothing to hold over me.” He tossed a crumpled paper on the kitchen table. “Read this. I found it in the entryway.”

  Trak saw six words on the paper. We have Mori, Give up now!

  “Where do you think she is?” Jojo said.

  “If she’s not in the dungeon, then she is probably with the princess.” Trak left out the third alternative of Mori’s death. “How can I let you know if I’ve found her?”

  “Give this to the bartender.” Jojo scribbled the name of the tavern where he overheard Lenis talking to Jojo on the back of the crumpled note.

  “I will,” Trak said. “I have to leave now. Good luck in case we don’t see each other again.”

  Jojo’s face hardened. “Same here.” He gripped Trak by the arm and gave him a hug. “May we both live to tell a glorious tale.” He stalked out of the room. Trak could hear the front door slide shut, leaving him in the soon-to-be-empty house.

  ~~~

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  ~

  AFTER SPENDING A DAY WITH THE VASHTANS, Valanna realized that these were people with distinct personalities. Derit proved to be the most serious of the group, but Valanna wondered if she was less at ease with non-Vashtans. Bestik always made comments into jokes. Canwog was generally suspicious, and she wondered if that was the reason others had suborned him. Henrig seemed to be a good combination of the others. Perhaps that was why he led the group.

  Henrig had spent the longest time in Warish. Valanna estimated that he might be Neel’s age. His hair seemed a little lighter around the temples than the others. He had led Valanna apart from the others.

  “Would you like to visit Balbaam? We can be back by tomorrow.”

  Valanna didn’t know what to say. Flying would take three or four days, and Derit had told her the maximum jump was three leagues. That would still be at least three days, if her strength didn’t give out. Henrig’s comment indicated that he could travel farther on each jump.

  “I can’t leave Kulara behind,” Valanna said, not really believing her own words. She had to admit that a trip with Henrig, still a stranger, brought on uncomfortable thoughts.

  “Take Kulara, then,” Derit said.

  “You might want to reconsider,” he said. “You have information that Prince Asem needs.” Henrig shrugged his shoulders and looked at Valanna. “Do you know the desert dwellers better than she?”

  “I don’t.” Valanna turned away, still not wanting to travel alone with Henrig.

  “Then maybe you should go by yourself,” Derit said.

  Valanna hadn’t thought of that.

  “If Derit seems to think you could, then maybe you should talk it over with your friend. I have messages of my own to send with you.”

  Valanna sought out Kulara, and after their evening meal, set out their blankets by the flyer, using the camouflage fabric as their tent.

  “What did Henrig want?” Kulara said.

  Valanna bit her lip for a moment before replying. “He wanted to take me to Balbaam and report to Asem.”

  Kulara paused before replying. “When do you leave?”

  “I told him that I wouldn’t go with him. Derit suggested that I go myself instead.”

  After nodded her head, Kulara said, “Good. Do it. I will have you take a letter to my love apologizing for letting the Vashtans cause Rumanna’s death.”

  “Make sure you say Yellow Fox clan. I’m sure Derit had nothing to do with Rumanna’s fall.”

  “I can do that. Are you willing to test yourself?”

  Could she really do that, go so far by herself using a new pose and power word? “I’m not sure if I am strong enough.”

  Kulara snorted. “You are stronger than anyone here. You only lack confidence, and that only happens rarely, now. Why?”

  “I’m afraid of what Asem will say.”

  “About Rumanna?” Kulara paused. “Better a message coming you than a verbal notification from me. I have some experiences with the woman that I will not share. If you break it to my Prince, it will prevent me from saying something I shouldn’t. Besides, these people can use my help while you are gone.”

  “I won’t be very long,” Valanna said. She intended to spend a night at the most in Balbaam, and then return.

  ~

  After filling up for breakfast, Valanna received some last minute advice from Henrig.

  “It is easier to use line of sight. Spot some place in the distance and teleport. If your intended target is too far away for your strength to take you there, you won’t be able to t
eleport,” he said. “It won’t take you long to understand what I’m saying.”

  Kulara brought a leather tube. “Here are the notes the Vashtans have made, along with a letter to my Prince.” She hugged Valanna tightly and stepped away.

  I have my communications tied together with a strip of black cloth. The address is on the outside. I don’t need a reply,” Henrig said. “You remember the pose and word that matches to this amulet?”

  “I do. It’s my only way of finding you.”

  Henrig nodded. “Good luck.”

  Valanna adjusted her desert cloak and sighted to the north. She was almost positive she could go further than any of the others and looked at the edge of her sight. She made the crouch-like pose that Derit had taught her and said the word.

  A warm wind suddenly caught at her cloak. Valanna looked back and couldn’t see where she had come from. She spied a low hill far ahead and jumped to that spot. She spent the rest of the morning jumping from spot to spot until Balbaam appeared on the horizon on the other side of the Pusuun River. The air had become colder as she moved north, and Valanna wrapped the thin cloak more tightly around her body.

  She jumped to the riverbank and took a deep breath. Her powers were still intact when she thought of her bedroom in Asem’s tower and found herself suddenly standing in the middle of the room. Valanna grinned and sat down, relieved that the last jump hadn’t put her in the middle of a wall.

  After a few moments to adjust her mind to her surroundings more than anything else, she took off the dusty cloak and sat for a bit, and then Valanna rose and walked out of her room in search of Asem.

  She found him looking out over Balbaam, holding a cup of wine in his hand. He looked as if Valanna had already given him the bad news.

  “Your second wife sends her greetings.”

  Asem jumped and turned around in shock, wine spilling down the sides of his goblet. “Valanna! How did you get in here?”

  “I found a way. I brought you these,” she said. “We discovered that there are factions within the Vashtans, who are indeed active in subverting King Marom’s reign.” Valanna took a deep breath. “There was a casualty quite close to you.”

  “Who?” Asem furrowed his brow. His nervousness upset Valanna, but she had to let Asem know before he read Kulara’s letter.

  “Rumanna had been under a compulsion spell. We took her up in a flyer to escape pursuit. We tried a truth pose, but it conflicted with the compulsion, and she purposely rolled off the flyer. We were up quite high.”

  Asem’s face turned white. He sat down and poured himself another cup of wine, draining it in one try. “My children will be grieving, and I can’t even go to them.”

  Valanna pulled out Kulara’s letter and handed it Asem. “Here is Kulara’s apology and words of encouragement.”

  Asem tore into the letter and didn’t say another word before he had finished reading it. He sat back, looking less drained. He managed a smile. “At least my second wife loves me.” He waved the letter at Valanna. “Rumanna never did. Everything was about power to her. I’m surprised the Vashtans had to put her under compulsion. In a way, her death is a relief. The Ferezan will take care of my children, but I may bring my youngest girl to join me in Balbaam, once this crisis is resolved.”

  “You might want to read these before I deliver them to Vashtans in the city,” Valanna said, pulling the notes of rebel activities in the south out of the tube and laying it on the table in front of Asem.

  He lifted up his eyebrows and began to read. His eyebrows would go up with each new revelation, and then he would shake his head. “It is serious. We need to eliminate the Vashtans as soon as possible,” he said as he continued to read the documents. “I will copy these and forward the information to King Marom. I’m sure he will invite me out of the tower to discuss them.” His eyes rose to meet Valanna’s. “Now tell me how you got here. Magic? Did the Vashtans teach you their teleportation spell since there isn’t any place to land a flyer?”

  “The spell,” Valanna said. “I was deep into the Arid Lands this morning.”

  “This morning? I am amazed. Are you tired? I worry about you.”

  The sentence brought a smile to Valanna’s face. “I worry about you, too,” she said playfully.

  Her smiling face turned to a look of shock as Asem crumbled in his chair and slid to the floor.

  “Asem! Wake up!” Valanna went to his side and patted his hand, sharply. She hoped her ‘pats’ wouldn’t raise any welts. He didn’t respond, so Valanna took him by his heels and dragged him to a couch where she struggled to get him in a prone position.

  She dampened a napkin from the water in a vase of flowers and began patting Asem’s forehead. He began to stir.

  “I thought I was only joking with you, but I had no idea,” Asem said. He put his hand to his forehead. “I didn’t know I was ensorcelled.” He closed his eyes and said nothing for a few moments. “I had to go out into the city just after you left. It must have been done then. I remember feeling depressed soon after. As far as I can remember, no one has forced me to do anything.”

  “Then they dulled your mind with a sorrow spell, waiting for certain events to occur. Guard yourself well, but I think the perpetrators will reveal themselves soon enough when they choose to act.”

  Asem nodded. “I don’t think you have to worry about the guarding part. Captain Mizor is still my man and has more talent than I do. I’ll make sure he ‘worries’ about me often. You need to return to the Arid Lands and take care of the men on the list. I don’t think Kulara or you want to act as assassins, but if you can’t eliminate them, at least think of something to keep them from acting. Then return here as soon as possible. Can Kulara teleport, too?”

  Valanna laughed. “Together, we will go far.”

  ~

  The light of the moon proved to be sufficient as Valanna moved southward. She invoked the spell of the amulet, correcting her course until she saw the twinkling of a far-off campfire. Valanna carefully made small jumps, so she could get close enough to walk in, but something seemed wrong from her vantage point just outside of camp.

  Kulara sat by herself, arms folded in an odd way. None of the others moved from their positions. Now that she observed the Vashtans more closely, she could see that they had all been captured. Valanna crept to another vantage point and heard quiet voices speaking Vashtan. She couldn’t understand a word, but the new Vashtans didn’t seem to be alarmed in any way. Valanna would change that. She sat down for a bit, to collect her wits and pulled the knife from her boot. Trak had taught her how to use it as a wand. Knives were more powerful than wands and Trak had proven that.

  She took long deep breaths before her attack. She stood silently and held the knife out after taking a pose. “Paranon.” She pointed the knife. “Paranon.” Again and again until all six Vashtans lie prone on the ground. Valanna ran around the edge of the camp and freed Kulara.

  “Worry” she said, but Kulara just shook her head.

  “Yellow Fox. Nasty folks. There were only the six of them, but they caught us unawares." She got up and stretched. “They found us just after noon. I’ve been sitting for hours and will be right back.” Kulara rushed into the trees.

  Valanna freed the four Blue Swan Vashtans and used the worry spell, but it looked like the captors hadn’t gotten around to deciding what to do with their prisoners.

  Henrig rose to his feet after Valanna unbound them all. She offered the rope to Henrig. “I won’t use any rope on them.” He shot a lightning bolt into every Vashtan before Valanna could tell him to stop.

  “They were going to kill us,” Derit said. “Just before you came they were discussing how best to keep us alive before we died.”

  Kulara returned and stood over the dead Vashtans rubbing her arms. “I never knew what anyone said, but I wouldn’t have been surprised to have been their meal tomorrow.” She shivered. “The nasty looks they gave me once I wouldn’t tell them anything about the flyer.”


  “They didn’t use a compulsion spell?”

  Derit shook her head. “They were just that arrogant. They were fully prepared to beat it out of Kulara in the morning and they would have relished the exercise.”

  “I didn’t know that,” Kulara said, hugging herself.

  “It’s a good thing you didn’t,” Derit said.

  Henrig walked up after he and his two fellow Blue Swans dragged the bodies into the woods. “That takes care of them.”

  Valanna felt her face heat up with anger. “I put them to sleep so we could interrogate them,” she said through clenched teeth. “You didn’t have to kill them.”

  Henrig waved away Valanna’s anger. “It is our way. They told us all we needed to know before you showed up, anyway. We had quite an insult match going.”

  “How did they find you?”

  “Canwog discovered that he carried a hidden amulet in his bags. We found out after we were captured. He was quite apologetic about it.”

  “I said that I was sorry,” Canwog said in Warish and then lapsed into an extended uncomfortable conversation with the other Vashtans in their own language. His apology hadn’t quite mollified the other Blue Swans.

  Valanna didn’t like the quick deaths of the Yellow Foxes, but they had already attacked her on the way to Balbaam and were the ones behind Rumanna’s ensorcellment. Valanna didn’t want to rationalize the deaths, but she found herself with less sympathy than she thought the more Derit described their conversations with the rival Vashtans.

  Everyone had done enough for the day, so they went to sleep. Valanna rose early the next morning and asked Henrig for Canwog’s amulet. She jumped far to the northwest and tossed it in a small river flowing to the sea, returning in time for a bit of breakfast, while the others cleaned up.

  “We will need to determine our next step.” She told them of her visit to Asem and his instructions to neutralize the rebels. The Vashtans heartily agreed, and they spent the rest of the morning determining who would die first.