The Elf and the Amulet

by Chris Africa

  Andrev flinched and turned away.

  "I'm going to Death's End, Andrev," Chassy said. "If I have to go alone, I will, but..." Ooh, it pained him to say it: "I'd rather have you along." Andrev was someone Chassy could trust, if not like. "I'm leaving now."

  Maybe he hadn't drunk away all his coin. He emptied the pouch on the bed. Two gold coins flashed among the other items.

  "Where did you get those?" Andrev's eyes were bulging.

  "I don't know. Must have been last night when I was drunk, but I don't know." What else was he forgetting? Had William met with him after all and given him instructions?

  But Andrev must have been thinking something entirely different, because he was actually smiling.

  "Maybe the pouch makes them," he said.

  "That's ridiculous," Chassy scoffed.

  "No, it's not. It was a wizard's pouch! Let's try it."

  "What should we buy?"

  "No, just give it to me," Andrev said. "As a gift. Then put everything back in the pouch and close it up."

  Chassy handed the coins to Andrev. He didn't know if some ceremony was required to make it a gift, so he added, "Um... here you go, old friend! Happy travels." Then he scooped everything back into his pouch. He hesitated, shook it for good measure, and poured everything out again. Two gold coins fell out with the rest. Andrev was right! They tried again. When the pouch became empty, two more coins would appear.

  "You know what this means, don't you? We can buy anything we need. We can stay at any inn we want. We can travel by horse again!" They could secure a boat, hire guards, whatever they wanted! All they would have to do was create enough gold.

  But Andrev was shaking his head again. Always shaking his head. "We can't start throwing coin around. We'll draw too much attention. Besides, there might be a limit."

  "A limit?"

  "On how much gold can we get. It only gives you two coins at a time. Maybe there's a reason."

  Maybe it was designed to prevent a greedy wizard from doing anything foolish. Maybe all but two coins would disappear if he tried to store them in a pouch. Who knew what would happen with magic coins? Andrev was right, as much as he hated to admit it.

  "I think we should stay together," Andrev said. "So if you're refusing to go back, then we'll go on to Death's' End."

  Andrev and Chassy temporarily split up to purchase a few supplies, with the agreement to meet at the docks before dinnertime. While he was out asking about William, Andrev had discovered a single ship in the dockyard still repairing a torn sail but planning to leave yet that day. Andrev's plan was the same as William's had been: to buy a ride on the ship, travel downriver to one of the small ports just south of Sunoa, then buy horses and continue cross-country.

  "It's not that we wouldn't like to help you, mates," the captain told them, shrugging, "but me crew is a lot of Myrrish, and they don't stand you northern folk. Too soft behind the ears, they says, and you worship the tree gods."

  Chassy wanted to ask what gods the Myrrish worshiped, but he held his tongue. He held out three gold coins instead. Enough gold could buy almost anything, he figured. "But that's all we can spare. We have to eat, and we have a long journey ahead of us yet."

  Exasperated, Andrev shoved a handful of coins toward him. "How much, then? We need a ship." The captain's eyes popped, and his hand reached as if to touch the coins. Andrev snatched them away.

  But then the captain shook his head again, looking pained. "I'm sorry, lads. It's not a matter of gold. These Myrrishmen would tear you in pieces and throw you on the rocks."

  Andrev stalked off. But he was determined that they would travel by boat, so they stayed around until evening when ships began to trickle into the port. The first to arrive claimed not to have room for passengers, and no matter how they tried to convince the captain that they could sleep on deck with the crew, he would hear none of it. The next ship had come from south and was returning there. Each captain they approached had an excuse not to carry them, until the last ship rolled in and the captain refused to take them simply because everyone else had refused.

  "Unless your friend has coin you won't be staying here again," the innkeeper at Crook's Gills told Chassy when they dragged in well after dark. Addressing Andrev, she added, "He tried to sell me a silly little miniature sword."

  Andrev flipped a coin. "I'm paying. One room, two meals tonight and two loaves of bread before we leave tomorrow."

  They ate mutton stew and roasted potatoes in silence.

  "If we can't get a ship in the morning, I think we should buy horses and follow the river," Chassy said finally. Andrev just let out an angry sigh and nodded.

  "Okay, you're right. But I don't know what's wrong with these people. I haven't said a cross word all day. I've been more polite than most of them deserved."

  To Chassy's surprise, he could not remember Andrev being rude all day, not to one person.

  "It's that merchant," the innkeeper said, slamming down two fresh mugs of ale. "You shouldn't have gotten yourself involved with the likes of him."

  "What is that supposed to mean?" Andrev asked.

  She shrugged and walked away.

  "Hey! What do you know about our friend?" He shouted after her. Several of the other customers stopped talking to look at him, but the innkeeper disappeared into the kitchen without a backward glance.

  "Did you just call William a friend?" Chassy asked as Andrev slumped back into his seat.

  "William is family compared to these people," he mumbled.

  Chassy collapsed into his bed that night with a head full of ale again and did not wake until the sun was high in the sky. Andrev hadn’t even made it all the way into his bed before passing out, his shirt bunched up around his head and only one boot off.

  "I wouldn't be showin no one that pouch of yours," the innkeeper warned them softly when she brought their loaves in the morning. "Plenty of men around here would slit your throat for a thing like that. Women, too."

  What had they done? Apparently Andrev could not recall either, because his mouth actually hung open. Andrev shoved a silver piece across the table to her. "Thank you, ma'am."

  The innkeeper sniffed at the silver, but pocketed the coin all the same. "Mad Deek down the way'll have some passable horses. He's probably the only one that will. I wouldn't buy nothing but horses from him, though."

  They thanked her again, finished their loaves and left. Mad Deek was easy enough to find; he was balancing on the roof of his house on one foot, holding a small red flag high in the air and chanting something. Chassy watched him for several minutes, waiting to be noticed, while Andrev grew visibly impatient. Finally, he shouted up at the strange man, who turned very slowly and squinted at them. He was very good at balancing on one foot. Chassy wondered if he did this often.

  "Already?" Mad Deek's voice squeaked. "But I haven't even finished the chant."

  Chassy raised an eyebrow at Andrev. "Master Deek, have you any horses for sale?"

  The arm holding the red flag wilted a little, and Mad Deek brought his other foot down. "Horses? I thought you would have come on a dragon. Who did you say you are?"

  "We're travelers, Master Deek. We just want to buy a couple of horses. Should we come back later?" Chassy shouted.

  "Horses? All you want is horses?" Mad Deek clambered down from the roof one-handed, holding the red flag carefully in the air.

  Close up, he was a scary sight. Wiry gray hair stuck out stubbornly in all directions, his teeth were as crooked as a new apprentice's weave, and even his eyes seemed to be trying to look opposite ways at the same time.

  "Two horses," Andrev repeated. He had gone from impatient to irritable.

  "Suren' you don't think to take horses into that thicket they call a forest," Mad Deek said, eyeing both of them simultaneously. That was unnerving, so Chassy moved closer to Andrev. Now the old man looked at both of them with one eye. The other stared back down the road the way they had come.

  "We're going to travel along t
he river, so I suppose we'll be traveling through the forest," Chassy said.

  Mad Deek's teeth sprouted into a lopsided grin. "Well, I got just the thing in that case. Wouldn't yer rather take a boat?"

  "I don't know..." Chassy was remembering the innkeeper's admonition to buy nothing but horses from Mad Deek.

  "Of course we'd rather have a boat, don't be stupid, Chassy," Andrev said.

  "But—"

  "Right this way, then," Mad Deek said, his teeth sticking out even further.

  The "boat" turned out to be a raft with a steering pole and a single paddle, barely big enough for the two of them to crouch on with their newly acquired supplies. But it was floating, and floating down a river did sound a lot faster than coaxing two unknown horses through thick underbrush.

  An old woman nearly as crazy-looking as Mad Deek tottered up behind them.

  "You ain't tryin' to sell these young fellers that death trap of a raft, are you?" she asked Deek.

  "It's a fine boat, Mother," Mad Deek said, his voice indignant.

  "They won't make it halfway to the first bridge before it sinks under them," Mother replied. "You ain't even never used the gods-cursed thing!"

  "Doesn't it look just fine to you boys?" Deek asked. "Go ahead, get on it! If it sinks, I'll return all of your coin."

  Andrev shook his head but climbed down onto the raft. Chassy followed, wondering how they would get back to retrieve the promised refund if it sank on them. It was all he could do not to laugh at the exchange between mother and son. He and Andrev bounced on the flat surface, then jumped on it. The raft rocked on the waves, sending a spray of water into their faces.

  "It's a little small, but it seems sound enough," Chassy said, shrugging.

  "See, it's a grand boat! I built it myself." Deek slapped himself in the chest.

  "I wouldn't call it grand—" Chassy said.

  Mother slapped Deek in the head with a rolled towel. "You old fool! That's no boat, it's a death trap." She turned to Chassy and Andrev. "You ever been in a boat, either of you?"

  They shook their heads.

  "Currents'll pull this little stick of wood under faster than you can say, 'Deek's a fool,'" she said.

  "What do you know about boats? You been sneaking out nights to be a sailor when I wasn't watchin'?"

  Mother scowled, her face crinkling into a pale prune. "Do what you want, then," she said as she stalked off muttering to herself.

  Mad Deek watched her leave, rubbing his hands together, one eye on Chassy, the other on Mother. "Well, now, a price! I think one gold coin would be fair for such a fine craft."

  Chassy feigned skepticism. "Your mother seemed to think it's a bad idea..."

  "Bah! What does a woman know about boats? It's worth at least 18 silvers," Deek said. He seemed offended that Chassy would agree with the old woman!

  "It really is more of a raft than a boat," Chassy said, stroking his chin as though he was in deep consideration.

  "A raft, a boat. It's all just words. It's really the same thing if you think about it," Deek said, shrugging his shoulders. "Gets you where you want to go, what makes the difference what you call it?"

  "But it's a bit small for two people, don't you think? If both of us try to sleep at once, it won't hold us up," Andrev added. Chassy almost smiled. Andrev had never participated in negotiations before!

  In fact, there was barely room for both of them to sit together with all the stuff they had just purchased.

  "Only one oar," Chassy added. He shouldered his pack and stepped off for good effect. "I'm just not sure."

  Mad Deek threw his hands in the air and started jumping up and down.

  "Okay! Okay! Ten silvers, no less! But she's a good little ship now, you hear? And if I give her to you fer that price, you best speak highly of old Deek's Sails!"

  Chassy dropped the coin in his and glanced back at the raft. "I don't see any sails," he said.

  "Deek's Sails!" Mad Deek stressed. "I'm a shipbuilder."

  Andrev gave a loud guffaw that sounded like a donkey braying. Chassy tried to smother his own laugh, but it forced itself out in a snort.

  "Of course, we won't say anything that's not good," he answered as solemnly as he could manage.

  As they shoved off with their single paddle, Chassy looked back to see Mad Deek staring after them with what could be either pride or insanity.

  "You could've gotten it for five," Andrev complained as the raft swept them away from the bank and out into the fast-flowing center.

  "I know," Chassy said.

  "Why didn't you?"

  "It's just not right to take advantage of the simple and the old. That's what my father says." And Mad Deek was both.

  "What about everyone else?" Andrev asked.

  Chassy ignored the sarcasm.

  They were picking up speed, and the paddle quickly became useless, so Chassy tied it down. The raft bumped along and water sprayed up to their faces. Mad Deek's hut was long out of sight. The river stretched before them with trees overhanging both sides, a wide mouth waiting to swallow them. It truly didn't seem such a bad raft. They could make much better time than trying to plow through the undergrowth along the river.

  Chassy found that if he wanted to stay on the raft, he had to hold on to the rudder post with both hands. Since both of them couldn't sit on the same side, Andrev was splayed out across the other side with his hands twined in the bindings of the logs. They were rushing toward a bend in the river, and Chassy was sure they were going to smack into the bank. He wished now that he had asked for instructions on using the rudder. He was certain it was supposed to be behind the raft, not in front of it, but he had no idea how to get it there.

  With a thud, the raft hit a rock and leaped into the air. When they came back down again, he was relieved to see Andrev still clinging to the bindings, his face as white as new Waet silk, wet hair sticking to his face. Chassy was wet to the bone and shivering. The rudder felt loose, too—that crack must have been the lower part breaking off—and Chassy's lower body was so heavy he imagined the raft was tipping his direction.

  He looked down, and almost lost his grip on the rudder post. The raft was tipping in his direction. The little green pouch that had hung at his waist was now a huge sack, larger than his travel pack, and the point of a sword stabbed out the top toward the sky.

  29: Healing Touch

  "What are you doing?"

  Nita jumped at Lorthana's voice, and she felt blood rushing to her cheeks. "Nothing." Too late she realized her hands were still on Lyear's chest. She had been trying to heal him, but concentrating alone seemed to do nothing. She yanked back her hands and concealed the gem from the Nydwon in the fold of her skirt, gradually working it into a pocket.

  This is for a dying enemy, the Nydwon had said. Was Lyear the dying enemy she should save? Was he even an enemy? Well, the gem hadn't done anything, in any case.

  Lorthana regarded her thoughtfully, then she took out a small jar with a narrow, corked top, and handed it to Nita.

  "Put this between you and his skin."

  "What is it?" Nita popped the cork and sniffed. It smelled familiar.

  "I'm surprised you don’t recognize it. It's liquid from green bolls. Use only a tiny amount. It came to me at a very high cost."

  Nita wondered who would have sold her the liquid, which was only harvested during dire emergencies. It was unnatural to harm the bolls before they were ripe and ready to be removed from the trees. Surely, no one in Waet Tree Village... She shook her head. Now was not the time for more questions. She dabbed a little on Lyear's chest and glanced over at Lorthana, wishing the healer would leave. It was hard enough to concentrate on the task when she was alone.

  Lorthana pursed her lips. "Fine," she said. "I'll leave you on your own. I'll be outside if you need any help." She threw back the tent flap and slipped out.

  Nita took a deep breath and put her hand on Lyear's chest, in the middle of the liquid. It felt warm and slick. She closed her e
yes.

  Heal! She thought. She imagined the broken insides of his body knitting back together, horsehair stitches pulling free, the skin growing smooth and pink.

  Lyear gasped, his back arching. Nita almost drew her hand away, afraid that she was injuring him, but then she opened her eyes. His skin was growing back together, like wrinkles baking out of bread dough! His eyes opened, and his hand grabbed her throat in an iron grip. It felt like he was going to break her neck.

  "Where is it?" He sounded weak, but just as ruthless as ever.

  Lyear gave a little cry of pain. His hand loosened, and he flew back on the palette, arms flung out to the sides.

  Nita was momentarily surprised, but then realized that her new ability was actually protecting her. She stretched her hand toward him, holding him in place. Only his eyes roamed wildly, as if he was trying to break free from an invisible force. Nita thought she could actually feel that force, emanating from her fingertips.

  "You're being ungrateful, Lyear. I just saved your life and then healed your wounds." At least her voice sounded steady. "See? I learned how to use the bracelet, but I'm still experimenting with some things. I wonder how long I can keep you like this. Do you want to find out?"

  Lyear's eyes narrowed, and suddenly Nita really did want to keep him incapacitated. Death's End was still many weeks away, though. She could hardly expect to carry, feed and clean him. And she'd have to sleep at some point. What if there were bandits along the way, or some other danger where she needed his sword?

  Why did everything have to be so complicated? She sighed.

  "I'm going to release you now, but if you don't behave, I promise I will undo everything I've done for you so far."

  Slowly, Nita lowered her hand, all her senses alerted to his movements. Lyear sat up, holding his hands up in front of him. His apparent calm did not sway her; she knew his capabilities. She felt the power coiling up inside her, ready to spring at one wrong movement.

  "Where is it?" he repeated.

  Nita nodded to his pack. "Lorthana brought it in. If you mean the amulet, I’m sure it’s with your other things. I'm no thief."