“Why? Is it poison?” Tallia asked.
“Not really but it will make you feel funny and if you drink enough will make you sick.”
“What do mean funny?” Jeb asked.
“Look, just don’t eat or drink anything unless I say it’s okay. Got it?” They both nodded.
They continued walking down the road. They stopped outside a building where a lot of noise was coming from and had a picture of a bed with a tankard above it.
Poriya opened the door, and the three of them entered. They stood just inside the door and as every person in the place turned to stare at them falling silent. The silence seemed to spread out in an arc from them rapidly. Tallia was suddenly swamped with many voices in her head all at once as everyone stared. She couldn’t separate any of the voices, and it just made a cacophony of people’s thoughts in her head.
It was a large smokey room with tables and chairs spread around it. On the right wall was a large fireplace with a number of logs burning in it. Directly in front of them, over the far side of the room, a long counter stood stretching from the right wall to almost the left where a door was. Behind the counter stood a burly looking man with several days of growth on his beard. Behind him on the wall were lots of shelves with bottles on.
“It smells funny in here,” Jeb whispered to Tallia. The tavern, like all taverns, had a distinct aroma of a mixture of wood smoke, pipe smoke, and stale ale.
“Shut up and follow me” Poriya whispered. He walked up to the bar where the barkeeper was standing glaring at them. “You got three rooms for the night?’
“Nope, two.”
“I’ll take them.”
“That will be 20 coins.”
Poriya glared at him. “Last time I was here it was seven coins for the night.”
“Yeah well this time you want two rooms.”
“Two sevens are fourteen, not twenty.”
“Might be, I dunno not that good at counting,” he said grinning. “Twenty. You want em or not?”
“You better do food as well at that price,” Poriya said as he handed him the coins.
“Could do I suppose. Might as well chuck in three ales as well.”
“Not for them, they’ll have milk.”
“Milk what do think this is a nursery? It’s ale or water.”
‘Water it is then.”
“Through the door over there. Last two rooms.” He pointed to the door at the end of the bar. “Annamarie will bring it to you.” Poriya smiled as he remembered the last time Annamarie had took food to his room. Tallia looked away from him quickly as she heard the very private thought and thought it best not to know more.
Tallia and Jeb followed Poriya through the door into a dimly lit corridor which turned right a few paces along. They walked passed three other doors before getting to the last but one. Poriya opened the door and looked in. “This one's mine, you two can share the next one.” He stepped inside and shut the door before either of them got a chance to see inside.
Tallia shrugged and led Jeb down to the next and last door in the corridor. As they went in a stale damp smell filled their noses. It was dark inside, but Talia could just make out a lamp on a table to the left of the door. She lit the lamp, and as its brightness filled the room, they could see the room had little more than a bed, big enough for two people, and the table the lamp was sitting on.
Jeb took off the quivers that he was carrying and went to lay down on the bed which had a mattress on it and no bedding. “Yuck, that’s disgusting.” The mattress was obviously very old as well as dirty and stained.
“Oh I see what you mean,” Tallia said. “We could always sleep on the floor.”
They both looked around at the floor, but this was not any better.
“I guess at least the bed will be softer,” Tallia said.
“Yeah.”
There was a knock at the door. Tallia opened it to see an attractive woman with long blond hair standing there with two bowls of what looked and smelled like a stew, two chunks of bread and two pewter tankards on a tray.
“Your food,” the woman said.
Tallia stepped aside and allowed her to enter and place the tray down on the table before turning around and walking out. Tallia shut the door behind her.
They ate and drank before laying down on the bed together without undressing to avoid having any contact with whatever the stains on the mattress were. Neither of them realised just how tired they were until they laid their heads down and both quickly slipped into a deep sleep.
“Wake up,” Poriya said. “Time we got moving”
Tallia and Jeb had slept soundly for the first time since leaving the plateau, and both were very reluctant to wake up and struggled to persuade their eyes to open let alone get up off the bed.
“Come on we need to get far away from here before dark as they know we are here now.”
“Who?” Jeb said as he sat up rubbing his eyes trying to get the sleep out of them.
“Bandits, that’s who. Come on as we also have to get supplies first.”
They followed Poriya back out into the bar, which smelt even worse now, and on out into the sunlit street, over the road and through a door with GENERAL STORES written on a big wooden and weathered sign above it.
There were shelves full of stuff on every wall. Large wooden crates were arranged in rows in the center of the large room. Opposite them, there was a long counter with a rotund stern looking lady behind it.
“Hello Poriya, haven’t seen you for awhile.”
“Hello Maya, keeping well?”
As Poriya and Maya chatted Jeb and Tallia wandered around looking at all the things that were in the store. Jeb found a box full of arrows which on closer examination he decided that they were not very good and the ones his friends back home made for him were of much better quality. Tallia was fascinated by some strange looking metal objects that looked like they were meant for feet. They had leather straps for tying them on, but the underside and sides had sharp spikes sticking out. She tried to imagine what they could possibly be for but really couldn’t. Jeb had a good look at the bows that were hung up on a large spike in one corner of the store. He really wasn’t very impressed with them and felt very proud of the one he had been given, it was definitely of a much finer quality and more tightly strung. Tallia pulled a sword out of another box but instead of being straight as swords should be this one was curved and could not fathom how on Zantalth this would be any good. Maybe it was for fighting round corners she thought.
“Right you two,” Poriya said. “We’re done, let's get going.”
They walked out of the village and headed north.
“You said the bandits know we're here,” Jeb said.
“Yeah, so?” Poriya said.
“Well won't they be waiting for us?”
“It’s possible but unlikely.”
“How come?” Tallia said.
“They will be expecting us to be going either east or west towards the sea. No one goes towards the crack if they can help it.”
“Why?” Jeb asked.
“Because you can’t cross it. Unless you know about the bridge, that is, and very few do, and they don’t tell.”
“I don’t understand,” Tallia said.
“I will explain when we get closer. For now we need to keep a close eye out and keep as quiet as we can in case of any bandits hiding out.”
“I thought you said they wouldn’t be expecting us to go this way?” Jeb said.
“Doesn’t mean we won’t fall across any others who happen to be out here hoping to catch travellers trying to go round Whitelight. Now shut up.”
As the sun was just reaching it’s highest point, they were walking through an area that was a lot more rocky than they had seen so far. Tallia heard a voice in her head. That’s it keep coming. One looks armed shouldn’t be too hard.
Tallia moved closer to Poriya and whispered, “Were about to be ambushed.”
“How do you know?” he w
hispered back.
“I heard someone thinking, must be close by watching us.”
“How many?”
“I only heard one.”
“Jeb get an arrow ready. If you see anything move put an arrow in it.”
A moment of terror crossed Jeb’s face, but that quickly turned to a serious determination as he quickly drew an arrow and placed it on his bow and half drew it back ready.
They walked several more paces scanning the rocks all around them looking for the slightest movement.
Tallia heard now in her head and she shouted “Now.” Ten men came rushing from their hiding places all around them. Jeb drew back and released his arrow at the first movement he saw. His arrow flew through the air and hit his target in the centre of his forehead. The man fell and was dead before he hit the ground, the arrow had penetrated deep into his skull.
Poriya had quickly drawn his sword and positioned himself to protect Tallia. Jeb rapidly drew a second arrow and with a speed that would have surprised even himself had he had time to think about it he released the arrow at a second man. This time, hitting him directly between the eyes.
Tallia was terrified, and it was clear that despite Jeb’s ability to fire arrows at a surprising speed he could not get enough of them before they got to them. Each of them had one of the curved swords Tallia had seen in the store and had it raised ready to slice them open.
Tallia screamed and closed her eyes expecting to be killed.
The eight remaining men flew backward off their feet at least sixty arm lengths away. All but one of them crashing violently into rocks, most having their heads split open. Only one man survived who had not landed on any rocks. He scrambled up on to his feet terrified by what had just happened and started to run away screaming.
“Quickly stop him,” Poriya said to Jeb.
Jeb already had another arrow ready when Tallia screamed, and they flew backward so he drew back on the bow took careful aim and released the arrow. The arrow entered the back of the man's neck and passed right through. His body hit the dirt and slid a few arm lengths before stopping. He twitched several times before remaining motionless.
Tallia was shaking and still had her eyes closed as Poriya said. “Well done Tallia.”
She opened her eyes and looked around seeing the bodies of the bandits scattered around on the rocks. She looked back at Poriya and said, “Did I?”
“Yep, you did.”
“Sorry,”
“Why in the gods would you be sorry? You saved us all.”
“But I have killed them.”
“They wanted to kill you.”
“You didn’t kill them all,” Jeb said. “I got three. Two as they attacked us and the one over there that was running away.”
“WHY?” Tallia shouted. “He was running away.”
“I told him to,” Poriya said. Tallia turned to him glaring with anger. “If he had told anyone what had happened, we would have a witch hunt on our hands, and that would have been a very large number of people looking to set fire to you.”
Tallia continued to glare at him as she thought about that and eventually turned away and mumbled, “Oh yeah, well, I suppose.”
“Well done Jeb,” Poriya said. “Never seen anyone handle a bow quite like that, I’m impressed.”
Jeb snapped his head around with a massive grin on his face. “Really? Wow, thanks.”
“Yes really. Now let's get out of here before someone comes along and finds this lot.”
Elder Ruywn’s chair was unusually empty, and so was his room. He had decided that he would join the other elders in the large dining room for lunch. Something he likes to do just once in awhile, usually because he wants something from one of the other elders. Next to his chair, sat a small side table with a half-drunk goblet of wine on it.
It fell over spilling wine over the table and dripping down onto the floor. When this is discovered later by one of the cleaning staff, they will simply assume Elder Ruywn knocked it over himself as he got up out of his chair and couldn’t be bothered to tell anyone or even noticed.
Merek knelt at his private alter in the underground part of his cave. Candles burned all around him making the walls decorated with symbols flicker with their yellow light. His naked pale skinned body was covered with sweat as he repeatedly chanted a spell slightly while rocking back and forth with the words.
In front of him was a wooden bowl filled to the brim with water. As he chanted, a mist began to swirl within the water. Small at first but slowly growing until the water was a mass of swirling and dancing mist.
He watched as the images of the three travellers faded into view. He watched as if he was above them as they walked into the trap between the rocks. The men he had paid surrounded them as they were instructed weapons drawn. They were to ensure that none of the three were to come out of there alive and their bodies were never to be found.
He watched with amusement and a little surprise as the first two fell from Jeb’s well-aimed arrows. His amusement quickly changed to horror as the remaining men violently flew backward and all but one of their bodies being smashed against the rocks. He watched as the last man stumbled to his feet to run and was brought down by one of Jeb’s arrow.
Merek‘s head flew back as he screamed enraged that they had all survived. He slumped down into a sweating heap on the floor now frightened and trembling with fear. “She must be stopped. She will change everything.”
They walked on through the rest of the rocks, and soon the landscape returned to the vast plains that they had seen so much of. When the sun had fallen and was touching the horizon, they stopped and made camp but with no fire, just to be on the safe side.
The next two days went very uneventfully and were able to have a fire to sit around again.
“You were going to explain about the bridge,” Tallia said.
Poriya had been giving a lot of thought to exactly what he was going to tell them. He didn’t want them to know about the last time he crossed the bridge and the threat the keeper of the bridge made if he ever returned. The bridge keeper never forgot anyone who crossed the bridge and Poriya had made a silly bargain with him. If he were ever to want to cross again, he would have to give a life to the crack to do so.
“There is only one bridge across the crack,” he began. “It’s badly made and very perilous to use. To cross the bridge, you have to get permission from the bridge keeper, and it’s permission comes at a price.”
“We have coins don't we?” Tallia said.
“It’s not always that simple. Sometimes it wants coins others times something different.”
“Like what?”
“Could be anything, it might want you to sing or tell a good joke.”
“That’s not so bad.”
“And sometimes it will want something precious you have or something you don’t have.”
“Can’t we kill it .... it, what do you mean by it?” Jeb asked.
“That’s the thing, it is neither beast nor man. Sometimes it can take the form of a man or maybe a hellhound, or it can appear as swirling smoke. So no we can’t kill it.”
“What are we going to do?” Tallia asked.
“Let's see what it wants first,” Poriya said and gave her a smile in the hope that she would think he was not worried by it forgetting she could read his mind if she wanted to.
Tallia had been practising at not accidentally reading peoples thoughts, especially those she considered her friends, and she was getting very good at it so while she thought his smile was a little odd she accepted his suggestion.
Chapter VIII
They set off the following morning just as the sun was peeking over the horizon. They walked in silence all morning and just before the sun was at it’s highest point in the sky they rounded the crest of a gently rolling hill.
Jeb and Talia stopped at the sight before them. At the bottom of the hill, the grass abruptly ended as if a straight line had been drawn and beyond was black rock, compl
etely flat as if it was a solid lake of still water. In the distance, they could just make out the crack. As they looked left and right, all they could see was the featureless smooth black rock, no rocks, no trees and no grass.
Poriya stopped halfway down the slope and turned around. “Surprising isn’t it?” he called back.
This snapped the two out of their awe and ran down the hill to catch up.
“What is it?” Tallia asked.
“No idea. All I can tell you is that it’s like this both sides of the crack. Nothing seems to get any closer than this,” he said as they reached the edge of the grass and stepped onto the shiny black rock.
“It looks like someone has polished the rock,” Jeb said.
Poriya laughed, “That would take thousands of years I think.”
As they walked Tallia became uneasy but could not work out why at first. It then dawned on her. There was no wind, no birds in the sky, nothing living at all except the three of them. “Poriya? Why is it so dead here?”
Poriya turned to look at her with a puzzled expression on his face, “What do you mean?”
“Have you not noticed that there are no birds or wind here on this rock?” Tallia said.
He thought for a few moments and said, “You know you’re right. I’ve never thought about it before, but it’s always like this.”
“But why?”
“I can only guess it’s because of the crack. Maybe nature knows to keep away from it. To fall down it is to fall for all eternity.”
“Maybe nature is not as dumb as we think it is.”
“Hmmm, maybe you’re right.”
They continued directly towards the crack. With the lack of birdsong and wind, the silence was very obvious as they all could now clearly hear only the sounds they were making. Their footsteps on the hard rock, the sounds of their back sacks as they bounced on their backs and the rattle of Jeb’s arrows in their quivers.
The crack became closer and closer and with each step seemed to get wider and wider until eventually a little after the sun had passed its highest point Poriya stopped them some fifty arm lengths from the edge. “This is as close as we go.”
Zantalth: The magic is returning Page 6