by Eric Vall
“Well, you needn’t worry about monster rifts here,” Sterling assured us.
“Why’s that?” I asked as I recalled I had made note of the lack of battle scars around the small village earlier.
To my surprise, Sterling simply shrugged. “I have been in this village for well over a century, and not once has Tietra seen a monster attack.”
My eyes went wide. “So then why don’t more people move here if it’s safe?”
“Well, that’s just it, isn’t it?” Sterling faced me again. “We don’t know if it is. Just because we’ve been lucky enough to avoid an attack doesn’t mean we are necessarily exempt from ever having one.”
Sterling climbed down from his stool and waddled past me back towards the ramp. “Besides, even if the town did have some kind of charm on it, expansion would likely break whatever barriers are on the seal that protects us. We are a welcoming people, but this town is not without its fears.”
I took a moment to process what he’d said, but Gawain beat me to it.
“So, you’d banish even your own people if it saved this village?” he accused.
“I have to do what I must to protect this village, Mr. Gawain.” Sterling turned on us, his eyes suddenly fierce, unlike the kind gaze he’d had before. “This is one of Mistral’s only remaining ancient libraries, and I will do anything to preserve the centuries of knowledge that reside here. If that means keeping this village exclusive to a handful of people, then that is how it shall be.”
Both Gawain and I faltered. Neither of us had an argument for that. It didn’t seem fair, but at the same time, we knew he had a point. Silently, we dropped the subject and followed Sterling back up to the surface.
It was only after Sterling sat back at his chair behind his little writing desk that said silence was broken.
“So, what have you learned today?” he asked us as we stood before him shoulder to shoulder.
I looked to Gawain, and he crossed his arms. “I’ll be honest, sir, I’m not sure I gained much of anything from this.”
Sterling chuckled, and the mirth from before returned to his eyes.
“I can see the conflict and confusion in your eyes, Mr. Gawain,” he told him. “Let me see if I can sum things up for you more simply.”
He took a deep breath. “There are six ciphers in Mistral, one of which you already have in your possession. The other five are yet to be discovered.”
“The map downstairs and its poems are clues to the locations of where we need to go in order to find them, as well as a warning. What those warnings are, though … ” I trailed off as I finished Sterling’s explanation with what I assumed had been correct.
Gawain nodded, a little taken aback with my sudden outburst of information. “Yes, I got that much, but what about the guardians?”
Sterling held up his hand. “One quest at a time. Find your ciphers, then return here. If keeping balance and ending the war against the monsters is your true goal, then far be it from me to keep you from doing so. I will do everything I can within my power to assist you both.”
He waved his hand, and the map I still had in my grasp sparkled. “There. I’ve copied the text from my map to your own. I hope that helps you locate the remaining ciphers.”
I smiled then. “Thank you, Elder Sterling.”
Gawain nodded his thanks as well. “We best be off. We’ve a lot to discuss before we head out again.”
“Be careful, Gryff, Gawain,” Sterling cautioned, and he stood on his chair. “There are many out there who will do anything to get power. If that map, any of the ciphers, or the text should fall into the hands of selfish individuals, we may all be doomed.”
We nodded and tucked our findings back into our bags.
“Go, and remember you are always welcome here to learn more,” Sterling told us.
We bowed our heads again and stepped back out through the heavy wooden door. The sun had already started its descent into dusk, and I had a sudden hankering for Tem’s cooking. As soon as the door was shut behind us, Gawain and I exchanged worried glances.
Did we really know what we were up against?
We spent the trip back to the tavern in silence as we processed everything we had learned from Calamar Sterling. It was a lot to take in, and to be frank it was rather bleak. It wasn’t until we reached the inn and I finally noticed the sign in front of the place that either of us said something.
“Reflect Inn,” I read aloud quietly.
Gawain sniffed. “Strange name for an inn if you ask me.”
“No one did,” I snipped. “I think it’s a clever play on words.”
He scoffed as he entered the inn again. Both Knick and Tem were behind the little desk at the foot of the stairs, and they greeted us simultaneously as I shut the door behind me.
“Learn anything that’ll help your adventure along?” Knick asked.
I nodded as I answered carefully, “We certainly learned quite a bit we hadn’t known, that’s for sure.” I was still wary about divulging the full details of the mission. With the danger and the stakes involved, I didn’t want to get anyone involved who didn’t need to be.
“Glad to hear it!” Tem smiled as he gestured to the seats in the dine-in lobby. “Come, sit. Dinner is just about ready.”
I moved toward the table, and Gawain followed. I was surprised when he opted for the seat next to me as opposed to across, but as long as his elbows didn’t bump me while he ate, I didn’t mind one way or the other.
No sooner were we seated did he lean in and whisper in my ear. “We need to leave tonight.”
I blinked at him. “Are you sure? Shouldn’t we get a full night of rest before we start out and be refreshed?”
“We don’t have time,” he insisted, and I rolled my eyes.
“What? Did that Sterling guy get you riled up? Relax.” I chuckled.
“I mean it, Gryff,” he pushed, and the use of my name in tandem with the intensity in his eyes made me falter.
Slowly, I nodded. “Okay. All right. We’ll leave tonight after dinner.”
Gawain seemed to relax a little then, but not by much. He looked paler than normal. Maybe he was getting ill? If that was the case, we should definitely stay another night so he could rest. I’d check on how he felt after he ate something. It had been a few hours since breakfast, after all.
“What do you make of the cipher poems?” he asked.
I looked over my shoulder. Tem and Knick were still occupied with whatever they were mulling over on the desk, so I took out the map Sterling had modified and spread it out over the table.
Gawain pointed to one in the mountains and read it in a whisper.
Boiling magma rips terra asunder
Yet in the brimstone lies a wonder.
Through the ashen clouds you’ll climb
But be quick you’ll have little time.
“That one doesn’t seem so bad,” I commented. “It just means we have to be quick. With a speed slug, that’ll be no problem.
“We’re not all you,” Gawain hissed. “Obviously, we’re not meant to get the one that’s there. It’s clear on the other side of the map.”
I sighed, and then remembered the conversation I’d had with Almasy and Arwyn before they left.
“That’s where Ms. Hamner is,” I said slowly.
“Here’s this one, too.” Gawain pointed to a forest to the southwest.
Hear my whispers, my lost king
For through the forest I must bring.
Flora and Fauna will not be kind
And darkness’ game will leave you blind.
My eyes met Gawain’s, and we shared an equally concerned look.
“I wish there was a way to communicate these to the others,” I sighed, “but without knowing their exact locations, it isn’t like I can send them via owl or anything.”
Gawain nodded. “And all of our correspondence with Sleet or anyone else at the Academy is likely to be cut off or at the very least monitored, and this isn
’t something we want falling into the hands of the council, is it?”
Our options were limited. I had thought about sending word to someone, anyone in the Academy, but Gawain was right. All of the mail was likely to be watched somehow. We’d have to find another way.
I sat up suddenly. “What about General Kenefick?”
Gawain crossed his arms and sat back in his chair. “What about him?”
“I know he’s on the same side as Sleet, and they can’t exactly monitor his personal mail at his home, right?” I looked at Gawain excitedly. “Maybe we can write him, and he can think of a way to get the information to Sleet.”
“That’s all well and good, but does he even know about this mission?” Gawain asked skeptically.
“He’d have to.” I nodded. “Layla went to pick up Nia, remember? I doubt Sleet sent her there to kidnap the General’s daughter.”
Gawain considered my words, then shrugged. “If you think it will help, then I don’t see why not. We’ll draft up a letter when we get to the next town and send it out by post there.”
I grimaced. “Why not here?”
“We need to prepare ourselves for traveling at night. Surely, as a yokel, you know that?” Gawain scoffed.
He was right, of course. The roads were perilous at night with bandits and the like. If he was determined to leave Tietra tonight, then we would have to ready ourselves for anything.
“Also,” he continued, “it might not be wise to send a post from here, just in case it does get intercepted. They don’t need to know where the letter came from.”
I nodded. Again, Gawain was right. No one needed to know we were here.
I heard footsteps behind me and cleared the table of the map right as Tem walked over with two steaming plates of smoked chicken and roasted corn. Knick followed behind him with two pints of ale.
“Eat up, lads,” Knick told us. “You’ll need your strength if you’re to leave this eve.”
My stomach lurched. “You heard?”
Knick shrugged. “Not really. I just have a sense of when people come and go. Usually mages on a mission don’t stay long.”
I hung my head a little. I felt bad having to leave after only such a short time, but there was nothing else for us to do here for now. We’d have to find the rest of the ciphers before we could do anything else. Elder Sterling had made that clear.
“And don’t you worry about your horses,” Tem added. “They’ve been well fed and taken care of since you’ve arrived.”
Gawain offered them a small smile at that. “It’s appreciated.”
“Of course. Mages are family. We have to stick together and offer as much support as we can to those who are willing to go out and fight for humanity,” Tem told us.
I paused for a moment as I went to reach for my fork, then retracted my hand.
“You both went to the Academy, didn’t you?” I asked.
Knick nodded. “Sure did, but I didn’t have the gall to continue my service after I did my time, so I came back here and took over the inn from our parents.”
“Of course, I couldn’t let him run the place himself, so when we finished, we came back here,” Tem noted.
“Where are your parents now?” Gawain asked, but as soon as the words left his mouth, I had a hunch.
Tem frowned, and Knick placed a hand on his shoulder.
“A rift opened near here some twenty years ago,” Knick explained. “Our father was a banisher. He’d gone in alone to try and destroy the catalyst stone.”
I sank back in my seat. I could already tell where this was going.
“Mother went after him,” Tem sighed. “Together, they managed to close the rift, but a giant had escaped. The monster response team from Varle showed up to take it out, but it was too late.”
“We were too late,” Knick clarified, and a heavy air settled around the table.
“You did what you could,” Gawain told them softly. “They gave their lives to give you a home to come home to.”
Tem bit his lip and left without another word.
“It’s okay,” Knick said quickly. “It still hurts him, though. He was the one who found them.”
“I’m so sorry.” I frowned. “We shouldn’t have been insensitive.
“Think nothing of it, Gryff,” Knick assured. “But now you know why we take care of those who come through here on missions. You’re doing what we weren’t able to.”
“We really appreciate it,” I told him with a sincere but small smile.
Knick nodded but kept his head bowed.
“I should go check on him. My twin-telepathy tells me he could use a bit of a boost right now,” Knick excused himself and left Gawain and I to eat our meals in silence.
We didn’t see either of them again until we were already packed and ready to leave. Gawain had run out and picked up a few tinctures from the apothecary across the street, and I’d read up a little more on Wildren, our next stop on our journey. It wasn’t terribly far from here, about a day’s ride. It served as a hub for those who crossed the desert from the town on the other side. It was also known for its trade. Maybe there were some goods there we couldn’t get anywhere else.
The brothers emerged from the back area where the kitchen was and saw our bags.
“That time already?” Knick questioned.
“Yeah. We want to make it to Wildren before dusk tomorrow,” I explained.
“Then let us take you to your horses,” he offered, and Gawain and I followed them back through the kitchen where Tem made his delicious food, and back along a stone trail that ran alongside the inn to a small stable. Its white picket design was quaint, and it looked like it could have been an actual home at one point.
“This is cute,” I commented with a grin.
Knick chuckled. “Our father built it with his bare hands when he was younger, maybe even younger than the two of you, for our mother when she was pregnant with us.”
My eyes went wide. “That’s really impressive, Knick.”
“It is,” Tem answered, and a dreamy look settled in his eyes, “but we tend to the inn full-time now, so we moved our lodgings to the upstairs and turned this into a place comfortable to house a small handful of horses.”
He wasn’t kidding. The space wasn’t too large, but it was just enough to accommodate four horses, and a fifth if it was necessary.
Eva and Holly whinnied as we approached them, and Tem walked them out of their respective areas. We took their reins and greeted them.
“They were good for you, yes?” Gawain asked.
“Oh very much so,” Tem replied, “although this one was a little temperamental.”
He pointed to Eva, and I chuckled.
“Yeah, she’s a bit of a wild one, but she’s a good girl,” I smiled.
We led them from the stable and mounted them. As soon as we were settled, Knick cleared his throat.
“I really do hate to see you leave. We don’t get too many folks here, so it’s nice to have the occasional visitor,” he told us with a smile in his eyes.
“Don’t be strangers,” Tem added. “Our doors are always open to you.”
A pleasant weight settled in my chest. It was warm, like the kind of adoration I got when Maelor sent me off to the Academy, or any time thereafter I had to part ways with him. It was strange, but I felt at home in this little town.
“We appreciate that very much,” I responded, and Gawain nodded as well.
“We’ll be back before you know it,” he added, and I had a suspicion he felt similarly to how I did.
Knick nodded. “We should get back to the inn. Be safe in your travels.”
The two of them waved as Gawain and I steered Holly and Eva back to the road. Our next destination was still a ways off.
It was going to be a long night.
Chapter 7
Night settled in the sky quickly after Gawain and I left Tietra. Stars dusted the dark blue sky as it wore the moon as its pendant. We rode Holly and Eva ov
er the grassy hills, and I relished in the cool early summer breeze that ran through my hair.
Every so often we would stop and consult the map, but for the most part, the first few hours of the journey were spent quietly enjoying the peace the night brought for a change.
“So much for bandits,” I commented, but I knew there was always the chance they’d still appear, and it wasn’t like they were immune to the light. Half of the time, the raids happened in broad daylight. It just went to show the ones who attacked during the night were cowards, or they were smarter. I supposed it all depended on how one looked at it.
From my point of view, they were all spineless ninnies.
It wasn’t until we reached a thicket that I sat up properly on Eva and took in our surroundings. Gawain came to a halt just shy of entering, so I stopped beside him.
“What’s wrong? I thought you said we didn’t have any time to lose?” I teased.
Gawain rolled his eyes. “Come off it.” He brandished the map from his mission file again and looked over the line of trees on the map versus the line of trees before us.
“No, really, what’s wrong?” I asked seriously this time.
“Nothing. I’m just making sure we’re taking the right path,” he answered at length.
“Does it matter?” I slumped forward and rested my head on the back of Eva’s. “We’re still going to come out the other side.
Gawain rolled his eyes and leaned closer to show me the map. He pointed to the opposite side, then to the mountain that separated the thicket into two about three-quarters of the way through.
“It matters,” he replied tersely. “If we end up on the wrong trail, we could end up on the wrong side of the mountain, and that would set us back about a day.”
I leaned in closer to look at the map again. Sure enough, there were separate roads that led to different sides of the mountain. We wanted to aim for the right side, but not too far right, as that would take us closer to the sea. However, too far left would put us on the other side of the mountain to what looked to be a cluster of small harvest villages that were used for food exports.
“I see what you mean,” I conceded with a short chuckle. “So, which path do we take, oh mighty human compass?”