Dark Territory

by A. C. Cobble

  Ben sighed and reset his feet. Sparring with the mage was like sparring with Rhys or Towaal, frustrating and enlightening. It was difficult, but Ben knew it could save his life later. Just like at the farmhouse when Lady Towaal taught him to harden his will, Ben opened himself up to the surrounding world.

  He heard the wind whistling through the pine trees and felt the chill of the air as it rustled by him. He heard Jasper and Amelie breathing evenly. Behind Amelie, a squirrel appeared and scampered up a tree. The valley was peaceful, serene.

  “Very well,” agreed Ben. “Let’s try again.”

  ***

  Smoke filled the air from the flaming bush. The dry kindling was burning fast and it would quickly expend itself.

  “You should learn to do that in the fire pit,” suggested Ben.

  He, Amelie, and Jasper stood watching the fire. Heartbeats before, Amelie had started it with a fist-sized fireball.

  Jasper grunted. “Better, I guess. Sufficient heat but it scattered there at the end. You can burn dry twigs with that, but it won’t stop a demon or anyone with practice hardening their will. In a melee, you could have torched your allies just as easily as an opponent.”

  Amelie nodded. Determination was plastered across her face. For two days, she’d been practicing gathering heat using a small prism the mage loaned her. She would hold it in her hand and expose it to the sunlight. The light reflected through the prism and beamed down onto her hand, concentrated. She would use her will to retain the heat and build it in her palm. When she had enough, she could use it for something like a fireball.

  The tricky part wasn’t gathering heat, they quickly found. The difficult part was holding it without scorching her skin. She constantly had to feed the heat back from her skin into the pebble-sized ball of energy. If she broke her concentration even for a heartbeat, the heat would scorch her.

  “I thought I had it that time,” responded Amelie with a sigh. “It felt right when I launched it, and I held it for a bit. After two or three paces, it scattered. I couldn’t keep it together.”

  The elder mage nodded. “Proximity. The further away it gets from you, the more difficult it is to influence energy. Let’s continue hiking while you gather more heat. We can find a campsite, and as Ben suggested, you can start our campfire. If you can set fire to the wood in the fire pit and nothing else, I will consider today a success.”

  Amelie opened her palm and tilted the prism so the sun shone directly on it. Ben watched as a spot of light appeared at the center of her hand. From experience, he knew that light would grow brighter and brighter until Amelie released it.

  Jasper continued his instruction as they walked. “I don’t have time to teach you the control you need to be a really effective battle mage. That would take years we do not have.”

  Amelie frowned.

  “What I can do,” said the mage, pausing to climb over a high rock, “is teach you some of the tricks, the cheats. Things like the prism. Without it, at your skill level, it would take you half the day to gather enough heat out of the ambient air to throw a fireball. By using the prism on a sunny day, you can gather that heat within a quarter bell. You could draw your own heat, of course, but doing that isn’t sustainable. If you’re not careful or panicked because you’re in a mage battle for example, you could easily draw too much heat and kill yourself. Without the strength and control that comes with years of study, you’ll need to use shortcuts. To defeat one of your former brethren, you’ll have to fight smarter.”

  “You act like I’m intending to go pick fights with the Sanctuary’s mages,” remarked Amelie.

  “Aren’t you?” asked Jasper.

  She didn’t respond.

  Ben knew what she was thinking. They didn’t want to get into a fight with a mage, but sooner or later, it was inevitable. The Veil wouldn’t let them rest. There was only so far they could run, only so many places they could hide.

  Jasper led them into a narrow, flat-bottomed fissure in the rock. It reminded Ben uncomfortably of the mining tunnel they’d passed through. He traced both hands along granite walls as they walked. Fortunately, the fissure was open above, which gave Ben a little comfort. After two-hundred paces, they came to the end. Stair-stepped broken rock led up and out of the fissure. The companions climbed the rock, scrambling over rough granite blocks and using the sides of the fissure as support when they needed it.

  “You sure this is the only way out of the valley?” grumbled Ben, hauling himself over a waist-high step.

  “Aside from the tunnel we came in, it’s the easiest way,” replied Jasper, reaching down to help Ben up. “We regularly patrol the rim of the valley to check the wards I’ve placed, and there’s no other way over the ridges. At least, we used to regularly patrol the rim.” Jasper’s lips twisted bitterly. He continued with a sigh, “Difficulty of discovery comes at the price of ease of access. If anyone could stumble across this valley, then the Sanctuary would have found my home decades ago.”

  “How do any of the people you want to find it get here?” wondered Ben.

  “By invitation only,” answered Jasper with a grin. “Come on. We’ll make the height of the pass by nightfall. Amelie can use that heat she’s building to start the fire.”

  Amelie looked down at the prism in her hand, embarrassed. Ben noticed the glow from the heat wasn’t as bright as it had been earlier. She must have lost focus while climbing out of the fissure.

  “Daylight is fading,” chided Jasper.

  “Lead on. I’ll be ready,” she snapped. Jasper didn’t have to say it. If she’d had a lot of heat concentrated in her palm and lost focus like that, her hand would have been severely burned.

  ***

  That evening, they sat close around a cheerful fire. Amelie sat with a smug look on her face, proud of the tightly controlled fireball she’d flicked into the pit to start it. Ben grinned, also proud of his friend, and pulled his cloak tight around his shoulders. The wind at the top of the pass was chill, but they’d camped behind a rock wall that blunted most of the force.

  “On the other side,” said Jasper, nodding down a barely discernable path they’d follow in the morning, “it’s colder than the valley, but we’re nearly one hundred leagues south of Creegan’s now. It won’t be as bad as that. By the time you get to Irrefort, it may be early spring.”

  Ben smiled. Spring. That would be nice. He was tired of the northern cold.

  “What will you do when you leave us?” asked Amelie.

  Jasper drew a thin stick from their pile of firewood and poked the embers at the edge of the campfire.

  “Start over, I guess,” the mage finally responded. “Just outside the shadow of this mountain is a town called Cormender. It’s the edge of Coalition territory in the north. They have a decent market there. I’ll restock, maybe buy some livestock, and climb back over this pass.”

  “You’re going to take animals over this pass?” asked Ben incredulously.

  Jasper grinned. “How do you think they got in the valley the first time? It wasn’t easy, but it can be done.”

  “You know there’s another choice, right?” mentioned Amelie. “We could use your help.”

  Jasper tossed his stick in the fire. “I can’t go with you, girl. I can’t go anywhere near Irrefort.”

  Curious, Ben sat forward. “Why not?”

  “Lord Jason and his cabal of pet mages.”

  “I don’t understand,” responded Ben.

  Jasper sighed. “The place is layered with wards on top of wards, and I’ve been marked. They’ll sense me the instant I approach one. I wouldn’t be able to get close enough to deactivate them.”

  “Marked?” asked Amelie. “If you know you’ve been marked, from what I understand, you should be able to defeat it, right?”

  Jasper shook his head. “A simple marking I could defeat. This is different.”

  The mage stood and raised his tunic mid-way up his chest. In the firelight, they saw a pale, finger-length scar on his rib
cage.

  He sat back down and explained, “That bastard Jason isn’t any more inclined than the Sanctuary to have mages roaming around freely. He caught up to me when I was making a trip down to Issen years ago and he stuck me. I got away, but the tip of his blade broke off in my rib. The taint of it remained in my body. I spent a long time trying to draw it out, but it’s a stain on my spirit. It will never go away. I could slip by a normal ward with little problem, but with this taint on me, I may as well walk up to the council and introduce myself.”

  Ben blinked. Lord Jason was the same man who had slaughtered Reinhold and his troops, the same man who intended to kidnap Amelie before they fled.

  “Lord Jason in Issen?” exclaimed Amelie.

  “Back when that black knife was first making his name,” replied Jasper. “I never found out how he found me, but once he did, he was relentless. He came after me like a starving dog after a fresh cut of meat. I managed to escape, but it was a near thing. That’s why I can’t go to Irrefort. I’m not scared of his mages, but I won’t survive meeting that man again.”

  Ben’s throat was dry. “I’ve seen Lord Jason fight,” he quaked.

  Jasper raised an eyebrow.

  “I was in hiding,” explained Ben. “He led a small army and attacked my business partner’s men. He flowed like water around them, leaving nothing but the dead in his wake.”

  “Aye,” agreed Jasper, “that sounds like Jason.”

  “But,” protested Amelie, “you have magic. I’ve met Lord Jason too and I had no idea he was a mage. He can’t be as powerful as you. The way you fought those demons, surely you could face him.”

  “You’re right, girl. Jason isn’t a mage,” answered Jasper. “But like I am teaching your friend here, anyone can harden their will and resist the efforts of another. Jason is remarkably skilled at such defenses. He isn’t a mage, but a mage must have trained him. Nothing I tried touched the man, and his skill with a sword is unsurpassed. I was able to affect some things around us, which is how I escaped, but everything I tried only served to slow him down.”

  All three companions sat silently. Ben and Amelie contemplated what they were getting themselves into. They knew Irrefort was dangerous, but a man who could defeat Jasper was something to consider.

  Jasper grunted. “I know you’ve only told me part of your story, and I understand why, but this I must know. How is it possible you’ve both encountered Lord Jason but have never been to Irrefort?”

  Ben and Amelie exchanged a glance.

  “Come now,” probed Jasper. “Surely I’ve gained your trust. I’ve heard about the Sanctuary. I’ve heard about Northport and the Rift. I even heard you mention that scoundrel Rhys and you let slip Lady Towaal’s name. You are either the two luckiest individuals I have met, or the unluckiest.”

  “Unlucky.” Ben grunted.

  Jasper smiled.

  “I told you that when we were in the City, I was a brewer,” reminded Ben.

  Jasper nodded.

  “Well, after a few months, I took on a business partner, a man named Lord Reinhold.”

  Jasper waited patiently for the rest of the story. Ben studied his face, but the mage showed no sign of knowing Reinhold. That was a first, thought Ben.

  “Lord Reinhold was a very wealthy man, a merchant banker,” continued Ben. “He got involved with me to thwart one of his rivals, a man named Lord Gulli. They were both trying to corner the arms trade out of Venmoor in anticipation of the coming conflict between the Alliance and the Coalition. I and some of my coworkers were attacked by Gulli’s men. Reinhold declared war and set off to find Gulli, but it was a trap. Lord Jason was waiting for him in the woods. He ambushed us. Everyone but myself and another were slaughtered like pigs. The only reason I made it out was that Reinhold requested I stay away from the conflict. It turned out it saved my life. That at least was lucky.”

  Jasper rubbed a hand across his chin. “That is quite a story.”

  Ben nodded.

  “Why,” asked Jasper, “was Lord Jason interested in helping a man like this Gulli? As I hear it, Jason rules the Coalition’s Council in all but name. A man like him has no need or desire for coin. Surely there would be easier ways to acquire arms. What did that City merchant have to offer him?”

  Amelie drew a deep breath then released it. “Me,” she admitted.

  “Amelie,” warned Ben.

  “No,” she said, “Jasper is right. He’s earned our trust.”

  The mage smiled. “Finally.”

  “I’m a runaway initiate from the Sanctuary,” stated Amelie, “but I’m also the daughter of Lord Gregor of Issen. Lord Jason was coming for me.”

  A low whistle broke out between Jasper’s lips.

  “Lord Jason is the reason I ran away from the Sanctuary, why this all started. He was coming to kidnap me with the Sanctuary’s blessing. They intended to use me as a bargaining chip with my father to force him to surrender.”

  Jasper, for the first time since they met him, was speechless.

  “That’s why we went to Northport,” Ben added. “We were trying to enlist help for Amelie’s father. We thought Lord Rhymer could come to Issen’s aid. Once we got there, we found Rhymer needed our help just as much as we needed his.”

  “And in Irrefort, you hope to find help there from the Purple?” asked Jasper skeptically.

  Amelie shook her head. “Not for my father. As much as I would like to do something, Issen is beyond my reach. My father needs an army, and I don’t have one. No, we’re going to Irrefort because we hope to help everyone. All of Alcott.”

  Ben added, “After speaking with Lord Rhymer, seeing the Rift, and the battle in Northport, we had to do something. As you’ve said, the demons will kill countless people if we don’t stop them. We may not be the best people to do it. We’re inexperienced and not fully trained, but someone has to try. Every story begins somewhere, and this one might as well begin with us. If we didn’t try to help, what kind of people would we be? We aren’t as strong as you, but we aren’t weak either.”

  Jasper didn’t respond. Instead, he stood and stalked to the end of the pass, twenty paces away. He stood staring down the mountain into the blackness of the valley below.

  Amelie glanced at Ben and he swallowed.

  “Jasper,” he called. “I didn’t mean…”

  “I know what you meant,” interjected the mage.

  ***

  Two days later, they reached a rough mining camp. During the summer months it would be a hub of activity. In winter, it was populated by a handful of custodians who maintained the buildings and kept watch over the equipment.

  “It’s cheaper to pay them to winter here and watch the place than to cart everything back to Cormender,” explained Jasper. “They shouldn’t have much interest in us. A few of them may even recognize me. I pass through here a couple of times a year along with a handful of other loners who live up in the mountains. I’ve found the men who choose to stay here in the winter aren’t the curious type or the type to socialize any more than they have to.”

  “What’s the name of the place?” asked Amelie.

  Jasper shrugged. “Not sure it has one.”

  “You’re right. It is quiet,” remarked Ben as they approached the handful of clapboard structures. Ben saw cottages for the caretakers, storage for equipment, and what must be dormitories in the busy months. Undisturbed snow piled in drifts against the side of the buildings. The place was a silent as a graveyard. No smoke drifted from any of the chimneys.

  “Incredibly quiet. Inexplicably quiet,” added Amelie nervously.

  “Should we investigate?” inquired Ben.

  “I think we all know what happened here,” responded Jasper grimly. “Let’s move on.”

  Dark Territory

  It was early morning and the sun was rising behind the city of Cormender. Shadows spread out from the stacked stone walls, creating a lightless moat in front of the city. They watched the shadows shrink as day broke.


  The companions stood in the center of a rutted dirt track that led down from the mountains. In better weather, heavily laden carts would rumble down the track, carrying chunks of granite and limestone from the quarries at the base of the mountains. Now, the wheel ruts were filled with shallow pools of ice and the track between the companions and Cormender’s gates was empty.

  “You’re sure we won’t have a problem getting in?” queried Amelie.

  “Why would we have a problem?” asked Jasper.

  “This is the westernmost outpost of the Coalition in the north,” mentioned Amelie. “They’ve declared war on my home. They’ve put it under siege and have a bounty on my head.”

  Jasper grinned. “You’re talking about Lady Amelie, lass. You are someone else now. You are someone inconspicuous, someone the Coalition has no interest in. You’re just another wanderer in the north, fleeing the recent troubles, passing through town on the way to your home.”

  “I was recognized in Kirksbane,” protested Ben. “If they recognize us here, there will be no escape. I think we need disguises.”

  Jasper started forward. “Come on. We’ve been over this. They were looking for you in Kirksbane. That won’t be the case when you enter Coalition territory. The greatest illusions are the ones we do to ourselves. The mind sees what it wants, and they will not see you as enemies if you don’t act like enemies. A disguise opens the door for suspicion. Trust me. I’ve been doing this a long time.”